Depend on the Promises of God

Scripture: Joshua 14:12c-d

perhaps the LORD will be with me, and I will drive them out as the LORD has spoken."

Insights: This last half of verse twelve is one of my favorite passages of Scripture (I know that I have a lot of favorite passages of Scripture).  The reason I like this portion of verse twelve is because it points to Caleb’s strength.  In other words, Caleb knows that if he were to go up and fight the Anakim, he would lose, but if God is with him, then he knows he will win.  He is also not presumptuous about the Lord’s participation.  Notice he uses the word, “perhaps.”  In using that word, it is as if Caleb is petitioning the Lord God to fight on his behalf.  It is almost a prayer to the Father requesting His presence and power as Caleb marches up this hillside.  Everything is being directed and pointed to the Lord.  All glory and honor are being given to the Lord.  Caleb is keeping nothing for himself.  He knows he is completely and utterly dependent upon God to bring about this victory.  Beloved, this heart attitude of humility is where we need to find ourselves.  Too often we walk and talk as if we are the power source and the victorious one in our endeavors for the Lord.  That kind of attitude is the height of arrogance and reveals the foolishness of our heart.  Let us quickly follow the pattern of Caleb and bow ourselves before the Lord and ask for His will to be done in our lives.  As a result, may He be brought glory and honor.

Questions:

1. Have you been attempting to slay the giants in your life in your own power and strength?
2. Have you come to realize that giants can only be slain by the Lord working through you?

Prayer: Father, You and You alone are my strength and refuge.  Help my heart to run to You when I face the giants which are before me.  Let me rest in Your care and know You make me victorious.   Amen.

Act on the Promises of God

Scripture: Joshua 14:10-12b

"Now behold, the LORD has let me live, just as He spoke, these forty-five years, from the time that the LORD spoke this word to Moses, when Israel walked in the wilderness; and now behold, I am eighty-five years old today. "I am still as strong today as I was in the day Moses sent me; as my strength was then, so my strength is now, for war and for going out and coming in. "Now then, give me this hill country about which the LORD spoke on that day, for you heard on that day that Anakim were there, with great fortified cities

Insights: Notice in today’s verses that Caleb shifts gears.  In the previous verses he was reminding God and Joshua of the Lord’s promises.  He then starts this next section with the word, “now.”  In other words, now that Caleb, Joshua and the Lord have all been reminded of the promises of the past, they are supposed to respond.  Action is what is being demanded of Caleb and he is ready of the challenge.  Something else I want you to notice about Caleb’s zeal for the advancement of the land is that it was not hindered by the obstacles in front of him.  Notice the verses inform us that the Anakim were living in fortified cities in this hill country Caleb is about to attack.  Anakim were giants.  Beloved, this makes me wonder what kind of giants are you facing today.  What hill are you supposed to possess for the Lord today?  At the end of the day, what is being requested and required of us is obedient action to the Lord’s commands.  Yesterday we learned that Jesus promised to be with us always.  You will also recall that I mentioned in the context of that particular passage it was dependent upon our going and making disciples.  This going is that action of faith which is being communicated today.  We were not saved to sit in pews and feel good.  We were saved to advance the land for the kingdom of Christ Jesus.  We were called to slay giants in our lives and to rescue the perishing.  We must get past ourselves and learn to see the world as Jesus sees it and have an increased burden for the lost.  I pray and hope that this week you will share the love of Jesus with those around.  Invite a coworker to church with you this week.  Tell a neighbor about the love of Jesus.  Perform an act of kindness for a stranger and let them know the Lord is the One who prompted you to display grace.  Bring the Lord glory today!

Questions:

1. Are you obeying the Lord and His commands for your life?
2. When was the last time you had the privilege of leading someone to the Lord Jesus Christ?

Prayer: Father, forgive me for the times that I have been unfaithful and not bold in my proclamation of the gospel.  Increase my burden and passion for the lost people of this world.  Help me to see them as You see them.   Amen.

Hold on to the Promises of God

Scripture: Joshua 14:6-9

Then the sons of Judah drew near to Joshua in Gilgal, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, "You know the word which the LORD spoke to Moses the man of God concerning you and me in Kadesh-barnea. "I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land, and I brought word back to him as it was in my heart. "Nevertheless my brethren who went up with me made the heart of the people melt with fear; but I followed the LORD my God fully. "So Moses swore on that day, saying, 'Surely the land on which your foot has trodden will be an inheritance to you and to your children forever, because you have followed the LORD my God fully.'

