Overcoming Fear in Following God (Joshua 1:1-9)

Intro/Welcome

Welcome

Introduce Self

Enjoyed last couple weeks.

Today’s Message:

“Overcoming Fear in Following God”

Intro

Fear

We are living in one of the most anxious times.

Generation Z (Gen Z) is currently between 10 and 25 years old, born between 1997 and 2012,

and research suggests that they are the most anxious generation to date.

Factors:

2001 - Terrorist Attacks

2008 - Economy Crash

2020 - Global Pandemic - COVID

Information Age

I. Anxiety, Fear and Lies

Anxiety is fueled by fear, and always has to do with controlling outcomes.

A. Fear and Following God

Fear can keep us from following God

It can keep us from experiencing the fullness of God in our lives.

Fear has been around for a very long time.

B. Fear and the Enemy

Fear is one of the enemies most potent weapons.

Perhaps that is why the most oft cited command in the Bible is “Fear Not”

Fear is fuled by deception.

And deception is the language of the enemy — his native tongue.

John 8:44 (ESV)

44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

Today

Today I want to look at how to we overcome our fears and follow where God is calling us?

Of course this applies to us as a Church as we are seeking to follow God’s direction

But it applies to each of us in our daily walk with God.

Perhaps we are not aware at just how much fear we carry and how much it keeps us from experiencing the Lord.

My own life

Text

To do that I want to look at the first chapter of Joshua and specifically Joshua 1:9.

How did Joshua overcome his fears?

What can we learn from him?

How can we boldly walk forward into the future God has for us?

Pray

I. Text

Joshua 1:1–9 (ESV)

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.

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 y ou 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.”

Context

Joshua succeeded Moses as the leader of Israel

Joshua leading the 2nd Generation into the Promised Land

One the people who spied out the promise land in Num 13-14.

Where b/c of fear they did not enter the promised land but rather wandered the wilderness for 40 years. (Num 14:9, 14:34)

Numbers 14:8–9 (ESV)

8 If the Lord delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey. 9 Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Their protection is removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them.”

Numbers 14:34 (ESV)

34 According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, a year for each day, you shall bear your iniquity forty years, and you shall know my displeasure.’

Joshua had seen the signs and wonders that God had done through Moses

He wandered with this fearful generation for 40 years and now was taking leadership of the 2nd Generation.

II. Fear in Joshua

Do you think that Joshua was battling some fear? some insecurity?

He’s taking over for Moses

These are huge shoes to fill

The 10 plagues

The parting of the Red Sea

The tent of Meeting

Moses talking with God as a friend

Joshua no doubt, is wondering will God be with me as he was with Moses?

How am I to lead these people? If they wouldn’t follow the great man Moses, how will they follow me?

A. Biblical Examples

Of course, there are many (if not all) in Scripture that had to overcome their fears

Abraham - Gen 12 -- Being called to leave everything he knows to follow God to where he knows not

Moses -- Exod 3-4 -- Being called to go back into danger against the most powerful man in the world to free God's People

His assurance: you will be back on this mountain.

David -- being annointed King while another king reigned. Years running for his life -- trusting the Lord -- writing many of the psalms we have

The Prophets -- Isaiah, Jeremiah -- preaching repentance and being persecuted

Jesus -- being led into the wilderness to be attacked by Satan (Luke 4)

Peter, Paul, John --

B. Historical Examples:

Gladys Alyward

Corrie Ten Boom

Amy Charmichael

Martin Luther

Hudson Taylor

C. Application:

What are some fears you are battling?

Where are your insecurities being revealed right now?

What anxieities are you allowing to roam free?

III. God’s Word to Joshua

so then what is God’s word to Joshua?

Joshua 1:9 (ESV)

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.”

Fear

We know that Joshua was struggling with fear b/c God specirically says “do not be afraid”

Afraid:

gk - δειλιάω -- cowardly // Hb - ערץ (15x) not usual word

Dismayed

Dismayed

gk - φοβέω // hb - חתת - be shattered, disheartened

God knows his heart.

A. Four encouragments

“givers of courage”

1. God’s Command

Joshua 1:9 (ESV)

9 (1) 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.”

Have I (the Lord your God) not commanded you.

