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Joshua 8 Bible Study - Pastor Daniel Batarseh · Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago

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  Joshua chapter 8, if you've been following with us, throughout
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  this time, in the live stream, you will know what we touched
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  last week in chapter 7 and you would agree that it was a very
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  dark chapter heavy filled with Despair and discouragement. when
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  we come to chapter 8, we see that God is about to give his
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  people a new direction from the very low point that we have left
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  off from and just to recap, what happened in chapter 7, Was
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  essentially the revelation of God's hatred towards sin and the
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  actually, the actual power that can come from a man who invites
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  and into his life and how that sin in his life can invite
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  trouble into the camp. And the very thing that we were
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  left with was an execution upon, a man's Disobedience upon the
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  man himself and his family for their trespass, known as Aiken.
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  And this execution of judgment has literally left a memorial
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  for the people of Israel for generations to come and it's
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  known as the valley of achor and it really just means the valley
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  of trouble From this time on the people will be able to see this
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  heap of stones because they had to Stone this family and realize
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  that God is Holy. And that God takes Rebellion,
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  very seriously. And this is where we left off
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  with. until we come to chapter 8, verse 1, Before we read, it's
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  not hard to imagine. What this people felt at this
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  point. I mean, we read it and we
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  already feel something. Can you imagine being in their
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  shoes? They have already been
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  embarrassed by a defeat from a small town, after a great
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  Victory with a great place. And now they are facing the, the
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  bitterness and they're tasting the sourness of what it's like
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  to disobey God. And to know his displeasure, And
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  at this point, we're wondering what's next.
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  What's the next move? What is God going to say?
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  How are they going to advance? But we have to understand that
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  as much as they have, yes, sin, they have quickly responded to
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  God's instruction to deal with the matter.
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  As quick as they receive the Revelation on it.
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  And so the direction that God is about to give is not necessarily
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  from the sin point. It's from the repentance point.
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  It's from the place of Brokenness that they have also
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  displayed and obedience from that place of Disobedience.
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  So, what is the Lord saying? Verse 1 chapter 8, and the Lord
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  said to Joshua, do not fear and do not be dismayed now.
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  Hold on. Why would God say?
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  Do not fear and do not be dismayed?
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  Well, the simple answer is because they were Fearful and
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  they were in the spirit. But the question is, why what
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  reasons? Are given for this people to be
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  crippled by anxiety. And as they are clearly
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  dejected. I think there's at least two
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  reasons, and the two reasons here are not just unique to
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  Israel. Keep in mind that these two
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  reasons for the fear and the dismay that they are
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  experiencing are very much, the emotions and the reasons why
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  people Christians, also, fear and despair.
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  When they fail, When they sin against God.
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  When they disappoint, when they get off track these very same
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  fears are real in the state of anybody's failure in their
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  spiritual journey with God. So they disobey at least one man
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  dead but it reflected the whole Camp.
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  So why the fear? Well, here's one reason, perhaps
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  they feared, that God would no longer be with them as he was
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  before. I want you to think about it. if
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  you understand the Holiness of God, if you understand the
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  stance that he has against sin, That's important.
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  But what's dangerous? As you are convinced of that and
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  you were thoroughly understanding his holy nature,
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  the danger is that if sin is committed You might be so
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  convinced of his Purity that you yourself, would think that
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  there's no way that I can. I can be in relationship with
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  God the same way before this happened.
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  He is just too brilliant. He is just too holy
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  Transcendent. That there is no way that I can
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  walk with him in the same way that I did before I messed up.
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  And that's certainly true for this people because they've
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  experienced it with their own parents.
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  How God is over and over Warren, because you've done this, I'm no
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  longer going with you. That is the greatest consequence
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  and so you can imagine what crashed in their minds.
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  Surely we have lost God's favor. Surely I won't be able to
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  experience him the same way I did before.
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  The only reason why somebody should be fearful of that.
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  After they have sinned, please pay attention.
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  The only reason why that fear is legitimate.
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  If you are a person who thinks that you can continually sin and
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  think that you can be reconciled to God with a simple, sorry,
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  only planning to sin again. see the people that think that way,
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  understand that no human would ever accept that, but for some
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  reason, we convince ourselves that God would We wouldn't
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  expect that from a human relationship.
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  I'm just going to keep attacking you.
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  Keep going against your back. And I'm just going to say,
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  sorry. And you're going to accept me
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  again. Maybe in forgiveness, but surely
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  not in reconciliation, two, different things.
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  But then, for some reason, there are many who are deceiving
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  thinking. God is so overwhelming and
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  merciful that he will receive my sorry.
