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The God Who Fights for You | Joshua 10 · Saint City Chapel

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Turning your Bibles to Joshua chapter 10.
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We're marching through the letter, the letter, the story of
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Joshua this spring season here at Saint City, we've been going
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chapter by chapter, marching through it, getting to know the
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God who saves, who fights, who keeps his promises.
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In fact, that's why we get our sermon series titled Not even 1
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is because at the end of Joshua, it recaps for us the whole point
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of the book that not even one of God's promises has failed.
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It didn't fail then, it won't fail you now.
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And so we're getting to know the promise keeping God.
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If you don't have a Bible, there's one in a seat in front
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of you nearby on the floor. It's on page 185.
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You can find it either there and you could keep that Bible if you
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need, but also you could turn to it on a device if you like.
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I I prefer a hard copy, but to each his own, I guess.
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Let's start here today. We all I've had the experience
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of fighting a battle too big for just us to take on.
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Let me put this in a in a way that you might relate to anybody
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ever been to the Uno table before with the family or
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friends? You are fighting a battle that's
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too big for you and here's how it goes down at the Uno table,
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you're playing Uno. You get to a number of cards
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that people feel threatened by, and what happens next?
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They gang up on you, don't they? You get hit with a draw 2, you
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get hit with a skip, you get hit with a reverse.
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The whole table is suddenly against you.
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And it does. It feels personal, doesn't it?
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Like Uno gets personal, it gets vicious at the Uno table, and
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depending on your house rules, you can get down to that one
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card. You can be so close to victory
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and a draw 2 comes up at you. Just gone Draw 2 and some house
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rules. You can stack those draw twos,
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can you not? And it can get real aggressive
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against you, man. I don't like the feeling of
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people being against me. I don't like the experience of
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feeling outgunned and out manned at the Uno table.
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But the Uno table of life, there's other battles that we
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fight that you can feel that same experience.
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It's just magnified and it's far less, far more, excuse me,
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serious, than a card game with friends and family.
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You can feel the sense of fighting a battle too big for
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you, related to a health diagnosis, related to a
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relational conflict, related to your financial outlook, your
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professional aspirations. You can feel a sense of, wow,
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this battle is way too big for me to take on.
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I'm overwhelmed by the reality of what I have to carry as a
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husband or father or as a parent.
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I'm overwhelmed by what I have at work or a diagnosis.
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You can have an acute sense of this thought that this battle is
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too big for me. And so the natural response, the
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fleshly response can be like, I've got this.
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I just got to, you know, push through this.
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I, what doesn't kill me is just going to make me stronger, and
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you're just going to get there in your head real fast.
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And I can relate. In fact, I get there too, in my
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mind and in my head and in my thoughts where I feel
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overwhelmed by the battles that I'm fighting in life by show of
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hands. Who here has experienced what
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I'm talking about this morning, the experience of taking on a
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battle that feels too big for just you?
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Anybody relate to that? Keep your hands up high.
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Look around you. Look around you right now, St.
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City. This is an experience we all
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grapple with. You've either had it or you're
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having it. It is a moment where you feel
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like the battle is too big and the whole world stands against
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you. The temptation is this thought
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to think like, now I am the victim.
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And we'll say things to ourselves like this, and I'll
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say things like, to myself, just like this.
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Maybe you can relate. Like, why do I keep doing the
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thing I don't want to do? Why does everything in my life
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feel like it's falling apart? Why does my mind keep telling me
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things that are not true? We will only ever see ourselves
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like a victim if we only ever see just ourselves in the fight.
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But what if? What if Joshua tennis true?
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And what if you're not alone in the fight?
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What if you're not alone in the struggle?
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What if God was trying to declare to you and remind you of
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today that you might feel overwhelmed, overrun, outgunned,
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but you are not a victim. In fact, the enemy would want
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you to believe the lie that you are a victim.
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Because God wants you to realize today that you in him you are
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not a victim, but a victor. You are not the conquered.
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You are a conqueror. That when God fights for you,
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he's a warrior who does not lose.
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In fact, jot down this big idea. God is a warrior who fights on
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behalf of his people that the meaning of Joshua chapter 10 why
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it's preserved for us for thousands of years so that the
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Saints of 2026 can look back on a text that's thousands of years
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old. What can what principle can we
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grab? What truth of God can we
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understand and could be meaningful for our life.
