Hello, this is Elder Brandon Hartfield. We're thankful to have this opportunity to come and be on the radio broadcast again this week. We certainly desire the prayers of those of you that know the Lord, and by the Lord's help, we certainly pray that we could be used of God to be a blessing. Before we get started today, as always, we want to look to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, as we come to you this day, Father, we're so thankful for the many wonderful things that you've done for us. Father, you've been far better to us than we deserve. And Father, we pray that you would lead, guide, and direct by your Holy Spirit. Father, you know those that are listening. You know the needs. Father, you even know the words that we should speak. Guide our tongue, guide our heart and our mind, that we could accomplish your will. That lost souls could be saved, and we as your people could grow strong in your might. And Father, for the good that is accomplished, let us step aside and give you the praise. For it's in Jesus' name we do pray. Amen. Gonna turn to Deuteronomy 31 today. Deuteronomy 31. And then we're going to turn over to Joshua chapter 1. This is the time that Moses is about to die. And he is leaving Joshua behind in charge. And so you have this time that has come and a very difficult time. I've often thought about being Joshua and thinking, man, I've got to fill Moses' shoes. And the encouragement though that Moses and the Lord gives unto him is great. And it is words of encouragement that we need today. You know, I've seen some good men come before me, many that have gone on to be with the Lord, good preachers, church members, and so many of them I feel like they're far superior to me. I really do. It's not just lip service. There's people I've pastored and I say, God, if I could If I could be as faithful as that man or if I could be as faithful as that woman over there and how she serves you, you know, there's many people I've just looked up to over the years and just thought the world of. And there's preachers I felt that way. I said, man, to have that boldness, to have their knowledge, to walk with you like they've walked. And God reminds me, they're just human beings too. You know, if you want that relationship, you can have it. Do you know that you and I can have as close of a walk with God as Moses did today? Now I'm not saying you're going to see a burning bush that's not consumed or hear the voice of God audibly or see His hind parts as He walks past you and things of that nature. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about in a relationship sense, in our prayer life, in our walk with Him. You can have as close of a life as Moses did with Him. You can have as close of a life as Job did with Him. You can have as close of a life as Paul did with Him or Peter. And there's people who say, oh no, I couldn't. I say, why not? Why couldn't you be as close to God as Elijah was? Why? What's stopping you? You think that they're better than you are? They were sinners just like me and you. Sinners saved by grace. And after they were saved, they committed themselves unto the Lord. The Lord tells us in the book of Revelation to the Laodicean church, instead of giving that invitation to a whole church, he's got it down to individuals. He says, if any man will open the door, he said, I'll come in and sup with him and he with me. You think you can't have it today? It's offered. And I try to tell that to the young people I preach to, the older ones I preach to. You can have as close a relationship as you want with God. And some people think, oh, if you're a preacher, you get some special access. No, I get to preach the Word of God. As far as fellowship with God, every church member can have as close a fellowship as I can. And God might just not want you in the ministry. He might have a different work for you to do. But if you're faithful in whatever He has called you to do or led you to do in your life, I tell you what, you can walk with Him. I've seen grandmothers have as close of a walk with the Lord as you've ever seen. I've seen mothers and fathers, and I've seen men that never got married, never could have children, have a close walk with God. I've seen widowed ladies have a close walk with God. I mean, you can't tell me you can't have a close walk with God if you desire it. And I've seen many of those people be a great blessing. I know at one church, there was people that would come up and talk about an elderly lady at their church that seemed like she was so close to God, she actually could tell when they were under conviction. I remember a man telling me, he said, I thought nobody could see it, nobody would know. And she came up and she hugged me one evening after church. And she said, I'm praying for you. She said, I know God's burdening you. He said, I didn't tell anybody. Nobody knew. I said, but she did. And she let me know she was praying for me. You think we can't have women that close to God today? I had a man tell me one time about a faithful man in the church. He said, that man was so close to God, when I started to make a decision in my life to take a job to chase money and go after different things, he came to me and said, that's not going to end well for you, son. He said, he walked me through some things that I'd be missing out upon. He said, near about everything he said came to pass. Did