and refused to enter into the promised land God had given them. Because of their faithlessness, God forced that generation to wander in the wilderness until all of them, except Joshua and Caleb, had died off. Now it was time for the next generation, those who were children or who were born during the wilderness wandering, to enter the land. In this session, we will see that God called on this generation to follow Him in faith, just as He had called the previous generation. And once again, God revealed His presence and power to His people. But this generation would do what their parents and grandparents had failed to do. They trusted the Lord. And then the Christ connection. God went before Joshua and the Israelites into the land and showed His power to them so they would trust in Him. When Jesus came into the world, He showed His power so that we would trust in Him and receive salvation through Him. Let me get someone to volunteer for these three primary passages that we're looking at together. Can I get someone to read Joshua chapter 1, verses 6 through 9? Go ahead, Alexis. And then, I'm sorry, then the next section, Joshua 3, 5 through 8, and 14 through 17. All right. Joseph, you take that. Then the last one is Joshua 4, 20 through 24. Anybody want to take that? Is that Joseph's son that wants to do that? You got it. All right. Go ahead, Alexis. Three, you shall offer to those who inherit the land that is yours to their fathers to give them. Four, be strong and very courageous, being certain to do what is due to all the law that those who might serve you in the field. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, and you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. Okay, thank you. Go ahead. The justice of the people, prosperity of self, small world, we love this country, and justice is the truth. Take up the heart of a child and pass it on to more people. Take up the heart of a child and pass it on to more people. Lord, through your judgment, may I begin to develop in the psychological world that it doesn't matter. As idols and cousins, so I will be with you. And as for you, a man that pleads to bear the ark of the covenant, when he comes to the brink of the water of the Jordan, he shall stand still in the Jordan. When the people set off on the tenth day of the Jordan, the priest bearing the ark of the covenant for the people, and as soon as those bearing the ark had come upon the Jordan, and the people of the priest bearing the ark were lifted into the brink of the water, the majority of whom were flooded while they vanished throughout the time of August. The water coming down from above stood close to their feet. It was up to their feet very far away. I am the city that is decided to your fate. And those flowing down to the sea that are above, the salt sea will completely die off, and it will be the passage of the opposite character. The priest bearing the part of this, the covenant of the Lord, stood firmly on the dry ground in this majority, and all the people were passing those on the dry ground. So all the nations of the space are over here. And those 12 stones, which they took out of the void, not to ascend up, but to fall. And he said to the people of Israel, when your children have their fathers in time to come, let there be self-reliance. You shall let the children of Israel pass over this garden and run right around it. For the Lord your God died on the borders of the garden for you until you passed over as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea. Thank you. What's your name again? Joseph Jr. Thank you very much for that. That was good. Well, let's look at these questions together, guys. Let's go back to question number one. Considering the context, why do you think the Lord repeatedly instructed Joshua to be strong and courageous? Why would He do that? Go ahead, Alexis. Maybe to not pick us up if He wasn't as strong and courageous as He thought He was. Okay. Okay. No, that's not bad. Jeff, you're going to... Yeah. Okay, good. Go ahead, Jamin. That's right, that's right. Right. Right. Rachel, were you going to say something? Right. Right. Yeah, that's good. Anybody else? Go ahead, Kathy. Right, yeah, yeah, that's good. Well, here's what they put down, they said, Joshua needed to be strong and courageous because taking the promised land would be no easy endeavor. The inhabitants of Canaan would fight to keep the land and to deal rightly with such resistance would require a courageous trust in the Lord's provision and protection. Now, one of the things we have to be careful of and guard against is having this concept that, well, if we had seen what we did, what the Israelites did in Egypt, Everything should be a cakewalk. That's just not how life goes. How many times have we seen the hand of God move in our own lives, in the past? We can look back on that and thank the Lord for that, and we know for a fact that God's hand did move. I mean, I've been in situations where I