Skip to content The Place of Decision and Legacy | Pastor Sammy Rodriguez Dec 14 · 41 min ...more
The Place of Decision and Legacy | Pastor Sammy Rodriguez
December 14, 2025 · 41 min
Series Patria Sermons December 14, 2025 · 41 min · Patria Sermons
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Adam Mesa is Lead Pastor of Patria Church and speaks to a congregation of 12,000 about how the gospel of Jesus Christ brings purpose to every life. Patria
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0:00 Come on, let's put our hands together. How many you guys love pastor Sinaz? We all do. If you don't, you could you could leave. No, I'm just kidding. No, stay here. I'm so excited because0:12 we are ending our final verses in the book of Joshua. If you've loved the book of Joshua, put your hands together. It's been incredible. And before we get into it, you know, if we haven't0:24 had the privilege of meeting, my name is pastor Sammy and I'm the resident pastor here. My wife and I are getting ready in a little bit to church plant, but I've had an incredible time in this book of Joshua. Have you0:36 guys loved the book of Joshua so far? Yeah. You could talk back in church. It's okay. Yeah. It's okay. And before we get started to jump into these last few verses, I just want to honor the pastors and leaders of0:48 of this church. Our senior pastors, Adam and Ashley Mesa. Can we put our hands together for our pastors? I love it because they have a vision for even a team of pastors coming together1:00 and sharing the pulpit. We all of us say this and it's we're not told to say this, but it's an honor to be on this stage to share this word with you guys. Amen? Amen. Now, real quick, wanna1:12 see by a showing of hands, how many of you guys, you feel like you've been to at least 5 fresh starts this year? Wave your hand. Come on, wave your hand. Okay. Cool. Good job. Good job. How many of guys have the actual1:23 journal still? Wave at me. Wave at look at this. Look at this. How many you guys have faith? How many of guys have no idea what this journal is? You know, don't worry. Put your hands down. Alright? How many of guys feel1:32 like you've been to maybe you're like, you know what? Pastor Sammy, I think I've been to like 50 percent of fresh. I'm loyal to the soil. Anybody? Anybody in here? Okay. Alright. And how many guys you're like, yo, this1:41 is my very first time. Joshua, what? First send okay. Good. Good. Good. First Wednesday. And here's what's great is that whether you've been to all of them or just this 1, you could catch it all on our playlist1:53 on YouTube, but we believe God has a message for you tonight. Amen, church? And here here was my thing even in worship is that I was praying is that I believe that God has something specific for each of us2:05 individually. God has a word for you. You might have come in here into this room or in the courtyard or the cafe and you might be struggling or maybe you came in here leaping with joy because 20 25 has been2:17 incredible. Don't know if you're like me and and some of your New Year's expectations in 20 25 got pushed to 20 26. Anybody? Just me. Okay. Cool. And wherever you're at in this walk with2:29 the Lord, I believe God has something fresh for you. Amen? If you're taking notes also, I forgot to say this. If you're taking notes and you bring it to the the merch container, you get up to 60 percent No,2:41 that's a lie. Just kidding. But it's a good it's a good thing. Still, goats take notes. Alright? Alright. So let's do this. I want you, if you're taking notes, I wanted you to take a note of the title of this message as2:51 we're ending it. It's called the place of decision and legacy. The place of decision and legacy. Now, here at Patria, if this is your first time,3:03 welcome. What we do is we stand for the reading of the word. So, let's stand together as we finish out the book of Joshua altogether. We're gonna read, there's about 4 or 5 verses and they'll be up on the screen. Let's3:15 put them up right now. It says, after these things, Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord. Everybody say servant of the Lord. Servant of the Lord. Died being 110 years old. And they3:27 buried him in his own inheritance at Timnacera, which is the hill country of Ephraim, north of the mountain of Gash. Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the3:39 days of the elders who outlived Joshua and had known all the work that the Lord did for Israel. As for the bones of Joseph, which the people of Israel brought up from Egypt, they buried them3:50 at Shechem. Everybody say Shechem. Shechem. So underline, if you do the word servant, underline the word Shechem because we're gonna talk about those 2 things. In the piece of the land that Jacob bought from the sons of4:02 Hamar, the father of Shechem for 100 pieces of money. It became an inheritance of the descendants of Joseph. And Eleazar, the son of Aaron died and they buried him at4:14 Gibeah, the town of in the town of Phanaeus, his son, which has been given him in the hill country of Ephraim. Everybody, come on. Let's put our hands together. We finished the book of Joshua. That's incredible.4:25 Stay standing if you can. I wanna pray for you and then we'll grab a seat. Lord, we thank you so much for this book. We thank you for every communicator, every pastor, every leader that's been up here sharing through the4:35 book of Joshua. I pray at this moment, Lord, would you speak clearly through me, Lord, let whatever is from you be just bear fruit and whatever is not from you from me will be cast to the side. We thank you Jesus. In4:47 Jesus name and everybody said, amen and amen. Go ahead and grab your seats. Tell your neighbor, hey, make sure you're taking notes. Come on. Just say, I want I want that merch. You know, I was thinking about that that4:59 word decision, but also legacy and how those thing do those 2 things come together. You know, in life there are big decisions and then there are also small decisions. Right? There might be a5:11 decision of what am I gonna eat? That might be a small decision, but later on in life, it'll catch up to you in a big way. Amen? It might be what you're gonna wear, but there's also big decisions like who am I gonna put5:23 my trust in? Am I gonna put it in Jesus? Am I gonna put it in some other God in myself? Or or another great big decision is who am I gonna marry? Where are my married people at? Come on, say Give me an amen. Amen.5:35 Alright. Where are my single people at? Don't raise your hand. Yeah. Don't worry. Don't worry. I'll I'll get to you. Some people were like, me right here. Okay. So I wanna put a picture up on a Hang on. Not yet. Not yet,5:46 team. Not yet. I'm gonna put a picture up in a second of 1 of the greatest decision of my life that I made was the very first time I met Chandler. My wife. My wife's name is Chandler. You're like, who's Chandler? My wife5:57 Chandler. Put the picture up right here. Put the picture up right here. This is Outcry Tour 20 16 in Florida. Now, my wife at that time was working for a church and she was also working at Disney6:09 World. Yes, she was Tinkerbell. Talk to me about it later. It's cool, you know. Moving on. So, it's true. That's not a lie. That's true. Right? And my wife had grown up with 1 of my team members that shot media for me6:20 and he would always travel with me and I was working on this tour and what happened was my wife texted my buddy who was my kinda content creator, catching all the videos and she was like, hey, I heard you're gonna6:32 be on this outcry tour, Will you be there? And now my buddy David, you always need a wingman in every good situation. Can I get an amen? Come on. And my buddy David said, no, I'm not gonna be there, but my boy Sammy's6:43 gonna be there. Okay. Can take the photo a bit down. In a second, we'll go to the next 1. And and and it ends up texting both of us together. Now, don't think much of it. Think, ma'am, this this this woman is beautiful.6:54 I think she's amazing, but I'm so busy. I'm working for the Lord. Can I get an amen? Okay. And so, I'm working for the Lord and so we get to Florida and I completely forget that that we're supposed to meet. We didn't get7:05 texted to each other. Our friend just said, look out for each other, alright? So, this is an arena in Florida at the University of Central Florida. So, there's about 15000 or so people in the arena. Now my job7:17 is to host different pastors. I was speaking at the time and different a few different things as well. So was Chad Veitch from Zoe. And so I remember 5 minutes before the show gets started, what I'm doing is I have to7:29 interview a certain person from the show to ask them, hey, how what what's what's your name? Where are you from? What are you expecting for? And then talk to them about the future. Now, 5 minutes before the show starts,7:39 1 of my buddies on the tour bus that was with me, he said, hey, let me introduce you to my friends. Now, he kinda had a crush on Chandler, you hey, bye boy. You know what I'm saying? So, but but they just met. You know7:51 what I mean? So, hey, we can't get mad. You know what I'm saying? And and what happened was, I run into Chandler, my wife Chandler, so you can put the next picture on the screen. Oh, look it. So that's Chandler in the in8:02 the circle right there, and that's your boy getting her to dance on stage. You know, gotta put out all the tricks. You know what I'm saying? But the first thing she said was, I'm supposed to be looking for you. And you8:11 know what I said in my mind? I said, girl, I've been looking for you my whole life. You know what I'm saying? But but poker face. Right? Poker face. I don't wanna scare her away. So, I said, oh yeah, I remember. And8:21 then, I thought, how can I talk to her as much as I can throughout the night? So that's the picture at the very end. We're dancing on stage, you know, I'm from the era of Kobe's my goat. Jordan's great. LeBron's great.8:31 Kobe's my goat. Moving on. We're not gonna argue. So I shot my shot like Kobe. I said, Kobe, I said, hey, have you ever prayed