USA Today reports that, "Engineers have begun attaching ropes to the top of the Washington Monument that they will use to rappel down the structure to check for cracks and other damage." Who can forget that day when the reports came in about buildings in our nation's capitol swaying and then cracking? I'm sure this National Parks Ranger in the video will never forget that day either. Imagine being 500 feet up in the world's tallest obelisk while the temblor shakes the all-stone tower like a tinker toy. Gives me chills just thinking about it.
The damage has now been done and they will have to figure out what to do next. The report continues, "The quake caused several cracks to form in the monument. Stones, mortar and other debris fell from its interior and exterior, and the elevator sustained damage." The monument is closed and they don't know when they will re-open it.
Who hasn't experienced life's earthquakes that have shaken us to the core? The kind of shaking that has created gaping cracks that might still be waiting repair from someone, anyone. Have you ever felt like that in your life? I have experienced that kind of shaking. If you want to read more about that time in my life, go to this blog about my near death experience. No matter what it was, God can take the broken pieces in our life and make us new and better and able to do more for God than we ever could before. As the song says, He's the God of Second Chances!
How can God take a broken cracked up person like me and use me? He does it all the time! Joshua, the Son of Nun, is a great example we can use to help us move through and be used better as a cracked pot than we were before.
Let's look at Joshua 9-10 to discover how to get things right and fulfill God's purposes as never before. God can take you from where you are and make you into all you can be.
When we make mistakes realize there are...
1. Consequences
As we look at Joshua 9:16-23a, we see that there were repercussions for deceiving Joshua. In other words, the Gibeonites were not given a free pass. They would have to pay for their lying. Joshua 9:23 tells us they were to be indentured slaves, both them and their descendants. So, God would honor the treaty that Joshua hastily made with them, but they would be enslaved to the Israelites. That's the law and they were answerable to it. We don't really break the law, do we? The law breaks us. That is the curse of the law we are reminded of in Galatians 6:7: "Don’t be deceived: God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows he will also reap" Galatians 6:7 (HCSB).
But God doesn't stop there. Just as the Gibeonites should suffer horrible consequences for their sin, so should we. But that's not the God we serve. He is the God of redemption that takes our mess-ups and, by His grace, makes us better people for it.
This mistake become their...
2. Opportunity
I purposely didn't use the end of verse 23. We are told that, yes, they would be slaves and carry water and wood for the children of Israel, but it would be in service for the King of kings. It would be in His holy temple. There they would see God's forgiveness through the shedding of blood. It was in the temple that they would experience the glorious presence of God and forsake their polytheistic idolatry for the one true God, YAHWEH. It was truly an opportunity of a lifetime to serve Him all their days.
Are we any different? It was our sin that drove us to become enslaved to our appetites. AND it was our sin that we asked forgiveness for that drove us to serve the King of kings and Lord of lords, Jesus Christ. As Bob Dylan reminded us in that 1980 song, "You gotta' serve somebody. Well, it may be the devil and it may be the Lord, but you gotta' serve somebody." To think that we are given the opportunity to serve God. It is truly an honor. And it was our blunders and sin that made that possible.
Finally our actions and mistakes will still give us...
3. Responsibility
Joshua made a promise, and now the Gibeonites called in the favor. Listen to the words of Joshua 10:6, "Then the men of Gibeon sent [word] to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal: 'Don’t abandon your servants. Come quickly and save us!'" (HCSB)
The mistakes we make can cause great embarrassment, but as Dr. Warren Wiersbe said, "Remember that no mistake is final for the dedicated Christian." Yes, there will be responsibilities, but it never means God is though with us.
Today is the day to put your past behind you and begin to live an impossible "Sun Stand Still" kind of life. Don't wait, begin that life right now.
Thinkin' 'Bout Oceanside
Cracked but serving God,
Pastor Trey Rhodes
Who hasn't experienced life's earthquakes that have shaken us to the core? The kind of shaking that has created gaping cracks that might still be waiting repair from someone, anyone. Have you ever felt like that in your life? I have experienced that kind of shaking. If you want to read more about that time in my life, go to this blog about my near death experience. No matter what it was, God can take the broken pieces in our life and make us new and better and able to do more for God than we ever could before. As the song says, He's the God of Second Chances!
How can God take a broken cracked up person like me and use me? He does it all the time! Joshua, the Son of Nun, is a great example we can use to help us move through and be used better as a cracked pot than we were before.
 |
| Pastor Trey Rhodes and his broken pot. |
When we make mistakes realize there are...
1. Consequences
As we look at Joshua 9:16-23a, we see that there were repercussions for deceiving Joshua. In other words, the Gibeonites were not given a free pass. They would have to pay for their lying. Joshua 9:23 tells us they were to be indentured slaves, both them and their descendants. So, God would honor the treaty that Joshua hastily made with them, but they would be enslaved to the Israelites. That's the law and they were answerable to it. We don't really break the law, do we? The law breaks us. That is the curse of the law we are reminded of in Galatians 6:7: "Don’t be deceived: God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows he will also reap" Galatians 6:7 (HCSB).
But God doesn't stop there. Just as the Gibeonites should suffer horrible consequences for their sin, so should we. But that's not the God we serve. He is the God of redemption that takes our mess-ups and, by His grace, makes us better people for it.
This mistake become their...
2. Opportunity
I purposely didn't use the end of verse 23. We are told that, yes, they would be slaves and carry water and wood for the children of Israel, but it would be in service for the King of kings. It would be in His holy temple. There they would see God's forgiveness through the shedding of blood. It was in the temple that they would experience the glorious presence of God and forsake their polytheistic idolatry for the one true God, YAHWEH. It was truly an opportunity of a lifetime to serve Him all their days.
Are we any different? It was our sin that drove us to become enslaved to our appetites. AND it was our sin that we asked forgiveness for that drove us to serve the King of kings and Lord of lords, Jesus Christ. As Bob Dylan reminded us in that 1980 song, "You gotta' serve somebody. Well, it may be the devil and it may be the Lord, but you gotta' serve somebody." To think that we are given the opportunity to serve God. It is truly an honor. And it was our blunders and sin that made that possible.
Finally our actions and mistakes will still give us...
3. Responsibility
Joshua made a promise, and now the Gibeonites called in the favor. Listen to the words of Joshua 10:6, "Then the men of Gibeon sent [word] to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal: 'Don’t abandon your servants. Come quickly and save us!'" (HCSB)
The mistakes we make can cause great embarrassment, but as Dr. Warren Wiersbe said, "Remember that no mistake is final for the dedicated Christian." Yes, there will be responsibilities, but it never means God is though with us.
Today is the day to put your past behind you and begin to live an impossible "Sun Stand Still" kind of life. Don't wait, begin that life right now.
Thinkin' 'Bout Oceanside
- What a great time of worship this past Saturday and Sunday! God continues bringing new people our way. What a great spirit of responsiveness to God you had. Thank you for all you mean to our God, our church and to me. Oceansiders, you're the best!! I wouldn't be at any other church. Don't you want other people to experience what we have every worship service? Then, just invite them. I can't wait to see all that our Lord has for us in the future.
- ScareMare is knocking on the door. I can't wait to see who God uses to reach people with the Gospel. This is such an innovative and unique way to share the Gospel with the masses who probably wouldn't hear any other way. Pray for God to use us. Ask God how he can use you.
Can't wait to see what God has for us this weekend. It can truly be a Sun Stand Still moment. Don't miss it all God has for you!
Cracked but serving God,
Pastor Trey Rhodes
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