Terry Virgo
Terry is based at Church of Christ the King, Brighton, UK, and leads the Newfrontiers team. A well-known Bible teacher, Terry speaks at conferences around the world. He has written several books, including No Well-Worn Paths, Does the Future Have a Church?, God’s Lavish Grace, and his latest, The Tide is Turning.

See also Andrew Fountain's notes from this talk, The Folly of Achan.

There are a few traditions within the family of Newfrontiers. One of them is that the father of the movement, Terry Virgo, always closes the conference. I always look forward to these messages. He manages to blend an amazing expositional gift with a strong prophetic edge. Last year's message on leadership was simply outstanding, and I hope that if you haven't already listened to that message you will do so. Terry is much loved by our family, and if you haven't yet made his acquaintance, Terry Virgo's blog and website, as well as my interview with him, are great places to find out more about him.

Terry seemed quite emotional on the video summary of the conference, which they showed us before he came to speak. He said this had been one of the most glorious weeks we had ever had together, and he was not wrong. I feel personally that this week has touched me at least as much as any previous conference I have attended. I always get excited to think of the amazing impact that a conference like this can have around the world.

The reason Terry was drawn to the book of Joshua was because of a sense he had that God was moving us into a new era. Joshua 7 is an astonishing chapter, and in many ways parallels the book of Acts. Acts and Joshua are in many ways similar books with the people going forward into a new break-out of a community.

The army is not a faceless army of robots — rather, it is people who have strengths, weaknesses, and vulnerabilities. We don't want any of us to be missing as we press forward together. The story of Achan might seem a strange place to take a conference like this during the final session. But Terry explained that he had felt the strong leading of the Spirit to do so.

The previous chapter ended with elation and excitement. Joshua was now famous as an invincible leader with an invincible army. Joshua takes on board the perceptions of those who he had sent rather than wisely seeking God. Then there is a crushing defeat. God had said no one will be able to stand against them. Now suddenly, Joshua is vulnerable and swings like a pendulum to, “We are finished!” He felt there was no future for him. We can feel that. Fear grips us sometimes.

Joshua then begins to cry to God. He doesn't ask the generals how did you fight? He doesn't just look to the immediate. What is the big picture? Two different perspectives.

1. What is happening to the Israelites?
   
   The invasion of the land was the fulfilment of the promises to Abraham, which in turn are a reflection of the plan of God for Adam. It is like a great recovery. Similar to Eden, there is a "don't touch."
   
   
2. What is happening to the Canaanites?
   
   At the same time he is blessing Israel, God is also coming in to judge the land. God had said to Abraham that the evil of Canaan was not yet enough. At this time the sins had got to such a state that God was judging gross evil that had affected every aspect of life.

The story turns on the actions of one man. A double-minded man caused the whole problem. An independent assessment results in a secret agenda. One of the soldiers is not persuaded. He isn't single-purposed. He is finding what God finds unattractive to attract him. He saw. Be careful what you look at. You might say, “I couldn't help seeing.” The forbidden thing can seem delightful. Be careful of the lust of the eyes. We have a vulnerable spot. We can't help seeing, but there is a power that can come. Jesus said some brutal words — gouge out your eye. There is a danger in seeing.

David was a man after God's own heart. Everything about him was magnificent. But one day when he didn't go to battle he saw something. He is ruined. The path is to shame, disaster, and death. Achan wished he had never ever seen. If I hadn't gone there, I wouldn't have seen it. Why then do some of us choose to look? Why do some of us go to the place where you know you will see it? Why are some of us so stupid as to not just catch a glimpse, but we go back to look again? We live in an age where we can hardly help seeing, but don't go back there.

After he saw, he coveted. He allowed his imagination to captivate him. Obviously we tend to think of sexual sin in this area. But the Bible here is talking about riches. Those who want to get rich fall into temptation . . . which plunges men into destruction. (1 Timothy 6:9) It's not just having wealth, but the prestige, power, and independence that goes with it. Wealth means that you can tell the rest of the world to get lost. Lust conceives and gives birth to sin which gives birth to death.

So he saw, he coveted, then finally he took. He defied God's clear command. Like David, he took what he knew he should never have touched. Then, he finally hid. He wasn't fulfilled. Because it was forbidden, you can have it, but no one else is allowed to know. There is no abandonment and fulfilment of joy like we experienced last night during worship. Instead, they had to hide from the Lord.

Secret sin leads to relational problems. It ruins. Imagine what David must have felt looking in the eye of his general who he'd told to arrange the death of Uriah.

