Latest / Crosswalk / The Danger of Not Asking God — Joshua 9:1–18

Transcript

The Danger of Not Asking God — Joshua 9:1–18 · Crosswalk

0:00
Jesus tells us to take up our cross and follow
0:03
him. You're listening to Crosswalk with Pastor
0:05
Steve Winnery. Crosswalk is the radio ministry
0:08
of Calvary Chapel Tri -Cities and it is our aim
0:10
to lead you to the cross through the teaching
0:12
of God's Word. Joshua chapter 9 is where we're
0:50
at. Joshua chapter 9, this is a good chapter
0:52
too. Let's go through and we'll pray before we
0:55
get started and then jump into it. Father, we
0:57
thank you again for men like Joshua. God, thank
1:00
you for guys who will serve you, guys who will
1:03
follow you, and guys who will walk in obedience,
1:07
and Lord guys who aren't perfect. Lord, there's
1:10
a number of places in the book of Joshua where
1:13
there's a failure and they're good illustrations,
1:17
Lord, to show us just to help us to learn from
1:20
the mistakes. that guys make instead of making
1:23
these mistakes on our own. And this is one of
1:25
those chapters. So Lord, we pray that as we're
1:27
going through it that you'd be speaking to our
1:29
hearts, giving us wisdom, Lord, that we could
1:31
learn from somebody else's mistakes instead of
1:34
constantly learning from our own, and that we'd
1:36
walk in wisdom because of it. And so we just
1:38
give you this time. Pray that you bless it and
1:40
that you do this all in Jesus' name. Amen. Okay,
1:43
Joshua chapter nine, this is after the battle
1:45
of AI and the whole situation with God turning
1:49
it around for these guys. You remember that when
1:51
they went up against AI, they didn't pray. didn't
1:54
seek the Lord and they just basically went off
1:57
of man's wisdom in the whole battle of Ai. In
2:00
fact, Joshua heeded the counsel of the people
2:03
that, basically his generals, heeded the counsel
2:07
of the elders. They said that the city is very
2:09
small and so we don't need to send up all the
2:11
people. Let's send up two or three thousand.
2:13
He errs towards caution and sends three thousand
2:17
and they get whooped up. In fact, the Bible says
2:20
that 36 men died at the place called beating
2:23
and it's a Hebrew term but it's the idea that
2:27
they got crushed there. When that takes place
2:30
Joshua goes and talks to the Lord and then God
2:33
tells him exactly what had happened. You remember
2:35
that there was sin in the camp and after Joshua
2:38
corrected that whole thing they go back in and
2:39
they easily take out AI with the battle plan
2:43
that God's got for them. God again gives them
2:45
the specific battle plan in that situation and
2:49
so Normally, you would think that Joshua would
2:52
have learned his lesson, and then we get to chapter
2:55
9 and we repeat almost exactly the same thing
2:58
that took place with the battle of Ai. In verse
3:02
1, it says, and it came to pass when all the
3:03
kings who were on the side of the Jordan in the
3:06
hills and in the lowland and in all the coasts
3:09
of the great sea toward Lebanon, the Hittite,
3:11
the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the
3:13
Hivite, and the Jebusite heard about it, talking
3:16
about the conquest of Ai that they gathered together
3:19
to fight with Joshua and Israel with one accord.
