Did you ever wake up in the night and have a song in your mind and you have no idea where that song came from? I mean that happens to me – not every night thankfully – but sometimes a song…I'll wake up and I'll think, “What am I thinking?” Some songs, it's kind of pleasant to have them in your mind. It could be a hymn that we sing at church, or whatever, and you think “Oh that's a good thing.” And other times it could be a song, and I think, “Where did that come from? I don't even want to remember that song.” So you think, “What did I do? How did that happen? What happened the day before to do that?” Well this past week there has been a song in my mind that I haven't heard in I don't even know when. I don't even know how many times I've heard it in my life. I don't listen to the radio. I don't have the radio on during the day. But one night I woke up and the song was in my mind, and it's been there all week. I'm going to kind of give you a few of the lyrics of that song, because it kind of tells us something about today – that we live in. And I'll tell you in a minute…and I'll give credit where credit is due to who wrote the song and who performed the song. But let me just read you some of the lyrics, and I hope I can do it without doing the beat along with it, since it's been on my mind all week. (Laughter) Forgive me if I do. Okay, these are just part of the lyrics. They're not all of them, right? It says:

There are people moving out, people moving in. Why? Because of the color of their skin. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, vote for me and I'll set you free. Evolution. Revolution. Gun control. Sound of soul. Shooting rockets to the moon. Kids growing up too soon. Politicians say, “More taxes will solve everything.” And the band played on. Fear in the air. Tension everywhere. Unemployment rising fast. Eve of destruction. Tax deductions. Population out of hand. Suicide. Too many bills. Round and around and around we go, where the world's headed nobody knows. It's just a ball of confusion. That's what the world is today. Hey, hey.

So I wake up with this song in my mind and I remembered the song. I can't remember it being one of my favorite songs, but I recognized it. It was actually released in 1970 – fifty years ago, and it was the Temptations that sang that song. And it was written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong. And it's very telling, because those words we could say about the world we live in today, can't we? It's very interesting that fifty years ago, there is a song that is talking about the situation in the world – the same situations that we're in today. The problem is that fifty years later, none of them are solved, right? And the world has gotten worse. Since 1970, we've had abortion being legalized, we’ve had same-sex marriage be legalized, we're dealing with a Covid situation in the country today. And it makes us think. In fifty years – fifty years ago – the same problems we talk about today were there. And how many presidents have there been since 1970? How many changes in parties who are in the presidency or in control of congress, how many have there been in fifty years? Has anything changed? No, nothing has changed. The same problems that were there back then are still here with us today – and even more. The world is, as the song says, “It's a ball of confusion.” And we know when there is confusion in the air, that's not of God. God is not the author of confusion. Satan is the author of confusion. Back in 1970, they were singing about these things, and here in 2020, we're looking at things a whole lot more seriously today than they were back then. The protests today, the anarchy that's today, the demonstrations that we see today, some of the things that are on the docket as far as change in government, change in our whole society, change in the way we think and feel – all different today, all headed in the wrong direction, just like it was back then. What has changed?

A few weeks ago, we were talking about the lust of the flesh, the lust of eyes and the pride of life, and we were in 1 John 2. You may remember in 1 John 2:17. It says the world is passing away. And we can make no mistake, the America that we know is passing away. It's not going to go back to the way it was before. Things will not get better and retreat, no matter who is in office. No matter what political party rules, it simply is not going to heal itself. This is a world that is totally confused. This is a world that is of Satan. This is a world that is chaotic and we live in uncertain times. We have this Covid-19 situation that takes twists and turns that no one knows where it's going next or what effect it will have on people.

We've got controversies everywhere we look, even over little things like masks. A mask: Should we wear it or should we not? Some people feel, “Absolutely.” Others say, “Not.”. You don't even know where to turn to get the answers anymore, because there is no place you can go and just get the straight truth. This is exactly what it is. It's everyone's opinion and that's what we deal with. We have controversies over should school start or should school not start. No one can agree on anything. Pick any topic and you will find someone who disagrees with you and they will make their voices heard.

We have an economy. Some say it's growing and coming back. Others think that it's been indelibly affected. And probably, over the next few quarters and years, we will see the effects of what's going on here with everything that is in mind. So we have a world that is truly, truly confused – truly uncertain. And we live in a time of change. No doubt about it. We can't bury our heads and say this is all going to go away in few months and things are going to be like they were. We are on the brink of the new…of what the Bible has talked about and where the world is going. And the question for us is, “How do we deal with that? Because we live in a world where we hear all these things, we watch what is going on. We're going to have our opinions one way or the other. As I mentioned in the Bible studies this past week, it's okay to have opinions. We just can't let opinions divide us. There is always something that can come and say we would love to do anything that would create conflict between us and church. But our job is always to remember that we are supposed to become one body, and one group, and if we have little differences of opinion we still love each other and we work through it.

You know there was a time…I guess, as we go through uncertain times; we could find ourselves anxious. We could find ourselves getting on one side of the podium or the other side of the podium. We can do this and we can do that. What should we do? What do we do? We've been in the church for awhile. We know what the prophecies are out there. We know what the world is going to go through before the return of Jesus Christ. We know that is the ultimate answer. There is no answer apart from Jesus Christ in this world and His return. What we should do whenever we feel anxious, whenever we feel tenuous, whenever we feel tense, whenever we feel like, “What's going to happen next?” that begins to affect us. Where do we turn? We've got to learn to turn to God. We've got to learn to turn to the Bible. In the Bible, there were times that are much like the times we live in now.

Let's go back to Judges, because whatever we go through in life, we can find examples in the Bible that lead us through these times, and keep us focused where we need to be focused, and that can bring the calm and the peace and the settledness to us. In Judges 2, we look in on Israel. They're in the Promised Land. They've had two wonderful leaders who were led by God and yielded to God. Moses was there for forty years. He led them out of Egypt. He led them into the Promised – no, he didn't lead them into the Promised Land. He led them through the wilderness for forty years. He died and then Joshua took up the mantle. Joshua followed God and he led them into the Promised Land. They inhabited the land that God had promised them. But then, Joshua died, and there was no leader. And look what happens to Israel. In Judges 2:17, we something that we can say about the world around us today. Did I say Judges 2? I think I meant Judges 17. I'm looking at the wrong scripture here. Judges 17 – Judges 17 and verse 6:

Judges 17:6 – In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

That's the definition of the world today. That's where the world wants to go. Everyone wants to do what they think is right. The problem is they want everyone else to agree with them. But everyone does their own thing, so you have this very confused mess that is out there. This is right to one group, this is right to another group; this is wrong to one group – all trying to work together, but no one is willing to give an inch. Everyone did what was right in their own eyes, and it was a mess in Israel during that time. There was a time of uncertainty when they had no clear direction, where they did things their own way. They didn't learn the lessons of the eighty years before them. They just did things the way they wanted done. And it was a tough time. For a while, they would turn to God – things would get better. Then they would swing back into their old ways, and things got bad again. They go into captivity, lose everything. And there was this kind of just recycling that they did, and nothing changed. Nothing changed for a while, until Samuel came around. Samuel was a good judge. He watched over Israel well. They followed him and there were good times with Samuel. Because when we follow God, good times follow. God is not the author of confusion. God is the author of order. Now when there is confusion in our life, it's not God. It's us apart from God. Because when God is in our lives, and we're doing things His way, order will result. 

Let's look at 1 Samuel 8. Samuel was a good judge. You remember the story – he was there at the time his mother handed him over to the high priest, and he lived, and followed God. But there came a time when he, too, was getting old, and the mantle was going to have to be passed on to someone else.

In verse 1 of chapter 8, it says:

1 Samuel 8:1 – Now it came to pass when Samuel was old that he made his sons judges over Israel. Well, here they had a good example with their father, right? If they had just learned from what he had done – if they would have followed what he had said – everything would have been okay. And it tells us what their names are in verse 2. But in verse 3 it says:

V-3-7 – But his sons did not walk in his ways. Here they were – if we want to call them second generation Christians – they should have known from the example of the parents how to live. But somehow, they just took things for granted and they weren't like Samuel. They lived there with him. They saw how he did things, but they didn't do things the same way. Anyway, they did not walk in his ways. They turned aside after dishonest gain, took bribes, and perverted justice. They looked at the world around them and they became like the world. They allowed those type of things – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life – to invade their service to the people, and it didn't turn out well. People saw the difference, and they came to Samuel at Ramah, and they said, “Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.” We need someone to lead us. We need someone with a firm hand like you, Samuel, to lead us, because now that we see what's happening we're going to keep going off into the same direction that we had for all these years – since when Joshua was there – until you came along. But they hadn't learned their lesson, as you see. In verse 6, it says: But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” So Samuel prayed to God. And God said something very interesting to Samuel. He said: “Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them. Somehow, in all the years that they had been following Moses and following Joshua, and then Samuel, they didn't learn that it wasn't those men that was bringing peace and joy and everything to that congregation of Israel. It was God leading them. It was those men as they followed God. God was the King all along. And they didn't pick up on it. “Hey, we want to be like the nations around us. Give us a physical king. We want a man to rule over us.” So God says, “You know Samuel, they're not getting it. They rejected Me. They haven't rejected you. They rejected Me. But give them what they want. Give them what they want. Let them see what the end results of that are, because I let people do what they want to do so they can see the results of their actions.” And we know what the results of those actions are. There was a king that was placed over them. There were some good kings through the years. And when those good kings reigned – that followed God, that paid attention to His law, that tried to incorporate it into their lives – the land was at peace and the land prospered. But then, you would have wicked kings and eventually the story of Israel and Judah, after they split – because division and splits come from Satan too…. They don't come from God when people are following His way. The end result: they lost it all – everything that God had given them. They both lost the land that God had given them. They turned from Him, and they became captives again, and were driven out of their country, and out of their land. That's what happens when we don't follow God. That's a lesson for us to learn.

Let's look at Psalm 146. David, a very wise man. Solomon was very wise, but as David wrote his Psalms, you see the wisdom that God gave him. As he sized up situations and understood what God was doing, you see what he's saying in Psalms 146, verse 3 – something he would say to you and me today, as we live here in 2020, and see the things going on around us that are going on. In verse 3, he says:

Psalm 146:3 – Do not put your trust in princes, nor in a son of man, in whom there is no help. Back then, Israel wanted a king. Now we see the result of that king – following that king – was – both the good lessons and bad lessons of it – but David surmises, don't put you trust in princes or in the son of man.

