Please take your Bibles and turn with me to Joshua 1, if you would, please. Joshua 1. I want to just read one verse of Scripture as we begin the message this morning. And I've entitled the message, Joshua's Confidence. Joshua's Confidence. The key verse for the book, as we mentioned last week, is found in verse 7, which says, Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded thee. Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest." The last time we were together last Sunday morning and we began this series through the book of Joshua, we barely touched on the 24 chapters in this book. We just basically looked at the man Joshua himself. We found out that he is a portrait for us in regards to the victorious Christian life. Jesus Christ did not just come to give us life eternal, but the life abundant. And he's talking about the life that we live right now. So the word of God is given to us from Genesis to Revelation, really to tell us the way of salvation, but also how to live after we're saved. And so as we look at these 24 chapters, I want us to understand that even though we are looking at history as far as Israelites are concerned, I want us to know that the truths that we draw out are applicable to us today. And you know, I think it's important for us to see these things because we have so many believers today that are not living victorious Christian lives. And God wants that. He desires that for each and every one. Amen? In chapter one, we need to pay attention though to some simple truths, and I'm going to mention three simple truths that we need to really see and highlight from this chapter. Now, if I was going to exegete this chapter, if I was going to go phrase by phrase, word by word, we would be in here for many months. We're not going to be doing that through this series. I'm going to be really downright practical as we get into these chapters because I really want us to catch the spirit and the truth behind these passages of Scripture. I want us to see the promise. I want us to see the presence of God. And I also want us to notice the people of God in chapter 1. I want to, first of all, notice the promise. You know, a person's word, I believe, is vital in every and in any lasting relationship. I believe that you must be able to take a person's word for what they say. In fact, in regards to marriage on September the 7th, 1979, that's going to be 30 years in just a few days, amen. Brenda and I were married and it is a relationship that has been built on commitment and trust. In Proverbs chapter 31 and verse 11, actually from verse 10 to the end of the chapter, there's an account mentioned there in regards to what is referred to as the virtuous woman. And in verse 11, it has this phrase, the heart of her husband does safely trust in her. And that is because he had confidence in his wife because she was, yes, a virtuous woman, but also that they were committed to each other and they had promised themselves each to the other. And they were honoring that commitment. I'm not speaking on marriage necessarily this morning, but what I am trying to get us to see is that a person's word ought to mean something. And as we look at Joshua chapter 1, we find here that the word of God meant something to Joshua. And Joshua's word meant something to God, and the people's word meant something to them as well. And we need to understand today that our word ought to mean something. when I am going through premarital counseling, and after I do marriage counseling, I many times refer people to the wedding vows. And what I use in my weddings, if you've been to one, you've been to them all, I think. I shock people from time to time when I put out a new message. But really, when you get to the vows, the vows are the vows. And I wrote these in my notes this morning and I said, you know, this is what people promise when they marry. And you, first of all, you say the man's name and will you have this woman to be your wedded wife? Will you love her, honor and keep her in sickness as in health, in poverty as in wealth, and forsaking all others, keep thee only unto her so long as you both shall live." And then I pause, and then I say, do you so promise? And of course I tell them before we get into the public service that the right answer is, I do or I will. And praise the Lord, in all these years I've not had anyone misstep there. But by the same token, do you notice they're making a promise? They're making a commitment to each other. And after I make the pronouncement of husband and wife, I say, actually, they're making this commitment before God. I say to the woman, will you have this man to be your wedded husband? Will you love him, honor and keep him in sickness as in health, in poverty as in wealth? and forsaking all others, keep thee only unto Him so long as you both shall live? Do you so promise?" I usually encourage the couple this time. I say, look at each other when you're saying these vows. Because I'm already married, I'm not marrying you. And they're promising this to each other. And I say, speak up when you say it. Folks, you're making a commitment And we ought not go into the marriage union lightly and glibly and not really give an import to our words. Our words ought to mean something. Or else why have a marriage ceremony? Why make commitments, it says, when you make a vow, defer not to pay it. In other words, when you say something, it ought to mean something, and you ought to honor your word even to your own hurt. I go on to say, I, and so on. I say, would you please repeat after me the following words. Take thee, and they put it in their name, to be my wedded wife. To have and