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It happens.

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Joshua didn't campaign for leadership, you guys. Moses is gone. And now it's his responsibility. And I want you to see this, because God doesn't wait for you to feel ready. He calls you to step up when it's time. Let me. Let me just give you a real picture of this one that all of us can relate to.

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Charlie is gone.

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He's more alive now than he ever has been. Absolutely. He's with the Lord. Absolutely. He heard the words, well done, good and faithful servant.

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Erica didn't ask to step in.

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It wasn't Erica's thought when she woke up that morning that she wants to take over and take on these responsibilities. But she had to. God called her to. Whether or not anybody wants to admit it, that's real life. And this is happening everywhere right now. This is something that's taking place in everybody's life in one way or another. God's command here is not comfort. It never has been comfort. It's always been courage. He says, be strong and very courageous. It's repeated here in this passage multiple times for a reason. You know what that means? It means that fear is a general expectation. You should expect to be filled with fear at times, but it's not acceptable. What do I mean when I say that? Courage is not the absence of fear, you guys. It means obedience in spite of means. When you have that fear in your heart about the unknown, you still obey God, even though you know that fear wants to get a hold of you and control you. That's what Erica has been doing. That's what so many of us have been doing in spite of so many difficult hardships. Here's the truth. Joshua Says it. Stay locked on God's word, not on your emotions. Look at what God told Joshua. He said, turn not. Not to the right, nor to the left. No deviation, no improvising truth. The idea here is that the moment you drift from God's word, you start losing clarity. You start losing sobriety. And, folks, we cannot afford to do that. We just can't. If you're stepping into something new, and most of you probably are, I want to promise you something. Your feelings will lie to you. I can promise you that.

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But God's word won't. His word will never lie to you.

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He will always keep you in a perfect place of peace if you will follow his word.

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Success is defined by obedience, not by outcomes.

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I want to make myself clear. Notice what it says. Then thou shalt make thy way prosperous. God's definition of success is fundamentally predicated upon your obedience. It's so funny, because what we think is success in this world is such a nominal part of it. You think money, if you have a lot of it, all you're successful. I would venture to say that lots of money may be a very small part of the bigger picture.

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God's version of success has never been visibility. It's always been faithfulness. And, guys, let me just tell you something, okay? This is super, super important.

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We learned this from Joshua.

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Opposition is guaranteed. I can promise this to you. Opposition is guaranteed. But it doesn't matter.

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It doesn't matter. Look at what happened. Look at what happened in Jericho. Look at what happened at AI I'm not talking about artificial intelligence. I'm talking about the city of AI Jericho falls, even though it was unlikely to fall because of perfect obedience. Israel fell at AI because they disobeyed God. There was hidden sin. Each of those cities represented constant resistance. One was overcome because of obedience, and one literally overcame because of disobedience.

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External opposition cannot stop you, but internal compromise will understand that.

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Some people are asking, why aren't we stopping to answer every crazy thing that's happening?

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It's for that reason. It's for that reason.

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Listen, the other thing we learn from

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this book is that hidden sin will wreck your public calling.

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A lot of people are wanting to bring input on what we have to do on the outside to fix appearances. But it wasn't the appearance of anything that brought down Israel. It was Achan. It was his hidden sin that brought down Israel. You cannot carry the torch publicly while hiding compromise privately. Why am I so intense about this? Because we're living this right now, guys. God keeps every Promise.

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We're learning that right now.

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God keeps every promise whether you see it immediately or not. Look at what it says in Joshua 21. I love this. Okay? There failed not ought of any good thing which the Lord had spoken. This is Joshua 21:45. All came to pass is what the end says there. God does not partially fulfill his word, you guys.

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He completes it.

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He cannot deny himself. Finishing well matters more than starting strong. Like, I want you to see that Joshua even says it. His final words, choose you this day. Who are you going to serve?

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You can inherit something great and still lose it. If you don't stay committed, if you

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don't stay close to the Lord, that's exactly what will happen. Think about the heaviness of the words that Joshua brings to the table here. Let me say this. It's really, really critical. It's really, really important. He says, choose you this day whom you will serve. But then he says at the end of that phrase, he says, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

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I know that this has been a heavy video, but I want you to understand something, and I want you to understand something important. The torch has been passed. The calling is very, very real.

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Whether or not anybody doubts the calling,

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it's real because God handed it down to you. And here's a statement that I would give you. The responsibility is yours. Let me make myself clear. And this applies to me. This applies to you. We're watching.

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It apply to Erica in real life.

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It applies to every single one of us.

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You don't get to choose whether the

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torch is handed to you.

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You think Erica would have chose this? You think many of us would choose some of the things we've been experiencing? No. You don't get to choose whether the

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torch is handed to you. You only get to choose what you do with it when it is handed to you. My hope and my prayer is that you will run. You won't look to the left, you won't look to the right, but you will run as fast as you can, knowing that God will be with you and that you will find great success. That's my prayer. That's my hope. We've been watching lots of people take our words out of context lately. We've been watching lots of insanity out there. And all it does is reminds me that I have a race to run and I'm excited about running it. Joshua should get you excited about the same thing. Yeshua is an important name. It's one that should remind you about the promises of God, the torch that you get to carry and the amazing promise that you get to see fulfilled. That's what it's all about. And I would ask you today, choose this day who you will serve, and may it be said of you the same way it's said of me. As for me, in my house, we will absolutely, unequivocally, without compromise, serve the Lord because he's worthy of our service. Ugh. Let's get out there and fight the good fight.