Joshua 24: 14-15
(24:14) Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord!
(24:15) And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land will you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
Today I want to talk about “Finding Your Footprint”
Finding your footprint…
Last week we prayed and worshipped God right here in a way that was very special…
We asked God for many things in the way of protection and the needs of the people here today and some that where not able to make it out last week…
We sought out God for His provision and we sought Him out for His protection…
And God spoke to us in a very special way…
In our scripture reference out of the book of Joshua we encounter a man who is speaking to a generation about the past the present and the future in just a few sentences…
We all know Joshua …
He was trained by Moses to lead the children of Israel to the land of promise in Canaan…
He was the one with the name that meant “the Lord is my Salvation”
And the thing about Joshua is that Joshua was born into slavery…
He was born into everything that embodied the enslaved…
He was born into Oppression…
He crawled around starvation…
He grew up around murder…
He survived hate…
And He escaped physical imprisonment…
Someone once said that:
“The Secret of Success is to Start from Scratch and keeps on Scratching”
Joshua was a man who knew how to keep on scratching…
He had seen it all…
And He had been trained by God’s servant to do what God had purposed for him in his life…
And Now …
After years of enslavement in Egypt…
And years of wandering in the wilderness after the exodus …
Joshua ... Now over 100 years old and he has pulled the people together because this is a time of worship and thanksgiving…
Maybe as we should rejoice … This was a time for rejoicing and thanking God for all that God had done in the past …
All that He had done to lead them to the conquest of Canaan…
All the Battles that He has brought them through…
Can you remember all the battles God has brought you though?
Can you remember How God brought you out of Slavery?
Can you remember How God saved you from the wrong route?
Can you remember?
God’ wants us to remember…
God doesn’t want us to forget where we came from…
He doesn’t want us to get so caught up in the possibilities of the present and the potential of the future
He doesn’t want us to lose sight of the past…
Because what he is saying is that your past is your “footprint”…
Your footprint is that place that you have walked and when you walked that path you left and imprint on the place you left…
It’s the impression that you leave behind you…
And when you think about it this is what Joshua was speaking to his audience about on this day…
He was a senior man who had seen a lot of things …
And the best way he knew how he was trying to talk some sense into the people that He had served for all these years…
Look at the scripture… First He said to the people
(24:14) Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord!
He said fear the Lord… Meaning respect the Lord… Revere the Lord… Esteem the Lord….
And Serve Him in Sincerity and in Truth…
Just as Jesus said that in the book of John that God is spirit and they that Worship Him shall Worship him in Spirit and in Truth…
Hundreds of years earlier…
Joshua pleaded with the people that they Honor and respect the Lord … And that when they Honor him… Honor him… Serve Him in sincerity and in Truth…
To Serve means to help … To assist… to Supply… But it also and literally means to help…
Its means to help
Sincerity refers to being pure… Being with out falsehood or hypocrisy…
So when Joshua pleaded with the people of Israel he had to remind them to find your footprint…
He had to remind them to look to what God has done for you…
He had to remind them that It was God who gave you the Mountains of Seir to Possess…
It was God who multiplied your descendants…
It was God who brought your fathers out of Egypt…
It was God who brought you out of the Wilderness…
It was God who brought you from the other side of the River…
It was God who allows you to possess the Land…
It was God who protected you from your enemies…
It was God who fought your battles when you didn’t have the weapons …
It was God who gave you the Land without labor…
So Joshua said …Therefore… FEAR the Lord and assist him …
Help Him free of deceit and free of hypocrisy
Worship Him with purity and with unadulterated love …
Because If you look back on your life…
If you think about where God has brought you from…
If you think about where you have walked…
The Journey you have taken…
And the footprint you have left behind…
You can surely say the God
Has been a present Help in Time of Trouble…
Like David, You can say with sincerity…
If it had not been for the Lord …
Where would I be…
Like Job… You can
Calvin Coolidge said: No man was ever honored for what He received. Honor has been the reward for what He gave…
In other words… We are honored for what we give and we honor those that have given to u
That’s why when the Bible says Honor thy Father and Mother…
Or to Honor the Lord thy God with thy substance and your First Fruits
You are to Honor the God that has brought you through….
Honor that He is making a way out of no way…
Honor that He and His word are Nigh upon you …
Honor the Holy Spirit and how He is leading you and guiding you…
And once you Honor…
You will find a connection…
And when you connect with God…
You will begin to Trust Him…
And when You trust in Him…
The bible says that you no longer need to look to others…
You no longer have to rely on people you cant rely on…
You no longer have to be burdened with the mistakes of the past or the pitfalls in the present…
But you can now Trust in the Lord…
And Lean not unto thy own understanding …
And in the name of Jesus …
As you confess with your mouth….
And Believe in your heart…
That Jesus is the True and Holy Son of the Living God…
The Bible says that your are now Authorized…
Tell somebody Your authorized…
You are authorized to Ask and You Shall Recieves..
