Pastor Bill Vecchio, Jr.
Fort Myers Community Church Podcast
Joshua 1:1-6 "Strong and Courageous"
You are listening to sermon audio from Fort Myers Community Church. For more information about how to get involved in the life of this church family, please visit www.fmcc.life. Well, good morning. How's everybody doing? It's good to be in the house of the Lord today. I'm excited for all that God is doing. I think that there are still some people that are waiting for seats in the back. And so I think we ran out of extra chairs. So if there's like seats, like kind of one seat, if you guys can move all this way, we've got two up here. We'd love to get a couple more two seats together if we could try to figure that out. There's the whole front row. The whole front row is available. Anybody want to move from the back to the front? Man. Hey, Barbie, how are you? Praise God. Praise God. Hey, there were a lot of games that we played growing up, and a lot of those games transcended time, right? I mean, they still play them today, and my kids still play them. Anybody who play red light, green light growing up, right? You always want to be the person in the front of the room or the front of like the place, right? That's doing the red light, green light. You want to be the one that's turning around and catching people. Simon says, Simon says, is still around, and it's going strong, right? So just an example, like put your hands in the air for a second. Simon didn't say. Come on. All right, Simon says, put your hands on your nose. Now you can put your hands in the air. All right. All right. We're starting to pay attention. Good. Good. Follow the leader, right? That's a great one where like my kids like playing that, where I could do like all these like funky dance moves or weird things, and you try to mimic the person that is in front of you. All of these games have some sort of leadership to it, where somebody is leading out the charge. Somebody is in control of the game that you're playing, and leadership is not always fun in games. There's a weight to leadership in the real world, and I would venture to guess if you're here today, you're coming in, maybe you're here for the first time. Thanks for being here. We love having you. I would probably guess that you don't see yourself as a leader. Some do, but many don't. They don't look at themselves in the mirror and think, "I'm a leader." But the reality is, the truth is that there are people following you. You have influence in people's lives, even without you knowing it. I mean, there are your kids, and your spouses, and your neighbors, and your coworkers that somehow, in some way, you are influencing them, and leadership is influence. And as we start taking this new journey together, we are going to look at the book of Joshua. We're going to look at this calling that God had on Joshua's life, and my hope is, is that as we look at the book of Joshua, we will see that we have the same calling as believers. We have the same calling, we have the same mission, and that's to love and lead people to Jesus, to love and lead people to Jesus. And so as we jump into the book of Joshua, we're going to be here for the rest of the year. I want us to look together at the Scriptures and see the beauty of what God has, because God equips us as believers. He equips the calls to lead people to Jesus. The good news is that we're not alone in this calling. In Joshua 1-9, there is this statement, and it's a beautiful statement. It's one of my favorite verses in the Bible, if you're allowed to have a favorite verse. It's one of mine. Joshua 1-9, "The Lord, your God, is with you wherever you go." I think that there are many people here this morning that could feel alone, that could feel depressed, maybe dealing with anxiety, fear. I want you to know that the Lord, your God, is with you wherever you go. And this promise, this promise never ends. We can be strong and courageous everywhere in every circumstance, no matter what we face. And so before we jump in, I just want to address one thing, because God offers an invitation of love that offers full forgiveness, that you will be fully seen and fully known and fully loved to everyone. And that offer of forgiveness and love and grace and mercy is extended to all people, for his name, for his glory. And if you're in here this morning and you've never placed your faith in Jesus, you've never trusted in Jesus as your Lord and your Savior, I just want to say this upfront, because there are a lot of promises that God gives us in Scripture. A lot of amazing things that God says to us and promises us in Scripture. And I want those things to be true for you too, but those things are true for us when we profess faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and our Savior. And we surrender our lives to Him and we trust Him and Him alone. He is the way, the truth, and the life. So what I want to do is I want to pray together. I want to give us a moment to reflect on our heart. Where are you at this