Rev. David Holwick W Joshua 1:9 Series
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
June 26, 2016
Joshua 1:9
BE STRONG!
I. I was a weak kid.
A. My most humiliating experience in high school (apart from girls).
1) I accepted a challenge to box with the nerdiest kid in the
school. He was even nerdier than me, so you know he was
really really nerdy.
2) He annihilated me.
a) We had thick gloves and even thicker helmets, and all
I can remember is how much it hurt.
b) I have never done it again, but I can appreciate what
professional boxers must be feeling in the ring.
3) Everyone wants to be strong enough to win.
a) Do you have what it takes?
B. The situation is a transition of leadership.
1) Moses is dead and Joshua is taking over.
a) Moses had been the only leader the nation had had.
b) All the experienced people in the nation have also died.
c) Joshua had big shoes to fill.
2) They are on the edge of the Promised Land.
a) God offers him encouragement, and a challenge.
C. What do you need to succeed?
1) American literature is filled with this theme.
2) Joshua 1:9 gives a good summation of God's advice.
a) Some are positive things to seek.
1> Be strong and courageous.
b) Others are negatives you should avoid.
1> Don't be afraid or discouraged.
c) It contains a promise that the world cannot provide.
1> The Lord will be with us wherever we go.
2> (Our Vacation Bible School is called the OmniCircus
and focuses on the attributes of God.
Being everywhere we are is his Omnipresence.)
d) There is also an assumed condition: God has given us
commands and our obedience is required.
3) I am making this verse into a short sermon series.
a) Today I will look at being strong.
b) Strength comes in different forms.
II. Be physically strong.
A. Life requires muscles.
1) A Fourth of July illustration would be the Battle of
Ticonderoga.
In May 1775, Ethan Allen and fewer than 100 men captured
the small British fort in upstate New York.
They didn't have to fire a shot, though one American got
cut by a bayonet.
It was a small victory but it gave the American Army
something they had few of -- cannon.
In December that year, General Washington sent a detachment
up to the fort with the mission of bringing the cannon
down to Boston, which was occupied by the British.
Under General Henry Knox, the Americans manhandled 59
cannon 300 miles down New York and through Massachusetts.
The roads were poor, the snow was deep, and they had to
cross two partially-frozen rivers.
They had numerous oxen but it still would have taken a lot
of muscle.
A painting I remember in Army posts was of men using levers
to move the heavy sleds over obstacles and snow drifts.
It took them 3 months but the arrival of the cannon in
Boston stunned the British and caused them to evacuate. [1]
2) With help from machines we need muscles less, but we still
need them.
3) You have a lot of things to do.
a) Life can be very draining.
b) As you get older, you start to fall apart.
B. Use what you have as long as you have it.
1) Keep your body fit.
2) Eat sensibly.
3) Keep moving every day. (I have one of those exercise
watches that plays a tune when I reach 10,000 steps)
4) Hebrews 12:11 says, "Therefore, strengthen your feeble
arms and weak knees."
a) I can relate to that.
b) Of course, the book of Hebrews is not talking about
a gym membership.
c) It is a metaphor for another kind of strength -
moral strength.
d) The context is about the discipline God may impose on us.
III. Be morally strong.
A. Integrity is better than benchpressing 300 pounds.
1) Integrity is not as obvious as our outward appearance, but
people will see it eventually.
2) Moral strength like this is valuable.
When Bruce Larsen was a small boy, he attended church every
Sunday at a big Gothic Presbyterian fortress in Chicago.
The preaching was powerful and the music was great.
But for Swindoll, the most awesome moment in the morning
service was the offertory.
Twelve solemn, frock-coated ushers marched in lock-step down
the main aisle to receive the brass plates for collecting
the offering.
These men, so serious about their business of serving the Lord
in this magnificent house of worship, were the business and
professional leaders of Chicago.
One of the twelve ushers was a man named Frank Loesch.
He was not a very imposing-looking man, but in Chicago he was a
living legend, for he was the man who stood up to Al Capone.
In the prohibition years, Capone's rule was absolute.
