Prosper

Alright, are y'all ready? I hope you're ready. Because I'm going to launch our year, one of our words for the year. I said one because we landed on two.

I started, I thought it was going to be a Christmas word by behold, but then we were talking more about it and this word, Prosper also was put on my heart and then Pastor Fred was like, he's like, is there a verse with both of them in it? I was like, I don't think so, I looked and he found one. Come on, so. So I launched Behold and I'm going to start on Prosper today just to lay a foundation.

And we're probably just going to carry this throughout the year. Come on, because we need to see, right? We need to behold the Father, amen? And that he's a good Father and that we will prosper, amen?

You're not convinced. Do you believe that you'll prosper? Let's go, we serve a good God, amen? Alright, come on, it's going to be a great day.

I'm excited, I love to kick off the new year, because I just think it's an awesome time. It's excitement, right? There's exciting things that you got to look forward to. It's a new year, but I think the new year always brings questions, right?

It always just brings a lot of questions. I think some people are excited for what's ahead, I'm one of them. I think some people, they're still carrying the weight of what's behind or what ended in 2025, amen? Although I always feel like I hear people be like, oh, thank God that year's over.

Right, but come on, every year brings something good, amen? Come on, but the reality is, is that there is people that's holding on to things from the past or carrying those things. And then some, I believe, are standing right in the middle asking God, hey, what now? Like, what's next, right?

Because every year it brings some challenges. Chapters close every year. Doors open every year. And things change, amen?

Everyone say amen, come on, because things change. But I want to start by saying that doesn't mean that God stops speaking or moving. Just because things change. Just because things come to an end.

It doesn't mean that he stops speaking or moving. And what I want to start to pitch today is that I believe that sometimes what it actually means is that God's trying to move us forward. Right, things have to come to an end before we can move forward, amen? All right, and he calls us to be a people that walk with him into what's next.

See, I'd like to say that we're not just starting a new year. I believe that we're starting a new direction. Come on, some people are excited. Some people are like, I don't know.

Come on, we're starting in a new direction. And we're stepping into this new year with the word prosper. Now I want to just go ahead and some people are excited. Come on.

But I want to talk about prosper. And when I do say prosper, I'm not talking about just comfort or ease. I'm also not talking about a prosperity version of the gospel. We are talking about moving forward successfully in what God is calling us to.

But I do want to say this. I want to say this church. I do believe in prosperity. Amen.

Don't let me lose you. I do believe in prosperity. I believe we serve a God of increase. Increase was our word a couple years ago.

So I do believe that. And it's all throughout scripture. And I think some people get uncomfortable with that, which that's OK. But the reality is, is that also when you hear prosperity, you hear financial.

You hear financial increase. Some people doing it turns them off. I want to say that money is not the goal. But it can be a tool, amen?

And when it's in the right hands, it can be used for kingdom advancement. I do not put, saying I believe in prosperity. I do not put money in front of God. But I also refuse to limit what God can do.

Prosper is not about chasing money. Amen. But it's about staying in line with God and trusting Him with the increases that He chooses to bring. Shoo.

We don't like that. But I'm telling you something right now. You better be OK because here's what I believe. I just want to understand the foundation.

I believe that we serve a God that can do all things. All things. And some of those things we worry about are small pieces of the pie to the big God that we serve. Amen?

Come on. So we're talking when we say prosper, I want you to know that we're talking about moving forward successfully and what God has called on us to. Everyone say, now. This is the year, church, to walk where God is leading us, to build what He is establishing, and to send what He is releasing.

Can I get an amen? We're not going to hold on to the past this year, and we're not rushing the future. We're going to do what God's doing right now. Amen?

We are going to hold on to what God is doing right now. We are going to prosper. And here's how I believe we do it by obeying God, trusting His direction and moving forward as He moves. Amen?

Come on. If you got your Bibles turned to Joshua, I'm so excited to jump into this. We're going to be in chapter one. I'm going to read verses one through nine, and we're going to make some points, but I see this is a great place to launch, and it gives us, I think scripture here shows us what prosper is and what prosper means.

And so if you're there, say I'm there. If you're not, you can check the screen back there. Listen, this is the year we bring our Bibles to church. Amen?

