Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro

Text - Joshua 5.13-15; Luke 14.31-33

Title - Battle-Ready

Series - Lessons in the Book of Joshua

Background

wartime stories

soldiers who cried like children in the field, or cowered in fear, because, although they were soldiers, but they were not ready for battle.

Battle-Ready means -

trained and equipped for warfare

Our promised land today

38 Now, what is the land promised to the New Testament believer?

The promise is the Holy Spirit.

“For it shall come to pass in the last days,” Joel 2:28, “that I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh.

Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy.

And upon My handmaids and My maidservants will I pour out of My Spirit, and they shall prophesy.

I’ll show wonders in the heavens above.

And in the earth, pillars of fire, and smoke, and vapour.”

And Peter said, on the Day of Pentecost, after taking his text and preaching, “Repent, every one of you, and be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission,” to remit, to forgive, to take away all back trespasses.

60-0515E - Adoption #1

Now, we’re going to talk about a journey, how that God brought His people out of Egypt into the promised land, a perfect type of leaving sin, coming into the Spirit land.

Now, there’s three stages of this journey; First, Israel in Egypt, Israel in the journey, Israel in Palestine, which is a perfect type of justification by faith, coming out; sanctification as it passed through the Blood, the baptism of the Holy Ghost.

It’s perfect, the stages of the Church.

That is where the Church is staged now.

53-1115A - Speak To The Rock

The Main Point

God did not bring into Canaan a people that is not ready for warfare.

Otherwise, the conquest would not have been possible.

God will not bring us into our inheritance until we are ready to engage the enemy.

inheritance - God’s promises waiting to be claimed

enemies - demonic spirits that do not want to see you enjoying your promised blessings and position

Many Christians are not “battle-ready”

they have yet to leave the wilderness part of the journal

2 types of spiritual warfare

one in which we respond to enemy attacks

Israel in the wilderness - attacked by kings Og and Balak

Israel was not ready for battle, just ‘coasting’

the other one is when we attack the enemy!

Israel under Joshua - intent on possessing the land of Canaan; she was there to dispossess and destroy enemies

Examples of Battle-Ready people

Gideon’s 300 soldiers

not fearful (those afraid were sent home)

drank in a position that is battle-ready

Jonathan and his armorbearer

when they say attack us - we will go!

Young David

Saul: “Goliath was a man of war from his youth

David: “I have experience of God’s mighty presence and power”

How God prepared Israel for warfare

He taught them obedience

He gave them a true leader

He gave them experience in the supernatural

it was their point of no return

He removed the reproach of Egypt in their lives

He removed the manna from Israel’s camp

God taught Israel obedience by giving them a true leader

Moses’s leadership was so ingrained in the life of Israel

up to Jesus’ time, the Jews claimed: “We have Moses!”

Israel must learn to transfer their allegiance to the new leadership

God must “exalt” Joshua

to be worth following

to gain the same respect and awe from the same people

UNTIL THEY ARE OBEDIENT TO JOSHUA’S LEADERSHIP, THEY ARE NOT READY FOR BATTLE INSIDE CANAAN.

The battle will not be fought one-on-one, but as an army

God needs a people who will not look back to Moses

God needs a people who will help Joshua fulfill his ordained purpose

APPLICATION

Our spiritual journey and success is tied to God’s ordained leader/s

We cannot separate our spiritual success from the leader that God has placed over our lives.

YOU ARE BATTLE-READY IF -

you have learned how to follow instructions

you have the value of true leadership in your life

God gave them experience in the supernatural

This was the first miracle witnessed by this generation of Israelites

the miracles performed in Moses’ time all happen in the early years

manna, while a miracle bread, was ordinary to them

the holding up of the waters of Jordan - that was miracle!

MIRACLES HELP US BECOME BATTLE-READY.

“signs and wonders” means -

your God is supernatural

your faith is supernatural

your life now is supernatural

This miracle also brought them to their point of no return!

“Lord, to whom shall we go?”

This miracle also sealed the fate of the Amorites

APPLICATON

Intellectual faith VS. experiential faith

intellectual - theoretical

experiential - learning by experience

Experience in the supernatural helps establish the reality of the living God

Peter - we were eyewitnesses of his majesty

David’s experiences with the lion and the bear

YOU ARE BATTLE-READY IF -

you know your God by experience, noot only by intellect

you understand the reality of the realm of spirits

God removed from them the “reproach of Egypt”

What is the reproach of Egypt?

God “reinstated” the sign of circumcision

during their stay in Egypt, the Israelites were not circumcised according to God’s covenant with Abraham

probably, their circumcision was in line with Egyptian practice

the men who were born in the wilderness were now to be circumcised as God would have it