Latest / Max Lucado Daily Sermons / Voices, Choices and Consequences- Minister Max Lucado
Transcript
- 1:02Speaker 1: Well.
- 1:03Speaker 2: God is the God of fresh starts and new beginnings
- 1:05Speaker 2: and second chances.
- 1:07Speaker 3: God is the God of glory days.
- 1:12Speaker 2: Welcome to Glory Days, a series of messages on the
- 1:15Speaker 2: life and the Book of Joshua. God gave Joshua and
- 1:21Speaker 2: the children of Israel a second shot at the Promised land,
- 1:24Speaker 2: and they snatched it up. If you're in need of
- 1:27Speaker 2: a second shot, a fresh start, then Joshua's book is
- 1:32Speaker 2: for you. Our Glory Days declaration is about to appear
- 1:36Speaker 2: on the screen. I invite you to fill your lungs
- 1:38Speaker 2: with air and your.
- 1:39Speaker 3: Hearts with hope. I want you to say it like
- 1:42Speaker 3: you mean it. You're ready. These days are glory days.
- 1:47Speaker 3: My past is passed.
- 1:49Speaker 2: My future is right, and God's promises are true, and
- 1:54Speaker 2: His word is sure. With God as my helper, I
- 1:58Speaker 2: will be all he wants me to be, and do
- 2:01Speaker 2: all he wants me to do, and receive all he
- 2:05Speaker 2: wants me to receive. These days or glory days. And
- 2:09Speaker 2: may they be so, Lord, may they be so. May
- 2:12Speaker 2: you have mercy, Please upon the one who speaks for
- 2:15Speaker 2: his sins or many, and grant that we might receive
- 2:18Speaker 2: a fresh word from your throne, from your teaching through Christ,
- 2:24Speaker 2: we pray and to.
- 2:26Speaker 3: All God's people.
- 2:27Speaker 2: Said the last words I remember hearing before I descended
- 2:31Speaker 2: into the water, were you're going to regret it. I
- 2:37Speaker 2: waved away the warning without turning around.
- 2:39Speaker 3: What was to regret?
- 2:41Speaker 2: Everyone else was taking the long way. I was taking
- 2:44Speaker 2: the shortcut. Let the others walk around the water. I
- 2:48Speaker 2: just wade right through it. After all, it was just
- 2:51Speaker 2: the Everglades. Of course, I'd never been in the Everglades,
- 3:00Speaker 2: ever seen a Florida swamp. I'd seen creeks in Texas
- 3:04Speaker 2: and lakes and New Mexico. Why I even had been
- 3:08Speaker 2: trout fishing.
- 3:10Speaker 3: In Colorado. Water is water?
- 3:13Speaker 1: Right?
- 3:14Speaker 3: Wrong?
- 3:14Speaker 1: Wrong?
- 3:15Speaker 3: Wrong?
- 3:15Speaker 2: My new found Florida friends tried to tell me they
- 3:21Speaker 2: were taking me to a picnic, a welcome to Miami party.
- 3:27Speaker 2: The tables sat on the other side of the swamp,
- 3:32Speaker 2: and the park department had kindly constructed a bridge over
- 3:38Speaker 2: which pedestrians could pass.
- 3:43Speaker 3: But who needed a bridge?
- 3:46Speaker 2: I was fresh out of college, I was single, I
- 3:50Speaker 2: had a swagger, I was eager to impress, and I
- 3:55Speaker 2: was undaunted at the site of a few yards.
- 3:59Speaker 3: Of Marshall land.
- 4:02Speaker 2: Uh, I'll just wade across, I told them. Someone pointed
- 4:07Speaker 2: at the sign. I read the sign. The sign said
- 4:10Speaker 2: swamp water not recommended for recreation.
- 4:16Speaker 3: I couldn't be slowed by a warning, so I ventured
- 4:20Speaker 3: in the mud swallowed my feet.
