Good evening. Part of what I do as a preacher is to communicate. And so it is ironic that there was a breakdown in communication. If you were expecting a how to on how to break down and rebuild a transmission from me tonight, you're going to be sorely disappointed. Perhaps I don't know. It would be a very short lesson for me to tell you those kinds of things. Instead, we are going to talk about some transitions.
You know, when you look at the Bible from the beginning to the end, it talks about transition. In fact, it's built upon the idea of moving from one thing to another. Once you go back all the way to the Garden of Eden and think about how the Adam and Eve, the first inhabitants, they had to face into, they were involved in something far different outside of the Garden of Eden than they were inside the Garden.
No one's family came out to a very different world than the one that they went into the arc viewing before the global flood. You think about Abraham and the transition that was a part of his life, how that he had to go from a homeland that he knew very well and he wound up walking about in a place he knew nothing about.
And one of his great-grandson Joseph forcibly had to make a transition to leave his homeland to go to a strange and a foreign place. And then Joseph's ultimate descendants are those who are going to see a transition take place as they were going to leave a place they had been over 400 years, Egypt, and the wilderness to go into the land of Canaan. And they would transition in their worship from the place from the tabernacle to the temple.
Consider the transition that their descendants made Judah from Judah going to Babylon and back to Judah again. So throughout the Old Testament, we see transition was a part of life.
You go to the New Testament and you see the same thing as the case as we transition from the old law, the law of Moses to the law of Christ. And of course, the Bible is dedicated from beginning to end to this idea of transitioning from time to eternity. We're going to transition from this body to a new body. We're going to transition from this home to an eternal home and pause for a moment and think about the transitions that are part of your life. There may be that there are folks who are here tonight.
who are in the same house that you were born in. But even if that's the case, think about the change in the movement that's a part of your life and how transition is a part of every stage of life that we encounter. If we were to survey all the traumatic transitions that take place in the Bible, perhaps there is not one greater than the transition of leadership from Moses to Joshua.
Moses has been given a task by God to take Abraham's descendants and go in and fulfill the promise that God had made to him to go into the land of Canaan. And he had done a great job up to the point that he could. And now we see as we read in Deuteronomy chapter 31 that a tribe of transition has come. He's 120 years old. He's immobile. He is unable to cross the Jordan.
And so he speaks to the people about transition. His final task is to go through a checklist of things concerning God. And as he does, he talks about how the Lord is going to be with them and walk with them. Just look at what we saw and appreciate Ian and the fine way that he read our text tonight. Look at the way that the Lord is involved with the people.
The Lord is going to go in front of you and he is going to fight for you. Verse three through verse five. The Lord is not going to fail you. He is not going to forsake you. Verse six through verse eight. The Lord is going to meet with you in the tabernacle verse 11 and 12. And the Lord is going to be feared by your children. Verse 13. And so Moses, as he stands before the people in Deuteronomy chapter 31, he is saying a last goodbye.
But he is also readying them for a transition. They had spent the last 500 years either as slaves in a foreign nation, Egypt, or as wanderers in the wilderness. And now they are going to go into a possession that is big enough to accommodate them all. 2700 Cumberland Trace is no Canaan. It's not certainly heaven, but it is the next place that we are going to be.
This is the last time that we will assemble as the people of God at 1002 Lehman Avenue. From here we go somewhere else. We're going to find ourselves in a new location. But as we do so, there is something that I want you to remember as we walk through this lesson tonight. It's something that history has taught us. It's something that we're experiencing right now. And it's something that we can anticipate in days to come.
that wherever we have been and whatever we have needed, God has always provided. As we look at Deuteronomy chapter 31, Moses is helping the people preparing them for transition. And what I'd like to do if I can is to take words that were intended for people in a completely different covenant and a completely different part of the world in a completely different time and apply it to what we're doing this week.
By the way, a reminder, our test run on the building is Friday night. We've been mentioning that as we come together, a time of orientation, a time of singing and worship to God, that means this week we're going to be assembling at our next place of assembly. As we do so, as we make this transition, I want us to remember just a few things from our text tonight. Number one, as we transition, let the Lord take the lead.
We see that in the first eight verses, seven times in this paragraph versus one through 13, Moses uses a word that literally means face. It means to appear in one's presence. It's found 135 times in the book of Deuteronomy, and usually it's translated either before or ahead. And with this, Moses is making a point.
