We greet you this afternoon in the savior’s name, Jesus Christ , praising Him the one who is the head of my life and the head of the of the church and head of this local fellowship. Without Christ we can do nothing….but we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.
I invite your attention for just a few minutes this afternoon for the Word of God I want to go to the book of Joshua for today for a few minutes.
Joshua 1 vss 1-3, and Joshua 6 vss 16-19.
As we prepare to read the word of God, I ask you to stand take your Bibles and lift them up toward heaven and repeat after me our affirmation for the word of God, I believe that God is who God’s word says that He is. I believe that God will do what God’s word says that He will do. I believe that I am who God’s word says that I am. Thy word O Lord is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Amen. Read scriptures from the NKJV. Joshua 1 vss 1-3, and Joshua 6 vss 16-19.
You may be seated. Thanks be to the Lord for the reading hearing and doing of God’s Holy Word.
Jos 6:18 And ye, in any wise keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest ye make yourselves accursed, when ye take of the accursed thing, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it.
Jos 6:19 But all the silver, and gold, and vessels of brass and iron, are consecrated unto the LORD: they shall come into the treasury of the LORD.
I want to speak from the thought today…what God has for me is for me….you can choose that subject for today…or another subject could be when God says no…there is a yes…When God says no there is a yes. What God has for me it is for me and when God says no there is a yes.
In this story just to summarized, give a short background, not assuming that everybody knows what happening in this text. The main characters are God, Joshua and the children of Israel and the city of Jericho. Joshua is following after the leadeship of Moses. Moses is now deceased. And Joshua is head leader now of the children of Israel and God says to Joshua in chapter one of the book of Joshua that I give you the same promise that I gave my servant Moses that every where the sole of your foot shall touch, you shall overtake and occupy and secure the land for yourself and the children of Israel. But now as the story unfolds, as the children of Israel begin to move out to secure the land…..God is working in their midst and he is showing them what it’s going to take to overtake the land. Indeed it’s where ever you walk you shall the take the land but hold up a minute now saints it will not be a cake walk. And that’s the same way it is in this life. God has designated a life for you. God has a plan for you. God has a purpose for you. God has a will and way for you. God has designed you for kingdom work for his glory and for your good. God is saying to each and every one of us that where you place your foot, the ground is yours….where ever you walk it’s yours….you are victorious wherever you go…if you with me and in me….but it’s not going to be a cake walk. You see as the chapters begin to unravel and unfold and come behind chapter 1, God begins to make clear what’s it’s going to take to occupy the land. You see the land is not just going to be ours just because we walk on it, but there are some things that we’ve got to do and not do in order for God to work on our behalf to help us inherit the promises that he has for our lives.
I want to say on this student and senior seasoned recognition Sunday that God’s promises in his word, God’s blessings in his word….and I am not just talking about a new car, money, jobs and land…I am talking about your whole life……your spiritual blessings, the favor of the Lord on your life, your strength, your influence on the behalf of Jesus Christ…..all of God’s blessings and promises in his word are for both the student and seasoned saint and everybody in between but it’s going to take some ongoing conditions to see God work in your life. And as we find in chapter 6 of Joshua, there are two things that God laid out that forever stands if we are going to walk in the things of God….if we believe that what God has for us is for us….and that when God says no there is a yes…there are two things that we must practice in our lives as a lifestyle in order for God’s plan to be at work.
You see you go to chapter 6 and God says look and I am paraphrasing…you are coming up on your first city…Jericho……God is saying this to the children of Israel and to Joshua…and God gives them instructions on how the city is going to fall…we are not going to preach on that today…..powerful text on discovering how God will deliver you but…what I want us to focus in on and hone in on today is that God gave some clear instructions before Jericho was taken out…same instructions for today… in our personal godly Christian lives….1st city and God says don’t touch the accursed things and secondly every good thing and valuable thing that is not accursed belongs to me…it must come to the treasury of the house of God…..oh wait a minute…wait a minute now…somebody is saying did not God say that every where you touch your foot it’s yours…it’s yours…and now God says it’s mine…it’s mine…you must bring it to the treasury of the house of God….and if it’s accursed don’t put your hand on it…..do your understand the complexity of this thing. You see this is the reason why we have to stay up under God because we cannot figure God out…we have to follow God and say God whatever you say I’ll do it…I’ll do it God….because we cannot figure God out…God said whatever you walk it’s yours chapter one…but as soon as the children of Israel crossed the Jordan and were getting themselves prepared for their first battle against the great fortified city of Jericho, God says to them now I will show you how to win…but anything worth bringing out of the city is mine for the house of God…..and you shall not touch or bring anything out of the city that is accursed because it will curse you…it will curse your household and it will curse the entire camp of Israel.
