JOSHUA 14-18 ASK GOD FOR YOUR INHERITANCE2021 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Joshua 14-18 Ask God For Your Inheritance

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2021. As we begin our service this morning, looking at Joshua chapter 14, I've titled the message, Ask God for Your Inheritance.

Ask God for your inheritance. And we're going to look at a few different examples of people here in the book of Joshua asking, making requests for their inheritance. The first example we see here is Caleb, and we'll get into his example in just a moment. But as we begin to look at these examples this morning, again, considering the promised land, there's some pictures that are painted for us in this whole account.

account of what happened as Israel is taking inheritance or taking possession of the land that God had promised to them. It is their inheritance from the Lord, and it pictures for us, we have been referring to it frequently over the past several weeks looking at Joshua, it pictures that life of victory that we have in Jesus.

It pictures for us a life that is led by the Holy Spirit. And there's some really powerful illustrations that God uses these things to instruct us in. Romans chapter 8, I would suggest, is the parallel passage for the Christian today to the book of Joshua. It's the victorious Christian life and what we have by the power of the Holy Spirit. In Romans chapter 8, verse 16 and 17, it's a passage for us to consider in regard to this.

Romans 8, 16 says,

The New Testament is very clear that as believers in Jesus, we are heirs along with Christ. That as we have believed in Jesus, we're identified in Christ. And so his inheritance is our inheritance.

And we have an inheritance from God that is promised to us, just as Israel had an inheritance, and each tribe of Israel had an inheritance that was promised to them. And each family within each tribe had an inheritance that was promised to them. And similarly, each of us as believers, we are joint heirs with Jesus, and we have an inheritance that's promised to us.

This inheritance is God's blessing and the fulfillment of all his promises towards us. And of course, we can first look to eternity for that. That we look and understand that eternity is the fulfillment of all God's promises and our full inheritance will be established then. But this morning, I also want to remind you that there is so much that God wants to do in this life also.

That if our inheritance was only eternity, that's all that, you know, the plans that God had for us and the promises that God wanted to work out. If all of it existed in eternity only, well, then we'd be much better off if God would just rapture us immediately and, you know, we would be in eternity and experience that. But there is also an inheritance that God wants to establish for you, promises he wants to fulfill, plans he wants to work out, things he wants to accomplish in your life and through your life,

Here in this life, in eternity is the final fulfillment. But right now, and just as he had this plan for Israel to come in and to possess the land, and there was going to be the opportunity for them to experience all the benefits and blessings there, this life also has those kinds of things for you as well. But as I was reading through Joshua this week, starting in chapter 14 on Monday and working our way chapter by chapter, day by day through the week,

What really stood out to me as I was working my way and looking at all the division of the land and the portions being given to each of the tribes, what really stood out to me was how much asking was involved in receiving the inheritance. That the tribes were promised this from God way back hundreds of years earlier through Abraham. God promised this to this people and

God had been promising it to them as they came out of Egypt. I mean, it was very clear this was God's promise to them. It was their inheritance. And yet at the same time, now when it's time to actually take possession of the land and inhabit the land, we see there's a great deal of requests being made. And it wasn't that they just passively received it, but that there was this active asking of

for the things that God had promised to them. And so there's some great examples for us to learn from as we look through these chapters this morning. Again, Joshua chapters 14 through 18, encouraging us to ask God,

for the inheritance that God has promised us. Ask God for the things that he wants to do in your life. We'll look at four examples, four things we can ask for, starting with the example of Caleb here in Joshua chapter 14. Here's point number one. Ask God to fulfill his promises to you. Ask God to fulfill his promises to you. Look again at verse 12 here of Joshua 14. It says, now therefore...

Give me this mountain of which the Lord spoke in that day. For you heard in that day how the Anakim were there, and that the cities were great and fortified. It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall be able to drive them out as the Lord said. Here quoting the words of Caleb to Joshua, we see this great bold request that Caleb makes. He stands before Joshua and

The tribes are gathered together and they're starting to give out the different portions of territory. And Caleb marches to the front and with great boldness says, now, therefore, give me this mountain. I mean, that is great boldness to consider.

Give me this mountain. It's a request, but it is a very strong request, right? It's not just a, you know, well, I was hoping that maybe if you could think about, you know, possibly considering that, like this is give me this mountain. Like very bold request. As I was thinking about that, it reminded me of this scene from one of the greatest movies that's ever been made. And it might not be the movie that you're thinking I'm thinking about.

Not Star Wars this time, okay? The three amigos. Remember the three amigos? And the amigos show up in the town, and they're clueless as to what's really going on, and they're showing off, and the town people are impressed because they think they really know what they're doing. And the little boy goes up to, I forget the character's name, Dusty. No, Dusty's the younger one, the different guy. Anyways, so he says, can I have your watch when you are dead? It's a bold request, right? Because he's expecting...

