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I was reading through this passage here this week, and it just really caught my attention. It's so rich with so much truth in there, and I don't think I could begin to expound on everything tonight, but there was something in there that really touched my heart, and I trust that tonight it'll speak to you as well. But there was a missionary by the name of Amy Carmichael who went to India for many years and worked with destitute women, particularly those I believe that were caught up in the prostitution rings and so forth as a result of the Hindu religion. But she had a great success, if you would, making a difference in the lives of individuals there in the country. She made this statement, though. Sometimes when we read the words of those who have been more than conquerors, we feel almost despondent. I feel that I shall never be like that. But they won through step-by-step, by little bits of wills, little denials of self, little inward victories, by faithfulness in very little things. They became what they are. No one sees these little hidden steps. They only see the accomplishment, but even so, those small steps were taken. There is no sudden triumph, no spiritual maturity. That is the work of a moment. You know, as Christian people, I believe we all have a desire to be successful in a spiritual sense. And our lives are ticking away each day. Each day we're passing through this world and it just kind of ticks away, ticks away. It's hard to believe today is July 1st. We're on the second half of 2018. And this has been one of the fastest years. I say that almost every year and it just seems like they keep getting faster and faster. And our lives are ticking away. And so often we forget that God has a reason why we're here. God has a desire for us, a divine plans, if you will, for us to accomplish that will make a difference for all eternity. And in our text, we see that God outlines a pathway for us to follow as he commissions Joshua to lead the children of Israel into the promised land, a pathway for us that we can see that will enable us, I believe, to be spiritually successful. Joshua chapter number one verse one. It says now after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord He came to pass that the Lord spake unto Joshua the son of Nun Moses's minister saying Moses my servant is dead now therefore arise go over this Jordan thou and all this people and to the land which I do give to them even to the children of Israel and Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses, from the wilderness, and this Lebanon, even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea, toward the going down of the sun shall be your coast. There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life. So as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee. I will not fail thee nor forsake thee. Be strong and of a good courage, for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land which I swear unto their fathers to give them. only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law which Moses, my servant, commanded thee. Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper, whithersoever thou goest. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate there on day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein. For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage. Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed, for the Lord thy God is with thee, withersoever thou goest. Tonight, I'd like to just talk about the pathway to spiritual success. Let's pray. Father, thank you for tonight. I pray the Spirit of God would just speak in a very powerful way to our hearts. To help communicate just what you desire to do with every life here and through this local New Testament Church Thank you Lord God for the blessings of this morning. Thank you for all that took place And Lord as we look past to further things and more Sundays and more Wednesdays to come God, I pray that our hearts would beat to see souls saved People reached and you glorified we pray this in Jesus name Amen you You know, I believe every one of us should have the desire the Apostle Paul had when he died, or towards the end of his life, when he was looking towards death. He mentions to his apprentice Timothy, 2 Timothy 4, 6 through 8, for I'm now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith. Henceforth, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day. Paul, he's coming to the end of his life and he's concluding things and he's saying, you know what? I have fought a good fight. And God inspired him to say that. That Paul fought a good fight. He was faithful. He did right. And there were times throughout Paul's life, I'm sure it was very tempting to just throw in the towel and quit. and say, you know, what's the point of trying anymore? What's the point of dealing with all the stuff that I deal with as a Christian, as a missionary, and so forth? But he kept on keeping on, and of course, his ministry has affected even us to this very day. But he says, I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course, the course that God had laid out to him, and he had kept the faith. And as a result, God was going to reward him. And he understood that. And that ought to be our desire, too, that when it comes to the end of our life, we can we can say like, Paul, I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith. I have done right. I've given God my very best and I've given him my all. And I can I