Our text for this morning comes from the book of Acts 9 starting at verse 26 turn there with me if you would and let’s stand together as we read God’s word together.

Acts 9:26-31(ESV) 26 And when he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples. And they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple. 27 But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared to them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who spoke to him, and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus. 28 So he went in and out among them at Jerusalem, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord. 29 And he spoke and disputed against the Hellenists. But they were seeking to kill him. 30 And when the brothers learned this, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.31 So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.One of the things that can get lost in our study of the Bible is chronology; we lose a sense of time in certain Bible events. On the surface of this passage and practically speaking we are going from one passage to the next in chapter 9 and one story to the next, previously in this passage Paul was in Damascus preaching the gospel following is conversion on the Damascus road, for those who are unfamiliar with that story Paul, who was a persecutor of those who followed Jesus Christ, had Christ revealed to him on the road going to a region called Damascus. It was in this revelation directly from God that Paul, in repentance came to realize his error in persecuting those who followed Jesus Christ and surrendered himself to Christ’s lordship. It was in that experience that his fervor and passion for God pivoted from wanting to destroy those who he presumed were coming against God, namely Christians, to proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ in the place where he intended to destroy Christians.

Now if you were to read that story of Paul’s salvation at the beginning of Acts 9, move through chapter 9 and his time preaching the gospel in Damascus to where we find ourselves in todays passage, in verse 26 it all moves rather quickly for us, but in reality as Paul affirms in Galatians 1:18, three years had gone by between verses 25 when Paul left Damascus and 26 as Paul arrives in Jerusalem.

It sheds a whole new light on what we are reading here in this passage. Paul had been a Christ follower for three years, he had been preaching the gospel in other regions and yet in that three years the disciples in Jerusalem, the place where his murderous journey started, weren’t buying it, they didn’t know this new and improved gospel-centered Paul. 

Although Paul was now an ardent defender and proclaimer of the gospel, his past actions had consequences in Jerusalem and now he had a reputation for something that was no longer true; fair or unfair, this was all the disciples in Jerusalem had as a witness for Paul up to this point. But despite that narrative Paul had an inescapable desire to align himself with the believers in Jerusalem and to not be an outsider looking in at the church. Paul faced an inescapable reality that every Christian faces:

Move 1: Every Christian Has aDesperate Need for Active Encouragement from Other Christians 

Imagine that you are Paul in this moment. You know and feel the weight of your errors, you just left a place where people wanted to kill you for preaching the gospel, you are now in a place where people don’t believe you are who you say you are in the gospel, what do you do?

Do you just go it alone? Do you just become a rogue in the Christian community? I don’t need these disciples anyway, God called me and that’s all that matters!Friends if COVID 19 has taught you anything, I hope what it has taught you is that you cannot go through the Christian life alone. Detreich Bonhoffer said it best in his book Life Tog

Joshua 1:10-18

We are continuing our series on Everyday Leaders, and if you look at your everyday life, I want you to think about the people you interact with on a regular basis. Maybe even right their name down on the paper you have with you or type it in the notes app on your phone. Last week we talked about how the relationships that we have are a platform to create boldness in us when God gives us a burden, but those relationships are a two way street. We can’t just build relationships in order to gain what we want, we also need to seek opportunities to impact peoples lives, to bless them and each one of us has the power to do that, to help people chart a course that God wants for them and the key word in that is influence.

Today we are going to look at another everyday leader from scripture who exemplified that, today we are going to learn from the influential leadership of Joshua. Open your Bible with me this morning to Joshua 1 starting at verse 10.  Joshua was the understudy, if you will, of Moses, he was his assistant and for about forty years had a front row seat to Moses’ ministry and service to God. He saw first hand the power of God at work in the leadership of Moses. Joshua was a great leader because of the example he had in Moses. Joshua had been fearless in the wilderness period leading up to this passage, he fought alongside the Israelite armies and was victorious, he had in fact seen the promised land for himself, being one twelve spies sent in to survey the land and its resources and its enemies, and in the text we will study this morning, Joshua is now tasked with completing the work originally ascribed to Moses his mentor. This is the backdrop for our introduction to Joshua the Son of Nun, a man who had powerful influencers around him who helped prepare him to be a great influencer. Joshua lived out a fundamental leadership principle that we can learn: great leaders guide the way to great things.

