Joshua 1:1-9
- I felt very drawn to this passage as I was preparing.
- We have a sense that God is turning a new page for us
- He is using many ways of communicating this to us, some of them quite unusual
- God loves our new initiatives, but when he does something new, it is altogether different.
- We will look at some principles from Joshua 1
2. It requires fresh faith
- Joshua is going to have to start this new era by doing a miracle
- Our God is fundamentally a supernatural God. If we are going to work with him we have to be part of this
- God says “Behold I have given you Jericho” —but they have not taken the city yet!
- Our training programs often focus on providing information, but it is more important to provide a call to faith
- We are called to faith exploits. God wants us to get to know him and to put on show how trustworthy he is.
- Cross the Jordan! Come on a journey of faith! Challenge your people to faith so they have stories of what God has done!
- (At this point he told some stories of people in his church.)
3. The Special People God is talking about
- Go and take “this people” —not any old people—the church is God’s special people
- There are no people like this on earth
- They cannot be cursed! Balaam tried to curse God’s people but ended up saying all kinds of wonderful things about them.
- This is “The people who are called by your name”
- We are not just “having a go at church”, beloved, these are God’s own dear people
4. God’s assessment of the opposition
- “No-one will be able to stand before you”
- That implies that they will try!
- While they looked to God, Israel were never, ever defeated
- On the other hand when they looked to other places, like Egypt, for strength, they always failed
- Hebrews tells us “By faith the walls of Jericho fell down” —what amazing words!
- We will meet all kinds of opposition, but “by faith” the walls will fall down
5. God’s way of victory
- God’s own presence: “I will be with you!”
- We are looking all the time for the manifestation of his presence
- Every day I seek to have an engagement with the Spirit and an enjoyment of the presence of Jesus
- Paul says to the Ephesian church, “Be filled with the Spirit”
- Be filled up with God! Out of that begin to learn what Jesus meant when he said “Greater things shall you do”
- Personally I am committed to this. I have taken a step into the Jordan and am seeing more and more of the supernatural, and pressing more and more into our inheritance
- It comes out of his presence. “God himself bearing witness with signs and wonders”
6. God-given morale—“Be strong!”
- Being strong is part of the provision, part of what he does for us.
- When David is fighting Goliath, he seems almost arrogant in his confidence, “This day I will take your head off.” Who does he think he is? —the servant of the most high God! Motivated by God’s name!
- It’s a New Day. Do you believe it? Let’s go for it!
- God has promised us good, so let us go for it with all our might.
After Terry had finished, Kate Simmons came to the microphone and with a shaky voice told us that she had planned to end with a rousing hymn about the church, but there was just such a presence of God that she had changed it and we sang “Consuming Fire”, ending the evening with an amazing time of worship. Terry closed by praying “come Holy Spirit!”
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