Living in Victory
Selected Passages in Joshua
Essential 100 Series
February 3, 2008
Evening Service
Introduction
Coach Grant Taylor had coached football at the Shiloh Christian Academy for six seasons and never had a winning record. The chances of a turnaround looked grim to say the least with the star player transferring to a rival school.
Coach Taylor’s problems only seem to keep mounting both personally and professionally. On a personal level Taylor has a car that keeps breaking down, a house that seemed to be falling apart and he and his wife discover that they are unable to have children. On a professional level the team loses the first three games and a group of the player’s father’s work to get him fired. All of this causes Coach Taylor to blame himself for both the failures on the field and the failures at home. This crisis drives Taylor to seek God’s help.
Taylor decides to completely change his team philosophy and put God first with their team. Taylor decides to give everything to God and leave the results up to Him. Here is a scene from Facing the Giants
Show the Death Crawl clip from Facing the Giants
Let me ask you a question: are you giving God your very best?
When God tells Joshua that he was going to lead Israel into the Promised Land, He expected Joshua’s very best. Let’s take a look at how Joshua had already set the stage for God to work in his life.
Basic Background on Joshua
Joshua was a military commander
Joshua led the Israelites against the armies of the Amalakites. The event was marked by victory coming while Moses kept his staff raised over his head.
Joshua accompanied Moses
Joshua served as Moses’ aide to camp. He was the personal assistant to Moses. He was being mentored by Moses for future leadership.
Joshua had a name change
Moses personally changes Joshua’s name. Joshua was originally named Hoshea, which means salvation. Joshua means God is our salvation or God saves. The Greek form of this name is Jesus.
Joshua explored Canaan
Joshua was hand picked by Moses to be one of the 12 scouts who explored Canaan. He was one of the key leaders in the group. Joshua was given the task of giving a report on the inhabitants of the land
Joshua was commissioned
Joshua was selected by God to be the successor of Moses. God gave the command that Joshua be commissioned in that office and capacity. God makes it clear that Joshua was to lead the people into Canaan.
1 Early in the morning Joshua and all the Israelites set out from Shittim and went to the Jordan, where they camped before crossing over. 2 After three days the officers went throughout the camp, 3 giving orders to the people: "When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the priests, who are Levites, carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it. 4 Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before. But keep a distance of about a thousand yards between you and the ark; do not go near it."
5 Joshua told the people, "Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do amazing things among you." 6 Joshua said to the priests, "Take up the ark of the covenant and pass on ahead of the people." So they took it up and went ahead of them. 7 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. 8 Tell the priests who carry the ark of the covenant: `When you reach the edge of the Jordan’s waters, go and stand in the river.’ " 9 Joshua said to the Israelites, "Come here and listen to the words of the LORD your God. 10 This is how you will know that the living God is among you and that he will certainly drive out before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites and Jebusites. 11 See, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth will go into the Jordan ahead of you. 12 Now then, choose twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe. 13 And as soon as the priests who carry the ark of the LORD--the Lord of all the earth--set foot in the Jordan, its waters flowing downstream will be cut off and stand up in a heap." 14 So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant went ahead of them. 15 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, 16 the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea ) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho. 17 The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground.
Victory begins with confidence
Without faith it is impossible to please God. Hebrews 11:6
God parted the waters of the Jordan River for three main reasons
God made the crossing much easier
Remember that the Jordan River was at flood stage and so the crossing would have been both difficult and time consuming. This act of God would have provided some much needed encouragement for Israel. The crossing God provided helped to preserve both time and strength. The location of the crossing also placed them in a strategic position to attack Jericho.
God revealed His power to a new generation
God parts the waters of the Jordan to show Israel the depth of His power. This generation came after the crossing of the Red Sea. They would have heard stories about the crossing but would not have experienced it for themselves. Knowing the stories and now seeing the waters of the Jordan River stop flowing, would have been a great confidence booster. They were seeing the work of God before their very eyes. God had given this generation their dry ground to hold onto.
God wanted to remind Joshua what he had already done
God in his gracious love shows Joshua a vivid reminder of what He already done. It was a reminder that nothing was impossible for God to do. There is nothing that God cannot do.
God was giving Joshua a gentle reminder of what He had already done. Joshua had followed the pillar of cloud and fire out of Egypt. Joshua had walked the dry ground of the Red Sea. Joshua had watched with the rest of Israel as God pummeled Egypt with the ten plagues. Joshua was not only a military leader, he was a spiritual leader. Joshua had walked with Moses as God delivered the people over and over again. Joshua also saw the consequences for not following God.
Conclusion
The 2001 NFL season had barely started and the New England Patriots were a rising power in the league. Drew Bledsoe was leading the Patriots to a respectable season but then Bledsoe got hurt and a relatively unknown backup quarterback had to take his place. Tom Brady did what many thought was impossible; he led the Patriots to Superbowl 36. The Patriots were huge underdogs in that game but Brady led the team down the field for a last minute field goal to win the game.
What does Tom Brady have to do with anything Biblical?
Tom Brady is modern day example of what happened to Joshua. Brady took the leadership role for the Patriots when the previous leader was no longer able to do so. Joshua was in the position to take the leadership of Israel after Moses had died. Let’s take a few moments to look at the situation Israel was in and what Joshua was going to face.
