Joshua 22:1-8 | Episode #1251

August 3, 2026

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

Joshua 22:1-8

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 to today, in the name of Jesus. Amen. Well, good morning. Welcome to Lake Community Church's morning Bible study. We are in Joshua, chapter 22, working toward the end. Only three chapters left. We are dealing with these tribes that return to the land on the other side of the Jordan River. I was watching something the other night, and, you know, oftentimes you'll watch something on YouTube and you're listening to somebody who has limited understanding, which is everybody on YouTube. Because we don't know all things. We don't see all things. But the person who was talking said that Judas was from the other side of the Jordan river. And he was. He actually was from the other side of the Jordan river, from a town, he in one of these areas that we see here where the half tribe of Manasseh and all the tribes on the other side of the rivers, the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half tribe of Manasseh, Those two and a half tribes got their possessions before they entered the Promised Land. They got their possessions from victories that Moses had on the other side of the Jordan river before they crossed into the Promised Land. Now, when they took possession of that land, they said, we're gonna come in and we're gonna fight and we're gonna help you take possession of the lands which God has promised you. But these are the lands we want. Now, the person was making the statement that Judas was not Jewish because he was not from the right side, or really it's to the left side of the Jordan River. It's the western side of the Jordan River. So he couldn't have been Jewish. Well, that's not true. Cause like I said, these tribes took possession of the land on the other side of the river. But, but they were quickly, and when I say quickly, they moved very quickly in their culture away from God. And that's because they were separated from God. And this is one of those spiritual understandings or spiritual truths that we can gain from Joshua. That is important. It's an important idea and understanding that you get from the book of Joshua. It says, then Joshua called the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh and said to them, you've kept all that Moses, the servant of the Lord commanded you and have obeyed my voice and all that I command you. Now notice they've done what they're supposed to do. It's not like they're out of control. It's not like they don't know what's going on. They've done exactly what they promised that they would do. You've kept all the commands of Moses and you've obeyed the voice that I've commanded you. So they even obeyed Joshua. You have not left your brethren these many days up to this day, but have kept the charge of the commandment of the Lord your God. Notice they were faithful. They not only were obedient, but they were faithful. They stayed as long as they were asked to stay. He says, but take careful heed to do the commandments of the law, which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you to love the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways to keep his commandments told fast to him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul. Notice this is basically the first commandment of the Spirit in the New Testament. The commandments of love. They're to obey, but they're to love the Lord their God and keep all his commandments. And they're to keep them with their heart, soul, mind, strength, all of their being there to keep it. And Joshua is giving them this warning. Now you go, why is Joshua giving them this warning specially? Well, because they're on the other side of the river. And remember, crossing the river is a arduous and treacherous process. It's not an easy process to cross a river. I know we have bridges, and crossing rivers is something we do every day. I cross a river almost every day. At least cross a major creek almost every day of my life. And in past times, crossing those rivers or creeks was a dangerous task. You would not always want to cross a river and the river between them and the rest of the Jewish people, the river between them and what would be Jerusalem, where God would command them to come and worship him, is a problem. It is a distance that causes you to be separated. And that separation is something that you would not want to create. Cross regularly. And if you're going to come to the festivals, you're going to have to cross that river four or five times a year, which at certain times of the year would make it almost impossible. And at other times of the year it would make it dangerous anyway. And so they have, in their geography, they have separated themselves from God. Now, I use the word geography because it's important. Geography can be any place. If I'm here and you're there, then we're not. We're not in the same place. Where you're at, there you are, but you're not anywhere else where you're at. And geography matters. And when your geography is regularly outside the presence of God, well, you're in a bad position. You are. When your geography's outside the presence of God, you're in a bad position. You go, well, God lives in my heart. He's with me on the lake. Well, the problem with that is God gives us some very specific instructions about how to live out the Christian life. And one of those instructions that is given to us pretty regularly is that we're to meet together, that we're to worship God corporately, that we're to do that as a body of believers. Anyone who tells you that they are serving God and worshiping God apart from God's believers are lying to you. They're not because the Holy Spirit's not moving in their life, because they are being disobedient to the instructions of God. They're not following these commandments. They're not doing what the Bible says. And there's no way to get around that. I mean, you can say, well, I feel close to God. But the problem is you're not. You have geographically put yourself in a position that's outside what God clearly stated as his will. You've geographically removed yourself from the clear will of God. And when you geographically remove yourself from the clear will of God, you. Well, you spiritually remove yourself from the will of God. And so the game that we play that. And it's. And it's even easier to do it nowadays because we can watch the service from the house. Now, if you're sick, that's fine. If you're in some way infirmed, you're hurt, you're injured, you can't be there absolutely and that's why we do it. That's why we publicize. If you're geographically separated because you're out of town, that's a great, great way to do it. But if you're in town feeling good on Sunday morning and you're not in church, and I'm talking about anybody anywhere, you're not corporately gathering together for any reason other than what God says in his word, then you're geographically separated. And geographical separation always, always, always, not any question about it, eventually leads to spiritual separation. And so Moses commanded them, Joshua commanded them. They knew that there was a problem with them living on the other side of that river. And the problem was, is they were going to be geographically separated. And if they didn't intentionally work to be geographically a part of the children of Israel, they would eventually become like the cultures they lived in. And that's what happens, and that's what causes you to be spiritually separated from God. It said now, to the half tribe of Manasseh, Moses had given a possession of Bashan, but to the other half of it, Joshua gave a possession among their brethren on the side of the Jordan, westward. So the half tribe of Manasseh was both on the east and west. And indeed, when Joshua sent them away to their tents, he blessed them and spoke to them saying, return with much riches to your tents, with very much livestock and silver and gold and bronze, with iron and. And with a very much clothed, divide the spoils of your enemies with your brethren. What he's saying is take all this stuff that we've won in victory and benefit from it. But what's going to cause to happen is they're not going to need God. They're rich, they've got a lot of possessions, and they're going to cross the Jordan river and they're not going to come back. They're not going to come back regularly. You know, they come back at the start and then slowly they ease away. And let me tell you something, that happens a whole lot. A believer comes in, they're fired up, and slowly they ease out of what God's doing. And they miss out on God totally. They miss out on everything that he's doing, everything that he's saying, how he's working. They miss out on God because they come up with every reason why it's okay for them to be geographically separated from God's people. And remember, geographical separation can be in this house and in your house, and they be across, across the street from each other. If you're not meeting with God's people, you are separated. So the children of Reuben, the children of Gad, and the half tribe of Nasser returned and departed from the children of Israel to Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan, to go to the country of Gilead to the land of their possessions which they had obtained according to the word of the Lord by the hand of Moses. And so we have this issue that, that arises with these tribes being on the other side of the Jordan. They have been faithful, they've been true. There's no reason to think, oh, there's a problem here other than Moses and Joshua know there's a problem here. And that's why they're very specific with them and very straightforward with them. But I found that you can be very specific with somebody, very straightforward to somebody and they will fail sometimes to listen to you. And so it is of the greatest importance that you hear what God says and that you well do what he says. He says you've kept and charged the commandments of the Lord your God, the clamp commandments, precepts, what he said for you to do, you've kept them and you should continue to keep them and you should continue to walk in them. But you can't play games with it. You can't play games with it. You have to do it daily and regularly. And oftentimes we make that compromise. I'm going to take some time off from the church, but I'm not taking my time off from God. And I'm sorry, that just does out of line with the commandments of God, with his precepts, with his instructions. It's out of line with it. And eventually geographical separation leads to spiritual separation. 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.