- 4:24Speaker 2: The brine was murky, smelly, and a home to a
- 4:28Speaker 2: million mosquitoes. Squiggly things began to swim past me. Scaly
- 4:36Speaker 2: things brushed against me. I think I saw a set
- 4:40Speaker 2: of eyeballs peering in my direction, so I backpedaled. Both
- 4:47Speaker 2: flipflops were sucked into the abyss, never to be seen again.
- 4:54Speaker 2: I exited, mud covered, mosquito, bitten much in bare. I
- 5:01Speaker 2: walked over the bridge and took my seat at the
- 5:07Speaker 2: picnic table. Everyone else at the party was happy, but
- 5:15Speaker 2: I was muddy, embarrassed, itchy, and wet.
- 5:21Speaker 3: Everyone else enjoyed the picnic.
- 5:24Speaker 2: I pretended to, But how could I sit in there
- 5:26Speaker 2: and dry mud and mosquito, welts and regrets. It made
- 5:31Speaker 2: for a miserable picnic. It also makes for an apt reminder.
- 5:38Speaker 2: Life comes with voices, and voices lead to choices, and
- 5:47Speaker 2: choices have consequences. Little context. You remember, we're studying through
- 5:56Speaker 2: the Book of Joshua, and we're looking at seven years
- 5:59Speaker 2: in the history of Joshua, in which they were an unbridled,
- 6:03Speaker 2: unprecedented success.
- 6:04Speaker 3: Forty years in.
- 6:05Speaker 2: The wilderness, followed by seven years in the promised Land,
- 6:09Speaker 2: in which they inherited what God had promised to them.
- 6:13Speaker 2: And we're wondering, as Christians, what we can learn from
- 6:16Speaker 2: this time of success, this campaign of triumph. How can
- 6:22Speaker 2: we leave behind our wilderness and step into our promised land.
- 6:27Speaker 2: Truth of the matter is, many Christians grumble at the picnic.
- 6:33Speaker 2: What does some saints thrive while others scramble to survive?
- 6:39Speaker 2: Why does some Christians tackle everest sized challenges while and
- 6:45Speaker 2: succeed while others walk seemingly downhill paths and just stumble.
- 6:54Speaker 2: Why are some people unquenchably content while others are inexplicably
- 7:02Speaker 2: and seemingly eternally unhappy.
- 7:08Speaker 3: I wondered this in my own life.
- 7:11Speaker 2: Some seasons, I sense the wind at my back, my
- 7:14Speaker 2: sale is full billowed. Other seasons, I'm peddling a flat
- 7:19Speaker 2: tired unicycle up pike speak. Why At least part of
- 7:27Speaker 2: the answer has to do with swamps and signs and
- 7:34Speaker 2: chosen paths. You see, glory days happen.
- 7:39Speaker 3: When we make good choices trouble happens when we don't.
- 7:47Speaker 2: This is the headline message delivered by Joshua in the
- 7:51Speaker 2: nationwide assembly in the Valley of shock Them.
- 7:57Speaker 3: If you like to fill in blanks and take notes,
- 7:59Speaker 3: there's a queue.
- 8:01Speaker 2: As you compile your list of geographical touchstones in the
- 8:05Speaker 2: Book of Joshua, don't overlook the Valley of Shechem.
- 8:09Speaker 3: The list would include the Jordan River.
- 8:13Speaker 2: That's where the site of the crossing, the Gilgal Encampment.
- 8:18Speaker 2: We've visited Gilgal. That's where the stones of remembrance were stacked.
- 8:23Speaker 2: That's where the renewal of circumcision appeared. That's where Joshua enjoyed,
- 8:28Speaker 2: the appearance of the commander of the Lord's Army, Jericho,
- 8:33Speaker 2: where the walls fell, the village of i Ai, where
- 8:39Speaker 2: Aiken fell, where Joshua rebounded, and now the Valley of Shechem.
