01-05-08 Men Message, Forest

Forest, message to the men.
Joshua 5-6: have to be strong and obedient.
Sometimes we just have to be obedient.
1) Strong and obedient in heart.
a. We have to get our heart in the right place.
b. God is not on our side, we are on his side. What side are you on, for or against me, neither, we are for God alone.
c. God wanted him to have a humble heart. What do you want me to do Lord? Stay humble before the Lord. Proverbs 11:2, Prov 15:33
d. Disobedience is the fruit of pride. We should walk in with the heart of wow, God actually wants to use me.
e. How much time do we spend before we lead the bible talk? Everyday is a holy day, and everywhere is holy. Realize God is in the center of everything.
f. Obedience is a overflow of holiness. I beat my body and make it my slave. Got to make a plan and have a holy set apart heart for God.
g. They lost 36 and freaked out and they were fearful that they were losing face in front of their enemies, what is our standard?
h. You can’t win if you are not holy yourself. You have to have a uncompromising conviction on sin. Don’t tolerate sin.
i. Make a marching band operation. You think navy seal and God uses their obedience to complete his plan.
2) We have to be strong and obedient in action.
a. Faith: No one seems to know the outcome of the plan except Joshua, but everyone still obeys. Hebrews 11:30. James 2. There the Israelites had great faith and great thing occurred.
b. Famission groups. Family groups, mission groups. If you do it with faith, God is with you. We get caught up in the plan, method, action, and we get faithless because of the plan.
c. Are the walls before us tumbling before us? To much activity with too little faith.
d. Patience: They are patient in the plan that God gave them. 7 days for healing from circumcision and then another 7 days of walking around Jericho so half a month of waiting before they even get to fight. We don’t see the instantaneous results so we look for a new method, a new result.
e. Don’t become weary in doing good. We did the same thing at tech and God has provided.
f. We could swing the other way and be over patient. We don’t see the miracles that faith produces. Spiritually speaking you have to go hit someone.
3) We have to have unity
a. Joshua 6:20. We want one of these scenes where we win for God. State of VA and beyond. Simply stay unified. Genesis 11:6 Tower of Babel. We need to stay unified?
b. We have to have great leadership. Joshua led but he was inclusive. Don’t say “It’s my way or the highway.”
c. Lots of communication, we have to have that uncomfortable conversation. Everyone is fired up but that brother or sister. It keeps us from doing great things for God. To really work with people and make sure they get there.
d. Flat out hard work, keep fighting till unity comes. When people hear about us it is the fruit of the unity in the state of VA. That unity is so powerful. 1 Cor 1:10 Agree with one another so no division may be among you.
e. We all have those Jericho’s we want to topple and fall. If our bible talks do well, then our church does well. Are you going to help your people be lead to victory? Let’s be strong and obedient with God, stay holy.