A wopo's going to come, and these guys are going to be dead pretty soon, and I want first dibs on that watch. That's a nice watch. Very bold request. Caleb makes this bold request. Give me this mountain. Very firm, very clear, very bold. Not in an obnoxious way, not in a way that is disrespectful.

but in a way that is clear and firm and bold, knowing what God has said. Pastor David Guzik says we should imitate Caleb's boldness in asking for what God promised him. We may find it hard to believe, but God appreciates this kind of boldness. We need to imitate this kind of boldness, Guzik says. This is a good example for us, a good model for us.

Now, to be clear, we're not talking about what is sometimes referred to as name it and claim it. The idea of name it and claim it is I decide what I want, I declare it, and then now God is bound to the thing that I said to fulfill it. This is really the inverse of that. This is Caleb saying, God said it, and so I'm claiming it.

Not I'm saying it and so I'm claiming it, but God said it. In verse 12, he says, give me this mountain of which the Lord spoke. The basis of Caleb's boldness is on what God has promised previously. He's saying that God has already told us this is my inheritance. God has declared in advance, this is the land that is promised to me.

If you back up a couple verses here in Joshua 14 to verse 9, it says, It was God's promise given to Caleb through Moses. Now you remember that Caleb was one of the 12 spies that were sent out into the land. And so the context here gives us the impression that

The land that he has given, it sounds like the spies were split up and they all scouted out different portions of the land. And so the land that Caleb was responsible for scouting out, well, that's the land that God said, that is going to be your land. We find the background for this in Deuteronomy chapter 1.

where God, speaking to Moses, says, none of these men of this evil generation shall see the good land of which I swore to give your fathers, except Caleb, the son of Jephunneh. He shall see it, and to him and his children I am giving the land on which he walked, because he wholly followed the Lord.

All the other 12 spies, well, the 10 spies who brought back the bad report, the rest of the congregation that was over 20 years old that disbelieved the promises of God and refused to enter in, God says, they're not going to see any of it. But he gives this promise to Caleb. Caleb walked on this certain piece of land, this certain territory.

And because Caleb believed me, God says, I am giving him that land. That land is going to be his. And so this promise from God was established, recounted there in Deuteronomy chapter 1. And here in Joshua chapter 14, Caleb says, okay, I am showing up now to cash in on that promise that was given. And so his boldness is based upon the promise of God.

Again, it's not name it and claim it in the sense that he made up what he wanted and then demanded that God give it to him. He's saying, God promised me this. And so now with boldness, I'm going to claim that promise and I'm going to tell Joshua, give me this mountain. Give me what God has promised to me. I am asking for what God has declared would be my inheritance. Caleb here provides a great example for us.

Ask God to fulfill his promises to you. That there is the opportunity for us. And it might feel a little bit strange for us. There might be a little bit of conflict in us because, well, sometimes we have overreactions to the things that are

And so maybe you have some exposure to the name it and claim it type of mentality. And so there's this like, you know, I want to distance myself from that. And so I'm not bold in my request to God. I'm not, you know, confident. I'm not that firm in my request to God. But when it comes to the promises of God, we need to understand that not only is there the opportunity, but there's

God appreciates when his people take his word seriously and say, yes, Lord, you said this, and I'm asking you to fulfill it. We have so many examples of that throughout the scriptures.

So many times where God's people looked into the scriptures, looked into the word of God, and looked at what God had said and said, Lord, this is what you said. And so I'm asking you to be faithful to your word. I believe you at your word. And God appreciates and honors a faith that trusts in the things that he has declared and the things that he has promised. I think it's noteworthy to consider the time that has passed.

In verse 10, Caleb says, And that's something to think about. When God gave this promise, it was 45 years earlier. So now when he's boldly asking for the request, it's 45 years later. Sometimes God's promises are fulfilled 45 years later.

We need to settle that in our hearts and allow that kind of time frame to be in the picture. Sometimes in this idea of asking God boldly and firmly, we can be greatly disappointed if we're demanding that he works on our schedule. God's promises will be fulfilled. That is guaranteed.

But we also need to understand God knows the perfect time, the right time, to fulfill those promises. And so we need to be patient. We need to be bold and not shaken in the belief of God, in the trust in God's promises. And we need to be patient. But sometimes we're going to need to keep asking and waiting for that promise to be fulfilled for 45 years. And there are some who are still holding on to promises that God had given to them before.