Two mitigating factors that God says that we must live by today……and that is you are blessed…yes you are blessed if you are saved and set free and belong to Jesus and walking in the Spirit of Christ the Holy Ghost, you are blessed and highly favored says the Lord but don’t bring what belongs to devil among yourselves and don’t keep what is mine says the Lord. And God’s not just talking about his money and his tithe…but God’s wants all of what belongs to him…your time, your energy, your gifts, your commitment, your talent…..yes yes yes yes your tithe do belong to the Lord but I want to you to know today dear friends and brethren and sistern that when you die out of this world and stand before God…God’s going to turn on his heavenly rewind video and God is going to remind you that there is a portion of your time that belonged to him…that the best of your talent belonged to him…that the best of your energy really belonged to him.......that the highest level of commitment to what ever you are committed to in this life belonged to him…saints if it does not resonate with you now I am here to tell you that one day it will resonate because God is going to turn on his rewind video of your life and my life….and he’s going to say that this is your life…and he’s going to say this is where your tithe went…this is where time went…this is where your commitment was…this is where your energy went ….this is where your talent and your gifts went…it’s not me trying to get your attention it’s God whose trying to get your attention and trying tell you something because we are all going to see him one day…..and God says whatever belongs to me bring it to the house of God…in other words commit yourself and your ways and you will and your time, talent, energy and tithes and offerings unto the Lord and it will and I am here to tell you it will not be in vain…whatever God has for you will be for you and when God says don’t there is a do for you…when God says no there is a yes for you….and in few minutes I am going give you something from the text to prove that when God says bring unto me it’s not because God needs it but it’s because God is trying to get something to you…..how many of you know that the things the valuables from Jericho that was brought to the house of God in the first place God had it brought their to benefit his children of God…..God doesn’t need anything…God uses his methods of stewardship and commitment to benefit his children….God doesn’t need anything he made everything and owns everything that was made.
Before we move out of this chapter 6, we’ve covered what God said to bring unto him and it still stands in life we must bring unto God what is God’s, finances, talent, time, energy, commitment unique gifts that God have created us with….so that it will be for God’s glory and so that God can do something in our life to work it out for the good. Now we want to underscore that indeed you cannot mess with the devil’s stuff and stay blessed and even stay on the Lord’s side…the devil’s stuff and God’s stuff do not mix. God say do not touch to the children of Israel, do not touch the accursed things…well what was the accursed things…the accursed things my friends was anything that was used or fashioned or made by mans hands to do sin in Jericho or to worshipped false gods……it did not matter how attractive it was….obviously….there was something about it that the children of Israel knew what not to touch and what to touch….now mind you they could not touch the accursed and things pick them up and bring those things with them and then whatever was valuable they could bring them for the children of Israel treasury for the house of God and could not keep those things for their individual selves. And so God had given them enough of insight not to bother the accursed things…….because the accursed things were not only going to stay accursed but they were going to curse those who bothered with it, curse their house, and curse the entire camp of Israel. Now I want you to know that if anybody even today mess around with the devil and his stuff and all wrapped up in what the devil is doing….it’s the same consequences today…you will contaminate yourself….you cannot hang around on purpose with the devil’s stuff and come out untouched, unphased and without being contaminated. If you play in the mud you will get mud on you. If you play in the poo you will smell like the poo. You ever watch the series Dirty Jobs on the Discovery channel….whatever you mess around with that’s what’s going to be on you and in you and about you…..this Biblical principle that God puts forth in this text stands for today…if you mess around with the devils’ stuff do not expect to what walk way scott free as if you will not be contaminated…….and when you frolic and play around with devil’s stuff you are not just contaminating yourself but you are passing it on to everybody around you…that’s why generation after generation after generation suffer the same kinds of unfortunate destruction in their lives…it’s because somebody will not put their foot down and say in this generation this curse will be broken off of my life and my family. And I am going to repent and I am going to change and I am going to be delivered from this defeated lifestyle once and for all.
