Leading The Way

Guest (Male): Sharing the impact the true God's word had on his life, here's our teacher on Leading The Way, Dr. Michael Youssef.

Dr. Michael Youssef: I found myself this week literally weeping uncontrollably before God and saying this, "Lord, may this generation be like the Joshua generation. Lord, may this generation have the faith of Joshua's generation. May this generation, Lord, have the courage and the victories of Joshua's generation." Joshua's generation could have said, "You want me to do what?"

Guest (Male): And that is the title of Dr. Youssef's current teaching series on Leading The Way, "You Want Me To Do What?". Practical lessons about facing the impossibilities of life with faith. Joshua was charged with leading more than a million people into a promised land and then walking around a nearby enemy city with a marching band. Neither situation is something familiar to you and me, but God may ask you or me to do something that still causes the words, "You want me to do what?" to be mumbled out toward heaven. So let's listen together to a message Dr. Youssef has called, "Stay with the Program."

Dr. Michael Youssef: Fear is one of those emotions that I never trivialize or minimize. It's one of those emotions that I never underestimate. If you've read some of my books, like *If God is in Control, Why is My Life Such a Mess?*, you have read some of my testimony of how at times I've experienced what I would call a rash, raw, and naked fear. I know how fear can be one of the most demoralizing experiences in human existence. I know that.

There is nothing wrong with experiencing fear at times. The question is, how do you overcome fear? How do you defeat fear? That's really what matters. If fear is not overcome in your life and in my life, why do I say this? Because I have seen it. When continuous fear stays in your life, it robs you of joy. Continuous fear deprives you of your effectiveness for Christ. Continuous fear will steal your God-given potential for Him. Continuous fear will render you useless for the Kingdom of God.

Continuous fear is Satan's method of keeping you from understanding your mission in life, that you are an apostle of Jesus Christ in your workplace, in your school, and that you will be hindered from witnessing to the power of salvation when you live in fear. The only thing that I understood through the years of overcoming an overwhelming fear is faith. I have experienced in my own life that whenever fear is up, faith is down. Whenever faith is up, fear is down. It's like that seesaw. You see, courage is not the absence of fear, but courage is fear that has been overwhelmed by faith.

Somebody was lamenting the fact of how fear has kept modern-day Christians, believers, from witnessing for Jesus Christ. Fear of all kinds has kept people's mouths shut about testifying to the power of God's forgiveness and healing in our lives. In days gone by, the believers in Jesus Christ saw themselves as a mighty spiritual army for Jesus Christ. In days gone by, Christians viewed themselves as soldiers for Jesus Christ. Christians viewed themselves as warriors for Jesus Christ. Christians viewed themselves as a mighty army lined up behind a Commander-in-Chief.

That is why they sang songs like *Onward Christian Soldiers*, marching as to war. Today, the church of Jesus Christ is open for entertainment, and we have ceased to see ourselves as men and women, boys and girls of power and might, that we are soldiers enlisted in the greatest army that has ever existed, the army of Jesus Christ. This poor guy looked around and saw what's happened to the church of Jesus Christ, to the believers, and he wrote a parody of the song. Here is what he said. I want to read it to you.

"Backward Christian soldiers, fleeing from the fight, with the cross of Jesus clearly out of sight. Christ, our rightful Master, stands against the foe, but forward into battle, we are too chicken to go. Like a mighty tortoise moves the church of God. Brothers, we are treading where we have often trod. We are much divided, many bodies we, having different doctrines and not much charity.

Crowns and thrones may perish, kingdoms rise and wane, but the church of Jesus hidden does remain. Gates of hell should never against the church prevail. We have Christ's own promise, but we think we'll fail. Sit here then, ye people, join our useless throng, blend with ours your voices in a feeble song. Blessings, ease, and comfort, ask from Christ the King. With our modern thinking, we won't do a thing."

It hurts, doesn't it? The Israelites in the book of Joshua, chapter six, were a mighty army and saw themselves thus because they refused to allow fear to dominate their life. They refused to allow things to detract them from their mission. They refused to allow their previous victories to hinder them from moving into another victory. They refused to allow fear to keep them from conquering walls.

Beloved, I want to tell you something. That is what fear is doing to believers today. It is keeping them from conquering the walls of Satan's domain. It is keeping them from bringing down the walls of addictions, keeping them from defeating temptation in their lives, keeping them from reclaiming the places of work and the schools and the neighborhoods for Jesus Christ, keeping them from giving generously of themselves to the work of God here and around the globe, keeping them from telling the world about the One who saved them eternally.

Perhaps there was no point in Israel's history, before or after this time here in Joshua chapter six, when they exercised faith and overcame fear than this point here in Joshua chapter six. You see, the previous generation of Israelites all died in the wilderness. Every one of them got buried in the wilderness, and they never saw the Promised Land. There is a good reason for that: because they were constantly whining and complaining, because they were constantly criticizing and murmuring all the time. No wonder God waited until that generation died and was buried before He took the next generation on to the Promised Land.

