Success sermon A
The tests of success
Joshua 1:1-9 1 After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide: 2 “Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites. 3 I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. 4 Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. 5 No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. 6 Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.
7 “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. 8 Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”
Well, today we continue the story of the Children of Israel where they leave the wilderness, and in the wilderness they were learning lessons from their suffering, to the time in the book of Joshua where they are entering the Promised land.
After forty years in the wilderness, Israel stood at the edge of a new beginning. The days of wandering were over; Moses was gone, and Joshua was called to lead the people into the Promised Land. In the wilderness, the Israelites had been tested through suffering. The terrain was barren and unpredictable—scorching by day, cold by night. Their survival depended on God’s direct provision: manna from heaven, water from rocks, and His visible presence in the pillar of cloud and fire. They owned nothing permanent, and every step was a lesson in trust. But once they crossed the Jordan, everything changed. The land of Canaan was fertile and fruitful—overflowing with grain, vineyards, figs, and honey. The manna stopped, and they ate the harvest of the land. God no longer guided them through visible signs, but through His written Word and the leadership of Joshua.
Yet, the Promised Land brought new kinds of tests. In the wilderness, they had no choice but to depend on God; in Canaan, they would have to choose to depend on Him. Prosperity can test faith as sharply as poverty. In hardship, we cling to God out of desperation; in success, we are tempted to forget Him. The wilderness was the test of faith under pressure, but the Promised Land was the test of faith under blessing. Joshua’s charge from the Lord—“Be strong and very courageous… do not turn from the law to the right or to the left”—reminds us that victory brings responsibility. The greater danger is not failure but forgetting Who gave the success. That is why this series is called The Tests of Success—because sometimes, when the battles are won and life finally feels secure, that is when the real test of faith begins.
We have all heard stories of Christian leaders who have served in the Kingdom of God for a time, or even a long time. They have become prominent individuals, maybe they are singers, or speakers. They become famous and prosperous. We love to hear them, they encourage our hearts to be faithful to God. Then something happens.
DC Talk emerged in the late 1980s as one of the most influential Christian music groups of all time, blending rap, rock, and pop to create a bold new sound that brought Christian music into the mainstream. Composed of Toby McKeehan (TobyMac), Michael Tait, and Kevin Max, the trio rose to international fame in the 1990s with multi-platinum albums like Jesus Freak and Supernatural, winning multiple Dove and Grammy Awards. Their music challenged cultural norms while unapologetically proclaiming faith in Christ, drawing millions of young listeners. However, as fame and individual pursuits grew, the group eventually went on hiatus in 2000. Kevin Max, known for his poetic style and artistic independence, later distanced himself from historic Christian orthodoxy—publicly questioning the exclusivity of Christ and identifying as a “universalist.” Michael Tait went on to become the lead singer of Newsboys, one of the most successful Christian rock bands of the 2000s and 2010s. But decades after DC Talk’s rise, Tait himself confessed to living a double life of moral failure, admitting to long-term substance abuse and sexual misconduct while maintaining a public image of faith and integrity. Meanwhile, TobyMac has continued to produce chart-topping Christian music marked by authentic faith, humility, and perseverance through personal loss, remaining a respected voice for steadfast devotion in an industry often shaken by compromise. The story of DC Talk, once the embodiment of Christian success in music, serves as a sobering reminder of how fame and prosperity can test even the most public faith, revealing that spiritual endurance must outlast artistic achievement.
But even more than these very public famous and prosperous figures who have fallen from grace, we all know individuals in our own lives who were raised in the church, confessed their faith in Christ, became successful and have fallen away.
It is the test of success.
We are going to spend some time in the book of Joshua considering the tests of success.
Before we start today, let’s go to the Lord in prayer.
Heavenly Father,
We come before You this morning with grateful hearts, remembering that every blessing and every trial in our lives is meant to draw us closer to You. Just as You led Israel through the wilderness with only bread from heaven and water from the rock, You taught them dependence when life was dry and hard. But now, Lord, we look to that moment when Your people crossed the Jordan into the land of milk and honey—a land of abundance, comfort, and promise. There, they faced a new kind of test: not of survival, but of faithfulness.
Father, teach us through their story that success can test our hearts as surely as suffering can. Guard us from the pride that forgets You when life is good. Remind us that the Giver is greater than the gift, and that prosperity is meant to deepen our obedience, not dull it. As we open Your Word today, open our eyes to see how to walk faithfully in seasons of blessing—how to honor You when our hands are full, and our hearts are tempted to grow comfortable.
May Your Spirit search us, humble us, and strengthen us, that we might pass the test of success with grateful, obedient hearts. In Jesus’ name we pray—Amen.
I want to give you a preview of the messages that we will be sharing during this series.
