Being Different Lesson 4: Joshua
I have struggled to decide where to go next L I have three characters and the 5 points for
each of them written in an outline, and for the life of me I cannot decide
which one should follow Rahab. The OCD
part of me screams that Joshua has to go next because that is chronological,
but I am so ready to skip to Nehemiah or David that I can’t stand it! But the OCD wins out for now J
So to begin week four I want us to look at two brave men
and then our homework will camp us on just one of them. Joshua and Caleb were listed in Numbers
13:3-16 in the list of spies sent to look at Canaan, the land promised to the
Israelites. They were given specific
instructions from Moses as to what to look for in the land and to try and bring
back some of the fruit of the land. Read
Numbers 13:17-20.
When the spies return we see two very different
views. The majority of the spies return
with doom and gloom. Read Numbers
13:26-29 and you will find that it spells out an impossible battle ahead from
most of the spies. But I love verse
30. Read it. I confess, part of me loves because that is
where I named my second born. And yes,
my Caleb tends to silence the crowd sometimes as well, but often not quite for something
so nobly as this Caleb *grin*.
Skip to Numbers 14:6-10 and read it please (of course,
feel free to read it all if you never have…its good). Joshua and Caleb had a very different
perspective of the land and the people they would battle because their focus
wasn’t on the enemy. Their focus
remained on God and His Plan. God
promised the land so Joshua and Caleb knew it would happen. Kind of like Abraham and Isaac lets detour to
one of my other favorite passages (and yes I realize I have A LOT of
favorites!). Turn to Hebrews
11:17-19. I think Joshua and Caleb were
so focused on the Promise from God and they knew everything else was in His
control. What about you, where is your
focus? Do you focus on the enemy? Is the enemy the size of giants or numerous
as grasshoppers? Or is your focus on the
One who holds you in His “righteous right hand” (Isa. 41:10)
This week think about Joshua and Caleb. Look back at how they kept their focus on God
regardless of circumstances. They spied
on the enemy and then faced stoning from their own people but even through all
of that they kept their faith in God to deliver them and protect them. We can learn several things from them,
beginning with staying focused on God when everyone else is focused on the
world!
Lesson
4 Homework Day 1: Support Your Leader – fully
Let’s start with a little history. Please read Exodus 24:12-14. The Lord has summonsed Moses to come to the
top of Mount Sinai so he takes his aide, Joshua with him. I find this very interesting. Up to this point, who had Moses relied on as
his sort of “right hand man”?
Yes, his brother Aaron.
Up until now Aaron had been Moses mouthpiece, his prayer partner, his
family, etc. But Moses left Aaron behind
to guide the people while he went to meet with God. Whom do you normally take on big events? I usually take my husband and kids. I don’t know about you, but I think receiving
tablets from God would be classified as a big and major event, but Moses left
Aaron behind. Do you have any thoughts
as to why the change in companion?
I would love to hear yours! And I have a couple too. One maybe that Moses felt no one but Aaron
was responsible enough to lead the people while he was away (hmmm that turned
out well didn’t it? Moo). Or maybe because Moses knew that Joshua would
be the next leader and he wanted Joshua to share the experience of travelling
to meet God. At any rate, Joshua has
been tagged as Moses assistant from this point forward.
Now flip over to Exodus 33:7-11. Where does Moses speak to the Lord?
And how does Moses speak to the Lord? (Ex 33:11)
It’s time for a tangent *grin* I know y’all are
excited. This lesson is about Joshua,
but I want to pause right here for a minute for a free lesson. Let me ask again…how does Moses speak to the
Lord? Face to Face. Communication is an amazing thing when it is
done effectively and consistently. I am
fearful that our generation has completely missed the point of
communication. I think communication has
become a tool of the enemy in ways that Moses never imagined. Let’s dig deeper for a minute…I promise I
will return to Joshua soon.
One thing that stresses me out these days is
technology. Specifically these dang
phones that are smarter than humans. My
kids just got phones for good report cards.
We’ve already grounded one from theirs.
It’s been exactly 26 hours. Lord,
help us.
