Sermon Tone Analysis

Happy New Year brothers and sisters.

Not just a new year but a new decade.

It seems like every new year begins with expectations.

People are looking forward to starting fresh.

The Newspapers and magazines know this and you will surely see headlines like Three Steps to Financial Success in 2010 Guaranteed" or How to Propser your business in 2010"

The new issue of Succes magazine gives the 5 most succesful people of 2009 and every one of them is the owner of a multi million dollar company.

That is the Worlds Idea of Prosperity and success but is that God's?

About 3400 years ago there was a man named Joshua to whom God gave His recipe for Success, this is what he Told Him:

Read

In this passage God is seeking to encourage Joshua to go and Take the land that has been promised to them.

Moses is dead and so God reminds Joshua that He will not be alone in conquering the land and that He will never fail him or forsake him

God then sums up what Joshua needs to do if He will succeed in conquering and keeping the land of Caanan for the people of Israel

This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.

Out of all things God could have said He said meditate on my word day and night, these are His words of encouragment before battle.

What would you have said?

Sharpen your sword, train your men?

No! That is not Gods way.

God Gives Joshua and us 2 Keys to Success

1.Meditate on My Word

2.Obey My Word

This was God's plan to prosper Israel, Know my word hear my instruction and do it.

The Title of my message is " God's way to Success"

God keeps it really simple for us here , 2 simple steps to prosperity. 2 thijngs that will guarantee you a succesful Christian Life. 2 Things that you and I must do in order to Prosper.

The first step is Meditating on His Word.

1. Meditate on His Word

God had given His servant Moses a clear explanation of what He expected from Israel His Chosen people.

In the Book of Deutoronomy Moses reminds the people of God's Law and of the cursings that will follow Disobedience and the blessings that will follow Obedience.

He tells Them in Chpt 11:

Deu 11:17 And then the LORD'S wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the LORD giveth you.

Deu 11:18 Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.

Deu 11:19 And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

Deu 11:20 And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates:

Deu 11:21 That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.

Deut 11

God knew that as soon as the people would forget His law they would rebel against Him and serve other Gods

Notice He says if you don't keep these laws you will serve other gods and God's wrath shall be kindled against you ...

Therefore...or 'so that won't happen i want you to lay you up these my words in your heart, let them be fixed in your mind.

God's preventitive and safeguard for the Children of Israel and to Joshua here was that they would keep His Word in their hearts through Meditataion.

If God places such importance on it , What is meditation?

it's not something mystical only for monks and budhists that seems to be what most think about when they think about meditation.

Websters says: Meditate.

To dwell on any thing in thought; to contemplate; to study; to turn or revolve any subject in the mind;

it is kind of like the way a cow chews it's food it chews and chews and chews and then swallows.

The stomach then breaks down the food some and the cow brings it back up again and chews it some more to get every last bit of nutrition out of every bite.

A)More Than Just Reading

If I was to ask for a show of hands as to how many of you read your bibles every day most of you would probably put up your hands.

i noticed something interesting as I looked at some of the scriptures that encourage us to get into the word they rarely exhort us to just read the bible they most of the time will use words like meditate, let it dwell in you richly etc.

Now if i was to ask you how many of you meditate on the word every day like that cow chews on it's cud , there would probably be much less of you.

Anybody can read the bible but meditationn is much more time consuming and difficult, but also much more rewarding.

meditation takes concentration and contemplation and time, which is something that most of us don't take time for when we read the Bible.

to get God's word dwellling in You Richly you are going to need to do more than just read your 3 chapters a day.

Oswald Chambers says:

To concentrate is not to be absorbed or carried away with a subject; concentration is the sternest physical effort.

There is nothing Spiritual about the brain.

Control over associated ideas must be aquired, it is not a natural gift.

it will take practice brothers and sisters but it is worth it.

I like the way Donald Witney puts it: "Most information, even biblical information, flows through our minds like water through a sieve.

There's usually so much information coming in each day and it comes in so quickly that we retain very little.

But whenn we meditate, the truth remains and percolates.

We can smell it's aroma more fully and taste it better.

As it brews in our brain the insights come.

The heart is heated by meditation and the cold truth is melted into passionate action."

A Puritan Pastor Thomas Watson said" The reason we come away so cold from reading the word, is because we do not warm ourselves at the fire of meditation.

it is to be Hid in the heart, behold wondrous things out of thy law,

You can read the bible through and barely be convicted, but if you run a passage through your mind all day and ask questions about it you can't help but being convicted of duty, or sin in your life, or your lack of knowing God.

I would dare say that the reason many of you are having struggles in your life

the reason many of you are finding God's word to be dry and lifeless is not because you are not reading but rather because you are not " warming yourself at the fire of meditation"

So as God is telling Joshua and us How to Prosper I want you to notice something...

C) Meditation is Not Optional

God gives Clear Commands Listen to them

this book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth

thou shalt mediate therein

God was not giving Joshua some nice suggestions here.

God knew the people that He was going to be up against, he knew their idolatry and wickedness and strength.

God knew that unless Joshua would have His law rooted and grounded in His Heart He was going to be overcome by the enemy.

So God tells Him in This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth;

it needs to be always be on the tip of your tongue.

Your mouth should always be full of The Word, you should never get to the place where you have emptied your mouth of the Word of God.

You are not going to make it unless my word is meditated on and so I command you to do it.

Brothers and sisters did you know that Meditating on God's word is a command?

Did you realize that God considers meditation on His word important enough to make it non optional for all His Children not just for joshua?

we see this even in the N.T

Let the word of Christ 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.

If you want to prosper in your Christian Life YOU Must Meditate on Gods Words, God commands it and that should be enough.

God knows that unless you are filled with His worrd you will live a unsuccesful Christian life, that is why He commands You to fill yourslef full of His word.

So if God commands it when should we do it?

C) Meditation should Be Continuous

Day and Night?

Notice what God tells Joshua, it shall not depart and He is to be meditating Day and Night

Whenever you can day or night meditate on this word

Don't let a day go by without getting into this book with serious mediation.

when I see that phrase mediate therein day and night I get the picture that every spare moment you and I are to be bringing up His word and chewing on it some more, bringing it up and chewing some more.

our mind needs to be full of this book brothers and sisters!

God knows how easy we forget so he tells Joshua nad us that in order for us to prosper in this life we are going to have to meditate on it day and night.

you will never get too much of God's word in your heart.

So if this is something that you should be doing continually how should you do it?

D) How To Meditate on Gods Word

There are so many things in this day and age that vy for our attention and affection.

So many distractions and information that we can take in to our minds.

We have Internet, News papers, bill boards, T.V, Radio, etc.