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Marching Faith | Joshua 6 · Saint City Chapel

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Hey, hey, St. City, how we feeling today?
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It's good to see you guys. Happy Sunday morning to you that
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that promo video reminds me every single time that bumper
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that not even one of God's promises will fail.
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That's the whole point of that video is to help you see week
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after week, month after month as we go through this book, one,
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that we're an energetic church, apparently see that.
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But two, that not even one promise of God has ever failed.
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And the whole book of Joshua is helping you.
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And I not only see that, but believe that that God is a God
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who keeps his promises, not just to the people of Israel that
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we're learning about in Joshua, but to you and I, to his people.
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That's who God is. Not one promise failed, not one
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enemy beat him only he is the God who is the God who is like
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that. Amen.
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Amen. I I have never had the
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experience of tearing down goal posts before on a football
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field, but according to my father, it is a legendary
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experience. Back in the late 1900s, as the
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college students call it 1990, he was a college student at
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Northern Illinois University in Northern Illinois University.
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You've never heard of it because they're terrible at just about
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everything. And not on this day, though.
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This day they play #24 ranked. Yet this is the this is the
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highlight of their team. They beat the 24th best team in
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the country in football on that day.
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And what did the student section do before the game?
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As the game was wrapping up, the student section stormed the
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field. They tore down the goal posts in
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triumphant victory over the 24th ranked Fresno State Bulldogs.
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In fact, I have a picture of my father helping tear down the
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goal post that is him. That is a grainy picture, but
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that is literally my dad in a YouTube video ranking down this
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goal post with a bunch of students of his.
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I think that's amazing. I wish I had that memory.
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But they end up not only taking down this goal post, the
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students begin. You know, what should we do with
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this massive hanging thing? We're going to take it to the
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campus lagoon. So the students then proceed to
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lift it above their heads and March this goal post to the
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lagoon. So it literally, you can't hear
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it in the video, but the students like chanting to the
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lagoon, to the lagoon, and they're chanting it as they're
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bringing it out. They're marching this goal post
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in victory and the fight song is blaring behind them.
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And they get to the lagoon and they dump the field goal post in
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triumphant victory over the 24th best team in the country.
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I think that's my fun. The funniest detail about the
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whole story. What I find interesting about
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that though, is on that day, that student section, they
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marched after they saw the victory.
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They won that game by 50 plus points and they marched after
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they saw the victory. But what God is about to invite
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his people to do, you and I to do what he's about to call us
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to, is to March before we see the victory.
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Joshua chapter 6 is about to help us March in faith, to have
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marching faith as God's people, the kind of faith that marked
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the people of Israel. And Joshua 6 should be the same
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faith that marks you and I today, The kind of faith that
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trust God to be the God who cannot lose, who keeps all of
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his promises. We are intended to be a people
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who March. In fact, turn to your neighbor
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and say we March. That's right.
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Let's head to Joshua chapter 6, Joshua chapter 6 before we get
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there. Joshua chapter 1 is the
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introduction of the book. We learned that Joshua's
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appointed the new leader and he's like, hey, who's with me on
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this? Joshua chapter 2 is about them
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doing it right this time and taking the promised land for
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themselves. Joshua chapter 3 and 4 is about
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them getting to their very first significant and miraculous
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obstacle of the Jordan River and they cross it and they remember
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it. And Joshua chapter 5 is about
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the people of God before they get into this battle with
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Jericho, consecrating themselves before the conquest.
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That is the book of Joshua so far.
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And we get to Joshua chapter 6 and we get to a very familiar
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story, probably the most familiar story of the whole
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book. It is the battle air quotes of
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Jericho, Joshua chapter 6. It says this.
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Now Jericho was shut up inside and outside because of the
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people of Israel. None went out and none came in.
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And the Lord said to Joshua, See, I have given Jericho into
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your hand with its king and mighty men of valor.
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You shall March around the city, all the men of war going around
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the city once, and you shall do this for six days. 7 priests
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shall bear 7 trumpets of ram's horns before the ark.
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And on the 7th day you shall March around the city 7 times.
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And the priest shall blow the trumpets.
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And when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, when you
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hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people of Israel
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shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will
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fall down flat, and the people shall go up, everyone straight
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before him. We'll stop there for a moment.
