Whose Side Are You On?

Title: Whose side are you own?

Theme: To show that the devil tries to divide the church and His people. We must be on the LORDs side.

Opening Prayer then read the scriptures.

Joshua 5:13-15 And it came to pass,

In a manner of time, after all the events of the previous chapters had taken place, after the promises of Joshua 1, the spies of Joshua 2, the crossing of the Jordan in Joshua 3&4.

I believe he kind of sets the stage with Joshua 3

Jos 3:1-4 Then Joshua rose early in the morning; and they set out from Acacia Grove and came to the Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they crossed over. (2) So it was, after three days, that the officers went through the camp; (3) and they commanded the people, saying, "When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the priests, the Levites, bearing it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it. (4) Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure. Do not come near it, that you may know the way by which you must go, for you have not passed this way before."

Joshua and Israel was going places they had never been before. They were going to fight battles against people they had never seen. God wanted to prepare them. They must stay focused.

We will see this again later on.

Joshua had one task, move forward. Conquer the land.

Jos 1:1-6 After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' assistant, saying: (2) "Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them--the children of Israel. (3) Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses. (4) From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the River Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your territory. (5) No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you. (6) Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.

This is God’s promise.

You know God can give you the promises and you can have faith but you still have to face your task. You still have to face your mountains. You still have to move forward and conquer what God has given you. It is a daunting task.

when Joshua was by Jericho

I could imagine that Joshua, the warrior leader, was surveying the next place to conquer. He was looking across the way and preparing for battle.

Maybe he was working on preparing a strategy to conquer Jericho. Maybe he was trying to get rid of the butterflies in his stomach. Maybe he was working on his faith.

In my mind I could just imagine Joshua looking forward and then looking back. Looking that the walled city then looking at the memorials we read about in chapters 3 & 4.

Don’t forget Jericho had walls. Great dauting walls. Actually many say that it was two sets of walls. One at the bottom a retaining wall between 12 & 15 feet high and a wall on top between 20 & 26ft high. Then there was a type of courtyard (some say this is where Rahab lived). Finally, there was the second wall another 20 – 26 feet high. Wow! (When the walls fell there was a pathway for Israel to attack the city.

The enemy loves walls. He loves the put obstacles in our way that keep us from victory. He loves to place barriers in our way that keep us from moving forward.

In the New Testament they are called “strongholds”

1 Corinthians 10:4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds,

From Strong’s Concordance

- Original: ????´??µa - Transliteration: Ochuroma - Phonetic: okh-oo'-ro-mah - Definition:

1. a castle, stronghold, fortress, fastness

2. anything on which one relies

a. of the arguments and reasonings by which a disputant endeavours to fortify his opinion and defend it against his opponent

- Origin: from a remote derivative of G2192 (meaning to fortify, through the idea of holding safely)

- TDNT entry: 14:50,8

- Part(s) of speech: Noun Neuter