Setting the Boundary
By
Ottawa R. Pullen, Jr.
Senior Pastor, Light Of The World Church
7800 Bissonnet, Suite 260
Houston, Tx. 77074
There are those today whose lives are vicious cycles of ups and downs. When a blessing comes, it doesn’t last long. You almost feel as if no matter what you get, you’ll eventually lose it. If that’s you I want you to know that God wants you to prosper. But there is a reason why things seem to be going downhill. It’s a matter of choices. Joshua had the right perspective when he said:
Josh 24:14-15
14 Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD.
15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers 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 and my house, we will serve the LORD.
(KJV)
People, there is a real devil out here who wants to steal, kill, and destroy you and everything about you.
The key to your prosperity is “Setting the Boundary”.
Josh 24:14-15
14 Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD.
15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers 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 and my house, we will serve the LORD.
(KJV)
What did Joshua have in mind when he made that statement? I believe that the following pages are of vital importance to everyone who is having a problem maintaining prosperity. I believe that we must learn what Joshua learned and do what Joshua did. Follow me, please to Deuteronomy 11:26.
Deut 11:26-32
26 Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse;
27 A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day:
28 And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known.
29 And it shall come to pass, when the LORD thy God hath brought thee in unto the land whither thou goest to possess it, that thou shalt put the blessing upon mount Gerizim, and the curse upon mount Ebal.
30 Are they not on the other side Jordan, by the way where the sun goeth down, in the land of the Canaanites, which dwell in the champaign over against Gilgal, beside the plains of Moreh?
Did you hear what God said in verse 30? " Are ’THEY’ not on the other side?"
What is God talking about? I believe that God is saying that He is permanently putting in place something that will always require "YOU" setting a boundary between what He has to offer and Satan. Let’s see. Go to the next verse, verse 31.
31 For ye shall pass over Jordan to go in to possess the land which the LORD your God giveth you, and ye shall possess it, and dwell therein.
32 And ye shall observe to do all the statutes and judgments which I set before you this day.
(KJV)
God wants you prosperous! There is only one thing between you and prosperity; and it’s not the devil. The one thing between you and prosperity is found in Deuteronomy 11:26.
Deut 11:26
26 Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse;
(KJV)
The one thing between you and prosperity is your learning to set a boundary between the curses and blessings set before us. God wants us to continually show that we are able to set a boundary between the plan that He has for us and that which Satan offers. Let’s read and learn the importance of “Setting the Boundary”. Let’s begin at the beginning.
God left a tree in the midst of the Garden of Eden. Right?
Gen 2:9
9 And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
(KJV)
That tree, according to the above verse was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
This is important. Here is point # 1.
Point #1. God’s way is always one of leaving in your midst, something that requires your setting a boundary.
Look at Gen 2:9
Gen 2:9
9 And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
(KJV)
So, what was in the midst of the garden? (1) the tree of life and (2) the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Go to Genesis 2:15
Gen 2:15-17
15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
(KJV)
So, in Genesis Chapter 2, Verses 15-17, God designed a boundary for man to keep. He put in place a point where the line was to be drawn. Is that right?
Then, He prepared a blessing.
After He had put in place a point to which the line must be drawn, THEN, He created the blessing.
Gen 2:18
Gen 2:18-19
18 And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.
19 And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.
(KJV)
Adam named the blessing. It was God’s way of making Adam take dominion over his blessing. When you name your child, you have dominion over that child, the same is true of your blessing.
Gen 2:20-23
20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.
21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
(KJV)
Now, here is another blessing over which Adam is to have LOVIVG, CARING, GODLY, dominion. Now Remember point #1?
“God’s way is always one of leaving in your midst something that requires you to set a boundary; then, He prepares the blessing.”
Question?? What caused “the fall” of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden? I want to say this in such a way that it makes a point. Here’s the answer: That which caused the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, was Adam’s failure to set a boundary. WHEN ADAM ATE, BOUNDARIES CHANGED.
Now go to Genesis 6:1
Gen 6:1-7
1 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,
2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.
3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.
5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
6 And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
7 And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.
(KJV)
Why was God grieved? Because He had made man? No!! Because Noah was a man and Noah found grace. Yes, He was grieved at man but only because man was not able to draw a line……set a boundary between good and evil. Afterall, man had eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and therefore should have been able to set that boundary. But he wasn’t able to do so.