- 8:47Speaker 2: It's interesting that the pilgrimage to Shechem from Gilgal was
- 8:52Speaker 2: the idea of Moses. He had instructed Joshua to bring
- 8:59Speaker 2: the invasion to a halt and every person to a
- 9:02Speaker 2: valley for what must have been the most extraordinary site
- 9:08Speaker 2: ever documented. Between those two mountains. Reading from the Book
- 9:13Speaker 2: of Deuteronomy, Moses said to Joshua, when you cross the Jordan,
- 9:18Speaker 2: set up these stones that Mount Ebol and coat them
- 9:21Speaker 2: with plaster, as I am commanding you today. Then build
- 9:25Speaker 2: an altar there to the Lord your God, using natural
- 9:28Speaker 2: uncut stones. Use it to offer burnt offerings to the
- 9:33Speaker 2: Lord your God. Also sacrifice peace offerings on it, and
- 9:37Speaker 2: celebrate by feasting there before the Lord your God. You
- 9:41Speaker 2: must clearly write all these instructions on the stones coated
- 9:46Speaker 2: with plaster. Checkem was a twenty five mile hike from
- 9:51Speaker 2: the Hebrew encampment of Gilgal. Remember, two million people are
- 9:59Speaker 2: a part of this campaign.
- 10:00Speaker 3: Two million people the city of San Diego.
- 10:07Speaker 2: The people must have looked like an Amazon river of
- 10:10Speaker 2: humanity as they marched from Gilgal to Shechem. And once
- 10:16Speaker 2: they reached the valley, Joshua said about the task of
- 10:20Speaker 2: obeying Moses, of building an altar.
- 10:24Speaker 3: Now we're in Joshua chapter eight.
- 10:25Speaker 2: Now Joshua built an altar to the Lord God of
- 10:28Speaker 2: Israel in Mount Eball, as Moses, the servant of the Lord,
- 10:32Speaker 2: had commanded the children of Israel. As it is written
- 10:35Speaker 2: in the Book of the Law of Moses, an altar
- 10:38Speaker 2: of wholestones over which no man has wielded an iron tool,
- 10:43Speaker 2: and they offered on it burnt offerings to the Lord
- 10:45Speaker 2: and sacrificed peace offerings. And there in the presence of
- 10:49Speaker 2: the children of Israel, he wrote on the stones a
- 10:53Speaker 2: copy of the Law of Moses, which he had written.
- 10:58Speaker 2: In the ancient East, it was customer for kings to
- 11:01Speaker 2: commemorate their military achievements by recording their conquests on huge stones.
- 11:07Speaker 3: Covered with plaster.
- 11:10Speaker 2: Joshua, however, didn't memorialize his work. He celebrated God's word.
- 11:15Speaker 2: He celebrated God's law, as if to say the secret
- 11:19Speaker 2: to their success was not the strength of their army,
- 11:22Speaker 2: but the resolve of his people to keep God's commandments.
- 11:27Speaker 3: And now the best part.
- 11:31Speaker 2: Then all Israel, with their elders and officers and judges,
- 11:35Speaker 2: stood on either side of the ark before the priests,
- 11:39Speaker 2: the Levites, who bore the ark of the Covenant of
- 11:42Speaker 2: the Lord, this stranger, as well as he who was
- 11:45Speaker 2: born among them. Half of them were in front of
- 11:49Speaker 2: Mount Garrism, and half of them in front of Mount Eball.
- 11:54Speaker 2: As Moses, the servant of the Lord, had commanded before
- 11:58Speaker 2: that they should bless the peace people of Israel, and
- 12:02Speaker 2: afterward he read all the words of the Law, the
- 12:07Speaker 2: blessings and the cursings, according.
- 12:10Speaker 3: To all that is written in the Book of the Law.
- 12:15Speaker 2: The meadows of Shechem sit between two mountains, Eball and Garrison.
- 12:22Speaker 2: To this day, it's a beautiful valley. Gardens and orchards,
- 12:25Speaker 2: and all of grows grow throughout the lap of the valley.
- 12:30Speaker 2: Limestone's stratum sits in the deepest part of the crevice,
- 12:35Speaker 2: and it's broken into ledges.
- 12:37Speaker 3: So that it appears to be the.
- 12:41Speaker 2: Presence of natural benches that can seat large crowds of people.
