EP2 - Joshua Installed as Leader

[00:00:01] Hello, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome back to the Anywhere But Backwards podcast. I'm your host and creator of the podcast. My name is Sultan Stevenson. And today we're going to be looking, we're going to be actually starting a new study of the Book of Joshua. Now this is a book I read about a couple years ago, and it's a book that is very close to me as it's a book that I spent quite a long time analyzing and a lot of study went into this book. So I'm going to read the text for today, then I'm going to pray, then we're going to get right into the word of God. So Joshua 1 and I'm reading from the NIV, it's entitled Joshua installed as leader. So verse one. [00:00:44] After the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua, son of nun, Moses, Moses said, 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. I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. 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. No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. And I, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will never leave you nor forsake you. Verse 6. Be strong and courageous because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them. [00:01:41] Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey the law my servant Moses gave you. Do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you'll be successful wherever you go. Keep the 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. [00:02:01] Then you'll 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. Verse 10. So Joshua ordered the officers of the people go through the camp and tell the people, get your provisions ready. Three days from now you will cross the Jordan here to go in and take possession of the land the Lord your God is giving you for your own. But to the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half tribe of Manasseh, Joshua said, remember the covenant that Moses, servant of the Lord gave you. And after he said, the Lord your God will give you rest by giving you this land, your wives, your children and your livestock may stay in the land that Moses gave you east of the Jordan. But all the fighting men ready for battle must cross over ahead of your fellow Israelites. You are to help them until the Lord gives them rest, as he has done for you, and they too. [00:03:08] And until they too have taken possession of the land the Lord your God has given them. After that, you may go back and occupy your own land, which Moses, the servant of the Lord, gave you, gave you east of the Jordan towards the sunrise. Verse 16. [00:03:26] Then they answered, Joshua, whatever you commanded us, we will do. And wherever you send us, we will go. Just as we fully obeyed Moses, so will we obey you. Only may the Lord your God be with you, as he is with Moses. Whoever rebels against your word and does not obey it, whatever you may command them, we will put. [00:03:46] We will. We will be put to death. Only be strong and courageous. That is the word of the Lord. [00:03:55] Father, Lord, I pray right now, and I pray that you will enter this very room that I'm trying to bring out your message. Father God, I'm trying to highlight the brilliance and the magnificence and the glory that is within the word of God. Father, Father, Lord, I pray that out of this a testimony will come forth in whoever reads it. Father God, I pray in the name of Jesus that you will move mightily. Father God, I pray for unity amongst the people of God. I pray for conviction. Father Lord, I pray for a change of heart. Lord God, I pray for inspiration. Father Lord, I pray that people will come to know their true Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Father God, I pray all these things in the name of Jesus. And I say amen. [00:04:41] So we come to Joshua. Now, Joshua one is a very interesting book for many, many reasons, because it is almost the start. Well, not really the start, but it's. It marks a very, very big chapter in the plight and in the journey of the Israelites. So we've just come out of what is considered the Torah. The Torah, the first few books within the Bible, and we're now in Joshua. So to give context to this text, the people of Israel have come out of captivity. So we've seen this all in Exodus. So they've come out of Egypt and they've gone through the different plagues and that God sent against Pharaoh's people. And they've been brought out of Egypt, they've been brought out of captivity. [00:05:26] And as they've been brought out, as we all know, we know the famous story of crossing the sea And God parting the river to create a passageway for his people to enter through. [00:05:40] And we're now in a place where the Israelites have been wandering the desert for 40 days. Sorry, for 40 years. I beg your pardon. They've been wandering around because of a lack of faith, because they weren't willing to enter into the promised land. They wanted to actually go back to Egypt. [00:05:59] They wanted to go back to Egypt. So there has been a generation that has been just dwelling in the wilderness for a very, very long time until we come to Joshua 1, where there is a new command, there is a new season. They're about to enter into a new season the same way the Bible is about to enter into a new portion. We're coming out of the Torah and into the next chapter of the people of God who were once in Egypt and who have been taken out of Egypt. And as you, as you, as you recognize and see in a lot of the later portion of