can I can go into heaven with little to no regret. You know, we're all going to pass on one day and stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Christian people, we need to remember that we all do stand before God. Every one of us should give an account of ourselves. Every one of us are going to give an account of how we used our time, how we used our talents, how we used the things that God has given us. And we're going to give an account to Him. And it ought to be our goal, and it's certainly my goal, I know that. I want to hear, well done, thou good and faithful servant. That's what I want to hear. Well done, thou good and faithful servant. You fought a good fight. You finished your course. You kept the faith. And I trust that that is all of our attitudes today, is that that's what I want to hear when I get to heaven. That's what I want to hear when I step onto heaven's shores, because that day we step onto heaven's shores is going to come. And you know what? I'm not trying to be morbid when I say this, but it could be sooner than we realize. It could you know, jesus could come back. We could exit this life. I don't wish that anybody at all But I mean, that's just the reality of life that every one of us we're gonna Sooner than later are gonna be there And we're gonna have to stand before god and we're all gonna have to say God this is what I what I did with my life Now I'll be honest with you too, it's not always easy to finish the course. It is not always the easiest thing. Along the way, You see casualties, and I've talked about that before. That's one of my greatest burdens is the casualties of the Christian race. When I speak of casualties, I'm not talking about people dying. I'm talking about people who are no longer faithful, who maybe started strong, that were serving God and were doing right. But somewhere along the way, they got a bad attitude. They got thinking about just themselves. or something took place that just knocked them out. I've known many good people, I mean people who are faithful and fruitful, today they are on the wayside of that spiritual journey. They're just often never never land. I mean doing things I never thought they'd ever do. Saying things and going places and And it's just so sad to watch that. It's just like, what happened to these people? Well, it can happen to anybody. I mean, to be honest with you. And it always sobers me when I see that, because it reminds me how much I need to stay close to the God. But you do see these casualties the longer you run the race. Now, some of these casualties, again, aren't a surprise. Yeah, they kind of had this tendency to worldliness, and they had this tendency to drift, and they had this tendency to get lax. And it was just sometimes not that surprising. But there's some, again, you're just shocked. Her? Him? No way. Yeah. Yeah, way it happens. Again, as I've journeyed now 19 plus years as a born again Christian, each of those casualties reminds me that I can't finish this journey on my own. I can't finish my course faithfully. By myself, I need some help and I need help from God just like you and I need You need help from God And I'm glad to know that God wants to help me and he wants to help anybody who wants to finish their christian life faithfully and fruitfully He's there He's ready and willing to help out and and to be that grace giver and give be that strengthener and be that director to make the Christian race a success for whomever. Now in our text today, Joshua has received the commission as Moses' successor. He's got the baton now. It's time for him to continue on this course that God has laid out for the children of Israel, and now he is going to be the leader. And you talk about some very big shoes to fill. You know, Moses's shoes. How would you like to be the successor to Moses? I mean, the guy who was there who split the Red Sea and all these plagues came upon Egypt and the power of God was upon this man like nobody's ever been. And then you get to come in and, okay, you're next. I mean, you talk about expectations on Joshua. You know, sometimes I've heard of churches who've had pastors for a long time. And then the second guy comes in, and they expect the guy to be just like the other guy. And maybe he has some growing to do, and it kind of gives him a hard time. That's unfortunate that that happens. But it's just like, wow, talk about big shoes to fill. Moses' shoes. But not only is he taking over the leadership of Israel, but he's going to lead them into this massive military campaign into Canaan to fight peoples and nations, if you will, that, according to God even, were stronger and mightier than themselves. In fact, hold your place here, but go to Deuteronomy chapter number seven. Deuteronomy chapter number seven, and God mentions this a few times, But it's clearly mentioned in the first verse of Deuteronomy 7. It says, When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land, whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hevites, and the Jebusites, seven nations, notice, greater and mightier than thou. greater and mightier than none. God doesn't say, oh, these guys are just a bunch of wimps and they're going to be a pushover and it's going to be easy street. No, He said you're going into battle against people who are stronger and mightier than you. And that's intimidating, isn't it? To know that you're going in as the underdog and to know that physically the odds are kind of stacked against you. And that's what Joshua was, the kind of role he was