Sermon Gold

This is a message from pastor and teacher Bill Serjak from the Joshua series “New Beginnings”

Hold Fast To the Lord
Joshua 23:1 – 13

In these verses, Joshua is reminding the Jews how they got where they did. It is always tempting to think you got where you did on your own. Our strength and abilities are obvious to us and we like to think they are the reason for our success. However, Joshua was careful to remind the Jews it was God who really conquered the land. A song has been written about the size of Joshua’s spear and how he conquered Jericho, but it was really God who conquered Jericho. God made the walls fall down. All the Jews had to do was move in and take the city. God was continually at work to prosper what the Jews did. It was God who conquered the land for them. He made it so that one of them could conquer a thousand of their enemies.

Now that Joshua is old, he is warning the people to always remember God. When they look fondly on all that had been accomplished, they are to make sure they continue to put God in the center of all they do and not take credit for themselves or give the credit to Joshua. They need to always remember that it was God who gave them the land and it was God who gave them the power to conquer it. Because of what God did, Joshua reminded the Jews that they needed to always follow God’s ways. He warned them against following the gods of this world, the gods of the land they had conquered. Were they to follow the gods of the land, they might be tempted to believe that those gods were the ones who had helped them and they would be subtly led away from the Lord, their God. They might also make the people think that they were the ones who conquered the land and that they didn’t really need God. They needed to be careful to remember God and continually follow His ways. Joshua told the people to remember the book of the law because that was how God had spoken to them at that time. Today, we not only have the law of God, but also the prophets and God Himself who has come in the person of Jesus Christ. Our personal relationship to Him is the main thing that will form us as God’s children.

This past week, Sandy and I visited our grandchildren for a few days. It was our grandson Gage’s eighth birthday and he played in a Little League baseball game that we got to see. Our daughter has been pushing for me to come and see one of Gage’s baseball games since he got interested in baseball after I took him to a couple of Braves games. We usually stay in a motel while we are there because Sandy and I can only stand so much of the blessings of our grandchildren before we need a little break. While in the motel, Sandy read a Christian magazine. She showed one article to me and asked me if it was as bad as she thought it was. It was written by a well-known Christian, but I told her what was said was really total crap. It didn’t at all reflect what God had said was important. The writer had taken the teachings of this world (telling what we should be striving after), then said God would help us get these things.

God has made no promises to get us the things this world says we should strive after. God’s purpose is to change us so that what we think is important is the same as what God thinks is important. He wants to make us into His children rather than children of the world. When that happens, we will look very different from the rest of the world. People who don’t know God will wonder why we behave the way we do. The people in today’s church are not very different from the world around them. The only difference might be that they go to church on Sunday and talk a little about God. However, the rest of the week, they live pretty much the way everyone else does. God does not want us to follow the gods of this world; He wants us to follow Him and live as His children in the world. We do that by seeing God in the middle of all we do.

As I said in the thought for the day, we gain peace by seeing God in our world. Peace is not something we understand, but something that comes to us when we worship God. Learning the techniques of conflict management may be of some help to find peace in your household but it will be a temporary peace at best. The only way to find lasting peace is to make Jesus Lord in your home. Peace in your own soul will not come when you improve your self-image; it will come when you make Jesus Lord in your soul. Peace in our world will not come through treaties or disarmament. Peace will only come when we make Jesus Lord of our world.

I have been asked if I am working for world peace. Actually, I don’t know anyone who is working for world war. People just have different ideas as to how we can achieve world peace. I believe I am working for world peace because I am proclaiming Jesus Christ as Lord. When Jesus is Lord in our world, we will have world peace. Making Jesus Lord of our lives will cause us to become different people.

