Joshua, a Study of Being Strong and Courageous God's Way

Over the next few weeks we are going to study Joshua.  The man and the book.  Before we can get into the Book of Joshua, we need to examine who Joshua was and his past that put him in the position to lead the nation of Israel into the promised land.

The best way to look at who Joshua was is to simply look at the scriptures that mention Joshua prior to the start of Joshua Chapter 1. 

Here are some of the key things we can learn.  

1.  God had plans for Joshua from the very first battle.  

2.  Joshua was mentored by Moses and God

3.  Joshua spent more time with or close to God than any other man in the bible besides Moses

4.  God wanted Joshua to remember who was in control, God!

5.  God knew Joshua would need encouragement his whole life. 

Weekly Take Away’s

• God had a back up for Moses from the start. Both God and Moses mentored Joshua
• Just hanging out with God  can have a powerful and positive impact on your life
• Dont go with the flow when God is telling you to go a different direction
• Are you strong and courageous?
• Joshua’s wisdom and leadership came from God, where are you and I getting our wisdom today

QUESTIONS WE MAY DISCUSS:

1. Why did God want Moses to write down and “rehearse it in the ears of Joshua”, the battle with the Amalek’s
2. How close was Joshua to God when the glory of God settled on Mount Sinai?
3. Do you notice that as the Mentor, Moses knew when he should handle things vs letting Joshua handle a situation?
4. The Tent of Meeting: where was Joshua when Moses was in conference with God?
5. What caused the nation of Israel to want to stone Joshua?
6. How do you think the nation of Israel treated Joshua when they were all told they were going to die in the desert but not him?
7. How do you think Moses felt about Joshua?

When facing the impossible, are you persistent?

Persistence is what makes the impossible possible, the possible likely, and the likely definite. --Robert Half

Do you pride yourself on being persist? Its an action that requires effort on our part. In fact, it requires a repeated action our on our part. Persistence is the cousin of consistent. It is the seemingly impossible that most of us are overwhelmed by so we move away to something else. Yet persistent action, persistent follow up, persistent attention can lead to making the impossible possible. We just are not determined enough to start.

When impossible moves to likely is the time many of us decide that since it has a chance so we throw some persistent effort at it. No one is really surprised when the likely turns into definite.

Today, as you look at the impossibles in your life, decide to throw a little persistence at those situations. What do you have to risk? Persistence is an asset you can never run out of, the more you throw at a situation the more results you will see. Persistence in a seemingly impossible situation may be the first steps towards a definite success.

Go for greatness today.

All of us should have on our tombstone, "they were a salesman!"

Unless the man who works  is able to "sell" himself and his ideas, unless he has the power to convince others of the soundness of his convictions, he can never achieve his goal.  He may have the best ideas in the world, he may have plans which would revolutionize entire industries. But unless he can persuade others that his ideas are good, he will never get the chance to put them into effect.  Stripped of non-essentials, all activity is a sales battle. And everyone in business or in service must be a salesman.  "Robert E M Cowie"

For years I have been told I must be a great salesman.  Yet for the past 22 years I been the President and CEO of several different companies.  For many years when I was told this,  I bristled at the comment, because I thought it was not the perception I was trying to achieve as the CEO of the company.

Then I came across this quote and it refocused my understanding of selling.  We are all sales people. The owner of the flower shop, attorneys, home builders, bankers, and yes even police and elected officials.  We are all selling something each and every day of our lives.

Sadly, there are people you interact with everyday with great ideas and plans, but cannot "sell" them to anyone else.  Imagine the impact if those "unsold" ideas could be presented and accepted into practice.

Those who understand the fact that no matter what the profession, no matter what the situation, they are a salesman generally will be those on the side of victory in life.

Greatness is only achieved by those who can convince others that their ideas, their products, their cases and their laws can make a difference.  Our goal each day should be to sell something, at the very least ourselves. So go out today and sell something.

The difference between 'involvement' and 'commitment' is like an eggs-and- ham breakfast: the chicken was 'involved' the pig was 'committed'.

Do you want to be involved or committed to the project.  Every Rock pusher starts in this state at the bottom of a very steep hill with a vision and then has one final question:

Am I committed to this Rock and this Hill?

You cannot be lukewarm (involved) and be committed at the same time or you will surely fail.  There's a difference between lukewarmness and commitment. When you're lukewarm in doing something, you do it only when circumstance permit. When you're committed to something, you accept no excuses, only results.”

Too many of us today have been trained since birth to “hedge” our bets in all areas of our lives. The result is a bunch lukewarm Americans not really committed to anything, but lukewarm about everything. Because if we are lukewarm it appears that we can never fail at anything.

When Cortez landed in Mexico he was committed, but he carried along with him a bunch of lukewarm sailors.  Things got tough and they wanted to return home.  Cortez knew what he had to do, he burned the ships so there was no turning back, he was not lukewarm.

Commitment means there is no turning back. The uncommitted move on to other things when the going gets tough. Examine where you are on the hill of life with your square rocks, are you simply involved like the chicken or committed like the pig?