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Four Wonderful Discoveries by Warren Wiersbe | Daily God's Message 5M Official | YouTubeToText
YouTube Transcript: Four Wonderful Discoveries by Warren Wiersbe
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[Applause]
Amen. Thank you. It's always a delight
to be at this conference because of the enthusiasm
enthusiasm
and the love for the Lord and the desire
to win people to Jesus.
When I tell people about this
conference, they don't believe me.
But uh let's keep it that way.
When you can explain what is going on,
God didn't do it.
So, just leave it in the realm of the
unexplained and thank God for it.
Some of you came to the conference very
because when you get back, there are
going to be some problems that have to
be faced and solved. That's why you're there.
there.
Pastors phone me and share their burdens
and or write me and I I remind them of
what Paul wrote to Titus. This is why I
left you in Cree
to straighten out the things that need
straightening out and that's why you're there.
there.
It's always too soon to quit
particularly when you can read passages
like Joshua chapter 5
verse 13.
We want to go back in time and space
and learn from Joshua.
Joshua chapter 5
verses 13- 15.
It's night.
And Joshua is doing what every good
leader does. He's out reconoitering.
He's out checking out the situation.
You know, that's what you are. You're an overseer.
overseer.
Pastors have to be able to see through
things and see around things.
And sometimes it's good to have one
blind eye and one deaf ear. Just don't
believe everything you see and
everything you hear.
But a pastor is an overseer.
The minister of music is overseeing the
choir and the minister of youth is
overseeing the young people. And it's
good to when other folks are sleeping to
be awake
and out checking things out.
And it came to pass when Joshua was by
Jericho that he lifted his eyes and
looked, and behold, a man stood opposite
him with his sword drawn in his hand.
And Joshua went to him and said to him,
"Are you for us
or for our adversaries?"
and he said, "No,
but as commander of the army of the
Lord, I have now come." And Joshua fell
on his face to the earth
and worshiped and said to him, "What
does my Lord say to his servant?"
Then the commander of the Lord's army
said to Joshua, "Take your sandal off
your foot, for the place where you stand
is holy." and Joshua did so.
Now Jericho was securely shut up
because of the children of Israel. None
went out and none came in. And the Lord
said to Joshua, "See, I have given Jericho
Jericho
into your hand, its king
and the mighty men
I don't know that I would want to be in
Couple of times in my ministry, I have
been called to follow some very, very
And Joshua was the successor to the man
Moses didn't have to consult the commentaries.
He wrote the books that the commentaries
are written about.
Moses didn't have to
wonder what's going to happen next. My
Bible says he made known his ways to Moses.
Moses.
Oh, what a great thing it is to learn
the ways of God.
And so Joshua was following a great man
who' done some great things. Moses was a
tremendous liberator, leading the people
out of Egypt and a great legislator,
giving them the laws of God and a great leader.
And now Joshua was facing test number one
one
the conquest of Jericho.
And so that night while he was out
checking things,
he made four very wonderful discoveries.
And I would hope that each one of us,
pastors, pastors, wives,
ministers of music, and your wives and
children, I would hope that all of us
youth workers,
church building superintendants, what
would we do without them?
I'm thinking of starting a new
organization for church janitors. They
need encouragement.
I'm going to call it premise keepers. [Music]
But all of us who are serving the Lord
in one way or another need to make these
four discoveries.
I wish I'd made them sooner.
Discovery number one. When Joshua was
out doing the job he was supposed to do,
he discovered that he was not alone.
Have you ever stopped to consider the
loneliness of leadership?
Our people don't think about this. I'm
sorry. Some of them do.
Some of them don't know the loneliness
of leadership.
The leader is making plans that involve people.
The leader is making decisions
And one day the leader will stand before
God and give an account of those
decisions and that leadership.
There's loneliness to leadership. When
Harry Truman put on his desk that little
motto, the buck stops here, he knew what
he was talking about. And when Harry
Truman said, "If you can't stand the
heat, get out of the kitchen," he knew
what he was talking about.
Joshua was called to be a leader.
And that's lonely.
He wasn't walking out there around
Jericho with his lieutenants,
a committee.
He was out there alone.
And there's many a time when you have
had to be alone.
You said to your wife, "I'm going back
and on your knees before God with your
Bible open, you've prayed and nobody
knew anything about it.
