S2Ep5 - Moses: Developing Character

Character doesn’t develop overnight — it’s slow-brewed in the waiting. This episode follows Moses from confidence to collapse to calling, showing how God shapes men through failure, humility, and obedience before He sends them to lead.

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Transcript

Joshua Steps Into Moses’ Role

SPEAKER_00 0:01

You're listening to Coffee Break Theology, a King of Kings podcast.

SPEAKER_02 0:12

All right, welcome back to Godly Masculinity as we do coffee break theology today.

SPEAKER_01 0:18

I'm Greg. Love it. I'm Marcus. Today we're gonna talk about Joshua, the man who had to follow Moses. Oh gosh, what?

SPEAKER_02 0:27

Wow. I mean, there's there's a whole there's a whole podcast on that. Absolutely. Yeah, can you imagine replacing? I mean, I like I just like that the what what shoes, right? It's like it's honestly like I mean, I guess it this kind of hard because we're writing a season, so be by the time this is released, it'll be postseason. But like I want to say like replacing Tom Brady, but Drake May did fine. So you know, but like the guy immediately, I don't even know who immediately followed Tom Brady, but it wasn't Drake May, and he didn't do well, so it's not good, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:00

But yeah, you you replace him, then your first game's a Super Bowl.

SPEAKER_02 1:03

Oh gosh, that's kind of what it's like. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:06

You're standing there, you're like, uh, can we just can we go back to the preseason? I don't I don't know what I'm doing. So maybe get some help here, but but Joshua doesn't get a warm-up. It's it Moses he he he's died, he he's gone before they enter the promised land. Now it's Joshua's turn. Yeah, God dropped him straight into leading those two million people, the whole nation into enemy territories.

Courage Rooted In God’s Presence

SPEAKER_02 1:29

Yeah. I and this is one of my um, I don't know, I guess I that's probably not true. It's not one of my favorite passages, but it's a good passage that I like um from Joshua 1.9. It's a familiar passage um that that that occasionally, like when you hear it, you go, Oh, yeah, I've heard that. Have I not commanded you be strong and courageous, don't be afraid, don't be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. It's one of those passages I think that just gives you uh kind of gives you moxie to go, I can do this. Absolutely, yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 2:03

Uh I I love that he doesn't say, Hey Joshua, man, you got this. Right. Like he says, do not be afraid. Right. Stand up, be courageous. Right. He doesn't just go, all right, it's on you're on your own. Right. See you later. Let me know when you're done. Let me know when you you conquered the land. He's I'm with you. That's his main message there, which is pretty cool.

SPEAKER_02 2:23

Yeah, yeah. And and that's like when we see courageous, this isn't like the Mel Gibson brave heart courage, right? Um, this is this is about confidence in the presence of the Lord. Yeah, right? Confidence to know that you've got the Lord's army actually fighting for you. Yeah. Uh Luther said where there's pure doctrine, the gospel is preserved. There's true courage and strength of heart is found there. Um, and and so that courage isn't manufactured, it's rooted in God's truth and God's presence. Right.

SPEAKER_01 2:55

And we've been saying that this whole series, and we'll continue to say it until we're done. But yeah, that's huge for us today. It's not something, courage isn't something you just you you raise yourself into. You don't pick yourself up by your bootstraps. Right. I'm current I'm courageous now. That's just not how it works. But it it's it's knowing you're not walking into the boardroom alone. It's knowing that you're not raising your kids alone, it's knowing I'm not going through marital problems alone. It's it's knowing I'm not facing temptation alone. It's all of those things. I'm not alone. That's what courage is. Yeah, um, the Bible instructs us to fear not. It says, Don't be afraid 365 times.

SPEAKER_02 3:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:30

But why would it say that? Is it because there's nothing fearful out there? No, not not even in the slightest.

SPEAKER_02 3:35

Right. And and that's where right, the devil seeks to kill, steal, and destroy. Right. Right. And so that's what frightens us. Um, and so we're if we're on our own, we're we're we're done. We're toast. There's no there's no hope. Yep. But 365 days and or times, and that's not a coincidence for every day of the year, yep, um, that that we see the word, right? Do not be afraid. Yep. Um, every day there's something there that we can stand firm in the face of all fearful things. Right. And again, we're using that stand firm language, right? God, who he is, his power, his might, and his love. Right. And so uh we get to stand up with with that. Um, for what he says and does, it it saves us. Yeah. Um, and so those fearful things we're saved from because we are given his um call as children, sons and daughters of the most high king.

SPEAKER_01 4:33

It's an identity thing. I identity thing. Courage is definitely an identity thing. Um, with that being said, everything in your life should be viewed through the lens and the grid of scripture. Because that's where his promise lies, that's where he reveals himself to us. If we're gonna think, well, who is God and what does he do for us? Yeah, it's in scripture. So everything that you do, everything that that you go through should be viewed through the lens of scripture.