sliding into. But God promised him, with his presence there, Joshua and the children of Israel would be able to overcome and win mighty battles. Statisticians would say were virtually impossible. I have to believe Joshua, as a man, had those fears. Maybe he felt overwhelmed a bit by the task and the responsibility handed to him. But we see in our text, God is trying to encourage him with some instructions and some promises for success as he walked in the promised land and achieved it. You know, the book of Joshua is a book about victorious Christian living. And there's so much so many parallels you can pull out of this out of this book in regards to how God wants us to live and win those spiritual victories through the physical battles that take place in there. There's so much in there. Years ago, we did a study through this book back in the community center, and it's a great book to look into if you're looking for for a battle plan and looking for how to live the Christian life victoriously. This is the book to read and to study and to learn about. But in our passage here today, we see God's going to give some instructions right away to His leader, Joshua, that we can take to heart in our day and age. Because I hope, again, our desire is to be faithful and fruitful. That our lives make a difference, that our lives count for something for God while we exist. But what God desires we do may at times seem a bit overwhelming and fearful. But today we're going to see some things that God laid out for Joshua that help us not be overwhelmed and fearful, but be able to go forward by faith. Let's look into this passage a little bit closer as we see first off the facts. Look at verses one and two. Now, after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spake unto Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses' minister, saying, Moses, my servant, is dead. He's dead. He's gone. Here, God does not try to hide reality from Joshua. He's trying to help Joshua face it a little bit. And that reality, that fact, if you will, was the fact that Moses was dead. Moses was gone. Moses wasn't coming back. Now, on the surface, that looks like a very major loss, doesn't it, for the Jews? To lose this great, mighty man of God who led them out of Egyptian bondage, the world power there, had an unusual power with God, now to lose him. Oh man, that's kind of a blow. And they knew the day was coming, obviously, but when the day arrives, it's still a blow to lose somebody like that and to be like, man, what happened here? And to sit there and think, boy, we can't go on without Moses. Maybe that thought had gone through their minds a little bit. Now Joshua, he had been Moses' minister, Moses' right-hand man. We see here, Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' minister. He had been there by Moses' side for quite a while. Well over 40 years at this point. Whenever there was a problem or something needed, it didn't fall onto Joshua's shoulders. It fell onto Moses' shoulders, didn't it? It was Moses' responsibility. The buck always stopped with Moses. Isn't it nice when you don't feel that responsibility and that weight? You know, that if there's a big problem, you say, well, it's not my worry, it's that person's worry. It kind of can take that burden off you a little bit. You know, maybe at a job, some of you have leadership positions. There are people that come to you with problems And and that's your that's what you have to deal with that and they don't they just get to tell you all the problems They get to complain to you about all the issues and all that and you're like oh man And then they get to go and then you get to you get to deal with it I mean anybody in leadership deals with that But now well all that stuff fell on Joshua I He took the reins over from Moses. And he was the one in charge and responsible for this large group of Jewish people. And not only responsible for their well-being, but also for this massive military campaign that they were about to take on. And he couldn't rely on Moses anymore. He was the one that was going to have to get a hold of God. He was the one that was going to have to make sure they were in the will of God. He was the one responsible. And I believe God wanted Joshua to face this reality that, you know what, this isn't going to change. Moses, my servant, is dead. And that's just the fact. That's the fact. They'd have to go forward from here and not dwell on the past or wishing things were different. They had to face the reality and go forward from it. You know, sometimes as people, we suffer loss. We suffer setbacks. We suffer things that we think, you know, how are we going to survive this? How are we going to go forward and do great things for God as an individual when I've had this setback, maybe financially, or relationship-wise, or whatever it is that has caused the setback in your life? Sometimes we kind of get the idea that we just can't go forward, or at least not go forward as well as we would have had the setback, the loss, or maybe a failure, a personal failure had taken place. You know, churches go through setbacks, and they go through pruning periods, and they go through these types of things all the time. There's a preacher I know out in the Pacific Northwest, and I guess I've met him, I can't say I know him, but I have some books by him that he had started a church out there, I think it was back in the 70s, and it's kind of a long story, but after four years, after they originally had started their church, The family