The wrath of God was coming. God looks at our planet today and says, “Enough of this!” In all the joy and light and break-out of the Church, there is also a revelation of the judgment of God. Which side are we on? The whole battle turns on a double-hearted double-minded person. Are we in this together?

HOW COULD THE DISASTER HAVE BEEN AVOIDED?

• Joshua should have avoided self-sufficiency. We need to be fearfully aware of our total dependence on God. Before Jericho, he knew he needed God. Suddenly he thought, “I can do this now.” God wants us to be listening. Beware the lure of independence.
  
  
• Achan completely forgot his identity and his purpose. Christianity is an essentially corporate experience. He is in step. Suddenly he gets another idea, and becomes out-of-step. He was not ruthlessly committed to God's perspective. God is angry against sin. “Who knows the power of his anger?” If we don't feel anger, then we are not in step with God's view of our society.

We are part of a body. God told us to make disciples. They did this by forming churches. The only way to become a mature disciple of Christ is to be part of a church. Church is not just for your social life, it's for your salvation. It kills the desire to sin. It is not all about your personal fulfilment. It is not all about us. We die to self and get baptized into an army, a body, a people. God does love us and has a wonderful plan for our lives, but he wants us to be part of a community to work it out. God doesn't want a faceless army.

A Christian is a member of Christ. Our fulfilment is found in him. Don't float. Find a group that takes church seriously. "Elder" isn't just a title. They are shepherds. They are here for us to be led. It is not that are characterized by the volunteering of self for the benefit of others is what God wants in his Church. We need to have a network of mutual care and support. Let's abandon the "my rights" concept. The Gospel is totally contrary to that. We need to make space for people and die to ourselves. Let's live for the people of God. We love the Church as Christ's bride, his treasure, his workmanship.

We are light. We are meant to shine in the places where we are. We used to be darkness. We are to go to all the world bringing in the light. We died with Christ. We were raised with him. We are seated in the heavenlies. We didn't get ourselves there. We are a new creation. We are righteous. Now let's live like it! Christ's wonderful life was credited to me. He has made us righteous as a gift. Now we must live it out. It's not so much about “don't touch, don't taste, don't handle.” Legalism doesn't produce righteousness. Now God sees us as righteous — now live it. We are no longer what we were. Martyn Lloyd-Jones says we need to talk to ourselves. He said, “If you don't preach to yourself, you are not a Christian.” We are light, what should we have to do with darkness?

The story ends with ruthless execution. It's a shocking ending for our ears. He was put to death. God said, “I won't have it.” We see the same thing happening in the midst of a NT revival. A couple lied to the Spirit, missed it, and were killed by God. There are people who have missed it, even in their middle years. Be ruthless. Seek the things above. Set your mind on things above. Put to death what belongs to your earthly body. We need a new body. In the meantime, we must take responsibility for our bodies. Put to death the things that lead to the wrath of God. Why do we play games with the things that mean the wrath of God is coming?

We must put to death the deeds of the body by the Spirit. How do we do that?

• Engage with the Spirit. Get baptized with the spirit.
  
  
• Enjoy the Spirit. Don t just tick it off as something we have done. Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit. When you are enjoying him and his fellowship, it is much easier to resist temptation. Get full of Him.
  
  
• Have the energy of the Spirit. By his presence and power we share in the divine nature. Ephesians 5 is the Holy Spirit-filled life. Enjoy the life of God.
  
  
• Have the eschatology of the Spirit. He is the promise of the age to come. He is a foretaste of eternal glory. It's a down-payment. It's heaven coming down to where we are now. We are having a taste of the eternal glory. Darkness has nearly gone, the light is coming. Day is at hand. Don't live in the dark. We are the light of the world. Walk as children of the light. Don't play around with something less than that.

God poured out his wrath on Jesus so that he could pour out his love on us.

Be ruthless. Say I am not going there any more. I am blocking a channel. I am making myself accountable. Don't be fulfilled by sin, be ruthless instead. They killed Achan.

The opening verse of the next chapter turns the page and says, “Don't be frightened, remember who you are . . . now go and take Ai.” Let's be ruthless, and move on to victory.

I spoke with Tope, who is the lead elder of Jubilee Church, about his impression of this sermon. He replied as follows:

"With forceful passion, engaging delivery of truth, incredible urgency and raised voice, and utter conviction, Terry Virgo preached until he himself was consumed in the sermon, leaving us with an unadulturated view of the Word of God that left us all challenged and transformed, meek and strong, and grateful and amazed."