He is saying, the Lord your God is going ahead of you. He is going before you. He has blazed a trail. You know when the book of Hebrews talks about Jesus, it speaks of him as our forerunner. He has gone ahead for us into the heavenly places. There's the ultimate forerunner. But Moses says that throughout this life, God says, I will go before you. If you will let me, let me take the lead and I will be with you.
Now Moses points out some things that would be true of Israel that are true of us. If we will let the Lord take the lead in the first place, if we'll let the Lord take the lead, he will take care of our enemies. Verse three. In fact, this is an idea that's found throughout the context. The Lord is going to go ahead of them. And I want you to notice that there is a difference between what he's promising and what we have promised for us.
God is saying to Israel that there is a literal enemy that you are to go into combat with. There are real weapons, physical weapons that you'll hold in your hand. And I am commissioning you. I'm commanding you to go out and to fight that fight. We look at the battle that we face. Certainly it's of a different nature, isn't it?
When we look at what God has called us to do, Paul would say that we don't wage war like humans do, but we use the Lord's weapons. And the Lord's weapons are adequate to take care of human reasoning and false arguments. 2 Corinthians 10 verse 3 and verse 4. And so when we go to fight the enemy that we fight, we don't do so with sarcasm.
We don't do so mean-spiritedly. We didn't do so arrogantly. Number one, because it's not right to do so. And even more importantly is because we don't need to do so. Every battle that God wants us to fight, He has told us that we are doing so equipped with God's Almighty sword, the Word of God. Hebrews chapter four and verse 12. And so that being the case, we understand that the war that we fight is a war for the hearts and the souls and the minds of men and women.
Not only that when we focus on the nature of our enemy. It's not an enemy that we can see with flesh and blood. This enemy is identified for us throughout scripture as the adversary, the one who speaks evil against us. When we think about the devil, we realize if we've had our eyes open that he's been fighting us. And I suppose that the more successfully we try to serve him, the more actively the devil is going to fight us and to resist us.
First Peter chapter five and verse eight says it's what he does. But God says fight back. He says we can do this resisting him firm in the faith. First Peter chapter five and verse nine. We're to resist him. James chapter four and verse seven. But what comforts me when I examine what scripture says about this battle that we fight with the devil is that not only does God encourage us to do this, but God says I will fight with you.
In Ephesians chapter 6, verse 10 through verse 13, we realize that God has commissioned us into this battle and he urges us, encourages us to fight. And he says that the weapons of our warfare are such that we're not fighting against enemies that we can see, but we're fighting those forces in heavenly places. And God says that we're to take the whole armor of God and to resist in the evil day and having done all to stand. Aldi Murphy,
is the most decorated enlisted soldier in U.S. history. It's incredible to read about his story. He went and enlisted as a private in the Army of World War II. And by the time the war was over, he had received 33 medals of valor from the U.S. government. He was a 19-year-old when he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.
What he did was ought he fought an entire company of German soldiers for over an hour and in the midst of that he was wounded. He went on to win two silver stars, three purple hearts and a bronze star and 27 other medals. He was wounded three times and by the time that the battle was his time of service was over in World War II, he was a field commission captain.
He even went on to be a Hollywood actor, 44 movies, all either Westerns or military movies. He was the hero of heroes. There has never been a fighter or warrior like the one who says, let me take the lead and follow me. He's introduced to us in this way in Joshua chapter five. Remember, this is the next generation. Moses at the end of the line. And now it's Joshua's turn and Joshua meets the one who is going to lead them into battle.
And he introduces himself as the captain of the host of the Lord. And when Joshua saw him, he fell on his face of the earth and bowed down. And he said, what does the Lord have to say to my servant? And the captain of the host of the Lord said, take off the saddles off of your feet for the ground on which you're standing is holy ground. And Joshua did so. Joshua 5 14 and 15. May I encourage you that as we transition,
to just a little east of here, and we serve the Lord that every battle that we're ever in is going to be false standing behind this omnipotent captain. As we make this transition, let's let the Lord take the lead. And if we do, he'll take care of all of our enemies. But if we'll let the Lord take the lead, he'll also take care of all of our fears. We're going to say much more about that in just a moment. But we see in verse six through eight, this encouragement,
that if we'll let the Lord take the lead, He'll be with us and we will never have to fear or be dismayed. We don't have to fear the future. You know, what we don't know is what kind of challenges that we're going to face as a congregation from this day forward. We don't know how big the challenges are going to be. We don't know how long they're going to last, but what we do know is that no matter what they are, we do not have to fear. The Lord is my light and my salvation.