went on vacation, and while he was away, there was some trouble that started brewing. And long story short, the church had been part of a convention, and they decided to pull out of that convention because of that. The church voted, 85% of the congregation voted to leave the convention, while the last 15% said, no, we want to stay in. Well, that last 15% caused a whole bunch of problems and things like that. And what ended up happening by the time it was all said and done, that 15% with the convention sued that church. The pastor in that church did not want to go through the lawsuit. So they gave up about 11 acres of land, a whole bunch of money, and they went from a congregation of about 250 to 80. It's like, oh, talk about poof. It's like, oh. And he said, that was hard. And I read the testimony about it, and I thought, man, that's just a gut wrench. How do you survive that? Well, they went on, and they kept working hard, and they picked the pieces up, and they just evangelized and reached out. Today, that church runs, I think, a couple thousand. It's a good-sized church, from what I understand. But I mean, they had a setback, and they had failures, and they had losses like that. And you know what they did? They said, well, all right, we're just going to go forward. We're going to face the reality. We were hoping to push towards 500. Now we're pushing back towards 100, or whatever it was. But you know what? They marched forward, and they just kept on keeping on. And God honored them and blessed them. Hey, sometimes we think the losses or the setbacks are devastating, but that can be anything but true. Sometimes God prunes for more growth. It was time for Moses to step aside. Moses had done his job. And Moses was up in years. He was 120 years old at that point. He had done his job. And now it was time to pass the baton. And God here was reassuring Joshua that despite the fact that Moses' presence was gone, God's presence was still there. And that was what was the most important thing. Look at verse five. There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee. Who's the X factor here? Who was the one behind Moses' success to begin with? It was God. Yeah, Moses is gone, but God isn't. God was still very much present with the children of Israel. And God tells Joshua, hey, look, just like I was with Moses, I'm gonna be with you. Nothing's changed here. And this is the most important thing. And maybe right now the reality in your life doesn't seem to indicate any positive success will come your way, but that's simply not true. God wants us as individuals and even as a church, maybe, to move forward and not allow anything in our past to hold us back. I like what Paul says in Philippians 3, verses 13 through 14. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind. You know, is there some things in your life right now you need to put in the past? Maybe you blew it on something. Maybe you bombed out. Maybe there were some things that, man, you're just like, I wish I hadn't done. Hey, look, you and I can't change it. We just need to put it in the past. And we need to move on, and as Paul says here, in reaching forth unto those things which are before. You know, there are some great things that God has for every person here, and there's some great things, I believe, God has for this church. And we've got to reach forward and press toward that mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. And that's really what God is trying to get across to Joshua. Yeah, Joshua, Moses is gone. Okay, he's gone. But that doesn't mean that there isn't greater things ahead because I'm still here. And. And I'm going to be with you just like I was with Moses, those great things you saw were just a forerunner for the great things that you're going to see. And and that was meant to just encourage Joshua not to dwell on the past. but look forward to a greater future. To start the pathway towards spiritual success, each of us has to accept our current reality where it's at, and then choose to move forward, doing what God wants us to do, as we see, secondly, the focus. God not only tells them, okay, face your reality, but let's focus on something that's grand. Our text verse, as a whole, is really God giving Joshua what we might call a spiritual pep talk. A spiritual pep talk. God acknowledges the facts, but then he presents Joshua with a vision to focus on. That's what verses 3 through 5 talk about. Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon That have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses, from the wilderness and this Lebanon, even under the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and under the great sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your coast. So he's talking about what we know today as the Mediterranean Sea on one side and the Euphrates on the other. I mean, it's a very large area of land. And he's giving Joshua this vision to focus on and say, this is what I want you to be going towards. This is the goal we're shooting at. This is what I want you to be focused on now. And that's like, wow, that's a big thing. Everywhere we walk, everywhere I step, this is something that you want to give to me, give to the children of Israel. as a means of something to accomplish in this life. You know, this vision came directly from God himself to Joshua. Again, it was like God was saying, look what I want to do through you. Look what I want to do through you. Look what's possible. I mean, again, that's a vast area of land, Mediterranean to