Be Strong and Courageous

Transcript

Rob McFarlane 0:29

And I like to share a message with you on courage. Let's have a look at two passages. First of all, turn with me to Deuteronomy 31, and I'm going to read from verse 6 through to verse 8. Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you, he will never leave you or forsake you. Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the presence of all Israel, Be strong and courageous, for you must go with this people into the land that the Lord swore to their ancestors to give them, and you must divide it among them as their inheritance. The Lord himself goes before you, he will be with you, he will never leave you or forsake you. Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged. And then let's turn across to Joshua chapter one. And I'd like to just emphasize this phrase, be strong and courageous, used four times in this passage. In verse six, be strong and courageous. In verse seven, be strong and very courageous. In verse nine, have I not commanded you, be strong and courageous. And at the end of verse 18, only be strong and courageous. Six times in as many verses we see the Lord speaking to Joshua and saying, Be strong and courageous. Do you think the Lord was trying to get something through to Joshua? What do you think it was? You've got it right. Be strong and courageous. Why did he need to be strong and courageous? Well, you need courage to take a hold of the inheritance that God has given you. The inheritance that God's given us for us personally, for us as families, for us as a local church, for us as the body of Christ. We need to take a hold of all that God has taken a hold of for us. What is courage? Well, courage is the quality that enables you to face challenges, danger, or fear with confidence and bravery. To discourage someone is to take away their courage, whereas to encourage someone is to give them courage. We need to be in a place where we are constantly being encouraged. Nelson Mandela, who was the president of the New South Africa, said this. So how do we stay strong and courageous? Well, we see that God gave Joshua four things that would enable him to be strong and courageous. He commanded him, have I not commanded you in verse 9, be strong and courageous. But when God commands us, he also enables us. He doesn't, the Bible says his commands are not burdensome. He doesn't ask us to do something that he doesn't enable us to do. And let's have a look at four P's that we see in this passage of Scripture that will help us to be strong and courageous. The first we see in verse six. Now, the first P is purpose. Joshua's life call was to take God's people into their inheritance. It was to take a hold of the inheritance that God had given them. We read in verse six, be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them. Certainly the call on Joshua's life was to take God's people into their promised land. What is the call on your life? I know what the call on my life is. It's to build and plant. God's called me specifically, shown me scriptures that helped me do that. When we read in the Bible, we know that Jesus said, The Son of Man has come to seek and save the lost. When he was on earth, that was his purpose. We know that Paul, the apostle, said his purpose was to be a light to the Gentiles and to see them set free from the power of Satan and them turn to God. Different people through the scriptures have different callings, and it's exactly the same today. God has a specific call, a specific plan, a specific purpose for you. And when you know what that is, it fills you with courage. You're able to overcome fear, adversity, and challenge because you know exactly what God has placed you on earth for. The second thing we see is God's promises. So we've seen his purpose enables us to be courageous, but also his promises. In verse 7 and verse 8, it says, 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 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 make your way prosperous and have good success. Promises from God encourage us. As we get the scriptures, the Bible says they encourage us. I love the way Romans chapter 15 and verse 4 says, through endurance and encouragement of the scriptures, we have hope. A wonderful thing. The Bible says in 1 Samuel chapter 30, verse 6, he encouraged himself in the Lord. He was having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. And when things were going wrong, what did he do? He encouraged himself in the Lord. And I believe what he did is he started to worship God and he started to reflect on the very promises that God has given him. The Bible is full of promises, great and precious promises. And through these we become partakers in the divine nature through those great and precious promises. I love it. The fact that they're not just promises, but they're great promises. The fact that they're not just great and precious promises, but they are exceedingly great and precious promises. Wonderful. God wants us to take a hold of his promises, to live by those, to meditate on those day and night, so that we would be filled with courage, so that we can overcome fear, adversity, and challenge. The third thing we see is his presence. So we've seen purpose, promises, presence. In verse 9, it says, 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. In verse 6 it says, For it is the Lord your God who goes with you, he will never leave you or forsake you. In verse 8 it says it's the Lord who goes before you, he will be with you, he will not leave you or forsake you. You know, the distinguishing factor in a believer's life is the very presence of God. Moses, when praying to the Lord, he said, Lord, how will people know that your favor is upon us? Exodus 33, verse 16. How will they know? And how will they know that we are your people? It's not, is it not your going with us that makes us distinct from every people on the face of the earth? You know, that's the thing that separates us from people around us. That's the very thing that enables us to uh to be the church. See, the church are God's people, it's where God manifests himself, it's where God visits us, where two or three of us gather in his name, he's there. He said he'll never leave us or forsake us. He also promised when we gather in his name, he is there. And there are times when through worship, through preaching, through fellowship, we very we sense the very presence of God among us. And that separates us from just being some social club or some get-together. We are the people of God, living in his presence. So we've seen that uh that we know that God's given us a purpose, he's given us his promises, he's given us his presence, but he also has given us people to encourage us. Let's go down to verse 18 of Joshua chapter 1, and it says, uh, well, let's jump up to verse 16, and then we'll go back down to verse 18. Verse 16 says, Then they answered Joshua, the people. The people, the people who were following him spoke to him. And then it goes down to verse 18. What did they say? They said, Verse 18, only be strong and courageous. You know, we need people around us who will encourage us. And uh for Joshua, they were the people who were following him who encouraged him. He also had Moses who encouraged him. We know that in Deuteronomy 31 and verse 7, it says, Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, he was encouraged in front of others by the person who was leading him, mentoring him, the person that he was following. So we need encouragement from people all around us. The Bible says we should meet together regularly to spur one another on to love and good deeds. We should meet together to encourage one another. That's in Hebrews chapter 10, verse 24 and 25. The Bible says that our words should encourage and strengthen one another. I love the way that uh that Paul speaking to the church in Rome, and he said, I'm longing to come and see you so that, this is in Romans chapter 1, verse 11 and 12, I'm longing to come and see you so that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith. I love it when I get together with other believers, fellow believers, and we we meet together and we encourage one another. We tell stories, we pray for each other, we connect with one another. You know, Christianity is a team sport. It's it's it's you know, we can walk with the Lord alone, and there's times we need to have alone with the Lord, but we also need fellowship with other believers, and the purpose for that fellowship is to be encouraged. I want to encourage you today. God has a wonderful plan and purpose for your life. He has great and precious promises that He said He will never leave you or forsake you. Let me end with this thought Be strong and courageous.