Unchartered Territory

Good morning happy sabbath!

thank you for joining on us this morning through livestream.

Before we open God’s Word to be encouraged..

and to be challenged by His word,

allow me to share with you a few announcements.

We met with our elders and we want to let you know..

that we are praying for you and thinking of each one of you.

Your physical safety and spiritual well being...

is on our hearts and minds continually...

and we are here to support each other...

for we are stronger together.

What that means is that you will have an elder or

myself contact you to first and foremost pray with you...

and check in to see if everyone in the family is doing well..

and if you have any needs at this time.

Also, if you have Facebook, I will post encouraging nugget for each of you.

We have so much bad news around us and many are spreading fear...

why not take the time to spread the encouragement found in God’s Word.

I was also thinking that it would be well to start up a weekly Bible study online through Zoom. called “at the table”

If you haven’t used Zoom yet...

it is an online meeting platform that you could either call in through a phone number..

or join through a computer or your smartphone.

In fact Zoom has an app that you could download...

and create a free account and then just join the Bible study.

This information we will post on the website...

and also send to you through e-mail.

Last of all, I miss seeing your wonderful faces..

and I’m sure that many of you miss seeing each other.

Why don’t you take a selfie either by yourself or with your family at home...

next Sabbath with each other.

and text it to me and we could share those pictures next Sabbath with each other.

Through these hard times, we want to be good neighbors to each other.

We want to stay connected through this time of social distancing.

“I love you all. And I miss hugging all of you here at church..

but we gonna be back as soon as they tell us its okay.

And that’s not gonna stop this word from coming forth today.

So you can text a friend and tell them we are live now.

Let us pray and ask the Holy Spirit to bless our time together as we open God’s Word.

We are definitely in uncharted territory.

I almost feel like Lewis and Clark, who went on an expedition...

a journey from the east coast to the west coast.

And they believed that they could canoe the rivers all the way to the west coast.

They mapped it all out..

got their supplies and had everything planned.

The trip had its many challenges...

but after 15 months of going up stream Lewis thought the...

current would swiftly whisk them to the Pacific Ocean.

current would swiftly whisk them to the Pacific Ocean.

They could not have been more disappointed when they came down the river..

and instead of seeing the Pacific Ocean...

they laid their eyes on the Rocky Mountains.

Stretching out for miles and miles as far as the eyes could see...

was one set of peaks after another.

They brought canoes for a trip that needed mountain boots.

How do you canoe the mountains?

What do you do when you have to go off the map into uncharted territory.

You know for many, many years, church has been about coming together for worship..

and we would operate as normal..

operate on the map of ministry.

But now we are in uncharted territory as well.

We are strongly encouraged to distance ourselves ...

from one another for a period of time.

And this is not just a China issue, or an Ohio issue..

this is a global problem that we are all facing.

How will we respond?

Should we respond with the spirit of fear?

A spirit of presumption and act like this is no big deal...

and keep on acting as if we nothing is wrong.

Or should we respond with faith.

You know, God is not surprised by anything..

this is not a shock to him...

God did not wake up one day and say,

“oh, the coronavirus is out of control, what am I going to do?

God is in full control and He knew what is coming and why God allows things?

We don’t know why... God allows certain things ...

and we can’t control events,

but we can control our response.

We can respond with generosity or with self-preservation.

Did you know that generosity..

and giving comes to really test you in a season...

where anxiety tries to make you selfish?

In a season where people are fighting over tissues.

If you are fighting over tissue what will you do over other things.

This is all about who is people’s provider.

Right now we are out of hand sanitizer and tissue and stuff like that.

See people right now are becoming their own providers.

Our giving back to God for what he has blessed us with..

our sharing of tissues with our neighbors..

will prove right now who we trust.

Ahhh. This is hard to hear through this time but it’s so true.

This is the time to come to God and ask him...

who is in need of medicine, who is lonely..

who is crying in their living room, who is stuck indoors...

that we can encourage instead of just taking a vacation...

from being the hands and feet of Jesus.

I want to let you know that as a church we are going to trust God.

When we look at the Scriptures and note every famine that has happened.

Every economic downturn, every plague...

every disease we as human beings went through...

we may be encouraged to know that we are still here...

and that we will get through this also.

Who do we trust?

The people of God were sustained in every season..

they went through because they put their trust in him.

I just want you to declare that out of your mouth.

My trust is in the Lord!

You might have to tell yourself this every day.

Even if it does not look like it.

You have to believe it!

Because when your trust is in the Lord..

then you are secured by God!

Not only when things are good...

but even in times like these right now.

Church do you know that this is our time to rise up...

and make a difference.

To be the church even if we are not in the church.

We have to respond differently ..

and the only way we can respond differently...

is when our trust is in the Lord.

Do you know what’s more contagious then any corona virus...

more transformative then anything transmitted.

