The Book of Joshua

Transcript

okay so uh what I'd like to do this morning is I'd like to spend some time talking about the Book of Joshua

so this is uh this is the theme of our first uh first portion of the readings this month we've been in in Joshua and I thought it might be helpful to just sort of hit some of the highlights about the the story of Joshua and go through some of the early chapters the chapter today is is the chapter about the division of the land we're not going to get into those details really I thought that we'd we'd focus on a couple of bigger picture items as it relates to the book and I'd like to talk a little bit about what it means in the Bible when God instructs the Israelites to go in and destroy a people you know it's it's a hard thing it's a it's a subject that I think a lot of uh a lot of people really struggle with we you know so for example on uh Wednesday night brother Brian just sent me a text saying that he's going to be leading the Bible class on Wednesday night and is subject for this Wednesday is Lord

the god of compassion

and on one hand we see a loving and a compassionate God and then we come to the Book of Joshua and we see a God who is instructing his people to destroy a nation and to completely destroy living people and that's a hard thing you know that's a thing that sometimes uh I know my boys have struggled with

um and it may be something that that we Ponder and wonder about so we'll spend a little bit of time God willing talking about that but let's begin if you would open your Bibles up uh I don't see any young people here well actually I see a lot of old people that Sandy's raising her hand Sandy this will apply to you since your eyesight is so bad now that you're an old woman you can turn on your Bible where you can see the the font big and large on your iPad all right so let's uh turn on our Bibles to Joshua chapter one and uh we'll look at the first couple of verses

and the context here is that Moses has died the people have been wandering in the wilderness all these years and now it's time it's time for the Israelite Nation who has been freed they've been saved from slavery in Egypt and now they're about to go into the Promised Land So It Begins Joshua 1 it says after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord the Lord said to Joshua son of none Moses Aid he said Moses my servant is dead now then you and all these people get ready to cross the Jordan into the land I'm about to give you to give them to the Israelites I will give you every place where you set your foot as I promised Moses your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon and from the Great River the Euphrates all the hittite country to the Great Sea on the west no one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life as I was with Moses so I will be with you I will never leave you nor forsake you be strong and courageous because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them be strong and very courageous be careful to obey all the law my servant gave you and do not turn from it to the right or to the left that you may be successful wherever you go do not let this book of the law depart from your mouth meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful to do everything written in it then you will be prosperous and successful have I not commanded you be strong and courageous do not be terrified do not be discouraged for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go

so those are the first uh nine verses of this opening section of passages in in the Book of Joshua and as we read through there we see this repetitive phrase It's repeated three times what was it

be strong and courageous and I think those are wonderful words you know we think about our ecclesial family

um you know we've got members in our in our family who are hurting you know who are dying who are facing real struggles in life right now and while these words apply to the Israelites who are about to go into the promised land and into a battle of Their Own we all have our own battles and I think these words that are delivered here not once not twice but three times really apply in all the battles that we might face be strong and courageous and it's not a suggestion you see the third time that it's um that it's mentioned there and I think it's verse 8. um

where it it says that it's actually a command um where is it these verse nine thanks have I not commanded you right this is not a suggestion God is commanding his people to be strong and courageous and I guess the question is what do we put our strength in what is our courage based on and I think clearly it's not based on our own abilities it's not based on the strength of a man's legs it's based on it it's based on our heavenly father and I think this was a lesson that the people of the the Israelite Nation needed to learn and it's a lesson that we need to learn to be strong and courageous any comments on that what is it what does it mean to you to be strong and courageous I'm curious if anybody's got any thoughts

do not be afraid

trust in God okay Sandy you had it so do not be afraid Gordon says trust in God Sandy

brilliant being resilient yeah you learn from the past and like okay God was with me at that moment I can get through this moment What's another word for resilience

bounce back yeah persistence

endurance yeah what did you say long suffering yeah Genie long suffering those are all good yeah

