We are in week 7 of our series and Pastor Josh talks about Judges. The book of Judges, which is believed to have been written by the prophet Samuel around 1050 – 1000 BC, presents us with a sad and turbulent period in Israel’s history. Contrasted greatly with the victorious book of Joshua that precedes it, Judges shows the failure of Israel to conquer their enemies, claim their inheritance, and the huge effect that this had on their life and relationship with God. Throughout this entire book, we see a repeated cycle, one that we will call ‘The cycle of sin’. That shall be the focus of this study. There was a repeated cycle throughout the entire book – a cycle of sin, bondage, repentance, devotion, followed by sin and bondage again. Israel would follow the Lord when there was a leader who reminded them of the ways in which they should walk, but with his death they again wandered off following other gods and their own desires. God would then allow an enemy of Israel to conquer the people so that, through desperation (unfortunately) they would again look to Him. Now it would be nice, would it not, if this was only a message of history – a message that no longer applies to God’s people today. But study church history over the last two thousand years and you see the cycle repeating itself. But the story of the church is only the story of the culmination of individual Christian lives, so we cannot end there. We need to be more specific. The cycle of sin is unfortunately evident in many Christian lives today. Maybe it is one enemy, or one particular area of weakness that consistently drags you down into bondage. Maybe compromise has allowed the temptation of the enemy to have far too great an influence in your life, leading to worldliness and the deception of sin. You think you have got on top of it until suddenly, the same failure rears it’s ugly head again and you’re back to square one! I think we can all relate to parts of this, so we should all be able to learn from this as well. Judges is a book that teaches us both how they became captive to the enemy, and also how they got out of that bondage. And in doing so, it then teaches us how to break the cycle of sin. Looking over your past as a Christian, have you seen this in your own life? Has your Christian walk been a cycle of victory and defeat? Do you see the cycle occurring in your life? If we are honest, the message of Judges is a wake up call for each of us. It is a warning of what can happen once we become comfortable and begin to compromise with the enemy. It is a signpost, and a danger signal of the perils that can lie ahead in our Christian lives.

 

We are on our 6 week on the Journey through the bible and today Pastor Josh talks about Joshua. Joshua is a story of conquest and fulfillment for the people of God. After many years of slavery in Egypt and 40 years in the desert, the Israelites were finally allowed to enter the land promised to their fathers. Abraham, always a migrant, never possessed the country to which he was sent, but he left to his children the legacy of God’s covenant that made them the eventual heirs of all of Canaan (see Ge 15:13,16,18; 17:8). Joshua was destined to turn that promise into reality. Where Deuteronomy ends, the book of Joshua begins: The tribes of Israel are still camped on the east side of the Jordan River. The narrative opens with God’s command to move forward and pass through the river on dry land. Then it relates the series of victories in central, southern and northern Canaan that gave the Israelites control of all the hill country and the Negev. It continues with a description of the tribal allotments and ends with Joshua’s final addresses to the people. The theme of the book, therefore, is the establishment of God’s people Israel in the Lord’s land, the land he had promised to give them as their place of “rest” in the earth (1:13,15; 21:44; 22:4; 23:1; see also Dt 3:20 and note; 12:9–10; 24:19; 1Ki 5:4 and note; 8:35). So the Great King’s promise to the partriarchs and Moses to give the land of Canaan to the chosen people of his kingdom is now historically fulfilled (1:1–6; 21:43–45).