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Why are why is Joshua 6 in our Bibles to help us understand
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God? What is it for us in this life?
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Jot down this thought, this big idea that cities aren't taken by
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strategy, they're captured by faith.
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God wants to show you something about himself.
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He wants to reveal a part of his character, a part of who he is,
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how he works in the world. Cities are not taken by human
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strategy. They are captured by faith and I
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think that's real. I think that's relevant as a
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church plant. We're about 8 months into this
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thing and we're looking at a city like Jericho and Tempe and
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saying, man, Lord, this feels impossible to break into a city
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like this. There's 200,000 plus people
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here, 80% of whom do not go to a Church of any kind whatsoever,
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have no religious activity. Less than 2% go to any kind of
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gospel preaching church. How, Lord, is Saint City going
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to make a dent in that kind of darkness?
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How are we going to get through the impossible and impenetrable
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wall that is known as the veil of Tempe?
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How are we going to do it? What kind of faith captures a
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city like Tempe? I think this text is going to
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give us faith for that. I think it's going to give us
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the right kind of faith, the right strategy.
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And going after a city like this one.
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How are we going to do it? Well, first let's jot down like
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this. How are we going to capture what
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kind of faith, excuse me, captures a city like Tempe?
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Well, we March in faith that first.
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He has already won the fight. What kind of faith do you need
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to have? What kind of trust, What kind of
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trust that you need to put into action that you are looking to
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God not just as a concept, but as a being who works and
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operates and moves in the world? How are we going to have faith
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together? Well, we're going to March in
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faith in this conviction that he has already won the fight.
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God has already won. He's already done it.
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Look back at the text with me verse one.
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Now Jericho was shut up inside and outside because of the
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people of Israel. Now Jericho there it's it's
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helping you remember that this is a very fortified city.
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The city of Jericho had two outer walls, 2 walls that
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surrounded the city that made it almost inconceivable that anyone
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would ever conquer it. The first wall was 6 feet thick,
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so my generous here wingspan, 6 feet thick, was the outermost
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wall. Then there was a gap, and then
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there was two of these 12 feet thick wall, 18 feet of wall to
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get into the city. I don't know if you've ever
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tried to breakthrough any kind of thick glass or wood or
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concrete before, but 18 feet thick feels pretty impossible,
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feels pretty impenetrable. And not only do you have a city
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that is fortified like this, you have a city that for the time
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was very large. Jericho.
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The perimeter of the city was about .37 miles wide.
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According to church historians, that is the equivalent of
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mountainside fitness at Tempe Town Park.
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If you're looking at the lake, that's about the distance that
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the city was in length. We'll get back to that in a
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second. If I want you to feel how
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impossible it felt to get through the walls of Jericho, I
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want you to have a sense for this army of Israel who is not
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trained. Think about this.
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These people just wandered the desert for 40 years and now
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God's telling them to take a city.
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He's telling them that they need to go have a conquest of the
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land of Canaan and they are untrained nor do they have the
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best technology to compensate for their lack of competence and
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God says to them in verse 2 something insane the Lord said
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to Joshua and I believe this is continuing the conversation from
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chapter 5. I believe this is the commander
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of the Lord's army saying to Joshua, here's your battle plan.
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See look at verse 2. I have given Jericho.
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Do you notice that in your Bible underline?
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If you would, I have given not. I will give Jericho not.
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I might give Jericho. I have.
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I have given Jericho to you, into your hand with its king and
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its mighty men of valor. You might see its ruler, You
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might see its army, Joshua. But listen to me.
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I am the commander of the Lord's army.
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And hear me, I have given this to you.
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It is as good as done. The fight has already been won.
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It is a battle that has already taken place in God's mind, and
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there's no stopping his verdict. And this is a hilarious battle
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plan, if you ask me. Priests who are not exactly the
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most spectacular of specimens. I would imagine they're not
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exactly the guys you'd send out to war.
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They're going to walk around with Ram's horns and blow
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trumpets, and you're going to just take a nice leisurely
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stroll around the city of Jericho for a week and then
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we're going to call it done. And you know what?
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For good measure, you guys can shout about it.
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That's how we're going to win. That's the battle plan of
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winning the fight. I'm no military tactician.
