. . . Tell The Story?

Dr. Michael Youssef: How you respond to the grace of God, how you respond to the blessings of God, is very important to God. It is not enough for you to review your blessings. It is important to respond to your blessings. God's blessings were given to you so that you might be a witness for Christ. They were given to you so you might be an ambassador for Jesus Christ.
Guest (Male): Welcome to Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef, international Bible teacher, evangelist, and the author of more than 50 inspiring, challenging books written to inspire your faith. Today, Dr. Youssef takes you right to that moment in Old Testament Joshua's life when he declared publicly that he and his house will serve the Lord with all their hearts. This is a declaration that has inspired people for thousands of years. How about you? Let's listen now as Dr. Michael Youssef teaches from Joshua, chapter 24, and hear words about responding to the blessings of God's grace.
Dr. Michael Youssef: I want you to imagine the following scenario. You wake up in the morning and there's no dawn. At eight or nine o'clock, it's so dark. You say maybe by noon things will change, but noon time is bleaker than midnight. As the day begins to progress, there is fear, there is apprehension, there is wondering what's going on, and puzzlement. What happened to the sun? Why is the sun not shining? By evening time, most likely, churches will be packed out with people praying and crying to God because this is such an experience none of us have ever been through. After an all-night prayer meeting, the following morning, you walk outside and there you see a few rays of the sun just beginning to peek through the clouds, indicating that a new day has dawned. Try to imagine now your reaction after 24 hours of fear and trembling. Imagine the joy, imagine the elation. I want you to try to imagine the thanksgiving and the gratitude, imagine the praises that will be lifted up to the Lord for the sun and the sun shining again. The sun shines every day. Why don't we thank God for the sun every day? Why don't we thank God every morning that we woke up, that we're alive? Why don't we daily have a thankful and praising attitude about the creation, about God, and about the blessings and about everything that He has placed in our hands? Why does it have to happen after a frightful experience? Because sadly, we have to lose something before we value it. Sadly, we are just forgetful people. We just forget. This is precisely why you find in the scripture, from Genesis to Revelation, it goes on I don't know how many hundred times God says remember, remember, remember, remember, because He knew that we are such a forgetful people. I know amnesia is a medical condition. Sometimes Hollywood kind of trivializes it in the movies, but in reality, it is a serious condition that involves the loss of memory. In these cases, the victim actually had forgotten his name or her name and their address and the date of birth. They have forgotten their relatives. Amnesia is a condition where those facts are actually blocked totally out of the memory bank of the individual, and the victim cannot remember significant events, cannot remember times or milestones in their life. I want to tell you, there is a spiritual amnesia, a spiritual amnesia that is far more common than the physical amnesia. It happens when God's people forget God's past blessings as if they've never received them. It happens when a person allows his or her present troubles in life to blot out of their memories God's past blessings, God's past provisions, God's past faithfulness, and God's past interventions in their life, and God's past unmerited favor and grace. God knew all of that. God knew our tendency to forget His goodness and His grace and His mercy. God knew that we have a tendency to forget His past blessings, that we have a tendency to take those past blessings for granted and we think that they were due to us, that God owed them to us. God knew that we have a tendency to presume on the grace of God and on the goodness of God. That is why we have here in the last chapter of the book of Joshua the message laid out clear and repeated several times. God is saying it over and over and over again. Don't forget. Don't forget what I have done for you. Don't ignore My past goodness and generosity toward you. Don't take for granted the manifestations of My power in your life. Don't be ungrateful. Don't try to take credit for only that which I have done for you. If you haven't turned to Joshua 24, let me encourage you. We have been going through a series of messages from the book of Joshua entitled, "You Want Me to Do What?" Here we come to the very end. Here the last chapter, Joshua, not less than four times repeated over and over and over again, saying don't forget. In fact, the very place where Joshua called the entire nation of Israel was not just any old place. It was not just by accident. They couldn't find just a place where they can get everybody together. No, the Bible makes it very clear that the choice of the place was deliberate. If you look at verse one of Joshua 24, then Joshua assembled all of the tribes of Israel in Shechem. You say, what's big about Shechem? Very, very big deal about Shechem. You see, 600 years earlier, it was in Shechem that God made a promise to Abraham. He said to him, "To your descendants, I'm going to give you the land of promise." You say, 600 years? Yes. You see, you forget, but God doesn't. Abraham responded to the grace of God. He responded to the promise of God. He responded to the graciousness of God by building an altar in Shechem. Six hundred years later, his grandson Jacob came to Shechem because it was such a holy site and remembered that his grandfather Abraham was promised right there. He exalted his family, his household, to get rid of all the idols out of their possessions and to worship Jehovah alone. There, too, he placed an altar at Shechem. So 600 years after Abraham, Joshua comes into the same place, this Shechem. He said, "I am going to build an altar for the