That's how we prosper. Start now. Yeah. Look at that.

Starting in verse one, Joshua chapter one. After the death of Moses, the Lord's servant, the Lord spoke to Joshua, son of none, Moses's assistant. He said, Moses, my servant is dead, therefore, the time he has come for you to lead these people, the Israelites across the Jordan River into the land I am giving them. I promise you what I promise Moses, wherever you set foot, you will be on land I have given you.

From the negave wilderness into the south of Lebanon mountains in the north, for the Euphrates River in the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the west, including all the land of the Hittites. No one, say no one, will be able to stand against you as long as you live, for I will be with you as I was with Moses. Are you thankful that we serve a God that's with us? Shoo.

I will not fail you or abandon you. Verse six, be strong and courageous. For you are the one who will lead these people to possess all the land I swore to their ancestors, I would give them. Be strong and very courageous.

Be careful, say be careful. Well, you struggle with that one, be careful. Be careful. Shoo.

To obey. All the instructions Moses gave you. Do not deviate from them, turning either to the right or to the left. Then you will be successful in everything you do.

Study this book of instruction continually. Meditate it on it day and night. So you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Say only then.

Amen. Will you prosper and succeed in all you do? This is my command, be strong and courageous. Here's our word.

Do not be afraid. Come on, we talked about fear, amen? We see it pop up again. Do not be afraid or discouraged.

For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Amen. Can someone say amen? Shoo.

I want to read the New King James Version real quick. Verse seven and eight. It says, 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 the left that you may prosper wherever you go.

This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night. How many meditate day and night? Ooh, we caught you on that one day night. 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. I wanted to use that so you could see the translation there. That you make your way prosperous and then we'll have, not just success, but this says good success.

Amen. Shoo Father, I thank you for your word. I thank you that it will lead us to success and lead us into prosperity. That we will be able to grow in everything that you've called us into and that we would be successful in it, Father, if we would just pay attention to your word and your instructions.

So we thank you for who you are. And the church said, amen. All right, I want to start off by saying, in Joshua 1, 7, and 8, we're going to see where God begins to build on one connected thought here. In verse 7, he says, God tells Joshua to obey carefully and says, then you will prosper, which that word also means be successful in everything you do.

Some translations like we read there says wherever you go. Then in verse 8, he says, for then you will make your way prosperous and you will have good success in verse 8. What's awesome and powerful about that is that the word prosper in verse 7 and the word success in verse 8 are the same exact word. They're the same word.

Prosper equals success. It says in verse 7 that you will prosper, you will have success. And then in verse 8, it follows up, it says you'll be prosperous and then you'll have good success. Two words, same word that's being used there.

And that word in verse 7, it means to act wisely. To have insight, to live with understanding, to have success. In the word in verse 8, God adds another word, prosperous. Right in the middle of it, it carries the idea of advancing or moving forward making progress.

I don't think y'all got it. Did y'all get it? Like, come on. God's not repeating himself.

He's building on something. He said in the foundation that verse 7 establishes wise obedience, say wise obedience. In verse 8 repeats that connection between wisdom and success and then it adds forward progress. Like, come on somebody.

This is going to be good. So God gives the command to move. We read it that the go. My servant is dead, rise and go.

He gives a command to move. But in it, he also emphasizes wisdom twice before Joshua ever mobilizes people. I think there's something we got to catch here, church. I think we're seeing that progress without wisdom, it'll just lead to speed and momentum but not success.

Shoo, wee. What am I saying? Forward motion without wisdom is just motion. I think what we see is that God values how we move more than how fast we move.

He cares about how we move church. A lot of us like to get there fast. We like to go, we like to go, go, go. And we think if we're running and we're speeding and we're moving fast that we're actually moving.

But if we're not successful in how we're moving, then guess what? We're just moving at a fast pace for no reason. Come on. Do you see what's happening here?

We have to move strategically. We got to move with wisdom. Because that's how we're going to prosper. Oh my goodness.

I'm getting excited, y'all. God's saying, as you walk wisely in my word, you will move forward and you will move forward successfully. I hope that we see that it's not just about moving forward. Are you moving forward successfully?

