 All right, we're in Joshua chapter 24, the last chapter in the book of Joshua. So Joshua chapter 23 and Joshua chapter 24. We have Joshua himself is pleading to the people. He's looked back at verse number 20 or in chapter 23 at the beginning of the chapter where it says, and it came to pass a long time after the Lord had given rest unto Israel from all their enemies around about that Joshua waxed old and stricken in age. So Joshua is an old man right now. He's he's at the verge of the end of his life. He's 110 years old. We find out in Joshua chapter 24 and in Joshua chapter 23 and 24, he is pleading with the people to not forget the Lord after he is gone. And he's worried, concerned Joshua chapter 23. He uses some pretty brilliant tactics in Joshua chapter 23 and 24. In Joshua chapter 23, we studied it extensively over the last couple of weeks. And he's pleading with the people to be courageous, to be courageous, to follow the book of the law. He's saying, look, you know, he's like, you have to the Lord will fight for you as long as you follow his law, as long as you have the courage to follow his law. In Joshua chapter 24, Joshua continues his plead, his, his speech to the people. But he uses a couple of different tactics here. And I'm going to show you what we can learn from those tactics. I'm not necessarily going to go through verse by verse in Joshua chapter number 24. But basically all the way up to verse number 20, I'm going to go back and explain that in a few minutes. But in verse number 21, I want to show you that the people, he convinces them in verse number 21. They finally answered Joshua and they say, you know, you've said enough, you've convinced us. And look what the people say in verse number 21 of Joshua 24. The Bible says, and the people said unto Joshua, Nay, but we will serve the Lord. And Joshua said unto the people, Your witnesses against yourselves, that you have chosen you the Lord to serve him. And they said, we are witnesses. So verse 21 through verse 27, you see the people basically making this covenant with God. That they say they're going to agree with Joshua. They're not going to forget the Lord. They are going to serve the Lord. They're not going to pursue those strange gods. And Joshua basically tells them by saying, your witnesses against yourselves. He says, you will be without excuse. You will be without excuse because of this covenant that you have made. You've just said what you're going to do. So when you don't do it, it's like you are without excuse. Look at verse number 28. I'm going to read verse 28 through the end of the chapter. And then I'm going to go back and explain the two tactics that Joshua uses at the beginning of the chapter. Look at verse number 28. Now we go back into Joshua after he's done talking to the people. So Joshua let the people depart every man unto his inheritance. And it came to pass after these things that Joshua the son of none, the servant of the Lord died being 110 years old. And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnash Shira, which is in Mount Ephraim on the north side of the hill, Gash. And Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, which had known all the works of the Lord that he had done for Israel. And the bones of Joseph, with the children of Israel brought out of Egypt, buried they in Shechem, in a parcel of ground with Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem for 100 pieces of silver. And it became the inheritance of the children of Joseph. In Eleazar the son of Aaron died and they buried him in a hill that pertained to Phineas's son, which was given him in Mount Ephraim. So Joshua has died and you see that they brought the bones of Joseph with them through all of this, which shows you that the children of Israel, they put a lot of value on their forefathers. They put a lot of value on those that came before them. And the reason I wanted to read that for you, especially in verse number 32, where it shows you they carried the bones of this great man, this great one of their patriarchs of the tribe, or one of the tribes, they brought all the way with them this whole time is because they put a lot of value in there. And this is what Joshua is using in Joshua chapter 24. He is appealing number one. I'm going to show you the two things that he is appealing to in chapter 24. He has shifted from courage in chapter 23, and now he's appealing to two other things. The first one is this, go back to verse number 14. He's actually go back to the beginning of chapter 24. The first thing that he is appealing to is their loyalty. Is their loyalty to God. If you look at chapter 24 and you just go through the beginning verses, we see all these things that Joshua is explaining and just expounding that the Lord has done for them. Look at verse number three. And this is God. This is the words of God. This is God saying, and I took your father Abraham. Look at verse four. And I gave unto Isaac, Jacob, and Esau. Look at verse five. And I sent. Look at verse six. And I brought. These are all things that Joshua is explaining that God has done for their forefathers. Look at verse eight. Again, and I brought