PRIVATE PREPARATION | CHAD VEACH

0:00What's going on everybody? Thank you so much for listening to this week's message from Zoe Church. We are excited as we begin a brand new series today. Open up your Bible. Go to Joshua chapter 1. We are starting a new study on the life and the book of Joshua. Talking about how God prepares the promise for you and prepares you for the promise. We're going to jump in in just a moment, but I want to thank every person that gives to and through Zoe Church. If you'd like to begin your giving worship, why don't you go to our website, click in the top right corner, go down to the give button, click that and it will take you to the page where you can give a tie or an offering. Thank you for your generosity, thank you for your faithfulness and the impact that you're making here in LA, around the country and around the world. Let's jump into this week's message, prepared in private. Go to Joshua chapter 1. We're starting a brand new series today and I'm talking about the reality that God has

1:05prepared you for a promise and he has prepared you for the promise. This is so exciting. God has prepared something for you and then simultaneously he is preparing you for it. So you know, God has got something for you, but in order for you to get there, he's got to develop you so you're ready. So we're going to study the life of Joshua in the book of Joshua and go there, Joshua chapter 1 will read in just a moment, but Joshua reminds me that when we read our reading today, in order for you to understand what we're saying, we've got to go back to really understand the origin or the genesis of what's transpiring. So we can't just read Joshua, we're like, oh, that's cool. Because otherwise you'll think that Joshua is an overnight success. And I want to tell you, in this kingdom, there is no such thing as an overnight success.

2:10In this world, there is no such thing as an overnight success. But I'll tell you, God, this is how he works. He develops things in private before he displays them in public. So in other words, God does something in you before he ever does something through you. Joshua is that way. He is not an overnight success. God has been working on him and developing him. You got to be careful because sometimes we think people just got here overnight. It's kind of like the Beatles. Somebody love the Beatles. Here comes the sun. All right. Whatever that was. The Beatles show up in America in the 60s and just boom, explode. But in order to understand them, you've got to go back to an area called Liverpool where they played over 292 shows together before they were launched in public.

3:12I don't know if you like comedians. One of my favorite comedians, I like them because he's clean. His name is Nate Bargotsie. Any Nate Bargotsie fans in the house? I love Nate Bargotsie. Nate Bargotsie in around COVID time. Netflix specials. But in order to understand them, you've got to go back to 2002 when he started and started in a club with seven people listening to his comedy. See what I love about God is that God will develop you in private before he displays you in public. He does something great in your life before he does something great through your life. I just love this about God. Watch this. Joshua chapter 1. Watch all this that is in public now with the life of Joshua. After the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua, son of none. Moses's aid. Moses, my servant is dead. Now then you and all these people get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am

4:14about to give to them, to the Israelites. I will give you every place where you set your foot as I promised Moses. Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon and from the great river, the Euphrates, all the Hittite country all the way to the Mediterranean Sea in the West. No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life as I was with Moses. So I will be with you. I will never leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and courageous because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them. Right down the title of today's message is called private preparation. I just love this about God. He develops you in private. He develops you in secret. He develops you in the shadows. I want to encourage you today. Don't take light.

5:14Do not minimize your secret life. Do not minimize your private life because God is doing something in you that nobody can see that nobody knows about and at the right time when God wants to bring it into public, he will. And if you don't know the Bible very well, Moses was the guy. Moses was the dog. Moses was the leader. Moses got him out of Egypt. He got him out of Egypt, out of slavery and brought him out of captivity. And the Bible says that Joshua was his aide, his sidekick, his right hand guy for so many years. Joshua was right next to him. And after all these years of miracles and signs and wonders, Moses is dead. And now God says to Joshua, Joshua, Moses, my servant is gone. You're up next, buddy.

6:15Is your turn now, pal? Put your big boy pants on. It's time to go to work. Is Moses is gone. You're up now. Be strong and courageous. You know what God's saying, Joshua, we have been preparing you, son, for such a time as this. We have been getting you ready for this day and this hour. See, Joshua steps into it, but I've got to tell you, you've got to go back to watch all that God did in his life to develop him to be prepared for this moment. See again, don't take light or minimize what God's doing in you now. Here's my question to you. What is God developing in you now that he's going to require of you later? What is God doing in your life right now that he is going to require of you later in your life? So you've got to understand God's doing something great here. He's doing something great now. He's doing something great in your life right now. The season that you're in is important. The season that you're in matters.

