Latest / Saint City Chapel / God Does Not Waste Our Mistakes | Joshua 9

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God Does Not Waste Our Mistakes | Joshua 9 · Saint City Chapel

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Hey, hey, sane city. Whoa, whoa, sorry.
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I'm going to back up a little bit.
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I know I come out with a little bit of energy and I don't want
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you guys to be totally just blown away by the Energizer
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Bunny. That is my preaching style.
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Good morning. Glad you guys are here and I
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don't know you. My name is Brandon.
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I am glad that you are here. I'm glad that you're worshipping
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with us. We're going to be book of Joshua
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this morning. If you don't have a Bible, you
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can get to that on an app on your phone.
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We are totally good with that. But if you want a physical copy
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of God's word, we actually do have Bibles on the seats nearby
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around you. It'll be on page 184 is where
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I'll be today. We'll get to God's word in just
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a moment. First, I just want to say thank
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you to the many of you who are sacrificing to make Easter a
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reality for not just the people in this room, but the people who
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are yet to experience same city, who are, as we say it here,
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rolling up their sleeves and serving others with a dirty
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towel. We say around here the dirtiest
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towel wins, which means it's just our heart to serve others
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because Jesus Christ came not to be served, but to serve.
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And so thank you to those who are serving a Good Friday at
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Easter Saturday morning and jumping in on one of our served
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teams for Easter Sunday. I just want to say thank you as
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your pastor. We couldn't do without you guys.
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So thank you for having dirty towels and sacrificing so others
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would know. Jesus.
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Hey, mistakes are inevitable. Not just as a preacher, but for
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me, especially as a dad. I've had my fair share of
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mistakes as a father. I'm going to go in a quick
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little list here just so you guys can understand just how bad
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of a dad I can be #5 on the list of the quick little power
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rankings. Often times it'll be time for us
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to pick up. And my wife, Maddie's a very, an
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extremely organized person and my kids have taken after her.
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And that, that's a good thing. Their dad, not so much.
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So I will go to go put things back like the Legos or the dolls
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and my kids will look at me and go, Dad, that is not where that
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goes. So that's a mistake I regularly
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make in our house. Also, when it's time to make
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breakfast, I will regularly make the kids cereal or pancakes or
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eggs. But when it comes time for
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oatmeal, my kids have a very particular way with which they
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enjoy oatmeal. And I've learned that Dad,
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that's not how that goes. You can't make it like that.
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That's not how mom makes it. I've gotten that too many times
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to count. So please pray for me, my
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breakfast making. But also, the mistakes get
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bigger than that as a dad. Mistakes that I wish that I
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could go back and not look at. So many much regret.
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How much time I've spent on my phone through screen addiction,
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like a mistake I've made as a dad is how often I've spent time
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just staring at some nonsensical thing on my phone instead of
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being present with my kids. Not only that, there are times
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where I will put others the kids over my relationship with Maddie
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and that's bad fathering as well because I can only be as good of
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a father to them as I am a husband to my wife.
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But I think the most grievous of my mistakes is a dad.
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The one that stings the most when I think about it is 2017
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Maddie and I got married and 2 1/2 months in Maddie woke up and
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decided to take a pregnancy test.
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I didn't know this was coming. And Maddie, through tears and
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joy and excitement, wakes me up and says we're pregnant.
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And I wish, I wish I would have been the husband on that day,
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the father on that day that looked her in the eye with joy
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and with a smile. But I think the words that I
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said is, how is that possible? It's kind of funny now, but as I
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look back in that moment, that blooper reel is still in my mind
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because on that day I really hurt my wife.
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And it began A2 year journey where I was figuring out that
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kids are not a burden, they are a blessing.
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And that was a day Maddie dreamed of her whole life.
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And I can't get that back. I can't take it back and I can't
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go back over the eight years I've spent being a dad, being
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better, being stronger, being more attentive, being more
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engaged as a father. That their mistakes are going to
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happen as a father, They're going to happen as a person, as
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a wife, as a worker. You are going to experience
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mistakes in this life. In fact, maybe you're here at
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church today and the biggest mistake you've ever made is
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right now at the front of your mind because spring break just
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happened and you can't believe what you just did.
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College student that some of you are looking back and thinking
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about a conversation you had with a loved one and you can't
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take those words back. It is a haunting memory, a bad
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decision. So much are some of you feeling
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this right now that it almost kept you for coming into church
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today because of how much regret and shame you feel over
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something that's happened in your life, something that you
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did. May I just announced to you
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today the big idea of the sermon, the sermon in a sentence
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that might just blow your mind. It's the truth of Joshua Chapter
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9. It's this that God does not
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waste our mistakes. They do not go to waste.
