Joshua 3:9-10 | Episode # 1228

July 1, 2026

Hope Alive: Applying God’s Word to Your Daily Life

Joshua 3:9-10

I am Chad Harrison, and I am the teaching pastor of Lake Community Church and had been serving as a pastor for over 25 years. This podcast is designed to help you study God's word verse-by-verse and find God's will for your life. The purpose of studying scripture is that you might know the character of Jesus Christ, and that you might see the world from the Father's perspective. That you gain wisdom that changes your life. I pray in the name of Jesus right now that God would open His word to you and allow you to see Him and to know Him. To know His will, that you might glorify Him and that you might walk in faith and power each day, especially today. In Jesus name.

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Transcript

This is Hope Alive, where we apply God's Word to our daily life. My name is Chad Harrison. I'm first a husband, a father and a grandfather. I'm also the teaching pastor at Lake Community Church in Dadeville, Alabama on beautiful Lake Martin. I've been serving as a pastor for over 30 years. I also serve as the Tallapoosa County District Judge. This podcast is designed to help you study God's word verse by verse through the Bible and to find his purpose and will for your daily life. If you would like sponsor this podcast, go to the Show Notes where there's a link where you can make a donation. I pray in the name of Jesus that God would open his word to you, allow you to see him and to know him, so that you would know his will and his way for your life that you might walk in faith and power each and every day, especially today. Word of God, please speak to the hearers of your voice today in the name of Jesus. Amen. Foreign. We are in Joshua chapter three still Joshua chapter three. And the verses are nine and ten today. It's a common thing. It's, it's not something that is new. This is not one of those, especially as we've gone through the first five books of the Bible. This is not a, this is not something new. This is, this is a, a, a commandment. It's a, it's a instruction. It's a, it, it's a life hack. I guess the, as far as the Spirit filled Christian life, it sure is a life hack. And it's, it's not hard to figure out. Although I'll tell you, I don't. It's not, it's not something that I do this perfectly either. It's, it's, it's difficult but, but doing what God says, I mean actually listening to what God says is, is, is important. It's, it's really important. And you know, so many times, you know, you get, get in a situation, go, I've done it, but done this before or oh, you know, I can, I can handle it. I've got it. And you can't and you don't and you didn't and you weren't and this happens all the time. Oh, it's, it's. And it's tough because we, we, we so many times just don't want to listen to what God says. And Joshua basically says this to him. I mean he, he's calling them together. They're going to get ready to cross over the Jordan. He's going to he's going to tell them how to do it. And notice what he says it says. So Joshua said to the children of Israel, come here and hear the words of the Lord your God. What he's saying is, come on, let's get together and listen up. I mean, how many times have you been told that in a job situation, in a sports situation, in a well ain't at a church situation and you, you're going to go do some ministry or you're going to, you're, well, you're in church and you're just hearing the sermon. I mean, how many times have you heard, come here and hear the words of the Lord your God. Meaning come, listen up, listen to what God's got to say. I mean, don't, don't, don't hide from it. Come on, let's figure this thing out. Let's talk about it. Joshua said, by this you shall know the living God is among you and that he will without fail drive out before you the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Hivites, parasites, the Gershashites, the Amorites and the Jebusites. Now I'm going to tell you from now on in the Bible study, and I'll mention this again because people come in and out at different times. I'm just going to call them all those ites, okay? Because if you notice, Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, parasites, Gurkha, Amorites and Jebusites are all ites, okay? They're not like Americans or Americans are with an S on the end. They are all I T E I T E S. So I'm going to call them all them ites, okay? Just letting you know, it's just a kind of side note, kind of in parentheses to the side when I'm talking about all those ites. I'm just talking about all the tribes that were the. Generally we usually just call them Canaanites, but they were not just Canaanites. They were all the ites, okay? And God said, listen, you're gonna, if you will hear what I say, then when you, you get into the promised land. And by the way, the pro, you know, I guess this is a point I need to make. The promised land is not the beach, okay? We're not going to the beach. And we're just going to hang out on the beach and soak up the rays and hang out and play a little volleyball and swim a little bit and then go in and get dressed to go out to eat for dinner. That's not the promised land. I want you to hear that. Okay. Now, is there peace and joy? Yeah. In fact, there is no place that has peace and joy like the promised land. Is there hope and life and all that kind of stuff in the promised land? Yeah. Yeah. And it's a land flowing of milk and honey. So there's plenty in the promised land. But is it. Is it vacation? Well, no. I mean, there's giants in the land. I mean, you know, the first group of spies that went into the land and said, they're giants in the land. And we were as grasshoppers to them. I mean, it's not like they weren't telling a story. It wasn't. It wasn't. They