Pastor Bell's Words To Live By

“Now I am about to go the way of all the earth. You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the LORD your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed. But just as every good promise of the LORD your God has come true, so the LORD will bring on you all the evil he has threatened, until he has destroyed you from this good land he has given you (Joshua 23:14 &15 NIV).

He will lead you to green pastures

The Lord always keeps his promises. Is this is still applicable today? During the time of Joshua and Moses God made promises to his people as recounted in Joshua 24.  Almost 400 years before the birth of Moses and even before the birth of Isaac, Abraham’s son of promise, God told Abraham that his descendants would be slaves in a foreign land where they would be oppressed (Gen 15:13). 430 years later God raises up Moses and along with Aaron, Joshua, Caleb and about 600,000 – 1m people they are delivered from the hand of their oppressors and journey towards to land of promise to worship Yahweh their deliverer.

God did deliver the descendants of Abraham and he did bring them to the Promised Land. In fact, he gave them land for which they did not labour, towns which they did not build and fruit, vineyards and olive groves which they did not plant (Josh 24:13).

According to this narrative, God has kept his promises. However there is a caveat, were they to turn from following God and follow other gods, then all the blessings would turn to curses and once again they would be under oppression. So Joshua warns the people and makes this declaration, which is a declaration that I want to make and I recommend that all those who are serious about God make.

“So fear the Lord and serve him wholeheartedly. Put away forever the idols your ancestors worshiped when they lived beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord alone. But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:14+15 NLT).

Serve the Lord wherever he has placed you, but do so with understanding.

Read Joshua 23&24.