When Campbell Morgan was a young
and one day, one night, he was sitting
in his study
at home
and God said to him, not audibly, but
the way we hear God speak to us in our
hearts, God said to him," Morgan,
are you going to be a popular preacher
And Morgan said, "I wrestled
and then I went to my file
and took out all of my precious outlines
that had
been listened to by so many people and I
went to the fireplace and I put them in
and burned them and said, "Lord,
I will be your spokesman."
We wouldn't have known about that except
Now,
I think he already knew this because
Moses had told him. Listen to what Moses
said when he ordained Joshua.
Then Moses called Joshua, says
Deuteronomy 31:7.
and said to him, "In the sight of all
Israel, be strong
and of good courage, for you must go
with this people to the land which the
Lord has sworn to their fathers to give
them, and you shall cause them to
As Bob Cook used to say, small thought
here, you ever stop to think that when
you and I preach the word of God and
pray with people and pastor people,
we're helping them to claim
what God has planned for them.
That's an awesome thing.
And the Lord, he is the one who goes
before you. He will be with you. He will
not leave you nor forsake you. Do not
fear nor be dismayed. Well, with an
ordination sermon like that, you know
that God is with you. And then in Joshua
chapter 1,
we read just about the same thing,
God says to him in verse 5, "No man
shall be able to stand before you all
the days of your life. As I was with Moses,
Moses,
so I will be with you. I will not leave
Be strong and of good courage. Why? Cuz
And the people were anxious for that
Joshua know about this, knew about this
in chapter 1 of Joshua
verse 17. Just as we heeded Moses in all
things, so we will heed you. Only the
Lord your God be with you as he was with
Moses. Great to have people like that,
isn't it? Who encourage you. He
discovered he was not alone. God
promised to be with him. Moses said he'd
be with him. The people said God be with
you. Joshua said it himself. And God has
said this to us.
I suggest sometime you take your
concordance and work your way through
scripture and find out the people to
whom God said, "I'm with you. I'm with
you. I'm not going to leave you. I'm not
going to forsake you." He said it to us.
Hebrews 13:5,
the Lord said to us, "I will never leave
you nor forsake you." When Jesus was
about to be born,
God said, "Call him Emmanuel," which
means God with us.
Now, I know my heart a little bit. Not
as much as I should. Jeremiah warns me,
"You don't know your own heart, but I
know my heart a little bit."
And God's name ought to be God against us
us
cuz I know how sinful I am. But no, it's
God with us. That's the beginning of
Matthew. Emmanuel, God with us.
You get to the end of Matthew and Jesus
is saying, "Lo, I am with you
even to the end of the age."
And so, here's the first discovery all
of us have to make as leaders.
We are not alone.
I suppose all of us at one time or another
another
have found our way to the book of the
prophet Isaiah.
And if we haven't read it for ourselves,
we've read it for other people. Fear
not, for I am with you.
Be not dismayed. I am your God. I will
strengthen you. I will help you. I will
uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Isaiah 41:10
down in verse 13. For I, the Lord your
God will hold your right hand, saying to
you, fear not. I will help you. Chapter
43 of Isaiah. If you have not yet
preached the fear not of the book of
Isaiah, study them and preach them.
Here's another one. 43:2
When you pass through the waters, I will
be with you,
and through the rivers, they shall not
overflow you. When you walk through the
fire, you shall not be burned, nor the
flame scorch you.
And that's why he can say in verse one,
fear not,
If you're going to be a leader
in spiritual things, you're going to
have battles
and it can be very lonely at the front.
Can be very lonely in the trenches, misunderstood,
misunderstood, criticized.
When you came to the church, there were
people who just hugged you. And a year
later, those same people stabbed you.
Because while they were hugging you,
The more I the more I study the Apostle
Paul, the more I admire that man. I
admit he might have been a bit difficult
to work with, but oh, what a man.
He goes to Corenth,
uh, the home of the philosophers, the academy.
academy.
I once heard Harry Rimemer say that a
philosopher is a blind man in a dark
room looking for a black cat that isn't there.
Paul went to Corenth with the gospel. He
went to Corenth determined to know
nothing except Jesus and him crucified
and the going was tough.
Acts chapter 18,
they kicked Paul out of the synagogue
and verse 9 says, "Now the Lord spoke to
Does God ever wake you up and and talk
to you? Do you ever have songs in the night?
night?
God spoke to Paul in the night by a
vision. Do not be afraid, but speak and
do not keep silent, for I'm with you.
No one will attack you to hurt you.
