One Small Step
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Intro: Growth
Setup: We are talking about growth. As I setup Joshua 1, the Jewish people have been wandering for 40 years. They have grown spiritually. When they first left, they were groaning and complaining. They couldn’t trust God for direction, for supply etc. When they went to spy out the land that God promised through Abraham, 10 of the 12 spies came back with a negative report. A lack of faith. God then allowed them to wander until there was enough growth in them to inherit the land of promise.
After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, “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. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses. 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. 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. Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. 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.
Prayer
Story: Story about Merle sharing this text with me before we launched out to pastor..
Transition: I knew that I had a lot to grow into if I was going to be a pastor. For starters, I was a worship pastor.. I had to grow into the calling!! But I had to start somewhere.. I want to back up a bit before Josh 1. Because you don’t just start out with millions of people on the cusp of taking the promised land. It actually started roughly 500 years before with one man, Abraham.
one small step
— 500 years or so before this moment, God made a promise to Abraham.
— Abraham had this promise.
And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.
— God then proceeded to seal the deal, He made a covenant… Known as the Abrahamic Covenant. A covenant is a binding legal relationship between a self-asserted sovereign and his subordinates. It is established by a mutually binding oath, by which the subordinates promise to obey... Meredith G. Kline of Westminster Seminary
— But what is interesting about this covenant is that it was dependent on God not Abraham.
— In any covenant, blood is involved to show the seriousness of the covenant.
— God had Abraham bring several animals and they were split in two.. God walked between the pieces.. But what’s fascinating, is Abraham fell into a deep sleep..
— Let’s be honest, procreating at least for a male, is pretty easy. But belief, when they were “good as dead” in terms of their age and ability to naturally have children was concerned was a big deal!
— The whole reason that we have Joshua and all of the descendants of Abraham poised to step in and take possession of the Promised Land, is because of Abraham’s and Sarah’s BELIEF. But faith without a step is dead.
— Remember when God asked Abraham to lay his promise down? He obeyed, but it was a test of his faith.. And he took a step of faith..
— Genesis 22:16-18
and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”
— One small step for Abraham, one giant leap for not only his natural descendants, but the whole world!! Spiritual descendants!
— What might be God calling you into? Hebrews 8:6
But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises
— I hope we can put our trust in Jesus. Like Abraham, we were in a deep sleep. Helpless in fact, but Jesus walked the walk. The new covenant in His blood, it’s all on Him!!
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
— And now, we are called to make faith steps!! Think about the faith steps that Abraham took. And how it impacted the entire planet. We are here today because of his faith and his obedience.
— What small step is God calling you to?
— When we were called to pastor, I had to take steps. Talk to my pastor and other mentors. God did the heavy lifting..
— Baptism. Matthew 28:19-20
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
— We are taking faith steps as a church to be obedient to baptize! We moved it to give more opportunities to people who are newly saved etc.
— Take that step to be baptized..
— Pizza with pastor, join a team.. Plug into a life group.. These are all small steps for you.. But let’s consider what the downstream effects can be for your family. For your spiritual growth.
2. Fill big shoes
— Joshua was supposed to fill the shoes of Moses. Those were some big honking shoes.
— But we need to back up yet again.
— What is helpful to understand is that Moses was considered a “servant of the Lord”
— The original language here puts God in an altogether different class than Moses. It could even mean “slave”.
— Can we agree God is glorious, above, beyond any human ?
— We should always have a humble view of ourselves.
The greatest among you shall be your servant.
— And Joshua was called an “assistant”. That word puts Joshua closer to the level of Moses that Moses position to God..
— The name Joshua is closely connected to the name Jesus through their shared linguistic roots and meaning. Both names derive from the Hebrew name Yeshua or Jehoshua, which means "Jehovah is salvation"
— But he didn’t start there either. We see throughout the Exodus story Joshua not engaging with the idolatry that the Jews got involved in, like making a golden calf.
— Even as a young person, he was taking the right steps.. He was engaged in the things of God..
Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses turned again into the camp, his assistant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.
— What great things is God calling you to? What breakthrough does God want you to be the catalyst for in your family? What small, faithful forward movement does God want you involved in?
His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’
3. boot the squatters
— I waited this whole time to get to this fun tidbit!
— Right after Josh. 1 The Jews crossed the Jordan and began to occupy the promised land. But it was full of squatters. It was already theirs by faith and by promise. But there was some work to be done.
— Josh. 1:3
Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses.
— Archeology has proven that they took this literally. I saw a youtube video that was making the claim that they discovered that when the Jews entered the land they made their camp into the shape of a right foot.
— I was skeptical at first, but sure enough,
— Foot-shaped structures found by researchers from the University of Haifa in the Jordan valley are being interpreted as encampments and places of assembly built by the People of Israel upon entering the Land of Canaan in order to establish ownership of the land. Five such structures, all designed in the shape of a human foot, have now been surveyed by Professor Adam Zertal and his team as part of their Manasseh Hill-Country Survey covering the Jordan Valley and the Samaria region to the west.— World Archeology.com
— Think about this. What started with Abraham’s footprint. Now, as they entered Canaan the land of promise, now they have a giant footprint.
— Scholars believe that God had to encourage Joshua to be bold and courageous meaning that he might not have been naturally.
— They are showing the enemy that they are putting their foot on the ground. They are taking is what is theirs by promise.
— PERSONALLY: What areas do you feel aren’t yours yet? You’ve been promised freedom. Joy, righteousness. Maybe the enemy is squatting on your promise in some area.
— It will take courage and boldness! If you are praying for your family, contending for your marriage, you will have opposition. If you are believing God for freedom, there’s a fight.
— Eph. 6:13
Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.
— But God also tells Joshua to not “Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you.”
— For the believer, we need to know the Word. We need to know His promises. His truth! So we march forward with His power
— Then when God does something in us, He uses us in ways that would surpriuse us.
— The enemy doesn’t want us downtown.
— I have been praying and believing for breakthrough in our city. For freedom in our town. Freedom from addiction
— The Kingdom of God is His rule and reign. As His rule reign begins to take root in us, and we begin to live according to the word and the will of the King. He wants to begin to use us for His Glory to advance His Kingdom.
— it says: for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them
— Joshua knew the Word, was discipled by Moses, the Kingdom of God was on the inside. Then it began to push forward against the enemy on the behalf of others!
— They went immediately after this, crossed the Jordan and then saw the walls of Jericho fall
Conclusion: Are you ready to grow? Are you ready to receive and walk in the promises that God gave you through Jesus? His blood has purchased “every spiritual blessing in Christ for us”
— Start with belief. It is belief in Jesus that is the first step. It is a step of putting your faith in Him. Like Abraham, God did the heavy lifting. Jesus did the heavy lifting!
— Then like Joshua be mentored. Don’t “leave the tent”. You are here today, great! Plug in. Serve where you can. Take steps in obedience.
— And then don’t be afraid to take back the ground from the enemy. God will give you what you need from the Word. He will empower you to not only do Kingdom breakthrough in your life, but help you to cause others to inherit the land as well by advancing His Kingdom!