The God of Moses who did all these wonders

The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob

#1 - Overcoming fear is not based on who we are but on who he is

Exodus 34:6–7 (ESV)

The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

a. Knowing who God is

through the Word of God

The Bible, peoples stories

meditating on who he is

spending time with him.

b. God’s In Joshua

As you read through the book of Joshua you see God commanding him time and time again.

We see God showing up in power.

Crossing the Jordan (splitting the waters) - Josh 4.

The Commander of the Lord’s Armies shows up on Josh 5:13.

God’s instruction concerning Jericho (Josh 6)

Finding out Achan’s Sin in Josh 7.

Obedience: Joshua’s role is to do what the Lord has told him to do.

it is in following the Lord (obedience)

that we find success and enjoy his presence.

c. Application

What has God called you to do?

Have you heard from him?

God speaks to us first and foremost thorugh God’s Word — are you following it?

2. WILL: Be Strong and Courageous

Joshua 1:9 (ESV)

9 Have I not commanded you? (2) Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Strength and courage will overcome fear.

that means we have to act.

Courage is not the absence of fear, it is action in precisely in the midst of fear.

This means we will to chose to act courageously.

We will have to choose our path.

a. Free Will

I believe that God gives us genuine free will and allows us to chose our paths.

Deuteronomy 30:19–20 (ESV)

19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today,

that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse.

Therefore choose life,

that you and your offspring may live, 20 loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”

I also believe that God is absolutely sovereign over everything and knows our thoughts before we think them

Psalm 139:1–4 (ESV)

1 O Lord, you have searched me and known me!

2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar.

3 You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways.

4 Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.

I believe both of these b/c the Bible teaches both.

It means we will need strength — but our strength is in the Lord

it is precisely in our weaknesses that God gets the glory.

Value: don’t be a church where we don’t need God to show up.

Where do we get courage?

See point 1 and the next point.

John 16:33 (ESV)

33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

3. The Presence of the Lord

Joshua 1:9 (ESV)

9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, (3) for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

What is the reason for strength and courage?

“for the Lord your God is with you”

The presence of the Lord.

4. Wherever you go

Joshua 1:9 (ESV)

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 (4) wherever you go.”

even if you fail, even if you falter, even if you fall --- I will be with you.

God is with us no matter what -

That is what the CROSS accomplished.

Matthew 28:20 (ESV)

20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Even our failings, our shotcoming, our disobedience, even our sins can overcome God’s grace towards us in Christ Jesus

Every test from the Lord is pass/fail, but the goodnews is we can keep taking the test every day

B. Application

Where do you need courage?

Where do you need God to show up right now?

Are you experincing the presence of the Lord whereever you go?

Where do you need to repent / return to Him? He hasn’t gone anywhere?

IV. The Results

What happens when someone, like Joshua, takes courage and follows the Lord?

The Nation inherits the promised land

Kingdoms are established

People flourish

Lives are saved

A. Biblical Examples

Abraham - Gen 12 -- Being called to leave everything he knows to follow God to where he knows not

Moses -- Exod 3-4 -- Being called to go back into danger against the most powerful man in the world to free God's People

His assurance: you will be back on this mountain.

David -- being annointed King while another king reigned. Years running for his life -- trusting the Lord -- writing many of the psalms we have

The Prophets -- Isaiah, Jeremiah -- preaching repentance and being persecuted

Jesus -- being led into the wilderness to be attacked by Satan (Luke 4)

Peter, Paul, John --

B. Historical Examples:

Gladys Alyward

Corrie Ten Boom

Amy Charmichael

Martin Luther

Hudson Taylor

In short, God’s promises come true, God’s kingdom is advanced, lives are saved, eternities are changed.

C. How do we grow in courage?

1. Get to Know God Personally

Study/Meditate on who God is in the scriptures:

Psalms

2. Expect God to speak

Listen and learn the voice of God

He is still speaking // he is still alive today // he is ruling and reigning

He is near.

3. Believe The Word

Read and Believe the stories in the Bible and people’s lives.

Community

Share your lives with each other.

Share what God is saying / doing

Hold each other accountable

4. ACT

Take risks

Act in courage / boldness

precisely when we are afraid/unsure/uncertain

Closing Prayer

Illustrations:

Dumbledor and Harry

Corrie Ten Boom

P. 106 of The Hiding Place