Faith Restored

Let me tell you what’s going on. In Joshua 6, in the event that you do not know, Joshua led the children of Israel into the Promised Land and at the city of Jericho. It was a wonderful victory there. They were given specific instructions there. One of the specific instructions was not to take any of the forbidden things that were in the city, “Don’t touch it.” All of the expensive things, believe it or not, were to be dedicated to the Lord. It’s that biblical principle of first fruits—you get the first things and you give that to God.

Well, there was a man named Achan among the Israelites, the invading army, who decided that his will was greater than God’s, and in that battle of Jericho, or as the battle was ending I suppose, he saw some gold and some silver and some expensive garments, some Canaanite garments; and he took those things, and then he hid them in his tent. That was chapter 6. Now, we don’t find that out until chapter 7. I’ll make some sense of this for you here in just a moment, but that happened in chapter 6.

What happens is chapter 7 opens up, and chapter 6, Jericho had been such a wonderful victory that instead of seeking God, they sent spies in. The spies came back and they said, “Ai,” the city of Ai (it looks like A-i, and we’ll see it tonight, but it’s actually pronounced “I”), they said, “Ai is a smaller city than Jericho. We do not need everyone to go. Look what happened to Jericho. So, Joshua, just send in a portion of the army.” Instead of seeking the Lord and trusting God, they decided to trust the word and the wisdom of those spies. Well, they went into battle there in Ai and it was apparent that God was not blessing that invasion because 36 of the Israelite soldiers died. They knew right away. In Jericho, none of them died. None of them were supposed to die. Something was seriously wrong, obviously, 36 of their soldiers died.

Joshua and his leaders, they throw themselves into the dirt onto the ground before the Lord, and they seek the Lord for apparently all day. Then, into the evening finally God speaks to them, and it’s a wonderful exchange because God says, “What’re you doing down there in the dirt. Get up. This is no time for laying around on your face.” He begins to rebuke Joshua and even the children of Israel, but what He reveals to Joshua is, “Somebody has stolen something, the forbidden things, the things that they were not supposed to take in Jericho, they’ve taken. There’s sin in the camp, and that is why you lost 36 of your soldiers.” God then proceeds to give him instructions on how to find the individual that did this and how to eliminate the problem.

Now, in Joshua 8, they are entering Ai, the city of Ai, for the second time. As you can imagine, and we oftentimes will read through these Bible stories and think to ourselves, Well, these people were superhuman people, and they just were constantly obedient to the Lord. Those of us that have read the Bible for a little while, we know that no, that is absolutely not the truth. These were people just like you and me. What happens is as they go back into Ai, you can imagine that there would be a little bit of nervousness there, “The last time we invaded Ai, we lost 36 people,” but see that was because of a break in their faith—they had placed their faith in the spies instead of in God.

Now, that faith has been restored in Joshua 8. The relationship has been restored, and you know what it’s like to have offended someone, to wrong somebody, to have a break in a relationship, and then for that relationship to be restored, to go to that person and say, “Please forgive me for what I’ve done, and I am sorry. Please, can you forgive me? Can we move on,” and for that individual to grant you forgiveness and mercy and grace is a wonderful feeling—even more so when it comes to God.

Oftentimes, when we have offended God or we’ve sinned against God, we have this idea or this thought or this feeling that, “Okay, God is angry with me,” or “He’s upset with me.” What we find out in the Bible is that couldn’t be further from the truth. Yes, there’s sin there that needs to be dealt with, but God is always ready to pardon. Nehemiah 9 tells us that, that He’s ready to pardon. So, it’s a matter of me simply bringing that sin to Him, that offense. Isn’t it funny when we’ve offended someone or if we’ve offended God, what we want to do is we want to try to avoid that individual or we want to try to run away or hide from God. In fact, God ought to be the first one that we run to when we’ve sinned. Do you understand that? Who else is going to forgive me of my sin? Who else is going to be merciful? Who else is going to be gracious to me but God? So, when I’ve sinned against God, I ought to be going to Him first, but obviously we don’t oftentimes do that.

