As I Was, So I Will Be

Devotional

Day 1: Standing at the Jordan’s Edge with Joshua

The Israelites stood facing the Jordan River – new territory ahead, familiar leadership gone. God’s promise cuts through their uncertainty: “As I was with Moses, so I will be with you.” This vow anchors them not in human capability but divine consistency. Seasons change, but the One who parts seas and sustains through desert wanderings remains. Our Jordan moments – transitions, unknowns, leadership shifts – become spaces to discover God’s faithfulness afresh. Success comes through clinging to His presence, not replicating past methods. [44:40]

“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. Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.”
(Joshua 1:5-6, ESV)

Reflection: What “Jordan River” are you facing today – a transition you didn’t choose or a future that feels overwhelming? How might focusing on God’s track record with you shift your perspective?

Day 2: Moses’ Tent and the Pillar That Remains

While others worshipped at a distance, Joshua lingered where God’s cloud descended. The tent of meeting became his training ground – not through sermons, but through proximity. Forty years of watching Moses seek God’s face shaped Joshua’s core belief: Presence matters more than plans. Our spiritual inheritance grows not in crowd moments, but in the daily choice to dwell where Heaven touches earth. [52:49]

“As Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance while the Lord spoke with Moses. The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent.”
(Exodus 33:9-11, ESV)

Reflection: Where is your “tent of meeting” – the consistent place or practice helping you recognize God’s presence? What distracts you from lingering there?

Day 3: More Than Conquerors in the Kitchen of the Lord

God’s storehouses never run empty. Paul’s declaration – “we are more than conquerors” – rebukes our scarcity mentality. The Israelites faced walled cities, but their true battle was believing in limitless grace. Our “kitchen” metaphors reveal our faith: Do we see life’s challenges as raids on dwindling resources or invitations to feast on God’s abundance? Victory comes through reliance, not rationing. [01:03:31]

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”
(Romans 8:35,37, ESV)

Reflection: What hardship are you facing as a “famine” rather than a feast? How would receiving rather than resisting this season change your posture?

Day 4: Success in the Desert of Obedience

God’s battle plan for Jericho seemed absurd, but Joshua’s courage came from decades of watching obedience bear fruit. True success isn’t measured by outcomes but by fidelity to God’s word. Like Joshua meditating on the law, we’re called to marinate in Scripture until our reflexes align with Heaven’s rhythm. The promised land gets claimed one faithful step at a time. [01:08:43]

“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. Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night.”
(Joshua 1:7-8, ESV)

Reflection: What current challenge requires courage to obey rather than strategize? Where do you need to trade self-made plans for scriptural alignment?

Day 5: False Starts and the Faithfulness That Holds

The altar call moment matters, but so do the Tuesday mornings when faith feels like fumbling. God specializes in redeeming our stumbles – not because we master consistency, but because He embodies it. Like Joshua staying in the tent after Moses left, our calling isn’t to perfect performance but persistent return. His mercies aren’t rationed for the disciplined few but lavished on the willing. [01:25:49]

“Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”
(Lamentations 3:22-23, ESV)

Reflection: What “false start” weighs on you? How might today’s new mercies release you from yesterday’s regrets?

Sermon Summary

Joshua 1 speaks into a people staring at the Jordan with Jericho in view and Moses gone. The text names the fear and then answers it. God says, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will never leave you nor forsake you. The promise shifts the center of gravity from a leader’s presence to the Lord’s presence. Israel’s next steps do not rest on personality or pedigree, but on a God who does not change.

Exodus 33 shows why Joshua can receive that word. After the golden calf fiasco, Moses meets the Lord at the tent of meeting while the cloud descends and the people stand at their own tent doors. Moses talks with God face to face as a friend, then returns to the camp. Joshua stays. Hunger stays. He does not settle for being in the same camp where God is at work. He draws near to where God is. So when Joshua hears, as I was, so I will be, his heart already lives there.

The promise steadies a church in transition the same way it steadied Israel. Cape Vineyard’s story tells it. A risky building purchase that nearly fell through, yet God opened an alley-sized window and made a way. A pandemic that emptied rooms, yet drive-in church and drive-through dinner church fed bodies and souls. The pattern is clear. It is never about who holds the microphone. It is about the God who keeps company with his people and sends them toward battles with his presence out front.

Romans 8 tightens the anchor line. Trouble, famine, danger, even the sword cannot cut off the love of God in Christ. More than conquerors does not mean barely making it. It means thriving in hard seasons because his love is not on ration. The cupboards of the kitchen of the Lord are never empty. In divorce papers, a thin budget, or aching grief, the supply of his love does not run dry.

Joshua 1 also gives the key to real success. Be strong and very courageous. Do not turn to the right or to the left. Keep this book on your lips. Meditate day and night. Do what it says. Then you will prosper and succeed. The strategy is not clever tactics. The strategy is communion and obedience. In a December handoff or any new season, each disciple owns this promise personally. Jesus stands at the door he already opened. Say yes to him, and the inheritance of his presence becomes the ground under the feet. Prayer, repentance from false starts, and healing are not side notes. They are how his never failing presence moves from the room into the heart.

