Entering the Promised Land: Joshua's Call to Courage

In this edition of the Daily Bible Podcast, we open with reminders about church activities and outreach initiatives, including Compass 101 and Easter preparations. The episode then transitions into a new section of the Bible, focusing on the book of Joshua. The hosts discuss Joshua as the first of the historical books, emphasize the significance of strong and courageous leadership as commanded by God, and explore key events like the sending of spies and the crossing of the Jordan River. The importance of memorializing God's faithfulness with physical reminders is highlighted, culminating with an encouragement for listeners to do likewise in their own lives.

00:00 Welcome and Church Announcements

01:05 Introduction to the Book of Joshua

02:29 God's Command to Joshua

04:54 Rahab and the Spies

07:02 Crossing the Jordan River

08:38 Memorial Stones and God's Faithfulness

11:25 Encouragement to Memorialize God's Faithfulness

12:48 Closing Prayer and Farewell

Find out more about Compass Bible Church.

Learn more about our Bible Reading Plan.

Questions or Comments? Email us podcast@compassntx.org

Hey everybody.

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Welcome back to another edition

of the Daily Bible Podcast.

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Hey.

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It's Sunday.

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So hopefully you're either at

church on your way to church.

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You've been to church, but church is part

of your day to day 'cause it's Sunday.

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And that's what we do.

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We've also got Compass 1 0 1 today.

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So if you are newer to our church

or somebody who is, encourage 'em

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to stay afterwards or you stay

afterwards and we've got lunch for

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you and you can hear a little bit

more about who we are as a church.

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We walk through our distinctives

and where we're going, what's in

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store for our church as much as

we know, at least in the future.

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Love for you to be a part of that.

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As well as passing out Easter invites.

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We've got those yard signs.

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You can grab those at church.

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You can put those in your yards.

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You can get more of the cards to

pass out to friends and neighbors.

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Be a part of the outreach

initiatives that we have.

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We've got three of them that

we're gonna be doing after church

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or we're on a Saturday morning.

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We'd love for you to pick at least one

of those to be a part of with us as we

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try to hit I believe they've got it over.

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Or around, I think the number

is 4,000 homes in our community.

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Wow.

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Mapped out to to cover in those

three outreach initiatives.

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We're trying to do the part that we

can, and get the word out there about

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what's going on at at Compass for Easter.

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That sounds good.

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Let's do it.

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Let's let's get into our text.

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We're starting a brand new book today.

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We are in the book of Joshua.

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So we're starting a new

book and a new section.

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So Penit Took is done first

five books of the Bible.

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We've gone through those.

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The Torah, now we're getting into what

are known as the historical books,

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and there's 12 historical books.

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Joshua being the first of those the

author of the book, probably Joshua.

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We don't know for sure.

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It doesn't.

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Specifically say that, although that's

just what tradition has been, that Joshua

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is the one behind this he's a unique

figure in that he spanned everything

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from slavery in Egypt all the way to

the conquest of the promised Land.

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So he saw quite a bit of

what was going on there.

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Rahab.

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Is gonna show up.

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She's gonna be mentioned

in Joshua chapter six.

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So she's still around here.

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If you remember her from hiding the spies.

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JBI sites are still gonna be in Jerusalem.

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We'll talk a little bit about that as we

get into the actual conquest of things.

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But yeah, this is this is a pivot book.

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There's a lot going on here as

we come out of the Exodus, as

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we come out of the wilderness.

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Wanderings the pivot now into the

promised land to set up what's

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gonna come from this point forward.

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Yeah, some really exciting things ahead

in this book, one of my favorites.

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Yeah, it's exciting.

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Action backed.

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Yeah.

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And Dale Roth Davis, who's got a great

commentary on the book of of Joshua.

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He makes a great point, just

encouraging us to remember that

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this was not just to record facts.

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It was that, but it

was more than that too.

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There's a message here that the

author is trying to convey to us.

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And so we need to be paying attention to

that as we read and as we check this out.

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And as we get into to chapters one through

four, which is our reading for today what

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we'll find in the opening chapter here is

God addressing Joshua as the new leader.