I found myself this week literally weeping uncontrollably before God and saying this, "Lord, may this generation be like the Joshua generation. Lord, may this generation have the faith of Joshua's generation. May this generation, Lord, have the courage and the victories of Joshua's generation." Joshua's generation could have said, "You want us to do what? Penetrate the impenetrable? You want us to do what? Can't you see this fortified wall here? Can't you see the Jericho is an impossibility, is beyond our ability to conquer? Can't you hear the taunting of the Canaanites of us? Can't you understand how mighty Jericho is? Don't you know that they have an advanced armory? They have advanced weaponry?

Furthermore, listen, Joshua, what is this divine strategy? Is that a joke or what? You want us to do what? March around the walls once a day in silence? You want us then, on the seventh day, to march seven times? Then on the seventh day, you want us to blow trumpets and shout? What is that going to do to the wall? What is that going to accomplish? This has to be the most bizarre, the most nonsensical strategy. What is this marching supposed to accomplish? What's it supposed to do other than make us the laughingstock of the Canaanites? What is this marching outside of the wall supposed to accomplish other than getting us killed by the spears of the Canaanites?"

Even Joshua himself, even though he is a veteran of many wars, he must have had his doubts about the strategy. But he responded in unquestioned obedience. Beloved, that's what faith is all about. Listen, we can all spend our time debating what faith is. Faith is very simple. It is expressed in absolute, unquestioned obedience to the word of God. That's what faith is all about. Everything else is just talk. Joshua probably felt that this divine strategy just doesn't make sense. But if God said do it, then I'm going to do it. It may not be the most logical, it may not be the most rational, it may not be the most intelligent strategy that he has ever encountered, but he said, "Lord, I'll obey whatever You say. It doesn't make sense to me, Lord, but I'll do it."

Let me ask you this, what is your Jericho? What is your Jericho? What is your menacing obstacle that stands in the way of your victory? What is that giant that is harassing you and taunting you? What is hindering you from keeping and claiming your school and your workplace and your neighborhood for Jesus Christ? What is that past that is holding you hostage? What is that power that got you in its clutches, so much so that you feel inadequate to speak to someone about the power of God to forgive sin, to heal, and restore? Is it fear of rejection? Is it fear of failure? Is it fear of embarrassment? Is it fear of being taunted?

I'll make you a promise. If you look deep to find out the cause of that fear in your life and you keep digging, you're going to discover at the root there is disobedience. There's disobedience in your life. So what's the answer? Get on with God's program. You say, "How do I do that? What is God's program?" It is for you to exercise complete trust in the promises of God. It's for you to develop a complete trust in the presence of God. You see, that's what the Ark of the Covenant was all about. It was representing to them the presence of God. They could have said, "Yeah, He sure helped us across the River Jordan, but can He really take us over that wall?" That's God's program.

How do I trust in God's program? How do I trust in the presence of God in my life? How do I do that? By spending adequate time alone in the presence of your Heavenly Father, developing intimacy with Him. But how does that work practically? As you develop intimacy with God, He's going to direct you. Sometimes God is going to say, "Keep your mouth shut." That's hard for some. Sometimes He said, "You need to speak." You see, for some, God is saying, "Just love that person. Don't say a thing until the right time." For others who have been silent for so long, God is saying, "Now you need to speak." He will guide you to His program.

Listen carefully, please. I am convinced personally, being from the Middle East myself, I am convinced that the greatest temptation to these guys was to stay silent for a week. "You want us to do what? March around and around for the first day, and then the second day, not saying a mumbling word? There's no way! How can you do this?" That is a miracle in itself. It must have been killing them. I can imagine some of them want to express themselves. I'm convinced one of them wanted to lean over and say, "Hey Joe, Joe, I don't like this one bit, do you?" And the other would say, "No, I can't stand this silence. It's killing me. All this marching. Can you believe this guy, Joshua, telling us there's going to be shouting and blow trumpets on the seventh day and we're going to have victory? Yeah, this guy is dense. He really is. He's just dumb. Man, for the days of Moses, he's always listened to our complaints and he always cried to God to change His mind."

The silence was killing them. Not only that, but these tribes have always been on each other's throats. They fought, they argued, they had the worst time. But here they united. No bickering, no complaining, no murmuring. They united. How many of you believe that if this body of believers, if this body of believers become united in prayer, become united in tithing and giving, become united in serving, become united in witnessing, become united in mission, become united in reaching out and reclaiming our schools and our workplaces and our neighborhoods for Jesus Christ, how many of you believe that we'll change a city? I believe that with every ounce of my being. Give God glory.

You know, I read that General Patton, who was very unorthodox anyway, had a very unusual method by which he promoted officers in the army. Very unusual. He would say to the officers, "Men, I want you to go behind this warehouse, and I want you to dig a trench. I want it to be eight feet long, and I want it to be three feet wide, and I want it to be six inches deep." And then he lets them go do the job. Unbeknownst to them, there was a room in that warehouse behind which they're going to dig the trench where all the tools are kept. And next to that room that has the tools in it, he sits there.

