Be Strong and Courageous in the New Seasons of Life (Joshua 1)

The Bible says Moses was a man of God mighty in word and deeds (Acts 7:22). Joshua was his assistant for almost 40 years and eventually took over for Moses. It is noteworthy that God repeatedly tells Joshua not to be afraid but commands him to be strong and courageous (Joshua chapter 1). Come to Rockwell Church to be encouraged to find strength and courage as you move into the new seasons and opportunities of your life. It is also a Sunday we recognize graduates and there will be cake served after the worship service.


Rockwell Church     April 14th, 2024     Pastor Chris Teien
"Be Strong and Courageous in the New Seasons of Life"
Joshua 1:1-9
#1 Be Strong and Courageous
#2 Obey God's Commands
#3 Meditate on God's Word
#4 Do Not Be Afraid or Discouraged
#5 Remember God's Faithfulness

The WELL Faith Podcast offers encouraging, Bible-based messages from Pastor Chris Teien and guests. New sermons are released every Sunday. Replay episodes are marked with an asterisk. Find us online at ChrisTeien.com and Rockwell.Church in Virginia, MN. Email comments to wellfaith24@gmail.com

Transcript

Chris T 0:16

So it's Graduate Sunday, and we're taking a break from the Tell Someone message series to talk about how to be strong and courageous in the new seasons of life. And I already mentioned uh when we started that there's different seasons in life. So uh graduates are moving into a new season of life. Maybe they're gonna go find a job, maybe they're gonna go um to school, uh, maybe they're gonna go into the military. There's just many different things that graduates can choose to do. But the general idea is they're going from being a child in their parents' house and uh learning all they can in um elementary school and high school and maybe part of the college through P S E O or whatever, um, to now transitioning out on their own. And it's kind of expected, you know, that there are going to be adults that make a difference in the world. And, you know, the parents love to see their kids be successful and practice the good things that they learned at home, and so to put that in practice. And when I think about Bible examples of somebody that was strong and courageous in the new season of life, you can't get past Joshua. So Joshua in the Old Testament is somebody that definitely needed to be strong and courageous in the new season of life. Let me read the beginning of that passage in Joshua 1. I'm sure that you're very familiar with it, but I'll read it anyway. Well, just as a reminder, um, Joshua was born into slavery before the Israelites were set free in Egypt. And Moses was part of that. And you'll remember that um Moses sent some spies into the Canaan, into Canaan land, and twelve spies went in. And when 12 spies came out, ten of them said, Oh, those people are huge. Oh, we'll never be able to be victorious. Oh, oh, we oh no. And two of the spies, Joshua and Caleb, said, Yeah, well, with God's help, we can do it. So um ten came out faithless and afraid, and two came out of their time spying faithful and with hope. And so unfortunately, because of that, um, God was displeased and let that generation wander around the wilderness until they all died out. So, out of 600,000 men in that time, only two of them got to live long enough to enter the promised land, Joshua and Caleb. But matter of fact, it was so bad that um, since I'm sure the whole camp knew it, that they probably like knew they had a list, you know, towards the end, they had a list. They're like, hey, we still got we still got ten guys, ten guys that need to die before we can get on with our lives. Uh, maybe you should feed them saltier food or something. But um anyway, so once they died out, then God said, All right, it's time to move on. And um Joshua got to be part of that. But even to make it more interesting, Moses didn't get to go on the trip. So he did have a temper tantrum on a rock and all, but um still God said, You know, Moses, your time is done. You've done well. I mean, Moses, God spoke to Moses like a man spoke to a friend. Um, Moses was tight with God, and Joshua was his assistant, and so you have this whole relationship thing, and then all of a sudden, you know, God says to Moses, All right, Moses, go up to the mountain. It's your time in leadership is done. Good job. You did a good job. Um, and then it's Moses' turn. It's Joshua's turn. So, okay. So Joshua chapter 1, verse 1, after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua, son of Nun, Moses' aide, Moses' assistant, 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 them to the Israelites. I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised, Moses. No one will be able to stand. I'm gonna jump into verse five, because it talked about uh different areas of land, and you can look that up for yourself, but that doesn't really apply to my message. So um, verse five 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. 