Holding onto the Word in Canaan (Josh. 1:1-9)
We will start the book of Joshua today. After Moses passed away, there was a Remnant leader that was raised up, and his name was Joshua. God relayed His Word through Joshua. God is His Word. Where is God? We cannot see Him. God is the one who reigns over all. Moreso than where is God, what is God doing? How can we know what God is doing? God is working through His Word. How can you know God is working? Because He works according to the promise He has given to me. He may be invisible, but He reveals himself in visible ways.
Just like in the Old Testament, God worked in His Word. He raises up people and gives His promise. That is why the Word is fulfilled based on our faith in His Word. The way that God is working and promises us is true today. He gives us His Word. God fulfills His promise through the one who believes Him and holds onto His Word.
What is religion though? Religion means you are living with the faith that hopes to fulfill whatever you desire from God. But that is something we do because we don’t know God. God does not work according to our desires, God works according to His desires. It’s because what He desires is much more perfect and great. And if we’re not able to follow that plan of God, then we will ask God to give us something that is limited by our small IQ. That is how Satan is dragging us even now. That is the situation of Genesis 3.
In Gen. 2:17, God gave Adam and Eve the covenant of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. God always gives us the Word of how He is going to work, and He works according to that Word. But Satan only makes us go outside of that Word. Our thinking of how great we are is irrelevant to God. God can destroy even the greatest and wisest on the earth. God does not need the greatest. Because God is the greatest and the wisest, he does not need the greatness nor wisdom of humans. Satan uses that to make us leave from God’s covenant. And Satan makes us live choosing what we want. That is why the sons of God were destroyed during the age of Noah.
We cannot do what we want. I cannot do what I like. I need to do what God likes. That was Noah. Noah’s name means rest. Everyone, who lives on this earth following their desires, lives with a heavy burden. Only when we go into the covenant of Christ can we receive rest. Only when we follow the covenant God gave to Joshua can we receive rest. So for you and I, our fight today is only one. Will we follow the covenant in faith or will we follow my desires. It’s not about whether we fulfill what we want, but we lose our rest.
Losing our rest means we lose our spiritual strength. And if we lose our spiritual strength, there will be division and conflict. Because instead of God’s covenant being the standard, I am the standard. Why do people keep fighting and conflicting? It’s not an issue of whether this person is good or bad. Everybody is good. It doesn’t matter how evil a person is, they have people they’re close to and love. The problem is they don’t have God’s covenant. Without God’s covenant, then of course, fight and have conflict. Immediately, there will be division inside of you. There will be confusion.
And you will be in a state of spiritual numbness. If you’ve lived for a physical life the whole day, losing hold of the spiritual world, and you come here to worship, you’ll be numb. The evidence is that you’ll feel very distant from the Word, because you’re spiritually numb. I think most of you guys feel this way. This is the result of living your life centered on the physical things and losing hold of the covenant. However, the people who live their lives holding onto the covenant are spiritually alert and they go deeper into God’s Word as they listen.
Now, when did Joshua exist? He existed in 1300 BC. So the Israelites spent 430 years in Egypt, 40 years in the wilderness, and another 470 years. The Word that God gave to Joshua is not out of anywhere. This was the promise that God had already given to Abraham in Gen. 12. Abraham went before God holding onto the promise God gave to Adam and Eve in Gen 3:15. It means that God’s promise never changes, but over time, it gets more and more specific as it becomes fulfilled.
In Gen. 15, God promises Abraham that his future generations will be numerous, and that was the 400 years they spent in Egypt. Then they went through the wilderness for 40 years, then they entered into the land that was shown to Abraham, exactly like the promise. Joshua is being used for that work. Simply put, he has been called as the leader in the war to conquer Canaan. Once the conquest is finished, the land of Israel will begin and that is the beginning of their history. And just according to God’s promise, they go into the land of Canaan.
The promise that God gave to Abraham that “your descendants will spread out and relay the gospel to all nations of the world” is the covenant that we’re fulfilling today. So the time schedule might be different for Joshua, but the principle is the same. You and I are in a time schedule where we are to go to all nations. Joshua was in a time schedule of conquering Canaan. But the way that God fulfills the covenant is the same back then and today. It has to be the same for the Word of God to be active and living. If the way that God works is not the same, then the words of the Bible will be useless and historical. And that is why I hope that through this passage of Joshua 1, you will receive the living Word for our church today. That is the reason you are sitting here today.