3:22
But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what
3:24
Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai, they worked
3:27
craftily, and went and pretended to be ambassadors,
3:30
and they took old sacks on their donkeys, old
3:33
wineskins torn and mended, old and patched sandals
3:37
on their feet, and old garments on themselves,
3:40
and all the bread of their provision was dry
3:43
and moldy. And they went to Joshua, to the camp
3:45
at Gilgal, and said to him and to the men of
3:48
Israel, we've come from a far country, now therefore
3:50
make a covenant with us. Then the men of Israel
3:53
said to the Hivites, perhaps you dwell among
3:56
us, so how can we make a covenant with you? But
3:58
they said to Joshua, we are your servants. And
4:01
Joshua said to them, who are you and where do
4:03
you come from? So they said to him, from a very
4:06
far country your servants have come because of
4:08
the name of the Lord your God. For we've heard
4:10
of his fame and all that he did in Egypt and
4:12
all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites
4:15
who were beyond the Jordan to Sion king of Heshban
4:17
and Og king of Bashan who was at Ashtaroth. Therefore
4:21
our elders and all the inhabitants of our country
4:24
spoke to us saying take provisions with you for
4:26
the journey and go to meet them and say to them
4:28
we are your servants now therefore make a covenant
4:30
with us this bread of ours we took hot for our
4:33
provision from our houses on the day we departed
4:35
to come to you but now look it is dry and moldy
4:39
and these wineskins which we filled were new
4:41
and see they are torn and these are garments
4:44
and our sandals have become old because of the
4:46
very long journey. Then the men of Israel took
4:49
some of their provisions but they did not ask
4:52
counsel of the Lord so Joshua made peace with
4:55
them and made a covenant with them to let them
4:58
live and the rulers of the congregation swore
5:00
to them. And it happened at the end of three
5:02
days after they'd made a covenant with them that
5:05
they heard that they were their neighbors who
5:08
dwelt near them. Then the children of Israel
5:10
journeyed and came to their cities on the third
5:12
day. Now their cities were Gibeon, Kephara, Beiroth,
5:16
and Kirjath -Jeram. But the children of Israel
5:18
did not attack them because the rulers of the
5:21
congregation had swore to them by the Lord God
5:23
of Israel and all the congregation complained
5:26
against the rulers. The passage starts out with
5:31
basically a frontal attack from the rest of the
5:33
Canaanites. They hear about the battle of Jericho.
5:35
They hear about the battle of Ai. And so they
5:38
do what's practical and they decide to band up
5:41
together and specifically come for an assault
5:45
against the people of Israel. And one of the
5:47
things that we need to remember when we're going
5:49
through and living the life that we live when
5:51
you're talking about Joshua in Canaan and the
5:54
children of Israel in Canaan, it is a picture
5:56
of living the Christian life. It's not a picture
5:59
of heaven. When Israel comes out of Egypt, in
6:02
the New Testament lets you know that that's a
6:04
picture of coming out of bondage. So they were
6:06
slaves in Egypt, and when they came out of Egypt,
6:09
which is a type of the world, God freed them.
6:12
And God began leading them. God baptized them,
6:16
the Bible says, in the Red Sea. Then God made
6:19
a covenant with them. And then what was supposed
6:22
to happen was they were supposed to go into the
6:24
land of promise. And a lot of times when people
6:26
look at the land of promise or they look at Canaan,
6:28
they think of Canaan as being like heaven. Well,
6:31
you're not going to be fighting battles in heaven.
6:33
When you get to heaven, you're going to be perfected.
6:35
There's no more battling that's going to be taking
6:37
place. This is a picture of living the victorious
6:39
Christian life. And if you're going to live for
6:42
Christ, then what's going to have to happen is
6:43
you're going to have to have battles. You're
6:45
in the midst of the world, and there's a lot
6:47
of worldlings around you. And they're people
6:49
who don't follow God. They're people who want
6:51
to corrupt you. And I don't think we need to
6:53
be paranoid about them, because they also are
6:55
the objective, at least with us. That's the situation.
6:59
These people are under judgment because of the
7:00
lifestyle that they've been living for over 600
7:03
years. I'm not going to beat that one to death
7:05
again, but they've been blowing it for 600 years,
7:08
had plenty of time to repent, and they will not.
7:11
And so when Israel comes into the land of Canaan,
7:14
it's a picture of victorious Christian living.
7:16
And so one of the things that's going to happen
7:19
to you when you have a victory as far as being
7:24
a Christian, this is what I mean. It's like you
7:26
first start following Christ, you have these
7:28
things in your life that are overwhelming things
7:31
that are like strongholds, is how the New Testament
7:34
pictures them. Strongholds in your life and God
7:37
gives you victory over those things. I had some
7:39
of that stuff. One of them was drinking, another
7:41
one of them was cussing, another one of them
7:43
was just my attitude towards people who were
7:45
around me. Things had to change when I became
7:47
a believer. And one of the things that God will
7:49
do with you is he'll walk you through those things
7:52
and he'll give you victory over those things.
