R1622 An Exciting Future

God has an encouraging word for you and me today through the Bible-based preaching of Dr. Don Wilton and his message on an exciting future. Prepare to open your Bibles to Joshua Chapter 1 in just a moment, but know that we're open to pray with you right now at 866-899-WORD.

That's 866-899-9673. Now today's message with Dr. Wilton. I want to show you what the Lord put in my heart and how we can ask these questions in the light of God's Word. You know, the Bible is filled with really fantastic illustrations for moms and dads, for ministry service, for the passing on of generations, for how God is faithful. I have quite a number of people who ask me this kind of question, like, you know, what does tomorrow look like?

Right? What does it look like? What is the church going to look like now that we're in experiencing this COVID?

What does it look like? One thing we can definitively and confidently say, we have an exciting future. How can you say that? So we're going to go into Joshua Chapter 1. Joshua Chapter 1. And just to place this into its, like, into its context here in Joshua Chapter 1. You know, we've read this, we know it. There's a passing on here from one leader to another, but there's a lot more than that. I want you to see the picture here, because this picture takes place on a mountain.

Did you know that? It was on a big mountain. And by the way, just a matter of interest, I'm one of those people that I've actually stood on this mountain. I've stood on this exact spot where what I'm about to read to you took place. I've been there.

And Seth and Erica, just get ready, because I'm going to take you there. I want you to see exactly where you stand right now. This is where you are. If you've just had a baby, I want you to see yourself standing on this mountain. You've got this most beautiful little thing in your hands. This little baby girl, this little baby boy, and you're looking and you're just so filled with love. And you look at that child and you say, man, Lord Jesus, I want this child to grow up strong, loving others, serving the Lord Jesus, filled with the blessings of life. And then you lift your head up and you look out and you say, uh-oh, look at the world this child is going into. I'm not going to spend hardly one minute talking about the world.

We don't have to convince each other. Anyone here like to suggest that our young people today are facing a very challenging world? The world is like this, man. Parents today are having to make some really unfair decisions. Which school to go to?

Home school, public school, private school, no school, let alone all the other stuff. Do we go or do we not go? Do we associate? Do we watch this? Do we not watch that? Do I say yes? Do I say no?

Up or down? We watch our kids and then they get to about the age of 15 and all of a sudden it becomes even more difficult. Is they no longer just little kids. And then they get a driver's license and it's no longer, well, I'll take you to church.

They come to church and it just goes on and on. It goes on and on and here's Joshua standing on this mountain and he's looking down the mountain. I've stood there and right there in front of him there's this river. And he says, wait a minute now, how am I going to cross that river?

And he just sees the river. Oh no, wait, wait a minute now. I've got all these people. I've got all these children of Israel. I mean, I've got all these families and I've got to take them down this mountain. Then I've got to get this bunch through that river.

No way. I can't do that. How are we going to do this?

And then he lifts up his eyes and he sees Jericho over there and he now has a heart attack. He says, wait a minute now. You're telling me we're going to go and take that city? We're going to go and live there? What do you mean?

How am I going to get? Have you seen that wall? By the way, have you noticed how many people are throwing the wall at you these days? Oh, I'm sure you haven't heard anybody come up to you having returned from a reconnaissance trip and say, listen, not only is there a wall and a river that we cannot get across, but everybody else says we can't do it. You haven't had anybody say that, have you? You haven't had anybody else invoke the everybody else? I just need you to know that there are several others who don't think either. They'll throw that at you when you're trying to bring up your children.

Well, let's just read about it. So I'm going to pick up in chapter one and verse five. No one will be able to stand against you, Joshua, the younger, all the days of your life. As I was with the elder, who in this case happened to be Moses, so it is I'll be with you, the younger.

I'll never leave you nor forsake you. So you're listening to me, Mom and Dad? You're listening to me, teacher?

Graduate? You're listening to me, church? Mr. Phipps, are you listening?

Be strong and courageous because you, oh, sorry, I forgot, you're still standing up on top of the mountain. How are you supposed to know this? You haven't taken one step in the right direction. You haven't even started going down yet.

I mean, this is like day one. I'm not even sure if all the people know that you're the one. Sorry, I'm getting away from the Bible here. So be strong and courageous because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their elders, to give them. Be strong and courageous. But here's the bottom line, younger, parents, Mom, Dad, leader, here it is.

You ready for this? This is for you. Be careful. Be careful to obey all the law. My servant, the elder, showed you. Do not turn from it to the right or to the left so that you may be successful wherever you go.

Here it is. This is the explanation of that. Do not let this book of the law depart from your mouth. Meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful to do everything written in it.

Not the court of public opinion. If you call to lead, lead. God has called you to be a parent. You're Dad, right? Be Dad. Be Mom. And palm that off on somebody else. Don't hold a survey because surveys don't count.

Don't take a vote because we know in America that doesn't seem to work too well. So that you may be careful to do everything written in it, then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and be courageous. Do not be terrified.

