You Got This! (joshua 1.1-9)
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You Got This!
You Got This!
After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, saying,
“My servant Moses is dead. Now proceed to cross the Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the Israelites.
Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, as I promised to Moses.
From the wilderness and the Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, to the Great Sea in the west shall be your territory.
No one shall be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you.
Be strong and courageous; for you shall put this people in possession of the land that I swore to their ancestors to give them.
Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to act in accordance with all the law that my servant Moses commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, so that you may be successful wherever you go.
This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth; you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to act in accordance with all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall be successful.
I hereby command you: Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
Intro:
Everybody needs encouraging at some point or another in our life.......
Especially when you have ever experienced a year like we have experienced in 2020.....
And if we would be completely honest about it....
Our recovery time from 2020 is going to no doubt spill over into our 2021...
(pause)
And that doesn’t mean that we are defeated.......
......that just means we have a stronger testimony!
(pause and expound)
And as I thought about what I would say to you on this first Sunday of 2021.....
The Lord guided me back to Joshua....
(slight pause)
In the text today we learn that God has chosen Joshua to be the successor of Moses......
.....and If you go all the way back to Exodus 17.14
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a reminder in a book and recite it in the hearing of Joshua: I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.”
God tells Moses to remind Joshua and write in his book that Amalek would be exterminated.....
(pause)
And.....
In the book of Numbers 27.15 God instructs Moses to ordain Joshua..
(pause)
And so......
Joshua understands that God is going to use him mightily to continue what God has already started in the life of Moses....
(pause)
It does not mean......
........that Joshua will never have to go through anything
......it does not mean that he will never be challenged
.......and it does not mean that he is exempt from the pressures of living and leading
(pause)
But it does mean.....
.......that God is with him!
(pause and expound)
And in this particular group of verses......
God is speaking to a Joshua that I believe represents you and I....
And this speaking to Joshua that God is doing is described as....
The Commission to Joshua.....
which means that God is delegating authority or power to Joshua....
And.......The bible says in Matthew 28.18-20.....
......that God has commissioned both you and I
....giving us authority to go and make disciples
(pause and slightly expound)
And as God is Commissioning Joshua........
.....the text shows God encouraging Joshua to walk in the authority that has been delegated to him!
(pause)
Look at it....
After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, saying,
“My servant Moses is dead. Now proceed to cross the Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the Israelites.
According to the text......
As Joshua is now stepping into his role as successor after the death of Moses
God says two things intitially that I believe serve as encouragement to Joshua..
1. God says, “Now proceed to cross the Jordan”
.......and the reason that this is encouraging is because God is giving Joshua “Direction” and at the same time giving him “Directions”
......Joshua receives “Direction” when God tells him to proceed
......and Joshua receives “Directions” when God tells him to proceed across the Jordan.
2. God also says, “Cross over into the land that i am giving to them” , which communicates that God has promised them the land that they are told to proceed into.
......watch verse 3 as a continuation,
(pause)
Look at it now...
Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, as I promised to Moses.
And here is why this verse brings more encouragement towards Joshua......
because what God is really saying to him is,
I’m getting ready to “REPEAT” the same promise to you that I spoke to Moses.....
And in Deuteronomy 11.......24-25
.....we find these same words that God spoke to Moses
“Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you!”
And so....
Your footprints are now promise notifications....
And so Freedom....
We’re NOT stepping OUT...
We’re stepping IN
......and everytime we STEP IN, we get a PROMISE notification from God....
Psalms 37.23 says.......
“The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord!”
“Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; for the Lord ukpholdeth him with his hand!”
(pause and expound)
Look at it....
From the wilderness and the Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, to the Great Sea in the west shall be your territory.
According to the text God explains the promise in detail regarding borders....
The four limits of their territory....
The Southern border will settle at the wilderness called the Negev
The Northern border would settle at the lebanon Mountains
The Eastern border would stop at the Euphrates River
The Western border would stop at the Mediterranean Sea
(pause)
Look at it now...
No one shall be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you.
Notice now in verse 4.......
God tells Joshua where their limits will be.....
And now in verse 5 God says.....
“No one shall be able to stand against you....”
In other words.........
Don’t fall into the trap of thinking your stopping points or limitations are man made!
And then God says....
“As I was with Moses, so I will be with you......
.....and I will not fail you
(let you down)
.....and I will not forsake you
(leave you)
(pause and expound)
Look at it now....
Be strong and courageous; for you shall put this people in possession of the land that I swore to their ancestors to give them.
The bible says.....
God gives joshua a command that says......
Be strong and Be courageous....
.........and what I hear God saying to Joshua in my spiritual imagination i simply this...
I need you to get ready to “SEIZE” the PROMISE....
Joshua......
I need you to be intentional in your mindset because you’re going to have to do this by design and purpose.
(pause)
And God says.....
Joshua.........
I need you to understand what I can do with somebody who believes I got their back.....
Because Joshua.....
“You shall cause this people to inherit the land”
(pause and optional expound)
And then God says in verse 7....
Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to act in accordance with all the law that my servant Moses commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, so that you may be successful wherever you go.
God says...
“Be careful to act according to the teaching that Moses gave you”
and according to the text.....
.......the details of how Joshua is supposed to carefully act is described as refusing to turn away from the teaching.....
Because.........
his success is attached to the TEACHING..........
(pause and expound)
And then in verse 8 God says....
This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth; you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to act in accordance with all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall be successful.
In other words.....
Make sure that the Scriptures are read in public worship and also in private reading.....
.....and studied
So that prospering and successful living will be able to connect to Truth God has spoken into our lives.....
(pause)
God says to Joshua.....
When you do this Joshua.....
“You shall make your way prosperous”
(pause)
Look at it now......
I hereby command you: Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
The bible says that God tells Joshua to refrain from doing two things......
Do not be Frightened
And what I believe God is telling Joshua is......
......Refrain from being intimidated
......don’t let nothing terrify you
Do not be dismayed
And I almost saw dismayed and frightened as completely the same thing..
But in the Hebrew meaning this word Dismay is at a higher crescendo than just being frightened......
......because frightened in the Hebrew means to Tremble from terror
.........but to be dismayed means to be shattered, or to be broken down into pieces.
(pause)
And here’s how I know God knew he needed Joshua to show us how to Refrain from doing these two things.......
Because usually when we break down in fear........
........is when we get to a place where we are in Isolation
.......when we get to a place where we are standing detached
And then something enters our lives to terrify us.......
........usually its when we find ourselves out of control for a season and it feels like something bigger than us is attacking us....
(pause)
But.......look at what God says after God tells us to refrain from being.....
Intimidated
Isolated
Because.....
God says.....
“For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go!”
(pause and expound)
Freedom.......
I’m not sure if you took note but.......
verse 9 is the THIRD time that God has now encouraged Joshua by commanding him to......
“Be strong and courageous”
He said it in verse 6......
and then He said it again in verse 7.....
and now here it is again in verse 9......
(pause)
And when I read it this third time...........
I heard God say something else to Joshua.....
(pause)
Because when I read it this time.......
In my spiritual imagination I heard God saying.....
Joshua.......
“You Got THIS!”
(pause)
And FREEDOM.......
I came with a 2021 WORD from God that declares......
“You Got THIS!”
“We Got THIS!”
(pause)
No weapon formed against you will be able to prosper......
“You Got this!”
God is with me...........
“You Got this!”
The Lord is my Shield and Buckler
“We Got THIS!”
.........................EXPOUND and CLOSE..............................