30 Jun Be strong and courageous

Joshua 1:1-9

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 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.”

How many Apple users we have in this place? How many Android users? What about Nokia? Just for the sake of illustration, let’s assume that all of you are Apple hardcore fans. You used all Apple products such as iMac, Mac book pro, iPad, iPod, iPhone, Apple watch, Apple TV and Apple Music. You can’t live without apple and if apple produce iHouse and iCar, you would definitely get them as well. And not only that, but you also work at apple ever since the company started. Let’s go back to the year 2011 and you hear the news that Steve Job is dying. And few weeks later, Steve Job died. What would you feel? You would be anxious about the future of the company. Correct? You would think, “Does the guy who succeed Steve Job has what it takes to lead the company forward?” That was the narrative of every news outlet when Steve Job died. We know that every time there is a transition of leadership, it creates potential instability. And the chance of potential instability increases the greater the previous leader is. Let me give you example. Let’s say that Josh Tie, the leader of our host ministry, died. How would it affect this church? Not much, right? We would cry for a week but the church would go on as usual. We’ll get Natasya to replace him. Let’s say that I died. How would it affect this church? Significantly more than Josh’ death I presume. You would cry for two weeks and it would create a potential instability on the future of RSI. But you guys would be fine because it is not hard to replace me. You have Edrick. But let’s say that our Senior Pastor, Ps. Semuel, died. Can we agree that it would create a huge wave of uncertainty regarding our church?

This is the context of our passage. Moses had just died. And Moses was no lousy leader. For the Israelites, Moses was everything. He was the one who led them out of Egypt. He was the one who gave them the law of God. He was the one who spoke to them on God’s behalf and spoke to God on their behalf. He was their prophet. In fact, let me read what the Bible said of Moses after he died. Deuteronomy 34:10-12 – ¹⁰ And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, ¹¹ none like him for all the signs and the wonders that the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, ¹² and for all the mighty power and all the great deeds of terror that Moses did in the sight of all Israel. Did you read that? The Bible speaks really highly of Moses. There was no other prophet and leader as great as Moses. Moses was far better leader than Steve Job ever was.

So now, imagine if you are Joshua and you have been appointed to replace Moses as the national leader of Israel. What would you feel? You would be extremely anxious. Just think about it. Joshua has to lead the Israelites to conquer the Promised Land. And this is no small thing. This is 700+ years of promise in the making. In approximately 2150 BC, God made a promise to Abraham that he would give the land of Canaan to Abraham’s descendants. And now in approximately 1400’s BC, 750 years later, the promise of God to Abraham is about to come true. In case you are wondering why am I mentioning the date to you, because I want you to know that this is an actual history. This is not a myth. God keeps his promise and now the Israelites is at the brink of entering God’s promise to Abraham. Due to the sins of the people of Israel, Moses was not able to lead them to enter the Promised Land. And instead of Moses, the responsibility to conquer the Promised Land lies on Joshua. Joshua has to complete what Moses could not. So here is what happened at the beginning of our text. Moses had just died. The mantle of leadership falls on Joshua. And Joshua has to do what Moses could not, that is, to lead the sinful people of Israelites into the Promised Land. As if that’s not hard enough, when Joshua looks toward the Promised Land, he sees 31 different kings and their armies that he must defeat in order to conquer Canaan. So we have sinful Israelites, 31 kings to defeat, and an untried army. The people of Israel never received military training. If you are Joshua, you would think, “Gosh! This is mission impossible. It’s too much. How am I supposed to do this?” And to this frustrated man, God is saying, “Be strong and courageous for the LORD your God is with you.”

As I read this passage, I realised how important this text is for each individual in this room. Obviously, none of us is in the position of being the next national leader. If there is, please identify yourself. I want to take you out to dinner tonight. But this text speaks very strongly to all of us. I do not know all the details that is going on in your life but I know that many of us face uncertainty. Some of you might face uncertainty because someone that you used to rely on is no longer there. Maybe someone you loved had just died or maybe he or she walked out from your life and it raised all kinds of questions into your mind. Or maybe you are in a place where you just don’t know what to do. You don’t know how you suppose to make the relationship work. You don’t know what do to with your child anymore. You don’t know what to do with work. Or maybe you know what to do but you are afraid. You are afraid of the challenges in front of you. You do not know if you have what it takes. You doubt yourself. Or maybe you are in place of despair. You made a big mess and all you can see is darkness. You don’t see any way out. If that’s you, I have a good news for you tonight. No matter what situation you are in, God wants to say to you tonight, “Be strong and courageous for the LORD your God is with you.”

