As those of you who have been involved to this point with this church plant effort know, God has so greatly inspired me through the book of Nehemiah. This morning I was reviewing Nehemiah 2:9-20 for our next launch team meeting on the 20th of this month. In this passage we see opposition beginning to rise through a couple individuals, one of which is Tobiah the Ammonite.

     Now when reading the Old Testament there are a lot of “ites” right? Well, my footnotes took me back to 2 Samuel where we see this same group of Ammonites opposing God’s people hundreds of years earlier during the days of King David. In 2 Samuel 10 we see the Ammonites not only attacking God’s people themselves but also rallying other groups of people (the Syrians) to their cause.

It’s during the midst of this overwhelming opposition that Joab, the leader of King David’s army, encourages everyone with this great line:

2 Samuel 10:12, “Be of good courage, and let us be courageous for our people, and for the cities of our God, and may the LORD do what seems good to him.”

     This passage says a million things doesn’t it? As followers of Jesus, we’re standing on the promises of God! Why wouldn’t we want to live courageously? We are saved by God’s grace and redeemed through the blood of Jesus, THAT’S life changing!

     However, consider again the end of what Joab says, “… and may the LORD do what seems good to him.” Let’s really think about that for a moment. By saying that isn’t he insinuating if they are defeated in battle then their defeat would be God’s will?

     These words of encouragement from Joab are so inspiring because he’s taking such a courageously humble mindset into battle. He simply wants to protect God’s people and the places in which those people worship God. To Joab, it’s just all about God. Joab wants to protect everything that he feels points to God. Joab then takes that mindset to an entirely new level of humility when he considers that even their defeat would have to be allowed by God because He is ultimately sovereign. Joab wasn’t all about “winning”, Joab was just all about God.

     This passage has reminded me today that every idea thought, word spoken, and plan considered in regards to The Journey Church of Marietta must simply be all about Jesus. It can’t be about being trendy, shocking the world, thinking outside the box, or just being different. The goal of this effort is to point people to Jesus, that’s it!

     Let’s courageously launch this church, stand firmly on the promises of God, and trust in His sovereignty. May God do with this effort whatever He pleases.

I love you guys and I can’t wait to launch this church!

Cody Parman