Guest Speaker Pastor Barry Kang

Courage

Scripture

Joshua 1:1-19

¹ After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' assistant, ² “Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel. ³ Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses. ⁴ From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites 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. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. ⁶ Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. ⁷ Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. ⁸ This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful 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 courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

¹⁰ And Joshua commanded the officers of the people, ¹¹ “Pass through the midst of the camp and command the people, ‘Prepare your provisions, for within three days you are to pass over this Jordan to go in to take possession of the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess.’”

¹² And to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh Joshua said, ¹³ “Remember the word that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, saying, ‘The Lord your God is providing you a place of rest and will give you this land.’ ¹⁴ Your wives, your little ones, and your livestock shall remain in the land that Moses gave you beyond the Jordan, but all the men of valor among you shall pass over armed before your brothers and shall help them, ¹⁵ until the Lord gives rest to your brothers as he has to you, and they also take possession of the land that the Lord your God is giving them. Then you shall return to the land of your possession and shall possess it, the land that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise.”

¹⁶ And they answered Joshua, “All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. ¹⁷ Just as we obeyed Moses in all things, so we will obey you. Only may the Lord your God be with you, as he was with Moses! ¹⁸ Whoever rebels against your commandment and disobeys your words, whatever you command him, shall be put to death. Only be strong and courageous.”

Sermon Recap

Pastor Barry, our guest speaker, preached from Joshua 1, where Joshua faces an enormous transition. Moses, the leader of Israel for over 40 years, has died, and now Joshua has to bring the people into the promised land. He had been here before. Forty years earlier, he and Caleb urged the people to trust God and go in, and they refused. Now Joshua is an old man carrying the weight of that past failure, and God gives him what he needs to hear most. The promise is repeated twice in the chapter: "I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you, just as I was with Moses."

Pastor Barry pointed out that this may be the most repeated promise in all of scripture. It came to Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David, and it carried David through the valley of the shadow of death. When God came to earth, one of Jesus's names was Immanuel, God with us, and before he ascended Jesus promised to send the Spirit. Worth noting: God promised to be with his people in the promised land, and we tend to sense his presence most when we are where he wants us to be. The promised land is not the place where everything goes our way. It has famines and giants. It is still where God is working.

God gives Joshua four assignments that each require courage. First, courage to lead by taking responsibility. Pastor Barry traced this back to Adam, who stood silently beside Eve and failed to step up, and noted how often we avoid responsibility as a form of escape. Second, courage to face enemies. God does not say Joshua won't face resistance. He says no one will overcome him. Our enemies are both external and internal, and courage comes from trusting that the one who stands with us is greater than the one against us. Third, courage to inherit the land, which means stepping into God's kingdom and thriving rather than just surviving. We are co-heirs with Christ, but we still have to step into the inheritance. Fourth, courage to obey God's word by keeping it in our mouths and meditating on it day and night.

Pastor Barry closed with a scene from the movie The Bear. A bear cub gets cornered by a mountain lion and lets out the small roar he learned from his adoptive father. The lion backs away, and the camera reveals a nine-foot Kodiak bear standing on its hind legs behind the cub. The cub thought he was facing the lion alone the whole time. No matter how big the odds, how fierce the enemy, or how weak we feel, those who put their faith in Jesus are never facing it alone.

One Thing: God's presence gives us the courage to step into everything he has called us to.

Discussion
Questions

Connecting

Why do you think we feel braver when someone we trust is standing next to us?
What's a role or job that people tend to avoid because of the responsibility that comes with it?

Considering

In Joshua 1:5-9, how many times does God tell Joshua to be strong and courageous, and what reason does he give each time?
In verses 3-6 the land is described as already given, yet Joshua still has to go take it. How do those two ideas fit together?

Confessing

Where is God asking you to take responsibility that you've been avoiding?
Are you in survival mode right now, or are you stepping into the life God has for you?

Committing

What is one responsibility, conversation, or relationship you need to step into this week?
What would it look like to keep God's word "in your mouth" every day this week?

Next Steps

As part of our annual theme, Deep & Wide, we invite our church family to go deeper in relationship with God so that we can be the greatest blessing to one another and the world around us. Each week, we will follow up from the sermon with simple, practical steps to help us receive God’s blessing and apply the truths of the gospel more deeply into our lives.

Joshua 1:1-9

Name one area where you've been avoiding responsibility and take a first step this week.
Read Joshua 1 out loud and notice every time God promises his presence.
Build a daily habit of reading scripture out loud, even just a few verses.