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This morning I am in the final week of the sermon series I have been doing on the Old Testament book of Joshua, the sixth book of the Bible. If you’re unfamiliar with this book of the Bible, the historical context is that the Israelites, who were enslaved in Egypt, have been set free by God, using a man named Moses, with the plan of bringing them to the land of Canaan, a land which God had promised to their ancestor Abraham 600 years earlier. After the Israelites wander in the wilderness for 40 years as a result of their disobedience, Joshua leads the Israelites across the Jordan River and into the Promised Land, where they fight many battles and drive out the wicked inhabitants of the land. This morning we are in chapter 24, the final message that Joshua gives to the people of Israel.

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This morning I am in the ninth week of a sermon series I am doing on the Old Testament book of Joshua, the sixth book of the Bible. If you’re unfamiliar with this book of the Bible, the historical context is that the Israelites, who were enslaved in Egypt, have been set free by God, using a man named Moses, with the plan of bringing them to the land of Canaan, a land which God had promised to their ancestor Abraham 600 years earlier. After the Israelites wander in the wilderness for 40 years as a result of their disobedience, Joshua leads the Israelites across the Jordan River and into the Promised Land, where they fight many battles and drive out the wicked inhabitants of the land. This morning we are in chapters 22-23. The tribes of Israel have settled in their individual territories, and Joshua is going to be giving a couple closing addresses to the people. I’m not going to be addressing chapter 22, in which a couple of Israelite tribes set up an altar to remember God by that causes some misunderstanding among the tribes. We’ll look mainly at chapter 23 this week and the final chapter, chapter 24, next week.

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This morning I am in the eighth week of a sermon series I am doing on the Old Testament book of Joshua, the sixth book of the Bible. If you’re unfamiliar with this book of the Bible, the historical context is that the Israelites, who were enslaved in Egypt, have been set free by God, using a man named Moses, with the plan of bringing them to the land of Canaan, a land which God had promised to their ancestor Abraham 600 years earlier. After the Israelites wander in the wilderness for 40 years as a result of their disobedience, Joshua leads the Israelites across the Jordan River and into the Promised Land, where they fight many battles and drive out the wicked inhabitants of the land. There are essentially three parts to Joshua:  the preparation for the Promised Land, the conquest of the Promised Land, and the division of the Promised Land. This week, we are squarely in part 3, which spans from Joshua 13-21. I will not be reading long sections of these chapters, since most of it is a record of the boundaries of the sections of land given to the various tribes. But I will be summarizing the four main points that we need to take away for our life and faith today.

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This morning I am in the seventh week of a sermon series I am doing on the Old Testament book of Joshua, the sixth book of the Bible. If you’re unfamiliar with this book of the Bible, the historical context is that the Israelites, who were enslaved in Egypt, have been set free by God, using a man named Moses, with the plan of bringing them to the land of Canaan, a land which God had promised to their ancestor Abraham 600 years earlier. After the Israelites wander in the wilderness for 40 years as a result of their disobedience, Joshua leads the Israelites across the Jordan River and into the Promised Land. There are essentially three parts to Joshua – the preparation for the Promised Land, the conquest of the Promised Land, and the division of the Promised Land. Last week finished up the section on the conquest of the Promised Land. This week, we’ll be in Joshua 13-15, a section which is part of the division of the Promised Land, looking specifically at the life of a man named Caleb. While this book may have been named after Joshua, Caleb deserves to be remembered as the only other person who 40 years prior had the faith to trust that God would give them the Promised Land.

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This morning I am in the sixth week of a sermon series I am doing on the Old Testament book of Joshua, the sixth book of the Bible. If you’re unfamiliar with this book of the Bible, the historical context is that the Israelites, who were enslaved in Egypt, have been set free by God, using a man named Moses, with the plan of bringing them to the land of Canaan, a land which God had promised to their ancestor Abraham 600 years earlier. After the Israelites wander in the wilderness for 40 years as a result of their disobedience, Joshua leads the Israelites across the Jordan River and into the Promised Land. There are essentially three parts to Joshua – the preparation for the Promised Land, the conquest of the Promised Land, and the division of the Promised Land. This week, we’ll be in Joshua 9-12, looking at the last section of the conquest of the Promised Land. I don’t plan to read the whole thing, just selected sections. My goal is to summarize what happened, and then to look at what this section has to teach us about the warfare we face today, which is spiritual in nature.

