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[0:00] In Joshua chapter 13 we read in verse 1, the Lord says to Joshua, thou art old and stricken in years, and there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed.

[0:13] There remaineth yet very much land to be possessed. This is not the first time the Lord has spoken to Joshua. We read various occasions throughout the book of Joshua where the Lord speaks to him directly.

[0:28] Chapter 1, chapter 3, chapter 4, chapter 5, 6, 7, 8, then chapter 10, then chapter 11, here at chapter 13, and one more time in chapter 20.

[0:39] And each time the Lord speaks and directs Joshua what he used to do, there always follows quite a sizable chunk of the book where Joshua is responding to that. And where he is obeying the Lord and where he is seeking to show devotion and faithfulness to the Lord.

[0:55] And when the Lord needs him to do something else different again, he speaks to him and he tells him. One of the things this demonstrates to us is that contrary to what we may be inclined to feel nowadays, the Lord does speak to his people.

[1:11] It doesn't necessarily mean that an angel appeared like it did to Mary or to Joseph or whatever. And maybe it is in a verse that we read and the Lord makes it as it were, jump out of the page to us.

[1:21] Or we may indeed hear almost that audible voice which we know doesn't come from ourselves or our own thoughts. But the Lord does speak to his people.

[1:32] He did it then and he does it now. But if we are prepared to listen and to wait upon him, the Lord does speak to his people. And we might think, well, okay, but is this an unkind statement here?

[1:46] I always used to find this verse partly ironic, partly amusing. Joshua was old and stricken in years. And the Lord, it seems like he's almost stating the obvious. The Lord said, thou art old and stricken in years.

[1:58] It's like saying to a teenager, you know, you've got spots on your face. Or saying to somebody, you're carrying a bit of extra weight, aren't you? You know, you're not in great shape. And I think that's a bit of a cruel or an unkind thing to say.

[2:10] And it might be a bit set in front of other people or it's said as though it is a criticism. But here is just the Lord and Joshua. Just the two of them here who have gone long years in service together.

[2:22] Joshua being initially the servant of Moses and all the experience that he gleaned over those years. And now having the responsibility of leading Israel after Moses has gone.

[2:35] The Lord and Joshua have long experience together. And when the Lord speaks to him, he's not trying to make him look a fool in front of others. And he's not trying to put him down. He's not saying, ah, Joshua, you're not as young as you used to me.

[2:46] Oh, look at the decrepit state you're in. He's just stating a fact. You're old. You're stricken in years, Joshua. There's still much to do. There is yet very much land to be possessed.

[2:59] When God speaks to us, and this is what partly we are establishing here, the Lord does speak to his people. If we are prepared to listen, if we are prepared to seek, and if we are prepared to wait upon the Lord and genuinely seek his direction and his will, he does speak to his people.

[3:21] But when he speaks, he speaks the truth. And the truth is not always easy for us to bear. Let's say, for example, you know, if the Lord was to say to us, you know, you are carrying a bit of extra weight.

[3:35] Oh, my goodness, your face is in an awful state. You need to clean up your face a bit. Or, you know, you're not as fit as you used to be. You're not as diligent at your work as you should be. These are not nice things to hear.

[3:46] And we might think, oh, no, come on, flatter me a bit. Say nicer things. You know, massage my ego a bit. But the Lord is not interested in flattery. The Lord will tell us the truth.

[3:57] He's not trying to make us look bad. He's not trying to shame us in front of other people. He's not trying to do that with Joshua here. But he will tell us the truth. And if we are prepared to wait upon the Lord and prepared to listen to what he will say to us, whether through his word, whether through the word of somebody else to us, unbeknown to them, whether it be a word in a prayer or in a sermon we hear on a tape or something like that or whatever it may be, if we are prepared to listen, then the Lord will speak.

[4:29] But the Lord, when he speaks to us, will speak the truth. And the truth is not always easy for us to hear. It is not always something that we will like. We don't always like to hear the truth in its unvarnished and perhaps unflattering form.

[4:46] But when God speaks, he speaks the truth. Joshua was old and stricken in years. And the Lord doesn't say, ah, Joshua, you're doing great. A man of your age was now 100 years old by now because they recommend distributing the land took about seven years.

[5:00] And Joshua was 110 when he died, tells us that in chapter 24 there. He doesn't say, ah, you're doing great for your age. You're really a fantastic guy, Joshua. A man half your age wouldn't be half as fit as you are.