morning with your relationship with Jesus? Because for some maybe you've back slept in, for some maybe you've never professed faith in Jesus, and for some you're going strong, and we're going to say right now before the Lord and just pause and stop and reflect on Him and then jump into the Word. Can we do that? Let's pray together, Father. We come before you as you're people who need you. I pray, Lord, this morning we wouldn't just hear information, I pray that we wouldn't just hear words or stories or analogies or verses, but that we would hear your heart and that your heart is for us, and that you truly are with us wherever we go. And God, through the power of your Holy Spirit, if there's someone here today that has not surrendered their life to you, I pray today would be their day of salvation. I pray that today they would know that you are their God, and these promises can be true for them as well, that you are with them wherever they go. Through the power of Jesus' life, His perfect life, through His death and through His resurrection, that you have paid it all, you have completed the work, and you give us salvation as a gift. So God, as we jump into Joshua, I pray that these promises would wash over our hearts and minds. God, I lift up all the churches in our area that stand firm on the gospel. I pray for your power to move mightily in those churches. God, I thank you for Dave Acton over at New Hope and Cape Coral. God, I pray for Casey, now all in down in Marco, first Baptist. God, I pray that you would do a mighty work in and through these churches and in and through these leaders for your name and your glory. We love you. In your name, we pray. Amen. Joshua chapter 1, if you have a Bible, grab it. I want you to hold a word of God in your hand. It's so important to me that we do hold it. Some of you, you may have it on your phone. If you don't have the Bible, there's a Bible app. It's called the Bible, and you could just download it, and then it's the YouVersion Bible app. It's a fantastic app to have. It actually gives you devotionals throughout the week, and things that you can go through, so that when you're wasting time scrolling, you could stop scrolling and start reading God's word. In Joshua chapter 1, I'm going to read verses 1 through 6, that's what we're going to be this morning. After the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua, the son of none, Moses' assistant, Moses, my servant, is dead. Now therefore, arise and go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel, every place that the soul of your foot will tread upon. I have given you, just as I had promised to Moses, from the wilderness, and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, and all the land of the Hittites, so the great sea towards going down of the sun shall be your territory. No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give to them. So this morning, we are talking about God's call on your life and why you can be strong and courageous in that calling. So here's the first thing we're going to see. When God calls you, He transforms you. We're introduced to a person here found in Scripture, his name is Joshua. Now to give you some context of who Joshua is, Joshua was Moses' protégé, his number two, his assistant. He walked with Moses. Now Moses was a staple in the community. He was the man. Like if you're thinking of someone in our culture today, that is like the person that everybody looks up to, that nobody has any qualms with, he is that person. That's who Moses is. He's leading the people through the wilderness. He frees them out of slavery and Joshua is his number two. Joshua's leading right alongside Moses. He's born, Joshua's born in Egypt. He sees the plagues happen in Egypt that happen through Moses. He sees them exit out of Egypt to head towards the Promised Land, the Exodus. He sees when their backs are against the wall of the Red Sea that the sea parts and he walks through on dry ground. So he sees the power of the Lord through the parting of the Red Sea. He wanders in the wilderness for 40 years. That's this Joshua. I'm just trying to give us context to the Bible stories that we saw in the felt board growing up. Like Joshua's in all these stories. He saw when Moses hit the rock and water came out. He saw bread falling from heaven. I saw all the things that the Lord God had done. In fact, Joshua was one of the 12 spies that was sent into the land to go scout it out. And he and Caleb were the two that came back and were like, "Yeah, we could go do it. We got it. God's got this." That Joshua. Now, when we talk about God's transformation in somebody's life, we see a few things and this is what we see throughout Joshua's life. Just as some context to diving into this transformation, one, God gives Joshua a new name. At first, his name meant salvation. That's what Joshua, with an H, then God changes it to Joshua, which means Yahweh is salvation. So, no longer is his salvation just in something else, but it's actually in Yahweh. Yahweh