The Tests of Success – Sermon Series (Book of Joshua)
Now, I wrote those test names sequentially according to when they occurred in the narrative of the book of Joshua. But we will not necessarily consider them in the order that I’ve listed them here. Today we will consider the first and third tests. The test of true success and the test of faith in action. Let’s consider the first.
The Test of True Success
Introduction — Success Can Be a Greater Test than Suffering
The children of Israel had spent forty years in the wilderness.
They had learned to trust God for bread that fell from heaven and for water that came out of a rock. They had been led by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. They had nothing permanent, but they had everything they needed because God was with them.
Now, for the first time, they were standing on the banks of the Jordan River, looking into the land of milk and honey. The test ahead of them was very different from the one behind them. The wilderness was the test of suffering—could they trust God when they had nothing? But the Promised Land would be the test of success—would they still trust God when they had everything?
Many people can cling to God when they are desperate, but the real test comes when life is full and comfortable. When prayers have been answered, bills are paid, and needs are met—will we still seek Him with the same passion?
And the first test that comes to the children of Israel is whether they define success the same way that God does. Let’s look at Joshua 1.
I. God Redefines Success (vv. 1–2)
“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.”
Now I want you to notice something right away. This is only the second time that God has spoken specifically and directly to Joshua. We hear about Joshua before this; He leads Israel’s army against the army of Amalek. He is one of two of the twelve spies who forty years earlier had brought back a good report about entering Canaan. He is called the servant of Moses. At the close of Moses life, he is commissioned to take over leadership of the nation after Moses death. But there is no long conversation or revelation from God before this. And so these first words to Joshua say so very much about how success will be defined for Israel.
“Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise,” The first three words are “Moses, my servant…” He doesn’t say, Moses, your leader, Moses my spokesman, but Moses my servant. Moses life was characterized by one simple thing; God told him what to do, and he did it. In that way Moses could probably be called the most successful man in history up to that point. And he wasn’t a success in the eyes of God because he was a great speaker, a supernatural miracle-worker, a organizational wizard. He was a success because He was God’s servant. He fulfilled that role to a t.
And then what does God say to Joshua? “Now therefore (you) arise.” It’s your turn to step into the role of what? King? General? Warrior? No, servant. And not just him, but all the children of Israel.
now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them.”
Arise and go. Get up and do what I tell you to do. God doesn’t define success by position but by obedience. Moses was defined by and successful because of his service. And Joshua’s success would not come from replacing Moses but from following God’s directions. God promises him success and victory from the start.
3 I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. 4 Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. 5 No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life.
He promises him success because, God will be with him.
“As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
This is an extraordinary promise. “As I was with Moses, so I will be with you.” Joshua had had been a witness for forty years how God had been with Moses. From the start, Joshua had seen when Moses returned from the land of Midian with the word that God had appeared to him in a burning bush and sent him to lead them out of slavery. He had seen the signs Moses did by God’s power. He had seen Moses proclaim repeatedly, tomorrow there will be a plague of frogs, flies, gnats, hail, disease, or death, and the plague came. He had seen Moses put his rod into the Red Sea and watched it part so they could cross to the other side on dry land. He had seen Moses proclaim that manna, quail and water were coming, and they did. He had seen the glowing face of Moses after having been with God on Mount Sinai. He had seen the enemies of Moses stand against him, and then fall down dead, or even have the earth open under their feet.
So, when God says, “As I was with Moses, so I will be with you…” I suppose it probably gave him goosebumps.
God commands him to be courageous. Three times in this passage and five times in his life God says to Joshua, “Be strong and courageous.”
Deuteronomy 31:7 Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the presence of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you must go with this people into the land that the Lord swore to their ancestors to give them, and you must divide it among them as their inheritance.
Deuteronomy 31:23 The Lord gave this command to Joshua son of Nun: “Be strong and courageous, for you will bring the Israelites into the land I promised them on oath, and I myself will be with you.”
Joshua 1:6 Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.
Joshua 1:7 “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go.
Joshua 1:9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”
And after hearing that, you might think that Joshua would believe that his first need to to become a great warrior. You know, I need to be strong and courageous, I need to do some weight training, get some ju jitzu lessons. But look a little more closely.
6 Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them. 7 “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey…
Success wasn’t going to be won by his strength or courage. God was telling him to be strong and courageous not in physical might, but in his resolve to follow through on every command of God.
7 “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. 8 Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.
If his success was a loaf of bread, yes it has salt, and yeast, and flavorings, but the chief ingredient of bread is flour, and the chief ingredient of his have true success was obedience.
The world doesn’t define success by obedience to God.
Secular Views of Success — and How They Contrast with God’s Definition
1. “Nice guys finish last.” — Leo Durocher (baseball manager)
➡️ Message: Success belongs to the ruthless, not the righteous.