[5:12] No, he tells them the truth. You're old. You're stricken in years. There's a lot still to do. There is much land yet to be possessed. He's not buttering him up and he's not putting him down.

[5:24] He's just telling the truth. And that is a rare commodity around their age. And it is what the Lord will do because he is the truth if you're prepared to listen.

[5:35] It's like if you are ill, if you know you've got some sickness or some ailment, you don't want the doctor just to say, ah, you're doing fine, just take one of these sugar pills and go home, you know, and pick your feet up and so on.

[5:47] If there is something wrong and we know there is something wrong, we want the doctor to identify it, to tell us it, to tell us the worst. The worst thing you could have is when you think the doctor is umming and ahhing and saying, well, I'm not sure if I should tell you this.

[6:00] I don't really want to alarm you, but you say, oh, for goodness sake, just tell me, tell us the truth. And that's what the Lord offers to do to us, tell us the truth. Joshua's old and stricken in years and the Lord said to him, thou art old and stricken in years, it's a fact.

[6:16] Not buttering you up and not putting you down, it's a fact. There remain if you had very much land to be possessed. The Lord does speak to his people, even in this day and age, even now today, if we are prepared to listen and to wait upon the Lord.

[6:32] God is ready to speak to us if we are truly and genuinely prepared to ask and ready to listen. But when God speaks, he will tell you the truth.

[6:44] And you may not like it, as I may not like it. None of us always likes to hear the unvarnished truth, but God will speak the truth. I don't know if you and I can handle that or not, but if you are ready to hear the truth from God, then wait upon the Lord and ask him, because he will tell you the truth.

[7:05] Secondly, what we see here is, as in the previous chapter, if you look at the previous chapter in chapter 12, it lists all the 31 kings that Joshua and the Israelites had fought against and defeated, and the list just goes on and on and on, no matter how many victories, how many conquests they have.

[7:22] What we see in these preceding chapters, and Jericho, and all the battles that they had fought, and so on, then you can see that no matter whatever you have done, whatever you may have achieved, however full your life may have been, there is always more to do than you personally can possibly accomplish.

[7:43] There is always more to do than you personally can possibly accomplish. Now are old and strickening years, and there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed.

[7:55] Now Joshua had not spent his time idly. He had not been sort of wasting away his time or just idling it away, pursuing the things of the world. He had been a young man when he was the servant of Moses.

[8:08] He was one of the spies, sent the spy out the land early on in the time in the wilderness. He and Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, were the only ones out of the twelve who faithfully reported the state of the land and said, yes, come on, he didn't possess it, it's a good land.

[8:24] He was faithful, he was diligent, he was a godly young man, and now he's a godly old man. He has not wasted his time. He's not frittered it away in the vanities of the world.

[8:35] He has been doing all that he can for the Lord all of his life, and yet there remaineth very much land to be possessed. Despite all his diligence, all his conquests, all his victories, the Lord has given him, there's more to do, Joshua.

[8:48] There's always more to do than you personally can possibly accomplish. But shh. When we end this life, it is not because everything has been done.

[9:03] It's one thing we have to get away from, oh, well, I wonder if I've done everything that is to do. No, you've never done everything that is to do. When our time here ends, it's not because everything has been done, it is because time has run out.

[9:18] Or else our energy or resources or whatever has run out. Everything is not done, but there comes a point when we recognise that for all that we have done, all that we can do has been done.

[9:33] There comes that point when we recognise that all that we can do has been done. Not because there isn't lots to do, but we just can't do more.

[9:46] Joshua is being told, there's lots to do, yet Joshua, there's very much land to be possessed, you're old and stricken in years. Now, is that the Lord saying then, well, take it easy, Joshua, you know, I've got somebody else lined up to do this.

[9:59] No, this is something he needs him to do. There is much still to do. This is the third point we need to recognise and perhaps the most important point of our message today.

[10:10] There is much still to do and you and I don't have a lot of time. Now, we're old and stricken in years and there's yet very much land to be possessed. God is concerned here with that which only Joshua can do because Joshua is the one appointed by God to this task.

[10:29] Whatever the Lord may be asking of you and he will be asking something of you, he wants something out of your life. That's why he's giving you this life. He's giving you this life as an opportunity to serve and to do something positive, constructive for him in it.

[10:46] He wants you to live it for him. He wants you to use it for his glory, for the furtherance of his kingdom. That's why we've been made. A lot of people never realise that potential, never fulfil that potential.

