POSSESSING THE PROMISE
Joshua 1.1-18
S: Vision, Leadership and Change
C: Purpose of the Community
Th: A People with Purpose
Pr: MOVE FORWARD IN GOD’S STRENGTH.
Type: Inductive
I. POSSESSION (1-4)
II. PRESENCE (5-9)
III. PREPARATION (10-18)
PA: How is the change to be observed?
• Be a people of purpose.
• It is time for the Randall community to MOVE FORWARD IN GOD’S STRENGTH.
• We are to possess God’s promises and fulfill His mission.
Version: ESV
RMBC 04 June 06 AM
INTRODUCTION:
ILL Courage
A man dies and appears before St. Peter at the pearly gates. "Have you ever done anything of particular merit?" St. Peter asked.
"Well, I can think of one thing," the man offered. "Once, I came upon a gang of bikers, who were threatening a young woman. I directed them to leave her alone, but they wouldn’t listen. So, I approached the largest and most heavily tattooed biker and smacked him on the head, kicked his bike over, ripped out his nose ring, and threw it on the ground. I yelled, ’Now, back off!! Or you’ll answer to me!’"
St. Peter was impressed, "When did this happen?"
"Just a couple minutes ago."
You know, there is such a thing as a fine line between courage and foolishness.
But…
1. There are times in our lives that we know we must muster the courage to move forward.
We are beginning a study of the book of Joshua today that will take us through the rest of the year.
It is a story of promise.
It is a narrative that expresses the great expectations God has for each one of us.
It is an account that calls on us to enter into the land God has prepared for us – to live by faith the adventure to which we have been called.
It is a lesson of spiritual victory!
And it is all done with courage and purpose.
2. Joshua was a man of courage.
Before we study the book with the title of his name, we find him acting as Moses’ right hand man.
First, we find that…
2.1 He was the commanding officer in the battle against the Amalekites (Exodus 17.8-16).
In Exodus 17, after escaping from Egypt, the Israelites have to face the Amalekites.
Already, Joshua is the general in charge.
Moses was on a hill giving overnight to the battle.
When Moses’ arms were up in the air, the Israelites were winning.
And when he could not hold them up, Joshua and his troops suffered loss.
Discovering this, Aaron and Hur held up Moses’ arms during the course of the battle.
The second time we meet Joshua…
2.2 He stood post and waited for Moses as he met God on the mountain (Exodus 24.13, 33.11).
Again in Exodus, Joshua went with Moses up on the mountainside, and then waited until he returned.
Forty days later, Moses comes back down and finds Joshua faithfully at his post.
When they both returned to the camp, they found the camp in rebellion, having made a golden calf to worship.
Together, Moses and Joshua repress the rebellion.
The third time we meet Joshua…
2.3 He, along with Caleb, had given the favorable report when spying out the land (Numbers 14.1-12).
In Numbers 14, we find the story that sets up the book of Joshua.
Moses sent twelve spies into the Promised Land to check out what they were facing.
But the majority report was in opposition to the good report given by Joshua and Caleb.
And though the nation was commanded to go in and take it for their possession, they refused to obey.
As a result, they wandered in the wilderness for another forty years until the doubting and disobedient generation had passed away.
The final time we meet Joshua is in Deuteronomy when…
2.4 He was Moses’ chosen successor (Deuteronomy 31.23).
Now…
3. In today’s study, we are introduced to Joshua as the new leader of Israel and his priorities.
OUR STUDY:
I. POSSESSION (1-4)
(1) After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said 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, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel. (3) Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses. (4) From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory.”
Well…
4. The time of transition had finally arrived.
Moses was done.
He had faithfully completed his assignment, and now was eternally with the Lord.
And now that he was gone, Moses received the type of treatment that he did not get when he was leading.
He was trusted, loved, and revered.
People immediately forget what they did not like.
In the same way, just as I am unlike those who have preceded my ministry here – Joshua was not Moses.
God does not call duplicates.
But God did choose the replacement.
Joshua would take Moses’ place.
But note how it did not happen…
It was not a political process.
It was not a popularity vote.
It was not something that Joshua earned.
No, it was not any of those things.
But it was…it was God’s appointment.
Joshua is the man in charge, and God communicates that…
5. Now it is time to get going.
God is prepared to bring them into a larger place of blessing.
