Second Stage Ministries

As mentioned in the previous two posts, God is a God of reminders. He reminds us of things that have happened in the past; not to be reminded of the situation, but to be reminded about what God has done. At the end of Joshua 5, Joshua hears words that have been said before. "‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.’  And Joshua did so.” - Joshua 5:15, NIV Joshua, having been under the wing of Moses, had probably been told the story of the burning bush (Exodus 3) and how God had told Moses to free Israel. For Joshua, however, it was a man who showed up and told him to prepare for a word from the Lord. “Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, ‘Are you for us or for our enemies?’ ‘Neither,’ he replied, ‘but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.’ Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, ‘

How many of you like hearing tales of the past? You know, those stories that come up during a conversation with your mom or dad or grandparents. Those little stories that they tell you with a smile on their face as they remembered the events of the story like they were yesterday. I love hearing those kinds of stories. In Joshua 4, we see the nation of Israel construct a memorial to what God had done for them when they crossed the Jordan (Joshua 3). Joshua told them this: “So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, and said to them, “Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it cros

In chapter 3, we see a similar setting as the people of Israel approach the Jordan River. Joshua had taken over as leader of the people, so God wanted to show Joshua and Israel that He was still with them. “And the Lord said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to exalt you in the eyes of all Israel, so they may know that I am with you as I was with Moses. -Joshua 3:7, NIV The Jordan River was before them, and they needed to get across the river and head to Jericho. God told Joshua that He was going to make a way for them just as He had before. God gave Joshua instructions for the people (Joshua 3:8-13) and the people of Israel followed what Joshua said. Then as soon as the priests who were carrying the Ark of the Lord stepped into the Jordan River, a familiar scene unfolded. “Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, the water from upstream stopped flowing.

In Joshua 2 we meet Rahab. Rahab is a prostitute in the city of Jericho. She aided some Israelite spies who came in to scout the city. She made a deal with the spies that she would hide them and in return they promised to spare her life and the life of anyone that was inside her house. When Jericho was destroyed, her life and those in her house were spared. The one thing that God showed me in this chapter was that the enemy will fear. We see this in verse 11: “When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below." - Joshua 2:11 NIV In that verse we see that the entire city of Jericho was in fear of the Israelites because God was with them.  The enemy fears any move of God, and that is why he tries so hard to shut them down. The enemy messes with our head and our heart to try to get us to take steps back from where God is calling us. He uses fear, lies, press

I am reading through the book of Joshua with a couple of guys from church. In this series of posts I will share with you one thing that stands out to me in the chapters that we read. This is not a major study on the book of Joshua. I'm just sharing the one thing. In Joshua 1, we see God talking to Joshua and giving him instructions as he prepares to take over as the leader of the Israelites following the death of Moses. As God is giving these instructions, He says the phrase "be strong and courageous" a total of three times in this conversation (1:1-9). Joshua had been with Moses, and he had learned from Moses; but, he probably was scared to death at the idea of leading God's people. I mean, after all, they were a handful. But God kept telling him, "be strong and courageous." God knew Joshua was nervous and told him to not be afraid because He was with him. Joshua didn't know what was going to happen or what he was going to do as leader. He