could not see any light at the end of the tunnel. And the next thing I know, I'm out of the tunnel, because the Lord himself got me out of that tunnel. And that happens to all of us, but we are weak. We are weak, and we are consistently needing the Lord's grace in our lives, because that's who we are. Now, the day is coming when it's not going to be that way, when we're going to be given our glorified bodies, and we're going to worship in spirit and truth perfectly, and we're going to be in relationship with God, with the triune Godhead, in such a way as that this will not be an issue. But as long as we live in the here and now, in this world and in this body, we need the Lord's grace in our life. We need to be encouraged to be strong and courageous because all of us are going to come up against things in life that are scary. Okay? And I don't care who you are, be you man or woman. That's true for all of us. Somebody was going to, did I see someone's hand? Oh, Jeff, I'm sorry. Go ahead. Right, right. Yeah, and I'm sure those stories have been told to the kids. I mean, they knew about this. Sure, sure. But it is a reminder to us again that we need to be strong and courageous in Christ, you know, as Christians. It's not always easy to do that. I mean, how many of us always find the strength and courage we need to witness the people who are clearly antagonistic toward the gospel? I mean, I'm a pastor and I can tell you there have been times that I've blown because I've had an opportunity to witness and I chose to pass it up. And I say that to my shame, but I know that's part of my weakness. But then I try to learn from that, you know. We need to be strong and courageous because you need to be strong and courageous to walk with the Lord in faithfulness. It's not an easy thing to do. And this really leads into question number two, in what sense is such a command be strong and courageous, applicable to every believer? And we know the answer to that. You know, Christian discipleship is not easy. Go to the hard demands of Jesus in the Gospels. Think about the things that Jesus Himself said about following Him. You cannot be my disciple unless you deny yourself and take up your cross daily and follow after me. I mean, this is hard stuff. And when Jesus would say things like this, you know the hearers understood what He was talking about when He spoke of carrying your cross. That's dying to self. They've seen men on crosses. They knew the horrific nature of that. But that's what Jesus says if we're going to follow Him. This is what you have to be willing to do. And if you're not willing to do that, then you cannot be my disciple. So we need strength. We need courage to live every day for the Lord Jesus Christ, to the glory of God. But we have to petition the Lord for that. And we have to be utilizing the various means of grace at our disposal. We talked about it this morning in the sermon, delighting in the Word of God, meditating on the Word of God. You know, it's funny, usually in the evenings, Barbara and I will watch something on TV and we've kind of been going through, I want to say it's Amazon, is it Amazon Prime? I don't think it's Netflix, but we have Amazon Prime and we started watching it. I never watched this before when it was on. 24? Yeah, 24's alright. I mean, I don't think it's as good as people said it was. I mean, I think it's a little bit overrated. But it's one thing Barbara and I both felt like, as we're watching 24, it's like we can both feel ourselves getting tense. And I know it's just a stupid show, but I get so irritated with the characters in that thing. You know, what are you doing? This is so ridiculous. I can't believe this. It's just a stupid show. But it is entertaining to some extent. Well, last night, instead of watching anything like that, we decided to watch a large portion of Christianity Explored, which is done by Rico Tice. I don't know if you guys have seen that or not. It's really good. And it was funny, going to bed last night, I could just tell, and it kind of hit me when I was in the shower. Man, I feel totally different than I normally would at this time, after watching an episode of 24. After watching Christianity Explored, I'm like... But it was a reminder to me, you know, when your mind is thinking on spiritual realities, the good things of God's Word, I mean, it's amazing the difference that it has in your life. You know, you do things like that, and you're more prepared. you know, to witness to the next-door neighbor or to the co-worker that's acting like a real pain in the rear end, who doesn't want to hear anything that you have to say about Christ or the gospel, but yet you feel the Lord has you there in that particular place for a reason, at the very least, to try to show the character of Christ through our own lives and to also share with them the truth of the gospel, whether they want to hear it or not, because we know they need it! Because we know where they're going without