Aye, Aye, Ai

Here is the transcript of the message I preached this Sunday (11/12/17) at First Pres Bradenton.  I thought I had the audio for it but it never was recorded.  I hope you enjoy reading the message.

Joshua 1 - 8 
​Introduction
Last week Pastor Dino started the next series titled “Insurmountable Odds” in our year-long sermon series “Fear Not”.  Throughout the Bible God repeatedly tells his people, which serves as a constant reminder to us today, that they/we are not to be fearful, because He is always present with His people.  In his first sermon, Pastor Dino talked about how Israel, under the leadership of Moses, overcame their insurmountable odds as they fled from Egypt and Pharaoh’s army.  We saw how God orchestrated every detail so that Israel would not only face their insurmountable odds, but that they would be successful in overcoming them. 

Today, we pick up approximately forty years later.  Moses, has died at the ripe ole age of 120 years and it is now time for his successor, Joshua to step up to the plate.  From the time of his commissioning by God to his death, Joshua faced and overcame many seemingly impossible odds in his life. 

To begin with Joshua as he was commissioned to take over as leader of the people of Israel after the death of their iconic leader.  This was a big task.  Moses was highly respected and revered by the people of Israel and surrounding nations.  Filling the shoes of a great leader is always a challenging task and is one that is not always done successfully.  However, he not only had big shoes to fill but he was commissioned to complete what Moses had begun.  In some ways Joshua is charged to do greater things than his mentor, he was to lead the nomadic people wandering in the desert into enter and to settle into the land God promised Moses 40 years earlier.  He is tasked with the overwhelming responsibility of strategically planning military tactics so that Israel could overcome the cities that 40 years prior they would not face because they were paralyzed with fear. 

(Read Joshua 1:1 -9)

For today’s message I will begin by giving a brief overview of Joshua 1 – 8, as we look at this book and see how God commissioned and successfully led Joshua and the people of Israel to overcoming their insurmountable odds.  I would encourage you to read through the book of Joshua sometime this week to see how God worked…

Chapter 1 – God commissions Joshua as Moses’ successor. He promises victory and protection as they fearlessly and boldly go to the land of promise.  God confirms and affirms Joshua’s leadership.  God repeatedly (three times) says, “Be strong and resolute (courageous)”

Chapter 2 – Joshua sends spies into Jericho and they meet Rahab.  She gives them protection (insurmountable odd) from the king of Jericho, in exchange for the promise that Israel will not harm her and her family during the raid of the city.

Chapter 3 & 4 – Are the accounts of the Israelites crossing the Jordan river (insurmountable odd).  In this miraculous crossing God proves his power and presence in their midst, thus giving the Israelites the boost of confidence and faith in God’s power and promises. 

Chapter 5 – The men of Israel are circumcised.  The males born in the desert were not circumcised and now as a way of being cleansed and prepared for the battle ahead of them they were circumcised.

Chapter 6 – The Israelites go to Jericho and defeat the city.  God tells them to go and conquer but all the silver, gold, objects of copper and iron shall go to the treasury of the Lord, they are not to keep any plunder for themselves.

Chapter 7 – A man named Achan secretly kept some of the plunder for himself.  His sin constituted in the failed attack on the city of Ai.  The Israelites looked at Ai and said there was no need for the full army (kind of a Cleveland Browns) to attack, so they sent 3,000 troops and unfortunately about 36 men were killed, and the Israelites were defeated.  This really upset Joshua and he complains to the LORD about why God would ever let this happen? 

God answers him and tells him about the sin of Achan.  The Israelites deal with Achan and then God commissions Israel to go back to Ai and attack and face this city that defeated them earlier.

Chapter 8 – The Israelites defeat Ai.
When we look at chapters 7 & 8 we can imagine that the people of Israel are perplexed.  God promised victory, but they were defeated.  God exposes the person responsible for the defeat and then tells them to go back into battle against the same people who pretty much had no problem whatsoever defeating them. 
However, chapter 8:1 – 2 show us that God is with the Israelites and victory is imminent.