Chris

not to the point of resilience but the message that God has given unto Joshua very similar to Jesus's last words to his disciples too that I will not leave you orphans I will be with you you know and that's very much the encouragement that uh you know Joshua was to understand God is with him and Jesus wanted his disciples to understand that even though he was going away he would still be with them

yeah

and I think that for me anyway Chris when I think about um you know facing difficult times

it's a lot easier to

go through trouble and trial when you've got somebody at your side right whether it's Sandy or you know for me or whether it's uh you know the two of you going down and visiting Julie and Phil you know the the comfort that you know you've got a brother who's you know really struggling and to have somebody come down and sit and be there you know that's what we do as followers of Jesus right

um we don't necessarily have answers I mean I guess in the big picture we do but there are times when you know we're not going to be able to wave a magic wand and and cause the problems to go away

but in the long run Our God has promised us a solution to all of these problems and I think it's in that promise that we can take courage it's in that promise that we can be strong we can endure the trials of this life knowing

that God has promised something greater and that greater thing of course is the resurrection of our bodies from the dead that greater thing is that time when we will no longer suffer with the problem of sin will no longer suffer with the the you know the Troubles of aging and the Troubles of sickness and the Troubles of family dysfunction right these things will be done away with the Earth will be restored to this eden-like environment

and knowing that and believing that is what gives us I think the strength Bonnie

okay so I was thinking that oftentimes in scripture when people were coming to the end of their lives they would recount everywhere in their lives God delivered delivered them I'm thinking of David or many others and so I think when we focus on that when we come to that point where we just can't go on on our own we know we've been carried all that time so I think that makes a difference when our minds are with God

expand on that so when you said um in the scriptures people recount the events where God was with them can you give us some examples that can you think of anything yeah he Chris is saying like Paul you know what he

was

Litany of issues that he was I've been Shipwrecked I've been uh let down you know I've been in prison I've been and it goes through you know yeah and if you think of almost uh David before King Saul when he's going to go face Goliath he said you know Saul says to David how do you know

you know how do you know that God is going to deliver you and he says well he delivered me out of the mouth of the bear and he delivered me out of the mouth of a lion I know he's going to deliver me out of Goliath too because it's the same God I'm not going to do it's the same God and and Paul's kind of saying the same thing so when he says I am persuaded that nothing can separate us from the love of God it's it's all these experiences in life that he said I then he delivered so many times and I I know that I I will be delivered from Death okay so henceforth there's laid up for me at crown of wishes so yeah yeah so so there's an example where he's sort of recounting all the things that he endured in his life yes yes yeah yeah it's a very good practice to take a journal and begin from the uh the earliest memories and try to chop okay the all the different events in your life that brought you to where you are today uh as Bonnie's saying in the bad times and the weak times the dark times it's good to have that too reflect back on to say don't forget okay you know all these all these events so it's well-founded confidence it's not just yeah it's not just a hope and yeah it's a wealth found that's a good way to put it yeah

yeah Dad

hold on a sec we sometimes have people like as far away as Naples Florida that try and listen to our classes so we like to use a microphone what Chris and Bonnie was saying is that the keeping in remembrance

all of the Great

encouragement and

cures that the Lord God has done in our own individual life

is in essence the antidote for being discouraged

or being depressed

because once you make a telephone call to somebody who is lonely or needy hopefully you can improve their Outlook but you're also improving your own yeah or visiting someone in the same way so that's the that seems to be the antidote the the command in this last verse 9 do not be discouraged to not be

afraid yeah be strong so you're talking about actions that we can take to reach out to people yes the byproduct is that weird so we're talking about two things then so on one hand we're going back we're we're sort of looking introspectively and we're saying what are examples in my own life where God has been with me where I can sort of recognize God's presence whether it was you know surviving a shipwreck as Chris brings out or David at the end of David's life Bonnie right and so one is looking introspectively and then the second is sort of to be that Avenue where you're reaching out to people who are hurting yes okay yeah