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Promising to be with him

as he was with Moses.

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And three separate times in this opening

chapter, Joshua is commanded by God

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to be strong and courageous, and God

makes clear that his success is gonna be

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directly proportionate to his obedience,

to the commandments, to the law.

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That everything that we've just come

out of the first five books there

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the content there, the content of.

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Of Leviticus and Numbers and

Deuteronomy the law specifically.

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And after this, Jo Joshua rallied the

people to prepare them to enter the land.

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So this is that transition moment, but

God is telling 'em, you're gonna need

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to be strong, you're need gonna need

to be courageous because of what's

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in front of you, what's coming here

as you attempt to take the Promised

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land, the strength and the courage

that God calls us to notice here is.

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Centralized around his word

and in fact, it's not just a

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casual and passive relationship.

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Verse eight says, the book of the law

shall not depart from your mouth, which

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is to say that it was supposed to be

part of the regular vernacular for Joshua

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especially, but for the whole community.

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The whole purpose of this was

to keep the word of God ever

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at the forefront of their mind.

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And not just that, it says you

shall meditate on it day and night.

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Sounds a lot like the

beginning of the Psalm.

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Psalm chapter one.

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You're meditating on it day and night.

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And notice here that the if then clause

is not only implied, but explicitly

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said so that you may be careful to

do everything that's in it and then.

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And the second part of verse, I

still think this is verse eight.

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Verse eight, for then you'll

make your way prosperous and

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then you will have good success.

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So notice that the, for the person that

wants to enjoy the blessed victorious

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life, it's gotta be centralized to

the word and it's gotta have the

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kind of caliber that says, I'm not

just passively engaging with it.

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It is a deep meditation.

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It is a familiarity that is intimate

and not just happenstance or casual.

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No notice that's gonna be a big deal.

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And that's the.

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Critical hinge by which they

will either succeed or not.

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Yeah.

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And that reminder to be strong

and courageous is also a reminder

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that this was not going to be

this is not gonna be a cakewalk.

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This was not gonna be them just

walking in, going, okay we're

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here in the promised land.

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God's gonna go before us.

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He's gonna send the hornets

and drive them all out, and

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we're just gonna waltz in here.

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God is preparing Joshua for a.

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Difficult task.

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E even though he was, yeah,

if he would obey things, were

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gonna go well, it doesn't mean

that things were gonna go easy.

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It doesn't mean that he wasn't gonna

face circumstances and trials that

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were gonna cause him to doubt, cause

him to fear even from time to time.

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And he was being called to be a

bold and courageous, strong fearless

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leader in the face of those things.

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Chapter two.

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We get into another round of spies

being sent out, but thankfully this

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time it goes better than the first

time that spies were sent out.

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But the first time you'll remember that's

significant because that's why Joshua

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is here and will find Caleb is here as

well, because those were the two that

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went in and said, Hey, we can do this.

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And that's why they're still here.

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They're part of the first generation.

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But they didn't die because

God was faithful to them

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because they were faithful.

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To him.

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And so now they're gonna send out

another round of spies, and these

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spies are gonna be sent into the land.

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But it goes better this time.

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They find their way to Rahab the harlot's

house and she receives the spies and lies

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to her own people in order to protect

their lives, and then sends them out

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again, asking that they spare her and

her family from the coming destruction.

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So it's a, one of those difficult

situations, and we've talked

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about this quite a bit before.

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What, when is it appropriate

to bend the truth?

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When is it appropriate for us to

even deceive or lie in order to

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accomplish perhaps the greater good?

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And I just think that's a,

something certainly here we

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see RAHA is committed for.

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She shows up later on and she's commended

for it in the New Testament as well.

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It's just.

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It's difficult for us to take that on

ourselves and say that this is a time we

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should be doing that because here's the

greater good that I'm accomplishing here.

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I think this is few and far between.

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When we see occasions where this

is appropriate for us to do.

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Look at verses 10 through 11.

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He records here.

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He's the response of Rahab.

