If you have your Bibles, if you turn to Joshua chapter 8, just to read a few verses there. Joshua chapter 8. And it's just reading from verse 30. Joshua chapter 8, verse 30. And then Joshua built an altar unto the Lord God of Israel in Mount Ebal. As Moses, the servant of the Lord, commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the book of the Law of Moses, an altar of whole stones, over which no man hath lift up any iron. And they offered their own burnt offerings unto the Lord, and sacrificed peace offerings. And he wrote there upon the stones a copy of the Law of Moses, which he wrote in the presence of the children of Israel. And all Israel, and their elders, and officers, and their judges, stood on this side, the ark, and on that side before the priests, the Levites, which bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord, as well the stranger as he that was born among them, half of them over against Mount Gerizim, and half of them over against Mount Ebal, as Moses, a servant of the Lord, had commanded before, that they should bless the people of Israel. And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessings and cursings, according to all that is written in the book of the law. There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua read not before all the congregation of Israel, with the women and the little ones and the strangers that were conversant among them." Just for a few moments tonight, I would like us to look at Georgetown. I was reading portions before, and Joshua many a time has come to my own mind, and when I was praying about this meeting, the very chapter I was reading, Joshua was mentioned, and I just thought, well, I'll speak on this by the grace of God, and I do pray that these few thoughts might be a blessing to you indeed. And just as I'm heading, I'm not great at headings, but I've just put one, it's Joshua, the progress of a servant, Joshua, the progress of a servant. And the first reference to Joshua you'll find in the Bible is found in Exodus chapter 17, if you would like to turn to it. It's a well-known portion, and it's most interesting, too. And I'll read the few verses concerning that. Joshua 17, and it's after the children of Israel complained that there was no water. And then Moses smote the rock, and water came out, and the Lord indeed gave them water to drink. And then it says, "'Then came Amalek and fought with Israel in Rephidim. "'And Moses said unto Joshua, "'Choose yourself, men, and go out, fight with Amalek. "'Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill "'with the rod of God in mine hand.' "'So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, "'and fought with Amalek. "'And Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed. And when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands were heavy, and they took a stone and put it under Moses. And he set thereon, and Aaron and Hur set up his hands, the one on the one side and the other on the other side. And his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. And the Lord said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua. For I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. And Moses built an altar, and called the name of Jehovah in this eye. For he said, Because the Lord hath sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation. I was just thinking about Joshua. Here was Joshua, and it's the very first mention of his name. And if you remember even when it mentions Elijah in the book of Kings, Elijah just appears on the scene. There's no mention of him previous. And all of a sudden, he's mentioned as if he came, if I could use the term, from nowhere. And here's Joshua 2, and this is the first mention of him in the Bible. And verse 9 says, And Moses said unto Joshua, chooses out men. So Moses naturally knew something about Joshua. He must have seen him high. He was coming on with all, and amongst all the great multitude of people. And Moses was called to choose out men to fight for Israel. So I'll just put, Joshua contends here for Moses. And he's chosen out, and he's told to go and choose out men. Now, Israel at this time hadn't fought any battles. They had seen the Lord destroy the Egyptians at the Red Sea, but they themselves were not involved with fighting. So they hadn't fought before. And here was Joshua told to go and choose out men. And he went, and of course, that's what he'd done. He is classed as a military leader, although at this time he was servant to Moses. And he chose men out, and you'll notice that when he fought, that Moses held up his hands. And it just came to me that these things do go together. You know, if we're going to contend for the Lord and stand up for Him, we also need to be in prayer. Both go together. If we're going to witness for the Lord, we also need to be in the place of prayer at times. And these things go together. And it's wonderful, too, that when Moses, as you know, he held up his hands, that Israel prevailed and Joshua fought well. But when his hands were heavy, weary with holding them up, if you hold your hands up for any length of time, you'll find that you get very tired and you have to lower them. And when Moses lowered his hands, of course, Amalek prevailed. And it's a type in prayer, how we wrestle in prayer and how we prevail. And, of course, Aaron and Hur then came, and they