Finishing The Journey Of Faith
Pastor Glenn Newton 2-27-00
Text : Joshua 23 (Read)
Faith - Faith is the bird that feels the light and sings to greet the dawn while it is still dark.
This morning I want to encourage you in your Faith, My goal this morning through God’s
Word is to affirm in you that God is Fighting for you, He will not lose, and you cannot
lose as you put your Faith in Him.
If your tired this morning, God can pick you up.
If your discouraged this morning, God wants to encourage you, lift your spirits.
If your frightened about the future, God wants to let you know, His Grace will be
Sufficient no matter your circumstances.
If your having a hard time trusting, God wants you to know that He is the Promise
Keeper, He’s Faithful, He is True, He is Righteous, He cannot deceive you because He is
Truth.
If your Excited about being a Christian and your Faith, God wants you to know,
you have allot to be excited about and it’s only going to get better!
God has really helped me to better understand Faith, and how it truly applies to my
everyday life, my prayer is that everyday that I will walk, and live a life of Faith. I don’t
want to live another day just based on my own strength and my own understanding,
because that’s not going to get the job done for what God has in mind for our church.
God used two different people this week to confirm again in my mind and heart that Our
Vision of a Church that brings New Hope to the lost, to the discouraged, to the down and
out, a vision that ministers to Families, and reaches out to single parents, to those who
have gone through divorce, The New Hope Message is so desperately needed in Johnson
County, AR. and it needs to be shared today.
I am going to ask you to do something this morning, you that are here this morning are the
real promoters for our church, you are the mouthpiece that God wants to use to tell
people about His New Hope Message. I want to challenge you to share the vision of our
church with at least one person this week, and every week. Find a way to share the vision,
and as you do, it will become a part of you, and at the same time you will be speaking
Words of Faith, believing that God is going to do what your talking about.
How can you do this? Talk about our dream for a Christian ministry to children
through day-care. New Hope for the Next Generation, maybe that’s what we will call it,
but share the vision and how we want to share Jesus with the little ones in our community
because we believe it’s important.
You can talk about our dream to build a Multi-purpose facility. The reason we
want to build a multi-purpose building is so we can do Multi-Ministry in that building. We
can have great Worship services, We can have plenty of room for our Fellowships/Dinners
which are so important to the Body of Christ, We will have a facility where we can have
activities for Teenagers and Children throughout the week, whether it’s sports, or
caravans, or quizzing, or on and on..... the facility will give us the freedom to do ministry
like we’ve never done it before.
I can see us bringing in some of the Best Southern Gospel Groups to sing a concert,
because we will have the room to have a concert. The possibilities are unlimited.
You can tell them that at New Hope we love people, we care for them, were not
interested in what they drive, what they have to wear to church, were not caught up with
what we see on the outside of the person, we are going to Care for that person who’s on
the inside and needs to feel and to see the Love of Jesus in action, and then they will be
able to Hear the message.
Will you be the New Hope Messenger this coming week? Please don’t be the
messenger of doom and gloom, In Modern language, Share the Hope, not the Dope.
Can you tell I spent two days with sixth graders this week.
This morning let me summarize our passage, or as so many of you love to do on Sunday
nights, let me put this passage into my own words.
Joshua is getting old, he’s ready to die ..... He has some very important words.....
In verse 3 He reminds the leaders and these gathered of what God had already
done for them, and says, “it was the Lord your God who fought for you.” He was
reminding them where there victory was.
Joshua then reminds them of the promises that God has given them, that they
would possess the Land, it would be theirs. He reminds them that God is a Promise
Keeper.
In verse 6-8 we read maybe the key to this whole passage on How to Finish in the
Faith. Let me read it to you one more time.
What Joshua is saying to these leaders, is this: And this is what we need to take to
heart. To have this Great Faith that God wants us to Have, To be able to have this Clear
Vision of What God wants to do in, and through our church, then we need to keep our
eyes and our minds focused on God.
We must not allow ourselves to be swayed to the left or the right, we can’t be
pulled into ungodly things and then expect to have a clear relationship with a Holy God.
When we have alliances with sinful things --- or even just questionable practices -- it saps
our spiritual strength and leaves us weak before the enemy.
My Friends, the only thing that can keep us from realizing the plans and the Vision
that God has laid out for us, Is US. Joshua knew this from personal experience. Do you
remember the story of Achan?
Bro. Magby reminded me of this last Sunday night during our Bible study, right
after the battle of Jericho, which was an amazing battle of Faith, God brought down the
walls of Jericho and all the people had to do was march around the city playing musical
instruments and praising God. Don’t tell me God can’t do what He wants to do, And He
just might do it in a crazy kind of way! Amen.
Anyway, the Israelites were coming off this great victory, and the disobedience on
one soldier named Achan brought the whole Israelite nation to a halt. Because of this one
soldier, the army suffered a humiliating defeat, not because God had lost his power, but
because something had separated the people from his Holy Companionship.... If you
remember, Joshua had to stop everything and root out the sin before this plan of God
could go on. What was Achan’s disobedience? After the victory they were to leave
everything, not take anything, Well, Achen took some of the plunder, and some engraved
gods of these defeated people.
My friends, we serve a jealous God, He will have no other god’s before him. If
there is something in your life that serves as an idol, anything that is more important to
you than God, then you are in grave spiritual danger.
The punishment for Achan was not a slap on the wrist. Everything Achan owned,
his possessions, his livestock, his family along with him were stoned in the desert.
So when Joshua is speaking to these leaders and reminding them of not going to
the left or the right, the people understand what he is saying.
We can allow things into our life that may seem harmless, but they can detour us
and shipwreck our Faith if we are not sensitive to the Holy Spirit.
Wrong conversation; the Bible has a lot to say about the tongue and it’s ability to
cause us spiritual death. Our conversation springs from what’s in our heart. If I have
anger, or hatred in my heart, it will come out in my conversation, there’s no stopping it. It
comes out in our attitudes.
Alliances with anything that is Ungodly, there’s allot of those things in our world
today. What you entertain yourself with can undercut your spiritual strength, it fills your
mind with ungodly thoughts and ideas, and it leads to a shipwreck of Faith.
Compromise your values, Cheating in business, dishonesty with your money, taxes,
with other people.
The apostle John wrote, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If
anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world --
the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does --
comes not from the Father but from the world”.
This morning Joshua would say it much like he did so many years ago, urging us to
be strong.... be careful to obey the Word of God.... and to not turn to the left or to the
right, but Keep your eyes on the Hope of Glory, the One who has went before us, who has
paid the price, who has won the victory, Keep your eyes on Jesus, the one we live for and
should be willing to die for, He is our Hope, and He will keep His promises to us. Amen?
Keep the Faith, Don’t be swayed, don’t be lulled to sleep, but instead you can be
about the business of the Father, How?
Why don’t you focus on being a messenger. What kind of Messenger?
How about a New Hope Messenger!
What’s your message?
Our message is always Christ! He is our Hope, and He is the Hope for our Community.
You can also share the Vision, today I’ve shared some of the things that I see, I have more
believe me, but if you accept this challenge to be a New Hope Messenger, My prayer, My
dream is that God would put His Vision for our church in your heart and mind ..... so you
will be able to share without thinking about it, it will be there. It will be fire in your belly!
May God give you the Fire!