- 12:50Speaker 2: The rock formation creates an acoustic property that allows voices
- 12:55Speaker 2: that originate on one mountain to be heard all the.
- 13:01Speaker 3: On the other mountain.
- 13:05Speaker 2: And so Joshua I signed the tribes to stand on
- 13:10Speaker 2: the two mountains, six on one side, six on the other,
- 13:14Speaker 2: six on Garrism, and six on Eball, where the altar
- 13:19Speaker 2: had been built. And in the valley between stood the priests,
- 13:23Speaker 2: the Levites, the leaders, the Ark of the Covenant, and
- 13:26Speaker 2: Joshua himself. And when Joshua and the Levites began reading
- 13:31Speaker 2: the blessings, they stood on Mount Garrism, and the blessings
- 13:39Speaker 2: were shouted from Mount Garrism over the valley to the
- 13:43Speaker 2: mount of Eball, and every time the blessing would be
- 13:48Speaker 2: read from Mount Garrism, the people standing on Mount Eball
- 13:53Speaker 2: would respond and say, Amen, are you imagining this? Two
- 13:58Speaker 2: million people something like this? If you listen obediently to
- 14:05Speaker 2: the voice of God, he will defeat your enemies.
- 14:07Speaker 3: Amen. He will order a blessing on your barns. Amen.
- 14:15Speaker 3: Livish you with good things. Amen. Throw open the doors
- 14:20Speaker 3: of his sky vaults, and pour rain on your land. Amen. Amen.
- 14:25Speaker 2: All of these are listed in Deuteronomy chapter twenty eight.
- 14:30Speaker 2: The same procedure was followed in the proclamation of the Curses.
- 14:35Speaker 2: Curse it as anyone who cards a God image. Came
- 14:39Speaker 2: the declaration from Mount Eball, this time toward the people
- 14:44Speaker 2: on Mountain Garrism.
- 14:46Speaker 3: Amen. The people of Garrism said, who demeans a parent? Amen?
- 14:53Speaker 3: Who takes a bride to kill an innocent person? Amen?
- 14:57Speaker 2: Back and forth, back and forth, voices reverberated.
- 15:02Speaker 3: Off the stone cliffs.
- 15:04Speaker 2: All the people, the children, the immigrants, the old timers,
- 15:08Speaker 2: the new timers, everyone in antithanal rhythm proclaimed their values.
- 15:16Speaker 2: There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded,
- 15:19Speaker 2: which Joshua did not read before the assembly of Israel
- 15:22Speaker 2: with the women, the little ones, and the strangers who
- 15:26Speaker 2: were living among them. Keep in mind the wind and
- 15:31Speaker 2: the wear of this assembly. When did it happen in
- 15:34Speaker 2: the middle of an invasion? Where were they smack dab
- 15:38Speaker 2: in the middle of enemy territory? These desert toughened soldiers
- 15:44Speaker 2: pressed the pause button on the physical battle so they
- 15:48Speaker 2: could fight the spiritual battle. Heeding God's word is more
- 15:55Speaker 2: important than fighting God's war, or better said, heeding God's
- 16:04Speaker 2: word is fighting God's war. Conquest happens as the covenant
- 16:15Speaker 2: is honored. Do you want some glory days?
- 16:22Speaker 3: Do you want a.
- 16:23Speaker 2: Season of uninterrupted victory? Do you want to inherit your canaan?
- 16:30Speaker 2: Do you want to move from conquest to conquest? Do
- 16:34Speaker 2: you want to come out of your wilderness and step
- 16:36Speaker 2: forward into the inheritance that God has prepared for you.
- 16:39Speaker 2: Here's what shechem teaches us, obey God's commands.
- 16:49Speaker 3: What's that you wanted?
- 16:52Speaker 2: Something a little more elaborate, a little more mystical, exotic, intriguing.
- 17:02Speaker 2: You thought canaan level life was born out of ecstatic
- 17:08Speaker 2: utterances or angelic visions, or mountaintop moments or midnight messages
- 17:13Speaker 2: from Heaven.