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Here's what God wants to tell you about himself today is that
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he is a mighty warrior who fights on behalf of his people.
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People. Let's go to the text so you can
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understand it and see it for yourself.
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Joshua chapter 10 verse one, if you're there, say I'm there.
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That's right, you are. As soon as Adonis Zedek, king of
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Jerusalem, heard how Joshua had captured AI and had devoted it
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to destruction, doing to AI and its king as he'd done to Jericho
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and its king, and how the inhabitants of giving and
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giving, excuse me, had made peace with Israel and were among
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them. This king, AZ, let's call him,
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he feared greatly because Gibeon was a great city, like one of
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the royal cities, and because it was greater than I and all its
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men were warriors. Let's stop right there and catch
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you up. If you haven't been with us
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marching through Joshua. Here's what's happened in the
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book of Joshua. Josh has been appointed the
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successor to Moses. They have crossed over the
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Jordan River and taken Jericho, not by force but by walking
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around the walls. And God miraculously saves the
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Israelites and gives them the city of Jericho so the walls
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couldn't stop them. Then they get to another nation
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called AI later in the book and God tells us that the way they
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beat them though AI has a bunch of weapons and military
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experience that God is bigger than their weapons.
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And now we have 5 different neighboring nations who are
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hearing about this God who does not lose, who fights on behalf
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of Israel. And they are shaking in their
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boots. They are real worried because
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guess what, they took down AI, they took down Jericho and now
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Gibeon, the strongest of the nations has joined forces with
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Israel and they're like, oh shoot, we don't stand a chance
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by ourselves. What do we need to do?
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Verse 3, AZ, king of Jerusalem sent to Ho Ham, king of Hebron
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to Pyram, king of Jarmouth to Jaffe, a king of Lakish, and
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Debbier, king of Eglon, saying hey, come up to me and help me
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and let us go. After that nation who joined
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Israel, Gibeon, for that nation has made peace with Joshua and
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with the people of Israel. Then the five kings of the
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Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmouth, Lakish, Eglon
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gathered their forces and went up with all their armies in a
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camp against Gibeon and made war against it.
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So Gibeon is now running solo squads versus all these other
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nations. It's 1V5 and Gibeon's like, hey,
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Israel, we're threatened. We're not Jack Reacher.
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We don't get to take out five people.
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We don't feel like that sense of strength.
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We need your help, Israel. So the men of Gideon, verse 6,
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what do they do? They sent to Joshua at the camp
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in Gilgal saying, hey, do not relax your hand from us.
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Your servants come up to us quickly and save us and help us
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for all the kings of the Amorites who dwell in the Hill
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Country. They're gathering against us.
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They're making war against us. So Joshua went up from Gilgal,
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he and all the people of war with him, all the soldiers, all
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the mighty men of valor, and Joshua and the Lord said to
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Joshua, do not fear them, for I have given them into your hands.
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Underline that expression right there, for I have given them
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into your hands, says the Lord. He's saying, hey, this battle,
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it's over with before it even starts.
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I have given them into your hands.
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Don't be afraid not of man of them shall stand before you.
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So Joshua verse 9 came upon them suddenly, having marched up all
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night from Gilgal. He's marching through the night
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to this city. He doesn't give up.
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And the Lord threw them into a panic before Israel, who struck
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them with a great blow at Gibeon, and chased them by the
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way of the ascent of Beth Horon, and struck them as far as Akka
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and Makada. In verse 11.
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They fled before Israel. While they were going down the
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ascent of Beth Horon, the Lord threw down large stones from
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heaven on them as far as Azaca, and they died.
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There were more who died because of the hailstones than the sons
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of Israel killed with the sword. I wonder who wants the credit
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for this battle with that sentence, verse 12.
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At that time Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day when the Lord
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gave the Amorites over to the sons of Israel.
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And he said in the sight of Israel, before everyone hears
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his prayer, sun stand still at Gibeon, and moon in the valley
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of Ihalan. And the sun stood still, and the
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moon stopped, until the nation took vengeance on their enemies.
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Is this not written in the book of Joshar, which is a Hebrew
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book that isn't Canon? Like it's not scripture, but
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they knew about it. The sun stopped in the midst of
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heaven and did not hurry to set up for about an entire whole
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day. There has been no day like it
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before or since when the Lord heeded the voice of a man, for
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the Lord fought for Israel. So Joshua returned, and all
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Israel with him to the camp at Gilgal.