 

Insights: In today’s verses we see Caleb holding on to the promise the Lord gave him concerning his possession of the Land in Canaan.  There are so many truths found in these few short verses, but I am only going to focus on one.  The Lord Jesus has promised us some truths as well.  Just as God promised Caleb the land, the Lord Jesus has promised us His presence.  Now in the context of Jesus telling us He would be with us always it is in relation to our going out and proclaiming the gospel.  Here is the point.  Just as Caleb took his promissory note to Joshua and cashed it in by reminding him of God’s promise to Caleb, so we are able to take Jesus’ promissory note and go evangelize the world and can have full confidence Jesus is right there with us.  One of the things Caleb did was “remind” God, as if God needed reminded, of His promise to Caleb.  When we are quoting back Scripture to the Lord as a “reminder” of His promises to us, we are acting by faith just as Caleb did regarding the literal land.  Beloved, this is a good practice to get into because in order for you to “remind” God of His promises, you are going to have to spend time with Him in His Word, the Bible.  Let me again encourage you to begin now reading along with us in our daily Bible reading of the Scriptures.  Today’s reading is Judges 1:1-3:30.  Ask the Lord to open your heart and reveal His promises and truths to you from this passage of Scripture, then live life confidently in His great presence.

 

Questions:

1. What promises has the Lord given to you?
2. Are you willing to wait forty-five years for the promise to come to pass?

Prayer: Father, let my heart be strengthened and increase my faith so I might be able to believe without reservation or fear the promises You have given to me.  I know they will come to pass at the appointed time.  Let me not grow weary in   Amen.

Salvation is Followed by Obedience

Scripture: Deuteronomy 30:16

in that I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that you may live and multiply, and that the LORD your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to possess it.

 

Insights: It was in this third point that the emotional cloud I wrote about Tuesday needs to get clarified.  We had on our sign out front of the church an announcement for the movie Courageous written in Spanish.  It was a part of our C3 (Carrying Christ to our Community) outreach event we had over the weekend.  The event went late into the evening on Saturday and we had not gotten to the sign to change it before Sunday.  Some people in our church had the audacity to ask me if we needed to learn Spanish to attend FBCBG before the Sunday morning service and told me it was stupid to have a sign in Spanish.  Mind you, our community is comprised of 50% Latino/Hispanics and our outreach was geared specifically at them.  Today’s verse is a command to obedience.  It is a command to live and multiply.  Now when the Lord gave the Israelites this command it was about literal procreation, but we can take the same principle and apply it to our spiritual lives.  The only reason that one is left here on earth after his or her conversion is to “procreate” for the kingdom of God.  In other words, we are to obediently tell other people about the love of Jesus.  We are to spread the gospel.  We are to sow seeds of redemption to those who are perishing.  We had 51 surveys filled out during C3 and of those 22 were interested in a Bible Study in Spanish, 6 were interested in a Bible Study in Creole, 2 desired a Bible and 4 prayed to receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior.  14% of those who were surveyed came to the movie (which was in Spanish with English subtitles) and they were blessed.  Beloved of FBCBG, let me tell you again, as I did Sunday, I will become all things to all people that I might when some for Christ (1 Corinthians 9:22).  As long as the Lord allows me the privilege of being the pastor of FBCBG, then I will be intentionally reaching out to our community which is comprised of Spanish speakers, Creole speakers, English speakers and others that I am unaware of as yet.  We, as a body of believers, are going to obey God’s commands and multiply in this land.  You have a choice.  You can choose to get on board and walk in obedience to the Lord or you can choose to rebel against the commands of the Lord and fight against those who are about proclaiming the love of Jesus to lost people.  Just be aware, if you choose the later, you will not falter the Lord’s plan to reach the lost of Bowling Green.  My prayer is you will humble yourself and realize it is not about you, but about Him and walk in obedience to Him.  Let His great name be praised in all the earth!

 

Questions:

1. Do you understand that if you are a Christ-follower, then your primary act of obedience is the proclamation of the gospel?
2. Do you understand that any form of resistance to those who are sharing the gospel is actually rebellion against the Lord and is the pinnacle of self-aggrandizement?

