Untitled Sermon (25)

Joshua’s primary task was Spirituality

No matter what God has called you to do, you are a follower of Jesus first. Joshua’s primary task was not to lead the army, his first command from God was not a battle plan, or a strategy for leading the people. No, the first thing that God commands him to do is to meditate on the word of the Lord and to be careful to do what it says.

How often do we allow all the other things in life rob us from the time we are to spend being in God’s Word? Joshua had a lot of things he needed to do- he was the man in charge now! He had people depending on him! A lot of people.

In Numbers 26:51 the Jewish adult males numbered 601,730.

But, he could not let his function as leader overshadow his calling as a man of God. The same is true for us, we cannot allow our functions as people overshadow our callings as followers of Jesus.

Can cannot allow the things we are doing pull us away from God’s Word and allowing that word to saturate in us…

But there is more, we need to do more than hear the word, we need to obey it. There are many people that know what God says, but they ignore his command to do things their own way.

James 1:22 tells us But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

One day a man's little granddaughter was playing with her toys. Her mother, who was folding laundry across the room, noticed the child's shirt was dirty and needed to be changed.

After calling two times with no response her mother called out as loud as he could to her stubborn daughter, "Did you hear me, girl?"

The little rebel smiled and answered, "Yes, Mom. I heard you. Well, my ears did, but my legs didn't!" 

Meditating on God’s word keeps us grounded

Last week we talked about transitions and change. We live in a world that is constantly changing. We see it all over the place. We change- we change our minds, our options change, our choices change; if you ask my opinion on something it can easily change based on a multitude of factors.

But listen to Isaiah 40:8

Isaiah 40:8 ESV

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.

Once Isaiah got across the river Jordan, things were going to be different. The world was going to be a different place. They were finally inheriting the promise- how do we keep ourselves from being swept to and fro by the whims of life and changing circumstance? We tether ourselves to the unchanging word of God!

Because Joshua had the Word in him, he could give it to others

As Joshua takes command he hears from God that he needs to pass through the camp and command the people to get ready to move.

Because Joshua heard from God he could give the Word to others.

Friends, many Christians spend their lives complaining about how much “the world” needs to get back to the Scriptures, while they neglect their own engagement with the Bible.

Like Joshua, we need to fill ourselves with the Word of God so that we can can go do the work of God.

"One of the first verses of Scripture that Dawson Trotman, founder of the Navigators, encouraged me to memorize was 2 Timothy 2:2. This is like a mathematical formula for spreading the gospel and enlarging the church. Paul taught Timothy; Timothy shared what he knew with faithful men; these faithful men would then teach others also. And so the process goes on and on. If every believer followed this pattern, the church could reach the entire world in one generation! Mass crusades, in which I believe and to which I have committed my life will never finish the Great Commission; but a one-to-one ministry will." ~ Billy Graham

When we allow the word to rest in us, it will empower us

God is not manipulated by our Bible reading

When we know the WORD of God we will know the WILL of God and when you are in the WILL of God you will be BLESSED

Psalm 1:1–6 ESV

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.