It is extravagant generosity.

Its when people start giving to other people...

its more contagious then any disease.”

You see the enemy is trying to put fear in us..

not to share the tissue paper,

not to share our kindness, our giving...

our giving, so that ministry would slow down.

so that ministry would slow down.

There is a spirit of fear that drives..

and dominates the actions of many.

And the spirit of fear is where we imagine...

those things that didn’t even happened yet.

We go with our minds to the what “if’s”...

and then the spirit of fear takes over and people panic.

But God has given us a different kind of spirit...

Paul tells us in that we have been given the spirit of love..

the spirit of power, and a sound mind.

And he wants us to focus on the spirit given us by God...

and not enter the spirit of fear.

In fact this is our time where we as a church can rise above...

and calm those around us.

But in order to do that ...

we need to be calm in God’s Spirit, in God’s word..

and to know and believe that..

he is for us and never against us.

That he will take care of us no matter of the situation we are in.

Even if the “uncharted territory” seems gloomy and hopeless..

even if we brought a canoe ...

and its not a river but a mountain before us...

we need to think that God is in control and that he will care of us.

There are many in the Bible that were tempted to fear...

when faced with insurmountable obstacles.

But the individual that I’d like for us to consider is Joshua.

Joshua was asked to take over the leadership of God’s people...

after the passing of Moses.

You have about 2 million people ready to cross the Jordan River...

after 40 years of traveling in the wilderness.

Joshua has experienced the wisdom of Moses...

and the leadership of Moses.

He has also seen the challenges that Moses faced daily.

Joshua had great respect for Moses’ leadership..

and I also believe that Joshua felt peace...

knowing that Moses was God’s leader.

But now, Moses passed away..

before the nation of Israel is a great journey..

and a great challenge, to take possession of the land of Canaan.

I believe that Joshua felt nervous...

perhaps even ill-equipped in his own eyes to face the task ahead of him.

He didn’t have the wisdom, skill...

and leadership or Moses to fall back on.

Joshua knew that the untried army was not ready to face..

the Canaanites well armed tribes.

And Joshua knew all too well the weaknesses of his people...

why even God had spoken about giving up on them.

In reality, Joshua was in unchartered territory.

Therefore, God brings him a message.

READ

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Turn with me to .RD

let me set the text in context..

so that you can understand what is going on at the time because the strength of the scripture is only revealed when you understand its environment, in which it was spoken.

Everything in this text was moving but... God.

Everything is in the middle of transition and transformation but God.

The children of Israel are in transition not only...

physically leaving their nomadic history ..

after being in slaved for 400 years in Egypt.

They are now on the cusp of a new beginning...

and while a new beginning is a new thing is also a scary thing.

it is a difficult thing and its a challenging thing..

because now they must go from being nomadic to..

being owners and dwellers and possessors of land.

The land that they are possessing is rightfully theirs..

but they don’t remember it.

They’ve come home but they’ve never been there before.

They’ve come home but they’ve never been there before.

Their fathers, their ancestors had left many years ago..

Their father their

and so this is a generation that has no memory of what they are about to possess.

They have no history to look back on as a point of reference...

to know that the future is good,...

they just know that is new.

Now they are facing a new future without their own leader.

and he wasn’t any leader, he was Moses.

Moses was a mighty men of power and authority.

Moses was a leader to them thru good and bad years,

Moses was a leader for them thru good and the bad years,

Moses spoke face to face with God..

Moses had that connection with God..

led theme through many storms of the wilderness.

it was Moses that let the people through uncharted territories,

And now Moses went up the hill and he didn’t come back. And they are trying to figure out who Am I without Moses?

They lament the death of Moses…

Almost there and now Moses is gone.

The worst thing in life can happen when you ‘re almost there.

“It is when everything changes around you that faith has its greatest relevance.”

The closer you get to your promises the more you lose.

It has its greatest power when life is destabilizing..

and the future is uncertain..

and the props you had under you are all giving away..

that’s when you discover God.

When you run out of Moses you run on to God.

All you’ve got is God, all you hear is God..

all you understand is God.

All you can hold onto is God.

I love this promise... “As I was so I shall I be”.

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As Joshua took over as a leader this is what God was telling him to remember...

v, 5 “As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

it says; As I was with Moses so I will be with thee!! I will not fail thee. Not will I forsake thee.

We need the power of his presence.

This book is a book of power, a transformative book. Where people took over.

There are a couple of similarities..

between Joshua’s journey and Moses’ journey.

When Moses was called by God..

he was standing on holy ground before a burning bush.

When Joshua was called into leadership he was also standing on holy ground...

before the Commander of the Army of God..

you can read that story in .

Moses led God’s people through the Red Sea...

and Joshua led God’s people through the River Jordan.

