Second Stage Ministries

In this final post for this series, we are looking at chapters 23-24. In chapter 23, Joshua gives his final speech to the nation of Israel. In chapter 24, Joshua takes some time to remind Israel of what God has done for them. How God saved them from Egypt by parting the Red Sea and taking out the Egyptian army (Exodus 14). How God provided for them while they were in the wilderness. How God helped them get across the Jordan River and defeat Jericho (Joshua 4-6). God had done a lot for them. Everything they had was because God had helped and been there with them. Joshua told them a few things in his final speech. They are good way to end this series of posts: 1) “You yourselves have seen everything the Lord your God has done to all these nations for your sake; it was the Lord your God who fought for you.” Joshua 23:3 NIV Joshua wanted them to remember all that God had done for them. The ups and downs and the times when they follow God and the times when they didn't...

We are now at the next to last post of the series called "The One Thing". We have been in this series since March 5th! It has been amazing. I have been sharing with you the one thing in each of the chapters (we have skipped a few) of the book of Joshua that has jumped out at me. If I could also say that it's important to know that sometimes that is how we should dive into the Bible. We should pick a passage or chapter or even a book and ask God to show us just one thing in that text He wants us to know. So as we dive into this next to last post I want to draw our attention to the verse below: "Not one of all the Lord’s good promises to Israel failed; every one was fulfilled.” - Joshua 21:45 NIV Every time we hear the word promise in the Bible we should get excited. When God uses the word "promise" in the Bible it's not just an empty word like sometimes when we use it. I mean let's face the word "promise" to some of us h...

We are back in Joshua this week after the one week break last week. We are looking at chapter 17 and something that I find interesting. God had taken the Israelite people all this way, battle after battle, and they had gotten a lot of land. But on tribes came to Joshua and said - “The people of Joseph said to Joshua, “Why have you given us only one allotment and one portion for an inheritance? We are a numerous people, and the Lord has blessed us abundantly.” - Joshua 17:14 NIV So on the surface I see them complaining about their share of the land. They wanted more. They were unsatisfied with what they had been given. So Joshua gives them a solution: “If you are so numerous,” Joshua answered, “and if the hill country of Ephraim is too small for you, go up into the forest and clear land for yourselves there in the land of the Perizzites and Rephaites.” The people of Joseph replied, “The hill country is not enough for us, and all the Canaanites who live in the plain ...

We are now in the home stretch of the book of Joshua. In the second half we start to see all of the land that Israel had won from the battles. So with that said we are going to jump around a little bit in the last few chapters of Joshua. In Joshua 14, the one thing that jumped out me was the word.... rest. Yes, out of all of the words in the chapter, REST , jumped out at me and here's why.... Rest is a big part of God's character. He encourages rest right from the very beginning: “Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done." - Genesis 2:3 NIV God shows us here that rest is good. God didn't need to rest, but we do . In fact, it is the very first thing that Adam did as well. So when I see ".....Then the land had rest from war" (14:15 c, NIV) it shows me that God still values rest. God has made them work for what He gave them and then He gave them a rest period ...

Ahhhh... a reward. There is nothing more satisfying then finally getting to a place where you receive a reward. I remember as a child finishing a task and getting the reward that was promised to me. There is nothing better than receiving a reward after hard work. It's that moment when you realize that all of your hard work paid off. You have that ribbon, the candy bar, the promotion or raise. You got the reward! In Joshua 11 Israel finally gets their reward for all of their hard work. All of the battles and times of trail had paid off. “So Joshua took the entire land, just as the Lord had directed Moses, and he gave it as an inheritance to Israel according to their tribal divisions. Then the land had rest from war.” Joshua 11:23 NIV After the last few battles Israel finally takes the land that God had promised them long ago. After all the ups and downs and twists and turns, they finally got their reward. The same thing goes for us as well. We have navigate ...

