Possessing The Promise Part 1 Of 2 Series

Walking in Godliness—Joshua

Possessing the Promise! Part 1 of 2

Joshua 1:1-9

Intro: Horton Hears a Who! - Faithful 100%

I meant what I said, and I said what I meant! An Elephant is faithful 100%!

Wow that is a great statement! I meant what I said, and I said what I meant! An Elephant is faithful 100%!

Have you ever been faithful 100%? Have you ever made a promise and kept it?

The truth is in our day and time people make promises all the time and never ever keep them… Why do you think divorce is so common?

Today a person’s word is not what it used to be. But thankfully we serve a God who is faithful 100%! And His promises are true every day!

Today we begin a new Series, that will take us a while, entitled Walking in Godliness—Joshua as we will walk through the book of Joshua and see how Joshua and Israel followed God and they took the Promise Land that God had for them, that He set up long ago through Abraham.

When I look at this series and this book I see where the Lord is leading his church. I believe God has some great things in store for us as we begin to take Possession of the Promises.

Let us begin with looking at Joshua 1:1-18

Joshua 1:1-18 (NIV)

As we start Joshua we must begin with:

Question: Who was Joshua?

He was a Warrior. Exodus 17:10

Soon after the people of Israel crossed over the Red Sea and were delivered from the hand of Pharaoh. The Amalekites attacked and it was Joshua who was sent out to wage battle against them as Moses stood with his hands and staff in the air. When the staff was in the air Israel was winning but when Moses lowered his hands they were losing… Joshua was a warrior for Israel.

He was Moses’ Assistant. Exodus 24:13

Soon after the battle with the Amalekites Joshua became Moses’ assistant and scripture tells us Joshua was the only one who went up the mountain with Moses when he received the 10 Commandment of God. Joshua was the closes one too everything that happened.

He was a Missionary. Numbers 13:8

Was also one of the 12 spies sent out into the Promise Land to scout it out and see the course of action. Listen to Joshua report: Numbers 14:7-9 The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. If the Lord is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will swallow them up. Their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them. (NIV)

Joshua was only one of 2 out of the 12 that said take the Land God has promised us… And the people were ready to stone both him and Caleb…

He was a Leader. Numbers 27:18-23

Joshua was anointed by the Lord to lead the people of Israel after Moses was dead.

Now talk about filling some big shoes or sandals Joshua had some pretty big ones to fill in what Moses left as a legacy...

Question: What is a Leader?

Leadership is the activity of influencing people to cooperate toward some goal which they come to find desirable. Ordway Tead

This was Joshua assignment from the Lord to influence the people of Israel to cooperating in the goal of taking possession of the Promise Land. Wow! And this was something that even Moses did not accomplish now Joshua will do it.

Can you just imagine Joshua standing on the banks of the Jordan river God is saying now you Joshua will lead these people… over a million people into this land I have been Promising and take possession of it.

Wow and in the middle of it all Now Joshua had some traps in Leading:

He had struggles in delegation.

Alright, leading a million people and keeping them organized and together… So Joshua had to learn how to delegate…

For any great leader you must learn how to release things and allow others to take on the responsibility to lead in the area God is calling.

If a leader does not delegate he will become over worked and overloaded.

At Calvary it can be no different… I must delegate and others must lead.

He battled the internal vs. external priorities.

Joshua have the very difficult task of keeping the people balanced between the physical task of conquering the land and the less obvious task but more important task of maintaining spiritual vitality.

This is the same task we will face this year… we must keep the Lord first in our assignment or we will lose the battle that God has called Calvary to do.