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. Do you see a recurring theme there? Be strong and courageous. Well, what did he have to be fearful of? Well, um, he had been in the shadows of mighty Moses for like 40 years, and now he's supposed to be in charge. And um the people that he was leading weren't necessarily the most compliant people, and they were going to go take over a land that God was giving them, but it would still lead to many wars and battles, and he was to lead them. And so repeatedly it says, be strong and courageous. And I don't know what season of life that you're coming up into, but you need to be strong and courageous. Maybe you're making a trend, maybe you're graduating, um, maybe you're making a transition in a career, maybe you're um, you know, trying to figure out how you go from bringing in that check all the time to retirement life. Or um, maybe you're retired and you've been independently living, and it's time for you to think about moving into like a senior apartment where uh you'll probably be, you know, fine. But just in case you need care, there's someone that you can call and they will come and help you. So my mother-in-law was in a um actually a Baptist General Conference uh retirement home in Eden Prairie, and she had fallen and she had one of those medic alert things, and we had never seen it go off before, but we were watching something on TV, and all of a sudden on the TV thing on the caller ID, it said that we were getting a call from like New Hampshire or something or Massachusetts. It's like, who's that? Turns out it was the help, I fallen and I can't get up, people. And my mother-in-law had fallen down, and so she was in a senior apartment, but the senior man the manager said, I can't do anything for her, I'm not allowed to touch her. So we can either call an ambulance or you can come. So she sat there on the floor for like 35 minutes until we got there, and then you know, help pick her up and stuff. And then eventually, uh shortly after that, we moved her into an assisted living center where um she had her own apartment, but if she needed somebody, she could she could call and they would come and pick her up and help her. And so those are different stages of life people go through. And each one of those comes with fear, each one of those uh comes with expectation and hopefully hope. I mean, there's been some older people that I've really encouraged them to look at the benefit of moving into the senior type of living environment because then maybe they wouldn't be so lonely, because there are some people that are older that live all by themselves, and there's not a whole lot of interaction besides who they call on the phone, and so they could make more friends if they chose to make more friends. Um, same is true with young people. So uh even if you're gonna go to college, it's your choice if you're gonna come out and be friendly, and or if you're just gonna keep your nose in the in the book or the computer and study and what kind of balance are you gonna have? But to be strong and courageous. God was calling Moses or calling Joshua to be strong and courageous. Um, he was strong and courageous while he was serving with Moses, but he was going to take on a new role. So John Wayne said, courage is being scared to death and saddling up anyway. Have you ever felt that way before? Have you ever felt that way where you're supposed to uh do something and you're like, okay, I'm gonna I'm gonna do this, even though I'm terrified. I don't know how it's gonna work out. Billy Graham said, courage is contagious. When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others are stiffened. General George Patton said, courage is fear that has said its prayers. And a plaque on a wall in the uh Mariner's Museum in Newport News, Virginia says, leadership is the capacity to inspire and motivate, to persuade people willingly to endure, to persuade people willingly to endure hardships, usually prolonged, and incur dangers, usually acute, that if left to themselves, they would do their most to avoid. To be strong and courageous. You know, to live for Christ today, you need to be strong and courageous. To lead for Christ today, you need to be strong and courageous. Uh, there's all sorts of things that um, you know, your internal fear, um, people around you that you're afraid of, what will my what will my neighbors think? What will my sometimes what will my parents think? Um, what will my coworkers think um if I really get serious about following Jesus? So to be strong and courageous, what area is it of your life that you need to be more courageous and to find strength? Think about that, pray about that. But that is one thing that if we are going to uh be successful in whatever new season of life that it is, be strong and courageous. Number two, obey God's commands. Obey God's commands. So um there's many things that we can choose to do on our own, but when we think about what God has already commanded, some people are like, well, I just want to hear from God, I want to hear God's will. Um, but they won't spend time in his