Latest / Teachings On This Day On FerventWord / On Aug 04, 2021: Joshua 16 Experience The Fullness Of Gods Plans For You
Transcript
- You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2021. As we're reading through Joshua, we've come to the portion now where all of the tribes are receiving their allotments. And my joke about Richard's favorite chapter, obviously that was a joke. The chapters that we're reading, some can kind of struggle with this because there is a lot of details of geography that we know nothing about as we read through this. And so chapter 16 of Joshua is a different kind of passage than we would normally spend time in on a Wednesday night. And so as a result, the Lord has for us a different kind of message. It's a different kind of passage. So, makes sense, it's a different kind of message. Now, my practice as we go through the Bible in three years on Wednesday nights is to teach from the chapter of the day. And of course, I'm open to the Lord redirecting that, and I was praying that the Lord would redirect that as I came across chapter 16 and I said, what in the world are you going to have me share, Lord? Like, how am I going to share this map, this geography, and have that be meaningful and impactful? And so I've been praying ever since Sunday as I looked ahead at the week and thought about, you know, what was going to be happening and what landed on Wednesday. And so I was wrestling with it and praying with it. But then the Lord began to develop something. And so I could have picked a different passage. I could have gone somewhere else. But the Lord has us here. He wants to show us something here. It's a different kind of passage, a different kind of message, but one that the Lord wants to speak to us through. And so Joshua chapter 16, I've titled the message, experience the fullness of God's plan for you. Experience the fullness of God's plan for you. Here in Joshua, again, we are looking at this portion where the children of Israel, the different tribes, are receiving their allotment of land. And so God had promised the nation of Israel, as it was divided into 12 tribes, technically 13, but 12 tribes receive land. And so the portion of the land would be divided up, and each tribe would have their segment. Each tribe would be able to own land. their territory, and then each family member within each tribe would have their allotment of land that they were given, and they were to work the land and develop the land, establish themselves within the land. And so this is the part where the majority of the land has been conquered. We saw that a little bit on Sunday. And so the land has been taken. They've moved into the land of Israel. There's tribes on the east of the Jordan. There's tribes on the west of the Jordan. The land has been divided up between them or is in the process of it. And so here in chapter 16, we're looking at the specific tribe of Ephraim. It begins talking about Manasseh and Ephraim because they're both children of Joseph. And there's a lot of Little details there that I'm not going to get into, but Ephraim and Manasseh were related strongly as brothers of Joseph, and these were the descendants of those brothers. And so it talks about the tribe of Joseph as a whole, Ephraim and Manasseh together, but then dials in and focuses on the specific boundaries and borders of the tribe of Ephraim. Now as you read through these, you can get into the details starting in verse 5. The border of the children of Ephraim, according to their families, was thus. The border of their inheritance on the east side was Adarath Adar as far as upper Beth Horon. And now as you continue on, it describes the boundaries on all four sides and all the different cities that mark the edges of their territory. As you read through those verses... it probably does not mean a whole lot to you because those are references to cities and locations that we're just not familiar with and we don't know anything about. But what I would encourage you to consider is that they knew these cities. And so we might look at this and not be that excited by it, but try to put yourself in the children of Ephraim's shoes for a minute and think about, you know, understanding the boundaries of the territory. They knew each city, they knew each boundary, and they understood where their place was going to be within the promised land. Now, as I was thinking about this, I began to relate this to my own life a little bit, a little bit closer to home, perhaps. Here is a map of Riverside. And this little blue flag right there, La Sierra South, that's the home where I grew up. in Riverside over off of Indiana in between Pierce and La Sierra. That was where I grew up. It's my childhood home. And so that is, you know, the location there right off the 91. Probably you're a little bit familiar. You can kind of picture the area, right? And I was thinking about the time when I was really young, and I don't remember exactly how old I was. My parents, I think, are watching online, so they might text me later the actual age. I think I was around 13 years old, maybe 14 years old. And my dad sat me down and drew some boundaries on a map, like literally with a highlighter and a map. He drew boundaries on a map, and he said, this is your territory. You can go anywhere you want in here. And, you know, he taught me how to ride a bike and like ride in the street and be safe and watch out for crazy drivers and that kind of thing. And so he then, you know, sat me down, pulled out this map and drew boundaries somewhat like this. Okay, this is the same map. There's my childhood home. And so my boundaries were Lake Matthews to McKinley to Arlington to Anybody want to guess where this is? University, the downtown library in Riverside, and then all the way down, right? So this, at least, now, again, maybe my dad's going to text me and he said, wait a minute, wait a minute, that's not the boundaries I thought I gave you. Well, this is the boundaries I thought I had. So this was where I would go, and I would be on my bike or on my rollerblades, and if you could begin to think about, you know, Picturing this scenario as my dad's laying out the map and drawing out the boundaries, I'm intensely interested, right? I'm excited, like, whoa, I can go all the way there and then anywhere in between and all the streets in between, I can go over this way or that way. And there was a great amount of excitement as I considered those boundaries that were set aside. And I picture now the children of Israel as they're receiving their allotment. And as each family within the tribe is receiving their allotment, there's this excitement like, wow, this is my territory. This is my turf. This is where I get to hang out and explore and spend some time. And I would encourage you as you think about the tribe of Ephraim tonight to try to put yourself in that mindset and picture