A brand new series..."A Brand New Focus"

Beginning this Sunday we will start a sermon series in the OT book of Joshua entitled "A Brand New Focus." I love the book of Joshua. It has a freshness that feels to me like the first day of a new school year. I always used to dread the first day of school after the Christmas holiday break like getting a tooth filled but I never dreaded the first day of a new school year. That brand new school year meant that all my failures and mistakes of last year were in the past and I was working on a brand new "slate." A similar thing is happening for Israel in the book of Joshua.

The inexcusable act of disobedience by the children of Israel at Kadesh-Barnea (see Numbers 13-14) had required a 40 year punishment. Now that's some detention! In the book of Joshua we find the children at the same point of their original disobedience but with a brand new opportunity to obey. The first time they focused on all the reasons why they couldn't obey and it cost them dearly. This time they will have "A Brand New Focus."

Of course, the nation will not always follow God's lead and we'll see that along our journey too. But the key is to catch a glimps of everything that is possible when God's people focus on God's plan, that never changed by the way, and begin to experience everything that follows obedience.

Hope you will join us in person or online as we journey through the book of Joshua with a challenge to gain "A Brand New Focus." Happy New Year!