VIDEO Overcoming Memories

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9

When Joshua was preparing to take the Israelites into the Promised Land, God gave him a promise: “The Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” It wasn’t just the task that had Joshua worried. It was also a 38-year-old memory.

Two years after the exodus from Egypt, the nation arrived at Kadesh where Moses sent twelve spies into Canaan. After forty days, the spies returned burdened with the fruit of the land—and burdened about the warlike nature of the inhabitants. Ten of the spies warned Moses not to try to take the land because the giants that lived there would surely defeat them. To their credit, Joshua and Caleb disagreed, saying God would give them victory. For rebelling against God at Kadesh, the nation wandered in the wilderness 38 years until that generation died off. Now Joshua would lead the second generation of Israelites against the next generation of Canaanite giants and their iron chariots.

Memories are powerful things. If God is calling you to do something, don’t let a bad memory stand in your way—“for the Lord your God is with you.”

Take courage. We walk in the wilderness today and in the Promised Land tomorrow. Dwight L. Moody

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Verse by Verse Teaching | Joshua 1:1-9 | Gary Hamrick

Advice from One Older

Be kind and compassionate to one another. Ephesians 4:32

“What do I regret?” That was the question New York Times bestselling writer George Saunders answered in his 2013 commencement speech at Syracuse University. His approach was that of an older person (Saunders) who shared one or two regrets he’d had in life with the younger people (graduates) who could learn something from his examples. He listed a few things people might assume he regretted, like being poor and working terrible jobs. But Saunders said he really didn’t regret those at all. What he did regret, however, were failures of kindness—those opportunities he had to be kind to someone, and he let them pass.

The apostle Paul wrote to the believers at Ephesus answering this question: What does the Christian life look like? It’s tempting to rush in with our answers, like possessing a particular political view, avoiding certain books or films, worshiping in a particular manner. But Paul’s approach didn’t limit him to contemporary issues. He does mention abstaining from “unwholesome talk” (Ephesians 4:29) and ridding ourselves of things like bitterness and anger (v. 31). Then to conclude his “speech,” in essence, he says to the Ephesians as well as to us, “Don’t fail to be kind” (v. 32). And the reason behind that is because in Christ, God has been kind to you.

Of all the things we believe the life in Jesus to be, one of them, surely, is to be kind.

By:  John Blase

Reflect & Pray

Where have you recently failed to be kind? What’s one way you can succeed in kindness today?

Dear Jesus, as You’ve been kind to me, let me be kind to others.

Communion With Our Lord

Don’t let the busyness of daily living rob you of the joy and fulfillment that come from time with God 1 John 1:1-3

Genesis 1:26-27 teaches that God created us in His image. As a result of Adam’s transgression, however, sin entered the world and separated us from God. Knowing our dilemma—that we’re enslaved by our “flesh” and cannot make ourselves righteous—Jesus came to restore us and return us to a right relationship with the Father. Because Christ is perfectly holy, innocent, and undefiled (Hebrews 7:26), He alone qualified to carry our sins to the cross. When we receive Jesus’ finished work on our behalf, we are acknowledging His lordship over our life. Then we’re adopted into God’s family (Ephesians 1:4-5).

Take a moment to reflect on Christ’s sacrifice. Jesus, the One without sin, took on mankind’s sins—past, present, and future—to save us from eternal separation from the Father. He willingly gave His life so we might be reconciled to God and live with Him forever. As we ponder this amazing demonstration of grace and love, our response should be a strong desire to spend time with Him.

Child of God, you were designed to have sweet communion with your heavenly Father. Jesus died so that you and I might become part of His family. How strong is your need for fellowship with Him? Does it override the clamor of the week’s events or get lost in the demands of daily living?

Saving Some

“And of some have compassion, making a difference: And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.” (Jude 1:22-23)

In the context of this passage, Jude has been exhorting us to “build up” ourselves in the “most holy faith,” keeping ourselves in God’s love and looking forward to “the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Jude 1:20-21). The instructions that follow may apply to us and our fellow believers. If so, then these categories would fit the “vessels of…dishonour” that Paul alludes to that are in a “great house” (2 Timothy 2:20).

“Of some have compassion, making a difference.” Some of those in our circle of influence need our “pity.” The word choices imply a desperate need that we must attempt to remedy. Many of the Lord’s healing miracles were done because of compassion. We are encouraged to “make a difference” in the lives of those who urgently need the healing of the Word of God.

“Others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire.” These are in jeopardy of eternal judgment. They are truly needy but are more dangerous to deal with. Even the imagery used by Jude is fearful. These are so “spotted” (dirty, filthy) by their fleshly deeds that we must “beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness” (2 Peter 3:17).

