Latest / Crosswalk / Mercy Before Judgment — Joshua 6:14–27

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Mercy Before Judgment — Joshua 6:14–27 · Crosswalk

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Jesus tells us to take up our cross and follow
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him. You're listening to Crosswalk with Pastor
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Steve Winnery. Crosswalk is the radio ministry
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of Calvary Chapel Tri -Cities and it is our aim
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to lead you to the cross through the teaching
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of God's Word. deliver so my kids come okay we'll
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do that and so it goes on and says again verse
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14 in the second day they marched around the
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city once and returned to the camp so they did
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six days but it came to pass on the seventh day
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that they rose early about the dawning of the
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day and marched around the city seven times in
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the same manner on that day only they marched
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around the city seven times And the seventh time
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it happened, when the priest blew the trumpets,
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the Joshua said to the people, shout for the
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Lord has given you the city. Now the city shall
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be doomed by the Lord to destruction. It and
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all who are in it, only Rahab the harlot shall
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live. She and all who are with her in the house
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because she hid the messengers that we sent.
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And you by all means abstain from the accursed
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things. Lest you become accursed when you take
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of the accursed things. and make the camp of
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Israel a curse and trouble it. All the silver
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and gold and vessels of bronze and iron are consecrated
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to the Lord. That means set apart to the Lord.
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They shall come into the treasury of the Lord.
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And so what Joshua's doing here is putting a
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ban on the city of Jericho. What he's saying
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is, everything in this city is God's. Do not
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touch it. Do not take it. It is not yours. any
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gold, any silver, all that stuff, it's to go
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in the treasury. Everything else is to be burned.
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And so everything was Lord's. God's claiming
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everything. One of the things that God's doing
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with Israel is he's got business in Canaan. And
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he's using Israel to get his business done. We
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were talking about this this morning back in
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Genesis chapter 16. It indicates that just after
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God had promised Canaan to Abram, that just after
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that, they had this whole thing in chapter 16
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where Sarai got Hagar and gave Hagar's wife to
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Abram and that kind of stuff. Well, we know the
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dating of that. It's 635 years before they left
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Canaan and this is another 40 years after that.
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So we're 675 years after God made the promise
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to Abram that he was going to give them the land
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of Canaan. And what God said to him is, I'm not
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gonna give you the land yet because the iniquity
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of the Amorites is not yet full. And here we
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are at the time when the iniquity of the Amorites
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is full, 675 years later. And we've talked about
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the Canaanites ad nauseam, basically. I always
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tell you about these people. These were the worst
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pagans. on the planet you know as far as their
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culture goes it's the worst that you see in ancient
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times we haven't found one that's worse than
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these people and so they were sexually immoral
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to a fault just ridiculous over the top and because
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of that they were child murderers basically they
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constantly were burning children because it was
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the offshoot of all their sexual immorality they
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didn't want the kids because the kids were born
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in sexual immorality. And it had to do with being
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prostitutes and that kind of stuff. And so you
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prostitute yourself at the temple, you come home
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pregnant. I don't want your kid that you're having
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because you prostituted yourself at the temple.
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And so when your kid's born, we're gonna go offer
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it as a sacrifice to Baal or to Moloch. or to
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one of these other gods that demanded human sacrifice.
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And that's what they would do. Or we're gonna
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dedicate a new house, burn them alive, and then
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take the bones, stick it in a jar, and stick
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it in the footings of our house, or the gate
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of our city, or whatever. These people did this
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stuff all the time. And so God's done, and he
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gave him 675 years before he was done. And at
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this point, he's done. Can you imagine? You know,
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it's like our culture's pretty tweaked. have
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you noticed how much tweaker tweeter we're getting
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in the last 10 years or so have you noticed how
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quickly the culture is degrading have you noticed
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that and we're not even to the point of well
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actually we kind of are because there's a planned
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parenthood place you know just off the freeway
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over here in kennewick and every monday they
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come in and chop up babies every monday that's
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what they do and we sit here and go shopping
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And that kind of thing. And so our culture is
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pretty tweaked. And I don't know, people from
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Bible times would look at us and go, that's pretty
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savage. That's pretty savage. And it's just normal
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to us. Well, it's the same thing with the Canaanites.
