Thursday
Evening Bible Study
May
5, 2011
National Day of Prayer
The Bible
commands us to pray for our leaders. We’re going to spend time
praying together for each of these categories.
The Mayor of
Fullerton – F. Richard Jones
The Governor of
California – Jerry Brown
The President
of the United States – Barack Obama
Our Troops
Revival in
America
Introduction
Do people see Jesus? Is the gospel
preached? Does it speak to the broken hearted? Does it build up the church? Milk
– Meat – Manna Preach for a decision
The book of Joshua is a book about taking the Promised Land.
The Promised Land of learning to receive all that God has for us in our
personal lives - victory over sin, experiencing God’s peace, joy, love, power.
The principles that governed the nation taking the Promised Land are the
same principles that help us live in God’s promises.
The first half of the book was about conquering the Promised Land.
The second half is about the division of the land among the tribes of
Israel.
18:1-10 Remaining
Land Left
:1 Now the whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled together
at Shiloh, and set up the tabernacle of meeting there. And the land was subdued
before them.
:1 Shiloh
– “place of rest”
When Israel
first crossed the Jordan river, they set up their first headquarters in Gilgal,
right next to Jericho. Now they move their
headquarters to Shiloh. (15 miles)
Play “Shiloh
Map” clip
Shiloh is located in the hilly area of Ephraim, and is just about exactly
in the center of the Promised Land.
It will be a good place for a central government, its equal distant for all
the tribes.
Shiloh will now
become kind of a spiritual and governmental headquarters for Israel.
The tabernacle
now finds its first semi-permanent location.
The Tabernacle and
the Ark would stay in Shiloh through the entire period of the Judges (about 400
years) until the Ark is captured by the Philistines (1Sam 4:3,11)
:2 But there
remained among the children of Israel seven tribes which had not yet received
their inheritance.
:2 seven tribes
There have now
been five tribes that have received their inheritance.
Reuben, Gad,
and ½ of Manasseh settled with land to the east of the Jordan
Judah, Ephraim,
and the other half of Manasseh have gotten their portions now in the Promised
Land (to west of Jordan)
Five down, seven to go.
:3 Then Joshua
said to the children of Israel: “How long will you neglect to go and possess
the land which the LORD God of your fathers has given you?
:3 How long will
you neglect to go
(Jos 18:3 NLT) Then
Joshua asked them, “How long are you going to wait before taking possession of
the remaining land …”
Joshua has had five tribes step up to the plate and take a swing.
But the other guys are asleep on the bench.
Here’s this great big beautiful Promised Land, and over half of the tribes
are just sitting around waiting for something to happen.
Lesson
It’s time to respond
They just weren’t taking advantage of what was in front of them.
Sometimes I wonder if I’ve really begun to even get a clue about what
incredible things God wants to do in my life.
(Eph 3:20 NKJV) Now to Him who is able to
do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the
power that works in us
Many times we don’t even bother to ask God, but even when
we do, God is able to do way beyond what we could ever imagine.
We have such a great wealth of awesome resources at our
hand, through Jesus Christ. Yet we take
such little advantage of it.
Illustration:
The Amazon River
is the largest river in the world. The
mouth is 90 miles across. There is
enough water to exceed the combined flow of the Yangtze, Mississippi and Nile
Rivers. So much water comes from the Amazon that they can
detect its currents 200 miles out in the Atlantic Ocean. One irony of ancient navigation is that sailors in ancient times
died for lack of water... caught in windless waters of the South Atlantic. They were adrift, helpless, dying of thirst.
Sometimes other ships from South America who knew the area would come alongside
and call out, “What is your problem?”
And they would exclaim, “Can you spare us some water? Our sailors are dying of thirst!” And from the other ship would come the cry, “Just lower your
buckets. You are in the mouth of the
mighty Amazon River.”
The irony of ancient Israel and the tragedy around us
today is that God, the fountain of living water, is right here and people don’t
draw from Him.
This is about responding to God’s call to follow Him.
Why would you delay?
Was the land given out by “lot” or by choosing? Both.
:4 Pick out
from among you three men for each tribe, and I will send them; they shall rise
and go through the land, survey it according to their inheritance, and come
back to me.
:5 And they shall divide it into seven parts. Judah shall remain in their
territory on the south, and the house of Joseph shall remain in their territory
on the north.
:6 You shall therefore survey the land in seven parts and bring the survey
here to me, that I may cast lots for you here before the LORD our God.