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That doesn't sound like the battle plan of that would work
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according to human strategy, but it works here because this isn't
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even really a battle plan. This is a victory March is what
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it is. It's a triumphant parade that
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this is already. This is our city, this is our
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land. We are going to take it because
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God said it's ours. It was his to give and it's ours
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to take. So let's go do a victory parade
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before the battle even happens. They're basically tearing down
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the goal posts before the game even starts.
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Now, St. City, we're not marching around
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Jericho. We're not here in the Bible.
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That's not us. That's not why this is even
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preserved for us. God is not prescribing that we
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do that. Though that might be pretty
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neat. If one of you guys did the walk,
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you can let me know how it goes. But this text, not written to us
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but for us, is revealing something about the war we do
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find ourselves in, not against flesh and blood, but against
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powers and principalities. We do still wage a holy war on
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behalf of God as his people. We still are soldiers in a fight
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in that God that we serve, that commander in chief that he has
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deployed us. Guess what?
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He has already won the fight. Do you believe that God has
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already won? You are not fighting for victory
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for that God. You are fighting from victory.
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It's already taken place. It's in the past tense.
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We are still on command, on mission for our commander in
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Chief. The fields of Tempe are white
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unto harvest and we can still get caught up in fear of our
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defeated enemies. We have defeated enemies just
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like they do. Our enemies aren't Jericho
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citizens, but rather there's three enemies that the Christian
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has today. It's sin, Satan, and death.
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Satan, Sin and Death 3 defeated enemies first Satan Matthew 1618
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Jonathan, if you'd like to read your Bible, it says that the
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gates of hell shall not prevail against God's Kingdom.
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Gates are like Helms deep in Lord of the Rings.
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They're holding people back as a defensive weapon.
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And guess what? It cannot stop God's people
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advancing on the mission of God. Satan and his and his minions
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cannot stop Jesus from advancing his Kingdom.
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They can't stop him. The church is the one who has
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promised to hold the gates, to hold the keys, and saying hey,
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we have the gospel, we have a commander in chief, and the
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gates of hell will not prevail against God's church.
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We will keep advancing. We'll keep taking Kingdom
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ground. Why?
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Because Satan is a defeated enemy.
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We need not fear him. We need not worry.
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Spiritual attack is normal, but guess what, he is beaten.
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Colossians chapter 2 says that Jesus trampled over death in
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Satan and paraded him triumphantly.
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Satan is beaten. You do not need to be afraid of
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him. He 11 theologian said it this
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way, that he might be the devil, but he's still God's devil,
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meaning he's still on a leash. That's one enemy that's beaten.
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Second, sin. Romans 314 says that sin has no
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dominion over us anymore. You might feel like sin is
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beating you, that it is not defeated at all actually.
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But guess what? The penalty and the power of it
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are paid for in full by the blood of Jesus Christ.
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There might be some remaining presence of sin in your life,
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and there surely is. And one day Jesus will come back
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and He will extinguish sin forever.
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But listen to me. It is defeated.
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It has no dominion over you, believer.
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It doesn't have power over you. It is a defeated enemy.
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Be strong and courageous. See that the victory has been
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given in your hand. You are fighting a battle that
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has already been won over the sin struggle in your life.
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Don't look at that habit anymore as a giant and you a
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grasshopper, but rather look at it and say no, no, no.
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My God has beaten it, He has overcome it and he lives in me.
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Satan, sin and now death. I want to read for you a passage
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from First Corinthians chapter 1522 or 52.
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It says this in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last
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trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and
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the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be
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changed. For this perishable body must
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put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on
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immortality. And when the perishable puts on
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the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall
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come to pass the saying that is written.
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Death is swallowed up in victory.
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Oh, death, where is your sting? Oh, death, where is your
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victory? Listen to me.
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You need not fear death, believer.
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One of the greatest promises that God will keep for your life
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is that when you die, when this earth comes to pass and you pass
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on into what's next, guess what? You don't even need to be afraid
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of that because you will finally, for the first time,
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truly be living. What was thought to be mortal is
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now immortal because of the gospel that Jesus Christ has
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come to save you from your sin, has come to save you from Satan,
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and has come to save you from death so He could have life with
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you, everlasting, eternal life. It is available to you.
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So we need not be afraid of the enemy of death, that sickness
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might come, death might come into our life.
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Grief might be real as an experience here.
