Sermon Series: The Book of Joshua: The New Reality 01-08-12 Pastor Bruce Plummer                                                                                                                                                 

This message begins a month long series from the book of Joshua.  As we begin with chapter one, Joshua is facing a new reality; he’s the new leader of the nation!  God gives him what he needs to face a challenge that’s much too big for him and, in the process, teaches us what we need in order to face our own challenges in a new reality of our own. 

Joshua 1 The New Reality 

Joshua is the new leader of Israel.  He had already been identified, anointed and spoken to and about by Moses, the previous leader.  The baton had been passed, the preparations made and the nation sat encamped at the border of the next phase of their future life.  Joshua just needed to walk into the new reality.  

 The new reality comes on a fairly regular basis in life.  In big and small ways. You’ve planned a trip, called ahead, gotten the directions, packed the car and now you’re ready to head out the door.  A new job or a new work week.  You planned your wedding and now it’s the big day.  Or you’ve returned from your honeymoon and now it’s back to work.  A birthday comes or a new year, and now it’s time to live out another segment of life.  Or a tragedy begins a new reality. 

Joshua was in the new reality.  And the new reality needed God to speak into Joshua’s life so that he could make it in the new reality.  Because the new reality was much bigger than Joshua could handle.  God called Joshua, but the situation was way too much for him.  He needed what God was about to give him.  Your new reality, even if you think you’ve got it together, is more than you can handle right.  You need what God is about to give you too. 

1. The Goal.  Verse 2 +3, Moses is dead, so you are it.  Lead this people into My promised land and I will give it to you.  We spoke about this last week with Ezra, and here we are with the same principle this week.  God will give you a goal.  A goal that He has a promise attached to.  

2. The promise of His Person.  Verse 5, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.  Because God promised to be with Joshua, he took away one of the objections Joshua could have had with pursuing the goal.  People.  For years Joshua saw Moses have to deal with complaining, unhappy and downright rebellious people.  And then there were enemies outside Israel.  The promise of His Person meant that other difficult people situations would be ultimately irrelevant.  Is God with you? 

3. The gift of inner fortitude.  Verses 6,7,9 and 18, four times in one chapter, Joshua is told to “be strong and of good courage.”  It was for two reasons he was told this so clearly and repeatedly.  He was going to face challenges in the new reality that would test his strength and he would have to summon a strength from God that would be needed to overcome the test.  But he was also going to be in situations that would make him justifiably afraid.  He would be sitting in his tent, knowing that what was before him could easily destroy everything, and yet he needed to head straight toward it.  Movement ahead in fearful situations is courage.  

4. The gift of God's written, tested and established Word.  Order your behavior by what it says.  Talk about what it says.  Think about what it says.  Apply it in every way.  One of our greatest gifts is a book that tells us what God is like and what God thinks.   It also tells us what is best for us, how to live our lives.  And yet we can ignore it or relegate it to background information.  Read it.  Study it.  Understand it.  Absorb it.  Until it comes out of your pores.  Your way will be prosperous.  Not wealthy, necessarily.  And you will have good success.  You’ll make it to the goal.  

5. The gift of stepping out.  You need to have real life applications.  Well, for Joshua, his was right in front of him.  He needed only to walk out of his tent to see people who needed a leader.  People who couldn’t stay where they were.  Joshua needed to apply the gifts that God gave him for the new reality, in the new reality.  So right away he did.  He called the leaders and gave them instructions, then spoke to a situation that had it’s origins in Moses’ day that Joshua now had to deal with.  Lift up your eyes.  Start to look around you.  There are things you need to do that are right in front of you!  Do them with what you’ve been given.  

Joshua was the new leader.  But each person in Israel had their own version of Joshua’s challenge, in the new reality.  You have the same challenge as Joshua did.  You have a new reality to face.  You need to see His goal for you.  You need to know that God is with you.  You need to be strong and of good courage.  You need to soak yourself in God's Word.  And you need to step out into whatever is in front of you, the first step in His direction, believing that He indeed is with you.   Don’t live like you have in the past!