you into the land of the Amorites. Look at verse number 12. And I sent the Hornet before you. Look at verse 13. And I have given. So he's explaining all these things that God has done for them. He is appealing to their loyalty to the Lord is what he is doing. He's going back and he's showing, look at all these things that the Lord has done for the forefathers, for all the people that came before you. Interesting note about verse 13 and verse 14 that I just like to point out. It just might be a good bracket for you to put in your Bible. Look at verse 13 and verse 14. This is just a side note. And I have given you a land for which he did not labor. And the cities which he built not. And he dwell in them. Of the vineyards and the oliveards which he planted, not do you eat. So he's saying, he's like, look at, I've given you all these things and you didn't work for these things. Look, verse 13 and verse 14 is basically the New Testament in those two verses. Look at verse 14. Now therefore, fear the Lord. So verse 13 is your salvation. And I have given you this great thing. Look, did you work for your salvation? Did you earn your salvation? It could be compared directly to verse 13. I've given you a land for which you did not labor. You did not work for your salvation. It was a gift. It is the gift of God. I have given to them eternal life, Jesus said. Look at verse 14. Now therefore, fear the Lord. This is the entire New Testament. Since you've been given your salvation, now therefore serve the Lord. That's the New Testament in a nutshell. Now therefore, fear the Lord. So look, Joshua, back to the point. Joshua is just explaining, he's appealing to the loyalty of the people towards God is what he's doing in chapter number 24. With all these eyes, these I have done this. I have given you this. I have gone before you. I have brought you all these things. Look at verse 14 again. Now therefore, he says, now therefore fear the Lord because the Lord has done all these things for you and serve him in sincerity and truth. Put away the gods, which your father served on the other side of the flood and in Egypt and serve ye the Lord. Verse 15. Now he gives the challenge right here in verse 15. He appeals to their loyalty and tells them all the things that God has done for them. Verse 15. And if it seemed evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve, whether the gods which your father served that were on the other side of the flood or the gods of the Amorites in whose land ye dwell. But as for me in my house, we will serve the Lord. So he puts this challenge in front of them. He's like, just pick who he's, look at what the Lord has done for you. Now choose if you're gonna serve him is what he says. And then the people respond right away. The people respond in verse 21 and 22. They said, we will serve the Lord. The people said. And Joshua said unto the people, your witnesses against yourselves. He's like, you said it yourselves, you'll be without excuse. So it's pretty brilliant. He goes through a historical history of all the things that God has done for them, which any of us could look through the history of the Bible and see all the things, all the miracles that God has performed both in the New Testament, the Old Testament, and see that great witness that God, and just why wouldn't we serve him because of that? That's what Joshua is appealing to. That's the first one. It's just appealing to their sense of loyalty to the Lord. Now the second method he's using is this. Look at verse 32 again. And the bones of Joseph which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt buried they in Session. In a partial of ground, which Jacob brought the sons of Hamar, the father of Session, for a bot of the sons of Hamar, the father of Session for a hundred pieces of silver. And it became the inheritance of the children of Joseph. So they brought one of the patriarch's bones with them. And this is one of the reasons that Joshua brings up all the stories of the Lord working with the patriarchs. And he's appealing to the fact that they have a goodly heritage is what he's appealing to. Turn to Psalm chapter 16. Joshua was so worried about Israel and he knew generations that came after this current generation would struggle that he was appealing to them to recognize, to remember the heritage that they had been given is what he's doing. Look at Psalm chapter 16. Look at verse number six. He's appealing to their sense of the heritage that they've been given. Look at Psalm 16 and verse number six. The Bible says, the lines are falling to me in pleasant places. Yay, I have a goodly heritage. So he's saying, look, he's basically saying to the people, you have a goodly heritage. He's like, look at what you have been given from the patriarchs, from the relationship that they had with the Lord. He knew that it was important with them. You know, just we know that it's important to them just from the fact that they brought some of the patriarch's bones with them on all their journey of the battles and the conquering of the Promised Land. So he's saying, remember your heritage. Remember where you came from. Remember who your