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But listen to me. Though it is a certain reality
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that we will die, it could be a certain truth and promise that
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you get to spend life forever with God Himself, not under
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suffering or sickness or despair, but of life, true,
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abundant, flourishing life. And Jericho reminds us that he
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has already won the fight over death.
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He didn't stay in that grave. That tomb is still empty to this
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day. Get on a plane, go to the Middle
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East, and you'll find a tomb that was empty, where Jesus
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Christ rose from the grave. That's my commander in chief.
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That's why I'm following into battle.
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And he has already won the fight.
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So we keep marching in faith of that, but second, not only
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marching in faith towards that, but also he gives no small
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commands. Our military leader, in this
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case, Jesus Christ. Remember, we're not waging holy
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war, slaughtering people. That's not Christian's job.
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We love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.
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But listen to me. Our commander gives no small
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commands. Go back to Joshua with me.
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Joshua chapter 6, verse 10 says this.
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But Joshua commanded the people, You shall not shout or make your
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voice heard, neither shall any word go out of your mouth until
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the day I tell you to shout. God gives a command right now
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through Joshua to the people. He gives further marching orders
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to the ones we just read in the first earlier verses.
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He elaborates and he says to the people, here's what I want you
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to do. I want you to be silent for six
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days. Don't talk.
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Embrace being a mute for six days.
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I imagine to myself how terrible I would be at this.
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I, I've, I've watched this show growing up called Silent
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Library, where they were in, in tasked with being quiet despite
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all kinds of pranks and hijinks happening inside of the library.
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And the whole point was to get people to laugh so you could win
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the game. And I can just tell you right
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now, Brandon de Lodge was not built for that game.
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I, I am not a quiet person. I'm not a person who enjoys
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silence. I'm not a person who thrives in
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being shut up, but the instruction, the command given
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to the people of Israel was to stay silent for six days.
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And I think in our energy, in our fervor and our passion to be
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on the mission of God, sometimes we forget that the small command
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of silence is also available to us.
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And here's what I mean. I think many of us will go out
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on the mission. We will we will share the gospel
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and that and keep doing that. We will embrace the human
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strategy of going out on corners and partnering with
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organizations and doing all kinds of fun things.
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But cities aren't taken by human strategy.
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They're captured by faith as even forget the faith filled
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prayers that sit in silence before God and say God, what do
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you want to do with my life? How do you want to reach my Co
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workers? How do you want to reach my
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family? How do you want to reach my
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neighbors? And we think to ourselves, we
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need to do more talking instead of just being still and
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listening to God, maybe even heard him speak because you're
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too busy talking instead of listening to what God has to
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say. This is a small command given to
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the Israelites to just be silent for six days.
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And I imagine as they're walking around the perimeter and they
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have to remain silent, I imagine the teenagers wanting to crack
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jokes. I imagine the parents wanting to
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work through that tiff they just got back in before they even
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started the walk. And the command given was as
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simple as silence. But it is not a small command.
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It's obeying God himself in this case.
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It's not the only command. He told them to walk around the
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city. They're walking around the city,
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just walking around the city. And they're doing that for six
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days now. A little bit more than 1/4 mile
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walk isn't that far. Doesn't take that long.
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They had to do it in silence. And I wonder what was going
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through their brain as they looked at that giant wall and
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how thick it was as they're walking around this city where
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they thinking to themselves, man, my feet must be really
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powerful if these are going to come down.
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I wonder if they thought, man, maybe he's just going to like
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start an earthquake or something.
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I have no how, but apparently he just wants me to walk.
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They had a daily walk. It was deliberate, but listen to
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me. It was also devoted to the Lord.
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We are not intended to walk very differently around our lives.
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We walk with Christ and we walk through our lives wherever God
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would have us, walking and talking with Jesus, saying God,
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what would you have me do? What would you have me be?
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What would you do in my life? And I would just walk with you.
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That is the journey. It is to follow Jesus.
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It's just to walk and step with him, one step at a time, daily,
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deliberately and devoted unto him.
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That is all it means to walk with Jesus.
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It's just taking the next step and the next step and the next
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step. You see, they didn't just do
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this for day one. They did this for day 2 and day
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three and day four and day five and day six.
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They kept walking and I can't imagine how stupid I would have
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felt to just keep putting 1 foot in front of the other.
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When is this actually going to happen?
