First Free Rockford Sermons

In ancient Israel and today, God’s people can get derailed by deception. As we close our series in the book of Joshua, we’ll look at how this can happen and how to protect ourselves. We’ll also name some of the biggest lies prevalent in our culture – and in our churches.

God works through flawed people. That’s not a new idea. But did you know that he even pursues us after we’ve failed at something? This chapter from Joshua shows how God even gives us new strategies to fight familiar battles

How could one man's secret sin affect his entire family, tribe and nation? Because everything you do affects everyone you know. In Joshua 7, we see the dangers of spiritual pride and secret sin. We also see how real, committed community is essential for preventing and resolving these sins.

Outside Jericho, God issues a strange battle strategy for the people of Israel. The story is familiar, but there’s also a lesson for us today about faith and obedience in the wake of victory.

The work and instructions of God don’t always make immediate sense to us, his followers. But the way we respond, and obey, has a direct bearing on the kind of people we become.

The big moment. After generations of wandering, God tells the people of Israel that it’s finally time to cross the Jordan River and enter the Promised Land. It’s going to require trust, preparation and obedience—and it’s going to be anything but easy. The principles from this story apply to us, too.

A sign of true Christian faith is willingness to take personal risk to help the spiritual condition of others. It can mean going somewhere new. It can mean welcoming the stranger. Both of those elements are present in this story, and both lead to deeper faith and a life filled with great stories.

This week we begin a series on the book of Joshua. On its surface, this book is about real estate – stepping into land that’s been promised, leaving behind lands of slavery or wandering, not stepping back into captivity. But when we take a deeper look at four ways land is described in the Bible, we realize every person finds themselves in one of them.