Joshua 1:1 “After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide:”. The Word of God has never stopped. God’s covenant has never been cut off. It might not have been given to the majority of Israel, but it was always connected through the small minority. Even in the Middle or Dark Ages, this covenant was never cut off. It was always connected by the minority. Even right now, God is looking for the individual and church who will receive this covenant and relay it to others. Other people can argue about whether the Word of God is like this or that, but for you, I hope you will hold onto the covenant.
Joshua 1:5. Why is that? Conquering Canaan is the work of the LORD, and because Joshua is doing the work of the LORD, no one can stand against him. God gave this Word to Abraham as well. As Abraham was holding onto God’s covenant, God told him, “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you, I will curse.” That wasn’t because Abraham was great, but because of the covenant in Abraham, God promised to do this.
So, the remnants cannot live in America without this covenant. You cannot just live your life, you need to go out with God’s covenant. There will be even more cases of mental illness, shootings, and addiction in the world. How can these kids go out into the field? It’s not enough for you to just do well on your own; God must be with you. Nonbelievers say, “I just have to take care of myself,” but that’s how they’re destroyed. It’s not enough for you to be in your right state of mind; you must have faith in God’s covenant.
Does every believer have this in them? Those without this will be food for the devil. The reason why we do all these various programs in the church is to allow people to know this. If you do know this, there’s no reason to speak so much; you just help the weaker people in the church to know this, that’s the way to receive God’s guidance. No point in just gathering together with people who already know this, it’s not like you’re talking about the evangelism fields anyways. If you’ve held onto the covenant, you must see the answers in the field as you hold to the covenant with the people in church, but you’re not doing that.
Relay the covenant to people without the covenant; that is God’s will. If a newcomer comes, that’s where your interest must be, because allowing these people to hold to the covenant is the way to go into God’s works, and that’s how we receive the guidance of the Holy Spirit. If someone says, “You didn’t even give me the position, what kind of work can I do?” Such a person isn’t receiving the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The work can be done by anyone, regardless of position. If you’re fluctuating based on your position, that’s not right.
Look at Naval General Lee, he lost all his authority but went back in to fight for Korea. For the people of God, establishing the Kingdom of God is their goal, so it doesn’t matter whether you’ve been given a position or not. When you look around, you see you’ve received so many blessings, why? Because we have so many missions to do. Then, it’s better to not have positions in the church so you can do any work.
People who have their ulterior motive cannot see God’s work. God actually blinds His path from people who talk about, “This is who I am.” But God actually reveals His plan to the people who say, “I am weak and need God’s grace, and so do all these other people.”
God then says, “As I was with Moses, so I will be with you.” What does this mean? It means God will be with Joshua in the work of conquering Canaan. If you believe in Jesus Christ, then He is with you. If you hold to the covenant of world evangelization, then Jesus Christ will be with you with all authority in heaven and on earth. If you know this and believe God is with you in your school field, nothing would be a problem.
If you believe in your field, there is the covenant God promised you to raise up the 70 disciples in 70 regions, then you won’t need help from anyone as God is with you. This is something no one can help you with, so it’s better if no one is there to help you because this is something nobody can help you with. Whatever you have is no use, that’s why it’s better to have nothing.
If you do the work of the world, you need people’s help. If you want to do work in the world, it’s better to receive something from your parents. However, the Word is given to us from the throne in one direction so having nothing and nobody is better. And it’s possible for anybody, so if you have nothing, that’s okay. If nobody is helping you, it’s because it’s not something anyone can help you with.
What do I have to do? Only God knows that. Even the pastor doesn’t know; only God knows. How do we evangelize to our region? God has already determined His method and time. The message is something you listen to, but God is actually fulfilling this work in His field, and God reveals this to the people who want to do that work, so if you truly try to do this work, God will truly reveal this to you, but if you’re just pretending to do it, God will block this from you. That’s why God opens the real doors to the people who have really held to the covenant.
God says, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Sometimes it feels like we have nobody, and we say we’re so lonely because we don’t have anything. That’s why we keep doing other things. But that’s because you don’t have a mission. If you do have your mission, you’d prefer being lonely so then you can concentrate on your mission, but the LORD is promising us that He will never leave us or forsake us. Even if people betray you, God will never forsake you.
