MOVE FORWARD

Alan Pihringer

Sermon • Submitted 2 years ago

Joshua 1:1–9

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Notes

Transcript

Introduction

-{Joshua 1}

-In the passage that we are looking at today, Israel is at a crossroads—quite literally. They are on the edge of the Promised Land waiting to cross over and begin to take over the land if they so choose to be obedient to God.

-Their time had been pretty tumultuous so far, and now great uncertainty lay ahead. God had led them out of Egypt, given them the law, and brought them to the edge of the land before. However, due to the report given by 10 out of 12 spies, they decided not to obey and chose not to advance with God’s plan.

~Due to their disobedience, they were sentenced to decades of wilderness wanderings and the generation that did not believe God would die without seeing the promises of God fulfilled.

-Now, after 40 years since the initial Exodus, they were at the edge again. The Israelites, under the leadership of Joshua, still faced many of the same troubles that they faced before, along with some added difficulties, and they are faced with the same decision that they had to face before—obedience to God in moving forward to fulfill His plan and calling or not. But now:

~They didn’t have Moses to lead them

~Most of the generation who was alive at this time didn’t see God’s works in the Exodus (either the plagues or Red Sea crossing) and were not alive to see and hear God at Mt. Sinai—although God provided manna and led them, they never saw God’s power and might on full display—they didn’t know God as well as the previous generation

~The giants that the spies had reported about 38 years earlier were still in the land and would still need to be faced and dealt with

-There were a lot of uncertainties and unknown variables that they faced. There were known and unknown dangers, so should they obey God and go forward or not?

-I see a lot of connection between what the Israelites were going through at their time and what we are going through in our time.

-We are in a place of a lot of uncertainty. The past two years have been rough and unprecedented in any of our lifetimes. Now, we are on the edge of a new year, coming only a few short weeks away. We have no idea what 2022 has in store. If we have learned anything it is to expect the unexpected.

~So, what do we do as a church? Will we continue to wander and just try to maintain what we have, or will we move forward?

-We see in today’s passage that God prepared His people to move forward with His plans and purposes despite the difficulties and uncertainties that they faced.

~And what we learn for ourselves is that while the world still holds dangers and uncertainties, Christ’s church must nevertheless move forward with Kingdom advancement through active Great Commission ministry. And my prayer is that 2022 will be a year of great gospel progress as we, His church, learn and grow and minister and move for His glory.

READ Joshua 1:1-9

We can move forward with gospel advancement based on certain promises of God. What are those promises?

1) Promise of kingdom

-In vv. 3-4 God promises the Israelites that after they cross the river Jordan in the land of the Canaanites, every place where they walk will belong to them—it will be their kingdom. God even previews everything that could be theirs if they move forward by faith. The boundaries for Israel that are listed covers a large piece of land. God was going to grow the Kingdom, a place for the people of God.

-We too are called to advance a kingdom, the only difference being we are not called to advance our own kingdom, but the Kingdom of God through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Unlike Israel’s kingdom, however, there would be no geographic boundaries to where this kingdom will have influence. The Kingdom of God now advances in the hearts and minds of all who come to faith in Jesus Christ, regardless of their current geographic situation or race or culture or color or creed—the Kingdom of God has no earthly boundaries, only spiritual boundaries depending on what you do with Jesus Christ.

-And we, the church, are called to be the advance army of this Kingdom. According to Acts 1:8 and Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus is the King of the Kingdom given all authority, and He calls us to march forward to be His witnesses in all the world such that we go forth and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them everything He commanded. And when we move forward in this Kingdom work, we will see a people of God made up of every tribe, tongue, and nation.

-But to see progress in this promise of kingdom, we notice that God also gives a:

2) Promise of power

-God tells Joshua in v. 5 that no man would be able to stand before him. No one will be able to stop the advance of the Israelites that Joshua would lead. This was not due to anything that was inherent in Joshua, but it was due to the power that God would give him and the Israelites to advance His divine plans and purposes.

~God does not call people to something in which He does not also empower them.

-In and of themselves Joshua and the Israelites might have felt powerless. They weren’t a people of war. Their beloved leader was gone. They were about to face people who were literal giants who had all the machines of war, whether they be chariots of iron or whatever, while they had measly swords. And there was a large river between them and the Promise that they had to somehow cross.

-None of that matters, as the God who calls is also the God who is faithful to empower. All the obstacles that the Joshua and the Israelites would face are exactly what God would empower them to overcome.

