Joshua 24:14-15

CHARGE!

(February 10, 2023) Dr Jim McClure challenges us to make the right choice… 

Joshua was Moses’ ‘right-hand-man’ during the 40 years Israel spent in the wilderness, then he became Israel’s leader when Moses died, led the people into the Promised Land and served them faithfully as their leader for some decades after that until his death at the age of 110.

When the days of his leadership had come to an end, he gathered the people of Israel together and gave them his final charge which was reflective, challenging and called for a response.

His charge is still relevant to us today!

1. Circumstances (Joshua 24:1)
Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel at Shechem.’ He chose Shechem as the gathering place for this momentous event as it was a place of promise, challenge and commitment from the time of Abraham.

Then he reminded the Israelites that God had enabled them to accomplish amazing things and they had now secured a foothold in the Promised Land. 

They had arrived at a time when a new era was about to begin.

2. History (Joshua 24:2-13)
In these verses we read Joshua’s brief historical summary of the people of Israel from the days of Abraham to their entry into and settlement in the Promised Land.  

He gave this review to demonstrate how gracious and powerful God was and to affirm how critical it was to have Him in their lives and to faithfully follow His directions.

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BADLY NEEDED TODAY: GOD-AMBITIOUS, GOD-ORIENTED CHRISTIANS!

(October 05, 2022) S. Sam Selva Raj shares about serving Jesus ambitiously and goal-orientally…

There are many people today who live with specific ambitions. As Christians we must not only have ambition in our worldly life, but also have specific ambitions in our spiritual life. One must have a strong spiritual foundation to lead a very special life.

If Christians have no spiritual ambition, they cannot lead a victorious life. James said that ‘Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do’ (James 1:8NLT).

If you want to have something special in your life, you must have good ambitions and set goals in your life to not change according to the times! Such people stay strong in the spiritual vision they have. The reality is that unless we are clear in what we believe, we cannot lead successful lives!

People who keep on changing their convictions can be compared to snakes that wriggle around. Only those who are steady in their convictions can become great servants of Christ and live as channels of blessings to others. Ambition in a goal-oriented person is greater than their life itself.

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THE CHOICE IS OURS

(June 9, 2021) Bonnie Spencer shares a most important challenge…

We make countless choices every day. We decide…

What to wear, what to eat, who to hang out with. What time to get up, unless we have a job that dictates that. Even then, we had the choice of taking that job, looking for a different one, or not working at all but instead backpacking around the country.

And so on… but the choice most often is ours.

Created to make choices
Although some countries severely limit freedoms, that is not how God created us to live. He is all about freedom and giving us the opportunity to make our own choices. Unlike the animals he created with instincts, he gave us the ability to think and decide for ourselves how to live our lives… even when it means making the wrong choices. That is clear from the beginning of history.

When God created Adam and Eve and placed them in the Garden of Eden, he instructed them, ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die’(Genesis 2:16-17).

From the start God has laid out what is right and what is wrong, telling the consequences of making the wrong decisions. Adam and Eve made a bad choice in disobeying God, and humankind has experienced the consequence of death ever since. Death was never God’s plan for us, but he allows us to choose.

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