Be Strong and Courageous

Have you ever faced a challenge that was just staring you down in the face?

A challenge where you knew something had to be done about it

For some of us this morning there might be a challenge in your life that is staring you down and you are here this morning stressed, tired and exhausted

You have this financial issue

You have this problem in your family

You have made a mistake and you are going to face the consequence

some of us might be here and we have tried pushing this issue back, but we realize that at some point we will have to face it

some of us might have tried hiding it

Some of us may even be ready to quit.

But this morning my prayer for us today is that we will leave better equipped to face the challenges in our life, whether it is somthing we are facing this morning, or somthing we face in the future.

And we have been in this series called “The Story” wherer we have been looking at the grand narritive of the Bible (where it has been diveded into 31 sections)

And we are in chapter 7 of it today, and everything from this is found in the book of Joshua.

But if you have been with us the past few weeks the Israelites have been facing a big challenge.

Because God has brought them out slavery in Egypt

And he led them through the wilderness

And the Israelites now face this huge challenge where God is calling them to enter a land that He has promised.

The issue is there are already people there, that are stronger then them.

And really the Isralites encounter this challenge and flop.

And as a result they end up wondering in the wilderness for 40 years

And during this time they make a ton of mistakes, in fact I have been getting a little tired, because that past few weeks it has looked like:

This person messed up

The Isralites did this

The That guy was unfaithful

But today where we are a major shift has taken place because they go from place where they have messed up to where they re trusting Him and living out their faith in a couragous way.

So we are starting in Joshua 1:1-5 and it starts out with this:

Joshua 1:1–5(NIV)

Joshua Installed as Leader

1 After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide: 2 “Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites. 3 I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. 4 Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. 5 No one will 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 never leave you nor forsake you.

So Mosses the previous leader has died and Joshua the new leader has begun leading

And I love it because in verses 3-4 God is talking to Joshua and before anything else He reminds Joshua of the promise.

That God has given them this land and if they go, He will give!

And really this is something we see God reminding them of almost every week!

But its something that is important, because we are people that doubt promises.

Because chances are we have had people who have not delivered on their promise.

I went to the grocery store the other day and Arika told me I need you to pick up this.

Well she knows I forget at least one thing every-time we go to the grocery store and so she says “promise me you wont forget this...”

Well I forgot...

But with all seriousness so often someone might not deliver on a promise, and we begin to translate that to God, where we are going through something

And we get all these “What if” thoughts.

What if God doesn’t deliver on His promise?

What if this happens?

What if I loose my job?

What if I cause this issue?

And meanwhile we forget to look at the promises of God

That He will never leave nor forsake us

That if He called us to do something there is a purpose.

Can I just say if there is a promise that God has given you find ways to remember those promises, because God does not forget His promises.

Do not dwell on these “What Ifs” but dwell on the truth that God has given you.

And I love it because God tells them that He will give them the land and that He will never leave or forsake them and you get to verse 6-9 and it actually tells what our response is. It says

Joshua 1:6–9 (NIV)

6 Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.

7 “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. 8 Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

So I hope you noticed the emphasis there (It said it three times in four verses)

Our response is to be, what? … Strong and Courageous

And it is because of the promise that God gives.

I mean think about it if I took you to a car dealership and I told you to pick out a car (its on me)

You would probably avoid the old beat up cars, and head to the most expensive car on that lot.

Because if you know its paid for why would you settle for less.

(Possibly swap out for an NFL or sports team Illustration)

And God is telling them, do not settle, take this land that I have promised you, because its not you who will be taking it but it is me!

Be strong and courageous because I am the one fighting for you!

Can I just ask you: What would it look like if you knew Gods promises and couragosly lived it out?

How would your life be different?

But there is also a second part (that is really important) because God tells them live courageously, but he also gives them guidelines for how to do that.

Because someone says live coragously, I think eat stakes, save a damsel in distress,

but in the middle of saying live courageously He says to listen to God’s word, and not just that but to meditate on it day or night.