Tonight, I want to talk to you about how we can be strong and courageous in the midst of uncertainty. Three things: Trust God’s promises; Obey God’s commands; Recognize God’s presence.

Trust God’s promises

Joshua 1:1-5 – 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.

Let’s begin with talking about Joshua. We were introduced to him in verse 1 as the son of Nun and Moses’ assistant. Few things about Joshua. The first time Joshua’s name appeared in the Bible is in Exodus 17, where Moses trusted the young Joshua to lead the Israelites’ army to fight against the Amalek. It was a weird battle. The success of the battle was not dependent on Joshua’s military valour but on Moses raising his hand. Whenever Moses held up his hand, Joshua prevailed, and whenever Moses lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. From early on in his career as a military man, Joshua learned to depend on God to give victory in battle. Then Joshua became Moses’ assistant and when Moses went up the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments from God, Joshua waited on Moses at the foot of the mountain. And when Moses sent twelve spies into the Promised Land, Joshua and Caleb were the two that believed that their God is stronger than the people in Canaan, while the other 10 refused to enter the Promised Land due to their fear. As a result, God promised that none of the Israelites in that generation would enter the Promised Land except for Joshua and Caleb. Even Moses was not allowed to enter the Promised Land. Then in Numbers 27, God told Moses to appoint Joshua as his successor. So Joshua and all of Israel knew that God had chosen Joshua to succeed Moses. And now at the beginning of Joshua 1, Moses was already dead and it is time for Joshua to take the lead. Joshua is 80 years old when he begin to lead. Just a side note. It is never too late for God to use anyone. God appoints an 80 years old man to accomplish what the greatest human leader in the Bible could not.

So let’s get to the story. This is probably Joshua’s first day at the office. He is probably as lost as we were in our first day in the office. And I love what God says to him. “Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan.” God drops the bomb and make the obvious fact that Moses is dead. Why did he do that? I believe God is trying to make a point that even though Moses is dead, even though Moses is no more, God is still there and his promise still stand. Yes now Moses is dead but it does not mean that God’s promise is dead. Do you see what happen? Joshua has to step in and fill the shoes of the greatest national leader in human history. But here God is saying to Joshua, “I don’t need you to be Moses. Moses my servant is dead. So don’t live in Moses’ shadow. Don’t compare yourself to Moses. He is dead. You are Joshua and I am going to use you to do what Moses could not. Now, therefore, go and arise. Your assignment is waiting for you. I am going to fulfil my promise through you.” People change, leaders change, but God does not. The promise of God does not depend on any human figure. He is God.

It gets even better. Listen to what God says in verse 3. “Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses.” Did you realise anything weird with this verse? Look carefully. At this time, Joshua has yet to begin his conquest. The war has not begun. But when God makes his promise to Joshua, he says that “I have given to you.” Do you see what happen? Even before the conquest began, God has already won. God has guaranteed the land to Joshua. Sure, there are many wars to come but before even a single war breaks out, God wants Joshua to know that God has already given them the land. This is God-talk. Only God can talk about something that has yet to happen and put it in a perfect tense. Then God outlines the scope of his promise. Yet there is one important element missing. God never explains to Joshua how he is going to give him the Promised Land. God does not give Joshua “10 steps to conquer the Promised Land.” But you know what God gave Joshua? Promise. God does not give explanation but he always give promises. What Joshua needs is not step by step explanation but the promise of God. It does not mean that Joshua can just sit down and relax. God clearly told Joshua to “arise and go.” God has given the land to Joshua and Israel but they still have to arise and go in faithfulness to God.

So the first reason we can be strong and courageous in the midst of uncertainty is because we have the promises of God. Christians, if we have the promises of God, we have no reason to fear. Whatever it is that we face, we can have courage because the God who made a promise is the God who can be trusted. This is the God who looked at nothingness and made the creation dance at his words. This is the God who looks at the future and speak as if it already happened. This is the God who holds the universe at the palm of his hand. If we trust his promises, we can have courage.

Obey God’s commands

Joshua 1:6-8 – 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 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.

Here we find God’s exhortation for Joshua to be strong and courageous. In fact, God tells Joshua to be strong and courageous three times in these nine verses. So we know that this phrase ‘be strong and courageous’ is very important for Joshua. But let’s hit pause for a bit here. What does it mean to be strong and courageous? What does it mean to have courage? In the way that we used the word courage, a lot of time we think of courage as the guts to take a step forward in an unknown territory. So if a man has a crush on a girl and is afraid to ask her out on a date, we say, “Dude, you need to have courage.” Right? That is true but the meaning of courage in this passage is deeper than that. In the Biblical context, the phrase “be strong and courageous” is used to depict a life that is shaped by the commands of God. Biblical courage is not daring yourself to do what you are afraid to do but daring yourself to trust God and obey what is written in the Bible despite of consequences.