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When is he going to do the same thing he said he was going to
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do? Listen to me, Do not give up in
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walking Jesus just 'cause you don't see the walls come down
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yet. Keep walking with Him.
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Do not lose heart. Walk and walk.
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Just take one step after another, one foot in front of
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the other and keep walking with Him.
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It is a simple command of ours is to be a disciple of Jesus
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Christ, which we have taken to define here at Saints City, is
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just taking your next step of obedience with Him.
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That's all a walk is. It's just obeying Jesus
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patiently day after day, putting 1 foot in front of the other,
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walking. Verse 16 gives us one other
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small command God gives them. And at the 7th time.
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So now they've walked around the city for six days.
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Now they get to the 7th day and they don't just walk around the
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city once, they walk around it 7 times.
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That's God's command for they honored that by the way, they
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could have walked around it five times or three times or two
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times, but they did what God said.
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They obeyed the seemingly strange command of walking
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around at the 7th time as if that was the magical number, but
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it wasn't what was magical about it.
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It rather was what God said. Therefore it activated God's
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power. So they get to the seventh time
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in verse 16, and at the 7th time when the priest had blown the
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trumpets, Joshua said to the people, shout, for the Lord has
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given you the city, and the city and all that was within it shall
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be devoted to the Lord for destruction.
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Jumped down to verse 20. And so the people shouted, they
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screamed, they cheered, they celebrated, and the trumpets
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were blown. And as soon as the people heard
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the sound of the trumpet, they shouted even a great shout, and
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the wall fell down flat. Walls still fall, and there is a
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time to shout, a time to cheer, and it's not even before you see
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the victory, after you see the victory.
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It's before you see it that you believe God is still worthy of
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worship. He's still worthy of your shout
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to praise before you see him do the thing you're praying for him
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to do, that the victory. The praise is before the
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victory. The shout comes before they see
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the walls fall. But they did, and they trusted
25:11
God. They took him at his word and
25:13
they shouted. The divine demolition of Jericho
25:16
was to demonstrate for all people, for all time, that God
25:19
is above every city and there is nothing or no one who could stop
25:23
him. He is the God who breaks down
25:27
walls, the God who would just the shouts of people crush and
25:32
flatten 18 feet thick walls. And they captured the city.
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There are no small commands. The Israelites follow Joshua's
25:48
orders given to him by Jesus Christ.
25:49
And they said we're going to listen to God.
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We're going to take him at his word.
25:54
And so we'll shout, we'll walk, we'll be silent.
25:58
We will let trumpets go around. We'll let the order take care of
26:01
itself. We will listen to God.
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And I wonder if there's a command in your life that you
26:07
have shrunk or thought to yourself that it's a small
26:12
command. It's not a big deal.
26:14
I wonder if there's something that God has asked you to do
26:19
that you're like, yeah, it's not that big a deal.
26:24
There are no small commands with God because His Holiness and his
26:27
reputation is on the line every time.
26:30
And he wants what's best for you and for me.
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Every time God tells you to do something, it's not because he
26:35
wants your life to be miserable, because he wants your life to be
26:37
great and he knows what you're made for.
26:39
He built you. He said, hey, I made you for
26:41
this, Go do this. And you're like, no, I would, I
26:43
would like to reject that operating system and I'd prefer
26:46
to live a life that I think is better.
26:49
In fact, I think that highlights one of the heart postures that
26:53
we have to be watchful for. We need to be watchful for
26:57
arrogance in our heart when we're trying to obey God's
26:59
commands. It's the idea that I know better
27:02
than God. Do I know better than God what
27:07
to do with my life? Does He get to have a say?
27:11
And what I watch, what I say, what I do, who I marry, how I
27:14
spend my time, how I spend my money, do I know better than
27:17
him? That would be arrogance to say
27:21
that you would. But watch for that.
27:24
Not only watch for that, watch for impatience.
27:29
I think sometimes why we appeal to human strategy instead of
27:31
faith is because we feel like we're playing way more of a part
27:35
in it than we are. We actually are that God is the
27:38
one who's actually behind Saint City, that he is the one behind
27:43
your life with his goodness and mercy rushing towards you and
27:46
carrying you toward the next thing after the next thing after
27:48
the next thing. But I think we in our little
27:51
faith, sometimes we look to ourselves and we look to our
27:55
impatience and we say, you know what God, I'm sick and tired of
27:57
waiting on you. Let me take matters into my own
27:59
hands. Let me start dating the guy who
28:01
does not know Jesus anymore. Let me start spending my money
28:04
this way. Let me start this way because I
28:07
think I know better than you. But listen to me.
