The Courage To Claim God’s Promises! (Sermon Audio)

This is the audio from the August 21, 2022 sermon, “The Courage To Claim God’s Promises: The Time Is NOW!”, shared by Tom Lemler at the Deer Run Church of Christ.

Text: Joshua 13 – 19, 2 Peter 1:3-8

Even when enemies are defeated through the power of Christ in us, there is still a time for us to claim the promises of God. That time is . . .

Necessary. Joshua 18:1-3, 2 Peter 1:3-4
- Even after the enemies of Israel were defeated, there was still a need, a necessity, for the people to go out and claim the land God had promised them. In a similar fashion, while the spiritual enemy has been defeated by Jesus, we still must claim His eternal promises as our own. He has given us everything we need for a life of godliness through His great promises but we are still left with a choice regarding how we respond to those promises. We live with the courage to claim God’s promises when we realize how necessary He is to all that is good in life.
Obedient. Joshua 18:8-9, 2 Peter 1:5-7
- When Joshua addresses the people of Israel after the battles had been won, it appears to me that the people were sitting back and waiting for God to simply hand them what He had promised without any effort of obedience on their part. It is through obedience to God and the instructions He gave through Joshua that the people find there is still work to be done by them in receiving what God had promised. When it comes to us, God says that His precious promises produce their work in us when our obedience causes the spiritual growth in increasing measure. We live with the courage to claim God’s promises when we respond in obedience to all of His instructions.
Worth It. Joshua 19:51, 2 Peter 1:8
- After the lengthy battles and the understanding of what it looks like to claim God’s promises, the people of Israel eventually received what they had longed for and each tribe had a place of their own within the promised land. I suspect that they, like us, had times when they wondered if all they were doing was worth it . . . and they finally received the answer that yes, it was. When we claim the promises that are actually of God from His Word rather than the ones we make up on our own, we can be confident that the result will be worth it. We live with the courage to claim God’s promises when we look to the future and know it is worth it.