Interlocked Lesson 17 part 3
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Passing to the Next Generation.
Passing to the Next Generation.
In the early 2000s, one of my favorite movies was released.
I remember going to the movies with some of my friends to see Pirates of the Caribbean: the curse of the black pearl.
I’m scared to ask this morning, but have any of you seen this movie?
It’s fantastic!
One of the main plots of that movie is that there are pirates (obviously) and they are after treasure.
They need to return this treasure they stole so that they can remove the curse on their lives.
The curse is complicated and difficult to explain if you haven’t seen the movie, but it comes down to the same struggle all pirates have...
The greed for treasure.
However, there is another pirate in the movie, Jack Sparrow played by Johnny Depp and what motivates him isn’t money.
It’s a ship.
He wants the Black Pearl ship back. He wants to be captain again.
Amidst all of this you have a love story between two people who get thrown into this world of pirates.
But I love the concept overall that there are pirates who have different goals.
The way most pirates fit in is to seek treasure…
However, the one pirate who didn’t seem to fit in anywhere just wanted his ship back.
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For many of us, we want to fit in and be part of the crowd.
But the treasure most people in this world seek really only leads to a curse.
The curse of death.
God doesn’t call us to fit in.
He actually calls us to be rebels.
John 16:33 “33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.””
We are going to have trouble in this life.
Expect it.
But in Jesus, we are overcommers.
Romans 8:37–38 “37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,”
If we are following Jesus with our life, it’s like the pirate who doesn’t want treasure, He just wants a boat.
We are going to look different than the crowd.
But adventure awaits!
When we are following Jesus, there is life.
Unfortunately, Israel had followed Jesus, they had adventured, and they have now entered the promised land, but now…
We are going to see sadness once again.
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As the Israelites continued to move through Canaan, God continued to give them the land.
At this time, there were 12 tribes in Israel based on Jacob’s 12 sons.
Joshua 11:23 “23 So Joshua took the entire land, just as the Lord had directed Moses, and he gave it as an inheritance to Israel according to their tribal divisions. Then the land had rest from war.”
However, that didn’t mean there still wasn’t idolatry and people occupying the land they were given.
It was now the responsibility of each tribe to remove the idolatry from the land.
However, when when we get to the book of Judges this is what we read.
Judges 1:19 “19 The Lord was with the men of Judah. They took possession of the hill country, but they were unable to drive the people from the plains, because they had chariots fitted with iron.”
Judges 1:21 “21 The Benjamites, however, did not drive out the Jebusites, who were living in Jerusalem; to this day the Jebusites live there with the Benjamites.”
Judges 1:27 “27 But Manasseh did not drive out the people of Beth Shan or Taanach or Dor or Ibleam or Megiddo and their surrounding settlements, for the Canaanites were determined to live in that land.”
Judges 1:28 “28 When Israel became strong, they pressed the Canaanites into forced labor but never drove them out completely.”
Judges 1:29 “29 Nor did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites living in Gezer, but the Canaanites continued to live there among them.”
Judges 1:30 “30 Neither did Zebulun drive out the Canaanites living in Kitron or Nahalol, so these Canaanites lived among them, but Zebulun did subject them to forced labor.”
Judges 1:31 “31 Nor did Asher drive out those living in Akko or Sidon or Ahlab or Akzib or Helbah or Aphek or Rehob.”
Judges 1:33 “33 Neither did Naphtali drive out those living in Beth Shemesh or Beth Anath; but the Naphtalites too lived among the Canaanite inhabitants of the land, and those living in Beth Shemesh and Beth Anath became forced laborers for them.”
*SHOW GRAPHIC PAGE 19*
The dark blue represents where Israel settled in Canaan.
The Orange represents the boundaries of the land God had given to them to possess.
So sadly, we are going to see more conflict and hardships because Israel did not follow what God had told them to do.
So then we see this in Judges 2.
