Joshua 1:1-9, Joshua The Servant Leader

tonight we begin our study in the book of Joshua and tonight we're going to be looking at Joshua chapter one verses one through nine and of course the great theme of the book of Joshua is conquering Canaan it's going into the land that was promised to Abraham Isaac and Jacob so tonight we again look at the servant leader Joshua in Joshua chapter 1 verses 1 through 9 you ready let's pray Heavenly Father Lord again we commit this time to you Lord we know that in this world we are gonna have setbacks and tribulation battles and difficulties and Heavenly Father we also know that whenever we decide that we're going to walk with you whenever we decide that we are going to obey you that we're gonna walk in submission and obedience to you that all the evil powers on this planet and that Satan himself will undertake to oppose the child of God who wants to walk in the power of God and the promises of God in the presence of God and yet Lord we know that we were called to walk not always in brokenness and not always in recovery but that there would come a time of victory and so again Lord we remember the words of our Savior who said that Jesus has come into this world so that we could have life and have it more abundantly and so again lord I pray by your Holy Spirit that you will speak to our hearts in this great study of your servant Joshua in Jesus name Amen Joshua chapter 1 verse 1 after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord it came to pass that the Lord spoke to Joshua the son of nun Moses assistant saying Moses my servant is dead now therefore arise go over this Jordan you and all this people to the land which I am giving to them the children of Israel every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you as I said to Moses from the wilderness in this Lebanon as far as the great river the river Euphrates all the land of the Hittites and 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 as I was with Moses so I'll be with you I will not leave you or forsake you be strong and of good courage for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give to them only be strong and very courageous that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded you do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left that you may prosper wherever you go this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth but you shall meditate in it day and night that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it for then you will make your way prosperous then you will have good success have I not commanded you be strong and of good courage do not be afraid nor be dismayed for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go the Book of Joshua seems to have been written by Joshua and that's exactly what it says in chapter 24 verses 1 through 26 there are some of the sections that seemed to have been added later either by Elias are the priests or Phineas his son but Joshua is specifically identified as the author and we have every reason to believe that not only did he write the majority of this of this book but that he was the eyewitness of the many events that are going to take place throughout the book we see that in chapter 5 verse 1 as we and the use of we and in chapter 5 verse 6 as he uses the term us we saw again when we were together and we began looking at the appearances of Joshua that he was Moses servant before he was Moses successor and of course his name means yahweh is salvation' his name Joshua or yahushua or yeshua he bears the same name that jesus would later be named joshua or yahushua joshua was a soldier and a spy and he was commissioned by the lord and moses to carry out the task of leading the children of israel in the conquest of canaan the great themes of the book include God's faithfulness in the giving of the land of Canaan to Israel the conquest of the land the inheritance of the written law of God and we're going to see that the law of God or the or the Word of God or the book of Moses exit Genesis Exodus Leviticus numbers in Deuteronomy is going to play an important role throughout this occupation in chapter 1 verses 1 through a again in chapter 8 verse 32 in chapter 23 verse 6 in chapter 24 verse 6 over and over and over again there's going to be a return in the book to remind us of God's revelation and His Word and another great theme is the holiness of God in judging the sin of the Canaanites there's a great deal of biblical and extra-biblical support for the wicked practices of the Canaanite people you see one of the the things that will happen in our reading of this book is there are going to be people who are going to say hey we'll wait a minute I thought God was a God of loving and how do you explain God's command to go into this place to occupy this place and to displace all of the people who are in it and of course there was a discovery that was made called the Ross shaumbra tablets in Syria which gave us an incredible amount of information about the beliefs and the practices of the people who lived in Canaan not only did they practice entrenched prostitution by both sexes they practice infant sacrifices we have abundant archaeological proof that they would sacrifice their children that they would put them in jars and then suffocate them and bury them in in walls over and over and over again we see not just a religious