It is the 5th week in our series and Pastor Larry is talking about Deuteronomy. In all the Hebrew manuscripts the Pentateuch (q.v.) forms one roll or volume divided into larger and smaller sections calledparshioth_ and _sedarim . It is not easy to say when it was divided into five books. This was probably first done by the Greek translators of the book, whom the Vulgate follows. The fifth of these books was called by the Greeks Deuteronomion, i.e., the second law, hence our name Deuteronomy, or a second statement of the laws already promulgated. The Jews designated the book by the two first Hebrew words that occur, _'Elle haddabharim_, i.e., "These are the words." They divided it into elevenparshioth . In the English Bible it contains thirty-four chapters.It consists chiefly of three discourses delivered by Moses a short time before his death. They were spoken to all Israel in the plains of Moab, in the eleventh month of the last year of their wanderings. The first discourse ( (1-4:40) ) recapitulates the chief events of the last forty years in the wilderness, with earnest exhortations to obedience to the divine ordinances, and warnings against the danger of forsaking the God of their fathers. The second discourse ( (5-26:19) ) is in effect the body of the whole book. The first address is introductory to it. It contains practically a recapitulation of the law already given by God at Mount Sinai, together with many admonitions and injunctions as to the course of conduct they were to follow when they were settled in Canaan. The concluding discourse (ch. 27-30) relates almost wholly to the solemn sanctions of the law, the blessings to the obedient, and the curse that would fall on the rebellious. He solemnly adjures them to adhere faithfully to the covenant God had made with them, and so secure for themselves and their posterity the promised blessings. These addresses to the people are followed by what may be called three appendices, namely (1), a song which God had commanded Moses to write ( 32:1-47 ); (2) the blessings he pronounced on the separate tribes (ch. 33); and (3) the story of his death ( 32:48-52 ) and burial (ch. 34), written by some other hand, probably that of Joshua.

Pastor Josh is on the 4th week talking about Numbers. The book of numbers is largely Narrative History as far as its genre. It was written by Moses about 1450-1410 B.C. Key personalities include Moses, Aaron, Miriam, Joshua, Caleb, Eleazar, Korah, and Balaam. The purpose of the book of Numbers is to tell about how Israel prepared to enter the promise land, but sinned and was punished. It describes Moses taking two population censuses, hence the name Numbers. From chapters 1-9 the Israelites are preparing for their journey and entry into the promise land. Moses begins by taking a census of all the tribes, primarily to see how many men are available and in shape for military service. Next, Moses dedicates the Levites and instructs the Nazirite vows and laws. During this time, the Israelites celebrate the 2nd Passover one year after their exit from bondage. In chapters 10-12, the Israelites travel from the wilderness in Sinai to approach the promise land. The people complain about their food, God gives them quail, and because of their greed, He also sends them a plague. Miriam and Aaron learn a lesson about whom God places in leadership. In chapters 13-19, we see severe punishment for disobedience and unfaithfulness to God. Moses sends out 12 spies to perform reconnaissance on the promise land. The 12 spies return and only two of them bring good news. The people fear the occupants and rebel against taking the land. For this God punishes them and sends them into the wilderness for forty years to roam. The last chapters of Numbers, from 20-36, the new generation of Israelites again attempt to enter the land to take it as God promised. This time they easily destroy two nations that confront them as they are entering. Balak uses his prophet Balaam to learn to seduce the Israelites to worship Baal. Because of this disobedience, about 24,000 people die, including Balaam. Before the book of Numbers ends, Moses again conducts a census, and Joshua assumes the leadership of Israel in place of Moses who is banned from the promise land, due to his disobedience.  

Pastor Josh is Continuing our series with Leviticus. Leviticus has a very simple structure and message. It's intent is to define the boundaries of godly human sexual realtionships. There are three of them, which i call the inner, middle, and outer boundaries of godly sexuality. Verses 6 through 18 define the "inner boundary," prohibiting sexual relationships with close relatives. Verses 19 and 20 define the "middle boundary," which limits sexual relations within marriage and prehibits them outside marriage. Verses 21 through 23 define the "outer boundary" of unnatural sexual relations. Verses 24 through 29 tell us about God's judgment upon a nation that crosses these boundaries. 

We are on our Journey through the bible and we are on week 2. Pastor Josh is talking about Exodus Part 1. He talks about the blood of the spirit. 

We are on our Journey through the bible and we are on week 2. Pastor Josh is talking about Exodus Part 2. He talks about the ten commandments. 

Pastor Josh starts a new 2 part series Route 66 starting with Genesis and he will continue for 66 weeks. Here is part 1 of Genesis. 

Pastor Josh talks about Part 2 of the new series which is Genesis. The new series is Route 66 a 66 week Journey through the bible. 

Pastor Josh talks about the parable of the rich fool. Jesus told a parable about a man who had riches to a man who wanted riches. A man in the crowed approached Jesus as an authority figure that the man's brother might listen to. He asked Jesus to tell his brother to give him his share of the family inheritance. The family inheritance was much more important to first century israel than we can imagine it meant their future. The man in today's parable is pronounced a "fool" by God. The remarkable thing is that this person that God calls a fool, we would very often call a success. A fool in biblical language was not a description of mental ability but of spiritual discernment.