Be Strong and Courageous

7 pax planted the VSF (virtual spiritual flag) and opened their Bibles/smartphones/print-outs to Joshua chapter 1.

Before we started, I read Question 60 from the Heidelberg Catechism:

Question 60: How are you righteous before God?

Answer: Only by true faith in Jesus Christ.  That is, although my conscience accuses me that I have grievously sinned against all the commandments of God and have never kept any of them, and that I am still prone always to all evil, yet God without any merit of mine, of mere grace, grants and imputes to me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness and holiness of Christ, as if I had never committed nor had any sin, and had myself accomplished all the obedience which Christ has fulfilled for me, if only I accept such benefit with a believing heart.

The Thang:

1After 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.”

¹⁰ And Joshua commanded the officers of the people, ¹¹ “Pass through the midst of the camp and command the people, ‘Prepare your provisions, for within three days you are to pass over this Jordan to go in to take possession of the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess.’”

¹² And to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh Joshua said, ¹³ “Remember the word that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, saying, ‘The Lord your God is providing you a place of rest and will give you this land.’ ¹⁴ Your wives, your little ones, and your livestock shall remain in the land that Moses gave you beyond the Jordan, but all the men of valor among you shall pass over armed before your brothers and shall help them, ¹⁵ until the Lord gives rest to your brothers as he has to you, and they also take possession of the land that the Lord your God is giving them. Then you shall return to the land of your possession and shall possess it, the land that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise.”

¹⁶ And they answered Joshua, “All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. ¹⁷ Just as we obeyed Moses in all things, so we will obey you. Only may the Lord your God be with you, as he was with Moses! ¹⁸ Whoever rebels against your commandment and disobeys your words, whatever you command him, shall be put to death. Only be strong and courageous.”

 

Discussion:

-Just a little intro abt the book of Joshua: this picks up after Moses has died and had been living in the wilderness with the Israelites for a number of years.  God is telling Joshua to lead the people into Canaan (the promised land), conquer all of the people there, and inhabit the land.

-The main themes of Joshua are faithfulness to God and his mercy to us.

-Passage mentions being strong and courageous, how can we do that in our lives?  Some answers: obey the Lord by reading His word, obedience in prayer, inviting friends or family to Bible studies (or even just telling them what we’re doing with our lunch break), raising children Biblically, having the faith to not worry as much, strength and courage to resist the constant social media barrage.

-Closing thoughts: -We can’t protect our children from “sin” from the outside world.  They are sinful creatures and are being exposed to sin by living in our homes and being raised by sinners (us).   -What is a successful life?    -Throughout the book of Joshua, God commands the Israelites to commit genocide of whole people groups. Difficult to reconcile this thought with our 21st century images of God.   -God parted the Jordan (similarly to the Red Sea) to allow the Israelites to cross. YHC never knew that before reading Joshua.

-Recommended reading from Banjo: Understanding the Bible in 30 Days by Max Anders

Announcements:

Amelia is Q next week with Mark 1:4-11

Banjo is Q on 1/21 with John 1:43-51

Need a Q for 1/28 to discuss Mark 1:14-20

We were stopped on the way out by Bobby and Alex who were just in there hanging out.  Asked abt our “men’s Bible study”.  We tried in vain to explain F3 in 30 seconds and then gave him the website.  We may have some FNG’s next week.