Joshua, God has to keep reminding these people, I am the God that took you out of Egypt. I am the one who took you out of captivity. [00:06:43] And there's a lot we can say about them being in the wilderness for a whole generation. So imagine they've been in the wilderness for a whole generation wandering around a journey that could have taken them such a short amount of time has taken them 40 years. It's taken them 40 years. And it speaks to us of there's many Christians, there's many people of people of God who God has called you out of your Egypt and you've been in the wilderness for time that you should have entered into the promises and the spiritual blessings of God. [00:07:19] You've been living your life out in the wilderness. There's many, many Christians that I know of who are wilderness Christians. These are people that out of lack of faith, they aren't willing to enter into their promised land. And this is where we find the people of Israel who are dwelling in the wilderness. They're dwelling in the wilderness. They're dwelling in safety. This is what the wilderness represents. It represents safety. It represents what they know. They're not willing to enter in to the promised land. They're not willing to enter into a place that God had for them, that they don't actually know what it is. They're happy with being in the wilderness the same way Christians today. There are some Christians that are happy and content with where they are. They don't want the fullness of the blessing and the inheritance that God has for them. So as we turn back to the text it says so from verse one. It says, after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua, son of nun, Moses, aid Moses. My servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people get ready to cross the Jordan river into the land I'm about to give to them to the Israelites. So you can, you can really imagine this because Joshua was Moses's a. So Moses servant was a man called Joshua. And suddenly there's a new word that has come to Joshua. And the word is, is that you are going to lead these people out. And you can almost imagine the mantle and the shoes that Joshua had to fit into. He had to fit into such big shoes. Moses, the great man who was able to lead a whole nation out of captivity and lead them to the promised land. This is Moses, the same man who went up, up into a mountain and was taken away into, into the heavenly. This was, this was a man of great faith. This was a man in which a loads of the Bible and whole religions have been based upon this man. This is Moses. And this is, this is Joshua's task. He has to be the new leader. He is anointed to be the new leader within where he's from and to govern and to look over and to lead the Israelites into their new season. [00:09:39] And this is sometimes what God kind of calls us to do sometimes. [00:09:45] You see, the thing with Moses is the promise that he had been given, it was bigger than his life. The promise to actually lead these people into the promised land and to fulfill the Abrahamic covenant that God had made with Abraham to bless his people. And out of Abraham's seed they would become a whole nation. And even going back to that in Genesis, where God makes a promise to Adam and Eve that your seed will one day overcome the snake that has, that has actually tricked you. All of these promises, these promises were bigger than the man himself. These were the promises that Moses was given. It was bigger than his life. And sometimes again God is able to give us promises. [00:10:36] Some of these promises, they're not actually within our lifetime. We have to realize that we are part of God's divine plan and we are part of God's divine will to bring about change and to bring about something that is bigger than our life. And this, this promise that was given to Moses is now bleeding in to Joshua's life and Joshua has to fill these shoes. [00:11:00] So the text goes on to say, moses, my servant is dead. Now then you and all these people get ready to cross the Jordan river into the land I'm about to give you to give to them, to the Israelites. I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. Now this is a very, very powerful thing because the text says where you set your foot. And it shows to me. It's not enough to just wait. It's not enough to just stand still. The process of putting your foot on something requires action. The process of putting your foot somewhere requires. It requires movement, it requires an effort. It's not a case where Joshua can just stand still and just sit down and expect everything to happen to him without doing anything. No, there's an action that needs to happen there. He needs to put his foot there in order to receive the blessing and receive the inheritance that is coming his way. [00:12:02] And again it speaks to us, is sometimes we need, there needs to be an action for us to inherit what God has in store for us. We need to put our foot. [00:12:13] Putting your foot on something requires faith. Faith is the currency, if you like. Putting your foot is the currency in which the things you are praying for come to manifest. So Moses, sorry, Joshua needed to put his foot foot there. He said, anywhere where you put your foot you'll receive as I promised Moses. Then he says, 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. 