:7 But the Levites have no part among you, for the priesthood of the LORD
is their inheritance. And Gad, Reuben, and half the tribe of Manasseh have
received their inheritance beyond the Jordan on the east, which Moses the
servant of the LORD gave them.”
:8 Then the men arose to go away; and Joshua charged those who went to
survey the land, saying, “Go, walk through the land, survey it, and come back
to me, that I may cast lots for you here before the LORD in Shiloh.”
:8 survey it
The ancient historian Josephus reports that these men were, among other
things, experts in geometry
(geometry actually means “earth” + “measure”)
Josephus also
records that the men were to record the amount of fruitfulness of the
land. (Josephus’ Antiquities of the
Jews, Book V, 1:21)
One of the criterions of dividing the land was how fruitful each area was.
One acre of very fruitful soil could be equivalent to a thousand acres of
rocky wasteland.
When
you look at a map, it looks like Judah made out with too much land (and that’s
partly true), but keep in mind that much of it is desert. Same with East Manasseh.
:9 So the men
went, passed through the land, and wrote the survey in a book in seven parts by
cities; and they came to Joshua at the camp in Shiloh.
:10 Then Joshua cast lots for them in Shiloh before the LORD, and there
Joshua divided the land to the children of Israel according to their divisions.
:10 cast lots
Kind of like rolling dice.
According to
Jewish tradition - the name of a tribe was drawn from one urn and simultaneously the boundary
lines of a territory from another.
Something interesting is going to take place.
Even though this looks kind of like drawing straws or something, a purely
random placing of tribes and plots of land, we’re going to see that the
decisions were no coincidence.
(Pr 16:33 NKJV) The lot is cast into the
lap, But its every decision is from the LORD.
:10 Joshua divided
the land
Lesson
Boundaries
Why do it this way? Why not just
turn everyone loose and tell everyone to go get their own land?
People being what they are, they would end up fighting over who gets what
piece of land.
Dividing up the land and setting boundaries keeps conflicts down.
A few years’
ago a book came out called “Boundaries”
by Henry Cloud and John Townsend.
I have to admit that I’ve seen some folks abuse the principles in the book
as a way of manipulating others.
But there are some interesting and valuable concepts in the book.
Sometimes we have unhealthy relationships with people because there is not
a proper respect of “boundaries” – the idea is that one person ends up
manipulating or controlling things because they “cross the line” in what they
do or expect from the other person.
For example – sometimes in a marriage we try to protect the other person
from what should be the proper consequences of their actions. Because they continue with certain behavior,
and the spouse protects them from the consequences, they have crossed a
“boundary” that should not have been crossed.
From “Boundaries” (pg. 162-163):
Many times one spouse may be out of control and may not suffer the
consequences of this behavior. The husband yells at his wife, and she tries to
be more loving. In effect, the evil (yelling) produces good things (more
loving) for him. Or, a wife overspends, and her husband pays the consequences.
He gets a second job to cover the mound of bills.
Natural consequences are needed to resolve these problems. A wife needs to tell her
overly critical husband that if he continues to berate her, she will go into
another room until he can discuss the problem rationally. Or, she could say
something like, “I will not talk about this issue with you anymore alone. I
will only talk in the presence of a counselor.” Or, “If you start yelling at me
again, I will go to Jane’s house to spend the night.” The husband with the
spendthrift wife needs to cancel the credit cards or tell her she needs
to get a second job to pay the bills. These spouses all need to let the
out-of-control spouses suffer the consequences of their actions.
(the author writes…) A
friend of mine decided to let his wife suffer the consequences of her
chronic lateness. He had nagged and nagged his wife about her tardiness, to no
avail. Finally, he realized he could not change her; he could only change his response
to her. Tired of suffering the consequences of her behavior, he decided to give
them back to her. One night they had plans to go to a banquet, and he did not
want to be late. In advance, he told her that he wanted to be on time and that
if she were not ready by 6:00 P.M., he would leave without her. She was late,
and he left. When he came home that night, she screamed, “How could you leave
without me!” He let her know that her lateness was what caused her to miss the
banquet and that he was sad to have to go alone, but he did not want to miss
the dinner. After a few more incidents like this, she knew that her lateness
would affect her and not him, and she changed.
These moves are
not manipulative, as the other spouse will accuse. They are examples of someone
limiting how they will allow themselves to be treated and exhibiting
self-control. The natural consequences are falling on the shoulders of the
responsible party.
Let me lay out a warning with some of these ideas.