And it's maybe been 40, 45 years, right? But that's not a stretch for God to figure out or to work out or to wrestle with. It's just something that we wrestle with. So much time might pass. At the same time, we need to be encouraged and be bold to ask God to fulfill his promises to us. Another thing to take note of here in Caleb's request is Caleb includes...

the understanding of battle that will unfold in the fulfilling of this promise. Look at verse 11 and 12. He says,

It may be that the Lord will be with me and I shall be able to drive them out as the Lord said. You know, sometimes when we think about promises from God and them being fulfilled, we picture like easy peasy, no problems. It's just laid out in front of us. It's just accomplished without any effort or risk or challenge or difficulty for us. But Caleb here understands.

This is my inheritance. This is what God has promised me. It's been 45 years and it's going to require a serious battle. There's going to be some great challenges. The Anakim are there. These are the giants in the land. So I'm not taking over a territory that is the weakest of the people in the land. I'm taking over a territory that inhabits the strongest of the people of the land. But he says, God has kept my strength so that I'm able to face this battle.

God has been preparing me these 45 years and preserving me these 45 years so that I'm able still to this day to go to battle against the strongest of the enemy. And with the Lord's help, I'll be able to drive them out. Not in my own strength. God's kept me strong, but I'm still not relying on my own strength. But with the Lord, I'm going to be victorious. Caleb expects battle. He expects to exert a lot of energy. He expects it to be difficult.

but he also expects that God will fulfill his promises. It doesn't mean there won't be battles, but he'll be able to face and be victorious in the midst of those battles. And so ask God to fulfill his promises to you. There may be time that passes, so be patient. And there may be battles that need to be fought, so be bold and trust God, but ask him to fulfill those promises. Pastor Warren Wiersbe says, what an example for us to follow. Age did not hinder him,

The disappointments of the past did not embitter him, and giants did not frighten him.

At a time in life when others were looking for security and ease, Caleb was saying, give me this mountain. I want what God promised me. I know it's going to be good for me. I know it's going to be a blessing. It's going to involve some battle. It involved a lot of waiting, but I'm ready. I'm ready for God to fulfill what he promised to me. Great example for us to ask God to fulfill his promises to us.

Well, the next example that we'll look at is Caleb's daughter in Joshua chapter 15. Here's point number two. Ask God to give you extra blessings. Ask God to give you extra blessings. Turn to chapter 15, and we'll look at verses 16 through 19 here of Joshua. Joshua 15, starting in verse 16, says, And Caleb said, He who attacks Kirjath's sephir and takes it, to him I will give Aksa, my daughter, as wife.

So Othniel, the son of Kenaz, the brother of Caleb, took it, and he gave Aksa, his daughter, as wife. Now it was so, when she came to him, that she persuaded him to ask her father for a field. So she dismounted from her donkey, and Caleb said to her, What do you wish? She answered, Give me a blessing. Since you have given me land in the south, give me also springs of water. So he gave her the upper springs and the lower springs."

Seems that Caleb's faith rubbed off on his daughter. His boldness to make a request, she inherited that from him. And so here, as Caleb's daughter gets married to Othniel, Caleb had set up this test. Let's find out who's worthy to marry my daughter. The one who can conquer this city.

The one who has a relationship with God that is vibrant enough and real enough to trust God and to hear from God how to conquer this city, that guy is a guy that is worthy of marrying my daughter, Caleb says. And so he sets up this relationship. Othniel conquers the city. But what's interesting is, as the two are now married, Othniel and Aksa, she talks to her new husband and says, hey, you need to persuade my father for a field.

As Caleb is conquering the territory that he has inherited, they encounter this particularly strong city, this fortress, this stronghold. He works out this test. He sees Othniel victorious, and so he marries him with his daughter. Now, this, of course, is a little bit different than what we understand in our context, in our culture today, right? But in those days, it was a

normal thing to do, a normal way for a husband and wife to be joined together. And it would have been a great blessing for Othniel to be married to Caleb's daughter. I mean, you could think about it. You know, he gave them a life together, gave them a loving relationship to enjoy for the rest of their lives, a great blessing. But Oxa says, you know, Othniel, we're just getting to know each other here. So I'm going to need to help you kind of grow in your boldness and in your faith and

You need to ask my dad for something more. And I could imagine Othniel saying, I don't know, that's kind of scary. I mean, Caleb's a big guy. He's a scary, he's 85 years old, but he could still conquer giants, you know? So I don't know if I want to like get on his bad side and say, hey, look, your daughter's not enough. Can I have a field too? Like, I don't know. That seems like it's pushing it. Just be content, right? With the marriage. But Oksa says, no, no, no, no. You need to ask my dad for a field.