Our reading this morning is from Joshua 1:10-18:

Joshua 1:10-18(ESV) 10 And Joshua commanded the officers of the people, 11 “Pass through the midst of the camp and command the people, ‘Prepare your provisions, for within three days you are to pass over this Jordan to go in to take possession of the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess.’”

12 And to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh Joshua said, 13 “Remember the word that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, saying, ‘The LORD your God is providing you a place of rest and will give you this land.’ 14 Your wives, your little ones, and your livestock shall remain in the land that Moses gave you beyond the Jordan, but all the men of valor among you shall pass over armed before your brothers and shall help them, 15 until the LORD gives rest to your brothers as he has to you, and they also take possession of the land that the LORD your God is giving them. Then you shall return to the land of your possession and shall possess it, the land that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise.”

16 And they answered Joshua, “All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. 17 Just as we obeyed Moses in all things, so we will obey you. Only may the LORD your God be with you, as he was with Moses! 18 Whoever rebels against your commandment and disobeys your words, whatever you command him, shall be put to death. Only be strong and courageous.”

You may be seated, may God add his blessing to the reading of his word.

As we read this section of Joshua and his first encounter with God’s people that we have recorded without Moses, think for a moment about who he is talking to; a generation who hadthisas the narrative for their lives: slavery, homelessness and there parents dying in the wilderness because of their disobedience.

Think about growing up with that as your narrative and how you are on the edge of the land you’ve been told God has promised

Joshua 1:10-18

We are continuing our series on Everyday Leaders, and if you look at your everyday life, I want you to think about the people you interact with on a regular basis. Maybe even right their name down on the paper you have with you or type it in the notes app on your phone. Last week we talked about how the relationships that we have are a platform to create boldness in us when God gives us a burden, but those relationships are a two way street. We can’t just build relationships in order to gain what we want, we also need to seek opportunities to impact peoples lives, to bless them and each one of us has the power to do that, to help people chart a course that God wants for them and the key word in that is influence.

Today we are going to look at another everyday leader from scripture who exemplified that, today we are going to learn from the influential leadership of Joshua. Open your Bible with me this morning to Joshua 1 starting at verse 10.  Joshua was the understudy, if you will, of Moses, he was his assistant and for about forty years had a front row seat to Moses’ ministry and service to God. He saw first hand the power of God at work in the leadership of Moses. Joshua was a great leader because of the example he had in Moses. Joshua had been fearless in the wilderness period leading up to this passage, he fought alongside the Israelite armies and was victorious, he had in fact seen the promised land for himself, being one twelve spies sent in to survey the land and its resources and its enemies, and in the text we will study this morning, Joshua is now tasked with completing the work originally ascribed to Moses his mentor. This is the backdrop for our introduction to Joshua the Son of Nun, a man who had powerful influencers around him who helped prepare him to be a great influencer. Joshua lived out a fundamental leadership principle that we can learn: great leaders guide the way to great things.

Our reading this morning is from Joshua 1:10-18:

Joshua 1:10-18(ESV) 10 And Joshua commanded the officers of the people, 11 “Pass through the midst of the camp and command the people, ‘Prepare your provisions, for within three days you are to pass over this Jordan to go in to take possession of the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess.’”

12 And to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh Joshua said, 13 “Remember the word that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, saying, ‘The LORD your God is providing you a place of rest and will give you this land.’ 14 Your wives, your little ones, and your livestock shall remain in the land that Moses gave you beyond the Jordan, but all the men of valor among you shall pass over armed before your brothers and shall help them, 15 until the LORD gives rest to your brothers as he has to you, and they also take possession of the land that the LORD your God is giving them. Then you shall return to the land of your possession and shall possess it, the land that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise.”