Point # 2
Man had eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil so now there was no excuse for those who refused to do what they knew to do.
Noah and his family were the only ones to find grace from God because Noah, set a boundary. Just as Noah had to set a boundary, so too, did Joshua have to learn to set a boundary. Joshua showed that he had learned the lesson in Joshua 24:14.
Josh 24:14
14 Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD.
(KJV)
Let me ask a question! What was Joshua talking about? Well, who was on the earth according to Genesis 6:4?
Gen 6:4
4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.
(KJV)
If you have a New American Standard Bible, it reads as follows:
Gen 6:4
4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore {children} to them. Those were the mighty men who {were} of old, men of renown.
(NAS)
So, the Nephilim were in the earth in those days. The word Nephilim means “cause to fall” and refers to sons of devils and man. WATCH!!!!
Find Numbers 13:17
Num 13:17-33
17 When Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, he said to them, "Go up there into the Negev; then go up into the hill country.
18 "And see what the land is like, and whether the people who live in it are strong {or} weak, whether they are few or many.
19 "And how is the land in which they live, is it good or bad? And how are the cities in which they live, are {they} like {open} camps or with fortifications?
20 "And how is the land, is it fat or lean? Are there trees in it or not? Make an effort then to get some of the fruit of the land." Now the time was the time of the first ripe grapes.
21 So they went up and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin as far as Rehob, at Lebo-hamath.
22 When they had gone up into the Negev, they came to Hebron where Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai, the descendants of Anak were. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)
23 Then they came to the valley of Eshcol and from there cut down a branch with a single cluster of grapes; and they carried it on a pole between two {men,} with some of the pomegranates and the figs.
24 That place was called the valley of Eshcol, because of the cluster which the sons of Israel cut down from there.
25 When they returned from spying out the land, at the end of forty days,
26 they proceeded to come to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the sons of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh; and they brought back word to them and to all the congregation and showed them the fruit of the land.
27 Thus they told him, and said, "We went in to the land where you sent us; and it certainly does flow with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.
28 "Nevertheless, the people who live in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified {and} very large; and moreover, we saw the descendants of Anak there.
29 "Amalek is living in the land of the Negev and the Hittites and the Jebusites and the Amorites are living in the hill country, and the Canaanites are living by the sea and by the side of the Jordan."
30 Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, "We should by all means go up and take possession of it, for we shall surely overcome it."
31 But the men who had gone up with him said, "We are not able to go up against the people, for they are too strong for us."
32 So they gave out to the sons of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, "The land through which we have gone, in spying it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in it are men of {great} size.
33 "There also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight."
(NAS)
Did you see in verse 33 the word "NEPHILIM"?
Another Question? If God used the flood to destroy all of mankind except Noah and his family, how did the Nephilim that we saw in Genesis 6:4 live through the flood and continue to live after the flood in Numbers 13:33?
Did God Lie when He said that He would destroy man in Genesis 6:7? No, He didn’t. Watch again.
Gen 6:7-8
7 And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.
8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.
(KJV)
God didn’t lie. He destroyed all of mankind except Noah and his family. Well, how did the Nephilim, who were present in Genesis 6:4 make it through the flood and live in Numbers 13:33? The Nephilim, who were the giants found in the promised land, were the offspring of fallen angels that took wives in Genesis 6:2. They were not MEN. God said he would destroy MAN. Here’s the point. Before the children of Israel could possess the blessings of Canaan, they had to draw the line between curses of the land and the blessings of God’s promise.
Joshua had it right! Let’s read it again.
Josh 24:14-15
14 Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD.
Did you hear what Joshua said? He said "...put away the gods (gods with a little ’g’) which your fathers served ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FLOOD." That’s important. Let’s continue to verse 15.
15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers 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 and my house, we will serve the LORD.
(KJV)
Last question…..Are you truly serving The Lord you God, with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength. Your blessings hang in the balance of the boundaries you set between that which you allow in your life that is of God, and that which is of Satan. Can you say with Joshua, “……but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”.
(Sermon preached at Light Of The World Church May 31, 1998)Edited for purposes of space.