However, at this point in the book of Joshua, things are right with the Lord again. Joshua has humbled himself. He’s seeking the Lord once again, and now they’re headed back into warfare. We find here, I’ve broken this chapter…I’ve got two main divisions, that is, verses 1-29 is war, if you’re taking notes, war. The remaining verses, verses 30-35, is worship. So, you’ve got war or warfare and then you’ve got worship, and we will look at some of this. I will do something a little different tonight, and we will actually not look at the entire chapter, but I’ll walk you through it and leave you in good hands by the time we’re done here.

When we open up to verse 1, we find this, “Now the LORD said to Joshua:”—this is good, they’re on speaking terms. Again, the relationship was not broken because of God, it was broken because Joshua decided to trust the spies instead of seeking the Lord, but the Lord is speaking to Joshua again. “Now the LORD said to Joshua: ‘Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed.’” I do not know why exactly God is telling Joshua that. My guess, and I’m making this clear, this is my guess, my assumption, my opinion, that Joshua is scared and dismayed. He’s going into Ai for a second time. The first time he went he was running out, and he left 36 men dead—36 men did not come home to their families. Now, he’s going back in. I suspect that he may be afraid, however, I do not know that for sure. But, God, assuring him here says, “Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed.”

This is, if you are taking notes, verses 1-2, really is assurance from the Lord. As Joshua and the children of Israel are heading back into war or to warfare, he receives some assurance from the Lord. This is wonderful because this was missing the first time that they went into Ai, but that was only because they did not seek the Lord. Now, they’re going back in, they receive some assurance from the Lord, “Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed,”—Joshua, do not allow your mind or your heart to be in chaos, to be terrified, to be consumed with fear.

It’s funny how that often when you and I are going through a difficult time, something that would be naturally fearful for us, scary for us, that oftentimes people will say, “Look, don’t be afraid.” Why not? I’ve got every reason to be afraid. Of all the things you could’ve said to me, why would you say that? God, when He says, “Do not be afraid,” He’s got a reason for that. There’s a basis upon which He’s able to say that, and that is because Joshua—listen—“Joshua, you and I are connected again. We’re in conversation here. You do not need to be afraid nor be dismayed.” “ . . . take all the people of war with you,”—take them all, don’t listen to the spies, don’t leave some, take them all—“and arise, go up to Ai. See,”—now, here’s the basis for God telling Joshua that he does not need to be afraid—“See, I have given into your hand,”—past tense, it’s already been decided, it’s already declared, God is going to do it—“I have given into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land.” In other words, this is going to be a complete victory.

In verse 2, God continues to speak, it says, “And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king. Only its spoil and its cattle you shall take as booty for yourselves.” That’s a King James word there that means treasure, “You can take that treasure for yourselves.” You’ll notice at the end of verse 2, very quickly, very briefly, He says, “Lay an ambush for the city behind it.” If you’re taking notes, mark that; if you’re not taking notes, make a mental note of that because that will become very important as we develop our study tonight.

But Joshua receives this assurance from the Lord, and there’s no feeling like knowing that, “Okay, God and I are back on good terms.” You find out oftentimes when there’s been a break in the relationship between me and God that God didn’t really go anywhere. It was me trying to run away from Him, and then once the relationship is restored, it then becomes very clear that, you know, God was never angry or mad at me, there was sin that needed to be dealt with, but He was there the entire time. I really didn’t need to run away or walk away or try to hide from Him, which is completely foolish, I just needed to come to Him immediately and receive His mercy. Here, Joshua is receiving some assurance from the Lord, and this is wonderful. This is the heart of God.

You know, oftentimes critics of the Bible will point to the Old Testament and will point out that there were so many people that died and God commanded the killing and God was angry in the Old Testament, but in the New Testament He’s so much nicer. He’s the same God yesterday, today, and forever. There’s no difference from the Old Testament to New Testament, He’s the same. We see that heart here, that heart of compassion in speaking to Joshua as Joshua’s heart and his mind may have been upset, may have been weary, scared. God speaks words of assurance to him and says, “I have given into your hand.” God is assuring him, “I’m here with you this time, and I’m going to bless this battle.”

It goes on in verse 3 where we see this ambush set, and that will take us all the way down to verse 13. “So Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up against Ai; and Joshua chose thirty thousand mighty men of valor and sent them away by night. 4 And he commanded them, saying: ‘Behold, you shall lie in ambush against the city, behind the city. Do not go very far from the city, but all of you be ready.’”

