Senior Promises

Senior Promises

Joshua 14:6-15

Intro: A couple had been married for 50 years. "Things have really changed," she said. "You used to sit very close to me."

"Well, I can remedy that," he said, moving next to her on the couch.

"And you used to hold me tight."

"How’s that?" he asked as he gave her a hug.

"Do you remember you used to nudge my neck and nibble on my ear lobes?"

He jumped to his feet and left the room. "Where are you going?"

"I’ll be right back," he said. "I’ve got to get my teeth!"

. Today is our senior appreciation day and our senior luncheon right after this service.

. Seniors, I want you to know that as far as I’m concerned, every day is senior appreciation day.

. You need to know that Pam and I truly appreciate and love you guys and we support you in all you do for the Lord.

. There is a little confusion though in regards as to when a person is actually considered a senior.

. When I go to a fast food place and the person looking at me asks if I want my senior discount I don’t know if I should say yes and get the discount or be offended because I am not old enough to be officially called a senior.

. With that in mind, I found some guidelines that we can use in order to see if we qualify to be a senior.

1. If you remember when Soft drinks only came in bottles and you could get a deposit back.

2. Gasoline was 26 cents per gallon

3. Telephone numbers had a word prefix.

4. Letter jackets and sweaters were only for athletes.

5. Your back goes out more often than you do.

6. You quit trying to hold your stomach in, no matter who walks into the room.

7. You’re proud of your lawn mower.

8. You sing along with the elevator music.

9. You enjoy hearing about other people’s operations.

10. The only reason you have cable is for the weather channel.

11. You have more hair in your ears than you do on your

head.

. I’ll let you decide if you fall into the senior category or not

.

. This morning I want to tell you about a senior citizen in scripture.

. His story is found in the book of Joshua chapter 14 verses 6-15:

. A delegation from the tribe of Judah, led by Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite, came to Joshua at Gilgal. Caleb said to Joshua, “Remember what the LORD said to Moses, the man of God, about you and me when we were at Kadesh-barnea.7I was forty years old when Moses, the servant of the LORD, sent me from Kadesh-barnea to explore the land of Canaan. I returned and gave an honest report,8but my brothers who went with me frightened the people from entering the Promised Land. For my part, I wholeheartedly followed the LORD my God.9So that day Moses solemnly promised me, ‘The land of Canaan on which you were just walking will be your grant of land and that of your descendants forever, because you wholeheartedly followed the LORD my God.’

10“Now, as you can see, the LORD has kept me alive and well as he promised for all these forty-five years since Moses made this promise—even while Israel wandered in the wilderness. Today I am eighty-five years old.11I am as strong now as I was when Moses sent me on that journey, and I can still travel and fight as well as I could then.12So give me the hill country that the LORD promised me. You will remember that as scouts we found the descendants of Anak living there in great, walled towns. But if the LORD is with me, I will drive them out of the land, just as the LORD said.”

13So Joshua blessed Caleb son of Jephunneh and gave Hebron to him as his portion of land.14Hebron still belongs to the descendants of Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite because he wholeheartedly followed the LORD, the God of Israel.15(Previously Hebron had been called Kiriath-arba. It had been named after Arba, a great hero of the descendants of Anak.)

And the land had rest from war.

. The first thing we see here is that He got older Joshua Remembered God’s promises.

. The second part of verse 6 say’s: “Remember what the LORD said to Moses, the man of God, about you and me when we were at Kadesh-barnea.

. What he was talking about was a promise that God had made to him 45 years ago.

. The story of Caleb begins in the time of Moses. Caleb was one of the original 12 spies sent into the promised land by Moses, the ones who spent 40 days in the promised land spying out the land and its inhabitants, in order to report back to Moses and the people about what they would face when they entered. If you recall that story, the twelve spies returned and reported to all the people: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is the fruit. But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large.” (Num. 13:27b-28a). As a result of this report, the people were terrified and did not believe that God could deliver the land to them safely, and so they rebelled against the Lord and were consequently sent back out into the desert for 40 years until all of the unbelievers died and Joshua took over and brought the new generation into the promised land.