That's the goal here. And I think that's why part of this for our church and what God has in this new year for us as a church is that we'd be successful in what we're doing. That we would grow, that we would prosper, that we wouldn't just do a bunch of things and run into the new year without strategy or without wisdom. Because that's just going to lead into just continuing on.

Without everything that we do, we'd move wisely so we can be successful. Amen? Sure, I hope you're excited today. Say prosper.

If you didn't write this down, write it down. Prosper means moving forward successfully and what God has called us to now. What God has called us to now. I think I'll put it up there.

First point I would like to make, I'm on my first point's 11.06. I got Tom. I'm keeping you guys here all day now. Prosper does not always mean comfort.

It means progress. Prosper does not always mean comfort, but it means progress. Verse one, it says, "'After the death of Moses, the Lord said to Joshua, "'Now therefore arise, did you guys catch that? "'After the death of Moses.'" Church, that's not a small detail that started with.

That's the entire context. After the death of Moses, Moses is dead. Do you realize how big of a shock that would have been to them at that time? That's a season that ended, amen?

He's dead, something ended. A chapter, important chapter just closed. But what does God do that we see here? He speaks.

He keeps speaking. He doesn't stop speaking. He says, "'Now therefore, because of that, arise and go.'" That's the first thing I want you to know about prosper. Prosper does not mean nothing ended.

Things have to end sometimes for things to begin and things to move forward. Also means that God will keep speaking after something ends. Sometimes things end, massive things end, and I feel like we think God stopped speaking, but he doesn't, he keeps speaking. Now therefore go.

He's saying, "'Hey, don't camp out here, Joshua. "'This has to continue. "'You gotta keep moving, don't freeze, don't freeze up. "'Don't live looking back.

"'This season did end.'" Listen, 2025 in a couple days is gonna be in the history books. But guess what? 2026 is full of opportunities of God's kingdom advancing. And guess what?

We're not gonna prosper in it church. If we're gonna keep being stuck in order to keep looking back in order to keep wondering and saying, "'Hey, but in 2025, no, how about 2026, arise now go." There's things that I promise that you can lay a hold of if you will continue to go. Don't freeze, don't camp. We gotta go.

God still leads, and he will always lead even when a season or something ends. Some things we love are behind us. Some things that happened in 2025 are now behind us. But I wanna say too that some things that God is birthing is ahead of us.

And are you excited for what God's doing and gonna do? Come on, you can't see right now what God's doing if you're looking behind you. We gotta keep moving forward. You listen, you don't prosper by being stuck.

You gotta keep moving. Don't get stuck in what was. We gotta move forward into what God is doing right now. I'm gonna say it one more time because I want you to get this idea that prosper means we move forward successfully.

And what God is calling us to right now. Not yesterday, not last season, not the four years of high school if anyone's stuck there. I'm joking, I'm just having some fun, but come on, right? Don't we get stuck in the past?

We can't prosper that way, church. We can't prosper. The second thing I wanna say is that prosper is tied to obedience, not outcomes. That's what that says, I don't know why it's cut off.

That's things stuck in the past. It says prosper is tied to obedience not outcomes. Joshua, 178, only be strong and very courageous that you may prosper wherever you go. I love this because God does not tell Joshua how the story will turn out completely.

But he does tell him how to walk. He doesn't promise him an easy road either. I'm just thinking about Joshua and he's hearing from the Lord and the person that he was following Moses, he now said, my servant Moses is dead. Could you imagine that church?

I'd be like, well, I wanna die too then. Like, what do we do? Right? But he has to pick up.

And he has to walk from there. And what I love in it is what he does is he gives him the instruction. He says, if you obey this, you will be successful in it. Like, come on church, do you read it like that?

If you walk into obedience to the Lord, he promises success. But come on, it's as simple as obey in his word. He says, you will prosper and have good success. Shh, well, I don't know what to do.

Be obedient. See, we don't like these words, but it gives us clear direction here in scripture of how to be prosper and find success. And it says obey. Verse seven starts.

Be careful to obey. Come on. If you're careful to do this, our God promises success. And the path that he's gonna walk, that's gonna be challenging.