SPEAKER_02 4:58

Yeah. And I know we're gonna talk about them later, but but just we'll do a little foreshadowing. Sure. You know, think of David and Goliath, right? Like there, there's David, a man after God's own heart. He had confidence that wasn't I been to the gym every day because he's a little little runt, right? He said, The Lord who rescued me from the lion and the bear will rescue me from this Philistine as as he goes and he confronts him. The same principles at play for Joshua. Absolutely.

Comfort As A Quiet Idol

SPEAKER_01 5:25

Yeah, he uh we'll get to David. Yeah, I'll hold my thoughts. But there's another layer here. Uh uh, God didn't call Joshua into comfort, right? You know, he the yeah, there's fearful things, but there's also hard things, there's difficult things ahead. Um He's called him into conflict, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:44

And that promised land, right? Like, this is one of those weird things. I think I think the people would have been like, Yeah, we're going to the promised land, God has promised this land, all that stuff. I I don't know if they thought to themselves, someone else is gonna live there and we're gonna have to kick them out, right? Like, or if they just thought the Lord will just strike them all dead or have a flood. I don't know, but but it wasn't empty, it was filled with fortified cities and with armies. Um, and and and ironically, it's this most fertile land in this terrible kind of area and region. So it it ends up becoming a place that's in always conflict and struggle, even to this day. Yeah, uh absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 6:21

Uh, I think one of the quiet killers today of godly masculinity um is the idol of comfort.

SPEAKER_02 6:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:27

We all like to be comfortable. Like that, that's easy to say and easy to understand. But we have we avoid tough conversations, we avoid risk, we avoid anything that requires faith at all. Without God who's with us, we would we would say no to everything that requires faith. Like it would just be we'd we'd be toast. Yeah, we'd be burnt toast. Um, because it's uncomfortable. We don't like it.

SPEAKER_02 6:49

Yeah, I think we're adverse to to uncomfortability, um, that awkwardness, whether it's that weird conversation, whether it's a hard conversation, whether it's our lifestyle, right? Right, all those types of things. Yeah, um, again, coming back to this, we've said this over and over again, but we should fear and love God uh and trust in him above all things. Yeah, and that includes trusting him, him more than we can trust in our comfortability, our lazy boy recliners, by the way. Lazy boy uh co-inventor was an LCMS Lutheran. That's cool. Yeah, and our predictable routines. That makes not getting paid for at all for any lazy boy uh uh advertisements here today.

SPEAKER_01 7:31

That's hilarious. But speaking about comfort, like the the Israelites, they couldn't even enjoy comfort as they went into the promised land. It's a comfortable land flowing with milk and honey. Right. Um and part of it is they were they were they knew there was conflict coming. They they they sent the spies over, they came there with a report, they say, All right, war is happening, it's coming. But uh, so I imagine all the fighting men, they're anticipating this coming war, they're getting themselves hyped up for it. Uh it's like the night before a championship game or or before a big sales pitch or something. Like it, it's almost go time. Yeah, they're they're getting ready. Uh but as soon as they cross the Jordan, God's got a different plan. And he tells Joshua to circumcise all the males because when they were in the wilderness, they didn't do it. Like, come on. And so it's like, okay, we're hyped up, this thing's happening. No, and God says, wait, we're gonna do something that you didn't see coming, and it's not gonna be fun, it's not gonna be comfortable. Yeah, and so Joshua does. He says, All right, God, I'm listening. Here we go. Yeah, so he he made he makes them wait in discomfort for the war that they've been pre preparing their minds and their bodies for, so God could roll away the reproach of Egypt from them, he's cleansing them before they go and they do this difficult task.

SPEAKER_02 8:42

I am sure many of the listeners, as well as me, are pretty uncomfortable right now. Yeah, um, yeah, but I think this is an important spot. Like, this is fascinating to think about, right? Joshua's in charge of the Israelites, he's their commander, um, but he's in complete submission to the Lord, and he follows orders, um, and he excludes his courage because of the God that he serves. And and again, too, once again, this shows that this is gonna be actually the Lord's victory, right? He's gonna send them into battle injured, yeah. Like like all the all the warriors, you're gonna be hurt, yep, and you're gonna go into battle um like like in in pain. And so, like, that's not a normal battle plan. Right.

SPEAKER_01 9:29

All the men have an idea of what we're talking about, right? For sure. Women, you have no idea.

SPEAKER_02 9:33

I mean, you guys have birth pains, but I mean let's not let's not okay, let's not get into the yeah, the comments won't be good for us. I take it back. Let's go.

Jericho And The Strange Battle Plan

SPEAKER_01 9:42

So, anyways, okay, they were healed, they waited three days, they had their Passover meal. So now it's like, all right, go time again. Yeah, these guys, they gotta get hyped up. Yeah, all right, we're going to war. This is what we were made for, this is what we're here for. We're taking our land back. On with the mission. They go to Jericho, they're getting hyped, go time, they're getting ready, and then God's battle plan just doesn't it seems weird. Marching and trumpets, shouting, like that, that's not that's not what we do. That's not warfare, right? Right. Like, what is this?