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. Be strong and courageous because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them. [00:13:04] Now this is really, really again, it's a very, very powerful call that Moses has been given here because again the text, it highlights the magnitude of the promise and it also it highlights the magnitude of the call that has now been put on Joshua's life. That out of this, you know, out of them wondering, wondering, wondering, God still had a plan all the time. And it shows you how much of a loving father God is that even in despite of the Israelites rebellion and in despite of them not willing to put their feet onto the promised land, God still provided the way for them through Joshua, for his. For his covenant to be fulfilled and for his promises to be realized. [00:13:52] Then verse seven says, be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey 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 the book of the law. Always on your lips. Meditate on it day and night. [00:14:12] And there's a lot to be said for keeping the book of the law on your lips. Because what you had to realize is that they were entering into a place called Canaan. That was the promised law land. That was the original intention before they diverted and went round the wilderness for 40 years, for a whole generation. They were to enter into a place called Canaan. Now Canaan. And as you'll see as we progress from Joshua and eventually as we get into the Book of Judges which precedes Joshua, the Canaan land, it was God's promise to them. However, it still. There was still work to be done. There are still battles to be fought. And there are. And as again, as we'll see, there are still battles to be fought and territory to be won in the land of Canaan. Again, it goes back to if you put your foot there, if you. If you use faith, if you exercise the muscle that is faith, then you will inherit the land. But it requires action. [00:15:11] And the place of Canaan, as I said, it was full with all of these different. These different pagan. [00:15:18] Pagan worshiping groups of people as we'll come to see. And they're commonly referred to as the Canaanites. [00:15:27] So what now? What God has done is 40 years is about the. It's about the time of a generation. So what's happened is a generation that weren't willing to enter into the promises of God have died. And there is a new generation. See, God wasn't. He understood that the generation of the time weren't a generation that were willing to actually put their foot and inherit what was theirs. He needed to wait until that generation wasn't around so that a new generation could be read up and would enter into his promises. Again, it shows you the providence and the will of God as God's plan will be done. No matter what the circumstances are. God's word will come to pass. His promises are true and he always fulfills his word. And just because he. Just because there was a generation that weren't willing to follow these promises that didn't really affect God. See, the promise and the plan is bigger than the person, as we. As again is proved by Moses and Joshua the promise and the plan was bigger than the person, the promise and the plan actually extended itself to Joshua now and will keep extending itself until God finally has his way and his plan and his purpose comes to fruition. [00:16:48] So they're about to enter into the land of Canaan. And this is really just the introduction into the immense promise and the mission that they're about to go on. And as I said, this land of Canaan is occupied by different armies that aren't for the Lord. And the purpose of Joshua is to God is using the Israelites people as his divine instrument of bringing about purity. Now what we have to realize is the God we serve. [00:17:23] He is omnipresent. He is many things. He is wonderful. [00:17:28] He is the I am that I am. He is Alpha and Omega. He's the beginning and the end, the first and the last. But one thing that God cannot stand is sin. God cannot stand sin. The Bible says the wages of sin is death. And God can't stand sin. And what was happening, and as we, as I said, as we'll see as we go through Joshua, is the sin and the evilness and the injustice happening within these different territories that were occupying Canaan at the time that the Israelites would go in and take, and would put their foot down and take these different people. They were committing such sin that it was almost like a stench. It was like a bad smell to God. Imagine being in a room and you just smell this smell that you just can't stand. You wouldn't want to be in this room. You'd want to get wherever the cause of the smell is. You'd want to get that out of the room. [00:18:29] Now this is what sin is like to God. And God understood that he needed to do something about this sin. It's very, very similar to the story of Sodom and Gomorrah that we see within Abraham's life. So this is in Genesis now where there is a place called Sodom and Gomorrah, where there is immense sin happening. And it's to such an extreme that God actually needs to wipe out Sodom and Gomorrah altogether. Because he can't stand, because we are dealing with a holy God here. And he can't stand when the people of God, the Israelites are in the midst of sin. Those two things, they can't be in the same room, they can't be in the same place for God. So he is using the Israelites again as his divine hand of justice to wipe away the sin. And he's preparing a people, he is chastising a people to go in and take the promised land, but also to eradicate the sin. And he's saying you need to have the book of the law on your lips. And that's the message to us as we go in and we go to