This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

Welcome to Day 5 of Week 1 of our Look Through Joshua. We are going to be
looking at much of Joshua Chapter 2 today out. Those of you that usually study
and drive time devotions know that this is a little change from how we usually
do an Old Testament book.

Often times they will do a chapter a week in an Old Testament book. But the way
Joshua happens to lay itself out, much of the last part of the book is just
about how they divided up the land in a chapter after chapter after chapter
about this guy got this portion, this guy got this portion, this guy got this
portion. So instead of laying it out a chapter a week, we're just going to let
the book sort of speak for itself.

And some weeks we'll do two chapters, some weeks one, some weeks three or four
chapters. It'll be about a five week, five, six week study as we walk through
the book of Joshua together that way. Joshua Chapter 2 is a chapter that's about
how you begin to measure out God's vision for your life.

Before a victory can be won, you have to have a vision of the victory that God
is working to win in your life. You can't just think, well, he's working to do
something. There has to become a vision, something in your mind, something in
your life that says, God's doing something.

This is where he wants me to go. This is who he wants me to love. This is how he
wants me to love.

It has to become more specific. Nothing becomes dynamic until it becomes
specific. In order for God's vision to become specific in your life, one of the
first things he does is he asks you to measure out what he's doing.

Part of the vision that God has for our lives is the same for every believer.
Every one of us, he has the vision of an abundant life for us. Every one of us,
he has the vision of the fruit of the Spirit being fulfilled in our lives.

Every one of us, he has the vision of ministry that makes a difference to our
service in this world. Part of the vision is the same for every believer. Part
of the vision, and that's what we're looking at today, is unique to you.

Where God wants you to serve, who God wants you to serve, how God wants you to
serve, how God wants you to love. That vision that's unique to you, sometimes we
call that your dream. Sometimes we call that your vision.

God wants to give you a big dream. By big, I don't mean in comparison with
anyone else. I just mean in your own life, something you never expected he could
do, only he could do this in your life.

That's what I mean by big. How does it begin to happen? Here's Joshua.

He's on the edge of this huge piece of real estate we now call Israel, and he's
being told you're going to go take possession of this land. How's he even going
to begin? He begins by measuring out the dream, by looking closely at what God's
going to do.

He doesn't look at it to doubt it. He doesn't look at it to consider whether God
wants to do this in his life or not. He looks at it so that it can begin to more
significantly possess his life.

In this chapter, there are three specific things that happen that I think help
you and I to learn about how to measure out God's dream for our lives. The first
thing that happens is in verse 1, the sending of the two spies. Chapter 2 verse
1, "And then Joshua, son of Nun, secretly sent two spies from Shittim.

Go and look over the land," he said, "especially Jericho. " Go and view the
land. He's saying to them, "Set in your mind the victory that God wants to
achieve.

Begin to see in your mind the victory that God wants to achieve. " Why? Because
it's an exercise in faith that God can bless.

You need to do this in your life. Begin to see in your mind the victory that God
wants to achieve. I'm not talking about positive thinking.

I'm talking about godly thinking, beginning to think about what God wants to do
in your life. He does his work in this world through faithful people who
exercise faith in him. So you have to have faith in him, specific faith.

The question is, what land do you need to survey? They needed to survey a
physical land, but for you, what land do you need to survey? It may be a person
that you need to witness to.

You begin to think about them becoming a believer in Christ. It may be a
ministry that you need to begin. You go and view it.

You move in your mind to, "Boy, it sure would be nice if they became a
Christian," to, "I believe God wants me to do this so that they can become a
Christian. " You move in your mind from, "It would be really wonderful if
somebody started this ministry," to, "I believe God wants me to do something
about this. " Now, I hope you noticed that Joshua sent in two spies.

Do you see anything significant about that? Remember, there were 12 spies that
went in originally to the promised land 40 years before. Joshua and Caleb were
the only two who brought back a positive report.

Joshua found out the 12 spies thing didn't work, so he found the two faithful
men that he could trust. He sent them in. He didn't need any more negative
committee reports, so he sent out the two faithful men.

He needed men who would encourage confidence in the Lord. That's what you need
as you measure out God's promise in your life. There are a lot of naysayers out
there.

There are a lot of people you can find who will tell you why God could never do
this in your life. But who's the one, who are the two who can help you to see
what God wants to do? I think all of us have to be careful as we measure out
God's dream in our lives to not constantly look for nightmares.

You're measuring what he can do, not what you can't do. Of course, based on your
own power, you couldn't live out this dream. That's why it's God's dream and not
your dream.

When you're measuring out God's dream in your life, you don't confuse the
decision-making phase with the problem-solving phase. First you decide, "This is
what God wants me to do," and then you step into the land and you fight the
battles. So the first thing that we see are the two spies.

You go and you look at what God wants to do in your life, through your life. You
take some time to think about it, to consider it. I know that our pastor, Rick
Moran, before he came to Saddleback Valley over 30 years ago now, he knew the
names of every street in this valley before he moved here because he was looking
at a map of the city every single day, thinking about what God wanted to do in
this community before he came to start a church here.