He's given you a bride. Let him give us a place to live. Let him give us a place to settle down, a place to call our own. And so Othniel asks for a field. And it's not directly stated, but it's implied here. We see that it happens. Caleb grants that request. And so first he receives a bride, and then he asks for a field, and he receives a field. Well, then Aksah continues on

to ask for more. In verse 18, as she approaches her dad, Caleb says, what do you wish? And she says in verse 19, give me a blessing. Give me a blessing. Now, in a lot of ways, you could understand he's given her a blessing in the marriage. He's given her a blessing in the field. But now she says, hey, dad, what do you think about more blessing? I like the sound of that. How about you, dad? Why don't you give me a blessing? You've given me land. You've given me the field.

But you know what would be really extra special, extra blessing upon the blessings that you've already provided? Some springs of water. We need some water for our field. We want to be able to plant and harvest and be refreshed. And what do you think, Dad? Could you give us some water along with the field? And Caleb answered that request. It says in verse 19, he gave her the upper springs and the lower springs. And so here we have...

blessing upon blessing, the marriage, the field. She asked for springs of water. He gave her two springs of water. Blessing upon blessing upon blessing. It's a really good example for us. The boldness to make the request that is demonstrated here in Caleb's daughter is a good example for us in our relationship with the Lord. Ask God to give you extra blessings because sometimes we can

feel like, the way I described Othniel feeling, right? Like, God's already done so much. I can't ask for anything more. That's too bold. I don't want to be disrespectful. You know, I need to be content. Bible talks about being content. And so, you know, I should just be content. Now, there's a difference, again, I would suggest, between asking and demanding, right? So asking is not saying, God, you better give this to me or else. But in some ways, it doesn't hurt to ask, right?

Some of the things that you ask for might not be good for you and part of God's plan for you. And so asking doesn't mean that God will give you everything that you ask for. At the same time, sometimes there are things that God wants to do in your life, blessings he wants to provide. If only you would ask and give him that opportunity to bless you.

I was thinking about what Paul said in Romans chapter 8. Again, Romans 8 is the parallel for the New Testament Christian. Romans 8 is the parallel passage to the whole book of Joshua. Paul says in Romans 8, Paul says, look, you need to understand. God loves you so much. He sacrificed his own son.

He didn't spare his own son. He delivered him up for us all. So if God loves you that much, of course, he's going to be willing to freely give you anything else that is good for you and beneficial for you. Of course, the greatest price has already been paid. Now, again, like Othniel, we might think, oh, but so I've already received so much and so I can't ask anymore. But Paul is saying, no, no, God's going to give you everything that you need. Of course he will. Of course he's willing to.

He's, you know, written the five billion dollar check and you need 25 cents. Of course, like everything that we need in this life is that kind of scale compared to what God has already done for us. Your biggest problem, it's like a quarter in the Lord's economy. It's just like God can't handle that. No problem. God can't borrow a quarter. Here you go. But you've already given me five billion dollars. Yeah, but it's just a quarter. I got it. No problem.

It's just change in my couch. I just fish out a quarter. Here you go. Fix your problems. Answer your questions. Provide blessings for you. Ask God for extra blessings. James, in James chapter 4, gives us some important things to consider. He begins saying, hey, there's fights and wars that are happening between you believers. Where do those come from? It comes from your fleshly desires, that war within your members. But it also comes...

from a misunderstanding about your relationship with God. He says, There's these battles that are going on, this rage that is happening within, and part of that is your fleshly nature, and you need to allow God to deal with that. But also, part of the lack in your life, he says...

is because you're trying to fulfill yourself. You're trying to accomplish things in your own strength and for your own purposes, and you're not asking God for that blessing. You're not asking God to lead you in that. You're not asking God to provide for you in that. And when you do ask, he goes on to say, then you don't receive because you ask amiss that you may spend it on your pleasures.

Your requests, when you do present them to God, are self-centered and focused on fleshly things rather than the things of God. And so again, this idea of asking God to give you extra blessings, that's not demanding that God give you whatever you want, whenever you want it, however you want it. That's not the idea here. But there is the understanding that there's a lot of things that God wants to do in your life that he will not do if you don't ask him to.

