Men's Retreat Intro

When I was nine years old, my father took me and my brother out to move cows, we each had a horse we were riding when all of the sudden the weather turned and we got caught in a hail storm. My dad looked at me and told me to take my saddle off my horse and get underneath the saddle. My brother’s horse spooked with my brother on it and ran off, so my dad left me in the pasture and ran off to get my brother. What I remember the most about those moments is watching my dad ride off and feeling like all of the responsibility was falling on me. And I was scared. My father had trained us to remove our saddles but I hadn’t been strong enough to do it myself. He had taken us with him for years, training us how to move cows, but I hadn’t done it myself yet. I want you to think about a time in your life when someone has put you in a position where you have to do something you don’t feel fully equipped to do.

We are going to be studying Joshua today, all of our breakout sessions will be about this young man who was given the task to take the Israelites into the Promised Land. Joshua had been one of two spies who had physically been in the Promised Land. They had seen for themselves the land flowing with milk and honey. They knew the kind of enemies they were up against. And when they reported back to the elders of the community that the Israelites would be capable of defeating and conquering the land they were met with fierce opposition. The other spies looked at the enemies they’d have to defeat with fear and trembling. So Joshua and Caleb were out voted and the Israelites remained in the wilderness for 40 years. 10 men showed a lack of faith in God’s promises and it cost them dearly.

When it came time for Joshua to lead the nation of Israel into the Promised Land, God remained faithful and reminded Joshua of the promises he was to cling to.

Joshua 1:1–9 NIV

After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide: “Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites. I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them. “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

In those 9 verses, God commands Joshua to be strong and courageous while he carries out the task of leading his nation into the Promised Land. Did you see how many times God reminded Joshua to be strong and courageous? 3 different times in that short passage. The reason why God keeps reminding Joshua to be strong and courageous is because sometimes the most courageous thing we can do is trust in God’s promises.

Potato story

Just because God promised to give His people the Promised land didn’t mean that the journey was going to be easy. They were going to battle their way through enemy territory. Their strength and courage were going to have to be shown physically.

Today we don’t have very many physical battles but we have plenty of spiritual battles. And we must have strength and courage to get through these battles in order to see God’s promises be fulfilled in our lives.

Ephesians 6:12, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

In the Bible, we can find somewhere between 7,000-8,000 promises that God makes to humankind. And just like the Holy Spirit whispered to me that night at my friend’s house, He often whispers His promises to us when we find ourselves in the midst of battles and brokenness.

Our culture wants men to be physically strong and mindlessly courageous. But this isn’t the way the Jesus lived. In one of His most famous sermons, He tells us to be quite different. In Matthew 5:5 He says, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.”

Meekness is strength under control. When we grow spiritually strong, we are able to use that strength to help other people find freedom in Christ. We can use that strength to lead our families into the ways of Christ. We can use that strength to trust that God’s ways are better than the world’s ways. And that strength will ultimately expand the territory of the Kingdom of God.

This kind of strength takes a lot of courage because it will be ridiculed by the world.

I am not perfect by any means, but I will share an example that Sara and I had several years ago. My love language is Act of Service and I truly enjoy helping Sara, getting her flowers, and little gifts. She was telling this to one of her friends at the time, and her friend responded that she would hate to be married to someone like that. She wanted someone who was big an tough. SHARE the story from PT Sara overheard.