What shall I fear? The Lord is the defense of my life. What shall I dread Psalm 27 and verse 1? And the words of the Lord left when He left the earth encourage us when He says, I am with you always, even to the end of the world, Matthew 28 and verse 20. We live in a time and I think it's to our benefit and our advantage as the people of God, that people are becoming unglued in their fears.
American sociologist Christopher Bader said that over the last 10 years, fear has taken a greater and greater toll in American society. You know, there's an annual list of fears, the things that Americans fear the most. And do you know what 2024's list headlines with? 67% of people in our nation are fearful of government officials. We're afraid of our own politicians. That's the number one fear in that poll.
Number two, we're afraid of somebody that we love growing seriously ill. Number three, we're afraid of cyber terrorism. Almost 60% of people are. We're afraid of someone that we love dying. We're afraid of attack from nuclear weapons from enemies of our nation, almost 58%. And we are afraid that we won't have enough money for the future, 55%.
And maybe you sit here tonight and you say, Neil, I'm happy to tell you that I'm not afraid of anything, but you know what? We're all afraid of something, and yet we don't have to be.
God says, if you'll let me take the lead, they're going to be some intimidating circumstances. There's going to be some things bigger than you are, but you don't have to fear. It was Franklin Delano Roosevelt in his first inaugural address who says, let me state first of all my firm conviction that the only thing that we have to fear is fear itself, nameless, unrelenting terror that seizes us and keeps us from the needed effort of converting retreat into advance.
While those are inspiring words, they cannot match the inspired words of God through Moses, who says to us that we have no need to fear anything because he is with us. We should not be fearful or dismayed. As we make this transition, number one, let's make sure we let the Lord take the lead. Let me ask you before that we leave this point. Do you believe that God has led us to the point where we are tonight?
Do you believe that God is active and involved in the lives of men and women? Do you believe that when Godly leaders are seeking to humbly follow the great shepherd that God opens doors and through his providence, he leads us to the place where we are. Certainly it's central to our lives. And if we believe that, then we believe that the Lord has led us to this point. If he's led us to this point, he's not going to stop when we get to where we're going.
Number two, as we make this transition, be strong and courageous. You know, as we look at this, the other side of the coin of fear and trembling is strength and courage. And I want us to pause for a moment and I want us to think about how we have seen strength and courage as it's been exhibited already. Think of the strong and courageous moves that leadership has made up to this point.
Wasn't it wise and insightful for the eldership that existed almost a decade ago to purchase that property on Cumberland Trace Road? Wasn't it bold and courageous the decisions that have been made by the leaders who have followed them? They've had to make a lot of big decisions. They've had to make decisions about the pulpit. They've had to make decisions about how to navigate a global pandemic.
How to make decisions about how to build these new facilities. They had to make decisions that weren't always popular and easy to make. And the spirit that's lived in them that has helped us to this point is a spirit that needs to live in all of us. But what is it that is going to help us to be strong and courageous? I believe there's at least three things in this part of the text about God that will make us be strong and courageous.
We can be strong and courageous because of the character of God. We see that in verse six. God's character is on full display. The one who goes before us, the one who will not fail us or forsake us. And I love the way that Moses speaks of him here. He says, he is the Lord your God.
There are a lot of different ways that God could be described and is described throughout the Old Testament, but I love the uniqueness of this. It's a reminder that this God who is going to be in front of you as you go into the land of Canaan, that it's your God. He's not just your father's God. He's yours as well. But there's also this concept here with the Lord, your God of the idea of God as a king and a warrior like figure.
who is going to fight and whose character can be trusted to do what it is that he says that he will do. The God that we have sung to today, the God we have prayed to today, whose son we have celebrated in the supper today, whose word we have preached, he is going to be the God of the same character next Sunday as he was today. What will it make us to be strong and courageous is not just the character of God, but also the promises of God in verse seven.
