Ottawa Citadel Service - September 12th, 2021

[Music] [Applause] [Music] well good morning and welcome here we are in september the end of the summer the end of the holidays the kids are back in school and people are back at work in a normal year we would be thinking about rally day and getting and launching our church fall program this year we won't have a normal rally day but we will be launching our church year in just a few days please keep an eye on the website and on the facebook page to see what's happening and don't be left out i would say that our new core officers captain leonard hang and captain peki wong arrived late on thursday evening they're tired from their long trip but they're anxious to meet you all and i know you are anxious to meet them and we'll be making arrangements to meet in small groups and other ways of connecting in the days to come our call to worship is psalm 117 praise the lord all you nations extol him all you peoples for great is his love toward us and the faithfulness of the lord and yours forever praise the lord our first song this morning is stand up for jesus stand up stand up for jesus ye soldiers of the cross lift high his royal banner it must not suffer loss from victory unto victory his army he shall lead to till every flow is vanquished and christ is lord indeed let's sing the four verses right through [Music] so if you'd like to join me with the word of prayer dear lord we thank you for the day that you've given us we thank you even for the rain although it takes us away from meeting outside we know that we need we need the rain to nourish our crops to grow the food that sustains us to cool the the temperature down to raise our water levels we thank you for providing all that we need lord we pray especially at this time as the students go back to school we pray that you would just continue to live in our hearts and be we would be beacons of love and light through all that we do and particularly here at ottawa citadel that your love would shine through into the community and that the community residents would see a beacon of light a beacon of hope they would see your love emanating from this place and that more would come to know you in a very special and meaningful way we pray especially at this time for our new officers we thank you for their safe arrival we pray for captain leonard and we pray for captain peki that you would put your hands on them lord that you would just infill them with your holy spirit you would guide them and that you would bless them in a way that they maybe haven't felt for a very long time lord we give you thanks for bringing here to ottawa civil and we look forward to the guidance and the leadership that they would provide again lord we give you thanks for all that you've provided for us we thank you for the ministry team here at ottawa city and we particularly pray for those who are viewing online and we're very very thankful for the opportunity to share through technology and to touch those who may be not able to be with us in person lord we pray that you would just be with each and every person that is viewing this online service and that you would be with them in a very special and meaningful way and all this in your precious name we ask amen [Music] [Music] and follow me [Music] this was to be [Music] me [Music] me [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] body [Music] let's pray lord this morning we seek your wisdom we ask for minds that listen and hearts that understand what you have to say to us today for this we pray in jesus name amen now then you and all these people get ready to cross the jordan into the land that i am about to give to you these words spoken to joshua in the presence of the people launched the conquest of canaan they were perfect words for joshua and the israelites as they set off on a new chapter of their lives i believe that god is speaking similar words to us this morning our new officers as i indicated captain leonard and captain pecky are here in ottawa and in just a few days they will be moving out with us to launch our fall 2021 ministry at ottawa citadel as we start the church year and begin with new leaders we're excited about new ministries that will be beginning and about new ways of carrying on the ministries that we already have there will be challenges we face not fortifications and warriors as the israelites do but we will face resistance resistance to change resistance to the gospel and obstacles into our proset progress the challenges that we will see don't involve physical warfare but there will be battles we'll have to battle for resources we will have to battle those who oppose the gospel and we'll have to carry on a battle within ourselves as we we try to overcome our own fears that the the job is too big or we are too weak to prevail like the israelites we have good leaders and a strong team and of course we have our faith that god will do through us more than we could ever imagine doing for ourselves this morning i'd like to take a look at joshua i look at his circumstances and see if we can glean some lessons that will help us as we set off in the coming months of ministry so what do we really know about joshua well we know he was born in egypt and he worked as a slave in that country he lived for 40 years in the sinai desert and another 40 years in the promised land he died at the age of 110 and he was buried on the land that he was given as his portion of the promised land if you were to ask what his occupation was he might say i was a special assistant to moses and then later in life perhaps he would say commander in chief of the israeli israeli army or even prime minister of the israelite people for many years joshua served as moses assistant but more importantly joshua served god for his entire life he was a man of faith his life demonstrated total surrender to god's will and an abounding belief that god would and could deliver on all of his promises in the first year after the exodus joshua was selected as one of the twelve spies who would go into the land of canaan to search out some specific intelligence that would prepare for the invasion of the land when the spies returned from what would have been about a 700 kilometer journey throughout the promised land they reported that the land was indeed flowing with milk and honey ten of the twelve spies reported also that the land was flowing with strong armies giant men who would be impossible opponents and heavy fortifications joshua and caleb saw all the scary things that the other ten spies saw yet these two believe god's promise that in spite of the obstacles in spite of the formidable people god would give israel the land of canaan because of their faith joshua and caleb were the only two of the 12 spies who survived the immediate aftermath of the mission the other 10 the 10 who spread discontent the 10 who refused to follow where god was leading were stricken by a plague and died only joshua and caleb were spared further their faith was rewarded in that joshua and caleb were the only two adults who had served as slaves in egypt who were allowed to enter the promised land all the rest of the generation died in the wilderness now