the Euphrates. Look what is possible. Look at the potential. Look at what God wants to do through you. And I believe God has a vision for every church to accomplish and a vision for every person and family to fulfill that will coincide with the church God has them in. I really do believe that. This vision is what God wants us to seek to fulfill for his glory and honor. That's what he wants us to focus on. I think of Josh, or I should say Joseph there in the Old Testament, in the book of Genesis. And Joseph is just a stunning character in many ways. But when he was 17 years old, God gave him that dream. about one day his family respecting him and doing obstinance to him and all these different things. It was a picture of his future, of what God was going to do through him. Well, as you follow the story of Joseph, you know the path in which he takes would not seem to indicate to you that he was going to end up where he was. But by the time it was all said and done, though, he got where he was supposed to be. And God made him into a man that made such a difference in the generation in which he lived. I think more than we than the Bible even talks about. He had literally the whole then known world coming to him in which he could testify of the God of heaven. They weren't going to argue with him. He was the ruler of Egypt, so to say, and. And they were hungry. And he was dealing with people coming to him who were hungry not only physically, but no doubt spiritually. And God used them. But he sent them on a little bit of a journey through things that he maybe never thought would be necessary for him to experience, but they were when it all was said and done. And God brought it to pass, even when, again, I'm sure Joseph at times wondered its likelihood. I think of Hudson Taylor, kind of a well-known missionary of yesteryear. But he had such a vision and a heart for China. China was un-evangelized and his burden was really the interior. Because there were missionaries on the coast and things like that, but he really had a burden for the interior. Well, he came back to England after a stint there in China and something had happened. You read about it in his biography, But it talks about how he basically got bedridden. I think for a couple years if I remember correctly And he could barely turn over with himself without some some kind of contraption helping I mean he was just in rough shape for a couple years that was And he had on his wall this map of China and just as burden to reach him here He's laying in bed like what in the world's going on here But he eventually got better and and And through his testimony, he inspired many people to go to China. And many other people to do works for God in other mission fields. In fact, Amy Carmichael I mentioned here in the opening illustration, she was influenced by the ministry of Hudson Taylor as well. You know, has God given you a vision of what he would like to accomplish? through your life? Have you gotten any type of vision of what God wants to do through your life? For Him? For Him? For His glory and honor? Something that advances the kingdom of God, advances the gospel in some regards? I'll guarantee you He's got one for everyone if they will seek Him for it. And let Him tell you what it is. Now there are many people that have visions for themselves. Oh yeah, I've got this grander vision, 4,000 square foot house, the cabin on the lake, some really cool cars, big degrees, all this stuff. And if you accomplish that, that's wonderful. But you know what? That's not what life's all about. Because guess what, one day that stuff's all going to be burned up and you are not taking an ounce of it with you. When was the last time you saw a hearse towing a U-Haul? I don't know, I've never seen one. I'm not saying having any of those things are bad. but we ought to have a vision for doing something that's productive spiritually, productive in advancing the cause of Jesus Christ. That's why we're here. That's why we exist. It's for his sake. By the way, you will never be happier. I don't believe a Christian will be truly happier until they are focused on something that God wants them to do for his sake. Do you have that today? I believe God wants to give you and I a vision for something he wants us to accomplish. I love Psalm 37, verses 4 and 5. I come back to these periodically. As I as I seek a kind of a vision from God of what he wants to do through my life. And of course, now as a pastor, I want it for our church as well. But it says, delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thy heart. In other words, God will impress upon you what he wants you to do. Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass." And I know that. I've seen the truth of that in my life. Well, God's given me some vision to do something, and sometimes it takes time, more time than I ever thought, but He brings those things to pass. As I just determined to follow what He wants me to do and just kind of trust Him with the rest of the details. You know, this church has a vision. to reach the people of the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area. You know, you realize this past month or so, last five weeks, I think we reached out to, let's see, Bloomington, Burnsville, Lakeville, Edina, Richfield, Plymouth? All right, Plymouth, Minneapolis. I think you got some in Minneapolis. We didn't sell them all down, but we got a portion of them. My hope would be that eventually we get to White Bear Lake and the Forest Lake. I don't know if there's