There's a lot of things that could be. There's a lot of potential blessings that God would desire to pour out into your life. And you could try to satisfy your life in your own fleshly nature, in your own self-strength, in your own wisdom, in your own understanding. And what James is explaining here is you're going to be frustrated, and you're going to have battles, and you're going to have conflict between people. But if you would step away from trying to fulfill yourself with your own resources, and

and focus on your connection to God, and walk with Him, and ask of Him for those things that you desire, for those things that you lack, well, then you just might receive those blessings that you're seeking. You have not because you asked not. So ask God to give you extra blessings. Be bold. God, you blessed me with a car. Oh man, I'm so thankful. Lord, can I just ask a little favor? Can I have gas for my car? Like,

God wants to give you gas for your car when he gives you a car, right? Like when he provides blessings in your life, you're like, Lord, give me a spouse. And then you're like, Lord, I need help dealing with my spouse. Ask for the extra blessing. He's going to give you the extra blessing, the help that you need. Lord, I want a family. And then later on, oh, Lord, I don't know what I'm going to do with this family. This is so hard. Ask for the extra blessing. Ask God to pour blessing upon. You've already received so much, but that's not...

something to say that, well, I should never ask for anything again. No, that should be an encouragement to you to continue to ask. Hebrews chapter 11 verse 6 tells us that God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. He likes to reward us as we trust him in faith, as we look to him to be the answer, to be the source of fulfillment within. He wants to provide blessing. Ask God. Just as Aksa was bold and willing to

Present this request to her father. You can approach your heavenly father to ask God for the things that are going on in your life, the things that you need, the things that would be a great blessing to you and to those around you. Well, moving on to chapter 17, we get the third example to consider here. And here we're looking at a group of daughters, the daughters of Zelophehad. And here we get point number three, ask God to fulfill the scriptures for you.

Look at verse 3 and 4 of Joshua chapter 17. It says,

Therefore, according to the commandment of the Lord, he gave them an inheritance among their father's brothers. Here in Joshua chapter 17, as the land is continuing to be divided and apportioned out to the various tribes and the different peoples and different families within the tribes, now we have this group of daughters. And the situation here is this guy, Zelophehad, didn't have any sons.

Now, prior to this, all of the language surrounding inheritance was centered around the inheritance being passed to the sons of the father. But in this case, there was no sons. There was only daughters. And so it records for us in Numbers chapter 27 that

the daughters of Zelophehad, saying, hey, you know, it doesn't seem fair that our dad shouldn't receive an inheritance or shouldn't have an inheritance preserved in the land like all the rest of his kinsmen, just because he didn't have any sons and he only had daughters. And so they brought this up back in Numbers chapter 27. At that time, Moses was still leading the people. They were on their way to the promised land, but had not crossed over the Jordan yet.

And so it was all just instruction about the promised land that spurred this conversation. And they make the point in Numbers chapter 27, you know, our dad wasn't rebellious. He wasn't one of those who died as a result of the many rebellions that happened. He was faithful to the Lord his whole life. He just, he didn't have any sons. So why should his name be removed from the inheritance of the land of Israel? And so Moses said, you know, that's a fair point.

Let me ask the Lord what he says about that. And in Numbers chapter 27, verse 6 and 7, it tells us, But then God goes on to say, they make a right request. It's a fair point. So here's the instruction for this kind of scenario.

But not just for this family. God goes on to say in verse 8, So this special case was not just a special case for this one family, but the Lord says, what they're saying is right. This is now applied to the whole nation.

This is the law for the people of Israel. Anytime this kind of situation happens, this is the new rule, the new law. If there is no son to inherit, then the daughters will inherit from the father. And so we see here the daughters of Z, I'll just keep calling them that because that's a bit shorter and easier to pronounce. The daughters of Z asked twice for this inheritance.

They ask first in Numbers chapter 27. They are bold and they bring up the point and they say, hey, you know, this doesn't seem to fit what we know about God. This doesn't seem to fit the nature and character of God and the way that he relates to us. We think that we need to examine this particular kind of situation. And so they have this boldness to ask the first time.

before Moses died, before they're in the promised land. But now they're in the promised land. The land is conquered. Now it's time. The inheritance is being passed out. And we see them again speak up. They're bold to bring their request, to say, listen, remember God established his law as the inheritance is being passed out. Hey, don't overlook us. Don't pass over us. Don't ignore us.

God commanded, God instructed that this inheritance should be given to us. And so they're asking for the scripture to be fulfilled, the word of God to be carried out and active for them and in their lives. This is a really great example for us. Now, for point number one, we talked about asking God to fulfill his promises.

And of course, many of the promises that we rely upon and we look to are found in the scriptures, found in the word of God. And so there's a lot of overlap between point number one and point number three. But point number one also, you know, can be like Caleb. It's a personal promise. It doesn't necessarily have to be written in the scripture. God can speak to you promises directly. And those are promises as God speaks to you that you can hold on to, that you can trust in, and you need to ask God to fulfill them.

