Going Forward for God
Joshua 1:1-9
Sermon by Rick Crandall
McClendon Baptist Church - May 3, 2009
*May is the month for graduations. Lord willing, in two weeks we will be headed down to Baton Rouge for Katie’s LSU graduation. I don’t think I have ever been happier about a graduation. I am almost giddy -- like I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!
*Well, this morning I am speaking to our graduates. But don’t you tune out, because God’s Word has something to say to all of us.
-God wants you to go forward!
-God wants you to go forward into the best life you can possibly have.
-How can we do that?
1. First: Get a vision of the victory God wants for you.
*In vs. 1-4 the Lord gave Joshua a vision of great victory:
1. After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant,
2. “Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them the children of Israel.
3. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses.
4. From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the River Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your territory.”
*Moses had faithfully served the Lord for over 40 years -- But Moses was dead.
-Except for Joshua and Caleb, the oldest among them had only been 19 when they left Egypt. Now it was time for a new generation to rise up and win the victories God had prepared for them.
*Rise up young Christians! This is your time for victory. Day by day, from faith to faith, God passes the torch to a new generation of believers.
-Now is the time for you to dedicate yourself to the cause of Jesus Christ.
-Get a vision of the victory God wants for you, and commit yourself to win those victories.
*This challenge is not just for the young people. Joshua was at least 60 years old when God called him to rise up and go over into the new land.
-If you wake up in the morning, I promise you that God has new victories in store for you. Dedicate yourself to winning those spiritual victories.
*God has new opportunities for His people. For us as a church, this is easy to see, as we stand on the threshold of opening a new building for our children and preschoolers. Those two age groups have totaled over a hundred these past few weeks, with over 60 in Preschool. They had to move furniture out of one room to make room for the children. But in just a few months, we will get to move the children into a first class facility.
*Thank you to everyone who is helping to make this dream come true! But let me also tell you that if we are going to have the victory God wants us to have as a church, we must have more workers, more teachers and helpers, especially in our children’s program. When Jesus saw the multitudes in Matthew 9:36, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.
37. Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.
38. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.’’
*I would like to take the opportunity right now to pray for all of the laborers we will need for His harvest. (Prayer for vision and equipping of workers)
*God has new opportunities for His people, new opportunities to go, help, serve and give. God has new opportunities for you to make a difference in other people’s lives, -- New victories for us all. But you have to get a vision for the victory.
*Andy Stanley says: A clear vision, along with the courage to follow through, dramatically increases your chances of coming to the end of your life, looking back with a deep satisfaction and thinking “I did it. I succeeded. I finished well. My life counted.”
*Without a clear vision, odds are you will come to the end of your life and wonder what you could have done – what you should have done.
-And like so many, you may wonder if your life really mattered at all.
*Vision gives significance to the otherwise meaningless details of our lives.
-It’s not always about what we’re doing, but rather why we are doing it.
*How many of you would be excited to spend all day today filling bags with dirt?
-How many of you would be excited to spend all day today filling bags with dirt to build a dike around your city to keep it from being flooded? There’s nothing glamorous or fulfilling about filling bags with dirt, but saving a city is another thing altogether. . .” (1)
*Let me tell you that God wants you to help save something much more important than a city. God wants you to help people get connected with Jesus Christ, so they can be saved for all eternity. And that’s not all. God has all kinds of victories planned for you. And you can have them, if you will get a vision of the victory God wants for you.
2. But also take courage in God’s promises and presence.
*Yes, there are many opportunities out there for us. But there will also be challenges and much opposition when you try to follow God’s plan for your life. Vs. 4 reminds us that they were going into the land of the Hittites -- enemy territory. Vs. 6&7 remind us that it would take much courage for Joshua to go forward. There the Lord said:
6. Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.
7. Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go.
*It takes courage to be a Christian moving forward for God. James Merritt explained our opposition by saying: “I want to be honest and tell you there is a cost to following the will of God. When Israel crossed the Jordan it was immediately a declaration of war. It was a fight to the finish.
*There were seven powerful nations that were ready to meet them and beat them and keep them from taking the land: The Canaanites, the Hittites, the Hivites, the Perizzites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, and the Jebusites. Furthermore, they didn’t do this in one day, it took them fourteen years. -- You see, Canaan is occupied territory. The Christian life is not a frolic, it is a fight. -- It is not only a blessing, it is a battle. If you want victory in the Christian life, you must fight.” (2)
*It takes courage to be a Christian moving forward for God. -- It takes courage to do what God tells you to do. We see vicious opposition to Christianity around the world, especially in the Muslim countries. There is growing opposition in the former Soviet Union. That is why it is so important for us to do all we can to support the work over there. Our young friend from Ukraine is in Iowa right now, raising money for summer camp. And He will be here on May 24th to speak and to receive a love offering from our church.
*But there is growing opposition to Christ around the world. We see it in our own country. That is why young, Carrie Prejean has become an unlikely hero for the cause of Christian values. -- Carrie is Miss California, and on April 20th, she was favored to win the Miss USA Pageant. But gay, gossip-blogger Perez Hilton asked Carrie about homosexual marriage. This is a huge controversy, especially in California, where Proposition 8 won the vote last Nov. to restore marriage to being between a man and a woman.
*Carrie was under enormous pressure to give a politically correct answer. In that moment she could have caved-in to that pressure, because she knew her crown was at stake. But Carrie had the courage to take a Biblical stand on marriage, -- even though it did cost her the Miss USA crown, and she has been savaged in the press. (3)
*It takes courage to do what God tells you to do. And Joshua reminds us that we can find this courage in God’s promises and presence. Take courage from God’s promises. God had a great promise for Joshua in vs. 5, “No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life.” That promise was for Joshua, but there are over a thousand promises in the Word of God, -- And most of them are for you.
