Joshua A Successful Leader Series

Theme: You will be Successful

Text: Joshua 1:1-9

Greetings: The Lord is good and His love endures forever.

Introduction:

Joshua was known as the soldier of the Lord and a successor of Moses. According to the Dictionary of the Bible: “Four theological themes appear in the descriptions of Joshua in the Pentateuch: Joshua's divine commission as leader of Israel, his military leadership, his allocation of the land, and his role in Israel's covenant with God. In each case, God's word and power lie behind Joshua. These same four themes reappear in the Book of Joshua”.

God told Joshua that ‘He will be successful’. A study on the life of Joshua reveals the following:

Joshua was a Submissive helper,

Joshua was a Successor of Moses, and Joshua was a successful Shepherd of the congregation. Let us meditate on those points.

1. Joshua was a Submissive helper (Joshua 1:1)

Moses named Hoshea (he has delivered) as Joshua (the Lord has delivered) to indicate the role of God in the life of Israel (Numbers13:16, Deuteronomy 32:44). He was the son of Nun of the Tribe of Ephraim (Numbers 13:8,16). Joshua was introduced in Exodus 17:9 as a young captain to lead the army of God to fight against the Amalekites. Moses told him that he would uphold Joshua in his prayers, and he did it (Exodus 17:10-11).

Many times, people promise to pray for us and others but forget. We promise to pray for the Church, which we often don’t do. We vouch to support missionary works through fervent prayer but we fail. Many spiritual programs, activities, and events are not fruitful, not successful, and never yield the targeted result, not because of lack of money and personnel but lack of sincere prayer warriors. We get people to stand on the frontline but not on the kneeling.

Here we read that Moses faithfully and sincerely carried out the ministry of prayer along with two other partners Aaron and Hur. There was a coordination between the praying and field ministries.

Joshua as a helper very submissive to Moses. He became an aide to Moses while he went up to Mount Zion for 40 days of prayers with God. He stayed on the mount till Moses return to him. Joshua joined Moses in the covenant-making process and in watching over its preservation (Exodus 24:13,18). While they returned from the mount after meeting God, Joshua was too young to identify the difference in sounds of the camp but Moses could because of his close walk with God. Our prayer life will help us to read the minds of the friends and enemies, people, and all (Exodus 32:17, 33:11, Number 11:28).

Joshua was presented to us as a diligent student of the Law of God, a Courageous Leader to lead the army of God. He was a faithful spy to bring an honest, positive possibility report to the leader and the congregation (Number 11:8,16,). He encouraged the community to trust in God and not to give up their hope of entering the promised land (Numbers 14:6-7,30).

Joshua stood as a singled-out significant leader. He was numbered as a man with uprightness and integrity with Caleb. He was certified that a man who followed God wholeheartedly and permitted to enter Canaan (Number 32:10-12). His submission to Moses made him be the successor of Moses to lead the camp to Canaan.

2. Joshua was a Successor of Moses (Joshua 1:2-5)

Joshua was commanded by the Lord to succeed Moses. Joshua was commissioned by Moses through ordination service and appointment by God. Joshua was chosen to lead the army. He proved to be a worthy leader. So, God allowed him to lead the community, and judge them. He became a chief Judge of the Supreme Court of the Israelites. He was given some of the authorities of Moses while he was alive (Numbers 27:12-23).

God raised him as a leader to assign the land to the tribes of Israel (Number 34:16-17). The Lord told Moses that Joshua your assistant will lead people (Deuteronomy 1:38). Moses was given the privilege of defeating two powerful Kings and that victory was cited as an example for Joshua to believe in God and have further leadership (Deuteronomy 3:21-22). Joshua was filled with the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him (Deuteronomy 34:9).

Joshua was another leader who received the promises made to the Patriarchs. God repeats the promise of Abraham and to Moses, now to Joshua, and told him that ‘He will give every place that he set his foot as I promise to Moses.” (Joshua 1:3). Also, God told Joshua that “He will never leave him nor forsake him” which will give him strength and power to oppose everyone (Joshua 1:5).

A few best examples are Elisha succeeded Elijah with double the power of his master. Jesus told his disciples that his disciples will do, perform greater than what Jesus could do on the earth. We worship and believe in a God who is always almighty in every generation and every age.