Joshua Study - 2026-06-17

Welcome to the Lansdale Life Church podcast.

If you're seeking a closer relationship with Jesus Christ, this podcast is for you.

Thank you for joining us today.

This battle that we see before us, you win.

And so we're confident tonight, as we speak of your mercies that have been

extended to the house of Israel through the years, it's the same mercy that we

receive as we abide with you.

And of course, when we don't obey and we go our own way, you will chastise us and

rightfully so, with love, because you do love us so much.

And Father, we give you tonight, we thank you for tonight, and we ask that as we

go our way, that we will have learned something a bit more about your

wonderful scripture.

It's amazing how you unfold things that are new to us every day.

And we pray these things in Jesus' name.

And everyone said, amen.

Now, two things of warning, thank you for moving up.

I am now tethered.

It used to be that we had a mobile mic, so I can't get any further than about

the thing because the mic goes out on us.

And then a word of caution, you may be called on as unlikely as it is that I

do that because my right hand lady, Gayle, she's not here.

And every time I ask a question, her hand goes up and it saves all the

rest of you from answering.

So since she's not here tonight, it won't be embarrassing, but when I stick

the mic in front of you, it's your turn.

Ken, no hope for you, buddy.

You ought to go that way.

All right.

God's faithfulness extends to all generations.

That's our declarative.

We'll do a quick basic outline of chapter 18.

The tabernacle is now established at Shiloh.

The Israel's lights assemble at Shiloh and the tabernacle is now set up.

Remember Shiloh is first where it was.

And then as it developed in Jerusalem was brought in on the scenes and during

David's reign and then during Solomon's reign, it was built there.

Number two, Joshua challenges the seven remaining tribes that

didn't take their land yet.

They weren't obedient.

And for what reason?

I don't know.

They were busy, I guess, trying to establish themselves.

So Joshua actually rebukes them because of their delay.

You know, come into your land, possess your land, take your land, and do

what you must do to again, bring sovereignty to the Lord Jesus in

your own dwelling place.

The survey and then the division of the remaining land was made.

The representatives are chosen to do this.

The land is surveyed and described and lots are cast before the Lord at Shiloh.

And then the last one, Benjamin receives its inheritance and the

boundaries of Benjamin, like every other territory, are defined.

Okay.

And the cities of Benjamin are listed here.

Jericho, Bethel, Gibeon, and Jerusalem.

All right.

What's interesting about this?

The word established means that this is the first time that they had

a permanence of where to worship.

Remember, they were transient all their life.

When God spoke to Moses on the mountain and he provided the

information necessary to build the tabernacle, it was mobile for

years and years and years.

And now all of a sudden it is established in the Promised Land.

So that's a first.

The worship that went before the possession is always the way God works.

The, I guess there's a misprint there.

Okay.

All right.

The tabernacle is established before the allotment of the

remaining tribal inheritance were divided up.

So that worship was important because it shows that God required

first an adoration to him before he gave the land.

This order is significant because Israel's relationship with God was

to take priority over all possessions.

And that kind of works for us.

Do we have a situation where we have the free ticket and the give

me this and bless me, this club?

I don't think anybody in here works in that arena.

And so he establishes that, yes, he is benevolent, but yes, he is to be

worshiped and adored like we do on Sundays, like you do in your personal

worship, and so that he establishes that priority.

And then the set up, once again, the spiritual priorities then

should be established for us so we can see God's presence.

And there should be, the presence should be the center around

which all other blessings are given.

So that's the premise.

Then one other quick thing here, not yet possessed their inheritance.

Have we ever taken possession of our inheritance from the Lord or have

we missed out, but it's not too late?

People say, well, I've, you know, I'm past the age where I can

do anything for God.

No, you can always do something for God.

There's always a calling.

There's always a position.

There's always something to do in the kingdom of God for every one of us.

We might, we might miss the fullness of his blessing.

We might experience unnecessary frustration if we don't enter into that calling and

we will miss opportunities to influence others for Christ.

And we will miss a deeper experience of God's presence.

Okay.

So that's where we're at.

So I got a question for you.

In what ways can we actively maintain God's presence as the center of our lives?

How do we do that?

What does that look like?

How do we maintain that area of presence and abiding presence with him in your

every walk of life during the day at night in the morning?

What's that look?

Okay.

You've got prayer.

All right.

Okay.

The word.

I'm just including it in everything you do.

All right.

You know, kids have imaginary friends.

We have a real friend.

Yes.

So just hang with that friend and everything you're doing.

