Strong And Courageous: Who Will You Choose?

Josh 24
v15 But as for me and my house, we are serving ____?
Why does God command us to serve Him? Because it's our purpose.
1. Serving God starts first with fearing God. v14, Prov 1:7. Fear=Reverence, awe, astonishment. If I've lost my healthy fear of God, what has replaced it??
2. Serving God requires complete surrender. v14, throw away your small "g" gods, serve Him wholeheartedly. Come back to the alter and lay down your idols. v15 you have to choose whom you will serve. Remember the faithfulness of God and everything He's done for me.
3. Serving God goes far beyond making a public declaration, it requires wholehearted action! v19  our faith will be shown through our actions. What small "g" gods do I need to throw away? 1 Cor 10:31 Do everything to the glory of God, hang on to this thought every moment of every day.
4. Serving God completes our joy. Acts 17:25. Only God and Jesus were made to complete us. We try to fill the void with other things, but it will never be able to be filled with anything but the Lord. Jn 6:67-69.

Strong And Courageous: A Man Named Caleb

Josh 14:6-15
1. Caleb refused to follow the crowd. v7-8. Num 13:31-32, 14:6-10a. Joshua and Caleb saw the size of their God, not the size of the people in the promised land. Following the majority in that day cost the people 40 years wandering in the desert and their lives. Prob 29:25 Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe.
2. Caleb was wholehearted. v9; Num 14:20-24. Caleb continued to serve the Lord wholeheartedly throughout his life. Today is the day to start serving the lord wholeheartedly.
3. Caleb believed his best days were ahead. v10-12. Don't live in the past, look to the future! Spiritually speaking, there is no retirement, serve God with every breath He gives you!
4. Caleb walked by faith, not by sight. v12 Caleb was still trusting God to go ahead of him and get rid of the giants in the land.
5. Caleb was fighting for future generations. v6, Caleb didn't come alone. v9 your inheritance and that of your children.

Strong and Courageous: Discerning and Defeating

Josh 9
The Gibeonites were crafty, just like Satan. Satan wants to pull someone away from the Truth. In 14:6 Satan does everything he can to get us to live life on our own, apart from God.
1. Satan often deceives by preying on our enjoying and our pride.
-Emotions: v4-5, 2 Cor 11:3. Our emotions are indicators of something going on beneath the surface, they are not gods.1 Pet 5:8 Be alert and of sober mind. 2 Cor 10:5.
-Pride: v8-10, included just enough truth to make them believe. Prov 8:13 God hates pride. Jas 4:6, Ps 10:4, Prov 26:12, Prov 3:7.
2. You can't fight the supernatural in the natural and expect to win. v14, Eph 6:13 (Message). There is one thing that we can control in our lives, and that is how close or far we are from the Lord. Seek God continually. Jas 4:8, Jer 29:13, Prov 3:5-6
3. God rewards those who seek Him. Heb 11:3. Seeking God "The conscious fixing and focusing our mind's attention and our heart's affection on God." Col 3:1, Rom 12:2. The more we recognize Jesus, the less we recognize self, the less we recognize self, the more Jesus can work in our lives.

How much of my life do I live without any regard to God?

How many of my daily activities do I go through without any reference to God?

Strong and Courageous: The Sin of Achan

Josh 7
1. Beware of buts. v1 "But the Israelites were unfaithful." We all need to beware of sin. Josh 6:18-19. Never is a believer in greater danger of a fall than after a victory. 1 Cor 10:12. Josh 8:26
2. Today's victory is not a promise of tomorrow's victory. v2-5 Every day we need to seek God.
3. Sin hinders our relationship with God. v12 God hates sin and takes it very seriously.
4. Sin must be dealt with. v10-13 We must stand up and deal with our sin.
5. There's no such thing as secret sin. v17-19 We can try to hide our sin from each other, but God knows all of our sin, no matter how big or small. We need to deal with our sin as soon as possible. Heb 4:13 Nothing is hidden from God. Prov 28:13
6. Beware of sin's pattern. v20-21 I saw... I coveted... I took. Adam and Eve and the apple, Jas 1:13-15 All sin ultimately leads to death.
7. Sin has great consequences. v22-26

Achan did what most of us would do. God has given me such grace and mercy in spite of my sin, but I still need to confess and come clean.