ChosenRebel's Blog

Tuesday is for Preaching

Joshua 1

1. “Be strong and courageous”  (Vs 6)
2. “Only be strong and very courageous”  (Vs. 7)
3. “Be strong and courageous.” (Vs. 9)
4. “Do not be frightened, and
5. Do not be dismayed” (Vs. 9)

Five times in the span of 4 verses God tells Joshua essentially what Jesus told the disciples on the eve of his crucifixion. “Don’t let your heart be troubled.” (Cf. John 14:1-6)

Preacher: The Lord your God is with you. Go in His power. Go with the confidence of one who is called, and commissioned, and empowered from within by the Spirit of the living God. Go with knowledge that your message is vital. It is life giving. It is destiny changing. It is the power of God unto salvation. It is the means through which His will comes to be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Don’t flinch from your responsibility. Don’t be fearful of the culture. Don’t let your heart be troubled by petty concerns about what people think of you. Don’t mute the text by academic sophistry. Don’t fail your Lord by ceasing to study and brood over a text until it yields its meaning. Don’t fail to apply it to your own heart before you dare to apply it to others.

Be strong and very courageous for the Lord your God is with you and calls you to preach the word in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke and exhort with all patience and instruction. (2 Tim. 4:1-2).

Live for an audience of ONE, the ONE who is coming to judge the living and the dead. Plant the kind of churches that preach the gospel with this conviction and one day that ONE, the Lord Jesus Christ, will say, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your master.”