So as they come to get their tools to dig the trench, he would hear every word they have spoken. Someone would say, "This is demeaning work for officers." Some would say, "This trench needs to be dug by electric powers, not by hand." Others would complain about how pointless it is to dig the trench in this lousy weather. Others would complain, "Why only six inches deep?" But then there would be that odd officer who would say something to the effect, "Who cares what the so-and-so wants to do with that trench? Let's just dig it and get it over and done with." And that was precisely the officer that was promoted.

Now, beloved, listen to me. God, too, is looking for men and women, boys and girls. God, too, is looking for those who will put their faith to work by unquestioned obedience. Because here's the truth of the Scripture. When you act in obedience, God will manifest His power. When you act in obedience, God will work in the hearts of others and soften the hardest of them all. When you act in obedience, God will manifest His awesomeness. When you do the possible, God is going to do the impossible. When you follow His strategy, He will give you success. When you get on with His program, He will bless the smallest and the simplest things in your life.

He will give you Jericho. Whatever your Jericho may be, He will give it to you. You notice in the Scripture it says the Lord already gave it to us, as if this already happened. He will make walls that look impenetrable in your life crumble. He will melt hearts. He will confuse the enemy. When Jesus turned water into wine, He asked for the jars to be filled with water. You say, "That's odd. The one who is able to click His finger and change water into wine surely must be able to just fill the jars Himself." Just said, "Let there be water," and there was water. No, He wanted them to be part of the miracle, just like He wants you to be part of the miracle of saving souls.

When He raised Lazarus from the dead, He asked for the stone to be removed. Wait a minute. The God who tells the dead to rise surely He could click His fingers and the stone will be removed. Sure He could have done that, but He didn't because He wanted them to be part of the miracle. God wants us involved in the miracle. Listen, God is the one who does converting of souls anyway. God is the one who brings conviction and reveals to us that we are sinners and heading for eternal damnation unless we repent and turn and receive forgiveness from the hand of Jesus Christ. Only God can do that, but He uses you and me to be involved in the miracle.

What a privilege. What an honor. When you do what you can do, God will do only what God can do. When you reach out in love to that person or this person that God has been laying on your heart who's desperate to hear the message of forgiveness, to hear the message of peace, inner peace, to hear the message of meaningful life, to hear the message of eternal life, God will soften hearts. When you let His light shine in your life, He will shine His light on the other person's heart. Listen, the secret of success in Jericho was not Joshua's military ingenuity. It was not his skills in warfare. Victory came because Joshua and the people of God heard God and obeyed God. Isn't that simple?

And yet most people stumble over it. It is so simple. Listen to God. Obey God. Victory came because they followed God's strategy. Victory came because they got on God's program, not their own program. And God will give you victory when you begin to see your first task as a missionary in your mission field, when you begin to see your first task is obedience. If you sit in the presence of God unhurried, unflustered, He will give you the words to speak. Oh, sometimes He'll tell you to keep your mouth shut. He is the God of the harvest, and He knows when the harvest is ready. He alone. When you are still and know that He is God, He will guide your words, He will guide your steps, He will guide your mind, He will guide your service, He will overwhelm all of your fears, the ones that are known and the ones that are unknown.

Guest (Male): Victory is reached through obedience. A tough lesson for anyone to learn, especially during difficult times. Thank you for joining Dr. Michael Youssef for Leading The Way audio. And know that you're invited to speak with a Leading The Way pastor or a counselor about what it may look like for you to step toward victory as you're walking through your Christian life. Start a conversation at ltw.org/jesus.

Many of you have stood with Dr. Youssef over the years, praying for the growth and ministry impact of Leading The Way and standing with him as he's branched out in media ministry and events in many places. Growth has not slowed, and if you haven't already, he would love for you to join him as a Frontline Mission Partner. Frontline Mission Partners are friends of the ministry who fuel the mission of Leading The Way to proclaim the good news, to disciple new and seasoned believers, and standing with those experiencing difficulties due to their faith.

Dr. Michael Youssef: Everybody who invests in this ministry wants to know where their investment is going and how it is used. You need to know, first of all, I have no financial entanglement with Leading The Way. I receive nothing from Leading The Way. But also you need to know that every dollar you give goes to ministry to touch lives around the world, literally. Sometimes you think what's around the world? Lives in Afghanistan and Pakistan and India and in the Middle East and North Africa, Europe, literally in the back areas of the world. And that's where your dollars are going. Thank you and God bless you for what you're going to do.

Guest (Male): The number to call about becoming a Frontline Mission Partner: 866-626-4356. And the website: ltw.org. Well, that's about it for now. Please make it a point to join Dr. Michael Youssef once again when he passionately proclaims uncompromising truth on the next Leading The Way.

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