Hey everybody, hope the week has gone well for you, and you've tried to seek out the presence of the Lord in your life.
We will be going through the book of Joshua, so I hope you guys are ready for some good ol' fashioned Old Testament stories.
Background info for those who might not be up to speed on who exactly Joshua was.
Everybody knows Moses, his story from the little baby adopted into the royal family of Egypt, to his leading of the Israelites over the Red Sea, to the giving of the ten commandments at Sinai. If you don't know these stories, just start in Genesis and read through Deuteronomy. They are his five books.
Well, Joshua was the son of Nun, Moses personal assistant. (Joshua 1:2). He helped him administer over the nation while Moses was alive, and after Moses had died, God picked Joshua to lead the people in their conquest of the promised land. Check out the last couple chapters of Deuteronomy for this transition in leadership.
In the first chapter of Joshua, we see him fully take leadership over the nation of Israel through a series of public ceremonies and speeches.
There isn't a whole lot of detail needed to explain this chapter, so I will focus on the one thing that is special about those who wish to lead under the Lord.
Most ancient societies had certain obligations placed on their up and coming rulers. The Egyptian Pharoahs had to memorize spells for their trip to the underworld. Spartan kings had to master warfare. Roman caesars had to become intimately involved in the foreign affairs of their empire.
Not so with God's chosen leaders. If you notice in this chapter, God gives Joshua some instructions that he will need to follow to lead the people successfully.
In verses 6-8, God tells Joshua that he is to study the law given through Moses, and to never turn from God's instructions contained in it.
That's it.
He will lead millions of people into battle, and instead of being told to hone his warfare, or develop his pragmatic leadership abilitiy, God tells him to study the Law day and night, and that by doing this he will make a successful leader.
I think it's cool that the very same instructions and words that Moses and Joshua were told to study and live out in their lives are in our hands today.
With these very words, kingdoms were conquered, nations were freed, and world history was changed.
Think it could help you at your next business meeting, or p.t.a. associational meeting?
Please, let us join Joshua in studying God's word day and night, and see what we can accomplish.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Hey guys.
Took last week off, but I'm back and ready for action.
I will be going through the book of Joshua, and each week will be a portion of the book, and thoughts on what we read.
Keep me in your prayers. I'm trying to cling to my savior and follow his lead in my life. I need to develop my prayer life more, and I would like to see myself become more compassionate towards strangers, and more social towards them as well.
May God's grace overflow to all who draw near to him in repentance and in love.
-Brett
I will be going through the book of Joshua, and each week will be a portion of the book, and thoughts on what we read.
Keep me in your prayers. I'm trying to cling to my savior and follow his lead in my life. I need to develop my prayer life more, and I would like to see myself become more compassionate towards strangers, and more social towards them as well.
May God's grace overflow to all who draw near to him in repentance and in love.
-Brett
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
An Excursus into Reality
I call it an excursus but really it’s getting to the main point while going around everything I wanted to talk about and probably will discuss anyway. I love theology. So much so that it often times becomes an idol for me. I love to think and wrestle with concepts, theories and ideas as they pertain to God. I believe that God works in his creation and with his people to make himself know, more specifically showing his glorious attributes. I get this from the first chapter of Romans and the book of Exodus, but you can see it everywhere. So it makes sense to me that if God wishes to make himself known, we should work to know him.
Not only this, but I would argue that the more we know God and his purposes in creation and our own lives, the more we are compelled to live for him. There is reason why Paul prays that the churches will grow in knowledge; the reason is that true knowledge produces action. If we say we know God, but don’t act according to that knowledge, we don’t really know God. 1 John says that if we say we know God and continue in sin we don’t really know him. But something must come before our growing in knowledge. That thing is the main point which I will try and articulate now.
The main point of this series on theology is that repentance comes before knowledge. In the epistle that we call 1 Corinthians, Paul tells the church there that he wishes that he could address them as adults and feed them with meat (Deeper teachings about God), but he can’t because they are acting like babies and still need milk (The elementary teachings). WE HAVE TO GROW UP IN OUR FAITH! And to do that we must repent of our worldliness. But what does this mean? In the situation in Corinth the believers were grumbling with each other and they were playing favorites with which teacher’s they liked the best. They were prideful and were using the gifts God had given them for the purpose of building up the church to exalt themselves. So they were prideful. They loved things and the perceived power or position that came with them, namely their spiritual gifts. They were still acting as the world acts. Jesus tells us that the rulers of the world lord their power over other people, but it is not to be that way with us. We are all equal in position with differing roles. We are a body.
Just as the church in Corinth was acting as the world and not in accordance with the grace and call of God, so are we. The reason we as a church are so theologically weak, is because we love the world more than we love God. And our theological lacking shows in how we live. We look like the world because we don’t know God. We will spend hours if not weeks trying to figure out how we can make more money or have more possessions, but we won’t spend 5 minutes learning the scriptures. Why? Because we don’t see it as important. We, just like the Corinthian church, are seeking power and position. Knowledge and understanding are not valued in our culture, and like wise it is not valued in the Church. So instead of seeking to know the Lord, we seek money and position. We want to be exalted, instead of exalting God.
THIS HAS TO STOP. We are a body and it is necessary that we grow in the knowledge of the Lord, so that we will live in accordance with his word and his will. This is what pleases God. Not our house, not our checking account. Our unabashed devotion to Jesus Christ and his Gospel is what pleases God. So let’s stop acting like the world and grow in the knowledge of the Lord.
-Mitchell
Not only this, but I would argue that the more we know God and his purposes in creation and our own lives, the more we are compelled to live for him. There is reason why Paul prays that the churches will grow in knowledge; the reason is that true knowledge produces action. If we say we know God, but don’t act according to that knowledge, we don’t really know God. 1 John says that if we say we know God and continue in sin we don’t really know him. But something must come before our growing in knowledge. That thing is the main point which I will try and articulate now.
The main point of this series on theology is that repentance comes before knowledge. In the epistle that we call 1 Corinthians, Paul tells the church there that he wishes that he could address them as adults and feed them with meat (Deeper teachings about God), but he can’t because they are acting like babies and still need milk (The elementary teachings). WE HAVE TO GROW UP IN OUR FAITH! And to do that we must repent of our worldliness. But what does this mean? In the situation in Corinth the believers were grumbling with each other and they were playing favorites with which teacher’s they liked the best. They were prideful and were using the gifts God had given them for the purpose of building up the church to exalt themselves. So they were prideful. They loved things and the perceived power or position that came with them, namely their spiritual gifts. They were still acting as the world acts. Jesus tells us that the rulers of the world lord their power over other people, but it is not to be that way with us. We are all equal in position with differing roles. We are a body.
Just as the church in Corinth was acting as the world and not in accordance with the grace and call of God, so are we. The reason we as a church are so theologically weak, is because we love the world more than we love God. And our theological lacking shows in how we live. We look like the world because we don’t know God. We will spend hours if not weeks trying to figure out how we can make more money or have more possessions, but we won’t spend 5 minutes learning the scriptures. Why? Because we don’t see it as important. We, just like the Corinthian church, are seeking power and position. Knowledge and understanding are not valued in our culture, and like wise it is not valued in the Church. So instead of seeking to know the Lord, we seek money and position. We want to be exalted, instead of exalting God.
THIS HAS TO STOP. We are a body and it is necessary that we grow in the knowledge of the Lord, so that we will live in accordance with his word and his will. This is what pleases God. Not our house, not our checking account. Our unabashed devotion to Jesus Christ and his Gospel is what pleases God. So let’s stop acting like the world and grow in the knowledge of the Lord.
-Mitchell