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They are not without meaning that God in his power and in his
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might, that though we might make mistakes in our life, and I
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don't know what the mistake that you have made or mistakes pile
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that you have built up, but I know this.
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I know a God who does not waste them, who can redeem them, and
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that's the God of Joshua Chapter 9 that we're going to learn
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about today. Would you pray with me?
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And then we get into the Word together.
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God, I just pray for every heart here right now, that they would
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open up their mind and their hearts and their ears to hear
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just how amazing you are. God, that though they are not
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the person they could be, nor are they the person they should
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be. God, there is an opportunity in
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Christ to not be the person they once were, and I pray that the
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truth and the grace and the mercy of God would be
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overflowing in this room today. They would hear the hope of
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Joshua 9, the hope of Jesus, and then hear it through a broken
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messenger like me. God, would you do that?
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For your glory and our good, we pray.
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Amen and Amen. All right, Joshua Chapter 9.
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Here's what we're going to be discovering together is what do
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we do after we realize we've messed up?
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What do I do after I realize I've messed up?
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What's the message in our mistakes?
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Well, God's going to show us through these 27 verses just who
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He is in the midst of our mistakes.
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And I want to break it down like this.
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I want to talk about the mistake, the moment, and the
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message. The mistake, the moment and the
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message where Joshua Chapter 9, verse one.
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If you're there, say I'm there, all right, as soon as all the
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kings who are beyond the Jordan, in the Hill Country and in the
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lowland, all along the coast of the great Sea toward Lebanon,
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you got a list of people, the Hittites, the Amorites, the
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Canaanites, the parasites, the Hivites, the Jebusites, the
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Termites. So I'm just kidding.
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That was not in your Bible. Heard of this verse 2.
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They gathered together as one to fight against Joshua and Israel.
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You have all these nations, Six Nations in fact, who have formed
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a confederacy against Israel. They have realized, wait,
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Jericho couldn't stood against them, couldn't stand against
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them. AI couldn't stand against them.
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Literally no army or weapons or walls can hold these people
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back. Perhaps if we form a
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confederacy, perhaps if we unite against them, we can beat them.
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That's what these 6 tribes are thinking.
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But then verse 3, when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what
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Joshua had done to Jericho into AI, they're like, you know what,
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if you can't beat them, join them.
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Verse 4, they on their part acted with cunning and went and
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made ready provisions and took worn out sacks for their donkeys
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and wineskins, worn out and torn and mended with worn out patch
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sandals on their feet and worn out clothes.
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All their provisions were dry and crumbly.
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Basically they're saying, hey, I want it to look like we came
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from far away, like we've been on a long journey, so they don't
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think we're neighbors. And they went to Joshua, verse
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6, in the camp at Gilgal and said to him and to the men of
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Israel, we have come from a distant country, so now make a
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covenant with us. Verse 7, the men of Israel said
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to the Hivites, perhaps you live among us, but then how can we
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make a covenant with you? They turn to Joshua and said,
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hey, we are your servants. And Joshua said to them, Hey,
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who are you and where do you come from?
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They said to him, from a very distant country, Your servants
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have come because of the name of the Lord your God.
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For we have heard a report of him and all that he did in
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Egypt, and all that he did to the 2 kings of the Amorites who
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are beyond the Jordan, and to Sihan the king of Heshbon, and
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to Odd, king of Bastion who lived in Ashtaroth.
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So to our elders and all the inhabitants of our country said
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to us, hey, take provisions in your hand for the journey and go
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meet and say to them, we are your servants.
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Come now, make a covenant with us.
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Here's our bread. It's still warm and we took it
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from our houses as our food for the journey of the day.
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We set out to come to you and now behold, it is dry and
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crumbly. These wineskins were new when we
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filled them and behold, they have bursts.
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These garments and sandals of ours are worn out from the very
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long journey. They're pointing to their ruse.
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They're pointing to their trick and saying, hey, look at how
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messed up our stuff is, how worn out is Clearly we had to come
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from far away. Verse 14's really pivotal.
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Look at it in your Bible. So the men of Israel took some
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of their provisions but did not ask counsel from the Lord.
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And Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant with them to
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let them live. And the leaders of the
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congregation swore to them. Joshua just made a big mistake.
