Starting Out "Strong"

Introduction:

It’s that time of year again when we think about a new year and new goals for our lives. We make our resolutions and sometimes we can feel bad if we don’t keep them, but then there are others who don’t even try to make any goals for themselves.

We want to make spiritual goals for our lives and it’s important to turn the page of the calendar and start out fresh. We need to start out strong in the new year.

In the Bible, we can see a character that faced a new beginning of sorts. It was Joshua. Moses, who had led the Israelites out of Egypt and through the wilderness for over 40 years was now dead.

Joshua has to figure things out and God comes to him to give him some perspective. Let’s jump into the story in Joshua 1.

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 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.”

Pray.

You know when someone we love passes or when we have a change of season in life, we can become a little anxious. One thing has passed and another is beginning. We have become comfortable with what we know, but now we face the uncertain future.

One little bit of advice that we all can use is to realize that the future in never uncertain with God. He’s already there in the future and knows what is headed our way. We can rely on Him and not miss a turn!

God comes to Joshua and helps him to assess the situation and gives him a pep talk. He share three things with Joshua that can help him to succeed and that I believe can help us start out a new year strong.

1. Recognize Who is with you (vv.1-5)

Joshua 1:1–5 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.

It would be easy for Joshua to focus on who is not with him.

I have to be honest and tell you that every year around Christmas, I get the case of the spiritual blues. I love each of you and I consider you all my family. I don’t want anything bad to happen to any of you.

Every year we go out caroling to our shut-ins and we know when we do this that their is a strong chance that at least one of our shut-ins is not going to be with us the next year when we go out. It makes me sad.

I’ve also told you that I like to come down here in the sanctuary throughout the week and pray and I will walk the pews and as I walk I pray. I think about the people who sit in each of these seats and pray for you. I also think about the past and what God has done through this church and it makes me sad to see the ones who are not with us anymore.

I don’t grieve for them because I know they are with the Lord. But it feels sort of lonely because we’ve been left behind and we know we still have a mission to accomplish. We don’t want to let them down, but we don’t know what the future may hold either.

Well, I imagine Joshua is feeling this way but probably on a more amplified level. He has to lead over a million Jews into the fortified promised land and he’s never done the kind of miracles that Moses has done.

What’s he going to do? He’s probably thinking a lot about who’s not there, namely Moses!

God wants him to change his focus. Don’t think about who isn’t there. Think about who is. Specifically He wants Joshua to realize that God is with Him.

You know, we can do a lot of things if we know God is with us, can’t we! You see, Moses wasn’t special because of his own abilities. Moses was special because God was with him.

You are special and can do incredible things in your spiritual life too because God is with you.

It is the one who is in you that is what makes you successful and able to accomplish your spiritual goals. It isn’t about you at all.

Remember this. God is with you!

2. Be strong in the Lord (vv. 6-7)

Joshua 1:6–7 ESV

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.

God reminds Joshua a couple of times that he needs to be strong.

Joshua was the general of Israel’s army and was battle tested. He wasn’t a coward. Why is it that God is telling him so many times to be strong?

What Joshua was about to lead Israel to do was hard. Let’s not sugar coat it. And, what God has called us to do, being holy and living in a fallen world, is not easy either. It’s tough to live our our faith, but God reminds us to be strong in the Lord.

It isn’t the physical strength you muster that makes you strong. It is your closeness to God.

Abiding in a relationship with Jesus is what gives you strength. It’s the sap that flows from the vine into the branches that brings spiritual life and vitality.

3. Keep God's Commands (vv.7-8)

Joshua 1:7–9 ESV

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.”

The last thing we need to remember is probably the most important. The first two are important but this one is perhaps the most important.

If you want to start out the year strong, you must keep God’s commands.

There are three specific ways we do this.

1. Keep them on your lips

We need to read the word. This is what it means to have them on your lips.

God tells Joshua not to let the Book of the Law depart from his mouth.

This is critical for a leader but it’s also critical for our lives.

We ought to talk about the Word with other people.

Lately I have been bothered by the sheer amount of profanity that I hear. The majority of our conversations are not wholesome.

We need to follow the Scripture’s commands.

Colossians 3:16 ESV

16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

2. Hide them in your heart

We need to hide God’s word in our heart by meditating on it. When we have the word in our heart, the Holy Spirit will bring it up in situation that we need it.

We do this with our jobs. We learn skills that we can use to do the job well. When we are untrained and don’t know much, we fumble through the job and sometimes make a gigantic mess of things. We don’t know how to get ourselves out of the mess and need help from someone that knows what they are doing.

When we meditate on the Word, we have it in our heart and we will remember it when we need it.

3. Follow them with your life

The last thing we have to do is to simply obey the Word. It’s one thing do know it, but we have to not turn from it to the right hand or the left. We have to follow the path of God’s Word.

This is probably the hardest part of all, but the Holy Spirit will give us strength to do what we need to.

Conclusion