John 14:21 (NLT)

Those who obey my commandments are the ones who love me.

Egypt

Mediterranean Sea

Sinai Peninsula

Mt. SinaiSaudi Arabia

Israel

Numbers 13:31-33 (NLT)But the other men who had explored the land with him answered, “We can’t go up against them! They are stronger than we are!” So they spread discouraging reports about the land among the Israelites: “The land we explored will swallow up

Numbers 13:31-33 (NLT)any who go to live there. All the people we saw were huge. We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak. We felt like grasshoppers next to them, and that’s what we looked like to them!”

Egypt

Mediterranean Sea

Sinai Peninsula

Mt. SinaiSaudi Arabia

Israel

Joshua 1:1 (NLT)After the death of Moses the Lord’s servant, the Lord spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant.

Joshua 1:1 (NLT)After the death of Moses the Lord’s servant, the Lord spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant.

Jericho

Egypt

Mediterranean Sea

Sinai Peninsula

Mt. SinaiSaudi Arabia

Israel

Five Observations About Joshua

Joshua Was Ready To Hear From God

1

Joshua 5:13-14 (NLT)As Joshua approached the city

of Jericho, he looked up and saw a man facing him with sword in hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you friend or foe?”

“Neither one,” he replied. “I am commander of the Lord’s

Joshua 5:13-14 (NLT)army.”

At this, Joshua fell with his face to the ground in reverence. “I am at your command,” Joshua said. “What do you want your servant to do?”

Joshua Was Ready To Hear From God

1

John 10:14-16 (NLT)“I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me, just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep, too, that are not in this sheepfold. I must bring them also,

John 10:14-16 (NLT)and they will listen to my voice; and there will be one flock with one shepherd.”

Joshua Trusted God’s Direction

2

Joshua 6:2-5 (NLT)But the Lord said to Joshua, “I have given you Jericho, its king, and all its mighty warriors. Your entire army is to march around the city once a day for six days. Seven priests will walk ahead of the Ark, each carrying a ram’s horn. On the

Joshua 6:2-5 (NLT)seventh day you are to march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the horns. When you hear the priests give one long blast on the horns, have all the people give a mighty shout. Then the walls of the city will

Joshua 6:2-5 (NLT)collapse, and the people can charge straight into the city.”

Joshua 1:9 (NLT)I command you—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Isaiah 55:8-9 (NLT)“My thoughts are completely different from yours,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.”

“My great concern is not whether God is on our side; my great concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right.”

~ Abraham Lincoln

Joshua Obeyed God’s Instructions

3

1 Samuel 15:22 (NLT)“What is more pleasing to the Lord: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Obedience is far better than sacrifice. Listening to him is much better than offering the fat of rams.”

“All true knowledge of God is born out of obedience.”

~ John Calvin

“The most important characteristic of the active spiritual life is obedience.”

~ Charles R. Swindoll

1 John 5:3 (NLT)Loving God means keeping his commandments, and really, that isn’t difficult.

EVEN IF HE DIDN’T UNDERSTAND

“God is too good to be unkind, He’s too wise to be confused, and if I cannot trace His hand I can always trust His heart.”

~ C.H. Spurgeon

EVEN IF HE DIDN’T UNDERSTAND

EVEN IF HE HAD OTHER PLANS

Proverbs 16:9 (NLT)We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps.

EVEN IF HE DIDN’T UNDERSTAND

EVEN IF HE HAD OTHER PLANS

EVEN IF HE LOOKED STUPID

Behold the turtle. He makes no progress unless he sticks his neck out.

Joshua Followed Through

4

Joshua 24:14-15 (NLT)Serve the Lord alone. But if you are unwilling to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you

Joshua 24:14-15 (NLT)now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.”

Joshua Saw God Come Through

5

Joshua 6:15-16, 20 (NLT)On the seventh day the Israelites got up at dawn and marched around the city as they had done before. But this time they went around the city seven times. The seventh time around, as the priests sounded the long blast on their

Joshua 6:15-16, 20 (NLT)horns, Joshua commanded the people, “Shout! For the Lord has given you the city! … When the people heard the sound of the horns, they shouted as loud as they could. Suddenly, the walls of Jericho collapsed, and the

Joshua 6:15-16, 20 (NLT)Israelites charged straight into the city from every side and captured it.