Have you ever been in someone else's kitchen and see them prepare raw hamburger on the counter, then as you watched they immediately prepared some bread on the same surface? Have you ever been in a public washroom and as you wash your hands you notice a person from another cubicle just leave without washing at all? Have you ever seen someone counting money and they lick their fingers to get a better hold on the bills? All of these actions have a ?contaminating? aspect to them. Is this just a phobic response, or is it a bad practice that can be harmful to yourself and others?
Go a step deeper, is it sin? I want to talk with you about purity from an Old Testament perspective this morning. In the days of Moses when the Law was given, impurity was a complex issue. A person could do many natural actions and be considered impure because of them. A woman gives birth and is considered impure for a certain number of days, and that depending on whether it's a boy or a girl. A person touches a corpse, perhaps of a relative as they bury them, and is considered unclean or impure. Eating a certain kind of meat or preparing food in particular way resulted in impurity. This was considered just as defiling as a moral impurity would be, like swearing, lusting, lying, thieving, murdering. Until it was dealt with in the prescribed manner, it would render that person impure.
Here's the point and the reason for why we consider this in light of what we are about to read?Purity, to God, is the starting point. Before God empowers or employs, He . . .
Rev. Spence Laycock
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Some of the most profound and familiar images in the Bible have to do with water. Noah and the flood of the whole earth, Moses and opening up of the Red Sea, Jesus walking on the water of the Sea of Galilee, water being turned into wine, the pool of Siloam and the healing that Jesus did there, the drying up of the Euphrates river in days yet future, all are miraculous events that have to do with water. So this morning we also look at how God used water to proclaim His present and future sovereignty, when He again overruled the laws of matter and nature to proclaim His glory. As we read Joshua chapter three we?ll examine it in three sections, each section calling us, as it did the Hebrews, to prepare ourselves for what God is about to do.
I. Before You Begin To Step In, Wipe Your Heart Clean. (vs 1-5)
Consider the first five verses ofJoshua 3. The nation of Israel was brought to the edge of the Jordanand there they waited for three days. It was a time of preparation not delay. They were told to do three things, 1. When you see the ark of the covenant being lifted up and carried by the priests, follow it. 2. When you follow it be careful to keep your distance, stay back 3000 feet so that you can see it, for where it leads is where you have never been before 3. Consecrate yourselves for what comes next requires a readied heart. We are about to follow the Word of God here this morning, we are about to move in obedience to what Jesus specifically instructed all His disciples to do as . . .
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Can you think of the last time when someone was merciful to you? This will be different than another person showing you a random act of kindness, for we often mistake grace for mercy. When someone has given you something good which you know you do not deserve, that would be grace. You?ll see gracious people everywhere if you care to look. But what about merciful people, have you experienced someone not giving you something negative or condemning when in fact you did deserve it? That would be what mercy looks like. There is an intriguing story before us this morning that has a double edge of mercy, mercy for the one who knocks and mercy for the one who answers the knock. Turn with me to Joshua chapter 2.
Let's think for a moment about the characters that are set before us.
There are the two spies, apparently novices at this trade. I'm not sure if they were wearing plaid shirts and spandex shorts, but what is clear is that they weren't very good at being secret spies. It appears their ?cover? was blown the minute they entered Jericho, the king knew about . . .
Let's think for a moment about the characters that are set before us.
There are the two spies, apparently novices at this trade. I'm not sure if they were wearing plaid shirts and spandex shorts, but what is clear is that they weren't very good at being secret spies. It appears their ?cover? was blown the minute they entered Jericho, the king knew about . . .
Read more: Trusting In Mercy - For Those Who Knock and For Those Who Answer
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How do you prepare yourself to receive what God has promised? For some it's all about assuring God that we are ready for all the blessings He wants to pour out in our direction. It's like a child that thinks he can handle all the quarters and loonies his father is willing to put in his pocket and is puzzled by the set of keys to the house and an airline ticket to paradise that comes instead. The child doesn't know the how to use them nor how to translate them into immediate pleasure. For others it's asking God to expand our spheres of influence that we could know Him more. For yet others they do not think that they will receive anything from God, they are just to persevere and demonstrate faith and steadfastness. We've been looking at the story of Joshua as he has been directed by God to lead Israel into a new, beautiful and challenging land. As we read the passage this morning the theme that becomes unmistakable is that they are about to receive from God and they are preparing the people for that experience. I look at this passage and think that though the event was unique and spectacular in scope, there are aspects to it that have everything to do with us here today in how we prepare ourselves to able to receive what God has for us. Look with me at Joshua 1:10-18 as we prepare to receive what God seeks to give.
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Life it seems is an endless experience of new beginnings. Perhaps the beginnings are small, like beginning to learn a new sport or perhaps the beginnings are huge like beginning to live on your own, beginning to leave home or beginning to be a parent. There is no age limit on beginning, people begin in their eighties and nineties. I heard a story recently of a couple who were in their mid eighties being wed, he for the first time. Beginning doesn't have any limits for abilities nor for any other trait of humanity, people who are extremely disabled begin constantly, sometimes as adaptations to the disability sometimes as expressions of who they are. One thing for certain, ?beginning? occurs for the entire duration of our lives, either beginning to live or beginning to die. It is impossible to talk of beginnings without recognizing that they will always be an invitation to faith in one way or another. The very fact that ?beginnings? are wrapped in the unknown, that they will call for our will, emotion and intelligence, means that they point us in the direction of faith. When you think about it, if life is full of . . .