The magazine article that Sandy was reading was written by a well-known Christian telling us how we can get the things the world tells us we should want by asking Jesus for them. When he says that, he is actually worshiping the gods of this world and asking Jesus to help him in that worship. One of the books I am supposed to read for the seminar I am attending this week is written by Peter Scazzero and is called Emotionally Healthy Spirituality. I want to read a couple of paragraphs from that book. In this section, he is talking about the book of Revelation. Many think that the book of Revelation is about what will happen in the future. I saw it that way when I first became a Christian, but for the last thirty or thirty-five years I see it as mainly talking about the gods of this world. They are described as a beast that will lead many people astray. The beast is the culture and the ways of this world and Christians are called to reject the beast and live for God. Here is what the book says:

“The message of Revelation is that, in all history in all parts of the world, believers must resist and overcome the beast expressed through the culture of their generation: ‘This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints’ (Revelation 13:10). Therefore, it is essential we see clearly how the beast threatens the church and absorbs Christians in our day. As Os Guiness wrote, due to the combination of capitalism, technology, and modern communications, the most powerful civilization ever—a global culture—has been formed. This global culture is the beast that threatens to swallow us in these days. The core values of the beast in the twenty-first century scream at us from computers, billboards, television, DVDs, music, schools, newspapers, magazines, and iPods. The beast tells us:

• happiness is found in having things;
• you should get all you can get for yourself, as quickly as you can;
• security is found in money, power, status, and good health;
• above all, you should seek all the pleasure, convenience, and comfort you can;
• God is irrelevant to everyday life;
• Christianity is just one of many alternative spiritualities;
• there are no moral absolutes; whatever is true for you is what is true;
• you’re not responsible for anyone but yourself; and
• this life on earth is all there is.

Like goldfish swimming in the middle of the Pacific Ocean unaware they are in water, we, too, live oblivious to our beast. Like the Christians in the first century, we live in a culture shaped by the beast. We, eat, drink, drive, watch television and movies, attend schools, shop, work, raise families, listen to the music, and even participate in churches within a society shaped by the beast. This feeds the fire of the ‘beast’ within us. I am referring to the fears, the mistrust, the fierce self-will, the stubbornness, and the rebellion in our very depths.”

When I read that, I was reminded of a book I read about thirty-five years ago. It was by William Stringfellow and is called An Ethic for Christians and Other Aliens in a Strange Land. We live in the land of the beast and we need to learn to survive in that land as God’s children. We live immersed in a culture that is not created by God, that is not energized by God, and that does not recognize the power of God. As Christians, we are called to find the direction for our lives from God and not from that culture. When we do that, we will become different in much of what we do and in what we want. The main reason that several years ago Sandy and I decided we didn’t want to watch television was that it did not teach the value system that comes from God. Television isn’t especially immoral, but it definitely teaches a moral system that says happiness comes from the things we can own. Having not watched it for several years, it is surprising how much our desire for things has decreased.

God calls us to have out lives formed not by the beast of the world system that surrounds us, but by our relationship to Jesus Christ. Joshua reminded the people of Israel that God was the one who empowered them to conquer the Promised Land and they needed to continue to follow God’s ways in order to sustain who they are. They needed to be careful not to follow the gods of the people of the land. Joshua said this when he was old and becoming infirm. You have watched me grow old and become someone who is no longer able to do the things of my youth. If there is one message I would like for you to remember, it is that what we have done together has been accomplished by the power of God in our midst. You then need to be careful to continue in that way. Your lives need to be formed by being the children of God and not the children of this world.

This is a message from pastor and teacher Bill Serjak from the Joshua series “New Beginnings”

A Real Spiritual Presence
Joshua 21:41 – 45

My grandmother on my father’s side grew up in a little town in Slovenia called Ig. That is the whole name of the town. It is a small town located a short distance from Ljubljana, Slovenia. Actually, a name like Ig is pretty easy to pronounce for a central European language. At least, it has a vowel. A friend of mine from Croatia once wrote me an e-mail saying that her family was going on a vacation to the island of Krk. I wrote her back and said, “Blazenka, I need a vowel to even try to pronounce that word.” I didn’t know if it was Krik, Krok, Kruk, or whatever. Many words in the languages of central Europe seem short a few vowels. Some of those African languages that seem to be all vowels should send some vowels to them. read more…