I am one of the most social people you will meet, and it
pains my heart that technology is tearing away the very fabric that God made us
to enjoy. Fellowship. Face to face conversations. It’s the same method that God and Moses used
to communicate. We don’t have them
anymore. Phone calls replaced home
visits, texting replaced phone calls, and now we resort to social media as a
main source of communication. Be honest,
when is the last time you went to someone’s house just to visit and catch
up…not for sickness or surgery or death in the family but to just visit? Write their name and the approximate date.
Now, when is the last time you called someone to check
in? And I mean a real phone call? Write their name and the approximate date. _____________________________
Finally, when is the last time you texted a quick “hey,
just checking in”?
I am willing to bet the last one is the most recent. But you probably updated facebook or twitter
or something called instagram before you sent the text! Do you see the progression? We our isolating ourselves from “real”
fellowship and replacing it with pretend friendships that only exist in
cyberspace. I got a tweet reply from
Beth Moore, Travis Cottrell and Priscilla Shirer in the same week and you would
have thought I had dinner with them or something. When I reflected back on the excitement, I
felt a little silly. I have decided that
I don’t want fake relationships, I want face to face. First with God and then with others. Join me please.
Back to Joshua…we saw again how Joshua supported Moses by
guarding the tent. I am sure that job
was not exactly exciting. But it is
clear that Joshua took the job seriously and stayed by the tent.
Our first lesson from Joshua is to support our leaders
fully. Sometimes we disagree with our
leaders and that is perfectly fine. But
we still must respect and support them if they are led by God. Obviously if they are leading against God’s
Word then we should evaluate if they are truly the leader God intends for us to
follow. Leaders in our lives are in many
aspects. Political, church, jobs,
household, etc. Pray for your leaders now
and ask God to show you ways to show your support to them.
Lesson
4 Homework Day 2: Listen and respond when God calls
Read
Joshua 1:1-10. Do you ever wonder how
Joshua was feeling when the Lord told him that he was in charge? Have you ever experienced a time when someone
appointed you leader when you weren’t sure if you were ready? If so, describe how you felt.
I
will never forget the first time I was asked to be WMU leader at Wilson’s Mills
Baptist church. First, I didn’t know
what WMU even meant. We had been
visiting the church a few months and had recently joined the church and shortly
after my Sunday School teacher approached me “on behalf of the nominating
committee”. Poor me, not having grown up
in church, I had no clue that I should have said “let me pray about it”. Instead I said, “sure if you really think I
am qualified”. And of course everyone
said absolutely! So the next thing you
know I am WMU Director and it was as big of a disaster as you can imagine
(until Jesus got ahold of me and set me straight).
I am certain I had the same feelings you mentioned
above. And I imagine Joshua experienced
some of them as well. Fill in the blank
from verse 1:5b
“As I was with Moses, ______ _______ ____________ _______
_________ _________; I will never leave you or forsake you”.
And then in verse 6:
“Be strong and courageous, because _____________ will lead these
people…..”
Do you think if God spoke these truths over you that you
would have viewed your situation as different?
Would you have been a more confident leader?
I think there are two keys to Joshua’s calling. The first is that Joshua heard the call. He was in
tune with God and was listening for instruction. I think you will agree that before you can
respond, you must hear. How often do we
try to put it in the other order? I can
tell you horror stories of early ministry life when I tried to act before I had
listened. It didn’t turn out very well. Can you think of your own example of when you
have acted on behalf of God before you have listened to what He has instructed?
In verses 2-9 God basically tells Joshua to be strong and
courageous. That He is never going to
forsake Joshua and that Joshua will lead the people into the Promised
Land. Now read verse 10 again. What does it tell us about Joshua’s reaction?
Joshua ordered. He
listened to God’s instructions and he ordered the officers of the people to get
them ready. It doesn’t say Joshua
whined. It doesn’t say he rolled his
eyes, nor does it say he stomped a foot. He listened and he responded. Plain and simple.
Let’s travel back to my dear friend James. Read James 1:22-25. What two things does James tell his readers
they should do?