helped Moses, and they lifted up his hands and held him steady until Amalek was defeated. And they both go together, prayer and the battle. And if we're in the work of God and we don't pray about the things of God, then we'll fail. And we just pray and do nothing else and say, well, I pray and don't need to do anything else. We're all workers together with God. We have all something to do. And that's a blessed thing that the Lord hasn't left any one of us with nothing to do. You may do something that's not seen of others, but you do it unto the Lord, and that is a blessing. And God has set us all in the church. You know yourself, it says in the Scripture, the hand cannot say to the eye, I have no need of thee, or the foot to the hand, I have no need of thee. We're all workers together, and that's very important. And you know, Joyship won the day. and God blessed him, and, of course, with the help of Moses, Aaron, and her, and reminds us, too, that even as they held up his hands, they were together in prayer. Remember what the Scripture says, where the two and three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst. So it's nice, too, to see a type that in prayer there was a few of them, to encourage us all that in prayer it is not in vain. And we have to pray as unto the Lord, and God indeed will help us. And then, the blessed thing is, too, about contending. You know, as you read in Ephesians chapter 6 about the Christian's armor, and I, like a soldier, as Joshua was training to be, He was going to be a great leader. And yet, in Hebrews 6, it tells us about the armor that we have to put on, the breastplate, the helmet, and we have to be good about with truth. And we then, too, remember not only have we the armor, but we have one that fights for us and helps us, and that, of course, is our great high priest. the Lord Jesus, and it tells us in Hebrews chapter 4, "'For we have not an high priest who cannot be touched with the filling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.'" So we must remember that when we come to prayer, too, that we have a great high priest who intercedes for us. who knows all about us, who knows our weaknesses, because here's our strength, and that is a blessing. And as we say, Joshua won the day. In verse 13, it tells us, and Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. And then Moses, of course, built an altar unto God, which says, Jehovah Nisai, the Lord is my banner. And, you know, it gave glory to God for what the Lord had done that day. And that, as I say, is the first mention of Joshua. The next one—and there are a few, and you wish to turn them, do so. If not, I can just read them out. Chapter 24 and verse 13. And it says this. I'll read verse 12 just for the context. And the Lord said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there, and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments, which I have written, that thou mayest teach them. And Moses rose up, and his minister, Joshua, And Moses went up into the mount of God. And he said unto the elders, Tar you here for us, until we come again unto you? And behold, Aaron and Hur are with you. If any man have any matters to do, let him come unto them. So, he says, tarry unto the elders. He said, tarry ye here for us until we come. So, Moses took the young man, Joshua, up with him into the mount, and he was there seven days with Moses until God told Moses to come up higher. And Joshua, it shows you that this was like his apprenticeship. He was coming after Moses. He was learning much. We don't know what happened in those seven days. There would have been a time of worship, I'm sure. But Joshua was learning. and he was with the man of God. And you know, it's good that you and I, in any sphere in life, that we can learn from others, and especially from the minister, the elders and all, and so on, and others that have been on the road a long time. Sometimes young believers, that's what they need. I remember when I was first saved, and the place I went, there was a lot of older people. And in fact, there was very few, if I remember, young people. And we used to listen much to them and learn from them. And it was a blessing. And here was Joshua. And in his progress, he's now with Moses on the mount. And he's learning from the man of God. Seven days in the cloud, he's with God's man, serving him. I'm sure he'd done many things to help Moses. And Moses, I'm sure, taught him many things when he was on his own. And then, if you're Exodus 32 and 17, you'll know this well, too. When God told Moses, after he'd written the law of God, God said to Moses, look, get down quickly, for the people have departed, and they're worshiping a golden calf. And Moses had to head down. He mustn't have said anything to Joshua at this time, but in Exodus 32, 17, Joshua says these, and when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, there is a noise of war in the camp. And I know, I looked up Matthew Henry, and he believes that Joshua's trailing like to be a military leader, believes he should have been there, thought, think there was a battle going on. But Moses, the man of God, said, No, it's not the voice of them that shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome, but the noise of them that sing, do I hear?" And of course, it wasn't singing his own to the Lord, as you know. They sat down, the