Back a few chapters, in Psalm 118, he says the same thing – 118, verse 8:

Psalm 118:8 – It is better to trust in God than to put confidence in man. Better to trust in Him. That's the choice that should have been made back then. It's better – verse 9 – to trust in God than to put confidence in princes.

Proverbs 3, verse 5 says, “Don't lean on your own understanding.” That's what they did in the time of the judges of Israel. They leaned on their own. “This is the way I think it should happen. This is the way I think it should be done.” And the land was a mess, as you read through that book. Today in America, and the world, people lean on their own understanding, and we're in a mess. We are in a mess.

In Jeremiah 17, God had some pretty strong words about relying on men or putting your trust in men. Jeremiah 17 – it's the same chapter that comes down to verse 9, where it says the heart is desperately wicked, who can know it? In the verses leading up to it, here in verse 5 of chapter 17, he says:

Jeremiah 17:5-6 – Thus says the Lord: “Cursed – now that's a word - Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord. For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when good comes, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land which is not inhabited.

Cursed is the man who trusts in man. Israel did it. Mankind has always done it. They put their trust in a man. We're here in 2020, and amidst all the confusion and all the uncertainty and all the change and everything that's in the air, and now we have an election coming up. And people put their trust in one man or the other thinking this man will lead us out of this mess. This man is going to lead us into this. This one is better than that person. Is the answer in a man? Is either of the people that are they going to be running for president, are they going to be bringing America to where they need to be? Absolutely not. And as God's people, I hope we're not putting our trust, or leaning too heavily on our opinion of what should happen, and allowing that to divide us, or even make us think those things. Our trust is in God. There is no man. If we're putting our trust in man, or looking too heavily to that – “Well, we've got some things to happen.” – we can't make the same mistake that Israel made – that mankind has made. The only answer to the problems we have, you and I know – and that's Jesus Christ. It's not one party or the other. It's not in this House or that Senate. It's not in this man or that man. It's in God. And we're misplacing our faith. And please pay attention to verse 5 there in chapter 17. Don't be on the wrong side of God. Follow Him. He's in control. He knows what He's doing.

Well, we do live in uncertain times and they affect us. They have even affected the church. We look at we're doing. Look at the Feast of Tabernacles – something that was just taken for granted every year – and here we are, and it's been kind of upended this year. Until yesterday, things are set and who knows what will happen between now and October 2, when the Feast starts? We trust in God that everything will be the way it is established right now, but in uncertain times maybe something will happen between now and then, and we'll just have to roll with the punches and be wherever God tells us to be. Because certainly there will be the Feast of Tabernacles, wherever He chooses to place His name – not where we choose to place our name – but where He chooses to place His name.

Where's the answer? What should we be? And every time we feel a little uncertain, or we feel a little anxious, or we feel a little bit of that fear like, “What happens if this happens down the road? What happens if this person gets in power? What happens if that person gets in power? What will it be like?” And we can get ourselves all worked up over a number of things. But it doesn't need to be that way. Storms will come. Winds will blow. But we shouldn't be shaken, if we're living the life God has called us to.

Turn back to Mark 4. Because in the Bible, it gives us clear guidelines as to what to do in times of uncertainty, in times of change, when there are things in the air that we haven't been used to, and things we haven't gone through before. In Mark 4, and verse 31, we have the incidence of…it's not verse 31. Let me see here…oh, verse 35. We have the just the incidence of Christ with the apostles there. They're learning as they walk with Him, and it says in verse 35:

Mark 4:35-40 –On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side.” Now we've got to go to the other side of the lake. In many ways we're like people who are about to cross over into another time in life – another part of this age – that precedes the time that Jesus Christ returns – just like the people of Israel when Moses died. They were just about to cross over to the other side. “Let us cross over to the other side.” Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was. And other little boats were also with Him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. Those winds, that storm, they didn't bother Him at all. The others were like, “What's going to happen to us? Are we going to die? Is it going to turn the boat over? Will we all drown in this place that we are?” But He was perfectly at peace. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” Don't you see what's going on around us? What do we do? Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” Don't you know that, in the world, there are going to be storms that blow? There are going to be winds that howl. Winds of doctrine that can go through the air. We've talked about the time of the end, and even false prophets that are out there, that can really look awfully convincing. Have faith. Look to Me. Don't look to yourself. Don't lean on your own understanding. Look to Me and follow Me and follow those who are following Me, but make sure you know it's Me – God – who is leading you.

And so we find that principle that's a very basic principle that we need to be reminded of every once in awhile. Back in the Old Testament, we see God laying out to a man, Joshua, who was taking the command of Israel at a time there was a change – that maybe the people of Israel didn't expect. And he laid out for them exactly what they should do – in the times that they were facing, the times that we are facing, the times that any of us might face, because certainly if we think today is uncertain, and today change is in the air, certainly it's going to magnify more and more between now and the return of Jesus Christ.

Let's go back to Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy 34 – the very last chapter in Deuteronomy. I don't know if we appreciate just how faithful a man Moses was to God. He led Israel through things that they couldn't even imagine. Through all of the plagues in Egypt, he just stood there, and he followed God, and waited for God to bring those people out of Egypt. He didn't give up. He didn't fret when they didn't let them go. He knew God was going to honor His word. And they had their backs up against the Red Sea, he might not have known what God had planned, but he led them through the Red Sea. And all those forty years, all those people in the wilderness, God fed them, He watered them. Their shoes didn't wear out. Their clothes didn't wear out. God provided for them. People became reliant on Moses and they trusted in his faith. But here, right when they're about to cross over into the Promised Land that they have been picturing for forty years, and being told about, Moses is going to die. And there is a reason that God is going to have Moses die at that time. It seems that the natural thing is let Moses led them into the Promised Land. But God decided for Moses to die. Let's look at verse 5 here, of chapter 34.

Deuteronomy 34:5 – So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. And of course, God buried him and everything. In verse 8, it says:

V-8-12 – And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days. So the days of weeping and mourning for Moses ended. Now Joshua the son of Nun, who was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him. So the children of Israel heeded him, as did the Lord had commanded Moses. But since then, there has not arisen in Israel a prophet like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, in all the signs and wonders which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, before Pharaoh, before all his servants, and in all his land, and by all that mighty power and all the great terror which Moses performed in the sight of all Israel.

Well, Moses was there. Moses did it. But it wasn't by his power. It was God leading them. And they didn't need Moses to led them into the Promised Land. They needed God to lead them into the Promised Land. So Moses died and Joshua became the leader of Israel. The very next book, in chapter 1, verse 1, of Joshua. it says:

Joshua 1:1-9 – After the death of Moses – now the people might have been very concerned. “Wow, we've gone all this way and now we're going to cross over into the land,” but you kind of sense that they're settled as they go into this, because they've paid attention to what Moses had said. They see and they know the man Joshua, and he's committed to God. After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, saying: “Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them—the children of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the River Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your territory. No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you. 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. And he repeats: 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. 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. 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.”

Those had to be very encouraging words to Joshua. They should be very encouraging words to us – words that we should have in our mind, words that should be in our hearts. Because as God said these words to Joshua, He would say to every one of His people who are going through a period of change, who are going through the times of life that invariably will come, because He never promised us – just like He didn't promise Israel – “Everything is going to be rosy every day.” You will have your challenges. There are times that will test your character, test your patience. And those are times that will increase your faith in Me.

But in those words – those nine verses that God gave to Joshua – we can find three principles that we should write on our hearts, write in our minds, and every time we feel a little uncertain, every time we feel a little bit fearful, every time we think where is this going, that we bring back that memory of what we do. Now there is absolutely nothing, nothing new, that we're going to talk about in Joshua. But we're going to look at the three points that God makes to Joshua there that apply to us. As I was putting this together I was reminded of words I read last week when we read Deuteronomy 30. And Moses said, “There's nothing here, Israel. You don't have to cross the sea to find this truth. You don't have to go up to heaven to find it. It's right here. It's in the Bible. The answer to all of our problems is in the Bible as we follow God. And as we look and see, where are the examples – and God gives us the principles to follow – we don't have to be people that are upset. We don't have to be people who are worried about the outcome of this or the outcome of that. We just have to be people who look to God and do the things that He has to say.

So let's pull apart the first nine verses of Joshua here. Let's begin in verse 2.

V-2-3 – “Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them—the children of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses. What He is saying is, “The promise that I gave you still stands. Believe the promise. I told you, as I promised Abraham, that I would give you these lands. Believe that it is going to happen. Don't worry about a change in leadership. Don't worry about how tall the people are in those lands. Don't worry about how tall the walls of Jericho are, or any of the other things that you see in that land. I told you I will give it. Believe it.” And that's what He told Joshua. “Just as I said to Moses, I'm saying to you. I haven't changed My mind. I am God who changes not. The promises I give you, the promises are sure. You can take them to the bank. And whatever saying of surety you want, with God, they are sure.” We live in a time where God has said, “Jesus Christ will return. I will bring My Kingdom to Earth. It will be a time of joy, peace, harmony, unlike anything the world has ever seen. There will be some hard times between now and then, but the end result of it will be absolutely perfect and good for all of mankind. Believe it.”

Now what He was telling Joshua: “Keep your eyes on the promise. Keep your eyes on the vision. Keep your eyes on where I am taking you.” He would tell us today, “Keep the vision of God's Kingdom alive in your mind. Don't let it depart. Understand that there will be things come that don't seem…“I wish it wasn't going to be that way.” But it has to be that way. God knows what He's doing. Our job is to keep the vision of the Kingdom alive in us.

Now Proverbs 29, verse 18 says:

Proverbs 29:18 – Where there is no vision the people perish.

Where there is no vision the people perish. It's like, if we lose sight of what God has called us to, if we just kind of rescind into the society we live in, believe me, your hope is going to disappear. You'll be as desperate as any of the people that are out there. You may find yourself parading up and down the street thinking that that's going to make some change. No. Keep the vision. Know what it is that God has called you to and don't let that depart ever from your mind. In fact, as we go through these times we should be honing that vision even more and more. As we go through the Bible studies, we’ve talked about some of those things – getting a vision of what it is like in that. We pray that “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on Earth.” We can kind of get a vision of what it's like when we look at the words of the Bible, and we tear it apart, and see what God has said. We find ourselves desiring things to be that way. God gives us what we need for now. He'll add to it in His time. But keep that vision alive.