[10:59] They waste their lives without the Lord and a life without the Lord is essentially a wasted life. But the Lord desires us to do that for which he has chosen us individually to serve him.

[11:12] Joshua is the one appointed by God to this task. Whatever the Lord may be asking of you, like Joshua, he asks, knowing your limitations, knowing your disadvantages, knowing your weaknesses.

[11:32] Thou art old and stricken in years. In Joshua's case, it's the fact he's old and now weaker. In our case, it may be the Lord saying effectively, look, I know you're not the brainiest person in the room.

[11:44] Maybe you're not the sharpest knife in the drawer of the beta. Well, everybody else seems to be cleverer than me. Maybe you're not the fittest person in the gym or on the field track or whatever.

[11:54] Maybe you haven't got the strongest physique or body. Maybe you aren't the most capable in the workshop or in the kitchen or in the home or in the field or in the factory or wherever it may happen to be.

[12:05] Maybe everybody else seems to be better than you. I know your limitations, the Lord is saying. Now, our old and strickening years, Joshua, that's your disadvantage.

[12:16] That's your weakness. That's your limitation. But let me tell you, every single one of us has limitations and disadvantages and problems of some kind. It is not the Lord to say, oh, well, you know, if only you weren't the way you are.

[12:31] I could so use you for my kingdom. If I could so make this of you or that of you or an effective servant. No. What the Lord is calling you to do, whatever it may be, he is doing it knowing your limitations, knowing your disadvantages, knowing your weaknesses.

[12:50] But still, he is asking it of you. Now, I don't know personally what it is that he is asking of you. But I suspect that you probably do.

[13:02] I suspect that you may know there's a niggling wee voice somewhere thinking, the Lord still may be requiring this of me. He still wants me to do this. I've always kind of thought it, but I've pushed the voice to the back of my mind and I've sort of said, no, he can't be asking me that.

[13:17] Whatever it is, the Lord is asking of you and I don't know what it is. I suspect you may know what it is or you will find out if you ask the Lord to reveal it to you, he certainly knows what it is, what he's asking of you, but your chief end will be bound up with whatever it is the Lord is calling you to do.

[13:40] To whatever it is and wherever he wants you to do it. None of it will matter unless he himself is bound up with it and is an integral part of your response.

[13:54] Because what the Lord is not simply calling you to do, is say, oh, just be all you can be, fulfill all your potential, travel to the places you want to do, do the things you want to do, fulfill your bucket list of all the things you want to take off before your time is in.

[14:10] And you can say, I've had a long, fulfilled, and interesting, very light. These are all the things I've done. It will not count for spirit in the wind when you breathe your last breath.

[14:22] When you arrive before the Lord, if it has not been a life bound up with him, of which he is an integral and involved part, it will just be so much vanity that will not bless you at the last.

[14:35] It will convict you for time that has been wasted and opportunities that have been lost. whatever the Lord is calling you to, he intends to be a part of it.

[14:48] He wants to be involved in it. That is the reason he has made you. Your chief end is to glorify him and enjoy him forever. He intends to be bound up with what he calls you to do, to be an integral part of your response.

[15:04] It is your task, your calling. It is what he is directing his people to do. And this is the land he has placed you in.

[15:15] There remaineth yet very much land to be possessed. He has placed you in it. And this is the time frame in which he has placed you. Thou art old and stricken in years.

[15:29] And there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed. How will we possess the land? What do we do to possess the land?

[15:39] How will we make it the Lord's? Well, by putting within it more and more of the Lord's people. If you say such and such is a very Christian land or a very Christian island or a very Christian community, what is it?

[15:52] Because the rocks and hills are just shining with the glory of God? Or is it because there's a high proportion of Christians in it? When there are more Christians in a place, then they're in communication with the Lord, they're in relationship with the Lord.

[16:05] that two-way relationship that's going between heaven and earth. It is lighting up, as it were. The spiritual temperature and darkness, as it were, is lit up by their warmth and presence with the Lord.

[16:19] It raises the whole, the whole spectrum of a place for the more Christians that are in it. If you think in terms of, you know, like dots of light on a dark landscape, the more little dots of light they are, the more they're bunched together, the more the light comes.

[16:37] Now, if you've got a concentration of Christians in one place, it becomes a more Christian place. Now, you also need to spread that influence. How do you make a land more Christian?

[16:48] By increasing the number of believers in it, more and more of the Lord's people and less and less of the devil's multitudes. How do you remove the devil's multitudes?

