He Will go with You (Montana)

Greeting

Good Morning everybody! My Name is Matt Coby, I am the Student and Recreation Pastor at Gilliam Springs Baptist Church in Arab, Alabama. This morning we’re going to be in Deuteronomy Chapter 31.

While you’re turning there, let me first let you know that we love serving alongside of you! In just a few short weeks, a group will be coming from our church to join together with you to serve this community! And let me tell you, if you haven’t had the opportunity yet to work with one of our teams, They are all gonna sound just like me. So put those listening ears on, and get ready! Maybe even use me as practice round for deciphering our broken english. And I’ll go ahead and tell you, we’re weird and love to have fun! HA!

Intro

I grew up in Boaz, Alabama. The year that I was born, Boaz had 2,899 people in the city limits. by the time i was 10 it had grown to 8,000 people, and today the population is around 10,000 people. If that sounds similar, It’s because these numbers are almost identical to here.

In my town, most people end up taking a similar path as their parents. My dad is a career tradesman, my mother works in the car business. They divorced before i was 1, and I lived the life of an “Every other weekend” kid. Ya’ll know what that means? I found my identity in Athletics. Baseball, Football, and Track were my church. And I worshipped them all. At the age of ten, A new family moved in close to me. There were no other kids my age where we lived, so we became friends quick! My step dad is a home builder, and he had built me a tree house, and not just any tree house. I had a fireman’s pole, a trap door, and swings. It was built on the side of a hill, so one side was about 4 feet off the ground, while the other was about 10.

One day we were playing, and i decided to show out. I climbed over the rail on the tall side, wanting to show how good a could climb, when my hand slipped. The boy reacted quickly and grabbed my hand, pulling me to safety. After a few moments catching our breath, He asked me a question that changed my life. “Have you ever been saved?” I sarcastically replied, did you miss the past few minutes?! You saved me! I had no idea what he was talking about. In the tree house, i heard the Gospel for the first time.

It took time, It took investment on the part of many people, but the seed that was planted that day, eventually led to me surrendering my life to Jesus, accepting a Call to ministry, and completely changing the trajectory of my life!

I wanted to play college baseball, The Lord had different plans.

I wanted to be a Math Teacher and a coach, the Lord had different plans.

I wanted to fall in line with the type of life that so many in my sphere of influence had led, but the Lord had different plans.

Through the Lowest lows and the Highest highs of my life, The Lord has shown repeatedly shown me that:

Change is coming

This wasn’t only true for my journey, but it’s true for each and every one of us, and as we’ll see in our text, it was true for the Nation of Israel as well.

If you’ve found your place, let’s read verses 1-8 together

Scripture Reading

Deuteronomy 31:1–8 ESV

1 So Moses continued to speak these words to all Israel. 2 And he said to them, “I am 120 years old today. I am no longer able to go out and come in. The Lord has said to me, ‘You shall not go over this Jordan.’ 3 The Lord your God himself will go over before you. He will destroy these nations before you, so that you shall dispossess them, and Joshua will go over at your head, as the Lord has spoken. 4 And the Lord will do to them as he did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when he destroyed them. 5 And the Lord will give them over to you, and you shall do to them according to the whole commandment that I have commanded you. 6 Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.” 7 Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land that the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall put them in possession of it. 8 It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”

Early Application

Change is hard.

There are some people who can deal with it better than others, but there are still obstacles that have to be navigated any time change enters the picture.

Context

In the passage we just read, We find ourselves at the end of an era.

An era that can be traced all the way back to the book of Exodus.

Now before we go any further, we need to know how we fit in to this passage. The temptation is to try to put ourselves in the place of Moses or of Joshua here, and there are definitely ways that we could do that.

but for today, I believe that we need to look less at the source of the change, and more at what we do with it.

We need to put ourselves in the place of the Israelites.

Moses has led them for over 40 years. Not only has he led them, He had a long history with them, and He was the person God used to rescue them from Egypt.

There was a familiarity and a comfort with the way that life worked with Moses at the wheel.

There was a Rhythm. Were there things that people didn’t like, sure. Did they want to make it to the promised land? Of Course!

but in much the same way as we do today, I’m sure they had some preferences as to how they would get there.

The Unknown is frightening

But in order to experience all that the Lord has for us, there are a few things we must accept.

Exegesis

Every Season has a beginning and an end

Deuteronomy 31:1–2 ESV

1 So Moses continued to speak these words to all Israel. 2 And he said to them, “I am 120 years old today. I am no longer able to go out and come in. The Lord has said to me, ‘You shall not go over this Jordan.’

Moses’ Journey was coming to an end. and i’m sure many were afraid. Why? because they associated their lifestyle with moses’. Many of them were born during the 40 years of his leadership, so they knew nothing else.

Of course this not only brings fear, but it brings a sense of mourning as well.

Where do I go now? What will happen to me? Am i gonna be able to adjust to the changes?

The wise teacher of another generation YODA once said: "Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering."

we may not be willing to admit it, but the fear of change, the fear of a new season of life. It can be paralyzing, it can cause us to believe that we’re suffering. because it requires us to let go. To let go and trust that whatever comes next will look different, but that’s okay.

