Book of Joshua, February 18,2024

It's time for the Champions in Christ broadcast with Lee and Rhonda Harrison on 1017, Bay F.M.

God is a God of righteousness. God sits on the throne. God is strong and

mental. God is God alone. God is a God alone.

Good morning. This is the day that the Lord has made and we will rejoice and be glad at it.

Hallelujah. What a great day today. Why is it great? Because we serve a great God.

Circumstances aren't always great in our lives when we're going through things and life is full of valleys and mountains.

But guess what? God is the same in the valley as He is in the mountain. He is the same God and He is playing no defeats for you today.

We're going to turn in our Bible to the book of Joshua. Joshua is one of my favorite people in the Bible.

We're going to talk about him. When Joshua became the leader, we're going to start in chapter one.

It was because Moses had died. It says, now after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord

spoke unto Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses' minister, and said, Moses, my servant is dead.

Now therefore arise. Go over to Jordan, you and your people, unto the land which I give unto them, even to the children of Israel.

In every place the soul of your foot shall tread, have I given to you, as I said to Moses.

From the wilderness, and this great Lebanon, even to the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land, the Hittites of the Hittites,

and unto the great sea, towards the going down of the sun shall be your coast.

And then he goes on, and we're going to drop down to verse six, be strong and of good courage, for unto this people shall you divide

an inheritance of land which I swore to give their fathers. Only be thou strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do all the law,

which Moses, my servant, commanded you, and turn not from to the right or the left, that where you go you may prosper.

This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate therein day and night,

and you will observe to do according to all that's written therein, for then you will make your way prosperous and you will have good success.

Wow, what a great promise for Joshua. But Joshua, you know, stepping into this leadership role behind Moses, wow, that's a big deal.

Because Moses had done some mighty works in God, and he was the most meekest man on the earth, and I tell you what,

Joshua was committed and disciplined and served under him for many years, and then now God has appointed Joshua to take over.

And those are big steps, big shoes to fill and big steps to take, you know, and fear can hit you when you have a challenge.

You know, I'm sure everybody thinks, wow, he got to be appointed in Moses' spot, but yeah, with that challenge, with that promotion comes challenge, right?

Well, without faith, it's impossible to please God. That's what his word says.

So we have to have faith in every circumstance, in good ones and in the ones that aren't so good.

But this is a great step of faith that he has to take, and the Lord has already, as we read, told him twice, be of good courage and be strong in the Lord.

Why? Because the fear, fear can try and overtake you. You know, fear is the exact opposite of faith.

So we're going to talk about that a little bit today.

And again, in verse nine, we're going to drop down, he says it a third time, have I not commanded you?

Be strong and have a good courage.

Be not afraid, neither be dismayed for the Lord God is with you wherever you go.

You know, that's a promise God has for all of us who've been born again, who've accepted that free gift Jesus offers of life eternal, is that wherever we go, God is with us.

So if we hear God's word and do God's word, we will get God results. Hallelujah.

And you go, how do I know God's telling the truth? Well, you get to know him the same way you get to know a friend.

When you first meet somebody, you don't know if you can trust them. You have to spend time with them.

You have to talk with them. Their integrity will be shown in the fruit of their life. Right?

So as, as Joshua was committed to the Lord and serving under Moses, he saw the Red Sea open.

He saw God's faithfulness to what God told Moses all those many years.

But yet he, God had to warn him fear not. Why?

Because fear comes. Why does it come?

Well, if we look and we take time to look in God's word in the New Testament, you know, there's a scripture that says it's in 1st Timothy 1, 7.

God has not given us a spirit of fear. So fear is a spirit and it can come and antagonize you and, and, and gets you very upset and nervous and stressed out.

Fear can come in all forms. It can come in words from someone. It can come as a thought in your head.

What do we do? It says God has not given us a spirit of fear, but God has given us love, power and a sound mind.

Power, love and a sound mind. Wow. He's given us all three to conquer.

He's already conquered fear. He's conquered death, hell and the grave, right? When he died on that cross and rose again.

