"God Is In Our Day-By-Day Activities"

Sermon.985

“God Is In Our Day-By-Day Activities”

Text: Joshua Chapters 1-19

Key Verse: Joshua 18:10

Do you ever compare yourself with other people?

Do you ever look across the fence and think that the grass might be greener on the other side?

Do you try to keep up with the Joneses?

Do you ever look at people who may drive a better car than you, wear nicer clothes than you, live in a larger house than you, who may have a nice boat parked in the garage, and you itch to have those kinds of things?

Perhaps you just feel uneasy about your present situation.

You’re not competing with anybody specifically, yet as time marches on, you don’t see much progress toward your personal goals.

Believe it or not, these type of questions tell you that God has set your boundary lines, and He is working in your present day situation to accomplish His purpose.

I. God is in the ordinary day-by-day activities of life!

The text I chose to read in preparation for this sermon is Joshua chapters 11-19.

You can easily see that this text is too lengthy to read during our time allotted this morning.

So, what I would like for you to do is to scan these chapters sometime today or this coming week in your daily Bible reading.

Joshua chapters 11-19 doesn’t read easy like the Gospels or Psalm 23 which flows evenly from one verse to another.

Joshua chapters 11-19 are mostly about war and land distribution, as the Israelites divide the spoils of imperialism in a spiritual act for the glory of God.

Chapter 10 of Joshua tells us about a time in Bible history when God caused our sun to stand still.

The land distribution was an installment in God’s plan of salvation stretching from Abraham to Jesus, and even beyond Jesus to us.

These things the Israelites did to glorify God were the ordinary things of life to them.

What about us today and our day-by-day activities of life?

Preparing the daily meals, washing the dishes, picking up toys children have played with, mowing the grass, doing home repairs, working on the family car; doing the family shopping; there’s no end to the activities that occupy our time, and most people work at least 40 hours each week.

Have you stopped to think that God is working through your day-by-day activities right where you live?

Jesus knows all the aspects of the home and community in which you live.

He is the eternal Son of God who lived from eternity past in glory with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.

Christ lives today in His glory in heaven and within your heart if you have invited Him to take up residence there.

When Christ lived on Earth for 33 years he was a carpenter by trade.

Perhaps you’ve heard the story of the little boy who was hanging around where his pastor was repairing a picket fence.

The pastor said, "Son, you don’t have to stay here with me all day."

The little boy replied, "I just want to hear what a preacher says when he hits his finger with a hammer!"

Do you think Jesus ever hit his finger with a hammer?

Did Jesus know what it was like to sweat and do hard work?

Did He know what it was like to deal with a disagreeable customer?

Most probably, the answer to those three questions is “Yes!”

God doesn’t call us to escape the ordinary day-to-day activities of life.

He doesn’t expect us to become so heavenly minded that we’re of no earthly good.

What we need to realize is that right here in our neck of the woods God is at work through our day-by-day activities.

II. If God is in the ordinary day-by-day activities of life, God is also the Supreme Ruler over them.

In Joshua 18:10, one verse of our 9 chapter text, we see God ruling over the day-by-day activities of the Israelites.

“Joshua then cast lots for them in Shiloh in the presence of the Lord, and there he distributed the land to the Israelites according to their tribal divisions.”

The 12 tribes did not get to choose where they wanted to live!

Joshua cast lots to divide the land, and the allocation of all this property came down to a roll of the dice.

The people’s inheritance all boiled down to luck of the draw, but remember that God was the Overseer of this secular activity.

In Proverbs 16:33, the writer says, “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.”

So, the land distribution wasn’t a free-for-all.

God placed each tribe exactly where He wanted them.

Some of God’s people would be farmers, others shepherds, still others, fishermen.