and understand a little bit of what they might have been experiencing as God says, tribe of Ephraim, here's your territory. These are your boundaries. And the specific details of the cities and exactly where those fall and all of that, that's not so important for us. But what I believe the Lord wants to minister to us about is this picture that is developed as a result of these boundaries, as a result of this portion of land. I would encourage you, let this be a picture for you, a diagram of God's boundaries in your own life. And I want you to think about the boundaries that God has established for you. The boundaries representing the fullest extent of God's plans for you, God's plans for your life. And tonight I want to encourage you to experience the fullness of God's plans. As God gave this territory to Ephraim, he wanted Ephraim to experience all the blessings of that land. There was labor and work to do in the land. God wanted them to experience all the labor and work that was to be done in the land. There was battles to be fought in the land. And God wanted them to experience all the battles that needed to be fought in the land. And so whether it was battles or fruitfulness or labor, whatever was in the territory, God said, I've given this to you. I have plans and purposes for you in all of this. This is yours for your good, for your benefit. And so here is the territory that I'm giving to you. In a similar way, God has plans for your life. And you can think about in different segments if you want to. God has plans for your spiritual life and for your ministry. God has plans for your family. God has plans for your workplace and your career and those kinds of things. God has plans for you. And the plans that he has for you are for your good. And he wants you to experience the fullness of all of those things that you might benefit from. from what he has prescribed to you and what he desires to accomplish in your life. And so as we consider the tribe of Ephraim tonight and the plans that God had for them, there's three points that we'll walk through as we work our way through this idea and this concept. Not so much going verse by verse through the chapter. In fact, skipping over most of the chapter, we've covered most of the verses already and we'll dive into verse 10 in just a moment. But here's point number one tonight. If I can find it here in my notes, there we go. Keep reaching for more of God's plans for you. The first thing I want to encourage you to do tonight is to keep reaching for more of what God wants to do in your life. Talking about the fullness of God's plan. That is from border to border to border to border. Like hitting all four corners, hitting all four sides, exploring the whole extent of the land that was given to you. One thing that we notice right away in this chapter is that the tribe of Ephraim did not take the whole land. Check out verse 10. And they did not drive out the Canaanites who dwelt in Gezer. But the Canaanites dwell among the Ephraimites to this day and have become forced laborers. Here as we get to verse 10, we recognize God gave Ephraim this land and he said, you are to occupy this land, drive out all the inhabitants of the land. But here it points out they did not drive out a certain group of Canaanites who dwelt in this certain place. This is a common thread through all the tribes. As you work your way through Joshua, you'll see that happen again and again. The tribe inherited their plot of land. They were charged with driving out the inhabitants of that land. But tribe after tribe, they did not, they failed to drive out the inhabitants of the land. And so Ephraim is not alone in this, but it's noted that specifically Ephraim fell into this type of situation. Now, it's really important to understand their initial failure to drive out the inhabitants was not wrong. It was not bad and it was not sinful. God told them from the beginning that they would not be able to drive out the inhabitants. right away, all at once. And so understand the idea here that they're charged with driving out the inhabitants, but at the same time, they're not going to do that on their first try. In Exodus chapter 23, God says, I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the beasts of the field become too numerous for you. Little by little, I will drive them out from before you until you have increased and you inherit the land. And so what the Lord says is, You're not going to be victorious on your first sweep of the territory that I give you. You're not going to just walk in. It's just going to be a piece of cake and everybody's going to flee before you. And you're going to have the whole territory that I've given to you. That's not how it's going to go, God says. Instead, it's going to be little by little. Little by little, I will drive them out from before you. And so try to picture that in your mind. What would that look like then? Well, that would look like Some battle, skirmish, victory or defeat. If it's victory, it's not a complete and total victory. It's a little victory. And then more victories will be reserved for later on. And a little bit further down the line, there'll be another skirmish, another battle. And maybe this time it's defeat. But it's not total defeat. It's not all over. It's just that occasion. That victory, that defeat, but then a little bit more time passes, and now there's another time for a skirmish, an opportunity to battle, and little by little, God says, I will drive them out from before you. Little by little, as you grow, as you develop, and so if you could think about what this looks like on the map, again, the tribe of Ephraim is given this portion of land, this territory, and at the beginning, they're going to inhabit a portion, and so perhaps Ephraim They inhabit the west side a little bit, and they begin to occupy the territory that God has given to them. But they don't inhabit the whole land. They haven't conquered it all. But as they grow, and maybe the next season comes around, and it's time for them to push their boundaries further, and so they go to battle. They work on driving out the inhabitants of the land, and they get a little bit further ahead. They don't make it on their second try. It's not total victory on round two. It's, well, a little bit more driven out. And then another season comes, and it's time to go to battle again. It's time to work out the situation some more. And so they... capture a little bit more territory. They go to battle again. They have some more victories. And so they're progressing little by little until eventually, as they walk with the Lord and are obedient to him, they take the whole territory. They take the whole land. That's the intention of the Lord. That was what God described to them. Little by little. It's not going to happen in one year. It's going to happen over a period of time, over several