Introduction to the Book of Joshua by David O. Cofield

Introduction to the Book of Joshua

I am beginning a new series of sermons based in the book of Joshua.  As I do, it is always helpful to become familiar with some of the basic information concerning the book. 

Place of the Book

The book of Joshua is considered to be in the "Historical Books" of the Old Testament.  Joshua along with Judges, Samuel and Kings are referred to as "the Former Prophets."  This suggests these books are primarily theological in nature.

It is the first in the Bible to be called by the name of an individual.  Thus denoting the record of this book exclusively relates to the events of the history of Israel during the life and times of the man for whom it’s named.

Joshua is to the first five books of Moses what Acts is to the four gospels. It is "the completion" of what was started by someone else.

Arthur Pink says the book of Joshua uniquely bridges Israel "as the end of Israel's trials and wanderings in the wilderness, and the beginning of their new life in the land." 

Author of the Book

While the name of the book bears the name of Joshua, there is little internal evidence in the book of who the author is.  Yet it is not like Ezra and Nehemiah who expressingly declare themselves as authors and nothing in either book invalidates the claim.

Jewish tradition generally ascribes the book to Joshua and nothing from the bulk of the book would cause us suspicion of any other. 

23:26 "Then Joshua wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God.  And he took a large stone, and set it up there under the oak that was by the sanctuary of the Lord."

We know from this verse Joshua wrote the details of the covenant (verse 23) between God and the people made at Shechem.  But this one lone verse can not be extended to cover all of the previous writings to be claimed by Joshua. 

8:32 "And there, in the presence of the children of Israel, he wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written."

Again, this was Joshua writing the law of Moses.  It is not a reference to Joshua having written all of the book.

We know the last part of chapter 24 relating his death could not have been written by Joshua. 

Joshua 19:47 records the taking of Leshem (Laish) by the tribe of Dan.  If this record is of the same event (and most believe it is) of Judges 18:27-29, then this occurred after the death of Joshua.  This addition to Joshua's book has been attributed to Eleazar, Samuel, or even Isaiah or Ezra.

Dr. Lightfoot writes Phinehas wrote the book.  Others believe Eleazer was it's author.  What we do know it was written by the primary person, an eyewitness to the events alongside of the primary person or one reading from the collection of the writings of the primary person.

The divine authorship of the book is not questioned due to our firm lack of knowledge of who its author is.  God through the Holy Spirit wrote the book perfectly choosing whomever He wished granting us a perfect revelation of Himself and a "peek" into the history of His people as it relates to the overall pattern of redemption.

Date of the Writing 

The book seems to have been written either during the life of Joshua or soon thereafter. 

5:9 - "to this day" (NKJV)      6:25 - "to this day" (NKJV)

15:63 - "to this day" (NKJV)  16:10 - "to this day" (NKJV)

Because of these phrases, Avravanel attributed it to Samuel.

The division of the land (13-21) shows evidence of being recorded at the time of the actual events.  See 13:7, 19:51

The book covers a period of time of about 26-27 years, according to George Bush. 

Though debated, the dating of the conquest of the land is either  about 1400 B.C. or 1200.  Since we know Joshua was 110 years old when he died (24:29), the dating of the writing of the book is most likely 1370-75 or a few years afterwards (according to who you believe the author is). 

Message

In the series of messages, I will seek to show how the book of Joshua is "The Gospel of Joshua."  I will not approach this book as one of exemplary leadership (though it is) and certainly not as the people of God entering Heaven, though some wrongly have tried to do so.

It is about the Gospel. Joshua saves God's people just as Jesus saves us.

A Call to Prayer....21 Martyrs

10 Questions on Dating with Matt Chandler

There is a long article of questions-and-answers by Matt Chandler on issues relating to dating.  If you are interested, click here.  It is worth your read.

Holy Spirit Directed Ministry by Jim Cymbala

I love Jim Cymbala, Pastor of The Brooklyn Tabernacle.  He is preaching at a 6:4 Fellowship event on January 25, 2015 in Texas when this message was recorded.  I love the 6:4 Fellowship as it encourages pastors to bring together the Word and prayer (Acts 6:4).

This message won't be for everybody and may be only one person will hear it. But if it blesses one person, it is worth my sharing it.