to hold from this day forward. For better, for worse. Do you get these words? For richer, for poorer. In sickness and in health. To love and cherish till death do us part. And I, and then the lady says, take thee to be my wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love, cherish, and obey till death do us part. And there's a commitment that's made. Sad to say, though, in 45 to 50 percent of marriages in North America, these words mean absolutely nothing. After I go through and we have the exchange of the vows, I say, may I have the rings, please? And for many couples, they give a token of their love and their commitment by the exchanging of a ring. I wear a ring. It is a mark, if you please. It is also a picture of my verbal commitment that I've made at the altar that I'm going to honor My Word. You know, God gives us a commitment. He gives us His Word, amen, and to honor His Word, He too gives us a token of that commitment for His Word, and that is the person of the Holy Spirit of God. We find in Ephesians chapter 1 these words in verses 13 and 14, in whom, speaking about Jesus Christ, the context is there, ye also trusted. After that ye heard the word of truth." Now, you have to hear before you believe. You have to hear and believe to be saved. It says, "...in whom ye also trusted. After that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. In whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise." Who sealed you? It wasn't the church that sealed you. It wasn't your baptism that sealed you. It was not anything else that sealed you but the person of the Holy Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit of promise sealed you. In other words, as it says in John chapter 3, that you are in the hand of Almighty God and no man will be able to pluck you out of my Father's hand. In other words, God gave His Word when you trusted in Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. He obligated Himself to take you to heaven, and He said, I'm so serious about this that I want to give you a token of My Word, of that promise, and that is the Holy Spirit of God. And he says these words, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of His glory. In other words, he says, I am so serious about this matter of salvation and you going to heaven when you die that I'm going to give you the Holy Spirit right here, right now. In other words, His Word means something. My friend, God has committed Himself to us and His Word is His bond. The marriage union is a perfect example of how when someone commits themselves to another, that they will honor that till death do them part. And that's exactly what's pictured here in the matter of salvation here. He says, the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession. When you die, then your salvation is fully realized. Because you're in His presence. Absent from the body, present with the Lord. You see, a life of commitment and trust is vital to the marriage relationship. Do you realize a person's word is vital even in business matters? And we have all kinds of examples of how that's true even in the business world. Let me say this, the key to a successful business relationship is trust. It's not the skill level. It's not the connections. It's not the genius of one. It's not the brawn of another. It's trust. If you cannot take a man's word for what he says he will do, can you really trust in the documents that he signs? If a man is dishonest and will not honor his word, do you really think he's going to honor a contractual agreement? My friend, you say, Pastor, what are you trying to say? I'm trying to say that it was important as Joshua assumed the leadership of Israel that he knew that God would be with him and that God was giving Joshua a verbal assurance here in chapter 1 that, hey, I am going to keep my word. You say, but how does that apply to us today? I'm telling here today that God keeps His word. That's right. God keeps His Word. He honors what He said in the Bible. You say, you know, you stress the Bible, Bible reading. Why is it so important? Do you realize that when the Bible was penned and given to man, the bulk of it was all prophecy? And as you and I look at fulfilled prophecy, we see beyond a shadow of a doubt that God keeps His Word. And Joshua, as he begins to live the victorious life, as he begins to go through Jordan, the death to self, and go into the land of promise, and he begins to encounter battles, and people that hate him, and people that want to throw him back across the river, he says, I need to know that God is with me. And God gives him that assurance. My friend, you need to know that as you walk through life, and as you go through problems, and you go through trials, and you encounter heartaches and difficulties, you need to know that God keeps His Word. He honors His Word. He's not just, hey, flipping about what He says. He's not going to say one thing one day and change the next. He changes not. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever. I read for you the first five verses of Joshua chapter 1, and I want you to keep this in mind as a promise has been made. God keeps His Word. He says, Now after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' minister, saying, Moses, my servant, is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou and all of his people, unto the land which I do give them, even to the children of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon, even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your coast. There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee. I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee." What was God saying? He's saying, Joshua, all these years, some 40 plus years, you have been at the beck and call of Moses. You have seen Moses get on his face. and begged God, and beseeched God, and God would hear his prayer and answer the need. You have seen Moses have some tremendous miracles happen at his hands. You've been right there. And I want you to know that I am the same God. And the same God that promised some things to Moses is the same God making this commitment to you today. And my friends, today I'm telling you, it's the same God in this year that we are alive who says, I will not fail thee, I will not forsake thee, I will not abandon thee, I will be with thee. He says it today. That's your promise from Him today. No matter what you go through, He says, I will not fail you. I will not let you down. I will not abandon you. When the waves are high, the winds are hailing, and it seems like your enemies are getting the upper hand, I will not abandon you. You need to know that. And it was important that before Joshua ever stared at the walls of Jericho, before he ever had the defeat of an AI. Before he ever encountered the deceit and the failure that was his with the Gibeonites. He needed to know that through thick and thin, God would be with him. And I'm here today to tell you, God will be with you! God keeps His Word. The obvious question, of course, is do we keep ours? But I like there's a verse in Scripture that says, Even though we may deny Him, He will not deny us. Because He cannot deny Himself. It says that God cannot lie. Titus 1, verse 2. Amen? In other words, we may fail. We may not keep our word. But God says, that does not matter. I've given My word. And that ought to be a lesson to each and every one of us. When you and I make a commitment, it doesn't matter who breaks that commitment, we can still keep ours. And praise the Lord, our God says, hey, even though you may commit spiritual adultery, James chapter 4, verses 1 to 8, He says, even though you are adulteresses and adulterers, hey, I will keep my word. Amen? In Hebrews chapter 13, the last phrase of verse 5, I like this. And this is essentially what Joshua was being assured of. And this is how Joshua could be confident. You know, we look at some of these men and the exploits they did and we say, wow, these were great men. No. They had a great God. And they simply believed in Him. It says in these words, Hebrews chapter 13, last phrase of verse 5, all of verse 6, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. But then verse 6 starts out, so that we may boldly say, how could Joshua be so bold as we get into chapter 2 and say, here's what I want you folks to do. We're going to cross this Jordan River. You see, Jordan at that time of the year overflowed its banks. It flooded. It was the wrong time to try to take people across, but hey, Joshua says, hey, here's what we're going to do. We're going to cross, and then later on, we're going to take the city of Jericho, and later on, we're going to fight this king and that king, and we're going to drive this people out and that people out. How could he be so brash and bold and almost arrogant, it would seem, by those who would discount his faith? Because he knew God had promised. He knew that God was with him. that God would not let him down, so that we may boldly say, look at this, the Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. You know, we're great at quoting one verse, that little phrase, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. But boy, verse 6 is powerful. Can you imagine? Here's Joshua for 40 years being a servant. And now he finds himself. He's been tapped. To be the head man. To take Moses' place. The man who walked with God 40 days and 40 nights on Mount Sinai. Got the tables of stone underneath his arm. Walked and talked with God face to face as a friend would with a friend. And here he's taking that man's spot. Can you imagine the fear that he had? How many times Moses was simply trying to do the will of God and the people wanted to stone him. They murmured against him. They bucked him. They resisted him. And yet, when God said, Stand aside, Moses. I'm going to wipe everybody out and I'm going to start fresh with you. And Moses gets down on his knees and he says, Oh Lord, don't do this. If this is what you're going to do, strike my name out of the book and save these people. He interceded against the judgment of Almighty God for the nation of Israel. And you can imagine, as I would think that here's Joshua in abject fear saying, how am I going to do this? How am I going to lead so great a people? I'm not smart enough. I'm not rich enough. I've just been a servant. I haven't been to the school of the Egyptians for 40 years like Moses. I haven't seen all that God personally did to Moses in those private times. God comes to him and says, I will not fail thee. I will not forsake thee. Oh, so that we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper. I shall not fear what man shall do unto me. Hey, let's cross Jordan. Hey, let's take this city. Hey, let's conquer this people. Let's go on and live the life of victory. How could He be so bold? He could be so bold because He had faith in a great God. He knew that God would keep His Word. Folks, how in the world are you and I going to stand for God the way we need to stand and should stand unless we have that same assurance that we can, as we tote our Bibles to church, As we sing about it in Sunday school, as we memorize its truths, how can we encounter life's difficulties? When someone comes in and says, I'm sorry, you've got cancer and it's inoperable. How do you handle