Let's go back to John 14, because…no, let's go to Matthew 17 first. Matthew 17. When Jesus Christ, in Matthew 16, told the apostles that He was going to begin His church…. In Matthew 16, you see that He had to kind of correct Peter on one thing that he had, and remind Peter, “No, it's not what you want, Peter. It's what God wants. And even though it might not be the thing we want, we have to kind of yield to what God's will is – and remember He is in control. His will be done. And then in chapter 17, right on the heels of Christ saying, “I'm starting My church,” it says in verse 1:

Matthew 17:1-3 – Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves – and He gave them a vision of the Kingdom. And He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. Peter was overwhelmed. Peter was like, “This is good! This is to be desired. This is where we want to be!” That's the feeling we should have as we hone the vision of the Kingdom, and hone the vision of what it is that God has led us to understand.

In just a couple months, we'll be at the Feast of Tabernacles. One of the things that the Feast of Tabernacles is supposed to picture is to give us a vision of the Kingdom – God's people together, united, harmonious, joy, getting along with one another, feeding and being inspired by His word, doing His will. And that's all we need to have a good Feast. We don't need all those other physical trappings that have crept into it over the years. We need God to lead the Feast. We need that Feast each year to get away from our homes, and to get out of the world, and get a vision of what the Kingdom is like. And you can be praying about that as we go between now and October 2, when the Feast begins, wherever you're keeping it, that God will give us all a vision of what His Kingdom will be like. And this year at the Feast of Tabernacles, we'll be able to hone that. We'll be able to feel the effects of living His way of life – of being the people that God has brought together in one place – one place – led by His Holy Spirit, inspired by His Holy Spirit, and what we learn from it this year. But God wants us to have a vision just like He inspired the apostles there with that vision. We don't see the Kingdom. If we don't see the Kingdom – if that's not in our minds – we're missing something. We're missing a motivator.

If we go back to John 14…that back there is Christ, when He talks about the church to begin with, but here on the eve of His arrest and crucifixion, Jesus Christ addresses the same thing to the apostles again. They're about to enter a time of change. They're about to enter a time of uncertainty. They can kind of feel in the way that Jesus Christ is talking, something is in the air. They may not know what is going on, but Jesus Christ knows they are a little troubled. They're a little upset. They're kind of looking at what's going on. John 14, and verse 1, He said:

John 14:1-4 – “Let not your heart be troubled – don't let it be troubled – you believe in God, believe also in Me.” Believe Him. Trust Him that He's in charge, that things are going to be the way that He wants them to be. Don't let your heart be troubled. Turn to God. Don't turn to man. Don't turn to this group or that group. Turn to God. You believe in God, believe in Me. And then he gives them a vision. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. I'm going to leave you, but you know what? There is something I'm doing while I'm gone. There is something that's happening. I’m not just leaving. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself – that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know. They just had to sort through all the human emotions and all the other things that go with it. But, just like us, we know the way. We just have to adopt it. We just have to make it a part of our everyday life. We have to make it part of our thought process. It has to be the place we turn in times of uncertainty.

Whether it's in times of Covid, or financial uncertainty, or health uncertainty, or whatever it is, that we don't go looking to men, we don't go looking to the things of the world. We turn to God – not following the examples – examples we can even see in our lives – that what is really done when we turn to man, have things gotten any better? Well we need to turn to God and make that part of our process.

So the first thing we do is remember the vision. We find ourselves – stop. Stop if you're feeling uncertain. Stop and read the Bible. Stop and read Joshua 1:1-9. Get a vision. Stop and think about what God has called us to. Think about the certainty of His promises and Jesus Christ's return. Think about the certainty of Him giving you His Holy Spirit that will see us through, that will give us the power and the might to overcome self – to go through all the things that we're going to go through. As we sang in the opening hymn today, “God will see us through.” We just have to believe Him. We have to trust Him. And that's a lifelong process of getting to the point where we trust Him and not our own ideas, our own things, our old go-to places when uncertainty – whatever that uncertainty may be – that we learn to go to God, and let Him handle it.

Let's go back to Joshua. That would be point one – keep that vision alive in your mind. We go now to verses 5 and 6 and to verse 8. I'll split this point into two, but we find the second point. God says:

Joshua 1:5-6 – No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. You're doing God's will. “You're My people,” is what He's saying. “I called you for a purpose. Follow Me and you know what? No man is going to be able to divert you off of your path. You might be the problem. You might allow yourself to be diverted or distracted, but no man will be able to do it. unless you allow him to.” No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you. As I was with Moses – God says the same thing to us. How was He with Moses? Well, we talked about it. Through all the plagues, through the Red Sea, through forty years in the wilderness, through times that we couldn't even imagine living through, God provided everything that Israel needed. And Moses completely yielded and followed God. And as they followed God – as Moses led them – God took care of everything they needed. As He was with Moses, He will be with us. He says in verse 6: 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. Be strong. Be courageous. Be confident in what you're doing, and knowing that you are the one, that you are doing what God's will is. If we are right with God, if we are following Him, and our confidence is in Him, there isn't anything that will come our way that He won't overcome.

Now, keep your finger there in Joshua. Let's go back to Jeremiah 17 again. We read verses 5 and 6 about cursed is the man who trusts in man and in verse 7, God inspired Jeremiah to write this:

Jeremiah 17:7-8 – Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord. Do you want to be blessed? Trust in God. “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes – or when the storms rage, or when the winds blow – but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit. Nothing will stop you from moving forward if you trust in God – if you build that trust year by year by actions and choices that we make. We can't keep doing the same thing we've done every single year. And every time a problem arises, run here, run there. We've got to get to the point where we trust God. We trust God and not man. And that's not easy to do – not our own resources, not our own ideas, not our own history, unless that history is written with the Holy Spirit all over it. Psalm 84 and verse 5:

Psalm 84:5 – Blessed – here it is again – Blessed is the man whose strength – wonder where our strength comes from in those times? Strength is not going to come from us. Remember that in Zechariah? Not by our might, not by our power. Our strength only comes from God. Blessed is the man whose strength is in You, whose heart is set on pilgrimage – not with it's roots firmly planted in this world, but knowing it is on a journey to the Kingdom of God. And then he goes through some verses, but let's drop down to verse 11.

V-11 – For the Lord God is a sun and shield. The Lord will give grace and glory; No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.

And there is the key of the second point – our strength – and we have to realize our strength and reliance has to be in God…. If we're relying on ourselves we will fall easily. If our strength is in God we can stand and we can go through the things that we'll go through and be there when the Kingdom comes. How do we develop that strength in God? Well, let's go back to Joshua, and we'll see in verses 7 and 8 how we develop that strength in God. The second time, in verse 7, he says: be strong and courageous. Verse 6: be strong and courageous.

Joshua 1:7-8 – 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. 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. When God says success, He doesn't necessarily mean we're going to be millionaires because we do it. We'll have good success in His way of life. The important things that we will become rich in are faith in Him, confidence in Him, looking to Him. Developing faith in God is such an important thing. We read in James that faith without works is dead. And it is. And we talked at the last Bible study that works without faith is dead too. They've got to go hand in hand. And faith comes in the heart. We build on the first point when we believe God. When we believe God, we've got to have the faith to do the things that God says to do. And it's the faith – that's putting into action what we learn.

So when God tells Joshua – and he tells us – we've talked about this many times – when He tells Joshua to understand this book of the law, get in the Bible, know it, read it, and then apply it. Look at it when trouble comes, find in the Bible the examples that are there that God has preserved for us that we know what to turn to and how to do things. You can't become strong in God if you're not strong in the Bible. And you can't become strong in God if you're not doing the things the Bible says. You have to apply it into your lives. I have to apply it into my life. I have to stop and think, “You know what? Wait a minute. This has happened this time. This is what I've always done. This is my automatic go-to thing. Not this time. Even though I so want to do it that way, I'm not going to do it. I'm going to do it God's way. I'm going to show Him, and I'm going to prove Him at His word – just like He says in Malachi 3: Prove Me now, herewith. Prove Him. Test it. And hold on to the things that are good. Throw away the old ways and put in His ways. It's a choice we have to make. God's not just going to automatically change our minds in the way we think. We have to work at it. We have to make the choices. We have to do the things in life that are different that we see in the Bible that may seem like – “Ah, that takes a lot of faith to step out in that way. It takes a lot of faith for me not to make this phone call, and this phone call, and this phone call. This time I'm going to trust in God.” That takes a lot of faith sometimes. We've got to stick to it. We've got to ask God to give us the strength. “The strength comes from You. But this is what You say to do and I'm going to do it.” And then we develop the character and then we see the strength that God builds in us. So, as we trust in Him, as things go through life and we learn, “I'm going to cast my fears and concerns on Him. He'll take care of it. He'll show me the way through. He'll provide the way of escape. He'll provide the answer. He'll just take it right out of where I am – or take this right out of my path.”

You know, in Romans 13, verse 11 through 14 – you don't need to turn there – it says, “Don't make any provision for the flesh.” All too often, we make a lot of provisions for the flesh. “I can't do that because of this.” Or, “I can't do that because of that.” God says when we trust Him, make no provision for the flesh. Trust in Him. Trust in Him.

Let's look at 2 Kings 6 – an example of a man here, Elisha, who had that absolute faith in God. Over the course of his life and walking with God, he followed God implicitly, he put into practice the way of God. And when a situation came that looked pretty daunting, he didn't panic. He didn't get anxious. He didn't run around and wonder what he's going to do. The same thing can be for us, as we practice what we've been called to put into our lives. 2 Kings 6 – it’s the story of Elisha. And we have the king of Syria, as you read down through it, was coming here because he wants Elisha dead, basically. So he sent an army to get Elisha, because apparently the prophecies of Elisha were letting the kings know what this king of Syria was up to. So he said the answer is, “We'll just go ahead and get him.” We see then, in the end of verse 13, the king of Syria is told, “He’s in Dothan.” So in 14, it says:

2 Kings 6:14-17 – Therefore he sent horses and chariots and a great army there, and they came by night and surrounded the city. Elisha and his people had no idea what was happening. It all happened at night. And when the servant of the man of God – that's Elisha – arose early and went out, there was an army surrounding the city with horses and chariots. And his servant said to him, “Alas, my master! What are we going to do?” And you can imagine what this was like: “Hey, we went to bed last night and thought everything was okay. And this morning, “Wow! the world is over. We've got an army here ready to capture us.” Did Elisha panic? Did he think, “What went on here?” It was kind of a surprise. He didn't know what was happening. Or, maybe God did let him know what was happening, but look a how he answered. So he answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Isaiah 54, 57 – somewhere in there – it says, “No weapon formed against you will prosper.” Here it is. Elisha's there, and this is something that is from God, He knows. This isn't taking Him by surprise – that this army is surrounding us here. “And they're here for me. They just want me gone.” He didn't fear – kind of where we get to when our strength is in God. Where Elisha's strength was was like, “Here's…God will take care of it.” Those who are with us are more than those who are with them. And Elisha prayed, and said, “Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. And then Elisha prayed and the army was defeated.

