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281 | A Promise Kept · The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast

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Music.
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Hello, friends, and welcome back to another podcast of Woman at the Well Ministries,
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where we believe that all of us have to come to Jesus like the woman at the
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well in John chapter four.
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Our highest priority is making God real in your life.
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Whether you are listening in our app, in your favorite podcasting app,
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or on our website at watwm.org,
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we invite you to sit down with us as we look to the scriptures to learn more
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about God and to strengthen your daily walk with Jesus Christ.
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Living her life for Christ, she's a happy girl.
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Music.
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She's a happy girl.
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The book of Joshua is rich in lessons to be learned regarding how to be successful
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in this battle we call life.
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Today, we explore the account of Rahab following closely after last week's account
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of Joshua becoming the leader of Israel.
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We explore how Rahab was honored for her obedience to the Lord.
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Join Kim Miller in this podcast of Woman at the Well Ministries as she takes
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us on a journey through the scriptures, making the lessons necessary for this
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life, as found in the book of Joshua, come alive.
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As we continue in the book of Joshua, I'd like to pull out two of the lessons in chapters,
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two through three, and then picking back up again in six,
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that I believe shows us the The fulfillment of how God keeps his promises and
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how the power of God is unleashed in a life that submits themselves to his direction and his word.
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I'd like to bring to your attention Joshua chapter 2.
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And we read in Joshua chapter 2 the story of Rahab.
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And what happens is, as we begin to look at Rahab and what God is asking of
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Rahab and what God is asking of the spies,
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we come to the place where Joshua has sent two spies over into Jericho,
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and they're trying to determine the strength of the army that they have been
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told by God they're going to face and have to defeat.
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Feet and so we pick up in Joshua chapter 2
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and we see that he says in verse 1 and
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Joshua the son of none sent out of Shittim two men
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to spy secretly saying go view the land even Jericho and they went and came
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into an harlot's house named Rahab and lodged there and it was told the king
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of Jericho saying behold there came men in hither tonight of the children of
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Israel to search out the country.
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And the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, Bring forth the men that are
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come to thee, which are entered into thine house, for they be come to search out all the country.
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And the woman took the two men and hid them and said thus, There came men unto
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me, but I wist not whence they were.
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And it came to pass about the time of shutting of the gate,
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when it was dark, that the men went out whether the men
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went I want not pursue after them quickly
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for you shall overtake them but she had
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actually brought up the roof of the house and hid
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them with the stalks of flax which she had laid in order
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upon the roof and the men pursued after them the way of to Jordan unto the fords
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and as soon as they which pursued after them were gone out they shut the gate
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and before they were laid down she came up unto them upon the roof and she said
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unto the men I I know that the Lord have given you the land,
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and that your terror is fallen upon us,
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and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you.
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For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when.
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You came out of Egypt, and what you did unto the two kings of the Amorites,
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and were on the other side of Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed.
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And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt.
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Neither did there remain any more courage in any man because of you.
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For the Lord your God, he is God in heaven above and in earth beneath.
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Now, therefore, I pray you swear unto me by the Lord, since I have showed you
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kindness, that you will also show kindness unto my father's house and give me a true token.
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And that you will save alive my father and my mother and my brethren and my
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sisters and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death.
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And the men answered her, Our life for yours, if ye utter not this our business.
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And it shall be, when the Lord hath given us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with them.
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Then she let them down by a cord through the window, for her house was upon
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the town wall, and she dwelt upon the wall.
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And she said unto them, get you to the mountain lest the
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pursuers meet you and hide yourselves there three days until
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the pursuers be returned and afterward may you
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go your way and the men said unto her we
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will be blameless of this thine oath which thou hast made us swear behold when
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we come into the land that thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the
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window which thou didst let us down by and thou shalt bring thy father and thy
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mother and thy brethren and all thy father's household sold home unto thee.
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And it shall be that whatsoever shall go out of the doors of thy house into
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the street, his blood shall be upon his head, and we will be guiltless.
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And whosoever shall be with thee
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in the house, his blood shall be on our head, if any hand be upon him.
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And that's the covenant the two spies made with Rahab.
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Here's what I want you to hear from this account in In Joshua chapter 2,
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your witness goes before you.