years, that you will be driving out the inhabitants of the land. God loves to work in your life little by little. And so many times we desperately want God to work in our lives with like a big, you know, just miracle once and for all, get it over with, all in one shot. And sometimes God does that and we praise the Lord for that. But there's also many times... where God says, I want to work out this situation in your life little by little. It's not going to be resolved in one year. It's not going to be resolved in one battle in one season, but you're going to work on this. It's going to be a battle. It's going to be a fight. There's going to be challenges and difficulties. There will be some victories and some defeats, but you need to keep coming back to this situation, to this, well, whatever it might be, ministry, this opportunity, this this battle against temptation and sin, this whatever it is that God is allowing and bringing forth in your life or allowing to exist there, that he wants to work it out little by little for you to keep walking with God and trusting in God as you develop and grow in the way that he wants you to. I would encourage you to think about this. What would this look like in your spiritual life? What would this look like, this little by little idea, this little by little progression in your relationship with the Lord? We talked about this a little bit on Sunday as we looked at Joshua chapter 13 and the opportunity for more victories. I shared these words from the Apostle Paul in Philippians chapter 3. He said, not that I've already attained or I'm already perfected, but I press on that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead. I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Here, I would suggest Paul is modeling for us the God working little by little in his life. Although, of course, he had a radical conversion, It was not a complete and total sanctification of everything Paul, right? There was a lot of work that God wanted to do in his life, and it was going to happen little by little. And so he had to have this mentality, this attitude, saying, I have not attained. I haven't arrived. Now, when he's writing this, he's writing to the Philippians. By that point, he's established as an apostle. He's been a missionary. He's, you know, done some great things for the Lord. It would be very easy for him to settle into the idea that I've developed enough. I've grown enough. I'm radically different than I was before Christ. And so I'm good as I stand. I've done enough ministry. It would be easy to settle into that. But he keeps this mentality. He keeps reaching for more of what God wants to do in his life. He keeps reaching to know God more, keeps reaching to serve God and to love God and to grow in his relationship with God and his heart for the Lord. What about you and your life? If we were to map out the boundaries of how much God wants to reveal himself to you, if he plotted it out on a map and he says, all right, here's the boundaries, here's the borders of how much I plan to reveal myself to you, I would encourage you to think about it. To what extent have you explored those boundaries? You cannot know everything about God all at once. No matter how much you study, you cannot absorb enough information to have it all figured out. No matter how many times we go through the scriptures, right? Even though we read through it. And so we've been in the pattern for the past decade for reading through the Bible in three years. So this is our fourth time around, right? Now you might think, having gone through the Bible four times, we've got everything we can out of it. But that's not the truth. Every time as I go through, God continues to reveal new things about himself to me. And that's what he desires to do. It's little by little he's teaching us who he is. He has a plan. He has a map. figuratively speaking, right? Of how much of himself he plans to reveal to us and how much he wants us to know him and the things that he wants to do that we might discover his nature and character, but you cannot learn it all in one year. It's not all gonna happen overnight or in one sitting or in one trip through the Bible. It's going to happen little by little. And so we're gonna have to keep this mode, this mentality where we keep on reaching God for more of God's plan for us that we don't just settle with. I know God pretty well. I've learned about God enough. I have a lot of experience with him. And so I can kind of just rest and not work so hard. Not be so much like the Apostle Paul, you know, forgetting those things which are behind and striving towards the things that are ahead and pursuing a relationship with God in that way that we can grow lax or comfortable and stop reaching for more of what God wants to reveal to us and his presence in our lives. So think about the knowledge of God and keep reaching to know God more. Don't be settled or satisfied with where you're at now. Because there's so much more that God wants to reveal. But you could also think about this. What would this look like if you were to draw it out on a map, your holiness unto the Lord? What would the boundaries look like if you were to fill out the percentage of how much you occupy in the pursuit of holiness, how much you've attained versus how much God desires to bring you, how much God desires to develop you in holiness? To develop your set-apartness unto the Lord, set-apartness from sin. Listen, in dealing with issues of sin, there's a majority of occasions, I would suggest, that it's not realistic to expect that a sin issue will be done away with in one year. Like, we're addressing sin, we're dealing with sin, and then first time we address it, first time we deal with it, victory, and we've accomplished it, and we're, you know, moving our way to the furthest edge of the boundary of holiness unto the Lord. No, the reality is that's a battle with sin and we have a victory. It's not a final victory. We're going to struggle with that again. And so we're going to have to keep coming back and reaching for victory, asking for forgiveness, trusting in the grace of God and continuing to press forward, reaching for the plan of God that he has for us. The author of Hebrews in Hebrews 12, 14 says, pursue peace with all people and holiness without which no one will see the Lord. The idea here is to pursue holiness. It's to be an ongoing pursuit. We're chasing after. We never actually catch, you know, the full plan of holiness that God has for us. Not this side of eternity. And so as long as we have breath, we are to be reaching for more of God's plan for holiness in our lives. For us to be set apart unto Him, to be set apart from sin. What would it look like if we mapped this out? plotted out God's boundaries for you and his plans for your ministry, or you might refer to it as your spiritual gifts. Like, what would it look