[16:58] Well, not with physical conquest as in Joshua's day, but by spiritual warfare. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty to the pulling down of strongholds as Paul wrote to the Corinthians.

[17:11] Not by slaughter as in the days of the judges and of Joshua's conquest himself, but by conversion, by witness, part of what we had talked about earlier, witness and service and perseverance.

[17:24] That's our inheritance. That's how we ensure our arrival. They may not have read God's word, those around us. They may never set foot inside God's house.

[17:35] witness. They cannot see the Lord, neither can we, of course, but they can see you and they can hear you and they can listen to you and they can watch you. You are their witness, a witness to them.

[17:48] That sounds, oh, it's a bit heavy. I'm not sure if I'm up to that task, all the responsibility for being a witness to my work colleagues and my friends or those around about as neighbours.

[17:58] Well, I suppose they know I go to church but do they know I belong to the Lord? They'll be watching how you behave. They'll be listening to what comes out of your mouth. If there's any profanity or impure words or anything out of your mouth, they'll pick up on it.

[18:12] Even if they use the same stuff themselves, they'll pick up on it. If there's winsomeness, if there's kindness, if there's that which is appropriate to a follower of the Lord, they will pick up on that too.

[18:24] Does that seem heavy? A huge responsibility to put on you? Well, the Lord wouldn't call you to it if he didn't think or know that you were up to it. If he wants you to be a witness for him, if he wants you to live for him, if he wants you to help reclaim the land for him, to take possession of it, then he has given you the means necessary to do it.

[18:44] It's no way you say, oh, I'm too old. Now we're old and stricken in years and there are many of yet very much land to be possessed. God is not saying, so take it easy, Josh, I praise that of other people.

[18:56] No, he's calling him to this task. He's calling you and me to this task. He's calling us in our time with our limitations, whether our age, whether our infirmity, whether the fact we don't think we're very good at this or very bright at that or very capable at the next thing.

[19:12] He knows our limitations our disadvantages, our weaknesses and still he is asking because he knows that with him we are capable. All that we have, all that we receive, receive first from the Lord, yes, but from those who have gone before us.

[19:33] Our lives are not hermetically sealed in a vacuum. We don't live in isolation alone by ourselves. Our lives overlap with those who have gone before us and with those who come after us.

[19:44] If I were to talk, for example, about my Father's Day, if I were to say, in my Father's Day, such and such. Now, I overlapped with my Father's Day for quite a number of decades.

[19:55] So for some of the time, his day was my day, you could say, but that's not what we mean, is it? We mean that in the days of our youth or our influence or whatever, in my Father's Day, people lived a different way, they had a different sort of technology, they had a different thing.

[20:10] The world was a different place in my Father's Day, even though his day and my day overlapped. When my children or if there are grandchildren in due course or whatever, when they come into the world, their world will be a different place from mine, even if my life overlaps with theirs.

[20:25] My day is not their day. Even though there is overlap, we inherit from those who came before certain things, we pass on to those who follow certain things.

[20:36] Joshua himself has received through Moses' influence, the example, the witness, the instruction that Moses has given him. But the Lord has said to him, if we turn back to chapter 1 at verse 5, the Lord says, there shall not be any man able to stand before thee all the days of thine life.

[20:55] As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee. I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. Now this isn't just true for Joshua. This is true for us.

[21:07] So we all, of course, tend to think, oh well, in my grandparents' day, it was a much godlier place and there was so much more devotion and faithfulness and so on.

[21:17] God hasn't changed. He has promised to be just as faithful to us as he was to them, to be as faithful to Joshua as he was to Moses.

[21:27] As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee. As I was with Big Macrae, as I was with the evangelists of old, with the apostle of the north, as I was with Dr.

[21:41] Kenney of Dingwall, as I was with all who have gone before us. I will be with thee, says the Lord. I will be with you in your day, in your time for the task I have required of you.

[21:56] Joshua received what he did from those who went before him, from Moses and that generation. And then he built on it in his day, because his day is not Moses' day, even though they overlap.

[22:08] Our day is not our father's day. This is not Moses' task that the Lord is calling Joshua to. He doesn't want Moses to conquer the land and take the children of Israel out of Egypt, lead them through the wilderness, bring them to the border of the promised land and stop.

[22:37] The next task is Joshua's task, and the task after him is somebody else's. That is Joshua's day. It overlaps with Moses, it overlaps with those who come after him, but that is Joshua's day.