got it

so I'll say a couple of maybe it was a year or so ago we had one of our midweek classes and Paul Baines

um was was uh talking about his move to from Sussex New Brunswick to the UK you guys remember that and um talked about how

throughout this time period where he and his wife were thinking about moving they just felt God's presence you know felt that God was directing them and I asked the question and it's this question that I've sometimes struggled with and you know personally and it's just like you know how do I recognize God's actions in my own life like how do I like do I feel God's presence do I see God's presence do I see that he's directing me to make certain decisions and not others and so you know quite frankly this is something that I've sometimes struggled with like like how do I know I'm making the right decision and how do I know God's directing me one way or the other and after that class I got a text message and it was from our brother Jack Rundle

right and you know Jack had been you know he'd been at home for a while already

and he said to me um Steve the from my experience the best way to recognize God's presence and it's sort of what you were saying Sandy is not to keep it you know he wasn't saying to keep a journal but it's still like Look Backwards

and it's just what you got what you're saying Bonnie right it's not it's not like necessarily recognizing God directing you at that very moment but for me

you know to think about um you know being a young man at a bible school and being introduced to my wife you know it's like oh

there's an example right and I can see that clearly now right and I think that the benefit of hindsight is one that's really helped me so I think that these are all examples that we can take towards you know being strong and courageous right this theme of strength and courage is one that you know it wasn't introduced you know here in Joshua right this was the thing that Moses first said to Joshua you know years before

um do you remember where it is I think it's in the first chapters of Deuteronomy um where you know he's uh instructed you know where where Joshua is uh chosen as his um Aid almost and God tells Moses to be strong and courageous and this is a theme that gets passed down and here we are you know thousands and thousands of years later carrying on that same theme so we need to be strong and courageous any other comments on that subject before we move on in Joshua

anybody okay

so the the record continues uh we're back in Joshua chapter one

um and

as just to recap again um Moses has died the Lord God instructs Joshua to get the people ready after all of these years in the wilderness to cross the Jordan River and they're about to cross and so verse 10 Joshua 1 verse 10 Joshua ordered the officers of the people go through the camp and tell the people get your supplies ready three days from now you will cross the Jordan here to go in and take possession of the land the Lord your God has given you

and verse 12 says but the rubinites the gadites in the half tribe of Manasseh Joshua said Remember the command that Moses the servant of the lord gave you so this is like think telling them now go back in your memory think about all those years before remember what the what Moses told you

um Moses said the Lord the lord gave you this instruction the Lord your God is giving you rest

giving you these three tribes rest and is granted you this land what's happening

at this point in time some of the land has already been given to some of the tribes they have their land it just happens to be on the other side of the Jordan right so they've been given their land they're settling in they they're at peace and Joshua goes through and says okay everybody we're going to get our stuff together we're going to cross the Jordan we're not sure what sort of reception we're going to get when we cross but it's likely not going to be good and you folks that have received the land already well we're happy for you but you've got to work with the rest of us you can't stay behind and just sort of rest in the land that you were given all these years before we want you fighting men to get your stuff together too and you're going to join your brothers on the other side of the of the Jordan so let's for contents let's context let's go back to Deuteronomy chapter 3. foreign

in Deuteronomy chapter 3 we we see this uh

this description uh of the the land being divided so uh we'll look at chapter three Deuteronomy 3 verse 12. it says on a of the land that we took over at that time I gave the rubinites and the gadites the territory north of the auror by the Arnon Gorge including half the Hill Country of Gilead together with its towns the rest of Gilead and also of basin the king of OG I gave to the half tribe of Manasseh so again this is all property this is all land on the other side on you know this side of the Jordan and so there's they've settled in their land they're happy there and they've got now to gather their stuff too and go with their brothers into war and that's what we read next so we're back in Joshua chapter one