- 17:15Speaker 3: Sorry to disappoint you. Obedience, wrote C. S. Lewis, is
- 17:23Speaker 3: the key to all doors. The promised land life is.
- 17:30Speaker 2: Enjoyed by those who take the bridge over the swamp.
- 17:35Speaker 3: Period.
- 17:38Speaker 2: Don't think for a second that you can heed the
- 17:43Speaker 2: wrong voice and make the wrong choice and escape the consequences.
- 17:52Speaker 3: At the same time, obedience.
- 17:55Speaker 2: Leads to a waterfall of goodness, not just for you,
- 18:00Speaker 2: but for your children, and your grandchildren, and your great
- 18:04Speaker 2: grandchildren and the children of a thousand generations in the future.
- 18:09Speaker 2: God shows love to a thousand generations of those who
- 18:13Speaker 2: love Him and keep his commandments. As we align ourselves
- 18:21Speaker 2: with God's plan, we open the door for God's favor.
- 18:28Speaker 2: This is no promise or guarantee of an easy life.
- 18:32Speaker 2: The good man does not escape all his troubles. Scripture
- 18:36Speaker 2: says he has them too, but.
- 18:39Speaker 3: The Lord helps.
- 18:41Speaker 2: Him in each and every one case in point the
- 18:50Speaker 2: remarkable change of pitt Cairn Island history. Bus will remember
- 18:55Speaker 2: the story of how, in the spring of seventeen eighty nine,
- 19:00Speaker 2: a band of mutinous sailors sailed to this tiny dot
- 19:05Speaker 2: of an island in the South Pacific. Goaded on by
- 19:10Speaker 2: the cruelty of Captain Bly, they gave him and his
- 19:15Speaker 2: followers the boot and a boat, and they watched them
- 19:18Speaker 2: disappear and float out to sea. Captain Bly remember made
- 19:24Speaker 2: it safely back to England, where he testified against his
- 19:30Speaker 2: crew that had helped him sail the ship called the Bounty.
- 19:37Speaker 2: Mutiny on the Bounty. Do you know whatever happened to
- 19:41Speaker 2: those sailors who committed mutiny on the Bounty. They settled
- 19:47Speaker 2: on Pitcairn Island. They took Tahitian wives, They recruited Tahitian workers.
- 19:54Speaker 2: The island had the makings of a tropical paradise, but
- 19:58Speaker 2: the men turned it into a living hell. They elevated
- 20:02Speaker 2: no standard, no morals, no laws. They created a sinkhole
- 20:09Speaker 2: of violence, adultery, drunkenness. Within a decade they were dead
- 20:18Speaker 2: from disease, attacks and infighting. Only one mutineer survived, a
- 20:27Speaker 2: man by the name of Alexander Smith. Left alone on
- 20:32Speaker 2: a two square mile island, surrounded by natives and half
- 20:37Speaker 2: bred children.
- 20:38Speaker 3: You know what he began to do.
- 20:40Speaker 2: He found a Bible and began to read it, study it,
- 20:47Speaker 2: and obey it. He convinced the islanders to do the same,
- 20:54Speaker 2: and when the British Navy discovered the Pitcairn Island in
- 20:58Speaker 2: eighteen o eight, they were stunned by the order and
- 21:04Speaker 2: the decency. In fact, Pitcairn became the by word a
- 21:11Speaker 2: dictionary word for order and decency in the nineteenth century.
- 21:19Speaker 2: Obedience leads to blessing. Obedience leads to blessing.
- 21:27Speaker 3: This obedience leads to trouble.
- 21:30Speaker 2: Remember the parable of Jesus. He talked about two builders,
- 21:34Speaker 2: each who built a house.
- 21:37Speaker 3: One built on.
