======================================================================== THE NEED OF A JOSHUA by Gbile Akanni ======================================================================== Summary: Gbile Akanni teaches that God calls believers to rise as effective spiritual leaders like Joshua, stepping into vacancies left by predecessors with courage, concrete discipleship, and a willingness to relocate to places of challenge and need. Duration: 42:25 Topics: "Discipleship", "Spiritual Leadership" Scripture References: Joshua 1, 2 Kings 3, Matthew 4:12-17, Isaiah 6 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DESCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ In this powerful teaching, Gbile Akanni explores the biblical example of Joshua stepping into Moses' role to highlight the necessity of strong, courageous spiritual leadership. He challenges believers to embrace concrete discipleship that prepares them to fill vacancies left by previous leaders. Akanni emphasizes the importance of leaving comfort zones to serve in places of great need, encouraging listeners to rise and possess the gates God has set before them. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Living Seed Media brings to you God's Word, which is His comprehensive equipment for changing lives. May the Lord impact your heart as you encounter His Word. For further inquiry or counsel, contact Peace House, PO Box 971, Boko, Benue State, Nigeria. Telephone numbers 0703 03636 59, 0703 76811 98. Email address lsmedia at livingseed.org or visit our website at www.livingseed.org. Let us sit back and listen as the servant of God brings forth the Word of Life. ... from ruins. Amen. Amen. Amen. We'll now take, if we can be seated, we'll take the devotional challenge for this morning. And our brother, Brother Patrick Obodo will lead us in the devotional challenge now. Thank you very much, Brother Peter. Praise the Lord. Good morning. Thank you so much. Our dear brother, and we give God praise for this moment, again, to share the Word of God. Can we pray? Heavenly Father, we ascribe glory and honor, all praise and majesty to you for another day of your faithfulness. Thank you for all that you've been doing in us and with us in the course of this year's cycle. As we again gather our hearts onto this moment of devotion, we pray that you will charge our hearts, charge our hearts in understanding, charge our hearts in knowledge, and charge our hearts unto prayer. As we look to you, Lord, release your grace. Fail not to call us in any point of our deviation, because at our hearts we lift up for what heaven is offering us. We trust you for what you will do beyond all our prayers. In Jesus Christ's name we have prayed. Amen. Now this morning, I'd like us to take a passage from the book of Joshua chapter 1. Our brother from Swaziland yesterday, to press on in that Joshua chapter 1 this morning, has been trusting God to raise a few issues onto us regarding the matters of taking the kingdom, matters of battling for the gates, certain issues that God may need to raise with our lives in order that we might be able to live in peace. So there is a business of effectiveness at the gates. Joshua chapter 1, the entire chapter, Joshua chapter we go. Now after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spoke unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' minister, saying, Moses, my servant is dead. Nun, therefore, arise. Go over this Jordan, thou and all these people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel. Every place that the soul of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you. As I said, from the wilderness and this Lebanon, even unto the great sea, there shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee. I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. Be strong and of a good courage. For unto these people shall thou divide for an inheritance the land which I swore unto their fathers to give them. Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law which Moses, my servant, commanded thee. Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth. But thou shalt meditate during day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein. For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Have I not commanded thee, be strong and of a good courage? Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed. For the law thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest. Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, Pass through the host, and command the people, saying, Prepare you victuals. For within three days you shall pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land which the law of your God giveth you to possess it. Let's switch over to verse 16. And they answered Joshua, saying, All that thou commandest us we will do, and whithersoever thou sendest us, we will go, according as we hearkened unto Moses in all things, so we will hearken unto thee. Only the law thy God be with thee, as he was with Moses. Whosoever he be that doth rebel against thy commandment, and will not hearken unto thy word in all that thou commandest him, he shall be put to death. Only be strong and of a good courage. May the Lord bless the reading of his word unto our hearts, and grant us light in Jesus' name. Now, a few issues are jumping to my own spirit as I get to read this passage. And I'm just looking at the beginning part of the discussion. The Bible says, After the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spoke unto Joshua, Moses' minister. Now, our brother began to raise the issue of discipleship yesterday, and we've seen how God has been dealing with the matter. But I'm coming on it from the angle this day that there was a Moses, and there was a Joshua. There was a Joshua to whom God could speak when Moses is no more on stage. There was a Joshua who could catch something effective, something impactful. There was a Joshua that God could refer to when his servant Moses has passed out of the stage. Are you noting that God is first asking that over your life, there should be a Moses. There should be someone unto whom you are drawing grace, you are drawing light, you are drawing knowledge, you are drawing the wisdom of God. You are drawing light from such a life. You yourself, something is happening to you that is tangible, that is measurable, that is lasting. That by the time we are saying who is on the stage next, God can refer to you. God can turn to your side. Are you in discipleship and you are not yet catching something concrete? That is an emergency for you. When a Moses is out of the stage, when a Moses is not on duty, you yourself will be a worthy replacement. Heaven can speak to you. After the death of Moses, God spoke unto Joshua, Moses' minister, Moses' servant, Moses' disciple. Now there were these other disciples that Jesus' disciples actually, when Jesus went to the Mount of Transfiguration, and they brought to them the boy that was taken, who was a lunatic. And the man reported, the father of the boy reported, he said, Master, I brought my son to these your disciples, and they could not cast away the devil. They could not do anything. I thought they had been with you. I thought something was rubbing on their lives. I thought there was something they were catching from you. I was thoroughly disappointed. That was the situation that we saw. But in the case of Elijah, when he followed Elijah in 2 Kings chapter 3, when Jehoshaphat was going to go to war with the king of Israel, Jehoram, and the king of Moab, I mean, Edom, three kings, they were about to fight with the king of Moab. We saw that Jehoshaphat demanded for the word of the Lord. He needed to have a prophecy of what was God's mind for that battle. What did they do? They requested for someone who could bring the word of the Lord. And they mentioned Elijah and said, there is this young man that poured water at the hands of Elijah. And immediately, Jehoshaphat said, go for him. The word of the Lord is with him. Now, my first challenge is that my discipleship should be a concrete discipleship. It should be a concrete discipleship that causes transfer, effective transfer, something about your life that you are catching from the life of a disciple, a leader, a spiritual, somebody giving spiritual oversight over your life. Is there something that we can reference, you know, to the life of that person that we're beginning to see in you? You don't need to just loiter around. Discipleship is not about loitering around anybody. It's about laying hold on something that heaven intends to transfer. Now, I'm noting that first issue, that after the death of Moses, God was confident to refer to a Joshua. God was going to speak to a Joshua to carry on from where Moses had stopped. That's the first issue I noted. And that is a necessary equipment, that a discipleship that positions your life in order to be able to stand on stage, to be able to take over, to be able to man the gate that Moses was manning. You cannot be too young for that. Your discipleship must produce something that we can touch. And you become a referer because we are seeing the signature of Moses' life upon you. The signature of a disciple's life. The signature of someone bearing oversight on you. Something concrete must drop on your life in the name of Jesus Christ. Now, the next issue I noted, right from verse 2, is that the Bible gave a report. Moses, my servant, is dead. Of course, Joshua would have known. They were already mourning. They had mourned for long. But why was God coming to Joshua this way? He said, Joshua, let it dawn on you. Stop daydreaming. Wake up. Moses, my servant, that anointed man of God, is dead. He is no more on stage. Moses is not the one, is no more his tenure. I hear God announcing that there is a vacancy. What must happen to you as a youth that will push you to the gate and make you take responsibility is an understanding that there is a vacancy. There is a vacancy in God's purpose upon the earth. There is a vacancy where men have stood before. There is a vacancy in the labor in the church. There is a vacancy in the labor in the institutions. There is a great vacancy that you yourself need to note. Moses, my servant, is dead. As far as we can note, Moses was the one that was causing change, that was prospering the purpose of God on earth. But now he is dead. He is no more functioning. I don't know how to put it