But he says, it'll be a successful one. Someone needs to hear that today. You might be looking at 2026 like, I'm not ready for it. But the Lord says, if you'll be obedient and you'll follow me, you'll have a successful path in 2026.

Amen? Shh, it's not about comfort. It's not about ease. Here's what Prospers definitely not about.

Everything going my way. Because if I had to guess, Joshua would not have been like, hey, this is how I want it to go. But guess what he did? He obey.

And guess what our God did? He comforted him. So before things don't go your way, is it are you being obedient to the word though? And what God spoke?

It might not always go your way. It's not always gonna look easy. It's not always gonna look comfortable. But Prospers, and walking in to being prosperous, is the fruit of the lining with God and his word.

I think we see that here in scripture that we're reading, that Prospers is not measured by what you see. Here it's measured by whether you obey or not. I feel like there could be some people in this room that your life might not be prospering with the Lord because are you obeying what he's asking you to? Have you been obedient to what he's spoken?

My heart today is not to beat you up. My heart is to encourage you that, hey, there is a simple formula that we're seeing right here in scripture that leads to a prosperous and a successful life. And it's being obedient to walking with the Lord. I know that's not it.

This left side's excited. Y'all are asleep over here. Like, come on, amen. It promises a prosperous and successful if we're obedient.

Man, prospering is not about what you gain. It's about are you walking where God told you to walk? Sometimes we walk if we are promised gain, right? Or if we're promised something on the other side, then I'll do it.

That's a my way attitude. Yeah, if that's gonna be the outcome, yeah, I'll do it. But prosperity comes as you obey and you start walking and what God's called you to walk in. That's pretty exciting.

Maybe not to everyone, but that's exciting to me. See, because I realized studying this that you can do impressive things and not prosper. Then I also looked at it and seen that you can walk faithfully through transition and all kinds of things and you can prosper in a deep way. You can do super impressive things and not prosper.

But you can also be obedient and faithful in your walk going through transition and different things and prosper. If that doesn't excite you, church, I don't know what will. See this year, we're not gonna chase outcomes. Because if we chase outcomes, we're gonna get what we're chasing.

It's not about that. But if we choose to be obedient, we see here that obedience, what follows obedience is prosperity. Are you getting the picture yet? This is how prosperity is produced for obedience.

And it promises it if we will walk in it. Church, let this year be the year that our yes really means yes. That we don't just say yes to say it, but we say yes because we mean it because we understand it's gonna align us with the word of God and he's gonna lead us into the successful promises that he has given to us and all we have to do is follow him and listen to what he says. I get it, you're not excited yet.

This is week one, y'all. We got a couple weeks of this, it's gonna be great. It says, do not deviate from them turning either to the right or to the left. And we see this to the right or to the left.

We see this throughout scripture. And a lot of times this is referring to remaining faithful to God's instruction without deviating from it. Anybody have trouble with that? No, yeah, I didn't think so.

We're all super holy in here. We don't deviate from God's instruction, right? But it says, remaining faithful. It says, do not deviate.

Do not turn to the left or to the right. What I wanna say here, and I believe that God's not warning Joshua about direction changes as much as he is focusing on the instructional faithfulness that he's calling him to. We focus so much on the, do not turn to the left or to the right. We focus on the left or the right.

But I think he's drawing the point to the instructions that's already been given and saying, will you be faithful to this? I'm pointing you to the faithfulness of the instruction that I've already given. Not making the point of, well, it says, everyone says, do not turn to the left or to the right. That's fine, but if you're saying that you're missing, that it's saying it's drawing you to, will you be faithful to the instructions?

Faithful to what God's already spoken to. He doesn't need to give you another word. He's already given you a word. Some people, he's given a word that you're just not walking out.

You've deviated to either the left or to the right. But if you will draw back to the faithfulness of the instruction, the understanding what God gave you and how important it is and if you walk in it, you'll find success. You will prosper. You're not prospering because you went to the left.

You're not prospering because you went to the right. But he's drawing you back into will you just be faithful with the instruction that I've given you? Shoo, wee. We're seeing that the promise of prosperity, it's connected directly to careful obedience, consistency, and staying centered what God has already said.

