3 WEEK SERIES? (4)

Pray

This past week I had the privilege of attending the Ohio Valley District Conference, and while I was there, I had the chance to connect with a number of local pastors in our district and to hear stories of change and transition within churches as well as work that the Lord is doing in through these Churches and communities. And it was also a nice time to get away with Kim for a few days, of course it’s a lot of work and effort, but it was nice to be there with my wife and get away for a few days.

By the way, Kim is in the nursery this morning, but when you see her, be sure to wish her a happy birthday. Her birthday was this past Friday, and we had the chance to celebrate with the kids. And also, Jordyn has a birthday this Friday, so do the same with her if you would…

But at district conference Jeff Miller went on to preach a message to these newly ordained workers within the alliance on Gideon and the message centered around this one key concept that gave Gideon success.

Then on Wednesday afternoon as I was driving home from the conference, Kim and I were listening to a sermon by Robert Morris, the senior pastor of Gateway Church and Robert Morris also did a message, this time on Joseph, but again… this message was on success. And here’s what the 2 messages had in common, for both Gideon, and Joseph, Moses and others, we see that their success is because of presence of God.

Think about that for a second, when you think of an increased presence of God in your life. How does that make you feel? Even just hearing the words. The presence of God… Can anyone relate that there is comfort in that this morning?

You see, the presence of God changes the entire situation. It takes matters from death to life. From hopeless to hopeful, from alone to friendship, from poor to rich, from defeated to victorious, from lost to found, from sinful to redeemed.

You see, I’m not sure where you are this morning in your walk with Christ. But my goal is that we would see a clear path where we have success in all areas of our lives. Where we are blessed and prosperous in each of the things that we put our hand to and where God’s favor rest upon you this morning. But it starts with the presence of God.

Would anyone this morning say that you could use some more success in your marriage, in your relationships, in your workplace, in your struggles? You see that’s where we are this morning.

If you have your bibles, turn with me to Joshua 6 and we’re actually going to begin with the ending of the scripture this morning… in other words, we’re going to focus on Joshua’s success as we start, with then, our shift in attention to how he got there.

1. And we see point 1. The Key to success is the presence of God.

In Joshua 6 we see the nation of Israel has Crossed the Jordan river and after the circumcision and Passover at Gilgal, Joshua and the people of Israel prepared to advance on the walls of Jericho.

And as the story goes, the armed men were not to scale the walls or use their archers to shoot down the opposing forces… but instead, the armed men were to march around the walls of the city 1 time for 6 days, then on the 7th day they were to march around the city 7 times. And as you know, the people listened to Joshua. The walls of Jericho came tumbling down, and the people went in and destroyed everyone except Rahab. The bible tells us: In Joshua 6:24 24 Then they burned the whole city and everything in it, but they put the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the Lord’s house. 25 But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho—and she lives among the Israelites to this day.

26 At that time Joshua pronounced this solemn oath: “Cursed before the Lord is the one who undertakes to rebuild this city, Jericho: “At the cost of his firstborn son, he will lay its foundations; at the cost of his youngest he will set up its gates.” 27 So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame spread throughout the land.

So, we’re starting at the end of the story because of this, not only did Joshua conquer Jericho and a host of other cities… but the main emphasis that I want us to see is that the secret to Joshua’s success is because why? Here’s the key, Verse 27 says: the Lord was with Joshua.

Now as we consider verse 27, I want to draw our attention back to Joshua on the edge of the Jordyn river earlier in Chapter 1. And here, we’ll spend most of our time this morning. We read that:

1 After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide: 2 “Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites. 3 I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. 4 Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. 5 No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. 6 Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.

So again, we see of the success which if you’ve read the scripture, you know Joshua will certainly have… but again, why was Joshua successful? Go back to verse 5 As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.

Church this morning, God is for you. God’s deepest desire is to be with you… but here’s the key, he wants to be with you in all areas of your life.

You see I’m reminded of General Jonathan Wainwright who was captured by the Japanese during WWII and held prisoner in a concentration camp. Wainwright was cruelly treated, he became "a broken, crushed, hopeless, and starving man." But then Finally, the Japanese surrendered, and the war ended. And a United States army colonel was sent to the camp to announce personally to the general that Japan had been defeated and that he was free and in command.

After Wainwright heard the news, he returned to his quarters and was confronted by some guards who began to mistreat him as they had done in the past. Wainwright, however, with the news of the allied victory still fresh in his mind, declared with authority, "No, I am in command here! These are my orders." From that moment on, General Wainwright was in control.