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People he was supposed to go to war against have now become a
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part of his people. He's let the enemy in.
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He believed a lie from an enemy. I think we can make a similar
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mistake. In fact, jot down this note that
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after I realized I've messed up. Learn from the initial mistake.
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What's our job? How can we see the God who will
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not waste anything in our lives? What is our responsibility in
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that? What we can learn from the
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initial mistake. You see, Joshua's initial
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mistake is one that we often make ourselves, is that he did
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not expect lies in enemy territory.
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He was not expecting deceit in the middle of war.
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It caught him off guard. It caught him by surprise.
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Friends, that's where we live. We live in enemy territory.
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We are aliens on this earth. If we are Christians, we don't
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belong here. We belong somewhere else, but
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we're here in enemy territory and enemy occupied territory
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trying to overthrow this rule and reign because we actually
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believe and follow a king who rules and reigns over it all.
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And if we don't expect lies, we can find ourselves in a similar
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situation. There's a lie that I think many
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of us can be persuaded of, a lie that might make this feel like
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real life. There's a lie going around right
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now that to be loved, I have to be supported by you.
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That for you to love me, you have to support me and the
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decisions I make and the way that I handled that conversation
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and the lifestyle I've chosen, and however I responded to that
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moment of that conversation, that to love me, you have to
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support me. You have to validate what I did
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that is actually a lie. That's not true.
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That love, it says in First Corinthians 13, does not
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celebrate wrongdoing. It rejoices with truth that we
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can as people, be persuaded, that people have to support
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every single one of our decisions, that we can't be
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challenged. And let me just tell you, if you
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are a guest here, we do love you.
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We are so glad that you are here.
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Genuinely, we love you. But if you think you will be
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without challenge here, you're in the wrong room.
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This is a place where we come to God's Word and we let Him
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challenge us by His very words. And it'll be unloving of God to
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not challenge us because guess what?
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We have things in our life that are holding us back to becoming
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all He intended us to be, Sin that is entangling us and
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holding us back from running the race of godliness as fast as we
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can. We need to set it aside and God
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will get in your grill a little bit.
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He's going to confront all of us.
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There's patterns and portions of our life that God has to speak
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to because we've been persuaded by the lies of this world.
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We've believed lies in enemy territory.
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We should expect lies. When I was growing up, I would
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play this game often with my family.
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It's called Mafia. Anybody ever played You got It
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Might. It goes by a number of different
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names, but here's the premise of the game.
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You draw from a deck of cards and you get assigned various
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roles, whether you are the nurse or the doctor, you are the
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sheriff or you are the mafia, which means you get to kill
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people, which is fun, or you get to be a talents person.
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You each have a various role. And at some point along the
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game, in my family's playing of it, somebody decided that a
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regular pattern of the way we played the game was that
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somebody would be assigned to the sheriff, which means they're
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the ones who can find out who the mafia is whenever his eyes
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are closed. But I would regularly pretend I
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was the sheriff. So we would get to a point where
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it's the circle time and somebody go, I'm the sheriff.
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That person is the mafia. I wouldn't even be the mafia.
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I'd be a regular talentsperson that had no role in the game.
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But my role was now to be the fake sheriff.
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You know, I'm the sheriff and that person is not the mafia.
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You're the mafia. That's what I would say all the
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time, just to cause chaos and drama and fun in the game, just
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to see who is lying. It's fun.
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Y'all play Mafia with me. Sometime I will lie to your
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face. Maybe I shouldn't do that with
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our church. I don't know.
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The thing is, in Mafia you are expecting people to lie.
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It is a part of the game. You are expecting when you get
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there that people are not telling the truth.
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So you have discerning ears in a different way.
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You're listening to how they talk about what happened or why
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they made decisions because you're expecting them to lie.
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Listen to me in this world. You need to expect deceit to be
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rampant in this world. Ideas and philosophies and
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ideologies, they are rampant in this world trying to convince
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you of something that is untrue. And people might be believing
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the lie and telling you thinking it's the truth.
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But guess what? That's why we have God's word,
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so we can know what's actually true.
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In a world full of rampant deceit, God is not so unkind to
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leave us. In a world full of lies and
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betrayal and deceit, without the truth of His very words, God
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cannot lie. He does not lie.
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He will not lie. And therefore, in an enemy
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occupied world where people lie, guess what?
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We need to seek the truth before we speak.
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We need to seek truth before we speak.
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That's there, His other air. Look back at verse 14.