You can't move forward, right? If God's already spoken to a word and you're stuck, you can't move forward if you're looking back or you're asking Him to give me another word, if you're doing all this. See, the goal is to right now get yourself back in alignment with what was spoken to walk in that and that's how you're gonna continue. So if you're stuck today, I'm gonna challenge you.

Maybe listen to the word or look back at the word that the Lord has spoken and get yourself back in alignment with how to walk in what He's called you to. And I believe that some people are gonna get unstuffed today. You're not convinced. You're gonna get unstuck if you come back into alignment with the word that the Lord has already spoken and you're faithful to follow the instructions that the Lord gave you.

Shoo, we gotta stay connected to what God's spoken. We see that prosper does not come, bless you. Prosper does not come from adjusting God's word to fit your moment. I'll say it one more time.

It's not gonna come if you're trying to adjust God's word to fit the moment that you're in. It's gonna come by walking steady, trusting the Lord and what He's spoken. That's where you're gonna find the prosperous journey that's promised if we'll walk in it. We see that nowhere does God tell Joshua that it's found in innovation.

If Joshua, it's not found in innovation, it's not found in the outcome, but in faithful obedience, it's always gonna flow from staying in line with what God has already spoken. I understand you're hearing me repeat this a lot because I want you to get it. It's about staying in line with the Lord and what He's already spoken. Some people like to add to it, that's not what He's asking you to do.

It's not asking you to add to it. He's not asking you to take from it. And He's certainly not calling you to drift away from it. He's asking you to stay in line with it.

Cause that's how it happens, staying in alignment. I believe that some people have deviated from the word the Lord has spoken over their life and that this year is not gonna be a year about creating something new. For some people it's just gonna be about realigning with what God's already spoken. To catch you up and get you in to what He's got for you.

A lot of times we just wanna, all right, that one's over. 20, 25's over. Give me a fresh word God. Give me a fresh word.

And He's like you didn't carry the one last year. The word I have waiting for you, if you carry that one, is gonna lead to the new one. Shoo, come on. Amen.

We gotta quit deviating church. And this is not for everybody. I don't know who you are, but I believe it's for some people. And as you realign, you will prosper.

Because that's what it does. It comes from being aligned with the Father in His word. And prosper requires movement. Joshua 1, 2, and 3 says, arise.

Go over this Jordan. Every place, say every place. Your footsteps. Church, I don't know if you understand how big our God is.

It says every place, your footsteps. Every place. I don't care where you're at. You have the ability to prosper in every place that your foot is gonna step or where you stand.

And if you understand that, I look at it like that. If everywhere that I'm at, and I'm just living obedient aligns with the Lord, everything is gonna be prosperous because my feet and everywhere that I go, He promises me that. You grab ahold of the promises of the Lord. Every place.

I'm so glad I serve a every place type of God. Not just some places, but it says every place. That's like, I love how practical God is. I think a lot of times here's what we do.

We somehow read this as if God isn't giving us the straight answer. And here's what we do, you ready? I just need to pray about it. What I'm not talking against is prayer.

I believe in prayer. I believe we should be in prayer at all times, but I also know God's speaking at all times. And I also know us as people, God will tell us things and give us direction to do things, but we'll need another word and say, let me just pray about it. And guess what?

That's not doing. You're not prospering there. Why? Because He said, arise therefore and go.

And you said, not yet. Let me pray about it. And then you're like, where's the answer, Lord? I don't hear God.

I feel like He's gone silent. And the Lord's like, it's like, how many different ways can you say go? You know what I mean? How many different languages do you need or what do you need for go?

If you trust me and you go, you'll be successful. I already gave you the command. There's a lot of people that God has given commands to, but you don't trust Him. Because if you did, you wouldn't question Him.

And you would go. Because He wants to comfort us too. He doesn't just say, go and you'll find out what happens. He says, go and you will be successful.

My goodness gracious. I'm just not ready yet. If y'all, if I had a dollar, give me a penny. I'll shave it down to a penny.