7:15The season that you're in is the big time. Listen, the big time is not where you're going. You've got to see the big times right where you're at right now. And so God was raising up Joshua and developing Joshua and allowing Joshua to experience things and allowing Joshua to see things. And then at the right time, God says to Joshua, Moses is gone. You're up now, buddy. But guess what? God did not put him in public display until he was faithful to develop Joshua all the days of his life. And I will say that as God was with Joshua, as God was with his son Jesus, so God will be with you. Is there anybody thankful for the faithfulness and the goodness and the mercy and the leadership of God? Here's the first thing we see that Joshua was good at. You got to develop this right down number one. You got to learn how to linger. You got to learn how to linger. You got to learn this ability to linger in the presence of God, linger in the presence of God. Oh, I love this about Joshua put on the string.

8:17Watch what it says of Joshua and Exodus. Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face as a man speaks to his friend. And when Moses turned in again to the camp, his assistant Joshua, the son of none, a young man would not depart from the tent. Other translations say here, Joshua would linger at the tent. I don't know if you love to eat. Raise your hand if you love a good meal right here. Come on, just let me see you. Some of my people right here. You know you're at a good meal when you push back your chair and you kind of go and you just sit there for another hour. Who am I preaching to you right now? Another like a meal where you linger. You know what I'm talking about? You know, I just believe whatever you love, you linger around.

9:20Whatever you're about, you're all the way about. If you don't know the context of this, this is so crazy. The Israelites had rebelled against Moses and they had developed this golden calf and they had developed this idol. And so all of a sudden they got to take the tent meeting outside of the city and the Bible says Moses would go into the tent and God would meet with him face to face. And Joshua was on the outside of the tent. He was in the proximity of the presence of God. He could hear what God was saying to Moses. He could watch what God was doing with Moses. He wasn't in the tent but he was around the tent. I want to preach to somebody today that you need to get better at lingering around the presence of God. You got to get good at lingering around the things of God. Come on, you got to get that ability to just go. I'm showing up. I'm just happy to be around it. Most theologians believe that God developed Joshua's leadership by proximity of presence. It's the fact that he was around. Just the fact that he was in this proximity.

10:21He was in this space. God was raising him up and developing him to become the leader he'd be called to be. I want to encourage you. Stop lingering around the wrong stuff. Stop hanging around the wrong places. Stop lingering around the wrong conversations. Stop lingering around the wrong people. Stop lingering around the wrong websites. Start lingering around the things that are going to build you up and build your faith. Oh, come on, everybody. Thank you. You're in around this stuff. Some believe that Joshua lingered because he was a worshiper. Others believe that he lingered because he had responsibility. He had a job. He had a role. I don't care if it's worship or work. Let's just get around the things of God. It reminds me of Psalm 84. Psalm 84. What does it say? Put on the screen. Better is one day in your house than a thousand elsewhere. I'd rather be a gatekeeper. I'd rather take care of the outside of the tent than dwell in the tents of the cowboy fans. I'd rather... Come on, it starts today.

11:25It starts today. There was a guy in South Bay had a charger head on. I thought how cute. You're like the clippers of the NFL. Little bro. Linger and around that stuff. Don't get you killed in this spirit. In the Bible says Joshua lingered in the outside of the tent. He's just lingering and just hanging around. I wonder whether it was worship. I wonder whether it was work. Regardless whether it was work or worship, he was just around the things of God. I'm just telling you on Friday night, Thursday night, sorry, we had our night of worship. Clap if you loved a worship around you. And we had a night. We had a night. And I can't tell what I love the most. Was it the worship or afterwards the Linger? Both are just as powerful.

