WES HUMBLE

the WORD Joshua 1:1-9

“After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide: “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 Great Sea on the west. No one will be able to stand up 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 forefathers 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. Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; 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 terrified: do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

Every human has the need to feel successful. We live in a world surrounded by images of success.

Within the last couple of months these two magazines were on the magazine stands across our country. Both of them happen to be people magazines. The first one pictures the Olsen Twins and some other child stars and it is all about their wealth (The Richest Kids in the World, People Magazine, Jan 27, 2003). The latest one just simply is entitled, Who Makes What. You may be impressed to learn that that for each of the 22 minutes of his sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond, Ray Romano earns enough to buy a new $35,000. Ford Excursion. ($800,000. an episode). Celine Dion makes that in the first quarter of one of her concerts. We live in a culture that puts such an emphasis on what you have.

This passage of scripture is a vivid description of a truly successful person.

Christ followers do not buy into the worlds definitions of success.

Everything that is taught in the Bible goes against the grain of what the world defines as success.

This passage offers the availability of spiritual success to anyone who will follow God’s plan for it.

Joshua was called by God to replace Moses as leader of God’s people. For forty years the Israelites had been wondering around in the wilderness looking for the land that God had promised them. They were not lost. They were paying a price for their disobedience against God.

Buried in this passage of scripture is a key verse where God gives us the secret to genuine success. It is so simple yet so profound. There is not a situation that I know of that cannot be handled if someone is doing what God commands Joshua to do.

NIV “Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; 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.”

1. Joshua entered the plan of God.

God had a plan for Joshua’s life and it was to succeed Moses as leader of Israel. He entered God’s plan when he heard God call and commissioning him. God has a plan for every one of us and we can only be successful as we fulfill what He has planned for our lives. We are to obey and do His will.

There is a plan for your life and there is a plan for my life.

One of the greatest causes of stress for many people is the feeling that they going through life doing something that they don’t like or enjoy. They are unfulfilled. They are frustrated and constantly looking for something that will give them a sense of accomplishment.

God created you and He offers every person the opportunity to find His will for their life.

We can only have a sense of success if we are fulfilling God’s plan for our life.

For Joshua and for us that will mean that we obey God’s voice and do His will.

Have you entered God’s plan for your life? Do you have a sense that God is leading you and that you are following Him?

You have to be serious about being a Christ follower to enter God’s plan for your life.

2. Joshua enjoyed the presence of God.

God made a promise to Joshua. He said I will not leave or forsake you.

Real success is found in the continuous presence of God in our lives.
We come to know and believe that He is truly with us every hour of every day.

There is no greater success than to know that we surrounded by God’s presence.

Are you enjoying the daily comfort of God’s presence?Do you enjoy Him?

“As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be terrified: do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

You and I must practice the presence of Jesus.
Daily we must learn to let Him into our lives and our circumstances.
Daily we need to learn to enjoy the presence of God.

Disobedience will cloud God’s presence in our lives.

3. Joshua experienced the power of God.

God command to Joshua to be strong and courageous is backed up by the promise of His might and power which will work on our behalf. Today we can realize this power through the promise of the Holy Spirit.

All of us at times are called on to have strength that goes beyond ourselves.
We face situations in our lives that force us to search for courage and strength.

God is very clear with Joshua. Three times he tells him to be strong and courageous but every time it is backed up by the promises of God.

You and I can only experience the power of God in our lives if we live with this book in our hands.

You will never know God unless you spend quality time in the document that tells us about Him.

Action Steps to discovering God’s idea for success: It’s all in the Word!

How do we achieve this success? What do we need to do in order enter the plan of God and enjoy His presence and experience His power?

What is the secret?

It is all found in our key verse.

“Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; 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.”

    1. Look it up.

When God says we are not to let it depart from our mouth that simply is a metaphor for feed on it. Let it be your source of spiritual food.

Eat and enjoy it because it is the only food that will feed and sustain your spiritual life!

The Bible uses this metaphor over and over.

In fact, in I Peter 2:1-3 it states, “Therefore, laying aside all malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy and all evil speaking, as newborn babes desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.”

In I Cor. 3:1,3 Paul makes reference to his desire to feed the church at Corinth solid food rather than the milk of the word.