Now, I asked you to make a mental note or make a note of a phrase in verse 2 just a couple of moments ago. Why did I ask you to do that? Because I want you to take note that as we get into verse 4, and into verse 5, that Joshua is doing exactly what God had told him to do. At the end of verse 2, God said very briefly, “Lay an ambush for the city behind it.” Now, Joshua is doing just that. That’s how the relationship is supposed to work—God gives directions, Joshua follows. That’s the way that it is supposed operate.

Now, He goes on into verse 5, “Then I and all the people,”—he’s giving instructions to his army—“Then I and all the people who are with me will approach the city; and it will come about, when they come out against us as at the first, that we shall flee before them.” Joshua says, “When they come out, we’re going to turn around and take off running from them.”

Verse 6, “For they will come out after us till we have drawn them from the city, for they will say, ‘They are fleeing before us as at the first.’ Therefore we will flee before them. 7 Then you shall rise from the ambush and seize the city, for the LORD your God will deliver it into your hand. 8 And it will be, when you have taken the city, that you shall set the city on fire,”—there’s a reason for that, which we’ll see—“According to the commandment of the LORD you shall do. See, I have commanded you.”

You see what’s going on there? Joshua is giving instructions, and as we get into verse 8 he says to the people, “This is the plan, and this is what you are going to do, and you and I are doing what the Lord has commanded us to do.” Joshua says, “You’re going to do what God commanded you to do, see I’m telling you,” Joshua says to the people, “I’m telling you what God commanded us to do.” The communication has been restored. That’s sweet, that’s good. That is necessary. We need that. We need that communication between us and God, and it’s been restored here for Joshua. This is wonderful.

Verse 9 continues, “Joshua therefore sent them out; and they went to lie in ambush, and stayed between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of Ai; but Joshua lodged that night among the people. 10 Then Joshua rose up early in the morning and mustered the people, and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai. 11 And all the people of war who were with him went up and drew near; and they came before the city and camped on the north side of Ai. Now a valley lay between them and Ai,”—so they’re lining up there looking at the city. Verse 12, “So he took about five thousand men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the city. 13 And when they had set the people, all the army that was on the north of the city, and its rear guard on the west of the city, Joshua went that night into the midst of the valley.”

Now, what we see, beginning in verse 14 down to verse 21, is that the ambush was successful. It says, “Now it happened, when the king of Ai saw it, that the men of the city hurried and rose early and went out against Israel to battle, he and all his people, at an appointed place before the plain. But he did not know that there was an ambush against him behind the city.” So, the soldiers were successfully able to go behind the city, set up an ambush. In the morning, the king wakes up. He looks out. No doubt he got some reports, “Hey, the Israelites are back;” and no doubt he was filled with confidence, “Remember what we did to them the first time? Let’s do it again.” He’s going to make his way out against the Israelites, not understanding what is happening and the ambush.

Verse 15, “And Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness. 16 So all the people who were in Ai were called together to pursue them. And they pursued Joshua and were drawn away from the city. 17 There was not a man left in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel. So they left the city open and pursued Israel. 18 Then the LORD said to Joshua, ‘Stretch out the spear that is in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand.’ And Joshua stretched out the spear that was in his hand toward the city. 19 So those in ambush arose quickly out of their place; they ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand, and they entered the city and took it, and hurried to set the city on fire.” Why did they set the city on fire?

We continue in verse 20, “And when the men of Ai looked behind them, they saw, and behold, the smoke of the city ascended to heaven. So they had no power to flee this way or that way, and the people who had fled to the wilderness turned back on the pursuers.” We understand now, as we’ve continued reading, as the ambush got into the city, it’s empty, they set a fire. Now, the people from Ai that are outside of the city making their stand, they realize, “There’s fire behind us in our city,” and then they lose their courage. Then, they understand what’s taken place, “We’ve been tricked! We’ve been pulled out of our city, and now here we are out here in the middle of this field, and we’ve got Israelites behind us, we’ve got Israelites in front of us.” Verse 21, says, “Now when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city and that the smoke of the city ascended, they turned back and struck down the men of Ai.”