word. So read God's word, and you'll often find God's will. So um obey God's commands because people are looking to you to be a leader that is trustworthy, a leader that's leading them in the right direction. And yours like, who am I leading? Well, you could uh you've got to lead your own life. Uh maybe you're leading family members, maybe you're leading a team, maybe you're leading a business. Um you'll have to take a stand for what you believe. And so courage is equal to fortitude, and fortitude is equal to persistence. So where do you find God's commands? You find God's commands in God's word. And so God told Joshua to meditate on God's word, to focus on God's word. So now what does meditating mean? It doesn't mean that you sit there in a lotus position and you try to empty your mind of everything. Um, but it said that it means meditate on God's word. Um, think it through, read it, maybe say it out loud. Think about how it applies to your life. What did it mean to the original hearers? Um, what did it mean in their context? Is this something for me today, or was it just for those people at that time? What ways can I apply this scripture to my life? What things do I need to change in my life as I read this scripture? So sometimes you go through the, you know, through the Bible in a year plan or whatever, and you read the Bible. Um, but other times you just need to slow down and think about certain passages and how you can apply it to your life. So your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. Hmm. And Psalms, how can I apply that to my life? Well, let's see. It's a dark world. So Satan is the Prince of Darkness. He tries to deceive, he accuses, he destroys, he tries to keep me in the dark. God's word is a light in the darkness to help me know which direction I can go. Um, and you just think about it and you apply it to your life. I've heard that some people that are really good in sports, say basketball or football, maybe even pickleball, I don't know, will run the plays in their mind. They'll like be there in their bed, laying there half awake or whatever, and they'll be running the plays that are in the mind. Okay, I'm gonna go, if this guy that comes this way, I'm gonna shift this way, I'm gonna do this. They run these plays. If there are certain, you know, football plays that have numbers or names, they run those plays in their mind. They run them over and over again so that they are more likely to know exactly what to do because they're really meditating on it, and that's what you want to do with God's word is you want to run it through your mind and you want to figure out how it works in your life. Maybe you want to memorize it, maybe stand on those promises, that'd be a good thing to meditate on God's word. So all scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work. I look into scripture, it says all scripture, so I'm saying that's Old Testament and New Testament, Old Testament rightly applied, New Testament rightly applied, so that we can see what's wrong in our lives, to correct us when we're wrong, to teach us to do what is right, to prepare and equip us to do every good work. So we put God first with our priorities, with our choices, with our finances. So, you know, it was interesting that Jacob got a new start when he left his father-in-law's place and he was heading out in the Old Testament, heading out on his own. And there's a section in there where he doesn't have, he's got some stuff, but he doesn't know the future. And he like, praise God, of all you give me, I'm gonna give you a tenth. I'm gonna put you first. He's making a deal before he you know really knows what comes next in his life. And that can be a really wise thing to do, to put God first and say, God, I don't know what comes next. I promise that if you help me to be successful, then I'm gonna honor you and I'm gonna put you first. And if you know, if you just want me to serve in a humble way, I'm gonna honor you and I'm gonna put you first. And to just be ready, because God could do great things through you. And the more that you stay tight with him, the more that you walk with him, the more opportunities you have for blessing and to be in the right place in the right time and to meet the right people at the right time. Do not be afraid or discouraged. So Joshua's doing what he's supposed to be doing, and uh a couple chapters later, the Lord says to Joshua, Today I will begin to exalt you in the eyes of all Israel so that they may know that I am with you as I was with Moses. So in the process of leadership training, there comes a time when God says, Okay, um, now I'm going to do the stuff that I prepared you for. I'm gonna give you the opportunity. I'm gonna give you the venue to do what it is I prepared you for. I'm gonna give you the opportunity. And then finally, remember God's faithfulness. Remember God's faithfulness. Remember what God has done in the past. The best thing you can do is to have like a prayer journal where you write down the prayers while you're praying them. You're