Don’t jump too quick at some of these ideas as if they are an easy fix to
your problems. Relationship problems are
rarely solved as quickly as a story that the pastor tells.
My whole intent is to suggest that there may be a different way of dealing
with people than you have been accustomed to.
These may be some ideas that some of you might benefit from exploring
further.
18:11-28 Benjamin’s
Lot
:11 Now the lot of the tribe of the children of Benjamin came up according
to their families, and the territory of their lot came out between the children
of Judah and the children of Joseph.
:11 of Benjamin
Benjamin’s portion is going to fall right between Israel’s two tribal
leaders: Judah and Ephraim.
See Benjamin
map
Benjamin is going to get a rather small portion of land.
His area is only going to be about 25 miles wide, and only 15 miles across
at its widest point.
But it’s going to contain a very large concentration of cities, including some
of the most important cities in Israel’s history.
Jericho, Bethel, Gibeon, Ramah, and Jerusalem
All this seems
to point to a fulfillment of a prophecy that Moses made over Benjamin toward
the end of his life (about ten years earlier):
(Dt 33:12 NKJV) Of Benjamin he said: “The
beloved of the LORD shall dwell in safety by Him, Who shelters him all the day
long; And he shall dwell between His shoulders.”
It’s interesting to see that even though there’s this whole process of the
surveyors, and then the casting of lots, Benjamin seems to get just what he’s
supposed to get.
skip to …
:12 Their border on the north side
began at the Jordan, and the border went up to the side of Jericho on the
north, and went up through the mountains westward; it ended at the Wilderness
of Beth Aven.
:13 The border went over from there
toward Luz, to the side of Luz (which is Bethel) southward; and the border
descended to Ataroth Addar, near the hill that lies on the south side of Lower
Beth Horon.
:14 Then the border extended around
the west side to the south, from the hill that lies before Beth Horon
southward; and it ended at Kirjath Baal (which is Kirjath Jearim), a city of
the children of Judah. This was the west side.
:15 The south side began at the end
of Kirjath Jearim, and the border extended on the west and went out to the
spring of the waters of Nephtoah.
:16 Then the border came down to
the end of the mountain that lies before the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, which
is in the Valley of the Rephaim on the north, descended to the Valley of Hinnom,
to the side of the Jebusite city on the south, and descended to En Rogel.
:17 And it went around from the
north, went out to En Shemesh, and extended toward Geliloth, which is before
the Ascent of Adummim, and descended to the stone of Bohan the son of Reuben.
:18 Then it passed along toward the
north side of Arabah, and went down to Arabah.
:19 And the border passed along to
the north side of Beth Hoglah; then the border ended at the north bay at the
Salt Sea, at the south end of the Jordan. This was the southern boundary.
:20 The Jordan was its border on
the east side. This was the inheritance of the children of Benjamin, according
to its boundaries all around, according to their families.
:21 Now the cities of the tribe of the children of Benjamin, according to
their families, were Jericho, Beth Hoglah, Emek Keziz,
:22 Beth Arabah, Zemaraim, Bethel,
:22 Bethel
– where Jacob saw a
ladder to heaven … where Jeroboam
will set up a golden calf.
skip to …
:23 Avim, Parah, Ophrah,
:24 Chephar Haammoni, Ophni, and
Gaba: twelve cities with their villages;
:25 Gibeon, Ramah, Beeroth,
:25 Gibeon – we’ve already met the
Gibeonites (Josh. 9)
:25 Ramah
– Samuel’s home was here.
skip to …
:26 Mizpah, Chephirah, Mozah,
:27 Rekem, Irpeel, Taralah,
:28 Zelah, Eleph, Jebus (which is Jerusalem), Gibeath, and Kirjath:
fourteen cities with their villages. This was the inheritance of the children
of Benjamin according to their families.
:28 Jebus (which is
Jerusalem)
Jerusalem would be one of many cities that were shared by more than one
tribe. We already saw it partially given
to Judah as well.
19:1-9 Simeon’s Lot
:1 The second lot came out for Simeon, for the tribe of the children of
Simeon according to their families. And their inheritance was within the
inheritance of the children of Judah.
