Spiritual Training

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March 7 - Evening

“When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, ‘Choose twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe, and tell them to take up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, from right where the priests are standing, and carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight.’ ” - Joshua 4:1-3

Setting Up a Memorial Monument


The Lord wanted twelve stones from the bottom of the Jordan at the exact location the priests had stood while holding the Ark of the Covenant as the Lord held back the waters of the Jordan. These twelve stones were to be a memorial on the banks of the Jordan of what the Lord had done when his Ark led Israel into the Promised Land in fulfillment of his promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
The size of the stones taken from the bottom of a river would be a testimony in itself since these stones were carried out on the shoulders of the twelve men selected from each of the tribes of Israel. These large stones were a miracle in themselves because no man could swim from the bottom of the Jordan to the shore with one of these stones on his shoulder.

The stones were to serve as a ‘ot,  which means “sign,” “miracle,” and “omen.” It is as if the Lord was trying to document this miraculous entry into Canaan with some form of proof or evidence that could be used for future generations as Joshua 4:6-7 says. These stones set up in Israel’s first camp on the west side of the Jordan are:
“…to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.”

Literally in the Hebrew the question above from Joshua 4:6 is a very personal question that is asked by the children of a future generation, “What are these stones to you?” The Israelites will have a personal testimony to hand down from generation to generation as each generation receives a personal answer and testimony from their parents beginning with this wilderness generation that entered the Promise Land.
Joshua set these twelve stones up in a memorial fashion in Israel’s first camp on the west bank. This camp was at Gilgal which would have become a memorial park for families to visit and share their faith with future generations.
Almost within a generation (according to Judges 3:19, 3:26) there were “idols” set up at Gilgal. This reference to “idols” at the memorial site of these twelve stones may have been a great offense to Ehud, one of Israel’s early judges, and may have been his motivation to turn back to kill Eglon, king of Moab, who was oppressing Israel (Judges 3:12-30).
Apaugasma (Gr) – Radiance (Eng) – apaugasma is a Greek word that is translated “radiance” in Hebrews 1:3 in the NIV, ESV, NAS and “brightness” in the KJ. The Orthodox Jewish Bible translate apaugasma as “Shechinah zohar.” Agaugasma is a compound word from apo, “from,” and auge, “brightness,” that is used to identify light shining from a radiant object.
Do remember and recall times in my life where God delivered me or opened a door of opportunity?
I will recall, record and remember the times God intervened in my life, so I will never forget.



Bible Reading Descriptions Here

Narrative

(morning only)

Complete Text

General Text




Personal

Changed to be like Jesus

Church

Financial support and responsible spending
Budget
Belgium



Stone fragments and basalt pillars in Korazin
Jerusalem's walls in 30 AD.




Someone to Quote

"God is active in the world at all times – but God acts through People.”
– Gerhard Lohfink

Something to Ponder

Old Testament words for sin:
1. Chata – means to miss the mark. If you shot an arrow poorly you not only missed the target, you hit something you were not suppose to hit.
2. Ra – means breaking up or ruin. It indicates something both morally wrong and damaging, and is often translated as "wicked".
3. Pasha – means to rebel, and is translated as transgression
4. Awon – means iniquity and guilt
5. Shagag – means to err or go astray as a lost animal or a child in a store. The one who went astray was ignorant but still responsible. Ignorance is no excuse.
6. Asham – means guilt before God and is associated with the tabernacle
7. Rasha – means wicked, the opposite of righteous
8. Taah – means to deliberately, not accidentally, wander away

Here’s a Fact

This is a portion of a brief list of a few of the significant finds that confirm or agree with the documentation of the New Testament:
 - Ashlar stone blocks – hundreds of the Herodian building stones from his Temple project exist
- Soreg Inscription – the barrier inscription mentioned in Acts 21:27-31 has been found.
- Bema Seat in Corinth – Paul stood trial here, Acts 18:12-17
- Pontius Pilate Inscription – Mentions Pilate the Roman Prefect in Judea
- Arch of Titus – Images of the Temple destruction in 70 AD
- Crucified Man’s Heel Bone – Physical evidence of crucifixion in NT times
- Caiaphas Ossuary – the High Priest presiding over Jesus’ trial with inscription

Proverb

"Now then, my sons, listen to me; pay attention to what I say. Do not let your heart turn to her ways or stray into her paths. Many are the victims she has brought down; her slain are a mighty throng."
- Proverbs 7:24-26

Coach’s Corner

Struggle and trauma do not need to defeat you. Instead, traumatic events can defeat complacency and drive distractions into the background.

