Joshua 17:10-18 | Episode #1239

July 16, 2026

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

Joshua 17:10-18

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. Welcome to Lake Community Church's morning Bible study. We are in Joshua, chapter 17. Joshua, chapter 17. And we're. And we're dealing with verses 10 through 18. And what we're really dealing with is Ephraim. Well, Ephraim and Manasseh. They are the two tribes of Joseph. And this whole passage here is dealing with them. And first of all, the reason it's important that while, while we're studying these two tribes especially and why, why it spends. Joshua spends a good bit of time with these two tribes, more, way more than the other tribes. You're going to see in the next few chapters that it's going to deal with the allotment of five or six tribes in one chapter. But it deals with Joshua a whole lot. And the reason it deals with Joshua a whole lot is because there's a spiritual lesson that really badly needs to be learned. When God talks about Israel or Jacob in scripture, when those two words are used and they describe the same human being, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Jacob, when he wrestled with God, got the new name Israel. When that happened, you begin to see, because it's already happened with Abram and Abraham, Sarah and Sarah, you begin to see that God gives you a new name when you are spiritually ignited, when you spiritually begin to trust him, when you begin to walk with him. And the ideas of that spiritual growth are what Joshua's about, what the book of Joshua is about. But when we come to these passages, we think that Joshua went in the promised land and they took everywhere they placed their feet and you know, it was wonderful. It just worked out great. And they took the whole promised land. And really it's been wonderful ever since. And we know that's not true. In fact, we know that's not true because we've read the Bible before, okay? And as we studied through the Bible, we realized that the northern tribes of Israel were taken into captivity and lost. Okay? Now, not everybody from those tribes was taken into captivity, but the people who lived in those lands were taken into captivity by the Assyrians and they were spread all over the world and we don't know where they're at now. What happened was the Northern kingdom or the 10 tribes in the north split off from the two tribes in the south. And the two tribes in the south held to the worship of God, the worship of Yahweh that was done in Jerusalem. The tribes in the north began to worship God on a mountain called Samaria. And they began to do the things that the Canaanites had done before them. And the reason that took place is because they did not drive them out. So the story that the Israelites drove the Canaanites out is not true. Some tribes did, others didn't. And when they didn't, what they did was they opened the door to unbelief and then they ultimately opened the door to their children and their ancestors chasing after other guys. And let me say this, this is really, really important from a church perspective. When a church fails to believe God's word for what it is, when a church fails to chase after God for his presentation in his fullness, when they pick and choose how they're going to do what God says from his word, when they have a people that are, as God would say, Moses would say, stiff necked and hard hearted and only want to have just a little piece of God, they're here as grazers on the kingdom. What I mean by that? Well, they like to pick a little bit of God here and then have a little bit of world over there and a little bit of heathenism over here. And they just live their lives kind of playing games with Christianity. When that happens, it first of all never ever brings about the Spirit filled Christian life for the believer. It never ever brings that about. And second of all, it ultimately undermines their faith that God has promised he would pass to the generations to come, that he'd pass to the generations past them. And what generally happens is, especially for a church or a family that's been in the kingdom for a long time, what happens is you wake up one day and you're old and none of your children are serving God, or you're old and there are no children in your church, or you're old and it seems like you have no connection to those who are coming behind you. And the reason is, is because you have not been a change agent in the world. Because a change agent in the world, let me tell you something, attracts young people. Why? Because God's at work in the hearts of young people. And when, when someone is a light, when someone is hope, when someone has life, when someone gives, that is the essence of their life. Well they attract people, they're attractive to people. And so you go, well, how do you do that? Well, the way you do it is you got to live out the Spirit filled Christian life in its fullness. You can't have pieces and parts of God. And that's what Ephraim basically said. Ephraim comes and they, they in verse 10 and they, they, they talk about the territories of Manasseh and Ephraim and how they're together. And you see that in verse 11 and all the, how they're up against each other in verse 12 says, yet the children of Manasseh could not drive out the inhabitants of those cities, meaning the cities that they'd been given. And it happened when the children of Israel grew strong that they put the Canaanites to forced labor. But they did not utterly drive them out. What did they do? They made the demonic a part of their life. They couldn't get rid of it all. So rather than living the spirit filled Christian life, which is a conquering, which is an overcoming, which is a victorious life, they just settled. They settled with allowing the Canaanites to continue to live around them. And then the children of Joseph come to Joshua in verse 14. Why have you given us only one lot and one share to inherit? Says we are great people in as much as the Lord has blessed us until now, what he's saying is we've been blessed till now. Why are you just giving us a small territory? And Joshua tells him, if you're a great people, then go up to the forest country and clear a place for yourself there in the land of the parasites and the giants. Oh, and the giants, since the mountain of Ephraim are too confining for you. But the children of Joseph said to the mountain, said the mountain country is