Hey everybody. Welcome back to another edition of the Daily Bible Podcast. Hey. It's Sunday. So hopefully you're either at church on your way to church. You've been to church, but church is part of your day to day 'cause it's Sunday. And that's what we do. We've also got Compass 1 0 1 today. So if you are newer to our church or somebody who is, encourage 'em to stay afterwards or you stay afterwards and we've got lunch for you and you can hear a little bit more about who we are as a church. We walk through our distinctives and where we're going, what's in store for our church as much as we know, at least in the future. Love for you to be a part of that. As well as passing out Easter invites. We've got those yard signs. You can grab those at church. You can put those in your yards. You can get more of the cards to pass out to friends and neighbors. Be a part of the outreach initiatives that we have. We've got three of them that we're gonna be doing after church or we're on a Saturday morning. We'd love for you to pick at least one of those to be a part of with us as we try to hit I believe they've got it over. Or around, I think the number is 4,000 homes in our community. Wow. Mapped out to to cover in those three outreach initiatives. We're trying to do the part that we can, and get the word out there about what's going on at at Compass for Easter. That sounds good. Let's do it. Let's let's get into our text. We're starting a brand new book today. We are in the book of Joshua. So we're starting a new book and a new section. So Penit Took is done first five books of the Bible. We've gone through those. The Torah, now we're getting into what are known as the historical books, and there's 12 historical books. Joshua being the first of those the author of the book, probably Joshua. We don't know for sure. It doesn't. Specifically say that, although that's just what tradition has been, that Joshua is the one behind this he's a unique figure in that he spanned everything from slavery in Egypt all the way to the conquest of the promised Land. So he saw quite a bit of what was going on there. Rahab. Is gonna show up. She's gonna be mentioned in Joshua chapter six. So she's still around here. If you remember her from hiding the spies. JBI sites are still gonna be in Jerusalem. We'll talk a little bit about that as we get into the actual conquest of things. But yeah, this is this is a pivot book. There's a lot going on here as we come out of the Exodus, as we come out of the wilderness. Wanderings the pivot now into the promised land to set up what's gonna come from this point forward. Yeah, some really exciting things ahead in this book, one of my favorites. Yeah, it's exciting. Action backed. Yeah. And Dale Roth Davis, who's got a great commentary on the book of of Joshua. He makes a great point, just encouraging us to remember that this was not just to record facts. It was that, but it was more than that too. There's a message here that the author is trying to convey to us. And so we need to be paying attention to that as we read and as we check this out. And as we get into to chapters one through four, which is our reading for today what we'll find in the opening chapter here is God addressing Joshua as the new leader. Promising to be with him as he was with Moses. And three separate times in this opening chapter, Joshua is commanded by God to be strong and courageous, and God makes clear that his success is gonna be directly proportionate to his obedience, to the commandments, to the law. That everything that we've just come out of the first five books there the content there, the content of. Of Leviticus and Numbers and Deuteronomy the law specifically. And after this, Jo Joshua rallied the people to prepare them to enter the land. So this is that transition moment, but God is telling 'em, you're gonna need to be strong, you're need gonna need to be courageous because of what's in front of you, what's coming here as you attempt to take the Promised land, the strength and the courage that God calls us to notice here is. Centralized around his word and in fact, it's not just a casual and passive relationship. Verse eight says, the book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, which is to say that it was supposed to be part of the regular vernacular for Joshua especially, but for the whole community. The whole purpose of this was to keep the word of God ever at the forefront of their mind. And not just that, it says you shall meditate on it day and night. Sounds a lot like the beginning of the Psalm. Psalm chapter one. You're meditating on it day and night. And notice here that the if then clause is not only implied, but explicitly said so that you may be careful to do everything that's in it and then. And the second part of verse, I still think this is verse eight. Verse eight, for then you'll make your way prosperous and then you will have good success. So notice that the, for the person that wants to enjoy the blessed victorious life, it's gotta be centralized to the word and it's gotta have the kind of caliber that says, I'm not just passively engaging with it. It is a deep meditation. It is a familiarity that is intimate and not just happenstance or casual. No notice that's gonna be a big deal. And that's the. Critical hinge by which they will either succeed or not. Yeah. And that reminder to be strong and courageous is also a reminder that this was not going to be this is not gonna be a cakewalk. This was not gonna be them just walking in, going, okay we're here in the promised land. God's gonna go before us. He's gonna send the hornets and