28:10
Human strategy is not what takes over a city.
28:12
Faith does. And faith is what needs to be
28:14
leading your home. It needs to be leading your
28:16
relationships. It needs to be leading your
28:18
business. Faith is the thing, and with God
28:25
all things are possible. But if it is of man, guess what?
28:27
It will fail at some point. But if it is of God, guess what?
28:33
There's nothing anyone can do to stop it.
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You might be wrestling through your career decision.
28:41
You might be wrestling through a relationship in your family.
28:45
My appeal to you this morning is to be as watchful after victory
28:52
as before the battle. There's a battle that you're
28:56
facing and that you are fighting, and as you consider
28:59
that relationship, as you consider that move, as you
29:02
consider that next step, you need to be as watchful after
29:06
Victor as you are before the battle.
29:08
Meaning we need to be praising him and thinking that he's
29:12
already won and trusting him by obeying his small commands even
29:15
here and now before we get to that next thing and appealing to
29:19
him in faith and saying, God, I don't know what to do, but my
29:21
eyes are on you. So don't let arrogance or
29:26
impatience get in the way of that.
29:28
Be watchful for them in your heart.
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So I think that's what blocks us from taking God's commands
29:34
seriously, no matter how small they might seem. 3rd and finally
29:38
we March in faith, not just towards the small commands, not
29:43
just towards him we already winning the fight, but third and
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finally that he will keep his promises.
29:50
He will not even one promise has failed.
29:54
And God is gracious, He is kind, He welcomes the repentant.
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There's a there's a lie that's in the world today that I want
30:05
to gently correct. It's that all people are God's
30:07
children. That is not true.
30:10
What is true according to the Bible is this, that God is
30:13
creator to all. He is father to some, which
30:18
means if he's father to some, then only some are his kids.
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And the ones who are adopted, the ones who went from orphan to
30:29
having a spiritual father, guess what?
30:32
It came through repentance and faith in him that he was who he
30:36
said he was, that he did what he said he did, and that he will
30:41
judge those who do not. And verses the rest of this
30:47
chapter highlights for us the grave nature of that decision.
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Verse 24 and 25 I think captures it perfectly.
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The contrast between the two choices that Joshua and the
31:01
people of Israel did what God said and they burned the city
31:04
with fire and everything and everyone in it, only the silver
31:12
and the gold and the vessels, the bronze and of iron they put
31:15
into the treasury of the House of the Lord.
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So you have destruction. Verse 25 you have deliverance,
31:24
but Rahab the prostitute in her father's household on all who
31:27
belonged to her, Joshua saved alive, and she, Rahab has lived
31:33
in Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers whom
31:36
Joshua sent out in Jericho. So Joshua laid an oath on them
31:41
at that time saying, curse before the Lord.
31:43
Be the man who rises up and tries to rebuild this city,
31:46
Jericho, at the cost of its first born.
31:48
Shall he lay its first, its foundation at the cost of his
31:51
youngest son? Shall he set up his case?
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So verse 27, the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame was in all
31:58
the land. I think when we read a sobering
32:01
text like that, we can be tempted to apologize for God,
32:08
that we can try to clean it up. But listen to me.
32:15
This is quite literally a picture between human strategy
32:17
and a faith. Between verses 24 and 25,
32:20
Jericho's strategy was simple. It's God hasn't killed us for
32:25
400 plus years, He's not going to now.
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Not only that, they are willfully unrepentant.
32:33
Rahab knew who God was, saw what God did, and in chapter 2 she
32:37
decided to give her life to Him. Every single citizen in Jericho
32:41
had that opportunity. Only Rahab in her household took
32:45
care of it. This wasn't God being Moody.
32:51
He wasn't being impatient all of a sudden in the in the
32:54
Canaanites wickedness again. He waited 400 years for them to
32:59
turn to him and they didn't. They refused to bow the knee to
33:07
him despite in hearing how big and great and powerful he was.
33:15
And that's why Joshua 6 isn't about us, it's about God.