12:27Both mean just as much to God. When you go to your connect group this week, don't just show up at your connect group, go through the questions and get out of there. No, linger around the group. Linger around the people of God. When you come to church on Sunday, don't just come in and get your word and sprint to your car whether you're in the new parking lots or not. Linger around the courtyard. Meet somebody on a Sunday. Tell them your name. Listen for their name. Get somebody's phone number. If you're single or married, just get somebody's phone number. Get together for a coffee. Come on, you got a linger around the people of God to let that God stuff get, oh come on clap. Get it on you and get it in you. He was lingering around the tent meeting. So when God says to Joshua, put up Joshua 15, when God says to Joshua, as I was with Moses so I will be with you, Josh knows what he's talking about. Because Joshua is like, I watched Moses go in and he met with you face to face and I

13:30know what you said to him and I heard that word and I watched Moses get changed and I watched you use a ordinary guy to do extraordinary things and if you could do that through Mo, I think you could do it through me. And he would have never understood this unless he lingered around the tent meeting and I want to just speak that linger. Don't just linger over meals. Don't just linger over championships. Don't just linger around social settings. Come on, linger around the tent meeting of God and let all that God has for you get on your life and get in your life. So the first thing you got to do is you got to learn the value and the importance of lingering. I'm just staying around here. I'm just, man, I'm just telling you I'm a pastor's kid. I grew up in church my whole life. Do you know how many Sundays I would walk back into the church and yell at my dad, you're still talking to these people? Dad, we haven't eaten in nine hours.

14:32You want to talk to the Johnson's still? They need prayer every week, Dad. Come on, we got to go. But what was modeled for me was the value of lingering. You don't need to be in a rush when it comes to God. You don't need to be in a hurry when it comes to faith. You don't need to get out of here every Sunday. Sometimes you just got to stick around to let some of this get on you and let some of this get in you. So the value of faith and the value of the people of God. Come on, starts to lead your Monday through Saturday. Come on, clap and believe, if you believe it today, learn how to linger. So the first thing Joshua was, he would linger at the tent meeting of God. The second thing, here's what you got to get good at. Get great at following. Oh, I love this about Joshua. He was a follower before he was ever a leader. Next to this 24 verse 13, then Moses set out with Joshua's, his A and Moses went up to the mountain of God.

15:33Numbers 11 verse 28, Joshua, the son of men who had been by Moses's A, since he was a youth at Zoe youth, spoke up and said, Moses, my Lord, stop them. This is one of my favorite things. So watch this. God chose Joshua to be raised up and developed through different fights, different obstacles, even here in this instance through correction. So one time Joshua, you know, he comes up to pass to Moses and he goes, Moses, can you believe these guys? These two guys are trying to prophesy. Let's shut them down. And Moses goes, what are you jealous? And he starts to correct his aid, Joshua. What I have found about most people is most people want to pass through until they're passed through. Most people want a leader until the leader starts to correct.

16:35And God chose to develop and raise up Joshua, put up this list that God used in Joshua's life. He learned to fight. He learned to follow. He learned through correction. He learned to see through faith. All of these things God was developing him in his life. I'm telling you, there's three tests that you have to pass in life. You have to pass the character purity test. Do you have good character and is your heart and your eyes pure before the Lord? You've got to have good character. Anybody want to have good character in your life. So you've got to pass the character and the purity test. You've got to pass the past test. Can't you have a leader over your life that can speak into your life and correct you like Moses corrected Joshua. For many of us that are immature, when Moses corrects us, we bail. We run. We don't want any part. Joshua said, I am correctable. I am under authority. I want a pastor and please pastor me. So that's what Moses did. The last one is the money test. Can you see your money, not as your money, but as God's money. God doesn't want you to have at 90% and he gets 10% God owns all my money.

17:41So here's Joshua and Joshua's. He's learning through fights. He's learning through battles. He's learning through trial. He's learning through correction. And as God is developing him in his life. He's getting better and he's getting stronger. This is to me the whole key of faith. Faith is not about being a leader. Faith is about learning how to follow. And I don't know about you, but I want to be a good follower, anybody else. Jesus said, come to me and follow me. And I will make you. You cannot get made into the plurth person that God wants you to become without first committing to follow. We follow God, not lukewarm. We follow God, not half-heartedly. We follow God with all of our heart, all of our soul, all of our mind and all of our strength. He is the leader and I am the follower. And the older I get, the more I want to get better at following God, anybody else. That's one good, good, good at following.

18:45And I don't care about my leading. I don't care about being a leader. The problem in culture today is most of us want a following more than we want to be a follower. And I'd rather be seen in public than dominate my life in private. Put me on display rather than Lord disciple me. Joshua's opposite. Joshua's like, my private life matters, my inner world matters. I want to have a good character. I want to be able to let Moses correct me. I want so bad to steward well what you've given me, my money's yours. And I'm just saying, you don't think God's watching your inner life. You don't think God's paying attention to who you are when nobody else is watching. I want to give you great news. God is more concerned with who you are becoming than what you are doing. In fact, God is using what you are doing to develop who you are becoming, but who you are becoming matters more to God than what you are doing.