like? God says, look, I want to work this in your life. I'm going to develop these gifts to this extent. What would those boundaries look like? And where are you at in relationship to the things that God wants to bring you to and the way that he wants to develop you and use you for his kingdom and for his glory? Think about what the Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter 12. He said, earnestly desire the best gifts. Earnestly desire the best gifts. This is really important for us to consider because a lot of times we can kind of take the sit and wait for God to do something approach. And of course, there's many times where God wants us to, and he tells us, you just sit and wait. Just be still and know that I'm God, right? But when it comes to the subject of spiritual gifts, the Lord instructs us, A couple of times here in 1 Corinthians 12, also in 1 Corinthians 14, there is to be this burning desire, this earnest desire to be filled with the Holy Spirit and used by God in ministering to people and impacting people in an eternal way, in a way that lasts and makes a difference in the kingdom of God. Earnestly desire the best gifts. And so looking at your spiritual gifts, plotting out the map, again, where would you find yourself? in the boundaries of what God has set, the boundaries of what God wants to do. He's given you gifts of the Spirit. He's got plans to give you gifts that you don't even know about, that you're not even aware of yet. But there is the responsibility that we have to explore the territory that God has given to us and to earnestly desire the best gifts, to be seeking out and pursuing the things that God would want to use us for in His work and in His kingdom. But then, of course, Paul goes on in 1 Corinthians 12, 31 to say, and I show you a more excellent way. So we're to have this burning desire, this earnest desire for the best gifts, for spiritual gifts. But then also he goes on to describe the more excellent way that leads into 1 Corinthians chapter 13, the love of God, agape love. It's the more excellent way. And so we could think about that in plotting out the chart, right? Plotting it out on the map. God would lay out in our lives and say, look, I want to develop in you this much love. I want to develop in you the ability to love different people, different kinds of people, different people that maybe are more challenging or more difficult or more easy to love. I want to develop your ability to love, to love like I do. And so as you plot that out on the map, I don't have an agape love one, but you can replace spiritual gifts with agape love and consider these are the boundaries. What are the plans that God has for you and his ability to teach you how to love like he loves? And then where are you at in exploring those boundaries and in seeking and pursuing and finding out the ways that God wants to teach you and develop you to love like him? Listen, you're not going to be able to know the full extent of of God's love through your life after just one year. It's going to be little by little. It's going to be encounter by encounter. And little by little, we're going to develop and grow as we keep reaching for and pursuing God's plans for our lives and what He desires for us. And so when it comes to spiritual gifts, when it comes to agape love, when it comes to ministry, you're not going to know after one season, after one year. If I could embarrass some people for a moment, Fia and Ava, you're not going to know after this short season of leading worship that you've been doing. The full extent, there's further boundaries than you can see right now. There's further boundaries of what God wants to do in your life. And we need to be continually pursuing that. and exploring and finding out, again, Paul says, earnestly desire the best gifts, that we would not kind of be settled and go, hey, I'm a good enough children's ministry teacher. I can, I'm just, you know, I've done it for a long time. I've got a lot of experience and I'm good enough that we wouldn't settle into that mentality, that mode. But again, like the apostle Paul, reaching forward, forgetting the things that are behind, earnestly desiring the best gifts. Paul goes on in 1 Corinthians 14, 39 to say, desire earnestly to prophesy. that we would have that earnest desire to speak on behalf of God into people's lives. Explore the boundaries. Experience the fullness of what God wants to do in your life. And so we've looked at a few examples. What would that look like in your knowledge of God, in your pursuit of holiness? What would that look like in your ministry? What would that look like in your workplace? I always like the examples of Daniel and Nehemiah in the scriptures. Men of God who were just in their workplace working, but led by God, led by the Spirit, and used by the Lord to impact the workplace around them, the government around them, the world around them. There's a ministry that God has for you there. There's a work to do, a mission to accomplish. And maybe it includes the idea of career and advancement and those kinds of things. Maybe it doesn't, but God knows the boundaries. He knows what he's established for you. What are God's plans for you? What is it that God wants to accomplish in your life? And maybe you need to keep reaching for those things because what God has for you is, well, you've not quite reached the limit yet. You've only occupied a portion of the territory that God's given to you. And there needs to be the ongoing pressing forward. As the children of Ephraim did not take out all of the enemies of the land in one go, Again, that wasn't really an issue because God told them they wouldn't be able to do it on their first try. But what happened is over time, they stopped going back to battle. They lost sight of the mission. And so they changed course and didn't press on to experience the full plan that God had for them. And when it comes to our lives, our ministries, our relationship with the Lord, our pursuit of holiness, our workplace, our homes, Our community, our marriages. God has plans for all of these. He could chart them on a map, figuratively speaking, right? He could lay out the boundaries and say, look, here's what I want to accomplish for you and in your life. And I want to work through you. But we need to be careful and learn the lesson from the children of Ephraim that we don't just settle and stop striving to reach the edge of the boundaries of all that God has for us. And we just kind of make it so far. We get close enough. We get good enough. And then we stop reaching for more of what God wants to do in our lives. I've always really enjoyed the example of the Apostle Paul. In writing to the Romans in Romans chapter 1. He says this in verse 9 and 10. He says, And I always like this example from Paul. Paul is writing to the Romans. He's saying, look, I've never been there. I