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If you look at Joshua 2 verses 9 through 11,
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she was telling them that the people in Jericho were afraid of the Israelites
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and the Israelites had not even set foot in their city.
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They had heard of the greatness of God through what God had done through the
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Israelites, how he had parted the Red Sea, how he had destroyed these other cities.
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Word of God's work in their life had spread abroad, giving God honor and glory.
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This leads me to believe we need to look at our lives.
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We are painting a picture of who God is with every move we make,
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every word we say, everything that we do.
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If we claim the name of Christian, we are saying we are Christ-like and our
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actions are painting a picture to a lost and dying world of who Christ is.
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We need to make sure we paint the right picture.
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Your life is a witness whether you choose for it to be or not.
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I want you to see in Joshua 2, 12 through 14, that many are saved because of Rahab's belief.
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What Rahab does does affects her mother, her brothers, her father, her household.
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How you lead your life affects those around you.
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If you are living God in your home,
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if you are breathing God in your home, if you are singing God in your home,
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if you are quoting his word in your home, If you are making priority for God in your home,
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the people in your home will be bathed and soaked with who God is.
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And God says his word will not go void.
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God says that if you lift him up, he'll draw all men unto him.
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And I promise you, as you speak of God, his power will draw others.
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Do you remember the centurion guard?
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He was saved in his household. Now, each person has to come to know Jesus as
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personal Savior. That is true.
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But let me tell you, when you speak about something that amazing, it's contagious.
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People want what you have. But if you walk around looking like you've been baptized
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face forward in pickle juice, nobody wants what you have.
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But Rahab wanted to let the people know, let the spies know,
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we've heard about you Israelites and we're afraid of you because what God has done in you.
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And then she wanted her family to be saved.
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Because she trusted in what these spies would say.
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I want you to notice that it's no accident that she said to have them hide three days.
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And it was a scarlet rope.
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I believe that Rahab is a picture of Jesus.
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I believe that the scarlet rope is a picture of his blood.
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The only redemption for our sins. In John chapter 14:6,
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he says, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man cometh unto the Father but by me.
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He is the only way to Jesus.
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In Hebrews, we learn that without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin.
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In John chapter 3, in verse 16, we learn that for God so loved the world that
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he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not be,
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should not perish, but would have everlasting life. life.
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Whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
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But while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
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Jesus was the only propitiation for our sins.
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There were three men on the cross, but only one rose again.
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I don't care how much you love someone. You can't save them,
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and you can't be saved for them, and you can't believe for them.
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But you can definitely be like Rahab.
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You can live a life that brings them along with you. that they taste and see that the Lord is good.
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In Joshua chapter 2 and verse 24, it reads this.
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And they said unto Joshua, Truly the Lord hath delivered into our hands all
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the land, for even all the inhabitants of the country do faint because of us.
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That's the report the spies give back.
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God had delivered this Jericho country into the hands. of the Israelites.
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God is still delivering you from your problems today. He's in the midst of your storm.
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He's in the midst of your trial. He's in the midst of your pain.
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And He's the balm of Gilead. He's the great physician. He's the great I Am.
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But you have to reach out to Him. You have to invite Him into your situation,
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and you have to trust in Him with all your heart and lean not into your own understanding.
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In all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your path.
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Be not wise in your own eyes.
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Depart from evil. Fear him.
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We see Rahab let down the scarlet rope, a symbol of the blood of Jesus.
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The spies hid three days, and on the third day, they emerged a picture of the
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crucifixion, death, and burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
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Because in Joshua chapter 3:5, he says this, And Joshua said unto
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the people, sanctify yourselves for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.
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This is Joshua coming to the Jordan.
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This is about where we're getting ready to head into the account of the walls
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of Jericho falling down.
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He is preparing for the miracle that God is doing.
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He's believing because God has said to him, you're going to go in and you're
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going to march around that wall. And for the first six days,
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you're going to blow trumpets and you're not going to say a word.
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But on the seventh day, you're going to go around that wall seven times.
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And on that seventh time, you're going to shout and you're going to blow and
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the walls are going to come down.
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But today he's telling you to sanctify yourself for tomorrow.
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The Lord will do wonders among you. I wonder how many of us have learned what
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Joshua is telling us in this account to sanctify ourselves because great things are coming.
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See, Joshua makes a way where there is no way.