Judges 4:6-7
New International Version (NIV)
She sent for Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you: ‘Go, take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead them up to Mount Tabor. I will lead Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his troops to the Kishon River and give him into your hands.’”
Judges 4:6
New International Version (NIV)
She sent for Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you: ‘Go, take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead them up to Mount Tabor.
Judges 3:19
New International Version (NIV)
19 But on reaching the stone images near Gilgal he himself went back to Eglon and said, “Your Majesty, I have a secret message for you.”
The king said to his attendants, “Leave us!” And they all left.
_______
Judges 3:26
New International Version (NIV)
26 While they waited, Ehud got away. He passed by the stone images and escaped to Seirah.
Judges 3:12-30
New International Version (NIV)
Ehud
12 Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and because they did this evil the Lord gave Eglon king of Moab power over Israel. 13 Getting the Ammonites and Amalekites to join him, Eglon came and attacked Israel, and they took possession of the City of Palms. 14 The Israelites were subject to Eglon king of Moab for eighteen years.
15 Again the Israelites cried out to the Lord, and he gave them a deliverer—Ehud, a left-handed man, the son of Gera the Benjamite. The Israelites sent him with tribute to Eglon king of Moab. 16 Now Ehud had made a double-edged sword about a cubit long, which he strapped to his right thigh under his clothing. 17 He presented the tribute to Eglon king of Moab, who was a very fat man. 18 After Ehud had presented the tribute, he sent on their way those who had carried it. 19 But on reaching the stone images near Gilgal he himself went back to Eglon and said, “Your Majesty, I have a secret message for you.”
The king said to his attendants, “Leave us!” And they all left.
20 Ehud then approached him while he was sitting alone in the upper room of his palace and said, “I have a message from God for you.” As the king rose from his seat, 21 Ehud reached with his left hand, drew the sword from his right thigh and plunged it into the king’s belly. 22 Even the handle sank in after the blade, and his bowels discharged. Ehud did not pull the sword out, and the fat closed in over it. 23 Then Ehud went out to the porch; he shut the doors of the upper room behind him and locked them.
24 After he had gone, the servants came and found the doors of the upper room locked. They said, “He must be relieving himself in the inner room of the palace.” 25 They waited to the point of embarrassment, but when he did not open the doors of the room, they took a key and unlocked them. There they saw their lord fallen to the floor, dead.
26 While they waited, Ehud got away. He passed by the stone images and escaped to Seirah. 27 When he arrived there, he blew a trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went down with him from the hills, with him leading them.
28 “Follow me,” he ordered, “for the Lord has given Moab, your enemy, into your hands.” So they followed him down and took possession of the fords of the Jordan that led to Moab; they allowed no one to cross over. 29 At that time they struck down about ten thousand Moabites, all vigorous and strong; not one escaped. 30 That day Moab was made subject to Israel, and the land had peace for eighty years.
Hebrews 1:3
New International Version (NIV)
The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.
Judges 3:12-30
New International Version (NIV)
Ehud
12 Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and because they did this evil the Lord gave Eglon king of Moab power over Israel. 13 Getting the Ammonites and Amalekites to join him, Eglon came and attacked Israel, and they took possession of the City of Palms. 14 The Israelites were subject to Eglon king of Moab for eighteen years.
15 Again the Israelites cried out to the Lord, and he gave them a deliverer—Ehud, a left-handed man, the son of Gera the Benjamite. The Israelites sent him with tribute to Eglon king of Moab. 16 Now Ehud had made a double-edged sword about a cubit long, which he strapped to his right thigh under his clothing. 17 He presented the tribute to Eglon king of Moab, who was a very fat man. 18 After Ehud had presented the tribute, he sent on their way those who had carried it. 19 But on reaching the stone images near Gilgal he himself went back to Eglon and said, “Your Majesty, I have a secret message for you.”
The king said to his attendants, “Leave us!” And they all left.
20 Ehud then approached him while he was sitting alone in the upper room of his palace and said, “I have a message from God for you.” As the king rose from his seat, 21 Ehud reached with his left hand, drew the sword from his right thigh and plunged it into the king’s belly. 22 Even the handle sank in after the blade, and his bowels discharged. Ehud did not pull the sword out, and the fat closed in over it. 23 Then Ehud went out to the porch; he shut the doors of the upper room behind him and locked them.
24 After he had gone, the servants came and found the doors of the upper room locked. They said, “He must be relieving himself in the inner room of the palace.” 25 They waited to the point of embarrassment, but when he did not open the doors of the room, they took a key and unlocked them. There they saw their lord fallen to the floor, dead.
26 While they waited, Ehud got away. He passed by the stone images and escaped to Seirah. 27 When he arrived there, he blew a trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went down with him from the hills, with him leading them.