SPEAKER_02 10:12

I thought we're gonna go yeah, fight. You're a football coach. Can you imagine like saying, hey, we're gonna go play the number one team in the state, and uh, we're actually gonna, hey, players sit down, we're gonna call in the marching band. Oh, yeah, and you guys take the field. Oh, geez. You know, yeah. Oh, geez. And the marching band is great. We love them, they're wonderful. But Joshua obeys because that's what he does. Yeah, and the walls come tumbling down. Yep, and God is the one who gets the glory again. And the way he starts the campaign shows his people, is he says, I command you, you obey, and you know that it is God who has the victory. Absolutely. Joshua, his courage lies in the Lord, yep, and his actions, not our own, right, or our or or the armies.

SPEAKER_01 10:59

Yeah, and Josh Joshua, man of obedience, again, knowing this, he knows all these guys that we're talking about, they know God, God is with them. They're they're they're pointing to they're pointing to God. Yeah. And it's it's one of those things that's easily overlooked. Yeah. Because pride, pride catches us all. Right. We want to say, hey, look what I did. Right. And God's like, no, look what I did. Right. Look what I did. I will not share the glory with any man, is what he says. Right. Uh C.S. Lewis once said, courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at its testing point. So what he's saying here is every good thing in you will eventually require courage to live out. I love that.

SPEAKER_02 11:40

Yeah, again, I I love to quote John Piper God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him. Nice. So when we put our satisfaction in what the Lord's doing, we can risk everything for his sake. Yeah. Just like Joshua did, just like the Israelites did.

SPEAKER_01 11:57

So, what does be strong and courageous actually look like here in 2026?

SPEAKER_02 12:03

Yeah, it might mean the speaking truth when you're in workplace celebration and something is happening that God would call sin. Yeah. It might mean having the guts to pray out loud with your family, even though they're not believers. It might mean forgiving someone that you rather keep resenting. Yeah, that's hard.

SPEAKER_01 12:22

Yeah. So courage comes in a lot of different ways, but it but it can be quiet. Yeah, for sure. I love quiet courage. It's showing up every day to care for a sick spouse. It's good. It's it's sticking with a job to for provide for your family, even though you're underappreciated in that job. You're not getting paid enough, and everybody resents you. Uh, it's standing by your convictions. We've said that before. When no one thanks you, nobody says, nice job, good work. Uh, it can look like just doing the next right thing.

SPEAKER_02 12:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:52

Over and over and over.

SPEAKER_02 12:53

Yeah. Luther said this about the 23rd Psalm. He said, courage is nothing other than steadfastness of heart in the face of danger. Right? Um, sustained by God's faithful promises. Wow. So that's courageous. I like Psalm 23.

Three Steps: Remember Choose Step

SPEAKER_01 13:12

Yeah, that's so good. That's a great time. All right. So I'm gonna boil down three steps for living courage over comfort. It's hard to do. Here we go. First thing, remember God's presence. Come on. Like Joshua, courage starts with knowing you're not alone. God is with you. That's the first thing. Second thing, choose faith over fear. Come on. Fear asks, what if? What if this happens? What if this happens? What if I die? Whatever, you know. But faith says, even if this happens, even if I die, even if yes, and then three, step into that challenge. Yes. Don't don't sit around, don't wait to feel brave because you're not going to in the moment. Yeah. Act in obedience and let courage grow.

SPEAKER_02 13:51

Yeah. Remember RCS. Remember, choose, and step. I love that. I love that. So, what's a fear that's maybe been keeping you from obeying God? Taking that step forward, trusting that He's always with you.

SPEAKER_01 14:06

And He is with you. Yeah. Amen. That's Yes. Can't say it enough. It's his promise. That's the kind of courage that changes families, changes churches, it changes communities. And that's that's that's what we're here for. That's what men are here for, is to to lead and to change for the for the greater good.

SPEAKER_02 14:22

And that's what transforms lives, and that's where other lives are transformed as well. Yep. As as the world sees um courageous people of God living courageously for him, being strong and courageous.

Final Challenge And Next Week Tease

SPEAKER_01 14:33

Yeah, and those people they they need us to act in those ways. Amen. They need us. Amen. That's it. Again, we're done with this episode, but be sure to tune in next time. Yeah. Because we're gonna look at David. We do all right. David's done. Let's go to the next one. Oh, okay. We got a lot to talk about, David, and you're gonna learn how to play the harp. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_02 14:52

Great. So I yeah, I've never I've never I've never played a harp.

SPEAKER_01 14:57

Have you played a liar? No. We'll try them both.

SPEAKER_00 15:00

Okay. Great.

SPEAKER_01 15:02

All right, see you next week.

SPEAKER_00 15:03

Thanks for listening to Coffee Break Theology. Be sure to tune in next time and remember to check out our other podcast series available on every major podcast listening service.