This is a message from pastor and teacher Bill Serjak from the Joshua series “New Beginnings”

Women’s Rights
Joshua 17:3 – 6

Today, we usually think that we need to change our laws or our culture in order to change people. We put a great deal of effort into arguing over what laws we should pass so that people will act the way they are supposed to act. We also think that if everyone has the right education, then our world will be all right. We don’t realize that God doesn’t do much in either of those areas. God works directly on people and seeks to change them. He then depends on the people to change the culture. If we first change the laws or the culture, then the people will constantly rebel against the laws and the culture. If the people are first changed, then they will respond well to Godly changes in the culture. read more…

This is a message from pastor and teacher Bill Serjak from the Joshua series “New Beginnings”

Caleb
Joshua 14:6 – 15

When I was in high school, I played basketball and football. Years ago, I coached thirteen-, fourteen-, and fifteen-year-old boys in Jackson County Youth Basketball. I was probably better at coaching than at playing. One of the reasons I may have been better was because I spent so much time sitting on the bench in high school, learning how the game was played. Several years ago, I was doing a weekly Christian show on WRGC. The deejay who worked with me also broadcast the Sylva-Webster and Cullowhee basketball games. Since I was coaching youth basketball at that time, he asked me if I wanted to broadcast the games with him. I told him that I would try and we did the whole basketball season. Later, he asked me to help him with football games. I was fairly good at that also because of all the time I had spent on the bench in high school watching and analyzing games. read more…

This is a message from pastor and teacher Bill Serjak from the Joshua series “New Beginnings”

It’s All From God
Joshua 13:32 – 14:5

In a couple of areas, I see my faith differently from many Christians. Making choices and determining God’s will is one of those areas. I believe we make choices to glorify God within chance and governing authorities. I see that being done in dividing the land among the twelve tribes of Israel. They used three different methods to determine how the land would be divided. Some received their inheritance by casting lots; some received it by the direct order of Moses; and a third group did not get any inheritance in this world. Those ways show us how the things that happen to us often come into our lives. read more…

This is a message from pastor and teacher Bill Serjak from the Joshua series “New Beginnings”

Being Old
Joshua 13: 1- 7

At the beginning of this passage, Joshua is described as being not just old but as venerable. I was curious as to how different translations described Joshua’s old age. My favorite translation to use when I am looking for something like that is The Message, translated by Eugene Peterson. For me, he is the ideal translator. He does not just make an intellectual, word for word translation as the translators of most versions do. Eugene Peterson was the pastor in a local church for almost thirty years. Many ministers like me like to throw out Greek words, but we really only know enough Greek to read the commentaries and reflect what they say about the original language. Peterson is a genuine scholar. He did all of his sermon preparation using the Greek and Hebrew languages. He even did his private devotions in the original languages. Yet, he preached sermons that were understood by the average person in his congregation. The Bible was not written as a scholarly theological work. It is meant to be read and lived. Eugene Peterson sought to preach the Bible so that it could be lived. He also loves poetry and enjoys the varied use of words. He has always loved to go into the woods to recite poetry. He still likes doing that. The Bible is often poetic in its presentation and Peterson can reflect that poetry. Peterson’s translation describes Joshua in this way: “When Joshua had reached a venerable age, God said to him, “You’ve had a good, long life, but there is a lot of land still to be taken.” Joshua was old, but he had arrived at that age in a good way. read more…

This is a message from pastor and teacher Bill Serjak from the Joshua series “New Beginnings”

Completing the Conquest
Joshua 11:1 – 24

One of the difficulties in preaching through books of the Bible is that you can’t pick and choose to avoid the difficult passages. If I could choose, I probably would have not have picked this passage to preach on. Given a superficial reading, this passage would make it seem as though Christians should find everyone who is not a believer in Jesus Christ and kill him. That would be a way for Christians to win in the battle for the world. However, we always need to remember there is a difference between the way God related to the world in Old Testament and the New Testament. It is not that the Old Testament is wrong and the New Testament is the better model, but everything changed following the cross of Christ and the coming of the Holy Spirit. read more…