fathers served. Remember the God of your fathers and serve him. So look, you know that you have a heritage. Everybody in this room tonight has a heritage that they've also been given. You know, think of the type of heritage. I mean, think of the heritage of the children of Israel, of all these people that he brought up from Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Joseph and all of these people that were brought up from all the patriarchs in the Bible. You also have a heritage. Well, you say, well, you know, my heritage isn't good or my heritage isn't as good as that or I wasn't given this goodly heritage. So what do we do? A question and just an application of this tonight is what do we do with our heritage? What if I don't have a perfect heritage in my life? Well, here's what you do. And the Bible talks a lot about this. I mean, what about, you know, my heritage that I have, it's in the past, right? It's done. The heritage that I have from my parents and grandparents and great grandparents, it's been given to me. What do I do with it? You know, what if it wasn't goodly? What if your heritage wasn't Psalm 16, verse number six, and it wasn't goodly? What if it was just bad? Well, here's what you do. You take the good. You know, you take the character traits or the things that you were taught that were according to the Bible. Take the, you know, the book, the thing about the Bible is this. The thing about the Bible is this. If you were taught biblical traits as a child, it will work for you. Even if, you know, your parents or your grandparents weren't saved, but they at least taught you biblical character traits, the mechanics of the Bible will still work for people. If, you know, they live the life according to the Bible. So look, at least take what you can from your heritage and then all the sin, all the false doctrine, all the unbelief, just leave it behind. That's what you do. That's what you do with your heritage. Turn to 2 Corinthians, chapter five. So Joshua is appealing to the people's heritage because guess what? Guess what? And unfortunately, you know, I hate to break it to you, but the heritage that you leave behind is extremely powerful on people's lives. Look at 2 Corinthians, chapter five. But the Bible says this. You say, I have a bad heritage. You know, all my heritage isn't good. Well, you take the good and you leave the bad behind is what you're to do. Look at 2 Corinthians, chapter five. Look at verse 17. The Bible says, therefore, if any man be in Christ, this is any man, this is any person who is saved. Any person who has believed and trusted on the Lord Jesus Christ, the Bible says he's a what? He's a new creature. The Bible says, old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. Look, the Bible here is saying is if you are saved, it says if you are saved, it says you are a new creature. That means you're not like gently used. You're not secondhand anything. It's like you're brand new. The Bible says, and then it says, and then it says old things are passed away. And then he says it more complete. He says, behold, all things are become new. There's not like, oh, I have to live with this bad heritage that I got here, and I got some baggage. I just got to drag with me. He says, no, everything is new. It's like, if you are saved, everything is new. He said, why is that important? Turn to Philippians, chapter three. Why is that important? Look, if you are saved, the past does not matter. As a matter of fact, if you obsess or you are stuck on the past, that's a problem in the Christian life. Turn to Philippians, chapter three. Look at verse number 13. Verse number 13 of Philippians, chapter three. I'm gonna wait for everybody to get there. So this is very important to understand this point to get to the rest of the sermon. If you're saved, the past doesn't matter. Your bad heritage that you've inherited, it means nothing if you're saved. Okay, and as a matter of fact, if you can't let it go, it's gonna cause you problems in your Christian life. Look at Philippians, chapter three. Brethren, Paul says, brethren, I count myself, I count not myself to have apprehended. But this one thing I do. Now underline that this one thing I do. Because what is the one thing? The one thing is in verse number 14. Okay, he's gonna list a couple of things that he has to do in order to accomplish that one thing right after this. He says, but this one thing I do. And he says, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth onto those things which are before. He says, I press toward the mark. So look, he says, but this one thing that I do, I press toward the mark. But in order to press toward the mark, he has to forget those things which are behind. And he has to reach forth onto those things which are before. Before in this case means in front of him. Okay, in front of him. So in order, what he's saying here is in order to press toward the mark in your Christian life, you have to forget those things which are behind. That's what Paul was saying. He said, and you have to only look to the things that are in front of you. It's like, in order, but this one thing I do, in order to press toward