different situations where there is Sin, we have to remember to keep the book of the law on our lips. And this is what Canaan represents. So Canaan represents the almost the optimum promised land for us, I believe, on heaven, in Earth. It represents a place that God is bringing us into. The blessings that he's bringing us into, the spiritual blessings that he's bringing us into that are only ours. If we can put our foot down, if we can put our foot down, then we can inherit the land of Canaan. The land of Canaan at the time to the Israelites was the promised land. It was a territory that they needed to dwell in, that God had called for them, that God had promised and ordained for them. For us as modern day New Covenant Believers, the land of Canaan, to us it represents the spiritual blessings that God has called us into. [00:20:31] And I'm now going to read Ephesians 1:3, which highlights these spiritual blessings that are applicable to us as New Covenant believers. So Ephesians 1:3, it says, praise be to God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in heaven, in the heavenly realms, with every spiritual blessing in Christ, for He chose us in him before the creation of the Word, to be holy and blameless in his sight in love predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with pleasure and will, to the praise of his, of his glorious grace which he's freely given us in what in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. He made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure which he purposed in Christ. We put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment, to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth. And the Christ. [00:21:50] So this is our inheritance as New Covenant Believers. This is our inheritance. We are to inherit what Jesus had brought us into. The Scripture speaks of sonship, of the inheritance that was left over from us. When Jesus went to the cross to die for our sins, there was an inheritance that we were to be brought into. [00:22:10] And it's. And what this represents for the Israelites at the time is their inheritance was this land. It was the land of Canaan that they needed to inhibit faith and put their foot down in order to get what was theirs. So I'm reading from verse 10 here again of Joshua 1 from the NIV. So Joshua ordered the officers of the people go through the camp and tell the people, get your provisions Ready? Now watch this. Three days from now, you will cross the Jordan here to go in and take possession of the land your God is giving you for your own. [00:22:51] And I'll read that again, Go through the camp and tell the people, get your provisions ready. Three days from now, you will cross the Jordan hair to go in and take possession of the land the Lord your God is giving you for your own. And notice how the scripture says three days. And to us as Christians, that should scream out, the three days should kind of ring alarm bells, spiritual alarm bells, because we've seen three days, that amount of time somewhere else. And we've seen it with Jesus on the cross. [00:23:27] And many times he actually says, it will take me three days to raise myself back up. In three days, I will rebuild this temple. And the people thought he was talking about the physical temple, but no, he was talking about his body. [00:23:41] And this is how God works. The juxtaposition is incredible. 40 years juxtaposed for three days. 40 years. It took 40 years for a new generation to be read up. And in three days, that generation will be ushered in to a new journey to receive what was rightfully theirs, what God had promised their ancestors. It took three days. And this is the timing sometimes of God. You might be. You might be going through the wilderness for 40 years. You might be going through wherever it is you're going through for a long time. And you may feel like, wow, I'm just circling here. I'm just going for 40 years. I'm. I don't know where I'm going. I'm lost. But yet, for all, God's timing is perfect. And his will is higher than our world, and his ways are higher than our ways. [00:24:28] And in three days, God can change your name. In three days, it's possible that you can be out of your situation and you can be taken into your promised land. But again, you have to have the faith. You have to be able to put your foot down and claim it. There needs to be an action. Faith needs to be used for you to get out of your wilderness and into your promised land. And again, this is a message for anyone who feels like they are in their. They're in their wilderness right now. You might be struggling with all kinds of manners, of sin, or maybe addiction, or whatever it is. But if you are to use faith, then it's possible for you to get out of your rut. It's possible for you to get out of your wilderness and enter into the spiritual blessings of the Lord and of Jesus Christ, who died on the sin so that the promise could be to. Could come to fruition and it could run down through a genealogy into you. We are now sons and daughters of the Most High. [00:25:31] So the text goes on to say. [00:25:35] But the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh, Joshua said, remember the commandment that Moses, the servant of the Lord gave you. After he said, the Lord your God give you rest by giving you the land. Your wives, your children and your livestock may say, in the land that Moses gave you east of the Jordan. But all you fighting men ready for battle must cross overhead, overhead of your fellow Israelites. You are