Prayer: Father, forgive me when I am selfish and self-serving.  Transform my heart and make it one that fully obeys You and desires to tell the world about Your great love in Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Salvation is a Choice

Scripture: Deuteronomy 30:15

"See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and adversity;

 

Insights: Today’s verse sets before us the choice we all have to make.  The Father told the children of Israel the parameters that were set before them.  Those parameters were life and death.  They were either going to choose life with the Lord God or they were going to choose rebellion and turn away from Him.  If they chose rebellion then they would die and be separated from the love of the Father.  Those two choices are all we still have this day.  We are either going to spend eternity with God or we are going to spend eternity separated from God’s love and grace.  Let me interject here another truth in regards to this decision making process.  If you say, “I will wait and make that decision later,” then you have already chosen death and eternal separation from the Father.  In other words, you are not promised tomorrow.  You are not promised another hour of life.  You are not promised another minute of life.  If you were to die this very minute and had said, “I will wait and make that decision later,” then you would have chosen death.  Jesus Christ came to this earth to die for your sins and purchase a place for you in eternity with Him.  The only way you can enter into that eternity is to receive His grace gift of sacrifice as your atoning work.  In other words, you must cry out to Jesus and ask Him to save you from your sin and to give you eternal life through Him.  At the end of the day, these two options the Lord gives to us in today’s verse are the only options that we have—life or death.  It is my prayer you choose life.

 

Questions:

1. Which choice are you going to choose, life or death?
2. Do you understand that to say, “I will wait and make that decision later” is the same as choosing death?

Prayer: Father, this decision is the most important decision we as humanity will ever make.  We will either spend eternity with You or in eternity separated from Your love and grace in the Lake of Fire  I choose life, Father and thank You for this gift of grace.  Amen.

Salvation is Easy

Scripture: Deuteronomy 30:11-14

"For this commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach. "It is not in heaven, that you should say, 'Who will go up to heaven for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?' "Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, 'Who will cross the sea for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?' "But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it.

 

Insights: I did not write my blog yesterday and have wrestled with writing for this week.  When one is at his weakest, Satan often attacks.  This scenario is what occurred Sunday in my life.  I preached the sermon the Lord prepared for me to preach, but I am still, as I reflect on the message, am not certain how much of the message was Scott and how much of the message was from the Holy Spirit.  After further contemplation, I feel compelled to write my daily Thoughts by Scott this week and try to smooth out some of the emotional wrinkles of this past Sunday.  These opening words are appropriate to start with for today’s thoughts because the content is fairly straight forward and easy to comprehend.  These verses from today’s reading express the simplicity of salvation.  In other words, we do not have to earn our own salvation.  If salvation was determined by our performance, then we would brag and boast in our accomplishment.  Rather, our salvation is near us in our mouths and in our hearts.  Paul wrote, “But what does it say? ‘THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR HEART’ -- that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation (Romans 10:8-10).”  You are not capable of saving yourself.  It is a gift from God, which makes salvation an easy thing.  All that is required is to humbly surrender all of who you are to Him and trust Him only for your salvation.  My prayer is you will do that today if you have never entered into a relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ.  Call on Him today and be saved. 

 

Questions:

1. Have you come to the place in your spiritual life where you recognize salvation is not based on your ability, but that of God’s ability?
2. Are you still trying to save yourself?

Prayer: Father, thank You salvation is as simple as asking Jesus into my heart and surrendering to Him as my Lord and Savior.  Help me grow in grace with You.  Amen.

Periling Oration Presented

Scripture: Numbers 13:31-33

But the men who had gone up with him said, "We are not able to go up against the people, for they are too strong for us." So they gave out to the sons of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, "The land through which we have gone, in spying it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great size. "There also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight."
 

Insights: Our final thought this week, unfortunately, focuses on the negative aspect of the facts.  In other words, on Tuesday we learned that the spies gathered the facts of the situation while out on their excursion of exploring the Promised Land.  Based on those facts they then had a choice to make.  They could choose to focus on the positive or the negative.  Yesterday we observed Caleb’s firm commitment to the promises of God and the facts before him.  Ten of the spies, however, focused on the negative aspects of those very same facts and they persuaded the people to rebel against the Lord.  It was for this reason that I titled this past Sunday’s sermon The Perceptions of Reality.  Each spy observed the same things, but two of them had a different perception on the scenario before them.  They were found faithful.  The other ten focused on the negative and were judged according to their disbelief.  Beloved, the next time I preach, which will be the 23^rd of March, I will expand on this idea of choices.  I pray you come to our mourning worship service that day and learn more about our decisions and the consequences of such decisions.  Choose Christ and you will be amazed at His faithfulness.

 

Questions:

1. Are you presently choosing to focus on the negative and disbelieve God’s promises for your life?
2. If you are, what will it take for you to stop and start choosing to focus on the positive aspects of faith and God’s promises?

Prayer: Father, thank You that each day I have a chance to start over.  I can draw a line in the sand each day and say, “Starting today, I will choose to follow the Lord.”  Help me Lord to be faithful throughout this day.  Amen.