Sermon Manuscript
Introduction:
Topical Question:
How can we be strong, and courageous?
Summary:
Assuming leadership roles can often be tough. It requires being strong & courageous. This sermon shares Biblical advice as to how we can be strong & courageous.
Title:
Be Strong And Courageous
Scripture:
Joshua 1:1-18
Sermon Body:
This sermon shares four Biblical advice as to how we can be strong & courageous.
Point 1: Stand on the Promises. V 3
3 Every place on which the sole of your foot treads, I have given it to you, just as I spoke to Moses.
Explanation:
Joshua is in a tight position. Can you imagine having to fill the shoes of Moses? Taking the place of a man...who could speak to God through a burning bush...cast down his rod, and have it turn into a snake, and then retrieve it, and find it a rod again. Can you imagine being the predecessor of a man that could stretch out his rod, and divide the Red Sea. Moses had led the children of Israel out of Egyptian bondage, and through many precarious situations. But now Moses is dead. How can Joshua lead the people to the “land of promise”?
How will Joshua manage to do this? What does Joshua need in order to fulfill this awesome task? The answer is that he needs to stand on God's promise! God will give to him what he needs to fulfill this calling.
In this chapter God instructs Joshua 3 times to “be strong, and be courageous”. Such easy instructions....but how is he to be strong, and courageous?
Illustration:
Adrian Rogers tells about the man who bragged that he had cut off the tail of a man-eating lion with his pocket knife. Asked why he hadn’t cut off the lion’s head, the man replied: “Someone had already done that.” It’s easy sometimes to be cocky, and pretend to be brave..but what someone needed was true bravery, and courage.
Application:
Brothers and sisters --- To live the kind of Life that God wants us to in the society that we live in...we need courage the way that Joshua did!
Sometimes its hard to be strong, and courageous. but God will dictates to you how to be so. Amen!!!
Point 2: Sense the Presence. V 5
5 No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you.
Explanation:
How can Joshua lead with confidence, how can he confront the battles that lie ahead ? He can because the same God that was with Moses is with him. A God that will not forsake, and one that will not fail. Every place that the sole of his foot touched was to become their land....and every step that Joshua took God was with him.
Illustration:
One summer evening, during a violent thunderstorm, a mother was tucking her small boy into bed. She was about to turn off the light when he asked with a tremor in his voice, “Mommy, will you sleep with me tonight?” The mother smiled and gave him a reassuring hug. “I can’t dear,” she said, “I have to sleep with Daddy.” A long silence was broken at last by a shaken little voice saying, “The big sissy.”
Application:
Today, if we are children of God, he has promised never to leave us nor to forsake us. He not only is with us...but is in us.
Point 3: Stay the Path V 7
Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go.
Explanation:
If Joshua is to be “strong, and courageous” he must stay the path...he must not turn...he must not compromise...he must not become distracted....he must not become detoured from what the will of God is. He must stay the path set before him. Faithfulness is the key.
Illustration:
I’d like to tell you a story about Chad Le Clos and the importance of staying in your own lane if you want to win the race. Some of you may recognize Le Clos’ name. He is a South African swimmer who won five medals in the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics in Singapore and is an Olympic, World and Commonwealth Games champion many times over. By the time he swam in the Olympics in 2016, Le Clos was already one of South Africa’s most decorated Olympians.
The 2016 Olympics were billed as a heavily hyped rematch of sorts between Le Clos and American swimming legend Michael Phelps. Phelps was the winner of the 200 meter butterfly in 2004 and 2008, and Le Clos narrowly beat him in 2012.
During the medal race, photographers snapped the moment that showed Le Clos turning his head to the side to see where Phelps was during the race. That distraction cost him dearly. Not only did Le Clos not mentally stay in his own lane; he also didn’t even medal in that race, finishing in fourth place.
Application:
Brothers in Christ -- put this in your mind!!! God blesses faithfulness ! Compromise leads to chaos....distractions often lead to destruction...but faithfulness leads to fulfillment. Are we being faithful...or is it possible that we’ve gotten off the path that God has called us to follow?
Point 4. Start the Process. V 11
11 “Pass through the midst of the camp and command the people, saying, ‘Prepare provisions for yourselves, for within three days you are to cross this Jordan, to go in to possess the land which the Lord your God is giving you, to possess it.’”
Explanation:
What God had told Joshua would have been no good if he had not begin to assimilate this plan. In this verse, Joshua begins the process. The transfer of leadership has taken place...Joshua believes what God has said..and begins to demonstrate it. He begins his journey of bravery,and courage.
It is not enough simply to know the word of God....sense his presence, we must put into action what he tells us to do. Joshua now begins that process. He takes action....he begins the task of moving forward.
Illustration:
“In leadership, life and all things it’s far wiser to judge people by their deeds than their speech - their track record rather than their talk” – Rasheed Ogunlaru” (Inspirational Speaker)
Application:
How about us brothers? We’ve heard the word of God...sensed his presence, and his leading...but are we still just sitting ? What are we waiting for ?
Let’s get going. There is ground to cover, battles to be won, Jobs that are unfinished.....let’s “be strong and courageous” and do it !
Conclusion:
Message Summary:
The four Biblical advice as to how we can be strong & courageous. ---Stand on God's Promises. Sense God's Presence, Stay on your Course, and start the process.
Specific Objective:
For the unbelievers:
God loves you and He is desiring that you too love Him. Trusting your life to him.
For the believers:
So what's holding you back from being strong and courageous?
I challenge you, Why not listen to God's call?
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