Elisha's strength was in God. He didn't have a standing army. He didn't have an arsenal of weapons in his back room and say, “Get those out and let's go with that.” “My strength is in God” – honed over the years by faith in God, honed over the years by doing the things God said – putting into his life every word, being willing to weed out of his life all the weaknesses, all the faults, all the provisions for the flesh, and learning to do all God asked him to do. Follow Him. Obey Him. And allow God to make him into who God wanted him to be. His strength was in Him – like Moses. Moses’ strength was in God. Joshua's strength was in God. Joseph, when he was in Egypt, his strength was in God. Daniel, when he found himself in Babylon, his strength was in God. That's where he looked. That's what saw them through – like the apostles learned as well – just like you and I must learn. Our strength is in God. And the way to receive, or have that strength, is to have absolute faith in God – building it through reading the word, hearing the word, doing what God says, listening to Him implicitly, and making choices along the way to follow the words that He says, trusting in Him, and proving Him throughout.

Okay. So we have vision, and we have build the faith and build your strength in God. Let's go back to Joshua 1, verse 9.

Joshua 1:9 – Have I not commanded you? God says to Joshua. Again He says: Be strong and of good courage – three or four times we read that throughout this theme – same thing God would tell us: “Keep your eyes on Me. Know where your strength comes from. Know where your courage comes from.” It's not from us. It's not from others. We can inspire each other and certainly in days ahead, we're going to be able to draw some strength from each other. It's going to be very important that we're going to begin to see, I think, how important it is for us to be part of the body that God wants us to have, and what strength and encouragement that we can provide to each other. Be strong and of good courage. Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” He's always there, right by our side.

You know, when Elisha looked, he goes, “I'm not worried. God's here. I trust him.” And God let the young man see, “Yeah, I've taken care of it. You're just not seeing it until now, but I'm there. I'm there as long as My Holy Spirit is in you and you are using that Holy Spirit. When you've repented, when you've turned your life to Me.” When you commit and you continue to walk in that way of yielding to God and repenting and turning from your way to His way, whenever He leads us or through some other incident, as we may see where we need to change, He never will leave us alone. Jesus Christ said to the apostles, “I'll never leave you. I'll never leave you. You'll never be alone.” Wherever we go, we can pray when we walk. We can pray when we're in the car. We can pray when we're in the store. We can pray and be thankful wherever we are. God is always there. He always hears. We don't have to go to just one place and He's only there. He's there wherever we are. We can reach Him anytime – if we've developed that relationship with Him and that faith and belief in Him and put into practice those two points that we've read before.

Back in John 16 again, as Jesus Christ, on that eve of His crucifixion, talking to His disciples in John 16…. At the end of when He's talking to them, He started in chapter 14, saying “Don't let your heart be troubled. Have vision.” And then He goes through and talks about the Holy Spirit – it’s going to come to you. It'll always be with you. Just as we know that God, His Spirit, is with us. In chapter 16, verse 32 – no, verse 31:

John 16:31-32 – “Do you believe now?” Now the question is, “Do we believe now?” We could ask ourselves, “Do we really believe what God is saying?” Do you now believe? Indeed, the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone. And we know that as He was on that crucifix, only John, the apostle, was there and some of the ladies, even His mother. You will leave Me alone. And notice what He says: And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. We're never alone. We may feel like it. Gangs may surround our homes. There may be people who want to threaten us, arrest us, whatever it might be. We're never alone. Christ knew those apostles – those disciples – would scatter. “I'll never be alone,” He says, “because God is always with Me.” He's with us wherever we go.

John 15, just one chapter back – He talks about God and Him living in us. Now He says in chapter 15 – you can it down through the verse many times:

John 15:4 – Abide in Me and I'll abide in you. “I'll be with you all the time. But you'll have to build a home for Me. You have to make a place where I want to dwell. You can't do all things your own way, apart from Me, and constantly choose you rather than Me, or choose the world rather than Me. You build a dwelling place and I'll be there with you. In fact, in John, chapter 14, and verse 23, He says:

John 14:23 – “If anyone love Me, he will keep My word. It's what Joshua is saying. “If anyone love Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.” “I'll always be with you. You've got the keys. You know the way. You've got the Holy Spirit. Wherever you are I'll be with you. I'll make My home with you.”

But we have to build the house, don't we? We have to build that house. And Jesus Christ, right at the beginning of His ministry, talked about building a house back in Matthew 7. In Matthew 7, verse 24, Jesus Christ, after He talks about the commandments haven't been done away with – “I haven't come to do away with the law and the prophets. I've come to magnify them – meaning now you not only keep them physically, but you keep the spiritual intent of the law as well. And then He goes through all the things that He talks about in chapters 5 and 6. And at the end of chapter 7 – the Sermon on the Mount –  He says in verse 24:

Matthew 7:24 – “Therefore – summing up what He’s gone through three chapters here that we read – therefore, whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them – there's the key, right? You just can't know it, you have to do them. That's the work we have to put into it. Therefore whoever hears these things of Mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who builds his house on the rock, and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house – as they certainly will be on our houses between now and the return of Jesus Christ, just as they may be beating on our houses now, and have in the past – all these things will come our way. And the house didn't fall for it was founded on the rock. It was founded on the rock. What is the rock? Jesus Christ. Do the things that He said to do. Build your house with that foundation in mind. Build it on the principles in the Bible. Build those walls and let God build that house up to the point where it is so strong and the strength is in Christ – that no matter what comes that way, you won't cave. The house isn't going to fall apart. You will stand right through it all. But now is the time to be building the house. It's too late to be building the house when the rains come and the winds beat. Now is the time to be doing that and to have it built on a very strong foundation. That rock is Christ. That foundation is the word of God, and doing the things that He says to do, and making yourself do them with the power that God gives us – the Holy Spirit. Some things are really tough to do. They go against our nature, but we must do them and choose God. Choose life. Right? We read that last week – Deuteronomy 30, verse 19. Choose life. Choose Him. Make yourself do it and watch what God does and the strength that develops as a result.

Peter talks about this as well. 1 Peter 5 – as he's wrapping up his first epistle. It takes humility. It takes knowing that we have to yield to God. It takes submission – true submission to Him and each other – not thinking we have all the answers – yielding to Him, following His word. Verse 6 of 1 Peter 5, he says:

1 Peter 5:6-10 – Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God. When we feel threatened and anxious, you know what? Yield yourselves to God. …that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. You can write down Psalm 55, verse 22. David says the same thing – cast your cares on Him. Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. He is walking about like a lion who's roar is getting louder and louder and louder in this world. And as we see the confusion and the chaos, the division, the hate that we see around us today, the uncertainty, the disease, the sickness, it will continue to intensify, because that's the way Satan is. It's not the way God is. Be sober, be vigilant, because the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. He's got his eyes on devouring the world. He's got his eyes on devouring you and me, too, if our house isn't strong – if our house isn't strong – and if we're doing things the wrong way, making excuses for ourselves, making provisions for the flesh, and using that as an excuse to not obey God. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. In verse 10, it says: But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered awhile – notice that. God of all grace, that we live under His grace, the things that He allows us to live under go through all with the purpose in mind that we will become strong Christians, strong people who will be able to follow Him, lead in the way that He wants us to, do whatever it is that He wants us to do in the time ahead. May the God of all grace...after you have suffered awhile, may He perfect – that's what our goal is: to become perfect, to put on those white robes that are the righteous acts of the saints – we read in Revelation. He will perfect, establish – that's a very solid word, isn't it? He'll establish you. Your feet will be planted firmly. He'll strengthen. We know how to strengthen ourselves in God. And He'll settle you. Those are calming words that Peter says. Those are the kind of words that we look at and, no matter what we're going through, we know what God's will is. He wants to establish us. He wants to settle us. He wants to strengthen us. We have to do our part in all of that. Then He'll certainly do those things. When you look at that word “settle”, the dictionaries and the commentaries will say it's talking about a settled foundation. Those of us who have houses, sometimes we see and talk about, “It's settled”. You see a little crack in your ceiling…“Oh it's settling of it.” But it's all settled, right? You kind of watch it to make sure there is no foundation problems there. But He says He'll settle, He'll settle us. And so we, in order to be settled, have to be built on that strong foundation, right? We have to have our foundation built on a rock. There is nothing more solid than that. We have to do that if we want to be settled, and if we want to go through all the storms of life, and not have our house fall, and be still standing when Christ returns, strength in Him – always with a vision in mind, always reading His word, always allowing His word to sink in, always willing to change and become like Him and let go of self – let go of our ideas, let go of our own whatever it is, and learn to trust in Him more and more.

Back in Psalm 61 – I'll close with this verse. As we go through life, and we put into practice what God told Joshua millennia ago. The same words apply to us today, as we're about to cross over into a new land, a new time in our history in this age, and certainly a new age that's ahead of us, that we can put into practice, because it will establish and settle us and strengthen us. We have the Spirit of God – a tremendous tool that we need to use in a relationship that we're building with God. In Psalms 61, and verse 2:

Psalm 61:1-2 – From the end of the earth I will cry. Oh, let's let me read verse 1. Hear my cry, O God; attend to my prayer. From the end of the earth I will cry to You. When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher than me. Now somewhere in there it talks about clinging to the rock – clinging to the rock that is higher than me – and I don't have that verse written down. But as we face times of uncertainty, as we look at the world around us, whenever we feel anxious about anything that's going on in our life, learn to look to the rock. Build your house on the rock and cling to that rock.

