Read Joshua 24.
All Christians have eternal life; not all Christians have
abundant life. There can be life without
health. There can be movement without
progress. We may serve but never
succeed. We may try but never triumph.
(Dr. Graham Scroggie)
Often Christians have gone just half way in their
Christian experience. In Joshua's
farewell message we see encouragement to serve God wholly.
The Inspiration for Service (v2-13).
Joshua rehearses the great things the Lord has done for
His people. The divine personal pronoun
appears no less than 17 times. Israel
owed everything to the power of Almighty God.
A Call for Service (v15).
In light of all God had done, Joshua put before Israel the
choice they must make: WHOM WILL YE SERVE We must make some choice; we must have some
God. They could serve either the gods of
the past or the God Who had delivered them.
The Power for Service (v19).
The children of Israel were unanimous in their response:
we will serve God! To this Joshua
replied, Ye cannot serve the Lord your
God. How often have we made this
same response to Christ and then found ourselves powerless to fulfill our
promises. How helpless we are to
translate our decisions into experience.
The power for service does not lie in ourselves but in God.
It is not what Hudson Taylor does for God that matters but
what God does through Hudson Taylor. (Hudson Taylor)
The Dedication of Service (v23).
"Put away the strange gods."
There are idols of affection that are out of God's will.
w The
idol of unyielded money.w The idol of a sharp tongue.
w The idol of a cold heart.
w Etc.
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