Entering Your Promised Land: Be Strong, Be Courageous and Observe to Do

Entering your promised land means more than being set free. It means choosing to live by what God says instead of by the patterns of this world. In this message the speaker revisits Israel’s escape from Egypt, shows how a freed people kept a bondage mindset, and then walks through God’s charge to Joshua to be strong and of good courage and to observe to do everything written in His word.

The heart of the teaching is commitment: salvation is the start, and the promised land is entered by believers who become doers of the word, not hearers only. Below are the full video, a structured summary, the Scriptures linked to the New King James Version on Bible Gateway, a timestamped outline and practical steps for this week.

Sermon at a Glance

This message was preached at NTC Ministries in Merrill, Wisconsin, and posted on May 24, 2022. It runs about 53 minutes and closes with communion. The speaker explains that he had shared on entering the promised land a month or so earlier, and that there is much more to say, so this message picks up the same theme and moves it toward commitment.

He opens by praying that God would expand the church’s ability to receive and help them know His voice. His thesis is simple: the promised land is entered by people who choose to be strong in the word.

Out of Egypt, Short of the Promised Land

The speaker retells the exodus in what he calls the Reader’s Digest version. When God told Moses to free His people, Moses offered every excuse, including that he stuttered, yet he went. Pharaoh refused, and the Israelites, who had been praying for freedom, thought their hopes were shattered. It took plague after plague before Pharaoh let them go.

His point is that God was not playing, and He is not playing with us either. We are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14), and because God loves us, He is relentless in His pursuit of us. He is committed to helping us, blessing us and seeing great increase in our lives.

That is why, he says, the church is taught that we are in this world but not of it (John 17:14–16). The world wants us to conform to its feelings and patterns, but we belong to the kingdom of heaven, and that is where we are to live now, not one day in the sweet by and by. All the promises of God in Christ are yes and amen (2 Corinthians 1:20).

If we live by the cares of this world, life becomes a roller coaster. God’s word says instead that we are the head and not the tail, above only and not beneath (Deuteronomy 28:13), and that He who is in us is greater than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4). We still deal with work, family and neighbors, but entering your promised land means living kingdom minded in the middle of it.

At the Red Sea, with Pharaoh’s army behind them, the Israelites panicked. Moses raised his staff, and the sea parted so they crossed on dry ground (Exodus 14:21–22). They were finally free, yet they kept a bondage mentality, as if this was not really what God had for them. They began to murmur, and that generation never reached the promised land.

Thanksgiving Instead of Grumbling

In his earlier message, the speaker says, he spent much of the time on the words of our mouth, because that is exactly where Israel went wrong. God tells us that in everything we are to give thanks, for this is His will in Christ Jesus (1 Thessalonians 5:18).

He is careful about what that means. He does not thank God for sickness, a lost job or a broken relationship. He thanks God that in the middle of those things, God is his source of strength, provision and peace.

That takes commitment. We can pray the sinner’s prayer, but repent, he explains, simply means change: stop doing what was not working. Without Christ there is no hope, but with Him we know our future, because He was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities (Isaiah 53:5). We do not fight for victory; we fight from it.

So when grumbling thoughts come, he rebukes them, and he distances himself from people stuck in complaining, because Scripture says to come out from among them and be separate (2 Corinthians 6:17). Things in life will hurt. Jesus said we would have tribulation in the world, but to be of good cheer (John 16:33).

How? By answering each attack with what the word says. When fear creeps in, God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7). When sickness comes, by His stripes we are healed. No weapon formed against us shall prosper (Isaiah 54:17). “I declare in Jesus’ mighty name who He is,” he says, “and watch Him make a way where there seems to be no way.”

Be Strong and of Good Courage

The main text is Joshua 1:5–9. Moses has died, and Joshua, son of Nun, Moses’ servant and already commander of the army, is stepping into very big shoes. The speaker asks the church to imagine leading the same people Moses heard grumbling for forty years. God’s first word to Joshua is a promise every believer can take: “I will not leave you nor forsake you.”

Three times in four verses God tells Joshua to be strong. When God repeats Himself, the speaker says, He is very serious, because be strong is the key to the promised land. The table below follows his reading of each command.

To be strong rather than weak, he says, you have to apply yourself, the way a bodybuilder lifts more than is comfortable. We are all at different faith levels, but whatever is not from faith is sin (Romans 14:23), and without faith it is impossible to please God, who rewards those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6).

