Welcome to the Kerwin Baptist Church broadcast today. Our desire is for the Word of God to be spread throughout the world so that all may know Christ. Join us now for a portion of one of our services here at Kerwin Baptist Church located in Kernersville, North Carolina.
Joshua chapter one. Let's pray. Lord, we love you. You have told us to be of good courage. You've told us to be strong. I pray that you'd help us today as we begin to unwind this theme as how it applies to us in our day-to-day life. I pray that you'd help us.
Thank you for Christians in my life that have been strong, that have had good courage, not false courage, not self-courage, not worldly courage, but good courage, the right kind of courage. I pray you'd help us today. In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen. One thing I want to add, chapter one, we've got to give a little bit of background before we get to our theme verse. Number one is this in verse one. We'll going to begin verse one, a little bit in verse two.
First principle is this, that the highest calling is to be a servant. Notice in verse one. Now after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord… He didn't say the mighty leader of the Lord and if there ever was a mighty leader it was Moses. leader of the Lord and if there ever was a mighty leader it was Moses. He says the servant of the Lord.
And it came to pass that the Lord spake unto Joshua, look what he said in verse 2, Moses my servant is dead. You know the way to get the greatest strength from God is to learn how to serve. Let me say this again, the greatest way to get strong in the Lord is to serve. God's not going to give you strength to promote yourself.
God's not going to provide supernatural strength for you to accomplish your plan or your purpose. Strength, God's strength, real strength is going to come for us to serve. The highest calling is to be a servant. Notice secondly here, and I want you to get this in verse 1 and 2, you must learn to be a servant to the servant in order to be a leader.
Now this is interesting. Look at verse 1, now after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord it came to pass that the Lord spake unto Joshua the son of none, Moses' minister. So what we know is is that Moses was a servant of the Lord and Joshua was a servant to Moses.
And guess who is leading now? Joshua. And while Moses gets the most playing time and he deserves it, what a leader of people, Moses had faults and failures just like you and I do, but guess who got to lead these wonderful people into the promised land? It was Joshua. And the reason God used Joshua to be a leader, the reason God gave him that kind of leadership strength was because he was willing to be a servant to the servant. May I say something? Everybody wants to lead and nobody wants to serve.
I have found, listen man, I want you to get this, this is just a little bit of Danielology but I believe it's biblically based. I have found that the people that don't want to be led, the people that have problems with authority, the people that don't want to submit, the people that always find fault with someone that is in leadership never make good leaders. You see, everybody criticizes leadership because they think they would do a better job as a leader, but if you can't learn to serve, you certainly can't lead.
And may I say something? If you're going to be strong in the Lord, you need to learn to serve people. We must learn to be a servant to the servant in order to be a leader. Can I give you this third principle and please look at verse 2. God tells Joshua, now therefore arise. What did he just say? Moses my servant is dead.
Now it seems a bit cold. All right, God has to sit down with Joshua, hey Joshua Moses is dead. Now that just seems a bit cut and dry. But what does he tell Joshua? Now arise and go. Principle number three, please get this, we're talking about being strong in the Lord. Don't let past failures ruin your future. Listen, just because Moses was a good man and it ended bad and they wandered around for 40 years needlessly and all the chaos and drama and all the stuff that happened, just because that happened doesn't mean it has to happen now. And just because maybe I've been to the altar, preacher, and I've made some decisions and I didn't stick with it, in fact I got worse than I was before, so I'll tell you I'm just to the point I just don't go to the altar now, I just don't make decisions now because I've failed at it before, I'm just gonna fail at it again.
Can I give you some advice this morning? Arise and go. Just because it happened then and just because the mistakes were made doesn't mean that you have to make the same mistakes. Just because Moses was half crazy after trying to lead people doesn't mean that Joshua was going to be. What did God say?
Listen, what happened had happened, Moses is dead, but now it's your turn, your time, your challenge, get up and go. You know a lot of times because of things that have happened in the past we just want to sit. We almost say, you know what, I'd rather not do anything than to try something and fail.
I would almost rather not even do it than to do it and not be able to finish it and all those things. Can I tell you what that causes? That causes fear in your life. And what did God say? Be strong! May I say something? There might be some people here this morning in this church that you're just stuck in limbo, you're almost paralyzed because maybe things didn't and maybe I failed here and maybe this didn't work out and even this marriage didn't work and this didn't work and this relationship didn't work and it's just rendered you paralyzed and we just sit and we sulk and we think about the past and we consider ourselves failures and I'm just saying this, be strong in the Lord.
Yes, if you're strong in you, you failed, but God's never failed. So arise and go. I want you to notice principle number four here in verse three and I want you to get, it seems random but listen to me, pay attention to the details of God's Word.