again. But it is possible that people you look up to, maybe some great names you know in the work of God, maybe some great people, you may be assuming that they are performing. And yet, heaven is still declaring vacancy. Elijah was on duty. When God was saying, not Elijah, I mean Isaiah, in Isaiah chapter 6, he was on duty. When heaven was saying, who shall go for us? Who shall we send? Because even though he was on duty, he was a man of unclean lips. Even though he was on duty, he was only good at pronouncing words. Even though he was on duty, the Bible said God needed a man. Who shall we send? Who will go for us? He was on duty, but heaven was advertising his position. Do you understand that there may be people you are looking up to, and yet God is saying there is vacancy. I want you to note something like that happened in the time of our Lord Jesus Christ. In Matthew chapter 4. I would like you to quickly get to Matthew chapter 4. Reference it and return. Matthew chapter 4, the Bible reported concerning John the Baptist from verse 12 to verse 17. It says, Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee. And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zeblon and Naphtali, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, The land of Zeblon and the land of Naphtali, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. The people which sat in darkness saw great light, and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death, light is sprung up. From that time, Jesus began to preach and to say, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. I wish you can understand quickly the matter that is taking place here. John the Baptist, the only man that was bringing the message of life, the only man that was preaching repentance, the only man that was drawing people into the kingdom of God, something had happened to him. He had been caught in prison. A herald had arrested him. A herald had tied him down. Something had crippled John, as it were, and he could no longer perform. And at this point, there was a lacuna, there was a vacancy. There was a deadness again. John had been caught in prison. I'd like you to know that there are so many great men that you may be looking to. You may be hoping that, yes, these going to the gates belong to them. If God needs people to possess gates, he should go and reach them. He should go to them who are top people in churches, top people in government, top people in institutions, and so on and so forth. But God is talking to you. We don't know. It is possible that certain prisons have captured some of them. Some of them have been imprisoned by the vagaries of this life, the loss of the flesh, the pride of life, and all the things that tie men down. It's possible there's a prison that's holding some of them. Now, in the case of John, he had been tied in prison. And what was Jesus' response? If I would say, when he heard that John had been cast into prison, he needed to arise. Can it dawn on you? Can there be a consciousness on your spirit that God is saying there is a vacancy and you are the one to fill it? Stop looking around. Stop looking up. Stop waiting on some Moses. God said, forget about that. Forget about that. Some may have been in prison. Some may be dead. Dead in one thing or the other. But for you, you that you are hearing, he says, you, note that there is a vacancy. So Jesus, when he heard this, the Bible said he did two things that I'd like you to note. First, he departed into Galilee. He left Nazareth and went and dwelt in Capernaum. Did you note that Jesus, having understood the vacancy and the emergency at the moment, he himself had to shift from the place of his Nazareth. Nazareth was for him a comfort zone, a comfortable place. Of course, that's where his parents lived. That's where he was brought up. I know he had just returned from the wilderness of Jordan, where he had several bombardments from the devil. But he couldn't settle down, having heard that there was a vacancy. He couldn't settle down, having understood that the people to whom John had been sent are waiting hopelessly. And he had to leave his Nazareth, his comfort zone, his security area, the place of convenience, the place of comfort, the place of easy life. He had to relocate. He had to shift. He had to move from his Nazareth. If you're understanding that there's a vacancy that heaven is announcing to your spirit, the immediate response is, Lord, what is that place of convenience that's holding me, tying me? What is the area of comfort? Am I given to succulent life? Am I given to over pampering? I need to relocate. I need to shift. I need a mental relocation, and even possibly a physical relocation, that I am not going to settle in my Nazareth when my people that John was speaking to are still in darkness. That was the first thing he did. He moved from Nazareth. Now, the second thing was where he landed. He landed in Capernaum, in the land of Zebulon and Naphtali, the people who sat in darkness, terrible darkness. Jesus had to locate the place of challenge, the place of need. He moved from the region of light into the region of darkness. There was, you know, a kind of shift out of the place where it appears, you