um verse 14 says your wives your children in your livestock may stay in the land that Moses gave you east of the Jordan but your fighting men fully armed must cross over ahead of your brothers I think that's really interesting right not only do they need to join their brothers they've got to lead the way

they go ahead of your brothers You're to help your brothers until the Lord till Yahweh gives them rest as he's done for you and until they too have taken possession of their of the land that the Lord their God is giving them after that you may go back and occupy your own land which Moses the servant the lord gave you east of the Jordan toward the sunrise so

what sort of lessons can we take from that

right we are a we are a family we're all members of the one body and some of us are experiencing peace in life at this point in our time right

things are good we've got full employment you know we've got uh you know a loving spouse we've got uh you know no issues our health is good but other members of our body are struggling

and I think the lesson that I get from this is that

when we're strong you know when we've been blessed

we need to be willing and able to help our brothers in need our sisters in need

to the point where even leading the way into you know leading the way it's not like we just sit behind and let them figure it out and we'll help you when we can or if you come to me and ask for help I get the sense that there is this obligation that we have to help one another and to you know be there and that's that's one of the lessons that I learned from this from the from these tribes

comments Sandy

Phil we're going to need more microphones man

Justine and her family and Jean-Claude came over as refugees and the help that God was able to guide us to give them

and I remember maybe a year or months later there was someone in need and I remember Justine and Jean-Claude coming to meeting and giving what they had oh we heard so and so is in need of I forget exactly what it was so if I remember correctly Sandy there was a sister who had emigrated from the Congo and was in the Springfield Massachusetts area and she was so so eager to help of course will help and it just really hit me to realize that they were in such need themselves yeah but were able to give and I thought that was a remarkable lesson to learn that you know to give so here's Justine who Justine and Jean-Claude who received help from our Ecclesia once they were somewhat settled they were the first ones to want to help this other sister who had just come with her children from the Congo even though it was in western Mass and Springfield she was the first one to get in her little jalopy of a car and drive out with a bunch of clothes and really provide that support and that language

yeah mark

it reminds you of um Paul's second letter to the Corinthians when he speaks of comfort yeah you know the comfort that God has given to you your responsibility is to use that Comfort to comfort others can you can you think of where that verse is anybody that's right in chapter one okay

second Corinthians I think yeah

so in second Corinthians Paul is exhorting all of the ecclesias that he's preached to in Asia Minor to collect funds for the brothers and sisters who are being

um ostracized who are being persecuted in Jerusalem and it was this poor fund that they were bringing back to Jerusalem it's uh verse three a chapter one it starts blessed be God even the father of our Lord Jesus Christ the father of mercies and the God of All Comfort who comforteth Us in all our tribulation that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the Comfort we're with we ourselves are comforted of God that's a great verse and and so this is sort of like

hold on verse 6. and whether we be afflicted it is for your consolation and salvation which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer or whether we be comforted it is for your consolation and salvation

yeah so you know earlier we talked about like these two different areas in which we can take comfort and courage one is looking inwardly and historically at our own lives and the other is looking at how we can provide comfort and encouragement to others and I think that's what this verse in second Corinthians focuses on that second area that's a great verse Mark Chris

the microphone if you would read Romans 15 almost we're almost quoting Paul's words in Romans 15. you want to read that well let's get the glasses honestly indicated we're getting a little

but uh we then that are strong ought to Bear the infirmities of the week and not to please ourselves let every one of us please his neighbor for his good to edification for even Christ please not himself but as it is written the reproaches of them that were approached thee fell on him for whatsoever things were written before time were written for our learning that through patience and comfort of the scriptures we may have hope

but you know you mentioned the idea of the retrospective and then looking forward you know by looking back and understanding how we got to be where we are you know we see that God has been kind of tilling the soil in us and preparing us uh to spoken like a farmer Chris yeah there you go but to receive the word but you know when you think of the parable of the tears and the idea that you know the seed the word of God is actually obviously true it's just how it how it takes in the various soils and God has been tilling our soil by these events in our lives to bring us to this point that we're now receptive uh understanding compassion because we've experienced some of these things ourselves it takes time uh you know for uh to travel this journey to get to that point in time in your life that you can see this at 25 years old uh you don't perhaps see it quite as clearly as you do it 65 years old yeah you know I think that's a really interesting uh comment when we think about