[22:50] This is your day. This is your time. Your fathers and your grandfathers were before you, maybe you overlapped with them a bit. Your children, your grandchildren, you overlapped with them a bit, but this is your day.

[23:04] The task the Lord has called you to is for your day and for your time and your ability. This is not something the Lord is asking of Samson or Gideon. They came after him.

[23:15] It's not something he's asking of Moses. He was before him. This is something the Lord is asking of Joshua, knowing his limitations. Thou are old and soothed and ye. There remaineth yet very much land to be possessed.

[23:27] It's all ahead of you. It's all still to do. No matter how much you've done in the past, it is all still to do. It is Joshua's calling and God is telling him he has not much time, but there is much to be possessed.

[23:44] And what if we go back to chapter 1, what does the Lord say to him again and again? Be strong and of a good courage, for unto this people thou shalt divide for an inheritance the land which I swear unto their fathers together.

[23:58] Verse 9, Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage. Be not afraid, neither be dismayed. This is what he is told when he begins the task himself.

[24:10] He hasn't got Moses anymore to turn to. He's only got the Lord. And so God says, I'll be with you. This is what I will give you. And at the end of his life, what has Joshua got to pass on to others?

[24:23] Well, the most famous quotation, of course, in the book of Joshua is that which we read at chapter 24, at verse 15. He says, if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Ammonites in whose land you dwell.

[24:40] You do as you think best, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. This is witness. It means that whatever else you may do, this is part of who I am and what I do.

[24:57] You deal with it and you accept that if you're dealing with me, this is what you're dealing with. I am the Lord's. My house is the Lord's. My people are the Lord's.

[25:09] As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord's. If that's a problem for you, deal with it. This is part of our witness. Witness is not just sort of proselytizing and evangelizing and ramming it down people's throats in an aggressive manner about it.

[25:24] Not just saying, oh well, you know, I don't want to offend and I mustn't say what I believe in case it upsets people. No, witness is being who God has called you to be, where God has called you to be, for the time frame that God has called you in.

[25:41] I'm not budging from that. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Was that an effective witness? Well, yes, we read that it was.

[25:52] If we turn to verse 31 of the last chapter in Joshua, we read, Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua with whom he had overlapped and which had known all the works of the Lord that he had done for Israel.

[26:09] So, yes, that witness was effective. Later on, Israel fell away. Later on, they turned to paganism. Later on, they became unfaithful. But that wasn't Joshua's fault.

[26:21] And that wasn't on his patch. And it wasn't on his watch. He was faithful in his day. He witnessed, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. And they dealt with it.

[26:32] And they responded to it. And they served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua. Joshua. This is Joshua's legacy. His witness for his time.

[26:46] This is your time. The Lord has given you this new year. The Lord knows your limitations. Joshua's case, thou art old and stickering years.

[26:57] There are made of yet very much land to be possessed. There is still a task for you to do. There is work to do. You've had a lot of time. Is how you have used your time, your life up until now, is that that's how you would want to be remembered before God if it all ended tomorrow?

[27:21] Is what you've done with your life, how you've used your life, if it were to be brought to an end at midnight tonight and you were to be assessed and remembered before the Lord with what you had done with the time God has given you so far, would you rest content in that?

[27:36] Or you think, oh, well, James, if I don't know what it was going to end so soon, well, I'd go back and make a better job of that, I'd do more, I would stop complaining about all the hassles I've had and the crosses I've got to be and I'd just bear them with a little more grace and be a bit more faithful, a bit more cheerful in my sufferings and I would, well, I would do better and I'd do more and so on.

[27:54] Well, if the answer is no, if you wouldn't be content to be remembered before God with how you have used your time, your life up until now, then it is to the likes of us that the Lord says there's very much land yet to be possessed.

[28:10] There's a lot still to do. Your weakness is great. You're old and stricken in years, he says to Joshua, our own weakness may be something else, but the Lord has much for us to do and by his grace, if it doesn't all end at midnight tonight, then we've got a bit more time in which to do what we ought to do and how we ought to respond.

[28:33] it's not about how much time you've had or how much time you've given, it's about what you do with it. Jesus said in Luke's account of the gospel, he said this, chapter 16, verse 10, he that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much, and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.

[28:59] There's also, of course, that verse I often refer to, and no apologies for going back to it again in Revelation 22, there in verse 11, which always sends a little chill down my spine.