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We've heard how the Lord dried up the

water of the red Sea, so forth and so

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on, and the defeat of AOG and Sahan.

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And so it's important to, to think

about those two kings because it, it

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was not just for Israel to meddle.

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In the affairs of the people on the

other side of the Jordan River the

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Unpromised land, if I can put it that way.

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And it wasn't just to

strengthen them for war.

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It was also that the news of what

God had done in defeating them the,

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that news reached the people on

the other side of the Jordan River.

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And that's part of the reason

why they were afraid of Israel.

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And so God brought them up against

OG and cyan, not just to show

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Israel that they can do this, but

also to fire another warning shot.

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To those in the promised land

that, hey, Israel's coming.

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And we see Rahab had heard about that

and that's one of the reasons why she

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gave the spies the response and welcome

that she did, and then ultimately sent

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them out and God showed favor to Rahab.

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Chapter three.

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Then chapter three, we get into the

entrance into the promised land.

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And here the parallels between, and it's

a bookend for us, the exit from Egypt

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and the entrance into the promised land.

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You'll remember at the exit from Egypt,

they came up to another body of water,

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and that was the Red Sea in Moses,

parts of the Red Sea, in order that.

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Israel can walk across dry land

here to lead into the Promised Land.

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God is gonna part another body of water

this time, the Jordan River, and they're

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gonna enter into the Promised Land.

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So there's this separation, there's

this parting of the waters in two

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locations on the exit from Egypt and

the entrance into the promised land.

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And they serve as the bookends

where the doorways, so to speak,

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of the wilderness wandering years.

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And so here the priests enter into

the river with the ark and the water

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piles up and the people walk across.

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And and they enter into the promised land.

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I did find it interesting in verse four

of chapter three that it's mentioned that

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there should be a distance between you and

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and that number falls on deaf ears.

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And yet, if you look at your

little footnote, there, typically

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qubit's about 18 inches.

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If that's true, this would've

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between the arc and the people.

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That's about half a mile.

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That's massive.

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So this is no like orderly parade where

everybody's traffic jammed, crossing

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this Jordan River be before the arc gets

into the river and piles up the water.

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There's a half a mile gap

between the people and the arc.

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In order not to bring the defilement

of the people into any close contact

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or or proximity, that would defile

the arc to make sure that the arc

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was treated as wholly because it

represented the glory of the Lord.

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So half a mile that's that's a lot.

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Chapter four.

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Then chapter four, Israel

crosses over the Jordan to step

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foot in the promised land here.

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And so we're there and and God's gonna

do something here with Israel, which

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I always find just super encouraging.

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And that is Israel is gonna grab

stones and they're gonna stack them

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up and there's gonna be 12 of them.

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So each of the heads of the

tribes are committed to get.

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Grab a stone and to bring it over

on the other side, they're gonna

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set up this pillar and that pillar's

gonna be there to remind them forever

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of the momentous occasion of of

Israel entering the promised land.

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And so this is gonna be there,

it's a visual, it's gonna be good

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for the people of Israel there.

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It's for the future generations as well to

be able to see that and to ask questions.

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And for the Israelites to have a

reason to point to something, to

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say, look, this is what God did here.

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And so that's what we find

with this pillar of 12 Stones.

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Joshua four 13 Joshua four 13 says

About 40,000 were ready for war and they

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Passover before the Lord for battle.

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Now this is from the trans Jordanian

tribes, the the two and a half tribes

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on the other side of the Jordan.

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So 40,000 seems low based on their

tribal numbers from numbers 26.

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And so this may have been 40 clans, 40

military units, but another instance

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here where we have to look at the

number and say what's going on with

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the number and we've talked about it

before, that there's round numbers often.

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Being used here, but this is

perhaps a reference to clans or

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units rather than 40,000 only of

the troops that go across there.

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Yeah.

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That seems to be the best

reading in my estimation.

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40,000 clans military units seems to be

a better understanding of the word than a

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strict, literal 40,000 otherwise, whereas

everybody doesn't make sense of the

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text, which is why you have to say this.

