The Courage To Obey: Joshua 1:1-9

Jan 27, 2023

Summary of Sermon

Modern English Version ‘Courageous’

Common English Version ‘Brave”

NKJV – Good Courage

Courage is defined in the dictionary as ‘the ability to do something that frightens one’, ‘strength in the face of pain or grief’

Wikipedia -courage (bravery)—the choice and willingness to confront agony, pain, danger, uncertainty and intimidation.

Maya Angelou—‘Courage is the most important of the virtues because without courage you cannot practice any of the other virtues consistently’

God calls us in the Christian life to be courageous. We need to have the courage to obey God and follow His way, rules and commandments. This was what God was calling Joshua to do, to courageously obey the Lord.

We live in a time when our culture is openly hostile to the Word of God, the ways of God and the things of God. It seems that if God says no to a thing, we, as a culture immediately say yes without even thinking of it.

Verses 7-8, really lay out how we are to do this, we are to know, mediate and repeat the word of God- we are to saturate our lives with the Word of God. We are to read it, know it, and keep it near.

It takes courage to stand up to one’s family, and one’s society and to do what God says is right. Obedience as well does not guarantee safety, many people have been killed because they did the right thing and stood up to the evils of the world and their current culture.

In Daniel, the 3 Hebrew young men courageously stood up to the King, and they survived the fire that came, but this is not the norm. God’s people over the years have died, been imprisoned and suffered loss because they stood for what was right and we should be prepared to do the same. In Phil 1:20, Paul’s hope was that he would have the courage to live in such a way that glorified Christ in his body.

God has given us or will give us the tools to be courageous if we want to be, 2 Tim 1:7, Ps 31:23-24

John Wayne said, ‘Courage is being scared to death and saddling up anyway’. Let us be courageous for the Lord, even when it is scary to do so.