JOSHUA & JUDGES

A great day yesterday in the LORD!  God blessed and I was thrilled to see what God is doing in our church and in the lives of our people.  God has been so good to us!  It is Monday, and I finished Joshua and got well into Judges today.  Here are a few thoughts that I had as I read: 1) HOW LONG?  Joshua 18:3  "And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, How long are ye slack to go to possess the land, which the LORD God of your fathers hath given you?"  How long should we be saved before we get involved?  Before we start to serve the Lord?  Before we start growing in the Lord?   The answer is:  We should not wait!   Let us all decide that we will not linger when it comes to serving the Lord this year and being all that God would have us to be.  Let us get busy for Christ! 2) A GOD OF HIS WORD-Joshua 21:45  "There failed not ought of any good thing which the LORD had spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass."  God keeps His Word!  Here we see just another example of that truth.  Be reminded dear friend that God always keeps His word and you can take that to the bank. 3) THE BONES OF JOSEPH - We looked at the Bones of Joseph in Exodus chapter 13 and found that 359 years later, the children of Israel left Egypt with the bones of Joseph to bury in the promised land.  At that time, Joshua was 40 years old.  In Joshua 24:29, we see that Joshua died at the age of 110, and then in verse 32, it says that Joseph's bones were buried in Shechem.  So... 359 years after Joseph died, his bones are carried from Egypt, and 70 years later, his bones are buried in Shechem for a total of 429 years after his death... his bones are buried!!   Next year, we will celebrate the 400th year of the King James Bible (1611), but the bones of Joseph were kept longer than that!!!  Wow!!  4) THERE AROSE ANOTHER GENERATION- In Judges 2:10  "And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel."   This generation did not know the Lord.  We too are just a generation or two away from not knowing the LORD.  We are instructed to teach our children and our children's children.  You young couples who are raising your children.  Please get them in church faithfully.  They are so close to being unchurched and ignorant of God and His Word.   Don't let that happen to your children!  They need you to make the difference.  Well, so much for now.  Trust you will have a great day!  May God richly bless you and use you this week.  See you tomorrow, Lord willing.   Pastor Mike Mutchler