We Need An Anchor
11/8/2014
Gathering Service
Joshua 1:6-9 (NIV)
6 "Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them.
7 Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go.
8 Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.
9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."
1. When I Was A Boy Sunday Morning Fishing?
2. We went to where the fish were?
3. No Matter How Peaceful The Water Looked- We Dropped An Anchor
4. The Anchor kept us from drifting away?
5. No boat is ever completely still when its on the water—its moving the direction of the current or the wind however small.
6. We like to think we are walking on solid ground, but we are not. The culture around us is always shifting, moving, and dragging us forward
7. When the big cruise ships come in, they tie them to the pier, because they know they will drift.
8. Have you considered the possibility of drifting
1. not intentional, simply swept along, current,
2. Anchor Too Light,
3. Anchor wrong properties
4. Anchor With The Right Length To Hit The Bottom
Most of Us Are Not Going To Run After A Big Sin?
1. Don’t Wake Up Thinking What Good Sin Will I Do To day?
2. Most Will Pray The Opposite. Lord help me to be faithful?
3. What we really have to fight, is the drift. We have to carry the anchor with us.
4. The anchor needs to be heavy enough to keep us from moving, and deep enough to reach the bottom
a. Know where you are to better prepare your anchor
Jesus offered us a hope for living in this life that is to be like an anchor for us as we travel this journey. He said, John 16:33 (NIV) 33 "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." Our hope in Christ is to provide us an anchor for our soul, to avoid the trap of drifting.
Nobody drifts into a closer relationship with God. Our very nature is to walk away from God, to walk away from Jesus—That’s why Jesus says come follow me. Jesus goes even further and says, you must make a decision everyday, to come follow me.
One of my favorite hymns is come thou fount of every blessing. It has a line in it that describes me and I’m still wrestling with it after all these years of following God. “It goes, prone to wonder, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love, take my heart Lord take and seal it, seal it to thy courts above.”
Have you ever heard a message, been to a workshop, or had an experience that just set you on fire for God and you make these changes in your life, you see the benefits of the change, but somehow, you drift away from doing the things, that made the difference. Before long you are almost right back where you were when you started. Your anchor was somehow pulled up and you didn’t notice it.
Moses leading People out of Egypt. Got To The Promised Land in two years.
Spent 40 years waiting to go in, because they quickly drifted from the Lord.
Moses sent in 12 Spies—Joshua one of the 12- Came Back With Good Report
Joshua and Caleb only men left over age 62.—Moses has died.
God tells Joshua be strong and very courageous----Now the people in the land had been described as giants, as powerful, and fierce, but God knew that Joshua was not going to be afraid of them—Joshua was convinced they could have whipped them years ago. Joshua has since seen how they have wiped out powerful kingdoms.
God knew the nations of Canaan were not going to be the greatest threat to Joshua’s leadership and walk with God.
It was going to be Joshua’s willingness to stand by and obey the word of God.
Joshua 1:6-9 (NIV)
6 "Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them.
7 Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go.
8 Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.
9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."
Joshua was going to face the enemy of compromise with the Word of God.
Obey all my law Moses Gave. Don’t go to right or left, don’t let the book depart. Meditate on it day and night. Do Everything written in it. Then you will be successful. We think our success in life is going to be determined by trying to get what we want and coming up with our own strategy for it.
We begin to make compromises.
We pick and choose which parts of the word of God we will believe and follow and which parts we won’t.
We actually divide our lives into corners of obedience, some what obedience, and disobedience with the understanding that God understands our actions in this area.—God knows my heart.
Without an anchor—we will be tempted to go along with the crowd. It will happen quicker than we think.
God did 10 miracles including some powerful plagues to get his people out of Egypt. In less than 6 months, Moses had been gone for 40 days.
The people gathered around Aaron—We don’t know what has happened to that guy Moses who brought us out of Egypt, make us some gods that will lead us.
Aaron felt pressured by the people to make a compromise with them and create a god they could see. Aaron wasn’t anchored and he was afraid without Moses being there.
He compromised and created a new god, a golden calf more to their liking. These are the gods who brought you out of Egypt. These new gods allowed everybody to do whatever they wanted to do. Within two days, the people were totally out of control. Moses came back and found them acting like people who never heard of any of God’s rules, Moses asked who is for the Lord.
All the Levites came to him. They killed three thousand of the people who were the most out of control.
God knew that Joshua would face the same kind of pressure Aaron had faced.
Who’s pressuring you to create a new god for direction?
Being Religiously correct was just as much a problem as being Politically Correct then.
What happens when the Word of God is no longer Politically Correct.
Many will choose another god, thinking they still have the same God.
If you want success, its found in being obedient to God. I heard the other day, the opposite of success is not failure. The opposite of success is unfaithfulness.
Listen to what Jesus says, Luke 21:12-19 (NIV)
12 "But before all this, they will lay hands on you and persecute you. They will deliver you to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name.
13 This will result in your being witnesses to them. 14 But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves. 15 For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict. 16 You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. 17 All men will hate you because of me. 18 But not a hair of your head will perish. 19 By standing firm you will gain life.
It doesn’t sound like our team is winning.
Doesn’t sound like God is going to show up right on time.
Doesn’t sound like we’re going to be able to get along with everybody or that they want to get along with us.
God is calling us in this passage to lose in order to win. He’s calling us to be faithful.
It’s funny how the very things we hope can never happen are already being faced by our brothers and sisters today.
Many people are turning to the left and right of God’s word to be accepted for whatever reason. Some people just want others to know they are accepted by them. Some people want to show love, come people do not want to lose fans, and some do not want to lose their jobs. Jesus said,
Luke 14:26-27 (NIV)
26 "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters--yes, even his own life--he cannot be my disciple.
27 And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
How much of ourselves are we willing to surrender to the Spirit of God. Are we willing to walk in the Spirit to avoid putting ourselves in areas of temptation, to avoid choosing to compromise, or to avoid chasing after our own dreams at any cost.
I want to serve the God who created this world and gave us laws of protections because He loves us, knows us, and knows where we are headed. I want to be strong and courageous for God. I want to be like Moses in Hebrews 11:24-26 (NIV)
24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter.
25 He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. 26 He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.
Nothing will cause us to drift further than the false belief that we can vote to change the word of God and it not affect what happens to us in this life as well as in the life to come.
God’s desire for Joshua was that Joshua could be successful with his life. But remember, even when God grants us success, there will still be the temptation to drift. No matter where we are, or how high or low we go, Jesus has to continue to be our anchor.