know, there were minimal challenge. If you're going to respond to the vacancy that heaven is announcing, if you're ever going to find yourself at the gates, don't wait and be looking for where you see convenient zone to serve God. Can you be looking for place of need, place of challenge, place where your own life will be stretched, where something will be taxed, you'll be taxed, and something will be drawn out of you. He moved into the Capernaum, the people who sat in darkness, and suddenly as he lived among them, they saw a great light. I remember as one that taught the secondary school so many years before, before God, you know, moved me further. I had to leave the place I was living in the city. I had a comfortable home, a residence of our own, a full flat in a house I was not paying, but because that college, the road to that place was terrible. Teachers only had to go there once a week, and any good teacher could go twice a week. The principal herself was going only twice in a week, and God constrained my heart. He said, if you want to do something serious, go down and face these young people. That's how I moved down to that village and rented a room opposite the college. And, you know, morning devotion, the General Assembly, I became the pastor, as it were. And from there, we moved on. I asked them, why don't we have fellowship here? They said that, you know, immorality ended the fellowship some years back, and it had never restarted again. It was a girl's school. Somehow, God helped us. We started that fellowship again, and things began to move. I was teaching them both the subjects I was employed to teach, right, chemistry. The principal begged me, I added physics, and when the only mathematics teacher in the school left, I became the mathematics teacher as well. And all of this exposed me to the children, and on and on, I lived with them. I stayed with them. I taught them, and do you know, from there, as an SU man visited the fellowship, he saw what was happening and invited me to their meeting. From there to another, one meeting to the other, their conference, and then from the children's conference, the pilgrims, the adults began to invite me, and all of that. The place of darkness, the place of challenge, that's where God is needing you. Stop hiding in the place you are enjoying yourself. In the place you think that, yes, there's a moving fellowship, there's an enjoyable fellowship. Jesus relocated. He moved to the place of darkness, and the people who sat in darkness saw a great light. Are you going to respond? Are you going to leave your Nazareth? Are you going to locate the place of challenge? That's where the greetings of God in your life will burst forth. That's where God will tax you. That's where the people will tax you, and something will begin to shoot out of your life in the name of Jesus Christ. Moses, my servant, is dead. There is vacancy, and you need to rise. And he said, now, therefore, arise. Because there's vacancy. Now, therefore, do what? Arise. Arise. You cannot be staying without a response in the place of challenge. There is a therefore for your arising. The opening church, God was challenging us and said, is there no cause? There's a reason for you to arise. Because there is a vacancy. May heaven announce it in your spirit. May God constrain you to respond in this day that is our time. One of the choirs, they sang and said, this is our time. This is our chance. And God is there to support you. Now, when you still continue in that verse too, the Bible says, Moses, my servant, is dead. Now, therefore, arise. Go over this Jordan. I wonder the Jordan that has been blockading you. Go over this Jordan. Jordan of unbelief. Jordan of fear. Jordan of fickleness. Jordan of being consumed with childish things. There is a Jordan standing between you and breaking forth unto the life that will take you to the gate. There is a Jordan that God says, arise. Your first arising is actually to ensure that every Jordan that has been blocking your path, every Jordan that has been intimidating you, every Jordan of fear, every Jordan of unbelief, every Jordan of worldly pursuit, every Jordan of ambition, empty ambition, every Jordan of fear, every Jordan of inferiority complex, every Jordan that is holding you, every Jordan of pride, every Jordan of arrogance, let heaven break it over your life. This day you will jump across. This meeting is meant to move you forward. We have seen God right from the beginning of this conference, dealing with issues that must release us and cause us to rise with the life of Christ within. We have seen God, you know, show us that with Christ resident in us, there's nothing we cannot do because he is the conqueror. Every Jordan that has been standing and intimidating you and pushing you backwards, every Jordan that will not allow you to break forth into the destiny that God is announcing over your life. This day, the Lord himself will roll it away. You will hear him in various ways, encouraging your heart. You will hear God empowering your spirit and say, it is time. It is time. It is time. The Jordan of carelessness, the Jordan of being casual, too casual with life, too casual. Youth is not a time for casualness