In chapter 10 we see another battle. The Amorites had heard about Joshua and Israel’s battles with Jericho and Ai, and that they had made a treaty with the Gibeonites. The Amorites assembled and went to attack the Gibeonites. The Gibeonites then sent word to Joshua pleading for his help and to not leave them hanging (Joshua 10:6).  So Joshua went up and told the Gibeonites to not be afraid, that God has given them the battle.  Israel caught the Amorites off guard, and God threw them into confusion. Some of the Amorites began to flee, and God hurled down hailstones killing most of them (Joshua 10:11). God even held the sun in place at the request of Joshua, and there has never been a day like that since. The sun stood still for an entire day (Joshua 10:12-14).  God was fighting for Israel. God fights for us, too. When we think we aren't enough or can't handle the situation, God can! He is there to help us get through any situation.  God told Moses...

In chapter 9 we see that Israel started to gain some attention due to their victories over Jericho and Ai. The cities to the west of the Jordan River decided that they were going to come together and wage war against the Israelite people. But there was one group of people who resorted to deception. The Gibeonites traveled to the Israelite camp to speak to Joshua. Before they left their home, which was close by, they loaded up their donkeys with old worn out things and moldy bread. They also dressed in worn out clothes. When they got to the Israelite camp and stood before Joshua, they told him that they had come a long way. They showed Joshua the old wine skins and other things. They pointed out the nature of the clothes and sandals they were wearing. Then they asked Joshua to make a treaty with them because they had heard about Jericho and Ai and how Israel had wiped out those cities. So Joshua listened to them and made a treaty with them; however, he didn’t ask the Lord w...

We have been in Joshua for the last 7 weeks looking at just one things that God showed me in each chapter. Let's review: 1 - Be Strong and Courageous - God doesn't want us to fear. He wants us to be strong and courageous because He is with us. 2 - The Enemy Will Fear - Satan fears the move of God so he tries to stop it. 3 - The Jordan River Reminder - Israel crosses the Jordan River in a similar manner as they had crossed the Red Sea. 4 - The 12 Stones - God had Israel place a pile of stones to serve as a reminder for what He had done. 5 - Holy Ground (The Prelude to Jericho) - God is always speaking to us. Are we putting ourselves in a place to listen. 6 - Don't Stop Short (The Story of Jericho) - God has great things for us. But sometimes we stop short when it gets hard. Don't stop short a blessing could be  right around the corner. 7 - The Wake of Choice - We need to be carful of the choices we make because they can affect other people....

The One Thing - part 7 - The Wake of Choice Have you ever been part of a group and because one person did something wrong the whole group got in trouble for it?  This is what happened to Israel after they took Jericho. There were some specific things that God had told them to do.  “All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred to the Lord and must go into his treasury.”” - Joshua 6:19 NIV So the battle of Jericho continued, and they completely destroyed the city (except Rahab); then, at the beginning of chapter 7, the story takes an interesting turn.  “But the Israelites were unfaithful in regard to the devoted things; Achan.....took some of them. So the Lord’s anger burned against Israel.” - Joshua 7:1 NIV Joshua, unaware of the disobedience of Achan, sent Israel to battle the city of Ai. But because of the anger of the Lord, Israel lost a few men in that battle and returned to Joshua. Joshua tore his clothes in...

Joshua 6 has one of the better-known stories in the Bible. This is where we find the story of Jericho. But we also see something else take place, and there is a lesson in this story to learn. As I mentioned in the previous post, Joshua had put himself in a place to hear the word of the Lord. In chapter 6 we see what that word is. The Lord gives Joshua the instructions about how to take Jericho (Joshua 6:2-5). One of the first things that I noticed when reading this story again is that Israel did exactly what God told them to do. They marched around the city in the way that God instructed them and how God instructed them. When they did that, they destroyed the city of Jericho. I guess all of that wandering helped them listen to God. But this isn't the one thing I wanted to tell you about this chapter. The one thing that stood out to me was that they didn't stop short. Jericho was not a small city. It was probably hot. It was a lot of walking, but they kept going. Th...

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...