Their territory is about to be expanded to everywhere they set their feet – the very same promise given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Joshua was encouraged to take a look for himself.
Looking from the east, he was to observe what was to become the fulfillment of promise.
He was to look to the wilderness in the south – it was theirs.
He was to look to Lebanon and beyond to the north – it was theirs.
He was to look to all the way Mediterranean to the west – it was theirs.
It was their POSSESSION.
It was time to get going and do it.
II. PRESENCE (5-9)
(5) “No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. (6) Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. (7) Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. (8) This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful 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. (9) Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”
6. Joshua could count on God.
It is hard to follow a great leader.
We can be sure that Joshua felt a sense of inadequacy in trying to fill Moses’ sandals.
Given the circumstances of leading an indecisive people, Joshua could easily be discouraged.
But Joshua could be strong and courageous, because of God’s presence.
He could have the confidence that he would not be left in the lurch.
God does not walk out on his promises.
It is a lesson we all need to continually learn.
God’s PRESENCE is always with us.
We are not always aware and tuned in, but it does not change the fact.
His voice is always speaking
We are not always seeking it and listening, but it does not change the fact.
To keep his priorities straight…
7. Joshua was to keep God’s Word central to his life.
Note first, that a good leader is first a good follower.
If Joshua was going to be an effective leader, he must follow what God had revealed in the written word that had come through Moses.
He was not to look for some more special revelation.
Instead, he was to read the Word.
He was to talk about the Word.
He was to apply the Word.
And note this important distinction.
The instruction that is being given to Joshua is not conquest.
It is obedience.
You see, accordingly, the church does not need clever methods.
The church does not need increasingly clever people.
What God wants for the church is obedience that is informed and motivated by the living and abiding Word of God and directed by the Holy Spirit.
When that happens, success is the result.
Now success and prosperity, even in this context, is not about money.
It is about living in one’s proper place before God.
It is following the good path of humility, compassion, and justice.
It is the proper orientation and relationship with God and neighbor.
You see, these are the true matters that describe success and prosperity.
ILL Bible: How do you translate the Bible [modified]
Four pastors were discussing the pros and cons of various Bible translations and paraphrases. Eventually each stated which version, in his opinion, was the best.
The first minister said he used the King James because the Old English style is beautiful and produces the most reverent picture of the Holy Scriptures.
The second said he preferred the New American Standard Bible because he felt it comes nearer to the original Greek and Hebrew texts.
The third pastor said his favorite was the New International Version because his congregation was younger, and with its up-to-date English, its text flowed better than the others.
All three men waited while the fourth minister sat silently.
Finally he said, “I guess when it comes to translations of the Bible, I like my Dad’s translation best. He put the Word of God into practice every day. It was the most convincing translation I’ve ever seen.”
May the same be said of us as well.
For this is what happens when we truly meditate on His Word.
III. PREPARATION (10-18)
(10) And Joshua commanded the officers of the people, (11) “Pass through the midst of the camp and command the people, ‘Prepare your provisions, for within three days you are to pass over this Jordan to go in to take possession of the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess.’” (12) And to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh Joshua said, (13) “Remember the word that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, saying, ‘The LORD your God is providing you a place of rest and will give you this land.’ (14) Your wives, your little ones, and your livestock shall remain in the land that Moses gave you beyond the Jordan, but all the men of valor among you shall pass over armed before your brothers and shall help them, (15) until the LORD gives rest to your brothers as he has to you, and they also take possession of the land that the LORD your God is giving them. Then you shall return to the land of your possession and shall possess it, the land that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise.” (16) And they answered Joshua, “All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. (17) Just as we obeyed Moses in all things, so we will obey you. Only may the LORD your God be with you, as he was with Moses! (18) Whoever rebels against your commandment and disobeys your words, whatever you command him, shall be put to death. Only be strong and courageous.”
The last time Joshua had been in the Promised Land, he was turned around and made to wander.
He learned some important lessons since then.
He learned that the majority is not always right.
He learned that disbelief is fatal.
He learned that the only thing that matters in the long run is trusting and obeying God.
Having learned those lessons…
8. Joshua put the plan into motion.
Now, what Joshua did not do at this point was appoint some committee to discuss river crossings.
He did not say that they needed a committee to talk about building bridges or making boats.
He tells the people to make adequate PREPARATION.