Do you know that one of the reasons why Jesus specifically died on a cross is so that the curses in this life will be broken off of our lives because the word says that he that dies on the tree is a cursed….in other words Jesus because Jesus took on the curse for us we can have the curses of generations broken off of us…but it is not automatic; the curses can be broken off of us when we accept the blood of Jesus Christ and totally and I mean totally give us messing with the devil’s stuff…..get one’s hands and lives and houses out from around the devil’s stuff and the devil’s playground.
Gal 3:13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:
Jesus has been cursed for you and I to unbreak the accursed things off our our lives…Jesus cannot break a person free from the accursed things on their lives, homes, generations, and families and offsprings to come until somebody stands up and be a bold servant for Jesus Christ and declare and decree that for God I live and for God I die and I change this day…I give up to Jesus once and for all…I submit, I surrender I yield. The price has already been paid but Jesus cannot unbreak what does not want to be unbroken. One of the primary basic major reasons why Jesus went to the cross that is to break the curse that comes from sin that Adam invoked upon us but we must be willing and stay willing and obedient and consistent in living for Christ and don’t frolic with the devil’s stuff. That’s why some persons my young friends are in jail and prison right now; it’s not just because they actually did something but it’s because they were hanging around the devil’s stuff, the devil’s deeds, the devil’s ways….and hanging around persons who are carrying out the devil’s agenda….and some of the young people who are locked up are locked up solely on the basis of being accessory to the crime.
I don’t won’t to be an accessory to the crime on any of the devil’s stuff….I don’t care if it’s gossiping…I don’t care if it’s backbiting, jealousy, cov etous ness …I don’t intend to be an accessory to the crime on any of the devil’s stuff.. I don’t care if it lying, cheating, bearing false witness or false accusing on my neighbor, brother or sister in the Lord…I don’t won’t to be an accessory to the crime…and I tell you why you don’t won’t to be an accessory to the crime on any of the devil’s stuff …it’s because there are some persons that if they keep on messing with the devil’s stuff and find themselves continually as an accessory to the crime with the devil’s stuff….they will end up in the eternal lockup which is hell and the lake of fire…that’s why I am seeking the Lord to not be an accessory to crime on any of the devil’s ways and the devil’s stuff. And noticed I did not name any household name sins because you see while we are trying to run a hundred percent A-t on avoiding these household name sins… it is these little foxes…that sends folk to the eternal lock up. You cannot mess with the devil’s stuff and be blessed and be in fellowship or continue in fellowship with Christ. You will be contaminated and you will be separated from relationship with Jesus Christ. That’s why the only stuff I won’t around me is the stuff of God.. I don’t know about you but I want God’s stuff on me…I want God’s stuff in me…I want to be contaminated with the things of God. I want to be touched by hand of God. Because if I am touched by God….God will help me to stand and not give up…If you are touched and surrounded by God’s stuff…God will help you to keep going up and not down. If you are touched by the things of God…God will help you to go forward and not backwards…If you are wrapped up and tied up with God and the things of God…God will help you to walk in victory and overcome defeat. If you are wrapped up and tied up with the things of God …God will..God will God will…help you to make the dreams that he gave you come true and not be thrown away. But you cannot wrap yourself up with devil’s stuff and you’ve got to reverence and honor and submit yourself to God and not take your time and your energy and your commitment and your talent and God ‘s money from God.
