March 5th -- Joshua 5-8
Read these chapters to find out what happened to the Israelites! You can find these chapters at http://www.bible.com/ or with the BIBLE READER to the left of this post.
Alrighty, let's take a recap from yesterday. I feel like I'm a soap opera host or something, like before each episode when they say "Previously, on The Bible..."
Ah, what the heck. Yesterday, on The Bible, Joshua prepared to overthrow the city of Jericho, but he promised to save a prostitute and her family because she had hidden Israel's spies. There's a huge wall around the city of Jericho, and today... you'll learn what they did to overthrow the city.
First, they circumcised all the people who weren't already circumcised. The last time there was a big group circumcision like this was when God's people were leaving Egypt. Moses was included in this group, but as you know, he's dead.
Come to think of it, everyone from Moses' time was dead. God promised people from Moses' time that their descendants would see the promised land, but not the people themselves. So, Moses didn't make it into the promised land because he wasn't supposed to. All of the people from his time were sinners, so God promised their descendants would see the promised land but they wouldn't. Sorry, Moses.
But back to the story. After the circumcision, the Israelites headed out to take over Jericho, and Moses had an encounter with a man who was a commander in the Lord's army! How cool. Anyhow, they approached Jericho and they marched around the entire city every single day for 6 days. I can't imagine HOW they did it, but I know why.
God told them if they marched around the entire city, then on the 7th day, God would crash down the entire city. They'd easily be able to overthrow Jericho, if they all shouted on the 7th day as they blew their horns. It sounds weird, and pretty unthinkable, but it worked. So, there.
On the 7th day, the Israelites walked around the city of Jericho 7 times, and screamed and blew their horns. Turns out, the walls did fall down, and the Israelites were easily able to overthrow the city, taking all they wanted/needed. If any of you have heard of that one song most of us learned in Sunday school, "Joshua fought the battle of Jericho, Jericho, Jericho. Joshua fought the battle of Jericho, and the walls came tumblin' down!" I know that's random, but I used to love that little song. Still do!
Anyway. . . the Israelites conquered Jericho, and took all of it's stuff. God only had one request for them:
To save all of the precious metals, like silver, gold, bronze... and anything else that was extremely valuable. He wanted the Israelites to save these things, and burn them to show God's importance. Most everyone followed God's commands, except for Achan. He took all the materials he collected for himself.
Later, Joshua was told that the city of Ai was super duper small, and that it could easily be overthrown. Sounds fair enough, but not really. Joshua sent around 3,000 soldiers to conquer the city, but God was enormously angry at the Achan guy for stealing the precious goods for himself. Achan might not of thought that anyone saw him steal them, but God did, obviously. God sees everything, remember?
God was angry that Achan had sinned, so he caused the Israelites lose their battle with the tiny town of Ai... and 36 soldiers died. Joshua mourned the deaths, face to the floor, all that day. Then, God approached him. God was all "Why are YOU mourning?! Get your face off the floor, Joshua!"
Then, God explained why he caused the big loss at Ai, because someone had sinned among them, and didn't repent or sacrifice or anything. So, Joshua went through each person, one by one, until he found the culprit. When he reached Achan, Achan explained how he had sinned, and he even told Joshua where he hid all of the stolen items.
But regardless of Achan coming clean, he still sinned. Back then, there was nothing that could save him, and he and his family got stoned to death. It's pretty harsh, right? I thought so. But Achan knew the consequences for sinning, and he still did it. He still stole God's rightful property, and he faced the consequences.
That's where today's lesson comes in. Sure, if you sin, you can always ask Jesus for forgiveness and... well... be forgiven. But I want to talk about a much bigger mistake, and a big consequence. CAUTION: THIS COULD GET PRETTY IN-DEPTH BIBLICAL STUFF. BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN YOU SHOULD STOP READING. READ ON, READER. READ ON.
Depending on where you live, or how you were raised, you might have a confused sense of Christianity. Or, maybe, you've been raised a Christian, and you know what to expect. But, I'm going to come out and give the facts for Christianity, and what YOU could be doing that you don't know. It's like those commercials where they say '"You could be spending 1,000s of dollars extra on your insurance! We can help!"