We don't have anything to fear. We need to have a reverential fear of God and the awesomeness who he is, but not a fear, not a fear of anything.

Just as he told Joshua, be of good courage, whatever situation you're facing today.

Maybe it's a situation where you need some courage and you need to be strong in the Lord.

You know, that was my husband's favorite scripture, Ephesians 6, 10.

Be strong in the Lord and the power of his might. Why? Because God offers us his strength, his power, his love, his glory. Hallelujah.

Hallelujah. So Joshua, he then steps out and begins to command the people.

And he's explaining to them to prepare their food that they're getting ready to pass over the Jordan and go possess the land.

And so the people respond and they answered him in verse 16 saying,

All you command us, we will do and where you send us, we will go.

And according as we hearkened unto Moses and all things, so will we hearken unto you.

Only the Lord be with you as he was with Moses.

And God's about to prove that to them that God is with Joshua as he was with Moses.

So God has spoken to Joshua.

Joshua has made his first step.

And then when we go in chapter two and there's a story I want to get to that shows another opportunity where someone could fear and they chose not to.

It's in chapter two. It starts in verse one, Joshua, the son of none, sent out of Shaddim two men to spy secretly, go and view the land, even Jericho.

And as they went, they came into a harlot's house and her name was Rahab and they lodged there.

And it was told the king of Jericho being hold there came men and tonight of the children of Israel to search out our country.

And the king of Jericho sent to Rahab saying, bring me these men who have come unto you that have entered into your house and they become to search out our country.

And the woman took the two men and hid them and she said, there came men unto me, but I don't know where they went.

But it came to pass at the time of the shutting of the gate and it was dark.

And the men went out, whether the men went, I don't know, but if you pursue them quickly, you will overtake them.

So she's hiding these two spies from from the children of Israel and she's lying to her own people.

So she was very courageous here because she knew, you know, she gets caught.

That's that's the end of her.

And so in verse six, it says, but she brought them up into the roof of the house and hid them with stocks of flax and she hid and laid them in order upon the roof.

And when the men pursued them the way to Jordan unto the four, as soon as they pursued after they were gone out, they shut the gate.

But before they were laid down, she came to them and she said to these men, I know that the Lord has given you the land and your terror has fallen.

Upon us and all the inhabitants of our land faint because of you.

OMG, the people of Jericho are faint of heart.

They are so fearful and so scared because they knew that the Lord was with them and they were scared that they were going to come and be overtaken by the children of Israel.

And she goes on to say for we have heard how the Lord dried up the waters of the Red Sea when you came out of Egypt and what you did to the two King of Amorites that were on the other side of Jordan and Scion and Og whom you utterly destroyed.

She remembered what they have utterly destroyed.

She remembered and the whole town did the whole city of Jericho where it was in fear of the children of Israel.

And as soon as they heard these things, she continued, our hearts didn't melt and neither did they remain any more courage in any man because of you.

For the Lord your God is the God of heaven above and earth beneath.

So God is God and she knew it and she knew if God is with these men, we are about to be destroyed.

So she makes a plan. She says, now therefore I pray swear to me by your Lord that since I've shown you kindness that you will also show me kindness unto my father's house and give me a true token that you will save alive my father, my mother, my brother, my sisters, all that we have and deliver our lives from death.

And the men answered her and said, our life for yours if you utter not our business and it shall be when the Lord's given us this land we will deal kindly and truly with you.

And then she let them down through a cord, by a cord through a window for her house was upon the town wall and she dwelt upon the wall.

And she said unto them, Get you unto the mountain least your pursuers meet you hide their three days until your pursuers return and afterwards you may go your way.

And the men said unto her, We will be blameless of your oath from which you have made us swear.

And behold when we come into the land you shall bind a line of scarlet thread in the window which did lead us down and you shall bring thy father and thy mother and thy brother and all the fathers of your household.

And it shall be that whosoever shall go out the door and down the street his blood shall be upon his head and we will be guilt.

But whosoever shall be with you in the house his blood shall be on our head if a hand is laid upon him.

And so she did and she said according to your word so be it and she sent them away and they parted and she bound a scarlet line in the window.