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Some of the men took the provisions but did not ask
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counsel from the Lord. His mistake was not only not
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expecting lies, it wasn't seeking God.
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It would be like Anakin Skywalker ignoring Obi Wan
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Kenobi, but times a million. You have a guide in your life
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for a reason. You have a teacher in your life
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for a reason. To ignore their counsel is utter
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foolishness. And I think we can be guilty of
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this too, if we're honest that we can assume God's will without
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seeking God's voice. We just assume that's the open
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door He wants us to walk through just because we prayed about it
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a little bit. I'm not saying that's not
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seeking God. I'm saying there's more
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components to seeking God than just you having a conversation
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with God, telling Him what you want for your life.
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And you will perceive open doors because that's just generally
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what you want rather than what He said.
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We can assume God's plan without seeking God's voice.
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That is actually the fast pass to making mistakes.
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We need to seek before we speak. So here's a quick little like
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diagnostic for you if you're trying to seek God's direction
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and His plan for you when you're making decisions in your life.
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First, does it align with God's Word?
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Does it align with God's Word? God has already spoken a whole
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lot and there's things he's very clear about that you're like,
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hey, I'm making this major decision.
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What has God already said? If it aligns with God's word,
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then you're on a good trajectory.
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OK, that's door number one. OK, it aligns with God's Word.
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Second, does it align with God's heart?
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Does align with God's heart? His heart is for unity.
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It's his heart is to build one another up.
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It's so that you'd speak the truth in love with one another.
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His heart is for his name to be great, for him to be glorified.
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So when you're making major decisions, what do you do?
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You go wait, Does this align with God's heart?
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Is this who God? Is this how God moves?
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Is this how God speaks? Because if it doesn't sound like
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God, it's probably not God. It's just you, and that's the
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third thing. Does it lead to God's glory?
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Because if it's aligned with God's Word and it's aligned with
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God's heart, you've checked that with others as well.
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You checked in with your church family or your community group
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leader, your spiritual leadership here at the church.
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You've checked in and gone, Hey, am I thinking about this right?
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Is there any blind spots you see in this decision?
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If it aligns with God's heart and it brings Him glory, then
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guess what? Now you've done the thing,
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you've sought Him before, you've spoken for Him.
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You've not assumed His plan without listening to His voice.
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We're intended to seek God personally and interpersonally
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together. So we're people.
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So after I realized I've messed up, learn from the initial
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mistake, learn from Joshua's mistake, and learn from yours
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and keep moving forward. Second, after I realized I've
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messed up, what's the second thing that we're going to learn
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from the text is that we make it right.
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Don't make it worse. After I realized I've messed up,
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make it right, don't make it worse.
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Watch what Joshua was going to do here.
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It's actually a really good example to follow in the text.
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He makes it right, he doesn't make it worse.
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We're going to pick back up in the text of verse 16 at the end
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of three days after they had made a covenant with them.
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A covenant is between like, like a marriage.
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It's two people coveting before God, saying God, you're a part
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of this. OK, So they're saying Joshua and
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these Gibby Knights made a covenant before God, that they
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were their neighbors. They heard, excuse me, that they
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were their neighbors and that they lived among them.
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It's like, oh, shoot, that deal that just went bad.
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It went real bad. They're not just from a faraway
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country. They're here because there was
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nothing in the Torah law, there was nothing in Leviticus or
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Numbers or Deuteronomy that told Joshua he couldn't make a
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covenant with distant neighbors, only near neighbors.
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So he got deceived, and now he makes the covenant with these
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neighbors and the people of Israel.
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Verse 17, they set out and reached their cities on the
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third day. Now their cities were giving
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Kapyra B Roth and Curious Jerem, but the people of Israel did not
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attack them because the leaders of the congregation had sworn to
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them by the Lord the God of Israel.
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That's a big deal. Joshua said, hey, I did a wrong
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thing. I made a deal with them.
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But now since the deal is in place, I'm not going to go back
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on my word. I'm going to keep my word to
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them because my word wasn't just to them, it was to God.
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But all the leaders said to all the congregation in verse 19, we
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have sworn to them by the Lord the God of Israel, and now we
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may not touch them. This we're going to do to them.
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Here's where he makes it right. Let them live, lest wrath be
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upon us, because of the oath that we, the oath that we swore
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to them. And the leader said to them, let
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them live. So they became cutters of wood
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and drawers of water for all the congregation, just as the
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leaders had said of them. Joshua summoned them and he said
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to them, OK, let's have a conversation.