The local and state police and even the F.B.I. were afraid to
oppose him.
But singlehandedly, Frank Loesch, as a Christian layman and
without government support, organized the Chicago Commission.
This group of citizens was determined to take Mr. Capone to
court and put him away.
During the months that the Crime Commission met, Frank Loesch's
life was in constant danger.
There were threats on the lives of his family and friends.
But he never wavered.
Ultimately he won the case against Capone and was the
instrument for removing this blight from the city of Chicago.
Frank Loesch had risked his life to live out his faith.
Each Sunday at this point of the service, Larsen's father, a
Chicago businessman himself, never failed to poke him and
silently point to Frank Loesch with pride.
#1617
B. What kind of morality do people see in you?
1) The average person thinks they are above average.
2) We tend to be heroes in our own eyes.
a) I get that.
b) Self-esteem is a valuable trait - but is it deserved?
c) The moral slide in society has a lot of Christians
behind it.
3) Your morality matters.
a) Be faithful to your marriage vows.
Billionaire Ross Perot had a policy of firing
executives who cheated on their wives.
Many reporters thought this was way too harsh.
Perot responded, "If a man's own wife can't trust him,
why should I?"
#26631
b) Be honest at work, even if it gets you into trouble.
c) Live a clean life without relying on booze or drugs.
C. How to gain moral strength.
1) Your integrity can be strengthened just like your muscles.
a) If you are failing in some area, start correcting it.
b) If it is complex, divide it into manageable parts.
2) Learn from others.
a) Hang around people you admire and some of it may rub
off on you.
b) Get involved in ministries or organizations that will
bring out the best in you and challenge you.
c) Study the heroes in the Bible, and the moral teaching
the Scripture contains.
d) Study heroes in our own day and age and see what you
can learn from them.
IV. Be spiritually strong.
A. Joshua had a special relationship with God.
1) In Joshua 1, God speaks directly to him.
a) I am not sure how this worked, whether he heard a
distinct voice or just felt it in his heart.
b) The important thing is that he did what God told him
to do.
2) God wants to have a relationship with you, too.
a) He may give you miracles or speak to you with a clear
voice, or he may not. Usually he does not.
b) But if you consistently read the Bible, and speak with
him in prayer, I think you will gain the sense of
what God wants for you in life.
3) What does God want from you?
a) He wants you to believe.
1> You must believe that you have fallen away from
God's ways.
2> You must believe that Jesus is the solution.
A> He clearly claimed that he came from his Father
and died to save you from your sins.
B> You must believe this and ask him to do it for
you.
b) He wants you to be committed.
1> If there is evil in your life, you must repent of it.
2> Then start walking with God every single day.
c) He wants you to keep following.
1> Faith is for the long haul.
2> As time goes on, if you are faithful, you will
become stronger.
B. Joshua had to walk in faith just like we do.
1) Not everything worked out cleanly and easily.
a) After the stupendous victory over Jericho, they were
defeated at the smaller town of Ai.
b) Joshua was upset by this and had not anticipated it.
2) God's answer was that there was sin among the Jews.
a) They settled that, and the victories came again.
b) When things are not working out for you, search your
heart and ask God, Why?
V. God's strength will never let you down.
A. He will share it with you if you ask him.
1) This is why he could command Joshua to be strong.
2) We can decide it is something we want.
3) Do you want to be stronger than you are?
B. Ordinary people can do extraordinary things if God is with them.
1) Don't be a wimp.
2) Follow God boldly!
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
1. Adapted from Wikipedia and “The American Minute: Henry Knox -Cannons
from Ticonderoga to Dorchester Heights,” by Rick Stambaugh,
March 7, 2015; <link>.
# 1617 “Chicago's Presbyterian Hero,” by Charles R. Swindoll, “Living
Above the Level of Mediocrity” (Word: Waco, Texas, 1987),
page 124.
#26631 “Trust is the Cornerstone,” Dynamic Preaching, May 10, 2004;
original source is “Wisdom, Inc.” by Seth Godin,
(HarperBusiness, New York, 1995), p. 80.
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