For I have many people in this city.
And so he continued there a year and six
months. Now, if he'd had his theology
messed up, he would have said, "Well, if
you have all the people, I'll move on.
You take care of them." No. No, the God
who ordains the end ordains the means to
the end. And we are the means to the end.
end.
So for 18 months, Paul kept preaching
and praying. Years ago, Layman Strauss
said to me, "The secret of ministry is
preach and pray and plug away." That's true.
true.
Because he knew that God was with him.
Well, this happened again. Uh the
Apostle Paul, chapter 23 of the book of
Acts, he's being interrogated before the
council and they've got a riot on their
hands. That doesn't look too good. But
in chapter 23:1 of Acts, but the
following night, how odd that God comes
at night. The following night the Lord
stood by him and said, "Be of good
For as you have testified for me in
Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness
at Rome. I'm with you."
And they put Paul in a boat. They should
have listened to Paul. They didn't. Acts
chapter 27.
And here you have a two-week
uh storm.
And Paul warned them not to go, but they
went anyway.
Acts chapter 27,
Paul gives them a word of encouragement
in verse 22. And now I urge you to take heart,
heart,
for there will be no loss of life among
you, but only of a ship. For there stood
by me this night an angel of God to whom
I belong and whom I serve, saying,"Do
not be afraid, Paul. You must be brought
before Caesar.
And indeed, God has granted you all
those who sail with you.
See, God was with him. Isn't it great to
know that God's with you in your
ministry? God's with you in the storms.
When you get to second Timothy chapter
4, you find the Apostle Paul saying an
interesting thing.
The last letter he wrote,
verse 16 of chapter 4, "At my first
defense, no one stood with me." How
about that?
He addresses
26 people by name in Romans 16.
Nobody of that group was there.
who standing trial for the gospel of
Jesus Christ and no one stood with him?
And so if your best friend forsakes you
or if the chairman of the board denies
you or if half of the flock
At my first defense, no one stood with
me, but all forsook me. May it not be
charged to them. But the Lord stood with me
me
and strengthened me.
That's all we need.
I like to read biography and
autobiography because it tells me about
real people.
And I've learned in these years of
reading that real people come to crossroads
crossroads
and they feel like they're standing alone.
And when you're a Christian, you know
you're not alone. That's first discovery
we have to make. Go to that mission is
with he discovered that he was second in command.
Now, if anybody was equipped to be a
successful leader, it was Joshua.
Let's just tick off all of his wonderful
characteristics. He He was born in
slavery. That's a good place to get a
leader. He knew what it was to suffer.
He knew what it was to be identified
with people who suffered.
We have far too many pastors today who
are elevated from and isolated from people.
people.
They're invisible during the week and
Here's a man who was born in slavery and
knew what it was to suffer.
He knew what it was to work.
Anybody who has never taken orders
Jesus said, "First you start as a
servant, then you become a ruler. Well
done, good and faithful servant. I will
make you ruler."
So he he knew what it was to suffer.
He um he'd been a a servant
for 40 years or more.
Moses servant carried Moses' baggage and
ran Moses's errands and just did humble
things for Moses.
Moses was his mentor.
Joshua sometimes in those years asked
some questions that were interesting and
Moses answered them and and Moses went
up in the mountain and Joshua would go
up in the mountain and Moses went out to
his tent of meeting and Joshua went out
He'd fought some battles and won.
He'd learned how to trust God for victory.
victory.
When the people of Amalecch attacked the
Jews after the Exodus, Moses said, "I'm
going up on that hill with the rod of
God and with Aaron and her, and you get
down here in the valley and you fight,
and we're going to pray." And Joshua's
down there leading that army. And every
once I look up and sure enough, there's
He was a man with courage.
I think if I'd been out that night and
seen somebody staying there with a
sword, I would have said, "Well, that's
interesting. Goodbye."
Now, Joshua knew there's only two camps.
You're either for us or against us.
He didn't say now where are you on this spectrum.
He didn't say now now what what is your
latest thought about Israel? No, no, no.
He said are you for us or against us? I
like that kind of a leader.
But he had to learn he was second in
command. Now hear me.
God has given you training
and education
and gifts.
Now those are different.
Uh we get training so we can make a
living. We get education so we can make
a life.
But we get gifts so we can make a ministry.
ministry.
And God God says now I I I I equip
people different ways. I train people
different ways.
Some I put through the usual courses of
school, some I don't.