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  Not so he will forgive sure, but not reconciliation, see Godly
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  sorrow. That leads to repentance is the
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  condition to restore relational flow?
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  Godly sorrow that leads to genuine repentance.
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  Not the shallow, I'm sorry. I won't do it again.
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  Knowing that you're going to do it again.
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  No it's a deep understand that you are willing to do whatever
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  it takes by his grace and his enablement to turn away from the
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  very thing that grieve them in the first place.
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  But then again there is sincere spiritual Christians who
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  actually fail at some point. It can be grieveson or it can be
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  some manifestation of on Christ like added to that just pops out
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  of nowhere. And you realize, you mean
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  yourself, how did that come out? I didn't even know that was in
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  me. Only to make you feel so
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  discouraged that you can't even think about how your future will
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  look like with God again. And the only way to overcome
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  such a fears to understand, not just his Holiness, but his mercy
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  and his love. I think of a verse like, Micah
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  718, just listen to these words. Who is a God Like, You know what
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  that means? Who can compare to you every
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  other supposed God out there, none can compare to this God,
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  the god of the Bible. Why then it begins to describe
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  the strong qualities that make him unique.
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  Pardoning iniquity passing over transgression for the remnant of
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  his inheritance. Now, listen to this, he does not
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  retain his anger forever because he Delights in steadfast love in
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  the new King James because he Delights in what Mercy Hold on.
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  We understand, he's merciful, but you know, where many even
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  spiritual Christians fail, to understand, God, that he
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  Delights and being merciful. That's a big difference.
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  Because many people are convinced God will forgive we
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  counsel people and says, God will forgive you after they
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  confess sin and it's harder for us to be convinced, we like to
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  preach it to others, but it's ourselves that I find it
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  difficult, that God is merciful. We mess up.
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  But it's not just that he has a contract with you, that, yes, I
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  am bound to forgive you, because I said I would, but now there's
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  a fracture in my appreciation and my affection towards, you
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  know, he Delights in giving Mercy, meaning there is great
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  and deep gratification gratitude gratify action.
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  Towards the fact that you are going to receive Grace from him.
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  Now that's the hard part. God actually wants to do it and
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  he actually feels a way towards that truth.
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  So why don't we believe it? That's the difficult part,
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  right? But why does God find pleasure
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  in giving Mercy? We understand the contract part,
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  right? I said my word, that's why I'm
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  going to do it. So here's some mercy, no.
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  He's waiting to give it he's longing to give it.
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  He is eager to extend it. And the reason behind it is
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  because he knows that it will restore the relationship that
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  was once lost because of your sin and mine.
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  Is the very thing that will rebuild what was broken and he
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  knows that that Mercy's the only way and so he is actually
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  delighting in the fact that you will experience it.
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  I think that's where our heads had a ceiling.
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  I think that's where we find trouble understanding
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  forgiveness, that he is longing for you to just turn and confess
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  so that he can shower you with his love.
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  Knowing that this is the very thing that will build the bridge
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  again for you to walk hand-in-hand with Christ.
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  So, the thing that we have to get out of our heads, even a
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  spiritual Believers, is that Mercy is just some contract,
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  it's just some benefit, but he's not really wanting to do it.
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  You just have to do it or else he will go against his word.
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  That that Mercy, something that he regret, that he established
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  in his word, but he has to do it because he doesn't want to be
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  found to be a liar. That's completely false.
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  He's eager and he's longing to restore us and that's why there
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  is no other God like him. Here's the attitude that some
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  people have there is no way God can use me after this.
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  I blew it. God won't bless my life with
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  himself, like the way he would have.
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  If I didn't mess up. Have you ever thought that?
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  I can tell you that many, if not all people have thought that one
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  point Yes, sin has consequences. There's one thing that if true
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  repentance comes to the table that is guaranteed Mercy.
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  With a Heart of Love behind it. Longing, in a waiting for you to
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  receive it with the faith that he wants you to receive it.
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  But it's not just that, that's not the only fear that they
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  would have had, we don't have to guess what?
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  Other fears that these Israelites would have had in
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  their own hearts, and the Lord said to Joshua, do not fear.
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  And do not be dismayed. Take all the fighting men with
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  you and arise. Go up to AI.
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  Here's the other fear. That they would not be able to
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  defeat the enemy again because of their first failure.
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  So the fear here is that they'd Fallen they've been embarrassed.
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  They've been chaste. And God targets where their
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  terror is. And he says, listen, I want you
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  to get up and run back and fight again.