really want to go to Rome. I've been trying hard. God is my witness, he says. Every day I'm praying, Lord, please let me go to Rome. Okay, Lord, what if I go this way? What if I take this route? What if I minister to these people along the way? What if I make this vow? What if I, you know, make this covenant or try this approach? He says, if by some means I may find a way in the will of God to come to you. That there's this fervent desire. And he's not just sitting there, okay, Lord, I'm going to go to Rome. I'm going to take a nap. Wake me up if you want me to go to Rome. He's like, Lord, can I go to Rome now? Can I go to Rome now? Can I go to Rome now? What if I go this way? What if I go that way? What if I go that way? There's this trying out the boundaries, right? Testing the borders. Like the dinosaurs testing the electric fences in Jurassic Park, right? Can I go this way? Can I go this way? Can I go this way? Where's the way? Where's the route? I believe that there's a route and I want to get to Rome. But he wasn't just sitting there just... waiting for the heavens to open and for the yellow brick road to be paved before him, right? Like he's seeking, he's searching, he's exploring, he's praying. Now, also at the same time being careful, but I'm not trying to go outside of your will. So, you know, I'm trying desperately, but within the will of God. And so there's this searching and reaching for more of God's plan. God, I believe you want me to go to Rome. So I'm trying to figure out how can I get there? How can I make this happen? How can I arrive there and be part of the ministry there that's happening in Rome? It's a great example for us. Keep reaching for more of God's plans for you. God promised the children of Israel everywhere you step, as you go into the promised land, everywhere you step, I will give that land to you. And it's interesting that he promised it that way, because there was the challenge for them to then put the sole of their foot on the land and to advance and to move forward. They had to be engaged and involved. And it wasn't necessarily that they had to be ambitious or want to, you know, take over the world in that sense, but they also had to believe God and believe and trust God in the plans that he had for them, believe and trust God in the commands that he'd given to them, and actually go place their foot in enemy territory and say, Lord, I'm trusting you. I believe this is what you want. For them, they had a great confidence in that because God drew the boundaries for them so they could go set the sole of their foot anywhere in that territory and begin to take that land. It wasn't going to happen all at once. It wasn't going to happen overnight. And so they were going to have to keep coming back. Keep placing their foot on that land. Keep claiming it in the name of the Lord and fighting that battle. The problem was they stopped fighting. They settled in. And that brings us to the second point tonight. Point number one, keep reaching for more of God's plans for you. Point number two, do not settle for less than God's best for you. Don't settle for less than God's best. Again, verse 10 says, they did not drive out the Canaanites who dwelt in Gezer, but the Canaanites dwelt among the Ephraimites to this day and have become forced laborers. So what happened was God set the boundaries. He says, okay, here's your territory. Here's your land. This is all yours. You can take this land. You have everything that you need. And so go conquer, go live, go enjoy the fruit. explore the territory, build your homes, build your cities, settle in. This is your land to occupy. They fought some battles, they did some work, and then they, over time, decided, all right, we've done enough. We got so far, we've driven out some enemies, we've cut down some trees and made some clearings for homes and a place for us to farm and to be able to be established and you know, it's good enough. Now again, their initial failure to drive out the inhabitants wasn't wrong. God told them they wouldn't be able to. God's design was for them to keep coming back, to keep trusting him. And it was going to be an ongoing process over multiple years for them to inhabit the land completely and fully. But what we see here in verse 10 is that later on, as Ephraim grew strong, they made a decision. So instead of driving out the Canaanites, they made them forced laborers. It's not that they were never capable of driving out the inhabitants of the land. They actually grew. They developed. They grew stronger. They were established in the land. But instead of driving them out, they made another choice. And they said, we're going to force them into being our laborers, being our servants or slaves. And so you can maybe picture it this way. Ephraim took most of their land, and then they settled for that. They drove out most of the inhabitants. You can see here it mentions specifically just one city, those who dwelt in Giza. There was like, silly joke, right? There's just a bunch of old geezers, you know, they're not really a threat to us. So it's okay, we'll just leave them. They could just be our servants. It's good enough. We did enough of the work. We drove out enough of the inhabitants. We're okay here. And so they settled in for less than the fullness of God's plan. They settled for less than what God wanted to do for them. And God had given them a strong warning back in the book of Numbers chapter 33. He says, if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall be that those whom you let remain shall be irritants in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall harass you in the land where you dwell. So God had warned them You can't let them stay. Now, try to put all these things together, right? God says, you're to go into the land and drive out all the inhabitants. Now, keep in mind, you're not going to be able to do it all at once. Little by little, I'll drive out the inhabitants before you. But now, if you don't drive them out, then you're going to have some real problems. And so God put them in the situation where they were going to have to keep on exploring the territory that God had given to them, reaching for the victory that God had promised to them, and they were not to settle most of the way. They weren't to just kind of settle in and go, we got enough done. Most of the inhabitants are out. That's good enough. God says, if you let any remain, boy, they're going to be trouble for you. They're going to be irritants in your eyes, thorns in your sides. They're going to bug you. They're going to be pains to you. The Lord also warned them that they're going to sabotage them spiritually because they will be then tempted to worship these other gods that these other nations worshipped. And so it was going to be a big problem for the Ephraimites if they left any inhabitants in the land. They got the most of