not enough for us. Why? Because they got giants in it. Because I got to take the land. Because I've got to operate as a change agent in the world. I've got to be something that changes the world. And I don't want to do that. I'm afraid. Notice they're not taking the land. They're not taking the land. And that hill country that they're supposed to be taken in that mountainous area that they're supposed to be taken eventually is going to be a place where they worship other gods. Why? Because they don't take the land. And look, they had every reason to. They were a blessed people. They had. He said, they said, we've been blessed. We got a lot of children, we have a lot of big families, and we can't take the land, so give us some other inheritance. Well, the minute that happens in your life, when you say, I'm blessed with these big families, I'm blessed with all this big stuff, and God's given us this stuff. But I don't really want to. I want to compromise. And remember, it's not a compromise of some rule. It's the compromise of the relationship. The relationship says, God says, I give you everything, everywhere you place your foot, and. And. And I'm going to go with you. And when you say, well, I can't take that, so I'm not placing my foot there, and I don't care if you go with me. And really, that's what you're saying to God, when that happens, you can't take the promised land. And when that happens, even though you may be blessed in the moment, you are cursing the generations to come. You're cursing the people behind you. Because you're not the change agent. You're not the life changer that. That God has made you to be, the world shaker, the world changer that God made you to be. You're not that. You're just dabbling in the faith, playing games in the Christian life. And God's got bad stuff to say about that. He does not like that. Why? Because when you leave a remnant of what was utterly evil to God, it's going to start to grow. It's like mold in the corner, you know, if you leave it there long enough, it goes all the way up the wall and around the house. And that's what they did. And so they said, listen, the mountain country is not enough for us. And all the Canaanites who dwell in the land, in the valley have chariots of iron. Now they got giants and chariots of iron. See, there's always a reason why you can't do what God told you to do. Look, if you. If I found this, I don't. I'll Be honest with you, as a pastor, I don't even. Once I realized that's where you're at, I just move on. And you go, what do you mean, you just move on? I can't help that. There's nothing I can do to help that. You know, as a coach, if I had a player who just really didn't want to do what was necessary to be good at what he did, I just moved on, trying to figure. Find a player who was willing to try to do the things that were necessary to be successful. You know, as a. As. As a business owner, as a. As a. As an attorney, I always, always look for those who are willing to do what it takes to succeed. And those who make excuses as to why they can't do what God's told them to do will never succeed. And they curse the generations to follow them. You go, what are you talking about, a curse? Well, remember, a curse is a binding. And if I leave a stronghold behind me, that's going to bind up the generations that come after me. And we already know, right? The verse before the Ten Commandments says, the sins of the father pass to the second, third generation. Meaning I leave those. I leave those bindings behind so that my children, my grandchildren, so the generations that are behind me that I. That I'm serving in my community, I'm serving in my church, those generations, they. They. They're bound up. And when. When I do that, I totally leave open myself. I'm. I'm totally left bare. And I become compromised. And when I'm compromised, I can't take none of the promised land. I can't take the promised land because I'm compromised, he says, they said. And Joshua spoke to the house of Joseph, to Ephraim and Manasseh. Notice what he says. You're a great people, and you have great power. You shall have only one lot, but the mountain country shall be yours. I'm giving you a chance to take extra land. Although it is wooded, you shall cut it down, and its farthest extent shall be yours. For you shall drive out the Canaanites, though they have iron chariots and are strong. What Joshua was saying is, do what God told you to do. Be who God made you to be. I'm going to speak life into you. Really, what Joseph is doing is he's speaking life into those people. He's telling them, you could do this. You were made for this. You could do this. But they don't want to. They do not want to. Why? Because it's hard. Because it's hard. And when it's hard, people say, I'm not sure. Before you know it, they're not. They're not sure. And they don't take what God gives them and then decide on it all. What's so sad is the people that come behind them miss out on it, too. But that's not for you. I'm going to be like Joshua. I'm going to say, you're going to get your allotment. And then I'm going to give you an opportunity to take more. I'm giving you the forest country. I'm giving you the hill country. Go take it. And you should. You should take it. You should take what God's given you that you can plainly see. And then you should search for the things, the opportunities, the hidden treasure that God has for you that you cannot see. And you ought to have it and you ought to take it and you ought to walk in it. And you'll live it out. And if you do, you'll be a blessing to your own life. You'll be a. You'll be glorifying God. And you'll be a blessing to the generations around you, the generations that come from you, and the generations that around you that are younger than you. And you will attract those who are God, chasing God, seeking believers. You'll make a difference in the whole world. You'll change the world that you live in. God's made us for that. We are the light of the world. Jesus said, I'm the light of the world. And then he said, you're the light of the world. He made us for that. We should take the hill country. Don't care about the giants or the chariots of the Canaanites. Take it. It's yours. You will be victorious over those chariots. Last chariots they saw are at the bottom of an ocean or a sea. God's into victory and he's into you being victorious. Walk in it. 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.