This is a message from pastor and teacher Bill Serjak from the Joshua series “New Beginnings”

Strength From the Lord
Joshua 10:1-15

I often complain about all the work I had to do while growing up on a farm. Every evening, I would feed livestock for a couple of hours each and in the summer I would work in the fields pretty much all day. As I see it from an adult perspective, my growing up years prepared me well for what I would do in my adult life. I never went to church while growing up but my farm work helped in many ways to prepare me for my ministry years. When I was eight years old, my father bought a tractor on which I could reach the peddles. He did not think I was too young to drive but was careful to teach me what I needed to know to drive the tractor. After he taught me the basics, he turned me loose in a large field to practice my driving skills. For several days, I drove around the field and was able to drive the tractor pretty well. read more…

This is a message from pastor and teacher Bill Serjak from the Joshua series “New Beginnings”

An Oath is an Oath
Joshua 9:1-27

The Israelites had been deceived. One of the tribes they had been ordered to conquer that lived close by tricked them into thinking that they lived far away and that it would be all right to make a treaty with them. The Israelites fell for their deception and made an oath with them not to destroy them. They were not supposed to make such a treaty, but fell for their enemies’ deceit. Some would say that such a treaty should be null and void since it was based on deceit. However, Joshua did not void the treaty. The Israelites did several things wrong before they made the treaty. Our Scripture Lesson said that they did not inquire of the Lord before they entered the treaty. I’m not sure what God would have said to them. He might have exposed the trick of the Gibeonites or at the least slowed down the process and that would have kept the Israelites from entering into the treaty. They might have used the Urim and the Thummim, which was a way of casting lots that the Israelites used to determine God’s will. In any case, they did not stop to consider what God wanted them to do and they ended up making a bad treaty. read more…

This is a message from pastor and teacher Bill Serjak from the Joshua series “New Beginnings”

Renewed Covenant
Joshua 8:28-35

To say that Joshua had been discouraged after the Israelite defeat at Ai would be a major understatement. He led the people of God and at Ai many of them lost their lives in a battle that Joshua didn’t think would amount to much. The defeat was the result of sin. Achan and his family had disobeyed God and followed his own lust. God had told them not to take any spoils from the conquered people and Achan desired some of the goods and took them for himself. The people had disobeyed God, were defeated, and Joshua was disheartened and discouraged. He fell on his face before God and no longer felt worthy to lead.
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This is a message from pastor and teacher Bill Serjak from the Joshua series “New Beginnings”

Consecrate Yourselves
Joshua 7:1-26

A difficult thing about preaching through books of the Bible is that I have to preach on what is next. I can’t skip over parts or leave out parts that are especially difficult. That forces me to preach on the hard things and gives a fuller picture of the God who is revealed in the Bible. One way of creating our own idea of God is to build up a god in our mind and then pick out passages in the Bible that support our idea of that god and leave out the passages that don’t. That allows us to make up our idea of a god and give the illusion of that idea’s being supported by the Bible. Doing that, really makes us god and that’s where we always like to be.
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This is a message from pastor and teacher Bill Serjak from the Joshua series “New Beginnings”

Following the Lord
Joshua 5:1-15

The Jews had been wandering in the wilderness for forty years and now the Promised Land was just across the Jordan River. God backed up the water of the river and they crossed on dry land. They were ready to begin the battles to conquer the land, but the first thing they did was to circumcise the whole army. Militarily, that did not make much sense because it made their whole army totally vulnerable for several days. However, they did not put their trust in their military strength; they put their trust in God and God required that each Jew be circumcised. To put themselves in right order with God, they needed to be circumcised.
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This is a message from pastor and teacher Bill Serjak from the Joshua series “New Beginnings”