Some I call young in life, some I don't.
But the important thing for any of us,
regardless of our mentoring, our
experience, our gifts,
our training, the most important thing
Jesus said, "I'm not here
to take your orders. I am here to give
the orders." It's a marvelous day in the
life of a leader
This encourages me
because I don't know of a preacher, missionary,
missionary,
Christian worker who at some point
doesn't feel like
he hasn't got it. She hasn't got it.
And the older I get, the harder it is to preach
And if you have the idea, young
preacher, that as you get older, it's
going to be easier, I got news for you.
It's not. It's not.
And yet, one thing is true.
We can always come to the feet of Jesus.
I keep reminding myself of what Jesus
said in John chapter 15 and verse 5.
Without me
you can do nothing. He didn't say
without me you're handicapped. Without
me it'll be a little difficult. No. No.
Robert Murray McShane, whose life you
ought to read,
wrote to a missionary friend and said, "Remember,
"Remember,
it is not great talent that God blesses,
but great likeness to Jesus."
And over these um
50 years of ministry nearly,
I've seen some very talented people go
right down the tubes. You know why? They
didn't have time to be at the feet of
I've seen,
and it pains me to think of it,
Christian workers whose homes have gone
to shreds.
They didn't have time to be at the feet
of Jesus. They thought they were first
in command. Oh, no. Second in command.
I don't want to follow a leader
who's not following Jesus.
I don't want to submit to a leader who
hasn't submitted to Jesus. Paul said,
"Follow me as I follow Christ.
And if my pastor is following Christ,
I'll follow anywhere."
But I'm amazed as I
oh have lunch with this one and
breakfast with that one and chat with
the other one and you ask the simple
question, tell me about your devotional life.
life.
Where are you reading in God's word?
What's he saying to you? And there's a silence
silence
and the face goes down and then they
look up and say, "Well, I guess I'm not
reading anywhere."
How do you expect to fight the battle?
How do you expect to get your orders?
Too busy
doing what? He learned he was second in
command. And so tomorrow morning when
you wake up, remember now you're second
Twice in his ministry, at least in the
book of Joshua, Joshua forgot he was
second in command and got himself in trouble.
trouble.
Ai, after they'd conquered Jericho, here
was Ai. What's AI? Ai was so small, the
You live in a town like that. Is that it?
it?
And and the experts came, you know, he
had he had expert advice. He had the
statistics. I'm scared to death of statistics.
statistics.
People are building their church
ministries on statistics.
And I'm scared of it. You can you can
sell hamburgers that way. You can't
pedal the gospel that way.
And they came back and said, Joshua,
that's such a small place. just send a
small crew up there. And Joshua didn't
stop to say, "Excuse me, I got an appointment."
And they went to AI and lost.
He forgot he was second in command. One
day a group of crummy looking people
walked into the camp
and uh oh we're from a far away city and
look how look how moldy our bread is and
look how our sho bunch our shoes are
worn out. They were just
And Joshua consulted with his leaders,
but he didn't consult with Jesus.
And you know what happened? He had to go
out and fight a battle to defend the enemy.
There's a third discovery that he made
that night
that he was not alone and that he was
second in command and that he was on
holy ground.
I have to kind of smile when I read that
because he said he's a Jericho
and it's pagan ground.
Jericho was a wicked city.
And these people were wicked people.
They were they were idol worshippers and
they had religious ceremonies that were
grossly evil.
And Jesus said to him, "Better take your
shoes off, Joshua,
because uh you're on holy ground.
If you're God's servant doing God's
work, every place you go is holy ground.
That includes hotel rooms,
Some years ago, I attended a convention.
I won't name the group.
found out later on that more
pornographic movies were watched by the
delegates to this religious convention
than by any other convention that had
ever come to that hotel.
When you're looking at the magazines
When you're cruising the channels,
you're on holy ground because you're
God's servant.
And wherever we go, we're on holy ground.
ground.
Moses had been up on the mountain and
seen God. Joshua had walked with Moses.
He knew what holy ground was all about.
There is no such thing in the ministry
There is no such thing.
There there is the holy and there's the unholy.
And Moses had tried to teach all the
people the difference between the holy
and the unholy in their diet and in
And sometimes God's leaders say, "Well,
But are you on holy ground?"
It's a wonderful thing to be on holy
ground. The Bible calls this integrity.
An integer is a whole number. A fraction
is a part of a number. Integer, wholeness.
wholeness.
