Joshua: Faithing Courageously
Remember Who You Are
July 3, 2022 • Barry Phillips
We have good news to proclaim. We need to return the name of Jesus, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords to our lips. We need to do it in loving witness to what matters most. We need to rehearse our story, to immerse ourselves in the Word of God so those words come readily to us. We need to engage worship more often and more robustly than ever before that we might strengthen each other as we defy this culture and say to the lies that ‘there is a better way’. If we choose this day and each day to serve the Lord, He will make His appeal through us and citizen by citizen our collective faiths, the aggregate of all of those in Christ, can change the culture.
Sitting on Sin
June 26, 2022 • Gerrit Dawson • Joshua 7:10–21
We depend on each other more than we ever know. Every choice matters. Whether in public or in secret. We can rip away at the fabric of community, or we can strengthen it, build it and grow it for Jesus’ sake. Achan discovered how interconnected we are, especially as God’s people. He ended up sitting on a pile of sin he didn’t really even want. He thought he was a private individual whose choices made no difference to any but himself. Achan did not see how burying stolen stuff under his tent compromised the whole mission of God through his people.
Spiritual Grip
June 19, 2022 • Gerrit Dawson • Joshua 6:12–21
We have a gospel to proclaim. We need to return the name of Jesus to our lips and bring God back into our conversations. To break the spell. Not in anger but in loving witness to what matters most to us. We need to rehearse our story, to immerse ourselves in the Word of God so those words come readily to us. We need to engage worship more robustly and regularly than ever before so that we can strengthen each other as we defy the witch’s spell. We need to say to the lies, “That’s just not so. There is a better way.” The walls of Jericho fell by the power of the Spirit enacted through the obedient faithfulness of a worshipping people. People of God, let’s speak and enact the Word of God so that the world might live!
The Power in the Pause
June 12, 2022 • Gerrit Dawson • Joshua 5
Joshua 5 seems like bizarre military strategy. But God means us to see that the victory belongs to him alone. We enter covenant with him, even though it’s a wounding and a dying to self. We adjust our lives to God’s rhythm through his church. We look not first to culture and its baiting of us to hate each other, but to the commander who is the LORD and follow his call into Christ’s mission.
What Mean These Stones?
June 5, 2022 • Gerrit Dawson • Joshua 4:1–7
Joshua relayed the message, "Raise the stones," so that our children will ask what they mean. And we can tell them, “The LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan so you could pass over. So that. So that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the LORD is mighty, that you might fear the LORD your God forever.” People of God, raise the stones and let the story be told!
The LORD Jumped in First!
May 29, 2022 • Gerrit Dawson • Joshua 3:1–13
The priests carried the Ark into the water before the people followed. If the Ark means God’s presence, then it means the LORD jumped into the water first. God doesn’t ask us to do anything he has not done already on our behalf. How supremely we see this in Jesus! God took up our flesh and blood in Jesus. Then he went ahead of us into a life of love and obedience. He got baptized in the Jordan. He offered his life on the cross. He crossed the Jordan again as he leaped into a human death of forsakenness and suffering. Jesus came out of those waters as a new creation. He rose. He promises that those joined to him will also rise from death in eternal life. And that begins now. We die to ourselves every day. So we experience Christ’s resurrection power. We do not fear death. We do not wilt under suffering. We do not freak out amidst the chaos of a rebellious world. Christ has jumped into the Jordan before us. He will see us through. So we are free to give ourselves to his service.