Jude’s admonition is also applicable to Paul’s concern for the unsaved Jews that he “might save some of them” (Romans 11:14) or his willingness to become as “them that are without law” so that he might “gain them” and to become “as weak, that I might gain the weak” (1 Corinthians 9:21-22). The instructions are valid for either perspective.

Paul echoes Jude’s concern when he says, “I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some” (1 Corinthians 9:22). HMM III

Discipling Someone? Consider These Areas Of Concentration

One: Engage him in the Scriptures to discover Christ and apply His truth.

Teaching him to meditate upon and apply God’s Word is generic to knowing Christ.

“He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me; and he who loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him, and will disclose Myself to him.“(John 14:21)

Two: Disciple him life-on-life.

Both Jesus and Paul believed in the worth of the individual, and so should we:

Jesus: “The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, ‘Follow me‘.“(John 1:43)

Paul: “We dealt with you one by one, as a father deals with his children…”(1 Thessalonians 2:11b neb)

Three: Equip him to multiply his life:

• By helping him develop consistency in (1) Daily time with God, (2) Scripture memory, and (3) Bible study.

“The Scriptures are the comprehensive equipment of the man of God, and fit him fully for all branches of his work.“(2 Timothy 3:17 – J.B. Phillips Translation)

• By helping him discover and utilize his gifts. (1 Corinthians 12-14)

Four: Maintain the centrality of Christ.

At the very core of the discipling effort must be the emphasis on developing intimacy with Christ.

“By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.“(1 Corinthians 3:10, 11)

QUESTION: Since example is the most powerful teacher, developing intimacy with Christ is better “caught” than taught. Is your disciple picking up the fact that knowing Christ is your primary passion?

“Follow my example as I follow the example of Christ.“(1 Corinthians 11:1)

“My sheep hear My voice.”

John 10:19-40

John 10:19

Christ thus called out his own sheep from the flocks of others. The gospel is a great separater, and every Sabbath day it reveals its power in dividing the sheep from the goats. Those who hear and obey are saved; those who are disobedient are condemned in their own consciences.

John 10:22, 23

winter or stormy, wintry weather

John 10:22, 23

Sheltering himself from the cold, and reaching the people who would there assemble.

John 10:25, 26

This was plain, bold speech. They were none of his, and therefore they had not discerned him. Had they been his chosen, they would have received him joyfully. This doctrine is very irksome to the pride of man.

John 10:28-31

The chosen are doubly secure; two hands have grasped them, and in that double security they are beyond all danger.

John 10:28-31

They would not hear of his being one with the Father; and, alas, there are persons still living who will honour Jesus as man, but when we speak of his Godhead they are filled with anger.

John 10:33

He was assuredly God, or else, being so good a man, he would never have claimed to be what he was not. If Christ Jesus be not God, he is an impostor, and we are idolaters.

John 10:34-36

This was an argument intended to cool their rage, for, if in some sense the chosen people had been called gods, they ought not to have been so sure that it was blasphemy for Jesus to claim to be the Son of God.

John 10:37-40

Having borne his testimony, our Lord again retired. How does his declaration affect us? Are we his sheep? Do we follow in his steps? Let each answer as before the all-knowing Lord.

Thou Shepherd of Israel divine,

The joy of the upright in heart,

For closer communion we pine,

Still, still to reside where thou art

Ah! show us that happiest place—

That place of thy people’s abode,

Where saints in an ecstasy gaze,

Adoring their crucified God.

‘Tis there, with the lambs of thy flock,

Our spirits would covet to rest;

To lie at the foot of the rock,

Or rise to be hid in thy breast.

‘Tis there we would always abide,

And never a moment depart;

Preserv’d evermore by thy side,

Eternally hid in thine heart.

A Great Moral Blunder

By the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified… This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders. (Acts 4:10-11)

Of all the people on the earth, the nation of Israel surely was the best prepared to receive the Christ of God. The children of Abraham, they were called to be a chosen people in an everlasting covenant with God, the Father.

Yet they failed to recognize Jesus as Messiah and Lord. There is no doubt that theirs was the greatest moral blunder in the history of mankind. He came to His own people and they rejected Him!

Jesus taught frankly that He was asking His followers to throw themselves out on the resources of God. For the multitude, He was asking too much. He had come from God but they received Him not!

It seems to be a comfort to some Christians to sit back and blame and belabor the Jews, refusing to acknowledge that they have information and benefits and spiritual light that the Jews never had.

It is surely wrong for us to try to comfort our own carnal hearts by any emphasis that Israel rejected Him. If we do that, we only rebuild the sepulchers of our fathers as Jesus said!