7:55
dependence upon God in all that stuff and a lot
7:58
of times the reason that you're not winning as
8:00
a Christian is because you're not praying and
8:03
that's what happened with Joshua when Joshua
8:06
was seeking the Lord every time he sought the
8:08
Lord he ended up winning and every time that
8:11
he didn't seek the Lord something bad ended up
8:13
happening and God will come in and fix things
8:15
up obviously they won at the battle of AI but
8:17
he had to go through and there's sin in the camp
8:19
and he had to purge out the sin in the camp.
8:22
And it was at that point that he had the power
8:24
of God in his life. Well, it's exactly the same
8:26
thing with us. And so when you do that though,
8:29
one of the things that will happen is obviously
8:31
Satan's gonna come up against that. He's gonna
8:33
try to stop you. And so when you're looking at
8:36
the attacks of the enemy, what Satan would like
8:38
in the first place is for you never to become
8:40
a Christian at all. And so I don't know if you've
8:44
been in situations where you've invited guys
8:46
to church or you're gonna have a conversation
8:49
with them, you know, that kind of thing. There's
8:51
something set up. Usually it's when you're inviting
8:53
somebody to church and they're like, oh yeah,
8:55
yeah, I'll come, I'll be there, I'll be there.
8:57
And you're like, okay, I'll see you at church
8:58
on Sunday. And then something happens to them
9:00
on Saturday night, something awful goes on in
9:02
their family or there's some kind of train wreck
9:05
that happens or they go out partying and they're
9:06
just messed up by the time this Sunday morning
9:08
comes and they don't come, they don't show up.
9:11
And then you do it again. And the same thing
9:13
happens. Well, what's happening there is Satan
9:15
is trying to distract them and keep them from
9:17
being able to hear the things that God wants
9:19
to show them. It's a frontal assault on these
9:22
guys. And you have to understand that. Whenever
9:25
I would invite somebody to church, I'd invite
9:27
them to church and I'd say, don't go partying
9:30
on Saturday night. Because I'm coming and I'm
9:33
going to be there at eight o 'clock on Sunday
9:35
morning. We're going out to breakfast and then
9:38
we're going to go to church. That's what I would
9:39
go pick them up. is what would happen because
9:42
I got tired of them breaking the date. I'm sitting
9:45
there at the front of the church waiting for
9:47
them, you know, and that kind of thing. And so
9:49
I decided just to pick guys up. And so Satan
9:52
doesn't want you to get saved in the first place.
9:54
If he can't keep you from being saved, if he
9:57
fails in keeping you from hearing about the gospel
10:00
and coming to Christ, then what he wants to make
10:02
you is ineffective as a believer. And so he's
10:06
going to try to keep you from saying things to
10:08
other people. He's going to try to keep you from
10:11
living the life that you're supposed to be living
10:13
specifically so that you're too embarrassed to
10:17
talk to people about Jesus. He does this stuff
10:20
all the time and it makes all kinds of sense.
10:23
And so I don't want you to be a Christian in
10:24
the first place and if I lost you to Jesus...
10:26
talking from Satan's perspective, then all I'm
10:29
going to do from this point on is try to cream
10:32
you so you're too embarrassed to talk to anybody
10:35
about the Lord. Or, if you're not embarrassed,
10:38
you're such a loser in the sight of people who
10:41
are unbelievers who think that you're a hypocrite
10:43
and they don't give a rip about what you say.
10:46
In fact, what you say makes them want to walk
10:48
away from Christ because you're such a phony.
10:51
See what I mean? And so we've all been in those
10:53
positions where we've blown it in front of people,
10:55
we feel like total hypocrites, and we just want
10:57
to keep our mouths shut. And that's what Satan's
11:00
trying to do with people. And so a lot of times
11:02
what Satan will do is a frontal attack. If you
11:05
win in an area, you need to understand that when
11:09
you win in an area, Satan's not just going to
11:12
go away. In fact, the Bible says resist the devil
11:15
and he'll flee from you. You know what the word
11:17
resist is in Greek? It's resist and keep on resisting.
