SIGHTS, SOUNDS, & STORIES 💥

( This post is a short summary of a message I just preached at my church.  To watch whole thing, click here .) THERE IS NO JOSHUA 6 WITHOUT JOSHUA 5.  There are no crumbling walls without circumcised hearts. JOSHUA 6 is the well-known and well-loved story of the Battle of Jericho. The Israelites walk around this walled enemy city for 7 days and on the last lap of the final day, the walls miraculously come tumbling down… and the Israelites win the battle.  Joshua 6 is powerful! It preaches good.  It gets put in the kids books.  It gets written about in songs.  But there is no Joshua 6 without Joshua 5.  JOSHUA 5 takes place a few days before Joshua 6. It’s not as popular. It doesn’t preach so good. It doesn’t get put in the kids books and no one is writing songs about it.  But there is no Joshua 6 without Joshua 5.      In Joshua 5, the Israelites have just crossed the Jordan River and entered the Promise Land, ending 40 years of wildness wandering. You would think that

Have you ever encountered a storm? Jesus did. And not once, but twice. Yes, that’s right. In Matthew 8 and in Matthew 14, Jesus found Himself in the middle of a severe storm. But both times He went through it to the other side. And you can too!  Here are three keys for going THROUGH THE STORM from the life of Jesus…  Matthew 8:23-24 NLT 23 Then Jesus got into the boat and started across the lake with his disciples. 24 Suddenly, a fierce storm struck the lake, with waves breaking into the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. #1 SLEEP IN IT Now, when I say “sleep in it,” I’m NOT talking about crawling into bed, pulling the covers over your head, and ignoring all your problems. No, this is more than physical sleep. This is spiritual peace.  You’ll never have power over the storm until you have peace in the storm! Because ultimately, the enemy is after your peace. If he can steal your peace, he can stop you from walking in power.  If it’s costing you your peace, it’s too expensive. 

"You anoint my head with oil." - Psalm 23:5 The Lord is our Shepherd (Psalm 23) and we are His sheep (Psalm 100). In his book, A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23 , W. Phillip Keller provides the following insight:  “Sheep are especially troubled by the nose fly… These little flies buzz about the sheep’s head, attempting to deposit their eggs on the damp mucous membranes of the sheep’s nose. If they are successful, the eggs will hatch in a few days to form small, slender, worm-like larvae. They work their way up the nasal passages into the sheep’s head; they burrow into the flesh and there set up an intense irritation accompanied by severe inflammation. For relief from this agonizing annoyance, sheep will deliberately beat their heads against trees, rocks, posts, or brush. They will rub them in the soil and thrash around against woody growth. In extreme cases of intense infestation, a sheep may even kill itself... Often advanced stages of infection from these flies will lead t