like, I don't know how I'm gonna pay my tuition, or I don't know how I'm gonna afford this, or I don't know how I'm gonna get past this health difficulty. And you go through all this and you pray and you don't know, and then God answers, and you write it down. Uh, you know, maybe it's months later, but you write down this is how God answered this prayer. And then you just save those so then when you're discouraged, you can look back on it, but you can remember God's faithfulness. And Hebrews 11, we hear about God's faithfulness with Joshua, and by faith the walls of Jericho fell after the army had marched around them for seven days. So um God answers prayers. God does great things. So um in Joshua, at the end of Joshua's life, it says if he writes, if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods whom your ancestors serve beyond the Euphrates or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living, but as for me and my household, I will serve the Lord. So when I was young, I knew that I wanted a Christian wife, and I prayed and prayed and prayed for her. And at the right time, um, God provided. I knew that I wanted to have a godly home. And I read books about Christian marriage and Christian family and stuff, and you know, I wasn't a perfect person, but my I had a desire to do that and to learn those things, and I think that um much of that training was helpful. Um, sometimes there are Sunday school classes. We have right now media that has a bunch of resources that you can watch. One of them actually is for the parents of the recent graduates, and this is actually something that is good for those of you that now have high school graduates. Um, and it is a book by Jim Burns called Doing Life with Your Adult Children. And then it says, Keep your mouth shut and the welcome math mat out. And so it says Positive Principles on Bringing Kids Back to Faith, ideas on how to leave a legacy as a grandparent, and encouragement for every changing season, a unique resource on your changing role in a calling that never ends. There's like three videos on right now media. It's a good book. I listened to it on Audible as an audio book, but uh my favorite was at the very end that says, be careful with what you do with your adult kids because they will be making your end-of-life decisions and you don't want them to abandon you. So, all right, well, I'm gonna just take a uh you know a minute or two more to if I was doing a graduation speech, um, to you know what I might say because I think you could too if you you look back on what would you tell yourself, okay? If you could look back and tell yourself as you were graduating from high school or college, you know, what what would you say? Um I would say put God first one, put God first in everything, so pray about all and obey God's word. So just like the message. I would say two, beware of compromise that can ruin your life. So um, and for the recent graduates, I would say that you are one of the most recorded generations ever. So God knows all, but it appears that uh, you know, through all the video and sharing and everything that you guys are recorded. And uh don't do anything that gets remembered for the rest of your lives. Uh three, sign up for new opportunities. You never know who you will meet, what you will learn, or how God can use you at the moment. Four, try to avoid dead-end jobs. So if you're in a minimum wage job, make sure it's one where you learn something. I knew a pastor that worked at McDonald's and went to McDonald's university on their on their bill and learned leadership skills. It was very helpful for him. I worked at a soap company where all you did is load the soap hoppers and the to fill the machines. That was a dead end job. So I said no to that. But I said yes to being a construction laborer, and I said yes to working in an optical lab where I learned lots of different skills. And so um try to keep growing and learning, even if it's a minimum wage job. Five, remember your goals and purpose. So um, if you're okay, if you're gonna pay for tuition to go to school, then get the grades, uh, take the classes. So, unfortunately, my first semester I was in university choir, university band, sports, boss ministry. I had no time to study, and I only got four credits the first semester. It was a very expensive vacation. So, six, try to avoid, try to find balance and stay healthy and be content. And seven, don't forget everyone who has invested in you. Check in with your parents, stay connected with your family. Lord, I thank you so much for these graduates. Uh, we're gonna sing a worship song and then we're gonna have our graduation um presentation. So um, Lord, it might run a few minutes over, but if it does, um, Lord, we just pray that uh you would help these graduates to feel honored because we're so honored to have them with us today. And even when we have cake in the fellowship hall, I pray that they would just know how much we care for them and that we want to hear from them and pray for them in Jesus' name. Amen.