Serving the Lord Part 1

                                                                                          

Joshua 24:15

...as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

We will start our study this week  with Joshua 24:15 which reads;  "And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that [were] on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Ammorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord".   This is a very important scripture about the importance of serving God and not turning from His truth unto vain idols.

Since Moses was forbidden to enter when Israel passed into the promise land, the leadership of the people fell on Joshua, who was also ordained of God just as Moses had been.  Joshua was also faced with similar problems as his predecessor in dealing with Israel.  He was burdened with a people who were inclined toward disobedience, idolatry and wickedness, and other faults which displeases God.  It seems that no matter how the Lord worked among the people, they were forever turning away and following the things of the world and flesh.

 "And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve".  Israel had the same choice that Jesus gave us in Mathew 6:24 when He said that you cannot serve God and mammon.  The bible also says that friendship of the world is enmity with God.  I don't know about you, but to me these are very important points that the Lord is making in how to serve Him in a way that is pleasing to Him, and not to satisfy our own nature only.

 "Whether the gods which your fathers served that [were] on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell"  Let's think for a minute what Joshua is saying in this line of verse.  The gods which their fathers (or ancestors) served on the other side of the flood were the gods that were in the days of Noah.  The bible says that the people of that day were living it up and knew nothing until the flood  overtook them.  When the Lord had enough of the wickedness He destroyed all life with the flood, except for the ones in the ark--8 souls and the animals which Noah was commanded to take into the ark.  All of the gods and idols were powerless to stop the wrath of almighty God.  He also offered them the choice of the gods of the Ammorites.  Joshua pointed out to the children of Israel that they were living in the land which they had taken from the Ammorites.  Again the Ammorite gods were completely silent against the living God of Israel, who had delivered up the enemy unto Israel and gave them the land for an inheritance.

Well that winds up this section of our study on serving God.  Let's not be too hard on Israel, because we have the same choice today that they had then.  do we put God first in our lives as we should are do we put the things of the world first.  Everyone has this decision to make; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

God Bless

David

References:

http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org



                                                                     

Serve the Lord thy God

                                                                           

Joshua 24:15

    "And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that [were] on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord".

That's a pretty straight-forward proposition that Joshua put to the tribe of Israel.  The knowledge, as Christians, of how to serve the Lord our Savior is a very serious matter, that each of us should think about each and every day.  Just like Israel in the days of Joshua, all too many times we call out to God when we're in need or sometimes when we want something that is to hard or maybe impossible to get on or own; and when things are going good then we put Him back on the shelf until we're in need again.

We're going to have a study over the next few days and discover in the Word just how we can serve God, and what we can do to please Him and bring glory and honor to His name.  I hope that you will join us and be sure to add any comments or questions.  Until next time God bless and I hope you the best.

Dave

References:

http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org





    

The Living Word

                                                                                                                  

Psalms 1:1-2

1)  Blessed [is] the man that walketh not in the council of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.  2)  But his delight [is] in the law of the Lord; and in His law doth he meditate day and night.

What joy and comfort there is in reading the word of God!  No matter what is going on in my life I can always find solice in the word.  Personally, I can't see how anyone would not love to be able to sit and read the bible at least for a part of every day.  Sadly many church members and all of the lost souls in the world are either too busy or just not interested in what God has to say.  After all that the Lord has done for us it's very sad.

Brother Dave

http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/ 

 

The Living Word

                            

I Timothy 1:15    This [is] a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.


What a wonderful God that we have, to send His only begotten Son to die for the sins of the world.  This message has been preached for 2000 years now and it's just as powerful as it was on the day of Pentecost.  It's hard to fathom the incredible love that our God has for his children. 

Sadly, the message of the cross falls on many deaf ears.  Jesus himself said that the gate to heaven is narrow and few there are that will enter there-in.  My dear friends it doesn't have to be that way at all.  The Lord said that He wanted to lose no one.  Salvation is a gift from almighty God that whosoever believeth on Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16).

If Jesus came into the world to save sinners like the bible says, then He was talking about everyone on the face of the earth.  The bible says that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  This being a very true statement, we have to realize that Jesus has the power to cleanse us of all sin, no matter how bad that we think that our lives have been, or how horrible things that we've done.  God is bigger than anything that you've ever encountered and we can overcome anything through the name of Jesus, just as He overcame the world on Calvary.

Brother Dave

http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/  

Don't Stray from the Word

Romans 3:4

God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.

Reference:

http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/

 

Food for thought

Mathew 2:10

"When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy".

The bible says that when the wise men declared the King of the Jews was born for they had seen his star.  This caused Herod to be very troubled because if there was one thing that he didn't want, it was competition.  He called all of his chief priests and wise men and demanded of them where Christ should be born.  They told him in Bethlehem, for thus it was spoken by the profit.

That's all very well and just as it should be, but it seems to me that there is one problem with this scenario.  The problem is that Herod called the top religious leaders in the land for advice.  These men knew the scriptures, by there own admittance they knew the location that the Lord would be born.  My question is that knowing what they knew about prophecy, why did they not hot foot it down to Bethlehem to see the Savior of the world firsthand. 

Can you imagine?  They new He was there.  The Savior of the world was within walking distance and they chose rather to serve a man rather than give their lives to Jesus.  My friends, let us not make the same mistake.  Now is the accepted time of salvation and the Lord Jesus is there waiting on whoever will call on His name.  Do not think that we can put it off because we never know when our soul shall be required.

God Bless!!!

David

Reference:  http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/