The Scarlet Cord

On Sunday night I both led the service and preached on 'The Scarlet Cord' from Joshua 2 with the extraordinary story of the transformation of the prostitute Rahab who ended up in the genealogy of Christ (Matthew 1:5-6), the chapter of the heroes of faith (Hebrews 11:31) and as an example of faith and works (James 2:24-26). It was a good service with a full church.

Our grandson Arthur is now in Tokyo, Japan, staying at a youth hostel. Enjoy your 9 days in Japan Arthur! The time difference of 12 hours ahead of Patos must be difficult to cope with. 

Liz has just conducted 2 marriage counselling sessions. Please pray for Liz's quiet and so important ministry.

I have been talking to Wellington, who is a member of the Patos church and who works at Custódia in the state of Pernambuco, which is just 40 km from our church at Flores. He has been witnessing to a couple at Custódia and they have come to the Lord and are nearing the time to be baptized. Then another couple are also showing interest in the Gospel. Praise the Lord!

Leishmaniasis

It is very sad to see the suffering of so many stray dogs in Patos that are diagnosed with leishmaniasis. My veterinary doctor daughter Deborah has shown me some pitiful cases. Leishmaniasis is an infectious parasitic disease that can be transmitted to human beings. If you live in Patos and see a stray dog who looks ill please contact Deborah so that she can capture it and treat it together with her colleagues of the Amparar Animal. Another sad sight I saw this week was a stray dog utterly empested with blood-sucking ticks! The dog is being treat. 

QPR lost their last home game of the season in style!😏They lost 5 x 0 to league leaders Burnley who will be in the premiership next season. This leaves QPR in 15th position in the Championship with 1 game to play away to play-off-team Sunderland. 

Our grandson Arthur is flying from the USA to Japan today. Have a good 12-hour flight! ✈

I went to the Deaf Fellowship meeting (photo below) last night which was led by our deaf pastor Luiz Carlos. They had a visiting speaker called Tiago Nóbrega who is a lawyer who was there to explain to them their legal rights regarding benefits. It was an excellent 2-hour meeting. 

Liz went to the evangelistic service held at our school. Our drama team presented a short play followed by an evangelistic message. The service was really blessed and had a good crowd present. 

Joshua 24 (résumé): Joshua's final words

Then Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel at Shechem and made an historical discourse to them on the eve of his death at 110 years of age. He reminded them of how he had called Abraham and then his descendants Isaac, Jacob and Esau. He recalled how Jacob had gone down to Egypt with his sons and how God eventually delivered them from Egypt and brought them victorious through the desert to Canaan. Then God gave the victory at Jericho and successive places. So Joshua says that Israel must fear the Lord and serve him with faithfulness, throwing away all pagan gods. For Joshua says that all Israelites must make up their minds who they will serve because "as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord"! The people answered assuring Joshua that they "too will serve the Lord, because he is our God"! Joshua stressed that they couldn't play around with God, but the people repeatedly assured him of their commitment to the Lord. So it was that at Shechem the people renewed their covenant with God. Then Joshua died and was buried at Timnath Serah.

Joshua 23 (résumé): Joshua's farewell to the Leaders

Time passed and Joshua was over 100 years old so he spoke to the elders, leaders, judges and officials with words of farewell. He reminded them of all that God had done for them and given them and assured them that the Lord would yet drive out the remaining Canaanites from the Land. He told them that they must be strong and careful to obey all that was written in the Book of the Law of Moses, and never get involved with the nations that remained among them taking care to steer clear of their gods. For God would severely judge Israel if they violated the covenant of the Lord their God. 

Joshua 22 (résumé): Eastern Tribes return home

The two and a half tribes of Israel that had opted to settle on the east side of the Jordan, as agreed with Moses, had fulfilled their promise to fight on the side of the other tribes during the conquest of Canaan. Now that they had fulfilled their mission Joshua told them that they were free to return to their families and develop their livelihoods. So on the way east the Reubenites, the Gadites and half the tribe of Manasseh built a very large altar near the Jordan as a witness of their unity with the whole of Israel. However the 9 and a half tribes misunderstood this gesture and it almost led to civil war! For the western tribes understood the altar to have pagan connotations, or to be a rival altar to that of the tabernacle, and were horrified and aghast. It was only when the eastern tribes clarified the matter and assured them of their commitment to the Lord that Phineas the priest praised God, accepted the explanation and the altar was given the name as a witness between the eastern and western tribes. 

Joshua 21 (résumé): Towns for the Levites

Now it was the turn of the Levites to receive their towns with the surrounding pasture lands as had been promised to them through Moses. The Levites solicited this from Eleazar the high priest. So it was that they received a total of 48 towns as follows: The family of Aaron received 13 out of the lands of Judah, Simeon and Benjamin; The family of Kohath received 10 out of the lands of Ephraim, Dan and Manasseh; The family of Gershon received 13 out of the lands of Issachar, Asher, Naphtali and Manasseh; The family of Merari received 12 out of the lands of Reuben, Gad and Zebulom; and the 6 cities of refuge were included in the Levites' inheritance. 

Joshua 21 concludes by stating that whilst conquering Canaan God gave the victory over all Israel's enemies, and "Not one of the Lord's good promises to the house of Israel failed; every one was fulfilled."

Joshua 20 (résumé): Cities of Refuge

It impresses me how often the topic of cities of refuge or asylum for those guilty of manslaughter occur in the early books of the Bible. I can only presume that manslaughter was prevalent at the time! For as in Numbers 35:6, 9-34; Deuteronomy 4:41-43; Deuteronomy 19:1-13, so Joshua 20 is devoted to this matter. 

Joshua again summarizes the designation of 6 cities as cities of refuge or asylum where those who killed somebody accidentally would be safeguarded against the "avenger of blood" who would be a relative of the deceased who was authorized to seek retribution. The designated cities were Kedesh, Shechem, Hebron, Ramoth, Golan and Bezer. These cities offered a safe haven for those guilty of manslaughter.