Now there's a reason for this. So God says, hey listen, the greatest calling is to be a servant and you got to learn to be a servant to the servant in order to be a leader and don't let the past ruin your future. Okay, but now as you go and if you're gonna be strong in the Lord you better pay attention to God's Word and the details of it.
What do you mean? Look at verse three. He says this, what is he talking about? God promised the promised land to the children of Israel and Moses and they failed and they didn't want to go into the land. They thought the giants were too big and all these different things and they just were fearful of man and so they wandered around in the wilderness and all these things. So this is what God gives the details to Joshua. Same details that he gave to Moses. Listen what he says, every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon that have I given unto you. He said, Joshua I'm gonna give this land to my people.
Now I need you to be strong and do this. Notice what he says, as I said unto Moses, look at verse four, 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. What did God just say to Joshua? This is the land that I'm gonna give you.
I'm gonna give you the borders, I'm gonna give you the measurements, I'm gonna tell you exactly where it is, that's what I give you. I haven't given you everything else, I've given you that. You say where are you going with this preacher? Now I want you to please get this, God's strength always begins with God's Word. God is not going to give you strength separate of his Word. Our strength comes from God's Word. Listen to me, being strong in the Lord simply means to be strong in his Word.
Now you need to process this. God will never go against his Word. God's never going to give you strength to do something opposite of his Word. So God's strength comes from his Word. Now listen, my strength is in claiming the promises and principles of the Word of God. If God said it I believe he's gonna do it and my strength is in his promise.
Are you with me? Say amen. So my strength is connected to the Word of God. Here's what I'm saying, because God's Word is my strength, you better pay attention to the details. Be careful to claim things that God hasn't promised. Listen to me, be careful to say something is of God if it's not. We got a whole lot of people out there, they're giving you a new philosophy and they say this came from God.
No it didn't. I got a whole lot of people, they're claiming something and God never even promised it. We got preachers that will tell you, listen you do this, you're gonna prosper, you're not gonna have, listen God's Word didn't say that. Don't claim something that God didn't promise. Look at me, please get this, you stay in God's borders, you obey God's borders, you have God's strength.
You get outside of that and you just wander away and you decide you're gonna take land that he hasn't given you, don't expect his strength. Are you with me? Say amen. Some of you are like, well last Sunday was a little teachy, this is a little violent, what is going on?
We're going somewhere with all this. Verse 5 we have our next principle, fear God not man. Now this is the land I'm gonna give you, these are the borders, you stick to the borders, this is what I'm gonna give you. That means this, inside of these borders is land I've promised, your strength is in my promise God says to Joshua. Unfortunately Moses and the people didn't abide by God's promises, they didn't claim what God said, he said now these are the borders. Now notice what he says, verse 5, there shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life. Now these are my borders, now you go and you do it, let me tell you something, don't you fear man, because God says if I've given the orders and I've given the borders and I've told you what to do and you do it, nobody can stand against you.
So what's the principle here? Real strength is fearing God, not man. Real strength doesn't mean you don't have fear. Real strength means you do have fear, you fear God. But real strength means I don't fear man. Are you with me?
Can I tell you something? Listen, put no confidence in the flesh and the fear of man bringeth a snare. Fear God, not man.
Can I tell you what this verse is saying? God says listen, I've told you what to do, you go and do it, no man can stand against you, but I sure can. Let me tell you something, when you're doing what God wants you to do, nobody can stop it if God's in it.
But you're trying to do something outside of God's borders, I don't care what you have or who you have, God can stop it. So you and I better learn to fear God, not man. That is part of being strong in the Lord, is to make sure I fear him, not man. But notice secondly, trust God, not man. Look what he says, look at verse 5. As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee. I will not fail thee nor forsake thee.
So he tells them what? Listen, no man's going to be able to stand against you. Fear God, not man.
But then what does he say? I'm going to be with you. I will not leave thee. What does that mean? You and I need to learn to trust God, not men. Now that doesn't mean that we are paranoid and we don't trust anybody and blah blah blah, but can I tell you something? It means this, that I've learned not to depend on people. You depend on God. People are people. And many of you are disappointed and bent out of shape because you put your trust and confidence in a person and they weren't able to fulfill that and now you're just mad.
But dear friend, we as people were never meant to be able to do that. Our confidence is in the Lord. We are to trust God, not men. God will never leave us. God will never forsake us. And God is able to keep that promise.
And if you want to be strong in the Lord, you better trust him, not people. Are you with me? Say amen. Okay.
Notice this next and we're almost done, believe it or not. You lying to me again? Yeah. Verse 6. I just said don't trust man, trust God.
I just said it. Verse 6. Please get this principle. Strength comes from God's word, not our ability. Strength comes from God's word, not our ability. Now notice this verse.