16 And they answered Joshua, “All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. 17 Just as we obeyed Moses in all things, so we will obey you. Only may the LORD your God be with you, as he was with Moses! 18 Whoever rebels against your commandment and disobeys your words, whatever you command him, shall be put to death. Only be strong and courageous.”

You may be seated, may God add his blessing to the reading of his word.

As we read this section of Joshua and his first encounter with God’s people that we have recorded without Moses, think for a moment about who he is talking to; a generation who hadthisas the narrative for their lives: slavery, homelessness and there parents dying in the wilderness because of their disobedience.

Think about growing up with that as your narrative and how you are on the edge of the land you’ve been told God has promised

Nehemiah 2:11-18

One of the challenges we face as modern Christians is what I will call the “point of identification” challenge. Here is what I mean by that: when we come to the Bible we are dealing with a book that affirms itself, how do we know that the Bible is relevant and necessary and transformative for us today? It’s own witness affirms that. the Bible is in fact a living and active word, according to the witness of Hebrews 4:12 and what it ought to do is judge our thoughts and attitudes and as we come to this word what we should be prepared for is that it will change us, it will transform us.

But the point of identification challenge also addresses the practical reality of the cultural, social distance we have from when it was written. These things that happened, happened in real time and real space in human history but the happened in real time and real space in a time in history that it is hard for us to identify with. So if you are finding it challenging to identify with what we read in scripture, I understand where you are, but I also know we have the ability to move beyond that. People have been growing in the grace and knowledge of God for centuries the church cannot be stopped and the purposes of God cannot be stopped, but we have to bring our heart and our attitude to the table and lay it bear before God. Paul gave us this witness in Philippians 2:12-13 (ESV) 12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

So what we bring is an attitude of being willing to put in work. If you are here today as a new Christ follower, knowing Jesus deeper and more intimately doesn’t just come, you’ve got to put in work. For older believers we’ve still got a lot to learn, we’ve got to put in work and if you are here today or watching on our livestream and you have not yet entered into a relationship with Jesus Christ, first I want to thank you for taking a bold step to at least listen to what we have to say and considering what it is we believe as Christ followers and you also are going to have to put in work keep coming and keep listening. But here is the joy as we put in work as we work out our salvation with fear in trembling, God is working, he puts in work, he puts in the work that we can’t in order to open our hearts and our minds to know him, to experience him more fully.

As we continue our series Everyday Leaders, Biblical Leadership Principles for Every Christian we are focusing on individuals who have done that, they put in work. They are men and women who we see working out their salvation with fear and trembling and we see God working in their lives. But what see is that although God worked in them to do amazing things, things chronicled for every human being to see throughout history in the pages of scripture, what we also see is everyday people. People we can identify with; part of this series is giving you a context for overcoming the point of identification challenge. These are real people who had real jobs, real failures, but also characteristics about them that made them great leaders, with leadership characteristics that all of us can replicate no matter what our lot in life is and today we will look at a leader who was a civic employee. Today we are looking at the bold leadership of Nehemiah. Open your Bible with me to Nehemiah 2 starting at verse 11.

To help set up where we are studying this morning, the events that happen in the book of Nehemiah occur after the Israelites have been in captivity for about 150 years. They were conquered by the Babylonians, who were later conquered by the Persians and the reason that’s important is because that in the time period we are reading about there had been generations of Israelites who were born in captivity, living in Jerusalem wasn’t their reality, li

Nehemiah 2:11-18

One of the challenges we face as modern Christians is what I will call the “point of identification” challenge. Here is what I mean by that: when we come to the Bible we are dealing with a book that affirms itself, how do we know that the Bible is relevant and necessary and transformative for us today? It’s own witness affirms that. the Bible is in fact a living and active word, according to the witness of Hebrews 4:12 and what it ought to do is judge our thoughts and attitudes and as we come to this word what we should be prepared for is that it will change us, it will transform us.