Bible says, to worship, and then they rose up to play. They worshiped the golden calf, and then they were involved with idolatry and immorality, and the people were carried away. And here was Joshua, and he had to learn other things, too, being taught by the man of God, Moses. And he was with him in the hard times, and in the good times, Joshua was there. And then, in a place of worship, and this is a lovely, in Exodus 33 and 11, Again, you can turn to it if you want. And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face. Sorry, I'll read verse 10 for the context. And all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand at the tabernacle door. And all the people rose up and worshipped every man in his tent door. And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. and he turned again into the camp." This was the time when they were complaining again, and Moses... This was after Moses broke the law of God. He broke the tables of stone. And Moses put the tabernacle outside the camp, and the people, those that wanted to go, were still able to go to the tabernacle. But here, Moses had gone, and then it says in this verse, and he turned again into the camp, but... his servant Joshua, the son of none, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle." I think that's lovely. You can see how Joshua was learning, too, to worship. And when Moses turned back for a while, I'm sure he was going back again to the tabernacle, but he came back into the camp for a while. Joshua remained at the tabernacle. And you know, it's good that you and I, in times of necessity, in times of need, can remain in the time of prayer." And Joseph was learning, through and by Moses, to abide even in the tabernacle. He'd been with him in the mountain, he'd been with him in the mount, and now he abodes still in the tabernacle, and he was learning more from the man of God. And that's lovely to know. And then there was a time in Numbers 11, 28, when God took the spirit of Moses and put it on the 70 men chosen, and it says that they all prophesied. And there was two men that apparently were prophesying outside of these 70. And Joshua said to Moses, Moses, forbid it. So he thought that they were doing wrong. Moses politely rebuked him, said, No, Joshua, I would to God. He says that all God's people were prophets, and he told this. So, Joshua at all times was learning under the hand of God, and the man Moses, of course. And then the lovely thing, as you well know, in Numbers 14 and verse, the whole chapter 14, and I'm not going to read the chapter, but it is a beautiful portion. As you know, this is the time When Israel sent 12 spies, as the children would often sing, 12 men went, the spy came and 10 were bad, 2 were good. And God told them to go, and Moses told them to go, and to see the land that God had given them. And you know that 10 of them came back, they told everybody how good the land was, it was brilliant looking, it had food galore, everything, but We are not able to overcome it. There's giants in the land, and they greatly exaggerate it, telling them that we were like grasshoppers in their sight. There must have been some giants that they were like grasshoppers. They greatly exaggerated their height and everything. But it was Joshua and Caleb, in Numbers 14 and 6, said this, "'And Joshua, the son of Nun, Caleb, the son of Jephthah, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes, And they speak unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land which we pass through to search it is an exceeding good land. If the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and giveth us a land which floweth with milk and honey. Only rebel not ye against the Lord, Neither fear ye the people of the land, for they are bred for us. Their defense is departed from them, and the Lord is with us. Fear them not." But you know what happened? They refused. They rebelled, and they turned the heart of the people, and they caused such fear amongst them. that the people turned back in heart. And God said, then you'll wander in the wilderness for 40 years until all that have done this over 20 years of age died in the wilderness. But Joshua and Caleb They lived on because of their faithfulness to the Lord. So we can see how Joshua is growing in the things of God, and his faith is getting stronger, too, in the things of God. Because what he had to do, as you know, he had to lead the children of Israel finally. And here's where you find it out, really, in Numbers 27 and 18 to 23, where God says to Moses about Joshua. And you can see the great improvement and how this young man is coming on. Joshua 27, 18 to 23, and here are the words. And the Lord said unto Moses, Take thee Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay thy hand upon him, and set him before Eliezer the priest, and before all the congregation, and give him a charge in their sight. And thou shalt put some of thine honour upon him, that all the congregation of the children of Israel may be obedient. "'And he shall stand before Elisar the priest, "'who shall ask counsel for him "'after the judgment of Urim, "'before the Lord at his word shall they go out, "'and at his word they shall come in, "'both he and all the children of Israel, "'with him even all the congregation.' "'And Moses did as the Lord commanded him, "'and he took Joshua and set him