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Your new sister Ingrid is baptized!
“The General’s Last Charge”
Preached by Mike Underhill, 02/17/2013
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1- LEADERSHIP CARRIES THE DAY
Joshua 23:1-16 – Everyone comes -Joshua is 110 years old-to hear him speak, they all come to Ephraim
-They didn’t on walk by own strength-only by their faith!
-He encourages the people to BE STRONG-just as God said to him in Joshua 1!
-Every great leader passes on the torch (training)
-When Jesus died they now had 3,000 more ‘Jesuses’ to kill–as Jesus had duplicated himself!
-EVERY promise has been fulfilled! Imagine if we could truly believe this (v.9)
-God has never failed us so we must do our best to never fail Him! (v.11)
Deuteronomy 32:30 – Trouble comes our way and Jesus will fix it-do we get it?? –Matt 11:28
-We know the songs, we just need to live out the lyrics!!
Joshua 23:8- “hold fast”- Gen 2:24 man leaves his family and cleaves to his wife!-but in Joshua, we cleave to God! It’s our walk with God that we cleave to!
2Cor 6:14-17 – in OT they chose to not intermarry (out of commitment to God)
1 Kings 11:1-11
-Intermarriage was a SERIOUS issue/covenant in OT! There is no way to have a marriage like this in OT and have it destroy your relationship w God!
Q-What makes a woman beautiful?
A-Her fear and love for God!
Proverbs 5:5 -that woman’s feet leads to death -her steps lead to the grave!
– We forget in 1st century that when they proclaimed “Jesus is Lord”, they were killed in coliseum the next day!
– You can’t touch this person! They’re God’s now!
2-CHOOSE THIS DAY
Joshua 24:1- They gathered in Schechem…
Why here? Gen 12:1-6
Gen 35:2-4 – Get rid of the gods that have power over you! The oak at Schechem – they buried their materialism there!
– Joseph’s bones are even buried in Schechem…this place was pre-planned by God!
GENERAL’S last words –
Joshua 24:2-15 -everyone listens when someone is about to give their very last words.
– Joshua is giving all their history to remind the people who God is and all He has done!
– Joshua describes the Promised Land -the land that they didn’t build or toil for, yet was given to them by God!!
-v14 – As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord! (get rid of the idols)
v16-20 – Once you make this covenant with God, there is NOTHING else! Get rid of the idols!! God is your spouse!! It’s 100% for God!
v21-24 – As much as these words echoed from the mountain, Joshua’s words still speak to us today!
v25 – Moses cut the tablets and Joshua cut the covenants at the same oak tree as Moses did…when you see the stone you remember the covenant!
– Fort Mason is where 1.5 million troops were deployed in WWII and troops said goodbye to their family for the last time and battle —
– We are here to battle again and churches will come from here in San Francisco!
– WWII is synonymous to the second movement of our churchs-we are at battle again! – we are renewing the covenant of world evangelism once again!
– The Israelites went from loving God with all their heart to a heart filled with materialism! We have to have the same commitment right now as we did when we were baptized! And then call others like we did when we were first baptized!
3-THE END OF DAYS
Joshua 24:28-33
– Two great leaders have just passed away
– Joshua has an intensity in his words! He has been refined and purified by God! If this were me, what would I say?
1 Cor 15:45-58 – Every promise of God comes true!! Does this fire us up? If all this is true then you know that ALL you have done is not done in vain!!
-The Kingdom is a place where you can see a group of people who have ALL given up everything to become a disciple! How many churches can you see who do that?