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Let's stop there for a moment. How do we sense God's victory?
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How do we sense His triumphant character when we feel our
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defeat ability? Well, listen to this.
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When God fights for you first, the impossible becomes
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inevitable. How do we sense God's victorious
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character more and more in our life and our defeatability, our
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overwhelmness less and less? Well, first we have to believe.
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We have to know that when God fights for us, when He fights
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for you, the impossible becomes inevitable.
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It's a guarantee. It's as good as done.
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There's three impossible things in those first 15 verses that
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happened that just are kind of mind boggling.
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Look back at verse 11. The Lord threw down large stones
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from heaven on them as far as Azaca, and they died.
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Now, I don't know exactly all the sins of these five nations.
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I know that they've had 400 years where they've heard of God
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at work, where they've been asked by God to repent of their
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sin, where they could have by His grace and mercy turned from
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their sin and toward God. But God in his judgment to them,
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guess what he's saying, Hey, your wickedness is so great.
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Here's how we're going to win this battle with hailstones from
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heaven that are big enough to kill.
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That feels pretty impossible. I haven't been on this earth for
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too long, but I haven't seen rocks fall from heaven in such a
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way that they, like a Pokémon attack, take out people.
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That's not something I've seen very often.
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It's pretty impossible. And God in his fighting for
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Israel, guess what, the impossible has become
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inevitable. He said, hey, guess what, You
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don't need to be afraid. They're in your hand.
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Do not worry, Joshua, do not worry people of Israel, I've got
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this, I've got you. I will fight for you as a mighty
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warrior. And my plan of attack is
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hailstones. And God we know, wants the
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credit for it because the second part of the verse, the there
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were more who died because of the hailstones than the sons of
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Israel killed with the sword. God wants the people of Israel
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to be real clear on who the victory belongs to.
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It's Him. Not only do we have hailstones,
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though, we have a cosmic weather event that's never happened ever
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again. The sun stood still.
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What's the Bible saying with that?
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It means there was something proportionate to the creation
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account. In Genesis chapter 1.
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God made the sun stop in the sky, stop orbiting earth around
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the sun. How he can do that?
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How can he create the universe with just his breath?
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He's God. Does this make scientific sense?
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Absolutely not. It's impossible.
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But remember, when you're going to follow Jesus, when you're
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going to believe in this God, the impossible has to be
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possible. Jesus Christ rose from the dead.
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That's an impossibility. It defies logic and science.
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There has to be a position and a place in your heart and room for
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you to go. Hey, God, you're big enough,
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strong enough, powerful enough that you can do things that
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boggle the brain, that you can speak and galaxies are formed,
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that you can whisper and hurricane can stop, that God can
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hear a prayer of a man named Joshua, and the sun can stop or
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stop moving in the sky. This is just par for the Bible
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course of how big God is. This is certainly miraculous,
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certainly an impossibility, but if he can create the world with
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his words and he can create the sun with just his very breath,
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he certainly can tell it to hold off a second.
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And time stood still because of the prayer of Joshua, the leader
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of Israel. The impossible becomes
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inevitable when God is fighting for you.
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Now, I don't want you to hear that the impossible thing that
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you're thinking for God to do in your life, that it's inevitable
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that He will do that exact thing.
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The temptation is that God would actually serve us and whatever
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impossible thing we want, He has to do because we've asked Him
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for it. That's not actually true.
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What's inevitable about God is that He is going to do
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impossible things around you and in you and through you, but it
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might not be the impossible thing you asked for.
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It's going to give. He's going to give the thing
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that gives him the most glory. He's concerned about making His
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name famous, not yours. He's concerned with making more
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lives. Change the world, change not
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just your world. And so he's going to answer
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impossible prayers in your life, and he might do the very thing
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you've asked. But what's inevitable is that
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God is going to do things that bring His name glory.
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When God fights for you, the impossible becomes inevitable.
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Is saying that, hey, just because you asked for it doesn't
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mean that's what you'll get. But guess what?
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God will do something that blows your mind.
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He is still in the business of doing the impossible.
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He still can. He still does, and I believe he
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will. Hudson Taylor, the great
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missionary to the nation of China, said it this way that
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every great work of God has three stages.
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First it's impossible, then it's difficult, and then it's done.
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If you want to see God at work greatly in your life, it's going
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to start with an impossibility, then it will be difficult.
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You will have to persevere, you will have to endure, and before
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you know it, guess what? It will be done.