before Elisar the priest, "'and before all the congregation, "'and he laid his hands upon him, and gave him the charge as the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses. So, Joshua then was set apart by the Lord at this time, and he would soon be taken over when Moses' work was finished. And that's it. And you'll read in Deuteronomy 3 and 28, he was encouraged, strengthened him. I'll read it again, it's just one verse, Deuteronomy 3 and 28, again about Joshua. but charge Joshua and encourage him and strengthen him, for he shall go over before this people, and he shall cause them to inherit the land which thou shalt see. So we abode in the valley over against the poor. And Joshua, he got this charge. He was encouraged, and Moses was to strengthen him. And you know, believer, we all need strength, and it's good to encourage each other. And when one has a problem, and one is downhearted, and one is carrying a burden, it's good that we should pray for them. And it's good that we should carry them in the private place, too, before the Lord. It's good to encourage. There are so many today who are discouraged, but it's good to encourage each other in the things of God. And Moses was commanded to charge Joishua, encourage him, and strengthen him. And of course, Moses was doing that very thing, and that's what he did. And in Deuteronomy 31 and 8, just before Moses was to pass on, He said these lovely words to Joyce Eugene, Deuteronomy 31 and verse 8. And the Lord, he it is that doth go before thee, he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee, fear not, neither be dismayed." Now, that's good encouragement, and I know many of us would use that verse. It's a beautiful verse. And it's true for us, too, that our God's people and the Lord would encourage us. He'll go before us. He will be with us. He will not fail thee, neither forsake thee. Fear not. neither be dismayed." And here was Joshua, ready to go in very shortly into Canaan, and to lead such an army, such a people. And he was prepared, and all that time, he was being prepared unto the hand of Moses, the man of God. And then, a lovely thing is, in Deuteronomy 34 and 9, the last chapter, of Deuteronomy, here's the words. And Joshua, the son of Nun, was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands upon him, and the children of Israel hearkened unto him, and did as the Lord commanded Moses. So Joshua's ready to go, and he's equipped, and God is with him, and the Lord, of course, has set him apart. And then, you know, when Joshua In Joshua chapter 1, a very well-known verse, the Lord himself says to Joshua these words, and this was his strength. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein. For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Have not I commanded thee? And this is the Lord himself, Be strong and of a good courage, Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed, For the Lord thy God is with thee, Whithersoever thy ghost. And remember, too, the words in Hebrews, that the Lord Jesus will never forsake us. So we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper. And Lastly, the lovely part in Joshua, and I'm sure you've read it, just before he went over into Jericho, sorry, he was over in, outside the walls of Jericho nearly, he was over the Jordan, and these words came in Joshua 5 and 13. And it came to pass when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, there stood a man over against him, with his sword drawn in his hand. And Joysea went unto him and said unto him, Are thou for us, or for our adversaries? And he said, Nay, but as captain of the host of the Lord am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my Lord unto his servant? And the captain of the Lord's host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot, for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so. Joshua met the pre-reference to the Lord Jesus, who had appeared different times in the Old Testament. And this couldn't be anyone else but the Lord himself, the captain of the Lord's host, because he even said, the place whereon you stand is holy. And, of course, that was like Moses. Remember, when Moses spoke at the burning bush, God said, take off the shoe from off your feet, because you're on holy ground. And here, Joshua was the same, and he loosed the shoe from off his feet, and he worshiped the Lord. And you know, isn't it lovely? And you and I worship the King of Kings. The Lord is our Savior. No matter what happens in life, He is with us. Where times can be down, we can have trials, but the Lord is with us. And the wonderful thing about Joshua, all his life he lived for God, and he fought, he made mistakes. If you remember when the people who pretended to come from a foreign country to save their lives. They brought old shoes that were tattered and old clothes that were tattered, and they deceived Joshua and the Israelites. But because he had made a vow to them and Israel had made a vow, he spared their lives. But it does tell you in that chapter, the people did not seek the Lord. So Joshua made mistakes. He was human like any of us, but he followed the Lord with all his heart. And that's what you and I should do, too. We should follow the Savior. We will fall, we will falter, but the Lord is with us. And I pray these few thoughts on Joshua might be a blessing to your heart, indeed.