33:19
It's about the greatness of God, not the significance of a man
33:23
named Joshua. They won this battle because of
33:27
God. They did not win it because of
33:29
him. God made man small in the
33:32
universe, big to remind us that we are small and He is big.
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And he's giving us all a warning here.
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This is a warning passage that He doesn't give small commands,
33:50
and if you choose to rebel against his commands, judgement
33:53
and wrath is what you have chosen for yourself, that you
34:01
got what you wanted, a life apart from God.
34:07
And if you think to yourself there's a command small enough
34:09
that He won't notice your disobedience, that if your heart
34:12
has grown hard and won't listen to Him anymore today, if you
34:15
hear His voice, will you not harden your heart?
34:19
Listen to me. God loves you and wants to save
34:23
you from this. That hell is described as a
34:28
consuming and hellacious fire of torment, and it would be
34:34
unloving to me to not represent that to you today.
34:36
But that's what it means to turn away from God and to live for
34:41
yourself, to turn to human strategy and brilliance to save
34:46
you from the fires of destruction.
34:49
Listen to me. The only way to be saved is not
34:52
to save yourself. It's to look to the Savior.
34:55
That's it. That's the only hope you got.
34:59
You're not smart enough. You are not brilliant enough.
35:01
You are not powerful enough. You are not rich enough, you are
35:03
not beautiful enough to be saved from hell.
35:07
That is not the equation that we're talking about.
35:10
The only ticket in is Jesus Christ and his blood and his
35:13
righteousness, because you have no righteousness of your own to
35:16
bring to God. That would be kind of like this.
35:19
It'd be kind of like like the the Bible says in Matthew that
35:24
you have to have righteousness that exceeds that of the
35:26
Pharisees and the scribes, which would be like me telling you
35:28
today that you have to be smarter than like Plato and Elon
35:32
Musk. That's what it would be like.
35:34
You're like, wait, I have to be smarter than Plato then to get
35:36
into heaven and God's like, yeah, that guy's a dummy.
35:40
Elon Musk capital D dumb compared to how smart I am.
35:45
It would be like that. Don't you see?
35:49
There is no, there is no strategy.
35:53
There is no way, there is no hope apart from faith in God and
35:56
turning to him and belief and saying God, I can't save myself,
36:00
but you can save me. It is a self denial to follow
36:04
the commander of Heaven faith that you are not big enough,
36:07
strong enough or smart enough to earn your way in.
36:09
It is risking it all to have it all.
36:11
It is putting it all on the line, going all in on Jesus and
36:14
saying you know what He is the way, the truth and the life and
36:17
no one comes to the Father except through Him.
36:20
I am banking my life on that reality and saying I have no
36:24
righteousness, I need to be saved like Rahab and her family.
36:30
That I don't want to be doomed, I want to be saved.
36:37
And faith that God keeps his promise, including the ones to
36:41
save all who call upon His name. Jesus Christ will save.
36:48
Romans chapter 10 says this. That if you believe in your
36:52
heart and confess in your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord, guess
36:54
what? You will be saved.
36:58
And not even one promise, including Romans 10, will fail.
37:03
God is a promise. Keeping God there is no strategy
37:07
that will save you, no brilliance that can get you
37:10
through. Only Jesus Christ, the friend of
37:13
sinners who loves you and died for you.
37:16
Such you would have life and life eternal is the only way in
37:21
in love. He has comes that you would not
37:23
be defeated or destroyed. He has comes that you might be
37:27
saved, you may have walls that you put up, but listen to me, He
37:31
is the God who collapses walls with a word, with a shout of
37:35
regular people. And you need to not live shut up
37:39
or shut in and shutting God out of your life.
37:41
You need not spend your days and doubt over his commands for you.
37:48
You don't need to live in that anymore because he's a God who
37:52
is a deliverer, A rescuer who's come to save you and all who
37:58
would say yes to Him because he lived the righteous life you
38:01
need. And on that bloody cross, he
38:04
atoned for your sin and he left behind an empty tomb so you
38:08
would have victory over death forever.
38:10
And right now he sits on a throne ruling and reigning over
38:12
sin, Satan and death forever. Listen to me.
38:14
Do you hear the words, the good news of Jesus?
38:17
You don't have to be devoted to destruction, but rather you
38:20
could be devoted to life and life forevermore because of
38:23
Jesus. Jesus has torn down the goal
38:25
posts for you and he said, hey, come join the parade.
