God's Faithfulness Series

INTRODUCTION

• SLIDE #1

• Have you ever felt like God could not, or would not love you, or that all the promises that God has made in the Bible are not for you because you do not feel like you can ever be good enough to earn them? HINT, we do not EARN God’s promises and His faithfulness.

• If you have ever felt this way or are feeling this way now, this series will be a blessing to you.

• Today we are embarking on a new six-week series entitled, “Doomed to Repeat.”

• This six-week series tells the story of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt and their journey through the desert into the promised land.

• Working backward through the narrative, ‘Doomed to Repeat' provides a unique vantage point on the ups and downs of Israel’s journey.

• This retelling of redemptive history examines God’s faithfulness to us despite our weaknesses, as well as the charge he gives us to live righteously for his name.

• This series is about God's faithfulness to deliver the Israelites out of captivity and into the promised land. They became stuck many times and repeated their mistakes, but God remained faithful throughout the ordeal.

• Because we have a tendency to this day to repeat our mistakes, if it weren't for God's unfailing love and grace, we would inevitably be doomed to keep repeating the same mistakes, remaining stuck in our own sin.

• Life can get us down, especially when we are really trying to live for God, yet we feel like failures.

• We sink deep into the abyss at times thinking that God could not possibly love a failure like me. I KNOW that feeling all too well.

• Today as we begin working backward in Israel’s story of deliverance, we will see that God will keep His promises because He is faithful.

• Today we are going to examine three constants that we can depend on from God no matter what.

• Let’s begin our journey by looking at Joshua 1:1-6

• SLIDE #2

• Joshua 1:1–6 (CSB) — 1 After the death of Moses the LORD’s servant, the LORD spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’s assistant: 2 “Moses my servant is dead. Now you and all the people prepare to cross over the Jordan to the land I am giving the Israelites. 3 I have given you every place where the sole of your foot treads, just as I promised Moses. 4 Your territory will be from the wilderness and Lebanon to the great river, the Euphrates River—all the land of the Hittites—and west to the Mediterranean Sea. 5 No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live. I will be with you, just as I was with Moses. I will not leave you or abandon you. 6 “Be strong and courageous, for you will distribute the land I swore to their fathers to give them as an inheritance.

• SLIDE #3

SERMON

I. God’s faithfulness. 1-6

• The Israelites, just 40 years before this point were on the cusp of entering the Promised Land. Before entering the Promised Land, according to Deuteronomy 1:22-23, the people asked Moses to send spies to check out the land.

• According to Numbers 13:1, God told Moses to do so. It appears the people asked Moses, Moses, asked God, and God told him to send the 12 spies.

• When you think about this, the people as they are on the cusp of entering the Promised Land, had seen many miracles that God had performed to get them out of Egypt including the parting of the Red Sea.

• I have always wondered why they asked for spies to be sent to scope out the land that God had promised to give to them.

• From the moment that God used Moses to deliver the Israelites out of Egypt, they whined and cried.

• They were afraid of anything and everything. The Israelites had a front row seat to view the power of God on display, yet, they were always fearful.

• SO, why did the people ask for spies? Why did God allow it?

• The Israelites did not trust God. Let that sink in, what had God done to them to cause doubts?

• Their fear was more significant than their faith.

• What do you do if you are God? He said, send the spies.

• Why? He knew what they were going to do when the spies returned.

• Ten of the spies gave a nice but scary report about the inhabitants of the land.

• Two of the spies, Joshua and Caleb basically said, sure the inhabitants looked formidable, but we have God on our side, let’s go take what God is giving us!