Moses is Dead
mourning and sadness
Has someone ever stated the obvious to you? Like, hey did you know your shoes are red.
Well yes I did Einstein! Good deductive reasoning there Sherlock.
Kids are great at this, “You are wearing cowboy boots!”
But there is always something behind what they are saying, like “I have a pair too”
You just have to dig a little deeper for the meaning
Joshua 1:1-2New King James Version (NKJV)
After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, saying: 2 “Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them—the children of Israel.
God tells Joshua “Moses is dead” stating the obvious, but what was He really saying?
Joshua was stuck in a mindset that God needed him to change.
Moses was the greatest leader of the Israelites, he was given the law and commandments, he was given great miracles and powers, and now he was dead and Joshua had to follow in his footsteps; only God had something different for Joshua. God wanted Joshua to be Joshua, not to be Moses. Joshua’s calling was unique to him.
- God tells Joshua, Moses is dead. It’s time to stop grieving.
In order for Joshua to go forth and do what God was calling him to do, he needed to stop grieving over the past.
Moses is in the past. God gave Israel a certain number of days to grieve
Numbers 20:29 Now when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, all the house of Israel mourned for Aaron thirty days.
Deuteronomy 34:8 And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days. So the days of weeping and mourning for Moses ended.
Even Jewish people today still follow this law.
We are not under this Jewish law, but let’s look not at the letter of the law, but the spirit of the law-
YOU HAVE TO STOP MOURNING FOR YOUR PAST AT SOME TIME. Moses is dead!
Several years ago I had a women’s night where I taught on stopping grieving. You cannot mourn your past your whole life. There was a lady who got mad at me for teaching this. She was molested by her father and at the age of 60 was still angry and bitter, still hopping around from church to church, still hurting, never fully whole. She would not stop mourning her past.
When this happens, you fall into victim mode.
IF YOU LIVE IN VICTIM MODE YOUR WHOLE LIFE, YOU WILL ALWAYS BE A VICTIM and this is NOT scriptural. Scripture OVERWHELMING proclaims that we can conquer and overcome ANYTHING and EVERYTHING. Yes, ANYTHING and EVERYTHING
I realize at times in our life we were victims- I was a victim of child molestation- I had repressed memories, which is probably the reason I had such severe panic attacks in the twenties and thirties.
But when I came to be in Christ, I threw off my old man and I put on the new man.
2 Corinthians 5:17 [Full Chapter]
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
I became an overcomer. I became more than a conqueror.
Romans 8:31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written:
“For Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”[c]
37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
It is time to stop mourning
- Moses is dead, it’s time to move on. God has a work for you.
God had a big work for Joshua to do. He needed Joshua’s head to be in the right place in order to be victorious.
At some time (He knows how long you need to mourn), God is going to tell you to stop mourning your past. It is time to move on.
If you never stop mourning, you will never move on.
You will be stuck in that proverbial desert your whole life. My friend is still there.
God does not want you stuck in your proverbial desert of your mind mourning your past!
Your thinking has to change!!
Romans 12:1-2
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Notice that renewing our minds INCLUDES presenting our lives as a living sacrifice. The two go hand in hand.
You will never change your mind if you have surrendered to the Lord.
First surrender, then you can work on renewing the mind.
Why must the mind be renewed?
Proverbs 23:7 [Full Chapter]
For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. “Eat and drink!” he says to you, But his heart is not with you.
Your actions will follow your thought life. The mind is powerful.
Ex: lets say today you started a no sugar diet. However, if all day long you have been thinking about eating ice cream after dinner, guess what? After dinner you will end up eating ice cream. I read this fitness book and the author talked about how he began to see food differently. He would eat something bad for him and think the whole time, “this is bad” and then eat something healthy and think “this is good” he did that for months until it got deep into him.
Have you ever read the effects of placebos? cancer studies. You can actually will yourself to feel good, therefore you can will yourself to feel sick
HERE IS THE TRUTH: You will be victorious over the things that you set your mind to be victorious over.
Satan plays in your mind. It’s a battle field. You must learn to recognize the lies of the enemy, cast out those lies and then replace them with God’s Word.
This will be incredibly difficult if you do not KNOW God’s Word!
THIS IS A LIFELONG BATTLE. I don’t think people realize that you will have to fight this battle as long as you live in the flesh. Even Joshua had to be reassured by God’s Word.
Move on, there is a work for you to do!
God needs you to recognize that it’s time to move.
- Moses is dead, God is doing something new.
Joshua’s calling was not the same as Moses. Why? Because Joshua was a different man than Moses.
Moses was meek; Joshua was a warrior. They were both great leaders, but had completely different missions and different styles of leading.
You are different from others therefore your calling is not the same as another’s.
I have never seen God use two people in the exact same way!
God wants to do something new in your life. He makes you unique from others. You have different thought processes, different views and actions. You are DIFFERENT.
God wants to use you, but do not expect it to look the same as another ‘s ministry.
God is doing something new, do not expect it to look like the same way He did last time.
Joshua and the Israelites had to be warriors now, not the grumblers and complainers of their fathers.
Ex: when we started the church, we for a few years tried to do it like other churches- Ps Matt preached sermon series- who remembers Rocky? We tried doing what our old pastor was doing, but God wanted to do something new and different because Ps Matt is a different leader than his old pastor
God does not make cookie cutter people. God wants to do something NEW in your life!
We are coming into a new season, embrace the new. God constantly works in the “new”
Isaiah 43:19 [Full Chapter]
Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness And rivers in the desert.
God is raising up Joshua’s that are ready and willing to go out and take down the giants in Jesus’ name!
Let HIM work in your life. Do not fight against it.
I can remember after I was saved, trying to go back and fix my past, or even in parts try to relive it and put it back together but God said, “NO! Moses is dead! I am doing something new!”
- Moses is dead, God is with YOU!
God wanted Joshua to know that He would be with him just like He was with Moses.
Joshua 1:5 No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you. 6 Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. 7 Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. 8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe 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 of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
The Lord wants you to know that whatever He has called you to do- HE WILL GO WITH YOU!
God never leaves you alone to go and do it yourself. He equips you. He strengthens you.
Are you afraid?
Do it afraid! Step out of the boat! God is with you!
You will never know what God is able to do through you if you do not step out of the boat!