the mark, you must forget the things that are behind. You know what this says? You know what this is saying? As you look back on a marred heritage. If you have a marred heritage, say you know what I didn't raise, I wasn't raised in a godly home. I wasn't given good character traits and my parents never paid attention to the Bible and I didn't get saved till later in life. The Bible here is saying, it's like, hey, that's great, but you're saved now. Now, if you wanna press toward the mark, you have to forget those things which are behind you. Because people will not be able to go forward if they're looking back. The New Testament is very clear about that. Jesus is very clear about that. So don't look back on a marred heritage. You must let go of the bad, keep the good, and look forward is what the Bible says. Now, that's what Joshua is saying. He's appealing to this goodly heritage that they had in the past, but here's the thing. As you don't look back on a marred heritage, don't you think that it's important that you create a goodly heritage yourself going forward? Joshua is literally using this. Think about this. Of all the things that Joshua used in his speech, this goodly heritage that they had is one of the main points that he's making to the entire nation for them to continue serving the Lord. Is this goodly heritage? Don't you think it's important that we create a goodly heritage for people to be able to point back and use that as motivation in their lives? Look, it's very important. Just, I mean, let me give you a couple examples. Most of us here are raising children in this church. Guess what? You are making their heritage now. You are literally creating the heritage for your children right now in the present. It's what they will look back on and take the good or hopefully leave the bad if there is bad. Just think about what the Bible says about a perfect example of this is disciplining your children. You know, you're leaving. Look, you are creating a heritage as far as your children, because a lot of people think, a lot of people think, well, I'm gonna discipline my children so they behave and they have a spiritual life, but guess what? You're also disciplining your children and you're raising your children according to the Bible so you can give them that heritage that they can take forward in their life when they raise their children. And they raise their children, those children raise their children. I mean, look, haven't you ever heard of people, even the guys around here have done it. People that brag about their dads, you know, or I guess, you know, that's really what they're doing. But when the people make comments like this, like, man, my dad, you know, if they see like a kid not behaving or something like my dad never would have put up with that. It's like, my dad would have killed me if I would have done something like that. Haven't you ever heard people talk this way? Bunch of guys get together. Man, if my dad ever saw me do something like that, he would have ended my life. You know, these conversations that guys have with each other, you know what those guys are doing? You know what these people are saying in those cases? You know what they're saying? They're saying they're proud of their heritage. They're saying, you know what? It's like, my parents were righteous. I have a goodly heritage. That's what they're saying. They're saying, you know what? My dad was a man. It's like, my dad was, you know, was a godly man that disciplined his children correctly. That's what guys like that are saying. When they tell stories. Like, my dad would have killed me if I would have done something like that. Look, they're saying I have a goodly heritage in so many words. But look, you're creating a heritage no matter how you raise your children. That's another thing that we need to think about. I mean, it's either good or bad, but it's a heritage all the same. I mean, if you spoil your children, you're still creating a heritage. It's just a bad one. And it's a bad one. And it's one that your children will have to leave behind if they wanna get moving forward in their life. And the problem though, as folks is this, many people can't leave a bad heritage behind. I mean, people's past ruins them. You have to think about this. People's past ruins them. Look, if this wasn't true, then everyone that got saved would just serve the Lord and be a great Christian. But why don't they? Why don't they? It's because their past ruins them. It's because they're focused looking back on a bad heritage. Or maybe they've embraced the bad heritage. Maybe they're not focused looking back and bitter about it. Maybe they've just embraced it. And they thought it was normal. They thought it was good. Go to Proverbs chapter 13. Proverbs chapter 13. I mean, just this idea of children and the heritage that we are giving them is a huge deal in the Bible. Look at Proverbs chapter 13 and verse number 24. Proverbs chapter 13 and verse number 24. Now, I mean, I'm just, I'm using disciplining children as just one example. But I could give many examples of the heritage that we are leaving behind. Look at verse 24 of Proverbs 13. He