Did you ever wake up in the night and have a song in your mind and you have no idea where that song came from? I mean that happens to me – not every night thankfully – but sometimes a song…I'll wake up and I'll think, “What am I thinking?” Some songs, it's kind of pleasant to have them in your mind. It could be a hymn that we sing at church, or whatever, and you think “Oh that's a good thing.” And other times it could be a song, and I think, “Where did that come from? I don't even want to remember that song.” So you think, “What did I do? How did that happen? What happened the day before to do that?” Well this past week there has been a song in my mind that I haven't heard in I don't even know when. I don't even know how many times I've heard it in my life. I don't listen to the radio. I don't have the radio on during the day. But one night I woke up and the song was in my mind, and it's been there all week. I'm going to kind of give you a few of the lyrics of that song, because it kind of tells us something about today – that we live in. And I'll tell you in a minute…and I'll give credit where credit is due to who wrote the song and who performed the song. But let me just read you some of the lyrics, and I hope I can do it without doing the beat along with it, since it's been on my mind all week. (Laughter) Forgive me if I do. Okay, these are just part of the lyrics. They're not all of them, right? It says:

There are people moving out, people moving in. Why? Because of the color of their skin. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, vote for me and I'll set you free. Evolution. Revolution. Gun control. Sound of soul. Shooting rockets to the moon. Kids growing up too soon. Politicians say, “More taxes will solve everything.” And the band played on. Fear in the air. Tension everywhere. Unemployment rising fast. Eve of destruction. Tax deductions. Population out of hand. Suicide. Too many bills. Round and around and around we go, where the world's headed nobody knows. It's just a ball of confusion. That's what the world is today. Hey, hey.

So I wake up with this song in my mind and I remembered the song. I can't remember it being one of my favorite songs, but I recognized it. It was actually released in 1970 – fifty years ago, and it was the Temptations that sang that song. And it was written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong. And it's very telling, because those words we could say about the world we live in today, can't we? It's very interesting that fifty years ago, there is a song that is talking about the situation in the world – the same situations that we're in today. The problem is that fifty years later, none of them are solved, right? And the world has gotten worse. Since 1970, we've had abortion being legalized, we’ve had same-sex marriage be legalized, we're dealing with a Covid situation in the country today. And it makes us think. In fifty years – fifty years ago – the same problems we talk about today were there. And how many presidents have there been since 1970? How many changes in parties who are in the presidency or in control of congress, how many have there been in fifty years? Has anything changed? No, nothing has changed. The same problems that were there back then are still here with us today – and even more. The world is, as the song says, “It's a ball of confusion.” And we know when there is confusion in the air, that's not of God. God is not the author of confusion. Satan is the author of confusion. Back in 1970, they were singing about these things, and here in 2020, we're looking at things a whole lot more seriously today than they were back then. The protests today, the anarchy that's today, the demonstrations that we see today, some of the things that are on the docket as far as change in government, change in our whole society, change in the way we think and feel – all different today, all headed in the wrong direction, just like it was back then. What has changed?

A few weeks ago, we were talking about the lust of the flesh, the lust of eyes and the pride of life, and we were in 1 John 2. You may remember in 1 John 2:17. It says the world is passing away. And we can make no mistake, the America that we know is passing away. It's not going to go back to the way it was before. Things will not get better and retreat, no matter who is in office. No matter what political party rules, it simply is not going to heal itself. This is a world that is totally confused. This is a world that is of Satan. This is a world that is chaotic and we live in uncertain times. We have this Covid-19 situation that takes twists and turns that no one knows where it's going next or what effect it will have on people.

We've got controversies everywhere we look, even over little things like masks. A mask: Should we wear it or should we not? Some people feel, “Absolutely.” Others say, “Not.”. You don't even know where to turn to get the answers anymore, because there is no place you can go and just get the straight truth. This is exactly what it is. It's everyone's opinion and that's what we deal with. We have controversies over should school start or should school not start. No one can agree on anything. Pick any topic and you will find someone who disagrees with you and they will make their voices heard.

We have an economy. Some say it's growing and coming back. Others think that it's been indelibly affected. And probably, over the next few quarters and years, we will see the effects of what's going on here with everything that is in mind. So we have a world that is truly, truly confused – truly uncertain. And we live in a time of change. No doubt about it. We can't bury our heads and say this is all going to go away in few months and things are going to be like they were. We are on the brink of the new…of what the Bible has talked about and where the world is going. And the question for us is, “How do we deal with that? Because we live in a world where we hear all these things, we watch what is going on. We're going to have our opinions one way or the other. As I mentioned in the Bible studies this past week, it's okay to have opinions. We just can't let opinions divide us. There is always something that can come and say we would love to do anything that would create conflict between us and church. But our job is always to remember that we are supposed to become one body, and one group, and if we have little differences of opinion we still love each other and we work through it.

You know there was a time…I guess, as we go through uncertain times; we could find ourselves anxious. We could find ourselves getting on one side of the podium or the other side of the podium. We can do this and we can do that. What should we do? What do we do? We've been in the church for awhile. We know what the prophecies are out there. We know what the world is going to go through before the return of Jesus Christ. We know that is the ultimate answer. There is no answer apart from Jesus Christ in this world and His return. What we should do whenever we feel anxious, whenever we feel tenuous, whenever we feel tense, whenever we feel like, “What's going to happen next?” that begins to affect us. Where do we turn? We've got to learn to turn to God. We've got to learn to turn to the Bible. In the Bible, there were times that are much like the times we live in now.

Let's go back to Judges, because whatever we go through in life, we can find examples in the Bible that lead us through these times, and keep us focused where we need to be focused, and that can bring the calm and the peace and the settledness to us. In Judges 2, we look in on Israel. They're in the Promised Land. They've had two wonderful leaders who were led by God and yielded to God. Moses was there for forty years. He led them out of Egypt. He led them into the Promised – no, he didn't lead them into the Promised Land. He led them through the wilderness for forty years. He died and then Joshua took up the mantle. Joshua followed God and he led them into the Promised Land. They inhabited the land that God had promised them. But then, Joshua died, and there was no leader. And look what happens to Israel. In Judges 2:17, we something that we can say about the world around us today. Did I say Judges 2? I think I meant Judges 17. I'm looking at the wrong scripture here. Judges 17 – Judges 17 and verse 6:

Judges 17:6 – In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

That's the definition of the world today. That's where the world wants to go. Everyone wants to do what they think is right. The problem is they want everyone else to agree with them. But everyone does their own thing, so you have this very confused mess that is out there. This is right to one group, this is right to another group; this is wrong to one group – all trying to work together, but no one is willing to give an inch. Everyone did what was right in their own eyes, and it was a mess in Israel during that time. There was a time of uncertainty when they had no clear direction, where they did things their own way. They didn't learn the lessons of the eighty years before them. They just did things the way they wanted done. And it was a tough time. For a while, they would turn to God – things would get better. Then they would swing back into their old ways, and things got bad again. They go into captivity, lose everything. And there was this kind of just recycling that they did, and nothing changed. Nothing changed for a while, until Samuel came around. Samuel was a good judge. He watched over Israel well. They followed him and there were good times with Samuel. Because when we follow God, good times follow. God is not the author of confusion. God is the author of order. Now when there is confusion in our life, it's not God. It's us apart from God. Because when God is in our lives, and we're doing things His way, order will result. 

Let's look at 1 Samuel 8. Samuel was a good judge. You remember the story – he was there at the time his mother handed him over to the high priest, and he lived, and followed God. But there came a time when he, too, was getting old, and the mantle was going to have to be passed on to someone else.

In verse 1 of chapter 8, it says:

1 Samuel 8:1 – Now it came to pass when Samuel was old that he made his sons judges over Israel. Well, here they had a good example with their father, right? If they had just learned from what he had done – if they would have followed what he had said – everything would have been okay. And it tells us what their names are in verse 2. But in verse 3 it says:

V-3-7 – But his sons did not walk in his ways. Here they were – if we want to call them second generation Christians – they should have known from the example of the parents how to live. But somehow, they just took things for granted and they weren't like Samuel. They lived there with him. They saw how he did things, but they didn't do things the same way. Anyway, they did not walk in his ways. They turned aside after dishonest gain, took bribes, and perverted justice. They looked at the world around them and they became like the world. They allowed those type of things – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life – to invade their service to the people, and it didn't turn out well. People saw the difference, and they came to Samuel at Ramah, and they said, “Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.” We need someone to lead us. We need someone with a firm hand like you, Samuel, to lead us, because now that we see what's happening we're going to keep going off into the same direction that we had for all these years – since when Joshua was there – until you came along. But they hadn't learned their lesson, as you see. In verse 6, it says: But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” So Samuel prayed to God. And God said something very interesting to Samuel. He said: “Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them. Somehow, in all the years that they had been following Moses and following Joshua, and then Samuel, they didn't learn that it wasn't those men that was bringing peace and joy and everything to that congregation of Israel. It was God leading them. It was those men as they followed God. God was the King all along. And they didn't pick up on it. “Hey, we want to be like the nations around us. Give us a physical king. We want a man to rule over us.” So God says, “You know Samuel, they're not getting it. They rejected Me. They haven't rejected you. They rejected Me. But give them what they want. Give them what they want. Let them see what the end results of that are, because I let people do what they want to do so they can see the results of their actions.” And we know what the results of those actions are. There was a king that was placed over them. There were some good kings through the years. And when those good kings reigned – that followed God, that paid attention to His law, that tried to incorporate it into their lives – the land was at peace and the land prospered. But then, you would have wicked kings and eventually the story of Israel and Judah, after they split – because division and splits come from Satan too…. They don't come from God when people are following His way. The end result: they lost it all – everything that God had given them. They both lost the land that God had given them. They turned from Him, and they became captives again, and were driven out of their country, and out of their land. That's what happens when we don't follow God. That's a lesson for us to learn.

Let's look at Psalm 146. David, a very wise man. Solomon was very wise, but as David wrote his Psalms, you see the wisdom that God gave him. As he sized up situations and understood what God was doing, you see what he's saying in Psalms 146, verse 3 – something he would say to you and me today, as we live here in 2020, and see the things going on around us that are going on. In verse 3, he says:

Psalm 146:3 – Do not put your trust in princes, nor in a son of man, in whom there is no help. Back then, Israel wanted a king. Now we see the result of that king – following that king – was – both the good lessons and bad lessons of it – but David surmises, don't put you trust in princes or in the son of man.