- 21:38Speaker 2: Cheap, easy to use, easy to buy, easy to access,
- 21:42Speaker 2: sandy land, the other built on rock. It was more expensive,
- 21:47Speaker 2: it was harder to reach. His construction project demanded more
- 21:51Speaker 2: time and expense. But when the spring rains turned the
- 21:56Speaker 2: creek into a gully, washer guess which builder enjoyed a
- 22:01Speaker 2: blessing and which one experienced trouble. Beach front property doesn't
- 22:09Speaker 2: make for much if it can't withstand the storm. The
- 22:13Speaker 2: wise builder, Jesus said, is whoever hears the sayings of
- 22:21Speaker 2: mind and what and does them? Please Note both builders
- 22:27Speaker 2: in the story hear the sayings.
- 22:32Speaker 3: Both hear the sayings.
- 22:34Speaker 2: The difference between the two is not knowledge and ignorance,
- 22:38Speaker 2: but obedience and disobedience. It's not enough to hear the precepts.
- 22:46Speaker 2: Security comes as we put them in to practice. We
- 22:51Speaker 2: are only as strong as our obedience. That's why James says,
- 22:58Speaker 2: be doers of the word and not hearers, only.
- 23:06Speaker 3: Deceiving yourselves.
- 23:09Speaker 2: A few months back, I was on a ministry trip
- 23:12Speaker 2: to New York City. I had spent the day in
- 23:15Speaker 2: the company of co workers, colleagues, and friends. The final
- 23:21Speaker 2: engagement of the evening concluded around ten pm. As we
- 23:27Speaker 2: entered the hotel lobby, I realized that I was hungry.
- 23:33Speaker 3: My colleagues weren't. They had eaten.
- 23:37Speaker 2: During the banquet at which I had spoken. I realized
- 23:42Speaker 2: I hadn't eaten. They were tired, but I was hungry.
- 23:49Speaker 2: I considered going to the room and ordering room service,
- 23:53Speaker 2: but the lobby was packed, and I thought, oh, that
- 23:56Speaker 2: will take forever.
- 23:58Speaker 4: Now.
- 23:58Speaker 2: I remembered a delicatessen just outside the hotel, two blocks
- 24:03Speaker 2: down the street, so I told my friends good night,
- 24:07Speaker 2: I walked out the door, and I headed down the street.
- 24:12Speaker 2: Within a few minutes, I was on my way back,
- 24:16Speaker 2: sandwich in hand. As I crossed the street, toward my hotel.
- 24:24Speaker 2: Two women were standing on the street.
- 24:27Speaker 3: Corner next to my hotel. One of them spoke to me,
- 24:34Speaker 3: Excuse me, sir, she said. I stopped. I turned.
- 24:41Speaker 2: I remember noticing they were dressed nicely. I assumed they
- 24:44Speaker 2: had come out of the theater. Yes, I said, And
- 24:49Speaker 2: one of them looked at me and said, could you
- 24:52Speaker 2: use some company tonight? I was taken aback, young women,
- 25:00Speaker 2: and don't flirt with me. I mean, look at me.
- 25:05Speaker 2: I'm nearly sixty years old. My hair is falling out.
- 25:10Speaker 2: I fight the battle of the belly bulge. I haven't
- 25:15Speaker 2: popped the biceb since Clinton was in office. Then it
- 25:20Speaker 2: dawned on me they weren't interested in me. They were
- 25:25Speaker 2: interested in what I might pay them. I realized I
- 25:31Speaker 2: was on two intersections, an intersection in New York City,
- 25:39Speaker 2: but also the intersection of morality, voices, choices, consequences.
- 25:49Speaker 3: This verse popped into my thoughts as I stood there.
- 25:54Speaker 3: Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. For whatever
- 26:00Speaker 3: a man's souls, that will he all so reap. I
- 26:07Speaker 3: turned like a scalded dog.
- 26:11Speaker 2: I said no, and I walked as fast as I
- 26:14Speaker 2: could to my hotel room. I took the first available
- 26:18Speaker 2: elevator and I went before I even sat down, and
- 26:20Speaker 2: I called dienaling.
- 26:25Speaker 3: Imagine if I hadn't.
- 26:30Speaker 2: Imagine the pain, Imagine the guilt, the potential embarrassment for
- 26:40Speaker 2: our church, for my family, the shame. Talk about a
- 26:49Speaker 2: swamp land.
