Comeback Season #4

Intro

Welcome

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Introduction

Overview of past weeks:

Week 1: Joshua called to lead the Israelites

Week 2: God Calls the Israelites to cross the Jordan River

Week 3: God’s people bring down the walls of Jericho

Read

Joshua 24:14–28 HCSB

14 “Therefore, fear the Lord and worship Him in sincerity and truth. Get rid of the gods your fathers worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and worship Yahweh. 15 But if it doesn’t please you to worship Yahweh, choose for yourselves today the one you will worship: the gods your fathers worshiped beyond the Euphrates River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. As for me and my family, we will worship Yahweh.” 16 The people replied, “We will certainly not abandon the Lord to worship other gods! 17 For the Lord our God brought us and our fathers out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery, and performed these great signs before our eyes. He also protected us all along the way we went and among all the peoples whose lands we traveled through. 18 The Lord drove out before us all the peoples, including the Amorites who lived in the land. We too will worship the Lord, because He is our God.” 19 But Joshua told the people, “You will not be able to worship Yahweh, because He is a holy God. He is a jealous God; He will not remove your transgressions and sins. 20 If you abandon the Lord and worship foreign gods, He will turn against you, harm you, and completely destroy you, after He has been good to you.” 21 “No!” the people answered Joshua. “We will worship the Lord.” 22 Joshua then told the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you yourselves have chosen to worship Yahweh.” “We are witnesses,” they said. 23 “Then get rid of the foreign gods that are among you and offer your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.” 24 So the people said to Joshua, “We will worship the Lord our God and obey Him.” 25 On that day Joshua made a covenant for the people at Shechem and established a statute and ordinance for them. 26 Joshua recorded these things in the book of the law of God; he also took a large stone and set it up there under the oak next to the sanctuary of the Lord. 27 And Joshua said to all the people, “You see this stone—it will be a witness against us, for it has heard all the words the Lord said to us, and it will be a witness against you, so that you will not deny your God.” 28 Then Joshua sent the people away, each to his own inheritance.

Teach

1. What’s the Word? (vv. 14-20)

What’s the word? Worship God or not.

Joshua basically puts all of the Israelites on blast in a public meeting to ask them to either chose to worship God only, or continue to worship the false gods of their past.

This pointed and direct questions immediately follows the highlights of Israel’s past in regards to God’s grace and power. Joshua brings the people that are about to make a massive decision face to face with the reality of their provider, protector, and their source of power.

It can be summed up by verse 13:

Joshua 24:13 HCSB

13 I gave you a land you did not labor for, and cities you did not build, though you live in them; you are eating from vineyards and olive groves you did not plant.’

I wonder how many of us in this room are living that reality today?

How many of us would be willing to say that we have experienced the faithfulness of God in one breath then turn right around and disregarded Him in the next breath.

Joshua also teaches briefly in verses 19-20 that the same God that provides peace and providence for his people, is also a God of vengeance and justice.

Romans 12:19 HCSB

19 Friends, do not avenge yourselves; instead, leave room for His wrath. For it is written: Vengeance belongs to Me; I will repay, says the Lord.

I am not trying to scare or intimidate you in to a relationship with Jesus, I just want you to know the full scope of the relationship.

2. What’s the Action? (vv. 21-28)

The action: Life-change, worship, real faith.

a. Make the choice vv. 21-22

We have to make the conscious decision to Trust God with our whole heart and our whole life.

b. Get rid of all your God vv.23-24

Exodus 20:3 HCSB

3 Do not have other gods besides Me.

Exodus 34:14 HCSB

14 You are never to bow down to another god because Yahweh, being jealous by nature, is a jealous God.

c. Get a stone

Who is someone in your life that can hold you accountable to spending time with God and make sure that you are worshipping Him like you should be?

James 5:16 HCSB

16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The urgent request of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect.

Proverbs 27:17 HCSB

17 Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.

Response

James 1:22 HCSB

22 But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

Luke 9:23 HCSB

23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone wants to come with Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me.

Romans 10:9 HCSB

9 If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.