Back a few chapters, in Psalm 118, he says the same thing – 118, verse 8:

Psalm 118:8 – It is better to trust in God than to put confidence in man. Better to trust in Him. That's the choice that should have been made back then. It's better – verse 9 – to trust in God than to put confidence in princes.

Proverbs 3, verse 5 says, “Don't lean on your own understanding.” That's what they did in the time of the judges of Israel. They leaned on their own. “This is the way I think it should happen. This is the way I think it should be done.” And the land was a mess, as you read through that book. Today in America, and the world, people lean on their own understanding, and we're in a mess. We are in a mess.

In Jeremiah 17, God had some pretty strong words about relying on men or putting your trust in men. Jeremiah 17 – it's the same chapter that comes down to verse 9, where it says the heart is desperately wicked, who can know it? In the verses leading up to it, here in verse 5 of chapter 17, he says:

Jeremiah 17:5-6 – Thus says the Lord: “Cursed – now that's a word - Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord. For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when good comes, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land which is not inhabited.

Cursed is the man who trusts in man. Israel did it. Mankind has always done it. They put their trust in a man. We're here in 2020, and amidst all the confusion and all the uncertainty and all the change and everything that's in the air, and now we have an election coming up. And people put their trust in one man or the other thinking this man will lead us out of this mess. This man is going to lead us into this. This one is better than that person. Is the answer in a man? Is either of the people that are they going to be running for president, are they going to be bringing America to where they need to be? Absolutely not. And as God's people, I hope we're not putting our trust, or leaning too heavily on our opinion of what should happen, and allowing that to divide us, or even make us think those things. Our trust is in God. There is no man. If we're putting our trust in man, or looking too heavily to that – “Well, we've got some things to happen.” – we can't make the same mistake that Israel made – that mankind has made. The only answer to the problems we have, you and I know – and that's Jesus Christ. It's not one party or the other. It's not in this House or that Senate. It's not in this man or that man. It's in God. And we're misplacing our faith. And please pay attention to verse 5 there in chapter 17. Don't be on the wrong side of God. Follow Him. He's in control. He knows what He's doing.

Well, we do live in uncertain times and they affect us. They have even affected the church. We look at we're doing. Look at the Feast of Tabernacles – something that was just taken for granted every year – and here we are, and it's been kind of upended this year. Until yesterday, things are set and who knows what will happen between now and October 2, when the Feast starts? We trust in God that everything will be the way it is established right now, but in uncertain times maybe something will happen between now and then, and we'll just have to roll with the punches and be wherever God tells us to be. Because certainly there will be the Feast of Tabernacles, wherever He chooses to place His name – not where we choose to place our name – but where He chooses to place His name.

Where's the answer? What should we be? And every time we feel a little uncertain, or we feel a little anxious, or we feel a little bit of that fear like, “What happens if this happens down the road? What happens if this person gets in power? What happens if that person gets in power? What will it be like?” And we can get ourselves all worked up over a number of things. But it doesn't need to be that way. Storms will come. Winds will blow. But we shouldn't be shaken, if we're living the life God has called us to.

Turn back to Mark 4. Because in the Bible, it gives us clear guidelines as to what to do in times of uncertainty, in times of change, when there are things in the air that we haven't been used to, and things we haven't gone through before. In Mark 4, and verse 31, we have the incidence of…it's not verse 31. Let me see here…oh, verse 35. We have the just the incidence of Christ with the apostles there. They're learning as they walk with Him, and it says in verse 35:

Mark 4:35-40 –On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side.” Now we've got to go to the other side of the lake. In many ways we're like people who are about to cross over into another time in life – another part of this age – that precedes the time that Jesus Christ returns – just like the people of Israel when Moses died. They were just about to cross over to the other side. “Let us cross over to the other side.” Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was. And other little boats were also with Him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. Those winds, that storm, they didn't bother Him at all. The others were like, “What's going to happen to us? Are we going to die? Is it going to turn the boat over? Will we all drown in this place that we are?” But He was perfectly at peace. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” Don't you see what's going on around us? What do we do? Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” Don't you know that, in the world, there are going to be storms that blow? There are going to be winds that howl. Winds of doctrine that can go through the air. We've talked about the time of the end, and even false prophets that are out there, that can really look awfully convincing. Have faith. Look to Me. Don't look to yourself. Don't lean on your own understanding. Look to Me and follow Me and follow those who are following Me, but make sure you know it's Me – God – who is leading you.

And so we find that principle that's a very basic principle that we need to be reminded of every once in awhile. Back in the Old Testament, we see God laying out to a man, Joshua, who was taking the command of Israel at a time there was a change – that maybe the people of Israel didn't expect. And he laid out for them exactly what they should do – in the times that they were facing, the times that we are facing, the times that any of us might face, because certainly if we think today is uncertain, and today change is in the air, certainly it's going to magnify more and more between now and the return of Jesus Christ.

Let's go back to Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy 34 – the very last chapter in Deuteronomy. I don't know if we appreciate just how faithful a man Moses was to God. He led Israel through things that they couldn't even imagine. Through all of the plagues in Egypt, he just stood there, and he followed God, and waited for God to bring those people out of Egypt. He didn't give up. He didn't fret when they didn't let them go. He knew God was going to honor His word. And they had their backs up against the Red Sea, he might not have known what God had planned, but he led them through the Red Sea. And all those forty years, all those people in the wilderness, God fed them, He watered them. Their shoes didn't wear out. Their clothes didn't wear out. God provided for them. People became reliant on Moses and they trusted in his faith. But here, right when they're about to cross over into the Promised Land that they have been picturing for forty years, and being told about, Moses is going to die. And there is a reason that God is going to have Moses die at that time. It seems that the natural thing is let Moses led them into the Promised Land. But God decided for Moses to die. Let's look at verse 5 here, of chapter 34.

Deuteronomy 34:5 – So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. And of course, God buried him and everything. In verse 8, it says:

V-8-12 – And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days. So the days of weeping and mourning for Moses ended. Now Joshua the son of Nun, who was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him. So the children of Israel heeded him, as did the Lord had commanded Moses. But since then, there has not arisen in Israel a prophet like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, in all the signs and wonders which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, before Pharaoh, before all his servants, and in all his land, and by all that mighty power and all the great terror which Moses performed in the sight of all Israel.

Well, Moses was there. Moses did it. But it wasn't by his power. It was God leading them. And they didn't need Moses to led them into the Promised Land. They needed God to lead them into the Promised Land. So Moses died and Joshua became the leader of Israel. The very next book, in chapter 1, verse 1, of Joshua. it says:

Joshua 1:1-9 – After the death of Moses – now the people might have been very concerned. “Wow, we've gone all this way and now we're going to cross over into the land,” but you kind of sense that they're settled as they go into this, because they've paid attention to what Moses had said. They see and they know the man Joshua, and he's committed to God. After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, saying: “Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them—the children of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the River Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your territory. No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you. 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. And he repeats: 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. 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. 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.”

Those had to be very encouraging words to Joshua. They should be very encouraging words to us – words that we should have in our mind, words that should be in our hearts. Because as God said these words to Joshua, He would say to every one of His people who are going through a period of change, who are going through the times of life that invariably will come, because He never promised us – just like He didn't promise Israel – “Everything is going to be rosy every day.” You will have your challenges. There are times that will test your character, test your patience. And those are times that will increase your faith in Me.

But in those words – those nine verses that God gave to Joshua – we can find three principles that we should write on our hearts, write in our minds, and every time we feel a little uncertain, every time we feel a little bit fearful, every time we think where is this going, that we bring back that memory of what we do. Now there is absolutely nothing, nothing new, that we're going to talk about in Joshua. But we're going to look at the three points that God makes to Joshua there that apply to us. As I was putting this together I was reminded of words I read last week when we read Deuteronomy 30. And Moses said, “There's nothing here, Israel. You don't have to cross the sea to find this truth. You don't have to go up to heaven to find it. It's right here. It's in the Bible. The answer to all of our problems is in the Bible as we follow God. And as we look and see, where are the examples – and God gives us the principles to follow – we don't have to be people that are upset. We don't have to be people who are worried about the outcome of this or the outcome of that. We just have to be people who look to God and do the things that He has to say.

So let's pull apart the first nine verses of Joshua here. Let's begin in verse 2.

V-2-3 – “Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them—the children of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses. What He is saying is, “The promise that I gave you still stands. Believe the promise. I told you, as I promised Abraham, that I would give you these lands. Believe that it is going to happen. Don't worry about a change in leadership. Don't worry about how tall the people are in those lands. Don't worry about how tall the walls of Jericho are, or any of the other things that you see in that land. I told you I will give it. Believe it.” And that's what He told Joshua. “Just as I said to Moses, I'm saying to you. I haven't changed My mind. I am God who changes not. The promises I give you, the promises are sure. You can take them to the bank. And whatever saying of surety you want, with God, they are sure.” We live in a time where God has said, “Jesus Christ will return. I will bring My Kingdom to Earth. It will be a time of joy, peace, harmony, unlike anything the world has ever seen. There will be some hard times between now and then, but the end result of it will be absolutely perfect and good for all of mankind. Believe it.”

Now what He was telling Joshua: “Keep your eyes on the promise. Keep your eyes on the vision. Keep your eyes on where I am taking you.” He would tell us today, “Keep the vision of God's Kingdom alive in your mind. Don't let it depart. Understand that there will be things come that don't seem…“I wish it wasn't going to be that way.” But it has to be that way. God knows what He's doing. Our job is to keep the vision of the Kingdom alive in us.

Now Proverbs 29, verse 18 says:

Proverbs 29:18 – Where there is no vision the people perish.

Where there is no vision the people perish. It's like, if we lose sight of what God has called us to, if we just kind of rescind into the society we live in, believe me, your hope is going to disappear. You'll be as desperate as any of the people that are out there. You may find yourself parading up and down the street thinking that that's going to make some change. No. Keep the vision. Know what it is that God has called you to and don't let that depart ever from your mind. In fact, as we go through these times we should be honing that vision even more and more. As we go through the Bible studies, we’ve talked about some of those things – getting a vision of what it is like in that. We pray that “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on Earth.” We can kind of get a vision of what it's like when we look at the words of the Bible, and we tear it apart, and see what God has said. We find ourselves desiring things to be that way. God gives us what we need for now. He'll add to it in His time. But keep that vision alive.