Here's what Israel could do. They could look back in the rear view mirror and they could see what God had done for their fathers. They could look and see how God had carried them through the wilderness and had taken care of all of their needs. He had provided them with food, manna from heaven. He had provided them with meat when they wanted. He provided them with water, such a great company, the logistics to take care of such a people. He had done so faithfully, not for a day, but for 40 years and pretty soon.
They would be able to say with great confidence that the Lord God gave them all the land which He swore into their fathers and they went in and they lived in it and they possessed it. And the Lord God caused none of their enemies to be able to stand in front of them as He had sworn into their fathers. The Lord God made good on every promise that He had made to Israel as He said it. So He did it. Joshua 21 verse 43 through 45.
every promise of God in your life individually and in our lives collectively, the same God is going to be making good on promises. And for this reason, we can be strong and courageous, but we can also be strong and courageous because of the fellowship of God, verse eight. Maybe this is the most beautiful part, that not only is God going to go ahead of them, but God is going to be with them.
It's incredible to look at see God's fingerprints on the things that have happened in our lives as a people. It's incredible to see how God seems to open the right door at the right time and send along the right person for the right job at the right moment. Isn't it been incredible to see as God goes ahead of us that He has walked with us and He has never left us alone?
As we make this transition, what's going to help us to be strong and courageous? I don't know about you. I know that some things about where we're going are going to be better than they are now. Some things are just going to be different. And there may be somebody here who thinks that there may be a finger too. That's not as good as they are here. But you know what's going to help us to be strong and courageous is that this is a spiritual matter that we're involved in, not just a physical thing.
And what will help us to be strong and courageous is the character of God, the promises of God, and the fellowship of God. As we transition, number three, we must carefully follow the word of God. In verse 9 through 12, we see God's word as it's held up for us.
We're moving addresses, but we're not changing authorities. We're going to have a new location, but we're not going to have a new law. And so as we go from here to there, we're going to be relying upon the same word. And it's a very interesting thing to notice the emphasis that Moses gives on his word in this context. As you walk through verses nine through 12, see how he describes this law. This law is a delegated law in verse nine.
God gave it to Moses. Moses gave it to the priest and to the elders. That's the way God has always worked with revelation that he delegates his word. He is the source of it and he gives it to individuals to then be stewards of it. And that's what happens here. We also see that that law is meaningful. It tells them how and what is to be a part of their worship in verse nine and verse 10. It's authoritative.
Verse 11, it's going to tell them exactly what it is that God wants them to do. It's understandable. All who hear it and read it can fear and can walk in the way that God wants them to. Verse 11, it's universal. This word is a word that is for all the people, the men, the women, the children, even the strangers, and it is a precise law.
It is a law in which they are to do all that God has commanded them verse 12. You know, when we think about the fact that we have an identity and we want to be identified as people who love one another. That's what Jesus says. The only thing in the Bible, Jesus says should be our marks as disciples as we saw this morning, John 13, 34 and 35, but we lean on his word to see that very truth.
What should be at central part of our identity is that we are a people who conform to God's Word. We never outgrow the requirement to submit. And what God wants us to do in His Word, He spells out for us. And we're going to follow that. We're going to do so faithfully. Think about the covenant that Christ has left for us. It's a delegated law.
In Ephesians chapter 2 verse 20, Jesus is the chief cornerstone. We read in John 14 through 16 how he was leaving his word for his apostles, the apostles and prophets have given us the word and we declare that word. It's also a meaningful word. If it matters to our eternity, it's found in Scripture. Second Peter chapter 1 and verse 3, it's authoritative. Our rule and practice and work and worship is this and only this. Colossians chapter 3 and verse 17.
And yet we also see that it's understandable. It's plain and simple. John chapter 8 and verse 32. It's universal. It's for all men everywhere. Acts chapter 17 and verse 30. And when it comes to this word, we are not at liberty to lose where he is bound or to bind where he is loose. Revelation 22 verse 18 and 19. And so as we move forward, we realize that wherever we are, God has provided his word and will never outgrow the need to follow what he says. What should characterize us
Wherever we are it's not the size that we grow to be it's not the location where we meet It's not the time in history where we live. It's not the broader culture It is the beacon of scripture that shows us the way that we are to go and thus as we transition that will not change we will live based on the Seth the Lord and As we transition the last thing I would suggest to you is
we're to focus on our families, verse 12 and 13. It was beautiful. Last Sunday morning following services to watch as three generations of Garrett's were here on these front couple of pews as Dylan put on his Lord and baptism. And you know, the reminiscing that was done of the big events for that family that's taken place in this building over the years.
