Privilege and responsibility

 

Rooted in The Lord Jesus Christ, to be a people of conviction, courage and passion, who proclaim and serve Him in all of life.

 

During September and October 2014 we have been looking at the book of Joshua. Here is a summary of the things we have learned:

• God always keeps His promises.

• Leaders have to learn that:

• They are to be dependent on the word of God and prayer.

• They are to have no concern for their own position or authority. “I wish that all the Lord’s people were prophets” (Num 11).

• If they get it wrong, to be courageous and get back to the Word of God

• Our responsibility is to cling to God in obedience, to love Him and live by His word. Joshua 1;7-8 and 23;6-8. It is in doing so that we will be prospered.

• By our own effort, self-confidence or strategy, we cannot achieve God’s purposes. But nothing is impossible to Him or to His people who are abandoned to Him in holy fear and obedience.

• Obedience to God takes faith and courage. Disobedience is rooted in a distrust of God

• We are not ‘Christians’ or ‘church’ for our own sakes, but to bless the world in which we live. That is the essence of the privilege and responsibility – “The great commission”.

• We are called to be obedient as a covenanted community of God’s people, not just as individuals. The disobedience of one can affect the whole.

• God’s salvation is open to all. He is at work. Indeed, it seems that it is often the ‘outsider’ who is more aware of the fear and power of God than the ‘insider’. Being an ‘insider’ is no defence before God – He is angry when His people disregard His word.

• We are not to serve the gods of our fathers or the culture in which we live.

• We are invited to renew our covenant with God, knowing that it is only through Him that we can do anything.

• There is an urgency. It is time to take God seriously and to act on what He says. Joshua 5;14: And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?”

Joshua 5;14: And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?”