According to Mathew 4:4 God gives us a balanced diet. “. . . Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”

Sometimes you may find parts of the Bible difficult to read or understand but even those parts are food for your soul. Don’t stop reading just because you don’t understand something. We don’t always understand all the food we eat or what exactly it is made of but we eat it anyway and we gain strength from it.

We are to look it up. The idea is don’t exclude the word from your life. Read it every day and you will be amazed at how differently you look at your life and at God.

    2. Let it in.

We are not only to devour the word but we are to meditate on it day and night.

Col. 3:16, “ Let the word of God dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”

II Tim. 3:1617, All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

It is not enough to just read the Bible we must let the truth of what we read sink down in us and dwell deeply in us.

The key word here is meditate.

This word suggest time spent in thought about what we have read. Allow the word to saturate your life and your soul. Fill your mind with God’s word.

The meditate also means to “bow down.” This gives us a further thought. We don’t just read it and meditate on it but we bring our lives into conformity with what we read.

We allow the word to be the final authority in our lives.

Psalm 1:1-2, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and His law he meditates day and night.”

James 1:21, “Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.”

Hebrews 4:12, “ For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

Clearly God wants us to let the word of God change our lives.

The third step to success God’s way is this:

    3. Live it out

“Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it.”

Verse eight clearly states that we should be careful to do everything written in God’s word.

You and I will never know what it says unless we read and study it and we will never know God’s promise of success unless we live out the word of God in our lives.

The truth we look up and let in must be lived out in our lives.

We are called to live out the word of God in our lives and to let that be our witness in the dark world that we live in.

Christ followers who read the word and live the word will be like lights shining in the darkness.

People who profess to be Christ followers but never crack the cover of this book will be at best imposters who have a form of godliness but deny the power thereof.

James 1:22-24, “ But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.”

I John 2:17, “And the world is passing away, and the lust of it: but he who does the will of God abides forever.”

Sometimes it is good for us to hear from people who have experienced life for a long time. They have years of experience and see things from a different perspective than perhaps younger people do.

We have some people in this church who are very special. We may refer to them as seniors or older people. Many of them are here every Sunday. This is their church. They believe in what we are trying to do. I cannot tell you how much respect and love I have for this group of people.

One of them is Sarah Davis. She is 82 years old and comes to church nearly every Sunday morning. Recently she fell in front of her home on the ice and snow and broke a bone in her ankle. She is rehabilitating in a local nursing facility. We sent the camera out to ask her to share a testimony for you this morning. Let watch the video screen.

Here are the results for those of us who will take this message seriously.

       1. We will enter the plan of God.

       2. We will enjoy the presence of God.

       3. We will experience the power of God.

“One of the most important problems is that of placing happiness after success. Many people might say, 'Hey, baby, give me success, and I'll worry about the happiness afterward.' Unfortunately, it doesn't happen that way. Unless you consider happiness before you consider success, then the manner in which you achieve success could be something that would destroy you later. Many people are so busy running to the top, stepping on their competitors, stepping on their enemies, and, saddest of all, stepping on their friends and loved ones, that when they get to the top, they are lonely and unhappy. They'll ask me, 'Where did I go wrong?' My answer has always been, 'Probably at the beginning.'" - Berry Gordy, former president and chairman of Motown Industries

We have an opportunity today to do something life changing.

Purpose in your heart today that you will make this book the most important thing in your life. Prioritize it. Read it before you turn on the radio or television. Read it before you read other books or spend hours on the internet.

Let the word dwell in you richly.

Let stand and spend a moment in silent reflection and prayer and then I will close in prayer.

Forgive us, O Lord,
For lives unadjusted to the order of Your love
And the familiarity of Your council.
Forgive us also:
For living too seldom with an awareness of Your Word.
For hearts too seldom in rhythm with Your compassion;
For hands too seldom content with Your provisions;
For ambitions too seldom in line with Your Will;
For attitudes too seldom shaped by Your love;
For morals so seldom shaped by Your law;

Forgive us for not realizing the importance of Your Word in our lives.

Lord will you today instill a desire in our hearts to read your word and to study and meditate on Your word.
May You and Your word be the center of our lives and our families this week.

In Jesus name . . .

2003/03/16

Sermon Reources available here...