It's a reflection, maybe a microcosm of a bigger story that could be told. And I got to think about the three generations of that family. I wondered how many families there were and I was going to get up here and I was going to share the names of all the families that have at least three generations who are worshiping and working together here. Do you realize the number that there is? Fifteen.
Families. Maybe I missed. I went back in a couple of times where there are grandparents and parents and children who assemble here when the saints meet. You know, there's one family, the gods that have four generations on two sides of the family. What a beautiful legacy.
You know, Hyra mentioned 2 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 5, and so beautiful to see the faith that's on display that Paul commends Timothy 4, but it existed first and lowest, and it went to Eunice, and then it also existed in Timothy. What Moses does here in Deuteronomy 31 verse 12 and 13 is he encourages all that that could, including the children to come and to listen to the law of the Lord. And he says, your children who have not feared the Lord,
They will fear when they hear the Word of God. We have a busy calendar. How often do we say this is a busy congregation? There's always something going on, but I want you to notice the nature of a lot of those activities that are on the calendar, the weekly events and the annual events. Do you realize at the heart of it, these things exist to help our families go to heaven? And so as we examine what's going to happen when we move next year,
And as we move to a new place, that's not going to change. In a couple of days, it's going to be January 1st. And if 2025 is going to be like every other year that has preceded it, our families are going to be impacted. Our families, among our families, they're going to be joyful events. They're going to be births. They're going to be marriages. There's also going to be some sorrowful events.
There may, I hope not, but it could be that there is divorce that hits our church family. I'm very most likely be dead and no doubt sickness. And God has encouraged us that what we have to do is to focus on our families that no matter what happens to us physically, that we make it to God's ultimate promised land.
Babies are going to be born to us. Folks are going to be added to the spiritual family through baptism. Folks are going to place membership with us. But what we are convicted of is that the church is only going to be as strong as our weakest members and as our weakest families. And so as we make this transition in 2025,
I want to encourage you, I want to challenge you to focus on your family's faith, because no matter what, as on the calendar for next year, the most important thing is the spiritual priority and emphasis that you put, helping one another go to heaven. That's what's being said here. Focus on your spouse, on your parents, on your children, and on your siblings, and help them to make it to God's ultimate promise land.
And Deuteronomy chapter eight, in verse four, in Nehemiah chapter nine, in verse 21, God says the same statement twice. He says to that generation who had been walking in the wilderness for 40 years, he said, your clothes did not wear out on you, nor did your feet swell these 40 years. God is saying everything you needed, whatever you needed, wherever you were, God provided. The assurance that we have as we make the move from here to 2700, Cumberland Trace,
is that whatever we need, wherever we are, God will provide that. What can we focus on as we make this transition? We must always focus on letting the Lord take the lead.
It's exciting to think about what God has planned, what He has in store. Go back if you didn't have a chance to read and read Hiram's article on the front of the bulletin and think about how God, some of His greatest gifts and His greatest blessings and the greatest achievements that churches achieve is because God was allowed to work and lead and to do things greater and better than we would have ever thought or imagined. You've got to let God take the lead. Be strong and courageous. We've got culture wars that we have to fight biblically.
We have moral and and and religious error that we must combat whatever we got to let God in his word be the heart and soul of all of it. We've got to faithfully follow his word and we need to focus on our families. I know you're excited. I am. I need to let you come and see my office. Man, just for that, that's that's an exciting thing, but so much more.
God is giving us a bigger tool and he's going to make us stewards with a much greater challenge and opportunities. We don't need to be afraid. We need to trust him. That's true on the individual level too. Perhaps you've not yet expressed and vocalized your faith that Jesus is the one who is to be the lead of your life, the Lord. Maybe you're ready to act on that faith to repent and be baptized.
We're ready to help you to do that if that's the decision that you're ready to make. And if you're a child of God who needs to be restored or needs prayers for strength, we want to encourage you. We need to respond publicly. Why not now? That's together we stand and sing.
