When it comes to living a powerful missional life that brightly shines the Light of Christ there are some things one needs to be absolutely clear about! Today we are going to look at 5 of them. We will be looking at Joshua 1:1-9 with the call of Joshua to join God on His mission and the 5 things God made perfectly clear for him so that he would be able to accomplish the task he was being assigned.
I. You Need A Clear Word From God! (v. 1-2)
"After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide: 'Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites."
Here we see God coming to Joshua explaining to him the situation about the death of Moses, about how He was appointing Joshua to become the new leader and commanding him to get the people ready to cross over into the Promised Land! Basically God is telling Joshua to GET READY - GET THE PEOPLE READY - YOU'RE HEADING OUT!
In this passage there is no indication that Joshua was confused about who it was that was talking to him. Joshua knew it was God!
There is also know indication that Joshua was confused about what God was telling him to do. Joshua knew exactly what God was telling him to do!
To be effective in missional living we need to tune our heart, mind and spirit to be able to recognize when God is speaking to us and to understand what God is telling us to do. There can't be any confusion on either point. We are following Jesus on His mission and as such we need to be able to understand when God is shifting gears or making course correction. WE NEED TO HAVE A CLEAR WORD FROM GOD!
II. You Need To Claim God's Clear Promises! (v. 3)
"I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses."
Did you catch the fact that God was giving Joshua a "Clear Promise"! God used the phrase, "I will"! It didn't say, "I might" or "It's more than likely" but it was a very definite, " I will". He gave the same promise to Joshua that He gave to Moses.
The Bible tells us in 2 Cor 1:20 that all the promises of God are "Yes" for those that are in Christ. When we know and by faith hold onto God and His promises we can claim those promises for living a powerful missional life. Knowing God's promises and knowing that God has said "yes" to those promises for us who are in Christ is powerful when shining the Light of Christ.
III. You Need To Receive A Clear Vision From God! (v. 4)
"Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Mediterranean Sea in the west."
Did you notice how clear and specific God's explanation of what the Promised Land consists of? God gave Joshua the exact boundaries that the Promised Land would reside in.
When God assigns a mission He imparts a vision that is very specific! When God told Noah to build an ark, God was specific in the exact way he wanted it to be built. God's vision is always clear and specific.
What has God clearly called you to do? What does it look like? What things need to happen and take place for it to be done?
IV. You Need To Rest On God's Clear Assurances (v. 5)
"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."
In this passage God give two assurances that Joshua could hold on to:
No one will able to stand against you all the days of your life;
God presence would never leave him.
In Matthew 28:18-20 we have what has come to be known as Christ's Great Commission. In it Jesus gives us, who are on mission with Him, 2 assurances. These two assurances are:
That Jesus has the authority to assign us this mission. We are on a mission under the authority of God himself.
And that His presence would be with us always!
Once you clearly internalize the reality that you are on a mission under the authority of Christ himself, who has all authority in both Heaven and earth, and that Christ himself, through the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit goes with us that's the makings of a powerful missional life!
V. You Need To Hold On To God's Clear Guarantee For Success (v. 6-9)
"Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them. Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid;do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”
3 different times we hear God telling Joshua to be strong and courageous. These 3 reminders was to emphasize God's guaranteed success!
Verse 6: tells Joshua to be strong and courageous because "He will lead them to inherit the land". There's no if's, and's or but's - Joshua would accomplish this mission.
Verses 7-8: tells Joshua to be strong and very courageous because obedience to the Law of Moses guarantees success.
Verse 9: Reminds Joshua to be strong and courageous - don't tremble or be dismayed because God is with him wherever he goes and because of God's presence success is guaranteed.
We too can be confident of our success to the mission that Christ has called us to because Christ is the Sovereign Lord of all creation. HIs will must be done!
The Ordinary Christian
We believe that ordinary christians are God primary choice for doing His extraordinary work. Throughout scripture we see God choosing to use everyday people to join Him on His mission of raising up, training up and unleashing them to become rapidly reproducing disciple makers. The Ordinary Christians intends to join God in that pursuit.
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