it when you've got bills to pay and yet you're given the pink slip that you no longer have a job? How do you handle it when maybe the mate you've been with says, I don't want you anymore? I'm leaving you. How do you handle that? How do you find help in the Word of God? Can God really be trusted? Will He keep His Word even to me in the problem, in the trial, in the situation that I'm going through? My friend, yes, He will. Yes, He will. We find here that Joshua needed those same words of encouragement. He needed God to come to him and say, look, I'm not going to put you in this position and leave you high and dry. I will be with you. I will not fail you. I will not forsake you. I will not abandon you. And my friend, there may be some situations that come into your life where people will abandon you. Where they'll leave you. They'll fail you. They'll let you down. But God never will let you down. Because He keeps His Word. He keeps His Word. What a promise! What a promise! My friend, as we embark on the victorious Christian life and study the life of Joshua, just as Joshua needed to know that God would keep His Word, I'm here to tell you God will keep His Word. Boy, it's good to know. Because as Job says, as the sparks fly upward, man is born to adversity. Man's days are few in number and full of trouble. Got trouble? You got problems? You say, Pastor, I don't have a care in the world. Hang on. It's coming. Fasten your seatbelts. Well, that's a pretty negative kind of a message. Oh no, the positive part is God keeps His Word. And He says I will not fail you. People may fail you. You'll even disappoint yourself and let yourself down. But I will not forsake you." Joshua needed that. He needed that message. That's the same message for us today. Oh, how could he walk in victory? How could he walk in confidence? How can you walk in victory in the midst of all the trials? How can you be confident in your God? Because He'll not fail you. He has never failed anyone. Not once. His track record is impeccable. And He will honor His Word to you. Joshua had confidence in the promise of Almighty God. And when I look at not only the promise, I see where He has also been given not only God's Word, but He had the promise of God's presence. He says, I will not fail thee. I will not forsake thee. He says, if you'll drop down, look at this. He says in verse 9, He says, Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage. Be not afraid. Neither be thou dismayed. Don't be discouraged. Don't be disheartened. He says, for the Lord thy God is with thee, withersoever thou goest. I started the reading of the service with the reading of Psalm 139 and those 24 verses. I think I left out three. But as I read those 21 verses, You notice the psalmist said, if I send up to the mountains, you're there. If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. What's he saying? I cannot flee Your presence. I can't hide from You. Nothing is hidden from You. The night is as the day to You. You see, many times men like it to be dark because their deeds are evil and they don't want people to notice. But God sees everything clearly. And here we find the presence of Almighty God is promised to Joshua. He says, I'm not just going to give you my word, I'm going to be with you. And when you find Joshua, as we go into this book of Joshua, fighting these battles, you'll see one common theme. The Lord will fight for you. The Lord will fight for you. The Lord will fight for you. Oh yes, they had to carry the swords. They had to blow the ram's horn. They had to shout the shout. But God made the walls come down. And you may have to do some things in your life, and you may have to draw the sword, the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. You may have to encounter your walled cities, those strongholds. But my friend, the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. My friend, you are victorious because God keeps His Word. He's made some promises to us. And we have the promise of His presence with us always. As I read that passage of Scripture in Ephesians 1, we're sealed into the day of redemption. When you got saved, the Holy Spirit of God came to indwell your life and He's with you forever. What assurance! Joshua needed that assurance. You see, before Joshua could be bold in public, he had to be taught in private. My friend, I say this in leadership class, and I've said it even here from the pulpit, that a leader is not to drive sheep. He is to lead sheep. That means he's to be in front. He doesn't have the whip standing in the back and saying, get going, get going, cross that thing, cross that thing, encounter that thing, handle that thing. No, He's out front. You find in 2 Corinthians 1, a powerful truth that He says, hey, you are to comfort those who are in any trouble with the same comfort wherewith we ourselves have been comforted of God. In other words, many times, Before we can teach someone else, we have to go through it ourselves. And so Joshua needed to be taught some things in private. He was taught some things as he observed how God worked mightily in Moses' life. My friend, you and I need to understand that principle. We need to understand that all things do work together for good to them that love God and to them who are called according to His purpose. We need to understand that many times God will allow us to go through trouble so that we can help others who go through trouble. So we can say, let me tell you, the Bible's not just theory. It's not just a good history book. It's not just filled with good leadership principles. The Bible is alive It works. It's all sufficient. And so how can