our own life experiences and the troubles that we have all faced in life you know Paul like I'm sitting here looking at you and you're sitting upright and there was a time when you were in the midst of your Epstein was it Epstein-Barr no what was it

say it again Guillain-Barre syndrome and you were completely paralyzed

and like I can't even in my mind I can't get my mind around what you must have gone through

right and you go through that and

you must have developed as a result of that experience and empathy

that uh is you know so much stronger

than

than what anybody else might have

um you know you've been there you know what it was like to you know want to move your limbs and be unable to do that I mean it's a remarkable testimony to

you know your faith your you know the healing power of our God

um but you've developed that empathy right yes it was a it was a point where

for three weeks I had no communication and I couldn't move nothing in my body for and I can just see out of my eyes and that was where I got the closest to God in my faith and my trust in him and my prayers and going through that just looking at other people suffering you know I do feel I do understand the trials and how it is and it's really difficult to recover because you have to be willing to put yourself through a lot of pain to get better and that's physical therapy right yes yeah but it was extremely painful in the beginning as your body relearns all those feelings you know it's just a challenge but you know it's it does bring your mind looking at others and I see others in a wheelchair and I kind you know I understand because I was there you know it's a challenge to get around and have to have everybody do everything for you in life it changes your life changes how you think and feel and you feel so much more blessed now and my faith is a hundred percent in God that it doesn't matter what he does to me anymore I get it you get it what do you get that he he's with me all the time right to the end I mean I was I will I said my prayers and it says if this is your will to take me let it if I want I would like to continue on and my cares are more for everybody else coming to see me then for myself at that point yeah because there's nothing I could do or say to them yeah so when we think about

our our lives and our purpose in life

I I think that we as brothers and sisters as people who have been called

have a great advantage

in that we can identify what our purpose is you know there's so many like as most of you know I work with a lot of folks who are getting close to retirement and people who are retiring sometimes really struggle with okay what am I going to do after I stop working like what's my role in life I'm no longer you know a real estate developer I'm no longer a banker I'm no longer a a doctor who am I and as brothers and sisters we have a purpose and our purpose is to be an example to others of God you know we are to demonstrate the character of God in our lives we are to bring God to others and when you think about the characteristics of God

is said to be loving

and one of his traits is long-suffering remember we read about this in Exodus well how can we demonstrate to others the character of God if we've never suffered how can we belongs how can we demonstrate the long-suffering nature of God if we've never suffered

and so we suffer in this life and it helps us to develop that long-suffering it helps us to develop and as you said Paul this Reliance on God where you drew closer to God at that point in time than any other time it helps us to develop empathy so that when you see somebody else who's in a similar situation to the one you were in you know what it was like you know it's and it's not sympathy it's not just feeling sorry for somebody it's like putting yourself in their shoes right

turn with me to Romans Romans chapter 16. um this is the end of Romans and Paul is sort of concluding his his uh letter here

now I'm not going to be able to find it um

and he talks about um those who are in prison remember those who are in prison as if you yourself were in prison can anybody find that I thought it was Romans 16 but I don't see it here

um

yeah this is example two of the not ready for prime time Sunday school class

um anyway Phil uh Chris you're going to say something you had your hand up I can't find it

I distracted you sorry hailing off of what brother Paul was speaking uh and and then you were mentioning about our purpose of course we never retire from the you know service to the law that's one thing that certainly is a blessing that where people that's you know retire and they don't know what they're going to do with the rest of their lives but of course we know we'll continue in our service uh ongoing but the point of uh