📖 Biblical contrast: Jesus said, “The meek shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5). God rewards integrity, not aggression.
2. “You can’t make an omelet without breaking eggs.” — Proverb often attributed to François de Charette
➡️ Message: The ends justify the means; moral compromise is acceptable to achieve results.
📖 Biblical contrast: God never blesses sin for a good cause — “Shall we do evil that good may come? God forbid.” (Romans 3:8)
3. “The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.” — Walter Bagehot
➡️ Message: Defying others (and often authority) is a mark of greatness.
📖 Biblical contrast: Defiance against man-made limits can be good, but defiance against God’s law is rebellion. Success without humility leads to ruin (Proverbs 16:18).
4. “I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul.” — William Ernest Henley, Invictus
➡️ Message: Human autonomy is the highest virtue; submission is weakness.
📖 Biblical contrast: The believer confesses the opposite — “The Lord directs my steps” (Proverbs 16:9). True success is surrender, not self-sovereignty.
5. “If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun.” — Katharine Hepburn
➡️ Message: Rebellion and rule-breaking are marks of freedom and fulfillment.
📖 Biblical contrast: God’s laws bring joy, not restriction — “In keeping them there is great reward.” (Psalm 19:11)
6. “Winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing.” — Red Sanders / Vince Lombardi
➡️ Message: Success is measured only by results, not righteousness.
📖 Biblical contrast: In God’s economy, obedience is the win — even when it looks like loss. “To obey is better than sacrifice.” (1 Samuel 15:22)
The world defines success as reaching the top, gaining wealth, achieving fame, and securing comfort—measured by how much a person owns, how powerful they appear, or how loudly their name is applauded. The world prizes self-promotion, independence, and results, no matter the cost. Sadly, even many Christians get swept up in that same pursuit. We start to equate God’s blessing with material prosperity, compare our lives to others, and chase the next accomplishment rather than the next act of obedience. Instead of asking, “Am I faithful?” we ask, “Am I winning?” Yet God reminds us that true success isn’t found in rising higher, but in bowing lower—in serving, obeying, and walking humbly with Him.
So, we begin our look at true success. And I want to close out this message with an illustration from Scripture that is our second test of success. The first test of success is that we have to understand that success is defined by obedience. The second goes along with that. The second test of success is whether we are willing to put our faith into action.
This comes from chapter 3 of Joshua. God is giving Joshua instructions to prepare the people for crossing the Jordan river and entering the Promised land.
3 Early in the morning Joshua and all the Israelites set out from Shittim and went to the Jordan, where they camped before crossing over. 2 After three days the officers went throughout the camp, 3 giving orders to the people: “When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the Levitical priests carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it.
Notice here that they are no longer following the cloud by day, or the pillar of fire by night. Scripture never explicitly says, “This was the last time God led the children of Israel by the cloud or pillar of fire.” It is just not mentioned again after Deuteronomy. Now, they will know where to go based on when the priests carry the ark of the covenant ahead of them.
4 Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before. But keep a distance of about two thousand cubits[a] between you and the ark; do not go near it.”
6 Joshua said to the priests, “Take up the ark of the covenant and pass on ahead of the people.” So they took it up and went ahead of them.
7 And the Lord said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to exalt you in the eyes of all Israel, so they may know that I am with you as I was with Moses. 8 Tell the priests who carry the ark of the covenant: ‘When you reach the edge of the Jordan’s waters, go and stand in the river.’”
So, the people are following this ornate golden box, being carried by poles by God’s priests. The box symbolized God’s presence with them. In the box was Aaron’s rod that budded, a jar of the manna they had eaten in the wilderness, and the ten commandments on stone tablets. And the priests were to carry this before the people. The people came out following the ark in orderly ranks according to tribe. And they walked to the shore of the Jordan river. The Jordan river was the boundary between the wilderness of sin, and Canaan, the Promised land.
One time 40 years before the nation of Israel had been on the bank of a body of water. In the evening after Israel had escaped slavery under the Pharaoh, they were camped by the Red Sea. At that time, they saw the Egyptian army coming up over the horizon barreling down on them in their chariots of war. At that time, the people had cried out in fear that they were going to be slaughtered by the Egyptian army. At that time, God told Moses to put his rod into the Red Sea, and that the Sea would part, and they would all cross over on dry land. But here’s a key point that you need to remember. Scripture says that the Red Sea parting took several hours. Exodus 14 says that God brought a strong east wind that blew all that night. And God caused a cloud of darkness to fall before the Egyptian army, but a pillar of fire to light the Children of Israel.
They had cried out to God in doubt and fear, and God had saved them by walking through the sea. They just sat back and watched God manifest His glory.