Yeah.

That's, that's why I do all day.

Should I take this trade or should I not take this trade?

Should I close that trade or not take close that trade?

I just include them.

Is he answering?

No, I think so.

When, when, when it's a good one.

Yeah, right.

Oh boy.

Oh, the devil made me do it.

How are you?

Don't be sorry.

You're good.

That's okay.

The interesting thing about the presence of the Lord is when you're in his presence,

you hate to leave.

When you, when you, when you come to the point in time in your life where you

can press into that and find that it's something that you value so much.

So what else do you do to maintain that presence?

Now, like me, you know, Joni and I are in this, um, um, countryside, um,

retirement place and, you know, we're talking all day long and she says, well,

what did you say?

Well, I was just talking to the Lord.

Then I hear her singing or something and worshiping.

And I think, you know, this is wonderful that we have just a

communion with the Lord.

How do you maintain that Jenny?

Sometimes I sing praise music because God inhabits the people that praise Him.

Yes.

Very good.

See, I'm glad you moved up.

Well, I did too.

It was a sage advice.

Uh, I find many different things than, you know, but, um, I meditated

just before it came over, you know, um, I don't want to get all goofy on you.

I'm just, you know, just sitting down, breathing, being silent and being quiet.

And, uh, going from there with God meditation, it's extremely powerful.

Really clears the air.

Well, so my wife came home from ceramics today and I told her, look, I said, I need

to meditate before I go there.

And I said, it's about 10 after three.

And I woke up at quarter of four.

So I meditated with my eyes closed.

I'm guilty.

Anyone else?

How do we maintain God's presence in our life?

All the things that we've talked about are true.

It's having a, an affixiation toward what is God's interests.

His interests may be people at some point in time.

It may be situations that you can intervene in, but as long as we maintain

a servant's attitude or position toward him, and we begin to groom an

understanding of when he speaks to us.

And it, isn't it interesting how he communicates to us and he doesn't say a

word, you know, it's inside, he comes to us.

I've only ever got here, her God say one word to me audibly.

And other than that, it's that intuitive understanding that you get these

impressions and these guidance from him to do what he asked you to do.

All right.

Now, let's take a look at the land itself.

Let's do a little bit of a parenthesis here.

So we come into the land and he's going to distribute the land.

They should have taken their land by now, but this is what the scripture says.

And the land was considered agriculturally rich compared to many

surrounding regions in the East.

And it says in Deuteronomy 8, a land of wheat, barley, vines, fig trees,

pomegranates, this is the land that was given already there.

Remember they had houses that they moved into when they, when they did the wars

and they got rid of all the ites, like, um, I think you had talked about

that on Sunday, Chris, all those ites to get rid of them.

So they had houses, they had vineyards, and all they were to do

is maintain those things.

So sorry about that.

And let's take a look at how this land was developed.

This is the joy that is understanding in God about what he did in the land of all.

And if you look at a map in the beginning, you can see that

it was all arid and desert.

But this chosen land had several agricultural advantages compared to the

rest of the surroundings of the desert and the semi arid areas.

Much of Israel's central and northern territory was highly productive when

properly cultivated and with an abundance of rain.

So remember that little tag, abundance of rain.

We'll come back to that.

Diverse growing regions were from north to south.

Natural springs and water sources existed.

High country terraces for farming, seasonal rains for crops, and

fertile valleys for vineyards.

So this is what they had.

They had it all.

Now the provision that God has given, which is an abundance in

Deuteronomy 11, 10 and 12, it says this, it's better land than you had in

Egypt where you had to struggle just to water your crops.

The hills and the valleys in the promised land are watered by rain from heaven.

Okay.

So there, there again, God's benevolence because the Lord your God keeps his eye

on the land and takes care of it all year long.

So that's the promise that he had given.

So the land was not only fertile geographically, but God shows it

intentionally.

And if you remember a couple of chapters back, we talked about the boundary of the

north, the boundary of the south and the east and the west.

So there are boundaries that he gave them.

And then they had to divide the land up between the 12 tribes.

So the covenant provision was all the way from Abraham.

It was promised to them.

The land was a gift from God to his people.

He already knew it was the best land.

So now we have the dependence upon God, the land's fruitfulness depended

upon God's continual blessing of environment, but of the rain so that they

could raise their crops.

The land required trust in God for the provision of this rain.

The land became a conditional, a continual lesson of faith and obedience.

Do I have faith in the spring as a farmer to plant my crops?

Do I have faith that it's going to rain and grow and there will be a harvest?