Jesus

gives us a parable the kingdom of God is like a scribe

taking out of his treasury things both new and old and that is a responsibility when brother Paul goes through a recounting of his episodes okay of uh his Deliverance out of all this God delivered him and we talked about keeping a journal it is you know very helpful to share these experiences with others you know as a scribe under the Kingdom of Heaven bringing out both new and old things from scripture that are recorded but also events in our lives where we've seen these things unfold and how it helps the younger to see the hand of God actually working in your lives so you know going back to the idea of keeping a journal as a scribe sharing these events is edifying to you know to particularly the younger have you ever kept a journal Chris I actually started it I remember we had a midweek maybe three or four months back where a brother who suffered with ADHD I believe and how he had to use the journal to keep him on track and so forth and it kind of provoked me because I had often thought and in my mind I had put together a list of events I could look back on in my life but I never wrote it down but I did finally yes yeah you did you did write it down yep that was uh Gideon hewittson gave that class at our midweek class yeah

yeah

anybody else keep a journal or have historically

so I had done it for a while um

worked so good I stopped doing it

um

yeah I kept a a journal it was something I had on my phone and it was called the five minute journal what I liked about it was it only took five minutes the other thing I liked about it it was a prompt where every morning I would wake up and I would go and sit someplace and it would prompt me for three things that I was grateful for

it was a gratitude Journal and I found that it really improved my mental health you know I I found that I was focusing on happy things

um you know and the gratitudes could be um you know big things

or you know I'm just happy that uh you know I found my lost car keys you know whatever it was right I mean it could be silly things

and to me that was uh

you know when I hear you saying you know keep a journal that's that's something that maybe I'd like to to pick up again so we're sort of coming to a conclusion here it's it's 10 15. this is our last Sunday school of the Year by the way

so

since Rich isn't here

I'm going to play the role the role of the school teacher and we're going to have two homework assignments okay

so think about it if you if you're interested keep a journal keep a gratitude Journal keep a journal where you are taking the time as christed to sort of retrospectively go through and jot down things where you can recognize God's actions and presence in your life and we do this because it helps us recognize that we have a God who is in control

and it also helps us recognize that when we not if but when we experience trouble in the future

we can take strength and courage knowing that God has been with us in the past and will be with us to the end that we have a savior his son the Lord Jesus who is alive and who helps us in our time of need Hebrews 4 right so that's the first Hallmark assignment okay that is let's keep a journal let's figure out what we're happy about what we're grateful for where we have seen God working in our lives and maybe it's not a journal maybe it's just something that we write down once okay

if you want to do it ongoing great the second assignment is to find out ways that we can be a help and a support to others let's think about how we can take what we've talked about today and put it into action that if we identify or if we know of somebody who's hurting that you know we send a text we write a card we get on a plane and go visit somebody we drive to their home we bring a meal we let people know

that they are in our you know that that we're thinking of them that we're praying for them and that we are Desiring to build them up okay

anybody else have anything they want to say before we close

say that again Genie the peace that passes all understanding because we have that great hope a lot of people in the world don't have it and we could find peace in that and that's what helps us get through things too so what does that peace mean to you like when what does it look like what does it feel like what God has promised to us and his his Mercy he's merciful like we're not worthy of anything what he gives us yeah

yeah

so there's that Rabbi in Newton who wrote the book why do bad things happen to good people and Bob Eagles and I were sort of joking the other day maybe the title should be why do good things happen to bad people right I mean we when you think about it we all receive incredible blessings throughout our lives

and we're really I think your point of Genie is that we're none of us are really deserving of it so I don't want to put words in your mouth but yeah yeah

and so we have this piece that sort of settles over us

and um we have a purpose and it's a great life a life in Christ isn't it brothers and sisters I mean it just sort of gives us Direction gives us guidance

um

and I hope that that's what we can come away with on our last Sunday school class that you know we have a God who loves us who cares for us even in times of difficulty

um and that in the end we will walk with Christ in the Kingdom joyous times joyous hope