God wants to accomplish something great in your life!
I am going to be myself. I really do not know any other way to be. God let me know years ago that I was a teacher. I tried different ministries. I tried to be a dynamic preacher, but that’s not who I am. It was only within the last several years that I accepted my role in the Kingdom and have felt comfortable in ministry. I have heard that we should not be reserved to our “comfort zone,” but that is not what I am talking about, there is a sweet spot where your anointing meets your gifting. No one else on this planet can fulfill the role that you were created for! We will talk more about that later.
If I am not a dynamic preacher, why of all things holy in God’s green earth would anyone listen to what I have to say. Some of you will sit there and think about lunch and let your mind wander. I urge you, for just a little while, to read this lesson for a couple of reasons. First, I struggled with what I was supposed to write here for some time. I had a lesson from Job prepared, no, that did not seem right. I have a lesson on thanksgiving and praise. I could not make it fit into a suitable format for this assignment. But God has given me a word for you, for this time, and it would be profitable for you to listen and apply the examples contained in this lesson. Secondly, I have been where you are right now and lost years to this world. I do not want to meddle today, but I want to be a help. I was 12 years old when I started sleeping in when the church bus came to my house. I made that decision. I heard the air-brakes pulling up to the house and stayed in my bed until they left. I missed out on so much! The years of services I missed, the Sunday school camps and youth camps, the NAYCs, and years I could have been serving the Lord. My consolation come from the Word of God, Joel chapter two tells me that “the Lord will restore to you the years.” Part of my purpose here today is to help you avoid the locusts, cankerworms, caterpillars, and palmerworms; spiritual metaphors that pertain to large destructive passions of the mind and less noticeable distractions that gradually eat away at your holiness and the inward man that God has designed.
Well, let me get to it.
Joshua 24:15-27, “And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. And the people answered and said, God forbid that we should forsake the Lord, to serve other gods; For the Lord our God, he it is that brought us up and our fathers out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and which did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way wherein we went, and among all the people through whom we passed: And the Lord drave out from before us all the people, even the Amorites which dwelt in the land: therefore will we also serve the Lord; for he is our God. And Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the Lord: for he is an holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. If ye forsake the Lord, and serve strange gods, then he will turn and do you hurt, and consume you, after that he hath done you good. And the people said unto Joshua, Nay; but we will serve the Lord. And Joshua said unto the people, Ye are witnesses against yourselves that ye have chosen you the Lord, to serve him. And they said, We are witnesses. Now therefore put away, said he, the strange gods which are among you, and incline your heart unto the Lord God of Israel. And the people said unto Joshua, The Lord our God will we serve, and his voice will we obey. So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and set them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem. And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God, and took a great stone, and set it up there under an oak, that was by the sanctuary of the Lord. And Joshua said unto all the people, Behold, this stone shall be a witness unto us; for it hath heard all the words of the Lord which he spake unto us: it shall be therefore a witness unto you, lest ye deny your God.”
The passage that we have just read are the last recorded words of Joshua. The Bible records in verse 29 that Joshua would die at the young, young age of 110 years old. The most famous saying from Joshua 24 is found in verse 15, “choose you this day whom ye will serve; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” As for me and my house we will serve the LORD! It’s curious to me that these are Joshua’s parting words to the children of Israel. When my children were all very young, we had a family portrait made with Joshua 24:15 written across the bottom. We proclaimed “we will serve the LORD” as a young family, but to declare such a statement with what seems to be some of his last breaths is odd to me. Let us go back through Joshua’s story and see if we can unravel this mystery.
Joshua began his life as a slave in Egypt. Joshua was most likely born around the time that Moses had fled to the wilderness, so for 30 to 40 years of his life, as Israel prayed for deliverance from harsh bondage, Joshua’s prayers also rose up to Heaven’s Throne. Can you imagine waiting for an answer from God for 40 years? How about 400? I have had many prayers answered, sometimes the answer was “no.” I have personally waited on an answer to prayer for over 4 years or more. I have always heard that the blessing is in the waiting, but when you have a need, it isn’t easy to wait. We live in a world of instant gratification. We can have most anything we want immediately. It isn’t easy to wait, but I can speak to the blessing of God’s perfect Will in working things out behind the scenes to accomplish the best outcome for you. Jeremiah 29:11 states, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” Whenever things seem difficult or they just aren’t going your way, or you have to wait, know that there is a God in heaven that sees what you are going through and is changing circumstances, dispatching angels, healing wounds, correcting the way we think, making paths straight, conquering fears, creating roads in the wilderness and rivers in the desert!
Have you ever heard of any of these men: Shammua, Shaphat, Igal, Palti, Gaddiel, Gaddi, Ammiel, Sethur, Nahbi, or Geuel. After the exodus from Egypt, Joshua, along with Caleb, were the only two of twelve spies that were sent into the promised land and returned with a good report. The names I read were the ten men that returned discouraged, allowing fear to overcome them. They spoke of giants and the land itself eating up the inhabitants, inciting the people with murmurings of all the problems ahead and the only solution they offered was to appoint another captain and return to Egypt. They had forgotten the miracles that brought them out of Egypt and could not see past their present circumstance to where that same God could further bless them and now, they are forever forgotten. Did anyone remember the names any of the other spies? How many will laugh if I say, (pointer finger up) “What’s up, brother?” That’s what I thought. The decisions that you make may affect your legacy. Fear can be real and devastating. I am not taking away from the way you feel. I am asking that instead of making that post or watching 57 bazillion reels, take your concerns to Jesus. He knows the thoughts that He thinks toward us and wants to give us an expected end, or as the NKJV calls it, “a future and a hope.” We are our own worst enemy when we cave to peer pressure, social media, entertainment, and worldly desires; the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.