As we continue to talk about our Mis-Quoted series…I wanted to focus a little bit on the different things God called His people to do in the Scriptures…WE are going to talk about a guy who, in all honesty, was not equipped to do what God was asking Him to do…but we as His people are called to things much greater than ourselves…
Have you ever been asked to do something that you just did not feel equipped to do? This happens to me, probably literally every single day of my life…I’ve told you before about how I felt about being an officer…I thought God had gotten it wrong…There was no way I would ever have been able to stand up in front of people and preach! Are you kidding me? That’s my worse fear! Public speaking! And that uniform? No thank you! You mean me, shy, scared of her own shadow Emily Horn has to go and talk to people she doesn’t know about Jesus? What if they reject me? What if I don’t know what to say? What if they ask me something I don’t know the answer to? What if I have to pray with them? Nope! No thanks, I’m good…pick someone else…I ran from my calling for almost 14 years…When I finally said yes, I realized that God had been equipping me, and was continuing to equip me to do the things He had called me to do…
The main character in our scripture today was going through a huge transitions in his life, and was facing some of the same questions when he was faced with the great call that God had placed on his life…The Israelites had been following Moses for years…they followed him out of Egypt, they followed him through the desert for 40 years…but now…Moses had died, and God was calling Joshua to lead His people into the promised land…
(Read Scripture Joshua 1:1-18)
God was calling Joshua to do something great! But Joshua required a few things in order to accomplish the task that God was calling Him to do…The first thing we see that God is requiring of Joshua is that he needed courage…
After looking at the scripture, what sticks out to you the most? For me, it’s the number of times God tells Joshua to “Be strong and courageous!”…This was apparently a very important factor for Joshua to grasp! Why do you think God said it to him so many times? Do you think He knew what kind of thoughts were going through Joshua’s mind when God was telling him this? Moses had just died…Moses had been the chosen one of God…the man that brought the Israelites out of Egypt…Joshua was nothing compared to Moses in the eyes of the people…but God does not see anyone as nothing…can you imagine the things Joshua was thinking? How can God call me to do this? Will the Israelites even listen to me? How can I possibly do this? I am not good enough…
We all know the story of the Cowardly Lion from that classic movie, “The Wizard of Oz”…the Lion, who seemed big and tough on the outside, but who was really as scared as a mouse when he faced something that seemed too big for him to tackle…when watching the movie, we could see when he was scared because he would stroke his tail and cry…The Wizard had to show him, that he had courage all along, inside of his heart…it had nothing to do with the medal of courage he was given…he had it all along…he just needed to believe in himself.
God calls people to do things He knows they cannot do by themselves…it is Him working through us that He does His great works…He knew that Joshua was not capable by himself to do what He was calling him to do…He knew what Joshua needed to hear…He knew that Joshua needed to be reminded that He would be with him, and that he needed to be “strong and courageous”. He needed to show the people that he was just as capable as Moses was…and God reminds Joshua once again at the end of the passage, when the PEOPLE say to Joshua, “be strong and courageous”…I think God might have been trying to tell Joshua something…
When God calls us to do something, we are able to meet anything He puts into our path with courage…why? Because we have God on our side! “If God is for us, then who can be against us?”. That’s another one that gets misquoted or misused all too much…
In this scripture he tells Joshua to be strong and courageous…but he doesn’t say, now go and do it all on your own…
Our God has allowed us to be a part of His great plan…and we are able to have courage to fight the good fight…We are never left alone. We are always promised His great presence…He will be right beside us, fighting for us, and we cannot be afraid…we are called to be full of courage!
Joshua needed courage, but he also needed character…
God calls people of character to do His amazing work…
The comedian/actor Jim Carey is a man of many characters…in his biography, Jim talks about how when he was younger, he would sit in front of the mirror for hours, working on different facial expressions and voices…trying to perfect the different characters he was creating, in order to entertain the world…Some of those characters we know very well, like the “Ace Ventura, Pet Detective”, or “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas”…or even, “Bruce Almighty”, where Jim actually played God for a bit…these are interesting characters, and Jim is a very good character actor…but this is not the kind of
It takes a lot of guts to follow God’s call…some call it faith, some call it insanity…but God calls it character…Joshua had character…We see a bit of Joshua’s character earlier in the Old Testament. In the book of Numbers, in chapter 13 and 14, Moses sends some of his people into the land of Canaan to see the land that God had promised them. But most of the spies were too afraid of the people who lived in that land…apparently, the inhabitants of that land looked like giants to the Israelites…when the spies returned home they told everyone what they had seen, and their stories scared the Israelites…everyone was so afraid of the giants, they just knew that they would kill them if they tried to take the land…Only two of the spies continued to have faith in the God that took them out of Egypt…the God who sent plagues on their enemies…the God who guided them by a pillar of fire and a pillar of cloud throughout the desert…Joshua was one of the two men who spoke up against the other spies…who tried to convince the Israelites that they should continue with the plan God had given them, no matter how scared they were, because he knew that God would carry them through and would fight for them…in fact, Joshua was so vocal about it, that the Israelites were about to stone him and the other spy Caleb, just to make them be quiet! It takes real character to stand up for the things you know are right…it takes real character to fight for them…and it takes real character to continue to follow God’s calling even when we are afraid…
When God provides us with an opportunity to follow His call in our lives, He provides us with a chance to display real character to the world…we have that opportunity today…it takes a man or woman of real character to follow God, in a world that would rather you turn your back on Him completely…it’s not an easy world to be a Christian, in this day and age…but when things are scary, and when we feel that there is no way out…we need to remember the ways that God has fought for us and for our ancestors in the past…For He will continue to fight for us today…but we have to have faith that He will…we have to believe that He will continue to fulfill His promises…and that takes character…we have to be, and can be, men and women of character…
Joshua needed courage, he needed character, and finally, he needed commitment…
Can you imagine what would happen if Noah had not been committed to following God’s plan? What about Moses? The history of the Israelites would be very different today…What if Jesus wasn’t totally committed to following God’s plan…What would happen if YOU weren’t totally committed to God’s plan?