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Why did you deceive us, saying we're very far from you when you
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dwell among us? Because that has consequences.
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Therefore you are cursed, and some of you shall never be
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anything but servants, cutters of wood and jars of water for
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the House of my God. They answered Joshua, because it
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was told to your servants for a certainty that the Lord your God
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had commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land and to
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destroy all the inhabitants land from before you.
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So we feared greatly for our lives because of you, and we did
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this thing and now, behold, we're in your hand.
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Whatever seems good and right in your sight to do to us, do it.
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So he did this to them and deliver them out of the hand of
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the people of Israel, and they did not kill them.
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Joshua kept his word to the Gibeonites.
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He didn't make it worse. He responded rightly.
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He could have tried to cover his failures here.
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He could have said, you know what?
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I got duped. I was a victim of a phishing
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scam in the year, whatever this is 1800 years before Jesus.
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And you know what I'm going to do?
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I'm going to make myself feel better about my my mistake.
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I'm just going to wipe him out. Now, he could have done that,
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but Joshua, he's got the people clamoring for them to do it.
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He goes, no, I'm going to do what's right right now, and
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we're going to let them live because that's what I said I
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would do to not only them, but to God.
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When you make a mistake, you have an option to double down on
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the mistake or do the next right thing.
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Don't make it worse. Obedience after failure is
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costly, but it is still right. Your integrity will come with a
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price, but don't lose it just because you did a wrong thing
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and just because you're living in shame.
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Just because you made a mistake, don't make another mistake.
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Don't sign up for a lifetime of that relationship just because
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you made a sinful choice one night.
23:07
Just because you had a really hard conversation with that
23:12
family member that you really said some things you wish you
23:15
could take back, doesn't mean you should just shun them
23:18
forever. Go be humble, go be repentant.
23:24
Go make it right. Don't make it worse.
23:30
One of my favorite TV shows is The Office.
23:32
One of my favorite episodes is going to shock a lot of you who
23:35
like The Office. It's Scott's Tots.
23:39
I think it's an absolute master class in cringe storytelling and
23:43
when I say it's cringe, it is the cringiest episode I think of
23:46
The Office. So if you are unfamiliar let me
23:49
update you. So Michael Scott is the main
23:50
character and he is known for being overly optimistic about
23:56
what he can achieve. And in this episode, he it is
24:00
come to light that Michael has promised when a group of
24:03
students were in elementary school that if they graduated,
24:07
he would not only take care of them, he would pay for their
24:10
college tuition. This is the kind of school that
24:14
graduating itself was an accomplishment.
24:16
So he said, you know what I'm going to do?
24:17
I'm going to be rich in 10 years.
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Let me do this. Let me promise them I'll pay for
24:20
all their college tuition. The years go on, and Michael
24:24
Scott is still the manager of Dunder Mifflin, which means he
24:27
does not have abounding resources to take care of
24:31
college students. And so year after year goes on,
24:34
Michael could have called the school and updated them on his
24:36
progress or lack thereof. He could have, you know, walked
24:41
that back and said, hey, I'm not going to pay for college.
24:43
Let's figure out another plan to start saving for something else.
24:45
But no, no, no. The whole episode is actually
24:48
Michael's showing up to this school where he promised kids
24:51
college tuition, and he makes it worse.
24:55
The whole time he gets into a room, they're singing him a
24:58
song. Hey, Mr. Scott, what you going
25:00
to do? What you going to do, make our
25:01
dreams come true? I mean, they are literally
25:04
dancing on this man's optimism grave before his very eyes.
25:09
And he just doesn't let it stop. And so the time comes for him to
25:12
deliver the money. It's the climax of the episode.
25:15
And what he tells them is this. He makes it worse.
25:19
Oh, it's so bad, but it's so funny.
25:20
He makes it worse. And he goes, you know what you
25:24
need for college? I can't pay for your college
25:25
tuition. I'm sorry.
25:27
Huge let down to the whole room. But what I can do is every
25:31
single one of you needs computers to go to college.
25:36
And what you need for a computer is a lithium battery.
25:41
Y'all, You've never seen the show.
25:45
It's funny. OK, But he could have made it
25:49
right? He just kept making it worse.
25:52
Listen to me, some of us are living in a Scots taught state
25:55
of mind that if we just keep pushing it off and the longer we
25:58
wait, guess what? It is just going to be made
26:00
right all in and of itself. No, the longer you wait to obey,
26:05
the worse it gets, not the better.