11:21
It's not resist him once and he gets scared of
11:23
you and takes off running or something. It's
11:25
resist and keep resisting. It's a present active
11:28
in the passage. And so we're to be continually
11:31
resisting the enemy knowing that there's coming
11:34
a point when he's going to quit, when he's going
11:36
to turn tail, when he's going to run. But I've
11:38
got to keep resisting up to that point. So Satan
11:40
will come and give you frontal assaults and especially
11:43
after you've won a victory. One of the things
11:46
that happens with us after we've won a victory,
11:49
we've seen it with Joshua, he wins at Jericho
11:51
and he's like, easy peasy, man. And so he's got
11:55
this idea that, you know, he can do it on his
11:56
own now. And so he's like, stand back, Lord,
11:59
I can take care of this whole thing. And meanwhile,
12:03
what Satan's been doing is he's been in the camp,
12:05
he's twisted a guy's head, and he's got him to
12:08
do things that will curse the people of God,
12:11
specifically curse Joshua. And again, there's
12:13
sin in the camp. And so it's got to be taken
12:15
care of. And when you have any kind of victory
12:20
as a Christian, you have to watch for the next
12:23
attack. You have to watch for the next attack,
12:26
because he's not going to just stop. Especially
12:29
when you're a newer Christian, because you're
12:31
new. And he knows that you're not used to this
12:36
stuff, and he knows that he can discourage you
12:40
pretty easily. When I was a new believer and
12:43
I would fail in areas, I would just feel like
12:46
a rotten punk. And I would just be totally depressed.
12:50
I couldn't understand what God would even put
12:52
up with me. And it was nothing but condemnation
12:54
that was coming from the enemy. It was trying
12:56
to get me to quit. And so Satan's going to be
12:59
doing that. So you have the frontal attack. But
13:01
at the very same time that you have the frontal
13:02
attack, you have the sneakiness. The Bible says
13:05
that Satan comes in like a roaring lion. But
13:09
you always have to remember that he's also a
13:11
snake. And so what he does is he comes up with
13:15
this frontal attack with the majority of the
13:17
Canaanites and the Hittites and all the Aites
13:19
in this passage. He comes up with a frontal attack
13:22
with these guys. And then at the same time he's
13:24
got this other situation going on with the Gibeonites.
13:27
And so he sneaks in. And so we have to be aware
13:30
of his devices. He's not always going to come
13:33
like a lion. Sometimes he comes like a serpent.
13:35
And he's not always coming like a serpent. Sometimes
13:37
he's coming in and he's just trying to bowl you
13:38
over. When we're with Christ when we're walking
13:41
with him we have power over the enemy and we
13:44
can win every single time But we do need to be
13:46
aware and if you're not aware you're just gonna
13:48
get creamed You know everything to me is a football
13:51
analogy And so they had these things called traps,
13:54
and I was a lineman on my football team. I was
13:57
a defensive lineman and One of the things that
14:01
would happen is you would have these plays where
14:03
the guy in front of you would disappear And so
14:06
I was on the tackle, all you guys that know football,
14:09
all the girls you can just check out now. We'll
14:11
get to the good part in just a second. But the
14:13
lineman who's in front of me, the tackle would
14:15
disappear. And normally, a guy who doesn't know
14:18
what's going on will just go, oh, glory! There's
14:21
nobody blocking me. I can go after the quarterback.
14:25
And what you don't know is on the other side
14:26
of the center, a guard is pulled. He's taking
14:28
a step back. He's running down the line behind
14:31
the other guys who are blocking their guys. And
14:33
he's going to take you out from the side. And
14:37
it's something that my coaches train me with.
14:40
And so immediately, when the guy in front of
14:43
me just disappears, when he goes away, what I'm
14:45
doing is looking down the line and I got my arm
14:47
down on my knee. because that's where they would
14:50
want to take you out at, put you out of the game.
14:53
And it's sneaky and it's deceptive and that's
14:55
what Satan does too. He tries to take you out
14:58
and he'll either do it again with a frontal assault
15:01
or he'll do it in a sneaky manner like a serpent.
15:04
That's what's happening with the Gibeonites.
15:07
And so you have the deception of the Gibeonites.
15:10
One of the things that you have in scripture
15:12
up to this point is that God had told the Israelites
15:16
explicitly Not to make alliances with any of
15:20
the Canaanites and that included the Hivites
15:22
in this passage There's a passage in Deuteronomy
15:25
20 verses 10 through 11 it says when you go near
15:28
a city To fight against it the proclaim an offer
15:31
of peace to it And it shall be that if they accept
15:33
your offer of peace and open to you When all
15:37
the people who are found in it shall be then
15:38
all the people who are found in it shall be placed
15:41
under tribute to you and serve you And so when
15:45
there was a battle, God made room for people
15:47
to make peace. But, he goes on in the passage
15:50
and he says, but of the cities of these peoples
15:53
which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance,
15:56
you shall let nothing that breathes remain alive.
