Deuteronomy 31:1-8

hey hey good morning good morning good morning welcome to coffee and devotions this morning we're at Deuteronomy chapter 31: 1-8 we're going to be talking about Moses patching on the torch to Joshua have some coffee we'll pray we'll get into God's word pray father we thank you so much for this day it is a blessing to have your word and to read it Lord we pray that you would please help us to understand who you are we pray that you would please work in our hearts in such a way that we would know how to live and how to believe in Jesus's name amen right here we go Deuteronomy chapter 31 veres 1 through 8 then Moses went and spoke all these words to Israel and he said to them I am 120 years old today I can no longer go in and come in go out and come in also the Lord has said to me you shall not cross over this Jordan the Lord your God himself crosses over before you he will destroy these nations from before you and you shall dispossess them Joshua himself crosses over before you just as Jehovah has said and the Lord will do to them as he did to sihon and OG the king of the amorites if and their land when he destroyed them the Lord will give them over to you that you may do to them according to every commandment which I have commanded you be strong and of good courage do not fear nor be afraid of them for the Lord your God he is the one who goes with you he will not leave you nor forsake you then Moses called Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel be strong and of good courage for you must go with this people to the land which the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them and you shall cause them to inherit it and the Lord he is the one who goes before you he will be with you he will not leave you nor forsake you do not fear nor be dismayed wellow we need to ask ourselves a what's this about B what's the best ver us to summarize this and C what are we called to do hey what is this about this is Moses being an old dude passing on the torch to Joshua to go into the promised land surface level that's what it's about but I think tied with what we talked about last time with the Lord being their God and that them needing to choose life and that also if you looked at verse 20 right uh that and that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to Abraham Isaac and Jacob to give them I think this passing on the torch is tied to this idea of who was going to make these things good it was the Lord did you notice who their confidence was supposed to be in it was not supposed to be in Moses and it's not going to be in Joshua time and time again as we read through this passage notice who is the the focal point here the Lord your God himself crosses over before you verse three he will destroy these nations from before you verse three Joshua himself crosses over before you just as the Lord has said verse three verse4 and the Lord will do to them as he did to sihon and OG verse four when he delivered them verse four the Lord will give them over to you verse 5 be strong and good courage do not fear nor be afraid of them why verse 6 for the Lord your God he is the one who goes with you he will not leave you nor forsake you right the victory is for certain Joshua's leadership is going to be successful why because it's the Lord who's doing these things it's the Lord who made his promises it's the Lord who's doing these things it's the Lord that if they have faith in him follow his ways do what he says there will be great success and so he says the Lord is doing this I can't get out of my bed anymore all right Moses is we would say like bedridden or wheelchair bound right he can't get get up he can't go out he can't come in he's an old dude he's 120 years old he's passing on the torch but he knows that God can still do it right Moses still has Faith remember Moses failed why isn't he the one leading well he he's not allowed to see the promised land because he Dishonored the Lord striking the rock not even Moses was perfect and yet he knows that he's going to see God and he knows that God's going to be good to his promises and so he pass passes on this chorch to jonath to Joshua and interestingly also he speaks to Joshua and he tells him be strong and of good courage this idea be strong and of good courage also the Lord he will not leave you or forsake you is a theme that's going to be carried on after Deuteronomy Into the Book of Joshua again and again the phrase be strong and of good courage be strong and of good courage is going to show up all over the place in the Book of Joshua so that's what I think this is getting right this strength and courage yes it's going to be in the battle they're really going to go fight against the different armies at Jericho and AI they're going to fight against all these different people right but where was that strength and courage going to come from it's in the Lord strength and courage in the Lord best verse to summarize this I have verse six double underlined in my Bible what are we called to do seek calling where does your strength and courage come from you have difficulties and trials in this life there are things that I'm convinced you might think you don't know how you're ever going to stand up to X Y or Z how will you ever finally conquer that sin that so easily ens snares you we have to to have strength and courage in the Lord how will you be able to evangelize that person you know or you're scared or reject you or even mock you or ridicule you be strong and of good courage how would you love that person fervently in the church that gets under your skin and you don't know how you're supposed to love or care for that person but your faith in God be strong and of good courage you're in pain work is difficult and you're worried that you're going to be irritable how will you ever be able to endure be strong and of good courage you're teaching and the world seems against you and you're worried that if you even refuse to do what they're asking you to do you may lose your job like Esther will you say the Lord's will be done she said if I die I die where will you find the mor moral courage to say if I'm fired I'm fired be strong and have good courage do what is glorifying to God let what happens happen he will never leave you nor forsake you Jesus promised us that he went to heaven but he did not leave us alone as orphans but he sent his holy spirit the paraclet the comforter the exhorter our Advocate will lean not on your own strength trust in the Lord let's pray father we pray that you would please let us be strong and of good courage let us be courageous to love in a day of hate let us have good courage to be life in a culture of death let us be good courage to be those who would be clean in a culture of immorality and uncleanness help us to be good of good courage in a culture that loves strong men and authoritarianism as you've told us to be gentle and kind Lord please let us have good courage as we abide by faith in Jesus that it would show in the fruits of the spirit in our life in Jesus's name we pray amen well may you be strong and have good courage may you know that the Lord will never leave you nor forsake you if you are in Christ Jesus his son and may you do the good works that he has prepared for you I'll see you next time bye