syncretism that results in thinking differently or believing differently but we see literally a celebration of sin and a departure from righteousness and it's kind of interesting to me that the religious practices of the Canaanites in a very real way mirror much of the behavior of what's called modern culture or Western civilization no wonder a great theme of this book is that Canaan will become a type and a picture of the Christians inheritance in Christ when we as we points out that Canaan is not a picture of heaven because the Christian doesn't battle to possess heaven we don't battle to possess eternal life and we don't battle to possess heaven Canaan is our inheritance in other words it's that thing or those promises given to every Christian who claims life and Christ by faith and I think that that's right Canaan is our inheritance we move from slavery and brokenness to recovery and victory and so victorious Christian living consists what we've already learned in both battles and blessings the Christian life is a life of constant vigilance so many Christians remain in Egypt or in the wilderness so many Christians fail to leave the place of slavery and bondage and enter into that place of victory so many people are living under the penalty of sin trapped in the power of sin overwhelmed by the presence of sin but the book of Joshua helps us understand how we can by faith enter into the promises that are set aside for us that includes rest and victory in the Lord Jesus Christ we as Christians we don't inherit a land we occupy a savior and of course there are people who are again offended that occupation of the land of Canaan is going to require the removal of the Canaanite people but even that becomes a type and a picture of your life because the moment that you give your life to Christ the moment that you decide to be a Christian the moment that you say I'm gonna honor God you will invite the Holy Spirit to come into your life you enter into this journey called the Christian life are there things inside of your head and are there things inside of your heart and there are things that haunt you from your past that don't want to go away and that don't want to leave are there forces at work trying to remind you that hey you can't live the Christian life and you can't be a Christian person well guess what what's interesting about this passage is that God has given them the land the issue isn't whether or not God has given him the land the issue is whether or not they are going to occupy by faith what God has already given them it becomes the great issue for you for the rest of your life will you walk in the promises in the power in the presence of God and so we're gonna discover a couple of things God had given the Canaanite people literally hundreds and hundreds of years to repent but not only did they refuse to repent from their wicked practices but they grew in their wickedness and continued in their immorality and any sinner or any nation if they would have repented could have been saved by faith just like Rahab and Joshua chapter 2 in other words when people go well how do you explain what's going on when Joshua goes into the land adequate warning is going to be given to its occupants in Joshua chapter 2 verses 8 through 13 and you'll remember the story of Rahab where she decides that she is going to identify herself with the people of God and the children of God and she's going to possess and become a part of the narrative that's going to lead to the Savior Jesus Christ unfortunately God will sometimes use war to discipline and chase it and sometimes even destroy nations that forget God and sometimes Christians want to hold on to their old life they want to remain bound by the old habits by the sinful behaviors they find themselves strangely attracted to a life that always spelled disaster for them but Joshua's gonna show us how to live differently so it begins in verses 1 through 5 the preparation for leadership look what it says in verse 1 after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord it came to pass that the Lord spoke to Joshua the son of nun Moses assistant saying Moses my servant is dead now therefore arise go over this Jordan you and all this people to the land which I am giving to them the children of Israel I want you to see the picture clearly Joshua and the children of Israel are at the very edge of the waters of the Jordan as they're getting ready to enter into the land Moses is dead but the purposes of God are very much alive and what's interesting to me even about that very picture is that perhaps you've come here tonight and there's things in the past that are gone and as Joshua is standing on the banks of the river and behind him are the multitudes and he's been tasked with going in and occupying the land he needs to hear from God remember God was the person who spoke to Moses and through Moses and so often in our life we come to a place where we need to hear from God you show up at church you come to the Bible study not just simply to learn a little bit more not just simply to understand the text a little bit better which all of that is well and good and that's exactly what I want you to be able to do is to understand what it is that you're reading but some of you come to church wholly expecting to hear from God to hear him speak about the task that's been assigned to you what does God called