So here is trust and here is faith.

She had faith to believe them to take them at their word.

That's all she had.

She had already risked her life.

She was courageous to bring them in and she found favor and made a deal.

So if we go over to chapter six and verse twenty two what ends up happening.

Joshua said unto the two men that have spied out the country go in the harlot's house and bring out the woman and all she has as you swore unto her.

So now the men are attacking Jericho the children of Israel and these and it's happening that the city's going down and we don't have time to tell that story.

But these two spies Joshua the commander told them go and do as you have said.

The young men were the spies that went in and brought out Rahab her father her mother her brethren all that she had they brought out her kindred and left them outside the camp of Israel.

They burnt the city with fire all that was in only the silver the gold the vessels of brass and iron put in the treasury of the Lord.

Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive her father's household and all she had and she dwelt in Israel even to this day because she hid the messengers which Joshua sent out to Jericho.

That's amazing.

She she was strong in faith and didn't allow fear to overtake her and tell on those men.

And she also stood in faith believing that when she met with Joshua or when she met with the two spies she could make a deal with them by hiding them your life for mine.

And thankfully she stood her ground in faith and didn't let fear enter in between the time of the promise to the time of fulfillment.

And same goes with our lives from the time of promise that we pick up a promise of God and do our action believing God.

There sometimes is a time the Bible says with faith and patience you inherit the promise.

But we can't allow fear because fear brings bondage.

And in Romans 8 15 it said you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear but you've received the spirit of adoption by whom we cry Abba Father.

When we give our life to Jesus and receive that gift we have received the spirit of adoption.

You know he loves us so he does not give us that spirit of fear but he gives us the Holy Spirit who's all powerful all mighty all knowing all just who's loving and kind and caring and concerned and all power.

So that power that God's given us is the power of God the Holy Spirit the wonderful Holy Spirit and he comes to live inside us and therefore we don't have to walk in fear.

First John 4 let's turn there.

First John 4 15 through 18 it says whosoever shall confess Jesus as the son of God God dwells in him and he and God.

Do you confess that today and we have known believed in love that God has to us God is love and he that dwells in love dwells in God and God and him herein is our love made perfect that we may have boldness in the day of judgment because as he is so are we in this world.

There is no fear and love but perfect love cast out fear and because fear has torment.

Have you ever been scared of anything?

Have you ever been tormented in your mind for fear?

Don't bow to it.

Jesus overcame fear with death hell in the grave.

It's over baby.

We can stand in faith and trust God and believe him and stand courageous and brave just like Joshua said.

You know because he that fears is not made perfect in love right that's what the Bible says because fear has torment he that fears has not been made perfect in level guess what we have been made perfect through the Holy Ghost and fire hallelujah.

You fear and faith cannot reside in the same heart.

Why?

Because they diametrically are opposed to one another so glory to God we can stand strong in faith and in the power of God strong in faith and in the power of God.

You know fear is an enemy and whatsoever you fear it will befall you.

You must face those fear.

Don't bow.

Don't not bow.

I say right now be loose from the spirit of fear in Jesus name.

Receive the new infilling of the Holy Ghost right now just thank you say Lord fill me fill me with that faith fill me with strength fill me fill me with your power because it's a new day a new day dawns on your life fear is not your friend fear is a destroyer fear is a destroyer.

Give no place to the devil the Bible says we will not give the enemy one foothold in fear but we will be strong and courageous how do you get stronger feeding on the word of God how do you get stronger.

Praising his holy name rejoicing because he's the same God that delivered the children of Israel he will deliver you he will deliver you the Holy Ghost you have living on the inside of you as a believer in Jesus Christ.

Overcomes the spirit of fear every time every time no beast can stand against the Holy Ghost in you no way no way don't give place to the devil.

You cannot be in love and fear at the same time right so we want to love God and hate sin hate fear right the spirit of faith will subdue the spirit of fear every time why because light overcomes darkness.

When you turn on a light does the darkness overcome the light no ma'am no sir that light overcomes darkness right hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah if you have the work in you of love wisdom and faith which is all attributes of God.