Meaning God’s word should be something that shapes us and impacts us.

I mean I think some of you have seen this study before but there is a study out their that looks at plants and one plant had an audio track of compliments played over and over for a week

and the other plant had insults played,

And the amazing thing is the plant that had the insults play over and over again actually willted and did not look nearly as healthy as the plant that was complimented.

But you know what plays over and over in our head will shape us.

If you are having negative thoughts that will shape you

If you have lustful throughts, that will shape you

If you have angry thoughts, in your head 24/7 it will shape you.

And I want you to understand God is saying do not let these things be what shape you, but let God’s word be the thing that is shaping you because when that happens we are guided towards things that will not harm us or make us wilted, but God guides us to things that are life giving!

And what happens is we grow into the people He has called us to become.

Well lets get back into the story, because they cross the River that separated them from the promised land and as they get to the other side you think they would be getting ready for battle but it actually says that every male gets circumsied, so that they will be in line with God’s covenant and identify whose are belong too and actually none of the men are able body for a few days.

So then they recover and they have sent spies to the land you can picture them getting ready to attack, but then God tells Joshua I have another plan. Look at Joshua 6:1-5. It says:

Joshua 6:1–5 (NIV)

Now the gates of Jericho were securely barred because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in.

2 Then the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. 3 March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. 4 Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. 5 When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have the whole army give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the army will go up, everyone straight in.”

And so they do this plan and for the first 6 days they circled the city once a day

And then on the seventh they circled it seven times.

And you can picture the people in Jericho thinking here they come get ready!!!

And then they walk around the city and go back to camp.

Then they did it the next day

And the next day and all the way up to the 7th day where they circled the city 7 times.

And I do not know if God wanted to get them dizzy or what.

But reading it this does not seem like the best strategy to go into war.

I mean they could get shot with arrows

I mean its seems vulnerable and badly planned.

But can I be honest this plan took a lot of faith and courage, because this plan meant they were placing all of there faith in God and trusting Him to do what He said.

and whats so cool is they blow the trumpet and the city walls collapse

They fall down.

And today you might feel like God has called you to do somthing, and you are thinmking the challenge is to big,

It might be God has given you a call on your life tht seems to big

It could be an addiction or a sin that your feel stuck in.

It could be somthing as simple as you are looking at your finances and saying I know I should be tithing, but it seems impossible.

Can I just say we serve a God that when we take steps forward in faith the walls can start to crumble. and the battles we face are won, not because of us, but because what God can do.

And look what happens because the Israelites go on to clam a portion of the land God has promised, and I love what happens at the end of where we are today, because like last week with Mosses Joshua gives a speech towrds the end of his life and there is a famous part that would be written on a HobbyLobby sign or hallmark card and he says here in Joshua 24:14-15 and it says:

Joshua 24:14–15 NIV

14 “Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

You know Joshua is talking about the times they have failed and the times they have succeeded and he is saying do you remember where each path led you?

And you can picture him thinking I am getting ready to pass away and you all have a choice do you want to follow the God who brought us hear, or follow other “false god”

Do we want to place our trust in the God delivered us from Eygpt, or our god of comfort that keeps us where we are.

Do we want to place our trust in the God that helped us cross the Jordan, or the god we made in the wilderness

Do we want to follow the God that made the walls of Jericho crumble or do we want to make fear our god that controls us.

You see this morning we have a choice to make. Who do you want to follow:

The true God, or our fake “lower case g” gods

Do we want to follow our greed, or allow God to use our finances how He sees fit

Do we want to stay in our comfort zone or do we want to reach people for Him

Do we want to allow evil to happen in this world, or are we going to do something about it

Can I just ask the same question Joshua asked: Who are you going to serve?

My prayer is that every person here will answer that in every area whether its comfort, finances, or your life as a whole our awnser will be Joshua’s

As for me and my family we will serve the Lord.

Today can be the day we draw the line where we stop being half in, and say God I want you to have my all!

Will you pray with me?