1 _________________________
2 _________________________
YES! Listen and obey the Word! He says it is not enough to listen, you must
obey. Just as Joshua listened to God and
then obeyed. Let’s look at another
passage. Turn to John 10:26-28. If you are reading a “Red Letter Bible” then
take note that these words are in red.
What does Jesus tell us about His sheep in verse 27?
His
sheep listen to _________________________________
His
sheep _________________________ Him.
If you are a born again Believer in Christ then YOU my
friend are one of His Sheep. So today,
can you answer that you are listening to His voice? Are you obeying what you hear God telling
you?
There are many, many more examples in God’s Word that
tell us to listen and obey. See if you
can find at least one other scripture.
I found Matthew 28:19-20 and Luke 11:28.
You get the point…Joshua had a special characteristic
that we too must try to imitate. He
listened to God and then responded to the calling. Pray for God to speak to you and direct you
to your calling in His Will. And be
strong and courageous because friend…He is with you too!
Lesson
4 Homework Day 3: Remember
I am typing from the road tonight. We have had two fun filled days at Busch
Gardens and Water Country USA. I am
waterlogged and content. And if we
survive the next 22 hours or so without anyone melting down and getting in
trouble…it will have been the best mini vacation ever J. But we are tired and maybe a little hungry…so
I am not exactly optimistic!
For today’s homework, please read Joshua 4:1-9. Today we will focus on one word…remember. What does the word remember mean to you? What kind of connotation does it carry when
you hear the word remember?
When I hear the word, I think of several things. Some things bring a smile to face and others
might bring a tear to my eye. I think of
my family and the fun times we’ve had together (this weekend will certainly be
atop the list). I think of friends that
I don’t see anymore. I think of favorite
sermons. I think of past sin that I have
committed and I am thankful for Jesus, my Savior.
Today when we were leaving Water Country USA my little
guy wanted to know if he could look for a souvenir and I asked why he needed
one and he said “how am I going to remember this place without one”. I laughed.
He has more LOST souvenirs in his room than you could even count. And my oldest said, don’t worry mom will make
a shutterfly book. (Ha she knows me too
well!).
In Joshua 4, the Lord tells Joshua to pick 12 men to
gather 12 stones from the place where the priest were standing. Look back, where are the priests
standing? (Joshua 3:17)
__________________________________
Where they are standing is not important, it is what they
were holding. What was it?
__________________________________
God basically wanted a stone from His Presence for each
tribe to build a memorial. Why do you
think God instructed them to do this?
I think that God knew they would forget. I think when they left Egypt they showed God
how quickly they would forget what He had done to save them. He freed them from slavery with all sorts of
amazing wonders and yet they whined and ended up losing their faith in His
protection and provision and were punished by wandering for 40 years until that
generation died off. I think God decided
to give this generation a better shot.
He gave them something physical to look at so they could remember and
tell others.
Think of something in your life God gave you as a sort of
“memorial” to remind you of something He brought you through or did for
you. Something tangible that has His
fingerprints all over it.
An easy one to me is children. They are tangible and they absolutely are His
creation. And I am humbled every time I
look at them that He trusts me to borrow them on earth. I think another one specific to me is a ring
my daddy gave me the year he and my mom divorced. I look at it in my jewelry box sometimes and
Praise God that I survived such a dysfunctional childhood and became a women
after God’s own heart. I am not only His
Child and His Princess. I am His
miracle. Just ask my husband.
What New Testament tangible/ritual thing do we do to
remember what Jesus has done for us?
__________________________________
Read Luke 22:18-20.
The last communion we attended at church my little one asked if he “had”
to eat the nasty cracker. It occurred to
me then that we might not have done a good enough job explaining why we do
communion. I don’t think we have
emphasized the importance of the remembering.
I think we are hung up on the ritual and going through the motion that
we miss the point of it.
Remembering. God
wants us to remember all the things he has done for us. He wants us to remember that Jesus was broken
for us. Jesus bled for us. That is the only way we are saved is by the
brokenness of Jesus. Without Jesus,
there is no way to heaven. Without the
death and resurrection, we are doomed to hell.
So I think the least we can do is remember.