acquiescence and an embrace of the gospel message. So, Jeff, are you going to say something? I'm sorry. So you should see your hand go up there. I wasn't sure. Number three, what does Joshua 1, 6 through 9 reveal to us concerning obedience? What does it reveal to us regarding obedience? Exactly. So obedience, on the other hand, is going to bring success. It's going to bring the Lord's blessing. Through a life of Spirit-empowered obedience, the believer keeps himself or herself within the sphere of the fullness of God's blessing, a specific measure of blessing that God Himself deems fit for the believer's life. Now, the reason why I put this question in here is because I I've just found that believers that I talk to, for like a long period of time, tend to downplay the importance of obedience. Now listen, I understand, and I'm sure you do too, that the only obedience that saves us is the obedience of Jesus Christ, right? I mean, we all know that. I hope we all know that. But that does not negate the responsibility to obey the Word of God. There's a reason why there are so many commands in the New Testament to obey the Lord. So we need to get that right. And we also need to understand that God gives us the grace we need to walk in obedience. Now I'm not saying that it's easy. It's not. And if you've been a Christian for any length of time, you know that discipleship is not easy. It's hard. And we need the Lord's grace every day, but we need to understand that God has given to us certain spiritual duties and obligations. That's what it means to be in a new covenant relationship with the Lord. We have obligations. He expects us to live in a certain way. And He empowers us to do just that as we rely on Him on a daily basis, okay? So I only wanted to stress that because I just want to make sure that we understand that obedience is not a side issue. It's an important issue for us to get right. Jeff. You do what's right and God will bless you, but I would also say this when it comes to being blessed of the Lord, part of the blessing of God are the trials that He brings into our lives in order to refine us and to make us more like Christ. So as long as people understand that, you know, as you live a life of obedience and the power of the Spirit, this does not mean, it does not mean that your life is not going to be difficult. You don't know what's coming around the next corner and neither do I. But we do know that God is there. He will be there with us in the midst of whatever it may be, okay? That's part of the blessing of God, is that He will give us the wisdom and the discernment and the power to be able to deal with whatever He allows in our lives. And that in and of itself is a blessing, because again, this ultimately refines us and conforms us more and more to the image of Jesus Christ. Oh, sure. Yeah. If you're a Christian and you go and rob a bank, I'm guessing you can pray all you want and you're still going to jail. You know what I'm saying? Because it doesn't matter who you are. I mean, there are consequences. And David was the same way. I mean, that was horrible what David did. Look at all that David experienced in his life. This is one of the most amazing things about David, is the fact that he saw the hand of God move in a special way. But again, it goes back to what we were just talking about. It doesn't matter if you're David or Moses. or you or me or anybody else, we are weak. We are weak. I love the fact that Paul refers to us as jars of clay. I love that because that's exactly what we are. You drop us, we break. That's how it is. But the Lord himself puts us back together. Drake, go ahead. Oh, that's good. That's a good connection. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Right, right. That's good, man. That's good. In order to receive all that the Lord would have you receive, whatever that may be in your life, you have to be committed to a life of Spirit-empowered, Spirit-enabled obedience. Okay? And who in here would not want the best that the Lord has to offer you in your life? I mean, I want the best that He has for me. Now, we know that ultimately, as the people of God, in the end, it's all going to be the same, right? It's the heavenly kingdom. It's living forever in the presence of the Triune Godhead. In the end, we're all going to receive the same, but in the here and now, it may be different. You know, the Lord blesses some believers with material wealth. while others never have material wealth. But the Bible also talks about those being rich in faith who are not rich in material wealth. So that in and of itself is a blessing of God, being rich in faith. Because you don't have much, you are more reliant upon the Lord Himself. So, you know, it's amazing how the... I'm going to get right back to you, Andrew, real fast. Go ahead, Kenton. Right. Yeah, I wouldn't assume that every Israelite survived every battle, yeah. Right. That's good. That's good. Andrew, you're gonna... but we don't buy this idea that we are a physical being, right? That we are a living, unachievable blessing. There are plenty of practices in the church where people stray, but God still blesses them. Our obedience to our physical being ultimately doesn't change what God wants to achieve. Right. Right. Right. And I think what needs to be understood, too, is that throughout Scripture we always see this call to repent. And I would agree with Luther. If I'm not mistaken, I think the very first thesis on the 95 Theses was that repentance is something to be done every day of your life. It wasn't just a one-time repentance and then it's, oh, I'm good. I repented back in whenever. No, repentance is a daily thing. But we are constantly called, even in the New Covenant, to turn away from our sin. You know, and to obey the Lord. You know, we saw it in the seven letters to the seven churches. You know, repent of what you're doing and turn back and follow me with a whole heart. Walk in obedience, do what I say. And the Lord is willing to bring us back into fellowship. And I agree with you, Andrew. One thing you don't want to think is, oh, I just sinned, oh no, what's coming now? When is the hammer going to drop? You know, I did what I knew I shouldn't have done and now I know I'm going to get it. Well, if you continue to live a life of sin, I think then you need to be really careful. But hopefully the Spirit is convicting us. Hopefully our hearts are not so hardened that we just continue to sin and act like, well, hey, nothing's happened so far, so I guess nothing is going to happen. Because it doesn't work that way. You never know when the chastising hand of God might come. And it could be severe. I mean, look, this may seem like an extreme example, but let's not forget what the Lord did to the Corinthians who were abusing the Lord's Supper. I mean, according to Paul, the Lord took their life. He took them home early. I mean, that's a frightening thing. I mean, it really is. Now, I think that Ananias and Sapphira were truly saved, but I think the Lord was making a statement. You're not going to do this. I'm not going to let that go. And I'm going to make a point early on in the church, you will not lie to the Holy Spirit. Sin is not going to rule in my church. You need to have a fear of me still. So we do need to be careful. But like you said, Andrew, I don't believe that we should think that, oh, I've sinned, oh, now the Lord's against me. We sin, the Bible's very clear, that we need to confess it and turn away from it. And then 1 John 1, 9. If we confess our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Go ahead, bud. Oh yeah, right, exactly. Right, right, right. Good, good. Yeah, right. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. That's right. Right. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yes, absolutely. You stole my thunder, man. We're getting to it. That was good, though. That was good. Yes, yes, that's good. That's good. Let's see. Well, let's look at number five. I know we don't have much time left. Let's move to number five. Joshua was to be strengthened in his task by the knowledge that the Lord is with you wherever you go. How exactly are we strengthened by the knowledge that the Lord is with us wherever we go? And I specifically put in there Matthew 28 20. And behold, I'm with you always to the end of the age. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. If you know Jesus Christ, the Lord is as close to you as He can be. And if you don't feel His presence, that doesn't mean that He's not with you. It could simply be that you don't feel His presence because of your sin. Or some other reason. I mean, the Puritans called it desertion. Sometimes the Lord would do that to us, remove that feeling so that we would not depend upon our feelings in terms of our covenant relationship. Because nothing in Scripture says that. We don't base our covenant relationship with God the Father through God the Son on how we feel. If that were the case, I'd be saved one day and I'd be lost the next. And that's just a fact because that's how we are. But it's not on that. It's based on what the covenant teaches us. It's based on what we see throughout this whole covenant concept from Genesis through Revelation. The God of the covenant does not lie. And the God of the covenant in Jesus Christ is a God who keeps us. Once we belong to Him, we belong to Him forever. Okay? He is for us and not against us. He is always with us, even though we don't feel His presence. He's with us. And just as John just said, because of His omnipresence, He's intimately with us. It's like James says in James 4, draw near to God and He'll draw near to you. And the reason I quote that is to remember that It's not that God Himself is not close to us. He is. We're the ones that are moving away from God because we're not doing what we need to be doing. Draw near to God and He'll draw near to you. Draw near to God and then you'll realize how close