Let me illustrate it for you. I’m sure most of you have heard of the name Martin Luther but maybe some of you have no idea who he was. Martin Luther was not the man who made a famous speech, “I have a dream.” That’s Martin Luther King in 1950’s. Martin Luther was the leader of protestant reformation in 1500’s. What happened was Luther realized that the Catholic faith was no longer preaching the truth. The Catholic faith believes that in order for one to receive salvation, one need to put their faith in Jesus, plus so many other things. Yet when Luther read and studied the Bible, he came to realize that the Bible teaches that salvation is by faith in Christ alone. That’s it. There is no 7 steps of salvation. Whoever believes in Jesus shall be saved. And because of it, Luther opposed the pope and he got into trouble. Now, we need to realize something. At that time, there was no Christian church. There was only Catholic church. Every churches and priests around the world was catholic. And they gathered in Germany to condemn Luther’s of his belief in salvation by faith alone. They gave Luther two choices. Either he recant or he would be expelled from the church. To be expelled from the Catholic church does not simply mean that he could not attend a particular church and need to find other church. There was no other church. There was only Catholic church. To be expelled from the church meant to lose all hope of salvation and condemned to hell. And the night before the assembly, Luther was extremely afraid. After all, what if he got it wrong? What if everyone else was right and he was the only one who got it wrong? Luther was not only in opposition against the pope but also the church all over the world. Luther prayed all night. And the next day, when pope asked Luther to recant his belief in front of all other priests, this is what he said. “My conscience is bound to the Word of God. Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me.” – Martin Luther. Luther refused to recant. My friend, this is Biblical courage.

There is a major shift that is happening through the leadership of Joshua. In the leadership of Moses, God spoke to Moses face to face. Moses met God face to face and wrote everything that the Lord spoke. However, in Joshua’s leadership it is different. Joshua did not get to meet the Lord face to face. However, Joshua have the law of God that Moses wrote. And God is saying to Joshua, “I want you to obey everything that Moses have commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right or left but obey everything that is written in it.” Joshua is the first leader in the Bible that has to rely on the written words of God. This put Joshua in the same place as us. Today, we don’t communicate with God face to face but through the Bible. Therefore, for us to be strong and courageous we need to obey the witten words of God in the Bible. And that obedience is expressed in three ways. Joshua 1:8 – 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. First, the Bible need be on our mouth. Not literally. It means that that our words and our conversations need to be saturated with the truth of the Bible. Rather than the latest gossips, our words need to be saturated with Scripture. Second, we need to obey all that is written in the Bible. It means that we don’t get to pick and choose which command we want to obey and which we want to ignore. And third, and this is where I want to spend more time in, we need to meditate on the Bible. And this is extremely crucial.

What does it mean to meditate on the Bible? “Meditation is deep thinking on the truths and spiritual realities revealed in Scripture for the purposes of understanding, application and prayer.” – Donald Whitney. Let me explain. Right now, we as a church are doing God’s big picture series where we read the Bible every day for a year. This is good and I want to encourage all of you to join us. But reading the Bible is not the same as meditate on the Bible. We don’t read the Bible the same way we read manga or novel. We want to soak in what the Bible says and have our life transformed by it. And it is not easy. Sometime in my Bible reading, I find myself reading verse after verse after verse and then I would stop and think, “Wait. What did I just read? I have no idea what I just read.” Anyone else? It reminds me of one of the date that I had in the past. I dressed up, picked her up and we went on a date to a nice burger place in Dallas. The waiter took us to our seat. And when we were seated, I found myself in an interesting position. The girl was sitting in front of me, but right behind her in the background was this massive screen with ESPN Sports Centre on it. And you know, girls like to be heard. And I did my best to listen to her. But there were times in the conversation where what happened behind her was just slightly more interesting to me than what she said, when suddenly the conversation turned silent. And I thought to myself, “What just happened? I need to say something to respond to what she just said. But I have no idea what she just said.” Guys, you know what happen next right? After few seconds of silent that seems like an hour, you hear these frightening words out of her mouth. “You have not been listening to me, have you?” To which all guys reply, “Well of course I listen to you. I just missed the last part. Can you repeat the last part? I just want to be sure that I give you the right answer.”