Well, in the obedience of God, you extend yourself and you say, okay, he has

given this land, he's going to bless us.

By faith, we plant the seed and we then do the harvest.

And that's the way that continual cycle begins to work.

Just as the promised land then would become fruitful under God's blessing,

a life surrendered to God can become spiritually fruitful as well.

But what do we have to do?

Seek his presence, follow him, abide with him, be obedient and all the

things that we have been talking about.

So my question then is, in what ways are we tempted to rely on our own

resources rather than God's provision?

This is a very leading question.

In my life, I feel I'm capable.

Now, if you ask Joni, maybe that's a different story.

So you'll have to do that on your own.

But I'm capable in several things.

I can make decisions.

I mean, you know, the kids always tell me, yeah, dad, you're not always

right, but you're never in doubt.

Meaning that, yeah, okay, let's do this.

And, you know, it may be wrong, but I always have an opinion.

And so I have a tendency then in my natural life to just, you know,

make that decision and do that sometimes without God's blessing.

I did that one time in business, bought another business out.

And it was a catastrophe.

I had to write off about a half a million bucks only because it just

didn't fit in our metric of our enterprise.

And I look back on that after I did it, and I realized that when

this opportunity came up and it was a goldmine opportunity, all

the equipment, all the patents and all the things that were

there, and then I lost money, flushed money down the toilet,

if you will, and we never got anywhere.

And I realized then that, you know, I just really didn't even

ask the Lord for that.

I only assumed that it was so.

So it was a hard lesson.

So how does that look in your life?

What are your downfalls, your problem areas that you don't

rely on the Lord?

What's that look like?

Or are all of you obedient?

Oh, you're good.

True confession, right?

Yeah.

Well, actually, this isn't for me.

This is for my good friend that I just found out her cancer

has returned and it's, you know, spreading.

I literally just found this out 10 minutes ago and I know so

and she is a strong, faithful Christian.

And she says, I'm refusing to believe that it's going to

grow.

I'm asking for a miracle.

And she has had a lot of blessing in her life.

So, you know, if I were her, I would be wanting all of

the medical treatment.

And I do believe that God created science.

God created medicine.

And I do believe that we are to use these resources available

to us.

But in addition, I want God to use her as having faith that

she can be healed and so that she glorify God in her healing.

Yeah, that's what I'm believing.

We have a similar experience.

There are now seven people that we pray for on a daily

basis that have cancer.

It's just amazing the number of people.

And there are all varieties of things from young, unmarried

men, 22, 23, all the way up to retired people.

It just, you know, it's amazing.

What's her name?

Her name is Elaine.

All right.

She's 63 and started with cancer of the kidney that she

overcame years ago.

Well, Lord, we just ask now, even in your name, Lord, that

Elaine would receive an insurance from you that there

is a policy with debt paid on it and bodies healed because

of what you did on Calvary.

So we thank you for this.

We thank you for this testimony in the name of Jesus.

Amen.

Anything else?

Anyone else?

Oh, okay.

Well, yeah, I made a lot of mistakes in my life.

So now I'm in the right place with God.

So quite simply, I think any distraction that takes me

away from him, even for a moment, from my heart, my

mind, my thoughts, I mean, it doesn't sound like a big

deal, but, you know, I told you I was meditating

earlier in my being the period of quietness.

I started thinking about a candy bar, but, you know,

steady, any kind of distraction when it's mortal or

venial, you know, sin wise.

That's it.

Amazing how our mind works against what our spirit

desires, isn't it?

A continual war.

All right.

No other inputs.

Okay.

Let's ask another question.

Let's put it another way.

Our need for immediate answers sometimes creates the

fear of not being accepted and maybe our ego, one of

those three immediate answers, fear of not being

accepted or the ego.

So that may be some of the issues that we deal

with.

All right.

Let's take a look at this faithfulness as it

extends to us.

God's faithfulness now or his fruitfulness refers to

his ability to bring us to some productive point in

our life.

Not that we receive, though we will, but that we

are productive for his kingdom life.

In other words, he does give us eternal life.

He gives us an opportunity to grow.

Like we said, read scripture, we get challenged.

There is an abundance of blessing.

How many can say that there has been an abundance

of blessing in your life because of this?

Yeah.

I mean, everybody, there is blessing.

There is multiplication of belief.

We had a prayer meeting this morning and my

wife, she was just talking to in the general

context of our requests about how the Lord has

met every need that she's ever had.

And, you know, from my standpoint, that's a step

of faith only because she is disabled, but she

claims that and I thank the Lord for that.