God says that you will occupy the land and God’s trying to get you somewhere …but with the children of Israel and with us…the same today….you cannot mess with the devil’s stuff when moving forward with God and you cannot mismanaged God’s investment in your life …you’ve got to give God what belongs to him in your whole life…because God intends to take you somewhere…
I want to close out the rest of the story…..first we said God said to Joshua whatever is in the promised land is yours…but then when they got to first city…they were told you cannot have the accursed things…and everything that is valuable and worth anything must come to the house of God, the treasury. And remember that whatever is in the house of God is for the glory of God and for the caretaking of God’s people and reaching others outside of the faith…just as God had assigned the children of Israel to reach the other nations for God to show the other nations that there is a true God. But I want you know that the text that we read so far is not the end of the story. I said that our title for this sermon is whatever God has for me it is for me…and that when God says no there is a yes……unfortunately everybody did not make it to rest of the story in this text. Because Achan…he did violate if you keep reading …he did take both the accursed things into his tent and he took God’s stuff into his tent…..because he just decided…that I want my blessing now…I am just going to just take my blessing…let me tell you…we must understand that when God says that you are blessed…saints you are blessed…but you are going to have understand that God’s blessing is not a cake walk…not pie in the sky. God’s blessing is not just married to faith……yes you need faith to believe that God is God and God will do what God says…but you need to add to your faith…obedience…because God’s blessing for whole life, spiritual mental physical relational financial is married to faith…it is married also to obedience and I mean cheerful obedience the kind of obedience that the three Hebrew boys had that says if God don’t deliver…if God don’t bless me with whatever…I still will do what God tells me to do….because I understand God is sovereign and I cannot make God do anything….Yes God’s blessing is married to faith, obedience, patience and endurance. Oh yes sir and yes maam….you see all of this name and claim it only stuff will not cut it for God…you see God uses faith plus obedience plus patience plus endurance to work on our lives and transform us into the image of Jesus Christ…You see what a lot of people do not realize is that while they are trying to lay their hands on a lot of trinkets in this life…God will delay things because God is trying to lay his hands on them….You are trying to lay your hands on this and on that and God is trying to lay his hand on you….so that therefore you can go around and do all of this name it and claim it exercising and nothing is happening because God is waiting for you to add to your faith, cheerful obedience to the full letter of the word of God…God is waiting for you to add to your faith patience and endurance which is really contentment and joy in the Lord where we say like Paul I know how to be content in all things…I know how to give God praise and worship when I don’t have nothing and I know how to give God praise and worship when it seems like I have all I need and want. You are trying to lay your hands on this and that and that and this and God is trying to lay his hands on your heart and so therefore God will prove you and prone you and dress you up until you add cheerful obedience, patience, endurance, joy and contentment to your faith. And when we are working with all of those variables we are going to grow up in Christ one way or the other.
That’s what God kept doing with the children of Israel, proving them and trying and them and seeing if they would be cheerfully obedient. Mind you God was taking care of their daily benefits, they had bread water, clothing, shelter, shoes…they had those things even in the wilderness….but God as gave them the land he proved them…he didn’t let them have everything right off in Jericho….but there was some patience added to Joshua’s faith, some cheerful obedience walking and being quite around that wall in Jericho, some Joy and contentment in being glad to bring a cheerful offering and sacrifice of praise to the house of God and to the treasury of the house of God…all of this happened while they were in battle and after the battle of Jericho…but watch what comes next…..I am going to close out after this…..
I want you to follow me to the Joshua chapter 8 and I encouraged to read the first 8 chapters of this book to get even a fuller story of what we are saying today which is going to be about the command to occupy the land, crossing the Jordan, winning over Jericho and now in this 8 chapter the second battle of Ai,. If you are a student of the word, you would know that Israel lost the first battle of Ai because Achan had violated the two principles that we spoke about today…Achan had the accursed and God’s things. But we end up today in this eight chapter still saying that what God has for me is for me and when God says no there is a yes coming up…read with me…Joshua chapter 8 verses 1 and 2
Jos 8:1 And the LORD said unto Joshua, Fear not, neither be thou dismayed: take all the people of war with thee, and arise, go up to Ai: see, I have given into thy hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land:
Jos 8:2 And thou shalt do to Ai and her king as thou didst unto Jericho and her king: only the spoil thereof, and the cattle thereof, shall ye take for a prey unto yourselves: lay thee an ambush for the city behind it.
Remember now that God said, give me the spoils worth anything of Jericho…now that God had tested and proven and seen the heart of the people that they will obey and follow closely after him…when they come to the next city he says this city you have all of it for yourself….God has something for you…God has a plan for your life….God has a will and a way and a working for your life. When God says no there is a yes somewhere. When God puts up a stop sign…don’t worry because there soon will be a green light. If God says I need you to humble down it’s only because he’s trying to take you up. If God says not now….it does not mean never….it just means we need to get into a lifestyle position of knowing God seeking God, sharing God, and growing in God so that whatever God wants us to occupy we will indeed occupy and it will not occupy us.