we make comments like that as dads in our home, as preachers in our pulpit, as Sunday school teachers at the lectern? How can we do all that with confidence unless God says, you know what? I'm going to put you in some situations. You remember what He did to Joseph? In chapter 50, if you were to look at Genesis chapters 37 to 50, really give us the biographical sketch of Joseph and how he encountered all kinds of difficulties in his life. He was mistreated. He was abused. He was lied. I mean, anything that you think of could happen to him, happened to him. And he comes to chapter 50, verses 19 and 20, and he says these words. And Joseph said unto them, fear not. He's talking to his brothers, who says, now that dad's dead, and he's the only one that's been restraining Joseph from really getting vengeance on us, he says, now Joseph's going to kill us. He's going to get us back for throwing them in that pit, for selling them into slavery, and for all the other things that happened in his life. It's payback time now. And Joseph says, Fear not, for am I in the place of God. But as for you, ye fought evil against me, but God meant it unto good to bring to pass as it is this day to save much people alive. Joseph went through all that he went through for this particular time. Folks, you and I as we live the victorious life, Understand to really know what it means to have the presence and power of God upon our lives. God says, you know what, I'm going to allow some things to come into your life that you can really experience the reality and the truthfulness of My Word. I can't help but at times like this, you say, how can you get up and preach and holler and romp and stomp? And as one little boy said last week, why are you always mad when you preach? I said, I'm not mad. But at the same time, how can you be under so much conviction that what you're saying is the gospel truth? Because God's Word works. I know when I was a 15-year-old boy, and as I was deceiving everyone around me, thinking that, hey, they all thought Mike Sullivan was saved. He memorized Scripture. He was active in youth. He told people about Jesus. He brought people to church. But you know what? Mike Sullivan was lost. I needed to be saved. And he saved me. You may debate that with me all you want to, but He saved me." Boy, that seems a bit cocky to me. Hey, folks, these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. I happen to believe when God said that, He meant it. It's not arrogancy. It's faith in God. It's belief in His Word. Amen? I can remember When we got married September the 7th, 1979 on around January the 12th of 1980, I packed up my family and my wife who was expecting our first to go off to Bible college, quit my job. Brenda was five months along and we went up there and up to college. And I was told that we'd be able to find work and we weren't able to find work. At that time, the steel mills, Inland Steel and other steel corporations, Union Tank and all that, were scuttling their workers. There were huge layoffs. I can remember going and making applications for jobs and saying, how in the world are we going to pay the bills? I left a good-paying job in Tennessee, come up here, Brenda was working at the sword, and she came, you know, we came up, we're married, and she came up, and how are we going to pay, how am I going to go to school? How are we going to make the car payment? My wife is expecting our first child. How are we going to get her to the doctor? And I can remember walking in the door sometimes of Pine Island Apartments. Bring back memories, Brian. Pine Island Apartments and I'd be down in the mouth and I'd say, Brenda, I don't even know why you married me. Oh, this is a victorious Christian life. I don't even know why you married me. I can't even find a job. What was I saying? I'm no good. I can't do anything. And she said, God knows. It's just really what you want to hear at that time from your wife. Amen? And you know what? I can remember getting on our knees in our one-bedroom apartment and praying. And do you realize that we got one check in those months that I was without work that was $100? All the other money we got was usually in increments of $25 or less. My school bill payment alone was $220 per month. My car payment was $123.19. My apartment rent was $360 plus utilities. We drank a lot of water, and to this day, I love grilled cheese sandwiches. But I tell you what, God paid those bills. I can remember my school bill payment was due on the 20th, and we're sitting there the night before, and I don't have the money for that bill. And there came a knock on our door. And Brenda answered the door, and there was a gentleman there that placed a white envelope in her hand. You know how much money was in there? $220 cash money to pay my school bill. I could stand up here and I could tell you time and time again how God met our needs. And you know what? I finally found a job sweeping the floors of a print shop. I had no printing experience. My dad was a printer, but I had no printing experience. My wife was an experienced typesetter. The man hired me to sweep the floor because he really wanted to hire her. What an ego boost for me. Hired her. But little by little, I was able to move up in the company. But the fascinating thing to me is, when I got the job, the mailbox dried up. We got no more gifts in the mail. We got gifts from people I didn't even realize we were going to Bible college. But God used him. So I can get up here and I can tell you, I don't know how God's going to do it. I don't know when He's going to do it. But I do know this, He will do it. He will provide for you. My friend, I