that man have a special gift of prophecy? To see into the future? No, he had a close walk with God and he could see the consequences of that man's actions. He had a close walk with God where he could come and he tried to pray for him, he tried to encourage him and say, son, this ain't gonna be good for you. And that man told me, he said, things worked out about just like he said it would. Which of course led him back to the Lord. We can't have godly men in churches like that anymore. We can. And sometimes we need to stop saying, well, we don't have brother so-and-so with us anymore. We don't have sister so-and-so with us anymore. We don't have any strength anymore. Our strength comes from the Lord, not from those men. Not from those women. And we can have God with us just as much if we'll yield ourselves unto God like they did. God can be just as much with us as He was with those that came before us. It's how much do we want it. Now I'm going to begin reading in Deuteronomy chapter 31, beginning in verse 1. And Moses went and spake these words unto all Israel. And he said unto them, I am a hundred and twenty years old this day. I can no more go out and come in. Also the Lord hath said unto me, thou shalt not go over this Jordan. The LORD thy God, He will go over before thee, and He will destroy these nations from before thee, and thou shalt possess them. And Joshua, he shall go over before thee, as the LORD has said." Now Moses is sitting back, and can you imagine this? Of all the people to follow, Moses? And Moses is telling the people, I'm not going with you. God's not allowing that to happen. But Joshua's going with you. More importantly, the Lord's going with you. And he said, and the Lord shall do unto them as He did unto Shehon. And to Og, kings of the Amorites, and unto the land of them whom he destroyed, and the Lord shall give them up before your face, that ye may do unto them according unto all the commandments which I have commanded you. Be strong and of a good courage. Fear not. nor be afraid of them, for the Lord thy God, He it is that doth go with thee. He will not fail thee, nor forsake thee." Y'all know that promise is still good to us today. It was given unto the church. And I know we don't have one church like they did back in Jerusalem at that time. There's churches of the Lord, local visible bodies. Some people have this idea that I'm the church. You cannot be, an individual cannot be a called out body of believers. A church is a called out group. One person is not the church. That's a false heresy that goes around all the time. A church, truly a scriptural church, is a group of baptized believers in Christ that are following Christ together. And that can be few, it can be many. But it is a local, visible body of believers. I am a member of a church. But I am not THE church in and of myself. I'm a member of a body. But I'm not that whole body. And the distinction in that needs to be stated. Joshua didn't go out by himself. Moses didn't go out by himself. The Lord was with them and the Lord had it to lead other people. But the Lord has even promised His New Testament churches that He would not leave them nor forsake them. But if you go back and read that, there's some contingence with that, I should say. It is contingent upon us following God. It is contingent upon us keeping His commandments, His judgments, His statutes, baptizing the believers and teaching them all things whatsoever He has commanded. Then He says, Lo, I'll be with you always, even unto the end of the earth. But there's some things involved. and Moses called unto Joshua and said unto him in the sight of all Israel be strong and of a good courage for thou must go with this people unto the land which the Lord has sworn unto their fathers to give them and thou shalt cause them to inherit it and 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. And Moses wrote this law and delivered it unto the priests of the sons of Levi, which bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord and unto all the elders of Israel." Now, this is, again, about the same time you go to Joshua chapter 1. And this is after the death of Moses, very close in time here. Now after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, and this is Joshua chapter 1 verse 1, 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 now and all this people unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel." And notice at time of death, he isn't told to mourn and weep, he's told to arise. We don't need to forget that. A lot of people in a time of grief and mourning, they say, what do we do now? Moses is dead. What do we do now? God told Joshua, rise. Go over Jordan. Go to this land which I've given you. Go take it. He said, 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 will I be with Thee." Now let me ask this question. Has that promise ever stopped? As God was with Paul, will He be with the church today? Yeah. As He was with Peter, will He be with us today if we serve Him, follow His commandments, teach His doctrines, and uphold them? Will God be with us today? Yeah. Yes is the answer. As He was with all those true churches, And I believe this with all my might. Some of you will say, oh, the Catholic Church was the true church. They've never been the true church. They are the people that Paul warned about to the elders at Ephesus in Acts chapter 20. They