Our characteristic is Courageous Love and our slogan is, “The wounds from a friend are true.”
Moses was dead. God has appointed Joshua to lead the people of Israel into the promised land. You will remember that there are giants in the land. Joshua would need to deal not only with the reality of facing pagan armies, but also dealing with the problems of leading 2 or 3 million people who had a habit of blaming the leadership for their problems. Like Moses, Joshua loved the people and he was very courageous. Let’s examine from the text of Joshua 1:1-18 the reasons we can have courageous love.
- He had direction and authority from the Lord (Joshua 1:2). Our first recipient of courageous love must be God. We will obey him no matter the consequences. Joshua had that attitude (Joshua 24:15). We today have direction and authority from the Lord. In all those things which he has commanded and/or authorized us to do, we can have courage that we are doing the right thing.
- He had a promise from God that no man could stand against them in their conquest of the land (Joshua 1:5). God told him, “…I will be with thee. I will not fail thee nor forsake thee. The same promise is made to us in many ways. Jesus said that if we observe all that he has commanded, “I will be with you always, even to the end of the world” (Matt. 28:20). In Hebrews 13:5-6, “…for he has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.”
- Joshua had a book of the law to guide him (Joshua 1:7-8). We do also in the New Testament of Christ. We need not be in doubt about what to do. We can take courage in following God.
- We must keep in mind, that like Joshua and Israel, we are preparing to possess a land that the Lord has given us (Joshua 1:10-13). Consider the beauty of our journey (Heb. 11:13-16), pilgrims in the wilderness preparing to enter the promised land.
- Even when dealing with disobedience and the need to discipline, Joshua is told to be strong and courageous (Joshua 1:16-18)
Mike Glenn (e-bulletin 1-2)