He said, “Get your stuff together – we are going.”
There was no choice in the matter.
There was not discussion.
There was not a majority report.
There was no dissension.
There was only obedience.
They were to go in and take possession of the land.
This was already a given.
God had given it.
They were to take it.
But not on their own.
They were doing this all by God’s power and strength.
Then…
9. Joshua reminded them about their responsibilities.
He reminds the 2½ tribes – Reuben, Gad, and ½ of Manasseh – they have a responsibility to participate in the taking of the land, even though their tribes were staying east of the Jordan.
They too were to cross and conquer.
Joshua cares about unity.
He knows there is a common good.
Therefore, these tribes are to keep their promises so that the nation of Israel would be a united people in conquering the land and worshipping the Lord.
They were to stand shoulder to shoulder.
They were to stand with one another.
They were to fight for one another.
And though Joshua is not Moses, He is appointed by the same Lord, and therefore, he must be obeyed.
This was something that they did not fail to recognize.
APPLICATION:
The book of Joshua is a good book for our church family to study during these days, because we are to be a people of purpose.
We, too, are being asked to move forward, to something deeper in regard to the fulfillment of the kingdom of God.
ILL Present: William LaSor
God expects each generation to get up on its own feet and face its own problems. God does not want us to stand around saying, “Well, now, look at Moses. There was a great man! We will never have another man like Moses!”…Moses is dead. Great man that he was, he is dead. Get up and face the problems of your day and your age! Arise, go over this Jordan. Do not long for the past. Do the work of the present, and God says, “I will be with you.”
You see, here at Randall, because of our successful past, we cannot be caught idolizing the past.
To do so is disastrous.
For it compromises the present.
One is so busy trying to mimic or repeat the past, one fails to obey God in the now.
Not only that, it discounts the future.
When one desires the past over the present, it paralyzes action for the future.
We will never plan to aggressively meet the new challenges that are coming because what we really want is the past.
So how do we change that?
ILL Faithfulness: Starting Simple Like Saint Francis of Assisi
The Assisi countryside in Italy, like much of Europe in the 1200s, was dotted with chapels, churches, and abbeys, each dedicated to one saint or another. Some were well endowed, but many were neglected, and most had a priest who depended on the generosity of locals to sustain him and the church.
San Damiano, a little less than a mile below Assisi, was such a church. It was guarded by olive trees and had a sweeping view of the wheat fields on the plain below. The church itself was in general disrepair; the walls crumbled all about it, and the priest eked out an existence. He didn’t even have enough money to buy oil, let alone a lamp, to burn continually in the church.
On one of his country walks, Francis of Assisi decided to step into the chapel. In scattered light, he made his way to the front to pray.
How long he prayed and what exactly he said is unclear. But sometime in the middle of his prayer, Francis heard Christ speak to him: "Francis, go and repair my house, which, you can see, is all being destroyed."
Francis, up to this point in his life, had never experienced such a direct spiritual communication. He was "more than a little stunned," one of his biographers notes, "trembling and stuttering like a man out of his senses."
He pulled himself up from prayer and then pulled himself together. He vowed to carry out the command as quickly and as literally as he knew how: he found masonry, mortar, trowels, and other supplies, and began repairing the church he had been praying in.
Francis later became the key figure in the 13th-century revival of the church, a church that was racked with moral corruption from the pope to the local priest. Francis, at least for a time, was able to stem the tide of immorality. But it is interesting to note how he began repairing the medieval church as a whole: he started with the little chapel in front of him.
A lot of times we wish we could change the world, and who knows, maybe we are called to that eventually. But we are wiser to follow the example of Francis of Assisi: to do the little thing, the simple thing right in front of us, and let God take care of the world.
As Jesus put it, those faithful in small things will be faithful in large things.
Citation: Mark Galli, Francis of Assisi and His World (Lion, 2002)
There are some tremendous challenges before us here at Randall.
Many, of which, include an aging and increasingly uninviting building (this happens with a building that ages and styles change).
Recently, we took one of those small steps and revamped the Junior room.
The Primary room is soon to follow.
These are small things, but there are larger things to come.
The Building Committee got its start this week with a charge to mane Randall handicap accessible, and to improve and remodel the narthex area.
But this is not all, another portion of the charge encourages the committee to look further down the road to future needs and improvements.
