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Text: Joshua 1:1-9
TOPIC: GETTING READY FOR A GREAT DAY
Pastor Bobby Earls, First Baptist Church, Center Point,
October 22, 2006
/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: 2“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.
3“Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses.
4“From the wilderness and 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.
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.
6“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 them.
7“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.
8“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, and then you will have good success.
9“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.”/
/ /
One of the things that I really enjoy doing is traveling.
I especially enjoy those trips in which the whole family can participate as we did just last week.
We all had the opportunity to drive out to Fort Worth, and Southwestern Seminary to visit with Josh, our oldest.
Part of the fun of traveling is in the planning and the anticipation of the actual trip.
Things really got exciting as we started our preparations to leave.
Getting ready to go is often the best part of the trip!
It’s also the hardest and most important, often taking longer than the trip itself.
It's the same in the spiritual realm.
Preparation is an act of faith.
If we really believe God is going to do something, we get ready for it.
When we pray for rain we ought to carry an umbrella.
In my own spiritual pilgrimage I am discovering that God gives me only what I am prepared to receive.
As a church, we have set aside an important Sunday next month, November 19th, as a special day of celebration and thanksgiving of God’s graciousness and His goodness to us.
We are calling this day, very simply, “A Great Day.”
As we plan for and begin to anticipate this Great Day, we need to begin to prepare ourselves for it.
Our level of preparedness will determine just how Great this day really will be for us.
In this first chapter of Joshua, God speaks to Joshua, the new leader of Israel, and Joshua came away convinced God would go with them and give them the land of promise.
He was so certain of this that he ordered the people to get ready for immediate action.
God had spoken and their preparation was the evidence of their faith in that spoken word.
The Bible says: (Read Joshua 1:10-11)
/Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, "Pass through/
/the midst of the camp and command the people, saying, 'Prepare/
/provisions// for yourselves, for within three days you are to cross this/
/Jordan, to go in to possess the land which the Lord your God is giving you,/
/to possess it.../
(Read Joshua 3:1-6)
It is the prepared people who possess the land; therefore, we need to examine the preparations required for a Great Day.
*I.
**A NEW DIET, Joshua 1:10a*
* */Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, "Pass through/
/the midst of the camp and command the people, saying, 'Prepare/
/provisions// for yourselves,/
* *
/"Prepare provisions"/, God said.
That's interesting.
Here is an entire nation, possibly three million people, about to cross a flooding river, and what is the first thing they are to prepare?
A bridge?
That would seem reasonable.
Boats, at least.
But without a bridge or a boat in sight God told them to prepare--bread.
During the wilderness years God provided manna to eat.
Now, if you're stranded in a desert with no other food, manna is all right, but it has been highly overrated in sermons and songs.
Manna was a coarse dry, hard bread--not steak and potatoes.
It could sustain but not satisfy.
Get this: the diet that was adequate to maintain life in the desert would not nourish combat troops conquering and settling a new land.
Most of the Christians I know exist on a desert diet--just enough to keep them alive.
But if you want to move into the land of promise and experience daily victory you must upgrade your diet and increase your intake.
I'm talking about your personal worship time with the Lord in prayer and the Word.
Much has been said about this already because I am convinced that this is the single most important factor in consistent Christian living.
How much time have you spent along with God today on your knees before an open Bible?
If you're serious about a victorious life, then determine right now that whatever the cost or sacrifice, you will
establish a daily time with God in prayer and Bible study.
The strength and stamina you have in the conflicts of life will be determined by the quality of nourishment you receive from the Lord.
But I’m also talking to us as a whole church family today.
Our preparations to enter into a new year, a new era, must also include for us a new diet.
Most diets don’t include bread which are high in carbs these days.
But bread is a standard food substance that represents the most simplistic of food groups needed for survival.
As a church, our new diet of bread must include ingredients such as large quanities of the word of God taught and preached in our classrooms and pulpit.
We need generous heapings of meaningful worship and celebration from a thankful people.
Add in a sufficient amount of evangelism, discipleship and fellowship also.
But we also must increase one of our main ingredients in this new diet called stewardship.
The giving of our time, resources and support needs to rise to a new level of commitment and sacrifice.
We must make provisions for ourselves as we prepare for a great day.
Second, we also need a new delay.
*II.
**A NEW DELAY, Joshua 1:10b*
* */for within three days you are to cross this Jordan,/
* *
This part of their preparation was even more surprising than the first.
There would be a three-day delay.
But Lord, why this delay?
We've been delayed forty years already and now we're ready to go.
But God said, "Wait" One of the things I've learned about God is that He never hurries.
One of the toughest things we have to do is wait and we’re not good at it.
We Americans are accustomed to instant gratification: instant credit, instant comfort, and instant coffee.
Our cry is, "Lord, give me patience and give it to me right now!"
But God never wastes time, and every delay plays an important role in His plan.
God used the delay to accomplish three things.
*First, it was a time of*
*observation**.*
The people had to camp on the banks of the Jordan for three days—and what did they do during that time?
They watched the swollen river surging over its banks.
"We're going to cross that?" they may have whispered to one another.
"But there's no bridge, no boats!
It can't be done!"
That's the point exactly.
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