But there's also general promises, general instructions, general commands found throughout the scriptures for all believers that we can look to, that we need to hold on to, and that we should ask God to fulfill. That we should speak up like the daughters of Z and say, hey, by the way, remember this passage speaks to this situation that I'm in, and so I'm

Lord, I'm asking you, this is what you said, this is where I'm at, and so, Lord, would you be faithful to your word and fulfill what you declared? Again, we have a lot of examples of that throughout the scriptures. Men and women of God who kind of took the Bible and showed it to the Lord, Lord, look, remember that verse right here? See that? Like, you said this, and so would you fulfill it? Would you bring us back into the land? Would you deliver us from this situation? Would you bring victory in the midst of this? And

many examples that we could look at. But I want to instead consider some examples for us, some things that we should ask God for to fulfill in his word. And so a few examples here just to mention quickly. You can check out these passages later on on your own, but salvation is one of those things that we ask God to fulfill according to the scriptures. In Romans chapter 10, Paul talks about the

the reality of how salvation is experienced. He says, you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and you believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead and you will be saved.

He goes on to say, whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. There's this request of God that we say, God, I believe what you said about forgiveness, about what Christ did for us upon the cross. And so I'm calling on you and I'm holding you to what you said. I'm trusting you for salvation, confessing with my mouth the Lord Jesus.

Ask God to fulfill the scriptures for you in your salvation. And if that's not something that you've done, that's what you need to do. You need to ask God to fulfill his word as you confess Jesus as Lord. As you call upon his name, his promises you will be saved. The Holy Spirit is also a promise that we can hold God to. In Acts chapter 2, Peter says that this is a promise for all who believe.

Those who are far off and as many as the Lord our God will call. And so you and I, we have this promise of the Holy Spirit, the promise of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. This is a reality for every believer. But beyond that, we have the promise of the filling or the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We're commanded to be filled with the Holy Spirit. We're commanded to continue on having the Holy Spirit operate and work within us.

that we might experience all that God has for us. Again, parallel to the whole book of Joshua, Romans chapter 8, the life of the Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians chapter 5. I would bring it up here this morning to say, listen, you need to have a real sense of the Holy Spirit at work in your life. And if you don't have a real sense of the Holy Spirit at work in your life, He indwells you as a believer in Jesus, whether you recognize that or not, whether you have that sense or not. But also there is...

that additional work of the Holy Spirit where He's active in your life in a way that you can sense the moving of the Holy Spirit. You can see the fruit of the Spirit. You're experiencing His work and can testify of what He is doing. And I would encourage you to ask God to fulfill the Scriptures for you. If that's not the case, if you're not experiencing a real and vibrant work of the Holy Spirit in your life,

That you need to reach out to the Lord and ask him to do that kind of work in your life by the Holy Spirit. To be filling you, to be leading you, to be guiding you, to be producing the fruit of the Spirit, to be empowering you to serve him and be a witness for him. That you need to ask God to fulfill the promise that he made in the scriptures regarding the Holy Spirit and his work in your life. I mentioned this next verse a few weeks ago, victory. I guess it was last Sunday. Victory in Isaiah chapter 54 verse 17 says,

God says, this is the heritage of my servants. No weapon formed against you shall prosper. This is your inheritance. This is what the scripture says. And perhaps you need to ask God because it doesn't look like there is victory happening in your life. Now again, like with Caleb, sometimes the reason why we don't see victory is just not enough time has passed. Maybe that victory is 45 years out still. And so we're going to see the victory, but it's just not time yet.

But we can ask God for victory. We can trust God that he will work all things together for good. We can ask God to bring about the fulfillment of what he has said, the victory that he has promised to us. Forgiveness. 1 John 1.9 tells us if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And this is something we can

Take to the Lord and say, Lord, I blew it. I messed up. I've sinned. I've rebelled. I've been wicked. I've been vile. But here I am confessing my sin to you. I acknowledge that I have sinned. I really blew it. And God, I don't deserve it. But because you said it, Lord, would you forgive me? Would you cleanse me from all unrighteousness? Give me that right standing with you that I would be justified.

just as if I'd never sinned, that I would have that right relationship with you, have access to the Holy of Holies once again, have access to your presence and your blessing and all your work in my life. Ask God to fulfill his scriptures for you, to fulfill the forgiveness. And he will, he does. He is faithful to do so. Ask God for peace. Philippians chapter 4, verse 6 and 7, Paul talks about being anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication,

Letting our requests be made known to God, and then the peace of God, which surpasses understanding, will guard our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. The peace is promised, but it's prefaced by make your requests to God. Ask God. What do you not have peace about? Ask God about that. Ask God for help in that. Ask God to work in that. And his promise is that he will work as we trust in him. He will work, and he will provide us peace and

for the time where he is working, right? What's interesting about Philippians 4, 6, and 7 is it doesn't say, ask, make your request known before God, and all of your requests will be answered immediately, right? No, no. It says, and the peace of God will guard your hearts, so that when it takes 45 years for that request to be answered, well, you have peace during that time. You're not anxious that whole time. You're waiting for that request to be answered, right?