:2 They had in their inheritance Beersheba (Sheba), Moladah,
:2 Beersheba
– Abraham and Isaac
spent time there. The oasis.
skip to …
:3 Hazar Shual, Balah, Ezem,
:4 Eltolad, Bethul, Hormah,
:5 Ziklag, Beth Marcaboth, Hazar
Susah,
:6 Beth Lebaoth, and Sharuhen:
thirteen cities and their villages;
:7 Ain, Rimmon, Ether, and Ashan:
four cities and their villages;
:8 and all the villages that were
all around these cities as far as Baalath Beer, Ramah of the South. This was
the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Simeon according to their
families.
:9 The inheritance of the children of Simeon was included in the share of
the children of Judah, for the share of the children of Judah was too much for
them. Therefore the children of Simeon had their inheritance within the
inheritance of that people.
:9 inheritance … was
included in … Judah
Simeon’s portion is going to be a chunk in the middle of the tribe of
Judah.
Simeon will be
given a cluster of 17 towns and villages.
Within time, the identity of Simeon will kind of fade away.
The territory is going to fade back into the tribe of Judah.
The people are going to migrate north, many going to Ephraim and Manasseh.
(2Chr. 15:9; 34:6)
This all is
pretty amazing, considering something that the patriarch Jacob had once
prophesied (probably some 600 years earlier) concerning Simeon and Levi:
(Ge 49:7 NKJV) Cursed be their anger, for
it is fierce; And their wrath, for it is cruel! I will divide them in Jacob And
scatter them in Israel.
This “curse” happened because of the incident with their sister Dinah.
Dinah had been raped by a young man named Shechem (Gen. 34).
Rather than pursuing justice for the rapist, Simeon and
Levi ended up wiping out an entire city through their deception.
The result was this curse.
Simeon as a tribe became scattered.
Levi was the priestly tribe that did not receive a
specific chunk of land, but instead received individual cities scattered
throughout the entire nation, placing priests all through the land.
Lesson
Dangerous Anger
I often hear people make excuses for their anger.
Some people say
it’s just in their blood – “I’m Irish”
Others say that
they have “righteous indignation” – as if that makes it okay.
Anger looks pretty ugly.
Play
“Trunk Monkey Road Rage”
I have to be honest, anger isn’t necessarily wrong.
(Eph 4:26 NKJV) “Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your
wrath,
It is possible to be angry over something and not
necessarily sin. But in the same paragraph,
Paul also says,
(Eph 4:31 NKJV) Let
all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you…
Instead of trying to justify our anger as “righteous indignation”, we would
be wiser to learn this Bible verse:
(Jas 1:19–20 NKJV) —19
So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak,
slow to wrath; 20 for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of
God.
Just as with Simeon and Levi – their anger “scattered them.
Anger scatters your family. It scatters
your friends. They all run for cover.
19:10-16 Zebulun’s
Lot
:10 The third lot came out for the children of Zebulun according to their
families, and the border of their inheritance was as far as Sarid.
:11 Their border went toward the west and to Maralah, went to Dabbasheth,
and extended along the brook that is east of Jokneam.
:11 toward the west
The word for “west” (yam) is literally “sea”
When you trace
out the locations of all the cities, it looks as if Zebulun is kind of
land-locked.
The closest city to the coast of
the Mediterranean Sea is Jokneam, which is still about ten miles inland.
And there are cities and locations
in Asher that seem to come between Zebulum and the sea.
But we know that from history, eventually Zebulun’s borders did go to the
sea.
Lesson
Sovereignty at work
We’ve already seen how God worked things out for Benjamin
and Simeon to fit right into His plan for them.
God had a plan for Zebulun too:
Jacob prophesied:
(Ge 49:13 NKJV)
“Zebulun shall dwell by the haven of the sea; He shall become a haven for
ships, And his border shall adjoin Sidon.
Moses prophesied:
(Dt 33:18–19 NKJV)
—18 And of Zebulun he said: “Rejoice, Zebulun, in your going out, And Issachar
in your tents! 19 They shall call the peoples to the mountain; There they shall
offer sacrifices of righteousness; For they shall partake of the abundance of
the seas And of treasures hidden in the sand.”
We
think that the recent discoveries of huge natural gas fields off the
coast of Israel fall into the fulfillment of this prophecy.
The tribes had their portions set out ahead of time, yet now that the
actual practical working of it comes about, they get their portions by lot, and
it all comes out the way that God had planned it.
The same thing works in our favor as well.
(Eph 2:10 NKJV) For we are His workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we
should walk in them.
From our human side of things, we make choices, plan our
lives, and take action the best we can.
But in the end we turn around and can see that God has
worked to guide our steps.
skip to …
:12 Then from Sarid it went
eastward toward the sunrise along the border of Chisloth Tabor, and went out
toward Daberath, bypassing Japhia.
