Basic Training – Obeying Orders
This year, 2025, is the year we Engage with God and Engage our Faith. We are going after the detached, the drifted, and those who Don't Know!
A Joshua Generation is rising!
A generation that God is speaking to.
A generation that hears his voice.
A generation that accepts his call.
A generation that leads the church of today into all the promises of God.
As we are in a series, "Basic Training," one of the most important things you are taught is to obey orders or people die!
Exodus 17:8-16
8 Then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. 9 So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose for us men, and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.” 10 So Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. 11 Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. 12 But Moses' hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. 13 And Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword. 14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” 15 And Moses built an altar and called the name of it, The Lord Is My Banner, 16 saying, “A hand upon the throne of the Lord! The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.”
This is the first time Joshua is called by name in the Bible. Pay close attention to the "Theology of First Mention" in the Bible. This theology is when the first time something is mentioned, pay close attention, many times it gives significant insight into what God's long-term vision is for them.
Joshua or Jehoshua = "Jehovah is salvation"
Obedience now gets you to God’s destiny for you tomorrow.
Aaron and Hur get to go to the top of the hill, while Joshua has to do the dirty work down in the fight. God puts you in places to train you for your destiny.
Obedience will do more than get you out alive; it will make you God's man or woman of Victory.
His obedience became his destiny.
- New Instruction! This time God told Moses, 14 “Then the LORD said to Moses, 'Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua,"
- The LORD Is My Banner, 16 saying, “A hand upon the throne of the LORD!” This was not generic; it is the specific result of obedience.
- The LORD Is My Banner, 16 “saying, 'A hand upon the throne of the LORD!"
He is the God who goes before you!
Deuteronomy 3:22 “Do not be afraid of them; the LORD your God himself will fight for you."
II Chronicles 20:21 “Early in the morning they left for the Desert of Tekoa. As they set out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Listen to me, Judah and people of Jerusalem! Have faith in the LORD your God and you will be upheld; have faith in his prophets and you will be successful.” After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the LORD and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying: “Give thanks to the LORD, for his love endures forever.” As they began to sing and praise, the LORD set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated.”
God desires to go before you and lead you. This is how you stay in his will, under his authority, and walk in power.
He is the God who Represents You!
We are always told… "We are to represent God," and that is perfectly correct. But the power for us to represent Him is letting Him represent us.
Exodus 13:21 “And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night:”
Joshua 3:6-7: 6 And Joshua said to the priests, “Take up the ark of the covenant and pass on before the people.” So they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the people. 7 The Lord said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.
What God did in the Old Testament, He still does in the New Testament.
John 14:11-17: “Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” “If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth.
John 16:13: “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.”
God wants to go before you because he wants you to represent His Kingdom as His Ambassador! You are going with his full approval, instruction, and authority.
Ephesians 6:19-20: “and [pray] also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.”
The God who is to be visibly seen.
Exodus 17:15: “And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovah Nissi:” the Lord my Banner.
When Altars were built, they were visible and had meaning.
If God is going to go before you, you can't keep trying to keep him behind you where he is not visible.