about moving out to California to the promised land? Do you wanna come out here? Well,8:42 listen. We've been married for 8 years. We got 2 kids. Can I get a praise back? Hallelujah. And again, we're having fun with this. We're we're enjoying it, but that decision to talk to8:54 her, to make a recorded video to even shoot my shot to say, hey, you got a boyfriend? Because I don't wanna make him disappear. No, I'm just kidding. I wanna do that. I wanna do that. That decision though led to my9:06 legacy. Somebody say legacy. Legacy. Someone touch someone. Say legacy. Legacy. And there are certain things in our life where we're making great things about certain decisions. We're majoring9:18 on certain decisions that need to be minor. Right? And we're minor in on certain decisions that need to be major. That's good. Decisions determine your legacy.9:30 That's good. So the point first point I want you to write down in this moment as we talk about the place of decision and legacy is the the is this. It's on the screen. Faithfulness is the legacy.9:41 Faithfulness is the legacy. Put up verse 29 in Joshua 24. I love this. I told you to underline it. But it said, after these things, Joshua the son of Nun, the What's that word9:53 right there? What does it say? Surge. Come on, say it like you mean it. Come on, we ain't in the library. What does it say? Joshua the son none, the what? Servant. Come on, say it like me 1 more time. Joshua the son of10:02 none, the what? Servant. The servant of the Lord died being 110 years old. Look at Joshua 1 1. Look at Joshua 1 1 for a second. What does it say right here?10:14 Said, after the death of Moses, the what? Servant. Of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua. Think Have you ever thought about this just for a second? Have you ever thought about the pressure10:26 of falling up 1 of the greatest in in Jewish context? Moses is the greatest leader of all time. Moses is the goat. He has passed away, and now everyone says, Joshua, I know you were dwelling in10:38 the tent when the glory glory fell, but you never talked to God face to face. Can you actually lead us? And that title, servant, we don't have enough time to go into it, but it was only referred to Moses. And10:50 at the end of Joshua's life, it was referred to him. That same exact title. God calls Moses servant. God calls Joshua servant.11:01 And Jesus calls us to serve. What I love about it is that it's not it's not saying all the accolades and all the amazing things, you know, Moses, the bringer11:13 of the 10 plagues with God, the 1 who split the Red Sea. No, it says Moses, the servant of the Lord. If you were here last week, pastor Diego talked about someone else coming up and he was saying his greatest11:25 title, how he reflects to Joshua, the book of Joshua. He said the greatest title that he wants over his life is 1 as a servant. But so much of the times, we're worried about other titles, but the true title that God11:36 gives us is this in Matthew 25. Check it out. Jesus says, the title I'm giving you is well done, good and what? Faithful servant. Faithfulness11:49 is our legacy. I love this because Joshua, he didn't just finish famous. Yeah, he might have been famous, but he also and he finished faithful. And here's the thing that we gotta do is that God isn't12:01 worried about what your name is or what your title is or well done influential pastor, well done influential business leader, well done mom, well done dad, well done doctor fill in the blank. What12:13 we get at the end of the day is well done good and faithful servant. And I feel like the invitation that was shown from Moses and throughout this book of Joshua,12:25 essentially Jesus was saying, God was saying to Joshua in verse 1, he was saying this, Moses my servant, that's the greatest title I could give. Now, it's your turn to walk it out. And here's the truth. A lot12:37 of us know, especially if you've been in ministry, I mean, next year will be 20 years for me in full time ministry. It's really easy to start a race. It's very difficult to finish 1. It says12:48 in the bible, it says, you were running well. Who hindered you from believing the truth? It's easy to start it, it's harder to finish it. And what Joshua models for us is not only did was he a servant of the Lord, but12:59 everyone who knew him followed God. He was 1 of the greatest leaders in the old testament. Amen? Legacy is not what you build for God, but what God builds through a13:11 surrendered life. I believe there's an invitation for us tonight to say, God, of all the titles that I could get, Lord, would you mark me as a servant?13:22 Yes. To dig even deeper into this in John 13, right before Jesus is getting ready to go to the cross, 1 of his last, very last acts that he does. After he he's in the upper room, you know13:34 what he does is he washes the disciples feet. And he says, if you wanna be great, you must be a servant like me. And I believe what there there there's an invitation for us that some of the things that's13:46 blocking our fruitfulness, some