so that you don't become a casualty tomorrow. It's a time of engagement. It's a time of involvement. It's a time that you are laying hold on what will transport your life far in the years ahead, as the Lord helps you. What is Jordan? Thou and all these people. Thou and all these people. There's something else that has to settle on your spirit, which is a necessary weeping. It is an understanding that many are waiting for your rising. Thou and all these people. It is your own arising. It is your own cross over your Jordan of challenge that is the hope of the rest. You are a man on duty. You are a man that heaven has focused upon. And there are so many lives that are waiting in your school, so many lives waiting in your church, several lives waiting in your fellowship, several lives waiting in your place of work, in the office where you are working, in the profession you are in. There are several lives waiting. And God is saying, Thou and these people. I see that you have to be the one rising first. And then there are so many others. You know that you are representative of many. Heaven has called you as one having a constituency of people unto whom you owe ministry, unto whom you owe help, unto whom you owe direction. Thou and all these people. Can you note that God is expecting you to rise? When you pray, that a great sense of responsibility will settle on your heart. A sense of responsibility, a sense of, I am not just living for myself. I am not just living for myself. My arising has a blessing for many. My being crippled is an unfortunate matter for several others. Let God cause that sense of responsibility to come upon your heart, that you may actually grow up in your youth. You may become a mature plant in your youth. You may become, you know, a polished pillar as a young sister, that you are standing well. You are standing straight. You are standing firm. You are rising over your own Jordan and stretching forth to what God is offering you is a blessing to many others that are waiting for you. Arise, thou and all these people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel. There's a land that God wants to give you and the people. Can you understand that there is an inheritance? There's a Canaan. May the vision of what God, the inheritance God is holding out for you, may that vision come to your heart. You need a steady vision in your spirit of a land that God has promised you and the people. There's a land. There's a place of inheritance. You need to be seeing the vision of a revived church. You need to be seeing the vision of a transformed nation. You need to see the vision of a new Nigeria, a vision of a new Ghana, a vision of a new Swaziland, a vision of a new Canada. And you are a channel of this renaissance. We are all contributors to a new awakening, to a renaissance of God's spirit upon the nations. Can it dawn on you that there's a land God is taking us to? We're not just roaming around. We're not just doing ministry. There's a land we are landing into. There's a place we hear our elders announcing it, declaring it again and again and again. Can that vision grip your own heart? Can you pray on and on, Lord, let me see the land of God's people's inheritance. Let me see where you are taking us. Let me see, oh God, you know, a new university. Let me see the vision of a new university, as I'm a lecturer there. Let me see the vision of a new, a glorious secondary school, as I'm a teacher there, as I'm a principal there. Can you imagine our secondary schools becoming like Cavalier Rose College, Boko? That's already a revival. To have colleges work in that pattern, where people are selflessly, committedly laboring on lives, raising people to academic excellence and spiritual excellence, and producing arrows for the kingdom of God. Can you imagine such becoming the state of our secondary schools everywhere? Can you see a working university, a new university that is functioning well? Can you see such a vision? It's a land. It's part of where God is going. For me, you know, I was sharing with those in my class, and I said, say the testimony. Well, is it a testimony or a story? Know that when we were on campus, we ourselves, as students, we enjoyed, you know, meals. We enjoyed, you know, they treated us, you know, as people, you know, they gave us a sense of honor as students. You know, we had a lot of privileges on campus. When you are graduating, companies are waiting for you, and they are offering you several things, and say, come over. And that was what happened in our own nation of Nigeria. All of that is history now. When we talk about it, the students marvel and laugh. That is it possible again? It is. It is possible again when we have people like you arising. When we have people like you saying, yes, Lord, I can be your instrument. May God give you a vision of a new hospital. A new hospital administration. May God make you see that you are not just a medical doctor competing with other doctors, you know, for space and salary. That you yourself, you are an instrument of change. Can you see a new vision, a new land? A land into which God is telling us is not the land of this wilderness roaming around. This challenge, this difficulty