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It'll be finished. God has already done the most
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difficult thing, the most impossible thing in human
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history. He has paid for the sins of the
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world, and he has risen again three days later so that we and
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all who call upon his name could be saved from sin.
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That is the greatest impossibility on planet earth,
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and he's already taken care of that.
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The thing you're asking God for, the impossible thing you're
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asking it is a small thing in the hands of a God that big.
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If the God who Joshua prayed to can make the sun stand still, He
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certainly can save the friend that you are praying for.
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He certainly is over the health condition that has chronically
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plagued you for years. That relational beef that keeps
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lingering in your life? God is big enough to overcome
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it. When God fights for you, the
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impossible becomes inevitable. I believe He still does
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impossible things. Friendships that felt dead?
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Guess what He can bring to life conditions that were diagnosed
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and stated by doctors as as good as being done and over with.
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Pack your bags to the next side of life.
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Guess what? It's not done until God says
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it's done. And a few weeks ago we prayed as
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a church family for impossible prayers to happen.
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I just want to read a few of them for you.
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That God, God would provide somebody in their life to be
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married. They feel it's impossible for
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them to find a spouse for salvation for their family.
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For this person felt it's impossible to have the fruit of
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joy in the thick of motherhood and the busyness of life.
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Someone asked for God to save their brother.
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Someone asked for their grandpa to be healed from leukemia.
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Someone asked for deliverance from anxiety.
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Someone asked for their roommate to know Jesus, for their
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coworkers to know Jesus for the salvation of their four
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siblings, for their brother to know Jesus, that God would take
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away their pride and that they would humble themselves and all
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they do. Somebody asked for freedom from
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lust. This is what we mean when we say
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impossible. At Saint City, there are things
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that were like, man, God, I don't know what how we're going
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to get past this, how I'm going to get through this.
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Listen to me, if God can call the Son to stand still, he can
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answer those impossible prayers. Do not give up and praying them
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just cuz he hasn't answered them yet.
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Do not lose hope, do not lose heart.
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Keep praying them. St.
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City, do not give up. Our prayer team is still praying
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for these very things. So please, if God is answering,
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please let us know. We'd love to know by the way,
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that God's answering them. Let us know at the tent.
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Let us know the services, but in the meantime, keep persevering
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in prayer. We are persistent in prayer at
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Saint City. We continue steadfastly in
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prayer. We do not lose heart because we
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still believe in the God who can make the sun stand still.
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And if he can do that, he can hear your impossible prayers and
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he can't answer them. He is able, He is capable.
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He is the God who fights for us on behalf of His people.
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Amen. Amen.
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But not only that, how else do we sense God's victory more and
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our defeat ability less? When God fights for you #2 the
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enemy is placed under your feet. Not only is the impossible
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inevitable, but when God fights for you, the enemy is placed
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under your feet. Psalm 110 verse one says the
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Lord says sit at my at my right hand until I make your enemies
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your footstool like an Ottoman, like kicking your feet up in
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triumph. And these people, the
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Israelites, they've experienced God's victory and where their
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feet go already. First it was the Jordan River.
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In chapters 3 and 4, they walked where no foot had gone before,
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at the bottom of the Jordan River because he parted it so
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they could cross it. But not only that, they walk
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around Jericho and guess what? The walls fall down.
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And yet still they lack some confidence.
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Look at verse 16. These 5 kings, they're fleeing.
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The sun has stood still, things are going crazy.
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Joshua and the people of Israel are dominating these five
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nations. And the five kings were found
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hidden in The Cave at Makata. And Joshua said, hey, roll large
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stones against the mouth of The Cave and set men by it to guard
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them. But don't stay there yourselves.
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Pursue your enemies and attack their rearguard.
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Do not let them enter their cities, for the Lord your God
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has given them into your hand. When Joshua and the sons of
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Israel had finished striking them with a great blow until
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they were wiped out, and when the remnant that remained of
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them had entered into the fortified cities, then all the
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people returned safe to Joshua in the camp, and not a man moved
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his tongue against any of the people of Israel.
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Then Joshua being the leader that he is, here's what he says
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next. He says, Hey, open the mouth of
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The Cave and bring those 5 kings out to me from The Cave.
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And they did so. They brought out those 5 kings
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out to him from The Cave, and the king of Jerusalem, of
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Hebron, Jarmouth, Lakish and Eggnon.