Diligently seeking Him means making time to read, study, pray and memorize Scripture. That is what strengthens a believer. He has been meditating on Joshua 1 for months, declaring be strong and of good courage over his own life.

Very courageous means not being deterred by pain. When pain, pressure and anxiety make people ask whether this can be God, he chooses to fix his eyes on Him and to run and not be weary, to walk and not faint (Isaiah 40:31). He has the congregation tell each other, you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you (Philippians 4:13).

Observe to Do: Doers of the Word

Right after “be strong and very courageous” comes the phrase “that you may observe to do.” God does not say merely observe, as if some people are called to sit back and watch while others do everything. Every believer has been chosen for such a time as this to observe and do.

The step of doing is exactly where Satan attacks, whispering that you cannot do it. The speaker calls him a liar and a thief who comes to steal, kill and destroy, while Jesus came that we might have life more abundantly (John 10:10). Everyone fails at times; the choice is to get up and keep moving.

Jesus said to occupy until He comes (Luke 19:13). God does not save people to become pew fillers. The commitment is to be doers of the word and not hearers only (James 1:22). Praying a prayer and assuming you have your ticket, he warns, leaves a person in for a world of hurt.

He compares it to raising children. Parents train them in the way they should go so they will not depart from it (Proverbs 22:6). But children will only be as committed as they see their parents be. The past is past; the choice now is to trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding (Proverbs 3:5–6).

Verse 8 says the Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth. The speaker explains that this means having so much of the word inside you that it keeps flowing out. As a young child afraid of the dark, his mother taught him 2 Timothy 1:7, and he said it thousands of times going to sleep. He still says it today whenever fear tries to creep in.

As a teenager at the church’s school, on the edge of making the cross country mile team, he ran repeating, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Meditating day and night makes the word flow like a river, and it always leads to two words: to do.

Verse 8 says that then “you will make your way prosperous”: not if you think about it or sit near people who apply it, but when you apply the word yourself. “It’s time for us, church, to make that commitment,” he says, “entering into our promised land.”

The Word Is Alive and Active

Verse 9 repeats the command a third time and adds: do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Fear has no place in the promised land, he says, because God is with us, and where two or three are gathered in His name, He is in the midst (Matthew 18:20).

That is why God gave us His word. Hebrews 4:12 says the word of God is living and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, and discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart. The book comes alive, he explains, when we apply it. When the enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy, the word cuts both ways and the fiery darts have no bearing on our lives.

God is after the heart. The word alive in us drives us to share His love, because God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son (John 3:16). That includes our enemies, which is why we are told to pray for them and do good to them (Matthew 5:44).

He then reads Romans 12:1–2: present your body as a living sacrifice, and do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. That offering is not made kicking and screaming, he says, but without the grumbling that kept Israel out for forty years. A good daily question is, “God, how can I be used of You today?”

Renewing the mind is why the church gathers, takes notes and posts its messages online to go over again and again. Then we can prove God’s will, which is good. His plans are thoughts of peace and not of evil (Jeremiah 29:11). Pressure does not mean something is outside His will; nothing would get done if we lived by feelings.

Jesus is coming back for a glorious church without spot or wrinkle (Ephesians 5:27). The speaker wants to hear “well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21). Jesus gave a new commandment that we love one another (John 13:34).

Rooted, Steadfast and Relentless

When we are doers of the word, Psalm 1:1–3 describes the result. The blessed man delights in the law of the Lord and meditates in it day and night. He is like a tree planted by the rivers of water, whose leaf does not wither, and whatever he does prospers. Storms come, the speaker says, but God has your roots deep, ready for the promised land.

Israel’s clothes and sandals did not wear out in forty years (Deuteronomy 29:5), a picture of the leaf that does not wither. Seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, all these things are added (Matthew 6:33), so the believer can stop worrying and keep building God’s kingdom.

Reading from the Amplified Bible in Philippians 2:12–16, he stresses obeying with enthusiasm, not grumbling. It is easy to shout amen in church; the real church begins when you walk out the door. To work out your salvation, he says, means to cultivate it and actively pursue spiritual maturity, because God is the one at work in you, both to will and to do for His good pleasure. God delights when His children mature.

Verse 14 says to do all things without complaining and disputing, which sounds a lot like the Israelites who missed the promised land. Believers are to shine as lights in a crooked generation, holding out the word of life. Whatever we feel and whatever is happening in the world, the commitment stays.