the Lord is to you. And that's the thing. That's why we need to repent. That's why we need to deal with our sin as James says to his readers in James chapter 4. Does anybody want to add anything? Go ahead, Eric. Yeah. It's not him avoiding us while he knows we're there. He promises he's there. It's us doing that other stuff. It's him avoiding us. It's him pushing away. It's ignoring him, right? It's really not us. But, um, hopefully we get that lesson. And understanding how big the confidence is there. We just have to be reminded of that. Right? Because he's there, right? He wants relationship with us. He loves us. Yeah, absolutely. How hard it is to remember. How hard it is to remember. That's why it has to be deliberate. You know, we have to be deliberate in what the Lord has done for us. Never losing sight of that. You know, this is why I'm sure you've heard people say, preach the gospel to yourself. You know, it helps us remember where we were, but where we are now in Christ. Remember where you were. You were lost. The wrath of God abided upon you. Within God and his grace touched your heart, convicted you of sin, you confessed, you turned away. The Lord gave you the gift of eternal life and the indwelling Holy Spirit. We need to get that straight. We need to understand what the Lord has done for us as his people and rejoice in that and allow that rejoicing and joy to move us ahead. Number six. The Lord wanted the Ark of the Covenant to lead the way into the promised land because the Ark represented the Lord's word, power, and presence. The Lord was making it clear from the start of the conquest that he would lead the way and win the victory. The still waters and dry riverbed were positive proof of the Lord's unsurpassed power, a power first seen by Israel at the parting of the Red Sea. One of the Lord's attributes is his omnipotence, which simply means he is all-powerful. How exactly does the Lord's omnipotence encourage you in your Christian pilgrimage? What encourages you most? Go ahead, Alexis. Yeah, that's good. That's good. I like that. Anybody else? Go ahead, Drake. That's a really good one, too. Absolutely. He rose Christ from the grave, and because of that, I am going to rise as well, because of my faith in Him. Therefore, I do not have to fear that great monster death that the rest of the world fears. Kathy? I think we always have to realize that our heart is a secret. Oh yeah. It's going to think, it's not going to believe. So like you said, it doesn't feel. Yeah, yeah. Trust the sure word of God. We can live by that word. That word will take us into the heavenly kingdom. Abide by that word. Give yourself to that word. Believe that word. That word will keep you on that narrow path, that hard path that leads to the celestial city. There's no doubt about it. Go ahead, Alexis. Oh yes, yes, yes. Another thing about the omnipotence of God is the fact that if God is for us, no matter what sin may be eating us up, whatever sin we might continue to struggle with that frustrates us to the nth degree, to know that the power of God is available to those who believe, to know that if we will just utilize the various means of grace at our disposal, like prayer and fasting, a scripture meditation and memorization. As we do this, we will find the power we need to live the kind of life that is found pleasing in the Lord's sight. Now let me say, I'm not talking about perfection. I don't believe in perfectionism, okay? I don't believe in that. But I do believe in sanctification because I believe the New Testament clearly teaches sanctification. And I believe that sanctification is progressive. Okay, that doesn't mean that sometimes we're not taking a step forward and maybe two or three steps back. Okay? But over time, we are progressing. But we need to understand that as we deal with sin in our lives, using the various means of grace that God has given to us, we can find the victory. And the victory is in Jesus Christ, because He is the great victor. That's why we call Him the Lord of Lords and Kings of Kings, because that's exactly what He is. He's already won the war, and He will help us to win those skirmishes that we will continue to be a part of until He finally comes and that is completely wiped out. And then we have the new heavens and the new earth and the eternal Kingdom of God. Oh, goodness. A couple of minutes here. I've already done number eight. Let's do number 9 and 10. We've only got a couple of minutes here. What do you think is the greatest cause, and we've already talked about this concept, the greatest cause of a believer's forgetfulness? We were talking about remembering and the importance of remembering. What do you think is the greatest cause of a believer's forgetfulness? Lack of faith. Lacking in nothing. Yeah, yeah. Okay, good, good. So what, Kathy? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yes. Yeah, that's good. Go ahead, Jerry. That's so true. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. I know exactly what you're talking about. I found myself in the same exact situation and it's very frustrating. Alexis. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Right, right. But I would say that's laziness too though. Go ahead Jeff. Right. He's trying to teach you to be a wise man, Jeff. Don't do that again. Say that again. And that's not just true of you. I think it's true of most of us. Right. Sure. Sure. Right. Right. Right. Oh, right. Sure. Sure. Right. Right. Yeah. Yeah. No, that's a good point, man. And I think that's one of the reasons why we do have to remind ourselves on a daily basis of who we are in Christ and what's been done for us. Because it is easy for us to lose sight of that. It doesn't mean what it used to mean to us. And I would actually... I'd actually call this the deceitfulness of sin in Hebrews 3.13. I think that's really the greatest cause of our forgetfulness. Because again, you know, we're constantly dealing with sin in our lives on a daily basis. And I know you know that to be true. You know, every day we commit sins of omission and commission. That's just the way it is. But we don't ever want to lose that sensitivity to sin, you know, to our own sin especially. You know, in our pride, we seem to be more concerned with the sins of others than our own sin. You know, it's like, you know, you better take care of yourself before you worry about somebody else. But we all have sin in our lives, but we have to be reminded of that on a daily basis, that we need the grace of the Lord every day. And sometimes we are going to be like Jamin said, you know, you're in the Word and it just doesn't seem to be I'm just kind of going through the motions, but the only way that I know around that is to deliberately focus, to deliberately ask the Lord to help us to find that fire that maybe we've lost. I mean, that's certainly a prayer that we know the Lord will answer because, I mean, He wants us to be that way. He wants us to be fully devoted to Him, right? I mean, we know that's His will. That's not something we have to pray and think about. Wait a minute, is that really His will? No, that is His will. He wants us to be fully devoted to Him. And so, Lord, stir us up. Do what you need to do to break me out of this funk, because I'm in the Word, but it doesn't seem to be having the same impact upon my life. But, you know, when David Jeremiah came to the Master's College years ago, I remember him saying in a chapel service, Many of you are reading the Bible on a regular basis and it's losing its power in your life. I encourage you to continue reading your Bibles regardless of that and asking the Lord to open your eyes, to meet you where you are, and to reveal to you whatever sin you may be committing. And it doesn't have to necessarily be a big sin. It can be anything, but ask Him to help you. But don't stop reading the Word, because the more you read... Because again, it's the Holy Spirit that takes that Word and applies it to our hearts and minds. So we're going to ask the Holy Spirit to help us. Holy Spirit, please be with me. I can't do this on my own. I am a sinner. You know how weak I am. You know where I continually fall on my face. I'm asking for your help. I don't have it figured out. Even though last Sunday I went to church and acted like I had it all figured out. Even though I know how to act. Even though I know how to present myself to others as if I have it all together. Lord, you know I don't have it all together. You know who I really am. You know, when you come to the Lord like that, in that kind of spiritual nakedness, you can expect the blessing of God to be upon your life, because that's what He's looking for, because it's true for each and every one of us. And I know each of you know that to be true. You know that to be true. We're all weak apart from Christ. Well, guys, we have gone over. I apologize for that. Jamin, would you mind closing us in prayer, please? Thank you for your work. I'm afraid of what people say this week. I'm refreshed by sharing with one another and answering questions and raising each other up and offering suggestions on how we can improve our spiritual well-being. But we often have to neglect this during the week. And for any of us who have lost spiritual fervor, that fervor that our bad ones have and some kind of spiritual depression or just spiritual lethargy. We ask that you will not allow routineness of life or laziness or any of the other things that can so easily take that away from us. The blessings and the means of grace that you have given us, and let us not be forgetful of what you have done in our lives for us, that you have regenerated us, given us Give us light, a light beyond anything we could ever deserve through your son Jesus Christ. We pray also that we will not neglect other spiritual disciplines in sharing the gospel with our friends, neighbors, co-workers, and other duties and commandments that you have. Amen. Thanks guys.