Let’s be real though. Letting go is often easier said than done. Even the Israelites struggled with this

They felt the same way about leaving Egypt when Moses showed up. They believed that Slavery and bondage were better than the change that they were experiencing.

Exodus 14:12 ESV

12 Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”

This is a great example for those of us who are struggling this morning with a big change in our life. Whether it has to do with a job situation, something happening in your family, or maybe you want to leave your old life behind to follow Jesus, but you’re afraid to let go.

We struggle because we’re only able to see so far.

It’s in moments of change and moments of uncertainty that we not only see that every season will run it’s course, but we also see that:

New Seasons put our faith to the test

BUT GOD, I want to know all of the things, I want to see the whole picture, so that i can decide whether or not I want to go.

These are the types of things that we may not say, but we feel

Nabeel Quereshi

There was an theologian and Scholar, Nabeel Quereshi who knew that His new season of life would be put to the test just in telling his parents that He had accepted Jesus as His Savior and Left his Muslim beliefs behind.

In his book “Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus” He writes that his relationship with His family was never the same after that.

I was a crumpled heap on the ground, trembling before God. Two weeks after accepting my Lord, I tried to plead with Him, while wailing and stammering through quivering lips.

The night before, I had looked into my Muslim father’s eyes as they welled with tears.

To be the cause of the only tears I had ever seen those eyes shed, I could not bear it.

Though my father did not say much, what he did say has haunted me ever since. The man who stood tallest in my life, my archetype of strength, my father, spoke these words through palpable pain: “Nabeel, this day, I feel as if my backbone has been ripped out from inside me.” The words tore through me. I had not given up just my life to follow Jesus, I was killing my father.

My mother had even fewer words, but her eyes said more. “You are my only son. Since you were born, I have called you….a physical piece of my life and heart. Every day since you came into this world, I have loved you with all of me in a way I have loved no one else. Why have you betrayed me?”

Decimated before God, eyes pouring, nose and mouth unable to withhold the grief, I was finally able to sputter my question through tears and mucus: “Why, God, did You not kill me the moment I believed? Why did You leave me to hurt my family more deeply than they’ve ever been hurt?

His faith was being put to the test, and He wanted Answers

Psalm 119:105 says that:

Psalm 119:105 ESV

105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

God hears us in these moments and says: “I’ll give you just a little at a time”. You see, a Lamp only casts it’s light so far. It gives us just enough to see the next few steps, but after that we’re blind, and we have to trust that the light will continue revealing what’s next. Little by little.

God’s gonna give us exactly what we need, exactly when we need it. (Pause and Repeat)

Shortly after, In the same book, Nabeel said that God gave him his answer. Nabeel realized that “This is not about me. It is about Him and His love for His children.” that “All suffering is worth it to follow Jesus. He is that amazing.”

did that solve all of his problems? No. but it allowed Nabeel, for a moment, to see through God’s eyes

He did the same for the Israelites:

Deuteronomy 31:3–6 ESV

3 The Lord your God himself will go over before you. He will destroy these nations before you, so that you shall dispossess them, and Joshua will go over at your head, as the Lord has spoken. 4 And the Lord will do to them as he did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when he destroyed them. 5 And the Lord will give them over to you, and you shall do to them according to the whole commandment that I have commanded you. 6 Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.”

I love the HE will, So that YOU Statements here.

God will do this, So that you will experience this.

It doesn’t say, you go do this, and then God will do His part. God is faithful, even when we struggle.

The Lord will do

The Lord will give

The people knew there would be challenges in front of them.

They knew there were people who would seek to harm them.

They knew that by the Logic of the world, they should’ve just stayed in Egypt.

But through Moses God is saying “I’ve got this!”

I take care of my people!

I take care of my children!

I will take care of you.

That’s how we know that:

In the Old and in the New, God is there

Moses believed it. He had seen it over His 120 years.

From the time when God had rescued Him as a baby

to when He was forced to flee and start a new life in a far away land.

To the time when He thought He had lost His mind because a bonfire was talking to him.

To when God parted the Red Sea.

GOD WAS THERE!

So:

Deuteronomy 31:7–8 ESV

7 Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land that the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall put them in possession of it. 8 It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”

Moses wants the nation of Israel not to repeat the mistakes that they’ve already made. To see that God is faithful, and he wants to take care of us.

What he is saying is that our suffering is often rooted in our refusal to completely trust Him with the next steps of our life.

Moses wants for us to trust God, to let go of the fear of change, so that we can enjoy the life that He has for us. Will you trust that He is big enough to handle IT?

We’ve all got IT, don’t we? That thing that lingers in the back of our mind. That thing that keeps us from from diving head first into the much better life that can only be found in Jesus.

For some it’s fear. For some it’s pride. For some it’s control. There’s a million IT’S out there.

Whatever “IT” is. Will you lay it at His feet, trusting that He is Enough.

Let us not be afraid of Change that moves us closer to Jesus. Let’s be afraid of standing still, and missing out on the life that He wants us to live!