Next Is Now Week 5 - How to Ruin Your Next
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Joshua 7:1-15 Christian Standard Bible
7 The Israelites, however, were unfaithful regarding the things set apart for destruction. Achan son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of what was set apart, and the Lord’s anger burned against the Israelites. 2 Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Bethaven, east of Bethel, and told them, “Go up and scout the land.” So, the men went up and scouted Ai. 3 After returning to Joshua they reported to him, “Don’t send all the people, but send about two thousand or three thousand men to attack Ai. Since the people of Ai are so few, don’t wear out all our people there.” 4 So about three thousand men went up there, but they fled from the men of Ai. 5 The men of Ai struck down about thirty-six of them and chased them from outside the city gate to the quarries, striking them down on the descent. As a result, the people lost heart. 6 Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell facedown to the ground before the ark of the Lord until evening, as did the elders of Israel; they all put dust on their heads. 7 “Oh, Lord God,” Joshua said, “why did you ever bring these people across the Jordan to hand us over to the Amorites for our destruction? If only we had been content to remain on the other side of the Jordan! 8 What can I say, Lord, now that Israel has turned its back and run from its enemies?
9 When the Canaanites and all who live in the land hear about this, they will surround us and wipe out our name from the earth. Then what will you do about your great name?” 10 The Lord then said to Joshua, “Stand up! Why have you fallen facedown? 11 Israel has sinned. They have violated my covenant that I appointed for them. They have taken some of what was set apart. They have stolen, deceived, and put those things with their own belongings. 12 This is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies. They will turn their backs and run from their enemies, because they have been set apart for destruction. I will no longer be with you unless you remove from among you what is set apart. 13 “Go and consecrate the people. Tell them to consecrate themselves for tomorrow, for this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: There are things that are set apart among you, Israel. You will not be able to stand against your enemies until you remove what is set apart. 14 In the morning, present yourselves tribe by tribe. The tribe the Lord selects is to come forward clan by clan. The clan the Lord selects is to come forward family by family. The family the Lord selects is to come forward man by man. 15 The one who is caught with the things set apart must be burned, along with everything he has, because he has violated the Lord’s covenant and committed an outrage in Israel.”
Summary
Welcome back to Community Group, we are in week 5 our Next Is Now Series. This week’s sermon was entitled, How To Ruin Your Next. Have you ever done something that ruined your next? I think we can all answer “YES” to that question. Would you have thought twice if you had been warned that there would be consequence to making that decision? As Christ followers, we have the Word that warns us not to do certain things, yet we do them anyway. Ignoring God leads to underestimating our enemies, makes us unwilling to be satisfied and keeps us grasping for more and never being satisfied.
Today’s story is found in Joshua 7:1-15.
We find our first point, Unfaithfulness To God, in verse 1. Achan, like us, was unfaithful to God. He did something he knew was wrong. I have never forgotten a statement I heard from Dr. Tony Evans, he said “We can choose the sin, we can’t choose the consequence.” That being said, our consequences don’t always just affect us.
Point two is Underestimating Your Enemy. After the defeat of Jericho, Joshua and the Israelites were confident. That became a problem, they misplaced their confidence. Many times we forget that it was God that brought us through our difficult times and believe we did it on our own. God gives us guardrails to keep us from leaving His plan. One of those guardrails is asking Him and that is what Joshua failed to do.
Unwillingness To Be Satisfied is point three. Achan, was not satisfied with the victory God had given them over Jericho. He saw some things that he felt he needed to have. The land was not enough, he wanted more. And like I mentioned earlier, our sin, sometimes affects others. In this case, it meant the end of his lineage.
Our final point is our decisions produce Unfavorable Circumstances. The entire people of Israel came out to see who had done wrong. Tribe by tribe, clan by clan, family by family, man by man, until God identified the one who had sinned. The people were then asked to erase a complete family from existence.
The Lord does not want us to ruin our next. He provides us with all that we need to prevent that from happening. He went to the cross, He did not underestimate His enemy. He defeated the enemy with the Word and with obedience. We have that same word, we need to be obedient to follow it.
Discussion
Have you ever been unfaithful to God? How did that affect you?
Have you ever underestimated your enemy? Explain
Have you ever found yourself being unsatisfied with what the Lord has given you? Explain
Has your dissatisfaction caused you to make bad decisions? Explain
Have you ever found yourself in an unfavorable circumstance because of a bad decision? Explain
Announcements
Continue to pray for our CG leaders.
Help us pray for new CGs to be formed.
We will be scheduling a CG Leaders meeting soon, more information coming soon!
Pastor Isauro Medina
Isauro.medina@bt.church
Cell: (956) 984-9380