I mentioned when we first started our time together that we were going to do something a little different tonight, and this is where we are going to do something a little different. You and I will not continue on in the chapter of Joshua, we will not finish it all, but I did tell you that I would leave you in good hands. Here’s what I mean. I’m going to give you the rest of the outline, though we will not be looking at it in depth. In verses 22-29, we see that all Ai is destroyed—all Ai is destroyed. In other words, the ambush was successful, and what God said was going to happen, actually happened. So, God was true, God was faithful, God did what He said that He was going to do.

The rest of the chapter, of course, is wonderful because it gets into worship. There are some wonderful lessons there, and I will give you a short outline for that also. I told you already that verses 30-35 I titled, “Worship.” The two main divisions would be: war, verses 1-29; and then you have worship, verses 30-35. Again, excellent portion. In verses 30-31, they worshiped at the altar; if you’re taking notes, the altar. Then, in verses 32-35, to finish off the chapter, they worshiped with the law. So, they worshiped at an altar. They built an altar, constructed it, and it’s wonderful the testimony there. Then, Joshua copied or wrote a copy of the law on the stones of the altar, and it really is a beautiful picture.

Why are we…why are you and I not going to continue on in chapter 8? Because there is something here that I want to show you, direct you toward. I want you to go back with me to verse 18, because verse 18 has a phrase that is jam-packed with lessons and wisdom. Notice what happens in verse 18, “Then the LORD said to Joshua, ‘Stretch out the spear that is in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand.’ And Joshua stretched out the spear that was in his hand toward the city. 19 So those in ambush arose quickly out of their place; they ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand, and they entered the city and took it, and hurried to set the city on fire.”

I’ve already pointed out to you several times that communication between Joshua and God has already been restored. In Joshua 7, that was not the case, not by God’s choice, but because Joshua chose to trust his spies rather than to seek God—a huge mistake. But now it has been restored. The relationship has been restored, the communication has been restored, and I want you to take note as to when verse 18 happens. When does Joshua receive this instruction? The instruction is simply to point your spear at the city, that’s it. Just, “Point your spear at the city." Once he does that, the people who are watching the rest of his army, who’s behind the city watching him, when they see him point his spear at the city, they all jump up and they begin to attack.

But I want you to understand that that instruction in verse 18, “Then the LORD said to Joshua, ‘Stretch out the spear that is in your hand toward Ai,” it comes mid battle, and there is a valuable lesson here for us, church. Joshua received further instructions after following the first instructions. You and I do not like that. We want God to tell us all that He’s going to do for the next 50 years of our lives, “God, give me the whole plan.” God so often gives one instruction at a time.

I think…it is my opinion. Again, I’m giving my opinion, which is not very valuable, everybody’s got an opinion. But I think what would happen is if God gave us the ten-year plan or the plan for the rest of my life, “This is what you are going to do for the next 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years,” I think one of two things might happen. I might be terrified and say, “No way I’m doing all of that. I’m getting outta here.” Or, I may say, “Thank You very much, God. Have a seat. I’ll take it from here. I’ve got no problem. I see where You’re leading me. Go lead somebody else. I don’t need it.” And so, there’s a valuable lesson here about walking by faith. Joshua receives instructions mid obedience. He was in the process, the act of being obedient, and then God came and gave him more instructions.

I was saved when I was 20 years old. I started going to Calvary Chapel Colton. It was a tiny church, and they would have occasional church workdays. I would show up as a young, dumb Christian, and I would do whatever it is that they would let me—paint a bathroom, wonderful; plunge a toilet, wonderful; vacuum, pull weeds, whatever it was. I was so excited that they would allow me to come into their church, and they trusted me that I was not going to steal anything. After some time, they approached me and said, “We need someone to run the,” it was a miniature soundboard about this big, “ . . . and we need someone to hit record on the tape for the services. Would you consider doing that?” I said, “I’d love to do that,” and I did that.

After some time, the pastor came to me and said, “Our youth leader just got a new job, and he’s going to be busy working for about the next three weeks while he gets his schedule figured out. Would you consider teaching the youth?” I had never taught a Bible study in my life, but I said, “I suppose, yeah. It’s just three weeks.” That guy never came back. It was like, “I am out. They found some other dummy to do this. I’m never coming back.” He never came back. I still haven’t forgiven him.

