God never promises that we can live the Christian life without difficulty, without peril,

without danger, without suffering. It drives me crazy. When I hear these television

preachers stand up there and promise that if the Christian just has enough faith,

they'll never suffer, they'll never be sick, and all that sort of thing, because it's simply not true.

The Christian life isn't easy. Having our sins forgiven doesn't mean that we now live this life

without the effects, the consequences of our sin, or the sins of others. We still must navigate life

in a fallen world. Welcome to the Monday edition of renewing your mind, I'm Nathan W. Bingham.

Even though the Christian life isn't void of trial and tragedy, through it all, God is with us,

and that's one lesson that we can learn from the book of Joshua. A week we will visit various

books from the Old Testament, and we'll give you the opportunity to build your Bible study library,

as there'll be a new resource offer every day. So be sure to visit renewingyourmind.org each day

this week. For today, RC Sproul will introduce us to the book of Joshua, and the lessons from the

life of Joshua and the Israelites that can be a help to you and I, even today. Here's Dr. Sproul.

Today we're going to be looking at the book of Joshua, and I'm excited to do this because Joshua

is a fascinating character, one that I've always found particularly attractive if you are

interested in the great military leaders of history, and you think of such people as Hannibal,

or as Alexander the Great, or some of the generals in our own American history, we would have to

say that ranking right up among the great generals of all time was General Joshua, who led in the

conquest of Canaan in this time, so many centuries ago. When I think of Joshua, I often compare him

to one of our famous military leaders, and that would be Stonewall Jackson. Stonewall Jackson

is known for his extraordinary feats in the Civil War, but also for his profound commitment to

Christ and to the things of God. He was a man of great prayer. In fact, his chief of staff

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