Tread

Intro

Joshua 1:1-3

There is a people that are grieving the loss of Moses. Joshua grieving the loss of His greatest mentor. There is an external circumstance that Joshua is facing. but also internal doubts that He is battling. God is commanding Joshua next in line to lead the people. external circumstances, internal doubts is what i imagine he is dealing with. Yet God is starting off with a powerful promise. Every place the sole of your foot treads, i have given it to you JUST as i did with moses. The sole of your foot is the part that arches…Or for me i got flat feet so the sole of my foot is much closer to the ground but for most there is a tread. Is a firm stance into the ground. your foot is planted into the ground. Its used as marching. And the land is big. We are in a new year. with fresh territory that needs to be treaded. some of us have been stuck in the past, some of us have been stuck in our pain, some of us stuck in our grief, some of us stuck in our deficits, some of us stuck in internal doubts or external circumstances. But the promise here right off of the bat is the Place you tread, i have already given it to you…Its past tense. Like it already happened. What area, what territory, what ground in your life is God calling you to tread?

Tread into the Promise

Joshua 1:5

I usually dont break my sermons into steps but being that the series is titled Tread and this is the opening sermon. I think the Steps are fitting. Verse 5 is like the bread to a sandwhich. There is a promise of i will be with you…Its a similar promise in verse 9. thats the other side of the bread. and in between there is the turkey and cheese and good stuff. God says i promise ill be with you but it gets better. Ill never Fail you nor forsake you..As i was studying i felt conflicted by the line Ill never fail you…Have you ever prayed for something and it felt like it went unanswered? have you ever been praying for a breakthrough that has yet to break through? or how about this one…I can relate to this…When you go to pray for someone…Asking God for a miracle..And They still die…So as i read this…Im feeling a sense like God i dont believe you…Cause when i blew up the prayer lines with all this faith, it kinda felt like you failed me…Cause when i cried out so desperately for you to deliver me from this hell that ive been living in? and the break through doesnt come…It feels like you failed me….Cause when i prayed…God knows ive prayed for a mircale and that person still died…It feels like you failed. So its hard for me to read a promise when God says “Ill never fail you”…Joshua was grieivng. the miracle worker parted the seas through moses, He glowed! but now hes dead. Joshua was coming out of a loss. Maybe in 2024 youve come out of a loss…and here you are in 2025…in new territory wondering how you can tread when you cant even get 1 foot ahead of the other…How can i tread when the truth is i feel trapped? so i looked into the hebrew definition of Fail. English didnt do it justice. the word fail in hebrew doesnt quite capture the modern meaning we see Failure as. To Fail means to have a grip on something…and let it go…to release it from your grip…So when God says ill never Fail you…Ill never forsake you…He is saying ill never release you from my grip…My hand is on you…He is not saying im a genie and youll get all the materialistic things of this world and that everything will be rainbows and baloons….thats not the promise. The promise is ill never LET YOU GO. I got a good grip on you…Im glad he does, because the truth is something we lose our grip on God.Ill never forsake you…the forsake is relational. Divorce sheds more light to this. In other words ill never loosen or release my grip on you because i am comitted to you. We are in this relationship and i love you…Ive given you territory to tread…To rule and have dominion over…but you need to tread…

Tread with Strength and Courage

Joshua 1:6

Be strong and Courageous…the translation here ill save you from alot of definitions for the sake of time but here the two words are very similar. Be strong is more of receiving stregnth or to stregnthen. God supplies youre stregnth then Couragous is the result from the Stregnth that have been deposited into you can then be put into action. If God is depositing stregnth, it isnt just to have stregnth. God isnt calling us to be body builders who look buff but dont contain true strength. I gotta grip on you, im comitted to you, im gonna be with you, im depositing Strength to fuel your feet to tread into the territory….But here is the thing…The ground is not just for you…Its ours…Joshua aint by himself. He is with the community of People. the people are greiving but they arent grieving alone. the people are treading but they arent treading alone. God has Called Joshua to a leadership role. Hes new but he aint alone…This new season some of you are leading in ministry, at work, at home….One thing you need to know about leadership is its not about what you get. Its not about the fame. the repuation. the followers..but Verse 6 tells us what we need this stregnth and courage for…Its to give folks the land to tread. vision on where they need to go. later in this chapter we see 3 tribes; reuben, gad and manasaah…these 3 tribes had set up their tents somewhere else in a different land because it benefitted their cattle n stuff. but they didnt settle in their own land and rest untill they crossed the jordan and helped the people tread first. To be a leader, a servant leader or a leader is to have the mindset that says God bless them before you bless me.

There was this guy who i trained…I trained him to be great. I put excellence into him…and later he got promoted to a position above me…now id be lying if i told you i saw it spiritual…in fact the opposite…i was pissed…im like how the heck did he get a position above me? when i trained him? i hit em with the “make that make sense!”..Then he got promoted again….Sometimes…Most times we can be so shallow minded….the way we see things…Remember that movie shallow hal? kinda like that…later i left that company…i started my own business and that guy…Kevin…Like the minion…Kevin became the vice president who would be the gate keeper to a contract that my business needed to take off. when i saw him im over here selling myself. Kevin i promise im gonna do this and do that…he was like stop.,..I know you…You dont have to sell yourself bro..You got the contract…Sometimes your blessing is contingent on someone else getting their blessing first! God bless them before you bless me….be supportive of that person who got the promotion when you didnt. Be supportive of the person who got the girl that you wanted, Be supportive of the person that got what you wanted…Because your blessing is contingent on them getting their blessing first!

sometimes our blessing is contingent on our courage to bless someone else. To help someone else get the promotion, To train someone else. To pass up the opportunity for someone else who needs it more. Because real leaders know that the ground is not mine. The ground, is ours. God gives me stregnth to lead others, to help others tread. to bless them before i receive my blessing. Let them Tread first! Say it out loud, Help them tread first!