But the point of identification challenge also addresses the practical reality of the cultural, social distance we have from when it was written. These things that happened, happened in real time and real space in human history but the happened in real time and real space in a time in history that it is hard for us to identify with. So if you are finding it challenging to identify with what we read in scripture, I understand where you are, but I also know we have the ability to move beyond that. People have been growing in the grace and knowledge of God for centuries the church cannot be stopped and the purposes of God cannot be stopped, but we have to bring our heart and our attitude to the table and lay it bear before God. Paul gave us this witness in Philippians 2:12-13 (ESV) 12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

So what we bring is an attitude of being willing to put in work. If you are here today as a new Christ follower, knowing Jesus deeper and more intimately doesn’t just come, you’ve got to put in work. For older believers we’ve still got a lot to learn, we’ve got to put in work and if you are here today or watching on our livestream and you have not yet entered into a relationship with Jesus Christ, first I want to thank you for taking a bold step to at least listen to what we have to say and considering what it is we believe as Christ followers and you also are going to have to put in work keep coming and keep listening. But here is the joy as we put in work as we work out our salvation with fear in trembling, God is working, he puts in work, he puts in the work that we can’t in order to open our hearts and our minds to know him, to experience him more fully.

As we continue our series Everyday Leaders, Biblical Leadership Principles for Every Christian we are focusing on individuals who have done that, they put in work. They are men and women who we see working out their salvation with fear and trembling and we see God working in their lives. But what see is that although God worked in them to do amazing things, things chronicled for every human being to see throughout history in the pages of scripture, what we also see is everyday people. People we can identify with; part of this series is giving you a context for overcoming the point of identification challenge. These are real people who had real jobs, real failures, but also characteristics about them that made them great leaders, with leadership characteristics that all of us can replicate no matter what our lot in life is and today we will look at a leader who was a civic employee. Today we are looking at the bold leadership of Nehemiah. Open your Bible with me to Nehemiah 2 starting at verse 11.

To help set up where we are studying this morning, the events that happen in the book of Nehemiah occur after the Israelites have been in captivity for about 150 years. They were conquered by the Babylonians, who were later conquered by the Persians and the reason that’s important is because that in the time period we are reading about there had been generations of Israelites who were born in captivity, living in Jerusalem wasn’t their reality, li

Philippians 3:4-8, Acts 13:44-52

It’s fall, its my favorite time of year because it’s football season! And we are actually getting a football season which is really quite remarkable considering the situation our world is facing. Today every football fan has a clean slate with anticipation and expectations of their team winning the prize of all prizes, a Super Bowl championship.

I have been an unapologetic Green Bay Packer fan for a number of years and one of my bucket list items would be to go to Lambeau Field to watch a live Green Bay Packers game. The problem is the tickets are so hard to come by. In fact the last time I checked the waiting list for seasons tickets for the Green Bay Packers had over 130,000 name on it and was 30 years long.

For many people, football watching is appointment television, it takes on a life of its own, we could go so far as to say people are religious about football.

Now before we go too far down the road of vilifying the sport of football because of peoples religiosity with it, whether we want to admit it or not we all have things we hold to religiously. It may be a television program that you watch religiously or a hair appointment that you have religiously or a family vacation that you have held to for years religiously or that line item in your checkbook that never gets overlooked.

To be religious is to hold to something so tightly, so rhythmically, so regularly, so unapologetically that a person will not allow anything to interfere with its practice. I want you to hold onto that definition of religion throughout our time this morning.

When we hear the word religious or its root religion, especially in the church, we attach negative feelings toward it.

In the church, religion has become a dirty word, something we don’t want to be accused of, but religion and being religious according to how it’s defined isn’t a bad thing in itself right? I mean, I’ll bet you are appreciative that I religiously shower and brush my teeth on Sunday mornings.

The word religion isn’t bad and even the concept isn’t bad and yet somehow we have a bad taste in our mouth with regards to being religious.

In the church we’ve attempted to down play the word religion with sayings like, “Christianity isn’t about religion, its about a relationship.”