Judges 2:1–3 “1 The angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said, “I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land I swore to give to your ancestors. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you, 2 and you shall not make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall break down their altars.’ Yet you have disobeyed me. Why have you done this? 3 And I have also said, ‘I will not drive them out before you; they will become traps for you, and their gods will become snares to you.’ ””
*CHAIR ILLUSTRATION*
Ok I need a volunteer this morning.
Have them stand in the chair.
Now, pull me up into the chair. Pull me up there with you.
Ok, I’m going to pull you down ok.
Ask:
What is easier? To pull someone down out of the chair or to pull someone up to you?
As we have been talking about Canaan, let this be a visual for all of us that it is far more difficult in life to bring people up.
It is easier for people to bring us down.
That’s true across the board and can apply to many different things.
Here in Canaan, I want us to simply see, because of the great evil that existed in these cultures within Canaan, for Israel not to eliminate them, but coexist with them, it was going to lead to evil growing.
Sadly, the tribes of Israel did not eliminate the evil from the land.
At a later time, we will discuss how this caused more conflict and hardship for Israel.
But we will also see God continuing to work through His story.
For now though, we will see the end of Joshua.
As the leader who followed Moses, his time had come to an end.
Judges 2:7 “7 The people served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had seen all the great things the Lord had done for Israel.”
Judges 2:10 “10 After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel.”
There is something that sounds real bad when you read that second part in Judges 2:10, what sounds bad to you?
It seems the next generation after Joshua’s death forgot God and forgot what God had done for them.
One thing I loved about DNOW this year, if you were here, was that we had several college and young adults help serve you guys.
One thing I love about our young adults right now is that they are passionate about this.
They talk about you guys and notice you guys.
I challenge them often to remember their time in youth and to come talk to you guys (so I hope they do).
The reason this is so important, is because we need to always be reaching down to those behind us and offering the wisdom that we have.
You may be a high schooler in here today.
Guess what, there is a middle schooler in this room and you have wisdom you can share with them.
How to follow Jesus in school, on the team, with your friends…
You have experience here! You have wisdom to share.
You don’t need to wait for someone to tell you to do that, just take the initiative and do it!
Maybe your a big brother or sister, maybe your a middle schooler…
Look for those behind you.
There is danger in not helping the next generation behind you.
That is the lesson that we will see today from Joshua 2.
Psalm 78:4–8 “4 We will not hide them from their descendants; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done. 5 He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel, which he commanded our ancestors to teach their children, 6 so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children. 7 Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands. 8 They would not be like their ancestors— a stubborn and rebellious generation, whose hearts were not loyal to God, whose spirits were not faithful to him.”
Here’s something quick for us to learn this morning and very important.
The generation that followed Joshua was very blessed.
They weren’t slaves.
They had seen God do incredible things.
They now had control of the promised land, they just had to finish the job.
The generation that followed Joshua became complacent.
They let their guard down.
They assumed they could have God, but still do whatever they wanted.
They forgot their job.
The generation that followed Joshua needed to show the next generation how to follow God!
Joshua was a great leader but he wasn’t the one to follow really.
You might have a great dad… but ultimately He’s not the one to follow.
You might have a great teacher, a great pastor, a great mentor, but ultimately if they aren’t pointing you to Jesus… great leaders fail.
It’s all about showing others how to follow God and the generation after Joshua failed to do that.
Luke 11:33 “33 “No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light.”
Guys, we are to be a light for those around us.
We shouldn’t just be ok holding on to Jesus for ourselves.
We need to share Him with the next generation.
What are some ways we can do that?
How can we do that?
You can reach your generation better than I can. Better than any adult.
I’ve seen teenagers visit our church in worship. Have you seen them? Have you talked to them?
This is an awesome opportunity!
Be willing to notice those around you.
Sometimes the hardest part to making a new friend is simply seeing them.
So many people are around us every day, but few are seen.
We ignore most people around us.
Tell yourself before you come to church, “I’m going to look to see if there’s any visitors today...” And then the next step is to tell yourself “I’m going to talk to them.”
We can do that.
That’s a simple way we can invest right there.
I think there are many more ways, but that’s a simple place to start.
Let’s Ask God to help us reach the next generation so we aren’t like the Israelites today.