Let's go back to John 14, because…no, let's go to Matthew 17 first. Matthew 17. When Jesus Christ, in Matthew 16, told the apostles that He was going to begin His church…. In Matthew 16, you see that He had to kind of correct Peter on one thing that he had, and remind Peter, “No, it's not what you want, Peter. It's what God wants. And even though it might not be the thing we want, we have to kind of yield to what God's will is – and remember He is in control. His will be done. And then in chapter 17, right on the heels of Christ saying, “I'm starting My church,” it says in verse 1:

Matthew 17:1-3 – Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves – and He gave them a vision of the Kingdom. And He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. Peter was overwhelmed. Peter was like, “This is good! This is to be desired. This is where we want to be!” That's the feeling we should have as we hone the vision of the Kingdom, and hone the vision of what it is that God has led us to understand.

In just a couple months, we'll be at the Feast of Tabernacles. One of the things that the Feast of Tabernacles is supposed to picture is to give us a vision of the Kingdom – God's people together, united, harmonious, joy, getting along with one another, feeding and being inspired by His word, doing His will. And that's all we need to have a good Feast. We don't need all those other physical trappings that have crept into it over the years. We need God to lead the Feast. We need that Feast each year to get away from our homes, and to get out of the world, and get a vision of what the Kingdom is like. And you can be praying about that as we go between now and October 2, when the Feast begins, wherever you're keeping it, that God will give us all a vision of what His Kingdom will be like. And this year at the Feast of Tabernacles, we'll be able to hone that. We'll be able to feel the effects of living His way of life – of being the people that God has brought together in one place – one place – led by His Holy Spirit, inspired by His Holy Spirit, and what we learn from it this year. But God wants us to have a vision just like He inspired the apostles there with that vision. We don't see the Kingdom. If we don't see the Kingdom – if that's not in our minds – we're missing something. We're missing a motivator.

If we go back to John 14…that back there is Christ, when He talks about the church to begin with, but here on the eve of His arrest and crucifixion, Jesus Christ addresses the same thing to the apostles again. They're about to enter a time of change. They're about to enter a time of uncertainty. They can kind of feel in the way that Jesus Christ is talking, something is in the air. They may not know what is going on, but Jesus Christ knows they are a little troubled. They're a little upset. They're kind of looking at what's going on. John 14, and verse 1, He said:

John 14:1-4 – “Let not your heart be troubled – don't let it be troubled – you believe in God, believe also in Me.” Believe Him. Trust Him that He's in charge, that things are going to be the way that He wants them to be. Don't let your heart be troubled. Turn to God. Don't turn to man. Don't turn to this group or that group. Turn to God. You believe in God, believe in Me. And then he gives them a vision. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. I'm going to leave you, but you know what? There is something I'm doing while I'm gone. There is something that's happening. I’m not just leaving. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself – that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know. They just had to sort through all the human emotions and all the other things that go with it. But, just like us, we know the way. We just have to adopt it. We just have to make it a part of our everyday life. We have to make it part of our thought process. It has to be the place we turn in times of uncertainty.

Whether it's in times of Covid, or financial uncertainty, or health uncertainty, or whatever it is, that we don't go looking to men, we don't go looking to the things of the world. We turn to God – not following the examples – examples we can even see in our lives – that what is really done when we turn to man, have things gotten any better? Well we need to turn to God and make that part of our process.

So the first thing we do is remember the vision. We find ourselves – stop. Stop if you're feeling uncertain. Stop and read the Bible. Stop and read Joshua 1:1-9. Get a vision. Stop and think about what God has called us to. Think about the certainty of His promises and Jesus Christ's return. Think about the certainty of Him giving you His Holy Spirit that will see us through, that will give us the power and the might to overcome self – to go through all the things that we're going to go through. As we sang in the opening hymn today, “God will see us through.” We just have to believe Him. We have to trust Him. And that's a lifelong process of getting to the point where we trust Him and not our own ideas, our own things, our old go-to places when uncertainty – whatever that uncertainty may be – that we learn to go to God, and let Him handle it.

Let's go back to Joshua. That would be point one – keep that vision alive in your mind. We go now to verses 5 and 6 and to verse 8. I'll split this point into two, but we find the second point. God says:

Joshua 1:5-6 – No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. You're doing God's will. “You're My people,” is what He's saying. “I called you for a purpose. Follow Me and you know what? No man is going to be able to divert you off of your path. You might be the problem. You might allow yourself to be diverted or distracted, but no man will be able to do it. unless you allow him to.” No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you. As I was with Moses – God says the same thing to us. How was He with Moses? Well, we talked about it. Through all the plagues, through the Red Sea, through forty years in the wilderness, through times that we couldn't even imagine living through, God provided everything that Israel needed. And Moses completely yielded and followed God. And as they followed God – as Moses led them – God took care of everything they needed. As He was with Moses, He will be with us. He says in verse 6: 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. Be strong. Be courageous. Be confident in what you're doing, and knowing that you are the one, that you are doing what God's will is. If we are right with God, if we are following Him, and our confidence is in Him, there isn't anything that will come our way that He won't overcome.

Now, keep your finger there in Joshua. Let's go back to Jeremiah 17 again. We read verses 5 and 6 about cursed is the man who trusts in man and in verse 7, God inspired Jeremiah to write this:

Jeremiah 17:7-8 – Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord. Do you want to be blessed? Trust in God. “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes – or when the storms rage, or when the winds blow – but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit. Nothing will stop you from moving forward if you trust in God – if you build that trust year by year by actions and choices that we make. We can't keep doing the same thing we've done every single year. And every time a problem arises, run here, run there. We've got to get to the point where we trust God. We trust God and not man. And that's not easy to do – not our own resources, not our own ideas, not our own history, unless that history is written with the Holy Spirit all over it. Psalm 84 and verse 5:

Psalm 84:5 – Blessed – here it is again – Blessed is the man whose strength – wonder where our strength comes from in those times? Strength is not going to come from us. Remember that in Zechariah? Not by our might, not by our power. Our strength only comes from God. Blessed is the man whose strength is in You, whose heart is set on pilgrimage – not with it's roots firmly planted in this world, but knowing it is on a journey to the Kingdom of God. And then he goes through some verses, but let's drop down to verse 11.

V-11 – For the Lord God is a sun and shield. The Lord will give grace and glory; No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.

And there is the key of the second point – our strength – and we have to realize our strength and reliance has to be in God…. If we're relying on ourselves we will fall easily. If our strength is in God we can stand and we can go through the things that we'll go through and be there when the Kingdom comes. How do we develop that strength in God? Well, let's go back to Joshua, and we'll see in verses 7 and 8 how we develop that strength in God. The second time, in verse 7, he says: be strong and courageous. Verse 6: be strong and courageous.

Joshua 1:7-8 – 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. 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. When God says success, He doesn't necessarily mean we're going to be millionaires because we do it. We'll have good success in His way of life. The important things that we will become rich in are faith in Him, confidence in Him, looking to Him. Developing faith in God is such an important thing. We read in James that faith without works is dead. And it is. And we talked at the last Bible study that works without faith is dead too. They've got to go hand in hand. And faith comes in the heart. We build on the first point when we believe God. When we believe God, we've got to have the faith to do the things that God says to do. And it's the faith – that's putting into action what we learn.

So when God tells Joshua – and he tells us – we've talked about this many times – when He tells Joshua to understand this book of the law, get in the Bible, know it, read it, and then apply it. Look at it when trouble comes, find in the Bible the examples that are there that God has preserved for us that we know what to turn to and how to do things. You can't become strong in God if you're not strong in the Bible. And you can't become strong in God if you're not doing the things the Bible says. You have to apply it into your lives. I have to apply it into my life. I have to stop and think, “You know what? Wait a minute. This has happened this time. This is what I've always done. This is my automatic go-to thing. Not this time. Even though I so want to do it that way, I'm not going to do it. I'm going to do it God's way. I'm going to show Him, and I'm going to prove Him at His word – just like He says in Malachi 3: Prove Me now, herewith. Prove Him. Test it. And hold on to the things that are good. Throw away the old ways and put in His ways. It's a choice we have to make. God's not just going to automatically change our minds in the way we think. We have to work at it. We have to make the choices. We have to do the things in life that are different that we see in the Bible that may seem like – “Ah, that takes a lot of faith to step out in that way. It takes a lot of faith for me not to make this phone call, and this phone call, and this phone call. This time I'm going to trust in God.” That takes a lot of faith sometimes. We've got to stick to it. We've got to ask God to give us the strength. “The strength comes from You. But this is what You say to do and I'm going to do it.” And then we develop the character and then we see the strength that God builds in us. So, as we trust in Him, as things go through life and we learn, “I'm going to cast my fears and concerns on Him. He'll take care of it. He'll show me the way through. He'll provide the way of escape. He'll provide the answer. He'll just take it right out of where I am – or take this right out of my path.”

You know, in Romans 13, verse 11 through 14 – you don't need to turn there – it says, “Don't make any provision for the flesh.” All too often, we make a lot of provisions for the flesh. “I can't do that because of this.” Or, “I can't do that because of that.” God says when we trust Him, make no provision for the flesh. Trust in Him. Trust in Him.

Let's look at 2 Kings 6 – an example of a man here, Elisha, who had that absolute faith in God. Over the course of his life and walking with God, he followed God implicitly, he put into practice the way of God. And when a situation came that looked pretty daunting, he didn't panic. He didn't get anxious. He didn't run around and wonder what he's going to do. The same thing can be for us, as we practice what we've been called to put into our lives. 2 Kings 6 – it’s the story of Elisha. And we have the king of Syria, as you read down through it, was coming here because he wants Elisha dead, basically. So he sent an army to get Elisha, because apparently the prophecies of Elisha were letting the kings know what this king of Syria was up to. So he said the answer is, “We'll just go ahead and get him.” We see then, in the end of verse 13, the king of Syria is told, “He’s in Dothan.” So in 14, it says:

2 Kings 6:14-17 – Therefore he sent horses and chariots and a great army there, and they came by night and surrounded the city. Elisha and his people had no idea what was happening. It all happened at night. And when the servant of the man of God – that's Elisha – arose early and went out, there was an army surrounding the city with horses and chariots. And his servant said to him, “Alas, my master! What are we going to do?” And you can imagine what this was like: “Hey, we went to bed last night and thought everything was okay. And this morning, “Wow! the world is over. We've got an army here ready to capture us.” Did Elisha panic? Did he think, “What went on here?” It was kind of a surprise. He didn't know what was happening. Or, maybe God did let him know what was happening, but look a how he answered. So he answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Isaiah 54, 57 – somewhere in there – it says, “No weapon formed against you will prosper.” Here it is. Elisha's there, and this is something that is from God, He knows. This isn't taking Him by surprise – that this army is surrounding us here. “And they're here for me. They just want me gone.” He didn't fear – kind of where we get to when our strength is in God. Where Elisha's strength was was like, “Here's…God will take care of it.” Those who are with us are more than those who are with them. And Elisha prayed, and said, “Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. And then Elisha prayed and the army was defeated.

