Joshua 23

hey hey good morning good morning welcome to coffee and devotions this morning we're at Joshua chapter 23 the dude's going to die soon he's old we get one of his amazing speeches his farewell speech so let's have some coffee we'll pray and we'll listen to the farewell speech of this great leader of Israel let's pray father we thank you so much for this day we thank you for the blessing it is to get to read your word and we pray that your Holy Spirit would now please help us to understand it Lord we pray that you would please give us Insight give us understanding give us wisdom in Jesus's name we pray amen here we go Joshua chapter 23 short chapter 16 verses and all one speech here we go now it came to pass a long time after the Lord had given rest to Israel from all their enemies roundabout that Joshua was old old advanced in age and Joshua called for all Israel for their Elders for their heads for their judges and for their officers and said to them I am old advance in age you have seen all that yehovah your God has done to all these nations before because of you for Jehovah your God Is He Who has fought for you see I have divided to you by lot these Nation Nations that remain to be an inheritance for your tribes from the Jordan with all the nations that I have cut off as far as the great sea Westward and the Lord your God will expel them from before you and drive them out of your sight so you shall possess their land as the Lord your God promised you therefore be very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses lest you turn aside from it to the right hand or to the left and lest you go and among and lest you go among these nations these who are remaining among you you shall not make mention of the name of their gods nor cause anyone to swear by them you shall not serve them nor bow down to them but you shall hold fast to the Lord your God as you have done to this day for the Lord has driven out from before you great and strong Nations but as for you no one has been able to stand against you to this day one man of you shall chase a thousand for the Lord your God is he who fights for you as you as he promised you therefore take careful heed to yourselves that you love the Lord your God or else if indeed you do go back and cling to the rim remant of these nations these that remain among you and make marriages with them and go into them and they to you know for certain that the Lord your God will no longer drive out these nations from before you but they shall be snares and traps to you and scourges on your sides and thorns in your eyes until you perish from this good land which the Lord your God has given you behold this day I am going the way of all the Earth and you know in all your hearts that in all your souls that not one thing has failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spoke concerning you all have come to pass for you not one word of them has failed therefore it shall come to pass that as all the good things have come upon you which the Lord your God promised you so that the Lord will bring upon you all harmful things until he has destroyed you from this good land which the Lord your God has given you when you have transgressed the Covenant of the Lord your God which he commanded you and have gone and served other gods and bowed down to them then the anger of the Lord will burn against you and You Shall Perish quickly from the good land which he has given you wow all right so we need to ask ourselves a what's this about B what's a good or what's a best verse to summarize this and see what are we called to do so a what's this about Joshua calls together all the leaders of Israel their judges their Chiefs their heads all of them he says come on guys come near to me I'm old I'm advanced in age right and he says to them remember right you have seen all that the Lord your God has done in all the nations because of you it's for the Lord your God Is He Who has fought for you right he goes in verses in verse two really verse three all the way down through verse 13 essentially reminding them of everything God had done for them right and and so he tells them that they they're to expel all these people that they're to do the these things right that they're to Have Courage verse eight therefore be very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses right it's going to take moral Integrity courage to be able to carry out what God has told them to do and he's telling them essentially he's the last leader that God has risen up God has not done something like he did with Joshua right when when Moses was about to die there was a clear Protegé there was a next person who was clearly going to take the Reigns and lead the people but now it's going to be these Chiefs these heads these individual tribes who are supposed to stay loyal to God and it's going to take courage so he tells them you need to do that he says beware of their gods right in verse seven he says don't let the the the names of those Idols be on your lips right don't be using their names for vows and for and for Oaths right no they're not true verse eight but you shall hold fast to the Lord your God and then he encourages them I love how he does this right as you have done this day he telling them you are strong so stay strong I'm about to die but you you stay strong you the Next Generation remember Joshua is 40 years older than most of these people he's telling them the Next Generation it's your job now you are strong stay strong the Lord your God right he's good right the Lord's driven out from before you great and strong Nations but as for you no one has been able to stand against you this day right he's saying this is how good God has been he says one of you chased a thousand right the Lord did that the Lord put that courage in you and the fear in them therefore verse 11 take careful heed to yourselves that you love the Lord your God I think that's what's at the heart part of this right where was their courage going to come right they had to keep that that love for the Lord alive this is no different than what God says in Revelation when he says to the church that in Ephesus it's one thing I have against you that you've forgotten your first love he says if you forget your love if you turn your back against the Lord if you lose your courage to follow him and take heed against him he says Joshua reminds them what the curse was going to be what he did to the Canaanites who were in the land he's going to do to you and you're going to get kicked out he's going to drive you away he's going to become a snare to you so that's what this whole section is about it's this encouragement with this reminder that the Lord's not an idiot he's not going to be mocked he's not going to be fooled and they really do need to follow him so that's what this is about this encouragement this pep talk this this exhortation to love the Lord and take heed of his ways what's the best verse well in my Bible I have verse 11 underlined that's the best verse in my Bible but maybe you would maybe you disagree maybe You' underline something else feel free to let me know down in the comments let me know what would you underline but last see calling what are we called to do I might say the same thing to you today have you forgotten your first love have you grown lukewarm were you once on fire for the Lord but that intensity that Zeal is now just a Ember how will you rekindle that Joy you go back to him confess to him Lord I love you please help me I want to love you more go back read your Bible spend time with him spend time in prayer many things may have encroached on your life many obligations many challenges many time constraints and and what you once prioritized in your life has just kind of Gone by the wayside will you pick up the book and read will you just go and sing his songs will you get on your knees and purpose to pray to him will you stay strong and courageous confess to him Lord Lord I have not loved you as I once loved you but I want to love you so help me go to him he does not want you to be lukewarm but he wants you he wants your whole heart he loves you and he wants you to love him so pray that his holy spirit would stir up get some people around you and confess it to them go to the Lord and tell him remind yourself sing some Psalms go go back into your Salter and look at those psalms look at those songs that remind you of his goodness and his love and his grace and commit to memorizing those and singing his Praises turn your mind towards him remember that he is good go and and gather together maybe you've been a Christian for a long time maybe you need to get together your grandkids and just tell them all the good things that the Lord has done for you maybe you need to journal it out outline it out put together your testimony maybe record it for your family but the more you speak of all the good things he's done for you the more your heart will be stirred because the Lord is good so love him love him and take heed to walk in his ways he's good and he loves you he's given you his holy spirit he Sanctified you he's washed you in the blood of his son he's elected you according to his for knowledge so praise him get down on your knees and worship him for he is good remember the Lord's love and walk in his ways because the reality is if we're lukewarm if we're the neither hot nor cold what will he do he bit us out love him brothers and sisters let's pray father we confess to you that our fervency is often weak our Zeal is lacking Lord our hearts grow cold and our minds numb father please take the Embers the coals that have turned white but still have glowing red in them Lord and we pray that you would fan it back into flame Lord we pray that you would add fuel to the fire that your spirit would encourage that we would cling to you with our dying breath and that as we are about to shut our eyes because our days are growing cold and our eyes are growing dim that a smile would be upon our face because there's a resolve in our heart that you are good father thank you for your love thank you for your care thank you for who you are and all you have done for us in Jesus's name we pray amen well may you love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul and with all your strength and may you love others as you love your yourself May the spirit work this in you I'll see you next time bye