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  You know what that means that when you and I sinned with we've
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  Fallen, it doesn't mean that God's program for our lives is
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  canceled. It doesn't mean the whole thing
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  now is shattered. It doesn't mean now that we walk
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  aimlessly and we were just wondering what other purposes
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  because we blew it. No.
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  The moment we fall God, has every intention for us to get
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  back on our feet and to resume where we left off because
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  there's still a promised land to be conquered, there's still an
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  inheritance for you and I to experience.
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  And so these people were so discouraged by their own failure
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  that they were paralyzed and advancing in the will of God.
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  Now, here's the thing. In their case, it was an actual
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  physical enemy. Here's the fight that you, and I
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  have it's against sin. And I have to tell you this the
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  same way that the Israelites were paralyzed, because they
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  felt like they couldn't overcome.
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  AI is the same kind of fear that many Christians experience when
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  they keep trying to overcome a sin in the lives and it can't
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  seem to be overcome I fought this thing for years.
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  I've had strides a victory only to fall back into it.
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  Again, I can't seem to break this habit and what you have as
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  a result is, many Christians parked in the same place in
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  their spiritual journey. With Christ, never advancing or
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  growing or going from glory to glory.
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  And it's very much, a fearful thing for many believers.
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  And I can tell you that all you need to do is go to enough
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  conferences. You know conferences right where
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  there's a special weekend where you give undivided attention to
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  the word of God, to be challenged to change a certain
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  way. So that by next year you look
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  different than how you came that one year, right?
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  And with those challenging messages and those calls to
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  surrender and to lay down certain sins and lay down
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  certain mentalities, what is usually the response?
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  I mean, you have different results.
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  And here's one of them people that realize that they've been
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  convicted by the Holy Spirit, and that God has highlighted
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  something in their lives that needs to be, repented of only to
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  be met with this objection but I fear, I'm afraid at the moment.
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  I leave this environment. That's Heavenly environment.
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  Only to go back to my home, only to go back to my circle of
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  friends. My My workplace to be overcome
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  by the same sin, that I know that I have to give up.
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  I'm afraid that I'm going to cycle back into it.
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  And that sin can be anything, it can be an attitude problem.
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  It could be envied, it could be jealousy, can be sensuality.
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  It can be the fear of, man, it can be anything.
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  Something that we know that is nodding at us.
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  We can't seem to shake off. So, what many people are
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  paralyzed by is this fear that I can't overcome?
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  And here's how some people think God has given me Victory, when I
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  got saved over certain things, but this thing I can never get
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  victory over. I've lived with it too long.
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  I've seen God Set Me Free from this sin and that sin and
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  listen. I know that I'm saved but this
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  thing can't seem to break off. And I think I might have to live
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  with it. Or the idea of no matter how
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  much I've tried, it's just going to resurface again no matter how
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  much I feel like those chains have been broken.
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  I've run free. I feel like I'm arrested by that
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  thing out of nowhere again. And so there's a sense of why
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  bother Why bother confessing why?
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  Bother asking for prayer? Why bother fasting?
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  Why bother anymore? I can't seem to overcome it.
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  That's a very real fear in many people's lives.
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  And I think the only way to overcome that fear.
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  Is the same solution found here for Joshua and the Israelites.
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  Look at the second part of verse 1.
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  See, I have given into your hand at king of AI and his people,
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  his City and his land, I look at verse 2 and you shall do to Ai
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  and it's King as you did to Jericho and it's King, there's
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  the answer. How is God encouraging his
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  people to get up and face his fear?
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  That the enemy can't be overcome because we failed miserably.
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  He says the same thing that you've done to Jericho is the
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  same thing that you would do to a I.
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  Now why is that significant? Here's why it's significant to
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  different levels of threats. You have Jericho A Mighty
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  Fortress. Could even imagine penetrating
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  through that place and yet, God brought it down and here's a i
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  is smaller place. Still the same solution Victory
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  is still possible. There's nothing too big, nothing
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  too small. There's no big sins and small
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  sins in the eyes of God since I have different consequences but
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  all of them can no victory over. If we what simply believe the
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  very same substance that would bring Victory to Joshua.
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  And the Israelites is the very same substance that you and I
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  require in the New Covenant, you know what it is.
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  Faith. Faith.
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  You can't look at one thing and say, God can give me victory
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  over that and look at another thing to be like, God can't give
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  me victory over that the moment. You begin to think, like that
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  and talk like that. And convince yourself, you have
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  forfeited, the substance that brings about victory.
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  And so what is necessary is to look at the promises of God
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  which are greater than the old Covenant and to so convince
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  ourselves of those promises bring them before God and allow
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  the Holy Spirit to tap us into that power so we can experience
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  it. But when we start saying things,
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  like I don't think I can ever overcome it.