them out, but then they got to the geezers there in that city and they said, you know, We don't have to drive them out completely. What if we just make them servants? Wouldn't it be nice to have servants? Hey, we've been working hard and fighting for a long time. It'd be kind of nice to just have servants. Why don't we make them servants? That's a great idea. We don't have to drive them out. They made a decision, and instead of obeying God and fulfilling the plan that God had for them, they took a turn and followed their own plans. Again, this is a pattern for us, a picture for us to consider. The promised land, it pictures for us that life that we have in Christ and the plans that God has for us to, by his Holy Spirit, fill us and empower us and lead us into the abundant life that he's promised to us. The inhabitants of the land are a very easy picture for us to think about sin in our lives and the things of the flesh, the old nature that still remain. And God's call to us as believers is to be going to battle. to be driving out the old nature, to be in the process of being transformed into the likeness of Christ, that we would not just settle and say, you know what, it's just a little temper. It's not that bad. It's, you know, it's not terrible. I've progressed a lot. I mean, think about how I used to be. Think about all the things that I have been delivered from. I've progressed enough. My life is radically different than it was before Christ. And And so, great, I'm good. But the Lord would say the same thing to us. Look, if you settle and allow any of those things of your old nature, your sinful nature, if you allow those things to remain, it's going to be big trouble for you. You can't just settle and accept and I guess, well, I'm just always going to behave this way. I'm always going to be this way. I'm always going to have these issues. Again, you're not going to conquer the issues of sin in one battle. All of these things in line with the inhabitants of the land are true of us as well and our issues of sin and our struggles with our sinful nature. God's called us to go in and inhabit the land and by the Holy Spirit, walk in the Spirit, you won't gratify the lust of the flesh, right? But at the same time, we're not going to always have victory on the first time and every time. It's going to be, well, a battle. And we have to choose to battle again and trust God and ask for forgiveness when we fail in the battle and then come back and trust God and seek to be changed, seek to be transformed by the Lord. What does that look like on the map? Again, here's the boundaries. God says, look, I want to give you this much victory over sin. And the challenge for us here through the example of the Ephraimites is to not settle for less than full victory over sin. to not settle at most of the victory that God wants for us. If we allow that little bit even, it will become a stumbling block for us. It will become a painful issue for us, irritants to our eyes, a thorn in the flesh. We must not settle for less than God's best. We must not just surrender to the issues of sin and allow it to dominate our lives. The Lord's speaking to Cain in Genesis chapter 4 says, After his sacrifice was not accepted, he says, hey, why are you angry? Why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? You still have opportunity. You don't have to, you know, settle into the things that you're struggling with internally. He says, but if you don't do well, sin lies at the door. Its desire is for you, but you should rule over it. There is a battle, and if you just let it, if you don't address it, if you don't start to do right, God says its desire is for you, and it's seeking to dominate your life. It doesn't have to. You have the choice. You should rule over it. You should make the decision and turn and do what's right. Repent from sin and turn to the Lord. But if you don't, then that sin is going to be an issue for you. We won't have victory over all sin in one year. It's not going to happen in one season, in one battle. It's going to happen in many battles. And we've got to keep making this choice, that sin that is their desires to rule over us. But we must choose to do what's right, to do well, to turn from sin, and to call upon the Lord to change us. And so we won't have victory over all sin in one battle. We also might battle one sin for many years. It might be that we keep coming back to that battle. And that is... a reality for us. That's the thing that we're supposed to do, to keep on battling, even if it's the same battle that we've been fighting or the same enemy that we've been fighting for many years. What we can't do is settle and say, look, I've been fighting this battle for many years, and so I guess I'm just going to always have this and stop then seeking for the Lord to work and to transform and deliver in that area of our life. We need to make sure that we don't settle for less than God's best. Don't give up the fight just because you're tired. Don't give up the fight just because you fought it 100,000 times before. Keep on in the battle that is there in the life that God has allowed for you to experience. Again, he's got his plans, his boundaries. He's established it. Ephraim didn't get to choose their property. God established their boundaries, right? Here's your boundaries. Here's all that I want to do in your life. And I have blessings for you and battles for you. I have challenges and victories and things that I'm going to do as you settle into this land, as you occupy the land. I shouldn't use the word settle when I'm saying don't settle, right? Occupy the land and don't settle for less than what I have for you. Now, sin is not the only reason that we settle in God's plans for us. Sometimes we settle because Not because we're battling something, but sometimes we settle just because we become really comfortable. And in our comfortableness, we stop doing point number one, reaching for more of God's plan. Pastor David Guzik puts it this way, the Israelites did not fully conquer for two reasons. First, they wanted peace at any cost. And second, they wanted wealth. For the sake of ease and money, they disobeyed God and fell short of what he had for them, as we do today also. Sometimes just because we want peace, the battle's hard and we're tired and it's been a long fight. So it's easier to settle and we're just ready to rest. And so we settle for less than God's best for us. Or maybe there's something else. Again, they thought, wow, we could have some servants. We don't have to drive them out. We'll just make them servants and it'll benefit us. We'll be wealthy. We'll be provided for. We'll be taken care of. Sometimes we have this opportunity as well. We settle because our pursuits change. And instead of pursuing the things of the Lord, we get to the point where we decide, you know what, I want these comforts. I