is salvation. See the transformation there? God gives him a new name. You know, often when God transforms someone in Scripture, we see that they're given a new name, a new purpose. That's what God does for Joshua. Not only does it give him a new name, but he gives him a new family. If you start rewinding back genealogies, you see that there is a man named Jacob. Jacob is a man who wrestled with God. God changes Jacob's name to Israel. Israel had 12 sons, the 12 tribes of Israel. One of those sons was the youngest who wore a really fancy coat. It was called a coat of many colors. Joseph, all the brothers were jealous of Joseph, sold them into slavery, shipped them off to Egypt as a slave. God had favor upon Joseph and rose him up to be the number two in all of Egypt. Joseph married into the Egyptian family. You know whose lineage Joshua comes through? Joseph's lineage through the Egyptians, so half Israel had half Egyptian. He comes through that lineage, and now he, as a half blood, for some of you Harry Potter fans, a mud blood, right? He comes together, and now he's leading the people of Israel. So God grafts him, not a pure blood Israelite, but God grafts him back into the family, adopts him back into his family, and allows him to lead the people into the promised land. So not only does God give him a new name, but he gives him a new family. And then he gives him a new home. First Egypt, then the wilderness for 40 years, and now he's going to be allowing him to enter into the promised land to see the fulfillment of what his new home is going to be. And God didn't transform Joshua's life because he was a good person. I want us to hear this because I think often we see Christianity as morality, and it's not. It's not a religion to follow. God didn't transform Joshua and change his name and give him a new home and a new name and a new purpose and a new family, because he was moralistically good. In fact, every human recorded in the Bible, except for Jesus, failed. There were twice where as Joshua was leading the people into the promised land where he failed miserably, where he made decisions as a leader that failed miserably because he didn't go and seek the Lord first. So it's not just all about this great person, and we're sitting here going like, "Well, I'm never going to be like that guy." No, he was a failure, just like every single one of us, welcome to church. But when God calls you, he transforms you. That doesn't mean that you're now perfect. You will mess up. Your spouse will mess up. Your kids will mess up. Your neighbors will mess up. Your pastor will mess up. Nobody's perfect. I want to just speak to those struggling to believe that God will transform you because I think often we can come into a church setting and we think we're beyond being transformed by the Holy Spirit. I think for some of us it's our past. I think you see yourself for some reason as unredeemable. I think for some reason you look in the mirror and you think that God can't love me because I did fill him a blank. And I want you to know you're not beyond God transforming. I think for some of you you come in here today and there is something in the present. Something you're dealing with right now, maybe it's addiction. Maybe it's hurt or pain from the past that you can't let go. Maybe it's bitterness, jealousy, insecurity, depression. Maybe there's something going on in your life right now. I want you to know that God will transform you. When God calls you, He will transform you. And the beauty of the scriptures is that they say He completes the works that He starts. So if you believe in Jesus, God will and has transformed you. I think often maybe because of us not experiencing those God bumps anymore or maybe the word that people often use in Christianese is backsliding. Maybe we believed in Jesus for a season and then we walked away from the Lord. And then like now we're exploring our faith again, like God's power can and will transform you. And I do not want you to give an ear to the whispers of the devil. Too often, maybe when you're driving in your car alone, you've allowed the enemy to sit in your passenger seat. You're sitting there whispering all sorts of lies about you and about those around you. Do not give him an ear because what God starts, He completes. When He calls you, He will transform you and is through the power of His Holy Spirit. Not your white knuckling, not you getting to work, He will transform you. You have a new name, a new family, a new home. So He transforms us and here's the second thing, when God calls you, He equips you. Look at verses 3 through 5 and verse 3. Every place that the soul of your foot will tread upon, I have given you just as I have promised to Moses. We see here God's sovereign provision. God going before you, knowing what you need. And the beauty is, is after Jesus died and rose again, He's talking to His disciples and He says, "I'm going to leave you." They go, "Oh no." And He says, "No, it's okay. It's better that I leave you because