Holy Spirit Directed Ministry (Acts 13) - Jim Cymbala from The 6:4 Fellowship on Vimeo.


The message was originally posted here.

23 Things That Love Is by Paul Tripp

23 Things That Love Is

Last year I posted an Article with a long list of definitions of what love is, 23 definitions to be exact. Since you and I have the tendency to be distracted and forgetful, I want to post that list again.

With Valentine's Day fast approaching, here's a gospel-centered reminder about how to love. But, you don't have to be romantically in love to find this list practical. Every healthy relationship requires love and sacrifice, so if you're a parent, child, sibling, neighbor, pastor, or co-worker, this list is for you.

God bless you in your relationships, and may the Holy Spirit empower you to love with a love that is not your own.

23 THINGS THAT LOVE IS

1. LOVE IS... being willing to have your life complicated by the needs and struggles of others without impatience or anger.
2. LOVE IS... actively fighting the temptation to be critical and judgmental toward another while looking for ways to encourage and praise.
3. LOVE IS... making a daily commitment to resist the needless moments of conflict that come from pointing out and responding to minor offenses.
4. LOVE IS... being lovingly honest and humbly approachable in times of misunderstanding.
5. LOVE IS... being more committed to unity and understanding than you are to winning, accusing, or being right.
6. LOVE IS... a making a daily commitment to admit your sin, weakness, and failure and to resist the temptation to offer an excuse or shift the blame.
7. LOVE IS... being willing, when confronted by another, to examine your heart rather than rising to your defense or shifting the focus.
8. LOVE IS... making a daily commitment to grow in love so that the love you offer to another is increasingly selfless, mature, and patient.
9. LOVE IS... being unwilling to do what is wrong when you have been wronged, but looking for concrete and specific ways to overcome evil with good.
10. LOVE IS... being a good student of another, looking for their physical, emotional, and spiritual needs so that in some way you can remove the burden, support them as they carry it, or encourage them along the way.
11. LOVE IS... being willing to invest the time necessary to discuss, examine, and understand the relational problems you face, staying on task until the problem is removed or you have agreed upon a strategy of response.
12. LOVE IS... being willing to always ask for forgiveness and always being committed to grant forgiveness when it is requested.
13. LOVE IS... recognizing the high value of trust in a relationship and being faithful to your promises and true to your word.
14. LOVE IS... speaking kindly and gently, even in moments of disagreement, refusing to attack the other person’s character or assault their intelligence.
15. LOVE IS... being unwilling to flatter, lie, manipulate, or deceive in any way in order to co-opt the other person into giving you what you want or doing something your way.
16. LOVE IS... being unwilling to ask another person to be the source of your identity, meaning, and purpose, or inner sense of well-being, while refusing to be the source of theirs.
17. LOVE IS... the willingness to have less free time, less sleep, and a busier schedule in order to be faithful to what God has called you to be and to do as a spouse, parent, neighbor, etc.
18. LOVE IS... a commitment to say no to selfish instincts and to do everything that is within your ability to promote real unity, functional understanding, and active love in your relationships.
19. LOVE IS... staying faithful to your commitment to treat another with appreciation, respect, and grace, even in moments when the other person doesn’t seem deserving or is unwilling to reciprocate.
20. LOVE IS... the willingness to make regular and costly sacrifices for the sake of a relationship without asking for anything in return or using your sacrifices to place the other person in your debt.
21. LOVE IS... being unwilling to make any personal decision or choice that would harm a relationship, hurt the other person, or weaken the bond of trust between you.
22. LOVE IS... refusing to be self-focused or demanding, but instead looking for specific ways to serve, support, and encourage, even when you are busy or tired.
23. LOVE IS... daily admitting to yourself, the other person, and God that you are unable to be driven by a cruciform love without God’s protecting, providing, forgiving, rescuing, and delivering grace.

Ravi Zacharias Responds to President Obama's Address at National Prayer Breakfast

A PRESIDENTIAL BLUNDER: MY RESPONSE TO OBAMA’S ADDRESS AT THE NATIONAL PRAYER BREAKFAST

Posted by Ravi Zacharias on February 9, 2015

President Barack Obama’s address at the National Prayer Breakfast on February 5, 2015 has reverberated through the corridors of the world and provoked shock and dismay in numerous quarters. Even a professor at the University of London commented on his shallow understanding of the Crusades. I hesitated to write anything on the subject because it would drag me into politics or into a sobering critique of Islam. I am not sure that at a time like this either distraction would be wise, so let me keep it to the minimum.