want these other things that may not be part of God's plan for us. Sometimes we settle. We get to a certain point where it's like, you know, I've changed enough. I've transformed enough. Life's good enough. I don't have to keep fighting the fight. Again, thinking about the knowledge of God, right? You get to a point where it's like, I know God, I know the scriptures. I can just kind of rest. I can just kind of settle. I don't have to know more, learn more, experience more of God. I can just kind of rest in how far I've progressed and where I'm at now. And so we might settle because we're tired of the battle, because we want peace, because we're distracted by wealth. Or another reason we might settle is because we think we've already lost. This is one of the great tactics of the enemy. to convince us, it's hopeless. To keep seeking for more of the Lord, to keep seeking for more of what God wants to do, it's hopeless. You've already lost. Why even try? As I was thinking about this, I began to think about what my life would look like without Kim. And you got to understand that I easily settle into defeat. And so many things that are good in my life right now are a result of Kim saying, no, we're not just going to live with that. When I met Kim, when we were dating and even into the beginning years of our marriage, I'd resign myself to, listen, we're just going to have a lifetime of debt. We're always going to have tens of thousands of dollars of credit card debt. That's just how it's going to be. And so might as well just keep living off credit cards because we're always going to have that debt anyways. And that was my mode. That was my mentality. Wrong, totally wrong, right? And you're like, you should never have been pastor in the church. I can't argue with that, right? But I'd given up ever trying to be... financially responsible because that was never going to happen. The task was too large, right? It was too impossible. But Kim's more like Caleb than I am. Like, hey, no, give me the giant battles. Lord can give us victory here. I decided I'm never going to be able to own a home, especially in Corona. You know, Corona is expensive, right? I gave up long before. And it was Kim who was seeking the Lord and saying, you know, I think the Lord wants to give us a home. I was like, you're crazy. There's just no way. It's impossible. Where are we going to come up with $500,000? Like, no way. It's impossible. And it was through steps of faith that were taken in advance. God later on showed, hey, it is part of my plan. I want to give you a home. I would have missed that door completely, entirely, because I was already defeated. So many times... We settle for less than what God wants to do in our lives because we're just living with a defeated mentality. We've already given up before we've even had opportunity to give God a chance to lead us and speak to us. Like we don't even pray about it anymore. It's like, why even pray about that? It's just, it's never going to happen. I'm just too destroyed, too wrecked, too messed up, too big of an issue. And so we might settle because we want peace. We might settle because we think we've already lost. We might settle because we're distracted. We want something else. But we're not going to give up. Final reason we might settle? We might settle because things are going so well. Perhaps Ephraim got to this point and said, hey, we've got half and oh my goodness, half of our territory is like so abundant for us and providing for us and we're so blessed with all these like springs and they've got amusement parks in here and like there's just all this cool stuff. Like we're so blessed. We don't need any more. We don't need to go get more territory. We don't need to keep expanding and progressing in this. Like, hey, everything's going so well. We're good enough. We're satisfied. And we can even, in our minds, kind of make that sound spiritual, right? I want to be content, you know? And godliness with contentment is great gain. Not to speak against contentment. But it's not contentment when it's less than what God wants for you. It's not what God wants. There is the need for us to continue contentment to go forward. It reminded me of Jesus in Luke chapter 4, when he was ministering at a town, and the whole town was just so excited, and the town was like begging Jesus. In Luke chapter 4, verse 42, it says that they tried to keep him from leaving them. They're like, this is so great. Like, just stay here. In our town, like, things are going so well. Think about from a ministry perspective, right? Like, You go to a place and the city just like crowds, the whole city comes and they want you to stay and they want you to stay and they want you to stay. Like that's a successful ministry in many people's eyes. But Jesus said in verse 43, I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also because for this purpose I've been sent. He could have been distracted if he wasn't the Lord, but hey, things are going so well. I'll just stay here. I'm going to camp out here. Like Peter, right? On the Mount of Transfiguration. Hey, can we build three tabernacles here? There's more that God wants to do. Even when things are going well, sometimes we need to break away from the things that are going well to continue to pursue other aspects of our life and other aspects of our ministry that God wants to accomplish, other plans that he has for us. And so do not settle for less than God's best for you. There's a variety of reasons why we might settle, but don't. God has plans for you. He has boundaries that he has set, things that he wants to do in your life, areas that he wants to bring you to. Keep reaching for more of God's plans for you. Don't settle for less than the full extent of those boundaries that he's established for you. And then finally, don't step outside of God's plans for you. There are some, looking at point two, who need to explore more territory. They're just kind of settled and not moving forward. There are others, perhaps the Lord wants to minister to you about this, who you've gone too far. You've gone outside the boundaries of what God has set. You've moved into a different direction than what God desires for you. I want to spend a couple moments in Joshua chapter 17, starting in verse 14. Here we see the children of Ephraim have a conversation with Joshua saying, we want different territory. Joshua chapter 17 verse 14, it says, Then the children of Joseph spoke to Joshua saying, Why have you given us only one lot and one share to inherit, since we are a great people, and as much as the Lord has blessed us until now? So Joshua answered them, If you are a great people, then go up to the forest country and clear a place for yourself there in the land of the Perizzites and the giants, since the mountains of Ephraim are too confined for you. But the children of Joseph said, the mountain