were just trying to talk people out of going in because they didn't want to go. I mean, it was legitimate. I mean, they. They are. They were big folks. You know, I went to. I went to England recently, and, you know, I. I was in London for about eight days. Now, this is not necessarily true of Scotland, because Scotland's not the same in its history as London. But I went to London, and they were. I mean, I was one of the things. I was shocked about walking the streets of London. I'm six foot four. So I noticed when somebody's taller than me. And regularly when I'm in a room, usually if there's somebody's taller than me, it's only one, maybe at the most two people. But regularly I was walking the streets of London. And there were four, five, six guys within eyesight, within, you know, 20, 30 yards of me that were taller than me. And I guess that's because, you know, the Vikings came in. And really, the Vikings took over most of southern England and most of central England, you know, Wales and all those areas. So, you know, when the Vikings, Scandinavians came, came over, you know, they had those big old jeans, big folks jeans. And so they. They, you know, filtered down and. And. And it was really from all races, too, by the way. And so I was sitting there thinking, man, I didn't realize how tall the people are in England. And they are. They're really, really tall. And let me say this. That's what the spies said about the Canaanites or all those ITEs. They were really big. And when they got in the promised land, they were going to have to defeat them. And so when they had. And by the way, defeating the giants is part of being victorious in Christ. I mean, he's made us to be victorious. And you got giants in your life that you need to kill. You need to get rid of. And those giants are a reality and they're a problem and they've been a problem. And the only hope you have is that God does his, his, his will in your life. And you, you see him, hear him, know him and walk in it. And so you know, that's what happened. They, they had a, they had a, they had a. Had to deal with these people. And God says, now listen, you got to follow my instructions so that when you get in the land you'll know that God's going to drive these, drive these ites out. He's gonna get rid of your giants. I guess I would just call them the giants too. Okay, he's gonna get rid of your giants and now you're gonna be a part of it. By the way, this is not like redemption where God does all the work. God does everything. You just, you just turn and are converted and begin to chase after him. It's not like that. The promised land, you're walking by faith and you're acting on what God says and he's teaching you to is. Which means, you know, you, you gotta, you gotta defeat the giants. And let me say this. You can't do giant defeating. You can't do peace and joy and, and plenty. You can't do all these promised land things without doing what God says. I now that just no way to get around that. You can't do it. It's not possible. And I feel like this Bible study is more like a pep talk, I guess. And, and it somewhat sometimes, you know, the promised land Bible, Bible studies are pep talks. I mean, they have to be. Why? Because you know, you, you, you, you've gone on this journey, you've made this commitment and it's commitment. Look, you can stay out in the wilderness and eat the manna and drink the water and, and have somebody else tell you what God said and just live life like you want to live and, and, and have no sense of really anything that God desired for you to have in the Christian life. You can do that. And I said this last night. A lot of Christians do it. A lot of Christians do it. You know, they show up church once, twice a month. They get, get a little feel, get a little pep talk, little tank filling and they go out and you know, obviously the tank of gas, they drive it out by the time, you know, Monday or Tuesday get around and they just live, you know, just live really like the world and they don't have really any joy in their life. They don't have any peace in their life. They think like worldly people, they, they act like worldly people, but you know, they are believers, you know, whatever level that is. And you know, God sustains them and God loves them, but they're never, they don't experience anything that Jesus came to give them. Not hardly anything. And it's pitiful. I mean, it is. But we know that that goes on. We know that that goes on. Promised land living is direct dealing with who you are and God walking you through it. And that's not easy. And what do you got to do? What do you got to do? Come here and hear the words of the Lord, your God. That's what Joshua said. Come here. How many times have you heard that when you were a child? Come here, hear what God's got to say. So that when you get in the promised land, you run into these giants, you'll realize that, you know, God's told you this and you know that you're going to be victorious, but you got to do what he says. You know, that's really the crux of the Bible study. I mean you, you have to if you're going to. And, and let me say this, there isn't anything better than that. Any. There's no life better than the Spirit filled Christian life. It is really authentic life. All the others is empty and dead in the end. No joy in it, no satisfaction, no peace. None of that. Just got to eat more and suck up more of it to even have it fill the big old hole that's created in your heart and your life. But the Spirit filled Christian life has a lasting peace and a lasting joy and a lasting purpose and a lasting understanding. It does. But you got to do what God said. As you go today, I pray that the Lord will bless you and keep you, that he'll make his face to shine upon you and that he will give you hope and peace today in Jesus name.