you to do what does God gifted you to do what has God assigned you to do one of the things that I just want to quickly draw to your attention before we continue is this God's willing to speak to you if you're willing to listen but just like Moses remember he comes to this place where he wants to hear from God he doesn't want to just simply hear from God and say look god I'm interested in what you have to say I'm interested in your thoughts ideas commands and instructions not for the purpose of disobeying God but for the purpose of obeying God in ancient times God spoke through dreams and and sometimes through the high priest and the tabernacle sometimes God spoke in an audible voice but remember God spoke to Moses face-to-face and in Hebrews chapter 11 verses 1 and 2 it says God who at various times and in various ways spoke in times past to the father's by the prophets has in these last days spoken to us by his son whom he appointed heir of all things through whom also he made the world's the writer of Hebrews tells us that God does speak to us continues to speak to us will speak to us in his word by his son Joshua was listening and God was speaking and God wanted to use Joshua to fulfill God's plans for the children of Israel don't let it frighten you don't go ahead and take the risk and say I wonder if God wants to use me I wonder if God wants to speak to me I wonder if God wants to use me and my life for the future that he's ordained and if you're willing to listen God wants to speak to you about his plans for you plans to glorify himself plans to expand the kingdom plans to mold and shape you into the man or the woman that God has called you to be William LeSueur writes quote God expects each generation to get up on its own feet and face its own problems God doesn't want us to stand around saying well now look at Moses there was a great man we're never gonna have anyone ever again like Moses Moses is dead great man that he is he is dead he writes get up and face the problems of your day and your age arise go over this Jordan don't long for the past do the work of the present and God says I will be with you Billy Graham who just celebrated his 98th birthday on Monday said God didn't call me to reach the generation that came before me he didn't even call me to reach the generation that's gonna come after me God called me to reach this generation and I think that that's exactly right today today today of all days Billy Graham's life long friend died he had two people and one of them was named cliff barrows who was his lifelong friend and who accompanied him throughout almost every every incredible moment of this amazing man's ministry I hope and pray that God gives you gifted men and women friendship and fellowship that will follow you into the future we find our task here and now each generation faces a fresh challenge I want you to think about this deception delusion apathy indifference unbelief they're all fierce foes are we living in a generation more wicked more sinful more hardened more jaded than any generation before us maybe perhaps if that's true all the more reason to try and figure out what God has for you what Jesus wants from you and needs from you there's never been a time greater than now for you to do exactly what God's called you to do to live out the deeply held convictions of what it means to know and love the Lord so many people who want to surrender the current popular culture yet Jesus calls us to surrender to himself and of course that means a willingness to take up our cross and follow Jesus and some people don't want to go to church and they don't want to read their Bible and they don't want to pray and they don't want to discipline their children but we have to we must we don't determine our priorities Jesus determines our priorities he sets our agenda he determines what we're going to do and where we're going to go we will surrender by the way either to Christ or to our own pleasures and our own passions so what will it be what will you choose Winston Churchill in a cabinet meeting during World War two was encouraging no surrender he said I find it rather inspiring to stand alone he said nothing in life is more exhilarating to be shot at with no effect I actually know what that's like have you ever had a person pull a gun on you I hope not I hope you never have to go through that but when I was much younger I was working at Calvary Chapel in Albuquerque and I was in the bookstore and right next door there was a pizza parlor and somebody ran into the bookstore and said Gino Gino the pizza parlor next doors being robbed and stupid idiot that I am I leave the the bookstore walk into the pizza parlor and sure enough there is this guy wearing this fake phony getup and a trench coat and he has a gun and he points it right at me and he says if you move I'm going to shoot you there were a few other people in this little Lobby and the person next to me said give it up man the cops are on the way you can't get away I said look you can say whatever it is you want to say when the guns pointed at you but when the guns pointed at me keep your mouth shut and you know how you people talk about your life flashing before your eyes my life didn't flash before my eyes I saw the angry image of my wife thinking I came all the way from California with three small children to go on staff at a church only to have my