6: Joshua 1: preaching/Teaching

Surviving to Thriving

Right before Covid happened, I was thriving. I was in the middle of going through a year-long residency with other church planters. We focused on being healthy: Spiritually, Physically; I was working out and eating healthy. Heather and I got into some health rhythms.

We built our team to plant RCC church and had a fantastic core team. We were having block parties, and people were coming out to them, and we were meeting people and just having a great time. Then we had our first sports camp and a great turnout. We had 50 kids come to this camp. We were thriving!

Then all of a sudden, COVID hit!!!

All these healthy rhythms that were built up were over.

I had six kids inside my house for an entire 24 hours. How in the world was I going to plant a church when now, when I approached people, they would not even talk to me? It was hard to be connected to all of these great relationships I had made.

Have you ever felt like you were just surviving?

What about in your spiritual walk with God?

God desires that we thrive with him!

It has always been His hope that we would thrive spiritually.

Are you surviving or Thriving spiritually right now?

What I know about both of our churches is that we want to thrive.

Why would a church like Garden Road, with such great history, merge with a church plant?

The people of Israel could relate to surviving. Remember, they were in the wilderness for 40 years. The reason they were in nature is that they did not believe in the promises of God. Instead of walking by faith, they wandered in this wilderness for 40 years.

In this new season, they had a chance to go from surviving to thriving.

Moses had passed away, and Joshua Moses' disciple, who he had invested in, was now leading Israel, and it was time for Israel to go from surviving to thriving.

RCC has thrived at times. RCC also knows how to survive.

As we have heard from these great testimonies, there has been plenty of times that GRBC has thrived in its history. We also know that GRBC knows how to survive.

Church, this is us.

Today God wants our Church to go from surviving to thriving.

Today Joshua wants to give us three directives so we can go from surviving to thriving.

We go from surviving to thriving when we embrace the promises of God (1:1-5).

There are real hindrances to embracing the promises of God.

We are at a church, and it is almost like we are programmed to say that we embrace the promises of God.

But do we?

Joshua 1:1–2 NASB95

Now it came about after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, that the Lord spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ servant, saying, “Moses My servant is dead; now therefore arise, cross this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them, to the sons of Israel.

CHANGE can keep us from thriving.

As a result of Moses' death, there was a change coming.

Location change-even though marching in the wilderness for 40 years was the punishment for their disobedience; it became what they knew.

Leader-There was a change in leader.

Leadership Change-

I want to say something about leadership. This is not my Church. This is not Robert's Church. This is not any pastor's Church who have pastored here before. All of us were interim pastors. The real leader of this Church is Jesus. But in saying this, the torch was being passed from Moses to Joshua.

THESE PROMISES REMIND US THAT WE NEED TO PLAY OFFENSE.

Joshua 1:3–4 NASB95

“Every place on which the sole of your foot treads, I have given it to you, just as I spoke to Moses. “From the wilderness and this Lebanon, even as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and as far as the Great Sea toward the setting of the sun will be your territory.

(3)-These promises sound too good to be true.

This city we live in is waiting to hear the gospel's good news.

Will we take it to them?

What if we lived in such a way that our lives were pebbles in a pond, and we wanted to leave splashes in that pond for the glory of God that would make ripples for all eternity?

Are not God's promises too good to be true?

Ephesians 1:3

2 Corinthians 5:17

Joshua 1:4–5 NASB95

“From the wilderness and this Lebanon, even as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and as far as the Great Sea toward the setting of the sun will be your territory. “No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you.

God's promises are too good to be true.

Notice what it says at the end of v. 5.

This is precisely what Jesus says after his last command in the Bible.

Matthew 28:20 “teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.””

We go from surviving to thriving when we courageously exercise faith (1:6, 7 & 9).

When God says something over and over it is important.

Church you just did a courageous thing, you felt God calling you to merge, and you courageously did it.

We have to stop thinking walking by faith is easy.

God knows this.

It is hard to:

Walk with God daily

Love our spouse unconditionally

Raise our kids and grandkids well

Stand up for Christ

It is hard to walk by faith.

3x’s in this passage he says; BE STRONG and courageous.

Joshua 1:6 NASB95

“Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.

God had already given them the land, know they had to just walk by faith.

Joshua 1:7 NASB95

“Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go.

Here he says be very courageous.

We took this step to come together as one. That was a great step but now we are going to have to continue to be courageous.

One of the things that we often forget is our salvation is past, present and future.

God is not just calling us to be courageous once when we receive God’s gift of salvation. He is calling us to a life of courage.

Church it is time for us to step up to live a life of courage.

Joshua 1:9 NASB95

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

They knew the history of the people who had gone before them. Now they were going to have to walk by faith.

We go from surviving to thriving when we allow God’s word to guide us (1:8).

Joshua 1:8 NASB95

“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 success.

2 Things that I want to communicate today is:

This month we want to make a focus on getting to know each other. This is us. We need to build relationships with each other. Even our calendar is focused on this. Jesus tells us to be before we do. This is true with our walk with God. However it is also true for us as a church. Let’s be!

One of the things we are going to have to do to thrive is be givers. As I say this I say this I am talking to two churches that are already giving churches. But my hope is not that we are like what do we have to cut so we can make it but rather that we will be able to say what is God calling us to do so we can do it. With that being said giving is relatively the same way except make out your checks to RCC. You can drop it in the offering box or you can give online. Have Drew share about our system in place.

Intro to service:

Today is about celebrating what God has done in and through this Church.

Who does not like to celebrate?

I remember when I was in HS, I was a big Houston Rockets fan. And can you guys remember when they won the back-to-back championships?

I would run around my house like a maniac because I was so excited they won.

There are a lot of things to celebrate.

God loves to celebrate.

In one of the most famous chapters of the Bible, Jesus gives three parables.

There is a lost coin, a lost sheep, and a lost son.

God celebrates when people turn to him.

God celebrates changed lives.

So today, I would love to hear some testimonies of how God has used and worked through GRBC. We want to celebrate together with you.

A couple of things:

I talked to Wanda this week; she was like I grew up as a believer; I don't have some crazy testimony. Then she began to share a little about her life and what God has done in her life, and I was like, Wanda, you have a ton you could share. So it does not have to be a salvation testimony. It could simply be about what you have seen God do or what God has done in your life.

Brother Robert will lead us in a song or two, and then we will open the Mic for anyone who wants to share.

Let's Celebrate!