Youth Led Service

It's been a good day for me already. I spent this morning, somebody back there may have mentioned, credit Chris Floyd in the prayers. I got the credit, privilege, and way of blessing of filling in for him this morning. So this is my second message of the day and actually my fourth message since I've surrendered. So that was probably a month, maybe two ago. I'm not good with dates or anything like that, so just kind of halfway, bear with me. Yes, my name is Billy Jackson. I'm from Malvern, been in mountain climbing for going on 40 years. It's hard to say that, but maybe it's somewhere in one place at one time for that long. And yes, I've known Donnie and Lisa since I was about that tall and going to Box Springs. Of course, all the Haynes family is top-notch in my book and I love them all to death. Love you, Donnie. I appreciate this opportunity. And matter of fact, not to say any ages or anything, but I remember whenever they was That was almost 40 years ago. But anyways, I am super thrilled, super blessed to be able to do this tonight. I am such an advocate for stuff like these youth nights. Letting the young people take over song services, take over the offerings, take over the announcements and prayers, and little bitty things at the church. Doing the greetings, filling in the nurseries and children's chapel stuff, and all that. The young people are our future and they are the future of this church. I've always heard and I believe that where there's kids in a church, there's a thriving church. And it will keep going on. I'm happy to see that y'all do this on occasion and give people like me the chance to stand up and speak. And not to do any of the bad backdatings, but June 1985. They saw that the song was written by Troy Seals and Matt Sparns. It hit the Hot Country single chart and topped out at number three. Some of the country music greats like Hank Williams Sr., Elvis, Conway Twitty, Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings, Nicky Frizzell, Johnny Cash, Waylon Nelson, Marty Robbins. Does anybody know what I'm talking about? Anyway, it's a song by the Paulson Georgetown. It's called, Who's Gonna Fill Their Sheets? And it's, and you've not said this, and you've not said this is what it's all about. There's preachers or there's churches all over, not only in the state of Arkansas, but all over this world, that need somebody to step up and fill in. And there's plenty of places that don't even have churches where there's not anybody to go or want to go. And God's calling people. He's still calling men. Some of them it's not answering. So we need to encourage these men and say whenever God is calling them or even just working on them, say, hey, what's going on? What are you feeling right now? And they can, because God will make it evident. If He's calling you to be in the pulpit, He'll make it evident. But it's everybody's job is to be a missionary. To be a missionary, whether it's in your school or whether it's your job or just everyday life. We're going to find out here, whenever Joshua was taken over from Moses after his death, God told him, said, go tread this land that I promised Moses, and all that's going to be yours. And that's exactly what he did. Well, every piece of ground that y'all and mine foot travels and hits is your mission field. First of all, let's read Joshua 1, 1 through 9. And then we're going to go to Numbers 20 to 27, 12 through 23. Joshua 1, 1 through 9. After the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua, the son of mine, Moses' assistant, Moses, my servant, is dead. Now, therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, and you and all this people into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel. Every place that the soldiers hold your foot will tread upon, I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses. For the wilderness, this Lebanon, far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, the great sea, toward the going down of the sun, shall be your territory. Now, no man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous. Be careful to do according to all the law that Moses, my servant, commanded you. Do not turn from it, to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. When you make your way prosperous, then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you, be strong and courageous, do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed. For the Lord, your God, is with you wherever you go. May God bless the reading of his words. Anyway, and also, maybe we'll go ahead and read Numbers 27 also. Let's see if I can find it. Okay. Well, I should have read this first, because this is actually where Moses... I don't know, I'm going to go ahead and read this. But anyway, this is where Moses actually ordained Joshua to do this. Moses was commanded by God himself to do this, and he took it as a privilege to do it. And he knew that after his day of death would come, that his life was going to be in good hands. As a matter of fact, I think right before all this or during all this, is whenever Moses actually prayed and asked God, said, Please send someone, because I know I'm nearing my time. Please send someone to move this forward, to keep this going. And you, the youth or anybody, this is where you all step in. God expects us to... Excuse me. Anyway, this is where Joshua comes to, well, comes to the picture again. And Moses gets the honor and blessings ordained. But unlike King Saul, of course, King Saul later on down the road, he knew that David was going to be succeeding him. But he was jealous about it, he was angry about it. But unlike this, Moses was proud of Joshua. As a matter of fact, we're going to find out here that Joshua is a translation of Jesus. And we're going to find that Joshua was a type of, not a peace savior, but a type of savior to these people. But one thing we need to remember for this is always move forward. Of course, the Israelites for 40 years, they ran circles, ran zigzags. They always went where God... And Moses led them wherever God wanted them to. But what did they do? They never went back. They always moved forward. The Israelites moved out of Egypt at this point in the journey. We are to keep moving forward, no matter what life's obstacles get in our way. Whether it's the small pebble in the Red Sea, move over it, go through it, it don't matter. Just don't look back. Remember, they may have seen and been to the same places a few times, but they always moved forward. And Joshua was one of Moses' many ministers. Joshua, he was right there and stood by the best and learned from the best. And that's what I want to charge the young people