that spareth his rod, hateeth his son. But he that loveth him, chasteneth him, be times. That means speedily. That means, you know, when they need to be chastened, it's done right away. There's no, I'm gonna count backwards from 10, nine. Oh, I'm gonna count to three. No, it's speedily. That's what it means. Now turn to Ephesians chapter six. Turn to Ephesians chapter six. So the Bible says, and we've studied this many times, if you don't spank your children, if you don't punish your children, you hate them is what the Bible says. It says, you know, he that spareth his rod, hateeth his son. It's kind of the opposite of what they're teaching today. Look at Ephesians chapter one. But let me show you what the Bible says here. The Bible gives us the other side of this as well. The Bible gives us not just the warning in Proverbs chapter 13 and verse number 24, but the Bible actually gives us what's gonna happen if you don't do it. It gives us the answer. Look at verse number one. It says, children, obey your parents and the Lord for this is right. Honor thy father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise, that it may be well with thee and thou mayest live long on the earth. So we're giving some commands to the children here. We're giving some commands to the children. Then verse number four, we have some commands to the parent or to the father specifically. It says, any fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. So it says, fathers, don't provoke your children to wrath. That means anger. It says instead to avoid provoking your children to wrath against you. So the first three verses are just, kids, you listen to your parents. This is the whole family answer right here. In Ephesians chapter six, kids listen to your parents. Verse one, two and three. Verse four, parents, don't provoke your children to anger. What do you mean provoke my children to anger? How is that possible? How could that ever be possible to provoke my children to wrath against me? Well, don't bring them up in the ways of the Lord. It says in the last part of the verse. It says instead, bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Proverbs 13, 24. It says, if you spare your rod, you hate your son. Here's what people don't understand. Most people don't discipline their children because they want to love them. They wanna be loving towards them. They wanna make them happy. Do you understand what I'm saying? The Bible says the opposite is true. The Bible says if you don't, and the opposite is true in both directions, don't miss this. If you don't discipline your children using the rod, you hate them. And as they realize that that is their heritage that you have given them, they will hate you. What the world's teaching isn't true. But I don't wanna spank my kids because I read a book 25 years ago that says that's mean. No, the Bible says that it's hateful to not do that. The Bible says spanking your children is loving them. And the results, and if you're old enough, if you're old enough like me, you've seen this happen many times. You've seen children that were not disciplined properly turn against their parents. You've seen children that were not brought up in the ways of the Lord, hate their parents. Turn on their parents. Their parents provoke them to wrath by doing what? By not spanking them. If you gotta break it down that simply by not bringing them up the way God said. And guess what? You wanna make them happy. You will never find a more miserable child than a spoiled child. Kids screaming and crying constantly. What, you wanna make them happy? You chasing them. Don't spare the rod. Because when they realize that you have given them a bad heritage, the Bible says in Ephesians chapter six and verse number four, they're gonna hate you for it. They're gonna turn on you for it. Because they're gonna, you know what they're gonna realize? Think about this, let me just make it practical for you. You don't spank your kids. You don't discipline your kids. You don't bring them up the way the Bible, that's your heritage that you're handing to your kids. You don't bring them up that way. You expose them to the school. You expose them to the wickedness. You expose them to everything that everybody, and guess what? They just go into all kinds of filth and sin and people get a hold of them and hurt them. You know who they're gonna blame? They're gonna blame you. Because you hated them. Because you didn't protect them. They're gonna grow up to realize that they have a bad heritage. They're gonna grow up to realize, you know what, my dad wasn't strong enough. They're not gonna be the guy in the corner of a Baptist church saying, oh, my dad wouldn't have put up with that. My dad would have, oh, my dad would have brought the house down on my head if I would have done something like that. They're gonna be the guy that sits there and says, you know what, my parents didn't protect me. My dad was a weakling. My dad didn't care is what they're gonna think. I've seen this so many times. The Bible, look, the Bible is so true. It has all, like, no matter what we think, just follow it by faith. Just read it, trust it, and do it. I'm