Jonah
Joshua 2 - Rahab
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
Joshua 2 - Rahab audio (4MB)
Joshua has received the call of God. If he’s to be a good leader he needs to show courage. But he also needs to show wisdom. They’re still on the east side of the Jordan, not yet in the Promised land and he’s working out what to do first. So before embarking on a campaign of war he decides to find out the lay of the land. So he sends a pair of spies to check it out.
But before we look at this little spy adventure let’s just stop to think about what they’re about to do and why. In Deut 31 God tells them, through Moses: “3The LORD your God himself will cross over before you. He will destroy these nations before you, and you shall dispossess them. ... 4The LORD will do to them as he did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when he destroyed them.”
At first glance this seems like a terrible thing the Israelites are about to embark on. Their mission is to drive out the inhabitants of the land; to utterly destroy them. Yet as we see in that passage it’s actually God who’s doing the destroying. It’s God who’s going before them to dispossess that people of the land.
Joshua 1 - The Foundation of Leadership
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
Joshua - The Foundation of Leadership audio (4MB)
Today I want to talk about leadership. How can we develop it in ourselves? How can we recognise it in others? But first let me ask you, do you want good leadership in the church?
I trust that you all said an emphatic yes to that! Well then, let me tell you how you can get it.
Choose leaders who have been called to leadership by God, choose leaders with courage, devotion and obedience to God and be people who in turn are obedient, courageous, loyal and encouraging of your leaders.
Let’s look at today’s passage to see how these three sets of conditions come out in the history of Joshua.
Three Partners in Leadership
The first thing to notice is that leadership here involves a 3-fold partnership, between God, the leader and the people.
Isaiah 43:1-7
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
Fear Not
Isaiah 43:1-7 audio (3MB)
One of the things about looking at a prophecy like Isaiah is that it’s a bit like looking at a mountain range. From close in it can look like there’s just one row of mountains in the range, but then if you get up higher, or fly over it in a plane you see that in fact there are rows of mountains one after the other.
When we read Isaiah we can see that it’s addressed immediately to the people of Israel in exile. God is encouraging them not to give up hope. They’re still his people. He still has a plan for their salvation. But when we look at it some more, from the perspective of the New Testament we realise that sometimes the prophecy goes beyond the physical nation of Israel to one who stands in their place as their representative; as the one who represents the whole nation of Israel, to Jesus.
1 Kings 21
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
The Last Straw audio (5MB)
Reading through the story of Ahab and Jezebel, I occasionally feel a bit sorry for Ahab. He gets a glimpse every now and then of what’s the right thing to do. You feel like he’d really like to do the right thing, but he’s made so many bad decisions in the past that he just can’t get there. His worst decision of course was to marry Jezebel and let her get away with polluting the worship of Israel with her own worship of Baal. In fact you’d have to say that he even encouraged her by building a temple to Baal in Samaria itself. He comes across as such weak character doesn’t he, particularly compared with the strong character of Jezebel? And even when he realises the truth of his situation or the justice of a matter, he allows Jezebel to overrule him. It’s ironic that Jezebel criticises him for not acting as king, but gladly overrules him when she doesn’t like what he’s doing. We saw that with the aftermath of the demonstration of Yahweh’s power on Mt Carmel. Ahab appeared to be convinced but Jezebel was unmoved and acted independently to avenge the prophets of Baal.
1 Kings 19
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
Elijah in the Pits audio (4MB)
1 Kings 19
It must have been an overwhelming experience for Elijah on Mt Carmel mustn't it? In fact, to see the lightning fall from the sky and consume everything on the altar, after what was the simplest of prayers by Elijah, must have had an incredible impact not only on him but on everyone present. It certainly had an impact on the prophets of Baal who were rounded up by the crowd and executed at the base of the mountain.
Can you see the Light?
But notice that despite the clear sign of God's power and the impotence of Baal, Jezebel isn't moved. You can imagine Ahab running into the palace, breathless, and telling Jezebel everything that happened: “Honey, you should have been there. Elijah prayed to Yahweh and fire came down from heaven and zapped everything - even the water in the pit around the altar went up in a cloud of steam. And then he killed all our prophets.” To which Jezebel replies something like: “Pull yourself together Ahab. Act like a King. So what if Elijah’s pulled off this magic trick? If you think I’m going to give up my religion you’ve got another think coming.” Then she sends a message to Elijah: “I’ll teach you to kill my prophets. You’re a dead man.”
