Faith Over Fear
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If we want to be influencers we need faith that overcomes our fear.
If we want to be influencers we need faith that overcomes our fear.
We have two choices in life: We can allow our lives to be controlled by fear or we can take control of our fears and live by faith in God’s promises.
We have two choices in life: We can allow our lives to be controlled by fear or we can take control of our fears and live by faith in God’s promises.
All of us have some kind of desire to make an influence on others. We desire to do big things for God. We want to see broken people restored, we want to see hungry people fed, we want to see slaves become free…and you and I…as the church of Jesus Christ are called to do those things. We want to be apart of something bigger than ourselves.
When
If we want to have faith over fear we need conviction in our calling
If we want to have faith over fear we need conviction in our calling
1 After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, 2 “Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel.
1 After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, 2 “Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel. 3 Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses.
Joshua 1:
If you arent familiar with the story of the Bible, there is some background stuff that we need to know in order to fully understand what is going on in this story.
If you read the end of Genesis, you see just how big of a deal the words in verse one are, “After the death of Moses...”
10 When they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, they lamented there with a very great and grievous lamentation, and he made a mourning for his father seven days. 11 When the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning on the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a grievous mourning by the Egyptians.” Therefore the place was named Abel-mizraim; it is beyond the Jordan. 12 Thus his sons did for him as he had commanded them,
Genesis 50:10-
Moses was a big deal. He was the greatest leader that the Hebrew people had ever had. And he had just died.
So imagine if you are Joshua for a moment. Imagine if you had to step into the shoes of the greatest prophet that Israel had ever had.
God was calling Joshua to an impossible task…can you imagine the fear that had to have swept over him in that moment? “You mean I gotta do what you called Moses to do…The greatest leader ever? That’s what you’re asking me to do?! And the answer that Joshua got was yes...
The longer I live, and the more I read the Bible, the more I am convinced that if we aren’t afraid of the thing that we feel like God is calling us to do, God probably isn’t calling us to do it...
So lets just get things clear here...
The job that God had called Moses to wasnt easy...
The bible tells us that it was about 2 million people.
Moses had to fight against the enemies of God
He had to lead
He had to convince about 2 million people to follow him through the desert for 40 years.
The people were real people…so they complained all the time.
He had to provide food, water, and shelter for the people.
He had to meet with God often.
He had to deliver the word that God gave him to the people.
And now Joshua was being tasked to take over all of Moses responsibilities.
Joshua had one things going for him…and that was that he got to watch Moses lead as his assistant for 40 years.
But you can bet your bottom dollar, Joshua would have been afraid of what God was calling him to do.
But what we know about Joshua, we know that he did what God asked him to do. He did lead the people over the Jordan and into the promised land. And he did take possession of the land that God had promised the people of Israel.
How? Because, even though he was afraid of His calling, his faith in the God who had called him was greater than his fear of the thing God was calling him to do.
Joshua was an influencer because he had faith over fear—and his faith was strengthened by his confidence in the God who had called him.
And if we want to be influencers, real influencers, who make a lasting change on the world around us, we have to be like Joshua. We need to be able to have a clear conviction on what it is that God is calling us to do.
So how can we have a conviction about our calling?
Three Different ways to Discern God’s Calling:
Aspiration — desire that wont go away.
Affirmation — others affirm your internal desire.
Ability — The gift to do the task.
If we want faith over fear we need confidence that God is commited to us
If we want faith over fear we need confidence that God is commited to us
3 Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses. 4 From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory. 5 No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. 6 Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them.
joshua 1:3-
Joshua for sure had a clear conviction about his calling…
But the reason why he was confident in his calling was because of the God who was calling him.
Joshua began an influencer because he was confident that God was committed to Him
1 After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' assistant, 2 “Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel. 3 Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses. 4 From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory. 5 No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. 6 Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. 7 Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success[a] wherever you go. 8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
“After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, ‘Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will treated upon I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory. No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherent the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and courageous, being
Seven times God tells Joshua that He is the one who will accomplish the task that he is calling Joshua to do!
7 Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. 8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
God says that He is giving Joshua the land, that he will never leave him, that he will be with him wherever he goes.
God is placing all the responsibility for the success of Joshua’s calling on Himself. Joshua’s mission isnt Joshua’s mission…it’s God’s mission.
Joshua would have probably had thoughts like you and I have when we come face to face with what God calls us to do:
Im not qualified
Im not experienced
Im not gifted enough
I make too many mistakes
Im not persuassive enough
Im not good enough
And before Joshua could get those words out of his mouth God was already saying to him…be strong and courageous…not becasue you are gifted or you are strong or that you are corageous…but becasue I am going to be with you…I am going to fulfill my purposes for you…I am going to work through you...
You just dont quit…you just dont give up…you keep going...
And this is what God is saying to us tonight.
He is calling you to be influencers in this world. On your campus, in your sorority or frat house, in your friend group, in your church, in your family, in your classroom, in your workplace, in your relationship…Whereever God has sent you and is sending you....the call for you tonight is the same as it was for Joshua thousands of years ago.
And here is what is even more beautiful for us tonight...
God reminded Joshua of His faithfulness to keep his promises to him by telling him that just as He had been faithful to Moses, he would be faithful to him.
We have the benifit of hearing the words of Jesus—the God who took on flesh—who says to us, “I will never leave you or forsake you.”
Maybe you doubt whether or not God is committed to you like he was to Joshua…can I just encourage you with this tonight....the same Jesus who was committed to suffer the death you deserved, be crushed by the wrath of God on your behalf, suffer the full penalty of the guilt of sin…and saved you…is the same Jesus who promises to never leave us. He’s the same Jesus that is with us now, calling us to influence our world for His names sake...
What might God do, if tonight, we began to choose faith in what he has called us to do and if we chose to place our confidence in His promises....over and against the things that we are afraid of?
Moses had a stuter
If God used 12 guys to turn the world upside down in the 1st Century, what might God do with 80 students who were sold out to being influencers for His reknown?
So lets go do it!