Joshua 19:17-23 | Episode #1244

July 23, 2026

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

Joshua 19:17-23

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. Well, good morning. Welcome to Lake Community Church's morning Bible study. We are in Joshua, chapter 19, verses 17 through 23. We are talking about. Well, we're talking about somebody you probably haven't heard of either. It is Issachar. Issachar. And you go, issachar? I've never heard of Issachar. Well, I mean, that has a reason. It's Issac. Or you could say, I guess it's a char, but it's not. It's just a car. And they are a tribe in the Northern Kingdom. As far as location, and especially from our Bible study yesterday, they're a little south of Zebulun and Naphtali. So they're near Galilee, where Jesus is, but they're never really even close. In fact, if you go through verses 17 through 23, which is a legal description of where they're at, none of the locations that you read is anywhere where you would remember. Scripturally, they have no significance there. They received their inheritance. It was a very small inheritance. Very, very small inheritance. In fact, their tribal inheritance is one of the smallest, if not the smallest, that is given. So they've got a small inheritance. They're near a very important place, namely Zebulun and Naphtali, where Galilee basically is. They are very, very scarcely mentioned in the Old Testament. Not mentioned very much. In fact, only one person from Issachar other than Issachar himself is even mentioned in the Bible. That was one of the Judges. He's Tola. We'll get to him later. Of the Judges. He is One of the minorist of minor judges, meaning he didn't play a huge role. I mean, basically, he's almost just barely mentioned. He's not mentioned. Issachar is not mentioned in the New Testament except for Israel in Revelation chapter 7, where the 144,000 Jewish preachers go out to preach the gospel. And he is one of the tribes that's mentioned. It mentions all 12 of the tribes, the tribes of promise that are found in the book of the Revelation. It's of course on the list, but that's it. And really when you get to this place, that's the end of it. And it's just not anything, really not anything at all. And there's a great lesson to be learned in this. Issachar was a son of the man of faith. He was a great grandson of Abraham. He was one of the tribes of Israel. One of the stones on the ephod that the high priest wore represented Issachar. Issachar's story in the Bible is almost none. There's not a whole lot said about Issachar even in the Old Testament. He's only mentioned 40 times in the Old Testament. And there's multiple lists of the tribes of Israel in the Old Testament. And he's on the list every time, but that's it. And he only has one person in his lineage that's even mentioned in the rest of the Bible and the cities that he is given. His tribe is given in the promised land. It's a nice place. It's really a comfortable place. In fact, his blessing is that he's going to be a donkey, which that's not a negative thing. In the blessings that he's given, it means strength and power. And it means, and it means independence and liberty who lies between the sheep. So he. He is going.

What?

What he is. He's. He's a person of strength and a person that has character. Who lies down with the sheep. He's just sleeping with the sheep. And when you think about that, that seems like a blessing. But is it really? And the answer is, no, it's not. That's just not a blessing. That's not something that you would say, you know, you're so excited about because you're not excited about that. You're not. Because he had all the reason to be something else. And he just really did nothing. He did nothing. And so because of his birth, because where God had placed him, he gets his name mentioned 41 times in the Bible, but there's not a whole lot of reason to think or talk about him after that. And that seems so strange that we would study him here on Veterans Day Day, where we celebrate those who have served in the military. Memorial Day is a time to celebrate those who have served and died in the service of our country. Veterans Day is a day to celebrate those who have served and are still alive, those who have served and wore the uniform and are still walking among us. July 4th is celebration of the beginning of our country. All these days are very important. And so many times when we celebrate, especially Veterans Day, it's the day that's kind of forgotten. We forget it now. That doesn't mean that what was done by those who are being celebrated is not important. It's just one of those things that forgotten. And I think about that in regard to Issachar. Issachar may have done some big things, but they're not in Scripture, and he's just not very much remembered. And I also think about him in the sense of a lot of people who sit in the pews of churches. And really, it's not something that I can say a whole lot about our church because most of the people who are involved in our church are doing things. If we have 250 or 300 on Sunday morning, of that 250, 300, obviously 50 or 60 of them are children and teenagers. So I'm not going to hold them to a very high standard. So let's just drop that number down, because if we move them, that's 190 to 240. Of the 190, 240, probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 70% of them are actively involved in some ministry. Ministry, maybe even 80 to 90%. And of that group that's not involved, a lot of them are relatively new to the church. If you stay at our church, you tend to get involved in doing some ministry. We have over 40 ministries that encompass what we do as a church. We are a church of people who don't just sit in the pew. They get up and they worship. And when they begin to worship, they get up and begin to do. And so I don't see that. But for those who are places where people do tend to sit, let me encourage you to get up and move for your church, to move for your congregation, to do the things that would make a name. Not that you're trying to make a name for yourself, but make a name that would glorify God. And what you're doing is you're trying to do things that would build the kingdom. And rather than just being tangentially a part of it or just named among those who were there. And really that's what Issachar is. He's named as somebody that was there. He was one of the ones that were there. And I always say that's one of those compliments that is not really accomplishment compliment. Of all the people that were the tribes of Israel, Issachar was one of them. That's not a compliment. That's just not even. In fact, it's not, it's, it's, it's negative. And so for. If you're, if you're hearing this Bible study sometime in the future and you're sitting there going, why am I listening to this guy talk about is car? There's not much to talk about. The reason you would listen is because you need to hear that to be an Issachar is to be lost to all the potential and all the things that God would have done for you if you had just got up and done something and you didn't. They're carried off. They joined the 10 northern tribes that rebel against God and set up a high place away from Jerusalem. And they don't stand up and say, no, don't do that. They join in. They just go along with crowd and the Assyrians carry them off into captivity and they're never heard from again until the book of the Revelation. That's it. That's all there is. I expect that that's not going to be you. You would not have made it to the end of this Bible study if it was. You're going to do something that matters, something that has purpose, something that has meaning, something that glorifies God, something that when you lay your head down at night, say, I love my Lord and I have served him. And you will hear the words of our Lord in return. Well done, my good and faithful servant. Because you've been faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many. Come and share your master's happiness. What a wonderful response to get from God. And it's a response for those who get up and live out their faith. And I pray that that will be you in every possible way and expect that it will be because you are seeking him.

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.