to help them until the Lord gives them rest, as he has done for you, and until they have taken the possession of the land the Lord your God has given them. After that, you may go back and occupy your own land which Moses the servant of the Lord gave you east of the Jordan towards the sunrise. [00:26:24] Now, there can be a lot. There's a lot that can also be said about the way in which God is talking to these people. And notice how he says, I've given you the land. And we're going to see this. This is a constant theme that comes up in Joshua where he says, I've given you the land. It's yours. I've given you the land. [00:26:45] And I think, in effect, what God is trying to say here is, I've given you the land, and I have given you it. It's nothing that was that you did. It's nothing that you earned yourself into. It's nothing that you could do within your own right, but it's I who have given you the land. He says, I've given you the land. I've given it to you. Again, it's nothing that you could have achieved within your own right, but because of my grace and because I have made a covenant with you, I'm giving you the land. [00:27:23] And it's for them to actually walk in faith and live it out and walk it out and put their foot there that they can inherit what is rightfully theirs and what they've been denied for 40 years because a generation weren't willing to actually go with the change and weren't willing to actually hear what Moses was saying and be ushered in to their spiritual blessings. [00:27:48] Verse 16. Then they answered, Joshua, whatever you command us, we will do. And wherever you send us, we will go. Just as we fully obeyed Moses, so will we obey you. Only may the Lord your God be with you, as he was with Moses. Whoever rebels against your word, and does not obey it. Whatever you may command them will put to death only be strong and courageous. [00:28:17] So this is a people, as you can see, that are ready. They are ready to go into battle now. Notice they don't exactly know what they're going to go into. [00:28:26] The same way when God anointed Joshua to be the next leader, Joshua didn't actually know what he was going to go into. He didn't know the journey ahead. And Moses will see is a man of great. So Joshua, as we'll see, is a man of great faith because notice this, he's willing to do it. He's. As soon as God gave him the call, as soon as God gave him the vision, he was out there saying, look, get people ready. We're about to. We're about to go ahead now. And he didn't even know. He didn't exactly. God didn't tell him about the hardships that they would face. God didn't tell them about the people Robbie complaining to him of, you know, look, are you sure we can't go back to Egypt or are you sure we can't just stay here in the wilderness? God didn't tell him about the hardships. God didn't tell him about the opposition that he would face from the different territories when they would really come in and put a lot of pressure on the people of God. God didn't tell him about any of this. He just gave him a promise. And a lot of times that's how God is. Sometimes God will just give you the promise. Sometimes God will just give you the frame. He won't actually give you the picture. He would just give you the frame. And I think this is an example of God giving someone the frame. He didn't actually tell Joshua the full plan. He didn't reveal it. Sometimes God does. But this is a situation like many, where God won't actually give you the full vision. He will just give you a sliver. [00:29:54] And I'm sure Joshua knew that God was able to do great things because he was with Moses. And notice how Joshua was the aid of Moses. So all that time as Joshua has been with Moses, I believe God was humbling him. God was setting him up to be the rightful heir to Moses's job. And when Moses, Moses died, Joshua was able to go in to his destiny. But all that time when Joshua was with Moses, it was in a place of God showing him how to do things. He was Moses servant. He was serving Moses. And this was just his training ground. This was his training ground to one Day eventually leading the people and leading a different generation to the. To complete his master's job. [00:30:54] But again, Joshua didn't actually, he doesn't have all the details here. Joshua only God only said to him, look, you're going to inherit the land. But God, But Joshua doesn't actually know how he's going to inherit the land. You know, and if you think about at the time, these were people in the wilderness. These were people hiding out of fear because they didn't want to enter into the promises of God. [00:31:19] And here we have Joshua, who doesn't know the fullness of the plan, but yet for all, is more than willing to equip the people and tell them, yes, get ready. Yes, go out and just do it. Because in three days we're gonna get. We're gonna, we're gonna, we're gonna get it. And again, it's like sometimes God will give you a rough idea of the plan. He might even give you a timeline like he does. He. He says three days, but you don't actually know what's gonna happen on day one. You don't know what's gonna happen on day two. You don't even know what's gonna happen of a portion of day three. But because God is. [00:31:53] Because God has infinite wisdom and infinite power, and again, his will is higher than our will, sometimes we don't actually need to know the full details. And we just have to have that faith to trust God in what he's about to do and what he's about to bring us into. [00:32:11] So you might be