A number of logistical and technical challenges have been conspiring against live-blogging here over the last day or so — hopefully those are now resolved and normal service can return. I am glad that Andrew Fountain has been posting — I hope you are enjoying his posts. I am thrilled to have now been able to make it here — last night at one stage it looked as though storms would prevent me from getting here this morning, but in the providence of God — here I am!

We have just had a great time of worship. It focused around the cross and that phrase in Isaiah 53: “He crushed him”! There was also a sense of commissioning from the risen Christ to go out into the world with a mission inspired by the cross.

P-J Smyth
Married to Ashleigh with three sons — Jack, Ben and Sam — P-J leads Godfirst Church in Johannesburg, which is now two and a half years old. P-J is involved with helping plant new churches around Johannesburg and Southern Africa. His book, The World Needs More Elders, is helping many churches accelerate their development of leaders.

See also Andrew Fountain's notes on this talk: Joshua Part 2 - A New Phase in the Kingdom.

P-J Smyth spoke first today. He asked us to turn to Joshua 13:1 — the exact halfway point of the book. He began by explaining that this verse acts as a junction between two phases of the book. The first phase is all about being together and fighting battles together — a “we” phase.

Phase 2 begins when Joshua was old and much ground had been taken. “You are very old and there is still much to do.” Now there is a change, it's no longer all together. It's time to distribute it. Divide up the land. Pass the ball. The shift is to have trust in others. The purpose is to both hold what was taken already and to push on to more. Each of us has our own inheritance within our joint inheritance. We also have our own individual responsibility within what God has given us all to do together.

The second-half phase is critical to any ministry. This applies to small groups, eldership teams, a church itself, church movements. If we maintain things too tightly, we can drift into "headquarter-ism," passivity, or frustration. But it is not about unhealthy individualism, either.

Tips from the book. In chapter 13, we see everybody got an allotment. In verse 14, we see that the Levites did not have an inheritance of land, but the offerings. God is their inheritance. They did have a clear role, but a different one to the others. It was not as visible. They did not have clear territories. It wasn't easy to pin down. There is a role in not having a role!

Caleb, an older man in chapter 14:7, was, in contrast, very specific. “Now, give me my mountain.” ME is okay as long as it is part of the WE. He had waited for forty years because of the corporate need. He loved the together, refusing to do it alone for all those years. There is a time for individual response and a time to move together. Are you still in pursuit of your mountain? Or are you tired of waiting?

Chapter 15:17ff is a younger lady — Caleb's daughter. She asks for a special favour. We can go to the Father direct. God has an inheritance for each of us. She wasn't just grateful for what she had, but asked for more. We need to be very cheeky in what we ask for! Simon Pettit used to pray, “Lord, you say we don't have because we don't ask. Well, here we are asking .....”

Judah couldn't do it. Perhaps they should have asked for help. Or maybe it's just one of those sovereign things that are associated with living in a fallen world. We will have some disappointments. We shouldn't allow ourselves to be discouraged. We need to be looking forward, longing for heaven. We need battle experience.

The tribe of Joseph in chapter 17:14ff responded by reminding Joshua how blessed they were. In verse 15, Joshua says “go for it.” They replied to that by saying we need more, and reminding him of the strength of the people. Suddenly they seem weak, and so Joshua encourages them further. The “me moment” is really scary, but we must press on through. Joseph seemed to think the others should clear the land for it. Joshua didn't offer to clear the land for them. Sometimes it's just us and God. Don't do too much for them, rather let them do it. Allow their gift to make room for them. But do prophecy and speak faith and life.

Each of us has a specific role. Don't look at others and say, “Why can't I be like that?”

Simeon and Judah in 19:1. Joshua gave from Judah to Simeon as they had more than they needed. All have an inheritance, but for some it seems like it's part of someone else's. Some of us are "number two" type leaders. It's still your inheritance in the Lord, but wrapped up in another's. We need to learn to be content with that. Be delighted with people like Titus.

In chapter 22, we see those who had served others and were told it is now time to return to what is yours. Civil war nearly arises. There is an investigation, and they said that they were concerned that in the future they would be told they were not part of it. We need to take initiative, and sometimes others might even think we are rebels. Leaders at every level need to rise up. Sometimes, like David, we will be called proud and conceited. It is not a question of being motivated by our own glory; rather it is the glory of God. We can't go much further without each of us being all we are meant to be in God. We need to take responsibility to hold land and take land. Let's rise to the challenge. We must each play our part submitted to the leadership and the whole vision. We are still together, but each having a part to play in fulfilling the promises God has given us and the vision God gives us.