Can we be honest? This is what we do when read the Bible a lot of times. We read it but we don’t know what we are reading. Why? Because we don’t stop and meditate on what we just read. Most Christians read the Bible and tick the check list but not many Christians meditate on the Bible. That is why we do not get anything out of our Bible reading. We do not take the time stop and think. The main problem with understanding the Bible has less to do with our intelligence and more to do with lack of meditation. So how do we meditate on the Bible? Exactly what we just did. Think back at the first five verses of this passage. When you read it, you don’t just read but you need to pause and ask, “Who is Joshua? What is the occasion? What did God said to Joshua? Why did God say it?” And once you know what the text meant, then you ask, “How does this text apply to me?” Don’t get the order wrong. It is only when you know what the text meant that you can know how it applies to you. It means that we have to do deep thinking. Once we do deep thinking and understand the passage, then we can apply it and pray about it. That’s what it means to meditate on the Bible. We are told to meditate on the Bible day and night. It means to meditate on the Bible in such a way that the Bible becomes the driving force to everything we do.

Listen to what happen when you meditate on the Bible day and night. “For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” Anyone want that? The key is to meditate on the Bible. When we speak the Bible, think the Bible, do the Bible, we are guaranteed success. Hear me plain and clear. Success and prosperity in here has nothing to do with fattening your bank account. Success and prosperity in here has everything to do with accomplishing the purpose of God in your life. It is about having the courage to turn God’s mission impossible into mission accomplished. This is exactly what we see in the book of Joshua. Joshua will experience success and prosperity in conquering the Promised Land not because of his military genius but his obedience to the word of God.

So from this point, we learned that courage is found in obeying the commands of God. Are you unsure about which decision you should make in life? Are you uncertain about your next step in life? Hear the word of the Lord tonight. Obey the commands of God written in the Bible and you will have good success. But in order to rightly obey, you need to meditate on the Bible. Saturate yourself in the Bible. Trust the promise of God and obey his commands. Courage is found in obeying the commands of God for God will make your way prosperous and give you good success.

Recognize God’s presence

Joshua 1:9 – 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.”

Twice in these opening nine verses (verse 5 and 9) God assures Joshua that he is not on his own. Ultimately, Joshua will experience prosperity and success because the Lord is with Joshua. God promises Joshua that he will be with Joshua wherever he goes. In the mountain top, God will be with Joshua. In the valley low, God will be with Joshua. It is as if God is saying to Joshua, “Joshua, you need to know that what is important is not you. What is important is not the man I choose to lead Israel. I can choose anyone. I can choose Yosi to lead Israel if I want to. At the end of the day, what is ultimately important is that I, the LORD, will be with you. I will be the one who lead you and Israel. And because I am with you, you have no reason to be frightened and to be dismayed. Therefore, be strong and courageous.” Did you get that? A lot of time, we try to look for courage in the wrong place. We’ve been taught to look within to find confidence. “You are awesome, you are special, you are irreplaceable.” I love you but let me tell you, you are not irreplaceable. You are just ordinary. Courage is not found in looking to self but in looking to the one beside you: the LORD your God is with you. That’s where you find courage.

This is the third reason we can be strong and courageous. Are you finding yourself in the midst of uncertainty? Are you head over heel in life? Hear the word of God. It does not matter what uncertainties you face in life, you can be strong and have courage because the Lord is with you. Do not put your confidence in a person or a situation. But put your confidence in the sovereign God of heaven and earth who is with you every step of the way. Our enemy is not afraid of us. But he is sure hell afraid of the one who is with us. Put your confidence in the Lord.

But here is the question, how can we be sure that the Lord is with us? The Lord has promised to be with Joshua, but how can we know that the Lord is with us? This is where we need to understand that the story of Joshua is actually a shadow of another Joshua. Joshua’s name was actually Hoshea, which mean salvation or deliverance. But then, Moses changed his name to Joshua, which mean God saves or delivers. And this is not a random incident. The whole point of the book of Joshua is to show that it is the Lord who saves and delivers Israel. Even though the book is named after Joshua, Joshua is not the hero of the book. God is the hero of the book of Joshua. That is why the book of Joshua closes in chapter 24 with God receiving all the glory for Israel’s conquest of Promised Land.

