Series: Grow Strong

Sermon: Growing Why?

Speaker: Japhet De Oliveira

Writer: Japhet De Oliveira

Refresh: Begin today in prayer. Ask God for understanding through the Holy Spirit.

Read:  Joshua 1-4 in the English Standard Version (ESV). Note 1–3 insights or questions.

Reflect: This is the final week of the three-part series on growth and discipleship. The first week of the Daily Walk focused on the parable Jesus shared of the sower. Last week, we looked at a few verses of Jeremiah. This week, we will cover an entire book of the Bible! Some of you probably feel overwhelmed by this; others absolutely relish the idea! If you need to speed-read or skim-read the passages due to time constraints, don’t worry. There is just one question I want you to mull over as you study the book of Joshua. It is the one question that all prospective disciples face at one point or another. I hope you will conclude, as Joshua did, that “. . . as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

As the book of Joshua opens, the Children of Israel are, at long last, ready to enter the Promised Land. Moses, their fearless leader, has died and God has called Joshua to be their new leader. He appears to be filled with fear and anxiety, judging by the direct promises God gives him: “Step forward young man. Yes, young man, step forward like Moses. Step forward into the Promised Land. Have no fear.” Verses 6, 7, and 9 in the first chapter all encourage him to be courageous and remind him that there is no need to be frightened because, as God promises, “I am with you!” Clearly, Joshua was quaking in his boots. Yet in these four chapters, we see a man begin to “live courage” as he holds to the past and grasps the future.

Recalibrate: When you look back on your life, what was one of the bravest things you did?

Respond: Ask God to remind you of how He has led you in the past.

Research: What connections and similarities do you find between this crossing and the crossing that took place one generation before, when the Children of Israel left Egypt?

Live Wonder (ages 0–3):Take three to five different food items that your child likes and ask them to close their eyes before they try each one. See if they can name each food and remember the first time they tried it.

Live Adventure (ages 4–11): Share the bravest thing you did when you were seven years old. Who help you to be brave?

Live Purpose (ages 12–16): Is the world a safer place today than it was 100 years ago? What were you most scared of when you were a little kid? How did you overcome that fear? Is the future scary or hopeful?