We can learn this little character trait from
Joshua. Read Joshua 4:19-24. Joshua sets up the stones and tells the Israelites
they are to tell their children what the stones mean. Write out verse 24:
I believe this is still a command for us today. We are to remember the things God has done in
our lives and tell others. We are to
show them tangible things that represent His blessings in our lives. Keeping His blessings to yourself deprives
other people from seeing Him in your life.
Christianity is no good kept in secret.
You must witness so that others can see Him in you.
Pray for God to show you how you can point others to the
good things He has done for you. I need
to go feed my starving family before the meltdown begins.
Tomorrow is another one of my favorite passages J yeah, I know…they all are!
Praying for God’s blessing on you…
Lesson
4 Homework Day 4: Choose each day to serve the Lord
Please read Joshua 24:14-18. A lot has happened in the lives of our
Israelite friends. Every male was
circumcised at Gilgal, Jericho has fallen, Achan sinned and his clan was
destroyed, Ai was destroyed, the sun stood still, the land was divided, lots
and lots of activity and excitement. If
you have never read the entire book of Joshua, I highly encourage it. It’s better than Duck Dynasty and Big Brother
combined!
What is the sub title of this chapter in your Bible?
What is the definition of “renewed”?
Here
are the definitions that I found on Webster’s web site:
1:- to make like new: restore to freshness, vigor, or
perfection
2:
to make new spiritually
3a: to
restore to existence
3b:
to make extensive changes in
4: to do
again
5: to begin
again
I don’t know about you, but the last time I checked, you
only need to restore something and make something like new and do it over…if
you messed it up to begin with! Our
Israelite friends have not been behaving on the journey. Flesh took over and they sinned against the
Lord. Look at verse 14 again. Joshua tells them to fear and serve the
Lord. And when does he tell them to fear
and serve the Lord?
____________________
Notice he doesn’t say, tomorrow serve the Lord. Or next week.
Most importantly notice please that Joshua does not say “when you get
your life straightened out and turn from your wicked ways and grow up and have
a family…fear and serve the Lord”.
Joshua says “Now”. Underline that
word in your Bible if you write in it.
Verse 15 is probably one of the most quoted and printed
verses in the Bible…or at least part of it is.
Recite the section you see everywhere…
But I think you lose the meaning Joshua intended if you
only say “As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord”. Don’t get me wrong, if you are living like
you really mean it then that statement is awesome. But read the first part of verse 15. I want you to underline one more section…that
I feel is the imperative part for us to understand.
“choose for yourselves this day”
I think this fits with the first word we underlined very
nicely. NOW…THIS DAY.
Flip to the New Testament. I know you will be shocked…but I want you to
turn to James 4:4. Fill in the blank
“You
adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world
means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who _____________ to be a friend of
the world becomes an enemy of God.”
The choice is ours my
friends. And I have bad news…it’s a
daily choice. Look at Luke 9:23. When do we pick up our cross to follow
Jesus?
________________
And dear one, that is
a CHOICE…daily. God doesn’t make you
follow Jesus. You choose to do
it…daily. You choose Him or the
world. Every day. There is no gray area in His eyes.
Review what we have
learned from Joshua thus far:
1 ______________________________________________________
2 ______________________________________________________
3 ______________________________________________________
4 ______________________________________________________
Lesson
4 Homework Day 5: Follow God whole-heartedly
We ended yesterday
looking at Joshua setting up a covenant between the Israelites and God as well
as erecting a stone to remind them. Look
back at Joshua 24:19-27. He challenged
them. He told them they were not able to
do it. Joshua had lived in the time of
Moses and had seen the people go from Pro-God to idol worshippers and back to
Pro-God more than one occasion. He knew
keeping their focus on God was near impossible.
So when they promised,
he said ok then just in case, let’s make a covenant and set up a stone to
commemorate the event. He was trying to
help them gain an edge. To have
something visual to help them remember. Be
honest…we are no different today. When
we make a promise, don’t we usually have some kind of covenant (paperwork,
lawyer even). And don’t we tend to
remember our promises “better” if we have some kind of memorial or something
tangible to remind us? If you have done
Beth Moore studies then you probably have repeated covenants at the end of her
sessions with various statements of faith and intentions. And you might have a rope bracelet with blue
beads on it from “Believing God” (and if you have, I bet you just tried to recite
the 5 faith statements – I did too).