15:59
You shall utterly destroy them, the Hittite,
16:01
the Amorite, the Canaanite, and the Perizzite,
16:04
and the Hivite, these guys are Hivites, and the
16:07
Jebusite, just as the Lord your God has commanded
16:09
you, lest they teach you to do according to all
16:12
their abominations which they have done for their
16:14
gods, and you sin against the Lord your God.
16:17
And so God made a clear command that there were
16:19
to be no alliances with the people of Canaan.
16:23
Another passage is in Deuteronomy seven two and
16:25
it says when the Lord your God delivers them
16:26
over to you, you shall conquer them and utterly
16:29
destroy them. You shall make no covenant with
16:32
them nor show mercy to them. And so God had made
16:35
this whole thing clear and what these people
16:38
are doing is they're coming in under the wire
16:39
so to speak. They're pretending to be something
16:42
that they're not. One of the things that you
16:45
obviously have in this situation is the fact
16:49
that the Gibeonites are unbelievers, and so they
16:52
do what they know to save their skins. When you
16:55
look in verse three, it says, but when the inhabitants
16:58
of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho
17:01
and Ai, they worked craftily and went and pretended.
17:06
And they took old sacks on their donkeys, old
17:08
wine skins torn and mended, old and patched sandals
17:11
on their feet, and old garments on themselves,
17:13
and all the bread of their provision was dry
17:15
and moldy. So they worked craftily. They're sneaky
17:18
people. They're manipulative. And that's one
17:21
of the things that you have with people in the
17:23
world. Some of you were exactly like that. Do
17:25
you remember it? You remember being manipulative?
17:28
You remember being sneaky? You remember trying
17:30
to be underhanded with people to try to get your
17:32
way, whether it was with your parents or with
17:34
friends or whatever? You remember being like
17:36
that? That's what people in the world do. And
17:38
they haven't stopped doing it because you became
17:40
a Christian. That's one of the things that I
17:43
had to figure out after I became a believer because
17:45
I had this kind of panacea going on in my head.
17:48
I've become a Christian and everything's rosy
17:50
and everything's wonderful now and people are
17:52
all good and nice and they all would want to
17:54
know Jesus because Steve has gotten saved. You
17:56
know it's that kind of thing and that is not
17:58
the case. There are all kinds of times when people
18:01
are trying to manipulate you and sneak things
18:02
on you and get things from you and use your integrity
18:06
against you. That's exactly what these guys do.
18:08
So they work craftily in verse four. They pretend
18:10
to be friendly in verse four. And again, what
18:14
they're doing is they're just trying to get their
18:17
way. Verse six, it says, they went to Joshua
18:19
to the camp at Gilgal and said to him and to
18:21
the men of Israel, we've come from a far country
18:23
now therefore make a covenant with us. Third
18:26
thing that they do is they lie through their
18:27
teeth. Verse 6, they lie through their teeth.
18:30
So they're working craftily. They're pretending
18:32
to be friendly. They're lying through their teeth.
18:35
Look at verse 6 through 11. So they go to Joshua.
18:37
They go to the camp. They say we've come from
18:39
a far country. Now therefore make a covenant
18:41
with us. And then the men of Israel say to the
18:44
Hibites, perhaps you dwell among us. So how can
18:47
we make a covenant with you? But they said to
18:49
Joshua, we are your servants. And Joshua said
18:52
to them, who are you and where do you come from?
18:54
So they said to him, from a very far country
18:56
your servants have come. And we've already read
18:58
that passage. So what happens there is they lie
19:02
through their teeth and then with Joshua they
19:04
flatter him and praise him. And it's not really
19:07
him. They're flattering and praising the Lord.
19:10
But basically what happens in that situation
19:12
is some of the people go, we don't know who you
19:15
are. We don't know where you're from. Why don't
19:18
you come from the people in the land? And they're
19:20
keeping in mind that God has said that they need
19:22
to watch out for these guys. They need to make
19:24
sure that they don't make a covenant with them.