never gonna stop saying that. Just read it, trust it, and do it. Just listen to the Bible. Look, the Bible sees these things coming before we do. So think about that heritage. This is just one example. Just one example of the heritage that we're leaving, just raising our children, disciplining our children properly. Think about your marriage. What kind of heritage are you leaving with your marriage? You know, if you have a terrible marriage or you have failed marriage or failed marriages or whatever, I mean, look, this is the heritage that you are leaving your children. Husbands, are you loving your wives? That's a heritage that you're leaving your children. Wives, are you submitting your husbands? Submitting to your husbands? That's a heritage that you're leaving to your children. You're creating a heritage to your children of what a marriage should be every single day, every single hour that you are with them, you are creating a heritage. Look, daughters are gonna become wives. Sons are gonna become husbands. How are you, what kind of heritage are you giving to your daughters on how they should be treated by their future husband? What kind of heritage are you giving to your sons on how they should treat their future wife? This is being created every single minute in your families, this heritage. Is it a good one or is it a bad one? Now really what Joshua, I could go on and on and on every single thing that you do in your life, whether it is according to the Bible or not is creating a heritage that you are passing on, whether you like it or not. This is what Joshua was appealing to. Now really what Joshua was getting at here was he was talking about a spiritual heritage. Now let's talk about that. Now this is where it gets really interesting because this is really Joshua's main point of the heritage. He's talking about the heritage of the Lord. I mean as you think during this sermon, as I'm sitting here and I'm reading these things off, the heritage that you're creating right now, you're probably thinking, hopefully you're thinking, oh you know the heritage that I'm leaving, it has imperfections. It has imperfections, it's not perfect. I could do better here, I could do better there, but ultimately what Joshua is calling out here is the heritage that God left us. He's calling out the heritage that God left the children of Israel from Noah to Abraham to Isaac and Jacob to Moses and Aaron and now us. Joshua is saying this heritage, look the heritage he's demonstrating with all these I did this and I gave this and I took you out and I brought you out and I gave you the land. He's demonstrating the heritage throughout all these generations. The heritage from the Lord was perfect. There was nothing wrong with it. Look, there was never a falling away from God's side. There was never a time when God was just, he was too preoccupied with something else to properly give that, do the right heritage with the children of Israel. By the way, this same appeal, look God's heritage to us was perfect. There is no mistakes in it. Is what Joshua is getting at in the first half of Joshua 24. By the way, this same appeal we see somewhere else in the Bible, turn to Acts chapter seven. It's pretty interesting. As Joshua, he goes through the heritage of the Lord. He goes through all these wonderful things that God has done for you, for your forefathers, for your father's fathers and he just lists all, he just gives a history of everything that the Lord has done perfectly for you. Look at who else does this. Stephen in Acts chapter seven, he gives the same type of speech. He's just explaining to the Jews that were listening to him that he was explaining. He's like, look, look at how perfect God's heritage was towards you. He's like, look, and he goes through the history. You ever wonder reading Acts chapter seven, why he went through all that history? This is why he did it. To explain to them how bad they are. To explain to them, look, God was so perfect towards you. Then look at verse number 52, verse number 52. So Joshua, Joshua goes through the history of the heritage of the Lord towards the children of Israel and then he gets them to make a covenant. He's like, choose who you're gonna serve and they say we're gonna serve the Lord. He convinces them but Stephen, you're gonna start to see why they killed Stephen here. Stephen uses that same tactic to show them how much they have betrayed the Lord. To show the Jews how much they betrayed him. Look at verse number 52. So he goes through the same type of history of the heritage of the Lord towards the children of Israel and then in verse number 52, instead of saying, choose who you shall serve, look what he says. He says, which of the prophets have your fathers not persecuted? And they have slain them which showed before the coming of the just one, Jesus. Of whom you have been now the betrayers and murderers. Who have you received the law? Who have received the law by disposition of angels and not kept it. He's sitting there and he's saying, he goes through this whole diatribe of who these people, these Jews, claim to call their forefathers and claim to call their church