19:45Come on, everybody clap and thank the Lord for that one today. It's who. So watch what he uses. He uses battles. He uses correction. He uses dependency. Moses had this aid named Joshua. And Joshua's just, he's just learning how to follow. He's just, how do I do it Moses? How do I get better? It's so funny. When I first moved here in LA in 1998, in 1998, I was working at this church in El Monte, got it to San Gabriel Valley, baby. And I was working at this church in this brand new Toyota dealership open, Long Go Toyota. And we thought we were so ballin' in El Monte because our Long Go Toyota dealership had a Starbucks. What you know about it. And I remember on Tuesdays, on Tuesdays, I would go sit in this Long Go Toyota dealership and I would sit there for my lunch break. I'd get a coffee and I'd open up my laptop and I'd watch a pastor from Hawaii, the

20:47name's Pastor Wankardero. I would call it lunch with Wayne on Tuesdays and I'd watch his message from Sunday every Tuesday and I was following him. I was watching what he was doing. I was watching how he was preaching, how he was leading, how he was dissecting Scripture and I learned how to follow. Some of you need to get into a connect group because there's a marriage you need to follow. There's a man or a woman of God that needs to set an example for you. You need to get around not just the tent meeting. You need to find a Moses, a pastor, a leader in your life to say before I ever lead, I want to get good at following. And Moses was that guy. He said, who cares about leading? I just got to make sure I follow really well. Not worried about platform. I'm worried about private. I'm not worried about my public persona. I'm worried about my private devotion. So God can elevate him and set him up here because he knew how he lived down here.

21:48Stop minimizing your shadow life. Stop minimizing your private world. Your character matters. Your repentance matters. Your honesty matters. Your confession matters. Clap today if you're thankful that God cares about your inner world more than your public life. And so God is raising him up and he's developing him and he's doing a mighty work in Joshua's life all for this time. Here's the third thing, right down number three today. This is what you got to have in order to step into your potential. Faith people can see possibility when other people see impossibility. So before Joshua takes over, there's this one day that Moses, they're getting ready to go on the promised land. Moses sends out 12 spies and he sends out these spies into the promised land and he's like, go see if the land that God has promised us, see if it really is good. It's 12 of them go out and 12 of them see the exact same thing. Twelve of them can see exactly the same.

22:50Ten come back with a negative report. Ten come back and say there's no way we can do this. This is impossible. There's giants in the land. We're like grasshoppers in their eyes. There's no way we can do this. Two of them stood with a different report of faith. They said if God is for us, who can be against us? Their names are Joshua and Caleb. Watch here on the screen. Put up here. Numbers, watch this. I love this verse right here. It says in Numbers 14, Joshua, Son of None and Caleb, Son of Jeff, who were among those. I know why y'all are. Who were among those who had explored the land toward their clothes and they said to the entire Israelite army? The land we pass through and explored is exceedingly good. If the Lord is pleased with us, He will lead us into the land, a land flowing with milk and honey and He will give it to us.

23:54Ten said no way. Ten said impossible. Ten said absolutely not. Two said if God is for us, who can stop it? See you've got to get to the place where impossible things become possible things through Jesus. That you look at what the doctor said in the natural they can never be healed but through the lens of faith in the supernatural Jesus is a healer. In the natural your son will never come back to God in faith. In the natural they're going to be given over to the things of the world. In the supernatural Jesus is the good shepherd that leaves the 99 for the one that's lost. So he, Joshua, developed this, I'm telling you you got to linger around the tent. You got to linger around this stuff because Joshua was like man, I seen God do stuff through Moses. There's one time there was this pillar of cloud and there was this fire. This one time we needed food and God gave us mana and this one time we were up against

24:57this whole red sea and got party in half and we walked on dry ground. You got to get around signs and wonders. You got to get around miracles. You got to get around the presence of God. You got to get around worship because that stuff's going to come whatever gets in you. That's what's coming out of you. So 10 of them who probably didn't linger around the tent were like, uh-uh, ain't no way. Two of them were like, do you know how big my God is? Do you know that there's nothing that is impossible for God? What is impossible for man is possible for God. I pray that this year during this connect season faith starts to rise up on the inside. That God will bless you beyond your wildest imagination, not because of who you are but because you know who God is. Oh, come on, clap if you believe it today. I know who God is. The difference is that Joshua, he just been through enough stuff to know who God is because