-It is a great reminder of what one author wrote, when he said:

Yahweh’s fidelity does not hinge on the achievement of men, however gifted they may be, nor does it evaporate in the face of funerals or rivers.

-God brought them back to the edge of the Promised Land and now it was time to advance with the promise that God would so empower that nothing could stand before them.

-We are reminded in Acts 1:8 that Christ said we would be empowered to be His witnesses and advance His kingdom when the Holy Spirit comes upon us.

~Holy Spirit power is not our own ingenuity. Holy Spirit power is something supernatural that works through us for the purposes of God.

-But how do we know that we have this power? Because it’s based on another promise that God gave:

3) Promise of presence

-At the end of v. 5 God tells Joshua and Israel, “I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you.” And then at the end of v. 9 He says, “The Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

-God does not send His people to do kingdom work on their own. It’s not like maybe sending someone on a hiking trip where you give them the equipment (hiking boots, water, a walking stick, etc.) and then send them on their way even though they don’t know where they’re going.

~God promises to be with His people in every aspect of what they do. God doesn’t equip and send. God equips and then leads.

-In the ever-famous verse Psalm 23:4, God doesn’t say you don’t need to fear in the valley of the shadow of death because He is sending you equipped and will meet you on the other side. David is able to say confidently that he will fear no evil because GOD IS WITH HIM. That means, God is with him in the valley. And God is with His people when they are moving forward with His plans and purposes.

-And nothing has changed all these thousands of years. Christ has called His church to advance, telling us that the gates of hell will not be able to withstand us. But that’s possible not only because of the power that God has given to us through His Holy Spirit, but it is because Christ Himself leads the charge.

~What does He say at the end of the Great Commission:

AND BEHOLD, I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS, TO THE END OF THE AGE

-Christ promises to be with us, His church, always. There will never be a time when He leaves us to our own devices or problems. We are called to move forward with the advance, and He will be the one leading the charge. But the promises don’t end there:

4) Promise of guidance

-In vv. 7-8 God reminds Joshua and the Israelites that He has given them the battle plan. Here He calls it the law, but it is a reference to God’s Word, the Holy Scripture. If Joshua and the Israelites wanted to know how to move forward and how to act and what to do, God revealed it to them in His Word.

-God warns them to be careful to do everything written in the Word, don’t turn to the left or the right. And to make sure that you know and understand the word, meditate on it day and night, being very careful to do everything that is written in it. Only then will the way of God’s people be prosperous and successful.

~That doesn’t mean financial prosperity and earthly success, but success in the ways of God. Success in advancing the Kingdom. Success in doing the work.

-If we want to know how to move forward and how to live then we have to know Scripture and conform our lives to Scripture and shape our beliefs by Scripture. Scripture is the map given by God to guide us in these endeavors. To set this guidance to the side only leads to disaster and disarray rather than prosperity and success.

-but there is one more aspect to this passage that needs some consideration before we talk about how we as a church will move forward in this upcoming year. After the promises, then comes a:

5) Plea for courage

-Three times God calls on Joshua and the Israelites to not be afraid, but to have courage to move forward.

v. 6=BE STRONG AND COURAGEOUS

v. 7=ONLY BE STRONG AND VERY COURAGEOUS

v. 9=HAVE I NOT COMMANDED YOU? BE STRONG AND COURAGEOUS

-Do you think God is trying to tell them something? It was fear that caused them that failure some 38 years prior. And here’s the thing, circumstances had not changed in that 38 years. The Anakim and Repharim, the giants, were still in the land. The Israelites were still merely armed with some swords. Now Moses was dead.

~The situation did not become better so that it would be easier to move forward with God’s plans and purposes. If anything, things got harder. And yet here is God telling them to move forward merely based on His promises. And so, based on those promises, have courage to get up and go and fulfill what God has said.

-Now hear me: Even though God gave the promises, that didn’t mean that moving forward with God’s plans would come easy and be effortless. NO; there would still be hard work and obstacles and enemies, but God told them to move forward anyway.

-And so, we ourselves have to learn that we cannot fear to such an extent that it leads us to inaction. We take courage and we as a church go for the gospel’s sake.

~There will be opposition from a woke culture and a spiritual enemy—but we move forward

~There will still be viruses and diseases—but we move forward

~There will be uncertainties and trials and temptation—but we move forward

-Why do we move forward—because we are commanded BE STRONG AND COURAGEOUS

-I’ve talked about moving forward, but the question is how are we going to move forward?