I'm going to send you a helper." And the helper has a name and the name is the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit will come upon you. And that will be the power in which you will be transformed. And so when God calls you, He equips you with the Holy Spirit. Now the Holy Spirit gives you gifts and resources and talents and power that we need to accomplish the mission that God has called us to, which is to love and lead people to Jesus. You know, one of the most favorite parts of the Olympics when we watched them this past summer was seeing all of these mega athletes give glory to God. There was a lot this year that were being very outspoken about their faith and how God is who led them to that place. There's one runner, sprinter, Sidney McLaughlin, Levine, and she's epic. She's awesome. Now I know that she has put in a ton of hard work to get where she is, but I want to promise you something. If I had the same training regimen as she had, if I trained the same way that she trained, I promise you I would not be as fast as her. We're built differently. We're made differently. Like she was made to run. Now she's worked hard, but God made her that way. And inside her heart and in her mind, she's realized that God had given her a gift. God formed her muscles and her bones and her will and her work ethic and all those things and placed them in her. And so she has no other response than to give God the glory. She's like, I can't do this on my own. I didn't make me. I didn't give myself these fingers and these legs and this ability to run super fast. I could train as hard as I want. I'm not dunking a basketball. I'm sorry. But God, when He calls you, He equips you because it's His sovereign provision that God gave. But God also knows the hardship and the pain and the circumstances that you need to learn and grow. Often I think we look at all the good stuff and we're like, oh God, I want all this good stuff. But then we forget that He also uses all of the hurt and the pain and the circumstances of this fallen, broken world to shape us and mold us and to help us depend on Him and Him alone. In fact, Jesus' brother, James, writes, consider it joy when you face trials, joy when you deal with hard circumstances. Blessed is the one who remains steadfast under trials, that you're blessed, you're blessed when you're going through difficult circumstances in your life. Why? Because God is molding and shaping and using those things ultimately to build you into who God wants you to be, for His name and for His glory. I would have never chosen the story of miscarriage in our family's life. God knew that in that season that as we walk through that He was going to mold and shape us in that. I mean, we don't choose financial struggles or sickness or injury, but God, because He's rich in mercy and love and grace can mold and shape us and transform us in those circumstances, in those trials, in the hurt, in the pain, if we rest in Him, if we trust in Him. That's why Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4, these momentary afflictions. Why would he call it that? When you're in it, does it feel like a momentary affliction? Anybody tracking right now? Like, you're in that really hard season. Like, maybe you've just come out of it, maybe you're in it right now, and if you haven't just come out of it and you're not in it right now, you're headed to it, just so you know. So why would he call momentary afflictions? Because he knows that every trial that we face is temporary, but what does he say? He says, "These momentary afflictions prepare for us an eternal weight of glory." And this is what Joshua is preparing for, because the road ahead of Joshua is not easy. It is going to be very difficult. There is going to be loss, there's going to be hurt, there's going to be pain, there's going to be defeat, but God is preparing for Him, an eternal weight of glory. God is preparing Him for something. When God calls you, He equips you, He goes before you. He is present with you. That's why in verse five, he says, "No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you." And what's the promise? I will not leave you or forsake you. If you're in that trial right now and in that circumstance right now, God is with you. Trust in Him. Here's the last thing. When God calls you, He protects you. When God calls you, He protects you. Look at verses five and six. I just read verse five where He says, "I will not leave you or forsake you." So then what does He say? "Be strong and courageous for you will cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them." God has promises that He gives us over and over again and those promises have been fulfilled in Jesus. Now we have an enemy and the enemy has an army. That army is both spiritual and physical. There are people that the enemy places in your life to wreak havoc on your life. Anybody have those? Yes. We all have them. The enemy will use people all around us to wreak havoc and to steer you and make you stray away from