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May
25
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Reading
1 - Joshua 11
Click
here to Listen
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v.1-9
- We do well to remember that God will fight for us too, even if the enemy
has ganged up on us and we would have no chance without Him. We never have
a chance without Him, of course, as we owe Him our very lives. Josh.21:44.
Peter Cresswell |
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v.11
- However revolted we may be with our modern thinking over this killing,
the lesson must be learnt. We must allow nothing to remain of anything that
might tempt us away from the ways of the Living God. We should utterly remove
from our lives all that we find tempting.
Peter Cresswell
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Having
ventured into the Jezreel valley in the previous chapter the campaign to
take the inheritance continues in the Galilee.
Peter
Forbes |
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We saw in chapter 10 (comments from 2000) that the land was made up of fragmented
states. This image is continued in this chapter with the alliance of kings
in the Galilee.
Peter
Forbes
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:6
We might have thought that Israel would have benefited from taking the spoils
of war and the weaponry of their enemies. It would have provided them with
much needed armaments. Having spent 40 years in the wilderness they would
be a poorly equipped army. The destruction of the chariots and rendering
of the horses useless for battle was to force Israel to realise that deliverance
came from God, not from the might of their army.
Peter
Forbes
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LEAVE
NOTHING UNDONE
"As the LORD commanded his servant Moses, so Moses commanded Joshua,
and Joshua did it; he left nothing undone of all that the LORD commanded
Moses." (Joshua
11 v 15)
What a powerful example Joshua left us when he fully obeyed the LORD's commandments
through Moses leaving nothing undone. We are in a similar position to that
in which we find Joshua. God had spoken and given instructions for Joshua
through Moses, and, in a similar way, our instructions have also been given
in the past to other faithful people who have passed them on to us as they
wrote the Bible. Now, in our lifetime, it is our turn to follow on from
the people who have gone before and to do what we have been instructed to
do.
Joshua's instructions were to conquer the land and Canaan, to destroy the
Canaanites and to settle God's people in their land. Our mission is slightly
different, but we are still on a mission to conquer the world. We have been
told to "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation."
(Mark
16 v 15).
So let's be people who follow Joshua's example and leave nothing undone
of all that Jesus commanded his disciples.
Robert
Prins |
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Reading
2 - Isaiah 15
Click
here to Listen
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v.9
- Quite often the curses that are brought upon the nations are the same
ones that God threatened Israel with if they were disobedient. It should
have helped them to comply with God's covenant, but it didn't seem to do
that.Lev.26:22,
2Kings 17:25, Amos 5:19
Peter Cresswell |
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v.5
- This is one of Isaiah's short term prophecies - to take place in 3 years
- to giving the people the opportunity to test Isaiah that he was indeed
a prophet of the Lord, as they had been instructed. Deut.18:21,22
Peter Cresswell
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v.1
This is the second of ten 'burdens' Isaiah
13:1 15:1 17:1 19:1 21:1,11,13 22:1 23:1 30:6 if we note this, it will
help us to develop a structure for the prophecy of Isaiah.
Peter
Forbes |
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15:6
The drying up of the waters of Nimrim is mentioned also in the judgement
on Moab by Jeremiah (48:34).
This area was part of the inheritance of Reuben (Numbers
33:1, 3)
Peter
Forbes
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Whilst
we might think Isaiah spoke only to Israel it is clear that the words of
this prophecy against Moab were spoken directly to their leaders telling
theme exactly what would happen to them.
Peter
Forbes
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Reading
3 - 2Timothy 1
Click
here to Listen
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v.7
- The fear that we do not have is that of death. Without the hope of the
gospel, death is greatly feared. For us that should not be the case.
Acts
20:24, 21:13, Rom.8:15, Heb.2:15, 1John 4:18.
Peter Cresswell |
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v.4
'thy tears ...' Why do we think that Timothy was weeping? The evidence
of the letter is that the ecclesia had terrible problems of apostasy.
The ecclesia at Ephesus had moved from the lively group of brethren and
sisters of Acts
19 - 19. They
had fallen foul of the circumstances Paul said would happen Acts
20:30. Indeed
it appears that the ecclesia was in a state of decline towards the state
that Jesus describes in Revelation
2:1 - 7.
Paul,
when writing to Timothy, draws on the language of the sea shore and the
elders from Ephesus.
Peter Forbes |
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1:6
So now we learn who were the presbytery who ordained Timothy. (1
Timothy 4:14) - it was Paul confirming that even though Paul was not
one of the twelve nor was he the appointed successor to Judas he was able
to pass on the gift of the Holy Spirit..
Peter Forbes
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:13
Twice in this letter Paul reminds Timothy that Paul had taught him specific
things. Here and 2
Timothy 2:2.
Peter Forbes |
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