Sermon Central
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Dedication-1
Contributed by Byron Sherman on Oct 8, 2018 (message contributor)
Summary: 1 of ? The children of Israel were to dedicate the city of Jericho to the LORD. God’s people are to wholly devote themselves & their world to the Lord. But how are we to do that? Dedicating you & your world to the Lord recalls/demands...
DEDICATING/Dedication-I—Joshua 6:17-27
The Task Of Dedication
Attention:
Simple Fix:
For years, parents of a Texas boy believed he was mostly nonverbal because of a brain aneurysm he had when he was 10 days old.
The boy, Mason Motz, 6, of Katy, Texas, started going to speech therapy when he was 1. In addition to his difficulties speaking, he was given a diagnosis of Sotos syndrome, a disorder that can cause learning disabilities or delayed development, according to the National Institutes of Health.
His parents, Dalan & Meredith Motz, became used to how their son communicated.
“He could pronounce the beginning of the word but would not utter the end of the word,” Motz said. “My husband & I were the only ones that could understand him.”
That all changed in April 2017, when Dr. Amy Luedemann-Lazar, a pediatric dentist, was performing unrelated procedures on Mason’s teeth. She noticed that his lingual frenulum, the band of tissue under the tongue, was shorter than is typical & was attached close to the tip of his tongue, keeping him from moving it freely.
Luedemann-Lazar ran out to the waiting room to ask the Motzes if she could untie Mason’s tongue using a laser.
After a quick Google search, the parents gave her permission to do so. Luedemann-Lazar completed the procedure in 10 seconds, she said.
After his surgery, Mason went home. He had not eaten all day. Motz heard him say: “I’m hungry. I’m thirsty. Can we watch a movie?”
The dentist Dedicated her skills to the well-being of the boy.
Likewise, Christians must Be about the business of Dedicating our giftedness to the Lord.
Need:
We must remember that what we do, we do by & for the Lord God who has graced us with salvation by faith in Christ...
...We DEDICATE our lives to Him!
2Cor. 10:3-6—“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments & every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, & being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.”
The children of Israel were to dedicate the city of Jericho to the LORD.
Israel began the conquest of Canaan with the dedication of Jericho to the Lord.
God’s people are to wholly devote themselves & their world to the Lord.
How are we to devote/dedicate ourselves & our world to the Lord?
Some Recollections toward fully dedicating ourselves & our world to the Lord.
1—Dedicating you & your world to the Lord recalls/demands...
OWNERSHIP(:17a)
Explanation:(:17a)Firstfruits/Microcosm/Redemption
:17a—“Now the city shall be doomed by the LORD to destruction, it & all who are in it....”
[KJV]—“And the city shall be accursed, even it, & all that are therein, to the LORD:...”
[NASB]—“And the city shall be under the ban, it & all that is in it belongs to the LORD;....”
[NIV]—“The city & all that is in it are to be devoted to the LORD....”
The entire city fell under the umbrella of being “doomed to destruction”(AKA--“accursed”,“the ban”, “devoted”).
Being “Doomed to Destruction” is an act of total Dedication to YHWH’s desire & not to the desire or reasonings of men!
All in the city was to be destined for destruction, dedicated only to the LORD, for His use only.
Why “Doomed to Destruction”?...
“Doomed to Destruction” because no man, woman, or child can be ‘forced’ to love...& no one can be ‘forced’ to trust...in the true God. They are in the process of taking the land that was promised to them by YHWH(Gen. 17:8).
Mk. 12:28-31—“Then one of the scribes came, & having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, “Which is the first commandment of all?” Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, & with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
“Whatever is “devoted to destruction” or “banned” is assumed to be consecrated to Yahweh for his exclusive ownership & use. In essence, it has been transferred from the profane realm of humans to the holy realm of Yahweh(Josh. 8:26, 28; cf.Mic. 4:13). As God’s exclusive property, herem[Mrx] enjoys the highest degree of holiness(Lev. 27:28) & cannot be redeemed for return to the profane sphere. Thus the only humans who may possess it are Israel’s priests...”.....“The Old Testament does not understand every Israelite destruction of a city or people as an act of religious herem[Mrx].”.....“only Yahweh himself can designate what is herem.”.....“rather than promote violence as the standard Israelite treatment of foreigners who reside within Israel, Joshua teaches two things: 1)Those who honor Yahweh’s greatness & do not teach Israel idolatry may remain in the land, & 2) rigorous obedience to the law is Yahweh’s supreme expectation for all peoples in the land.”—Robert L. Hubbard, Jr. in ’The NIV Application Commentary’
