Pastor Joe Sugrue - Grace and Truth Podcast

Title: Joshua and Judges: Joshua's northern campaign, part 3; Jos 11.

Announcements / opening prayer:

Joshua did all that the Lord had told him.

To obey all that God demands takes a heart of devotion and commitment to Him alone. Such a heart far outweighs any ritual or procedure.

1Sa 15:16 Then Samuel said to Saul, "Wait, and let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night." And he said to him, "Speak!"

1Sa 15:17 And Samuel said, "Is it not true, though you were little in your own...

for full notes: http://www.cgtruth.org/index.php?proc=msg&sf=vw&tid=1393

Title: Joshua and Judges: Joshua's northern campaign, part 2; Jos 11.

Announcements / opening prayer:

Jos 11:9 And Joshua did to them as the Lord had told him; he hamstrung their horses, and burned their chariots with fire.

Joshua did all that the Lord had told him.

To obey all that God demands takes a heart of devotion and commitment to Him alone. Such a heart far outweighs any ritual or procedure.

Of course this doesn't mean sinlessness. It means devotion to God's way as the only way. We will have times of failure along that way, but if your priority is God's way, you will recover from that continually. A self-justifying believer is not devoted to God's way. He has his own way and tries to appease God with lip-service or attending service every once in a...

for full notes: http://www.cgtruth.org/index.php?proc=msg&sf=vw&tid=1392

Title: Joshua and Judges: Joshua's northern campaign; Jos 11.

Announcements / opening prayer:

We saw last night that the reward in the test is the test itself. Paul gloried in the test or weakness. In the test, the power of God will shine and bring victory. Victory isn't the test being over but being content and at peace in the test.

The battle first begins in the believer's soul and that's where it is inevitably won. Will we have courage through faith and will we stand firm adorning the full armor of God?

The gift to David, in all of it, is the actual battle where his courage can be put to the test and proven. Without the test, who would know of it? Even for David, would he have surmised the power of faith by tending sheep or by killing the bear and the lion, and then, in one of the most epic battles...

for full notes: http://www.cgtruth.org/index.php?proc=msg&sf=vw&tid=1391

Title: Joshua and Judges: Joshua's southern campaign, part 5; Jos 10.

Announcements / opening prayer:

Jos 10:40 Thus Joshua struck all the land, the hill country and the Negev and the lowland and the slopes and all their kings. He left no survivor, but he utterly destroyed all who breathed, just as the Lord, the God of Israel, had commanded.

Some of the tribes of Israel seem to rather remain as nomads around peaceful Shiloh for a time rather than running out and taking possession of the permanent land, needing to be cleared of the heathen, that was allotted to them.

The sons of Joseph were afraid to take the rich, fertile land that was given to them because the hill country, thickly forested, was still in the possession of the Perrizites and the Rephaim. The sons of Joseph argued for an additional portion so...

for full notes: http://www.cgtruth.org/index.php?proc=msg&sf=vw&tid=1390

Title: Joshua and Judges: Joshua's southern campaign, part 4; Jos 10.

Announcements/opening prayer:

Jos 10:25 Joshua then said to them, "Do not fear or be dismayed! Be strong and courageous, for thus the Lord will do to all your enemies with whom you fight."

Jos 10:26 So afterward Joshua struck them and put them to death, and he hanged them on five trees; and they hung on the trees until evening.

Jos 10:27 And it came about at sunset that Joshua commanded, and they took them down from the trees and threw them into the cave where they had hidden themselves, and put large stones over the mouth of the cave, to this very day.

Those who oppose God and His people may seem to get away with it, but judgment is only a matter of...

for full notes: http://www.cgtruth.org/index.php?proc=msg&sf=vw&tid=1389

Title: Joshua and Judges: Joshua's southern campaign, part 3; Jos 10.

Announcements / opening prayer:

Jos 10:12 Then Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel,

"O sun, stand still at Gibeon,

And O moon in the valley of Aijalon."

Jos 10:13 So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped,

Until the nation avenged themselves of their enemies.

Is it not written in the book of Jashar? And the sun stopped in the middle of the sky, and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day.

Jos 10:14 And there was no day like that before it or after it, when the Lord listened to the voice of...

for full notes: http://www.cgtruth.org/index.php?proc=msg&sf=vw&tid=1388

Announcements / opening prayer:

Jos 10:10 And the Lord confounded them before Israel, and He slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, and pursued them by the way of the ascent of Beth-horon, and struck them as far as Azekah and Makkedah.

Judging from the next verse it is likely that the confusion was caused by a dreadful thunder and lightning storm.

Israel is also in the midst of whatever God used to confound the Canaanites, but she was not confused because of her faith in God's deliverance.

The Israelites are not confounded by the situation due to their faith in God's promise. If God is going to deliver them then the confusion is for the enemy and not God's people. So despite the situation that makes the enemy fear greatly, the believer has perfect peace in the midst of...

for full notes: http://www.cgtruth.org/index.php?proc=msg&sf=vw&tid=1387

Title: Joshua and Judges: Joshua's southern campaign; Jos 10.

Announcements / opening prayer:

And so, circumstances lead to Joshua's southern campaign.

The surrender of Gibeon would fill the kings of Southern Canaan with dismay. Israel now has a very strong position in central Canaan, the heart of the country. In the circumstances it was natural that the kings of the south would combine in an effort to take back Gibeon. Plus, Gibeon is a prosperous city and so the economic rewards would be great if she could be taken.

Jos 10:1 Now it came about when Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem heard that Joshua had captured Ai, and had utterly destroyed it (just as he had done to Jericho and its king, so he had done to Ai and its king), and that the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were within their...

for full notes: http://www.cgtruth.org/index.php?proc=msg&sf=vw&tid=1386

Title: Joshua and Judges: The deception of the Gibeonites, part 2; Joshua fails to seek God's counsel. Jos 9.

Announcements/opening prayer:

Jos 9:15 And Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant with them, to let them live; and the leaders of the congregation swore an oath to them.

"This account is a warning to the Church of God of all ages against the cunning and dissimulation of the world, which often seeks for a peaceable recognition on the part of the kingdom of God, and even for a reception into it, whenever it may be its advantage to do so." [Gerlach]

We find examples of this all throughout history. Let's look at one example.

The nineteenth century posed great intellectual challenges for Christianity. Many Protestants in the west, especially in...

for full notes: http://www.cgtruth.org/index.php?proc=msg&sf=vw&tid=1385

Title: Joshua and Judges: The deception of the Gibeonites; Joshua fails to seek God's counsel. Jos 9.

Announcementsopening prayer:

Here they await their next step, or rather God's next step. The surrounding kings of Canaan are naturally very concerned about Israel, imagining that their fate would be that of Jericho and Ai very soon. The spectacle in the valley of Shechem would also have become known, which would have revealed to the kings of Canaan that the Israelites were not content to remain around Jericho, but in what would seem to them as nationalist pride, the Jews would be hungry for more. Little did they know that the deal is already done and that God had promised this entire land to Israel over 400 years ago.

Jos 9:1 Now it came about when all the...

for full notes: http://www.cgtruth.org/index.php?proc=msg&sf=vw&tid=1384