Twitter
RSS
Facebook
ClickBank1

9/11/12. Joshua 24:1-13. REMEMBER GOD’S GRACE AND THANK GOD!-devotional

9/11/12. Joshua 24:1-13. REMEMBER GOD’S GRACE AND THANK GOD!-devotional

Joshua 24:1-13

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Key Verse: 24:2-3                                                                                                                                                      Kevin Jesmer NIU UBF

Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your ancestors, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates River and worshiped other gods. But I took your father Abraham from the land beyond the Euphrates and led him throughout Canaan and gave him many descendants. I gave him Isaac”

Dear Jesus, thank you being there for me 24/7. Thank you  for being my savior. Lord, without you and the Gospel, my world would be filled with news, facebook posts, and trivia, work and exercise. But with you I can think about the deeper things of God and faith and the depths of humanity and meaning of life. Thank you for quenching my heart with your word. Help my kids to all love meditating in the word of Life. May they find strength and joy meditating on the word of God. May they love Jesus and the Gospel. May they know their need for a Savior. Continue to quench my heart through this passage. I thank you and I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen!

Part 1: God’s history of deliverance (1-12).

Verses 1-12, “Then Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. He summoned the elders, leaders, judges and officials of Israel, and they presented themselves before God. Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your ancestors, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates River and worshiped other gods. But I took your father Abraham from the land beyond the Euphrates and led him throughout Canaan and gave him many descendants. I gave him Isaac, and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I assigned the hill country of Seir to Esau, but Jacob and his family went down to Egypt. “‘Then I sent Moses and Aaron, and I afflicted the Egyptians by what I did there, and I brought you out. When I brought your people out of Egypt, you came to the sea, and the Egyptians pursued them with chariots and horsemenas far as the Red Sea. But they cried to the Lord for help, and he put darkness between you and the Egyptians; he brought the sea over them and covered them. You saw with your own eyes what I did to the Egyptians. Then you lived in the wilderness for a long time. “‘I brought you to the land of the Amorites who lived east of the Jordan. They fought against you, but I gave them into your hands. I destroyed them from before you, and you took possession of their land. When Balak son of Zippor, the king of Moab, prepared to fight against Israel, he sent for Balaam son of Beor to put a curse on you. 10 But I would not listen to Balaam, so he blessed you again and again, and I delivered you out of his hand. 11 “‘Then you crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. The citizens of Jericho fought against you, as did also the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites and Jebusites, but I gave them into your hands. 12 I sent the hornet ahead of you, which drove them out before you—also the two Amorite kings. You did not do it with your own sword and bow.

Joshua issued a second summons. God had a message for his people. Joshua talked about the history of salvation, redemption, and deliverance. He began with Abraham. Abraham worshiped idols, but God called him to be a man of faith. He talked about the deliverance of his people from slavery inEgyptand pointed to how nations were driven out before them. As long asIsraelserved the Lord, the Lord fought for them.

We need to always be reminded of the grace of God. The busy-ness of this life and the worries and struggles of heart tend to make us dwell on our own problems and issues and we soon forget the grace of God. I appreciate it when the devotionals point us to the thinking about God’s grace. It is refreshing to my soul.

God grace to me has been poured out to me all my life, really. But I first became aware of it when I accepted Jesus back in 1986. That is when I became a Christian. Since that time God has been changing me and delivering me from so much. I was a hedonistic, pleasure seeking agnostic. I was lost in the sins of pleasure seeking and it was ruining my mind, heart and soul. Self interest guided my every thought and plan. Where this all led me was loneliness, meaninglessness, corruption and vice after vice that was ruining my mind and heart and my relationship with God. I was also on the road to much meaningless suffering and death and then the judgment of God.

But Jesus saved me. He tried again and again to reach me in different ways. But he finally broke through the walls of unbelief through the love and serving of Ruth Hwang and the UBF missionaries along with 1:1 Bible study. I received and new hope and a new life in Jesus. It

The first thing God did was forgive me of all my sins and adopt me as his son and give me eternal life. He then restored was my mission in live and my sense of self worth and self confidence. He healed me of a lifetime stammering problem. He set me on a course to become a servant of God’s word (a Bible teacher and a shepherd of God’s flock.) Then the he established my family with Julie. He granted me five kids who are a great source of blessing. He made me into a nurse, granting me a wonderful career. He helped me to be the pastor of a house church from 1998 to 2012. Now he is helping me to find my place inKishwaukeeBibleChurchand UBF at the same time. He is opening many door for local ministry her in DeKalb. He is currently rescuing me from many dark elements in my heart, like despair and depressed feelings. He is guiding me into the right relationships with those close to me. There is no end to the graces being poured out on me. He is leading me through some emotionally tough times right now. But I know that Jesus will continually save. He is leading me through.

Jesus’ grace is abundant for anyone who repents of their sins and puts their faith in him. There are no limitations. I pray of the students of NIU to put their faith in Christ and experience the grace of Jesus very personally.

Part 2: They were blessed by God (13).

Verse 13, “So I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities you did not build; and you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant.

God gave them land for which they did not toil. They received cities that they did not build and ate its fruits and olives. What a great image of what Jesus has done for us. We are given a salvation bought by his blood. We are brought into a kingdom opened wide through his own suffering, death, and resurrection. We enjoy fruits that we did not procure, but that were given to us by God to enjoy and cultivate and glorify Jesus through. All we can do is thank God and live for the glory of God.

God has given me so much that I have not worked for. He has blessed me with so many blessings that I was just given. My salvation was gift procured through the suffering and death of Jesus. It feels sometimes that my family and my career and my home in DeKalb were simply a gift from God above. I am living a blessed life because of Jesus Christ. He wants me to thank him and glorify him and to use all that he has given me to preach the gospel to an unbelieving world. What did I do to deserve all this? Not much. Jesus has done it all. He will keep me safe in his arms until that day that he takes me home to be with him in thekingdomofGod. Thank you Jesus for all you have done. Help to devote all you have channeled into my life to be devoted to you.

Prayer: Lord, how blessed I am. I am who I am all because of you who have led me thus far. Thank you, Lord, and help me to be a good steward of your blessings.

One Word: Thank God and live for God’s glory

 

 

 




Interact with us using Facebook

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.