I'm here to clear that up for you. Sometimes, we need a little clearing up. Achan KNEW that he wasn't supposed to steal. But he did it anyway, and he got to face the consequences, like I said. Once he heard the law, he was accountable for his actions. Here's our "law," as Christians:
1. Believe in Jesus.
2. Love Jesus.
3. Ask Jesus for forgiveness, and try your best not to repeat the sin you're repenting for
4. Have a relationship with Jesus
5. Tell others about Jesus
So, there you go. No, this is NOT all the "laws" for us as Christians. But as far as I'm concerned, if you know Jesus, and you love with all your heart, and you've asked him to live inside of you... you're covered, just like with insurance. If you live for Jesus and tell others about your relationship with him, then you can live eternally.
I hear you, "Whoah, step back a few inches, Carly. That's a really personal thing to say! Hold up! What's all this 'living eternally' crap, anyway? That's not true at all."
Think whatever you want to think. Maybe you agree with me, maybe you don't. But I know where I'm going one day, and I know that I have a God to help me with everything I face. Guess what? He could help you out, too.
You have a choice to make. Granted, it's a pretty big one. Being a Christian isn't a walk in the park. It's hard to love your neighbor, and sometimes we slip up. Sometimes we're even made fun of. I've heard "Jesus Freak" a few times. Hard-core stuff.
But like I said, I know where I'm going. I know that no matter HOW MUCH I screw up, I have a God that loves me. The Bible is living proof of that, and so is everyone at my church that loves and cares for each other.
Just like Achan, everyone who has heard of Jesus has a choice to make -- be a Christian, or don't?
To clear it up a little for ya, I'll throw this question out there for you.
DO YOU WANT TO LIVE FOREVER?
Not only that, but when I die I'll live forever with Jesus, the guy who has saved me time and time again. We'll live in a perfect place, and although it sounds like I stepped out of a fairy-tale book... it's 100% true.
I know, I know. I'm going on and on about the same thing. I'm a little crazy when it gets to going off topic.
But I care about this. I care about everyone reading this blog, young old, boy girl, tall short, Christian, non-Christian.
Drop me a line if you're interested in, well, eternal life.
Peace!
Read these chapters to find out what happened to the Israelites! You can find these chapters at http://www.bible.com/ or with the BIBLE READER to the left of this post.
Alrighty, let's take a recap from yesterday. I feel like I'm a soap opera host or something, like before each episode when they say "Previously, on The Bible..."
Ah, what the heck. Yesterday, on The Bible, Joshua prepared to overthrow the city of Jericho, but he promised to save a prostitute and her family because she had hidden Israel's spies. There's a huge wall around the city of Jericho, and today... you'll learn what they did to overthrow the city.
First, they circumcised all the people who weren't already circumcised. The last time there was a big group circumcision like this was when God's people were leaving Egypt. Moses was included in this group, but as you know, he's dead.
Come to think of it, everyone from Moses' time was dead. God promised people from Moses' time that their descendants would see the promised land, but not the people themselves. So, Moses didn't make it into the promised land because he wasn't supposed to. All of the people from his time were sinners, so God promised their descendants would see the promised land but they wouldn't. Sorry, Moses.
But back to the story. After the circumcision, the Israelites headed out to take over Jericho, and Moses had an encounter with a man who was a commander in the Lord's army! How cool. Anyhow, they approached Jericho and they marched around the entire city every single day for 6 days. I can't imagine HOW they did it, but I know why.
God told them if they marched around the entire city, then on the 7th day, God would crash down the entire city. They'd easily be able to overthrow Jericho, if they all shouted on the 7th day as they blew their horns. It sounds weird, and pretty unthinkable, but it worked. So, there.
On the 7th day, the Israelites walked around the city of Jericho 7 times, and screamed and blew their horns. Turns out, the walls did fall down, and the Israelites were easily able to overthrow the city, taking all they wanted/needed. If any of you have heard of that one song most of us learned in Sunday school, "Joshua fought the battle of Jericho, Jericho, Jericho. Joshua fought the battle of Jericho, and the walls came tumblin' down!" I know that's random, but I used to love that little song. Still do!