And so there's a multiplication of what we

see in the beginning of our Christian

experience, how it grows.

And I mean, sometimes it's just very overwhelming

how he cares for us.

And then, of course, there is spiritual increase

in us.

How many have stopped growing?

All right.

Good admission.

You always grow.

If once you plateau and you stop, things

continue on and you're left wanting and lacking.

So always remember, there is a challenge and

encouragement to continue to grow in the Lord.

Faithfulness then originates with God because

he's the creator and the source of all of

our life.

So we have that.

The faithfulness is connected to his

obedience.

We touched on that.

We're not obedient.

He waits and if we're resistant and

rebellious, sometimes he has to come and

chastise us like he did the Israelites when

they were rebellious and not obedient.

And then following God produces what?

The fruit of the spirit, the love, the joy,

the peace, the patience, the kindness, the

goodness, the faithfulness, the gentleness

and the self-control, all these things.

And then faithfulness in our lives demonstrates

the faithfulness of God to others.

I mean, have you ever had people come up to

you say, well, what makes you tick?

Why are you, and I'll give my own personal

things, people just said today, someone

said today, that Joni was out and about.

And say, well, why are you always content?

And, you know, it was evident that this

person wouldn't be content in Joni's

situation.

Here she has, you know, a non-curable

disease in the natural.

She is in a wheelchair.

She is disabled.

But, you know, why are you so content?

And that's the Lord shining through her

and giving testimony to her.

I kid her a lot in the sense that I

tell her that when the Lord heals you,

you won't have much of a testimony

compared to the testimony that you have

now.

And that's not the case, but it's just

the idea that people say that of her.

So faithfulness produces

multiplication and he turns scarcity

into abundance and weakness into

strength.

It's amazing how that works in God.

Okay, let's look at the bigger picture

now about the land that God wants

to provide for the Israelites.

And he wants above all else, fellowship.

That's the primary reason that he did

what he did.

He wants fellowship with his creation.

The land was chosen by God, not by man.

We said that only God establishes the

inheritance and God determines the

boundaries.

We touched on that in Deuteronomy 32.

It says when the Most High gave the

nations their inheritance, he set the

boundaries of the people.

So he already established that.

There was again, a detailed

description in Numbers 34.

It gives a clear description of the

land's boundaries so that God's desire

for Israel would be given even before

they got there.

And here are the boundaries that we

had referred to prior to this.

I won't go through them.

The Promised Land became a place

where what God's people could now

live near his presence.

He chose it.

He was going to dwell there and they

were around him and they could

experience his presence.

They could worship him again to

Shiloh, remember Old Covenant

Testament in the sense that we

have to go to a local place to

worship and again to walk in

covenant with him.

That was the goal.

So the question is, are we viewing

our home, Jenny, your new home,

the workplace, the church and the

community as places assigned by God

or is this just random?

So you think about that.

You know, there's always a, oh,

what if this or what if that?

I wish this, I wish that, not so.

There's an assignment that he has

for each one of us.

How can we better honor God in

the place where he has planted us?

What's that look like?

Are we always disgruntled?

Are we dissatisfied?

Are we going to make that place

that God has put us in relevant

to our life, our testimony so

that others can receive God and

grow? That's a big question.

So let's take a look at a little

bit. Here is the Promised Land

that we had before Christ.

This is how it looked for us.

We were in a spiritual wilderness.

We could all say amen to that.

Just as Israel wandered in the

wilderness, we're apart from

Christ and are described as

spiritually lost, separated from

God without lasting peace.

Amen on that.

Enslaved to sin.

Without a secure, eternal

inheritance.

What else? In Ephesians 2, it

says, Remember, at that time you

were separate from God and

without hope and without God.

Now we may have thought we had

hope. We may thought we were

successful. We thought we had

all these things, but we are

enslaved to that which again

controls us.

We lived in a different

kingdom, the kingdom of

darkness.

Our land was what is spiritual

darkness, uncertainty and

without an anchor.

And I thought I can give

testimony to that in my teenage

years when I kind of drifted

away from the Lord.

I was here and there and

whatever. There was no anchor

in my life.

Colossians 1.13.

He has rescued us from

darkness. So that's what we

are. We lived in sin and

self dependence.

Again, the barren landscape

of self rule.

We talked about that some

longer time ago, the striving

that we had and that God was

not present in our lives.

Now, what do we have over

here? Our first place now is

in Christ.

That's who he is.

That's who we serve.