:13 And from there it passed along
on the east of Gath Hepher, toward Eth Kazin, and extended to Rimmon, which
borders on Neah.
:14 Then the border went around it
on the north side of Hannathon, and it ended in the Valley of Jiphthah El.
:15 Included were Kattath, Nahallal, Shimron, Idalah, and Bethlehem: twelve
cities with their villages.
:16 This was the inheritance of the children of Zebulun according to their
families, these cities with their villages.
:15 Bethlehem
This is not the town where Jesus was born.
That was in the south in the tribe of Judah. Same name, different place.
There will be an important city in Jesus’ life though that will one day be
founded in the tribal area of Zebulun - The little city of Nazareth will one day be settled
within the borders of Zebulun
19:17-23 Issachar’s
Lot
:17 The fourth lot came out to Issachar, for the children of Issachar
according to their families.
:17 Issachar
Issachar’s portion
is to the east of Zebulun’s, kind of in the south west corner of the Sea of
Galilee.
skip to …
:18 And their territory went to
Jezreel, and included Chesulloth, Shunem,
:19 Haphraim, Shion, Anaharath,
:20 Rabbith, Kishion, Abez,
:21 Remeth, En Gannim, En Haddah,
and Beth Pazzez.
:22 And the border reached to
Tabor, Shahazimah, and Beth Shemesh; their border ended at the Jordan: sixteen
cities with their villages.
:23 This was the inheritance of the
tribe of the children of Issachar according to their families, the cities and
their villages.
19:24-31 Asher’s Lot
:24 The fifth lot came out for the tribe of the children of Asher according
to their families.
:25 And their territory included Helkath, Hali, Beten, Achshaph,
:26 Alammelech, Amad, and Mishal; it reached to Mount Carmel westward,
along the Brook Shihor Libnath.
:26 Carmel
– this is the mountain
on the south side of the natural bay at modern Haifa. This
is where Elijah had
his showdown with the prophets of Baal.
skip to …
:27 It turned toward the sunrise to
Beth Dagon; and it reached to Zebulun and to the Valley of Jiphthah El, then northward
beyond Beth Emek and Neiel, bypassing Cabul which was on the left,
:28 including Ebron, Rehob, Hammon, and Kanah, as far as Greater Sidon.
:29 And the border turned to Ramah and to the fortified city of Tyre; then
the border turned to Hosah, and ended at the sea by the region of Achzib.
:28-29 Sidon … Tyre
The Phoenician
cities of Tyre and Sidon (vs. 28-29)
skip to …
:31 This was the inheritance of the tribe
of the children of Asher according to their families, these cities with their
villages.
:31 the children of
Asher
Asher would get the beach front property in the north.
Though Asher seems to have lost much of its tribal identity by the time of
David’s kingdom (400 years later), the tribe was not totally lost.
When Jesus is born, a prophetess from Asher is there:
(Lk 2:36 NKJV) Now there was one, Anna, a
prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, and had
lived with a husband seven years from her virginity;
This is kind of an interesting verse, since there are some
who claim that all the northern tribes disappeared, or migrated to Europe after
the fall to Assyria in 722 b.c. - Wrong!
19:32-39 Naphtali’s
Lot
:32 The sixth lot came out to the children of Naphtali, for the children of
Naphtali according to their families.
skip to …
:33 And their border began at
Heleph, enclosing the territory from the terebinth tree in Zaanannim, Adami
Nekeb, and Jabneel, as far as Lakkum; it ended at the Jordan.
:34 From Heleph the border extended
westward to Aznoth Tabor, and went out from there toward Hukkok; it adjoined
Zebulun on the south side and Asher on the west side, and ended at Judah by the
Jordan toward the sunrise.
:35 And the fortified cities are Ziddim, Zer, Hammath, Rakkath, Chinnereth,
:35 Chinnereth
(“harps”)
Another name for the Sea of Galilee
:36 Adamah, Ramah, Hazor,
:36 Hazor
This is the big city where Joshua had a big battle.
skip to …
:37 Kedesh, Edrei, En Hazor,
:38 Iron, Migdal El, Horem, Beth
Anath, and Beth Shemesh: nineteen cities with their villages.
:39 This was the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Naphtali
according to their families, the cities and their villages.
:39 the children of
Naphtali
Naphtali got the north
eastern portion of Israel, along the Jordan river, coming down to the Sea of
Galilee.
