1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:07,480
Day 61 or March 2. Believe and act now.

2
00:00:07,480 --> 00:00:14,400
Our thoughts today come from Joshua chapter 6 verse 20. When the trumpet sounded, the

3
00:00:14,400 --> 00:00:21,800
army shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet when the men gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed,

4
00:00:21,800 --> 00:00:27,880
so everyone charged straight in, and they took the city.

5
00:00:27,880 --> 00:00:33,400
That's the big picture surrounding this verse. It's rather sad to learn that the Israelites

6
00:00:33,400 --> 00:00:39,760
fell away big time as they wandered in the wilderness. They neglected the very act that

7
00:00:39,760 --> 00:00:47,400
made them Jewish—circumcision. Now Joshua is bringing this sign back into the nation.

8
00:00:47,400 --> 00:00:53,680
Rahab, as promised by the spies, was rescued along with all her family when the city of

9
00:00:53,680 --> 00:01:00,480
Jericho was taken after the Israelites marched around the city walls thirteen times, once

10
00:01:00,480 --> 00:01:06,200
a day for six days, and then seven times on the seventh day.

11
00:01:06,200 --> 00:01:11,680
A great shout was all that was needed for the walls to fall. No one touched them. It

12
00:01:11,680 --> 00:01:17,680
was as if God just blew them over. However, this wonderful experience that followed their

13
00:01:17,680 --> 00:01:24,840
obedience to God was really dented when they went on to the city of Ai, and were unexpectedly

14
00:01:24,840 --> 00:01:32,560
soundly beaten. There was still much to learn as far as trusting God was concerned.

15
00:01:32,560 --> 00:01:39,280
Now our action step. One of the greatest accounts in the Bible is that of the Battle of Jericho.

16
00:01:39,280 --> 00:01:44,580
Of course it was a great miracle that some have tried to explain away as being the result

17
00:01:44,580 --> 00:01:50,400
of a local earthquake. This argument is missing the point. It wasn't the walls falling,

18
00:01:50,400 --> 00:01:55,960
but when they fell, it was miraculous. On top of that, it's worth remembering that

19
00:01:55,960 --> 00:02:01,600
the main reason for not entering the Promised Land forty years earlier is found in Numbers

20
00:02:01,600 --> 00:02:08,700
chapter thirteen verse twenty-eight, which reminds us, the people living there are powerful,

21
00:02:08,700 --> 00:02:14,960
and their towns are large and fortified. That's why God told them to leave the walls

22
00:02:14,960 --> 00:02:21,360
to Him, just march around and then shout. This strategy worked, but it could have worked

23
00:02:21,360 --> 00:02:27,480
forty years earlier. The Israelites could have saved a whole generation from wilderness

24
00:02:27,480 --> 00:02:39,120
wandering if only they had trusted God. Don't you make the same mistake?