Coming To Your Gilgal

Coming to Your Gilgal

PM Service

May 25, 2008

1st A/G Herculaneum

Text: Joshua 5:1-12

Introduction:

Would you take a moment with me and look at the 9 verse once again of this text tonight:

Then the LORD said to Joshua, “This day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” Therefore the name of the place is called Gilgal to this day (vs. 9).

Our Heavenly Father in His great love has taken each of us at one time or another through various batteries of testing in our lives to teach us three very important elements for growth in our life:

• Obedience through complete consecration to Him.

• Victory over the flesh.

• The fresh blessing of God.

This evening as we descend upon the nation of Israel in our text…over the last 40 years, God has desired to bless them with a Land of Promise if they would only trust Him completely and follow His direction.

Up to this point, this blessing never happened because Israel allowed fear of what they saw keep them from what God had promised them.

But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. 32And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. 33And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight (Numbers 13:31-33).

But now, we see 40 years has passed. Those who were full of unbelief had passed on. But the great news was this: the promises God had made them weren’t retracted…God was still ready to bless anyone who was willing to follow the Lord (including 2 from the previous generation—Joshua and Caleb).

In our lives we find that there are different areas that the Lord works with us on trying to bring about His promises in—finances, friendships, parenting, marriage, work, etc. Although God teaches each of us different specific things in areas of our lives, His general lesson always comes back to these same three general steps—obedience, victory, and blessing. These were the same three steps that Israel had to experience.

How many times have we wrestled with an issue wondering if we would ever get the victory over it?

How many times have we had to learn to trust God over and over because we felt afraid?

How many times has God been faithful to us to prove that He is faithful and will pour out His care and blessing if we will trust Him?

This story in the life of Israel shows us today that everyone must come and experience a Gilgal in their life before they can move on.

What is Gilgal?

Gilgal is the place where God has lifted the reproach of an area in our life. After we have struggled with an area in our life for a long period of time and now we have embraced the three steps of growth (obedience, victory, and blessing) by learning to trust God with an area of struggle…God has come along and LIFTED the reproach of it from our life and we are ready to receive the blessings from the promises God has given.

Then the LORD said to Joshua, “This day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” Therefore the name of the place is called Gilgal to this day (vs. 9).

From this point forward, Israel’s unbelief that they were just slaves and couldn’t accomplish becoming a nation with a country was no longer hanging over their head. They were finally in a position to receive the blessings God had promised them so long ago. They finally believed that God could be trusted to give them a land….they finally believed to the point of victory.

Yes, there were still battles to fight, but they believed that God could make them victorious. Fear was no longer a factor. There trust was in the Lord. They were no in a position to receive the blessing of the Lord.

So many times, our own belief keeps us from receiving the blessings of the Lord. His blessings are there all along, but we take ourselves out of receiving them because we have allowed a reproach to come upon our lives. Disobedience, fear, stubbornness, or unbelief can bring about this reproach. Until that reproach is lifted, we hinder ourselves from allowing the blessings our Heavenly Father has created for us to come.