April 10, 2023
  Daily Reading – Joshua 18-20 / Luke 9:1-27

 

 GOD’S WORD:

Joshua 19:49 When they had made an end of dividing the land for inheritance by their coasts, the children of Israel gave an inheritance to Joshua the son of Nun among them:

 

 GETTING INTO GOD’S WORD:

      It never dawned on me what was going on when I was a little boy. I always just saw my mom scooping food on mine and my sister’s plate. I was not really paying attention to mom and dad eating, I was hungry and all I cared about was me! However, as I got older I noticed that my mom would always stay busy helping us get our food and moving food from the stove to the table, until everyone had something on their plate. Then she would sit down and get her servings. There was always enough, but mom always made sure everyone else was fed first. It was not a self-sacrificing or self-aggrandizing effort. She just genuinely cared for others first.

 

      Joshua has been busy over the last few chapters. He has been making sure that each and every tribe of Israel had received all that they needed and what was awarded by God. I really do not think He was putting himself last as some self-sacrificing or a “look at how humble I am,” sort of gesture. I believe he cared for those people and wanted to make sure everyone was taken care of. Yet we find when it was all said and done, the Lord had kept a certain area set aside just for Joshua. It was the area he originally wanted. In the New Testament Jesus mentions this same characteristic to the disciples when He said in Matthew 19:30, “But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.” If we put others first, God will watch over us. 

 

 GETTING GOD’S WORD INTO ME:

      Jesus had that attitude toward us. Paul wrote of it in Phil. 2:5 when He said; “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:” Jesus put us first when took our sin upon Himself. Then it says in vs 9 that God highly exalted Him. 

 

How might you put others first today?

 

 

 GOD’S WORD:

Joshua 17:12 Yet the children of Manasseh could not drive out the inhabitants of those cities; but the Canaanites would dwell in that land.

 GETTING INTO GOD’S WORD:

      OK I am Cheap! You can call it thrifty. You can call it being a good steward. You can put lipstick on a pig and tie a bow on its tail, but it is still a pig. Call it what you will, I am cheap at times. When rebuilding my house that had caught fire, there were times I decided to reuse some of the wood that was there. As hard as I tried, there were some nails left behind in that old wood that were easier to just pound into the wood than to try to pull out. However, there were also times when that came back to haunt me. Like when I tried to cut that wood and did not see the nail until the saw hit it and sparks flew everywhere.

      God had given very clear instructions to Israel. In Deut. 7. They were to expel all the people off the land that He was to give them. Deut. 7:2 says; “And when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them:” That chapter goes on to say that if they did not do this, those people would turn Israel’s hearts away from Him. Still we find that several tribes of Israel allowed people to stay in the land. It says they made them their servants. Later we will see how the sins of these people seeped into the nation of Israel and they then became servants to their sin. Leaving these people there seemed like the easy thing to do at the time. Yet, in the long run, they became an affliction to their soul. 

 GETTING GOD’S WORD INTO ME:

    A little sin today, can be a huge affliction down the road. Just as the Canaanites were left behind, so we see in ourselves the old sin nature left behind as well. We must daily be on guard not to yield to, or become servant of any old sin. 
 

Are you standing guard against old sin?

 THE WEEK IN REVIEW:

    I can still hear my parents saying over and again, “Listen to me!” God says the same thing, and everything God says comes true. That is why Israel said;

● We Have Arrived
● We Have Assisted
● We Have Assurance
● We Have Accomplished
● We Have Alliance
● We Have Afflictions

    We also can have blessings or avoid trials in this life, “Only If we Listen!”

     Enjoy today with your church and hear what God has prepared in the heart of His man for you this week.

   See you tomorrow.  

 SUNDAYS:

    Today we suggest you read and study whatever the Lord has laid on your Pastors heart. Whatever scripture he uses for today’s messages were given to him by God for your specific needs.

April 10, 2023	Joshua 18-20	Luke 9:1-27
April 11, 2023	Joshua 21-22	Luke 9:28-62
April 12, 2023	Joshua 23-24	Luke 10:1-24
April 13, 2023	Judges 1-2	Luke 10:25-42
April 14, 2023	Judges 3-5	Luke 11:1-28
April 15, 2023	Judges 6-7	Luke 11:29-54
April 16, 2023	No Passages Assigned

Only If We Listen

  April 7, 2023
  Daily Reading – Joshua 12-14 / Luke 8:1-39

 

 GOD’S WORD:

Joshua 14:14 Hebron therefore became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite unto this day, because that he wholly followed the LORD God of Israel.