Friends, I wonder about us this morning… do we have the presence of God in our lives? You see, when we look at Joshua, his victory, had everything to do, not with his power… but with the power of God…

In Matthew 28:18-20 Jesus would speak with his disciples after the resurrection, we’re told: 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Church God desires to be with you. And the key to success is him being in the things that you put your hands to.

2.. So, if the key to success is the presence of God… The presence of the God… stems from Obedience.

When we consider the character of Joshua this morning, and that the Lord was with Him. It’s important to see why he had such favor before God. You see, If you recall back to earlier in scripture There were 12 spies of Israel who were sent to scout out the land of Canaan… but out of these 12 spies only 2 were faithful to God; Joshua and Caleb… The other 10, because of their disbelief gave a bad report, they told the other Israelites that it would be impossible to destroy the army that was there.

Deuteronomy 1:34, we’re told: 34 When the Lord heard what you said, he was angry and solemnly swore: 35 “No one from this evil generation shall see the good land I swore to give your ancestors, 36 except Caleb son of Jephunneh. He will see it, and I will give him and his descendants the land he set his feet on, because he followed the Lord wholeheartedly.”

37 Because of you the Lord became angry with me also and said, “You shall not enter it, either. 38 But your assistant, Joshua son of Nun, will enter it. Encourage him, because he will lead Israel to inherit it. 39 And the little ones that you said would be taken captive, your children who do not yet know good from bad—they will enter the land. I will give it to them and they will take possession of it. 40 But as for you, turn around and set out toward the desert along the route to the Red Sea.[a]”

41 Then you replied, “We have sinned against the Lord. We will go up and fight, as the Lord our God commanded us.” So every one of you put on his weapons, thinking it easy to go up into the hill country. 42 But the Lord said to me, “Tell them, ‘Do not go up and fight, because I will not be with you. You will be defeated by your enemies.’”

So, as we look at this scripture, we first see that Joshua and Caleb will enter the promised land. And the key here as we see in verse 36 is that they followed the Lord wholeheartedly. As we see in verse 36. In other words, they fully obeyed God. But as for the other Israelites, their disbelief, their fear of those living in the land of Canaan lead to God not moving them on, but allowing this generation of Israelites to die in the wilderness.

And unlike Joshua And Caleb we see that with these Israelites the bible says: 42 But the Lord said to me, “Tell them, ‘Do not go up and fight, because I will not be with you. You will be defeated by your enemies.’” So, there’s this idea that the Lord is not with them, in other words he won’t give them success or victory, because they’re not following the Lord. They say in verse 41, we have sinned against the lord. And yet, they think they can go up and fight, but the Lord is not with them.

As we continue in Joshua 1, we see this idea of obedience continue to be explained. For it says: 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 Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; 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 afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

So here we see in verse 7 that God calls out to Joshua in verse 7 to 7 “Be strong and very courageous. But then the next thing he challenges them to is this, he says Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, why? That you may be successful wherever you go.

You see in the coming days; God would lead Joshua on as Joshua would lead the people. And city by city, the Lord would deliver the lands of Canaan or Israel into Joshua’s hands. But as God Lead, Joshua was not to turn to the right or to the left, but to stay the course that God had called them to. To obey the word of God. And with that came success. With that, as the people would prosper, and God would give them victory.

Deuteronomy 30:15-20 says: 15 See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. 16 For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.

17 But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, 18 I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.

19 This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live 20 and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

You see what’s interesting is we read these words in English this morning. But at the time, Moses would have given this scripture as given from God to the Israelites. And they, in their own lives had a decision to make…. Whether they would obey the Lord or not. And the first generation of Israelites, they failed, they didn’t follow the Lord. Except for Joshua and Caleb, and because of their disobedience not only did the Lord not go with them… but they were cursed. As they rebelled against the Lord in the wilderness, time after time, they were cursed, they were punished.

For us this morning, it’s no different. We are called to obey the words of the Lord in our own life… and ultimately as we see for Joshua and Caleb, God was with them because they followed him Wholeheartedly.

You know I think of my daughter harper on Wednesday night. Just to segway, does anyone have a child growing up who didn’t want to eat their food? You see as a kid, and sorry if your watching mom, but when we ate steak, guys, let’s just say most of the time it was let’s just say, extra well done. And when it came to vegetables, well eating frozen mushy spinach was not out of the question. You see dinner wasn’t always that great. But you always had to eat your food, right?!

Well, this principle is no different at our house, and if you’re part of my small group, you know that my cooking is border line Gordan Ramsey stuff… (okay maybe not that good, but it’s pretty decent.)