of our nations. Can you see a new Canada where Islam is banished? Can you see a new land of Ghana that is in the glory as of the former years? There's a land ahead of us. There's a land ahead of God's people. Can you see a transformed church? Can you see a church where we are no more ruled by charlatans? Can you see a church where the word of God has the overall effect? It has the controlling power. A church ruled by the word of God. A church controlled by the Holy Spirit. It's a land. I need to be praying, God give me such a vision. You need that as an inner mobilization, as an inner equipment for you to label, to press to the gates. Hallelujah. Now, if you note that, you note also that the Bible said in verse, I think that is verse three, every place that the soul of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses, from the wilderness and this Lebanon, even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, or the land of the Hittites, unto the great sea, and so on and so forth. I will see God declaring a scope, giving, you know, a horizon, you know, cursing the man of God, Joshua, to see that there is an expanse ahead of him. May God help you never to be narrow, never to be marrow. May God help you to understand that there is a wide space ahead of you and that God desires for you to step into them. Now, if you also note in the next verses from verse five up to verse nine is talking about the fact that you need to arise, pray for the spirit of faith. The spirit of faith and courage, anchored on the promises of the word of God, that you'll be a man that is consumed by the spirit of faith, that every fear will give way. You'll be a man of action. He said, anywhere the soul of your feet shall tread upon, to you it has been given. Anywhere the soul of your feet shall tread upon. Do you understand that? That God is saying, he is expecting you to march on such places. There must be positive action. 2 Thessalonians 1, verse 11, he says, God will prosper every good work of yours, prompted by your faith, every good purpose of your heart, prompted by your faith. That you can see God helping you, you know, as you conceive. You'll rise to it. You'll rise to positive actions. You don't just wait and be dreaming your life away. In Reubenites, they were always having great thoughts of heart, as Deborah reported. They were always thinking, when we are going to rise, we will do this for God, we will do that for God. But for the people of Zebulun and Naphtali, they rushed on barefoot. They didn't wait for boots or shoes on their legs. They rushed and endangered their lives on the field. You need to note that what God is looking for is not what you are dreaming to do. It's not what you are wishing to do. It is what you have arisen to do. It is that you give yourself on to prompt action. And the Holy Spirit brings promptings to your spirit. You are saying, yes, Lord. And by the spirit of faith working in you, you are rising into it. You are rising to push it. You are rising to run with what God has set before you. Can you pray as we come to the close of this brief exaltation, to see that, Lord, I will not be dreaming my life away. I will not be postponing the day of God's visitation, even to my own life. I need to engage myself in what heaven shows me. Everywhere the sole of your foot, you are the one to stand up and march. Every good purpose of your heart prompted by faith, God himself will bless it. God himself will cause it to prosper. God himself will enlarge the space under you. As we pray this morning, you'll be asking God for help. You'll be seeking that the Lord of hosts himself will enable you to enter into the space he has created for you. For you to arrive at the gate, you need this mobilization. Can you also be praying that God will grant unto you a new hunger to deepen yourself in the scriptures, in the word of God. He told Joshua, he said, this book of the law, you better bend down, consume it, eat it, because your prosperity, your good success lies on it. Equip yourself, let the word of God dwell in you richly and rise unto action. As we pray, I trust that the Lord himself, who is the mobilizer, will mobilize you in the name of Jesus Christ. Father, we thank you this morning again. You have been faithful to us all through this meeting. Again, we are at your feet this last day of this program. We are pleading that heaven will be opened over us in a mighty way. We are praying that every one of us, the fire of your spirit will ignite us. We are praying that none of us will sit at ease in Zion, waiting for something extraordinary to happen. Father, send us running. The Holy Ghost has come. May he inflame our hearts and set us running. Thank you for hearing this prayer as you help us be on the air. In Jesus Christ's name, we have prayed. Amen. Amen. We thank the Lord for that devotional challenge by Brother Patrick. We really want to pray that all of us, as we arise from here, we will go over our own Jordans. Amen. ======================================================================== Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/gbile-akanni/the-need-of-a-joshua/ ========================================================================