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And God put up with this for 675 years. That
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scares me that God's that gracious. Because I
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don't want him to do that with the United States.
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I don't want him to put up with us for 675 years.
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I don't want to do this kind of garbage with
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my whole life, and then my kids' lives, and then
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my grandkids' lives, and my great grandkids'
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lives, and down the line, for decade after decade
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after decade, do this kind of nonsense, and then
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finally God gets done and wipes the whole nation
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out. Not interested in that. But that's what
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happened with these guys. You can tell once again
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that they're right for judgment because there's
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only one person who repented. In the whole time
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that you have God sending the Israel into taking
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care of the Canaanites, there's only one person
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who repented and she's already done it. And Joshua
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mentions her in this passage, only Rahab gets
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out of this whole thing. And again, it's because
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she turned and she gave her life over to the
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Lord. And that's again what you have. Every person
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in Canaan Could have done that if they wanted
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to every single person but they didn't and the
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reason they didn't was because they didn't want
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to and It's not because they thought that they
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could win because they didn't think that they
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could win You remember when rehab was talking
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to the spies that came in she talked about the
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fact that everybody was frightened They've known
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what God was doing with Israel and these people
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had seen the Jordan back up and these guys Walk
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across they got to be scared out of their minds
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about what's going on with the Israelites And
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a lot of times when, you know, I don't know,
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my kids used to watch Veggie Tales. And every
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time I think of the Battle of Jericho, I think
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of the little French peas on the top of the wall
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of Jericho going, you will not come over our
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wall. I can't do a French accent, but you know
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what I mean. And so there's that whole mockery
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thing going on. I don't think that that was probably
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what was going on. I think that they were probably
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scared and they didn't know what these people
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were going to do. And so you can have a situation
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where somebody sees miracles, someone knows that
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God's at work, someone knows that God's at work
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in a group of people, and they still don't stop.
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They still don't repent, because they're so far
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gone that they can't. They've been given over
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to the flesh. The Bible talks about situations
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where people's hearts are hardened, where they're
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calloused, where they're cauterized basically.
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It's like their hearts have been burned with
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a hot iron. And so they get themselves into a
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position where they've said no to God so many
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times. They've just gone against his will in
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so many areas that they can't turn around. And
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that's the situation that you have with a whole
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nation of Canaan. And so now it's time. And so
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God puts them under the band. Everything is mine,
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God says. The people, the children, the animals,
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everything is mine. and you're not to take any
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of it, you're not to spare any of it, it's all
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mine. They've already had their chance for repentance
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and now it's time for judgment. And God does
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come to that point after 675 years in the case
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of these guys. And again, to me that's scary
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because I would like it to be after one year.
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You know, when I'm dealing with people who I
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think need to be judged, you know, give them
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a year. I think that's pretty gracious on my
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part. One whole turn around the solar system.
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That's all you get and then you're done. And
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it's a good thing I'm not God. God does that
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675 times, right? So God's not being mean here,
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but he is using Israel at this point, and it's
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time for judgment. And so again, God does this
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whole thing. And so that last part is the ban.
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And if you've read ahead, you know that they
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didn't keep the ban. Verse 20, it says, so the
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people shouted when the priest blew the trumpets,
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and it happened when the people heard the sound
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of the trumpet. and the people shouted with a
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great shout that the wall fell down flat. Then
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the people went up into the city, every man straight
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before him, and they took the city, and they
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utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both
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man and woman, young and old, ox and sheep and
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donkey, with the edge of the sword. Okay, here's
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another thing. Man and woman, young and old.
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So that means babies. So what's happening there?
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And again, you know, there's some perspectives
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on this that we need to have as Christians and
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as believers in God. When a baby dies, where
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do they go? Heaven. It doesn't matter if they're
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a Christian baby or a non -Christian baby. No,
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it doesn't. So they go straight into the presence
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of the Lord and so they're His anyway. And so
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that's the first point. Secondly, we have...