drive them all out, and we're just gonna waltz in here. God is preparing Joshua for a. Difficult task. E even though he was, yeah, if he would obey things, were gonna go well, it doesn't mean that things were gonna go easy. It doesn't mean that he wasn't gonna face circumstances and trials that were gonna cause him to doubt, cause him to fear even from time to time. And he was being called to be a bold and courageous, strong fearless leader in the face of those things. Chapter two. We get into another round of spies being sent out, but thankfully this time it goes better than the first time that spies were sent out. But the first time you'll remember that's significant because that's why Joshua is here and will find Caleb is here as well, because those were the two that went in and said, Hey, we can do this. And that's why they're still here. They're part of the first generation. But they didn't die because God was faithful to them because they were faithful. To him. And so now they're gonna send out another round of spies, and these spies are gonna be sent into the land. But it goes better this time. They find their way to Rahab the harlot's house and she receives the spies and lies to her own people in order to protect their lives, and then sends them out again, asking that they spare her and her family from the coming destruction. So it's a, one of those difficult situations, and we've talked about this quite a bit before. What, when is it appropriate to bend the truth? When is it appropriate for us to even deceive or lie in order to accomplish perhaps the greater good? And I just think that's a, something certainly here we see RAHA is committed for. She shows up later on and she's commended for it in the New Testament as well. It's just. It's difficult for us to take that on ourselves and say that this is a time we should be doing that because here's the greater good that I'm accomplishing here. I think this is few and far between. When we see occasions where this is appropriate for us to do. Look at verses 10 through 11. He records here. He's the response of Rahab. We've heard how the Lord dried up the water of the red Sea, so forth and so on, and the defeat of AOG and Sahan. And so it's important to, to think about those two kings because it, it was not just for Israel to meddle. In the affairs of the people on the other side of the Jordan River the Unpromised land, if I can put it that way. And it wasn't just to strengthen them for war. It was also that the news of what God had done in defeating them the, that news reached the people on the other side of the Jordan River. And that's part of the reason why they were afraid of Israel. And so God brought them up against OG and cyan, not just to show Israel that they can do this, but also to fire another warning shot. To those in the promised land that, hey, Israel's coming. And we see Rahab had heard about that and that's one of the reasons why she gave the spies the response and welcome that she did, and then ultimately sent them out and God showed favor to Rahab. Chapter three. Then chapter three, we get into the entrance into the promised land. And here the parallels between, and it's a bookend for us, the exit from Egypt and the entrance into the promised land. You'll remember at the exit from Egypt, they came up to another body of water, and that was the Red Sea in Moses, parts of the Red Sea, in order that. Israel can walk across dry land here to lead into the Promised Land. God is gonna part another body of water this time, the Jordan River, and they're gonna enter into the Promised Land. So there's this separation, there's this parting of the waters in two locations on the exit from Egypt and the entrance into the promised land. And they serve as the bookends where the doorways, so to speak, of the wilderness wandering years. And so here the priests enter into the river with the ark and the water piles up and the people walk across. And and they enter into the promised land. I did find it interesting in verse four of chapter three that it's mentioned that there should be a distance between you and the arc of about 2000 qubits in length, and that number falls on deaf ears. And yet, if you look at your little footnote, there, typically qubit's about 18 inches. If that's true, this would've been roughly 3000 foot gap between the arc and the people. That's about half a mile. That's massive. So this is no like orderly parade where everybody's traffic jammed, crossing this Jordan River be before the arc gets into the river and piles up the water. There's a half a mile gap between the people and the arc. In order not to bring the defilement of the people into any close contact or or proximity, that would defile the arc to make sure that the arc was treated as wholly because it represented the glory of the Lord. So half a mile that's that's a lot. Chapter four. Then chapter four, Israel crosses over the Jordan to step foot in the promised land here. And so we're there and and God's gonna do something here with Israel, which I always find just super encouraging. And that is Israel is gonna grab stones and they're gonna stack them up and there's gonna be 12 of them. So each of the heads of the tribes are committed to get. Grab a stone and to bring it over on the other side, they're gonna set up this pillar and that pillar's gonna be there to remind them forever of the momentous occasion of of Israel entering the promised land. And so this is gonna be there, it's a visual, it's gonna be good for the people of Israel there. It's for the future generations as well to be able to see that and to ask questions. And