in a situation where God has given you a promise and he's told you to move out. He's told you, he's given you a timeline in three days. In three days, I'm going to bring you into your promised land. In three days, you're going to come out of your wilderness and you're going to move into the spiritual blessings that I have ordained for you, that I have in store for you, but you don't actually know. And you're asking God, Lord, how are you going to do that? How are you going to get me out of this situation? [00:32:36] How on earth can you change my name? How on earth can you. [00:32:40] There's this situation knows no end. How on earth are you going to bring me out of what I'm in right now? How are you going to get me out of this rut? How are you going to get me out of circling? How are you going to get me out of bondage? How are you going to get me out of habitual sin. How are you going to get me out of my home situation? How. How are you going to get me out of my living situation? How are you going to rescue this person so that I can move? How on earth, Lord, are you going to do anything which will enable me to move? [00:33:11] But you just have to focus on the promise. And the promise is, I will never leave you. This is. The text says, I will never leave you, nor will I forsake you. And I have not forgotten you. And I believe that's what God is saying to us through this text. I have not forgotten, forgotten you, though it may feel like I've forgotten you. And though a whole generation has been raised up and they probably don't even know what I, what I have done firsthand. Because the previous generation, imagine this. The previous generation got to see God move in a mighty, mighty way. They saw all the plagues. They saw God open up the Red Sea so that they could go through. And that wasn't enough for them. [00:33:52] That in itself wasn't enough for them yet for all, they wanted to go back to Egypt. [00:33:59] But this new generation, they didn't see that. They heard the stories from their mothers and fathers, but yet they didn't actually see it firsthand. And these are people who are willing to move out. These are people who have enough faith to move and put their foot down and inherit what was once their fathers and mothers, but because of their lack of faith that it's now passed on to them. [00:34:28] And again, maybe you're, maybe you're, maybe that. Maybe you can understand and relate to this situation. [00:34:33] And you don't, you don't know how you're going to get out. You're seeing all of these different territories that you have to, that you have to conquer in order to go into the land and into the blessing that God has for you. But you don't exactly know how it's going to happen. You can't see a way out. You can't see the path. You're wondering, Lord, when are you going to send another miracle for me to be able to get out of the situation I'm in and enter into your promise? How on earth can this promise happen? But you have to have the faith. You have to be able to put your foot down. And this is what God expects of us, is we have to be willing to trust in the Lord. We have to be strong and courageous. The text says, be strong and courageous. I have given you the land. I've given you land. The land is not yours. By virtue of anything that you've done. But I have given you the land. I have not forgotten you. And in three days you're going to rise and you're going to inherit the land. It may have taken the previous generation 40 years, but I myself, I am going to raise you up in three days. And in three days you can inherit what was yours, what is yours. And this is the message that we gather from the text. This is the message that is still very much for us. [00:35:51] And even though this is an old text and this particular message was firstly directed at a very long time ago generation, but still there's so much that we can gather, so much richness that we can gather from this text. Because God has not forgotten us. [00:36:08] He keeps his promises the same way he kept his promise to Abraham. He's now fulfilling it through a new man. Joshua, let's just try and be like Joshua. [00:36:21] Try and use the sonship and just try and use what we've learned from our elders and just now put that into practice. You might be under someone, you might feel that you should be promoted, that you should be sent to the next level. But sometimes the situation you're in right now is for a season because God is using this as a season to train you up so that one day you can do the job that you aspire to. But that has to be in God's time. [00:36:51] You see, Joshua, when he was under Moses, probably didn't actually appreciate the fact that this is a generation that aren't ready. They don't have the right heart to enter in into the promised land. I'm not sure that he was able to fully appreciate. And I'm sure maybe there came a time when Joshua actually wondered, why am I, Why are we, why are we doing this? Why are we here? But yet, for all, God knew the heart of the people and he knew that he had his promise and his plan outlived the time span of Moses and even outlived the time span of Joshua. And what he was doing was working something that would, would take even longer than their lives combined. But this is something that would cross over into generations, into generations, into generations, and then finally get to Jesus Christ, who would finally break the chain of sin and would usher in a new covenant for a new set of people who are under a new covenant. [00:37:50] And this is the promise