August 14, 2024 • Pastor Keith Gardner • Joshua 24
Last week Joshua gave part one of his farewell address to Israel and its leaders, in chapter twenty four he is going to give part two, and in this address Joshua is going to remind this second generation of the many mistakes that the first generation made. It’s been said that “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” and throughout history this statement has been found true, Joshua seeks to protect Israel from repeating their past mistakes and so he’ll recount some of them and provide solutions to avoid them.
Putting Feet to Your Faith Joshua 23:1-16
August 7, 2024 • Pastor Keith Gardner • Joshua 23
It's been twenty years since Joshua and the children of Israel had crossed over the Jordan and began to clear out the land that God promised to them. What’s interesting is that it took seven years for Israel to defeat the Canaanites to the point where they had rest from their enemies and then could begin to divide the land amongst the twelve tribes, but another thirteen years before the land was settled and divided amongst the tribes.
Putting Feet to Your Faith Joshua 21-22
July 31, 2024 • Pastor Keith Gardner • Joshua 22, Joshua 21
We have come to the end of Joshua and the leaders dividing the Promise land amongst the children of Israel, and the last and crowing act of the distribution will now be described when the leaders of the tribe of Levi will step forward and lay claim to areas that they will be living in. The tribe of Levi couldn’t inherit land and pass it down through their families like the other tribes as The Lord, His work, and His Word, was their inheritance and nothing was to get in the way of them bringing God and His Word to the people and the people to God.
Putting Feet to Your Faith Joshua 18-20
July 17, 2024 • Pastor Keith Gardner • Joshua 20, Joshua 18, Joshua 19
Joshua and the leaders of Israel are dividing the territory in the promised land to the twelve tribes of Israel, thus far 5 of the tribes have gotten their share in the Southern region of the promised land. All ready we have seen the children of Israel compromise what God told them to do, as instead of driving out all of the inhabitants in Canaan they decided to put some of them to work as tributes, now if they were strong enough to make the people of Canaan work for them as tributes then they could have driven them out completely.
Putting Feet to Your Faith Joshua 15-17
July 10, 2024 • Pastor Keith Gardner • Joshua 15, Joshua 16, Joshua 17
Joshua and Israel have subdued the inhabitants of the Promise Land, enough so that they can take some time to divide the land amongst the tribes. But before they begin Caleb of the tribe of Judah, Joshua’s oldest and dearest friend approaches him and reminds him of what Moses had promised to give to him, and in honoring that promise Joshua allows Caleb to choose his inheritance instead of having it picked out and given to them like the other tribes.
Putting Feet to Your Faith Joshua 14:1-15
July 3, 2024 • Pastor Keith Gardner • Joshua 14
Before we get into these chapters lets review what has happened previously, Israel has conquered the main cites, towns, Kings, armies, and people of Canaan, they control the majority of the promise Land but not all of it, and so now they are dividing the land up between the tribes, and its here where we see a clear distinction being made.
Putting Feet to Your Faith Joshua 12-13
June 26, 2024 • Pastor Keith Gardner • Joshua 12, Joshua 13
We left off reading that Joshua had taken the whole land and now was giving out the inheritances to the tribes of Israel according to their needs, and so the land has a period of rest. Although Joshua and the his army did control the whole land by destroying the key cities with their kings and armies, Israel didn’t take every city or slay every citizen or ruler, but they did enough to break the power of the enemy and establish control over the land.
Putting Feet to Your Faith Joshua 11:1-23
June 19, 2024 • Pastor Keith Gardner • Joshua 11
Joshua has just conquered the southern region of Canaan having gone up against a federation of five powerful Kings with five well equipped armies, but despite facing those uphill odds being outnumbered by at least one hundred to one, Israel was able to wipe out all five of them in one day during this single battle. All of this occurred after Joshua made a big mistake in relying on his own wisdom, which caused him to sign a peace treaty with the Gibeonites which could have led to a disaster, but God turned his blunder into a blessing.
Putting Feet to Your Faith Joshua 10:1-43
June 12, 2024 • Pastor Keith Gardner • Joshua 10
Israel is in the process of inheriting the promise land, God has already declared that He has given it to them, but they have to go in and physically claim it for themselves. As they are conquering the nations who reside in the territories word has spread and fear has gripped the other Kings and some have decided to put aside past grievances against each other and band together to fight against he Israelite in order to try and keep their land.
Putting Feet to Your Faith Joshua 9:1-27
June 5, 2024 • Pastor Keith Gardner
Israel after experiencing defeat at the hands of the people of AI are now enjoying victory over those same people all because they practiced repentance and obedience instead of deception and disobedience. Thirty six people had to lose their lives in order for the rest of the nation of Israel to truly understand that blessings live next door to obedience and suffering is near to disobedience, for once Israel conquered the people of AI everything that was of value that once was under their ownership God has now given to Israel.
Putting Feet to Your Faith Joshua 8:1-35
May 29, 2024 • Pastor Keith Gardner • Joshua 8
There’s an old saying in Christian circles that says “you can learn more about yourself when experiencing defeat than you ever will enjoying victory” and there is truth in this, as we saw Joshua after knowing only victory has just experienced his first defeat at AI. Look how he responded, by immediately going to the Lord, seeking His counsel on what he should do, and the Lord directed him to the problem (sin was in the camp) the solution (repentance).
Putting Feet to Your Faith Joshua 7:1-26
May 22, 2024 • Pastor Keith Gardner • Joshua 7
Israel has begun its conquest of the Promise Land and it starts with the city of Jericho, and its here The Lord shows Israel that its not by Might nor by Power by its by His Spirit, as they win the battle and take the city just by walking in obedience to the Lord’s Word. But now that the battle is won the question is will they continue to listen to God’s Word or will they become overconfident and believe that they can get the victory without the obedience.
Putting Feet to Your Faith Joshua 4:1-24
May 1, 2024 • Pastor Keith Gardner • Joshua 4
God told Joshua to wait three days before crossing over the Jordan and Joshua did just that, and when it was time to move Joshua commanded Israel to cross over, but there was one problem the River had overflowed to the point it was extremely dangerous to cross, so what should they do? 3:5 > “Sanctify themselves” they sought the Lord by setting themselves apart to the Lord, and once they did Joshua said they would see The Lord perform wonders.
Putting Feet to Your Faith Joshua 6:1-27
May 15, 2024 • Pastor Keith Gardner • Joshua 6
At the end of Chapter 5 Jesus Himself appears to Joshua and tells him that He was The Captain of The Lord’s Army, thus letting Joshua know that Israel is under His charge and following Him, instead of Joshua leading Israel. That is very important for us to know, that despite our roles in our families, churches, communities, jobs, that if you are a Christian then you are under the charge of Jesus, therefore you are in a constant state of following Him and not Him following you, if I remember that it makes things so much simple
Putting Feet to Your Faith Joshua 5:1-15
May 8, 2024 • Pastor Keith Gardner • Joshua 5
Joshua and the children of Israel have safely crossed the Jordan River, and now they’re readying themselves to start claiming the inheritance that God had given to them through the promise He made to Abraham in Genesis chapter 12, roughly four hundred and seventy years ago give or take a year. So to say that they are excited and ready to go is an understatement, but before they leave God is going to ask something of them that in the natural doesn’t make any sense at all, but is absolutely necessary for spiritual victory.