for the Israelites to have a reason to point to something, to say, look, this is what God did here. And so that's what we find with this pillar of 12 Stones. Joshua four 13 Joshua four 13 says About 40,000 were ready for war and they Passover before the Lord for battle. Now this is from the trans Jordanian tribes, the the two and a half tribes on the other side of the Jordan. So 40,000 seems low based on their tribal numbers from numbers 26. And so this may have been 40 clans, 40 military units, but another instance here where we have to look at the number and say what's going on with the number and we've talked about it before, that there's round numbers often. Being used here, but this is perhaps a reference to clans or units rather than 40,000 only of the troops that go across there. Yeah. That seems to be the best reading in my estimation. 40,000 clans military units seems to be a better understanding of the word than a strict, literal 40,000 otherwise, whereas everybody doesn't make sense of the text, which is why you have to say this. This must mean more than what we're looking at. And it's the same word there that we've talked about before, elf, which can mean clan, tribal unit. Something like that, or it can mean a thousand. And so here it seems a little bit more likely that it does mean clan or tribal unit than a thousand. But this is big. This is what we just read it because it's next up, but I think it's so important for us to remember this is what the Israelites were looking for. This is what they were wanting, this is what they were anticipating. And and here they are, they're stepping into the promised land, and this is what God had been pointing to from the time of Abraham. Hey, I'm gonna bring my people into the land. And albeit this is not the ultimate fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant, as we even sit here today as you're listening to this today, there is still yet a future realization of the fullness of the land promise, I think, for Israel. But. This is part of it. This is the beginning of God saying, this is where you're gonna be. This is where I'm gonna make my home. This is where ultimately, where the Messiah is gonna come from. This is where the Messiah is gonna return. Even as we sit here today. We're looking forward to Christ returning that's gonna be here in the Promised Land in Israel, in Jerusalem, Mount of Olives. That's where the feet of Christ are gonna descend. So this is a big deal for us to remember this, and even that pillar that's set up there, that would've been a. Pillar of celebration and just a reminder of a day that would've been just a breath of fresh air for the Israelites going, okay, we're here. We made it. We're ready. Now we can begin to settle in and be the people of God here. We strongly encourage you and your family to consider ways in which you can memorialize God's faithfulness in your life. There are. Things that he does all the time. Things that he gives you the blessings that he bestows upon you. And some of those blessings are salvation blessings. We recently had baptisms where people were professing their faith in Christ. Those are the kind of things that I think are especially warranted by texts like this to say. We ought to find ways to memorialize what God has done. I, I know I'm sound like a broken record. I, I've said these things before, but. Lemme just encourage you to take some creative liberties to apply this. I think God is honored when our homes and our cars and our walls be speak of his ongoing faithfulness to us, and this is a good thing for our kids to see. Not to mention anyone who comes into our home or into our churches or anything like that. We want things to testify to what we're about. And these physical reminders are more than just decor. Decor is important and it's pleasing to the eye, but even more than that, it testifies to something bigger and better, something beyond us. And I think that's one of the reasons why God says, Hey, take these 12 memorial stones because your kids are gonna ask you about this, and I expect you to have a really good answer. Verse 21, 22, what do these stones mean? Then you shall let your children know. This is what God has done. And furthermore, verse 24, so that all the people of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty and that you may fear the Lord your God forever. So there's a wider goal and objective when we seek to make our lives be. Speak of God's faithfulness and you want to do that. Let's pray and be done with this this episode of the Daily Bible Podcast. God, we we want to be people mindful of just that. We want to be aware of your faithfulness to us. And so we pray that you'd give us that awareness, that humility to look at our lives and not take too much credit for anything in our lives, but to look for you in your hand and how you've blessed us and provided for us. And so give us that that creativity that. That Pastor Rod was just talking about to be able to know how we should go about doing that and what that should look like, and so we pray that you enable us to do that in Jesus' name, amen. Keep reading Bibles tuning again tomorrow for another edition of the Daily Bible Podcast. See you. Bye.

Thanks for listening to another edition of the Daily Bible Podcast. This is a ministry of Compass Bible Church in north Texas. You can find out more information about ourChurch@compassntx.org. We would love for you to leave a review to rate to share this podcast on whatever platform you happen to be listening on, and we will catch you against tomorrow for another edition of the Daily Bible Podcast.