Tread into Obedience

Joshua 1:7-8

I see folks who try to power through the bible. to finish it. You should carefully read it to understand it so that you can obey. Here it says be strong and VERY couragous to do…Obediance to the word of God is something that required alot of courage because no one in our culture is doing it. because no one in our society is promoting living like Jesus. to put others first what? to forgive someone who backstabbed me? what!? to bless someone who cursed me what!? Its not easy…this stregnth and courage cannot be produced by man., it is something that only the power of God can do. but it says if you obey…you will prosper and suceed. These words are not what society would define and prosperous and sucesss. Today we think making 6 figures is someone who prospers…and someone who is married, with kids, and the job, and the title and the status is successfull…But the word prosper is to move forward…and translated often as “To cross” Kinda like how they crossed the red sea…To prosper is linked to obedience to Gods word. Its to tread on territory. His word is what fuels the stregnth that He deposits in you to turn it into courage. Courage is what you need to tread. Im not treading alone. God is establishing my steps to tread. He has already given the territory to me in advance. Which means He is comitted to seeing me get through it. Cross it. Im going to make it to the other side of it. The thing that has you anxious. the external circumstances that happen to you. The grief…the loss…the pain…God says Im committed to you…Im not going to let you go even when you want to let yourself go. Even when you wanna off yourself. When you wanna let go of yourself. When youre having suicidal thoughts. God is saying here i am committed TO YOU. and even when you arent comitted to yourself. Times when you let go of God. When we fail God. by releasing our grip on Him. He is comitted to holding His firm grip on you.He wants you to prosper. But prospering is the result of the courage and stregnth in action…Its every step you tread. Every step forward. Every step you take despite how hard, how much it hurts…Despite how dark it is in that territory…God is comitted to herlping you get through it…To cross to the other side. to suceed. Success by the worlds definition is to have the fame, the money and the materialistic possessions. But biblical success is not all of that…Its to have a character that mirrors, that reflects Jesus by his power. To rule…Is not to trample on each other to reach success..thats how the world values success that you would tread on others to get there…But the bibles way of success is that you would tread together to get there…And that even sometimes,,,most times you would help someone tread before you so that you can tread where you need to…

Tread on Fear and Doubt

Joshua 1:9

this last verse…Weve made it to the bottom of the sandwhich…This is where the mayo is..and the other slice of bread…God says have i not commanded you? the word command is an expression of creation…When God commanded things ointo existence by His word…Im saying it and it will happen. Be strong,, receive the stregnth to do the thing that God has called you to do…Strong and couragous but then it followed by another combo word…Its like counter to strong and couragous…Tremble and dismay…tremble is to shake in fear…Its the physical exterior fear causes you to tremble. Dismay is the interior doubts that discourage you…The truth is both of them Tremble exterior and the dismay interior both are working to do the same thing…They are working to paralize you…To stop you from treading into the territory that God is calling you to walk into to, to tread on…the thing that has been hangin over your head…the external circumstance that has been hanging over you God is calling you to trample on. to crush it undern eath your feet. To walk on it. to rule over it. youve been trembling over the thing that God has given you the power to tread, youve been feeling trapped over the thing that God has given you power to tread! Maybe last year and even now youre still grievivng like Joshua and the people over moses…Maybe youre still wrestling with some internal doubts of i dont know if i can do this anymore…and youve been believe that youve been stuck…I want to remind you today, i wanna encourage, inspire motivae awaken the joshua that is inside you today…Youre not stuck unless you STOP treading…Youre only stuck if you stop…God says im with you….Im in you working through you, im comittied to you. Jesus is comitted to helping you tread…

what territory is God calling you to tread this year?

What area of your life have you been feeling trapped that you need to tread this year?

What external circumstances have happened in your life that has you paralized in fear?

What internal doubts are trapping you from the inside that you have been believe about yourself?

Who do you resonate with? Joshua being a new leader treading in new territory, or perhaps Jesus is leading you into new territory in your life that you never been and you dont know how you are going to move forward

Or maybe youre paralyzed with the idea of blessing someone else before you get your blessing.

the promise available today is that God is comitted to you, He has never left His grip on you and doesnt plan on loosing His grip on you even when you have loosened your grip on Him,

the Promise is He is with you…

Say it out loud together:

Christ is with us, Working through us, the Ground is ours!

Tread

Tread into the Promise (vs. 1-5):

Focus on God’s foundational promise: every place the Israelites tread is already theirs. This establishes confidence in God’s faithfulness and His commitment.

Tread with Strength & Courage (vs. 6):

Strength fuels courage to act, even in the face of grief, challenges, and uncertainty. God’s strength empowers us to move forward with boldness.

Tread Forward by Obedience (vs. 7-8):

Strength fuels courage to become obedient, and obedience is how we prosper and succeed in everything we do. Obedience requires courage, especially in a culture resistant to God’s ways, but it’s the key to true prosperity—moving forward in faith and reflecting Christlike character.

Tread on Fear & Doubt (vs. 9):

God’s presence enables us to tread on what once paralyzed us, taking action to move forward despite external fears and internal doubts.

Declaration:

“Christ is with us, Working through us, The Ground is Ours.”