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  This is just the way I'm wired when we begin to say things such
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  as I think, I have to live with this for the rest of my life.
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  We forfeit the very thing that connects us to the source of
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  victory Very dangerous. Everything hinges on faith even
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  victory over sin. It's not striving, it's not
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  sweating, it's not eliminating necessarily, it has to start in
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  the core place of believing and trusting.
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  God see, they needed to believe that.
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  If we overcame Jericho, surely we can overcome a, i guard,
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  targeted their lack of faith, which caused the fear.
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  And try to breathe hope into that because if you don't have
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  hope, then you will never know victory.
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  It was true for them in the carnal and is true for us in the
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  spiritual. You have to believe.
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  If you don't, you will see defeated.
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  You will stay Park where they were parked and never know
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  greater strides of inheritance in the Kingdom.
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  It's so true. And it's so important to be able
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  to realize that, This was their source of Hope.
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  Believing God. There are many prayers in the
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  Bible. You know what?
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  One of my favorite ones are, when Jacob knew that he was
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  going to face his brother Esau and he was so terrified.
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  You know, why he was terrified? Because his mother said go to
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  your uncle Laban and I will fetch for you when your
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  brother's anger subsides, he never came.
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  There was no messenger ever sent for years.
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  Can you imagine go move in with your cousins?
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  And when your brother is finished, convincing himself
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  that he wants to murder you, then I'll call you to come back
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  home, not one email. Now, one text message for years,
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  Then as he's trying to travel back, he gets word.
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  Esau is on his way and he's terrified and I love what he
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  does in Genesis 32 12, he says to God.
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  He says you said and he lays out the promises that God had given
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  him. Personally, you said he prayed
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  the very Promises of God. She, we need to know the
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  promises of God. And then we need to learn how to
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  communicate them to God. As an Act of Faith.
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  You said, sin shall not have dominion over me because I'm not
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  under the law. But I am under grace, you said
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  that That's bold, but we have the license to do that. and
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  then, as we bring these promises, God Honors that Act of
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  Faith and then begins to animate you, and energize you to know
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  how to trample over every enemy, including your sin and mine
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  These are the fears that they were facing the very same fears
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  that many Christians experience when they fail.
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  Look what happens here in verse 2.
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  He says you shall do to a on its king as you did to Jericho and
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  it's King. Only it spoil and it's
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  livestock. You shall take us plunder for
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  yourselves. Lay an ambush against the city
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  behind it. This is interesting.
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  You know why? Because it's very much a
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  different instructions than what we got for Jericho.
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  What did he tell them concerning Jericho?
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  He says as you go in and attack you be careful that you don't
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  take one thing to yourself. It's all devoted to destruction
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  and the gold and silver. That's mine.
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  You are leaving empty-handed. Nothing belongs to you,
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  everything. Belongs to me.
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  But then here he says the plunder is yours.
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  The plunder is yours. Joshua 6.
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  Nothing is yours. Joshua 8.
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  It's all yours. You know why?
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  That's a sad truth, can anybody guess why?
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  Because there was a man named Aiken.
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  Who could have just waited a little longer. and the very
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  thing that his heart desired, he would have experienced What was
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  Akins fault. When God says, it's not yours.
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  He took it anyway, and he paid the price for it.
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  And just a few moments later if he had just obeyed God the very
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  thing that he wanted to have. He would have had and had God's
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  blessing on it but he couldn't wait and trust God.
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  This is a very important lesson in life, brothers and sisters
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  Oftentimes, when we want to move ahead of God, or we want to do
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  something against his word, we convince ourselves that it's
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  because we will be at Advantage. Let me guarantee you something.
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  Whenever you are tempted, with that thought to move ahead of
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  God to do something, apart from his permission, to disobey his
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  written word, you will always miss out like a can miss out.
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  See God said, no, he didn't say no here because an AI you're
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  going to have he didn't reveal the whole thing.
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  And God doesn't have to reveal the whole thing.
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  We just have to trust him at his word.
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  So when he says, no, we say Amen.
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  When he says, yes we say Amen. Sometimes we want explanations.
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  For why doors are closed. We want explanations for why
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  things are not going the way. We think they should be going
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  yet on the other side. There's something to experience
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  yet. Many people have sabotage that
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  experience like Aiken has because they don't know how to
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  Simply trust God in what not just his word, but his timing.
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  It was a timing issue. if he had just waited a little longer, he
• 22:43
  would have known what God wanted him to know, but he didn't wait
• 22:46
  on God. And he lost not just this but a
• 22:52
  lifetime experience. Oh a can.