We can make that statement and that’s fine and I can agree with what you affirm, but I have to disagree with what you deny because Christianity is, in fact, a belief in a highly religious man, Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ was religious. He religiously was in the synagogue on the Sabbath, he religiously practiced the passover, he would probably affirm the reality that the church is not a building, but driving out people who were desecrating the religious building where he worshiped shows that the place where religious practice took place mattered.

Christianity is certainly about a relationship, but we cannot deny that it is also about being religious. But its about being religious in the right way with the right heart. Going back to the definition I gave you what if we framed Christianity as a religion in this way:

The Christian religiously holds to Jesus Christ so tightly, so rhythmically, so regularly, so unapologetically that they will not allow anything to interfere with their Christian faith.

This is the type of Christian who is a world changer. And over the centuries of the church, God has used religious men and women, ordinary yet religious people to expand his kingdom and spread the gospel of Jesus Christ…the question becomes am I going to be one of those people?

We are starting a new series this week we are calling Everyday Leaders: Biblical Leadership Principles for Every Christian. The aim of this series is to point each other to guiding practices and principles we can learn from individuals in scripture. As we start this series we are going to look to one of the greatest leaders the church has ever seen, Paul the Apostle. Thi

Philippians 3:4-8, Acts 13:44-52

It’s fall, its my favorite time of year because it’s football season! And we are actually getting a football season which is really quite remarkable considering the situation our world is facing. Today every football fan has a clean slate with anticipation and expectations of their team winning the prize of all prizes, a Super Bowl championship.

I have been an unapologetic Green Bay Packer fan for a number of years and one of my bucket list items would be to go to Lambeau Field to watch a live Green Bay Packers game. The problem is the tickets are so hard to come by. In fact the last time I checked the waiting list for seasons tickets for the Green Bay Packers had over 130,000 name on it and was 30 years long.

For many people, football watching is appointment television, it takes on a life of its own, we could go so far as to say people are religious about football.

Now before we go too far down the road of vilifying the sport of football because of peoples religiosity with it, whether we want to admit it or not we all have things we hold to religiously. It may be a television program that you watch religiously or a hair appointment that you have religiously or a family vacation that you have held to for years religiously or that line item in your checkbook that never gets overlooked.

To be religious is to hold to something so tightly, so rhythmically, so regularly, so unapologetically that a person will not allow anything to interfere with its practice. I want you to hold onto that definition of religion throughout our time this morning.

When we hear the word religious or its root religion, especially in the church, we attach negative feelings toward it.

In the church, religion has become a dirty word, something we don’t want to be accused of, but religion and being religious according to how it’s defined isn’t a bad thing in itself right? I mean, I’ll bet you are appreciative that I religiously shower and brush my teeth on Sunday mornings.

The word religion isn’t bad and even the concept isn’t bad and yet somehow we have a bad taste in our mouth with regards to being religious.

In the church we’ve attempted to down play the word religion with sayings like, “Christianity isn’t about religion, its about a relationship.”

We can make that statement and that’s fine and I can agree with what you affirm, but I have to disagree with what you deny because Christianity is, in fact, a belief in a highly religious man, Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ was religious. He religiously was in the synagogue on the Sabbath, he religiously practiced the passover, he would probably affirm the reality that the church is not a building, but driving out people who were desecrating the religious building where he worshiped shows that the place where religious practice took place mattered.

Christianity is certainly about a relationship, but we cannot deny that it is also about being religious. But its about being religious in the right way with the right heart. Going back to the definition I gave you what if we framed Christianity as a religion in this way:

The Christian religiously holds to Jesus Christ so tightly, so rhythmically, so regularly, so unapologetically that they will not allow anything to interfere with their Christian faith.

This is the type of Christian who is a world changer. And over the centuries of the church, God has used religious men and women, ordinary yet religious people to expand his kingdom and spread the gospel of Jesus Christ…the question becomes am I going to be one of those people?

We are starting a new series this week we are calling Everyday Leaders: Biblical Leadership Principles for Every Christian. The aim of this series is to point each other to guiding practices and principles we can learn from individuals in scripture. As we start this series we are going to look to one of the greatest leaders the church has ever seen, Paul the Apostle. Thi