There was not much significance in this area, until 1400 years later, to
fulfill a prophecy by Isaiah:
(Mt 4:13–16
NKJV) —13 And leaving Nazareth,
He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the regions of Zebulun
and Naphtali, 14
that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: 15
“The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of
the Gentiles: 16 The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, And
upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death Light has dawned.”
This was the area of the majority of Jesus’ ministry. The people who had
been in the dark (since the fall to Assyria in 722 b.c.) would see great light,
Jesus.
19:40-48 Dan’s Lot
:40 The seventh lot came out for the tribe of the children of Dan according
to their families.
:41 And the territory of their inheritance was Zorah, Eshtaol, Ir Shemesh,
:42 Shaalabbin, Aijalon, Jethlah,
:43 Elon, Timnah, Ekron,
:40 the children of
Dan
Dan’s portion was squeezed in between Ephraim to the north, Benjamin to the
east, Judah to the south, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west.
Samson was a
Danite, the names Zorah, Eshtaol, and Timnah ought to be ringing bells.
skip to …
:44 Eltekeh, Gibbethon, Baalath,
:45 Jehud, Bene Berak, Gath Rimmon,
:46 Me Jarkon, and Rakkon, with the
region near Joppa.
:47 And the border of the children of Dan went beyond these, because the
children of Dan went up to fight against Leshem and took it; and they struck it
with the edge of the sword, took possession of it, and dwelt in it. They called
Leshem, Dan, after the name of Dan their father.
:48 This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Dan according
to their families, these cities with their villages.
:47 went beyond
these
Sometime later (pretty soon), they got forced by the Amorites to go flee up
into the mountains.
(Jdg 1:34 NKJV) And the Amorites forced the
children of Dan into the mountains, for they would not allow them to come down
to the valley;
The Danites
weren’t happy with all this, so they formed a raiding party and headed north and take the city of Leshem, later renamed
“Dan”.
You can read about this in Judges 18. They will be the first tribe to go over the
edge into idolatry.
19:49-51 Joshua’s
Lot
:49 When they had made an end of dividing the land as an inheritance
according to their borders, the children of Israel gave an inheritance among
them to Joshua the son of Nun.
:49 to Joshua
Caleb the giant killer was first in line to get his portion.
Joshua waits until everybody else gets their portion, and somebody suggests
that Joshua ought to have his own special portion.
:50 According to the word of the LORD they gave him the city which he asked
for, Timnath Serah in the mountains of Ephraim; and he built the city and dwelt
in it.
:50 According to
the word of the LORD they gave him
It wasn’t because Joshua strong-armed the people and made them give him
this land. Somehow God spoke up and made
it clear that this is what Joshua was to get.
:51 These were the inheritances which Eleazar the priest, Joshua the son of
Nun, and the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel
divided as an inheritance by lot in Shiloh before the LORD, at the door of the
tabernacle of meeting. So they made an end of dividing the country.
:51 they made an
end of dividing the country
Observations about dividing the land:
Each tribe had their place in the Promised Land.
Each place was different.
Each tribe must conquer their own land.
Lesson
You have a place
Once you’ve decided that you belong to God’s people, and you’ve asked Jesus
into your heart, God puts you into your place in the Body of Christ.
(1 Co 12:18
NKJV) 18 But now God has set the
members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased.
Lesson
Your place is unique
You can’t compare it to anyone else’s
Your borders (or, KJV
“coasts”) aren’t like anybody else’s.
(1 Co 12:15–16 NKJV)
—15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is
it therefore not of the body? 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not
an eye, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body?
Only you have the gifts and ministries that God has given you. Only you have the special relationships that
God has given you. You are unique.
Lesson
Your territory needs conquering
Just as each tribe had to then go out and occupy their land, to conquer the
old inhabitants, to take their place on the nation’s map ...
Think of the “body” analogy - what would happen if your liver had a hard
time understanding that it was a liver, and it didn’t want to function like a
liver? Or didn’t want to function at
all?
A healthy body is one where each part does its thing.
We need to find that place where we function in the body, in the church,
and start conquering it.
How many of you think that my place in the church is as a pastor?
But I haven’t always been a pastor.
I sang in a youth choir.
I’ve been a youth leader.
I’ve played in a band.
I’ve been a chair set up guy.
I’ve been an assistant pastor.
I’ve swung a hammer.
I’ve swept parking lots.
I’ve worked in the nursery.
It takes time. Keep at it.