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Paul writes that covetousness is idolatry. In other words, we create idols to satisfy our greed. Historically, this happens when the stewards of an institution begin to run it for their benefit instead of for the reason it was created. In Israel, the priests turned the Temple into an idol by using it to enrich themselves. When this happened, God destroyed His own temple. Today, government has been turned into an idol operated to enrich those who are supposed to be its stewards.

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Because of the presence and favor of God, Joshua does several things that are very unorthodox from a military point of view. As an example, no normal commander would cross a river into enemy territory and then incapacitate his troops for three days via circumcision.

In the wilderness, Moses brought water from the rock on two occasions. The second time, he did not exactly do as he was told which resulted in his being denied entry into the promised land.

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Letters to Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea. These churches form the second half of the chiasm described in last week's recording. Discussion of each church's strengths and weaknesses.

Conceptually, there are several ways to divide up the Ten Commandments. Three, three, three and one mirrors the days of creation and the ten plagues of Egypt. Looking at the Commandments in that way gives a different insight.

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Studying war in church may seem odd, but it is Biblical. God is called 'A Man of War' as is David. Victory requires skill as well as bravery, training as well as resources. We can see in the life of Christ how he used each of the principles of war to achieve His victory. So too we must study war to become effective in His army.

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Crossing the Jordan represents a bookend to the time in the wilderness which began with the crossing of the Red Sea. In Exodus they left enemy territory and 'the world' behind; here they are reentering the world and facing a time of war and conquest.

Biblically, Israel periodically fell away from God and lapsed into evil. God uses exile to correct those flaws that lead to such bad behavior.

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Christ dictated letters to seven churches in Asia Minor. These letters correlate with the seven Kingdom Parables in Matthew and with Paul's pastoral letters to seven churches. While these were seven actual churches active at the time of John's vision, there are other ways to look at the letters. The symbols used in the letters appear elsewhere in the TANAK.

God has always cared about what we eat. He gave us the dietary laws out of love.