As God Commands

Joshua 8:1-8

1 Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Take the whole army with you, and go up and attack Ai. For I have delivered into your hands the king of Ai, his people, his city and his land. 2 You shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king, except that you may carry off their plunder and livestock for yourselves. Set an ambush behind the city.”
3 So Joshua and the whole army moved out to attack Ai. He chose thirty thousand of his best fighting men and sent them out at night 4 with these orders: “Listen carefully. You are to set an ambush behind the city. Don’t go very far from it. All of you be on the alert. 5 I and all those with me will advance on the city, and when the men come out against us, as they did before, we will flee from them. 6 They will pursue us until we have lured them away from the city, for they will say, ‘They are running away from us as they did before.’ So when we flee from them, 7 you are to rise up from ambush and take the city. The LORD your God will give it into your hand. 8 When you have taken the city, set it on fire. Do what the LORD has commanded. See to it; you have my orders.”

Culture

There are cultural practices that are acceptable to God as well as cultural practices that are not acceptable to God. Manitoba proudly declares to be friendly. Friendly Manitoba is published in the car plate numbers. To be friendly is acceptable to God.
“Filipino Time” is identified as Filipino culture. Many Filipinos sheepishly or acceptably use “Filipino Time” as their excuse to being late. If you agreed at an appointment, and you’re late, you just broken your commitment or promise.

What is a “promise?” Dictionary.com defines the word “promise” as “a declaration that something will or will not be done, given or act upon.”
The Lord Almighty declared in Isaiah 46:11, 11 What I have said, that I will bring about; what I have planned, that I will do.
In 2 Corinthians 1:20, 20For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.

Humans are prone to break promises. God fulfills His promises.
You’ll know that the Spirit of Christ is at work in your life, when you hate to be late in your appointment with God. God the Holy Spirit empowers us to respect our commitments, and to respect ourselves because our life, our body is the temple of God. Would God let His temple be an instrument of ridicule, or cultural disgrace or mistakes?

When God says, instructs, or commands something, the Holy Spirit enables us to listen and obey. Have you received the Spirit of Christ? Genuine believers who cannot identify God’s voice, are either spiritually lukewarm or blatantly ignoring the Holy Spirit. If you are filled with Christ’s Spirit, you’ve enthusiasm in listening and obeying Him.
Didn’t Jesus say that His sheep listen to His voice?
It says in John 10:16, 16 I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice…

Many theologians suggest that Jesus pertains to Gentiles when He said ‘other’ sheep. Gentile believers are His ‘other’ sheep. The Israelites believers are His sheep. As Gentile believers, Christ’s ‘other’ sheep, let’s learn how the Lord dealt with the Israelites.
The Israelites experienced similarity of success over Jericho and Ai when they listened and obeyed the instruction of the Lord through His chosen leader Joshua.

1. Similarity

1 Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Take the whole army with you, and go up and attack Ai. For I have delivered into your hands the king of Ai, his people, his city and his land. 2 You shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king, except that you may carry off their plunder and livestock for yourselves. Set an ambush behind the city.”
The Lord made Jericho as example on how He would deliver the city of Ai into their hands. He pointed out some similarity of what they would do to the city of Ai and their king but they would carry off their plunder and livestock for themselves.
The Lord gave different strategy on how they could defeat the city of Ai. In Jericho, they marched around the city. In Ai, they would set an ambush behind the city.

Many mission strategists would use “Jericho Walk” to saturate a community for evangelism. “Jericho Walk” is patterned to how the Israelites marched around Jericho. But instead of carrying the Arc of the Covenant, swords, and trumpets, those who join the “Jericho Walk” march around a particular area and pray for the Lord’s intervention.

Laos Short-term Mission (STM)

During our STM in Laos, we had “Jericho Walk.” we prayed around the city. We prayed that God would open the hearts and minds of Lao people to the gospel. We had “Jericho Walk” at the Farm to be used as headquarter to reach out to Lao farmers.
Today, the Farm has attracted and equipped Lao farmers with advance method in farming. The word of God is being shared with the farmers at regular basis.

As I reflect on the success that the Lord has done in Lao, I cannot help but to dream of a similar ministry that we can start. Will God give similar strategy to us?

2. Strategy

3 So Joshua and the whole army moved out to attack Ai. He chose thirty thousand of his best fighting men and sent them out at night 4 with these orders: “Listen carefully. You are to set an ambush behind the city. Don’t go very far from it. All of you be on the alert. 5 I and all those with me will advance on the city, and when the men come out against us, as they did before, we will flee from them. 6 They will pursue us until we have lured them away from the city, for they will say, ‘They are running away from us as they did before.’ So when we flee from them, 7 you are to rise up from ambush and take the city. The LORD your God will give it into your hand. 8 When you have taken the city, set it on fire. Do what the LORD has commanded. See to it; you have my orders.”

The Lord gave the same success over the city of Ai and Jericho but the Lord gave different strategy to the city of Ai, why? Why did He not instruct the Israelites to just march around the city of Ai just as they did in Jericho? God exhibited that he has eternal creative military idea. He is the Creator and has eternal creativity about anything.
The Lord did not directly give the Israelites the strategies on how to defeat Jericho and Ai. He gave them to Joshua, His chosen leader and not to the people. Not even to the elders of the people. Joshua has emphasized that they must see to it that they will have his order. Meaning they really understood and followed his instruction.
Is it bad to imitate the strategy of other churches?
We can adopt strategies of other churches but should we expect similar success? Have you heard of two churches that have the same story of success?
The success of Evangelism Explosion movement did not originate from the church. Dr James Kennedy designed it. The success of Experiencing God movement did not originate from church. Dr. Henry Blackaby designed it. The success of Purpose-Driven Church approach did not originate from the church. Dr. Rick Warren designed it.

Yet until now, many churches are using those materials in the hope to grow their churches. Those are good materials to be used for churches that are still trying to build their identity. One thing that can be observed is that Kennedy, Blackaby and Warren served their respective churches for long time. When Kennedy and Blackaby retired, their churches were not the same as when they were leading their respective churches.

Can you imagine our church to have similar success if we follow the styles and practices or use the materials of other churches?
Would God give the strategy of success to our church? For sure, God has a strategy He uniquely designed for our church only. The Lord’s purpose of giving His strategy to His chosen leaders is to have unity in the community of believers, the church.
It says in Ephesians 4:11-13, 11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

The Lord intends that each members of His church will be equipped for works of service. Getting involved in the ministry helps us to grow more spiritually.
Many churchgoers say that they are not growing spiritually, why? Maybe, they aren’t equipped in the church, and they don’t regularly get involved in the ministry.

Can you agree that God gives strategy to His chosen spiritual leaders and not to the congregation like when He gave Joshua the strategy and not to the Israelites?
Should the Lord give strategy to church leaders who serve only for short terms?
Success in very short time is short. This church experienced success for limited time as an example to remember and consider. When the leader goes, success goes.

The proposal, Elders for Life, provides opportunity to implement their God-given strategy. It was reported that churches with long-term leaders have much better growth numerically while churches with short-term leaders are stagnant. Do you believe that?
The fear or issue that Elders might abuse their power is addressed in the admonition and discipline. The qualifications for Elders preclude electing pretenders. There are consequences for those who abuse their authority.

The qualified Elders have practically manifested higher regard about spiritual life. Try it! Give God’s tithes faithfully, and you’ll understand, and personally experience God’s blessing of faithfulness and devotion to God, and you would not want to destroy it.

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