26:09
It's only going to get worse after you've made the mistake.
26:16
It is not a time to keep pushing off doing the right thing.
26:19
That makes it worse. Go make it right.
26:23
So keep your word in a lying world.
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St. City, that's our job.
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We honor God by keeping our word in a lying world.
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Even when people lie to us. Guess what?
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We'll keep our word even when they wronged us.
26:38
We're going to keep our word even when they betray us.
26:42
We are going to keep our word in a lying world because that's
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what the people of God do. And wouldn't the world be a
26:50
better place? Wouldn't St.
26:51
City be a better place if we are people who are striving after
26:54
keeping our word? If we are people who strived
26:57
after telling the truth and meaning it?
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I just think that's a wonderful place to be.
27:05
And what I find also amazing is guess what?
27:07
In the church, guess what? There are going to be mistakes
27:10
made in our relationships amongst one another.
27:13
We're going to fail each other. We're going to say something the
27:17
wrong way. We're not going to deliver on
27:19
the thing we said we would do. We are going to communicate
27:21
poorly. We are going to gossip.
27:23
We're going to do things that are going to hurt one another.
27:25
But listen to me. One of the best things you can
27:30
do after your mistake is having the humility to own it.
27:35
That's a part of keeping your word.
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It's that you're not a perfect person.
27:38
And that's OK. In fact, some of us, some of us
27:42
are missing out on one of the greatest opportunities to tell
27:44
others about Jesus because we hide our mistakes instead of
27:47
showcasing God's grace inside of them.
27:51
We get show so ashamed of our story and our past and the
27:54
things that we've done that some of the people in our life are
27:56
missing out on the trophy case that we are of God's mercy and
28:00
power because we're too ashamed to share what God has done in us
28:05
since then. You don't need to hide it.
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You can confront it after you realize you've messed up.
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Make it right. Don't make it worse.
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Don't pretend it didn't happen. Don't be stubborn.
28:22
Be humble. Finally, after you realize
28:27
you've messed up, let God redeem what you regret.
28:34
Let God redeem what you regret. What I regret, what we regret
28:41
after you've messed up, realize your mistake is not the end of
28:47
your story. Look at verse 27.
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Joshua made them that day. Cutters of wood and drawers of
28:53
water for the congregation and for the altar of the Lord to
28:56
this day in the place that he should choose.
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These people that give you nights they go along.
29:02
They actually survive with Israel throughout their whole
29:05
history. They never go on to make war
29:07
with them. They're never really a problem.
29:09
They're just among them. And not only that, they actually
29:12
begin to serve with the Levites in the temple.
29:15
That's what it means by cutters of wood and drawers of water for
29:19
the congregation. Their job was to serve in the
29:21
temple so that people can worship God.
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And though we don't have a direct lineage or anything like
29:26
that, we know this. Undoubtedly Gibeonites from
29:29
this, from Joshua, keeping his word and trusting in his God.
29:32
Guess what? Gibeonites were saved by the
29:35
grace of God because they were around the temple and
29:38
worshipping. They assimilated into the Jewish
29:41
people. We know that giving Knights were
29:43
saved as of Joshua's unrelenting passion to honor God.
29:51
And Joshua in that moment didn't know that God was going to
29:55
redeem what he regretted. But it is serving for us as an
29:58
example that guess what, God can do that God does not waste our
30:02
mistakes. He has the power to make broken
30:05
things beautiful. He has the power to take the
30:09
worst part of your story and make it a beautiful part of your
30:13
story. And that's sometimes it's
30:15
impossible to imagine in the pain, in the heartache and the
30:18
sin of it. But guess what?
30:19
That's who God is. He's the God who is the better
30:24
Joshua, the one who doesn't actually have regrets to pay
30:28
for, but the one who is able to step in for us in the place of
30:34
our regrets and shame. He's the better Joshua who is
30:37
never deceived, who never listened to the lives of the
30:39
enemy, but rather he stood true and he listened to God's every
30:43
single word and he honored it and obeyed it.
30:45
That means Jesus had no sin of his own to pay for.
30:48
He was tempted, just like you and I, but guess what?
30:52
He never made a mistake, and He went to a Roman cross to hang
31:00
there, dying for every sinful mistake you ever made.
31:04
And he paid for it in full. In fact, his word on the cross
31:08
that He used it means paid in full.
31:11
That means He paid for your sin in the past, the sin that right
31:15
now you're looking back on with such regret.