did the things that were contrary to the doctrines and I could go through a long list of things that they do. And I'll tell you today, I don't I don't believe I'm Protestant either. I believe I'm a part of a group that was before Rome, existed during Rome, and has existed every day since. The gates of hell have never prevailed against the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. There's been times they've been persecuted. There's been times that they've been meeting in caves and in the woods and different places. And they might have been erased by history books, but you can find them speckled throughout history of people trying to uphold the truth. And they existed through every century. And you can find them just dotted about here and there in history that they believed that it was in faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. They didn't give credence unto a pope or any other group, but they gave their authority by the Word of God. There were people well before the Reformation that was telling the Catholic Church that they had no authority to baptize or carry on things and what they were doing was wrong. You can find that speckled throughout history. So, I'm not Protestant. I didn't have to protest out of Rome to find the truth. It already existed. And it was held by people who are holding on to the doctrines that were once delivered unto the saints. Now, I don't think the Lord's ever forsaken His true church. And He's never failed it. And the true gospel has been preached throughout every generation, ever since Christ died. They might have been small in number, they might have been under great persecution, they might have been hidden in different places and forgotten by history books a whole lot. You might well remember who was writing those history books and who had the power. God has never failed His true church. or I should say true churches. And He won't fail them today. He'll never fail thee nor forsake thee. And notice what He said to him, be strong and of a good courage. That's something we need to remember, isn't it? To be strong and of a good courage. That strength does not come from myself, that strength comes from the Lord and my confidence in Him. My courage is knowing who's fighting the battles for me." He said, "...for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land which I swear unto their fathers to give them. Only be thou strong and very courageous." And I tell you what, These are things that we need to teach our young ones coming behind us. There's a lot of churches to get numbers trying to entertain kids today instead of teach them. Train them up. They need to be taught how to be strong. There's a lot of young ladies that get married and know not how to be a wife, because they have not been taught how to be a wife. Nobody thought that was important. Oh, you've got to get this education, you've got to get this degree. Where do you find this stuff in Scripture? There's a lot of people that will misuse the Word of God for their own goals. Do you know what is important for a wife and a mother to have? It's written in Titus chapter 2. Can she keep a home? Does she love her own husband, love her own children? As it's told in Titus chapter 2, how many women's conferences are there out there and women's Bible studies that are out there that are teaching young ladies how to be a wife and a mother? A lot of them get married, they don't even know how to cook. They don't know how to be organized and keep a home. They don't know how through the difficult times, listen, your man's going to face all these difficult situations. They're going to go through all these things. Let me ask you this. How many of the older women are teaching the younger women when you go, you know, men might have a midlife crisis? A lot of them do. How do you deal with that? How do you face that as a wife? How do you face life when your children move out of the house and it's just you and the husband again? When you're young in marriage, how do you deal with those things? Is young women being taught what happens if you have a miscarriage? How to take care of your children? I had an older lady come to me one time, and she said, Preacher, you need to teach some of these younger ladies. They're not behaving like good Christian wives and good Christian mothers, and you need to teach them. And I asked the older lady, I said, is that my job? Now I was getting across the point, and I went back and I told her, I said, Ma'am, I know it's my job to preach some of these things from the pulpit. I said, but if it's not supported outside of the pulpit, I said, what good is it going to accomplish? I said, I will teach on these things and I will go through them. I said, but according to Titus chapter 2, I said, who's supposed to be teaching these younger women these things? It says the older women teach the younger women. They'll teach them all kinds of things today. Oh, you need to make more money, you need to do this, you need to do that. They teach them to be chaste, keepers at the home. And I'll remind you that the first verse of that, if I'm not, if I'm remembering correctly of Titus chapter 2, TCCs which become sound doctrine. We'll argue over what sound doctrine is because we don't like it. But that's written there as sound doctrine. And for the men, Are they not taught to be strong? Are they not taught to sacrifice, to