The Courage of the Presence // Joshua 6 // People of the Presence Pt. 3 // Ryan Patrick Murphy

Due to audio issues, this recording does not include the full teaching.This week, Ryan Patrick Murphy shares a message from Joshua 6 titled "The Courage of the Presence." Through the fall of Jericho, Ryan invites us to dust off our dreams and face a hard truth: as we grow in the Kingdom of God, we need more courage, not less.Ryan starts with his own early faith. He skipped theater practice for Wednesday night youth group and spent two awkward years praying for strangers at the mall, where God broke his fear of what others thought. From there he names three things courage requires. The first is risk, which is not recklessness but confidence in a good Father. Ryan compares this to securely attached children, like his son Hoxton walking into his first day of school. The second is initiative: rest is good, but it isn't God, and some of us are so afraid of burning out that we aren't burning at all. The third is obedience, and here Ryan gives four questions for discernment. Does this next step fit the whole story of Scripture? Do the people around me affirm it? Do I resonate with it? Is there an open door? Along the way, he also gives pastoral guidance on the harder parts of the Jericho story.Ryan anchors the sermon in Romans 8:14–15. We did not receive a spirit of slavery that falls back into fear. We received the Spirit of adoption. The spirit of slavery shows up as anxiety, scarcity, and control, including wanting God to act like a drill sergeant rather than a Father. Adoption brings us into relationship and gives us an inheritance. Put simply, we don't risk to earn God's approval. We risk from it.Ultimately, this sermon invites us to break up with fear and perfectionism and live as sons and daughters. God often gives us the big promise and the next step, and leaves out everything in between. As we trust Him step by step, in community and in peace, He forms in us the courage to dream wild Kingdom dreams for our city.