[29:10] He that is unjust, let him be unjust still, and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still, and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still, and he that is holy, let him be holy still.

[29:22] that's the verse that calls down midnight. That's the verse that does draw a line under all. I'll say, right, that's it, time up. He that is unjust, let him be unjust still, he's holy, let him be holy still, he's filthy, let him be filthy still, he that's righteous, let him be righteous still.

[29:38] Look at your life just now. It's how you have used the time the Lord has given you thus far, how you would want to be remembered. Lord, if midnight tonight was the last blow of the whistle, midnight tonight was the curtain coming down, is that how you would want to be remembered before God, how you'd want your life to be assessed.

[30:00] Now I know it's only by Christ that our sins are washed away, it's only by Christ we have mercy, we have any opportunity at all. Yes, all of that is true, but likewise we are called to serve him as how you have used the time he has given you, how you'd want to do.

[30:16] Jesus said about the woman in Mark 14 and verse 8, who had anointed his feet with ointment, he said, she hath done what she could, she has come aforehand to anoint my body to the very, she has done what she could, she may not have been the richest woman in the world, she may not have been the most virtuous woman in the world, she may have been of questionable character, or morality, for all that we know, but she had this one thing, she had this box of alabaster ointment, the most precious thing in her entire life, which could be sold for a year's wages, I don't know what your wage is for a year, I don't know what you would make it a year if you added it all together, but that's what that box of ointment would have cost, would you expend that sum of money on anyone, well she expended it on Jesus, and she considered it worth it, she had done what she could, that's what she had, that's what she gave, she had done what she could, that's what the Lord requires of us, he knows our limitations, he knows our weaknesses, he knows how frail we may be, and how little we may have, but what he is calling us to, he is calling us to it, knowing those limitations, knowing there isn't much time, this is not your father's or mother's or grandparent's life, it is your life, fill it with the Lord, that you may live it for the

[31:47] Lord, that you may live it to the full, you have been given this life for a reason, because your life matters, to God at least, your life matters, that's why you've been given it, thousands of individuals are cut down mercilessly in cruel or warlike situations, many children were the best one in the world, do not make it to birth, now the Lord gathers I know those souls to himself, those who are in Christ, those who are covenanted, those who belong to him and for whom he has died, he gathers them to himself, but for whatever reason he has spared you and me, and he has brought us to this life for a reason, this life matters, your life matters, so this is your life, this is your land, possess it for the Lord that it may be inhabited by the Lord's people, even after you yourself are gone, as for me and my house, we will serve the

[32:50] Lord, let that be your witness, let it be able to be said of us that people were so influenced by us, they continue to serve the Lord all the days of our life and all the days of those who have rubbed shoulders with us also, this is your land, possess it for the Lord, you have been placed in this land for a reason, you know, God could have made you an African or South American or Australian, he could have made you an Asian or a Mongol person or a Chinese person, he could have made you a Tibetan or a Frenchman or anything of these things, but he placed you here, this is your land, this is your life, it means that if your life matters then in the eyes of God, this land matters, you ever think of that, this land matters to God, that's why he has put his people within it, so that they might witness for him and might be part of his kingdom there, this land matters because your life matters and

[33:51] God placed it here, in this land, this land matters in the eyes of God at least, it is your life, it is your land, it is your time, take it, seize it, act upon it, because the Lord is not looking to address your ancestors or your distant descendants, but you, this is your time, this is what we rate, there may have yet very much land to be possessed, yes, but there is still a greater land waiting to be possessed, perhaps not very far away now for some of you, for all I know, perhaps for others, you are never to set eyes in it, much less enter into it, I do not know, but that greater land, greater inheritance is very much there, it is more real than this land in which we dwell, because it will be more lasting, it will be eternal, but that greater land, that greater inheritance, it is very much there, it is ready to be possessed, indeed its possession is the great work, the great calling of your life, it is the great offer of your gods, and it is the great opportunity of your day,

[35:15] Paul wrote to the Corinthians, 2nd Corinthians, chapter 6, verse 2, now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation, this is your day of opportunity, and there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed, God still speaks to his people, hear and your soul shall live, enter in and your spirit and heart will overflow, possess your inheritance and your heavenly father will rejoice, because that was why he gave you this new year, because old and stricken in years you may be, or weakened or disadvantaged by some other limitation, but there was time enough for him to give, that there might be time enough to act for you.

[36:14]  Let us pray. Amen.