a lake on the east side or not, but whatever. Minnetonka Lake, amen? Lake Minnetonka. You know what? I'm not just focusing on this little sector here. I want the whole sector. I'm not saying everyone's going to come to church here, but I'm just going to say this. I look at it as a whole, because the whole area is needy. It really is. This whole area is so needy. There's so many opportunities I wish we could be involved in, and maybe in time we will be able to, but we want to reach this area. I think every church, every good God-fearing church ought to have that kind of a big vision. Not just this little nook vision that's about that big, but as big of one as they can get. Our desire is to start new ministries. expand our outreach capabilities, eventually train our own that God calls and start new churches and send missionaries. That's been the goal since day one and it will be as long as we exist. You know, everything we do is in an effort to one day see that kind of stuff happen. It's what it's about. churches starting churches, birthing new churches, new people getting saved, baptized, disciples, all that kind of stuff. And I think that's a reasonable vision to have. We ought to have that desire. And every time we go out and we sew those tracks, or we witness to somebody, or we do that kind of stuff, that's making that potential a greater reality at some point, or at least bringing it closer to that time in which that could be a reality. And that's been our heartbeat since day one. That was our heartbeat before we even came here. That's our long-term goal is to see that take place. I don't want to go to heaven one day and realize that my vision was so Puny. You know what I mean? There was a whole bunch more that God could have done through me, but my vision was so puny and so focused on too many little things when really God had a lot of greater things to do. On December 22, 1889, the evangelist D.L. Moody was dying. His first job had been as a shoe clerk in Boston, gathering 18 ragged boys off the street to organize a Sunday school class. In two years, the class had grown to 1,500. In his lifetime, Moody was to take two continents in his hands and shake them for God. As he died, he left this epithet written on the flyleaf of his Bible. If God be your partner, make your plans large. Make your plans large. And that's what we're trying to do the best we can. I think every person here tonight would be shocked at what God would love to accomplish through them. I think every one of us would be shocked. I think you'd be beside yourself. I know I would be too. There's so much that God can accomplish through us. You know, has God given you a vision to focus on? One that's bigger than yourself? One that's bigger than ourselves here. One that's got a higher calling. A more noble direction. A greater purpose. Has God given that to you? Say, well, He hasn't. Well, then begin to get alone with God and get that. Or maybe get re-engaged in some things that maybe you were engaged in in the past. God will give that to you. If anything, borrow somebody else's vision for a while, and then God will give you your own. You know, this vision that God gave to Joshua, it was outside of Joshua's capabilities completely, but wasn't outside God's. And that's the kind of vision God wants to give you and I, something that's beyond your capabilities and mine. so that he gets the glory in making it possible. And with the promise of God's presence, again, nothing is outside the realm of possibility. Mark 9, 23, Jesus said unto him, if thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. Everything. and we're gonna travel the pathway to spiritual success, then we need to get a vision from God to focus on of what he wants us to do while we're here. Thirdly, the faith. Three times in this passage, God tells Joshua, be strong and of a good courage, verses six, seven, and nine. Three times he tells him, be strong and of a good courage. How is that possible? it would be possible through the exercising of faith, of faith. He'd have to believe God to follow the steps God would lay out to make the vision that he had a reality. That's what we see in the verse six. In verse seven, he'd have to have the faith to focus on doing right and obeying the Lord through his personal conduct, and leadership. And in verse 9, he'd have to have the faith to forsake fear and to believe God. The key was again the closeness that he would have to keep between himself and God. Verse 8 speaks of this book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth but thou shalt meditate there on day and night that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous and then thou shalt have good success What was going to keep his faith steady at those times when maybe things were questionable, when maybe it was tempting to forsake doing right, when there was fear available. What was going to keep his faith going and what was going to keep him strong and courageous was the fact that he was going to be married to the book. You know what I mean by that? He was going to be connected. If he could have an IV into his arm with the Word of God flowing through it, that's the kind of connection that he was going to have to be able to be courageous and strong enough to face the foes that he was going to face. And it's no different in our day. We just have 61 more books of the Bible, that's all. He only had five. Because all that he was going to go through was going to require real, genuine faith exercises. And that is something that God