After being there for about four-and-a-half years, things changed in my family circumstances and all, and I was not able to get there and get my family there, so then God called me, moved me to a church called Calvary Chapel San Bernardino. I showed up to this church on Baseline in San Bernardino, man. It was a barn. Like, “Really, God? You want me to go here?” And I walked in and there was this man named John Miller in there teaching. I fell in love, and I said, “Lord, I don’t want to serve, I just want to sit down and listen to this man teach the Bible.”

I knew the youth pastor there. After the second week, he saw me and said, “What’re you doing here?” I said, “Well, this is my circumstance. Things changed. I’m coming here, now.” He says, “So, you’re not serving…” “Nope, I’m not serving.” He said, “You know, it’s funny,” he said, “My junior high guy just left.” I said, “I’ll pray for you. God bless you, sir.” He said, “What do you think about teaching just two…” they were meeting on Thursday nights, “What do you think about teaching junior high, just two Thursday nights?” I mean, I was a Christian, right? So I gave him the Christian answer, “I’ll pray about that,” right? You and I know, “Naaaah, that’s not gonna happen, nah.” I’m going to pray about how I can tell you, “No,” that’s what I’m praying about.

I was fighting with the Lord, but the Lord always wins, and I said to the Lord, “Lord, I do not want to do that. I’ll do it, but I do not want to do it. If you want me to teach these junior highers for two weeks, then I pray that You would put it on Jason’s heart to come and ask me again. And wouldn’t you know it, “Hey, have you thought about it?” I said, “I’ll do it.” Yes, Lord, I’ll do it. After the two weeks, Jason said, “Hey, what do you think about teaching two more weeks?” By then, you feel the tug. God’s like, “Nah, you ain’t going nowhere. Let’s go.” And I said, “Okay.” After four weeks then Jason said, “Hey, uh thank you very much for doing that. You know, we’re having a leader’s meeting on Sunday, would you consider coming to the leader’s meeting?” It’s like, I don’t want to, but God’s calling me, “Let’s go.” And, I continued serving there for many years, several years.

Then, Jason one day comes and says, “Hey, man, we’re leaving.” What does that have to do with me? He said, “You need to take over the youth group.” I knew that God was moving, and I began to do that. I served there several years. And then, I got a call from Pastor John, six-and-a-half years ago, and John said, “I want you…I need a youth pastor. Would you pray and consider coming to Revival to be the youth pastor? I want you to come and just do whatever you were doing at the Barn,” because we had served together already. He said, “I just want you to do the same thing.” “I’ll pray about it,” and I did. We prayed. My family prayed; I prayed. And, it was clear. God spoke to me from Matthew 4. He said, “Nah, you gotta drop your nets, man. You gotta leave those things and you gotta go,” and so I did. What I’m sharing with you is a picture of the life of faith. This is how it works. It is one step at a time.

You may remember a man named Philip from Acts 8. You can turn there to Acts 8, if you would like to because maybe my testimony…it’s my testimony. It really doesn’t mean much, but look what happens to Philip in Acts 8. In Acts 8, it opens up with this young man named Saul who’s persecuting the Christians, and then it says in Acts 8:4, “Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word. 5 Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. 6 And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. 7 For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed; and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed. 8 And there was great joy in that city.” Do you understand that Philip was doing what he was supposed to be doing—preaching the gospel. That’s what Jesus had said, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel,” so Philip is being obedient to that, and God’s Word is being honored and people are being saved…it says, “ . . . multitudes,” in verse 6.

Verse 9, “But there was a certain man called Simon, who previously practiced sorcery,” he caused some trouble. But look at verse 12, “But when they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized.” Again, Philip doing what he was supposed to be doing—obedient, preaching the gospel. People are being saved; people are being baptized. Then it says in verse 13, “Then Simon himself also believed; and when he was baptized he continued with Philip, and was amazed, seeing the miracles and signs which were done.”

