{"id":13934,"date":"2021-01-29T21:00:06","date_gmt":"2021-01-30T04:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/joshua_24_11-21-copy\/"},"modified":"2021-01-24T17:31:36","modified_gmt":"2021-01-25T00:31:36","slug":"joshua_24_22-33","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/joshua_24_22-33\/","title":{"rendered":"A Key to Growing Spiritually"},"content":{"rendered":"

Joshua 24:22-33 Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/span><\/p>\n

let’s get into today’s GAME\u00a0passage,\u00a0Joshua 24:22-33.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Joshua 24:22-28 (NIV)\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
\n22\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then Joshua said, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the\u00a0LORD.” “Yes, we are witnesses,” they replied.
\n23\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“Now then,” said Joshua, “throw away the foreign gods that are among you and yield your hearts to the\u00a0LORD, the God of Israel.”
\n24\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0And the people said to Joshua, “We will serve the\u00a0LORD\u00a0our God and obey him.”
\n25\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0On that day Joshua made a covenant for the people, and there at Shechem he drew up for them decrees and laws.
\n26\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0And Joshua recorded these things in the Book of the Law of God. Then he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak near the holy place of theLORD.
\n27\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“See!” he said to all the people. “This stone will be a witness against us. It has heard all the words the\u00a0LORD\u00a0has said to us. It will be a witness against you if you are untrue to your God.”
\n28\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then Joshua sent the people away, each to his own inheritance.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 22-28:\u00a0\u00a0Here Joshua leads the Israelites in making a covenant, a legally binding agreement, between the Israelites and God where the Israelites commit to serving God and obeying Him.\u00a0\u00a0He uses a large stone as a witness (i.e. a reminder) of the commitment that the people have made.\u00a0\u00a0After this Joshua sends the people home.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Why did Joshua lead the Israelites in making this formal covenant to serve and obey God?\u00a0\u00a0It is because\u00a0Joshua understood an important principle about spiritual growth:<\/strong>\u00a0we grow based on the commitments we make<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0If in our relationship with God or in any other worthwhile endeavour we operate based on our feelings alone (e.g. \u201cI\u2019ll obey God only when I feel like.\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019ll read God\u2019s Word only when I feel like it.\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019ll pray only when I feel like it.\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019ll go to church only when I feel like it.\u201d), we will never grow.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0Instead, we will remain wishy washy, feelings-driven, weak and unstable.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s by making commitments and sticking to them that we grow up spiritually and in Christ-like character.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0Though some people are scared of the word \u201ccommitment\u201d, the fact is that you will not grow in any substantial way without commitment.\u00a0\u00a0Is there a commitment you need to make in order to grow?\u00a0\u00a0Maybe it\u2019s to get baptized to identify yourself as a believer, or to start reading your Bible regularly, or to protect your time in church.\u00a0\u00a0Don\u2019t fear commitment, because commitment is necessary for growth and success.\u00a0\u00a0Instead fear what you will miss out on if you never commit.<\/strong><\/p>\n

2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Joshua\u2019s final act as a leader was to lead the people in committing themselves to God.\u00a0\u00a0That is a sign of a great leader:\u00a0the greatest leaders do not call people\u2019s attention to themselves and their greatness.\u00a0\u00a0Rather the greatest leaders call people\u2019s attention to God and God\u2019s greatness.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0Their goal is not make themselves famous, but to make God famous.\u00a0\u00a0May you be that kind of leader.<\/p>\n

Joshua 24:29-33 (NIV)\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
\n29\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0After these things, Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the\u00a0LORD, died at the age of a hundred and ten.
\n30\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0And they buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath Serah in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.
\n31\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Israel served the\u00a0LORD\u00a0throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had experienced everything the\u00a0LORD\u00a0had done for Israel.
\n32\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0And Joseph’s bones, which the Israelites had brought up from Egypt, were buried at Shechem in the tract of land that Jacob bought for a hundred pieces of silver from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem. This became the inheritance of Joseph’s descendants.
\n33\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0And Eleazar son of Aaron died and was buried at Gibeah, which had been allotted to his son Phinehas in the hill country of Ephraim.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 29-33:\u00a0\u00a0Here we read about the death of Joshua, one of the greatest leaders Israel had ever seen.\u00a0\u00a0Perhaps verse 31 best summarizes Joshua\u2019s impact: \u201cIsrael served the LORD throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him\u201d (v31).\u00a0\u00a0The remaining verses describe other important leaders in Israel\u2019s history being laid to rest: first Joseph\u2019s bones (v32) and Eleazar the priest and a son of Aaron (v33).<\/p>\n

With the death of these leaders, there would be a great need for new leaders to rise up and lead the Israelites to be faithful to the Lord.\u00a0\u00a0This is one difference we see between Moses and Joshua.\u00a0\u00a0With Moses there was a great emphasis on preparing Joshua to become the new leader of Israel.\u00a0\u00a0For some reason there is much less evidence in the Old Testament that Joshua prepared an individual in the next generation after him to lead.\u00a0\u00a0Could this be the reason why in the decades that would follow Joshua\u2019s death, \u201cIsrael had no king; everyone did as they saw fit\u201d (Judges 17:6) and this would usher some of the darkest, most painful and embarrassing days in the history of Israel?\u00a0\u00a0Maybe.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0The greatest leaders cannot lead forever.\u00a0\u00a0Thus with every generation there is a need for today\u2019s current leaders to be investing in and raising up new leaders who can lead the people into the future.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Heavenly Father, may I not fear commitment or run away from commitment, since You use the commitments we make to grow us into the people we were made to be.\u00a0\u00a0May I be committed to raising up a new generation of leaders so that long after I\u2019m gone God\u2019s people will not be short of great leaders to lead them.\u00a0\u00a0In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n

That brings us to the end of our look at the book of Joshua.\u00a0\u00a0I hope you\u2019ve been blessed by this book as much as I have.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

let’s get into today’s GAME\u00a0passage,\u00a0Joshua 24:22-33.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Joshua 24:22-28 (NIV)\u00a0
\n22\u00a0\u00a0Then Joshua said, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the\u00a0LORD.” “Yes, we are witnesses,” they replied.\u00a0
\n23\u00a0\u00a0“Now then,” said Joshua, “throw away the foreign gods that are among you and yield your hearts to the\u00a0LORD, the God of Israel.”\u00a0
\n24\u00a0\u00a0And the people said to Joshua, “We will serve the\u00a0LORD\u00a0our God and obey him.”\u00a0
\n25\u00a0\u00a0On that day Joshua made a covenant for the people, and there at Shechem he drew up for them decrees and laws.\u00a0
\n26\u00a0\u00a0And Joshua recorded these things in the Book of the Law of God. Then he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak near the holy place of theLORD.\u00a0
\n27\u00a0\u00a0“See!” he said to all the people. “This stone will be a witness against us. It has heard all the words the\u00a0LORD\u00a0has said to us. It will be a witness against you if you are untrue to your God.”\u00a0
\n28\u00a0\u00a0Then Joshua sent the people away, each to his own inheritance.<\/p>\n

On verses 22-28:\u00a0\u00a0Here Joshua leads the Israelites in making a covenant, a legally binding agreement, between the Israelites and God where the Israelites commit to serving God and obeying Him.\u00a0\u00a0He uses a large stone as a witness (i.e. a reminder) of the commitment that the people have made.\u00a0\u00a0After this Joshua sends the people home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13936,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13934"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13934\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13935,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13934\/revisions\/13935"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}