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situation in our culture where in the mid 60s
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we decided to throw off any semblance of obedience
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to biblical standards on morality and so we had
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what was called the sexual revolution and so
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people sleeping with whoever whatever they want
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and we've had some warnings I believe that have
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come from God. I think that they're natural warnings.
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In the book of Romans, it says that when people
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do these things, when they go into sexual immorality,
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and specifically when they go into homosexuality,
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that God gives them the reward in their bodies
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for what they've done. And so we've had some
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warnings. So I remember the whole AIDS scare
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back in the early 80s. And in the United States,
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what we did was we kind of covered that up. And
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we threw a bunch of money at it and got treatments
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for AIDS, not a cure, but we've gotten treatments
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for AIDS to allow people to live longer and that
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kind of thing. And so you hear about these treatments
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every time you turn on your TV. And so we have
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openly gay guys who are hugging each other and
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kissing each other and holding hands and they're
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talking about certain medications that you can
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take to keep from having the effects of AIDS
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to keep from dying in this whole thing. And so
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what we did was we took a situation that could
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have been dealt with by not doing the behavior
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and we decided that we want to keep doing the
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behavior and we want to try to medicate it away.
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And so we got that one when you're talking about
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timelines. You're talking about, say, 1965 for
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the Cultural Revolution in the United States.
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And we go 15 years and we get AIDS. It's a little
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bit before that. But about 15 years and we get
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AIDS. You realize that AIDS destroyed 30 % of
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the population of Africa. Still killing people
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in Africa. 30 % of the population. If we didn't
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have the technology, if we didn't have the medicines,
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that's exactly what would have happened in the
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United States. It would have decimated. It's
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more than decimated. Decimating is going through
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a rank of guys and killing one in ten. When you're
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talking about AIDS, it was one in three in Africa.
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And so it wiped out the population of Africa.
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In fact, most Africans are pretty young nowadays.
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They don't have old people, and it's specifically
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because of AIDS. It's the consequences of a lifestyle
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that's lived outside of biblical bounds. Can
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you imagine what these people are like after
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675 years of this? And so AIDS is not even the
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only disease that we deal with when we're into
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sexual immorality. And so, you know, all the
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standards, gonorrhea and syphilis, and people
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going crazy because of syphilis, people going
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blind because of syphilis, they don't have antibiotics.
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All those things are going on. You got Giardi.
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I got all kinds of things that are happening
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because of the physical behaviors that these
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guys are coming up with. Their immune systems
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are going to be compromised because of homosexuality.
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All this stuff is happening with these people.
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These people are going to be disease -ridden
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like no other because of their lifestyle for
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675 years. And so when God is dealing with the
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people of Canaan, one of the reasons that you
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see him in some instances wiping out whole cities
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is probably a medical issue. It's probably so
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he stops the contagion at that point and it can't
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spread to anybody else. And again, a lot of these
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contagions were spread in sexual behaviors. And
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so it's not just something that you can breathe
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in. So they're spreading sexual behaviors, stop
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the group of people, end the group of people,
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and you won't have it spreading on. If you have
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kids that have these diseases, and we all know
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that these things spread from the mother to the
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children depending on what kind of disease it
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is because the intimacy that takes place between
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a mother and a child, if the kids have it, they
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grow up and what they're going to do is spread
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it around. And so again, when you're looking
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at these things, God has good reason to do this
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stuff, and we can extrapolate those things just
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from the fact that we've been doing this for
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about 50 years now, and we can see what's happening
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to our culture, and take and extrapolate it across
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675, and you're gonna have some real problems.
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And so God goes, I want them all, it's time,
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I want them all. Verse 22, it says, but Joshua
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had said, to the two men who had spied out the
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country, go into the harlot's house and from
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there bring out the woman and all that she has
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as you swore to her. And the young men who had
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been spies went in and brought out Rahab, her
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father, her mother, her brothers, and all that
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she had. So they brought out all her relatives
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and left them outside the camp of Israel. But
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they burned the city and all that was in it with
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fire, only the silver and gold. and the vessels
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of bronze and iron they put into the treasury
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of the house of the Lord. And Joshua spared Rahab,
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her father's household, and all that she had.