For believers now, our

primary identity is not tied

to a piece of land.

It's tied to the person,

Jesus Christ.

That's the anchor that we

have. The New Testament

repeatedly speaks of

believers being in Christ.

Our spiritual identity is

first found in him and we

are citizens of God's

kingdom.

Israel had a physical land.

Believers are given a

greater inheritance and we

abide in the kingdom of

God.

Our citizenship is in heaven

and Philippians 3 talks

about and we live in earthly

nations, but our ultimate

alliance is to God and his

kingdom.

So God still appoints our

place. He appears, he

appoints where we are to

live and serve.

Acts 1726, he determined

the time set from the set

for them and the exact

places where they should

live.

And then our home, church,

workplace, community, the

sphere of influence that

we have is the place that

we are asked to work.

Well, I can do better over

there if only.

No, this is what you have

here. This is where you're

this is what you're given

here.

So I'm going to just go

through these things and

think about this.

I did these two pages this

afternoon, just very quick

of the blessings that God

had given the Israelites.

Oh my gosh, it was just

amazing.

Deliverance from Egypt, the

men plagues, the Passover

protection, parting of the

Red Sea, destruction of

Pharaoh's army, the

provision in the

wilderness, bitter water

made sweet, manna from

heaven, quail for food,

water from the rock.

Clothes and sandals didn't

wear out.

Guidance and protection, a

pillar of cloud by day, a

pillar of fire by night,

God's presence in the

tabernacle, victory over

the limilec while Moses

held up his hands.

And the protection from

numerous enemies during the

wilderness journey, entering

the promised land, crossing

Jordan, walls of Jericho,

hailstones destroying

Israel's enemies, the sun

standing still.

Think about all these

things that God provided

ongoing covenant blessing,

the land flying with milk

and honey, extraordinary

harvest and provision,

repeated deliverance through

judges such as Gideon and

Deborah and Samson and the

preservation of Israel

despite repeated threats of

destruction.

So now that's all that he

did.

Let's just take a look at

what he did in response to

rebuke.

This is the other side of

it.

I'm Mount Sinai and the

wilderness, the death of

about 33,000 people to go

about the golden calf, the

fire from the Lord to barren

and the plague after

complaining about food

rebellion against God's

leadership.

Miriam rebelled the

wilderness generation was

condemned to die.

The earth opened up and

swallowed Cora and her

descendants.

Fire consumed 250 rebels and

the plague killed 14,700 in

immorality and idolatry.

Twenty four thousand died

because of bell worship.

Fiery serpents sent among

the people.

And during the conquest,

again, they can and his

family judged for taking

forbidden spoils.

Israel defeated at AI because

of hidden sin.

And then during the period

of the kings, there was some

drought.

There was defeat.

There was the northern

kingdom separation from the

southern kingdom.

And it goes on and on.

So think about the

interaction of God.

Now, if we were to list the

things in our life, how God

dwelt with us and then dealt

with us, they would

enumerate a very positive

experience.

And on the other side of

life, I don't like to think

about this.

What has he done to

chastise us to help us

understand what his kingdom

is about?

Sometimes it's a positive

stick and sometimes it is a

negative stick to be able

to understand what God's

doing in our lives.

All right, so let's look at

the statement now.

Grow where you're planted.

What's that mean?

Simply means this.

Are we unhappy with our

assignment?

What is our assignment?

It's where we live.

The fear, sphere of

influence that we have.

Are we saying, if only I

had a different job, if

only I lived somewhere else,

if only my circumstances were

different, that's not

yielding and being

obeyed, being obedient to

the Lord.

John 15 5, I am the vine,

you are the branches.

Whoever abides in me bears

much fruit.

So are we continually

wanting to change locations?

And Jenny, I don't mean

this by an apartment.

Experience a wondering

spirit.

There was a friend of

ours, long standing.

She was used to the Lord and

she fell away from the Lord

and she has a wondering

spirit.

She's meandering here and

meandering there.

And she spent all her money

traveling, doesn't have a

dime to her name.

I just, you know, I just,

I just feel for her.

She just lost her husband

last year.

It's a very tragic to see

these things, but she had

just a wondering spirit.

She just couldn't settle

down.

Being drawn by better

circumstances.

Oh, I've got this

wonderful job.

Three states over.

We shared that last time.

I got a very good offer.

Denied it because of the

kingdom of God being in my

sphere of influence.

And where I serve, I didn't

take that job, but better

circumstances.

Trust in God's placement.

Bear fruit where we are.

Let God develop our roots.