fathers, their patriarchs and he goes through the whole history of it. He says, oh by the way, he's like, you killed all the prophets. He's like, you killed the Messiah. He's like, you killed the just one. You killed the one that God sent. He's like, that's how you repaid all that. He didn't just come out with verse number 52 and verse number 53, he went through how perfect the Lord was to them. And then he told them, yeah, and then you murdered the Messiah that he sent. And then, you know, they stoned him in the next few verses. They killed him for it. So I mean, look, it's powerful, this heritage. It's powerful. It says in Acts chapter seven that it was so powerful that it cut them to the heart. That's how powerful it is. That's why Joshua is using it. So we must think about that when we think about the heritage that we are leaving behind. Joshua is using this heritage to show that there was never a time, never, when God was paying too much attention to something else. When, you know, he was looking the other way and he should have been looking at you and he abandoned you. There was never a time like that. When we do that all the time, we do that every day. We abandon the Lord in one small way or another. So Joshua is saying, since he has a perfect heritage that he's given to you, since you have, the lines have been falling to you in goodly places, you have a goodly heritage, he's like, be loyal to him. And he gets that commitment. He gets that commitment. There's never, look, and you can say the same thing, there has never been a time in anyone's past when people could look and say, God abandoned his people. They could never say that. Even in Romans chapter one, when we see where God gives up and gives over certain people, they abandoned him first. They abandoned him first. It was, it's always in the Bible. It is always the people that abandon the Lord because God's heritage towards us is perfect. Let's get back to this idea of a spiritual heritage. So since God's spiritual heritage towards us is perfect, think about the spiritual heritage that you are now creating in your lives. How important is your spiritual life to you? If I would ask any of you that question, you would all say it's super important. But guess what? What you say is not the heritage. What you do is the heritage. You'll notice in Joshua chapter 24, it's God having action towards the people. It's, he's giving them things. He's bringing them out of places. He's taking action towards the people. So look, I mean, the point is, what you do is what creates your spiritual heritage that you are passing on. So how much does it take to derail your spiritual life? Think about that. How much does it take? Think about how much it takes to derail your spiritual life. That's your heritage that you're leaving. What you do remember is your heritage. I mean, how often, how often do you veer away? How often do you veer away from the Lord daily? That's your heritage that you're leaving. How often, do you have a spiritual life at your home? Say I come to church, but do you have a spiritual life at home? That's your heritage. Do your kids see you pray? That's your heritage. Do you read the Bible? Do you read the word of God at your house? That's your heritage that you're passing on. Do you read the Bible to your children? That's your heritage that you're passing on. Do you talk about God's word at your house? Do your kids come in here preaching, come to church, but you just never talk about the word of God in your house? Do you talk about God's word in your house? That's the heritage that you're leaving behind. Do you teach it to them? Do you teach the word of God to your children? That's the heritage that you leave behind. You say how often am I supposed to teach it to them? Turn to Deuteronomy chapter six. Say how often, I mean how often should I talk about the word of God and how often should I read the word of God and how often should I do these things? Go to Deuteronomy chapter six and look at verse number six. And these words, which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart. See the thing is, if you read the word of God on a regular basis, you will ponder the word of God. You will think about the word of God. You will read the word of God and you will go to work and you will be thinking about things that you read. It will be in your heart, the Bible says. And then, and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down and when thou risest up. Do you talk about these things? Do you teach them to your children diligently? This is your heritage that you are creating for your children. Now, you say when? Now, you're creating it now. It's like I'm gonna, my kids are young. I'm gonna get it together in a couple years. Look, you're creating it now. You're creating it now. You know the funny thing, the funny thing is about the spiritual, the thing that just kills me. I mean, especially in the last two years is you look at a group of people like us. And I don't know, I think I'm at this church like five times a week. My wife is probably here more. There's always something where I have to come to the church. There's church three times a week. I