Look at verse 6. Be strong and of a good courage. Now let me just stop right there and just say, notice, he didn't say to be strong and have courage. He said be strong and of a good courage, the right kind of courage. Listen, there's a whole lot of people out there that have courage, but it's meaningless because it's the wrong kind of courage. Hey listen, I can have courage to say, listen, I'm gonna drive my car off a cliff at the Grand Canyon. I've got courage to do so. God bless you. Thank you, Ms. Salter. I appreciate that. And I'm gonna drive, I have confidence, I have courage, I'm gonna drive off this cliff. Go ahead. Good for you.
See how it works out for you. You had courage, but it wasn't the right kind. Look at me. He says, Joshua, be strong, I'm sorry, be strong and of a good courage, the right kind of courage, courage in the right person, courage in the right thing. Notice what he says here. For unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land. Now notice what he says. Which I swear unto their fathers to give them.
Do you see it? Listen, can I can I can I dumb it down, redneck it for you just a little bit? God says do it because I said it.
Do it because I said it. I never asked Moses, hey divide the land, figure out how to do it, figure out how to win the battles, figure all this out and then do it. He just told Moses to do it and Moses didn't do it.
He listened to the people. And you remember the 12 spies? 12 men went to spy on Canaan. 12 were bad, 2 were good.
What do you think they saw in Canaan? 10 were bad. I just said 12 were bad. 10 were bad, 2 were good. Some saw giants big and strong. Some saw grapes and clusters long. Some saw God was in it all. 10 were bad, 2 were good.
Okay, thank you. So what are we talking about here? God made a promise. He made a promise. Look at me. Why did Moses and the children of Israel, why did they never fulfill that? Look at me. Because when they saw the giants, when they saw the land, they thought we don't have the ability to do this. We don't have the ability to win this. We don't have the ability to fight giants like that.
Look at me. Strength does not come from your ability. Strength comes from God's Word. God didn't say do it if you're able. God said do it because I said it. He said look at Joshua, you go divide the land as an inheritance which I swear, not under the ones you have.
I keep wanting to say swear and I'm trying to stay away from the word swear. I promised it to their dads, but they didn't believe me. What did God say? Listen, do it Joshua because I said it. Our strength does not come from our ability. Our strength comes from God's Word.
Look at me. You and I need to learn that obeying God's Word is where strength comes from, not our ability. May I say this? If some people, and I think you need an education, but some people need to quit trusting in their education and start learning how to obey God's Word. We got people that are going and getting more degrees on how to manipulate and study God's Word instead of spending time learning how to obey it. I don't care how much you know of it, if you can't obey it, it doesn't do anything for you.
Strength does not come in your knowledge, it doesn't come in your ability, it comes through God's Word. God said do it because I said it. Listen, you take this principle, go through God's Word and clear commands that He's given you to do. He already told you to do it.
Just do it and nobody can stop it. Notice this, if you would, in verse 7. God gives strength for the purpose of obedience. Look at verse 7. Only be thou strong and very courageous.
Why? Why did God tell Joshua, listen, you be strong, you be courageous. He had already told him be strong and of a good courage. Do it because I said it and he tells him again be strong and of good courage.
Why? Look at this, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law. Look at me, God gives you strength for one purpose. God gives you strength to be able to obey God's Word. Be strong in the Lord.
Why? That thou mayest observe to do all that is written therein. Look at me, God doesn't give us strength so that we can be super Christians. God doesn't give us strength so that the community will be impressed with us. God does not give you strength so that everybody at church will respect you. God does not give you strength so that people can look back and say what a Christian. God gives you strength for one reason and that is to obey what he told you to do.
You know what, you know what, you know what's wrong? So many of us we pray for God's strength to do stuff that he's not even in. God would you really help me today as I do such and such and God's not even in it.
God would you bless such and such and he's not even in it. We're asking for God's strength to accomplish our things. God only gives you strength for one reason and that's to obey his Word.
Are you getting it? Would you say amen if you're getting this? God doesn't give you strength so you can accomplish what's on your heart. God gives you strength to obey his Word.
I get leery of people that oh you know I've got this in my mind this is on my heart God. Where is it in God's Word? You've got all these things in your heart that you want to do and yet you're not even obeying God's Word that is clear. Listen to me forsake not the assembling of yourselves together. God said be a church and I got people that got all that I want to do this one is listen I haven't seen your church for a month. You're telling me you can't obey a simple command of God's Word but that God's speaking you to do all these thousands of things? Hello am I with you? Are you on my side or not on my side don't like me or whatever?
Go back to Florida whatever you want to tell me to do. Look at me God gives you strength and gives me strength to do one thing and that's to obey his Word. That's what his strength is for.