You have the peace of God. You can have peace even in the midst of the time where things are not certain and things are unsettled. You can have peace from God as you make your request known to him. And so when you find yourself anxious, when you find yourself unsettled, ask God to fulfill his word. Make your request known to him and ask him to give you the peace that he promised to give.

Ask God for wisdom. James 1 tells us, if you lack wisdom, ask God. He gives to all liberally and without reproach. That means he doesn't rebuke you for not having wisdom. He doesn't say, why are you so dumb, dummy? I'm not going to give you wisdom because you're a dummy. He doesn't say that. He says, God gives wisdom liberally to those who ask. And so you need wisdom? You

Ask God to fulfill the scriptures and say, God, I need wisdom for this situation. I need wisdom to deal with my kids. I need wisdom to deal with this workplace. I need wisdom to deal with it. You know, I need wisdom from God. Well, ask God. Show him the scripture and say, Lord, look right here, right here. Remember this verse? You said it. You're going to give me wisdom. And so I'm asking you for wisdom. Give it to me liberally, I pray. Necessities in Matthew chapter 6, Jesus teaches there, don't worry about what you're going to eat, what you're going to drink, what you're going to wear. Put the

and all these things will be added to you. Life's necessities, God knows you need them. He promises to fulfill them. Make your requests. Ask God. Put Him first. Let Him fulfill that promise. And then finally, close relationship with God. Romans chapter 8, Paul talks about us receiving the Holy Spirit by which we cry out, Abba, Father. And it speaks about a close relationship with God. It speaks about a real connection to God.

And if that's something that you don't think that you experience, if you don't have that real connection to God, that close relationship, that intimacy with the Lord, well, you can look at the Scripture and say, God, you promised. What you said is that by the Holy Spirit, we were able to cry out, Abba, Father, that the Holy Spirit would then testify that I'm your child. And if you don't feel like a child of God, you go back to the Scriptures and you say, God, would you fulfill this Scripture?

I want to know that I'm your child. I want to know this kind of relationship, to know that I have this connection to you and that you're in my life in this way. Ask God to fulfill the scriptures for you. Obviously, this is just a few examples, but some powerful examples to consider. Many more scriptures, many more things that God would want to do in your life. But sometimes we need to invite God to do that work in our lives. Ask God to fulfill the scriptures for you.

Well, finally, we're going to look at Joshua chapter 18 for point number four, ask God to reveal his plans for you. Chapter 18 is very interesting because here we find a few tribes who have not yet received their portion of land. Joshua chapter 18, we're going to look at verses one through four. Here's what it says. Now the whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled together at Shiloh and set up the tabernacle of meeting there and the land was subdued before them.

But there remained among the children of Israel seven tribes which had not yet received their inheritance. Then Joshua said to the children of Israel, How long will you neglect to go and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers has given you? Pick out from among you three men for each tribe, and I will send them. They shall arise and go through the land, survey it according to their inheritance, and come back to me. Here we find an interesting situation as the land is being divided up between the different tribes.

There's a few tribes, seven tribes, that don't yet know what land is theirs. And it's interesting to consider this because Joshua doesn't take responsibility for this.

He doesn't say, oh man, I forgot to divide the rest of the land. I mean, I got so preoccupied with these southern tribes and getting their land situated and the daughters of Zee asking me questions and Caleb asking me questions. I got so distracted by those things. It was on my to-do list to divide the rest of the land. I just haven't got to it yet. That's not how Joshua responds. Joshua leaves it fully on them. He tells them in verse 3, how long will you neglect to go and possess the land?

And so the understanding that we get from this is not that they were just sitting there with no indication, no idea of the land that God wanted to give them, but they were sitting there with no zeal, no passion to go and discover the land that God had given to them. It's a really interesting picture as you kind of play it through in your head. Where were all these tribes spending their time? A few tribes had already settled in on the east side of the Jordan River,

A few tribes, Judah, Ephraim, Manasseh, they had been established and settled in their land. These other seven tribes, we get the impression, they're just hanging around the tabernacle still. In verse 1, they move the tabernacle to Shiloh, and those tribes just move with it. Okay, we're moving to Shiloh now. We were in Gilgal, now we're in Shiloh. And Joshua's looking at this crowd, you know, going along with the tabernacle and saying, guys, why are you still camping here?