Do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you and will go wherever you go. Watch verse 10. I love verse 10. So Joshua ordered the offices of the people. Joshua ordered the offices of the people. So Joshua ordered the offices of the people, and this is what he said, go through the camp and tell the people, get your supplies ready.

I love that. Three days from now, you will cross the Jordan. Right. Have you seen that river here to go in and take possession of the land? Right. Lord, do you know about that place over there with that big city and all those soldiers out there in the big wall?

They don't like us. And look at that last verse. You will take possession of the land the Lord your God is giving to you for your own, the younger, the younger, for your own. Couple of things I just want to drop here just to, I'm really repeating scripture, just four things about Joshua.

Number one, he followed a great leader. So how much time would we spend talking about brother Mo, Moses? What an incredible thing. I want you to think of your parents right now. Don't you think of them like that? You know, Karen and I, I can honestly tell you there are very few days that we don't remember our parents somehow. Now, my mom and dad, John and Rhoda Belle Wilton, are in heaven. Karen's father, Ed Bolton, Bumper, he's in heaven. Her mother, Mrs. Bolton, Nana, she's still with us in a retirement center and we love her very much. We'll be cooking and something will come up about our parents.

We'll go on holiday, something about, you remember, you know, we'll face a crisis, we'll herd, we'll go through something, we'll deal with something, the parents come in all the time. And three out of our four parents are in heaven for crying in a bucket, guys. Doesn't there come a time when the elder doesn't matter anymore? Now, wait a minute. Now, God said to Joshua, you will inherit the land of your forefathers and it's going to be your own. Why did he invoke the elder?

This is an exciting future. God knows what he's doing. There are so many times I, I'm telling you, my dad was a great preacher of the gospel. There are many times that I'll be preaching and suddenly I'll think, you know what, that's just what my dad said. Way back in my head here. And many times I'll say, boy, I wish I could do it just like my dad.

He followed a great leader. That's the passage of time. So, you know, dad, mom, what are you kids going to say about you? They're going to grow up. They're going to graduate. They're going to leave. What are they going to say?

Train up a child in the way he or she should go and when they are mature, they won't depart from it. I wrote to a text or something, a friend recently whose sons and daughters are getting married now. They're in that stage. They're out of home and they're in the 20-something era. I sent him a text and I said, you're going to find as the years go by, you're going to gravitate more and more toward your grown children. It's kind of like it all starts getting mixed up instead of them here, you there, then they, this, who, that.

And then you get to where it's just about impossible to get the whole family together because they all live all over the place. But there's just an indelible soul spirit that goes on. He not only followed a great leader, but he stood on an incredible promise. You know, I love verse five. There's three promises there in verse five. No one will be able to stand against you. I will be with you and I'll never forsake you.

Anyone think of anything better than that? Is there any greater, more incredible promise than that? Powerful promises of God.

Please forgive the interruption. We'll be back with the rest of today's message, An Exciting Future, with Dr. Don Wilton in just a moment. But Dr. Don wants me to remind you, we're connecting not just through this broadcast or podcast that you're listening to, but online 24 hours a day. Drop by our website, it's brand new, TEWOnline.org, has a new look, a new feel, and greater resources to help you grow in your faith. While you're there, as a matter of fact, do sign up for the daily encouraging word email from Dr. Don.

It's a wonderful jumpstart to your devotion. It's online at TEWOnline.org. Sign up today for the daily encouraging word and within tomorrow or the next day at the latest, you'll receive this email and it really will bless you.

That's online at TEWOnline.org. You'll also find the opportunity to connect with us on our phone line. Our prayer line is available 24-7 at 866-899-WORD.

That's 866-899-9673. Now back to today's teaching with Dr. Don Wilton. And here's Joshua standing on this huge mountain looking down, massive river, big wall.

I don't know how I'm going to do this. And God says, let me give you an incredible promise. And by the way, it meant a lot to Joshua because those people on the other side of the river, they didn't like him and his people. So there was a third thing that happened. He heard an awesome charge, heard an awesome charge.

Look at verse 7, verse 8. I've read this so many times. Here's the charge. Be strong and be courageous. Obey the law. Do not turn away from it. Don't deviate from God's law. He tells us how to do it. He says, let this book of law stay in your heart. Meditate on it.

Be careful to do absolutely everything written in it. You know, we've got scores of our people soaping right now. You need to get on board. Our men have led the way. Deandra has got all our girls engaged in this. It's fantastic. Women's ministries are getting involved in it.

People across the board. Soap, scripture, observation, application and prayer. You know, I've got a friend that sends me every day, every day he sends me a verse of scripture. That's all. No other stuff.

No, dear Don, how is your ingrown toenails? None of that. Just, yeah, boom. It's just right there.

I can click on here right now. There it is. Just one scripture after another. I can't tell you how many times.

I don't even reply. I don't feel like I've got every day. Thank you very much. Just there it is.

I can't tell you how many times over the last several weeks where I've just looked at that word and God's word has blessed me. Be careful to do everything. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Be strong. Don't be terrified. Be courageous.

