Be Strong And Courageous!

Be Strong and Courageous!

Joshua 1:1-9

Joshua Installed as Leader

1 After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide: 2 “Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites. 3 I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. 4 Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. 5 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. 6 Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.

7 “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. 8 Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

I want to give you some background on this OT book of Joshua, so we can put this story in context.

The book describes the conquest of the land of Canaan under the leadership of Joshua, who was Moses’ successor. I thought it was interesting that the name Joshua means “the Lord saves” or “the Lord is Salvation”. The Greek rendering of his name, can you guess what it is? Jesus.

When we really get into this text, understand the story of the Israelites and their 40-year journey in the desert, wandering around because of their grumbling and disobedience…they were lost. The idea of coming into the Promised Land parallels the NT concept of being Saved, entering the Salvation Promise that Jesus provides and leads us into. This whole story is great.

Back to some background information; Joshua had worked with Moses since receiving the 10 Commandments at Mount Sinai, he served with Moses throughout the wilderness wanderings, and became a strong leader who was full of faith and courage. Remember from your Sunday School classes as children… it was Joshua and Caleb who were the only 2 Spies, out of 12 that were sent who believed that God could help them conquer the people they found in this promised land…the naysayers won out, and if we remember our SS stories, those 10 spies and all those adults who refused to trust in God and instead looked at the obstacles in their path…. They were punished and died in the desert.

Do you see how that correlates with Faith? Put your faith in Jesus and Live, or put your trust in anything other than Jesus and you will die.

Friends, today’s message is for every single one of us…. It doesn’t matter if your rich or poor, it doesn’t matter if your where you live, what you drive, or if you have a degree or not…. This question will be answered by Kings, Presidents, Senators and Congressman, we will all answer this question….

Will you live in Fear or in Faith? (Repeat)

First we are going to talk about one thing that Fear Costs you.

How many of you know that Fear will cost you many things in life? There are so many directions we can go with this thought, but I’m going to focus on what it cost the Israelites as they were faced with this same question that we are faced with today… will you Trust God and live in Faith? Or will you listen to the faithless and live your life in fear?

The one thing I want to speak to you that Fear will cost you is this: Fear keeps you from Living and it robs you of Time.

I want you to listen to this report. God has instructed the Israelites to explore and then take this promised land, He will give it to them, He will be with them in battle, He will provide everything they need to carry out His Command. Listen to the 2 points of view.

Numbers 13:26-33

Report on the Exploration

26 They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. There they reported to them and to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land. 27 They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. 28 But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan.”