The Joshua Generation!

SUMMARY:

Last week, the title of our message was: “POSSESS THE PROMISED LAND!” That is also the theme for the month of February. We saw that God is looking for people of faith, people of obedience, people of vision and people of courage. These are exactly what we saw in Joshua and Caleb! They had a different attitude! God is looking for the Joshua Generation in order to possess the Promised Land!

 

Video Clip: “Most courageous – real man!” (2:45) The devil does not care when you start strong but he does not want you to finish strong!

 

SCRIPTURE READING:

Joshua 1:1-9 MSG

(1)  After the death of Moses the servant of GOD, GOD spoke to Joshua, Moses’ assistant:

(2)  “Moses my servant is dead. Get going. Cross this Jordan River, you and all the people. Cross to the country I’m giving to the People of Israel.

(3)  I’m giving you every square inch of the land you set your foot on— just as I promised Moses.

(4)  From the wilderness and this Lebanon east to the Great River, the Euphrates River–all the Hittite country–and then west to the Great Sea. It’s all yours.

(5)  All your life, no one will be able to hold out against you. In the same way I was with Moses, I’ll be with you. I won’t give up on you; I won’t leave you.

(6)  Strength! Courage! You are going to lead this people to inherit the land that I promised to give their ancestors.

(7)  Give it everything you have, heart and soul. Make sure you carry out The Revelation that Moses commanded you, every bit of it. Don’t get off track, either left or right, so as to make sure you get to where you’re going.

(8)  And don’t for a minute let this Book of The Revelation be out of mind. Ponder and meditate on it day and night, making sure you practice everything written in it. Then you’ll get where you’re going; then you’ll succeed.

(9)  Haven’t I commanded you? Strength! Courage! Don’t be timid; don’t get discouraged. GOD, your God, is with you every step you take.”

 

TEXT:

Joshua 1:6 NIV
Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.

 

Joshua 1:6 ANV
Wees sterk, wees vasberade, want jy moet hierdie volk die land in besit laat neem wat Ek met ‘n eed aan hulle voorvaders beloof het.

 

INTRODUCTION:

Who is the only person besides Adam and Eve to have no earthly parents? Joshua, of course. He is referred to as Joshua, son of Nun.

The phrase “be strong and courageous” occurs four times in Joshua chapter 1 (verses 6; 7; 9 and 18).

 

Courage is not the absence of fear, it is continuing on in the face of fear. Fear contaminates your faith while courage empowers your faith. The Bible shows us many good examples; David came into the camp and heard Goliath cursing God. All of Israel was afraid, but as David rehearsed what God did to the lion and the bear, he made a decision and proclaimed that God would be with him as he would fight Goliath.

He took courage and was able to defeat the giant and cut off his head (I Samuel 17).
The word “strong” here is Hebrew word 2388 “chazaq”:
It means: To be strong, courageous, valiant, manly, strengthened, established, firm, fortified, obstinate, and mighty.

 

GOD IS ENCOURAGING US:

God encouraged and prepared Joshua to enter the Promised Land! God is encouraging and preparing us right now to enter and possess the Promised Land! Our promised land is heaven on earth, the kingdom of God! Are you ready? There are a few principles that God communicated with Joshua in Joshua chapter 1.

God wants to communicate the same principles with us today:

Put the past behind you:

It is time for us to leave the past where it should be – in the past!

 

Joshua 1:1-2 MSG

(1)  After the death of Moses the servant of GOD, GOD spoke to Joshua, Moses’ assistant:

(2)  “Moses my servant is dead. Get going. Cross this Jordan River, you and all the people. Cross to the country I’m giving to the People of Israel.

 

“We must make a choice. Will we continue to march to the drumbeat of conformity and respectability, or will we, listening to the beat of a more distant drum, move to its echoing sounds? Will we march only to the music of time, or will we, risking criticism and abuse, march to the soul saving music of eternity?”

(Martin Luther King)

 

Luke 9:62 AB
Jesus said to him, No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back [to the things behind] is fit for the kingdom of God.

We must leave the past behind. We are living NOW – present tense! So God said to Joshua that Moses is dead.

He told Joshua that he must go over into action now! The things of the past belongs in the past. It is time for you and me to go over into action now! Are you ready?

 

God is with us:

Joshua 1:5 MSG
All your life, no one will be able to hold out against you. In the same way I was with Moses, I’ll be with you. I won’t give up on you; I won’t leave you.

We must remember that God is with us. He is ready and He wants to move! He is waiting for us to take up the responsibility to stand up and to face the enemy. He will be with us as He was with Joshua when he faced the enemy.

We need to stand in faith. We need to move forward in faith – we are not alone. God is with us! Put your trust in Him!

 

Proverbs 3:5-6 MSG

(5)  Trust GOD from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own.

(6)  Listen for GOD’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; He’s the one who will keep you on track.

 

Be strong and courageous:

We need to be strong and courageous!

 

“This is the true joy of life: …being used for a purpose… a mighty one! My life belongs to the whole community. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die! Life is a sort of splendid torch… I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations!” (George Bernard Shaw)

 

Joshua 1:6 NIV
Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.

 

It starts with a choice. Faith without works is dead! (go over into action!) It is time for the real men and women, the real husbands and wives, the real fathers and mothers to stand up and to go over into action! There is no one else to do it! We cannot wait for somebody else to do this! We need to go over into action! We need to position ourselves. We need to act!

 

Jos 1:2 MSG
“Moses my servant is dead. Get going. Cross this Jordan River, you and all the people. Cross to the country I’m giving to the People of Israel.
It is time for us – the Joshua generation – to wake up and take responsibility!

 

IN CHRIST JESUS:

The name Joshua means “Yahweh Is Salvation”. Joshua was a type of Christ.
Do you know that the name “Joshua” in the Hebrew language is the same as “Jesus” in the New Testament? Jesus is our “Joshua,” who would lead us into the Promised Land—heaven itself!

 

God wants to encourage us today through His Son Jesus Christ to be strong and courageous. We must know our identity in Christ.

 

CONCLUSION:

God gives Joshua a promise:

Joshua 1:5 NIV
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.

Then immediately he gives him a command:

Joshua 1:6 NIV
Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them. Does faith believe the promise? Yes and Faith is also believing the promise enough that we are strong and courageous when problems come, and the obstacles appear! Faith requires courage and strength because, only when we exercise courage and strength, we maintain our faith. If at the first problem we cave in and give up, we don’t have faith, we have doubt and fear.

We all struggle with this. None of us is immune. Joshua is full of God’s Spirit. He has worked alongside Moses, and has been on the mountain with God. But Joshua still needs this kind of encouragement and exhortation.

One of the reasons don’t  grow in our walk with God is because of fear — fear of people, fear of rejection, fear that you’ll fail, fear that you’ll make a fool out of yourself, fear that you aren’t strong enough, fear that God will let you down. God is telling you today “I will never leave you or forsake you, (insert your name). Therefore, be strong and very courageous!” It is a choice that we must make in order to possess the Promised Land. It is time!