Joshua Week 4

Week 4

Text: Joshua 6:1–15

Topic(s): Obedience, March, Deliverance

Big Idea of the Message: Because God is all-wise, he will often choose to work in

ways we would have never thought of.

Application Point: When we heed God’s Word instead of our own intellect, we’re able

to see victories and success.

Sermon Ideas and Talking Points:

1. The nation of Israel has already been through a lot. They’ve had quite the time

overcoming self, others, and incredible circumstances. One would think, “surely,

they’re done right? They’ve been through enough.” They have been through a

lot, but only God knows when it’s enough. The entire book of Joshua, while

historically accurate, can certainly be viewed as a picture of the Christian life full

of obstacles, battles, victories, and failures. The nation would face a new

challenge. A challenge that would test their faith once again. They would now

face Jericho. While the city and army was great, God was not interested in

testing their battle finesse. Instead, God was about to test their courage to obey,

even when it didn’t make sense to obey.

2. Bible scholars believe that Jericho covered about eight or nine acres (Donald K.

Campbell, “Joshua,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the

Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 1 [Wheaton, IL: Victor Books,

1985], 341). God commanded Joshua to lead his men into a march-to-victory

crusade (Joshua 6:3). That’s right. A march. Not a fight. Not a battle. Not through

hand to hand combat. Through a march. When we face our battles and we ask

God to help us, let us not be surprised when he uses tactics that are outside our

understanding or reasoning (Isaiah 55:8–9). God could have used Joshua and

his great savvy mind to conquer the land, but then they would have been

tempted to steal credit from the true deliverer. God’s desire is not to only help in

time of need, but he is a jealous God and his glory will not be shared (Isaiah

42:8).

3. For six days, they marched around the wall of Jericho as commanded by God

(Joshua 6:3, 10–11). Have you ever felt you were walking around aimlessly?

Perhaps you have been in an unknown area of the world and took a metro to get

from point A to point B, just hoping you’re following the map correctly. There’s an

anxious uncertainty; a nervous fear of the unknown. It’s new territory and you’re

hoping the mode of transportation gets you where you need to go. That must

have been the way Joshua and the children of Israel felt. There should have

been a better way to conquer these people than just walking around a wall; but, if

God says to do this, we must be obedient.

4. This blogger helps us to see how in every situation in Jericho, whether it be

through he annihilation of the city, rescuing Rahab, or working through the nation

and Joshua, God’s name gets the glory

(https://alexamenosfidelis1.blogspot.com/2019/10/the-glory-of-god-in-destruction-

of.html?fbclid=IwAR0R0pEuw_jERhDla66Ns9XEtKg6UAh3TShqeZuq81MXhtwMxBJhTtu9mA).

5. Compared to God, we are much like children. Often times, parents will tell their

young ones to not eat a snack or candy before dinner. The child doesn’t

understand, and thus will often times scoff at this idea. In fact, many times,

children feel in their heart that their parents are just trying to keep them from

enjoying life and their little snack. The truth is, parents know what’s best for them

and ultimately want them to enjoy their dinner to its fullest. While this may be a

silly illustration, we act that way with God. God knows what’s best and has a

specific plan in mind that he wants us to enjoy, but we often will scoff because it

appears to not make sense. God always knows what’s best. Just as Joshua

obeyed and trusted God to ultimately overcome Jericho, so we must trust and

obey God to overcome the obstacles in our life.