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And when they brought those kings out to Joshua, he summoned
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all the men of Israel and said to the chiefs of the men of
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Ward, gone with him, Come near and put your feet on the necks
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of these kings. This is such a baller move by
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Joshua. I mean, this is for sure like
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going to make the movie if Joshua ever becomes a movie.
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Like, there's this moment where all the commanders are coming by
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and they're putting their feet on the literal throats of their
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enemy. It's dramatic, it's epic.
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It is battle imagery on purpose. The enemy that they feared, the
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enemy that they fought, guess what?
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It is now under their foot, the enemy they thought they couldn't
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beat, the enemy that they were afraid of had been beaten.
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And we know they were afraid because look what Joshua said in
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verse 25. He says next, do not be afraid
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or dismayed. Be strong and courageous.
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It's one of my favorite things about Joshua as a leader, by the
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way, one of the every time he opens up his mouth, he's just
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repeating what God has said. Hey, God has given them into
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your hand. Hey, be strong and courageous.
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That's something God had told him and now he's telling others
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to do the same. Be strong and courageous.
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He's repeating God's words to them to put courage into them,
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to keep fighting the fight, to keep taking ground for the
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Kingdom. Joshua's doing this as a leader.
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And he says, hey, though, for thus the Lord God will do to all
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your enemies against whom you fight.
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I mean, this is a visceral moment.
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He's making sure they not only conceptually agree that God can
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fight the battles, He wants them to have a deep, impersonal sense
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that they're over their enemies, that their enemies are beneath
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their feet. This is as humiliating and as
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defeating of a posture as there is in the ancient Near East.
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This was a sign for everyone. We beat you, we're over you.
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You have no power here. And they needed a confidence
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boost, apparently, despite all that God had done.
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They walked through the Jordan River, they walked around
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Jericho, they saw AI beaten, and even still, they needed
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encouragement. They needed a confidence
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booster. I just find that encouraging,
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that I need that too, that I've seen God move in mighty ways, in
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big ways here in my life, and yet I still need a confidence
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booster. I still need God to remind me of
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the things he can do and will do.
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I need him to point me to, hey, guess what, you're still over
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that. Hey, guess what, you have beaten
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that. Hey, you are victorious because
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I am a warrior who has fought that battle for you.
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I need a confidence booster sometimes.
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Now my daughter Blair, she's almost 8 now and she has fallen
25:24
in love with the sport of gymnastics.
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And one thing I love about their training process in gymnastics,
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as a non gymnast myself, I don't know why you guys think that's
25:33
funny looking at me. But in gymnastics, they don't
25:38
just start them up on the beam or on 2 bars and launch
25:41
themselves to the other bar or doing all kinds of, I don't even
25:44
know the names of this by the way, all kinds of cartwheels and
25:47
flips on the beam. That's not where you start to
25:50
get confidence because you won't have confidence if you don't
25:53
know where your feet are supposed to go on the beam.
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If you don't know where your feet are supposed to go on the
25:58
spring to do the vault. If you don't know where your
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feet are supposed to go on the floor to do that flip, to do
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that move, that. Sometimes the best thing to do
26:07
is bring you back to the basics of where you need to put your
26:10
feet, the fundamental and they're building my daughter's
26:14
confidence in what she can do by reminding her of the very simple
26:18
thing of here's where you put your feet, here's where you put
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your hands, here's how you do it.
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That they're boosting your confidence little by little by
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saying you don't need to be afraid.
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You don't need to be scared of this because you know what
26:30
you're doing based off the thing you've already done.
26:35
In our fight against our enemies, we need confidence
26:39
boosters too. We need to track our winds.
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We need to see the small victories that will produce
26:45
larger victories in our faith against our enemies.
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Romans chapter 16, verse 20. If you like studying the Bible,
26:51
just read this verse later, but here's what it says.
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It says the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your
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feet. The God of peace, the one who is
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going to make all the wars and all the fighting stop.
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Here's what he's going to do. He will soon crush Satan under
27:12
your feet. I find that interesting that
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it's not under his foot. But we get the opportunity to
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stomp on our enemy. We get the opportunity to stand
27:26
over our enemy. And I just wonder today, what
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enemy do you need not fear because you stand over it?
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What enemy do you need not be afraid of because you stand over
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it? Maybe it's a sin struggle.
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Maybe you feel like it has more power over you.
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Maybe it's your gossip being heart.