(Read 8:1 – 2)

As we have briefly looked at the first 8 chapters of Joshua we see that he and the people of Israel faced numerous insurmountable odds, and they will continue in the preceding chapters.  I think it is important for us to stop here and sum up what we can learn about Joshua and his insurmountable odds up to this point.  I think it could be helpful if we could break it down into the “don’ts” and “do’s” of facing insurmountable odds in our lives today.  Let’s be realistic, we all have or will face seemingly impossible situations in our lives… Whether they be physical, emotional, financial, spiritual or relational they can loom over us and cause us to lose hope and in some cases, give up all together.  However, when we are faced with insurmountable odds I believe it is important, if not necessary to begin with prayer.  We need to ask God to search and speak to our hearts to see if there is anything hindering us from worshiping and trusting him fully.  Once we have done this, the following Don’ts and Do’s will be more true in your life.

DON’T

• Be frightened -  This does not mean you can’t experience fear, it simply means, do not be paralyzed by fear, because God is with you.  Fear has power to paralyze, but God has the power to set you free from that fear.
• Be dismayed – Discouragement has been a road block for many people.  They may allow their current difficult situation(s) to dictate their emotional state and even discourage them from moving forward.  We cannot allow discouragement to hinder progress.
• Be disobedient – We need to be obedient to God and His Word.  We cannot expect to overcome our insurmountable odds if we (like Achan) allow sin to reign in our camps.  God wants you to be obedient to Him and his Word.
• Deviate from the law – God has given us rules to follow.  Jesus said, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”  This is called the law of love, so we as believers should not deviate from this law.

DO

• Be strong – A few weeks ago Pastor Mary Beth preached on having grit.  Grit is the stuff you are made of.  It’s the ability to face your insurmountable odd with determination.  Life is tough and life throws curve balls and we need to face our fears with grit.  When I think of people who are strong and have grit I think of my best friend Thom.  Thom died of cancer many years ago.  As a teenager he was diagnosed with cancer.  His future didn’t look to hopeful.  He was told at a young age he would never have children and that he may not even have a decent quality of life.  Well, Thom fought cancer for over 25 years.  He married a wonderful woman and they have four wonderful boys.  I have always respected Thom’s strength and even though he eventually lost his battle with cancer.  He went out with a fight and he left a legacy that will live on through his children.  He could have easily given up as a teenager, but he was strong and fought through it.
• Be resolute/courageous – We all face fears, anxiety and worry.  We are told throughout the NT that we are to depend on the power of the Holy Spirit when we are faced with insurmountable odds.  I will admit, this is very hard.  Fear, anxiety and worry have great power over us and having the courage to face them is not usually a natural thing.  We sometimes see what is before us and it is so overwhelming that we cannot face the odd.  We just don’t have the courage. 
  I am not sure if many of you know this or not, but my family and I have prayed, and we believe God is commissioning us to go serve with the Davinagracias in the Philippines for a short-term mission’s trip this coming summer.  This is our current insurmountable odd.  We know God has called us, but we still have worries.  We talked about our worries the other night and some of them include fundraising, going to another country, getting shots, and flying in an airplane.  These are real worries, but we as a family must be resolute and courageous because God is with us and we know if he is with us, we will overcome our insurmountable odd.
• Be obedient – God has instituted commands (Love God, Love others) I spoke of them a moment ago, and when facing our insurmountable odd we cannot deviate from the law of love.
• Trust God – God has made promises in the past and in the present.  His promises will always come to pass.  I believe wholeheartedly that God still makes personal promises.  For example, when Carrie and I were newly married we were told that there is a good possibility that we could not have children.  Carrie and I talked about this on numerous occasions and decided that if we couldn’t we would adopt.  However, we didn’t give up hope.  One day I was reading in Samuel the account of Hannah, the mother of Samuel and I clearly heard or experienced the promise of God that we would one day have children.  I shared this with Carrie and we believed this promise to be true.  We prayed and told God that if this is going to be, then we are going to give our children to Him and trust that He will fulfill his promises.  It wasn’t an immediate promise fulfill but as you can see today, God has faithfully fulfilled his promise, even more than we asked for.

What are your insurmountable odds?  I would encourage you to spend some time this week with your bulletin and work through the questions and allow God to prove to you that He is greater than your insurmountable odds.  Have Him check your heart and your motivation and ask Him to help you to overcome your insurmountable odd.