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So she dwells in Israel to this day because she
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hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out
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Jericho. Then Joshua charged them at that time,
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saying, "'Cursed be the man before the Lord who
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rises up and builds this city Jericho. He shall
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lay its foundation with his firstborn, and with
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his youngest he shall set up its gates.'" Remember
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what I said about putting the bodies of children
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in the gates of the cities? That's exactly what
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happened later on in 1 Kings 16, 34, when the
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gates of Jericho were rebuilt. The guy offered
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his sons up as a sacrifice and put their bodies
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under the gates. And again, it was human sacrifice.
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And so even years later, these people were still
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practicing Canaanite religion. So the Lord was
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with Joshua and his fame throughout the country.
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And so when you look at the Battle of Jericho
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and everything that took place, I'm going to
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do a couple of things with this before I let
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you go. Here's one. Put up that wall of Jericho
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thing. Mike, is it up there? You guys see that?
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That's what that is from. a schematic, and that's
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a schematic based on Kathleen Kenyon's excavation
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of Jericho. And so what you have there is a retaining
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wall that's there on the bottom on the right.
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There's an arrow pointing that. That's 12 to
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15 feet tall. And so that's holding the dirt
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that's back behind there. Then on top of that,
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they put a six -foot mud brick wall that was
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anywhere from 20 to 26 feet tall. And then on
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the top of the tell, that's the top of the hill,
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the flat part up there, that is actually 46 feet
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from the bottom of the tell. That's where the
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flat part of the city was. And on top of that,
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they had another mud brick wall that was 20 to
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26 feet tall. So that's what the people of Israel
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are seeing when they're marching around the city
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of Jericho. Now, when we think of a city, we
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think of something that's, you know, like the
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Tri -City, so the city of Kennewick. It's a small
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city, but, you know, it's probably, I don't know,
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what is it, 10 miles across, maybe five miles
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the other way, you know, coming off the river.
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And so that's what we think of as a city. Back
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in these days, a city was, actually, Jericho
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has an area of about eight to nine acres. So
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I have four acres so it's about twice My property
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was the city of Jericho itself And what would
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happen is all the people from all the fields
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and all the villages around when there was warfare
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They would come in and hang out there But it's
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only about eight to nine miles as far as the
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area goes and so you could march around it in
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about half an hour and So that's what the people
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of Israel were doing. So they are marching around
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the city of Jericho and they are silent and there
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are trumpets, and it takes about a half an hour
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to circle it, okay? Turn over to the book of
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Revelation chapter eight. You have another place
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where there's trumpets and silence. In verse
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one, it says, when he opened the seventh seal,
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there was silence in heaven for about half an
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hour. And I saw the seven angels who stand before
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God to them were given seven trumpets, then another
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angel. Having a golden censer came and stood
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at the altar, he was given much incense that
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he should offer it with the prayers of all the
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saints upon the golden altar, which was before
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the throne. Smoke of the incense with the prayers
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of the saints ascended before God from the angel's
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hand. The angel took the censer, filled it with
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fire from the altar, threw it to the earth, and
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there were noises, thunderings, lightnings, and
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earthquakes. So the seven angels who had the
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seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound,
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and the first angel sounded. and then in verse
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8 the second angel sounded, verse 10 the third
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angel sounded, verse 12 the fourth angel sounded
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and so on throughout the book. How many trumpets
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were the priest carrying? Seven. There were seven
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priests carrying seven trumpets and if you're
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walking around the city of Jericho and you're
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going at a medium pace for marching you would
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get around it in about a half an hour. Half an
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hour of silence connected with seven trumpets
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and seven trumpeters. And so you know it's one
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of those things that's coincidental with the
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book of Revelation. Silence in heaven. When you
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look at that passage in Revelation chapter eight,
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I think that the silence in heaven is kind of
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the calm before the storm. It's kind of a situation
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where God is, you know, when I'm about to do
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something awful in somebody's life that I don't
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wanna do, but it needs to happen, I wanna be
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left alone. And I wanna be quiet. And I want
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to think about it, I want to pray about it, in
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my case. God doesn't need to pray, but that's
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what I want to do. I want to be silent. I want
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to be left alone, because what's about to happen
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is not good in a situation. Usually I'm thinking
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about, you know, disciplining my kids when they
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were younger and that kind of thing. That wouldn't
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take a half an hour. It was quicker than that.