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Maybe it's a chronic discontentment.
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Maybe it's a critical spirit or unforgiveness.
28:06
Maybe it's a battle with lust. Maybe, just maybe, you're still
28:10
getting beaten by it because you're not remembering the
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victory you already have. It is crushed under the foot of
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our Savior. And because that's true of Him,
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it is true of us that we can step on the throat of our sin.
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It's not stepping on ours. We stand on it.
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Maybe it's the enemy of Satan that you feel the sense of
28:44
spiritual attack and persecution rising up in your life.
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You feel the division in your heart, and you just feel
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overwhelmed and overrun by all that he's doing against you.
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Listen to me. That's a defeated enemy.
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That's a beaten enemy. You can Captain Morgan, that
28:58
guy. OK, Put your foot up on his
29:01
throat and let him know. Guess what?
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You're over Him. You have the authority over sin
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and Satan because Jesus purchased it for you.
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You need not fear Him. We are storming the gates of
29:16
hell. We are not keeping back the
29:18
gates of heaven. We are unleashing the light in
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The Dark World. That's what we're called to be
29:23
as Christian. Winning the campus, winning the
29:25
world and the gates of hell will not prevail against God's
29:29
church. We don't need to be afraid.
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Do not cower, do not be fearful, but know that that enemy you
29:37
stand over as well. And finally, death itself, you
29:43
need not be afraid of it. That's one of the most crazy
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things about Christians. We don't have to be afraid of
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death. There's every reason to be
29:51
afraid of death in this world if you don't have Jesus.
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But if you do, you don't need to be afraid of it, because to live
29:58
is Christ and to die is gain. That Jesus Christ conquered
30:06
death itself, so we don't need to be afraid of it.
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We stand over to the throat of death.
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Our enemy of death has been placed under our feet because of
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what Jesus Christ did. When I fight, when God fights
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for me, the enemy is placed under our feet.
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Finally, when God fights for you, the judgement falls, but
30:34
not on you. When God fights for you, the
30:38
judgement is going to come and it's the conviction sentence is
30:42
going to land, but not on God's side.
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Those who fight with God, those who God fights for, guess what?
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The judgement isn't against you. He doesn't oppose you, He is
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with you. The rest of the text I'm just
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going to kind of fly over it because it's kind of saying the
31:01
same thing again and again is that then Joshua and all of
31:04
Israel with him passed on verse 29 from Akada to Libna, and
31:08
fought against Libna. And the Lord gave it also, and
31:12
its king into the hand of Israel, and he struck it with
31:14
the edge of the sword and every person, and he left none
31:17
remaining, And he did to its king as he had done to the king
31:20
of Jericho. Then Joshua's going to go
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through all five nations, and he's going to do what God told
31:26
him to do. He is going to devote them and
31:29
their inhabitants and their things to destruction.
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Verse 40. So Joshua struck the whole land,
31:34
the Hill Country, and then again in the lowland, in the slopes,
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and all their kings. He left none remaining but
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devoted to destruction. All that breathe just as the
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Lord God of Israel had commanded him.
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Joshua struck them from as far as the Ganesh Maria, as far as
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Gaza and all the country of Goshen, as far as Gibeon and
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Joshua captured all these kings and their land at one time.
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There it is again because the Lord God of Israel fought for
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Israel God's people. Then Joshua returned in all
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Israel with him to the camp at Gilgal.
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Listen to me. God is executing A righteous and
32:17
perfect and good judgement here. He's like a judge when he's
32:21
reading the letter of the law. And it's like, hey, you speed,
32:23
you get a ticket. You were going 30 miles over
32:25
this payment. Here is a ticket that is just,
32:27
that is good. That is the letter of the law.
32:29
That is justice. What is hard to grapple with as
32:35
human beings is that the wages of sin is death, that that is
32:38
the right sentence. That is justice for sinning
32:41
against God, rebelling against him, having pride against him,
32:43
standing against him. These people have turned from
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him and they have acknowledged that they don't want to live
32:50
with God. They don't want to be on his
32:52
side. They want to fight against him
32:53
and his people. And so they try and they fail.
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And so God executes his judgment through Joshua and the people of
33:04
Israel, a just judgement, a swift judgement, A righteous
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judgement. And Joshua does what he's
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supposed to do. He devotes things to
33:15
destruction. Now that phrase devoted to
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destruction happens five times here in this little section,
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verse 28, we see at first that Joshua captured on that day,
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struck it, and it's king with the edge of the sword, and he
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devoted to destruction every person in it.