People will always turn their backs on someone once they’re no longer aligned. Even when they’re listening to the message, they want to listen to something they agree with. That person will leave whenever the message doesn’t align with them. It’s not about things aligning with me; I must align myself with God. That is the person you call a “disciple.”
If they’re not a disciple, they’re bound to leave because they make every standard set on themselves. If someone says, “I think the pastor’s messages really fit with me,” that person will leave because we are not the standard, I must match myself to the standard of God. Later on, they will leave as they say, “I don’t think the pastor’s messages fit with me.” These are the people who say, “I don’t think you fit with me,” to their spouse or company.
There’s nothing that aligns with you, not even your pets, that’s what we call a mental illness. The deeper your mental illness, the more you’re trapped in your thoughts as you make all your judgments based on your thoughts, but you becoming more and more aligned with God’s standard is what we call “healing.” Someone who always speaks of themselves is still far from God’s covenant and it’s better for you to not talk to people like that. Even if you don’t listen to them, it’s best if you don’t heed their words because it’s not God’s Word. Everything they say is nonsense, it comes from their self-centered thoughts.
Same thing with the news, everything is reported based on an American perspective. If you go to China, they will speak from the perspective of China. There was a meeting between the Korean and Japanese president, and everyone speaks from their own perspective, so it’s all different. What’s the point of listening to that and getting upset? We can just ignore it but we spend all our energy on unnecessary words. Okay, they had a meeting, that’s it. Then, what is God’s plan for world evangelization in Japan? Hold onto God’s Word. If these leaders gather together, is this going to advance the time schedule for world evangelization or not? If not, they’re nonsense words spoken by people.
It’s the same with your job. If someone is an umbrella salesman, they love it when it rains, but other salespersons hate when it rains. So, everyone is speaking from their own perspective, and we laugh and cry about those things, it’s all unnecessary. If it is raining, just say, “I get God allows it to rain for world evangelization,” and that’s it.
Joshua 1:6. How can we be strong and courageous? Be strong in God’s covenant. Do not be strong because of your own stubbornness, but be strong and courageous with God’s covenant. “Because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them.” Keep other words as reference but hold onto these words in the field. It may seem you need everything else for physical things but it’s not right spiritually.
Joshua 1:7. “Be strong and very courageous, be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you.” The law, the covenant, the Word God gave to His people, do not turn to the left or right from this. It’s not that we don’t need the law, that’s our standard, but why do people say they no longer need the law? Because we’re no longer under the authority of the law and we’re not able to keep the law.
What does it mean that Jesus Christ fulfilled the law? He kept the law perfectly, without sin. Now that we believe in Jesus Christ, God looks at us as if we kept the law, as sinless. In reality we do not have the ability to keep the law with our own strength, only the LORD can keep the law. That LORD is living within me as the Holy Spirit, guiding me in the direction of fulfilling that law.
The Word of the Law doesn’t disappear, even one letter. If anything, everything else fades away and the 10 Commandments remains. All the other laws of that age changed with the times. For example, the laws of sacrifice were finished on the cross, no need to sacrifice sheep and goats anymore, but the Ten Commandments are alive even today. Do not serve anything other than Christ. Even right now, the Ten Commandments regarding loving God and people is still in effect.
The beginning of problems is trying to keep the law by ourselves. When we say there’s no need to keep the law with our strength, we live in self-indulgence. If we’re within the Holy Spirit, we’re not within the law, and that’s why we must follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit. You otherwise live however you want. Mostly these people are those who just manipulate the gospel for their own convenience. They attack other people in an attempt to protect themselves, they don’t want to be bothered by anyone else, so they say, “It’s all finished, don’t bother me with legalism.”
If the Word of God is given to you, hold onto it in faith, “Okay, now I bet God is going to fulfill this.” It says, “Do not turn from it to the right or to the left,” meaning to follow the covenant. In any situation, there may be a left or right. For people who don’t have the covenant, the left and right go together as they do not have the covenant, but when we have the covenant, we can just follow the covenant.
The left and the right represent two sides to a story, but we follow the covenant. I don’t talk about politics because it would cause people to fight, it divides the left and the right. Nonbelievers acknowledge they need the other party so they make alliances even though it’s not the truth so they can go together. But the church is not a place we talk about that. People who don’t have the covenant will assert their own truth, the left or right. Some people think living in America is good or bad, and they speak from both sides, but the fact that you ask that question at all is foolish.