country is not enough for us. And all the Canaanites who dwell in the land of the valley have chariots of iron, both those who are of Beth-shan and its towns and those who are of the valley of Jezreel. Verse 17, and Joshua spoke to the house of Joseph, to Ephraim and Manasseh saying, you are a great people and you have great power. You shall not have only one lot, but the mountain country shall be yours. Although it is wooded, you shall cut it down. and its farthest extent shall be yours, for you shall drive out the Canaanites, though they have iron chariots and are strong. The children of Ephraim come to Joshua and say, look, our territory has some really big challenges. It's got a lot of forests. We can't just move in and start plowing. There's trees to deal with. There's all of these issues. It's mountainous. And so it's not enough territory for us. You've got the proportions wrong. You've got the boundaries wrong. This isn't what God wants for us. And Joshua says, no, you're strong enough. There are fierce enemies. There are challenges in the land, but you can do it. Go cut down the trees. Go start to make a living for yourself. Go start dealing with the enemies. You will overcome. You will have victory as you trust the Lord. The Ephraimites looked at the situation. They said, this is really hard. And so we want to go outside of the boundaries that God has set. We want to go somewhere else. We want to go to an easier plot of land and somewhere they inhabit that's not so difficult, not so challenging. They were willing at that point to step outside of God's plans, to step outside of the boundaries that God had set. We see this also happen with the tribe of Dan. We'll read through it as we continue on in the week. Joshua chapter 19, we see the portion of territory that's given to Dan. But then as we get to the book of Judges, Judges chapter 18, we find Dan, they didn't like their territory either. They found it too hard. They didn't want to trust the Lord. They didn't want to battle. And so they go far up north and find a spot up north. And so now the saying is, you know, from Dan to Beersheba, that's the farthest north of Israel and the farthest south of Israel. They went to a completely different place and settled there. completely outside of the boundaries that God had given to them because they decided that's too hard, that's too difficult, we don't want to be there. But along the way, they got involved in some crazy, horrible idolatry. They had some real issues because they moved away from where God wanted them to be. The safest place to be is where God wants us to be. Even if that place is wooded and has enemies that are fierce with chariots of iron and difficult, right? The safest place for us to be is right where God has planned for us. Right where God wants us to be is the safest place to be. Do not step outside of God's plans for you. He's allotted you a territory. He's made plans for your life. Make sure you experience the fullness of God's plans for you. Jesus talked about the life and life more abundantly in John chapter 10, right? Experience the full extent of that abundant life and keep reaching for more of God's plans for you until you experience that abundant life. Don't settle for less than abundant life. Don't settle for just surviving life or just making it through life. Yeah, there are seasons of crisis in our lives and where all we can do is survive and that's all we're focused on. And I would suggest that's okay for a season, but that can't be our whole life. We need to be reaching for the abundant life. That's what God plans for you. Don't settle for less than that. Don't cut and run because it's hard and try to make your own way and your own plans for Don't step outside of God's plans. No, make sure that you experience the fullness. And if that fullness includes hard battles, then experience those hard battles. Walk through them. If it includes farming the land and plowing and reaping an abundant harvest, then go do that. Do that work. If it involves cutting down trees and whatever it is that God has planned for you, make sure that you experience the full extent of it. Go explore the boundaries that God has set for you. One final thought in closing is from 2 Kings chapter 13. Elisha the prophet was ministering to a king. The king was seeking to know what the Lord had for him. So the prophet put a bow in his hand and he says, shoot it out the window. So the king shot it out the window. There was a message that was attached to that idea and the prophet shared that message. But then he said, all right, take the arrows, take the bow and shoot the ground. So the king took the bow and he shot the ground three times. And then he stopped. And Elisha tells him in verse 19 of 2 Kings 13, it says that he was very angry with him. And he said, you should have struck five or six times. Then you would have been completely victorious in your battle. But you only struck the ground three times. So you're only going to have partial victory in the battle. And thinking about the idea of reaching for more of God's plan, sometimes, you know, we just kind of settle like, ah, it's just enough three times. We're just half-hearted. We're not really engaged. We're not pursuing the things of God with all of our heart. We're not loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. And so we only experience a limited part of God's plan for us. But we can learn the lesson from Ephraim. We can learn the lesson from the prophet Elisha in 2 Kings 13, we can learn the lesson from the example of the apostle Paul, forgetting the things which are behind and reaching forward, being zealous, diligently, earnestly, seeking the things of the Lord to be used by the Lord to experience all that he has planned for us. Let's pray. God, I pray for each one of us that you would give us, Lord, a clear insight into our own hearts and minds. Lord, that we would not be deceived and tricked into thinking that we are in a different place than we are in reality. Lord, you know the truth, and you know where we're at in comparison to where you want us to be, where you want to lead us. I pray, God, that you would open our eyes. Lord, may we see you clearly. May we hear your voice and your call clearly, and may we respond. Lord, to seek you, to pursue you, to not be casual or lukewarm or half-hearted in our walk with you. But Lord, may we seek to know you more and more. Lord, may we not be satisfied or settle on less than the fullness that you want to provide for us. So lead us by your spirit, I pray. Teach us, Lord, how you want us to walk. Give us victory in the battles that we face, I pray. Help us to get up again when we Don't have victory and Lord, go back to the battle, trusting you, resting in your promises and seeking, Lord, the fulfillment of all that you have declared to us. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.