joshua stood on the banks of the jordan river faced with an impossible task of leading two million whining and complaining and unreliable people into a strange new land a land that had to be conquered before it could be settled god knew joshua and he knew the ragtag mob that joshua led as joshua took command of the army god himself spoke encouragement have i not commanded you be strong and courageous do not be terrified do not be discouraged for the lord your god will be with you wherever you go in those few words god gave joshua five leadership principles that would assure victory those five principles are our assurance of victory today we're about to start our new era of ministry in ottawa and we'll take those principles with us but let's have a look at them first god said be strong in fact god told joshua three times to be strong now keep in mind that strength is not just a matter of how much weight you can lift strength involves personal endurance mental toughness and personal emotional stability joshua would need all of these assets of strength to move the people of israel forward and to keep them following god core family god is telling us today to be strong as we take on our fall 2021 mission he has and he will continue to prepare the way may we be strong with god's mental toughness as we anticipate god's victory through us secondly god told joshua and again he told him this three times be courageous courage is the raw desire and determination to keep going no matter what the personal cost core family god is telling us this morning that we must be courageous being courageous is not an absence of fear it's moving out in spite of the fear may we all have the courage to continue to go out not to conquer a people but to conquer with god's help satan himself so that we can bring others into god's saving grace thirdly god said do not be terrified now terror is more than fear terror is paralyzing dysfunctional anxiety the first generation of israelites lost their one and only chance to enter the promised land because they succumbed to paralyzing dysfunctional anxiety they lacked faith and believed that god would do what he said he would do excessive fear can hold us back more than any other emotion it can keep us from moving forward with god because when we're overcome by fear we cannot walk in faith faith and paralyzing fear simply cannot mix we have two choices we can give into our our fears or we can overcome them through faith core family when god calls us to act we cannot allow ourselves to be overcome with paralyzing fear remember when god calls he enables fourthly god said do not be discouraged now discouragement is a disease of the heart the mind the soul and the spirit it drains us of positive thought and it surrounds us with a negative spirit core family god is telling us not to be discouraged he's not saying there won't be some discouraging times rather he is telling us that just when discouragement strikes we must set out to become refreshed to refill ourselves with courage that fresh supply of courage will come from encouragement which is the process of being filled with courage today we need to covenant together to help one another to stay filled with courage we need to be encouragers and i challenge you this week to be an encourager call someone send an email send a text twitter some encouragement to members of our core family this week and in the weeks to come finally god said to joshua the lord your god will be with you wherever you go joshua must have felt very alone as he stood on the banks of the jordan moses his leader and his mentor and in fact as i said the entire generation except for he and caleb were dead here he was a 40-year apprentice a career under understudy a boat to set on on a military campaign that would uh require a major conquest and a major resettlement of the people of israel all joshua really had was god's promise that he would stay with him core family god understands the challenges that we face he's telling us today that he will never leave us he offers his strength his courage his encouragement and his promise of his presence to be with us wherever we go seize the promise if god is with us who can be against us the first generation israelites were afraid of the giants that they saw in the land they were to possess they did not have enough faith to believe that god would take care of any giants that might be in the way as a result they lost out on the blessing and in the end life itself god told joshua that his enemies would be overcome and he would have total victory as long as he followed god's instructions god is telling us the same thing today as we think of god's instructions let's think about how we would answer these questions are we strong and courageous i say yes we are will we obey god's do not instructions do not be terrified do not be discouraged i say yes we will do we have faith to wholeheartedly follow god's plan even as we face giants i say yes we do will we keep locked in our hearts and minds the indisputable promise that the lord our god will be with us wherever we go i say yes we will god wants us to be his warriors courageous obedient faithful as we launch our and keep our relationship with him as we launch our 2021 mission as we move out in fall 2021 let's lean on his promises and get out there with a kick butt attitude that will move his ministry forward and bring people to a new relationship with jesus christ let's pray lord we know that you had a plan for all the israelites to enter the land you promised them we know too that paralyzing fear and discouragement and a lack of faith kept a whole generation of israelites from accomplishing your will now lord we're standing on the edge of our fall mission for ottawa may we be courageous fearless encouraged and confident that you are with us thank you for our new and for our ongoing leaders and for all the people who do your work at ottawa citadel thank you for preparing the way and for preparing us your people help us now to be your faithful servants in jesus name we pray amen we're going to sing a closing song it's number 893 in your song books and it's done to the tune of count your blessings it's called all your promises and i just point out the the chorus to you all the promises of god are sure through the ages shall their truth endure hallelujah to the heart that's pure all the gracious promises of god are sure we'll sing the three verses right through is [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] oh huh [Music] [Applause] [Music] our spoken benediction this morning is i say author unknown at least to me and the benediction is this may the strength of god sustain us may the power of god preserve us may the hands of god protect us may the way of god direct us may the love of god go with us this day and forever amen our sung benediction is oh father let thy love remain and as we sing that benediction may god bless you in the week to come [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] you

Channel: The Salvation Army Ottawa Citadel

Views: 221

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: fL5CbjXTe4k

Length: 32min 52sec (1972 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 12 2021