Notice last then we actually are almost done. Verse 7 and in verse 8 prosperity comes from obedience to God's Word. Prosperity real biblical prosperity comes from obedience to God's Word. Look at verse 7. Turn not from it to the right hand talking about the Word of God turn not from it to the right hand or to the left that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. Verse 8 this book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth but thou shalt meditate therein 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 does he say? First obey it turn not from the left hand to the right hand. Second read it the book of this law shall not depart out of thy mouth. Third study it thou shalt meditate therein day and night. Fourth live it that thou mayest observe to do to do to live it out. Notice this for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous and then thou shalt have good success. Trust it.
There it is. There's your life in a nutshell. Your life centers around the Word of God. God's strength only comes from the Word of God. So we are to obey it, we're to read it, we're to study it, we're to live it, and we're to trust it. That means we live it even when it doesn't look like it's working. It means we obey God's Word even when it looks like everybody else is prospering and you're not. You just keep living what God is giving you the strength to do and God is giving you the strength to follow and obey His Word. You just keep doing it and God says it's gonna pay off. God says it's gonna make your way prosperous. God says that's how you have good success. That's why you are strong in the Lord is only so that you can obey His Word. Notice last God's presence is always accompanied by God's strength. Look at verse 9. Have not I commanded thee?
Here we go again, third time. Be strong and of a good courage, be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed. He said listen, not only don't be afraid, don't even be inhibited.
Don't even be intimidated. Notice, for the Lord thy God is with thee, whithersoever thou goest. Look at me, you want God's strength, you need God's presence. You want God's presence, you've got to be in God's Word.
It's that simple. It's how the whole Word of God works together. All you've got to worry about is living in His presence, staying close to Him. Look at me, please get this, you can't have God's strength and not have His presence. You can't be living a guilty distance away from God and yet expect God to give you strength. You want His strength, you have to have His presence. You want His presence, you have to be in His Word. And if you want God's strength, start obeying His Word. All of a sudden you have supernatural strength.
Look at me, you're going to have strength to obey His Word when you don't have strength to do other things. When our son Kayden was born and not rehash all that, and we're months in the hospital and three open heart surgeries and really a fourth ended up coming and had to go back in a second time. We're doing all these things and I developed the shingles and I was a young man to get the shingles, the stress, the doctor said and said, listen, this is going to probably wear and tear on you.
And sure enough, you're looking at a person that's thrown up one time in my entire life, never had a broken bone, never been to the doctor, nothing. And after I got those shingles, it would take all day to list the things. He said it'll probably attack your joints and it's going to attack your bones.
It put arthritis all over my body. It just, it wreaked havoc. And it got to the point that I would preach on Sunday morning. We'd go eat lunch. I'd get home and I would soak in the tub as hot as I could just to get up and preach Sunday night.
And then I'd get done Sunday night and I would soak in the tub as hot as, as hot as I could take it. I just, I was hurting. This went on for a couple months.
And you know what's funny is, I was telling somebody this week, one night I had gotten done preaching Sunday night. I was just hurting. I was worn out.
Kayden, obviously his health, all that we're dealing with. And I got in our tub there at home and it's like a little garden tub thing. And I was laying there in this garden tub. In the bathroom we had a picture hanging on the wall. And I laid in that tub, laid my head back in that tub, just got in the tub. Would you believe somehow that picture fell off that nail? And I was laying like this and that whole big picture went boom, gouged me right in the head.
I had blood coming down my head, put a—what in the world? I mean that's when low is low. That's when you realize there are other things at work here.
That's when you realize my wife pushed the nail in, had it barely hanging there. Can I tell you something? There are some times, some days, I didn't have the strength to do certain things and—but I'm gonna tell you, and I'm being honest, it might not have been the best, but when I would get behind the pulpit, I didn't hurt, I didn't ache, God gave clarity, God gave strength.
Look at me, what am I saying? I'm saying that in your life God is gonna give you strength to obey His Word even when you don't have strength to do other things. That's the way being strong in the Lord works. He only gives you strength to obey His Word. When you stop obeying His Word, don't expect strength. You want His strength? You have to have His presence. If you want His presence, you have to be in His Word.
It's just the way it works. Be strong and have a good courage. Let's bow our heads and pray. Thank you for listening this morning.
You've been great. Lord, I love you, and Lord, I believe that many times as your children we are seeking your strength to do things you've not even asked us to do. To do things that aren't even in your Word.
To do things to accomplish our will, our task, our purpose. But God, you only give strength to do your will. You only give strength according to your Word. Lord, I pray you'd help us to see it.
Lord, some of us today could admit we just need strength. Lord, help us to understand this process. Thank you for listening today. We hope you received a blessing from our broadcast. The Kirtland Baptist Church is located at 4520 Old Hollow Road in Kernersville, North Carolina. You may also contact us by phone at 336-993-5192 or via the web at kirtlandbaptistchurch.com. Enjoy our services live and all our media on our website and church app. Thank you for listening to the Kerwin broadcast today. God bless you. you you