Right in the middle of all of that wonderful work of God happening, verse 26 says, “Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, ‘Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.’ This is desert. 27 So he arose and went.” Did you see what happened? He was mid obedience. He was being obedient, and then an angel came to him and gave him a special message and moved him onto the next place, away from all the action, “I want you to go to this road, and I want you to look for one person,” and in verse 27 he was obedient, “So he arose and went.” He finds him there.

Look at verse 27, we’re skipping verses obviously, there’s this Ethiopian, “ . . . a eunuch,”—he was a servant of—“ . . . Candace the queen,” and he’s on his chariot. Then, verse 29, “Then the Spirit said to Philip, ‘Go near and overtake this chariot.” Do you see what’s happening? Philip is obedient to preach the gospel. Then, he gets a message from God. The next step, he then moves. He’s obedient to that. Then, as he shows up, he doesn’t say, “Well, God, what do You want me to do over there?” He just says, “Okay, wherever You want me to go, that’s where I’ll go,” and then he gets there. Once he gets there, then the Word of God comes to him again, verse 29, “Then the Spirit says to Philip, ‘Go near and overtake this chariot.’ 30 So Philip ran to him,”—the obedience. And, wouldn’t you know it, this Ethiopian just happened to be reading through Isaiah 53. He asked Philip, “What is all of this? What does this mean?” Philip was able to share the gospel, and share Jesus with this Ethiopian through Isaiah 53.

Then, in verse 39 it says, “Now when they came up out of the water,” so this Ethiopian had gotten saved right there on his chariot, and he said, “I want to be baptized,” so Philip baptized him. “Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing. 40 But Philip was found,”—miles away—“at Azotus. And passing through, he preached in all the cities till he came to Caesarea.”

Friends, that is the life of faith. That is the life that Joshua was living in Joshua 8. God said, “Set an ambush,” he set an ambush. He didn’t say, “Well, then what do I do after that? Can you tell me the next two or three things to do?” Some of us like to really be prepared, man, and we need to know all the details. That’s not how God operates. God’s got all the details, He’s prepared. The only thing that you and I need to do is be obedient. That’s it. That’s our only responsibility, and He moves us one step at a time. Do you know why? Because we’re babies, that’s why, one step at a time. Do you know why? Because we’re sheep, one step at a time. That’s it. And, that’s what He does with Philip, that’s what He did with me, that’s what He was doing with Joshua in Joshua 8—one step at a time.

Family, we need to understand this because some us spiritually speaking are beating our heads against the wall. We’re frustrated. We’re confused. We don’t understand, “Where’s God at? I don’t think He’s here. What’s He doing?” He does not need to tell you all of that. What you need to do is be obedient to whatever it is that He is telling you.

So, I’ve got two points for you to finish us off tonight. I purposely did not give these to Pastor Aaron to put on the screen. Why would I do that? Because I want you to pay attention. I want you to listen to what I’m about to tell you. Two lessons that we want to leave with tonight. First, proceed according to the Word of God. We saw that in verses 1-2, God spoke to Joshua, assured him, and gave him an instruction, “Set an ambush behind the city,” very simple, “Set an ambush behind the city.” He may have given an explanation, but it’s not recorded for us, so all we know is that God said, “Set an ambush behind the city,” didn’t give any other instructions, just do that.

Once Joshua did that, and the plan began to unfold, then God, as Joshua is in the process of being obedient, then God speaks to him again and says, “Stretch out the spear . . . toward the city.” When Joshua does that, did you notice what happened in Joshua 8:18, when Joshua does that, then the rest of the army begins to move. Had Joshua said, “Point my spear toward the city? Why would I do such a thing, God? That seems so silly. It’s going to look like some kind of dramatic scene in some dramatic movie—me standing there pointing. Everybody’s running, all my countrymen are running, people are waiting for me, and You want me to point my spear at the city?” Joshua does not question, he just does what he’s told to do. When he does that, the rest of the plan is activated; when the rest of the plan is activated, then there is success.

So, you and I must proceed according to the Word of God. What does that mean? It means that I want to get my instructions, my marching orders, from God. It means that I am no longer going to handle my problems—my problems at work, relationship problems at home, things going on at school. I’m no longer handling those in the flesh. I’m not coming in there ready to argue, ready to fight, ready to tell somebody what’s on my mind. What I’m going to do is, I’m going to pray and seek the Lord, and then whatever God puts on my heart, I’m going to do that. I’m not going to ask, “Why?” I’m just going to do that. That is the life of faith, and we fail oftentimes to explain this to young Christians.

