I want to take a break from our ongoing study of the last days to share with you some of the things that I believe we can expect, and therefore need to prepare for, in this coming year. First, this will be another year of very solid spiritual growth for the body of Christ. Though 2005 was a very...

As we continue our study of crossing over to possess the Promised Land this week, we want to examine in a little more depth the reason for the ban that caused Achan to get into trouble. This ban was that the people could not keep any of the gold, silver, bronze, or iron in Jericho, but it was to be...

As we continue our study from the rest of Joshua 6, we learn how Israel crossed over to possess the Promised Land by capturing Jericho through faithfully following the Lord’s orders. However, before they blew the trumpets and shouted so that the walls would fall down, Joshua charged the people to...

Now Jericho was tightly shut because of the sons of Israel; no one went out and no one came in. And the LORD said to Joshua, "See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and the valiant warriors. “And you shall march around the city, all the men of war circling the city once. You shall...

Immediately after Joshua’s encounter with the Captain of the hosts, he had to face the seemingly impossible, impregnable stronghold of Jericho. Of course, the Lord could have flicked Jericho with His little finger and it would have ceased to exist, but He did not want it to be that easy. Though the...

The four main events that we have covered on this subject have been: The crossing of the Jordan River represents the death that the people of God must enter into by dying to self, and how death would overflow all of its banks during the time of the harvest, which is the end of the age. The...

Before we began our study of the works of the flesh and growing in the fruit of the Spirit, we were studying what it means to possess our Promised Land. I want to return to this with a brief reminder of what we covered there so we can begin again where we left off. From Death to Life We began by...

It is interesting that the last aspect of the fruit of the Spirit is “self-control” (Galatians 5:23). Many Christians, in seeking to become submitted to the Holy Spirit or to eschew glory for anything that is accomplished through them spiritually, often say such things as: “That was not me—that was...

The next aspect of the fruit of the Spirit is “gentleness” (Galatians 5:23) . This is defined as being “mild, kind,” or “not being rough, violent, harsh, or severe.” Some people may be born with a natural gentle demeanor, but the fruit of the Spirit that is gentleness is to conduct yourself with...

The next aspect of the fruit of the Spirit is “faithfulness” (Galatians 5:22) . As we have discussed, the characteristics of the Spirit are called “fruit” because it must be cultivated and grown. It takes faithfulness, which is demonstrated by endurance, for any of the fruit to be grown. But how is...