Remember!
Joshua 4:1-24

The story in this text is so powerful that I almost hate to make comments on it, but I will. I’d like to start with the last verse that says, “He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the Lord is powerful and so that you might always fear the Lord your God.” This story is to be told so the nations of the world would know that the power of God is with the Jews and so the Jews would fear the Lord. God’s people are always supposed to have a fear of the Lord. However, I think that fear is practically gone today. We are more prone to worship idols and even try to turn God into an idol. Idols are helpful because we can make them in the way we choose and have them do our bidding. We may tell the idol to bless our crops and the idol may require certain sacrifices from us, but we are the ones who determine what he should do. We don’t have to do the idol’s bidding; he is supposed to do ours. That conveniently leaves us with being the real god. We like that position. We don’t have to fear the idol because we control him.
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This is a message from pastor and teacher Bill Serjak from the Joshua series “New Beginnings”

The Ark of the Lord
Joshua 3:1-17

The events in this chapter began when Moses led the Jews out of slavery in Egypt. God parted the waters of the Red Sea so they could leave Egypt on dry land. Then, God closed in the waters and drowned the Egyptian army that pursued them. The Jews then wandered in the wilderness for forty years. They did not wander that long because they got lost. The Jews who came out of Egypt were so tied to that land and perhaps even to their slavery that they were constantly grumbling against Moses and God. However, in these early chapters of Joshua, God tells Joshua what to do and Joshua tells the people. This was a new group of Jews who began the conquest of the Promised Land. When they hear what they are to do, they don’t grumble but set out doing it. God solved the grumbling problem by just waiting forty years until the all grumblers had died off. That may have been a drastic measure. If the Jews who wandered had begun to have faith, they could have gone into the Promised Land, but they never did. The old had to die so new leadership who would trust God would come.
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This is a message from pastor and teacher Bill Serjak from the Joshua series “New Beginnings”

A Fearsome People
Joshua 2:1-24

Did you ever wonder why God told Joshua to send the spies into Jericho? Their information would not be needed because God would miraculously make the walls of Jericho fall down and the city would be defeated by God’s direct power. They didn’t even have a battle plan that new information would help. The only reason I can guess for sending the spies was so the Jews would know about Rahab. Rahab had become different from the others in the city who worshiped Molech, the god of infant sacrifice. Molech was a horrible god and his idea of good and evil had become the standard for the people of the land. That evil was so deeply ingrained in the people that God had order them destroyed so their evil would not be passed on to the Jews and others in the land. However, Rahab had come to believe in God and told the spies, “. . .the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.” When Rahab came to believe that about God, the Lord sent spies from the Jews to find her and rescue her from the coming destruction.
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This is a message from pastor and teacher Bill Serjak from the Joshua series “New Beginnings”

We’re In This Together
Joshua 1:10-18

Last week, I mentioned the adage that the Old Testament is The Picture Book for Baby Believers. As we study this section of Joshua, we need to look at the pictures and see what they show us about God’s character and how He works with His people. As we look at God’s people, they are on the east side of the Jordan River and must first cross the river to conquer the land they have been promised. At this time, Joshua told the officers to get ready because in three days they would cross the Jordan and begin the conquest of the land. It is interesting to note that they don’t appear to have any idea as to how they would cross this fairly large river. They don’t have any boats and the river is too deep to ford. There we’re any bridges anywhere in this area. Yet, they were making plans to cross the river in three days. They were making preparations to do what did not seem possible. I suppose God told Joshua what He was going to do but we don’t know that He had before they made preparations. The Hebrew leaders had to operate completely on faith without knowing how they would accomplish what they were supposed to do. They didn’t even have a battle plan as to how they would conquer the land if they ever did cross the river.
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This is a message from pastor and teacher Bill Serjak from the Joshua series “New Beginnings”

Be Strong and Courageous
Joshua 1:1-9

God did not give the people of Israel a land that was there for the taking. He gave them a land to conquer. God promised them the land and said that He would lead them through Joshua, but they had hard and dangerous work to do to conquer the land. They needed to be totally involved in God’s plan. At this point, they were at the edge of the Jordan River and ready to enter the Promised Land. God told the people not only to conquer the land, but to slay all the inhabitants. In the twenty-first century, it is hard for us to swallow that God would require the Jews to slay all the inhabitants. read more…