Seeing Clearly

God wants us to act on the Word of God

We are going to fast forward our timeline in the life of Joseph hundreds of years later. As we are going to see tomorrow and Friday, Joseph was going to be the way in which his family found safety and security in the land of Egypt.

Eventually though, there would come a time where there would be a ruler in Egypt who forgot who Joseph was. He would make Joseph’s descendants into slaves and they would be oppressed for hundreds of years in Egyptian captivity. There would eventually be a leader that would rise up to lead the Israelites out of the land of Egypt and that was a man named Moses. He is the one that wrote about Joseph and he is also the one that led millions of Israelites from Egypt to the promised land that God had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Joseph’s dad).

In our text, Moses has just died and now all of Moses’ responsibilities have been passed on to Joshua. They are on the banks of the Jordan river and about to cross into the land that was promised many years ago.

It would have been a pretty scary thing to be in Joshua’s position because Moses was such a huge leader for Israel and now it was his time.

But here we are going to see three ways that we can act on the Word of God by looking at the example of Joshua.

1. The Bible has promises to claim - v. 2-5

Joshua was given some specific promises by God. He was told that the land he was moving into was his. He was told that every place that he walked would become his land. He was given the same promises as Moses had. All he needed to do was listen to what God said and follow through with his words.

These promises would have been a huge encouragement to Joshua, especially since he could have been easily scared about the task that was ahead.

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I can be scared about the things that are ahead of me. I can be scared of failing, and scared about what people think. I can be scared of people being effected by a bad decision that I make. The good news is I have some promises in the Bible that I can claim to. I know that God will never leave me or forsake me. I know that God loves me and that there is nothing that can separate me from His love. I know that God is for me and not against me, and I know that He is working all things in my life together for good.

There are countless promises for us to claim in the Bible and if we truly want to act on the Word of God, we will claim those promises!

2. The Bible gives us boldness and courage. - v. 6-7

Next, God tells Joshua to be strong and courageous. He actually tells him twice in these two verses.

As I mentioned before, Joshua had a pretty amazing task ahead of him. Somehow, he had to get the entire nation of Israel over the Jordan river, go into a land full of enemies and conquer all of those enemies.

Some of you have some difficult things to do when you get home. Some of you are going back to a difficult home life, some of you are going back home where that bully will be right where you left him. Some of you have difficult health circumstances that you will need to navigate. You, like Joshua, might have a huge task ahead of you, but the Bible can give you great courage and strength. You will need this book to face the difficulties that you will face.

3. The Bible gives us success. v. 7-9

God had a plan for Joshua. His plan was that Joshua would lead his people to conquer the land ahead of them. He told Joshua the way that the plan would be successful is that he would need to do all that the law that Moses handed down said. He was not to turn from the right or to the left, but he was to follow it completely. In fact, the Word of God was always to be on his lips and his mind.

The question is how do we keep God’s Word on our lips and in our mind?

1. Read it

2. Memorize it

2. Share it with others

3. Meditate on it

4. Apply it

5. Share it with others

Application

20/20 Challenge