Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

I remember getting ready for our wedding.

It was a big step - was I ready?

Was I sure?

There was joy, fear, questions, confusion

Sometimes life has big steps (college, dating, marriage, kids, jobs, retirement)

Conclusion

Sometimes life has small steps, but every day we are faced with taking the ‘next step.’

This is what discipleship is - next steps -

Jesus never said, “Make an emotion-filled decision for me once then live your daily life however you please until you die when I will ask for your ‘Get out of Hell free’ card based on that one decision that one time.”

Jesus said, “Follow me.” and “Take up your cross DAILY and follow me.”

*Trusting in Jesus happens in a moment, and confirmation of that trust happens in every moment thereafter.

You can’t ‘float’ through discipleship.

Nobody finds themselves ‘accidentally sanctified.’

You can’t stand still in your discipleship.

Life is full of choices and each choice is a step of faith or a step toward unbelief.

- two options - step of faith or step of unbelief.

Whether that step is as big as:

is he/she the right one?

should I become an engineer or a pastry chef?

Should we have kids?

more kids?

adopt kids?

Is God calling me into full-time ministry?

What will I do at retirement?

Can I really trust Jesus as my Savior?

Or if your step is as seemingly routine as:

What is the next thing I need to do to become more like Christ?

How do I forgive him/her?

How do I step away from this sin that I know God is calling me away from?

How do I begin to live in the joy and freedom that God has promised instead of the fear and dread that seems to invade my soul each night?

As fully-devoted followers , we are constantly faced with the ‘Next Step’ in life and discipleship.

Sometimes God is calling for us to take a big step of faith.

Sometimes God is calling to take the next small step in becoming more fully devoted to him.

But HOW do we take the next step?

Sometimes it is less about knowing what the next step is (We may already know) and more about how we actually move forward.

Joshua 3:1-6

3 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.

Israel is at the end of the 40-year wanderings.

Moses has led them to the plains of Moab near the Dead Sea to a place called Shittim

about 6-7 miles east of the Jordan River

Mt. Nebo (3 mi away) is where Moses saw the Promised Land but died.

Joshua is not leading people of Israel and as they are camped at Shittim, Joshua sends out two spies to spy out Jericho.

They go and are hidden by Rahab who saves their lives and they then return to Joshua at Shittim.

So now, Joshua has his reports and is ready to cross the Jordan River and lead Israel into the Promised Land so

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.”

5 Then Joshua said to the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.”

6 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.

I want to walk in the sandals of these people right now.

What must they have been thinking as they spent several days on the edge of the Jordan?

- They can’t swim across

- They can’t ford it (it’s at flood stage)

-They can’t make enough boats (estimates more than 1 million people)

- They were sitting ducks for their enemies.

Whatever Joshua had in mind, it was going to require a step of faith.

Steps of faith require preparation.

Look at how many times the ark of covenant is mentioned in this passage.

It is mentioned ten times in this chapter (vv.

3, 6 [2x], 8, 11, 13, 14, 15 [2x], 17) and an additional seven times in chap.

4 (vv.

5, 7, 9, 10, 11, 16, 18).

It is mentioned ten times in this chapter (vv.

3, 6 [2x], 8, 11, 13, 14, 15 [2x], 17) and an additional seven times in chap.

4 (vv.

5, 7, 9, 10, 11, 16, 18).

David M.

Howard Jr., Joshua, vol. 5, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1998).

it contained three symbols of Israel’s relationship with God: (1) the tablets of the Ten Commandments, (2) Aaron the high priest’s rod, and (3) a jar of manna

Both a comforting presence and a powerful force

They were to stay 2000 cubits (1000 yards) behind.

Why?

-

symbolically - God is going before them

would give all of Israel a full view of God before them

but why stay behind?

in order that you may know the way you shall go, for you have not passed this way before.”

derek - can mean ‘way of life’ - not just meaning physical direction.

Joshua set God before his steps.

Jesus spent significant time in prayer prior to some of the biggest steps of his ministry

start of his ministry () fasting in desert

prior to choosing his disciples

prior to going to cross

The people were to separate themselves from the usual ways of the world.

Consecrate - qodesh - holy

ritual washing

abstaining from marital relations

actions that show they live lives different than world.

Sometimes steps of faith are counterintuitive to the ways of the world

They needed to be set apart both in their holiness and in their ‘usualness’

Separation from sin.

Israel’s time at Shittim was NOT pretty

Numbers 25:1-3

25 While Israel lived in Shittim, the people began to whore with the daughters of Moab. 2 These invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods.

3 So Israel yoked himself to Baal of Peor.

And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel.

Chiefs of Israel killed the sinners.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

Because of blatant sin, Phineas the priest stuck a spear right through an Israelite man as he was in an intimate moment with a Midianite woman.

(won’t find that on a flannelgraph in Sunday School)