husband killed in a pizza parlor Warren Bennis said leadership is a word on everyone's lips the Junge Tackett scholars want it bureaucrats pretend to have it politicians wish they did everyone agrees that there's less of it than there used to be but somebody has to take the lead it's interesting the guy who robbed the pizza place ran out the door and stupid me I did the stupidest thing perhaps that I've ever done in my life I ran after him now think about how stupid that is all this person had to do is just simply turn around pull the trigger and my life is completely different don't you think joshua was filled with questions when moses died what are we gonna do how are we gonna hear from God he's profoundly aware of the empty spot left by Moses but at the top of Joshua's list of things to do was to hear from God and I'm gonna suggest that if you're interested in Victoria's Christian living if you want your life to be different your mind to be different your heart and your thoughts and your outlook to be different maybe you need to put that at the top of your list as well hear from God hear him speak he says arise go over this Jordan you and all the people and the land which I'm giving to them he does God describes the task and then gives Joshua the job and again I'm gonna suggest you that Joshua is given your instructions on how to carry out the task he will become the commander-in-chief of the nation of Israel and he will take them across the Jordan to occupy the land a lot of people have debated whether or not Israel has a right to occupy that land and by the way twice the children of Israel would later be removed by foreign enemies Assyria in the north would displace them the king of Babylon would carry them away captive eventually in 66 to 70 the country would be driven to war with Rome and once again many of the Jews would be driven out of the land but the Bible says in Psalm 24:1 the earth is the Lord and all of its fullness the world and those who dwell therein God claims that he is the rightful owner of this planet God claims to possess every nation and all of its people he claims ownership of everyone and everything including you whether you resist him or submit to him he claims you the land was God's gift to Israel and it would only be won by persistent patient courageous occupation and the same is true of your Christian life it's going to be won by persistent patient courageous occupation and God anticipates resistance by the inhabitants and it must have brought great comfort to Joshua to know that he was called by God for the task at hand and it should give you great joy to know that Jesus calls you for the task at hand and look what it says in verse 3 every place that the sole of your feet we'll tread upon I've given it to you as I said 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 I wish I had instructed her to put up a map that would have covered all of the territories described if you have a map of the Middle East in your Bible or at the end of your Bible the boundaries stretched from the wilderness and the South if you have a map of the Middle East put your finger on Egypt and then just inch a little bit north so the boundaries were going to be from Egypt to the forests of Lebanon to the north to the Mediterranean Sea which was going to form the western border and then the eastern border was supposed to stretch as far as the Euphrates River and at the height of Israel's occupancy during the kingdom years of David and Solomon Israel had influence over these areas but never full occupation what's interesting to me is that the land promised included not only the modern territories of Israel but large portions of Lebanon Syria Jordan Iraq and to this very day God's promises of Israel's borders remain largely unfulfilled and I think that that's interesting and I also think that it's interesting that the promise will be come to fruition there will come a time when Israel will occupy these boundaries even if it's in a messianic Kingdom for the for the Christian Jesus is our land you see your borders aren't from Egypt to Lebanon your borders stretch from Genesis to the book of Revelation you see what you occupy are all of the promises that God has given you in Christ we could spend the rest of our life we could spend days years on the promises that are given to you in Christ we could speak of abundant life in John 10:10 we could speak of the Crown's of life in Revelation 2:10 we could speak of a future heavenly home we could speak of a new name answers to prayer assurance cleansing comfort companionship deliverance divine sonship protecting power growth guidance hope inheritance joy knowledge Liberty peace you could go on and on so I will power for service renewal rest restoration even a future resurrection from the dead the Bible's promised you all of that sometimes I feel like a late-night pitchman going but wait there's more and that's something more is God's will for your life there's the promises of God for your life and God's will for your life and you see this is one of the reasons why we do what we do I exist in part as the pastor for no other reason than to prepare you for heaven to remind you of God's promises to encourage you in His grace and look what it says in verse 5 no man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life as I was with Moses so I will be with you I will not leave you