Just as a tree needs time

to establish roots.

God uses different seasons,

work, relationships, ministry

opportunities to develop

our character.

And again, these deep roots

often form before they're

even visible.

Fruitfulness comes from

remaining connected to

Christ in a body of

believers.

That's for sure.

All right, question.

What opportunities for

growth and fruitfulness

exist in my current season?

Where can you see?

Are you satisfied that you

understand that God has

put you where you are?

And so what does that look

like when we have these

areas of fruitfulness in

these in this current

situation that we're in?

Do you see that there is

opportunity?

Do you see that God wants

to use you where you're at?

You know, and just on

behalf of even your case,

I mean, moving, that's a

good opportunity, an old

new set of friends, right?

Yeah, you can make that's

good.

That's wonderful.

Everybody was silent.

Oh my, just normal way of

life.

Here we are.

No new friends, no new

experiences.

God's challenging us.

No, he's not challenging

us.

Oh, John, don't ask these

questions.

Ah, no.

Anybody.

Everybody's quiet tonight.

Oh my gosh.

All right.

Okay.

Michelle, you're in luck.

For me, I'm getting married

next month and Kevin has

two girls, so, um, being

able to minister to them

and live with them.

And yeah, so congratulations.

I didn't know that.

Oh, all right.

All right.

Kevin, you're a fortunate

man.

Treat her well.

All right.

How old are your children?

He has 20 girls.

Oh, okay.

Well, you're right in the

midst of teenage years,

right?

God bless you.

I'm newly married, second

marriage, and I'm living

with my husband and his

kids and his kids are

adults, 22 and 18.

And, um, I've been here

a year.

I moved from Connecticut,

last spring and, you know,

they loved me as the

girlfriend.

I was long distance.

I would leave, come back

for a few days, leave again.

And I noticed that so, so

I thought that I was going

to move in and we were

going to just become

fast friends.

Oh, okay.

No way.

And, you know, my husband

had to say, you got to

give it time.

You got to give it time.

So, um, I've been praying

a lot to God to lead me

and guide me and to be

respectful of their space.

Um, and it's been really

hard because I have been

wanting to develop a

closeness and they're not

ready.

So, um, fortunately now

there is peace.

Um, but what helped me

cause Satan was all in

my mind and just wrecking

havoc.

I started memorizing

scripture and I would fall

asleep at night saying

some new verses that I

had remembered.

And when I woke up in the

middle of the night, instead

of thinking negatively, I

would sometimes all I

could say was Jesus and I

would just say, Jesus,

Jesus.

And, um, I have become

much closer with the Lord

during this season.

So I just wanted to

encourage you and

congratulations on your

upcoming wedding.

So we'll call her the

outsider, right?

But when you come into

a family, you're really

the outsider per se.

And we ask God to redeem

that time.

Yes.

You're an addition.

Yeah.

All right.

Very good.

Very good.

Thank you for that

exhortation.

All right.

The next question is how

can I better serve God's

purposes where he has

planned at me.

Okay.

We are we, I mean, I'll

speak for myself.

We are involved in quite a

few things at, um, our

retirement community, but

recently I've just asked

the Lord, you know, what

is it that, that I

should be doing?

Is there anything else

that, um, you would like

me to do and, um, what

might that look like?

And, uh, it's very

easy when you have your

cleaning taken care of,

they wash the windows, they

prepare meals, the toilet

backs up, you call and

they're right over there.

You know, and it's just,

it's comfortable.

We like living there, but

I asked the Lord, I said,

you know, what is, what's

that look like?

What's, what's new around

the corner here?

So I'm challenging myself

and I hope that you

would too, because we can

get very comfortable even

in the ministry set that

we have, whatever that

may be, maybe one thing,

it may be several person,

it may be interceding for

your friend and all that

goes along with that.

But yet Lord, is there

anything else you want

me to do?

And yet on the other side

of that, we don't want

to be so busy that we

only touch the things that

we minister to casually.

It's a responsibility when

God gives us a calling so

that we're faithful in

that, so that we can do

what he wants.

But I, you know, in, in

each one of your lives,

you know, ask the Lord, is

there anything else that

you would like me or want

me to do?

And then let that still

small voice when you're

in, on the inside,

speak to you.

Yes.

Yeah, I was just going to

say, you know, this

opportunity for growth

and fruitfulness in my

life, you know, for so

much of my Christian walk,

even though I've known

in my head that I am

loved and valued by Jesus,

I still, somewhere along

the line, developed this

mentality that my value

was in what I could

produce for him.