Here is what’s interesting. Joshua is a Hebrew name. Do you know what you get when you translate Joshua into Greek? Jesus. The name Jesus means God saves or delivers. Do you see what happen? The story of Joshua is the shadow of Jesus. Jesus is the true and better Joshua. Jesus came to save his people. The people of God is separated with God because of sin. Sin is the great enemy of God. But Jesus came to deal with sin once and for all. God became human, and lived the perfect life that we could not. He fought and conquered sin. He did so by absorbing the wrath of God towards sin so that we might be reconciled with God. So now, if you put your faith in Jesus, you have been reconciled to God. You have immediate access to the throne of God and you are no longer separated from God. The life, death and resurrection of Jesus have made it possible for God to be present with us wherever we go. So if you have yet to put your faith in Jesus, I invite you to put your trust in him. God has made a way for him to be with you. In Jesus, we find a Joshua who fought and defeated our enemies and lead the people of God into the Promised Land.

Here is where I want us to be careful though. Our Promised Land is not our dreams. Nor it is our visions or desires. Our Promised Land is a place where the glory of God will fill every corner of the earth, where we will have God as our King and we will live in his presence forever. That’s our Promised Land and we are not there yet. Right now we are in the middle of the conquest. And God has given us our assignment. So yes Jesus is our Joshua but when we have Jesus as our Joshua, we are also called to be like Joshua. I want you to see the repetition of Joshua 1 in these verses.

Matthew 28:18-20 – ¹⁸ And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Promise – Jesus has accomplished what he came to do. He has defeated sin once and for all. And now, Jesus is about to leave his disciples. The disciples have to continue and complete Jesus’ work without the physical presence of Jesus, just like Joshua had to complete what Moses had started. But before Jesus sent his disciples to the world, he assures them that the battle has been won. Jesus has been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Translation: It is done. Nothing can stop him from accomplishing his work. It is a guaranteed success from the very beginning.

Command – Jesus then gives a command on how we conquer our Promised Land. Go and make disciples of Christ! Our command is not to fight a battle to accomplish our dreams but our command is to go and make disciples. We are to teach the people of all nations the truth of the gospel, baptise them, and sent them to make more disciples of Christ. This is God’s strategy to spread his glory to every corner of the earth. He uses you and me to make disciples. And in order for us make disciples, we first need to become disciples. We first must be saturated with the Bible and then teach others about the Bible. Do you see that?

Presence – The same God who says to Joshua “I will be with you” is saying to the Church “I am with you always.” What an assurance! God is with us every single step of the way, every seconds of our life, as we go and make disciples. I have said this again and again. There is a special kind of knowing and intimacy with Christ that you will not experience unless you take part in his mission. If we believe this promise, we do not need to play safe with our lives. We can risk it all. I am not talking about silly risk but I am talking about banking all we have on God’s promises and commands because we know that he is with us.

Church, when is the last time we dare ourselves to trust God? When is the last time we choose pain over comfort? Danger over safety? Sacrifice over blessing? Or have we become those trust the promises of God with our mind but not with our lives? For some of us, we know the promises of God but we do not obey his commands. It’s like this. Let’s say that someone give you a cheque of $1 million. I assume that you will be very happy and excited right? So you go home, you laminate that cheque, put it in a frame and place it in your living room for all to see. And every day you talk about that cheque to everyone around you and you dream about what you can do with that money. Here is the thing though. It does not matter how often you talk and think about that cheque, it is useless. That cheque is useless until we go to the bank and cash that cheque. And this is what we often do with the words of God. We talk about it and think about it but we do not do it. It’s useless. What we need today is not a better method for life but for people of God to trust the promises of God and walk in obedience to the commands of God. When we go and make disciples, God promises to be with us and his mission is a guaranteed success. People from different tribes, nations and tongues will worship Jesus. And God is using us to accomplish his purposes.

Here is my encouragement and I’ll get back to my seat. As you live out your daily life, as you face many challenges and uncertainties of life, hear the word of the Lord today, “Be strong and courageous for the LORD your God is with you.” Trust God’s promises, obey God’s commands, and recognize God’s presence. But as you do that, never lose sight of the assignment that Jesus has given us as we lived out our daily life. We are to go and make disciples wherever we are. That is the focus of God’s promises, commands and presence. And when you do that, God will make your way prosperous and give you good success. You will accomplish God’s purposes for your life.

Discussions:

1. Have you ever been in a situation like Joshua? Share your story.
2. “God does not give explanation but he always give promises.” What does it teach us about the way God works?
3. What is Biblical courage and how is it different from the way we often described courage?
4. What does it mean to meditate on the Bible? Give example(s) on how to meditate on the Bible.
5. Out of the three ways we can be strong and courageous, which one speak the most to your uncertainty? Why?
6. Explain how Joshua 1:1-9 is not only God’s word for Joshua but it is also God’s word for us.
7. What is our “Promised Land” and how can we conquer it? (Hint: Matthew 28:18-20).