and the glory of the Lord. [00:37:55] So in summary, this text, it really is, it gives insight into a people entering a new season. [00:38:06] It gives insight into a man called Joshua who has a new destiny, who has A new calling. And by faith, he doesn't question God. Notice that as well. He doesn't question God. He doesn't say to God, are you sure? Because if we figure out to Moses, Moses said, look, I have a stutter. I can't. I have a stammer. I can't. I can't possibly do this. But no, Joshua has enough faith that he doesn't question God. He doesn't question the Lord at all. He trusts the Lord with all of his heart and all of his mind. And he is strong and courageous and goes to people without any delay and tells them exactly what God has for them. The text says, get ready. [00:38:51] I think the question for many of us right now is, are you ready? [00:38:55] Are you ready for God to use you? [00:38:58] Are you ready to enter into what God has called you to? [00:39:03] Are you ready to enter in, into your promised land? Even though there might be hardship there, Even though there might be different people that you might not like, There might be obstacles there, There may be people that you haven't seen in a while that may frustrate you. [00:39:23] But still, if you put your foot there, and if you are strong and trust the Lord, the land is yours. [00:39:30] So this is who Joshua is. Joshua is a man of great faith. Joshua is a man who is ready to lead his people into their destiny. And this is something we can get. We can also get the fact that the stark difference between the wilderness, Canaan, the wilderness represents comfort. The wilderness represents comfortability and a place that they are willing to dwell in. They aren't willing to enter into the promises, the fullnesses, the fullness of the promise that the Lord had for them. [00:40:07] They are happy to stay in the wilderness. Notice that the wilderness. The wilderness probably has its own difficulties. [00:40:15] The wilderness is a wild land. The wild is embedded in the name of the wilderness. So there's already hardships in the wilderness. [00:40:22] But yet for all they are willing to stay in the wilderness. There's a generation that were willing to stay in the wilderness. But the new generation say no. [00:40:31] And they say no. We want more. We think we can aspire to more. And we're ready to enter in, into the commands this man Joshua, who is an instrument of the Lord and who is a man who was able to demonstrate great faith. And I think the final thing that we can take from this is, are you willing to put your foot down? As the text says, Are you willing to put your foot down? It's not enough to just stand still. If you stand still, you'll be in the wilderness. If you put your foot down, you enter into the land that God has for you. [00:41:08] Are you willing to put your foot down? Are you willing to move? [00:41:14] Are you willing to gain motion? [00:41:19] This is what God wants for us, is you have to put your foot down in order to receive the blessing. You have to put your foot down. Are you willing to put your foot down? [00:41:33] Are you willing to put your foot down? [00:41:37] So as we close, I'm going to pray and I pray that the Lord will show you what he wants to show you within this text. And I pray that this will inspire you to go even that much more deeper into the text. Not listen to what I have to say, but listen to what God have to say and what God lays on your heart in terms of this text. [00:42:02] So, Father Lord, I pray, I pray for all those who listen. I pray that you'll bless them, Father God, I pray, Father Lord, that out of this it will plant a seed of a love for reading and studying the word. Father God, I pray for the Holy Spirit, Father God, I pray that it will fall upon all who listen, Father God, I pray, Father, that there'll be a new anointing, Lord God, I pray, Lord God, that you inspire people that are willing to put their foot down, Father God, I pray that you will inspire a new generation, Father God, the same way in this text that are not. They are not content with staying in the wilderness. They are not happy of being wilderness Christians, Father God, but they are, but they aspire to be Christians that walk out the promises of God and can put their foot down. I pray, Father God, that you have Christians, Father God, that keep the book of the law on their lips. [00:43:01] I pray that when they speak to people, the book of the law will be made manifest, Father God, Father Lord, I pray that this text speaks to people and people will understand what it is in, in terms of us as modern day 21st century human beings. Father God, I pray that the message will become manifest, Father God, that it will translate across generations, that will translate across time from the people way back when in Israel, and it will become relevant for us today. Father, I thank you that you are. You are the same God that brought the people out of Israel and you are the same God now working a miracle within our lives. [00:43:42] Father Lord God, I pray these things in the name of Jesus and I say amen. [00:43:50] Thank you ladies and gentlemen, for listening again. This is the Anywhere But Backwards podcast. My name is Solid. I'm your host and the creator of this podcast and we have just started a study into the book of Joshua. Stay tuned for chapter two. I'll be going through chapter two and through the other chapters of this book. [00:44:11] Thank you for listening. Have a great day. Take care. Bye.