requires of Christian people, the exercising of some good old-fashioned faith. Hebrews 11, 6, See, God can only take you and I as far as we are willing to exercise faith. If we come to a point where we just will not exercise faith, guess what? That's when the growth stops. It stops. And guess what happens? You and I go backwards. Because the Christian life was meant to be one faith step to another, to another, to another, to another, to another. That's what it was. If we stop, then guess what? The growth stops. And sometimes Christians can get to the point where they hit a glass ceiling. Because of an unwillingness to exercise faith to try something. An unwillingness to go beyond what they've done before. And to stay in the comfort zone. And we don't want to be people who stay in the comfort zone. Because that means we're not exercising faith in some regards. Whether we're talking as individuals or families, or as a church collectively, we've got to continue to push the envelope in regards to faith. You know, we do not want to be people who have to make sure all the money is accounted for, all the details are worked out, all the calculated risks have been figured out, because those folks never exercise faith, or they rarely do. To exercise faith, you have to be willing to say, I'm willing to take a risk. I'm willing to venture out. I'm willing to try something that is beyond me. And I'm not saying that we just do it wildly, but I am saying this. There are some things that God wants us to do that are outside of our reach. And that's a good thing. And we need to be willing to try those things and go forward with those things and not be afraid to say, well, you know, I don't know if I can do it. Good. If you can't do it, then that means God can do it through you. That's what He wants to do. That's real faith in action. You know, Joshua didn't know how all the people were going to be conquered. We know that because when he comes to Jericho, he's sitting there like, well, what do we do? And God shows up and gives him a kind of a wacky plan, to be honest with you. Just a totally unusual plan. Not one that's usually used militarily in this day and age, that's for sure. But God was going to give him the details as he went forward. And God would continue to give him the details as were needed. And you see that, in fact, even before they cross over Jordan there, I just read this this morning, actually, but God was constantly giving Joshua instructions. Joshua, do this. Okay, then Joshua would do it. Joshua, do that. Okay. And God would do that throughout the whole time and continually reassure You know, as a church, by His grace, I pray that we can keep reaching forward to newer, bigger heights by faith. To be seeking things that are beyond our grasp. To be a church that sees the hand of God touch its ministry and please the Lord by the things that we are seeking to do for Him. Despite what we may or may not have, On paper, I'm thankful that God can make up by his grace and by his work. May we all have that attitude, though, that God helped me to seek things that stretch me beyond my capacity where I'm at right now. I hope that you're that kind of person. I hope that you dream that way. I hope that you think, you know what, that's the kind of promise, that's the kind of Christian life I want to live, because that's the kind of Christian life that's pictured in the book of Joshua. Seeking to do something that's beyond what they could do themselves. And by the time the book's done, boy, did they ever do some things beyond what they ever thought possible. It was amazing. And the same God that helps Joshua and the children of Israel is still the same God that we worship and serve today. It's the same One. May we take advantage of that. I like this quote from A.W. Tozer. He said, God is looking for people through whom He can do the impossible. What a pity that we plan only the things we can do by ourselves. Let's not be those types of people. Let's not be the people who just play it safe. Because those people never see the works of God. They never see miracles. They don't see the big victories. They don't see that stuff. You know, I was part of a church for about ten years that we did that. We saw God do some very special stuff. And God's done some special stuff here. But we want to go forward with saying, you know what, we're not content with just saying, oh yeah, that was a great Sunday this morning. Or that was a great day the other day. Or that was a good mission. You know, we want to go to bigger things. We want to build upon what we've done and go higher and further. Because there's so much to be done in this world. So much God wants to use us for to get His Word to the unreached. The pathway to spiritual success requires a continual exercise of faith to things beyond our current reach. That's how you're spiritually successful. Realizing where you're at, the facts, Getting a vision from God and focusing on it. And being willing to take the steps of faith necessary. To see that vision fulfilled. That's the pathway to spiritual success. And every person. Who knows Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior? Has the capacity? To see things happen through their lives. they never thought was possible. May God help us to take that admonition seriously.
The Pathway to Spiritual Success
Series Misc.
Sermon ID | 7218171859 |
Duration | 48:42 |
Date | |
Category | Sunday - PM |
Bible Text | Joshua 1:1-9 |
Language | English |
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