28 “Follow me,” he ordered, “for the Lord has given Moab, your enemy, into your hands.” So they followed him down and took possession of the fords of the Jordan that led to Moab; they allowed no one to cross over. 29 At that time they struck down about ten thousand Moabites, all vigorous and strong; not one escaped. 30 That day Moab was made subject to Israel, and the land had peace for eighty years.
Joshua 4
New International Version (NIV)
When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, “Choose twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe, and tell them to take up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, from right where the priests are standing, and carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight.”
So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, and said to them, “Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.”
So the Israelites did as Joshua commanded them. They took twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, as the Lord had told Joshua; and they carried them over with them to their camp, where they put them down. Joshua set up the twelve stones that had been in the middle of the Jordan at the spot where the priests who carried the ark of the covenant had stood. And they are there to this day.
10 Now the priests who carried the ark remained standing in the middle of the Jordan until everything the Lord had commanded Joshua was done by the people, just as Moses had directed Joshua. The people hurried over, 11 and as soon as all of them had crossed, the ark of the Lord and the priests came to the other side while the people watched. 12 The men of Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh crossed over, ready for battle, in front of the Israelites, as Moses had directed them. 13 About forty thousand armed for battle crossed over before the Lord to the plains of Jericho for war.
14 That day the Lord exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they stood in awe of him all the days of his life, just as they had stood in awe of Moses.
15 Then the Lord said to Joshua, 16 “Command the priests carrying the ark of the covenant law to come up out of the Jordan.”
17 So Joshua commanded the priests, “Come up out of the Jordan.”
18 And the priests came up out of the river carrying the ark of the covenant of the Lord. No sooner had they set their feet on the dry ground than the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and ran at flood stage as before.
19 On the tenth day of the first month the people went up from the Jordan and camped at Gilgal on the eastern border of Jericho. 20 And Joshua set up at Gilgal the twelve stones they had taken out of the Jordan. 21 He said to the Israelites, “In the future when your descendants ask their parents, ‘What do these stones mean?’ 22 tell them, ‘Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’ 23 For the Lord your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over. The Lord your God did to the Jordan what he had done to the Red Sea when he dried it up before us until we had crossed over. 24 He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the Lord is powerful and so that you might always fear the Lord your God.”
Numbers 30
New International Version (NIV)
Vows
30 Moses said to the heads of the tribes of Israel: “This is what the Lord commands: When a man makes a vow to the Lord or takes an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word but must do everything he said.
“When a young woman still living in her father’s household makes a vow to the Lord or obligates herself by a pledge and her father hears about her vow or pledge but says nothing to her, then all her vows and every pledge by which she obligated herself will stand. But if her father forbids her when he hears about it, none of her vows or the pledges by which she obligated herself will stand; the Lord will release her because her father has forbidden her.
“If she marries after she makes a vow or after her lips utter a rash promise by which she obligates herself and her husband hears about it but says nothing to her, then her vows or the pledges by which she obligated herself will stand. But if her husband forbids her when he hears about it, he nullifies the vow that obligates her or the rash promise by which she obligates herself, and the Lord will release her.
“Any vow or obligation taken by a widow or divorced woman will be binding on her.
10 “If a woman living with her husband makes a vow or obligates herself by a pledge under oath 11 and her husband hears about it but says nothing to her and does not forbid her, then all her vows or the pledges by which she obligated herself will stand. 12 But if her husband nullifies them when he hears about them, then none of the vows or pledges that came from her lips will stand. Her husband has nullified them, and the Lord will release her. 13 Her husband may confirm or nullify any vow she makes or any sworn pledge to deny herself. 14 But if her husband says nothing to her about it from day to day, then he confirms all her vows or the pledges binding on her. He confirms them by saying nothing to her when he hears about them. 15 If, however, he nullifies them some time after he hears about them, then he must bear the consequences of her wrongdoing.”
16 These are the regulations the Lord gave Moses concerning relationships between a man and his wife, and between a father and his young daughter still living at home.


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