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That's in verse 28. Verse 29 and 30 is the same
33:32
idea. He left none remaining in it.
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Do you see it in verse 32? He left none remaining in it.
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Again, every person in it was captured and struck.
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Verse 35, it explicitly says it was devoted to destruction.
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Verse 37, for the people of Hebron, that they were devoted
33:52
to destruction and every person in it.
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Verse 39, it said again, he was devoted to destruction.
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This is like that moment in Toy Story 2 that's happened here in
34:03
the Bible, Toy Story 2. Here's what happens.
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The whole plot centers around a yard sale where the toys don't
34:09
want to be devoted to destruction.
34:10
They don't want to have to be given away.
34:12
And there's this famous toy in Toy Story 2 named Weezy, this
34:16
raspy Penguin who's lost his voice and quite frankly is a
34:19
garbage toy at that moment. And the mom acknowledges it, but
34:23
that's their friend. That's their buddy that's
34:25
Wheezy. We got to save him.
34:27
So he gets put out of the yard sale.
34:28
He gets devoted to destruction. And what happens is is a bunch
34:32
of toys go and try to save him. Woody goes out there, he tries
34:34
to save and he gets devoted to destruction.
34:37
And Al from AL's Toy Barn takes him and the story goes away.
34:40
But the point of a toys perspective in that is, hey, a
34:43
yard sale is code for trash, garbage, devoted to destruction.
34:51
It is a grave reality of the world that to reject God in this
34:59
life is to reject his salvation and therefore say yes to the
35:07
yard sale for your soul to be devoted to destruction.
35:12
This passage, this remaining little chunk talking about the
35:15
conquest of Southern Canaan, it's a warning and a wonder.
35:20
It's meant to tell you, hey, a yard sale is coming.
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It is going to happen sooner than you think.
35:26
And you need to realize that there is going to come a day
35:29
where destruction is going to be upon all who have rejected God.
35:34
In fact, you know who God opposes in this world?
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The proud says the Bible. Do you want to have God fight
35:43
against you? Do you want to have the God of
35:46
the universe stand against you? Then be proud.
35:51
Say to yourself, I don't need God.
35:54
I've got this. I am right because there's a way
36:00
that seems right to man, but in the end it leads to death.
36:05
Every religion in the world is why God stands against it right
36:09
there, because it's rooted in the pride of thinking we can
36:12
save ourselves from our sin. We can save ourselves from Satan
36:16
and death, that we can be a better person.
36:21
We can follow these truths. We can acknowledge like, hey, if
36:25
we just do more good things and our good outweighs our bad, if
36:29
we go to church just enough, if we pray just enough, guess what?
36:32
At the end of the day, God's going to look at our Ledger and
36:34
he's going to say, hey, you did more good than bad, guys.
36:37
That is a faulty understanding of what's happening in
36:39
Scripture. You can't do enough good.
36:46
You can't obey enough commands to be saved.
36:51
You need a savior. And I have great news for you
36:54
today. I have good news.
36:56
Is that Jesus Christ? Here's the wonder of it.
37:00
Jesus Christ was devoted to destruction, so you wouldn't
37:03
have to be. How can God be good in Joshua
37:06
10? Here's how.
37:08
Listen, look closely at the Bible here Jesus Christ was
37:12
saying, hey, guess what? I will be devoted to
37:14
destruction. I will take on sin.
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I will take on the penalty of it.
37:18
I will take on death so every person doesn't have to.
37:21
I will go to the cross and I will be holy.
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I will be perfect. I will live the life they should
37:26
have lived so they can be forgiven of their sins.
37:29
Don't you see? The wonder that happens is that
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we have a better Joshua once again we have Jesus Christ who
37:35
has saved us from sin, who can deliver us from the judgement of
37:39
God. That is coming and it will come
37:41
one day or someday for you. But listen closely.
37:44
You need not have it fall on you.
37:47
It can fall upon Jesus that he can be crushed for your
37:51
iniquities. He can be punished so you would
37:53
have peace. He can bear your sin.
37:56
If you would turn to him and turn away from your pride, you
37:59
would humble yourself and say, God, I need you to deliver me
38:03
Hosanna, save me, save me, rescue me.
38:11
Rahab did it in Joshua too. She realized she needed
38:14
salvation and these people could have done the same.