nor forsake you look with the promise that God gives to Joshua no man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life he has promised a lifetime of repeat victories against the enemies of God he promises to be with Joshua the same way that he was with Moses and this promise was repeated by the way to Solomon in first chronicles chapter 28 verse 20 it was also given to you did you know that in Hebrews chapter 13 verses 5 and 6 I'm going to read it for you let your conduct be without covetousness be content with such things as you have for he himself has said I will never leave you or forsake you so we may boldly say the Lord is my helper I will not fear what can man do to be jesus said I'll never leave you I'll never forsake you it's interesting when it says leave you or forsake you it could be translated I'll never leave you in the lurch I don't know about you but I had some strange people in my family I'm sure none of you have any strange individuals in your family but I had a very strange uncle who thought it was his purpose in life to instruct me and when I was a little child he put me on top of a refrigerator and he says come on come on jump I'll catch you come on come on I'll catch you and so I jumped and he moved and I hit the ground and he says this is lesson number one never trust anyone what a horrible thing huh what a horrible thing to try and teach a child God's is exactly the opposite he isn't like you're weird or wicked uncle he when he says that he will never leave you or forsake you he means it and so look at the call to courage in verse 6 be strong and of good courage for this to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give to them now I want you to think about this for just a moment he says be strong and of good why does God command strength and courage I'm gonna help you he has promised the land to Joshua he's promised that Joshua would be the one who will divvy up the land or divide the land among the children of Israel and give them their inheritance and in that sense he becomes a type and a picture of Jesus Jesus is the one who's been tasked with the purpose of giving you everything that belongs to you that's been given to you by God the Father now I want you to again think about this the occupants of the land are they going to go quietly No he is going Joshua is going to need strength and courage for the hard-fought military campaigns that are going to be a part of his future and so is it going to take strength and courage for you to walk the walk that God has called you to walk is it going to take strength and courage for you to say no to sin and yes to the Savior is it going to take strength and courage for you to pray and open up your Bible and believe the promises of God all of that is true and hear courage is more than just resolve it's divine nerve prompted by God's promise and permission it's God's permission to go forward in spite of the obstacles and that's part of the way you should read the text God has given me permission to exercise strength and courage courage is divine fire fueled because we're acting under the Lord's instruction I'm not talking about courage and strength to do something that you want to do I'm talking about courage and strength to do what God wants you to do what Christ has called you to do courage is the steadfastness of faith which looks to the Lord and count on the Lord for victory in the midst of conflict and by the way the Lord will never command you to do something or be something without giving you the resources to accomplish the command let me put it another way God doesn't give us commands without promises without resources think about what's happening Joshua is given a promise I'm going to be with you I'm going to give you a lifetime of repeated victories over your enemies based on the Lord's unfailing promise based on the Lord's unfailing power based on the Lord's unfailing president presence President Woodrow Wilson once said I would rather fail in a cause that will ultimately succeed than to succeed in a cause that will ultimately fail guess what Satan will lose sin will be punished God will be vindicated Christ will be honored Jesus will win and Satan will lose God has also promised that the cause of Christ will triumph over the lies of Satan God wants to use Joshua in a critical time in the history of Israel to accomplish his plans and purposes and the same is true of you I believe by divine right and by divine contract and by divine promise Israel has titled to the land but I believe that they will struggle to occupy all of the land until they have a right relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ and by the way the same is true for you and for me we act with strength and courage in the promises that Christ has given to us Peggy Noonan was a former presidential speechwriter she wrote quote the bravest thing we do in our life is usually known only to ourselves no one throws a ticker-tape parade for the man who chooses to remain faithful to his wife or the lawyer who doesn't take the drug money hell will not stand up and applaud you when you decide to do what's right but decide anyway and so look at the call to courage in the power of the word look what it says in verses 7 & 8 only be strong and very courageous that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded you don't turn from it to the right hand or to the