putting all your faith and hope and trust in Jesus. They will constantly take your time, attention, and energy and effort because of their chirping. But God is here to protect you. That's what verses five and six, like God is with you in those things. He is your protector. Life is hard, challenges will appear, storms will come. But the calling for Joshua to lead God's people into the promised land. Even though it was scary and challenging and seemingly impossible, God was with Him. And God is with you if you have professed faith in Him as your Father and you are His child. So that fear of inadequacy that bubbles up, anybody have that fear of inadequacy like I'm not good enough or that fear of failure that's running rampant in your heart and in your mind, like think about Joshua, like he had to take over after Moses, like wait, God, you want me to, you want me to feel his shoes? Like that guy? Like God, maybe you've missed something. Like I'm not gifted the way Moses was gifted. I mean, did you see what Moses did, God? Like Moses made these like 10 plagues happen in Egypt. Do you remember that, God? And then Moses, like he was leading us towards us, like in our backs were against the wall of a sea and then Moses parted the sea. And then remember like we were really thirsty and the water was really bitter so he threw a log in and then it became sweet and then we were thirsty again and he hit a rock and water came out. God, you want me to feel that guy's shoes? I mean, he got it to rain bread from heaven. How in the world am I going to feel his shoes and God's like, that wasn't Him, it was me. It was me. He was merely just a vessel that I chose to lead people into the Promised Land, like it's not about Moses, it's not about Joshua, it's not about you, it's about God. His power, but he does use you as a vessel to reach every man, woman and child with his glory and his name, with his good news. Guess what? You're not the people in your life's Savior. Stop trying to be. Jesus is their Savior, point people to Him. Newsflash, I'm not your Savior. Jesus is, point people to Him. That's what God is walking and working with Joshua in this moment because he's like, I'm protecting you from all of these things. And as I was with Him, Joshua, Bob, Joe, Mary, Kim, as I was with Him, so I will be with you, my power, my provision and my protection is with you. So therefore, you can love and lead people to Jesus, because that's the mission that I've called you to. And so what is our response in this? How do we respond to the beauty of these promises that God transforms us and equips us and protects us? It is to be strong and courageous, strong and courageous. Why? Because God is with us. Not because you deserve it, not because you're capable of it, because God is with you. I think we belittle what God can do because of our inadequacy and fear. Duh, I can't. He can. And He uses unlikely people to stir a revival so that the community may know who He is. And how does He do that by how they love one another, how they serve one another, and how they point people to Him and Him alone. So what are you believing in God to do? Right now, in this moment, in your life, in the lives of those around you, what are you believing God to do? I think a big problem is that we pray little. I think we dream small. I think we believe inconsistently, and I think we trust inadequately. Okay, not you, me. I do those things. But I think it's because we pray little and dream small and believe inconsistently and trust inadequately, and we will fall and we will fail. You know what, Joshua, Joshua could only lead the people into the Promised Land. But he could not ultimately give them rest. He could lead them into the Promised Land, but he couldn't ultimately give them rest. But Jesus, the true Joshua, Jesus, the ultimate Joshua, the complete Joshua leads all people into the eternal Promised Land and gives them complete rest. Are we believing God to do big things for His name and His glory through us? No matter what you are facing right now, God is with you. Are you in a storm? Are you dealing with a life circumstance? Maybe your marriage right now is on the rocks. Maybe you feel like it's sinking. Maybe you're experiencing infertility. Maybe your job is a nightmare. Maybe dating life is just an absolute mess. Maybe an addiction is destroying you. Maybe you're suffering from anxiety and depression and loneliness. God is with you. Right now, right here in this very moment, God has placed you in this room to hear these words. God is with you. So do not be afraid. Do not fear. Be strong and courageous. Pray big, dream big, because God is going to do something mighty in and through your life. And don't trust in yourself and your ability to trust in Him. I'm going to invite Christian to come on up. I want to share one last story. In 1940, there was a professor. My mom this week shared this story with me and it stirred something in my heart. He was a professor at Wheaton University and he was taking a group of his