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In Joshua chapter 3 verses 13 and 17,
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he says, and it shall come to pass as soon as the souls of the feet of the priests
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that bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth shall rest in the waters
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of Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be cut off from the waters that come
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down from above and they shall stand upon a heap.
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And the priests that bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on
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dry ground in the midst of Jordan and all the Israelites passed over dry ground
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until all the people were passed clean lean over Jordan.
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Jesus makes a way where there is no way.
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He hid the spies and he made deliverance for Rahab and her family.
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He parted the Red Sea. He's parting this Jordan River.
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He's going with the Ark of the Covenant before them. And Joshua was preparing
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the people for the miracle because he's saying, sanctify yourself for tomorrow.
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God's going to do wonderful things. How many of us are sanctifying ourselves
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today for God's going to do wonderful things for us tomorrow?
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How come he can't do wonderful things tomorrow? Because perhaps we have not sanctified ourselves.
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Maybe we haven't gone back to Joshua 1 and heard the word of the Lord and submitted
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ourselves and stood strong and courageous.
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But instead, we've looked left and we've looked right.
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And like Peter, we sunk because we take our eyes off Jesus.
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But like Peter, Jesus pulled him up and he drew him to his chest and he took him safely to the boat.
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We can do that today because 1 John 1, 9 says if we confess our sins,
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he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
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Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.
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And Joshua is rich with its lessons.
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He tells us that following God
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in the smallest details to
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adhering to what he says it it matters
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because he marched around Jericho and in Joshua 6:1-17 he tells him
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exactly what to do and when he does it the walls come tumbling down God kept
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Rahab's promise because in Joshua Joshua 6,
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verses 21 through 23, this is what he says.
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It's amazing what he says. He says, And they utterly destroyed all that was
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in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox and sheep,
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and ass with the edge of the sword.
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But Joshua had said unto the two men that had spied out the country,
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Go into the harlot's house and bring out fence the woman and all that she hath, as ye swear unto her.
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And the young men that were spies went in and brought out Rahab and her father
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and her mother and their brethren and all that she had.
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And they brought out all their kindred and left them without the camp of Israel. He delivered her.
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What I want you to see was Rahab wasn't an important government official.
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Rahab wasn't even a person, no doubt, that was sitting at the foot of God.
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She just knew God when she saw him.
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She was a harlot. She made her money in a sinful, wicked way,
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but Jesus went to where she was and she brought him to where she is.
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And just like the woman at the well in John chapter four, she said,
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come see a man who showed me all things ever I've done, is not this the Christ?
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From Joshua to John, from Genesis to Revelation,
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and every place in between. The Word of God speaks of grace and mercy.
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It demonstrates love, and it demands that you follow.
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Submit yourself under the mighty hand of God, and allow Him to exalt you in due time.
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God kept His promise to Rahab, and He rewards Joshua Joshua for the work of the Lord.
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In Joshua 6.25, it says this, Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive and her father's
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household and all that she had and she dwelleth in Israel even unto this day
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because she hid the messengers which Joshua sent to spy us out of Jericho.
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Jesus always rewards faithfulness. and he is always faithful to forgive,
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to equip, to call, and to reward.
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And the book of Joshua gives us an account after an account after an account,
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not only how to live a successful life, but the reward for obedience.
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1 Peter 5, 6 says, humble yourselves, therefore, Therefore, under the mighty
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hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.
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Friends, I have just covered the very surface of Joshua.
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But I have given you that which God has given me, which is the thing of how to live our lives.
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Lives, the model to show humanness and how it can do great things when a mere
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mortal walks in the power and the might and the strength of Jesus Christ.
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I've shown you he's no respecter of persons, and the scriptures has revealed
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his undying love for you.
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What will you do today in response to the knowledge that submission is God's
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requirement for a successful life?
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Oh, my friends, today is the day to dig your heels in. stand for Jesus.
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Allow him to fill you with his grace and his mercy and follow unwaveringly that
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which he's called you to do.
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Remember you are loved. Jesus loves you.
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Music.
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Thank you for joining us in today's podcast. You can visit the show notes for
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quotes from today's podcast and scripture references.
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Thank you to the gospel group Fudge Creek for letting us use their hit song, Happy Girl.
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Remember that God loves you.
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Music.