Joshua 3:1-5
God wants us free from familiarity and shame as we go into the next season.
Podcast
God wants us free from familiarity and shame as we go into the next season.
Luke appears to frame Acts as a narrative of conquest after the pattern of Joshua.
Joshua chapter 7 is challenging: God's love for us is immense, but His power and His protection are on His terms, to build His kingdom, His (pure) way, not ours.
Immediately after the Israelites cross the Jordan, they take the time to re-dedicate themselves to God and to remember all that He has done for them. They are then ready to receive the bizarre instructions for the conquest of Jericho which happens, not in their own strength but, with the Presence of God at the heart of it. To get involved in what God is doing we should also take the time to get close to God to be ready to receive His instructions.
As Joshua leads God's people into the Promised Land, they find that the 'fame of God' has gone before them, and that faith in God & the fear of God rise as a result.
We begin a new sermon series, with a short survey of Joshua, and on to the Acts of the Apostles, with a look at the mission and the commission that God gave to Joshua, to Jesus' disciples, and to us.