When God calls us to do something, we need to be committed to it in order for us to follow it to completion. We saw Joshua’s determination to complete God’s plan earlier in Numbers…but in our scripture today, we only see the beginning of the story…later on in the book of Joshua, we see how God calls the Israelites to walk around the walls of Jericho 7 times…and how they are ridiculed by the inhabitants of that city, every time…we see how silly it must have seemed to the Israelites when they are told they are going to take over the city, by walking around the city walls…Joshua really needed to be committed to this plan in order for it to work…he really needed to be committed to following WHATEVER God said, in order to follow it through to completion…and we all know what happened at the end of this story…On the last day of walking around the city…the Israelites walked around the city 7 times, and when the trumpets blew, and the Israelites shouted and made lots of noise…the walls literally fell down…because Joshua was committed, God fulfilled His promises…because Joshua was committed, the walls came tumbling down!
When we are committed to doing the work of the Lord, and following God’s call no matter what, God can do amazing things through us…Can you imagine the things God can do through you if you are committed to following Him? Amazing, Wonderful, Impossible things…even greater things then this…when we are committed God works through us to accomplish His great tasks! We can do GREAT THINGS when we are committed to doing the work of the Lord!
God was calling Joshua to do some pretty amazing things…but Joshua needed to posses some things to be able to accomplish the things God was calling him to do…Joshua needed to have courage, he didn’t need to be afraid of anything that was coming his way…he needed to have character, He needed to be faithful to what God was calling him to…and lastly, he needed to be committed…it takes a lot to follow God’s calling to completion…it requires a lot of commitment…
I want you to understand really what I am talking about here…
There are so many times in scripture when God calls someone to do something…and they say no, or they run, or they try to find reasons for someone else to do it…
Guys…when God calls you to do something…He isn’t really calling YOU to do it…but He is asking that you be WILLING, so that He can do it…can He do it without you.? Sure, but wouldn’t you rather be a part of something AMAZING?
The things God can do through you…will boggle your mind…YOU are not doing it…It is Him in you…
Something that always bothered me was how people talk about when Peter walked on water…first of all…how many people think that Peter was doing this all by himself? Oh peter…ye of little faith…in himself? Did peter have little faith in himself? No! he had little faith in God…and also…Jesus never asked Peter to come out on the water…Peter asked Jesus to “prove” it was him and have him go out on the water…and all Jesus said was “come”…and peter was totally doing it…until he took his eyes and focus off of Jesus…and started looking all around at the things that could hinder his walk…only then did he sink…when he stopped relying on the Lord…and instead made it all about him…
I love Peter…because he is the kind of guy who just wants to be apart of whatever Jesus is apart of…but he totally gets it wrong…so often…he reminds me of, well, me..
It was through Jesus that he was able to walk on water…not himself…
What kinds of things is God calling you to do? what would happen if you said no to His call? We are able to do the things He calls us to do! We don’t need to be afraid! We are able to have courage! We can be faithful, and be full of character! We can be committed to it, and follow it through to completion…these are the things God has promised us, and He will equip up to do them!
Are you not following through with something God is calling you to do? Are you even saying no to Him? You don’t have to be afraid…if God has called you to do it, than He will equip you to do it! You will be amazed by the things God can do through you!
If you feel Him calling you to do something…or if you are questioning God on something…today is the day to meet with Him…come to the alter and meet with Him today…we are going to Listen to a song this morning…and as we do, think about the things that God can do through you if you let Him…come to the alter today, and meet with Him today…Do you know Him? Do you need to meet Jesus face to face this morning…this time is precious, because we finally have a short, devoted about of time to spend in prayer…to have people pray with us…this is not a place of shame, or a place where everyone is looking to see who went to the alter…it’s a private time between you and God…don’t miss it…don’t let it pass you by…come and meet with Him this morning…