For those who did not hear the talk, it is sufficient to say that it was the most ill-advised and poorly chosen reprimand ever given at a National Prayer Breakfast. I have been to several and have never, ever heard such absence of wisdom in a setting such as this. ‎I wasn’t at this one but have heard the speech often enough to marvel at the motivation for such thoughts. President Obama basically lectured Christians not to get on a moral high horse in their castigation of the ISIS atrocities by reminding them that the Crusades and slavery were also justified in the name of Christ. Citing the Crusades, he used the single most inflammatory word he could have with which to feed the insatiable rage of the extremists. That is exactly what they want to hear to feed their lunacy.  ‎In the Middle East, history never dies and words carry the weight of revenge.

There is so much I would love to say in response but shall refrain. The President obviously does not understand the primary sources of either faith for him to make such a tendentious parallel. The predominant delight in his remarks would be in the Muslim world and the irreligious. The next day Geraldo Rivera, opining favorably, made the oft repeated lie that more people have been killed in the name of God than in any other cause. Try telling that to the Chinese and the Russians and the Cambodians and the victims of the Holocaust! ‎Such intellectual ignorance gains the microphone with pitiable privilege. If a thinking person doesn’t know the difference between the logical outworkings of a philosophy and the illogical ones, to say nothing of the untruth perpetrated, then knowledge has been sacrificed at the altar of prejudice.

But let me get to the President’s final statement, after he had wandered off into erroneous territory. That final remark was true. He said, “It is sin that leads us to distort reality.” He was right. In fact he embodied it in his talk. But there is good news for the President. At least in the Christian message forgiveness is offered for sin. In Islam it isn’t. You must earn it. May I dare suggest that if Christians had been burning Muslims and be-heading them, he would have never dared to go to Saudi Arabia and tell them to get off their high horse. He unwittingly paid a compliment to those who preach grace and forgiveness. That is the dominant theme of the Gospel. That is why we sit in courtesy listening to the distortion of truth, the abuse of a privilege, and the wrong-headedness of a message.

I cannot recall when I have heard such inappropriate words at so important an occasion, in such a time of crisis. The world is burning with fear and apprehension. We need a message that will inspire and encourage and redeem. Ironically, two years ago when Dr. Ben Carson spoke and made some comments about our medical plan and the tax system, the White House demanded an apology from him for straying into controversial terrain, because it felt his comments showed disrespect for the President.

This year’s National Prayer Breakfast speech was a blunder in thought. But there was a silver lining. In the end, President Obama blundered into the truth. Sin distorts… and only Jesus Christ restores the truth. Christ will ever rise up to outlive His pallbearers. Even presidents will have to get off their high horses then and recognize the Lord of life and hope and peace. There will be no speech making then. Only a prayer of surrender… which is what the National Prayer Breakfast was meant to be in the first place.

Flight from BHM to Tererboro

This is a video my son, Kevin, compiled on his flight from Birmingham to Tererboro, NY on Monday, February 1.  Hope you enjoy.  (He shot this with his new "Go Pro" camera).

Hawker 800XP takeoff from runway 24 at KBHM with a snowy landing on runway 6 at KTEB. Weather at KTEB was winds 040@9 2SM visibility, overcast 800 with light freezing rain pellets and spitting snow.

• Music

  • "Danger Zone" by Kenny Loggins 

The Most Frequent Burdens Pastors Face by Chuck Lawless

By Chuck Lawless

In my years of church consulting, I have spent hours talking to local church pastors. Much of the conversation revolves around church structure, vision, etc., but seldom does the conversation stay at that level. Pastors, it seems, long for someone to listen to them. They want someone to share their burdens, even if only for a few minutes.

Listen to the topics of pain I often hear, and take a minute to pray for your church leaders.

