Charlton Heston or John Derek?

It seems like Moses gets all the press. There have been several movies about Moses, the most famous being the Ten Commandments with Charlton Heston as Moses. It was such a huge movie, that other actors and even cartoons that tell the story of Moses are based on the version that Mr. Heston made famous.

In the movie, John Derek plays Joshua. John who? John Derek. More famously known as the late husband of Bo Derek, John did a great job portraying Joshua, and as much as I do like Moses, Joshua in my book is just huge!

There is so much in the first five chapters of Joshua that I read the other day, that I don't know where to begin. Even though Moses took the children of Israel to the Promised Land, it was Joshua who "took" the Promised Land and made it the Nation of Israel.

What was the secret of Joshua's success?

I think it is found in the very first chapter of the book of Joshua.

In verses 7 & 8 the Lord says to Joshua, "Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be SUCESSFUL wherever you go. Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; mediated on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written it."

Joshua found the "key" to success. It was paying attention to the Word of God to the point of not straying to the left or to the right. You see, where we blow it is that we are always trying to see how close to the edge we can get. We're always trying to push the limits. We're always trying to see how close to the fire we can get and not get burned.

Joshua got the narrow road thing. He understood that if he wanted to be accomplish what his mission was in life He could not be distracted by what was outside of the "lines". He could not stray to the right or to the left.

He also knew that all that he needed for success was found in the Word of God. He wasw told to meditate on it day and night. He was told to not let it depart from his mouth. What did that mean?

Simply, it meant this: When he got up in the morning he was in the Word. During the day he was dwelling on or thinking about the Word. Sometime before the end of the night, he was back in the Word. It also meant he talked about the Word. He quoted the Word. The Word came out freely and casually from his mouth, becasue it was a part of him. He didn't forget what it said, but had it ever ready to spring from his lips.

Today, we are in danger of raising a culturally relevant, technologicaly savvy, contemporary church, that is filled with biblically illiterate people.

We know the culture, we know the gadgets, we've read all the books on church growth, we've gone to the seminars, attended the confrences, bought the t-shirt, but the Book still is only read during church if even that.

We in America have had several "Moses" types pave the way for us in many of the great revivals of the past. What we are missing are the "Joshua" types that will "take the land" for the Lord.

And....someone needs to make a movie about Joshua!

Following Jesus, one step at a time,
Pastor Dave