What does Joshua tell
them God requires? Look back at verse
19. Joshua tells the people God is two
things: holy and jealous. In other words, He will not be shared. You will follow Him wholeheartedly or you
might as well not at all.
Look at all of
these…I know it is a lot, but humor me.
I spent time finding them first *wink* and I left them in order for you.
Deu
4:29 Deu 6:5
Deu
10:12 Deu 11:13
Deu
13:3 Deu 26:16
One
more:
Josh
22:5
Now
you tell me…should the Israelites have been confused or unsure of what is
expected of them by God????? In
Deuteronomy alone, we see six instances of the people being told to love the
Lord with all their heart, obey Him, etc.
But yet they continually got confused and loved other things more. They nearly drove Moses crazy. Every time they seemed to get it, time would
pass and they would find something else to worship. They could not stay focused on the One who
had delivered them through basically every obstacle imaginable.
And
we are no truly different. Be
honest. Do you follow God in a way that you
think He would consider “wholeheartedly”?
I won’t ask you to write it down for fear you might quite on me, but
spend some time praying over that idea.
Following God wholeheartedly. Do
you do it every single time? Every
single circumstance? It’s a convicting
thought isn’t it?
The
thought of following God wholeheartedly was not assigned only to the Israelites
in the days of Moses and Joshua. Let’s
see what the New Testament says about the topic. Read Matthew 22:36-38. Might as well catch Mark 12:32-34 and Luke
10:26-28. Sorry but I couldn’t pick
which one I liked best.
What
is the most common three letter word in those verses? _______________
After
reading all of those (haha), I
think it is clear. Love the Lord with all your heart. Not a piece of your heart, but the whole
heart.
What
do you think life looks like when you follow God with all your heart? The question is general but I want you to try
to think of specific examples.
I
think a life following God with all its heart looks like Galatians
5:22-23. I think a heart that follows
God wholeheartedly doesn’t see circumstances around them but instead sees God
at work. I think they love everyone
(unconditionally), find joy in sadness, are at peace in turmoil, are patient at
wal mart, act kind towards hostility, show goodness to those who are hateful,
are full of faith in times of doubt, are gentle instead of harsh, and are
self-controlled at all times (even at the Robin’s Nest buffet).
I
think following God wholeheartedly is difficult and easy at the same time. I realize that doesn’t make sense, but I
can’t think of another way to say it.
It’s difficult because it makes you stand out to the world as
“different”. You might even be ridiculed
or persecuted. But it is easy because
Jesus said “For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” in Matthew 11:30. It’s easy because it produces the fruits of
the Spirit in you and that makes everything seem…easy.
Think
of the last time you went through a dramatic or painful experience. Answer the following questions honestly:
What
did you focus on? ________circumstance
________God
________ friends to
console you
________ food or
other source of comfort
If
you answered anything other than God, how did you feel?
________
better ________confused _________ not consolable ________ frustrated
Now
contrast that with a time that you DID keep your focus on God and not your
circumstances. I think the biggest
difference is peace. No matter what is happening
all around you, God gives you a peace that cannot be expressed in words. (see Phil 4:7)
Take
a challenge with me. Memorize scripture
for the next two months. Just four
scriptures, one on the 1st of the next month and one on the 15th
of the month, etc. Four scriptures over
two months. Then every time you
circumstances try to take over your mind or heart, focus on them. See if you can’t find joy and peace in some
mighty tumultuous times. Here are the
scriptures:
Month
1
1st Ex
14:14
15th
Jer 29:11
Month
2
1st
Phil 4:19
15th
Matt 6:34
These
are four that I memorized early on and have STOOD on many days when my flesh
told me I was useless, God was not with me, etc. Memorize them and then shout them at the
enemy when he tries to shake you. You
are unshakable if you follow God wholeheartedly.
Stand
in Him today…and don’t take your eyes off Him.
Praying
over you!