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This morning I am in the fifth week of a sermon series I am doing on the Old Testament book of Joshua, the sixth book of the Bible. If you’re unfamiliar with this book of the Bible, the historical context is that the Israelites, who were enslaved in Egypt, have been set free by God, using a man named Moses, with the plan of bringing them to the land of Canaan, a land which God had promised to their ancestor Abraham 600 years earlier. After the Israelites wander in the wilderness for 40 years as a result of their disobedience, Joshua leads the Israelites across the Jordan River and into the Promised Land. Last week we looked at the battle of Jericho, where Israel defeats the first military establishment in Canaan, not through their own power but by God’s intervention. This week, we will be in Joshua 7 & 8, and if you’re going to understand what happens in this week’s passage, you need to remember one important critical detail from last week, from 6:17-19, where God gives Joshua these instructions:

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This morning I am in the fourth week of a sermon series I am doing on the Old Testament book of Joshua, the sixth book of the Bible. If you’re unfamiliar with this book of the Bible, the historical context is that the Israelites, who were enslaved in Egypt, have been set free by God, using a man named Moses, with the plan of bringing them to the land of Canaan, a land which God had promised to their ancestor Abraham 600 years earlier. After the Israelites wander in the wilderness for 40 years as a result of their disobedience, Joshua leads the Israelites across the Jordan River and into the Promised Land, which we looked at last week. This morning, we are in chapters 5 & 6, as the Israelites prepare to attack the first city in the Promised Land, Jericho. I plan to read the passage and talk about its significance for us today, and also to address the important question of how you make sense of the what the new atheists would call the “Canaanite genocide.”

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This morning I am in the third week of a sermon series I am doing on the Old Testament book of Joshua, the sixth book of the Bible. If you’re unfamiliar with this book of the Bible, the historical context is that the Israelites, who were enslaved in Egypt, have been set free by God, using a man named Moses, with the plan of bringing them to the land of Canaan, a land which God had promised to their ancestor Abraham 600 years earlier. Unfortunately, when Moses sent people to spy out the land, 10 of the 12 spies came back saying that there was no way they could defeat the inhabitants of the land, while only 2 of the spies – Joshua and Caleb – encouraged them that if God had promised them the land, then He would make a way for them to enter it. Unfortunately, the negative report of the 10 spies caused fear to spread throughout the camp. As a result of their fear and disobedience, God caused the Israelites to wander in the wilderness for 40 years until that generation, except for Joshua and Caleb, would die out. In the beginning of the book of Joshua, the 40 years of wandering has passed, Moses has died, and they are once again on the border of the promised land. This morning, we are going to read through chapters 3-4, which detail the crossing of the Jordan River and entrance into the promised land, and see what we learn about knowing and following God.

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This morning I am in the second week of a sermon series I am doing on the Old Testament book of Joshua, the sixth book of the Bible. If you’re unfamiliar with this book of the Bible, the historical context is that the Israelites, who were enslaved in Egypt, have been set free by God, using a man named Moses, with the plan of bringing them to the land of Canaan, a land which God had promised to their ancestor Abraham 600 years earlier. Unfortunately, when Moses sent people to spy out the land, 10 of the 12 spies came back saying that there was no way they could defeat the inhabitants of the land, while only 2 of the spies – Joshua and Caleb – encouraged them that if God had promised them the land, then He would make a way for them to enter it. Unfortunately, the negative report of the 10 spies caused fear to spread throughout the camp. As a result of their fear and disobedience, God caused the Israelites to wander in the wilderness for 40 years until that generation, except for Joshua and Caleb, would die out. In the beginning of the book of Joshua, the 40 years has passed, Moses has died, and they are once again on the border of the promised land. This morning, we are going to read through chapter 2 and see what we learn about knowing and following God: