JOSHUA'S FINAL WORDS

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Read Joshua 24; Judges 2:1-10

     "Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve…. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."   Joshua 24:15 NIV

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     Just before he died, Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel together and they presented themselves before God. In the exact words of the Lord, Joshua reviewed all God had done since He brought them out of Egypt. Then Joshua said,

     "Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness…But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve…But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD." (Joshua 24:14–15)

     God had kept all of His promises, but Joshua knew the people would persist in turning to their false gods. After Joshua’s generation passed away, another generation grew up, who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel. (Judges 2:10) The older generation served the Lord, but failed to tell their children the stories of what God had done.

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     Lord, help us to remember to talk of your love and faithfulness to our children and to remind them often of the responsibility they will have in telling their children. Don’t let it be said of anyone in our family that they “neither knew the Lord nor what He had done for their parents.”

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     Israel served the LORD throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had experienced everything the LORD had done for Israel.    Joshua 24:31 NIV