Day 50: November 3, 2025 – Joshua 1-3 and Acts of the Apostles 1-3

We find ourselves at the beginning of two really great sections of Scripture. Over and over again we find Joshua being encouraged not only by the Lord, but also by the people who surround him, to be strong and courageous as he takes over for Moses. We find ourselves with the relative of Jesus, Rahab, who harbors fugitives who will eventually utterly destroy the city in which she finds herself. But it is truly a survival of the fittest as we read that the people of Jericho know what is coming and that they are no match for the Israelite force, so Rahab simply pairs up with the strongest. Not a whole lot of thought is given to the fact that the two spies spent the night with a prostitute, that seems just to be matter of fact.

We then transition to the birthday of the church where we find the Holy Spirit being gifted to the church as they are gathered in Jerusalem. You do notice that none of the disciples waste any time when they have an opportunity to evangelize and to tell people about Jesus. It is what drives them and what motivates them when they are either healing a lame person in the temple or when they are explaining what just happened with the tongues of fire and the many different languages that the fishermen were able to speak.

We can’t keep going without drawing attention to Acts 2:43-47 where we find the earliest description of the first church that gathered after Jesus ascended into heaven. They had everything in common, they spent all time together, they were of one mind. What an image to emulate and to remind us that this is possible.