• 22:56
  If you would have just waited for God don't let that be the
• 22:59
  commentary for you and me in our life.
• 23:01
  Trust God at his word. Trust God in the sovereignty
• 23:04
  over your Affairs in life, believe him and believe in his
• 23:07
  timing and you will know maximum blessing you know many
• 23:10
  Christians they want something something so bad enough that
• 23:13
  they're willing to push through all Council push through all
• 23:15
  advice, even push through the barriers of the word of God to
• 23:18
  get what they want and they pay for it in the end.
• 23:22
  God knows what he's doing. And we see this on this side, a
• 23:25
  can we didn't know it, but we see it.
• 23:28
  And God has given us these things for us to consider.
• 23:31
  Don't rush. God, don't rush in life.
• 23:34
  Trust him at his word and he will bless you for it.
• 23:37
  Now, what happens we come to verse 3, down to verse 8, Joshua
• 23:44
  is going to give the Israelites a new set of instructions of how
• 23:47
  to overcome a. I that fear that this pair is
• 23:49
  eliminated because of Truth shining upon the character of
• 23:53
  God and his nature. And what's important from verse
• 23:58
  3 down to verse 8, as he begins to give instructions, is verse a
• 24:01
  look at verse 8 with me, he says in as soon as you have taken the
• 24:04
  city, you shall set the city on fire.
• 24:06
  You shall do according to what the word of the Lord.
• 24:10
  So you know, where these instructions came?
• 24:12
  I'm from not Josh was mine. God's mind.
• 24:14
  God gave them to Joshua and they came through Joshua to the
• 24:18
  people. Why is that important?
• 24:21
  Why is it important to know that these verses have come from God?
• 24:23
  These instructions? Because they look very much
• 24:25
  different than the strategy that they had in their initial attack
• 24:28
  to a I very much different. You put these instruction side
• 24:32
  by side. You see completely different way
• 24:35
  of understanding this whole circumstance.
• 24:38
  For example, look at verse 3, So Joshua and all the fighting men
• 24:42
  are rose to go up to a i and Joshua chose 30,000, Mighty Men
• 24:47
  of Valor and sent them out by night.
• 24:50
  Now, go to Joshua 7, verse 3. Same verse number, different
• 24:54
  chapter. This is when he sent his spies
• 24:57
  to go out to Ai and they being despised returned to Joshua and
• 25:01
  said to him. Do not have all the people go up
• 25:04
  but let about two or three thousand men go up and attack
• 25:07
  AI. Do not make the whole people
• 25:10
  toil up. Therefore they are few Do you
• 25:15
  see the difference? So when the spies went out in
• 25:20
  their own understanding and estimation, they thought we
• 25:23
  don't need everybody to go up. This is a small place.
• 25:26
  A i this is nothing like Jericho why send most of our troops when
• 25:32
  we can just send some of our troops.
• 25:34
  And if we send some of our troops, then we don't have to
• 25:36
  get everybody. All worked up and tired for
• 25:37
  nothing. Hey, if you read chapter seven
• 25:41
  without eight, you think this is smart.
• 25:42
  This is wisdom. This is good thinking The only
• 25:48
  missed it by multiplying the soldiers by 10.
• 25:53
  Here's the idea. How do we get this verse 3 and
• 25:57
  verse 3 from these chapters. Very simple, very simple
• 25:59
  conclusion. God does things differently than
• 26:01
  we do? God thinks differently, he
• 26:04
  strategizes differently. He plans differently, he
• 26:07
  executes differently. And what embarrassment, what a
• 26:10
  humbling experience it would have been for Joshua to hear
• 26:13
  30,000 men. We only missed it by so many.
• 26:17
  We thought two or three thousand.
• 26:21
  And then God says, no, I actually want 30,000 to go up to
• 26:24
  AI. How can this be?
• 26:29
  Well, we can't condemn this man, too quick, because many of us do
• 26:32
  the same thing. We kind of take on life and we
• 26:34
  look at situations and circumstances and we think that
• 26:38
  we can do it with our own thinking.
• 26:41
  Apart from God's intervention or wisdom or word or Council?
• 26:47
  Only to find out later on that. God's way was the best way.
• 26:53
  And I want you to think how many people take on different aspects
• 26:56
  of life. Without dependency on the Lord.
• 27:01
  How many people try to do ministry without God's word?
• 27:04
  Many, you'd be shocked to know how they think that.
• 27:06
  If we just do it this way, we will win more people.
• 27:09
  If we just do it this way, we will get more money.