mean, it was just, I'm at the church, I mean, this church is pretty much my life. And you think about, you know, people that are just fighting this and just they don't, you know, one small thing happens or someone sneezes and they're just knocked out of their spiritual life. Any little change happens. We move buildings and people are just like, oh, we can't come to church anymore or whatever. I mean, the thing that just kills me about it is this. It's like, you know what everybody else is doing? It's not like there's this great life out there. I mean, this is the great life. You know, this is the great life. I mean, you talk to everybody else. I looked it up, I looked, every time I look up this statistic, it gets worse and it gets way worse. You know that between TV, video games, and cell phones, average Americans are in front of one of those things for over 10 hours a day. You say, what do people do? What do people do when they don't come to church? What do people do if they don't go to a church five times a week? What do they do if they don't volunteer to come clean? Or what do they do if, you know, they don't have all these different things going on with the church activities and the opening weekends and all that, you know what they're doing? They're watching TV. That's what other people are doing. They're watching TV by themselves. What did you do this weekend? Oh, nothing, watch TV, play video games. This is what people are doing. They're wasting their lives. They're literally wasting time. So it's not like there's this great, like fun thing that's going on. I mean, people are just literally wasting their lives. I mean, they're consuming media. That was actually the topic of the poll. People consume, people in the United States consume 10 and a half hours of media every single day. That's insane. That's crazy. That's what everybody else is doing. It's a complete waste of the heartbeat God gave you. I mean, it's a complete waste of the breath God put in us. I mean, instead you could be serving your life with the Lord, I don't know. How about like, you know, making a difference in people's eternal destinations? How about going out and trying to like, instead of sitting there watching the news and complaining about this country, how about going out and maybe preaching the Bible to people in this country that have forgotten the Bible, which is the whole problem in the first place? I mean, look, we're the ground forces here. We're the only ones doing anything. I literally have people that will call me and just sit there and they watch Fox News for 12 hours a day and just complain about the country to me. I'm just like, you know, why don't you do something? Why don't you do something about it? You know, these are the same people that are like, oh man, you know, everybody needs to move out of California. Why? Why would we give the nicest places in the country to the craziest people in the country? It doesn't make any sense. It doesn't sense when did we Christians become that type of people? So look, it's not like, look, this spiritual heritage, we should be embracing this thing and we should be building a bigger and better spiritual heritage because it only makes sense. I mean, the Bible makes sense. I mean, yeah, the Bible tells us to do it, but I mean, what's everybody else doing? Just throwing their whole life away. Now the way they're not saved, they're just taking the whole thing, they're throwing it in the trash can. That's what I'm seeing. That's what I'm seeing. People just wasting their whole lives. You know what? I played 44 years of video games in my life and then I died. That's what people are gonna say. When they stand in front of the great white throne, they'll be like, oh man, oops, as they're on their knees, begging is what's gonna happen. So let's recap. Let's recap the challenge here. Let's recap the challenge. You have to leave behind your bad heritage to be able to move forward and create a good one. You have to leave behind the bad heritage to move forward and create a good one, okay? You gotta create a good one, otherwise someone's gonna have to deal with the bad one you gave them, but you have to first leave your bad one behind, okay? Because many people, look, many people are tripped up by this. It ruins them. It turns into bitterness. People like entire cultures in our country are just so bitter over the past, many times past that didn't even happen to them. But if you create a bad heritage, if you can't let go of your bad heritage and you create a bad one yourself, then your children have the same problem. Think about that. And then they have the same challenge of having to leave behind the garbage that you collected. And look, I'm telling you, success is limited. People get so much baggage in their life that you tell them this and you tell them again and again and again, save people, but success is limited in this area. So don't leave garbage. For the next generation, create a good heritage as God gave you a perfect example of the good heritage that He gave you. And that is what Joshua is talking about in Joshua chapter 24. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.