Anyway, on Wednesday night, were coming back from our conference and we sit down to eat meatballs from store with honey barbecue sauce on them. That with rice and green beans. But my daughter harper, she didn’t want to eat her food. She threw a little bit of a temper tantrum, and church, the short of the story was I told her that if she was going to go with me to Walmart after dinner that she would have to eat her food. And wouldn’t you know, she ate all her food.

Here's the point, she wanted to be with me, yes, she wanted the blessing of the popsicles that I was giving all of our kids that ate their food. But she wanted to spend time with meas much as anything. In her obedience, I knew that she didn’t want to eat her food, but as her father, I knew that this was best.

Church in our relationship with Christ, when we listen to him, when we obey him, as Joshua and Caleb did… he’s into that. But He’s looking for you to be obedient.

Luke 11:28 says: He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”

3. The way to obedience is through faith

10 So Joshua ordered the officers of the people: 11 “Go through the camp and tell the people, ‘Get your provisions ready. Three days from now you will cross the Jordan here to go in and take possession of the land the Lord your God is giving you for your own.’”

12 But to the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, Joshua said, 13 “Remember the command that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you after he said, ‘The Lord your God will give you rest by giving you this land.’ 14 Your wives, your children and your livestock may stay in the land that Moses gave you east of the Jordan, but all your fighting men, ready for battle, must cross over ahead of your fellow Israelites. You are to help them fast forward to verse 16

16 Then they answered Joshua, “Whatever you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go.

Here we see that the Israelites are preparing to cross over the Jordan river, but before they cross over there is this idea of preparation that takes place. But the key that I want us to notice is that the men listened Joshua because of their faith.

You see by definition we’re told: “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” Hebrews 11:1

Hebrews 11:1 NIV

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.

You see the Israelites had been longing to enter the promised land for years, and they have confidence that God will deliver, even though as they’re making preparations… there hopes hadn’t been fully realized.

You see, in life, when you believe something to be true. You act on it. If I told you that if you were to go home and dig a massive hole in your back yard, that you would find a hidden treasure chest, who here would go home and dig a massive hole? Now just so you know, there probably isn’t a hidden treasure chest, so feel free to dig a whole in your backyard if you want, but you’ll probably only find a couple old dog bones or maybe an empty tin can.

You see your actions are not random, they are calculated based on your expectations. Joshua didn’t see the promised land… but he trusted God. And he knew God was good at his word. So, his certainty in his mind, lead Joshua on to obedience.

4. Finally, we see that Faith comes from The word of God

But listen, Joshua knew The Key to success was the God was with Joshua. God was with Joshua (he gave him victory) because of his Obedience, The way to obedience is through faith, and Faith… comes from The word of God.

As we look at our last point this morning, I just want us to consider Joshua for a brief moment. You see Joshua had faith, and his faith came from the word of God. At the time, Joshua had the privilege of audibly hearing from the Lord. It was the Lord who spoke to Joshua, who called him to cross over the Jordyn River, it was the Lord who instilled Joshua as the leader, and it was the Lord who called Joshua on and lead him as Joshua took down city by city.

But the key is it came from the word of God.

For us this morning. Our faith also comes from the word of God. Romans 10:17 tells us: So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

You see church, God had spoken a word over the life of Joshua. He had spoken life to Him. He had given him a future and a hope, and deliverance. And Joshua’s faith ultimately was because of the word of God.

For us this morning, the challenge is the same. As we see back in Joshua 1:8 that we are to: Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; 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.

I’m going to call Lisa back at this time.

And as she comes forward, I just want to call our attention to Numbers 13. You see, years before the crossing of the Jordan River, The defeat of Jericho or the military campaigns that Joshua would lead… Joshua was given a new name. You see, in Numbers 13:8 we read about the 12 spies who were representing the 12 tribes of Israel. And we won’t read them all, but when it comes to Joshua, were told: 8 from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea son of Nun” would go and scout out the land. And what I want us to see is that was Joshua’s previous name. and in the Hebrew, it means “Desire for Salvation (Hoshea)”

And yet, in the course of time, for reasons that we don’t even know… Hoshea would be given a new name. The name Joshua, meaning : “the lord is salvation”

You see, Joshua understood that the Lord would not only save them from hell, and that he was the savior of the world. But also, in facing his battles, in crossing new territories, in slaying armies, that he would be their savior; That God would give them victory.

I want you to pray with me, and as we’re praying, I would ask you just to Go to the Lord and ask Him what is he saying to you in light of this morning’s message? God has great things for you, but are we in his presence this morning?

Let’s pray