Joshua 1:8-9 | ⁸ This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. ⁹ Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

And here we go, Ignite City Church. This move has been in the works for a long time. And as I tell you often, I will tell you again: I can’t imagine doing this with anyone else. We have seen God do some incredible things in and through our community over the past five years as Purpose Church Claremont. We’ve seen people come to surrender to Jesus as their Lord. We’ve seen people get baptized. We’ve had multiple Serve Sundays where we’ve impacted our communities with the practical love of Jesus. We’ve seen home churches begin. We’ve seen disciple groups begin and then come to a place now where more discipleship groups will come out of the ones that we started a year ago. And we’ve handled a pandemic in such a healthy way that I can’t help but brag about you all.

As we move forward, I want to encourage us to stay focused and to stay the course found in the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. It is so easy to get distracted by all that is going on. Yet, with all these distractions, I’m convinced more than ever that making disciples through the preaching and sharing of the gospel is what is needed more than ever. So, by God’s grace, we will continue to move forward in the power and with the message of the gospel, getting to see first-hand the transformation that comes with Christ’s gospel. And with that, I want to encourage us to do the few things that Joshua was told to do before he went into the Promised Land with God’s people.

1). Know and do what God’s word says. God told Joshua to meditate on the word of God day and night. This is God’s way of saying to always be focused on what his word says. Take it in. Read it. Memorize it. Meditate on it. And then do what is says. And we will do this same thing—whether, through home churches, D-groups, the Bible reading plan, our worship gatherings on Sunday mornings, we will be people of The Book. As I’ve reminded us often I do once again here: we can’t decipher God’s will if we are not in God’s word.

2). Be strong and courageous. There’s a verse that I’ve been sharing over the past many months, really trying to hammer home what the Bible says about us as followers of Jesus. The apostle Paul said this in his letter to Christians in Rome: “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Romans 8:37, ESV). For so long I believe a message of defeat has taken over this truth by a constant reminding from teachers of God’s word telling God’s people that we are broken. And while we have things we battle against with regards to sinful desires, the Bible tells us that we are MORE than conquerors, being made new when we surrendered our lives to Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17) and receiving his Holy Spirit when we believed the message of the Gospel (Ephesians 1:13-14). And since this is true, I’m convinced that we need to move forward through life from a place of victory, being strong and courageous along the way, as we constantly rely upon God in us.

3). Do not be frightened or dismayed. When you look up the Hebrew definition of “fear” and “dismayed” here, you see what God is really saying to Joshua.

• Fear | a feeling or attitude of severe distress, usually over future events
• Dismayed | a feeling of discouragement, implying fear and terror, and/or panic and confusion, as an extension of the shattering of an object.

God doesn’t want us to be afraid of what may come or discouraged about what we may be facing. Instead, we are to move forward from a place of victory because of Jesus, knowing that as we meditate on what he says and then put what he says into practice, we will see “good success” (and success not based on what we think it is but rather on how God defines it). The future is simply God unfolding his plan for us. The present circumstances are being used to do a work in us that will bring us more and more into the likeness of Jesus. So, we are called to not be afraid of the future nor to be discouraged by what we presently face. Rather, we make the choice to be strong and courageous. But what’s the motivation that we live and move from to be strong and courageous no matter what comes our way?

4). God is with you always and everywhere. The limitless and all-powerful God reminded the people of Israel before they went into the Promised Land that he was with him. We can apply this same truth as well. In fact, that was the main encouragement that Jesus gave to his disciples right before he ascended into the heavens when he gave them the Great Commission: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20, ESV).

So, as we move forward as Ignite City Church, let us apply these same principles to our lives individually, as well as collectively as a community, as we go out and love God, love others, and make disciples and make disciple-makers. Let’s…

• Know God’s word and do what he says.
•  Let’s decide to move forward from a place of victory, being strong and courageous.
• Let’s decide to not be afraid of what’s to come or be discouraged by what is, all because…
• …God is with us.

Thank you for letting me get to be part of the Ignite City Church community. Thank you for allowing me to be your shepherd. Thank you for allowing me to walk with you as we all walk together with Jesus. I’m humbled to be your pastor and excited to see what God has for us next as we continue to follow his lead.

So, with our gaze set forward on Jesus and on what he desires for us, let’s take a deep breath, take our first step in faith, and move forward with the excitement that comes with this phrase: “And here we go.”