Half-Hearted Discipleship

Judges: Half-Hearted Discipleship

To be half-hearted means to approach something with little enthusiasm, effort, or commitment. When someone is half-hearted about something, they're going through the _______________ without putting their _________ energy or _______________ interest into it.

After the death of Joshua (Jdg 1:1a)

Measuring Stick for Israel:

• God gave them the ____________________ of the Promise Land.

³ I have given you every place where the sole of your foot has stepped, just as I promised Moses. 4 From the Wilderness and from Lebanon to the Great River, the Euphrates River—all the land of the Hittites—as far as the Mediterranean Sea, where the sun sets, this will be your territory. (Jos 1:3–4)

• God told them they would conquer the Promise Land not by their _______ might, but by living a close and humble __________________ life.

⁷ Just be strong and very courageous. Be careful to act according to the entire Law which my servant Moses commanded for you. Do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may succeed wherever you go. ⁸ This Book of the Law must never depart from your mouth, and you are to meditate on it day and night, so that you will act faithfully according to everything written in it, because then you will prosper in everything you do, and you will succeed. (Jos 1:7–8)

So Joshua took the whole land according to everything the Lord had spoken to Moses, and Joshua gave it as an inheritance to Israel according to their allotments for their tribes. Then the land rested from war. (Jos 11:23)

⁵ The Lord your God himself will push them away from you and drive them out of your presence, until they perish. He will send wild animals among them until he completely destroys them and their kings from your presence and you will take possession of their land, just as the Lord your God promised you. ⁶ You must be very resolute in carrying out all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses by not turning from it to the right or to the left, (Jos 23:5–6)

God’s commands to Israel concerning the Canaanites:

• Do not ___________ someone from these nations.

• Do not make _________________ with these nations.

• Do not _______________ the gods of these nations.

1. God’s _________ is clear.

¹ After the death of Joshua, the people of Israel asked the Lord, “Who should go up against the Canaanites for us? Who of us should be the first to wage war against them?” ² The Lord said, “Judah should go up. I have handed over the land to them.” (Jdg 1:1–2)

2. Partial ___________________ looks successful.

³ So the tribe of Judah said to the tribe of Simeon, their brothers, “Go up with us to the territory that has been allotted to us, and together we will wage war against the Canaanites. We also will come with you into your allotment.” So Simeon went with Judah. (Jdg 1:3)

⁴ When Judah went up, the Lord delivered the Canaanites and Perizzites into their hand. At Bezek the Israelites struck down ten thousand men. ⁵ They encountered Adoni-Bezek at Bezek, and they waged war against him and struck down the Canaanites and the Perizzites. ⁶ Adoni-Bezek fled, but they pursued him, seized him, and cut off his thumbs and his big toes. (Jdg 1:4–6)

A Canaanite in its widest usage refers to _______ the people who lived in the land of Canaan. A Canaanite in its narrowest usage referred to the people who lived in __________________ _____________. Perizzites were those who lived in open country. Together the two meant something like “city slickers and country bumpkins.”

⁷ So Adoni-Bezek said, “Seventy kings, with their thumbs and their big toes cut off, had to scrounge for scraps of food under my table. God has repaid me with exactly what I did to them.” Israel brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there. (Jdg 1:7)

³ They sharpen their tongues like a sword. They shoot poison words like arrows. ⁴ They shoot at the innocent from hiding places. Suddenly they shoot at him. They have no fear. … ⁷ But God will shoot them. Suddenly they are wounded with an arrow. ⁸ Their own tongues cause their downfall. Everyone who sees them will shake his head. (Ps 64: 3–4, 7–8)

And since they did not consider it worthwhile to hold on to the true knowledge of God, God handed them over to a corrupted mind to do things that should never be done. (Ro 1:28)

⁸ The men of Judah waged war against Jerusalem and captured it. They struck the city with the edge of the sword and set it on fire. (Jdg 1:8)

⁹ After that, the men of Judah went down to wage war against the Canaanites who lived in the hill country, in the Negev, and in the Shephelah. ¹⁰ Judah went up against the Canaanites who lived in Hebron (the name of Hebron before this was Kiriath Arba). There they struck down Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai. (Jdg 1:9–10)

¹¹ From there they went up against those who lived at Debir (the name of Debir before this was Kiriath Sepher). ¹² Then Caleb said, “To the one who attacks Kiriath Sepher and takes it, I will give my daughter Aksah as his wife.” (Jdg 1:11–12)

¹³ Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s youngest brother, captured it. So Caleb gave his daughter Aksah to him as his wife. (Jdg 1:13)

¹⁴ She came to Othniel and pressured him to ask her father for pastureland. As she dismounted from her donkey, Caleb said to her, “What do you want?” ¹⁵ She said to him, “Give me this blessing: Since you gave me land in the dry Negev, give me springs of water also.” So Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs. (Jdg 1:14–15)

¹⁶ The descendants of the Kenite father-in-law of Moses went up with the people of Judah from the City of Palms to the part of the Wilderness of Judah that was in the Negev near Arad. They went and lived there among the people. (Jdg 1:16)

²⁹ Moses said to Hobab, the son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, “We are setting out to the place about which the Lord promised, ‘I will give it to you.’ Come with us, and we will treat you well, for the Lord has promised good concerning Israel.” ³⁰ Hobab said to him, “I will not go, but I will go to my own land and to my own relatives.” ³¹ Moses said, “Please do not leave us, because you know where we should camp in the wilderness. You can be our eyes. ³² If you will go with us, whatever good the Lord does for us, we will do for you.” (Nu 10:29–32)

¹⁷ The tribe of Judah went along with the tribe of Simeon, its brother tribe. Together they struck down the Canaanites who lived in Zephath. They devoted the city to destruction and named the city Hormah. ¹⁸ Judah also captured Gaza with its border region, Ashkelon with its border region, and Ekron with its border region. (Jdg 1:17–18)

¹⁹ The Lord was with Judah, and Judah took possession of the hill country, but Judah could not take possession of the land belonging to the people who lived in the valleys and lowlands, because they had iron chariots. ²⁰ Hebron was given to Caleb, as Moses had commanded, and he took possession of the land of the three sons of Anak. (Jdg 1:19–20)

Israel hasn’t secured their inheritance so they can _______________ God without _____________________. They don’t see the _____________ of these Canaanites remaining in their land.

_________________________ discipleship of God eventually leads to _____ discipleship at all. It can and does _______________ faith.

²³ Investigate me, God, and know my heart. Test me and know my troubled thoughts. ²⁴ See if there is any way in me that causes pain, and lead me in the way everlasting. (Ps 139:23–24)

For if you live in harmony with the sinful flesh, you are going to die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the actions of the body, you will live. (Ro 8:13)