38:29
Hey, come be a part of what I'm doing.
38:31
Come help me build the Kingdom here on earth as it is in
38:34
heaven. Would you join me?
38:35
That's His invitation to you so you might be saved from sin.
38:42
Jesus trampled Satan, sin and death forever, and Joshua 6
38:47
screams fully for you and I. It is by faith alone in God
38:54
alone that saves us from our sin.
38:58
Would you turn to Him in faith and would you join me as we be a
39:03
church for our city? Listen to me.
39:08
There are people right now, same city church members.
39:12
I'm talking to you right now. There are people right now in
39:15
our city who are not yet under the persuasion that Jesus Christ
39:21
is Lord, that are headed to an eternity apart from it unless we
39:25
do something, unless God uses us, unless we beg God to use us
39:30
as a people and His sovereignty. Lord, would you use St.
39:32
City to make a dent in the darkness of Tempe, to shine your
39:36
light big and bright? Would we be a church for the
39:39
city? Because I wonder what it would
39:40
be like if by faith we would go to parks and pray that God would
39:43
bring people there that would sit beside us as we're hanging
39:46
out with our kids and we get to meet them and invite them to
39:48
church. That by faith we would go to
39:50
Scottsdale Run Club and meet people who do not know Jesus,
39:53
who are living for the beauty of this world and say, hey, guess
39:55
what, come here, I have a better thing to live for than this.
39:58
Hey, by faith could we go and fast and pray that God would
40:02
save many this Easter season? By Faith St.
40:05
City, would we be a people marked by the courage?
40:08
Cry out to God to say, hey, you capture this city and use us to
40:12
do so. We would be a church for the
40:15
city together. I just think if we do that and
40:19
we pray for more Rahabs in our city, God will blow our minds
40:23
with what he's capable of. This is the God who made walls
40:27
fall, who made a river parts. And I believe that that same God
40:31
is still working and moving through people like you and I
40:34
today. You don't need to be afraid of
40:36
your roommate college student. You don't need afraid of your Co
40:39
worker. You don't need to be afraid of
40:41
the person at the park and be caught up in what they're going
40:43
to think of you. Listen to me.
40:44
God is still speaking and moving.
40:46
And by faith, as we March toward him, I believe that we can
40:51
capture this city for the glory of God.
40:55
We'll see new and maturing disciples who worship, walk, and
40:58
work witness for Jesus Christ because human strategy and human
41:03
devices are not leading this church.
41:05
That is not how we're going to capture this city.
41:09
That's how we're going to breakthrough it.
41:12
But let us have faith together that God has already won the
41:15
fight. There's no small commands.
41:18
We're going to obey Him at every turn, no matter how strange it
41:21
might seem. And we know and believe He's
41:24
going to keep His promises. And I believe if we do that, we
41:27
will see a city captured by faith, and we'll tear down the
41:30
goal posts together. Would you pray with me, Lord?
41:33
Thank you, thank you for the opportunity to March in faith
41:37
once again this week. That we can March in faith that
41:41
God, you are God who keeps his promises, that you are saving,
41:45
you will save, and you do save. Oh Lord, we are so grateful for
41:51
Jesus, the founder and perfector of our faith, the one who
41:56
purchased for us life and life evermore, who rescued us from
42:00
the fires of hell. God, that sounds harsh, it
42:04
sounds graphic, but it is the reality of our future if we do
42:08
not turn from you. And so in love, I, I ask you
42:11
God, I beg you God to open up peoples eyes to see the
42:15
opportunity and the gospel. They could be saved by the love
42:17
of God who hung on a cross and conquered a tomb so they could
42:22
be saved from their sin and have life with God forevermore.
42:25
God, you are going to keep waging war against sin.
42:27
You're going to keep waging war against Satan.
42:29
You're going to keep waging war against death.
42:31
And until that day we wait by faith.
42:33
We walk by faith, not by sight. And we say God to hell with our
42:38
human strategy, but when we March in faith, we March in
42:44
faith that you can do it God. You can breakthrough in a city
42:49
that might feel impossible and impenetrable.
42:51
You can do it, God. So let's lay it aside and let us
42:57
run as hard as we can in marching in faith towards you
43:00
this week in Jesus name, Amen.