His final verse is 1 Corinthians 15:58: be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain. Do not grow weary while doing good (Galatians 6:9). Entering the promised land takes a relentless pursuit and a determination unlike anything else, because there is an enemy, and the word is our sword.

God is not looking for excuses, he says, but for willingness. Your purpose is to be committed to His word and to building and advancing His kingdom. Without being charged up by the word, our light grows dimmer until we look like the world walking in darkness.

Living It Out This Week

The message closes with communion from 1 Corinthians 11:23–26 and a prayer of recommitment, asking God to help His people enter their promised land. These steps come straight from the sermon:

• Trade grumbling for thanks. When trouble hits, thank God that He is your strength and provision in the middle of it.
• Answer fear with a verse. Memorize 2 Timothy 1:7 and Philippians 4:13 and say them out loud when fear or weakness comes.
• Meditate on Joshua 1. Read verses 5–9 daily this week until “be strong and of good courage” flows from your mouth.
• Do one thing you heard. Pick one instruction from Scripture and act on it; observe to do, not just observe.
• Ask to be used. Begin each morning by asking, “God, how can I be used of You today?”
• Review the message. Go over your notes or the video again to keep renewing your mind.

Timestamped Outline

• 0:00 Opening prayer
• 0:56 Recap: Moses and the exodus
• 2:36 God is relentless in His pursuit of you
• 3:33 In this world but not of it
• 5:16 The Red Sea and a bondage mindset
• 7:05 In everything give thanks
• 8:01 Repent means change
• 9:51 Be of good cheer: declaring the word
• 11:42 Joshua takes Moses’ place
• 12:43 Joshua 1:5–9 read
• 14:23 Occupy till I come: be strong, not weak
• 15:34 Without faith it is impossible to please God
• 17:24 Very courageous: not deterred by pain
• 20:06 Observe to do
• 22:07 Commitment and raising children
• 23:52 The word shall not depart from your mouth
• 25:28 The cross country mile
• 27:10 Builders, not pew fillers
• 29:09 Joshua 1:9: do not be afraid
• 30:01 Hebrews 4:12: the word is alive
• 32:15 Romans 12: a living sacrifice
• 37:28 Psalm 1: a tree by the rivers of water
• 40:35 Philippians 2: work out your salvation
• 44:24 1 Corinthians 15:58: steadfast and immovable
• 47:46 Communion and recommitment

Entering Your Promised Land Series

This is the first of two messages on this theme at NTC Ministries. Continue with the next one:

• You are here: Entering Your Promised Land: Be Strong, Be Courageous and Observe to Do
• Next: Entering Your Promised Land, Part 2 — Taking Every Thought Captive

Frequently Asked Questions

Should Christians thank God for hard things like sickness?

The speaker says no. He does not thank God for sickness, a lost job or a broken relationship. He thanks God in the middle of them, because God remains his source of strength, provision and peace. Giving thanks in everything means refusing to murmur and complain like Israel in the wilderness, and choosing to declare who God is and what His word promises while you wait for Him to make a way.

If I am already saved, why work out my salvation?

Praying the sinner’s prayer does not make every problem disappear, the speaker explains. We still live on this earth, deal with relationships, work and pay bills, and we are called to share the love of Christ. Working out salvation means cultivating it and actively pursuing spiritual maturity. It is not done in our own strength, because God is at work in us, giving both the desire and the ability to fulfill His purpose.

What is the difference between observing and doing the word?

Observing means getting into Scripture and seeing how it applies to your life today. Doing means acting on it. The speaker points out that Joshua 1:7–8 never says just observe; twice it says “observe to do.” He warns that sitting back and hearing without acting leaves the word inactive, and that God’s promise of a prosperous way is tied to applying it yourself, not just being around people who do.

Scripture References

All passages open in the New King James Version on Bible Gateway:

• Joshua 1:5–9 — be strong and of good courage
• Exodus 14:21–22 — the Red Sea parted
• 1 Thessalonians 5:18 — in everything give thanks
• 1 John 4:4 — greater is He who is in you
• 2 Timothy 1:7 — not a spirit of fear
• James 1:22 — doers of the word
• Hebrews 4:12 — the word is living and powerful
• Romans 12:1–2 — a living sacrifice
• Psalm 1:1–3 — a tree planted by the rivers
• 1 Corinthians 15:58 — steadfast and immovable

How this summary was made: written with AI assistance from the sermon’s own transcript and checked against the Scriptures listed above.

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