*Take courage in God’s promises and in His presence. In vs. 5 the Lord also told Joshua, “As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you.” Jesus Christ tells His people, “I will be with you.” Christian: That truth is bound to give you courage. It’s better than having a million Supermans on your side!
*Take courage in the Lord’s presence. Bill Bouknight summed it all up this way: Jesus will meet you at every fork in the road. If you have enough faith to ask, He will direct your path. (4)
3. So take courage in God’s promises and presence. But also saturate your life with Scripture.
*If you really want to go forward, you must saturate your life with Scripture.
-As the Lord told Joshua in vs. 8: “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”
*God want us to be fully committed to learn His Word, and to live by His Word.
-But that is a big challenge, because while over 90% of Americans own a Bible, 50% never read it, including 23% of all born-again Christians.
*Only 18% of Christians read the Bible every day, and 57% do not read the Bible other than when they are at church.
-10% of Americans think that Joan of Arc was Noah’s wife! (2)
*If you really want to go forward, you must saturate your life with Scripture.
-In vs. 8 the Lord is telling us to meditate on God’s Word, but what does that mean?
*It’s not the kind of mindless repetition we find in Eastern mysticism. Meditating here is simply spending time every day focused on the Scripture, spending time reading and studying the Bible. Meditating here is letting God’s Word touch your lips and mind, so that it can also touch your heart and actions.
*And God wants us to meditate with dedication. He told Joshua to “meditate on His Word day and night.” That’s a reasonable request, because there is so much for us to see in His Word. God wants us to meditate with dedication and expectation. He promises good success as His disciples if we will meditate and act on His Word.
*We should meditate on God’s warnings like Gal 6:7-8, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap. For he that sows to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that sows to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.”
*And 1 Peter 5:8: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour:
*We should also meditate on God’s wisdom for life like Matthew 11:28-29, where Jesus said: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”
*And James 1:5, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.”
*We should also meditate on God’s great works like the Creation and the miracles in the Old Testament and New.
*But mostly we should meditate on the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ:
-That Jesus died on the Cross for our sins and rose again from the dead.
-That He will save our souls if we will open our hearts to receive Him as Savior and Lord.
*Pastor William Stidger told the story of a man in his church who served in the Navy during World War II. One night, this man was running his transport across the Atlantic, when he noticed the white trail of a torpedo coming right toward his ship. It was a troop-transport filled with hundreds of soldiers. The possible loss of life was devastating.
*Nearby, the captain of a smaller ship had also seen the torpedo coming. And that captain had time to maneuver his ship between the transport and the torpedo. The explosion destroyed the smaller ship. Everyone on board died.
*Years later, as the surviving captain told his story to the preacher, he said, “Dr. Stidger, the skipper of that other ship was my best friend. -- You know, there is a verse in the Bible which has special meaning for me now. It’s this: “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (5)
*Jesus Christ said those words on the night before He died for our sins.
-Meditate on the truth that Jesus is our Best Friend.
-Meditate on His sacrifice and suffering.
-Meditate on His call to us in Matt 6:33: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”
4. Saturate your life with Scripture. -- But also rest in God’s reassurance.
*If you really want to go forward, you must rest in God’s reassurance.
*In vs. 9 the Lord repeated Himself when He said, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” It was the 3rd time the Lord repeated those words: “Be strong and of good courage.”
*It’s like God is asking, “Did you get that, Joshua?”
-So often we don’t. We are slow. -- I am so slow.
-But God is so patient to tell us over and over the things we need to know.
*Over and over, the Lord tries to reassure us: Seek the Lord, trust in the Lord, wait on the Lord. He really is the God of the Second Chance.
*I know that God will not strive with a man forever. And tragically, many people run out of time before they realize their need for Christ. But Moses got a second chance 40 years after killing an Egyptian slave master.
*And Joshua knew all about second chances. He had been here before. Forty years earlier, Joshua had been one of the 12 spies sent to check out the Promised Land. Joshua and Caleb were the only two who said, “Hey, we can do this because God promised it to us, and the Lord is on our side!”
*But the people sided with the 10 cowardly spies. And so through no fault of his own, Joshua spent 40 years wandering in the wilderness with the Children of Israel. -- But now he has a second chance.
-David got a second chance after his horrible sins.
-Jonah got a second chance after trying to run away from God
-Peter got a second chance after denying Jesus three times.
-Mark got a second chance after abandoning Barnabas and Paul on their first mission trip.
*Thank God that failure isn’t always final! -- God gives second chances!
-I know that He’s given me dozens of second chances!
*I was talking to a man this week who is going through some serious struggles.
-He is sorry for the damage he has done and he lamented that he could not go back and undo the damage.
-I said, “No, but you can go forward.” -- And that’s what we all need to do.
*Young people, older people: Go forward in victory for God!
-Has He no commanded us? “Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
1. Adapted from SermonCentral sermon “20 essential building blocks of vision - part 1” by David Derry - Nehemiah 1:1-4 - (This sermon series is based on the book “Visioneering” by Andy Stanley. Parts of this sermon are taken directly from the material contained in his book.)
2. Adapted from ChristianGlobe.com sermon “Going for the Gold” by James Merritt - Joshua 1:1-9
3. Multiple news sources
4. ChristianGlobe.com sermon “Don’t Be Afraid of the Future” by Bill Bouknight - John 20:1-18 or Matt 28:1-10 - Easter Day 2002
5. Wayne H. Keller, Emphasis, Nov./Dec., 1998, pp. 41-42. Preaching. (Found in “Dynamic Preaching” Apr/May/June, 2002.)