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This must mean more than

what we're looking at.

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And it's the same word there that

we've talked about before, elf,

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which can mean clan, tribal unit.

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Something like that, or

it can mean a thousand.

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And so here it seems a little bit

more likely that it does mean clan

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or tribal unit than a thousand.

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But this is big.

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This is what we just read it because

it's next up, but I think it's so

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important for us to remember this is

what the Israelites were looking for.

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This is what they were wanting,

this is what they were anticipating.

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And and here they are, they're

stepping into the promised land,

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and this is what God had been

pointing to from the time of Abraham.

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Hey, I'm gonna bring my

people into the land.

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And albeit this is not the ultimate

fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant,

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as we even sit here today as you're

listening to this today, there is still

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yet a future realization of the fullness

of the land promise, I think, for Israel.

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But.

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This is part of it.

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This is the beginning of God saying,

this is where you're gonna be.

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This is where I'm gonna make my home.

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This is where ultimately, where

the Messiah is gonna come from.

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This is where the Messiah is gonna return.

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Even as we sit here today.

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We're looking forward to Christ returning

that's gonna be here in the Promised Land

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in Israel, in Jerusalem, Mount of Olives.

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That's where the feet of

Christ are gonna descend.

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So this is a big deal for us to remember

this, and even that pillar that's

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set up there, that would've been a.

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Pillar of celebration and just a

reminder of a day that would've been

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just a breath of fresh air for the

Israelites going, okay, we're here.

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We made it.

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We're ready.

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Now we can begin to settle in

and be the people of God here.

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We strongly encourage you and

your family to consider ways

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in which you can memorialize

God's faithfulness in your life.

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There are.

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Things that he does all the time.

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Things that he gives you the

blessings that he bestows upon you.

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And some of those blessings

are salvation blessings.

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We recently had baptisms where people

were professing their faith in Christ.

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Those are the kind of things that

I think are especially warranted

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by texts like this to say.

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We ought to find ways to

memorialize what God has done.

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I, I know I'm sound like a broken record.

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I, I've said these things before, but.

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Lemme just encourage you to take some

creative liberties to apply this.

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I think God is honored when our homes

and our cars and our walls be speak of

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his ongoing faithfulness to us, and this

is a good thing for our kids to see.

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Not to mention anyone who

comes into our home or into our

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churches or anything like that.

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We want things to testify

to what we're about.

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And these physical reminders

are more than just decor.

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Decor is important and it's pleasing

to the eye, but even more than that,

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it testifies to something bigger

and better, something beyond us.

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And I think that's one of the reasons

why God says, Hey, take these 12

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memorial stones because your kids are

gonna ask you about this, and I expect

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you to have a really good answer.

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Verse 21, 22, what do these stones mean?

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Then you shall let your children know.

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This is what God has done.

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And furthermore, verse 24, so that all

the people of the earth may know that

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the hand of the Lord is mighty and that

you may fear the Lord your God forever.

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So there's a wider goal and objective

when we seek to make our lives be.

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Speak of God's faithfulness

and you want to do that.

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Let's pray and be done with this this

episode of the Daily Bible Podcast.

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God, we we want to be

people mindful of just that.

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We want to be aware of

your faithfulness to us.

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And so we pray that you'd give us

that awareness, that humility to look

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at our lives and not take too much

credit for anything in our lives, but

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to look for you in your hand and how

you've blessed us and provided for us.

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And so give us that that creativity that.

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That Pastor Rod was just talking about

to be able to know how we should go about

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doing that and what that should look

like, and so we pray that you enable

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us to do that in Jesus' name, amen.

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Keep reading Bibles tuning again

tomorrow for another edition

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of the Daily Bible Podcast.

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See you.

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Bye.

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Speaker 2: Thanks for listening to another

edition of the Daily Bible Podcast.

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This is a ministry of Compass

Bible Church in north Texas.

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You can find out more information

about ourChurch@compassntx.org.

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We would love for you to leave a

review to rate to share this podcast

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you against tomorrow for another

edition of the Daily Bible Podcast.