 

 GETTING INTO GOD’S WORD:

      A Promise is a promise, that is until it is broken. Today people often do not trust people as they once did. It used to be that a man’s word or a handshake was enough to seal any deal. Today you must sign contracts, give deposits, and have things notarized for a promise to be believed. Even then most people are not sure of a promise until it has been fulfilled. Arbitrators and attorneys have full-time jobs making incredibly good wages sorting out signed contracts that were not fulfilled as promised.

 

      God had made a promise to Caleb concerning Hebron. Although the previous promises made to him in Numbers 14:24 and Deuteronomy 1:36 do not specifically mention Hebron, it is clear that everyone understood this to be the place mentioned in today’s passages. Yet even prior to Caleb, God had made an alliance with Abram about this land. In Genesis 13 God tells Abram that all the land that he sees will one day be inhabited by his family. In Genesis 13:18 it says; “Then Abram removed his tent, and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the LORD.” Way before Caleb was promised by God that he would possess Hebron, God had made a promise to Abram that this place would be Israels land. Even the name “Hebron” means alliance, or fellowship. There were no contracts, deposits or notaries. We can always take God at His word. That is a promise. 

 

 GETTING GOD’S WORD INTO ME:

      God has made an alliance with believers today. He promises to never leave or forsake us. He promised us a home in heaven. He promised to save us from our sin if we believe in Christ. It is comforting to know; God always keeps His word.

 

Do you have real faith in God’s promises? 

 

 

  April 6, 2023
  Daily Reading – Joshua 10-11 / Luke 7:36-50

 

 GOD’S WORD:

Joshua 11:15 As the LORD commanded Moses his servant, so did Moses command Joshua, and so did Joshua; he left nothing undone of all that the LORD commanded Moses.

 

 GETTING INTO GOD’S WORD:

      DONE! What a great feeling a person has when they have looked at all the details of a project, tackled them one by one, and have come to the place where they can say, “It is DONE.” It is a word of completion, yet it is also a word of accomplishment. Completions means that you have come from one point to another. There was at one time a beginning with an end in sight. Now that you are there at that end, you can look back over all you have accomplished.

 

      God had given Moses a list of things to be done in Deuteronomy 20:15-18. It looked like a huge task at the time. They were facing all those kings, and all those well-fortified cities with chariots and horsemen. Moses passed this list to Joshua, and our verse today says; “and so did Joshua; he left nothing undone of all that the LORD commanded Moses.” Now in the final verse of today’s reading it says, Joshua 11:23 “So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the LORD said unto Moses; and Joshua gave it for an inheritance unto Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. And the land rested from war.” Any time we finish something, we know there is something else to come next. So it is with the Children of Israel. There are more battles to fight, more obstacles to overcome. However, for just this one moment in time it is nice to know, nothing was undone of all the Lord commanded. That list was DONE! 

 

 GETTING GOD’S WORD INTO ME:

      In Rev. 21:6 God says, “…It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end…” Until then, we have work to do. Yet, what peace there is in knowing, we have a promise it will all one day be DONE!

 

When it is DONE, who do you want standing beside you?

 

 

  April 5, 2023
  Daily Reading – Joshua 7-9 / Luke 7:1-35

 

 GOD’S WORD:

Joshua 8:34 And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessings and cursings, according to all that is written in the book of the law.

 

 GETTING INTO GOD’S WORD:

      Have you ever messed up? Ever make one of those really huge mistakes. Something you have seen as the blunder of all blunders. You may even have thought to yourself, ok, this is it. This will be the end of our relationship, or my career. Thinking, what I have done will never be forgiven. However, you finally fess up, only to find out that the boss, or the person you felt you had wronged was a little more forgiving than you thought they might be. If so, then you may understand how the Children of Israel felt in today’s passage. 

 

      God had brought them over Jordan and given them a huge victory over Jericho. They were kind of on a victory lap when they came to the city of Ai. Comparing Ai to that of Jericho, it seemed rather small and easy to take. So rather than sending everyone, they just sent a few men out to take the city. However, they lost this battle. When Joshua asks God why, God says the people of Israel had sinned. Someone had taken something from Jericho, which God had told them not to do. The sin of one family now was effecting the entire camp. With God’s leading, they found who had done this, and dealt with it exactly as God directed them to do. Then, God gave them victory over the people of Ai. So they built an altar to worship God. Not only for the victory, but also for the assurance of his presence with them. They were standing exactly where God, through Moses, had told them in Duet. 27:12-13 they would be. 

 

 GETTING GOD’S WORD INTO ME:

      I love 1 John 1:9 which says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Jesus paid the price for my sin; my confession reassures my relationship. 

 

Aren’t you glad for this assurance from God?