left that you may prosper wherever you go think about this the Lord commands again strength and courage only this time it's even more emphatic only be strong and very courageous Donald Campbell has a very interesting comment on this verse he writes quote this exhortation is stronger than that of verse 6 indicating that it's going to take more strength of character to obey God's Word than to win military battles imagine someone says I need you to fight and you say I'll fight this isn't the first fight I've ever been in is it gonna take strength and courage to fight yes and now the Lord says it's going to take even more strength and even more courage to read the Bible and then believe it that's part of the point look what it says in verse 8 this book of the law what is that this is a reference to the first five books of Moses here he's talking about Genesis Exodus Leviticus numbers Deuteronomy look what he says this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth but you shall meditate on a day and night that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it for then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have good success some scholars argue that there was no written record no Bible at this point in history the Bible says exactly the opposite God says no there is his word this book of the law was God's word for Joshua's generation it's also God's word for you and for me the Bible is God's book in every generation God is in effect saying to Joshua do you want to succeed do you want to have victory in your life do you want to succeed are you tired of the emptiness and the darkness and the repeated failures and then on again off again are you tired of that do you want victory in your life if you don't want to fail listen carefully if you want to succeed in your Christian walk listen carefully if you want to have repeat victories over the world over your the flesh over the devil over sin listen carefully George Bernard Shaw said liberty means responsibility that's why most men dread it I want freedom of course you do I want liberty of course you do but real freedom and real Liberty often requires participation and so here's what the Lord says to Joshua speak the words of the scripture the book of the law shall not depart from your mouth what does that mean he's to talk about God he talks about God's Word all the time in other words don't let the book of the law depart from your mouth in what sense he's reminding him make sure that the focus of your conversation is the revelation that God has given to you I'm not saying that that you can't talk about sports or hobbies or the economy or food or world events I'm not even saying that there's no room for movies or entertainment I'm not even saying that you can only read Christian books that's what what I am saying is how do you spend your time do you spend your I'm praying and reading and worshiping and loving and serving the Lord do you Accu pie your mind with the Word of God I got to tell you something most of my life is spent preoccupied either with what the Bible says or books about what the Bible says I love the Bible I even love the table of contents I love the maps in the back of the Bible and so he says speak the word and what do you do when you're not speaking here's what he says meditate on it when you're not talking about it be thinking about it in what way meditate means to ponder it means to consider it means to reflect it means to be thinking about it when Joshua wasn't speaking the Word of God he was to be thinking about the Word of God in 2nd Corinthians chapter 10 verse 5 it says casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God bringing every thought captive to the obedience of Christ we capture our thoughts we rein them in we turn them over to Jesus so we speak the word and then we reflect on the word and then finally we do what it says do the words of Scripture do all that is written in it Joshua's commanded and so think about this josh was promised a lifetime of repeated victories he's received instructions about Israel's borders and now he receives instructions about Israel's book and Joshua has to read it and heed it and this is why we spend so much time thinking about the Bible reading the Bible teaching the Bible preaching the Bible encouraging you to read it and preach it and then apply it to your life and then finally look at the call to courage in the presence of the Lord look what it says have I not commanded you be strong and of good courage don't be afraid nor be dismayed for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go this is the third time the Lord calls on Joshua to be strong and of good courage the Lord has given Joshua the promise of the land the Lord has given Joshua the promise of his word now God reminds Joshua you won't simply possess my promise and my word but you're also gonna have my very presence look what it says for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go Joshua's going to face trials he's gonna have to go and occupy the land the problem like I keep repeating is it's occupied by a people who don't want to leave and there are things in your life that don't want to go away that want to stay the same but the Bible says you're to occupy Christ the problem sinned Wells in our hearts the people in the land had large armies and they had fortified cities and sometimes there are things in