“How To Have Victory”
Joshua 5-6 Sermon Series: “Victory”
1. Know God’s plan (1:1-4). The mission of True Life is, “To meet people where they are and help them become fully devoted followers of Christ. Our focus is to be on Jesus Christ and the gospel of grace. The children of Israel were successful because they were claiming what God already had for them. The key to being victorious is doing what God has already willed for us instead of us trying to get God to do our will.
2. Prepare. The military motto is, “Prior preparation prevents poor performance.” That preparation is:
A. Practical. They sent spies to check out the land, even though God had already given it to them.
B. Spiritual (5:1-15). God gave an unusual command to circumcise the army. This was symbolic of spiritual cleansing. Jesus then came and met with Joshua. To be used by God, we must first repent of sin and meet with Jesus.
3. Follow God’s strategy (6:1-27). God’s commands for attacking Jericho did not make much sense from a human, military point of view. We have to decide if we are going to function in our own wisdom or listen to the Holy Spirit and follow His guidance. The following are goals and strategies that the elders believe the Lord is leading us to pursue in 2013:
Goal #1-True Life helping those who are here in developing as fully devoted followers of Christ. Of course, we cannot fully measure the heart and outward activities do not automatically produce spiritual growth, but these are means to spiritual growth that we would like to see everyone participating in:
A. Daily time with the Lord for worship, study, prayer, and other spiritual disciplines
B. Regular participation in our worship services C. Active involvement in a small group
D. Serving and reaching out to those around us
Goal #2-True Life being a church that is evangelizing and reaching its local community. Our specific goal for the year is baptizing 52 people here, not counting those we baptize in Honduras. There is nothing magical about this number, but it is simply a challenge to focus us in the right direction. What will it take for this to happen?
A. Serious prayer (begging God to move in our midst, praying specifically for God to save particular people, praying for our services)
B. Personal outreach
C. Spirit-anointed services
D. Outreach through our small groups and ministries of
our church
E. Believers to personally care for new believers and
help them get involved in small groups F. Birth more small groups
G. More people serving
Goal #3-True Life continuing to take steps to plant a church in every community of 2,000 people without an evangelical church in the area of the country where we are serving in Honduras.
Goal #4-True Life progressing financially in two keys areas: A. That our regular giving would grow to the place
where we are ahead of budget enough to add a Pastor of Assimilation/Small Groups, increase our ministries, and be able to make building repairs/upgrades through the General Fund.
B. Through the Greater Campaign that we would give enough to the Building Fund that we would be able to pay off the 2nd mortgage of $125,000 with Faith Baptist Church this year while at the same time refinancing the mortgage we have with FSG Bank.
4. Trust and obedience. God gave them victory (the walls fell down) when they believed Him and did what He said. We will experience victory today, as individuals and a church, when we trust what God says enough to obey Him.