31:16
Guess what paid in full? The sin of today.
31:19
Maybe right now, fresh in your mind, is a decision you made
31:22
last night. Listen to me.
31:23
Jesus paid for that too. And there might come a day where
31:26
you make a choice that you can't even imagine I'm making now, but
31:30
one day you might get there. Listen to me paid in full.
31:33
That when Jesus saves, he clears the check for all of your sin
31:36
for all time, and that his blood cashes against the wages of sin,
31:40
that is death. And he wants to set you free
31:43
from the shackles of sin forever.
31:45
And the way that he did that was dying a sinner's death, rising
31:48
over the grave and sitting right now in heaven, never to die.
31:50
Against that, all who call upon his name could be redeemed from
31:54
every regret. This is the hope that we have in
31:58
Jesus. That's all.
31:59
We have confidence that Joshua 927 is true, that all this
32:03
craziness that happens. The Old Testament God
32:05
continually redeems and finds its full and final fulfillment
32:08
in Jesus Christ. The Son who came to pay for
32:13
every Gibeonite and every deceived Israelite.
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That's who Jesus is. He took the condemnation for our
32:20
worst mistakes. And there's a New Testament
32:24
character who's a perfect picture of this moment, too, One
32:28
of Jesus best friends. Peter, you might have heard of
32:31
him. The Catholic Church loves him.
32:35
But Peter, he, he wasn't always known as a spiritual leader.
32:40
In fact, there was a moment you might not be familiar with where
32:43
Peter denies Jesus not once, not twice, but three times.
32:49
Like, it'd be one thing for Peter to go Jesus.
32:53
Yeah, we were kind of friends, but yeah, he's dead now.
32:56
Like he clearly wasn't who he said he was.
32:58
He takes it a step further and he goes, I didn't even know that
33:01
dude wasn't with him. Spent three of years of his life
33:07
following this dude everywhere and denied he even knew him.
33:13
And in his devastation, Peter, he's looking at a fire and he's
33:17
just so obviously ashamed and full of regret that he didn't
33:24
have the strength to say he knew and loved Jesus.
33:27
And one morning he's out fishing and Jesus has resurrected this
33:31
point. And Peter's return to his former
33:34
life of being a fisherman and he sees Jesus standing on the shore
33:38
and he can't help but stop what he's doing and jump out of a
33:43
boat, which if you're familiar with Peter is so on brand.
33:47
He jumps out of the boat, swims and he starts running on the
33:51
shore. In fact, John notes for us that
33:53
when he's writing this story, one of my favorite details in
33:56
all the Bible is John's like, I'm faster than Peter.
33:59
And he like literally he's telling the stories like we both
34:01
ran, but I beat him. And so they run to Jesus as fast
34:05
as it can. What is picturing for us this
34:07
exact moment that you can go from regret and running from
34:11
Jesus to actually running to Jesus that God does not waste
34:17
our mistakes. In fact, that very moment Jesus
34:19
going to look Peter in the eye over some fish tacos in a fire
34:22
and say, do you love me more than these?
34:25
Do you love me? Do you love me?
34:34
And Jesus isn't giving him the cold shoulder.
34:37
He's not saying go fix it. Go tell all those people all the
34:40
things you did wrong. He's just asking him a simple
34:42
question, Do you love me? And maybe that's all you need to
34:47
hear. If you're stuck in regret and
34:48
shame today, maybe that's all you need to hear about the
34:51
gospel as Jesus is sitting here with open arms today asking you
34:54
the same, Do you love me? Will you live for me because I'm
34:59
here for you? Let God redeem what you regret.
35:04
Bring it to him. Go running to Christ, get back
35:09
up and walk in forgiveness. Don't let it keep you down any
35:12
longer. You will make mistakes.
35:15
And after you mess up, you have a choice.
35:17
You can try to redeem it, or you can let the Redeemer try to
35:20
redeem the mistake you made. And you might think to yourself,
35:25
you're a pretty good problem solver.
35:28
But I know a better one. His name's Jesus, and one day
35:32
He's going to make all things that are wrong, right.
35:36
Every mistake has already been paid for every single sin he's
35:44
taken care of. I was at a moment in my life not
35:48
so long ago where I was at one of the lowest moments of my
35:50
life, one of the darkest hours of my walk.
35:53
I had made a huge mistake and a lot of people knew about it, and
35:56
I couldn't believe that I was such a failure.
36:01
Actually, that's how I thought of myself as a failure.