You can seek and ye shall find what you are looking for in this life…
You can knock and the Door shall be opened to you…
Because Jesus said I am the way the truth and the Life …
Whatever you ask of Him in my name…’
Come on somebody…
Favor? I’m asking …
Help? I’m asking…
Forgiveness? I’m asking…
My footprint? I’m asking…
Prosperity? I’m asking…
Protection? I’m asking…
Because in Jesus name there is No weapon formed against me that shall prosper…
Somebody say yes…
Somebody say yes…
See Joshua was trying to tell these folks … Find your footprint…
Look at where you’ve come from…
Look at where you’ve been…
And here you are inj 2007 and the Lord has blessed you…
He has kept you…
But He says that in spite of what all the Lord has done we keep doing these evil and detrimental things to ourselves…
Paul said that the “Good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do”
Meaning even though we are sinners saved by the Grace of God We still house that sinful nature that goes all the way back to the book of Genesis and Adam’s disobience…
And if you are hearing me this morning we should be able to relate to the situation Joshua was trying to implore to the saints of God in his day…
See the people and there descendants had live through so much…
Had survived the storm and traveled to the other side…
With the help of God they had accomplished so much …
But yet with all of that success that they could see and have knowledge of…
Some continued to worship and connect with the idols that they’re descendants pursued before they saw the light of God in there life…
Turn to Exodus 23:20 for a moment ….
Read Exodus …23:20 – 26
Come back to Exodus 23:20
Go to Isaiah 9:6
That’s way Jesus said that the Devil come to steal kill and destroy …
But I have come to give you life and life more abundantly…
And see this is what Joshua was trying to explain to the people…
What Joshua was trying to say is that if we keep coming back to those things that negatives that our ancestors did we will never progress to the place that God has for us…
That if we continue to dabble in the dirt sooner or later we are going to find ourselves in the mud…
And then as much as God loves us that it is difficult for God to honor what we ask for because he knows we are dabbling on the side of the enemies mud during the week and then coming home on Sunday and saying Lord clean me up…
So knowing this...Joshua said to the People…
(24:15) and if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve,
(CHOOSE THIS DAY WHO YOU WILL HONOR)
Whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, (WILL YOU HONOR THE GODS THE GODS THAT YOUR FATHER DID)
ARE YOU GOING TO IDOLIZE THOSE THINGS THAT YOU SAW AND YOU KNEW WHERE WRONG?
OR ARE YOU GOING TO EMULATE WHAT WAS DESCENDANTLY GOOD AND POSITIVE…
AND THEN MORE IMPORTANTLY…
WHAT ABOUT MY FOOTPRINT?
WHAT AM I GOING TO LEAVE FOR MY KIDS TO EMULATE?
HOW ARE THE YOUNG PEOPLE GOING TO SEE AND Hear WHEN I ‘M IN THERE PRESCENCE>...
HOW AM I GOING TO FIND MY FOOTPRINT AND THEY WILL KNOW IT IS GOD WHO IS ORDERING THE STEPS THAT MAKE THE IMPRINT…
HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT YOU HAVE A GODLY FOOTPRINT?
THE FIRST THING FOLKS CONNECT YOU WITH WHEN THEY SPEAK OF YOU IS ONE OF YOUR FOOTPRINTS…
If you mention Paris Hilton …Some people you mention there name and you think she is a Partier…
If you mention Donald Trump his footprint is that of a successful businessman…
If you mention Michael Jackson he had a footprint as a huge talent but now His footprint is that of a confused, lost and possibly criminally problematic man…
The Question is: What is your footprint?
The answer is in your house?
(24:15) And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land will you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
Your House is the building in which people live…
A building is a something that is built up or constructed…
And it is the construction of your house that I want to you leave with today…
Because we can construct a mansion of a house…
Or we can construct a drug infested house…
We can decide that the house we live in will never be upgraded or fixed up…
Or we can decide to keep it fit and improved…
We can decide to add on to the house with lavish additions and amenities …
Or we can accidentally burn down the house with mistakes that were made in the house…
Joshua said choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land wills you dwell. But as for me and THE PLACE I LIVE IN, we will serve the Lord
Tell somebody this aint the devils house…
This aint my momma house…
This aint runs house…
This is my house…
See you have the Power to LIVE in the House you want to…
Say I have the Power…
There was a time when we didn’t know the Right thing to say or the right place to go but tell somebody now I got the Power…
When we didn’t do the right thing…
But God told me to tell you that He has not forgotten the covenant that He made with you…
And that in that those things you have prayed about…
Those things you have cried about…
Those things you know keep knock you back to your former days …
Those things that keep have penetrated the basement of your life…
Get ready because today God is giving your House the Power
The scripture says
Ye shall have Power when the Holy Ghost comes upon ye...
God will never leave you nor forsake you…
God will still be your present help in time of trouble…
Get ready for Jesus to lay hands on your situation…
Get Ready for the Power…
Get ready to see your dream come to life…
Get ready to see Healing in your family…
Get ready to see the devil run…
Get ready for our House to be in order…
From burden to blessing…
From persecution to perfection…
From calamity to completeness…
We are speaking those things that be no t as though they were…
In 2007 I am finding my Footprint for God…
And your latter days in 2007 will be greater than your former days in 2006…
Doors will be opened in the name of Jesus…
Families will be healed in the name of Jesus…
You will find deliverance in the name of Jesus
Your enemies will become your footstool
Stand on your feet…
Lift up your hands …
Give God the praise for where you have come from…
For bringing you this far,…
For taking you to the other side…
Giants will fall….
Mountains will move…
Liberation will reign
For we walk by Faith and Not by Site…
Fear not…
Stand still
And see the salvation of the Lord today…
In Jesus name…
Come on and praise Him this morning …
God has truly been good to us…
But when it is all said and done God asked us the one thing that Joshua asked the people of Israel…
He says Choose…
Choose this day who you will serve…
And when you make that claim …
Le the devils know … AS for me and MY HOUSE?
We will serve God …
Come on and give Him praise this morning
