Joshua 22:30-34 | Episode #1255

August 7, 2026

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

Joshua 22:30-34

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, and we're dealing with verses 30 through 34. It's the end of the issue to Reuben and Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh crossing over the Jordan river to go back to their homeland, back to their place where their inheritance is. And they've explained why they built the altar. And it was a good reason. It was a really good reason. But as we read through this, I think it's really important to kind of see, see what's going on. Because really, the way Pine Haas, the chief priest, the way he handles this is really, really good. It is, well, dare I say, a New Testament methodology. He uses the New Testament, I guess it would be the Old Testament if it came first, Right. He uses God's way of dealing with a major issue. And that's what goes on here. It says now when Panaz the priest and the rulers of the congregation, the heads of the divisions of Israel who were with him, heard the words that the children of Reuben, the children of Gad and the children of Manasseh spoke, it pleased them. Notice. What did they do? They listened. They listened to what these people said. They listened to what was going on. And they said, you know what? That makes sense. I hear not just what they're saying, I hear their intent. I hear their heart in this matter. And notice they're open to it. They've got a whole army behind them. They're ready to go to war in that kind of situation. Things can be very tense in that kind of situation. Things can get out of control real fast. But they don't allow things to get out of control. Why? Because they're not there for the purpose of battle. Even though they're prepared for battle. They're there for the purpose of reconciliation, putting things right, getting things right and back together. And so when they hear the news, they listen to those who would undermine them and undermine society. When they hear the news, well, they get upset. But the truth is not in the news. The truth is in the words of those two tribes and the half tribe of NASA and their leaders. And, and when they hear that, they're open to it. And they say, you know what? That was a great reason to build that altar. You know, in fact, they said then Panaz, the son of Eleazar, the priest, said to the children of Reuben, the children of Gad and the children of Manasseh, this day we perceive that the Lord is among us. Notice we're listening to who, The Holy Spirit. They say they perceive that the Lord is among us and Jesus is not standing there. The Father is where the Father always is, in heaven. So who is it that is among them? Well, it's Jesus. I mean, it's the Holy Spirit. It's the Holy Spirit there, because you have not committed this treachery against the Lord. Notice what they perceived was a wrong was not a wrong. And by the way, this is a New Testament idea. The New Testament God says all things are profitable. I mean, all things are permissible, not all things are profitable. What he's saying is, what they're saying is that you can eat what you want, you can worship in all kinds of ways. Now, that doesn't mean it's going to be good for you, meaning it's going to bring about a good reward. You can do those things. There's great freedom in Christ, is basically the New Testament idea, okay? But it's not necessarily profitable that you do these things. And so if you said to me, I do this, and some Christians think it's bad, and some Christians don't think it, think it's bad, what should I do? I always would say, what's the situation? What's the Spirit say? Where are we at with this? And if, if, if you're telling me that, that it's an issue over here for this person, then I'd say, well, probably you need to not do that around them, not do that with them. That's a problem for them. And then you might say, well, but it does this for me, it's, I've been led to do this because, because it profits me in this way. Then I'd say, well, maybe the Spirit's leading you to do that. Maybe that's, that's, that's, that's what you're supposed to be doing. There's great freedom in Christ. And so even though they were only supposed to worship God in front of the tabernacle, even though there only was supposed to be one altar and that altar was going to be built in Jerusalem, they didn't know where it was then, but they knew that God was going to show them a place. Even though they knew all that, these two tribes built an altar. Now they didn't build it for sacrifice. They built it as a remembrance between them and the other tribes of Israel. They did something that was perceptively maybe, maybe something that would be a problem. But in all actuality, it wasn't a problem because their intent, the intent of their heart mattered the most. And navigating that is really the thing that makes you grow in your relationship with God, but also grow in your maturity in Christ. Navigating the Holy Spirit's leadership on matters that are not so clear, not so clear cut is what makes us mature believers not needing anything. And so when we come to this, we've got Ponhas being a man who listens to the Holy Spirit. He says, you have not committed this treachery against the Lord. Now you have delivered the children of Israel out of the hand of the Lord. Meaning we were going to attack you, kill you, then that would be wrong because we would be attacking you wrongly. And by attacking you wrongly, we'd put ourselves in a position for God to attack us. This was a disaster waiting to happen. Pan says, we're not doing this. It says in Panason, the son of the son of Eleazar the priest and the rulers returned from the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the children, and from the land of Gilead to the land of Canaan to the children of Israel, they brought back word to them. So the thing pleased the children of Israel. Notice when you do things right, the blessing of God is always there. And that's what's happened here. They've done it rightly. And when you do things right, you sense the blessing of God. I always, always tell people, when they're, when they're asking me a question about how or what or when why they should do something, I always tell them, what's the Holy Spirit telling you? First, first question. What's the Holy Spirit telling you? Because if Holy Spirit's telling you something, really, I don't have any. I don't have anything to add, you know, because I. I don't know. You know it or not, I'm not God, neither are you. And so if the Holy Spirit's talking, we should be listening. And if the Holy Spirit's saying something to somebody in their heart, I don't know what path he's leading them down. I don't know what. What things he's growing them into. And so I'm definitely not going to get in the way of the Holy Spirit's leadership. The Holy Spirit's telling you to do it. Try it. Even if I perceive that it's not going to work, I still tell them because sometimes God leads a person to do something that doesn't work today so that they learn a lesson that prepares them to be victorious tomorrow. And so who am I to decide that? I don't order your steps. I don't live in tomorrow like God does. And so if God says something, we should do it. And when we do those things, peace, victory and fellowship. Fellowship with each other and fellowship with God is what results. And the children of Israel, when the word came back, they were pleased. The children of Israel blessed God. Notice there's a lot of worship going on. It says they spoke no more about going against them in battle to destroy the land where the children of Reuben and children Gad dwelt. Notice no more talk about that. Why? Because they have the peace of God. So it says the children of Reuben and the children of Gad called the altar witness. It's a witness between us. For it is a witness between us and the Lord that the Lord is our God. And you know, you do need things in life like this. You need these events to happen in your life where you see that God is, well, you know, he is telling you stuff. He's leading and guiding you. He is actively at work in your life. And this right here is a clear, is a clear indication that, you know, they're actively at work in. In the lives of. God's actively at work in the lives of. Of believers. And he's actively at work in the lives of his people. And when you remember these things, then you know, maybe they should have built a standing stone, but they built an altar. It was a witness. It was something to remember what God does. And nothing wrong with doing things and having things that remind you of the big things God has done in your life. And you know, as you get older, you kind of begin to collect those things, those remembrances, because great is our God and great is his faithfulness. 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.