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But I would sit there for a while. I think that
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that's what God's doing in that passage. It talks
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about the incense from the altar coming up, and
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it talks about the prayers of the saints. You
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realize that every time you pray the Lord's Prayer
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or you use it as a model, every single time you're
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praying that, you're praying for God to judge
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during the tribulation period. Your kingdom come,
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your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
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And in Revelation chapter eight, what God's about
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to do is he's about to make that come to pass.
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And the way he has to make it come to pass is
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by sending out trumpets of judgment that are
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gonna come down on the earth. And then it goes
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from trumpets and it goes to bowls, and then
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you have the second coming of Christ at the end
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of all those things. And so it's a pretty heady
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thing to do. And so there's silence in heaven
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for half an hour when that goes on. Another thing
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that you see with this whole thing is the whole
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issue of trumpets in themselves. And I want to
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give you a couple of passages that speak about
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this. and kind of the fact that this looks like
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Jericho may be a precursor to what God's gonna
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do with the whole earth when he comes back the
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second time. There's a passage in Isaiah 27,
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13 that says this, so it shall be in that day,
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the great trumpet will be blown, they will come
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who are about to perish in the land of Assyria,
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and they who are outcasts in the land of Egypt
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and shall worship the Lord in the holy Mount
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of Jerusalem. Now that trumpet that's being blown
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there is a trumpet that's signaling the return
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of the people of Israel, the people of God, to
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the land of God that happens after the tribulation
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period. But again, in the context of the judgment
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of the tribulation, you have these trumpets going
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on. Turn over to Zephaniah. Zephaniah, I have
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to look here, comes after Habakkuk. Did that
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help you out? Comes after Nahum and Micah and,
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you know, Obadiah and all those guys. So Daniel,
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turn right, come to the book of Zephaniah. I
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want to read a couple of passages out of chapter
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one. This is again a passage that's dealing with
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the judgment on the earth. Verse two, it says,
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I will utterly consume everything from the face
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of the land, says the Lord. I will consume man
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and beast. I will consume the birds of the heavens,
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the fish of the sea, the stumbling blocks, along
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with the wicked. I will cut off man from the
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face of the land, says the Lord. He says, be
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silent in the presence of the Lord God, for the
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day of the Lord is at hand. For the Lord is prepared
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to sacrifice. He has invited his guests. And
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it shall be in the day of the Lord's sacrifice
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that I will punish the princes and the king's
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children, and all such as are clothed with foreign
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apparel. In the same day, I will punish all those
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who leap over the threshold, who fill their master's
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houses with violence and deceit. And so you have
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a promise of judgment that's coming because of
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these things. If you look down in verse 14, it
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says, the great day of the Lord is near. It's
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near and hastens quickly. The noise of the day
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of the Lord is bitter. They're the mighty men.
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shall cry out. That day is a day of wrath, a
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day of trouble and distress, a day of devastation
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and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess,
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a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of
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trumpet and alarm against the fortified cities
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and against the high towers. I will bring distress
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upon men and they shall walk like blind men.
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You've been listening to Crosswalk with Pastor
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Steve Winnery. Crosswalk is the radio ministry
24:09
of Cowrie Chapel Tri -Cities in Kennewent, Washington.
24:12
If you're wanting to know more about what it
24:13
means to follow Christ, then please contact our
24:16
church office by phone at 509 -736 -2086. You
24:21
can also look us up online at calvary -tricities
24:24
.org. Calvary Chapel Tri -Cities is offering
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two in -person training courses for those seeking
24:30
to serve in missions or ministry. The School
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of Missions starts with 12 weeks of classroom
24:35
-style learning and local outreach in the Tri
24:37
-Cities, Washington, followed by a 10 -week cross
24:40
-cultural mission outreach. The School of Ministry,
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this course is 18 weeks of in -person learning
24:45
environment followed by a four -week mission
24:48
trip. Find out more at calvarytrainingcenternw
24:51
.com.