The Consequences of not Completing the Conquest

Have you ever started a project and didn't finish it? Sure you have. We all have. In fact, this is an area I have to pay close attention to, as I can start numerous projects well, but unless I'm truly focused, I don't finish any of them. For me, I've learned to NOT start so many. After all, if you put too many irons in the fire, you'll put the fire out. So now, I think through a project before starting it that way I'm more focused to finish it.

That being said, I'm burdened today with the reality that some start loving the world and wind up forsaking the Lord. I've watched preachers compromise this Apostolic truth. I've witnessed saints of God turn and walk away. I even have loved ones who have left. All of these cause me to ask the question, "WHY? What happened to lead them to that decision?"

Consider something with me for a moment and open your Bible to Judges, chapters one and two. You will notice that in Judges 2:10 that a generation rises up that does NOT know God or His works. Verses 11-13 go from bad to worse as this generation abandons the Lord and serves false gods.

As I read through these and pondered the question, I felt impressed to read Judges 1...

Things start off with the death of Joshua and his generation of leaders, but the congregation of Israel prays to the Lord and receives direction and take to completing the conquest of possessing their promised land.

However, by verse 21, a shift takes place as we see that tribe after tribe does not completely drive out the inhabitants of the land. Read on from verse 21 through verse 34 and you will see what I'm talking about.

Judges 2 starts off with God being enraged by their decision to break the covenant with Him. They plainly disobeyed God. This second generation after Joshua started the conquest off right by praying, but didn't complete the conquest correctly.

Judges 2:10-13 are the consequences of not completing the conquest. But look to whom the consequences fell - the third generation!

When I realized this, I became increasingly aware of the reality of those coming up behind me. I cannot afford to be incomplete in my task and duty to rid the land of all the inhabitants. I cannot make any covenant or truce with the enemy! Doing so will set up the generation after me for failure.

In the 2008 Olympics, both the USA men's and women's teams failed because the baton was dropped. Imagine the frustration after all that work, all that proper diet and exercise, and after being chosen to represent the USA on the world stage, only to drop the baton.

God help us who are running this race with patience NOT to drop the baton when it comes time to pass it off to the next generation! Let us lay aside EVERY weight and the SIN that does so easily weigh us down!

Live holy!

Be separate!

Bear the fruit of the Spirit!

Be FULL of the Spirit!

Conquer the flesh and complete the conquest!

A generation follows us that is depending on us not to drop the baton! As I near the end of my tenure as youth president and a career in youth ministry spanning back to 1991, I am keenly aware of preserving this Apostolic Truth and ensuring that it's in good hands.

Last night (6-26-09), my wife and I took a van load of our precious young people to Camp Meeting and a couple of different times on the way home, my heart beat a little faster as I realized that these teens are those to whom I will pass the baton some day.

Our children deserve the BEST from us! I may not be able to pass along financial security to them, and the heirlooms I do have are of little to no cash value; however, it is my prayer and my life's mission to ensure that I plant a love for this Apostolic Truth deep in their hearts and minds!

I choose to complete the conquest! Do you? Will you join me today and make sure that we have rid the land (our hearts and minds) of all the inhabitants of this world? Let us make for sure that we have broken all ties with the world and it's system of thinking. Let us be separated from the world and separated unto God. A generation rising up in our ranks depends on us! By the grace of God, I will not fail them. You will not fail them. Together, we can and will complete the conquest!

Your Word is Truth!

"Your Word is Truth!" In these four words, the scoffers and mockers are stopped. God's Word is not a myth, or a novel, or a textbook. His Word is TRUTH!

Jeremiah spoke of three things the Word of God is like, and these are the basis of this 100th post on Pastor's Pen.

Jeremiah 23:28-29 (ESV)
Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but let him who has my word speak my word faithfully. What has straw in common with wheat? declares the Lord. [29] Is not my word like fire, declares the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?

1) Wheat:

We are fed from the Word of God. It is like the manna that fell in the wilderness for the Hebrews. The Word of God sustains and strengthens us. Jesus is that bread of life - the bread from heaven!

John 6:31-32 (ESV)
Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.' " [32] Jesus then said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.

Do you read the Word casually or carefully?

Do you make a habit to study it or is it just something you do occasionally?

How often do you read the Word of God?

Do you let God speak to you through His Word?

Do you allow a verse or passage to marinate in your mind in order to have deeper understanding?

Do you long for it more than anything else in this world?

These questions will help you to determine the status of your relationship with God. Be open and honest with God and yourself. Grow accordingly in Him. Discover what God has in store for you from His Word and in the spirit of the psalmist, "O taste and see that the Lord is good..."

2) Fire:

The Word of God is a consuming fire that burns up all the impurities. Fire is what tests and proves us.

1 Corinthians 3:12-13 (ESV)
Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— [13] each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.

When you apply fire to gold, silver and precious stones, they are purified and their value increases. When you apply fire to wood, hay and straw, they are consumed and turned to ash.

What are you building with?

Are you allowing the Word of God to burn up the impurities in your life?

Do you let conviction lead you to repentance and to salvation?

Are you just skimming the surface of the word, using wood, hay, and straw as your materials?

Or are you digging deep beneath the surface and mining out the gold, silver, and precious stones from His Word?

3) Hammer:

The Word of God is likened unto a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces. Hammers are used to build things, fasten things, but also to destroy things. Sometimes we need that hammer to build up things, and at other times, we need it to tear down things.

Colossians 2:8 (ESV)
See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.

Traditions that do not parallel perfectly with Scripture need to be broken down with the hammer of God's Word - remember, His Word is truth! You must desire truth over tradition!

Why believe something that does not line up with the Word of God?

Which is better: to hold fast to tradition, or to trade it for truth?

Are there things in your heart that need to be hammered away?

Are you willing to let God's Word hammer those things away?

Are you then willing to also let God's hammer build truth in it's place?

Conclusion:

The Word of God is not something to be taken lightly. The casual reader will never plum the depths of it's truth. However, the student of the Bible will find strength in hard times, peace and comfort during difficulties, strength to remain steadfast, and hope beyond this world!

How do you approach the Word?

Hebrews 4:12 (ESV)
For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.