That's measuring out the dream before you get there. How do you need to do that
in a practical way? So first you have the two spies.

Also in this chapter, as you're thinking about measuring God's dream in your
life, you have the woman by the name of Rahab, a very surprising person in God's
hall of fame of faith. In chapter two, the last part of that chapter, they went
and they entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab, and they stayed there.
And then skipping down to verse eight, Now then, please swear to me by the Lord
that you will show kindness to my family, because I've shown kindness to you.

Give me a sure sign that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my
brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, that you'll save us from
death. Our lives for your lives, the men assured her. If you don't tell what
we're doing, we will treat you kindly and faithfully when the Lord gives us this
land.

So she let them down by a rope through the window, for the house she lived in
was part of the city wall. This is an amazing story of faith, an amazing story
about how you and I live God's vision for our lives. Here is a prostitute in
Jericho.

Here is a woman caught in a hopeless lifestyle in a doomed city. You would think
there is no way she could live out God's promise for her life, except for the
power of faith. In verses 10 and 11, Rahab proclaims God's greatness.

God in heaven above and on earth below, she says. And in verses 12 and 13, she
depended for all of her life and her family's life on that greatness. Now you,
as you look at your own life and living out God's promise, you may be more like
Rahab than the spies.

You may be living in defeat right now. You may feel like God could never use
you. You're underestimating the power of faith.

God has a dream for your life as well. Whatever circumstances you're faced in
life, whatever place you find yourself right now in life, God has a promise for
your life. If you only will begin to trust him right now, right where you are in
a new way.

The result of Rahab's faith is breathtaking. It absolutely takes your breath
away. Some of you know the end of this story.

In Matthew chapter 1 verse 5, we find out that in the line of Jesus is this
woman, Rahab. She becomes part of the line of kings that leads to Jesus Christ
being born one day. In Hebrews chapter 11 is God's hall of fame of faith.

And you know who's in that hall of fame? This woman, Rahab. She married into
Judaism through Salman.

Evidently, she gave her life to the worship of God. And through this, she
becomes part of the lineage of Jesus. She becomes part of God's hall of fame of
faith.

If you're thinking God could never use me, he doesn't have a vision anymore for
my life, you are wrong. You're just wrong. Rahab's faith is what made the
difference.

And it wasn't just a get out of the jam kind of faith. It was a trust which
persevered. It changed everything about her life.

So you learn about how to measure God's promise in your life through Rahab. And
you also learn about it through a third thing in this chapter, through this
scarlet thread. In verse 17, the men said to her, "This oath you made us swear
will not be binding on us unless when we enter the land, you've tied this
scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down.

And unless you've brought your father and mother, your brothers and all your
family into your house, if anyone goes outside your house into the street, his
blood will be on his own head. We will not be responsible. As for anyone who is
in the house with you, his blood will be on our head if a hand is laid on him.

But if you tell what we are doing, we will be released from this oath that you
made us swear. " "Agreed," she replied. "Let it be as you say.

" So she sent them away, and they departed, and she tied the scarlet cord in the
window. There's a picture here that's irresistible. You have to be a little
careful of Old Testament symbolism, but the scarlet, the color of blood, the
blood of Christ protecting our lives, and somehow this picturing what's going to
happen thousands and thousands of years later when Jesus gives his life for us.

I believe there is a picture here. The scarlet cord proclaims their deliverance,
and the scarlet blood of Jesus Christ accomplishes our deliverance. But there's
also something very practical happening here.

As you measure your dream, Rahab was simply saying that she was visibly putting
her trust in God. You want to begin to live out God's dream for your life, then
you learn from Rahab. This scarlet cord that she tied around the window, it was
a sign that Rahab did not put her faith in the walls of Jericho.

Rahab put her faith in the God of Israel. You want to live out God's dream for
your life, where are you putting your faith? The walls of Jericho, that
represents the things of this world.

That represents what you and I can do. That represents what other people have
accomplished. That represents trusting in my work, my energy, but the God of
Israel, that's a different kind of trust.

The God of Israel is the one we're going to see in a couple of chapters, is the
God who can cause those walls to crumble, but he's also the God who can build up
his promise in your life. In Rahab, this prostitute from a doomed city has much
to teach me, has much to teach us about what real faith is all about. Our
Father, I pray for each of us, as we see these two examples, that you'd help us
to trust in the reality of your promise for our lives, your vision for our
lives.

Some of us are like the spies. We have great hope for the future. We're right on
the edge of some huge thing that you want to do in our lives, like taking the
promised land.

Help us to measure it out. Help us to look at what you want to do. Some of us
are like Rahab.

We feel trapped, we feel ashamed, maybe even feel doomed. Help us to see that
right here, right now, we can put our faith in you. Whatever place we find
ourselves, whether we feel supremely confident in what you're doing right now,
or we're devastated, wondering if we could ever work on our lives again, Lord,
help us to see that you have a promise, you have a vision for our lives.

Help us to see it today, we pray. In your name, Amen. Join us next week.

We're going to look at how you cross over into living by God's promises.