No matter where you are, follow God’s covenant. Some people ask, “Should I live in America or leave?” Just do what you need to do. You came to America because you wanted to, so why are you asking now? Just do what you want. Did you come to America because you asked someone? What I’m trying to tell you is, if you don’t have God’s covenant, whether you live here or somewhere else, it’s the same.
The future generations ask, “What shall I do in the future?” Just do things now in the present, but even if we have God’s covenant, but we’re not interested in that. But we’re interested in what to do, that’s what makes you fall into yourself. It’s not about you, but with the things God gave you, God fulfills His covenant. World evangelization is His covenant. If you do whatever work you’re doing to the best of your ability, God will reveal your talent and specialization.
Even to Joshua, God said, “You’re bound to stray to the right or left, so hold to the covenant.” Then is everything finished with these words? No, humans cannot finish it like this. The method for us to continue in this word is Joshua 1:8. “Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth.” Why? We keep saying words that have nothing to do with His covenant.
So, always have this book of the law on your mouth. The Jewish people memorized God’s word aloud because more than just memorizing something silently, saying it out loud will imprint it more quickly. The songs you know are not just in your brain, you sing them aloud as they’re connected. Even when you curse, it’s not just in your brain, but it’s on your mouth so you keep cursing.
Therefore, do not let the book of God’s Law depart from your mouth. Always have it there, meditate on it day and night. What is meditation? It means to very thoroughly grind this Word. On Saturday, I do meditation prayer with the youth. If the kids could do this on their own, I wouldn’t do this with them, but they cannot. They meditate very deeply on their worries, they meditate so deeply on whatever they want, and they look for methods to get it, but they don’t meditate on God’s Word.
That’s why even for Joshua, God told him to meditate on this Word of the law, and to never let it depart from his mouth, and to focus on it day and night. The reason is because the world does not have God’s covenant. Everything that comes into our thoughts and heart are things that do not have God’s covenant. That doesn’t just remain there but it gets imprinted into our brain. When that’s imprinted in us, that moves us and makes us completely far from God’s covenant.
Every day, from your mouth, for the remnants, I hope you will write down the word you’ve received every day on your desk. Read it. The kids are not able to meditate, that’s the age we’re in, so they’re seized by something else. That is the extent to which Satan has grasped the future generations. It’s not enough for them to just go to church. The age we’re in right now is controlled by Satan through transcendental meditation, so going to church is not enough.
Satan makes kids get their imprint, root, and nature into transcendental meditation in their everyday lives in the field, so it’s not enough to have kids come to church once. Because they come to church and listen for 20-30 minutes and they’re not concentrating at that time. Every other time, except for that time, they’re filled with things of the world, so they cannot come to life. The content on YouTube and the internet are constantly going into them.
Even before we had our phones, we had to go to a TV or computer, but now we can consume as we walk. Now, they come to church and do that out of habit. Even the church officers are on their phones as they are every other day. If they’re continuously on their phones, even in the church, then during the week it’s like that, too. Of course it will be hard, of course because they don’t have spiritual strength, things will keep happening. Because they don’t have spiritual strength, the older they get, the harder things become. That’s why we must meditate, imprinting God’s Word into ourselves.
God specifically gave this Word to Joshua, “I’ve already given you the land of Canaan.” They need to be careful to follow the Word, and they do not rely on themselves, but on the Word of God. The future of your children is within the covenant to save the 237 nations and the unreached tribes.
Joshua 1:9. This means there will be moments when we are terrified and afraid, not strong and courageous. Nonbelievers say, “Take a deep breath and go out in force,” but that’s not enough. Go out and be strong and courageous in God’s covenant. Do not be terrified or discouraged, meaning you will face terrifying and discouraging things, but because of the covenant, there’s no reason to be terrified or discouraged.
“The LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.” He is not just with you; He is fulfilling His mission through you. For future generations, He is with you because you are His children. But these kids live a life without any direction, and they have moments of fear, terror, and discouragement. God is with them but they don’t have a mission, so that’s why whatever region you are in, raise the bartizan that gives peace or rest.