of the things that's blocking our joy is because we've given up on saying yes as a servant. And I believe what God wants to do is it's not just even about13:57 serving here, serving there, but saying God mark my life to be a servant of the Lord. Amen? Amen. Here's a little quote I have for you from Basil the Great. He's 1 of the church fathers that14:09 says this. It says, it's not the 1 It is not he who begins well who is perfect. It is he who ends well who is approved in God's sight. Amen.14:21 My invitation to all of us, included, is would you ask the Lord God, make servant my greatest desire? And I don't know if you're ever like me and you wanna be a servant14:33 and then someone cuts you off in the in the freeway and you wanna you wanna serve something. You wanna serve these hands. You know what I mean? But you gotta be like, no Jesus. No. You know? And and why I say that and14:45 why I'm joking is because the truth is is like we feel like we gotta be perfect all the time. And the truth is we drift from different moments, but that's why the Lord said, no. I paid the price. I paid the way to show14:57 you how to serve. Yeah. And if you've ever drifted from being a servant, maybe your your your desire is that to be a servant, you wanna be a superstar. But the truth is whether you're a superstar or15:09 not, you're saying, God, would you would you mark my heart as a servant. Amen, church? Amen. I believe that faithfulness is the legacy. And here's my question for you if you're writing down notes. I want you to15:21 ask yourself this question later on today or even now. Are you building a legacy heaven applauds or a legacy people notice? Let's be honest. Right? Because it's it's15:32 not even about, oh, you're building something people notice. Oh, that means that you've got a lot of impact. No. There's a lot of people that are doing nothing that are just waiting for people to notice them. So, it's15:44 not about whether you're doing amazing things or you're doing big things or you're doing nothing. You could be building for people's applause if if you're if you're broken down or you could be a CEO. Wherever you're at15:54 in that place, are you building for people's applause or heaven's recognition? And, I feel like many of us right while we're here, I mean, come on fresh start midweek services, you know we building for heaven's.16:06 Come on. Legacy, can I get an amen and heaven's applause? The second thing I wanna highlight in this moment of not16:18 only of this place of decision and legacy, not only is it faithfulness and servanthood is our legacy, but our second point is this. Is I want you to write this down. I want you to write down shouldering the covenant.16:30 Somebody say shouldering Shouldering. The covenant. And yes, that is a word, we looked it up. Shouldering the covenant. Everybody say shouldering Shouldering. The covenant. I love this because it16:41 speaks about multiple times. It speaks about this city called Shechem, and we'll get to it in a second what it means, but many scholars believe, and even if you look at Joshua 24,16:53 Joshua brings the whole assembly of Israel together to give his final speech. Right? And probably 1 of the most well known verses in that moment is when Joshua says, as for me and my house,17:05 we will serve the Lord. Right? And in the same place, it says later on in the verses we read that Joseph's bones were buried in Shechem. Although he died in17:17 Egypt, they were buried in this area. So, not only that, is that Joshua, you gotta think of when when you reread Joshua 24, this is almost like his benediction, his final moment. He's burying17:29 Joseph and he's given a final benediction. And what is he saying in Joshua 24? He's saying, don't go after other idols. I've set up this I've set up these rocks of remembrance to remember. Don't go after other idols. And17:41 all the people said, we won't, but we know what happens. They end up, A generation dies off and they end up doing that. Well, the the word Shechem, everybody say Shechem. Shechem. Alright? Shechem, this17:53 is what it means. The city of Shechem, this is the literal meaning. Shechem means shoulder, upper back, a place of bearing a load. Okay? The city means shoulder, upper back, place18:05 of bearing a load. And it symbolizes authority carried, burdens born, and covenant responsibility. So Shechem means, right? It should it means shoulder, it means upper back, but it18:16 symbolizes what a covenant is. And I wrote this down for you to hear is that Shechem is not just a geography, it's a metaphor. It's where God places his covenant on the shoulders of his people. And18:28 here's what's beautiful about this because it has history to it. We've talked about it before, but I wanna show you 6 different instances where Shechem is mentioned. And 1 of the things that I love about this church that18:39 pastor Diego founded and pastor Adams Caring is that we're multigenerational church. How many guys love that? And the yeah. Yeah. You could clap for that. It's okay. You could clap in