our life that seem overwhelming there seems to be fortified strongholds some of you've experienced some of it whether it's drugs or alcohol or addictions the people in the land we're entrenched in that land and I suspect that at times Joshua felt overwhelmed and under-resourced and Joshua may have had moments where he felt weak and inadequate just like you just like me because there are things in your life that don't want to go away God knows that we face fear and discouragement and pain and difficulty but the Lord says you have my promise and that would be enough but he says not only do you have my promise but you have my power so that you will know I will keep my promise and that would be enough but he says you have my promise and you have my power and you have my presence years ago I was an assistant pastor at Calvary Chapel in Albuquerque and the Lord impressed upon me that I needed to go and plant a church and it was really interesting as we were considering planting a church the Lord gave me this exact passage joshua verses 1 1 through 9 and my wife and I began to pray about where we should go because of this passage have I not commanded you be strong enough courage don't be afraid or dismayed for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go I thought well maybe I'll go to Austin Texas I like Texas by the way maybe I'll go to Louisiana where I'm from or to Florida and then I had this wild notion I'll go to Cleveland Ohio no one would go to Cleveland unless they're called by God and you have to have God's power and presence and promises and it's interesting as we began to pray about where we would go and what we would do I took a test I call it the million dollar test goes like this if I had a million dollars and I could live off the interest what would I do I'd go plant to church what if I didn't have a dime in my pocket I'd go plant to church what if I had 40 more years to live I'd go planted Church would if I was diagnosed with cancer and I only had a year to live I'd go plant a church no matter what I said the same answer came go plant a church go plant a church and so you know what my wife continued to pray we prayed and we decided that we were gonna go to Denver and two weeks after we sold our house my wife was diagnosed with cancer you see I gave myself a test but I didn't include her I remember I was at the church and she gave me a call from the doctor's office that the diagnosis had come in that it was cancer and that we would have to get treatment and then we had to make a decision do we go or do we stay and get treatment and we stayed and we got treatment and my wife recovered from cancer and then we came to Denver and then for the first time I began to understand what this passage meant have I not commanded you be strong and of good courage don't be afraid or dismayed for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go it wasn't about going to Denver you see it wasn't a geographical location that God had in mind it was I am going to be with you in a dark time in a difficult time in in in a problematic time you know when we came to Denver I had to trust God for a job getting a job is easy compared to cancer and then we started a Bible study and I had to trust that people would show up but guess what having people show up was easy cancers hard and then people started coming and we had to trust God for a place to meet and oddly enough that was easy compared to cancer when the Lord said I'll be with you I thought it meant Texas Florida or Colorado I didn't know that it meant I'm gonna be with you in the dark time in the difficult time I'm going to be with you in the times where the resources don't seem available I'm going to be with you and it isn't about topography or geography I'm going to be with you where you need me the most in your heart in your confidence the promise of God and the power of God and the presence of God will be with you when you decide that you're going to walk away from the place of slavery and the place of brokenness and even the place of recovery as you get ready to enter the place of victory and now the task is before Joshua he's going to have to enter the land the next four chapters are going to be about entering that land then between chapter 6 and 12 he's going to talk about the conquest of the land and then in verses chapters 13 through 22 he's going to be talking about the allocation of the territories and finally he's going to give us a final message at the end of the book about what it means to trust the Lord and live in victory so that's what you have to look forward to let's pray Heavenly Father you've given us a promise of a place where we can go you've promised your presence and you've given us the assurance that you will keep your word Lord I pray I pray for each and every person within the sound of my voice who longs to believe your promises to experience your presence and trust in the assurances that you've given to us that you will never leave us or forsake us and that you will walk with us into the future that you've assigned for us in Jesus name and all the saints said let's stand

Channel: Calvary South Denver

Views: 58,362

Rating: 4.6421356 out of 5

Keywords: Gino Geraci, Christianity, Bible Study, Calvary South Denver, Joshua, Servant Leadership

Id: uWfKOHpHQkY

Length: 57min 33sec (3453 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 17 2016