The bartizan refers to a facility, and a bartizan is a person who has three things: The person who has the power of the throne of heaven through the 3, 9, 3, that is how you become the platform. Other people will know when they look at you because you have strength that comes from the throne of heaven, so you’re different. People will want to talk to you. But if you don’t have strength, what’s the point? Why would they be curious about you? They have no reason to go to you because they’re busy doing whatever they need to do. When are people interested in you? When you have spiritual strength, they will be drawn to you. You must have that platform.
The one who has the mission to shine the light. If you have no mission, and you sit blankly at your school or job, that’s nothing. You have to shine the light, there must be someone to shine the light of Christ. That’s what we call a watchman. What is a watchman? You must watch something, what? You must watch what God desires. If you’re watching what you want, that’s physical; watch what God wants.
Who are the prepared people to receive God’s gospel? Be there as you are watching this. Then once these people come, you need to heal them by allowing them to communicate with the Word of God. That is the antenna. Do not do this while wandering around, but in one location, raise people. This is what God told Joshua. In the region where you are, until the 70th region, raise this up. This is given to you as God’s covenant. God says, “I will do this.”
We think we understand these words, but when we’re told to raise the bartizan, we do not understand, but these are the same words. Back then and today, it’s the same, to break down the forces of darkness and establish God’s Kingdom in the place you live to save people. So, be courageous for God is with you. “I will give you the land you set on.” God will do the work wherever you step.
But if you don’t have God’s covenant but you only have greed and step around to get more land, that is not the covenant. The works of faith must arise. For church officers, you yourselves must be that bartizan and watchtower in one region. If you want to give influence through your business, I hope you will raise the watchtowers to save the 70 regions through your business. If you just listen to these words and pass by them, it’s irrelevant to you. If you receive this Word, edit it into you. Then you must plan that in your field through prayer. Then you have to actually go into your field to design it. That is how Word, Prayer, and Evangelism go as one.
If you’re just receiving the Word, that’s nothing. You have to edit it and then plan it, it means you draw for the field. Stop praying unnecessary prayers but hold to the covenant and pray about how to draw the field, like a building. Once you have that plan, you can go into the field and design it, then everything you’ve planned can be put into practice. May you have this blessing.
Prayer
Let us pray together holding onto the Word we have received. “God, even though I don’t have 70 regions, may I be the bartizan in the region I am, and allow me to find people like this in the field.” Let us pray.
Second, let us pray together for Sedona. There’s the student in prison in Sedona right now. If we give our offering as bail, he will be released in one year. He shot a very evil man and this has happened before. So, God’s will in all of this is for the evangelism movement. There are many people to help, but that is God’s will. The bail is $5000 and I would like our church to give all of that. We even give two thousand dollars to the synod every year. That’s what I would do. We need to raise up that one remnant. God, please bless Moses to raise up the Sedona evangelism movement.
April 20-24 is the World Missionary Conference. Let us pray for that. I believe that is a time where all the people with the covenant of 237 nations can gather together, then may God do the work in the 237 nations.
Let us pray for the region, especially for Yakima. When people give the representative prayer, please also include Yakima as they are within the covenant, worshiping with us. Through the disciples there, God fulfills the multiethnic and remnant evangelism movement. Just like we’re talking about with Sedona, there needs to be a bartizan there. The announcements I give you now are prayer topics that receive answers, so you need to listen to the announcements well to receive answers. These are direct answers you receive. Let us pray for Yakima, and let us pray for God to raise up the bartizan in each missions field and in the regions we live.
Our next prayer topic is for the golden fishing grounds. Right now, we are praying for the law school, USC, and CSUN. Also, Kohyang middle and high school. Kids at Larchmont meet up in the Starbucks on 6th, so even this isn’t random. There’s also the hispanic family with four kids who come on Sunday and the people they’ve evangelized to. They do the Upper Room meeting on Monday and Tuesday with Camren and Naysay so they can do the evangelism movement with newcomers.
Being centered on people in the field is the fastest way. Of course, we work with people in the church, but if we focus on people in the field who do the evangelism movement, that’s the fastest way to raise them up. God is also moving in La Palma in the OC region. There are a few members of the church there, so let us pray for the bartizan to be raised.
May you have victory throughout the week. Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the unending love of God, and the indwelling, working, guidance, and communion of the Holy Spirit, be upon all the heads of all the people of God, the people of all nations, and the remnants, who desire to raise up the bartizan of rest, be upon their studies and their businesses, be with us from now until forevermore always, amen.