God’s Instructions for Leaders

Introduction

A. Before I Arrived

-Tim Keenum

-A difficult history (Mark Wakefield)

-Severely unloved

B. Since I’ve Arrived

Church has grown younger; not from transfers but salvations/baptism and recommitments.

Hungry for God’s Word

Ready to Move

Leadership hearts

Unity of direction and vision

Two services

Three Sunday School classes

Highest giving in church’s history the first week of Feb

I. Have Confidence in Me

Joshua 1:6 NKJV

Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.

God is encouraging Joshua and reminding him that he can have total confidence in God’s promise.

He wants to give Israel a chance to resolve the fear of the past and God says, “If you’ll just have confidence in My promise then you will enter into my rest.”

This is the same instruction that Moses gave the spies who came back afraid…

Numbers 13:20 NKJV

whether the land is rich or poor; and whether there are forests there or not. Be of good courage. And bring some of the fruit of the land.” Now the time was the season of the first ripe grapes.

What he is saying is this, “It doesn’t matter what you see when you get over there, if you’ll have confidence in Me then I will do all the work for you.

Then he tells them to bring the fruit of the land back with them. This was so God could give the people just a little taste of His power and His ability to provide for them.

This is where I am in my life, God is just giving me a little taste of what He can do.

I’ve experienced confidence in God over these past two years that I didn’t even know was possible.

And in the narrative of Joshua, the times where Joshua failed is where Joshua had confidence in his own ability to war and to make war.

In the course of my time there, here is what God has taught me about confidence.

A. The Land of Giants

When God called me to preach all I saw were the giants

What were those giants?

1. Pastoral Anxiety

I was moving my family six hours north to a small country church after sitting in class after class and reading book after book about burnout, bad staff members, and terrible deacons.

2. Social Anxiety

I know that sometimes this happens and to each his own, but I had a strong desire that I would be able to allow my kids to grow in a community and a church where they would be protected…I wanted them to have a life where they don’t move around every four years.

One of the hardest things I experienced was listening to my kids crying because they’d miss their friends and family back home. I was nervous about what they’d find when we got here.

3. Performance Anxiety

I was afraid I’d mess it all up…but then, I was thinking about how I was going to do it and wasn’t thinking about how God was going to do it.

I’ve never pastored before! And I am still pretty new to ministry.

B. The Weight of Sin

Before I was full-time in ministry, I sat in a congregation for a decade as an adult, and that was a huge benefit for me just to understand what life is like for the people that we minister to.

Before I was in ministry I was a pipefitter, and that was a hard job.

Now that I am a pastor and I hear other pastors complaining about how hard it is to do this job, sometimes I don’t think they understand what they’re saying, because our job isn’t harder than other people’s jobs. There are some aspects that are harder, but being down in the bilge of a ship for 10 hours in Southern Mississippi in the middle of August will change your perspective!

But there is one aspect of this job that I wasn’t prepared for…and that was the spiritual battles that I would face.

However, my confidence in not in my ability to wage war on sin but in God’s ability to overcome sin!

Joshua’s defeat in chapter 7 comes when he battles Ai. The reason that he lost the battle is because there was sin in the camp. They had lost within themselves the confidence of God and they didn’t even know it.

God has called us, and even in the battle with personal sin, if we will simply have confidence in Him, and return to Him, He will deliver us.

C. The Test of Faith

This encouragement that God gave Joshua was not a command that would allow Joshua to take it easy. This was a command for Joshua to get up and get going. The moment that God tells us to do something is the moment that we need to act — when God gives a word, it may be a word of encouragement, but it’s also a word of action — and action is how we prove our faith.

When we see the giants, when we feel the weight of sin…but we get up and we take action, we prove that we have confidence in God.

Think of the centurion and the sick servant

In Matthew 8:5-10, the centurion comes to Jesus and says, “my servant is lying at home paralyzed.” Jesus responds and He says, “I’ll come and heal him.” The centurion immediately responds, “I am not worthy of that, all you have to do is speak a work and you can heal him.” Then the Bible says that Jesus marveled at his faith.

What is the faith of the centurion? — It is because He acknowledged the authority and lordship of Jesus in such a way that he humbly approached Jesus, made his request known to Jesus, and then had confidence in the command of Jesus. It was taking action through approaching Jesus, and then trusting in the command of Jesus that caused Jesus to marvel.

This is how we know the centurion had confidence in the power of God — he didn’t sit around and do nothing, he sought the Lord Jesus and he had confidence in His command — and that’s what God is asking Joshua to do — and that’s what God is asking us to do — have confidence in Him.

II. Seek Wisdom from Me

Joshua 1:7 NKJV

Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go.