church. God18:51 says he's the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He's not just the God of Abraham. He's not just the God of Joshua. He's a threefold God. Amen? Amen. And here's what I love about19:03 it because the city of Shechem, the land speaks here. The land The word Shechem means shoulder, means covenant. So when I wrote down shoulder and the covenant, here's the 6 p's. I want you to write these down or you19:14 can take a picture. Here's where it starts. It starts with a promise. Everybody say promise. Promise. With Abraham, when God speaks destiny over a generation. When Abraham is walking and wandering,19:26 when he left his father's house, he has no house. He's in Canaan and he's passing through Shechem and that's where God gives him a promise. You have no kids, but you're gonna be the father of multitudes.19:38 And then, it moves from Abraham to another generation. It moves to the the to Jacob. Everybody say payment. Payment. Say it like you mean it. Come on. Everybody say payment. Payment. It's where faith pays19:50 a price before fulfillment comes. And I just gotta park here because we don't have too much time, but many of us are in a place where God has spoken words, but we're not paying for it. We're not owning the words.20:02 We're just renting the words. Come on, Jacob when he moved past there, it's when he had conflict with his brother Esau and he goes to this place and he buys this well and he puts 10020:14 dollars on it. Said, I'm gonna put a down payment on the promise and the blessing of my forefather. My my encouragement to you is that when God speaks to you a word in this moment, I'm not I'm not20:26 gonna go on long, but when God speaks to you a word, have you invested into it? Maybe your family's dealing with addiction. Where are you investing? God, you know, as for me and my house, we are not gonna deal20:38 with addiction. We're ending the line here. Maybe your family's dealing in a financial crisis. You're saying, you know what? As for me and my house, I might not be able to buy this land, but I'm a put down payment right20:48 here saying in the future, my future generations will own this land. I don't know wherever you're at in the words of God and you're wondering what to do. You need to just like Jacob make a payment on your promise.20:59 Then what happens? Joseph, it's prophecy. Everybody say prophecy. Prophecy. It's when hope is carried for generations not buried in bondage, but in the land of21:11 the living. I love this because Joseph tells everybody, he says, when I die, take my bones out of here and I want you to bury me in the promised land. He could have21:23 stayed in Egypt. He did his he did his thing. He actually had a great life in Egypt, but he knew that he didn't wanna stay in the land of bondage, but he prophesied to say, my people21:35 are going to inherit their promised land. Amen? Amen. And where you're in a place of this place where you're prophesying over your future. And Joseph, you gotta think about the the 12 tribes, Ephraim and Manasseh,21:47 they're carrying his bones all over for 40 years in the wilderness. They're carrying his bones and camping with them. And not only did it symbolize that that life was short, but it was a prophecy of a promise to be21:57 fulfilled. Many of us in the same way. This he Joseph was buried in Shechem. He was buried in covenant. And for many of us, maybe you're towards the end, you're you're at a sun setting of your calling22:09 and you haven't walked in it. Can I encourage you with something? You're in good company. Hebrews 11, it says many of them didn't walk in their promise but they saw the land far. Come on preaching to somebody tonight. It22:20 said I saw the promise, I saw the land in the future and I'm walking towards it. They left what was comfortable and they walked into their future. Some of us in this room and the rooms that are watching, maybe you're not22:32 gonna inherit your prophecy, but you're saying, hey, when my family does, take my bones and bury them on my promise. He believed for it. He fell for it. I love this next 1. Where22:43 Joseph or sorry, where Joshua, he has a partnership. Everybody say partnership. Partnership. This is where God invites his people to choose the covenant. Joshua says, listen, as for me and my house, we're gonna serve22:55 God. And everyone else says, we will too, we will too, we will too. But we look at Judges and it says that everyone who knew Joshua died away and they did what was right in their own eye. Joshua23:06 symbolizes where God invites his people to choose. And there's an invitation for many of us that we've already made, where we're saying, God, I give you my life. But there's also an invitation to say, God, I'm choosing23:18 the covenant. I'm choosing to walk with you. Amen? Briefly, in first Kings, we're not gonna go to there, but there's pride that enters in. A king named Rehoboam is where arrogance destroys what obedience built.23:30 In Shechem is where it was split. The kingdoms were split, and a few years later, they go into captivity. But