faithfulness of God, for the graciousness of God, the God who never forgets His promises, the God who always keeps His word no matter what." There, he challenges the people to respond to the blessing of God. You see, he does two things here. He reviews the blessings of God, and then he challenges them to respond to the blessing of God. I'm sure that each one of us have our Shechems. Shechems may not be in your life, may not be a place, but it's a time. Whether it's a place or a time, you have your Shechems and I have mine. These are the places and the times where God met with us in a very special way. These are the places and the times when God blessed us in a unique way. Those are the places and the times where God provided all of our needs. Those are the places and the times where God fulfilled His promises to you. Those are the places and the times where God answered your prayers in abundance. Those are the places and the times where He intervened on your behalf. Those are the places and the times where God showed Himself to be faithful despite of our unfaithfulness. These are the Shechems in our lives of the places and the times where instead of condemning us and we know we deserve condemnation, He gives us more grace. That's the Shechem in our life. I want to exhort you today, go back to your Shechem. Make a landmark for every one of us needs to go back, not just occasionally, but often, to our Shechems. There in Shechem, God reminded Israel over and over and over again of how He took them out of the mud pits of Egypt, in the slavery where they were up to eyeballs in mud making bricks, and the whips of the Egyptian slave masters were on their backs. There He reminded them of taking them into the wilderness. He did not forsake them, supernaturally provided the manna from heaven. Then at night, He gave them the pillar of fire. By daytime, He gave them the cloud. Then He led them into victory against the Amalekites and all the other "-ites" and the mosquito bites that were trying to kill them. There He took them from the wilderness into the Promised Land. He literally, they crossed the river of impossibilities. There He destroyed the impenetrable walls of Jericho. There He kept on blessing them. He kept on taking them from victory to victory to victory. Seventeen times, count them, in the book of Joshua, chapter 24, 17 times God said, "I... I... I..." He said, "I took you. I gave you. I sent you. I brought you. I delivered you." God can say the same thing to you and to me. You know that surgery that you came through? God was there and He brought you through it. You know that financial blessing that you have received? God gave you that. You know that tight spot in life that threatened to undo you? God is the one who got you out of that. You know those children that God has given you? These children are not ours, they are from God. They are God's gift to us. Well, they will become teenagers and then you're going to question God's gift. Enjoy them for now. Things will change. They'll turn around and become your best friends. After reviewing God's blessings, Joshua was now exhorting them to respond. Reviewing the blessing is not enough. You have to respond to the blessings. He is telling them of their responsibility in the light of these blessings. Listen to me very carefully, please. God blessed you for a purpose. God blessed you for a reason. You must never rest until you find that purpose and that reason and that you respond to it in accordance to the way God guides you. Listen to me, please. Long time ago, and the older I get, the more I am convinced that God is not looking for abilities, He is looking for availabilities. That's all He's looking for you to do, to make yourself available to Him. How you respond to the grace of God, how do you respond to the blessings of God, it's very important to God. It is not enough for you to review your blessings. It is important to respond to your blessings. It is not enough to say, "Well, here are all these blessings that God has given me. Thank You, Lord." That is not enough. You must remind yourself of the absolute necessity of responding to these blessings. You must remind yourself of your responsibility toward what God has given you. God's blessings were given to you so that you might be a witness for Christ. They were given to you so you might be an ambassador for Jesus Christ. God blessed you so that you may reconcile men and women, boys and girls to Christ. You see, when Jesus responded to the call of the Father upon His life, He did something. He had the supernatural power, He could have yelled from heaven, "Believe in Me!" He could have appeared with power and terrifies us, but He didn't. He left the glories of heaven, became man. Then Jesus tells us in Luke chapter 15 that when the shepherd looked around and he found one out of the 99 sheep was missing, he did something. He didn't sit on his blessed assurance and say, "All the sheep will be back." But he got up and he was searching for that sheep until he found the sheep and put it on his shoulders. When the woman lost the coin, the Bible said in Luke 15 that she did not sit there and said it will turn up. No, but she went on a search party until she found that coin, and then she rejoiced. Joshua said to the Israelites, "Now you need to review your blessings, but you also need to respond to God for these blessings." In fact, if you read Joshua 24, it is a magnificent... it's a long chapter, but it is a great chapter. You're going to notice the following. That as Joshua began to remind people of the blessings, he got some of the response that I get from you here. Tepid response. Kind of "You want me to do what?" Yeah, yeah, yeah, Joshua, yeah, we heard you. Yeah, yeah, we'll do something. Okay, Joshua. We'll see how can we respond to the blessings of God. Let me see what I can do for you. You can tell Joshua was exasperated at this insipid response. He really is. I mean, he was getting exasperated at this lukewarm response. In verse 15, he goes down, and it's the first exasperation. He said, "Choose this day whom you shall worship. If you're going