38:19
But in their pride they turned away from God and they said I
38:22
don't need you to save me, I can try to save myself.
38:24
And they found out that is a fool's errand.
38:29
And my plea with you this morning is that you would look
38:32
to Jesus to be the one to save you from God's judgement such
38:37
you would be spared of the destruction that comes in the
38:39
life to follow the the judgement that is just that is good.
38:43
God is saying for you today. Jesus is announcing for you,
38:45
Hey, let me fight this battle for you.
38:48
Let me fight it for you. Let me beat sin.
38:50
Let me beat Satan. Let me beat death forever.
38:55
Such you can be saved. You know, there's a way to read
38:58
your Bible that I think goes back to our, our intro today
39:04
that often we'll read the Bible. We put ourselves in the we have
39:07
a tendency to like see ourselves as the hero in the story.
39:09
You know, you can relate to, you know, Luke Skywalker.
39:11
Nobody ever goes, you know, I'm Darth Vader in the story, right?
39:14
And when we read the Bible, we can do the same.
39:16
We can go, hey, I'm I'm Israel, I'm David.
39:19
I'm blank fill in the hero of the story, in this case, Joshua
39:23
and the people of Israel. And what happens is if you see
39:28
yourself as the hero, whenever something bad happens to you,
39:31
you can begin to once again see yourself like the victim because
39:35
every hardship that comes your way, every difficulty that comes
39:38
your way, it's in the hero's journey now so that you can be
39:40
the person that that you want to be.
39:44
The Bible is very clear. You are not the victim in the
39:49
story. You sinned against God.
39:55
You are more like the villain in the story.
40:00
You're the one who needed saving.
40:02
And the good news of the gospel is this, that you don't have to
40:05
be the victim and you don't need to stay the villain.
40:09
You can be the victor because the hero of the book is Jesus,
40:13
and he died so that you would be spared the judgment of God.
40:18
That's the wonder of the Bible, that we who have all the sin in
40:24
the world and Jesus who had none of it, that God could treat us
40:27
as Jesus deserves to be treated because he was treated as we
40:31
deserve to be treated. And that is the entry point.
40:35
It's faith in Jesus so that God would begin to fight for you so
40:39
that you can enlist yourself in the army of heaven.
40:42
That's the way it's saying, God, I need you to fight for me.
40:45
I can't overcome this circumstance.
40:47
I can't beat this anymore. I can't be saved and rescued
40:52
from the things that are in my life that enslave the sin, the
40:55
world, all of it, every enemy. I can't beat them, but you can.
41:04
I have good news. God is a warrior who fights for
41:08
his people. And you're going to see it time
41:12
after time, after time again, and you'll realize that in
41:16
Christ you are not a victim, you're not a villain, You're a
41:19
victor because of what God did for you.
41:21
Would you pray with me? Lord?
41:24
Thank you so much. Thank you so much for the
41:28
reality that you have beaten sin, Satan, and death through
41:32
your Son. That judgement doesn't need to
41:34
fall on us, but you can fight for us.
41:37
That Jesus Christ was the warrior who took on the battle
41:40
that was way too big for us, who fought enemies that we couldn't
41:50
beat. And that life, Lord, can feel a
41:56
lot of times like it is stacking against us, that people are
42:01
rallying around US, against us, that the circumstances are being
42:04
too difficult. But God, there is good news.
42:08
We are not alone in the fight. We are not alone in the battle.
42:14
But we have a God who fights for us, who is with us in the
42:17
presence of evil. And so God, I pray for every
42:20
heart here today who is painfully aware of the reality.
42:24
They need you. They're actually discouraged
42:26
right now because God, they're like, God, it was another
42:29
weekend. It was really hard.
42:30
It was really difficult. The trial was really felt.
42:35
The attack was really great. And I pray God that right now,
42:40
in this moment, your spirit would rush into the room and
42:43
they would have a sense that you would even whisper to them, God,
42:46
I'm with you. My presence is with you.
42:49
I'm fighting for you. I have not abandoned you.
42:54
I have not forsaken you. That we would humble ourselves
42:58
and turn to you for the fight and we would say God fight for
43:03
me. In fact, if you need to, if you
43:07
need that today, would you just say it out loud?
43:10
God fight for me, God fight for me.
43:15
God fight for me, fight for me, because when the Lord fights for
43:21
you, the impossible is inevitable.