love their families, love their wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it, to have a sacrificial love, even representing Christ in their homes and their marriage and making sacrifices? To deal with their wives in an understanding way according to Scripture? To treat them as fellow heirs of the grace of God according to Scripture? A man nourishes and cherishes his own flesh. Our wives are bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh. If I mistreat her, it's like me mistreating my own body according to Scripture. So abuse is not acceptable, is it? Are we teaching people how to be strong and of good courage? Sometimes marriage gets difficult, doesn't it? We teach them how not to quit. Are we giving them excuses to leave? Are we teaching them how to endure? How to persevere? How to overcome? Or we say things like, if it don't come easy, you just need to let it go. What are we teaching? I'll tell you what God was teaching Joshua. Be strong and very courageous. He told him to 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 means don't add to it, don't take anything away from it. that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest." And that is a spiritual prosperity. We look so much at the natural prosperity, but we need to teach our young people that the most important prosperity is our walk with the Lord. It is more important than our finances. I've tried to tell some young people even recently, they say, well, it might take us years to get our first house. And I said, you know, there is no shame. in living in an apartment for a time. I said, there is no shame in living in a run-down house that you're slowly, room by room, having to fix up. There's no shame in it. There is no shame in living in a single wide trailer. and slowly saving and building yourself up. You don't have to have everything overnight. And sometimes doing without and struggling through those hard times will actually make your relationship with your spouse stronger. Y'all have a lot of things to work through. You don't have to have that. I'm not against somebody having it. They can have it right off. Don't get me wrong. But I'll tell you this, it's more important to marry than to burn in lust, isn't it? It's more important to have a home where love is than where all kinds of fancy furniture is and all this. When me and my wife first got married, if you came over and visit us, you might have a bean bag to sit on. It took us months to save up enough to get our first couch. Struggling is not a horrible thing. Having faith, trusting in the Lord, doing things the right way, that's how we have courage and face these battles. What are we going to do here? What are we going to do? God will work it out if you're doing what you're supposed to be doing. But make sure you are observing His commandments. Don't turn to the left hand or to the right hand. Stick with the things of God and it will prosper you whethersoever thou goest. The book of the laws shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night." That's our focus, is the law of God. Some people say, well, law is not important anymore. Yes, it is. It is the law still to this day that shows us that we are sinners before a holy and righteous God and that we are worthy of death, and that is eternal death, hell and the lake of fire without Christ. He came and died to fulfill the law for us. He lived a perfect sinless life, And then he died as a perfect sacrifice on the cross of Calvary, fulfilling the sacrificial law for us. But look, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not murder, thou shalt not commit adultery. All that's still good to this day. And the law is good is what Timothy told, or Paul told Timothy. He said the law is good if a man will use it lawfully. It's still needful today. But you need to meditate upon it 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? Be strong. and of good courage. Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed, for the Lord thy God is with thee, whethersoever thou goest." Nothing more important than us being with God by following His judgments, His commandments, His statutes all the day of our lives. The only way we're saved is by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But after we're saved, we are to walk in newness of life. We are to live our lives for the glory and honor of God and not for self. And God is not here to do things the way we want them to be done. He is here so that we submit unto Him and follow Him, that He can bless us and be with us. And when that is upon us, we do not have to fear, but we can have courage. We can be strong. Even during the darkest times we have spiritually, physically, mentally, whatever we go through, we can be strong and have good courage because God is with us. That promise that I will never leave thee nor forsake thee is still good to this day. But we need to make sure we're walking with Him. Draw nigh unto the Lord and He shall draw nigh unto us. You want those blessings, you want that courage, you want that strength, walk close to Him. And it can be there for you. It can lead to successful marriages, successful homes, successful churches, communities. It can do all that for us. Pray this could be a blessing. Our number is 601-606-4681. Heavenly Father, may You use this blessing for Your honor and glory. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.