I lived that a while.

Yeah.

And so, um,

I don't mean that for you.

Yeah, well, it is for me too.

So, um, but it's, um,

been a season where the

Lord has told me to

figure out what it means

to just abide.

Yeah, that's good.

And, um, so really trying

to hear what fruitfulness

is going to look like,

because I just left

one of my jobs and I,

so I have more time.

I'm hoping that God makes

me fruitful in a lot of areas.

But I have to be really

careful not to just produce

for production sake.

that's a monkey.

I've fought for years.

Yeah, because you think,

OK, now I know I'm not

productive enough.

So therefore I'll do

something more.

Yeah, I mean, I just,

I can identify with that.

The Lord give you peace,

peace, peace, peace.

Yeah, that's good.

Thank you for sharing that.

Anyone else?

Any thoughts?

All right. OK.

So.

The again, the connecting

the sphere of influence

to where we are placed.

Again, the this fear

that we're talking about

is defined as people, places,

relationships, opportunities

that God has entrusted us with

and that we can influence

others for his purposes.

And I'll take off

what you said.

Sometimes you get into

needing to do

and in doing you want to

become the friend of.

I don't know whether that ever

got you triggered or not.

But sometimes it's not

the friendship, although

that's a way in which to win them.

But that's not first.

The first purpose is for God

to work through you,

whatever that may look like,

and then be then befriend

them secondarily

because there is a

there is a purpose and all that.

It's just not friendship.

So additionally, our sphere

of influence becomes specific

in areas and the community

where we are positioned

and so that we can represent him

what whatever that may look like.

All right, our family,

if for nothing else, our family

and as your family grows,

do your daughters know the Lord?

All right, OK, that's that's that's good.

That's that's one box

checked off there.

That's great.

Our family, again, the spouse,

the children, the grandparents

and again, an extended family.

Our neighborhood.

I can remember there was a time

that where we lived

in the beginning of our marriage,

it was a more condensed community.

And my wife, every time

somebody moved in

and whether it was in the block

that we lived or three blocks up or whatever,

she used to bake cookies

or a pie or something and go over

and we used to introduce ourselves.

And, you know, that kind of

doesn't happen anymore.

And we have to push ourselves

to be open and to have friendships

with one another

so that we can win them for the Lord.

And you might ask, who are my neighbors?

How can I demonstrate

God's love to them

by a dozen cookies?

OK, our church encouragement

for one another,

serving one another,

discipling one another,

praying for God for God

to work together

so that we can have outreach.

Our worship, volunteer activities,

our workplace, rather,

there are coworkers,

customers, associates.

And then God placed the Israelites

in a strategic location

where the surrounding nations

could see what his blessing,

his laws being worked out.

Remember, other than the Israelites,

there was an they were nomadic people.

They were always warring.

They were taking other cities,

doing things, trying to Trump one another.

And now he comes

and brings an abiding sense

of his presence in these people.

And they are to show forth

his laws and character

and his faithfulness in action.

And that should be the way

that we live example.

Well, how is it

that you have this faith?

How is it that you're different?

And so often you get asked

these things without even a word.

So God's dwelling place

among his people

was the highest blessing.

So the blessing was that

the creator of heaven

and earth chose to dwell

among his people.

That's so wonderful.

Ultimately, the greatest

treasure in the land

was not the agriculture,

the military security.

It was the God's presence.

He was there.

They were to come to Shiloh

and worship him

throughout Israel's history.

God reminded his people

that his presence was more important

than the prosperity.

And I don't think we have

that problem amongst

the people in this room.

But that's typically

a lot of what you get.

I know I face that

with one of my grandsons.

I asked him, I said, well,

I said, AJ or JP.

I said, what do you want to do?

He said, I want to be

an entrepreneur, make a lot of money.

I thought, oh, boy.

You know, and that's that

we talked about college

and I don't want to go to college.

I want to do this.

And, you know, right now

he's washing garbage cans

and make he makes ten dollars.

A garbage can that the truck

comes along, picks him up.

He goes and puts his sprayer

on the back, sprays him,

washes him out, cleans him up,

uses the people's hose.

He makes ten.

He made a couple of hundred

dollars in the last couple of weeks.

He buys and sells electric bikes.

And he's, you know, he's a widget.

So OK, Lord, this is

a matter of prayer now.

Not that he has to go to college,

but it's the idea

that where he wants to go,

he's kind of like, you know,

all around, I can do this and that.

Typical young male. OK.

And the idea of experiencing

his presence is what we're about

throughout Israel's history.