1. Declining church growth – No pastor I know wants his congregation to be plateaued or in decline; however, the majority of churches in North America are in that state. A pastor may put a hopeful veneer on that truth publicly, but I’ve wept with pastors who grieve privately over their church’s decline.
2. Losing the support of friends – Losing the backing of a Christian brother or sister is a unique pain. God-centered relationships are a miraculous gift, the melding of hearts at a level the world cannot understand. When those bonds are severed, particularly over matters that are seldom eternally significant, the anguish is deep.
3. Grieving a fall – Pastoral love is not a guarantee against failure. In fact, even Jesus had close followers who fell into sin and rebellion. When our pastoral calls for repentance go unheeded, it’s difficult not to take that rejection personally.
4. Sensing that the sermon went nowhere – For many of us, our ministry is centered around the Sunday sermon. Ideally, hours of preparation end in focused exposition that leads to life transformation—but that result doesn’t always happen. Few pastors have a safe place to express candid concerns about their own preaching.
5. Losing vision – A pastor who has lost his vision for the church is leading on fumes. To admit that condition, though, is risky. Not to admit that reality is even more dangerous. Little will change until that pastor can honestly share his lack of focus.
6. Being lonely – Pastors bear others’ burdens, but they do so confidentially. They share both the struggles and the joys of life, from birth to death. Sometimes, previous pain has made it difficult for them to open up to others. Consequently, they carry the weight of many on the shoulders of one.
7. Dealing with unsupportive staff – Facing contrary members weekly is hard enough, but facing unsupportive staff every day is an ongoing angst. Correction is difficult, and firing can be agonizing. Some pastors simply hope for change while not knowing the best next steps to take.
8. Remembering failures – Not many of us easily forget that disorganized sermon, that rotten counseling advice, that disruptive team meeting, or that hasty staff hire. Perhaps we can laugh at some of yesterday’s failures, but others still haunt us because we never want to fail God or His people.
9. Dealing with death recurrently – Few responsibilities are as serious as officiating at a funeral. Even when burying a believer, pastors, too, grieve the loss of friends. Burying someone who was apparently not a believer is even more gut wrenching. Ministry amid such pain without becoming calloused is difficult indeed.
10. Facing personal jealousies – I wish no pastor dealt with personal or professional jealousies, but I know better – both because of my own sinfulness and my pastoral conversations. Coming to grips with the rawness of our depravity is never easy.
11. Balancing family and ministry priorities – No pastor sets out to lose his family. Few leap into the inattentiveness that often precedes adultery; instead, they almost imperceptibly slide into sin. One reason for that failure is their lack of mentors and colleagues who help them prioritize family while fulfilling ministry responsibilities.
12. Responding to criticism – Continual criticism is wearying. Learning how to hear any sliver of truth in criticism while not growing angry is challenging. We can indeed be better ministers through healthy criticism, but few of us learn that truth in the midst of controversy.

I love pastors. I have been a pastor. I would return to the pastorate with excitement if the Lord so called me. Accordingly, I challenge us to pray for pastors today.

Chuck Lawless currently serves as Professor of Evangelism and Missions and Dean of Graduate Studies at Southeastern Seminary. You can connect with Dr. Lawless on both Twitter and Facebook.

The Prayers of One Person - Will Davis, Jr.

Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.  Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months.  Then he prayed again, and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit. James 5:16-18

Prayers matter…specifically, your prayers matter. You do not have to be some spiritual giant to move Heaven with your prayers. Pray, believe, and then watch God work.

The point of James’ teaching is not that Elijah was a super-human pray-er. His point is rather that Elijah was just like us. And if a man with the same nature as you and I can shut up the heavens with his prayers, then we can too.

Sure Elijah had great faith, but that is something that you and I can grow into. Faith comes by hearing and hearing comes by the Word of Christ.

I wonder if you would be willing to take this verse to heart today and raise the level of your praying. I mean really raise it. Raise the frequency, the intensity and the expectation.

I can promise you that the limits you feel in your prayers are not on God’s end. He is ready to move Heaven and earth in answer to your prayers. If there is a holdup in your prayers, it is on your end.

Let’s end that today. Right now.

No more feeble praying. No more drive-by prayers. No more safe and no-faith-required praying.

Let Elijah, a man just like you, be your example in prayer. What do you have to lose? Pray.

Lord God, help us to pray with the fury and faith of Elijah. In Jesus’ name . . .

©2015 Will Davis Jr.  Originally posted at www.willdavisjr.com.