• 27:12
  If we just do it this way, fill in the blank.
• 27:17
  Because culture is changing and people have different attention
• 27:21
  spans. Now, So let's move away from
• 27:24
  this and let's introduce this and this and this and that as
• 27:26
  well, God didn't know what he was talking about.
• 27:28
  As though, God didn't have 20/20 in mind when he gave us his
• 27:30
  word. Or take on relationships without
• 27:35
  God's advice. We are so given to our emotions
• 27:38
  in our judgment. So we go, this is right when God
• 27:41
  has clear warnings and God has given us people to give us
• 27:44
  warnings. And yet we still move ahead
• 27:46
  without him because we think we can do this apart from him.
• 27:51
  Business, you name it? This is a perfect example.
• 27:58
  You look at chapter 7, you see nothing of god mentioned.
• 28:02
  Nothing of god mentioned that is always a recipe for disaster and
• 28:07
  it's very simple, know his word and bring it to him and prayers.
• 28:10
  I know it's not deep, but it saves you from a lot.
• 28:15
  And they thought we are going to save our resources.
• 28:17
  Men are not going to be tired. We can get this over quickly.
• 28:21
  Whatever. Seems to make sense, if it's not
• 28:24
  aligned with God's will, no matter what people say, if it's
• 28:27
  not according to this, it's bound to fail.
• 28:31
  It's bound to fail but we don't have to wait for us to fail to
• 28:34
  experience the bitterness of it. See, they came to this low point
• 28:38
  because of their own decision mainly because of a consent, but
• 28:41
  secondly, we see that they have they have come to this point of
• 28:44
  thinking, we understand how this whole thing works.
• 28:46
  And you know what, all it took for them to come to that point
• 28:49
  one victory over Jericho, That's not an accident.
• 28:54
  The sequence is Not an Accident victory over Jericho then they
• 28:57
  come to a on the go. We got this figured out get two
• 28:59
  or three thousand let's send him over and we'll move on wrong.
• 29:03
  But how does a person come to that kind of mentality of being
• 29:06
  independent from the Lord. I can guarantee you from many
• 29:09
  examples in the Bible that it usually grows after a taste of
• 29:13
  victory. After God has used you for
• 29:19
  something. After you've seen yourself
• 29:22
  living consistently in a state of spiritual power.
• 29:28
  After being used even a moment, all it takes is one sermon
• 29:31
  brother. for people to say, Whatever they want to say to
• 29:36
  praise all. It takes is one sermon for this
• 29:40
  type of thinking to rush. At the Takeover.
• 29:46
  Or you fail to feel as though you need to continually depend
• 29:49
  upon the Lord. You know what the scary part is.
• 29:52
  They thought they can do this without God's counsel after one
• 29:55
  victory over Jericho, right? But think about the victory over
• 29:59
  Jericho, did it have anything to do with them?
• 30:02
  No, it was God's Supernatural intervention, based on what
• 30:06
  marching around walls, God intentionally made it seem like
• 30:13
  they would look foolish so that he would receive maximum Glory,
• 30:16
  not just in the eyes of the Israelites, but the eyes of all
• 30:19
  the people in the land of Canaan.
• 30:21
  But here's how subtle pride is that, even if you and others
• 30:26
  know that it was God. You somehow are able to convince
• 30:28
  yourself that there was something about you in it.
• 30:32
  That's how subtle this thing is. You can be totally convinced
• 30:37
  that one moment that surely this was God in and through me only
• 30:40
  for the next for you to think well, God could have chosen
• 30:44
  anybody but he chose me. I'm the vessel that God used to
• 30:48
  bless others. I'm the person that God gave
• 30:51
  surely, There's Something About Me, forgot to give it to me and
• 30:53
  not her and not him. Dangerous thinking and this is
• 30:59
  how sinful we really are that even in being just a vessel just
• 31:06
  a cup in the hand, just an instrument, we can still think
• 31:10
  that it has something to do with us and then we begin to think
• 31:13
  that we can do this on our own and figure it all out.
• 31:17
  And from there things go, really South.
• 31:20
  I think it was. I remember that, man.
• 31:24
  The year that King Uzziah died. I saw the Lord high and lifted
• 31:26
  up. Who's I died?
• 31:28
  A tragic death. He died of Pride, leprosy broke
• 31:31
  out on his forehead, no accident there.
• 31:34
  Because the man was filled with pride, how he became king at 16
• 31:38
  years old, he had a good Mentor, he knew how to seek the Lord and
• 31:42
  as long as he sought the Lord, he prospered and boy, did he
• 31:45
  Prosper read? Second chronicles 26, Victory
• 31:49
  inventions Fame. And then there's one scary verse
• 31:53
  when he died Shia became strong. Everything went downhill.