There was a time in Joshua 9 that Joshua didn’t seek wisdom from God and he took his own advice.

The Gibeonites were living in the land of Canaan and they were set for destruction — they came under false pretenses to Joshua — and the Bible says that Joshua did not consult God — instead, Joshua decided he was going to feel his way through the situation; he takes the provisions of these pretenders in his hands and he feels them…but he got it wrong, and he made a covenant promise with a people set for destruction.

God says, “Seek Wisdom from Me.”

How does God offer His wisdom?

A. Through His Word

Now, it takes strength and vitality to be faithful to God’s word. (v. 7, “Only be strong and courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you.”

That is, “Joshua, following my word is not going to be easy…but it is necessary. You’ll need to be strong.”

Just recently we had to exercise an act of church discipline.

It was, by far, one of the hardest and unappealing things that I’ve ever had to do.

I was angry, I was sad, I was frustrated, and I was confused, but it was something that Scripture commands us to do. That doesn’t make it easy. It takes strength to follow through and to seek the wisdom of God.

Not only in that way, but it takes strength to restrain ourselves from doing what we think out to be done in the church.

The Word of God is what shields His undershepherds from their lack of strength and clarity.

There are situations that we all face that we would be helpless and hopeless without the wisdom found in God’s word…yet we must do exactly what God tells Joshua to do in v. 7, and that means not turning to the right or to the left — I think we usually apply that on a personal level, but God was giving Joshua more than just personal advice, He was giving Him pastoral leadership advice, and we as God’s leaders must have the strength to follow the wisdom in His Word.

B. Through Faithful Mentors

There is another name that God mentions here, and it’s a name that resonates with Joshua. It’s Moses.

But look how God says it — He doesn’t say “your mentor Moses” ; God says, “My servant Moses.”

God was conveying to Joshua:

If you think that Moses had success and you want to pattern your life after him, then my wisdom is that way to get that done; for Moses was my servant.

That is, the way that we ought to know what kind of men to surround ourselves with are not simply men who have the biggest platform, but they are the men that God would say of them “They are my servant.”

C. Through His Presence

God tells Joshua not to turn to the right or to the left. That’s not to restrict Joshua but it frees him to prosper in his assignment from God.

The way that it frees him is that it ensures that he was going to be in constant connection with God.

There have been times in my life where I have been sure that God is telling me to go and lead in a certain way…there have been times when God has told me to say something, and times when God has told me not to say anything.

The times that I was wise enough to listen, God worked in way that I can’t explain — and in times I didn’t listen, it backfired.

When I was headed to Providence from south Alabama, my wife and I are talking and I told her, “I’m just going to forget everything I know about ministry. I’m going to forget everything I think I know about churches, and I’m just going to ask God what to do and then do it.

Sure, I have schooling, training, experience, but I came here with nothing but empty hands and love in my heart for God’s people — when I say that I’m not doing anything, some people don’t believe me, but that’s the gospel truth. God is doing everything.

Proverbs 4:7 NKJV

Wisdom is the principal thing; Therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding.

I like the way the NIV writes it: “The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.”

That’s what I did and that’s what I do. We’ve got to hand over the way we were raised and He’ll give His wisdom. And we’ve got to hand over “what we want from the church” and He’ll give His wisdom.

Even though we have the experience and we have the training, if we will just submit to God He will use our experience and our training to accomplish His purpose, instead of us using our experience and training to do what we think ought to be done.

III. Maintain Fidelity to Me

Joshua 1:8 NKJV

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

Wiersby wrote this, “If you don’t talk to your Bible, your Bible won’t talk to you!

This is the personal call. That Joshua in his life ought to meditate on God’s word.

God says, “Maintain fidelity to me and you will prosper and have good success…but God’s success is different than our success. Our success hinges on full auditoriums and big budgets. God’s definition of success is obedience to His word.

Here is our criteria 1) Did I obey the will of God, 2) Was I relying on the Spirit of God, 3) Did I do it for the glory of God?

If we can answer yes in all three areas then we’ve done our job.

IV. Find Rest in Me

Joshua 1:9 NKJV

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Here is something else that Wiersby wrote, “God’s commandments are still God’s enablements for those who obey Him by faith.”

There have been times I was afraid, and still am. There are a lot of challenges I see on the horizon.

But God is a God that walks with us, and He is a God that goes before us, and He is a God that does all the work for us, if we will just learn to trust Him!

Yesterday I preached on Gen 2:1-3 and talked about all the ways that sin has destroyed our rest…

A. Rest

Resting in God means resting in the reality that Jesus has done all the work for us.

Hebrews 4:9–10 NKJV

There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.

We’ve got to stop working to win the approval of God and start trusting so that we enter into His rest.