Be Strong And Courageous--Moving Forward Series

Be Strong & Courageous—Fixing Our Eyes On Jesus

GNLCC 6/16/13 Joshua 1:1-9 Hebrews 12:1-3

Happy Father’s Day to all of you men and boys who have made a positive difference in the life of another person. . We can say thank you for your love, for your time, for your sacrifices. Thank you for mending bruises, fixing bikes, loving our mothers, paying tuition, going to work, building us up and bringing us to church. We say thank you for being our teachers, our coaches, our friends, our advisors, our protectors, and our dads.

One of the great privileges in life, is that of being a father. Some of you men here today have been incredible fathers. You’ve been there with your child either through birth or inheritance since day one. Your kids immensely even though today they may be adults. Some of you have been okay fathers. You made more than your share of mistakes, but you’re still trying to make up for those mistakes. Some of you know you’re not being the father you ought to be, and you have not made up your mind yet to start doing what you know in your heart is right.

Men what do you think God sees, when God looks at you. I know this, when God looks at men, he sees incredible potential for what could be. You know when even women look at us, they see a whole lot of potential for what could be. That’s why they think, once I get him to change this and that, then he’s going to be alright. Every child enters the world, comes with a built in love for his or her father. What a man does is either going to build on that love or squash that love. When we have a bad image of our earthly father, it makes it a little more difficult to understand our Heavenly Father. For an earthly father to be a truly great father, he needs to be in touch with the Heavenly Father who mends all relationships.

We are continuing in our series “Moving Forward.” Men, since its’ Father’s Day, I’m going to concentrate on us being willing to move forward. No young boy grows up thinking, when I get to be a man, I’m going to go backwards with my life. No, each boy has a dream inside of becoming a successful man moving forward in life. But then we run into this think called life. Life comes with bruises, with scars, with pain, with losses and with setbacks. It’s in the losses that we find out what we really are made of as men.

Joshua had been an assistant to Moses for many years. Now Moses was sort of a larger than life figure. God sent Moses and his brother Aaron to Egypt to demand of the leader of Egypt to let the slaves go free. Can you imagine if God had sent you to President Lincoln demanding that all the slaves in this country be set free, and that they be rewarded for all the work they had done? Can you further imagine having the ability to destroy the crops all over the country with your single word to get President Lincoln to obey you? Can you further imagine striking down the Union army simply by speaking to God?

Can you imagine what it would be like to serve someone who talked to God face to face, and did all kinds of miracles to lead the people of God for 40 years? Can you imagine what it would be like to have that person die, and the people begin looking to you to finish the job that Moses started? Can you imagine feeling I’m not equipped to try to fill Moses’ shoes.

Joshua had never been used to do a miracle. The one speech he gave to motivate the people to rise up and take the land had failed. When the spirit of God had fallen on seventy leaders in the camp, he was not one of the ones chosen. When he needed direction, he could ask Moses what to do next.

But then, one day he suffered the biggest loss in his life, when Moses died. Somewhere around a million people are looking to him for leadership, and he’s not quite sure he’s up to the task. Men, God is always calling us to do something, that we can’t handle properly on our own, but in turning to God, we find that God wants to equip us to get the job done.

Joshua was at the point of trying to figure out, how am I going to go forward. For the first time Joshua has a direct encounter with God. God begins with the words, “Moses my servant is dead, Now then you and all these people get ready to go into the promised land that I have promised you.” Men, sometimes before you can move forward, you have got to let go of the past.