So many times over the years, I have sat across from someone in a counseling situation, and they’ve shared their story, “I’ve been a Christian all these years,” and “this is what’s going on, and I’m so frustrated,” because they don’t understand this—one step at a time. That’s the life of faith. So, I must proceed according to the Word of God. What does God’s Word tell me to do in this situation? If I’ve got an enemy, what does God’s Word tell me to do? Love my enemies. Pray for those who spitefully use me. Okay, I need to love my enemy. If my neighbor is being nasty, what am I supposed to do? Love my neighbor as I love myself. Wow! So, I need to proceed according to the Word of God. Whatever God is instructing me to do, that’s what I need to do.

Secondly, I need to proceed only as far as the Word of God. You say, “What? What’re you talking about?” I’m talking about verse 18. Do you understand that Joshua was in the process of running away from the city of Ai, that was part of the plan. He didn’t have step number two yet. All he was concerned with was, this is what God told me to do. That’s it. You and I need to be content with whatever it is that God has called us to do.

I started teaching the Bible many years ago—you can’t tell, can you, but I did. And, almost from the beginning, I had people come to me and say, “You know what? I can tell that God is going to do something big in you and through you. My question all of these years has always been this, “What’s bigger than what I’m doing right now? Is there something bigger than high school ministry?” Because if there is, I don’t know about it because I’ve got one thing on my mind and that is to serve the Lord where He has me right now. That’s it. I have no ambitions to have my own pulpit or my own church. Who in the world would want to do that? Not me. I am content where I am.

Joshua was content to continue following God’s instructions until God told him to do something different. You and I must learn to be content right where we’re at, and I suspect that God will not move us until we learn to be content. Wherever you are, you just get it in your mind and in your heart, that’s where you’re going to be for the rest of your life.

As far as I’m concerned, I am going to be at Revival, in the shoebox out there, preaching the Word of God to high school students until the day I die. I have no desire to do anything else. I mean maybe take a vacation once in a while, but that’s it. I don’t want to do anything else. I love going on missions, short-term missions, those are great, but I always want to be back here. I like to teach in here, occasionally, but if I’m teaching in here, and the high school students are in the high school room, guess what? I’m in here, and I’m talking to you and I’m teaching, and my mind is thinking, I wonder what’s going on in the high school room?

You and I must learn to be content where we are. Do what God has told you to do, and do not do anything else until you’ve done that. Then, once you’ve done that, then just be content with that. If God desires to move you on, He’ll move you on.

You may find yourself tonight in here in a discouraging situation, maybe it’s at home, maybe it’s your marriage, maybe it’s a work relationship, maybe it’s school, whatever it might be, and you just feel like, “Man, this is never going to end. This is never ending, and is there any hope in sight,” and “God, where are You at? Why aren’t You moving me on? This is what I wanna do,” and “Here’s the plan,” and “This is what we should do, God.” And, God is waiting for you to be content with where you are right now. That’s it. That’s the life of faith. There is nothing else beyond this, it’s just that. And then, when God pleases, He then can move you. That’s the way He has always operated—New Testament, Old Testament, it’s always been the same, He operates by faith. That’s the way Joshua was living—by faith, one step at a time.

Until I learn that…family, until I learn that, I’m going to be living a life filled with frustration wondering, “What else is out there? What else could I be doing?” I don’t want to find myself living out somewhere else and missing what God’s got me doing right here, right now. I want to be all about this. This is it, there is nothing else, just this. That’s the life of faith. That’s what Joshua was living. That’s what you and I want to learn to live. We want to learn one step at a time. That’s it. Whatever the ten steps are from now, let God do that. All I’m doing is, I’ve got my eyes locked on the back of the head of the Shepherd as He’s leading me beside the still waters, the green pastures, through the valley of the shadow of death, up to higher ground. It’s not my responsibility to find out where’s higher ground, my responsibility is to lock my eyes on Him.

Remember what the writer of Hebrews said? “ . . . looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith,” that’s it. That’s my responsibility. That’s my ambition in life, just to follow Jesus.