Summer of George, Day 17
Today has been a nice but also a busy day. I slept in clear till almost 8:00, giving me basically eight hours of sleep, and after which I was still quite tired, in spite of my coffee. Yesterday really wiped me out, and in fact i was pretty tired even before that, having gotten up early and worked out friday, and spent all day shopping with my mom. Anyway, I taught Sunday school, then went to church, and the sermon was the beginning of the conclusion of the series on Joshua, and it was on the death of Joshua, actually from Judges 2. So it was going from a pretty high point in Israel's history to a very low point, as things degenerated after the death of Joshua and those of his generation. It tied in nicely to Father's Day, because the main part of the sermon was based around the verse saying, "and there arose a generation that did not know the LORD." And within a very short time, God's people were worshiping the Baals and commiting all kinds of idolatry and sin. So the message was for fathers, and for the rest of us, that we must first stick to all the truth of the Word of God, and secondly, that we must teach it to our children, so that someone won't write about us later that there arose after us a generation that did not know the Lord, in our own little church.
He talked about how first it was their practices that were not in line with God's commands. They failed to drive out the inhabitants of the land that the Lord was giving them, not because they were unable, for the Lord went before them and fought their battles. Rather they chose to let them remain, because it was economical, because it was less frightening, because of many reasons by which they justified not obeying God's command to utterly destroy the wicked people of the land they were going in to inhabit. They did not heed God's warning that if they did not do so, the people would be a thorn in their side and would cause God to turn away from them. And sure enough, pretty soon they were not only living alongside the foreigners and their false gods, but began intermarrying with them, worshipping their false gods, and pretty soon forgot everything that God had done for them, and didn't even know the LORD.
He said the practical application for today is that it is happening all around us, first the compromising and justifying, rejecting God by actions, and then rejecting him by actual, clear decision (there was some recent survey showing that the number of professing Christians declined recently, i forget the details but it was a very new trend in that particular demographic). And we should not assume that if we are serious Christians we don't need to be concerned about this happening to us, in our family, in our church. we must dilligently put the Word of God in our hearts, not in our minds only but earnestly live by it, and then more than that also impart it to others, especially the next generation.
A.D.D. Moment - I am likely the only one who noticed this, but as this has come up a number of times toward the end of Joshua, today's sermon was actually the second one with the title, "The Next Generation". For obvious reasons, that grabbed my attention as soon as I sat down and opened the bulletin, lol.
So I got a lot out of the sermon. Anyway, then since I was busy again all weekend, I had no food at my grandma's and once again made chicken and rice. This time I already had the fish in the freezer there, and my dad brought the rice. So I did that, got a three hour nap, and then headed out to my other grandparents', where my mom and dad took an ice cream cake to my grandpa for Father's Day. We visited there a while, my dad went to their church's evening service because he plays the drums in their praise band, and my mom convinced me to walk the dogs with her. After about two and a half miles, my right shin stopped hurting so badly, and my legs felt decent the last two miles. I was limping a great deal for the first while though, I think it's just a matter of those muscles tightening up. For Father's Day, I gave my dad a gift certificate to Hoss's, Chris Jericho's book, and two cards, one was Star Trek, and had Captain Kirk and played the theme music of the original series. The other had Darth Vader, and when you open it, it says, "I am your father" and has his loud mechanical breathing. Haha, they were both those audio cards, and I couldn't pick just one.
Anyway, now I still have to finish going through the Bible school lesson for tomorrow, still have to start reading Isaiah, and still have to read some of the Institutes. One of these days I will manage to get more done, sooner. I think for one thing I need to just go to bed a whole lot earlier, if I'm always going to get up so early, and I do need to keep getting up early. I plan to run in the morning, then go to Bible school, then grab lunch quick back here, then go lift, then head out to my grandma's, where my aunt and three cousins from Maryland are arriving tomorrow and staying for two weeks. My uncle has to work, but will be up Thursday night to Sunday both this weekend and next. I'll be spending all the time out there I can, within the confines of Bible school, running/lifting, and a couple nights of dinner plans I have with various friends. So anyway, that is all for tonight. I will not likely post again, unless it is to put up a quote or commentary about something I read.
He talked about how first it was their practices that were not in line with God's commands. They failed to drive out the inhabitants of the land that the Lord was giving them, not because they were unable, for the Lord went before them and fought their battles. Rather they chose to let them remain, because it was economical, because it was less frightening, because of many reasons by which they justified not obeying God's command to utterly destroy the wicked people of the land they were going in to inhabit. They did not heed God's warning that if they did not do so, the people would be a thorn in their side and would cause God to turn away from them. And sure enough, pretty soon they were not only living alongside the foreigners and their false gods, but began intermarrying with them, worshipping their false gods, and pretty soon forgot everything that God had done for them, and didn't even know the LORD.
He said the practical application for today is that it is happening all around us, first the compromising and justifying, rejecting God by actions, and then rejecting him by actual, clear decision (there was some recent survey showing that the number of professing Christians declined recently, i forget the details but it was a very new trend in that particular demographic). And we should not assume that if we are serious Christians we don't need to be concerned about this happening to us, in our family, in our church. we must dilligently put the Word of God in our hearts, not in our minds only but earnestly live by it, and then more than that also impart it to others, especially the next generation.
A.D.D. Moment - I am likely the only one who noticed this, but as this has come up a number of times toward the end of Joshua, today's sermon was actually the second one with the title, "The Next Generation". For obvious reasons, that grabbed my attention as soon as I sat down and opened the bulletin, lol.
So I got a lot out of the sermon. Anyway, then since I was busy again all weekend, I had no food at my grandma's and once again made chicken and rice. This time I already had the fish in the freezer there, and my dad brought the rice. So I did that, got a three hour nap, and then headed out to my other grandparents', where my mom and dad took an ice cream cake to my grandpa for Father's Day. We visited there a while, my dad went to their church's evening service because he plays the drums in their praise band, and my mom convinced me to walk the dogs with her. After about two and a half miles, my right shin stopped hurting so badly, and my legs felt decent the last two miles. I was limping a great deal for the first while though, I think it's just a matter of those muscles tightening up. For Father's Day, I gave my dad a gift certificate to Hoss's, Chris Jericho's book, and two cards, one was Star Trek, and had Captain Kirk and played the theme music of the original series. The other had Darth Vader, and when you open it, it says, "I am your father" and has his loud mechanical breathing. Haha, they were both those audio cards, and I couldn't pick just one.
Anyway, now I still have to finish going through the Bible school lesson for tomorrow, still have to start reading Isaiah, and still have to read some of the Institutes. One of these days I will manage to get more done, sooner. I think for one thing I need to just go to bed a whole lot earlier, if I'm always going to get up so early, and I do need to keep getting up early. I plan to run in the morning, then go to Bible school, then grab lunch quick back here, then go lift, then head out to my grandma's, where my aunt and three cousins from Maryland are arriving tomorrow and staying for two weeks. My uncle has to work, but will be up Thursday night to Sunday both this weekend and next. I'll be spending all the time out there I can, within the confines of Bible school, running/lifting, and a couple nights of dinner plans I have with various friends. So anyway, that is all for tonight. I will not likely post again, unless it is to put up a quote or commentary about something I read.