26:00I know who I am but I know who God is. God can do the impossible. Stop allowing the negative confession of people to contaminate your faith. You can go around the tent enough to go, uh-uh, let all the haters and naysayers get out of here. I got to hear what God says. Listen to the two key words that he said, if God is pleased with us, he will give it to us. My private world, if God's pleased with me, he'll leave me in victory. If I'm living duplicity, if I'm living, living deviant, if I'm living contrary to his plan, I'll know what's going to happen. But I'm trying to make sure my life is good. I'm trying to be a good follower. I'm trying to get good at lingering around the promises and the will of God. I'm just trying to do my part so when it comes time, I have faith that God will do his part. I don't want to get to the promised land and be like, man, I so wish I would have had

27:04character and I so wish I would have lived for God and I so wish. And you're going to walk up to your promised land and go like, I'm not ready for it. I'm not ready for it. I'm just telling you, God prepared the promise for you, but hear me, love one, hear me today, hear me. He's preparing you for the promise. He's preparing you for the promise. Stop minimizing. Stop acting like this season don't matter. What I'm going through is not big. It's bigger than you could ever wrap your head around. bigger than you could ever imagine. The big time is not where you're going. The big times where you're at right now. Amen to that. And so Josh will just, I'm an aide. I'm a servant. I'm an assistant. I've got a role at the tent. I take care of the tent. I am a worshiper and a worker. It was so cool yesterday we had our marketplace meetup. And we had so much fun at the marketplace meetup at the Bella Mar Hotel.

28:06Mr. Mark Estes led us. He's so funny because he announced that it was going to be at the Bella Air Hotel. Very different from the Bella Mar. I got to say night and day. Close enunciation. Night and day as far as experience. One's in the Hatton Beach. The other one's in the Bella Air. We had this great time and a lot of the South Bay crew was there. Right after the South Bay, right after the marketplace ministry meetup, a lot of our South Bay guys had to go set up church at our, because we meet at North, North high school down there in the South Bay. And so they spent the whole afternoon setting up, getting ready for church today. Set up LED walls and kids space and getting ready for church. And I just love that because so much to me about life is just worship and work, worship and work, worship and work. Joshua was developed by God. God was teaching him how to have responsibility. He was teaching him how to be corrected.

29:06He was teaching him how to be an assistant. He was teaching him how to be under authority. See before Joshua had authority, he learned what it meant to be under authority. Before Joshua had a following, he learned the value of following himself. God's training you. He's raising you up. I can see the promise of God for your life. It is greater than you could ever imagine. You can't get there with a negative confession. You can't get there thinking it's too big. It's too impossible. It's too much. When we got ready to move to LA, we were telling people, we're moving to LA. We're going to start a church. People are like, no, you're not. We're sending you to Florida. We're sending you to Texas over my dead body. I'd go to those two places. Can't go to LA, man. At least too hard. At least too expensive. Have you seen the politics there?

30:09No, no, no, no. You're seeing it in the natural. I serve the God of the impossible. That if God be for me, who can be against me? God is my light and my salvation. My hope is not in me. My hope is in the name of the Lord. I'm just telling you, God's going to be raising you up in private, speaking to you about your values, about your morals, about your ethics, about your honesty, about your character, about your correction. God's going to raise you up wide, because God knows where you are, but God knows where He's taking you. God's got a plan for your life. Come on, clap if you believe it today. God's got something bigger for you than you could ever imagine. He's just looking for some Joshua that would say, as you were with Moses, I know you'll be with me. If you did it for them, I know you could do it for my life. If you didn't way back then, I know you could do it right here and right now. Oh, come on, jump to your feet right now.

31:10Come on, let's pray. God, we thank you that you are strong and you are able and you are for us, not against us. We thank you that today you're worthy of our best praise and our best worship. We give you our lives today in the name of Jesus. Oh, come on, if you believe it today. Come on, let's worship God. Again, thank you so much for listening to this week's message. We pray that it brought you great strength and great encouragement. Don't forget to hit the subscribe button so you don't miss out on any of the messages coming out from our church. We'll see you back next Sunday for part two of our Joshua series.