to worship idols, go and follow the idols." I mean, those are the words of an exasperated man. Joshua said, "But as for me and my household, we're going to worship the Lord alone." You can sense the exasperation as if to say, "Don't just worship Jehovah half-heartedly. Don't serve Him out of feeling of obligation. Don't think you can serve Him just to bribe Him to get Him on your good side. Don't just go through the motions while your heart is focused on materialism and all the junk of this world. Don't do that." Joshua said, "As far as I am concerned, as far as my family's concerned, we are giving ourselves and our all to the One who did all this for us." Regardless of what the polls said, regardless of what others are going to do, regardless of who says what, regardless of what the leading economic indicator may say, regardless of the pressures that are put upon us, regardless of what others might condemn us or praise us, regardless of what others will do to me, I commit my all to Jehovah. Joshua, he can tell that he's still getting that kind of vacant stares. You know? I mean, he still feels that they're saying yeah, yeah, yeah with their mouths, but they're saying no with their eyes. He gets so frustrated, he goes to verse 23. He said, "Okay, if you really mean what you're saying to me, then put away the foreign gods which you are keeping in your homes, the idols that you're worshipping." You see, I might not know your idols. You might not know my idols, but God knows both of our idols. Stop saying yeah, yeah, someday. Yeah, yeah, one day. Stop doing this. Make a commitment now. Make a sacrifice now. Prove your allegiance to Christ now. Take a stand now. Come to a decision now. Make your faith tangible now. Let your walk match your talk now. Not tomorrow, lest tomorrow you might not be around. You see, we take our very breath for granted. Yet, there are some people did not wake up this morning. God spared you. You better find out why. You better find out why. I was thinking about this and I was praying and I was really broken before God. I thought about covenants. You know, covenants or contracts are entered into normally between two equals. That's the normal... two business people, or somebody's going to bring in something to the table. Our marriage covenants, our marriage between husband and wife, equals. Covenants always between equals. Whether somebody's bringing sweat equity or financial equity, whatever, somebody is bringing something to the table. As I began to think, as covenants been made with two equals, and I thought about how magnificent God is, the covenant-making, covenant-keeping God. That He is the superior, He is the holy, He is the righteous, He is the rich God. Yet He chooses to enter into a covenant with poor creatures. Not to equals. That is why the Christian faith is unique in all of history. What a privilege! The great God of the universe, the One who said, "Let there be light," and there was light, says, "I want to enter into a covenant with you." Lord Jesus, come into my life. I've been living without You. Now save me now and eternally. But let me speak for a moment for those who have entered into a covenant with God, those who have known the Lord Jesus Christ for some time. You are saying, "God, You saved me eternally. Now I want to help see somebody else saved. God, You blessed me. Now I want to be a blessing to others. God, You provided for me. Now I want to provide so that others in Mongolia and in the Middle East and in North Africa and throughout the United States and in this city and in this place might come to know Jesus." If there is one thing that honors the covenant-making, covenant-keeping God, is your willingness to trust Him. Is your willingness to trust Him. Say, "God, I know You provided for me in the past, but I know You're going to provide for me in the future." Don't allow fear to come into the situation. Trust in His grace, trust in His provision, trust in His mercies, trust in His promises.
Guest (Male): Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef is the program you've heard today, and we want to invite you to connect with us every day. If you'd like to further explore what it means for you to be wholly committed to God and His word, won't you consider a conversation with the Leading the Way pastor or a counselor? You can begin that conversation at ltw.org/jesus. That's ltw.org/jesus. Are you overwhelmed by living in a culture that seems to stand opposed to everything you hold precious? Have you lost loved ones or experienced personal or family crisis in recent months or years? Well, in Dr. Youssef's book, he challenges you to fix your eyes on Christ and to praise Him in the midst of the storm. The book is called *Empowered by Praise*, and the subtitle is really telling about what you can expect. It's *Experiencing God's Presence and Power When You Give Him Glory*. So get your copy of this life-changing book when you give a gift of any amount to the global ministry of Leading the Way. The number is 866-626-4356. The title again, *Empowered by Praise*. 866-626-4356 and ltw.org. ltw.org. In *Empowered by Praise*, Dr. Michael Youssef will guide you into a richer understanding of God that will forever change your relationship with Him. Filled with practical scriptural guidance and stories from his own personal life, Dr. Youssef's book explores the blessings, challenges, and power of prayer. You can dive deep with the comprehensive workbook, which features practical reflection questions and small group activities. You can experience the deep, abiding joy of entering God's presence, seeing His power on display in your life, and glorifying Him with all that you are. Discover how praise can lift you above difficult circumstances and transport you into God's presence and power like never before. For your gift of any amount, you can order your copy of *Empowered by Praise*. Visit us at ltw.org. ltw.org. This program is brought to you by Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef. Connect further with audio and video content at ltw.org or through your favorite social media platform.