Today’s Sermon Notes: 4-6-2025
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Joshua: Courage Over Fear
A Sermon Series
“Preparing To Encounter God’s Call”
Joshua 2:22-24 – 3:1-8
Part One
Introduction
“all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. 2 And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness!” Numbers 14:1-2
Prayer
What We Choose to Focus On Determines Where We Are Going (vv. 2:22-24)
22 They departed and went into the hills and remained there three days until the pursuers returned, and the pursuers searched all along the way and found nothing. 23 Then the two men returned. They came down from the hills and passed over and came to Joshua the son of Nun, and they told him all that had happened to them. 24 And they said to Joshua, “Truly the Lord has given all the land into our hands. And also, all the inhabitants of the land smelt away because of us.”
Numbers 13:23 “And they came to the Valley of Eshcol and cut down from there a branch with a single cluster of grapes, and they carried it on a pole between two of them; they also brought some pomegranates and figs.” . . . “However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large.”
“everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved” Joel 2:32.[1]
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How Do We Cross The Jordan? How Do We Face the Seemingly Impossible?
Remember Our Commitment To God When Crossing Over (vv. 1-4)
Then Joshua rose early in the morning and they set out from Shittim. And they came to the Jordan, he and all the people of Israel, and lodged there before they passed over. 2 At the end of three days the officers went through the camp 3 and commanded the people, “As soon as you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God being carried by the Levitical priests, then you shall set out from your place and follow it. 4 Yet there shall be a distance between you and it, about 2,000 cubits in length. Do not come near it, in order that you may know the way you shall go, for you have not passed this way before.”
Exodus 14:11-12 “They said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”
God is with His people and they are expected to follow Him and His ways.
Consecrate Yourself Before Crossing-Over (v. 5)
“Then Joshua said to the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.”
Keep Your Eyes On God When Crossing Over (vv. 6-8)
“And Joshua said to the priests, “Take up the ark of the covenant and pass on before the people.” So they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the people. 7 The Lord said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. 8 And as for you, command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, ‘When you come to the brink of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan.’”
Hebrews in 12:28-29 “Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, 29 for our God is a consuming fire.”
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God has a calling upon your life, so as we “Prepare To Encounter God’s Call” – how do we face this incredibly difficult task?
- What We Choose to Focus On Determines Where We Are Going (vv. 2:22-24)
- Remember Our Commitment To God When Crossing Over (vv. 1-4)
- Consecrate Yourself Before Crossing-Over (v. 5)
- Keep Your Eyes On God When Crossing Over (vv. 6-8)
Closing
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[1] Madvig, 264.
[2] https://www.preachingtoday.com/illustrations/2024/june/dirty-jobs-turned-into-meaningful-callings.html
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