I wonder how many of you remember the old song about the fall of Jericho.

     Joshua fought the battle of Jericho,

     Jericho, Jericho,

     Joshua fought the battle of Jericho,

     And the walls came tumbling down.

I know, now you’re singing it to yourself and it’s stuck in your head.  You’re welcome.  But there’s a small problem with this song that many of us learned as a children’s song and many more learned as an old spiritual. 

     It’s not all that accurate.

So, what did happen?  Well, that’s what we’ll be looking at this week as we continue our series on The Book of Joshua, “Living Out a Courageous Faith.”  We’re now up to Joshua 6, and the most well-known story of the whole book.  Many people think this passage is about having great faith (there’s some of that) … or living a victorious life (there’s a little of that) … or overcoming your own personal Jericho’s (there’s virtually none of that).  At least the old song has the benefit of pointing us back to the Biblical text.  And while I have no particular qualms about those lyrics, we ought to recognize a fundamental problem with them — simply that it is the Lord, not Joshua, who fought the battle of Jericho.

And so on Sunday, we’ll see that this passage has a lot to teach us about the Lord and our relationship with Him as seen in how we worship, trust, and obey.  All good lessons for our second Family Sunday.  It should be great … I’ll see you there, Dr. Dave