God of Promises...Choose Today

Anchor...

Joshua 1:8 AMP

This Book of the Law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe and do according to all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall deal wisely and have good success.

Would You Rather?

Be an amazing artist or a gifted singer?

Jump as far as a Kangaroo or hold your breath like a whale?

Have a magic carpet that flies or be able to X-Ray vision?

Go skiing or a water park?

Live in a cave or a tree house?

Brush your teeth with soap or drink sour milk?

These questions are just for fun, but Israel had a more serious question to answer. Today, we face that very same question.

After the Israelites recieved the land God had promised them. Joshua reminded the people of God’s blessings and tells the people to follow God. There are consequences for disobeying God, but if we choose to follow Him, we will be blessed!

Joshua has gathered up all the people to remind them of God’s goodness…Abrahams covenant, Moses’ Red Sea deliverance, etc.. We, like Israel need to be reminded of God’s goodness to us. Maybe He doesn’t always calm the storms, but He will always see us through them.

The Goodness of God...

Joshua 24:1–13 NKJV

Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem and called for the elders of Israel, for their heads, for their judges, and for their officers; and they presented themselves before God. And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘Your fathers, including Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, dwelt on the other side of the River in old times; and they served other gods. Then I took your father Abraham from the other side of the River, led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his descendants and gave him Isaac. To Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. To Esau I gave the mountains of Seir to possess, but Jacob and his children went down to Egypt. Also I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt, according to what I did among them. Afterward I brought you out. ‘Then I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and you came to the sea; and the Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea. So they cried out to the Lord; and He put darkness between you and the Egyptians, brought the sea upon them, and covered them. And your eyes saw what I did in Egypt. Then you dwelt in the wilderness a long time. And I brought you into the land of the Amorites, who dwelt on the other side of the Jordan, and they fought with you. But I gave them into your hand, that you might possess their land, and I destroyed them from before you. Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose to make war against Israel, and sent and called Balaam the son of Beor to curse you. But I would not listen to Balaam; therefore he continued to bless you. So I delivered you out of his hand. Then you went over the Jordan and came to Jericho. And the men of Jericho fought against you—also the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. But I delivered them into your hand. I sent the hornet before you which drove them out from before you, also the two kings of the Amorites, but not with your sword or with your bow. I have given you a land for which you did not labor, and cities which you did not build, and you dwell in them; you eat of the vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.’

Joshua had a genuine concern for the children of God. He had seen first hand the way God had worked out so many miracles for them, and yet they would struggle to be faithful to God. He was trying to encourage them to loge God with a deep passion, to serve Him with joy and to live a holy life.

You Must Choose...

We are no different than these Israelites. They had to make a choice…Would they follow the God that had been so good to them or would they choose to follow the empty promises of idols?

Joshua 24:14–20 NKJV

“Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord! And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” So the people answered and said: “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods; for the Lord our God is He who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, who did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way that we went and among all the people through whom we passed. And the Lord drove out from before us all the people, including the Amorites who dwelt in the land. We also will serve the Lord, for He is our God.” But Joshua said to the people, “You cannot serve the Lord, for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you, after He has done you good.”

It’s God’s desire that all people would follow Him. The invitation is for all to come to Him. Joshua warned them that they would serve and worship only God.

The Commitment...

Joshua knew that this wasn’t a one time commitment. This would be an everyday for the rest of your life kind of commitment. They would forsake all other God’s and idols and follow El Shaddai.

Joshua 24:23–27 NKJV

“Now therefore,” he said, “put away the foreign gods which are among you, and incline your heart to the Lord God of Israel.” And the people said to Joshua, “The Lord our God we will serve, and His voice we will obey!” So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made for them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem. Then Joshua wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God. And he took a large stone, and set it up there under the oak that was by the sanctuary of the Lord. And Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, this stone shall be a witness to us, for it has heard all the words of the Lord which He spoke to us. It shall therefore be a witness to you, lest you deny your God.”

For Israel and us as well a choice must be made. To be clear…to not make a choice is to reject His saving grace. If you choose to follow the God of Promises you will continually choose to pursue His will over your own. You will have a deep reverence for Him and His truth. You will have a sincere desire to fulfill His goals for your life. You will have a strong commitment to resist sin!

Joshua 24:31 NKJV

Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had known all the works of the Lord which He had done for Israel.

Would You Rather?

Come to church and worship the God of promises or sleep in?

Commit to reading God’s word or mindlessly scroll social media?

Pray and talk to God about your problems or rant to the world about your problems?

We make choices every day. We should be asking ourselves if our choices are helping us serve God or are they serving me? To deny Jesus is to choose destruction. Jesus chose you! He committed Himself to being your Lord and Savior. He took the first step, the next one is yours.