• 32:01
  See you again, it's in that place where you are seeing
• 32:06
  blessing flow through you and to you.
• 32:09
  That the cancer of pride has some soil to work with so that
• 32:13
  it can spread only to create a spiritual leprosy.
• 32:17
  And have us crashing down for all men to see.
• 32:22
  And so here we see an example of that.
• 32:25
  Different set of instructions, guys, God thinks about life, got
• 32:29
  things about money, got things about relationships, God thinks
• 32:32
  about modesty, God thinks about church, God thinks about every
• 32:36
  aspect of who we are differently than you.
• 32:39
  And I do and the closer we align our minds and our hearts to his
• 32:43
  will, the more we will know Victory and we will save
• 32:45
  ourselves time energy and much pain.
• 32:49
  When we do. So that's certainly true in this
• 32:52
  case. So what happens?
• 32:55
  They move on? And then we see here in verse 4
• 32:58
  down to verse 24, long details of what.
• 33:02
  Well, the first Chunk we see that God gives the explanation
• 33:05
  of what they were supposed to do in the second part, we get a
• 33:08
  detailed record of the execution of what they were supposed to do
• 33:12
  and so we can read through all of it and there seems to be a
• 33:14
  lot of repetition but it's all to just show that they obeyed
• 33:17
  perfectly what God demanded of them.
• 33:19
  But you know what? I love about the strategy.
• 33:22
  You know what's wonderful about this Victory, here it is.
• 33:27
  We see here in verse 6. That Joshua perhaps inspiration
• 33:32
  by God, knew ahead of time. What the enemy was going to do
• 33:37
  and they plan accordingly. So let's summarize what this
• 33:40
  strategy was. They were supposed to go up as
• 33:43
  one group only for another group of Israelites to come behind the
• 33:46
  city of AI. And what the strategy was is
• 33:49
  that this group would come and plant themselves before AIA, I
• 33:53
  would see the Israelites and they would say we got him before
• 33:56
  we're going to get him again. So they come with all their men
• 33:59
  to the point where they actually leave the city behind.
• 34:02
  Not one man was left behind an AI and they chased the
• 34:05
  Israelites as the Israelites on the front, pretended that they
• 34:08
  were defeated, pretended, that they were fearful.
• 34:11
  And as they chase them, Joshua would turn and bring up a
• 34:15
  javelin, as a signal. And the ones that were an We're
• 34:18
  now come and burn down the city and as the smoke would rise to
• 34:22
  heaven, the people of are would turn around.
• 34:24
  See it, they would come and it would be a sandwich.
• 34:27
  That was the that was essentially the plan beautiful
• 34:29
  plan, wonderful plan. But what makes this so important
• 34:32
  is verse 6. Look at verse 6, this is what
• 34:34
  Joshua is instruction. He goes and they being the
• 34:37
  people of a I will come out after us until we have drawn
• 34:39
  them away from the city for they will say, they are fleeing from
• 34:42
  us just as before so we will flee before them.
• 34:47
  What's important with that? Joshua knew ahead of time.
• 34:53
  What the enemy was going to do? And Joshua 8.
• 35:01
  That's very important. In real war strategy.
• 35:06
  In the pages of the New Testament in the realm that you
• 35:09
  and I are living in, it is as equally as important in our
• 35:12
  spiritual battle. to do what to know ahead of time of what the
• 35:18
  enemy can do in our lives, in our church, That is not a call
• 35:25
  to be mystical. Nor is that a call to just
• 35:28
  pretend and think maybe this is no, it is actually instructed by
• 35:32
  the Holy Spirit towards you. And I and here's the verse
• 35:36
  second, Corinthians 2:11 Local. Paul tells this church and for
• 35:40
  all churches, for all time. What?
• 35:42
  They are instructed to do now, look at this.
• 35:45
  He says here, so that we would not be outwitted by Satan.
• 35:50
  For, we are not ignorant of his designs.
• 35:57
  We've been taught our lives to know what God is able to do and
• 36:00
  what God wants us to do. Sure.
• 36:02
  I don't think we spend much time.
• 36:03
  Understanding how Satan works. Paul says, you're called not to
• 36:09
  be unaware of his designs of his schemes of his craft, the
• 36:12
  abilities of his strategies. You know why?
• 36:20
  Because you and I are in a war. You've heard this many times,
• 36:25
  but I'll say it again. As much as you might not want to
• 36:27
  believe you're in a war, you're in a war.