Anyway. . . the Israelites conquered Jericho, and took all of it's stuff. God only had one request for them:
To save all of the precious metals, like silver, gold, bronze... and anything else that was extremely valuable. He wanted the Israelites to save these things, and burn them to show God's importance. Most everyone followed God's commands, except for Achan. He took all the materials he collected for himself.
Later, Joshua was told that the city of Ai was super duper small, and that it could easily be overthrown. Sounds fair enough, but not really. Joshua sent around 3,000 soldiers to conquer the city, but God was enormously angry at the Achan guy for stealing the precious goods for himself. Achan might not of thought that anyone saw him steal them, but God did, obviously. God sees everything, remember?
God was angry that Achan had sinned, so he caused the Israelites lose their battle with the tiny town of Ai... and 36 soldiers died. Joshua mourned the deaths, face to the floor, all that day. Then, God approached him. God was all "Why are YOU mourning?! Get your face off the floor, Joshua!"
Then, God explained why he caused the big loss at Ai, because someone had sinned among them, and didn't repent or sacrifice or anything. So, Joshua went through each person, one by one, until he found the culprit. When he reached Achan, Achan explained how he had sinned, and he even told Joshua where he hid all of the stolen items.
But regardless of Achan coming clean, he still sinned. Back then, there was nothing that could save him, and he and his family got stoned to death. It's pretty harsh, right? I thought so. But Achan knew the consequences for sinning, and he still did it. He still stole God's rightful property, and he faced the consequences.
That's where today's lesson comes in. Sure, if you sin, you can always ask Jesus for forgiveness and... well... be forgiven. But I want to talk about a much bigger mistake, and a big consequence. CAUTION: THIS COULD GET PRETTY IN-DEPTH BIBLICAL STUFF. BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN YOU SHOULD STOP READING. READ ON, READER. READ ON.
Depending on where you live, or how you were raised, you might have a confused sense of Christianity. Or, maybe, you've been raised a Christian, and you know what to expect. But, I'm going to come out and give the facts for Christianity, and what YOU could be doing that you don't know. It's like those commercials where they say '"You could be spending 1,000s of dollars extra on your insurance! We can help!"
I'm here to clear that up for you. Sometimes, we need a little clearing up. Achan KNEW that he wasn't supposed to steal. But he did it anyway, and he got to face the consequences, like I said. Once he heard the law, he was accountable for his actions. Here's our "law," as Christians:
1. Believe in Jesus.
2. Love Jesus.
3. Ask Jesus for forgiveness, and try your best not to repeat the sin you're repenting for
4. Have a relationship with Jesus
5. Tell others about Jesus
So, there you go. No, this is NOT all the "laws" for us as Christians. But as far as I'm concerned, if you know Jesus, and you love with all your heart, and you've asked him to live inside of you... you're covered, just like with insurance. If you live for Jesus and tell others about your relationship with him, then you can live eternally.
I hear you, "Whoah, step back a few inches, Carly. That's a really personal thing to say! Hold up! What's all this 'living eternally' crap, anyway? That's not true at all."
Think whatever you want to think. Maybe you agree with me, maybe you don't. But I know where I'm going one day, and I know that I have a God to help me with everything I face. Guess what? He could help you out, too.
You have a choice to make. Granted, it's a pretty big one. Being a Christian isn't a walk in the park. It's hard to love your neighbor, and sometimes we slip up. Sometimes we're even made fun of. I've heard "Jesus Freak" a few times. Hard-core stuff.
But like I said, I know where I'm going. I know that no matter HOW MUCH I screw up, I have a God that loves me. The Bible is living proof of that, and so is everyone at my church that loves and cares for each other.
Just like Achan, everyone who has heard of Jesus has a choice to make -- be a Christian, or don't?
To clear it up a little for ya, I'll throw this question out there for you.
DO YOU WANT TO LIVE FOREVER?
Not only that, but when I die I'll live forever with Jesus, the guy who has saved me time and time again. We'll live in a perfect place, and although it sounds like I stepped out of a fairy-tale book... it's 100% true.
I know, I know. I'm going on and on about the same thing. I'm a little crazy when it gets to going off topic.
But I care about this. I care about everyone reading this blog, young old, boy girl, tall short, Christian, non-Christian.
Drop me a line if you're interested in, well, eternal life.
Peace!
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