36:06
One of my friends wrote me this letter I want to share with you.
36:08
Is that OK? It's one of the most encouraging
36:10
things I've ever read, he said. I want to tell you something, be
36:16
that you might not need right now, but I believe the day could
36:19
come where God will use it to keep you going.
36:23
One of the most remarkable things to me about God is his
36:26
ability to forget over and over again.
36:30
We're told in the Bible that God not only forgives our sins, but
36:32
He forgets them as well. He hides them behind his back.
36:35
He remembers them no more. However, that works.
36:38
Somehow He chooses not to call them to mind as He looks and
36:42
thinks about us. Amazing.
36:47
Now you don't have that ability unlocked yet.
36:50
It seems that in heaven will. We will because we're told that
36:53
we will know even as we are known.
36:56
Until then, we are left dwelling on our mistakes and focusing on
36:59
our failures. It can be debilitating.
37:03
Nothing will rob you of your courage and zeal as the reminder
37:06
of all the stupid things that you have done.
37:09
The devil loves to keep our blooper reels on repeating our
37:12
minds and he turns the volume up anytime we start taking steps to
37:16
activate Our Calling. I can't tell you how many times
37:20
I've been trying to take a big step of faith and woken up in
37:22
the night haunted by sins that I committed in the past.
37:27
These are times be where we have to take hold of the truth that
37:30
there is no condemnation for those of us who are in Christ,
37:33
even though our own heart is condemning us and even though
37:40
our own heart is condemning us, He is greater than our heart.
37:45
In these moments, you have to remind yourself that you are not
37:49
only forgiven, but God doesn't even remember what you can't
37:53
forget. You can't let yesterday's
37:56
failure keep you from today's victory.
38:00
As I look around Scripture, I see example after example of
38:02
people who didn't let their mistakes keep them from getting
38:05
up and going big. And he cites this chapter.
38:10
Joshua Joshua is going to pray in chapter 10 for the son to
38:15
stand still after he failed at AI and prayerlessly made a truce
38:18
with the Gibby Night. Samson killed the most
38:19
Philistines of his lifetime after giving up the secret to
38:22
his strength, leading to his humiliation in his eyes being
38:25
poked out. Jonah participate in the revival
38:27
at Nineveh after he ran from God and pouted for three days inside
38:30
of a giant fish. Peter preached and saw 1000
38:33
saved after denying Christ three times.
38:35
And I believe, Brandon, with all my heart, that even if you have
38:39
made a massive mistake, your greatest day could be a waiting
38:41
just around the corner. Get back up, walk and
38:46
forgiveness. Don't let the devil keep you
38:50
from dwelling out what God has already forgotten.
38:51
It's a new day because God is awesome.
38:55
He wastes nothing in our lives, and your finest hour could come
38:59
after your biggest failure. We all need friends like that
39:04
who can help us have hope in the middle of our regret, who can
39:08
help us endure when the days are hard?
39:12
Who can help us believe that God wastes nothing, even our
39:15
greatest mistakes. Would you pray with me, God?
39:20
Thank you for the grace of Jesus that we are not our mistakes, we
39:26
are not our failures, we are not our shameful decisions, but
39:30
rather God. We are who you say we are, we
39:34
are yours. We are holy, we are blameless,
39:37
we are not condemned, we are sons and daughters, We are
39:42
purchased by your blood, We are adopted, we are clean, we are
39:46
forgiven. God, we are all these things and
39:49
more because of Jesus Christ. And when you see us, you don't
39:53
see us, you see Him. And that is only true, Lord, for
39:57
all who have called upon him for salvation, all who said, I want
40:00
to put my righteousness as Jesus's righteousness.
40:03
I want my hope to be Jesus. And I pray for every person here
40:08
that Lord, they would not be defined by their past or their
40:11
present or their future sins, but God, they would decide today
40:15
to set their face like Flint towards the reality that God,
40:18
you will not waste anything, even the things we wish you
40:21
would throw away. I wish you would delete it, God,
40:25
I wish you would get this out of my brain.
40:30
But God, if you can redeem it, I'll still praise you.
40:36
I believe you can redeem it. I believe you can heal this
40:40
relational wound. I believe God, you can redeem
40:44
that choice I made. I believe it.
40:48
So help my unbelief. Help me to believe God, that you
40:52
can use even the worst parts of our story, that you can take our
40:57
mess and make it a miracle, our trial a testimony.
41:03
We believe in you God, because you are great and you can do it
41:08
in Jesus name, Amen.