- 26:50Speaker 1: Huh.
- 26:56Speaker 2: There's some voices that are going to be talking to
- 26:59Speaker 2: you in the next few days, and you're going to
- 27:02Speaker 2: find yourself at an intersection. These voices are waiting for
- 27:11Speaker 2: you at school, at work, in your neighborhood, on the internet.
- 27:28Speaker 2: Don't you think for a second that they're going to
- 27:30Speaker 2: be quiet. Satan does not like seeing you press into
- 27:35Speaker 2: your promised land, and he knows he cannot take your salvation,
- 27:40Speaker 2: but he is hell bound on taking your joy, your fruitfulness,
- 27:44Speaker 2: your credibility, and your fruit, and he will do whatever
- 27:52Speaker 2: he can to dismantle your faith. You need to decide
- 27:57Speaker 2: right now what you will say when you hear that
- 28:00Speaker 2: voice right now. Many Christians miss out on the Promised
- 28:10Speaker 2: land life simply because of disobedience. They just disobey. They
- 28:19Speaker 2: buy into the lie that says, well, I can disobey
- 28:22Speaker 2: and there will be no consequences. I do believe God
- 28:26Speaker 2: always removes the guilt.
- 28:28Speaker 3: But I also believe that he often leads us with
- 28:31Speaker 3: the consequences, and I don't want you to live with
- 28:36Speaker 3: those consequences. You can decide right now. You can pray. Lord,
- 28:42Speaker 3: you go ahead of me.
- 28:44Speaker 2: You fill my mind with truth, you fill my heart
- 28:47Speaker 2: with conviction. And when those voices speak, may I heed
- 28:53Speaker 2: your voice and make the right choice and enjoy the
- 28:56Speaker 2: consequence of blessing. Remember whose you are. Listen, remember whose
- 29:04Speaker 2: you are. You are a child of God. You have
- 29:07Speaker 2: been bought with the most precious commodity in the history
- 29:11Speaker 2: of the universe, the blood of Jesus Christ. And you
- 29:15Speaker 2: are in dwelled by the power of God himself, the
- 29:19Speaker 2: Holy Spirit. And you have been set apart for a
- 29:23Speaker 2: high and holy work. And He is equipping you and
- 29:26Speaker 2: developing you for the kingdom that is to come, in
- 29:30Speaker 2: which you will serve with Him forever. You are a
- 29:33Speaker 2: holy child of God. Remember whose you are, and remember
- 29:38Speaker 2: where you are. This is promised land you're in. Satan
- 29:41Speaker 2: has no jurisdiction over you, and you resist him, and
- 29:45Speaker 2: he must flee.
- 29:47Speaker 3: He must.
- 29:49Speaker 2: This promise comes to you from First Corinthians ten. God
- 29:53Speaker 2: is faithful and he will keep temptation from becoming so
- 29:57Speaker 2: strong that you cannot stand up against it. When you
- 30:00Speaker 2: are tempted, he will show you a way out so
- 30:05Speaker 2: you will not give into it. Choose obedience. I suggest
- 30:12Speaker 2: a reenactment of Shechem. Wouldn't that be something? If we
- 30:16Speaker 2: could find a field of valley a canyon large enough
- 30:19Speaker 2: to hold several million people, and we all made a
- 30:22Speaker 2: pilgrimage there, and we walked away from our campaigns and
- 30:25Speaker 2: our conquests, and were reaffirmed our convictions. And we stood
- 30:29Speaker 2: on one side and declared our yes, and just stood
- 30:32Speaker 2: on the other side, and we said, ann the blessings
- 30:36Speaker 2: and the curses, the promises and the consequences. But then again,
- 30:42Speaker 2: we don't have to wait for a national assembly, do we.
- 30:46Speaker 2: We can stage our own personal renewals, and we can
- 30:50Speaker 2: ask this important question, whose voice will I hear this week?
- 30:56Speaker 2: Whose voice will hold sway over my life? One final
- 31:03Speaker 2: thought before we move out of this chapter in the
- 31:07Speaker 2: Book of Joshua, take note please of the altar's location,
- 31:16Speaker 2: the stone altar that was.
