Joshua is nearing the end of his life and he is giving the Israelites some last-minute instructions before he leaves them.  They have been in the Promised Land for about twenty-five years and have still not conquered the whole land.  Joshua is concerned that after he dies who the Israelites are going to turn away from God and turn to either the gods of their ancestors or the gods of the people of Canaan.

Joshua challenges them by telling them to choose whom they will serve.  He has just finished reminding them of all the great things that God has done for them and reminded them of the mistakes of their fathers that resulted in the anger of the LORD.  Joshua finishes his challenge by telling the people what choice he is making.

The people respond by telling Joshua and then making a covenant with God to follow Joshua’s example.  They commit to follow the LORD and turn away from any of the worthless idols that they have been worshipping.  Joshua reminds them of the punishment that awaits those that turn away from the LORD and they seem to respond in the right way.

The people do follow the LORD as long as Joshua lives.  The text tells us that the people obeyed until all the elders that had witnessed the mighty works of God had died.  We will see as we get into the book of Judges that it wasn’t long after that the Israelites did what Joshua was warning them not to do.

We can learn from this text three things that every leader must do.  First, we must teach people the truth.  They need to understand what God expects of them and warn them of the danger of disobeying and rebelling against God.  Second, God’s leaders must be examples of the things that they are teaching to the people.  We should be living examples of the things we are teaching God’s people.  Our lives must model faith and obedience to God.  Third, as leaders in God’s families, ministries, or churches we must be raising up leaders to take our place who will continue in the first two steps.

We must find and train leaders to teach and model God’s truth.  Any leader who is not recruiting and training leaders is not fulfilling his or her greatest responsibility.  Who will lead the flock if something happens to you?  A healthy ministry or church has shepherds ready to assume any responsibilities needed to protect and grow the flock no matter what happens to the leader.  Jesus, help us to follow Your example of teaching the truth, living a life that models those truths, and teaching other leaders to do the same.

Read: Joshua 24:1-33; Luke 21:1-28; Psalm 89:38-52; Proverbs 13:20-23