For every time I heard, well, I don't feel like I'm ready yet. God never asks us to be ready. There's some time, sure. But there's a lot of times He's saying, hey, go, you're gonna be successful and you're gonna find out.

But I'm just not ready yet. I don't feel like the Lord has released me yet. He's not released me yet. So I'm just gonna sit and wait.

And then you see that person five years later, you're like, hey, how's that going? I don't know. I mean, I'm still being faithful. And I'm like, do you not understand the God that we serve?

He's not a God that's gonna just leave you hanging. That if you follow His word and you obey it, you'll be prosserver. He's a God of increase. His nature, this is who He is.

It's not just sit there for years upon years and God's just building up His power to be able to do a miracle in your life. It just takes some of us just being obedient to the word that the Lord spoke. And if we understand that, hey, I don't have to feel comfortable. I don't have to be completely ready.

It don't have to be completely easy. Cause my God promised me that if I go, I will prosper and be successful. I got one person in here that I think gets it today. And that's okay.

We'll run into this new year excited about what God's gonna do. And maybe some people in here are just like, man, I need to rely on. The prosperity does not come to those people who wait for the perfect clarity. My servant Moses is dead.

It's now on you to arise and go and take my people into the land that I promised them. Like that's a task church. I don't think Joshua was like, hey, all right, God, I need you to tell me, like, tell me, give me the address so I can put it in my GPS. And let me fill my car up with gas.

Let me get my coffee. Let me have the right setting to where I feel comfortable to go on this long journey that Christ has called me into. He trusted God. Like, I have to believe, cross this Jordan.

This is starting great. You know what I mean? I gotta cross this place. Like, when we read this, do we understand?

And do we grab ahold of the words that the Lord speaks to his people that when he says, hey, go, just know, as you go, you don't have to be afraid. Cause I'm gonna be with you. Don't be afraid. I think another thing of tackling fear is understanding that the Lord is with you.

Wherever you go. Don't be afraid. Don't wait for the perfect clarity. Cause it comes to people that move in faith.

That's what it requires. God doesn't need to speak again to some people. We're asking him for another word, and he's saying, well, I just need obedience to the word already spoken. We don't need to be completely comfortable.

To prosper, and if you desire to prosper, it'll require you to walk forward with God. Because the lot of this time we think that we're walking alone. But I guarantee you, if I just had to guess that the Lord spoke to Joshua and all he needed to hear is that I will be with you. And he was probably like, all right, let's go.

And some people just need to know, the Lord is with you, you're not walking alone. I will be with you everywhere that you go. Some people just want comfort, but God's saying, I just need you to have courage. That's what it's gonna take.

Remove comfort and grab ahold of courage. And I'll walk you into this. Even when it feels unfamiliar, we have to know that God is walking forward with us. If you will walk, if you will listen, if you will build where God tells you the build, and if you will send where God tells you that something needs sent, and you'll release what God's doing, you will move, but you won't just move.

You will move, and God will prosper your steps. If church, I can't do nothing better. Like any, I'm just reading the words that the Lord has spoke and what he promises. And this is gonna be our declaration for the here church.

Joshua 1-9, be strong and courageous. Say be strong and courageous. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. I believe this with my whole heart.

Is that if we will make this year, not about just trying to hype up and feel good and say these things, but if we'll partner, it's gonna be a hype fun year, it always is. But if you will partner with God, and you'll make this about being strong and courageous, knowing that the Lord is with you, and everything that you do and we do as a church, and we don't make it about the pressure or pretending like, yeah, but we really partner with it. It's about partnership this year. God will lead us into what he's promised.

I believe this church. As we obey, he will lead us into what he has promised and we will prosper. It's not gonna happen by staying still, looking back. It's only gonna come if we'll walk forward with him and trust him.

Be strong and courageous. This year we will be prosperous. We will move forward successfully, say successfully, and what God is calling us to now. Will you make this the declaration of your life this year?

I want to move successfully church. I don't know about you. I know I've moved a lot. Even in 2025, if I'm honest, I've moved a lot, but I haven't moved successfully.

Now's the time that we set aside all the distractions and we grab a hold and we get in alignment with the Lord, so he can take us and prosper us successfully in all that we do for his kingdom.