God reminded his people

that his presence

was more important than prosperity.

So Moses once said this.

If thy presence go not with me.

Carry us not up hence,

meaning to that place,

which is the promised land.

We experience this truth

in an even greater way

through Jesus Christ

and the indwelling Holy Spirit.

God no longer dwells

in a physical tabernacle

or temple made by human hands.

He dwells within his people.

Our greatest blessing, then,

is not what God gives us,

but what God is doing

through us and with us.

So what does it mean

to live in an awareness

of God's presence?

We kind of beat this to death,

but I want to make a point.

Awareness of God's presence.

How long does it take you

to realize that God's presence

is with you or he wants

something from you?

Is it immediate?

Is it a day?

Is it an hour?

Are you so busy

that you forgot about God?

And again, you don't have to show

a confession of hands,

but it's the idea

that as you get tuned

to his presence,

you begin quickly

to understand what he's saying.

And that is an art form.

That is that is learned.

It doesn't come automatically.

What does he say?

If you seek me,

I will be found.

You have to seek him.

You have to believe

that as you spend time

with him at his feet,

worship prayer,

the things that we've talked about,

God will bring himself to you.

Remember Moses.

Moses turned away

and looked at the burning bush.

So there was God

and he was waiting.

The bush was burning

and Moses could have easily

just walked on by,

but he turned

and he saw the bush.

So first of all,

we have to understand

that God is waiting for us

and whatever you characterize that,

whatever you call that,

you begin to create

an atmosphere

where he can speak to you.

And as you cultivate that

and keep that maintained,

that voice will become

extremely directive.

It may be challenging.

It will take you to new heights

and depths that you wouldn't even believe.

Well, I can't do that, Lord,

but you can do all things

through Christ, which strengthens you,

which strengthens us.

So consequently, keep that in mind

when you think about,

well, where am I?

What's my mission?

What's my sphere of influence?

What else should I be doing?

And I don't mean that we are all busy

because I know, Debbie, with you,

you want to, okay,

calm down and get steady before the Lord

and there's a season of time for that.

And that's wonderful.

And then lastly, it's this.

The land was a stage

upon which God was to reveal his character.

As we speak

and believe for revival and spiritual,

that's awakening,

our prayers should not be simple

for God's provision

and protection and prosperity.

It should be an anticipation

for what he wants.

Our deepest desire should be for his presence.

First, and out of that,

then comes service.

And then as we weigh these things,

you can see in the scale,

God's presence is transformational,

it's fruitful, it's peaceable,

and it's life-giving.

And on the other side of that,

we are meant to show what?

The justice, righteousness,

friendship, and compassion to all people.

So we look at

the final aspects of the land being divided.

We understand now that their land is given.

It's for these people to settle down

and be fruitful

so that the kingdom of God

can be expressed through them.

The only problem is all that failed

and Christ then had to come

and give the ultimate sacrifice.

It's disappointing as we go through these chapters

to think of all,

and I'll put it in the vernacular,

blood, sweat, and tears that God went through

to create this nation

only for the nation to rebel and fall all apart.

They say, okay, I have to do this in another way.

And that was obviously God's plan.

He knew the end from the beginning.

But it's the idea that the nation building

that we talked about in months back

going through Exodus,

how he created a nation out of tribes

that were warring,

how he brought his law,

how he made a civilization,

how he created structure,

how he created law

to give these people a foundation

so that they could be truly a witness for him.

And yet it was all given up

because of their rebelliousness.

So Lord, we thank you

that we are not found on the other side

of life

where we are by ourselves,

where we are the last and only truth dwelling within us.

And it's our ego and our power

to be somebody that we wanna be.

We are simply your servants, Lord.

So we ask as we go away tonight

that we'll ponder the fact

that what we should be doing

and how do we express you

in the areas that we live.

We know we don't have to move away

to get you to give us attention, Lord.

You're right here.

And so we yield to you

in our present circumstances

how to move through us.

We thank you for the blessing

that we heard tonight of this marriage.

We thank you for that.

We thank you that you'll bless these girls

with a mom.

And Father, we just ask

that you give her grace to walk through this

in the name of Jesus.

And we thank you for the healing of this lady.

So we give this to you tonight

in the name of Jesus.

Everybody said amen.

Amen.

Thanks for joining us

at Lansdale Life Church

as we praise God

and discuss his word.

Don't forget to join us

for worship live Sunday mornings

at 10 a.m. Eastern on YouTube.

Be blessed

and have a great day.