how many of you guys know that what is divided, Jesus brings back together? Can I get an amen?23:42 Amen. Check this out. I love this because it's 1 of my favorite stories. Everybody say, presence. And this is what Jesus in John 4, it's the woman at the at the well when Jesus says, hey, can I have a drink? And23:54 she goes, who are you? And Jesus said, if you knew who was asking you, you would ask me for a drink and I will give you living water. Where living water returns the hill where history broke. That was in Shechem. That was24:05 where the covenant was restored. So this story and where Joseph's built and all this stuff, there's history and there's context to it. Amen, church? When Jesus says, if you look in John 4 later on in that24:16 scripture, the disciples come back and and and the disciples are wondering, man, why is Jesus talking to a Samaritan woman? And later on the verse it says, you know that in 4 months the harvest is coming, but I24:28 tell you, open your eyes and look to the fields for the harvest is ripe. Harvest is ripe. Jesus restores the presence and actually it's the very first place that he reveals himself as Messiah24:40 to 1 woman. It was in Shechem. There's history in the land. In the same way I feel like there's history here where we're at. Amen, church? What land are you walking in? What what what pea are you walking24:52 in? Maybe you're in the promise moment. Maybe you're in the prophecy moment. Maybe you're in the payment moment. Wherever you're at in that place of Shechem, I wanna encourage you to carry that covenant. But25:04 not only that, when I was thinking about covenant, when I was thinking about carrying stuff, I was thinking about the yoke. And in this bible verse, it says here in Matthew 11 in the New Testament, it should be on the25:15 screen, verse 29 and 30. It says, take my yoke, everybody say yoke. Yoke. Upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your soul. For my yoke is what?25:27 Easy. And my burden is what? Price. And here's the thing what we do. Some of us, we say, God, I'll give you my life. But we don't realize it does bible verse25:38 doesn't say that there isn't a yoke. It says the yoke is easy. It doesn't say there's no burden. It says the burden is light. Can I talk to you about what a yoke is just for 2 seconds? Can I talk25:50 can can I talk to you about a yoke for 2 seconds? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Check this out on the screen. The yoke. Yokes were always meant were always built for 2 oxen. Never just 1. Yeah. Many people would understand26:02 this at that time, but for some of us that aren't, you know, agriculturally, you know, understood or don't have a green thumb or don't understand the fields and plowing. Right? People would know when Jesus said, my yoke26:13 is easy, my burden is light. They would immediately go to 2 oxen plowing a field. The stronger ox carried the heavy in and the weaker 1 or the26:24 younger 1 learned. Right? And the younger ox learned by walking in rhythm. Come on. Yes. Yes. I want you to look at this picture. This is this is you know, shout out to to to online making this picture. I almost had26:36 Javi build me a a yoke, but that would have been too hard. You know what I mean? But look at this, there's 2. And Jesus says, I'm the stronger 1. I want you to be yoked to me. And here's what's really cool. This is what26:47 I thought was really fun. When it when it says when it says my yoke is easy, that word easy means in in the original language, custom fit. Means every yoke that God has for you26:59 is the greatest, you know, flowers of the field, whatever you call it. The greatest people that were creating these yokes would custom fit it to each oxen so it didn't rub and it didn't hurt27:11 the oxen. Jesus says, the yoke I have for you is custom fit for you. When Jesus says the burden is light, he's saying in that original language, he says, he's carrying the heavy27:23 part and we get to walk with him. Amen? Jesus shoulders the covenant with you. He carries the weight you cannot. And real quick, wanna I wanna I wanna show you something real real27:34 briefly. Pastor Heron, Gabe, can you come up here? Come on. Give it up for these guys. We'll I'm gonna stand here. So pastor Harron's gonna represent Jesus. Doesn't he look like27:46 Jesus? Amen. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. He's gonna he ain't Jesus, but he gonna represent Jesus. Can't get a name. Okay. And and Gabe's gonna represent someone I'm walking with who's disciplining me. Just just pause.27:57 Everybody say pause. Okay. Pause real quick. So check this out. What God wants to do in this verse is he wants to invite us into carrying that yoke and carrying that burden. And I think the breakthrough28:08 for some of us tonight is gonna be where you say, God, wanna walk with you, but I don't wanna yoke and I don't wanna burden. Doesn't come that way. Because walking with Jesus always involves a yoke and28:20 walking with Jesus always involves a burden. The yoke is easy though and the burden is light. And I think here's the breakthrough for some of us and this is why I brought them up. Many times, let's say Gabe brought me to28:30 church or Gabe was a good friend and he's discipling me and he's walking with Jesus, so so walk slowly around the cross. And I'm so excited, right, because I'm wow, this is beautiful. I feel so close to Jesus. I just28:41 gave my life to the Lord. I just got baptized. I just went all in, right? And we're walking through, right? And we're walking and it's amazing. And maybe some hiccup happens where where Gabe is is and I get get28:52 frustrated with each other. Or maybe I move away, right? And I move somewhere else, or something comes up. Okay. Pause right there. And I'm like, I'm blaming Gabe. I'm like, I used to be close with God,29:04 but but my disciple, he didn't keep discipling me, or my church didn't keep pastoring me, or my mentor didn't keep doing that. No. But the truth was, is I I was walking with somebody who was walking with God.29:16 And my question for you and question for me is this, are you walking with Jesus, or are you walking with someone who's walking with Jesus? Keep walking. Keep walking. Walk off the stage real quick. Stay right there. Stay29:25 right Keep walking. You can walk down the steps. Down the steps. Because here's the thing is, I need to be yoked to Jesus. I need to be yoked to him. And what happens so much of the time is we get we get frustrated and29:37 we get broken down because what happens is I get distant from Gabe and I blame Gabe. And I say, it's actually Jesus's fault. But the truth was is I had a relationship to Jesus through29:49 Gabe. I had a relationship to Jesus through my church. Right? I had a relationship and I never was truly walk over here. I was never truly yoked. Come on. And God has called us to be yoked to Jesus.30:01 And some of us, the breakthrough tonight is this. Is Jesus saying, would you take my yoke? Would you take my burden? Can I get a give it up for these 2? Kinda incredible.30:14 Give them the award already. Give them the award. I want you to put that question back up there. Are you walking with Jesus or are you walking with someone who's walking with Jesus? It's a great question to ask. It's a30:26 great question that for for for us to ask that question to say, Lord, am I walking with you? Or do I have a relationship with you through someone else, through another person, through another ministry? And that's great.30:38 That's how it starts. But Jesus invites each and every 1 of us to follow him. Yeah. Yeah. Amen? Amen. I feel like this is that God has invited us just like in30:49 Shechem in those 6 p's to carry the covenant. But it's something that what I love about this verse is that we were never meant to carry it alone. And then the final point, we're wrapping up here.31:02 I want you to write this down on point number 3. The leader who lives forever. The leader who lives forever. So we get the keys going, so the Holy Spirit can come in.31:14 Hallelujah. The leader who lives forever. I like this ending of the verse and I'm honored that I got to preach it because the truth is at the very end of it, Joshua dies.31:26 Right? At the very end of it, Joseph dies. At the very end of it, Eliezer dies and our question is this, man, well then, who could truly lead us? Because in Judges, I don't have time to go to it, but if you go31:38 to Judges 2, it talks about Joshua's death and then then later what it walks into is is that people rose up and did what was right in their own eyes and they started serving other idols.31:50 The last point that I have on the screen for you to write down is the leader who lives. Jesus is the greater Joshua. Every picture, every book in the Bible is pointing from the Old Testament32:02 to Jesus, in the New Testament it's pointing back to Jesus and forward to his second coming. Amen? Amen. And what Jesus wants to remind us in this story, even as we went over the book of Joshua, is saying that great32:14 leaders, although they are great, they will pass away. But there is 1 who will never pass away. Amen? In Hebrews 7 verse 25, it says this. It says, he always lives to make32:25 intercession for them. Talking about Jesus. He what? What does it say? He what? Sometimes? No. No. No. No. No. What does it say? He he he does it on weekdays? 