I mean, just look at this, guys. You talk about an exciting future, followed a great leader and he stood on an incredible promise. He heard an awesome charge.

But there was one more little thing that I just put here and I'm just repeating. He stepped forward. He stepped forward with a, you know, God can do this confidence. He stepped forward with a God can do this confidence. God can do this.

God can take you cross over any river of any size. God takes the small things in our lives, doesn't he? Sometimes they're so small. You think it's insignificant, but God knows about it.

It could be a big issue. And by the way, guys, it's never too late to get this. It's not too late. It's never too late.

Don't ever get to the point where you say, man, I blew it. I'm telling you, God redeems the years. He'll turn your tragedy into a triumph. That's what he does. He's a loving God.

He's gracious. He loves us and he sees us. It's what I love about the church.

I'm just saying what you all know. This church, the church, is not about programs. We do programs.

You ever heard someone say, well, I've got to go and find the best program? Don't do that with the church. It's about relationships. It's about relationships. I'm telling you guys, I'm just saying this to you.

I'm really acting like a grandfather now. I'm just saying this to you. I promise you this. Think about your life. You can go through life and place value in mice and men. Don't chase things that are good, but they don't really matter. Don't put your stock in the wrong place, man. I'm so messing here and there will be 25 people who say, I don't want to be in the church because he said that. That's fine. Don't teach your kids that the most important thing in life is that they become this kind of ballplayer at whatever cost, at the cost of following Jesus.

You'll run out of juice. I'm just telling you. You can play 10 years in the major leagues and still end up with nothing that really matters.

And I love the major leagues. We're living in a world today where we're cultivating generations of people who are just so besotted on chasing after. People keep their kids out of school, out of church, make excuses, and they sit around the table at lunchtime and have preacher for lunch. You teach your kids to be critical of their school teachers, critical of authority, critical of their church, critical of their preachers. They will grow up defying the very things that you taught them to criticize.

I guarantee you that. Dad, Mom, you teach your kids that it's more important to go and hunt turkeys than it is to serve Jesus. And if any of you heard me say, don't go and hunt turkeys, I didn't say that.

Go and hunt turkeys. Everybody who knows me knows I'm besotted, not over hunting turkeys, but fishing and sport and ball games. Man, I can't get enough of it.

I'm one of those crazy people. I love it, but don't put it out of sync. Get your life back where it needs to be. Do it God's way and you'll have an exciting future.

And the reason I'm so pumped about where we're going, what we're doing, but I'm also, I'm also looking into my face. Because what I do matters. It still matters.

You didn't step over a time zone. You don't retire from God. What an exciting future, man.

Wow. What a great truth. You don't retire from God. No, God continues to use us at all stages of life. But you need to make that first step for Him to use you.

You need to belong to Him. I pray that if you've heard Dr. Wilton teaching today from the book of Joshua, you've heard this wonderful, powerful preaching. But more importantly, I pray you'd open your heart to what Dr. Don wants to share with you next. Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ? Why don't you pray this prayer with me right now? Dear God, I know that I'm a sinner and I know that Jesus died for me on the cross. Today I repent of my sin and by faith I receive you into my heart. In Jesus' name, my friend, I welcome you today into the family of God.

This is exciting news. If you just prayed that prayer with Dr. Wilton and have given your life to Jesus Christ or rededicated your life to Christ, you need to let someone know. And Dr. Don would say, why not let him know? Let him be able to pray with you and over you and over what God's going to do in your next.

Dr. Don also has some wonderful resources specifically for you, absolutely free. If you just gave your life to Christ or rededicated your life, call us and let us send them to you. Our number is 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673.

Not just now, but 24 hours a day. Or meet us online at www.tewonline.org. That's www.tewonline.org. A great place to discover resources like walking with God's giants. God's intended purpose for us never changed. We are not defeated. We are overcomers through Jesus Christ. The Word of God is alive and is relevant to all times in which we live. There are countless testimonies of people who walked with God in the Bible. They are our cloud of witnesses to encourage us on the Christian journey.

Learn from them. You can walk with God's giants. With your gift of $20 or more in support of the encouraging Word, you will receive Dr. Wilton's new dynamic two-part series, Walking with God's Giants. Series 2, Walking with God's Giants is available on CD or DVD. It includes four messages on the lives of Nehemiah, Naaman, Solomon, and David. Call us today at 866-899-WORD to request Series 2, Walking with God's Giants.

If you missed the first series, you can request it too. Thank you for your continued partnership to help us share the gospel of Jesus Christ around the world. That's just one of many resources available. The website again is www.tewonline.org. Swing by today www.tewonline.org. Sign up for the free email that comes out from Dr. Don every day with a slice of God's Word, a powerful application, and a challenge for us to pray and grow. That's online at www.tewonline.org and other great resources like the new book about Dr. Billy Graham and their relationship with Dr. Don being his pastor for 25 years. All the details are online at www.tewonline.org. I hope you'll connect with us and join us again tomorrow when Dr. Wilton's message is going to be about the Rod of Moses. We'll look forward to seeing you there.