Key Takeaways

1. As I was, so I will be God’s unchanging presence, not human continuity, carries callings across rivers and decades. This promise frees a church or a family from leader-dependence and roots them in God-dependence. Seasons change, faces change, but the Name stays. Hope grows when the center is the One who never leaves or forsakes. [45:57]
2. Hunger stays at the tent Joshua refuses a safe distance. While others watch and worship from afar, he lingers where the cloud rests. Intimacy with God is not an accident. It is a chosen nearness, again and again, that forms courage long before the battle horn sounds. [55:13]
3. Scripture-shaped courage is the strategy Strength is commanded, but direction is given. Mouth, mind, and movement stay aligned with the Word, and God calls that success. In uncertain futures, fidelity beats ingenuity. The path runs straight when the heart refuses right or left. [68:59]
4. More than conquerors in hardship Suffering cannot sever what Christ has joined. More than conquerors means receiving presence enough to thrive, not just survive, inside real pain. His love is not scarce, even in famine. The cupboards of grace are stocked for long nights. [63:31]
5. Presence often arrives through people God’s withness frequently comes in embodied company, the ministry of presence that sits, weeps, and prays. Being there is not filler. It is how the Shepherd walks into rooms through his servants, turning dread into held grief and lonely halls into holy ground. [60:28]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[41:42] - Into the desert with Joshua
[43:55] - Moses died, what is next
[45:57] - As I was, so I will be
[47:17] - Building purchase and God’s faithfulness
[48:15] - Drive-in and dinner church
[49:27] - Not about leaders, about God
[53:42] - Face to face as a friend
[59:51] - Ministry of presence in grief
[63:31] - Nothing separates from his love
[64:39] - More than conquerors in hard seasons
[68:59] - The key to success
[72:26] - Handing off and resilient faith
[75:15] - Say yes to Jesus
[84:45] - Prayer for return and healing

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading
Joshua 1:5,9 (ESV)
“No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. [...] Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Exodus 33:11 (ESV)
“Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses turned again into the camp, his assistant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.”

Romans 8:35,37 (ESV)
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? [...] No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”

Observation questions

What specific promise does God repeat to Joshua in Joshua 1:5, and how does it address Israel’s fear of moving forward without Moses?
In Exodus 33:11, how does Joshua’s choice to “not depart from the tent” contrast with the rest of Israel’s response to God’s presence?
According to the sermon, what practical examples (e.g., building purchase, pandemic ministry) illustrate God’s faithfulness to the church during uncertainty? [47:17]

Interpretation questions

Why might God emphasize His unchanging presence (“as I was with Moses, so I will be with you”) as the foundation for Joshua’s courage rather than giving him a detailed battle plan?
How does the idea of being “more than conquerors” (Romans 8:37) redefine what thriving looks like in seasons of suffering or transition?
The sermon mentions that “intimacy with God is not an accident” but a chosen nearness. How does Joshua’s habit of lingering in God’s presence (Exodus 33:11) prepare him for future leadership challenges?

Application questions

What transition or uncertainty are you facing right now where you need to actively trust God’s promise, “I will never leave you nor forsake you”? What practical step could you take this week to lean into that truth?
The sermon highlights that “hunger stays at the tent”—choosing nearness to God even when others keep their distance. What distractions or comforts might you need to set aside to prioritize time in prayer or Scripture this month?
Reflect on a time when hardship (e.g., grief, financial strain, relational conflict) made it hard to feel God’s love. How could Romans 8:35-37 reshape your perspective on that experience?
The “ministry of presence” example in the sermon ([59:51]) shows God’s love embodied through people. Who in your life needs tangible companionship or prayer this week, and how could you intentionally show up for them?
Joshua’s success was tied to meditating on God’s Word “day and night” (Joshua 1:8). What habit or rhythm could you create to keep Scripture central in your daily decisions and fears?

Sermon Clips

43s

#FaithInAction

“Right? And the world shuts down. It's difficult. It's pain. It's fear. It's all of that. And and our church, many of you said, that's not good enough for us. We still need to serve. That's who we are. We are a people who care for others. So if god's gonna still love his people, which he does, then we're gonna do that too. And so we open drive in church and drive through dinner church and all of these things saying, alright, if God's going to be with us, then we will continue to do what he's called us to do because we know his word says that he never changes. As I was, so I will be.”

41s

#GodIsFaithful

“Friends, this is the hope that the Israelites walk into the promised land with, but this has always been the hope of the Cape Vineyard as well. This promise directed to Joshua descends to all followers of God that as he was with Moses, so he will be with you and I, so he will be with this church. This has been our history of of having battles up ahead of us, of seeing territory to take, of spaces to move into, and saying, can we do it? I don't know. It's gonna be hard. It's gonna be difficult. Will God be faithful? Yes. Because he always has been faithful.”

45s

#ThriveNotSurvive

“I love those two phrases in there, more than conquerors. That means it's not just, I'm just gonna hold on and just struggle through it, and this next season that I go into is gonna be difficult and painful, but I'll grit my teeth. I'll grin and bear it. I'll get through, and then we'll just move on to the next thing. No. No. That that would be like barely conquering. Romans eight does Paul doesn't say, you can barely get through. No. He says, you can more than conquer. You can thrive through the new seasons. You can enjoy them. They can even difficulty and fear and pain and hardship. They can be full of the presence of God because he is so good to us.”

51s

#KeepTheWord

“New seasons, how do I find success? How do I walk where God wants me to be? How do I get the victory? You remain faithful to him. 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 successful. 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 you wherever That's such a good promise. Don't you want that promise in your life? Don't you need that promise in your life? You know how to get that it's available to you. It's available to me, and it's right here.”

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As I Was, So I Will Be

Devotional

Day 1: Standing at the Jordan’s Edge with Joshua

Day 2: Moses’ Tent and the Pillar That Remains

Day 3: More Than Conquerors in the Kitchen of the Lord

Day 4: Success in the Desert of Obedience

Day 5: False Starts and the Faithfulness That Holds

Sermon Summary

Key Takeaways

Youtube Chapters

Bible Study Guide

Sermon Clips

As I Was, So I Will Be

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