Feb. 27, 2022

“STANDING ON THE PROMISES OF GOD”

“YOUR BASE OPERATIONS”

JOSHUA 5:9-12

1.   Everyone Needs A Base Of Operation

Your home should be a refuge, a place of safety.

In Joshua 5, we see a place called Gilgal which is Israel’s base of operations.

“Gilgal”-means a rolling away, as a rolling away of reproach.

The days of preparation before they advanced:

Joshua 5:9-12

First Day- they celebrated the passover, “kept the Passover” vs.10

Second Day- they ate of the corn of the land, “they ate of the produce of the land.” vs.11

Third Day- the manna stopped after 40 years, “Then the manna ceased” vs.12

Saul also failed to gain victory and rebelled against God.

1 Samuel 15:23  “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft,
And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king.” 

The Angel of the Lord came to warn Israel against disobedience here at Gilgal:

Judges 2:1 “Then the Angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said: “I led you up from Egypt and brought you to the land of which I swore to your fathers; and I said, ‘I will never break My covenant with you.”

King David came back to power after Absalom ran him out at Gilgal.

Our King Jesus will pass by Gilgal to take over.

Gilgal is becoming the base of operations.

Joshua 10:15 “Then Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to the camp at Gilgal.”

Jesus said He had no home:

Luke 9:58 “And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”

You and I don’t need to wander around aimlessly. We need a base of operations, you need a Church family, a home.

Many people don’t have stable homes but you can have a stable church home.

You must set up a base of operation for worship and keep coming back to it everyday!

Robert Frost said, “Home is a place where, when you got to go, they got to take you.”

2.   Sometimes We Need To Refresh Our Base

We must change the way we operate, not what we believe. We need to be better, smarter and more effective for Christ.

Number 14:32-33 “But as for you, your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness. 33And your sons shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years, and bear the brunt of your infidelity, until your carcasses are consumed in the wilderness.” 

Joshua 5- after forty years the children of Israel observed the Passover. They hit the refresh button, they restored their relationship with God.

Many believers need to hit the refresh button.

1 Corinthians 5:7 “Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.”

Colossians 2:11 “In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ.”

Do you want to see the automatic refresh button on your life?

1 John 1:7-9

Psalm 113:1-9

1 Corinthians 10:13 “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.”

Do you know what happens when you feel far from God, dry, stagnant, complaining, gripping, whining? 

James 2:10 “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.”

You need to get back and hit the refresh button, confess your sins and make things right with God. I John 1:9

The Lesson- You will never be able to deal with the future until you have dealt with the past!

Do you know with all certainty that you have been covered by the blood of the Lamb and that God’s judgment will pass over you?

3.   Our Base Of Operations Allows Us To Move Forward

First Baptist Tangerine is my base of operation but not my last one because I am planning on something better when I check out of this life. This is not my final resting place. This world is not my home, I am just a passing through.

An army can only move as far as their supply lines.

The manna- Joshua 5:10-12 

John 6:48-51 “I am the bread of life. 49Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. 50This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. 51I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.”

Psalm 78:25 “Men ate angels’ food; He sent them food to the full.”  The first Angel food cake.

Jesus Christ is our manna- it was supplied miraculously but the manna stops and you have to feed yourself.

Hebrews 5:12-14

We must learn to feed ourselves:

Joshua 5:10-12

The manna ceased the next day, they had to feed themselves.

Do you have a base of operations? A spiritual base- church home?

Are you grounded in the Word of God? 

What are you doing for Jesus here in the church?

2 Peter 3:18