students. He was the teacher of theology to go visit a bunch of the places in England that help start the Reformation and the revival that we know of today as Protestant Christianity, the Protestant Reformation. And so they were going to like these landmarks and these places that great preachers preached and great theologians taught and they were going around and they were seeing these things firsthand. And one of the stops along the way was to the house of a man named John Wesley. John Wesley was one of the early reformers. He has set some great foundational theology that even we talk about and teach today. And as the students got to his house, they started working their way around to see where this awesome man of God lived. Not perfect, just someone who allowed the Lord to use him and create revival in Europe. They would go to the kitchen and see where he would eat and they would go to his living room and see where he would sit. They would walk around and eventually they ended up in his bedroom. And they noticed that even though it was a small space, that on the side of his bed, there were two patches in the carpet, two indentations that had worn away at the fibers. And so the students asked, they said, "What is this?" I said, "That's where John Wesley would kneel and pray for revival every day, not for minutes for hours." On his knees, praying that the Lord would do a mighty work. They all gathered together, professed or led him out to the vehicle, bus, man. As he was counting, he realized that one of the students were missing. So he headed back into the house, he looked around in the kitchen living room, ended up back into coming towards the bedroom and he heard a student voice praying. As he turned the corner, he saw the head of his student kneeling down in the same place that John Wesley once knelt and he was saying, "Do it again, Lord. Do it again. Take your name great and do it through me." Professor Orr gave him a minute, walked over, placed his hand on his shoulder and he said, "It's time to go." from the ground stood up Billy Graham. The power of prayer. Are you willing to pray that prayer today? Are you willing to be strong and courageous? To get on your knees and ask the Lord to create a revival in your marriage, in your heart, in your job, in your life, in your circumstance, in your college, in your high school, in your middle school, are you willing to get on your knees and ask the Lord to do it again? And trust that He is with you? Trust that He will transform you and that He will equip you and protect you along the way. Here's what I want to invite you to do. I want you to invite you, if you're capable and able to, to join me on my knees. If you're not, you could stay seated, maybe put your head in front of the chair in front of you, but I'm going to put a verse on the screen. This is Habakkuk 3-2. Lord, I have heard of your fame. I stand in awe of your deeds. Lord, repeat them in our day and in our time, make them known. I want to invite you to join me and say that with me because our city needs Jesus. Our town needs Jesus. Our communities need Jesus. Our friends and our coworkers and our neighbors and our siblings, they need Jesus. So let's pray, Lord, do it again. Would you join me in this prayer? If you're willing, join me on your knees. Let's pray this together. Lord, I have heard of your fame. I stand in awe of your deeds. Lord, repeat them in our day, in our time, make them known. Let's pray that again. Lord, I have heard of your fame. I stand in awe of your deeds. Lord, repeat them in our day, in our time, make them known. God, I pray right now, all throughout this place, not only will there be people who are sent out on mission to seek and save the lost, to go to every man, woman and child, to give them repeated opportunities, to see, to hear and to respond to the gospel. But there are people here today. I know, Lord, that have not profess faith in you. And I pray today would be their day of salvation. I pray today they would have the confidence to come forward and speak with somebody about how to start and begin a relationship with you. If that's you here today and you want a relationship with Jesus, you pray these verses. You ask the Lord to forgive your sins and you trust that they are wiped clean. Your debt has been paid for. You have been forgiven. If that's you right now, we're going to have a prayer team that's going to come up front. And during this time, off to the sides, and there are going to be some prayer team in the back, you would be comfortable walking towards them and having a conversation about what it means to enter into a relationship with Jesus. For everyone else that is probably right now starting to feel the pain of kneeling, I pray that we would trust in you and you alone. God, I pray that you would equip us, that you would protect us, that we would trust in you, and that we would be strong and courageous. We love you. It's in your name that we pray. Amen. 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