This being so…
10. It is time for the Randall community to MOVE FORWARD IN GOD’S STRENGTH.
We must exercise caution at this point, for there are certainly limits to what a building program will do for us.
It does not make us more spiritually mature.
It does not make us more evangelistic.
It does not make us more worshipful.
Some building changes may help us to do those more effectively, but essentially, these are matters of the soul.
I believe God has been calling us for sometime to move forward in this building project, but it is not the only area.
He also challenges us to be obedient in loving Him more and loving our neighbor more.
It is as Pastor Cho of Seoul, Korea has said, that the key to ministry success is simple – hear and obey.
Here we should take a clue from the history of Israel that when they refused to obey, they ended up wandering in the wilderness.
We should be careful to not repeat their mistake, for if we do not obey, we will be left to wilderness living, still in existence, but wandering and ineffective.
You see…
11. We are to possess God’s promises and fulfill His mission.
We need to join together now.
We need to stand side by side, willing to do whatever it takes to be more effective now, and prepared for the future.
As believers in the Lord Jesus, then, we will truly fulfill our motto by reflecting His life and person…
Living by Faith…
Known by Love…
A Voice of Hope.
Then we will truly be a people of purpose.
COMMUNION:
Gen 1:26-27
26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."
27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
Matt 3:13-17
Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. 14 John would have prevented him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" 15 But Jesus answered him, "Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." Then he consented. 16 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; 17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased."
Matt 28:19-20
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
2 Cor 13:14
14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
Those verses have a common theme this morning.
Yes, it is the Trinity.
And it is the truth of the Trinity that teaches us the importance of community – that the three persons of the Godhead dwell in perfect unity together.
It is in this example that God calls us to live out among ourselves.
We are to dwell in perfect unity together.
God would have us do no less.
This is the truth that is communicated in our theme verse for the year – Acts 2.42:
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
Church is a plural affair.
We are designed for community.
And it is here we find our most essential unity.
It is in Jesus.
It is He who makes us a people of the table.
We come together to remember Jesus, to worship Him, to be a grateful people and feast together on His grace and mercy.
This is what makes us a community today.
Those of us that know Jesus are invited to share in the elements of the table.
You do not have to be a member of this church to partake, but we do ask that you have a relationship with Jesus.
If you do not know Jesus, that is, you have not received Him as your Savior and Lord, you do not trust Him with your life, that is, you have not been changed by the message, just let the elements pass by.
Please wait until the time comes when you do have that personal relationship with the Lord Jesus.
We practice “communion” because we are to remember the death of the Lord Jesus.
We take the bread to remind us that it was by the body of our Savior that our salvation came.
He died in our place.
He became our substitute.
Being led in prayer by ____, let us take a moment and thank Him for being our sacrifice.
(Prayer)
The apostle Paul writes, "The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me."
Let’s partake together.
We take the cup to remind us that it was by the blood of our Savior that our salvation came.
He died for our sins.
He became our sacrifice.
It is here we rejoice in the forgiveness we have received.
____ will now come and lead us in prayer.
Again, the apostle Paul writes, "In the same way, after supper he took the cup saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me."
Let’s partake together.
1 Cor 15:57-58
57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
BENEDICTION: [Counselors are ]
Let’s move forward in God’s strength…in the recognition that when God calls us, He calls us to possess that which He has already determined to be ours; therefore, it is a matter of obedience, not conquest.
Let’s move forward in God’s strength…in the recognition that when God calls us, He does not call us to anything that He will not be present for; therefore we can move forward in confidence.
Let’s move forward in God’s strength…to be determined to be effective in the now, no longer looking back, but ready and prepared for the battle before us; and therefore, preparing the future of successive generations.
Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
RESOURCES:
Sermoncentral:
Goins, Doug Follow the Leader
Grant, Steven Simala Which Way to the Milk and Honey?
Hunter, Bob Get Ready
Tow, Richard Leadership Transition
Wike, Monte Call to Courage
Books:
Boice, James Montgomery. Joshua: An Expositional Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1989.
Campbell, Donald K. No Time for Neutrality. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1981.
Creach, Jerome F. D. Joshua Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching, ed. James L. Mays. Louisville: John Knox Press, 2003.
Goslinga, C. J. Joshua, Judges, Ruth. Translated by Ray Togtman. Bible Student’s Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Regency Reference Library, 1986.