You will be in control of your future through the power of God Jesus overcame death hell the grave became a curse for us cursed is everyone that hangs on a tree that we might be free.

Who whom the sun sets free is free indeed glory that God you know Psalms 125 says he that trust in the Lord shall not be moved but will abide forever will abide forever.

The light and the life of God lives in you there is no darkness no fear no death that can overcome you.

You know the joy of the Lord is our strength how do we get joy we feed on the word we praise his name we're like little children right and that joy overflows into our life right that's why you can laugh at a circumstance that most people wouldn't laugh

and that's how you can stand when people think how can they stand in that circumstance it's because you're not standing it's the God in you that standing hallelujah hallelujah faith he is the same God he is the same God so we're going to be strong in the Lord

and then the power of his might you know we're going to read one more scripture in Matthew and Matthew 824 through 27 it says and behold there rose a great tempest in the sea and so much that the ship was covered with the waves and Jesus was asleep

and the disciples came to him Lord save us we perish and he said to them oh you fearful you of little faith he arose rebuke the wind and there came a great calm the men marveled and said wow but you know look what he said to them you fearful and little faith

and faith comes by hearing hearing by the word of God get your faith build up so when those situations maybe you're in a boat and the tempest comes the wind is blowing the waves are blowing you know we live around a lot of water there's a lot of opportunity for that to happen

but we can say no we can stand in faith and reach out to Jesus and say thank you Lord we can speak to that see as he did and say be still in Jesus name we're going to listen to a song and I want you to just press into the song it's talking about the same God he's the same God that delivered the children of Israel he will deliver you and I'll come back and talk at you in just a moment

I'm calling on the God of Jacob whose love and dose through generations I know that you will keep your covenant

I'm calling on the God of Moses the one who opened up the ocean I need you now to do the same thing for the man for me

Oh God my God I need you oh God my God I need you now how I need you now

Oh Rock of Rock of Ages I'm standing on your faithfulness on your faithfulness

I'm calling on the God of Mary whose favor rests upon the lowly I know if you or things are possible

I'm calling on the God of David who made a shepherd boy courageous

I made my physical life but I've got my whole times oh God my God I need you oh God my God I need you now how I need you now

Oh Rock of Rock of Ages I'm standing on your faithfulness on your faithfulness

Oh God my God I need you oh God my God I need you now how I need you now oh Rock of Rock of Ages I'm standing on your faithfulness

Oh your faithfulness it's your faithfulness I'm standing on

Never changes, never changes You heard your children then you hear your children now You are the same God

Answer prayers back then and you will answer now You are the same God You are the same God

You were provided then You are providing now You are the same God You are the same God

You moved in power then God moved in power now You are the same God You are the same God You are a healer then

You are a healer now You are the same God You are the same God You are the same God You are the same God

Oh God my God I need you now how I need you now

Oh Rock of Rock of Ages I'm standing on your faithfulness Hey I'm your faithfulness Oh God my God I need you now how I need you now

Oh Rock of Rock of Ages I'm standing on your faithfulness

Oh your faithfulness

You're faithfulness Oh God you're faithfulness Jesus you're the same Yes today, today and forever

Hey yes you're the same God You're the same God This is who we worship tonight

He's the same, He's the same Oh God how I need you how I need you

Yeah

You free the captives Your free hearts right now You are the same God You are the same God You touch the lepers

I feel your touch right now You are the same God You are the same God

Every day of your life Oh forever same We feel you now You're the same God You're the same God Yeah How we need you now Yeah

Calling on the Holy Spirit Almighty river come and fill me again

Let that be your prayer tonight Come and fill me again Come and fill me again

Alright He's the same God Come and fill us now Lord Come and fill us now

If you need Jesus today just ask just say Lord Jesus come in my heart receive me today as I receive you in Jesus name amen

You are born again we'll send you a new Bible you can reach out to us at Champions in Christ 3 at gmail.com that's Champions in Christ 3 at gmail.com

We love you go out and make it a great day remember Jesus is Lord and you are a champion in Christ

You're