But things were different this time. They again find themselves on the shore of a large body of water. The Bible tells us about the Jordan river. Normally it is about 90 to 100 feet wide, and 3 to ten feet deep. Normally it is a relatively still body of water. But we are told that they crossed the Jordan at flood season, when the river overflowed its banks during the barley harvest. At that time, the river swells far beyond its banks, submerging the surrounding thickets known as the “Jordan jungle” or “thickets of the Jordan” (Jeremiah 12:5). At flood season, the Jordan may have reached 200–300 feet wide (60–90 meters) or more near Jericho.
In some places, due to low floodplain terrain, it could temporarily spread to half a mile wide (800 meters), though the main channel remained strongest in the middle.
So, at Israel’s crossing, the river was likely 200–300 feet across and running swiftly — deep, muddy, and impossible to ford naturally. It is a surging muddy torrent, to cross now would be madness.
And here’s the difference between these two events from the standpoint of obedience. At the Red Sea, even in the wilderness, the people would cry out in need, and God would supply that need. Now they are about to enter the Promised land. Now they are entering a time of compounded success. But in order for them to have the success that God would give them, it was no longer enough to live their lives, grumbling, complaining, worrying, whining, crying out to God in fear at every hint of suffering. They needed to be a people of faith. And here’s a principle of Scripture you need to learn; Faith gets its feet wet.
God directed that the priests carrying the ark lead the people to the edge of this flowing churning river, and look what he said next.
8 Tell the priests who carry the ark of the covenant: ‘When you reach the edge of the Jordan’s waters, go and stand in the river.’”
Not, stick a stick in the water. Get in the water. This is what Joshua said,
9 Joshua said to the Israelites, “Come here and listen to the words of the Lord your God. 10 This is how you will know that the living God is among you and that he will certainly drive out before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites and Jebusites. 11 See, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth will go into the Jordan ahead of you.
13 And as soon as the priests who carry the ark of the Lord—the Lord of all the earth—set foot in the Jordan, its waters flowing downstream will be cut off and stand up in a heap.”
And it tells us that that is exactly what happened. As soon as the priests stepped in, God held up the waters, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan. That city was 15 to 20 miles away. But I believe God did more than just “hold up” the waters. It says that they walked across the Jordan on dry ground. If God had simply created an immediate dam 15 to 20 miles from their crossing, number one, it would have taken several hours for the water to go down enough for a crossing. And second, the ground wouldn’t be dry. It would have been a mud hole all the way across. But this is the description of the scene.
14 So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant went ahead of them. 15 Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, 16 the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah (that is, the Dead Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho. 17 The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord stopped in the middle of the Jordan and stood on dry ground, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground.
How could that have happened that quickly? I think the key is in the phrase, “It piled up in a heap.” You see, when we try to envision this, we think in human terms. Build a dam, waters eventually abate. But this is God at work. What does it say He did? He piled up the waters in a heap, 15 miles upstream. Think of it like this, picture the water as leaves that have fallen from a tree. Right now, during fall, there are leaves everywhere. What do we do if we want the leaves gone? We rake them all up into a heap. That’s what God did, only He did it with the water. And He didn’t just take a giant broom and push the water back. He did what He always does. He spoke and it happened. He looked at the Jordan river and said, “H20, in this riverbed, go 15 miles upstream.” You say, “yea but it still would have been muddy.” No, what is mud made of? Water and dirt. God commanded all the water, every bit of it to gather into a heap 15 miles upstream, leaving Israel to cross the Jordan on dry ground.
But what is our point for today? We have certain lessons we learn in the wilderness. But it is in the Promised land where we are tested as to whether we really learned those lessons. As we enter easier times, more successful times, first we must remember to define success as God defines it, our faithfulness. Second, we must begin to act on our faith; get our feet wet. Put actions to our proclamations of belief.
Faith That Steps In: “Are You Putting Your Feet in the Water?”
Cathedral quartet
Step into the water
Wade out a little bit deeper
Wet your feet in the water of his love
Ohh Step into the water (children)
Wade out a little bit deeper
Come join angels singin'
Praises to the Lamb of God
It's time we the people
Stand up for what is right
It's time we squared our shoulders back
And raised our swords to fight
For the Bible is our weapon
And the spirit is my sheild
The church needs more of its members to be workers in the field
Step into the water
Wade out a little bit deeper. (A little deeper)
Wet your feet in the water of his love
Ohh Step into the water (children)
Wade out a little bit deeper
Come join angels singin'
Praises to the Lamb of God
To the lamb of God
There is victory for the christian
Who walks the narrow way
There has been a prize appointed
For the soul who does not stray
Oh I want to live for Jesus
Be all that I should be
So that I can rest with him forever
Live eternally
Are you living by God’s definition of success.
prayer