- 31:17Speaker 3: Made with unhewn stone. Where was it built?
- 31:21Speaker 2: Was it built on Mount Garrison, the Mount of Blessing? No,
- 31:26Speaker 2: Joshua built it on Mount Eball, the hill of the Cursings,
- 31:32Speaker 2: as if to remind us, even in the midst of
- 31:35Speaker 2: poor choices, there is a sacrifice, There is grace. May
- 31:42Speaker 2: we hear the right choice. May we make the right choice.
- 31:46Speaker 2: May we enjoy blessing upon blessing. But if we don't,
- 31:50Speaker 2: and sometimes we don't, may we return to the altar
- 31:55Speaker 2: on Eball and receive the sacrifice offered by Christ.
- 32:00Speaker 3: It was made for people like us. Amen.
- 32:05Speaker 2: And so Lord, we pray now that you would take
- 32:07Speaker 2: your word, help us to be doers and not just hearers.
- 32:11Speaker 2: Thank you that you have already reminded us going into
- 32:14Speaker 2: this week, that we will hear voices that are not
- 32:17Speaker 2: from you, and we'll have a chance to make choices.
- 32:22Speaker 3: Help us to make the right choice, Father, and to
- 32:25Speaker 3: enjoy your consequences, your blessings. This is our prayer in
- 32:29Speaker 3: Jesus' name to all God's people.
- 32:31Speaker 1: Said at.
- 33:17Speaker 4: A everything, I'll be all right. You don't have to.
- 38:26Speaker 5: Stay, if you've already chosen. I won't stand in your way.
- 38:38Speaker 6: I can feel it in your distance, in the way
- 38:42Speaker 6: you barely speak, like your heart is somewhere else now,
- 38:49Speaker 6: somewhere I can't reach. I was trying to just do
- 38:54Speaker 6: hold us?
- 38:56Speaker 5: Why are you slowly slipped away?
- 39:00Speaker 6: Now I'm left with all the silence you didn't want
- 39:05Speaker 6: to say.
- 39:09Speaker 3: Maybe I just held long to something.
- 39:17Speaker 7: Already gone. I'll be fine. You can't leave. You don't
- 39:26Speaker 7: know me anything.
- 39:29Speaker 6: If your heart is found, Louis, how do what we
- 39:35Speaker 6: used to be? How be fine?
- 39:38Speaker 1: Don't look back?
- 39:40Speaker 6: How survived this empty space?
- 39:44Speaker 1: Not tonight, maybe not soon, but hollor.
- 39:50Speaker 7: To be okay.
- 39:55Speaker 1: We don't need to fake the feeling.
- 39:59Speaker 4: I can see in your eyes.
- 40:02Speaker 6: There's no reason left the stand.
- 40:06Speaker 3: When the love already died.
- 40:11Speaker 7: Through the quieting your voice, I can't hear your choice.
- 40:25Speaker 3: Be fine.
- 40:26Speaker 7: You can't leave.
- 40:28Speaker 2: You don't know me anything.
- 40:32Speaker 7: If your heart a spound?
- 40:34Speaker 6: No, how do what we used to be?
- 40:39Speaker 2: Be fine?
- 40:41Speaker 1: Don't look back.
- 40:43Speaker 7: I survive this empty space, not to night, maybe not.
- 40:49Speaker 6: So, but I'll learn to be okay.
- 40:55Speaker 7: I don't need a reason why. I can see in goodbye.
- 41:03Speaker 3: And it break me in Dutch.
- 41:05Speaker 7: But I won't ask you to step.
- 41:12Speaker 3: I'll be fine.
- 41:14Speaker 6: You Kelly, you don't don't know me anything.
- 41:20Speaker 7: Give your harm honest found work gowd of what we
- 41:25Speaker 7: used to be? Be fine? Don't look back, How Survi
- 41:32Speaker 7: have this sempty space? Not ton my baby, not so
- 41:38Speaker 7: but I'll learn to be okay, I'll be all right.