Elisha's strength was in God. He didn't have a standing army. He didn't have an arsenal of weapons in his back room and say, “Get those out and let's go with that.” “My strength is in God” – honed over the years by faith in God, honed over the years by doing the things God said – putting into his life every word, being willing to weed out of his life all the weaknesses, all the faults, all the provisions for the flesh, and learning to do all God asked him to do. Follow Him. Obey Him. And allow God to make him into who God wanted him to be. His strength was in Him – like Moses. Moses’ strength was in God. Joshua's strength was in God. Joseph, when he was in Egypt, his strength was in God. Daniel, when he found himself in Babylon, his strength was in God. That's where he looked. That's what saw them through – like the apostles learned as well – just like you and I must learn. Our strength is in God. And the way to receive, or have that strength, is to have absolute faith in God – building it through reading the word, hearing the word, doing what God says, listening to Him implicitly, and making choices along the way to follow the words that He says, trusting in Him, and proving Him throughout.

Okay. So we have vision, and we have build the faith and build your strength in God. Let's go back to Joshua 1, verse 9.

Joshua 1:9 – Have I not commanded you? God says to Joshua. Again He says: Be strong and of good courage – three or four times we read that throughout this theme – same thing God would tell us: “Keep your eyes on Me. Know where your strength comes from. Know where your courage comes from.” It's not from us. It's not from others. We can inspire each other and certainly in days ahead, we're going to be able to draw some strength from each other. It's going to be very important that we're going to begin to see, I think, how important it is for us to be part of the body that God wants us to have, and what strength and encouragement that we can provide to each other. Be strong and of good courage. Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” He's always there, right by our side.

You know, when Elisha looked, he goes, “I'm not worried. God's here. I trust him.” And God let the young man see, “Yeah, I've taken care of it. You're just not seeing it until now, but I'm there. I'm there as long as My Holy Spirit is in you and you are using that Holy Spirit. When you've repented, when you've turned your life to Me.” When you commit and you continue to walk in that way of yielding to God and repenting and turning from your way to His way, whenever He leads us or through some other incident, as we may see where we need to change, He never will leave us alone. Jesus Christ said to the apostles, “I'll never leave you. I'll never leave you. You'll never be alone.” Wherever we go, we can pray when we walk. We can pray when we're in the car. We can pray when we're in the store. We can pray and be thankful wherever we are. God is always there. He always hears. We don't have to go to just one place and He's only there. He's there wherever we are. We can reach Him anytime – if we've developed that relationship with Him and that faith and belief in Him and put into practice those two points that we've read before.

Back in John 16 again, as Jesus Christ, on that eve of His crucifixion, talking to His disciples in John 16…. At the end of when He's talking to them, He started in chapter 14, saying “Don't let your heart be troubled. Have vision.” And then He goes through and talks about the Holy Spirit – it’s going to come to you. It'll always be with you. Just as we know that God, His Spirit, is with us. In chapter 16, verse 32 – no, verse 31:

John 16:31-32 – “Do you believe now?” Now the question is, “Do we believe now?” We could ask ourselves, “Do we really believe what God is saying?” Do you now believe? Indeed, the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone. And we know that as He was on that crucifix, only John, the apostle, was there and some of the ladies, even His mother. You will leave Me alone. And notice what He says: And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. We're never alone. We may feel like it. Gangs may surround our homes. There may be people who want to threaten us, arrest us, whatever it might be. We're never alone. Christ knew those apostles – those disciples – would scatter. “I'll never be alone,” He says, “because God is always with Me.” He's with us wherever we go.

John 15, just one chapter back – He talks about God and Him living in us. Now He says in chapter 15 – you can it down through the verse many times:

John 15:4 – Abide in Me and I'll abide in you. “I'll be with you all the time. But you'll have to build a home for Me. You have to make a place where I want to dwell. You can't do all things your own way, apart from Me, and constantly choose you rather than Me, or choose the world rather than Me. You build a dwelling place and I'll be there with you. In fact, in John, chapter 14, and verse 23, He says:

John 14:23 – “If anyone love Me, he will keep My word. It's what Joshua is saying. “If anyone love Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.” “I'll always be with you. You've got the keys. You know the way. You've got the Holy Spirit. Wherever you are I'll be with you. I'll make My home with you.”

But we have to build the house, don't we? We have to build that house. And Jesus Christ, right at the beginning of His ministry, talked about building a house back in Matthew 7. In Matthew 7, verse 24, Jesus Christ, after He talks about the commandments haven't been done away with – “I haven't come to do away with the law and the prophets. I've come to magnify them – meaning now you not only keep them physically, but you keep the spiritual intent of the law as well. And then He goes through all the things that He talks about in chapters 5 and 6. And at the end of chapter 7 – the Sermon on the Mount –  He says in verse 24:

Matthew 7:24 – “Therefore – summing up what He’s gone through three chapters here that we read – therefore, whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them – there's the key, right? You just can't know it, you have to do them. That's the work we have to put into it. Therefore whoever hears these things of Mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who builds his house on the rock, and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house – as they certainly will be on our houses between now and the return of Jesus Christ, just as they may be beating on our houses now, and have in the past – all these things will come our way. And the house didn't fall for it was founded on the rock. It was founded on the rock. What is the rock? Jesus Christ. Do the things that He said to do. Build your house with that foundation in mind. Build it on the principles in the Bible. Build those walls and let God build that house up to the point where it is so strong and the strength is in Christ – that no matter what comes that way, you won't cave. The house isn't going to fall apart. You will stand right through it all. But now is the time to be building the house. It's too late to be building the house when the rains come and the winds beat. Now is the time to be doing that and to have it built on a very strong foundation. That rock is Christ. That foundation is the word of God, and doing the things that He says to do, and making yourself do them with the power that God gives us – the Holy Spirit. Some things are really tough to do. They go against our nature, but we must do them and choose God. Choose life. Right? We read that last week – Deuteronomy 30, verse 19. Choose life. Choose Him. Make yourself do it and watch what God does and the strength that develops as a result.

Peter talks about this as well. 1 Peter 5 – as he's wrapping up his first epistle. It takes humility. It takes knowing that we have to yield to God. It takes submission – true submission to Him and each other – not thinking we have all the answers – yielding to Him, following His word. Verse 6 of 1 Peter 5, he says:

1 Peter 5:6-10 – Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God. When we feel threatened and anxious, you know what? Yield yourselves to God. …that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. You can write down Psalm 55, verse 22. David says the same thing – cast your cares on Him. Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. He is walking about like a lion who's roar is getting louder and louder and louder in this world. And as we see the confusion and the chaos, the division, the hate that we see around us today, the uncertainty, the disease, the sickness, it will continue to intensify, because that's the way Satan is. It's not the way God is. Be sober, be vigilant, because the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. He's got his eyes on devouring the world. He's got his eyes on devouring you and me, too, if our house isn't strong – if our house isn't strong – and if we're doing things the wrong way, making excuses for ourselves, making provisions for the flesh, and using that as an excuse to not obey God. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. In verse 10, it says: But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered awhile – notice that. God of all grace, that we live under His grace, the things that He allows us to live under go through all with the purpose in mind that we will become strong Christians, strong people who will be able to follow Him, lead in the way that He wants us to, do whatever it is that He wants us to do in the time ahead. May the God of all grace...after you have suffered awhile, may He perfect – that's what our goal is: to become perfect, to put on those white robes that are the righteous acts of the saints – we read in Revelation. He will perfect, establish – that's a very solid word, isn't it? He'll establish you. Your feet will be planted firmly. He'll strengthen. We know how to strengthen ourselves in God. And He'll settle you. Those are calming words that Peter says. Those are the kind of words that we look at and, no matter what we're going through, we know what God's will is. He wants to establish us. He wants to settle us. He wants to strengthen us. We have to do our part in all of that. Then He'll certainly do those things. When you look at that word “settle”, the dictionaries and the commentaries will say it's talking about a settled foundation. Those of us who have houses, sometimes we see and talk about, “It's settled”. You see a little crack in your ceiling…“Oh it's settling of it.” But it's all settled, right? You kind of watch it to make sure there is no foundation problems there. But He says He'll settle, He'll settle us. And so we, in order to be settled, have to be built on that strong foundation, right? We have to have our foundation built on a rock. There is nothing more solid than that. We have to do that if we want to be settled, and if we want to go through all the storms of life, and not have our house fall, and be still standing when Christ returns, strength in Him – always with a vision in mind, always reading His word, always allowing His word to sink in, always willing to change and become like Him and let go of self – let go of our ideas, let go of our own whatever it is, and learn to trust in Him more and more.

Back in Psalm 61 – I'll close with this verse. As we go through life, and we put into practice what God told Joshua millennia ago. The same words apply to us today, as we're about to cross over into a new land, a new time in our history in this age, and certainly a new age that's ahead of us, that we can put into practice, because it will establish and settle us and strengthen us. We have the Spirit of God – a tremendous tool that we need to use in a relationship that we're building with God. In Psalms 61, and verse 2:

Psalm 61:1-2 – From the end of the earth I will cry. Oh, let's let me read verse 1. Hear my cry, O God; attend to my prayer. From the end of the earth I will cry to You. When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher than me. Now somewhere in there it talks about clinging to the rock – clinging to the rock that is higher than me – and I don't have that verse written down. But as we face times of uncertainty, as we look at the world around us, whenever we feel anxious about anything that's going on in our life, learn to look to the rock. Build your house on the rock and cling to that rock.