Integrity, wholeness. No part of our
lives that slips off to some other
David prayed in Psalm 51, "Wash me."
That's a good prayer.
But God said to Isaiah, "You go tell
those Jewish people, wash you.
You clean up your lives." In fact, Paul
wrote and said, "Having therefore these
promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves."
ourselves."
God's not going to send an angel down to
straighten out my
CD collection or my video collection or
my magazine rack or my library. I have
to do that.
And when Paul was in Ephesus, the saints
got so convicted, they burned their books.
Eight times in scripture, God says, "Be
holy, for I am holy."
John 3:16's only there once. Eight
times, "Be holy,
There was a fourth discovery he made. He
discovered he was not alone. He
discovered he was second in command. He
And he discovered he had already
Oh, that that gets to me. Our God is
such a great God.
I love to study the providence of God.
Providence means he sees beforehand.
Provide. He sees beforehand.
And you know, if God led you to that
church, he's prepared you for it and it
for you. And it may seem like some real
struggles and battles, but he put you
there because he saw beforehand
you've already won the battle.
These are tough days
that we have a strange generation coming
along. Now, I'm not one of these elders
that goes around criticizing the younger
generation. I'm I'm I'm going to be very
careful cuz we raised them. [Music]
But they're living in an atmosphere
that's different from the atmosphere I
grew up in. When I grew up, there was
right and there was wrong.
A young man came to me at Moody Church
one day and said, "You believe in
absolutes, don't you?" I said, "Yes, I
do." He said, "There are no absolutes."
So I said, "Does that include the
Because if it includes that statement,
there are absolutes cuz that statement
is not true.
What he said,
you see, we have a thoughtless
generation today. They have not thought
from point A to point B.
And whatever works is good and whatever
you get away with. The first commandment
is thou shalt not be caught.
But the first promise is there are no consequences.
consequences.
We have a whole generation of people who
do not believe in absolutes and who do
They will.
They will hard to minister to people
But um Jesus said to Joshua, "I
"I
have given
Jericho into your hand." Not, "I might
if you're a good boy. Not if you earn
enough brownie points." No, no, no. I
I've won the battle.
My my Bible in John 10 says that when
Jesus the good shepherd
calls his sheep, he goes before them.
That means that when I walk into that
committee meeting, he's there. He's gone
before me. When we have that
congregational meeting and some of the
sanctified obstructionists have shown up,
the Lord got there before them.
Oh, how wonderful he is. He goes before
us and Joshua learned that he had
already won the battle. Now, God does
not always give to me the detailed plans
he gave to Joshua.
I've learned something about the will of
God in these later years. You don't have
to agree with it. I've learned that I
need other people
to help determine the will of God.
My wife and I have to talk about things
and pray about them. When I was at Back
to the Bible and I'd sit down with our
directors and we'd have some decisions
to make, I'd discover an interesting
thing. The will of God is something like
a jigsaw puzzle.
And I'd be sitting there and I'd say,
"Now, men, here's what I see
we probably ought to start doing." And I
put down my two pieces of the puzzle.
And one of the men says, 'You know, I've
been praying about that. And he puts
down his piece. And after an hour or two
of prayer and talking, we see the
picture. We need each other.
The American approach to individual
Christianity is not biblical.
We are sheep
and sheep flock together.
And we need shepherds.
I thank God for some of my friends with
whom I can chat and pray. They teach me.
They help me.
And Joshua discovered he had already
won the battle. So how did he claim that
victory? By faith.
That's what Hebrews 11 says. By faith.
The walls of Jericho came down. That's
great. By faith. And and and the plan
God gave to them was it seems foolish.
When are we going to learn that God uses
the weak and foolish things to confound
the mighty?
As we travel this country, we get into
some churches
and you wonder what is God doing here?
It's just one blessing after another.
And yet they're just
foolish enough to believe God.
And that's not foolish at all. It's the
wisest thing you can do.
Well, here are four discoveries I wish I
had made a lot sooner.
But in these u years, I'm going to have
to keep them in mind. I'm going to have
to remember that I'm not alone.
that Jesus is always with me.
And that being the case, I am on holy ground.
ground.
So, I've got to be careful to walk in a
righteous way.
I'm I'm second in command,
and I have to get my orders from him.
But whatever he's called me to do, he's
already gone before me and made all the arrangements.
arrangements. Hallelujah.
Hallelujah.
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