There's land that God's given to you. What do you need in order to go get that? Why are you neglecting that? They move the tabernacle, right? All the other tribes go home, but here are these seven tribes just kind of looking at each other like, we just go back to our tents, I guess. We'll go back to our tents. The other tribes are going home. These tribes are just going back to camping. And Joshua says, what's wrong with you guys? You need to take the land that God's given to you.

We don't have all the details yet. And so Joshua says, pick out three men from each tribe. Go explore. Go find out what it is that God has for you. Go survey the land according to the inheritance and come back to me. You know the general form of what God's given to you. You know the general direction that God is sending you. Go get some details about that. Bring it back and we'll work out the inheritance amongst all the families there of the tribe.

Joshua here says, don't just sit there. Go map it out. Go explore the land so that you have an understanding that God can then reveal his will, his plans for you based on your discoveries, based on your understanding of the things that he has already said and the things that he has already established. Pastor Warren Wiersbe comments on these tribes. He says, unlike Caleb and the daughters of Zelophehad, these tribes didn't have faith and spiritual zeal.

These tribes had helped fight battles and defeat the enemy, but now they hesitated to claim their inheritance and enjoy the land that God had given them. And I think this is really interesting to consider. They fought battles to conquer the promised land, right? They were part of the victories. They were part of those battles. They saw the Lord work. And then they were like, all right, that's good enough. I'm just going to camp in my tent still. And they stopped short of the real inheritance that God had for them. Sometimes you have to explore the land first

You have to go beyond that initial victory. You have to go beyond those battles that were fought and go explore the boundaries of what God has for you. And sometimes we as believers, we can have some victories. We can have some accomplishments in our life and then we can kind of settle for that. We can just call it quits. And the Lord would say, no, you need to ask God for more clarity. There's more that God has planned for you. Ask God to reveal his plans for you. Do you know that?

If you're in the boundaries that God has set for you, do you know right now that you're in the will of God, that you're fulfilling his purposes and accomplishing what he wants for you, that you're inheriting and receiving from him the blessings and the inheritance that he has for you? You might not know just because you're just resting in the previous victories. Maybe you need to do some exploring and searching out. Maybe you need to ask God to show you, Lord, what is it that you want to do next?

Where is the land that you want me to hang out, the time that you want me to spend, and how you want me to do that? Ask God to reveal his plans for you. And so here we have these great examples for us in the book of Joshua. The example of Caleb, his daughter, the daughters of Z, and then the bad example of these seven tribes neglecting their inheritance. We can learn a great deal

to encourage us to ask God for our inheritance. Ask God to fulfill his promises to you. Ask God to pour out extra blessings in your life. Ask God to fulfill the word of God and the scriptures that have been declared. And if you don't know where he wants you, ask God to show you, reveal his plans for you, that you can go forward and receive all that he has for you. Jonathan's going to come up and close us in a couple songs.

As he does, I want to encourage you to spend some time reflecting on your inheritance and the opportunity and perhaps the need for you to be bold like Caleb, like his daughter, like the daughters of Z and to ask for what it is that God wants to do in your life. And so I've put together a little card here. The ushers are going to pass it out as the worship begins. But it says here, I'm asking God for my inheritance.

There's nothing special or magical about this card, okay? But you know, sometimes we just need a point of contact. Sometimes we just need a way to verbalize, you know what, God is saying this to me. It has the date on it, August 8, 2021. The idea is maybe there is something that you're asking God for, something that God wants to do in your life, but you're not sure when, you're not sure how, you're not sure where. And maybe you need to write your prayer and say, God, would you fulfill your promise to me?

I'm asking you today on August 8, 2021, and it might be August 8, 2061, that you fulfill that promise. But I believe you. This is the scripture, Lord, that I'm praying through. This is the scripture I know you have for me. So, Lord, I'm showing that to you, and I'm asking you, Lord, would you fulfill that scripture in my life? Lord, I need some blessings.

You give me some land, but I need some water. Lord, would you pour out your blessings on me? It might be one of these things. It might be all of these things. I don't know what God wants to stir up in your heart right now, but I just want to encourage you. Take some time as we worship the Lord and ask God for your inheritance. He loves you. He operates according to grace, not merit. You believe in Jesus, and that's enough.

for him to pour out all his blessings. Every spiritual blessing is ours in him. They're yes and amen. So ask God, allow him, invite him to work in your life in the way that he wants to. And so as we worship the Lord, you can seek the Lord, you can write down those prayers, and we'll look forward to God fulfilling those things as we walk with him. Lord, we pray that you would stir up in our hearts a great understanding of what you want to do. Lord, reveal your plans.

in ways that we might be able to ask and receive from you the great blessings and victories, but the growth and all that you want to do in our hearts and lives. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.