We will find many similarities in God’s guidance in each of our lives..

there are times when each of us stand on holy..

ground, and we may not even know it.

And there are times when each of us...

will have to cross through many waters.

But the experience of God’s faithful...

and the promise of Isaiah is for us today,

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.” .

The promise given to Joshua so long ago in ,

is a personal promise of limitless divine power for all the challenges that he would face.

the challenges that he would face.

But this personal promise was not only given to Joshua alone...

it is a promise given to each one of us personally.

Paul writing to the believers in Rome, asked the question in ,

“If God is for us, who can be against us?”

Yes, Paul says, we do have enemies, enemies such as tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, dangers, and even the coronavirus...

but even with all those enemies, Paul reminds the Roman believers...

“in all these things we are more than conqueror through Him who loved us.”

Yes friend, we are more than conquerors through Jesus Christ.”

In fact, “I will never leave you nor forsake you,”

was echoed by Jesus to the disciples at his ascension,

“Surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

That promise is for us today, the Lord is with us.

Jesus is not keeping a safe six feet distance from us.

He is near us, and through the Holy Spirit in us.

But now, let’s go back to the book of Joshua...

and notice closely the encouraging promises given there.

Three times the Lord tells Joshua

“Be strong and courageous,” (verse 6),

then “be strong and very courageous” (in verse 7)

and then “be strong and courageous” (in verse 9).

Three times God encourages Joshua not to be afraid...

in fact, the Lord even tells Joshua in verse 9.....

“Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord our God will be with you wherever you go.”

You and I can claim this promise today dear friend.

I don’t know about you but sometimes listening to the news and hearing so much bad news...

especially now with the coronavirus my heart is tempted to be afraid.

But friends, we have a Savior, who gave His life for us...

and promises to be with us and even today reminds us,

Do not be afraid, and do not be discouraged.

I am with you.”

What fear or fears are you facing today?

Let the promises of God, especially the promises of fill your heart ...

with hope, peace, and encouragement today.

Now with the promises given here in Joshua one..

the Lord also has some advice for Joshua.

The Lord gives promises and also gives some advice.

So here is the advice to Joshua, look again closely at verses 7 and 8. Joshua,

“be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you;

do not turn from it to the right or to the left..

in fact, keep this book of the law always on your lips...

meditate on it day and night.”

Here is the challenge to Joshua...

for the promise comes with a challenge.

am with you always, stay brave and courageous...

but listen, immerse yourself in my word....

let my Word consistently lead your thoughts and decisions.

What God is telling Joshua is that there is a direct correlation between strength...

courage, and God’s Word.

The more we are in God’s Word..

the more courage and spiritual strength we receive.

And we need courage today...

we need spiritual fortitude and strength today.

So I encourage you dear friend...

immerse in the Word of God daily and often.

Meditate on God’s Word.

And the more we are in Scripture the more strength and courage we shall have.

And less fear will be experienced.

But even more than that, as we claim the promises of Scripture..

like the promises in , as we spend time daily in God’s Word..

we shall have the strength to be the best of neighbors to each other...

and to the community.

And we definitely need that today.

We need the strength and the courage to check in on each other...

support one another, share with one another..

pray for one another and help one another.

This is the time for us to let the Word of God...

live through us in action.

What that means is first of all have the wisdom to not...

spread disease and the coronavirus.

Have the wisdom to wash our hands often and care for one another..

by sharing only love and kindness and not a virus.

But it is also the time to pick up groceries for those who are older..

and shouldn’t venture out into the grocery stores.

This is the time to pick up medications..

text each other, call each other and support one another.

This is a time where we as a church will rise up and be the church.

Now after Joshua was encouraged by the Lord...

challenged by the Lord, he could go and share God’s Word...

God’s plan with the people in verses 10, 11 of Joshua chapter 1.

“So Joshua ordered the officers of the people:

‘Get your provisions ready.

Three days from now you will cross the Jordan here to go in and take possession...

of the land the Lord your God is giving you for your own.’”

God’s plan was for His people to take possession of the land..

the land of Canaan was God’s gift to His people.

And guess what, God’s gift to us is the land of heavenly Canaan.

We don’t earn the gift of heaven, it is a gift.

Jesus one time shared with his disciples in ,

“Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been please to give you the kingdom.”

What a privilege to be a child of God. Jesus is with us through our journey in life..

He gives us His Word to encourage us...

and then we have the gift of heaven to be with one another ..

and with the Lord forever.

Yes, the reality is that today we are in uncharted territory...

we don’t know the challenges we will face this coming week.

But that is ok, in fact, it is more than ok.

For Jesus is with each one of us, “He will never leave you nor forsake, you.

In fact even today, His personal encouraging word for each one of us is

“Be strong and courageous, yes, be strong and very courageous, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

Amen! Let us pray.

Let us pray.