5 days a week? No. No. What does it say? He what? Always.32:37 Somebody say, tap someone. Hey, everybody say. Somebody say always. Always. He always lives to make intercession for them. In Romans 8 34, it says this, it's on the screen, Christ32:49 Jesus is at the right hand of God interceding for us. Amen? I wrote this down. I want you to hear this. Is that Joshua was buried,33:01 but Jesus got back up. Joshua led them into the land, but Jesus leads us into life. Joshua's leadership may have ended, but Jesus' leadership33:13 will never end. Joshua's voice fell silent, but Jesus' voice still speaks. Come on, I want you to hear this. We don't live under yesterday's leader. We live under today's33:25 intercessor, the 1 who went to the cross, who 3 days later, he he rose again. Amen, church? The leader who lives forever.33:36 I love this because as we end this moment in Joshua, as we talk about Joshua's title as the servant, Greatest 1 of the greatest leaders. He's definitely in that Mount Rushmore of great leaders in the Old33:48 Testament. But even someone like a Joshua or a Moses couldn't hold people back from serving other idols. There was a limit to his leadership. But Jesus34:00 shows us that he's the greater Joshua. That he's the 1 who makes intercession for us. That he's the 1 who paid the price for us. And tonight, here's the invitation, is will we say yes,34:12 not only to Jesus as our Lord and savior, which we'll get in a second, but will we say yes to shouldering the covenant of promise that God has asked us to yoke in. He says, I got a yoke just for you.34:24 I got a burden just for you. And I'm I I promise I'm ending. I promise I'm ending. But some of us look at this. I don't need props because I got props right here. We're carrying something34:36 we're never authorized to carry. You you follow me? Because some of us need to carry something and other people need to let certain things down. And there's some of us you've been carrying this34:48 pain for 10 years. You've been carrying this offense for 20 years. You've been carrying this person for so long and you feel like you gotta be Jesus. You got that savior complex and Jesus34:59 saying, there are certain things I want you to carry, but there's other there's other weights that you're not authorized to carry. And you're asking God, God, would you free me from it? Oh, it's my burden to bear.35:11 God says, no, it's not. I've actually paid it on the cross. You can lay that burden down. And for some of us tonight, we're gonna get the realization,35:23 wow, God. You paid for that burden already. I can let that burden down. Amen, church? Amen. Okay. We're ending. I wanted just a few few questions, few thoughts for you.35:37 Question is, is your faith anchored to a leader who can die or to or or to or to Jesus who lives forever? Say it again. Is your faith anchored to a leader or35:49 church or something that could die, that could pass away that's just human or mortal or to Jesus who lives forever? I want you to if you can't take a picture of this or you could write these these36:01 last 3 questions. I want you to ask yourself this. Ask your family this. Ask a good friend this. This is the first question I want you to ask as we're ending. Is what are you carrying today that Jesus is36:12 meant to carry? I want you to think about that. What are you carrying today that Jesus is meant to carry? Second question I want you to ask is whose voice is leading you? The voices36:24 of yesterday or the voice of Jesus today? And the last question I want you to ask yourself is this, what decision is Jesus calling you to make at your Shechem, at36:36 your covenant moment? Amen, church? Here's what I wanna do. We're gonna we're gonna give an opportunity to surrender your life to Jesus, but I also wanna give 1 more kind of invitation for everyone in the36:48 room. So so I know you got we got our kids, we gotta move. Just just just stay for for 1 second. If everyone could bow their heads and and and close their eyes and You know, we do this in every service. We always give an37:00 opportunity for people to surrender their life to Jesus. And we believe that our life is sacred and and and Jesus paid the price for that.37:12 But the truth is, we also know that tomorrow isn't promised. And when we talk about the place of decision and legacy, the greatest thing you could do, the greatest thing you could do37:23 is surrender your life to Jesus. And so, you know that you know that you know, you gotta get right with God, whether for the first time or for the very last time, what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna count to 337:36 and I want you to shoot your hand up and we wanna agree with you on the greatest decision you can make in your life. Alright, church? 1, Jesus loves you so much. 2, this is the greatest decision37:47 you can make in your life. 3, if that's you, want you to lift your hand up right now. Lift your hand up right now. Come on. Incredible. Come on. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Come on.37:59 It's incredible. Let's pray this out all together as 1 family. Say this with me. Say, Jesus. Jesus. Come on, say it like you mean it. Say, Jesus. Jesus. We thank you. We thank you. For the price you paid. For38:11 price you paid. On the cross. On cross. 3 days later. 3 days later. You rose for the grave. Rose So tonight, Jesus, confess my sins. Sins.38:23 I ask for forgiveness. Receive your forgiveness. I receive And I declare, Jesus, that you are my Lord and that you are my38:34 savior. Come on. In Jesus name. And everybody said Amen. Amen and amen and amen. Here's what we're gonna do. Let's stand together for a second. Don't move. Just stand with me real quick. We could all stand together.Show more
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