Next Is Now Week 6 - How To Ruin Your Next Part 2
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Joshua 9:1-24 Christian Standard Bible
9 When all the kings heard about Jericho and Ai, those who were west of the Jordan in the hill country, in the Judean foothills, and all along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea toward Lebanon—the Hethites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites— 2 they formed a unified alliance to fight against Joshua and Israel. 3 When the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai, 4 they acted deceptively. They gathered provisions and took worn-out sacks on their donkeys and old wineskins, cracked and mended. 5 They wore old, patched sandals on their feet and threadbare clothing on their bodies. Their entire provision of bread was dry and crumbly. 6 They went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal and said to him and the men of Israel, “We have come from a distant land. Please make a treaty with us.” 7 The men of Israel replied to the Hivites, “Perhaps you live among us. How can we make a treaty with you?” 8 They said to Joshua, “We are your servants.” Then Joshua asked them, “Who are you and where do you come from?” 9 They replied to him, “Your servants have come from a faraway land because of the reputation of the Lord your God. For we have heard of his fame, and all that he did in Egypt, 10 and all that he did to the two Amorite kings beyond the Jordan—King Sihon of Heshbon and King Og of Bashan, who was in Ashtaroth. 11 So our elders and all the inhabitants of our land told us, ‘Take provisions with you for the journey; go and meet them and say, “We are your servants. Please make a treaty with us.”’ 12 This bread of ours was warm when we took it from our houses as food on the day we left to come to you; but see, it is now dry and crumbly. 13 These wineskins were new when we filled them; but see, they are cracked. And these clothes and sandals of ours are worn out from the extremely long journey.” 14 Then the men of Israel took some of their provisions, but did not seek the Lord’s decision. 15 So Joshua established peace with them and made a treaty to let them live, and the leaders of the community swore an oath to them. 16 Three days after making the treaty with them, they heard that the Gibeonites were their neighbors, living among them. 17 So the Israelites set out and reached the Gibeonite cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath-jearim. 18 But the Israelites did not attack them, because the leaders of the community had sworn an oath to them by the Lord, the God of Israel. Then the whole community grumbled against the leaders.
19 All the leaders answered them, “We have sworn an oath to them by the Lord, the God of Israel, and now we cannot touch them. 20 This is how we will treat them: we will let them live, so that no wrath will fall on us because of the oath we swore to them.” 21 They also said, “Let them live.” So the Gibeonites became woodcutters and water carriers for the whole community, as the leaders had promised them. 22 Joshua summoned the Gibeonites and said to them, “Why did you deceive us by telling us you live far away from us, when in fact you live among us? 23 Therefore you are cursed and will always be slaves—woodcutters and water carriers for the house of my God.” 24 The Gibeonites answered him, “It was clearly communicated to your servants that the Lord your God had commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land before you. We greatly feared for our lives because of you, and that is why we did this.
Deuteronomy 20:10-18 Christian Standard Bible
10 “When you approach a city to fight against it, make an offer of peace. 11 If it accepts your offer of peace and opens its gates to you, all the people found in it will become forced laborers for you and serve you. 12 However, if it does not make peace with you but wages war against you, lay siege to it. 13 When the Lord your God hands it over to you, strike down all its males with the sword. 14 But you may take the women, dependents, animals, and whatever else is in the city—all its spoil—as plunder. You may enjoy the spoil of your enemies that the Lord your God has given you. 15 This is how you are to treat all the cities that are far away from you and are not among the cities of these nations. 16 However, you must not let any living thing survive among the cities of these people the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance. 17 You must completely destroy them—the Hethite, Amorite, Canaanite, Perizzite, Hivite, and Jebusite—as the Lord your God has commanded you, 18 so that they won’t teach you to do all the detestable acts they do for their gods, and you sin against the Lord your God.
Summary
Welcome back to Community Group, We are in part 2 of “How To Ruin Your Next”. This is week 6 of our Next Is Now series and we find ourselves in Joshua 9:1-24. We are going to see that we can ruin our next when we rely on our past experiences, when we trust our own judgement and fail to consult God. We ruin our next by making “NOW” decisions while ignoring our present God.
The problem they are about to find themselves in would not have existed if they had done what the Lord had told them to do earlier. How did this happen? They made a covenant with a people without asking God about it first. This is not the same Joshua we read about in Chapter 1. The people of Israel began to make God’s successes their own, they were blinded by their own self-confidence, instead of trusting the Lord. The greatest sign of pride is your lack of prayer. In Deuteronomy 20:18 God warned them that these people needed to be destroyed so that they would not lead Israel to “sin against the Lord your God.”
Point 1 of How To Ruin Your Next is by Making “Now” Decisions without God’s Direction. Just because God has given us victory in the past, doesn’t mean we can assume He will give us victory in the future. Victory comes when we are being led by the Lord, defeat comes when we lead ourselves. Israel was ready for the physical war. But they had failed to prepare spiritually by praying and asking for God’s guidance.
Point 2 was Trusting Your Own Judgment. Self reliance is another way we Ruin Our Next. This makes us our own enemy. The story tells us that Gibeon had heard about God, but the Israelites failed to hear from God. We need to be in the habit of speaking to God and hearing from God on a daily basis.
The next point is Not Consulting God For Future Decisions. One thing we need to be aware of is that success can bring us down just as much as failure. When we take credit for what God has done, we build on something we think we have done, when it was all God. Whenever we face uncertainty, we need seek God! Simply because, He is already there. Joseph, the son of Jacob always sought the Lord and the Lord blessed everything he did.
Our final point is Don’t Allow Our Word To Lead Us Into Disobedience. Israel said that they would not attack them without consulting God. They could not harm the enemy because of the promise they made to them. We need to be sure that our words match up with God’s Word.
As the Lord’s people there is no substitute for God’s Word. We need to be a people in community that SEEK the Lord, SPEAK to the Lord and HEAR from the Lord.
Discussion
Have you every relied on yourself rather that rely on God? Explain
How has trusting your own judgement led you to make a wrong decision?
Why is it important to consult God in ALL of our decisions? Give an example where you did not consult God.
Have you ever agreed to something? Only to get yourself in trouble? 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