2022 PLANS

-The theme for 2022 is going to be LAYING FOUNDATIONS, BUILDING COMMUNITY

~We are going to lay solid biblical foundations so that we as a church body are living according to biblical principles with biblical attitudes through biblical means—and for that to happen that means we need to know the Bible. So, we are going to lay that foundation.

~But at the same time we are going to regain something that we have lost the past two years—community. We are going to build community within the church as we ingrain ourselves in the community outside of the church.

-In a short amount of time, here is where we are headed:

(1) WORD Reading Plan

~We are going to have a churchwide reading plan beginning the first full week of January following a plan from Replicate Ministries. It does not go through every Bible chapter, but averages about 2 chapters a day for five days a week, giving a foundation for the important themes the Bible gives. These reading plans will be made available toward the end of the year.

~To reemphasize what is taught in the chapters you read, I will tailor my sermons based on the prior weeks reading…

~There will also be some material for Adult Life Groups based on those readings to get a deeper understanding. And that leads to another point:

(2) Life Groups

~Sunday School / Small Groups, whatever you want to call them, are a great way of discussing the Bible and building relationships and I would highly recommend that you become a part of one.

(3) D-Groups

~D-groups are discipleship groups of 3 or 4 same-gendered people who dive deep into Scripture and basic theology so that we actually know what it is that we believe. It is a 2-year process. The first year you meet weekly (give or take) and the second year is monthly. But the idea is that after the first year, everyone in the group will then go and start their own group, who will start their own group after a year, etc. Just because of the nature of this beast, it will take a while to gain traction, but we already have initial groups going…

(4) GROW Studies

~On Sunday afternoons we will return to something that I had started before COVID where we were doing a survey of the entire Bible. We have a time of introduction to the books of the Bible, and then in small groups around the table we study and discuss important passages from within that book.

(5) Ministry Teams

~The past few weeks I have talked about Spiritual Gifts and matching you with ministries that fit your gifting and passion. If you have not yet done a spiritual gift assessment, there are some available on the welcome centers and online. If you have not yet shared your results with me, please do so. If you don’t, I’m going to come bugging you.

~We want to form ministry teams that will advance the ministry of the church in all sorts of different areas so that we are able to fulfill our calling. While we already have some great teams going, like our Homebound/Shut-in Team we have so many others teams yet to be formed, and I want each of you to be part of at least one team.

(6) Discover Harvest Class

~Membership at a church means something. Membership is so much more than gracing a pew every Sunday morning. We want you all to know what it means to be a member of Harvest Baptist Church. This discover class is not a new members class per se, it is a class for current members and prospective members to learn how they can get the most out of being a part of this wonderful church family. That means that over time all of you will go through this 4-week class that will hopefully be both informative and challenging.

(7) Monthly Fellowships

~One of the biggest things missed in COVID was the fellowship among believers. We want to have a time for people to be able just to hang out and get to know one another and enjoy one another’s presence. We are still working out details, but most likely we will set aside one of the Sunday afternoon GROW times and just designate it a time of fellowship.

(8) Table Talk 2022

~Several years ago, we had times of bible study and fellowship during the summer where we met in homes and grew closer to God and one another. It was really a neat time, and we want to get back to that again. So, look for that in the summer of 2022.

-There’s so much more that probably needs to be said, but just know HBC that we are moving forward.

Conclusion

In June of 1944, General Dwight Eisenhower had an important decision to make. All the men and material were ready for the momentous D-Day invasion of German-occupied France, but there were some reasons for hesitation. One of Eisenhower’s top aides came to him and said he didn’t think the airborne segment of the invasion would work, that they might have 90% casualties, and not be able to hold the vital bridges that would prevent German reinforcement. And then there was the weather. It was blustery and stormy — it looked like it “might” clear up some the next day, but it was uncertain. But if they didn’t go now, the tides — which were crucial to get around some of the obstacles the Germans had placed on the beach — would not be in perfect sync with the invasion plans again for some weeks. So after much consultation and deliberation, Eisenhower turned to his men and said: “OK, let’s go.”

-Circumstances were not ideal. There were many difficulties that lie ahead and a strong enemy that would not easily be budged. There were unknown perils and uncertain conditions that could not be accounted for. And yet they said LET’S GO.

-HBC, I cannot guarantee a thing for what lies ahead in the next year. But I do know this. We have a faithful God who has given us a great calling and He wants us to move forward with the work. Let’s be strong and courageous.

-HBC members, come pray for what God has for us in the future

~If you haven’t yet joined with HBC, come join us

~If you haven’t trusted in Christ…

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