to do. Get beside somebody and learn from them. If you can just stand back and watch and learn, that's good. Or if you're looking for a mentor, go ask them. The worst they can say is no. But whenever it comes to the working kingdom of God, there's not many that's not going to say no. Don't be afraid to ask or just even ask a question. Just as Joshua needed to get beside and learn everything, we can from every point, we can. Because unlike this, where Joshua knew where he'd be, we won't know until God leads us to it. The only way to move forward is to put your foot down and make sure it lands on a promise. Then take the next step. Always move forward. There's a reason why the windshield of the car is a lot bigger than your mirrors. You always look forward. And the second point I want to make is that the show must always go on. Even though Moses was scat, God still had a promise to keep to his people. Verse 2 tells them to rise and go and scat all the land that had been promised to them. A moment such as this is why Joshua stood beside Moses and learned from him everything he could. He always knew this day was coming soon. So he grew up not only physically but spiritually and mentally. So he would be prepared for this day. Our lesson is the exact same thing today. Learn as much as you can from everyone you can because one day soon it will be your day to rise up and go. There's just a little lesson that I've learned in my life. My dad's been a bricklayer forever. Anyway, I was helping him out one day. This had been a lot of years ago. He asked me a question about why I wasn't using a particular tool of the trade. And I told him, I said, because, first of all, because that's yours. And I always thought I was told not to touch it. And I said, besides, if I learn how to do this, I will be doing it for the rest of my life and this is not what I want. Well, several years later that said it kind of bit me in the butt. I could have taken that and I could have taken and used it even just as a temporary or just a filling basis or just go make a couple quick dollars. But that same old thing took me and it made me realize that I need to learn everything that I can and everybody that I can because I don't know what I'm going to do. And another short story about me is when I was in my early, early 20s, I worked for a Ford dealership in Melbourne. Well, then I decided, well, I don't know. Whenever I was, well, I worked as a detail man. Well, I was going to, I decided one day, I said, I'm going to learn how to back up these cars and put them in their spots and use the mirrors only and not looking back as much as possible. Well, guess what? 30 years later, I'm a truck driver now. So, learning to teach myself that came in handy. It wasn't something I was looking to do at that time, but just a little bit of things and then going to other jobs and learning this and that. That's what led me to that. So, learn everything you can. Even if you don't need it, knowledge is power. Wisdom is power. Don't be afraid to ask questions. The show must go on. Not every man will be called to the pulpit or say something as major as this. That would be because of major mission field somewhere overseas or even in your own backyard. But every man and woman, and this includes teenagers, young people, you all have a job to do. It all starts in your church, in your home, in your school, in your workplace. Like I said, wherever your foot hits, that's where your mission field is. Colossians 3.23 charges, whatever you do, work hardly as for the Lord and not for man. Ultimately, it has got the way that we need to please. If we're here looking for man's appraisal and flaws, we're looking at the wrong thing. One thing that was mentioned where I was this morning was prayers and doing whatever. It don't do nothing but hit the ceiling is what happens whenever you try to do something. You say it's for God, but you do it out in the public for man to get man's appraisal and flaws. That don't get you nowhere. That's where your reward comes from. Whenever you do it, go into secret. Go into your closet, private place, whether it's praying, whether it's fasting, whether it's any number of things. Do it for God. Whenever you do step back into public, why cut your face off and go on as normal? That's where God will bless that. Number three on the point I want to make tonight is first, always move forward. The second thing, the show must go on, and that's where you all step in. Number three, but know when to step down and let others take over. Donnie, I don't know how long you've been here, and I probably shouldn't, but anyway, who knows when God may call into something else or somewhere else and somebody else will have to be here. Like I said, there's hundreds of churches, even just in this area, that are without pastors. Somebody, it's going to be their time to step down and someone else to step up. Just as you were talking, let's do a particular task. Take another and teach them and let them learn and do under your teachings and examples. Learn to know when it's time for it to happen. God will let you know when it's time to hand over your reign to another. God fits it this way, so his working kingdom will go on after you step down. Then just as Moses did, stand back and be happy for them. Don't worry if you don't feel qualified, because God don't call to qualify. He qualifies to call. I'm going to tell you right now, there is not to say a single earthly reason why I should be standing up here doing this. I'm not going to get into all that, but there's no way that God should take a broken down sinner like me and give me this chance. But he has, and I'm grateful for it. In closing, we're going to be out of here early today. In closing, prepare for what God is preparing for you. Your next stage in life is God's plan, and always remember, the one who knows the way through the wilderness knows the way to the promised land. It's all about Jesus. Do we want to do a person's invitation? Or do we plan on that? Anyway, as they come down and get ready for this, it don't matter if you're eight years old or 108. God does have a plan for your life, whether it's stepping up in the pulpit, whether it's going out on mission field or just talking to somebody on the street. And what we need to preach to you is that today is not only the day of salvation, but it's the day to turn back to and repent. We're not promised tomorrow. We're not promised the next ten minutes. Redemption draws nigh, and Jesus is going to come in like a thief in the night whenever he comes. And we don't know when that's going to happen. So today is the day. Page 524, Just As I Am. www.fema.org