• 36:30
  As much as you might think that you're not on wartime mentality,
• 36:32
  you were still in a war. And the less you think you're in
• 36:37
  a war the more you are a Sitting Duck for Satan pretend all you
• 36:42
  want be an ostrich and plant your head in the sand and
• 36:44
  pretend that there's no danger around you.
• 36:46
  You are literally becoming easy prey for the enemy.
• 36:52
  And you don't have to be a super Christian to figure out how
• 36:54
  Satan works. We have to be spiritual,
• 36:58
  absolutely, but why did Paul say this to the Corinthian Church?
• 37:01
  Why did he say so that we would not be out with it so that we
• 37:04
  will not be unaware of the schemes of Satan.
• 37:07
  Now, understand the context here.
• 37:10
  Last week we talked about how one man sin in the camp can
• 37:12
  affect the whole Camp. Remember and we went to First
• 37:15
  Corinthians to see the example of that.
• 37:17
  There was a man who had an unlawful relationship with his
• 37:20
  father's wife. Even the world doesn't even
• 37:22
  celebrate such a thing. And he says, get rid of him, see
• 37:28
  there are sometimes certain sins in the local church sometimes
• 37:33
  where you don't have to go through the necessary steps
• 37:36
  where you have to sometimes, use Extreme Measures for the sake of
• 37:39
  saving. The whole congregation.
• 37:41
  That was certainly true in this case.
• 37:42
  So he was excommunicated in that moment and then when you come to
• 37:45
  Second Corinthians, something happens between those two books.
• 37:50
  At first, he has to go, he has to go because he's not
• 37:54
  repentant. So he goes then you come to
• 37:56
  Second Corinthians and what happens?
• 37:58
  He is. Now speaking to the same group
• 38:00
  of people and he's saying, listen, don't add sorrow to him.
• 38:06
  If he's come back and he's asking for forgiveness, do not
• 38:10
  withhold that forgiveness, do not withhold, Your Love, shower
• 38:14
  him with your love, shower him with your compassion and then he
• 38:17
  goes on to say so that we would not be outwitted by Satan.
• 38:21
  For we are not ignorant of his designs.
• 38:24
  That's the context. So, what is he trying to say?
• 38:29
  He's trying to say this, in this particular situation in your
• 38:32
  church Corinthians, As you are trying to figure out how to
• 38:37
  handle this situation, know that Satan is lurking.
• 38:44
  And that, as this penitent broken man is coming to you
• 38:48
  asking for restoration. Give it to him because if you
• 38:51
  think you can withhold it, listen, because many people
• 38:54
  think if I withhold forgiveness and love, it will teach them a
• 38:58
  greater lesson never to do it again.
• 39:01
  And so, who knows? What was going on in their mind
• 39:03
  to think? Let's not give it to him, he
• 39:05
  blew it. He embarrassed us.
• 39:07
  Look how Paul spoke to us, who knows?
• 39:08
  What was going on there. Mine.
• 39:10
  But listen, if it did not come to the point of restoration and
• 39:13
  rebuilding they were playing at this Athens hands.
• 39:16
  Because Satan would love nothing more than for this person to be
• 39:19
  so overwhelmed by despair that he would be crushed to the
• 39:23
  point. Where who knows what he would do
• 39:25
  to himself, or who knows what direction you would be headed
• 39:27
  into. Just be careful.
• 39:31
  Be careful how you handle the situation.
• 39:34
  Now, you know how subtle Satan is?
• 39:36
  Check this out? The first time.
• 39:40
  With this church, he was working in another way.
• 39:42
  I believe, you know, how he was working.
• 39:44
  When the man was unrepented and sitting in the church, and they
• 39:47
  all knew to knew about it, they were tolerant He was working
• 39:51
  there. He didn't want to make him think
• 39:54
  that it was that serious. He didn't want to think that
• 39:57
  this was an emergency situation. So he convinced them to the
• 40:01
  point where they weren't morning over.
• 40:02
  They weren't broken over it and when Paul sheds light, they go,
• 40:05
  huh, and they get rid of him. And now, the enemy is still
• 40:09
  there, so that when he comes back, he's trying to convince
• 40:12
  them. See he always wants to find an
• 40:14
  open door in. In the first case is, When sin
• 40:18
  came into say, tolerate it, when they got rid of it, he wants the
• 40:21
  Other Extreme now, be legalistic and condemn him.
• 40:28
  Christianity. Is not a game church is not a
• 40:34
  game. We are dealing with people's
• 40:36
  Souls here. And so, when we understand this
• 40:43
  example, it calls for a