was two years in the Bible college, and at that time I was working at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City. I rode to work with this man right here. I know. We all have our crosses to bear. And he had a heavy one. Okay? But I can remember my wife got sick. She started coughing a lot. After a while, she started coughing up blood in her phlegm. And she went to the doctor. And I can remember Dr. Streeter saying, well, let's take some tests. And at first, they didn't really know what the problem was. But then they found that she had a tumor that was growing in the upper lobe of her right lung. I had two children at the time, Laura and Michael. And I can remember, I know Brother Helm probably can too, I can remember sitting in the back seat of that cramped Toyota. Five big old guys. drive into the prison to go to work. And I can just remember putting my head down and crying. And those guys praying with me. And I can remember once the tests were done and he says, well, I don't think it's anything to worry about. Let's just wait till the end of the semester of school and then this summer we'll worry about taking that out. But it started growing faster than what they anticipated. and pneumonia was settling back behind the tumor. And so the decision was made that Brenda needed to have surgery. And so we scheduled to have the surgery at St. Margaret Hospital in Hammond, Indiana. And they said, Mike, you need to understand that if there's a complication in surgery, we're going to have to ship her to Chicago. And I said, why can't we go to Chicago first? And so we went to Chicago. I can remember the night before we went in there, I went to the preacher. I said, would you anoint Brenda with oil? He anointed with her oil, prayed. We went the next day, checked into the hospital. The surgery was to take about three and a half hours. About five and a half hours later, the surgeon came out and said that they took the upper lobe of Brenda's right lung out. I tell you what, God was with me during that time. God was with her during that time. I can remember saying, God, I've surrendered my life to you. You've called me to preach. I'm studying for the ministry. Why am I going through this? Why am I having this heartache? Will she end up having cancer and you take her? All kinds of things flood your mind. But I can stand here today and say, I don't know how God's going to do it, but I know He will do it. You say, will He give me my mate back? He may not, but He'll give you His grace. He'll give you exactly what you need. Well, Pastor, I'd sure like to know the beginning from the ending. No, that's Him. He's the Alpha and Omega. He says, look at Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. You see, Joshua, he knew that God would work mightily in his life as He did with Moses. He had God's Word. He had his assurance. And so he could confidently go before the people and say, our God can be trusted. Every single one of us have a realm of influence. People are looking to you, Christian. And God may allow some things to come into your life. So that as they see you taking God at His Word, resting in the surety of His presence, they know everything's going to be ok. Because their God is your God. And your God is their God. And He's made some obligations of Himself to you and He will keep His Word. My friend, you're going to encounter situations. And like I've been saying this message, I don't know how He'll meet all your needs. But I do know He will not fail you. He will not forsake you. What a great God! Let's all stand with our heads down and our eyes closed, please. This message this morning may have been just for one person in here. That person may just be you. And just as Joshua needed that assurance so that he could walk with confidence. You have that same assurance today. God wants you to live the Christian life with confidence. Not in yourself, but in Him. Will you allow God to speak to you today? As the musicians play, if you need to make a decision, would you? Please do what the Holy Spirit of God is telling you to do right now. If you need someone to pray with you, just come. We've got men here to pray with you. If you're here today and you're not saved and you're wondering how you could be assured of heaven, would you let us take the Bible and show you what the Bible says about heaven and how to get there. Brother Booth and Brother Helm are standing right down front. Just come to them and say, I want to go to heaven when I die. Would you show me how? Christian, while folks are doing business with the Lord, could it be that you're walking through some valleys right now because God's teaching you some things? Preparing you for some things? Could it be? Allow Him to do His perfect work in your heart and life. Allow Him to do that. You may have come into this auditorium today and you say, you know, I don't know how I'm going to make it another day. So down. So discouraged. The sky looks so dark. I don't know if there's much hope anymore. Let me say, God has a Word for you. He says, I'll not fail you, and I'll not forsake you. I don't know how dark your world is, but God won't fail you, and He won't forsake you. Just trust Him. Mmmmm. How I trust Him. How I have proved Him o'er and o'er. Precious Jesus. Oh, for grace to trust Him more. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for Joshua 1. Thank You that You gave us this word of encouragement today. My, we can just imagine what He must have been going through at this time. We thank You for those words of assurance. And thank You there for us today. In Jesus' name, and all God's people said. Amen. You're dismissed.