19:26
And as soon as they get opposition from some
19:29
of the people of Israel, what they do is they
19:30
turn to Joshua. And they overrule the people
19:33
of Israel. That's what they're doing. They're
19:35
manipulating the situation. They turn from them,
19:37
they turn to Joshua, which is flattering. I'm
19:40
a guy who's in authority and when I'm having
19:43
a conversation with somebody and it's me and
19:46
one of my pastors or me and a couple of the pastors
19:48
and they're having a conversation and there's
19:50
any kind of pushback with my assistant pastors
19:54
a lot of times what they'll do is they'll immediately
19:56
turn to me and what they're doing is they're
19:59
pumping me up. And again, I came from the world,
20:02
so I'm a little bit cynical. You know, and so,
20:06
you know, I just had people do this with me all
20:08
my life before I came to Jesus. Always trying
20:11
to say things to me, always trying to pump me
20:14
up, always trying to, you know, get on my good
20:16
side, and that kind of thing. I don't want to
20:17
be too cynical because sometimes people are nice.
20:20
But in a situation like this, I'm reading the
20:21
passage and I'm going, I know what they're doing.
20:24
And so what they do is they flatter and praise.
20:27
They said to him, from a very far country, your
20:30
servants have come because of the name of the
20:32
Lord your God. For we have heard of his fame
20:35
and all that he did in Egypt. And they keep that
20:39
safe. And all that he did to the two kings of
20:43
the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan. And
20:46
they keep that safe. to sign King of Heshpon
20:49
and Og King of Bashan who was at Ashtaroth. Therefore,
20:53
our elders, notice they haven't mentioned Jericho
20:55
and they haven't mentioned AI. And they're smart.
21:00
Because if you're in a situation where you're
21:02
talking to these guys, they've just had this
21:03
battle with Jericho and AI, and they've come
21:05
from a very far country, well, how did you hear
21:07
about Jericho and AI, Bucky? And you'd be able
21:10
to get them. Now, not everybody's that smart,
21:12
but these guys have it together. And so, they're
21:16
being flattering to Joshua, they're honoring
21:18
his God, saying that they want to praise him
21:20
and serve him, and that kind of thing. They're
21:22
making out like they want to have an alliance,
21:25
not only with the people of Israel, but have
21:27
some kind of alliance with the God of Israel.
21:29
Therefore, our elders and all the inhabitants
21:30
of our country spoke to us, saying, take provisions
21:33
with you for the journey and go to meet them
21:35
and say to them, we are your servants, now therefore,
21:38
make a covenant with us. So they flatter and
21:40
praise. The fifth thing that they do is they
21:44
take advantage of Israel's integrity. Look at
21:46
verse 18. It says, but the children of Israel
21:49
did not attack them because the rulers of the
21:52
congregation had sworn to them by the Lord God
21:54
of Israel and all the congregation complained
21:57
against the rulers. This is what I mean by that.
21:59
When the rulers of Israel figure out that they've
22:01
been taken in this deal, they refuse to back
22:05
down on it because they've made a vow to them.
22:08
There's not even a question of backing out of
22:12
the deal because they've made a vow to these
22:13
guys and We have a society and we have a jurisprudence
22:19
where when we make a Contract with somebody if
22:23
the contract is fraudulent, which is what this
22:26
is when the contract is fraudulent We're allowed,
22:30
you know an escape clause. Basically, we're allowed
22:33
to nix the contract that wasn't so in the Old
22:36
Testament When you made a contract with somebody,
22:38
what you were supposed to be doing is, well obviously,
22:41
in the context of us, what you're supposed to
22:43
be doing is seeking God in the situation. And
22:46
you're supposed to be wise in the situation.
22:48
You're supposed to be figuring out whether or
22:50
not this is a good thing before you ever make
22:53
a vow to somebody. You make sure that when you
22:56
make the vow, you're willing to perform the vow
22:59
because that is exactly what you're gonna do.
23:01
Now, these guys are coming from the position
23:04
of being Canaanites. They wouldn't expect that
23:06
from another Canaanite. They wouldn't expect
23:09
them to keep their vows because they're a bunch
23:11
of Canaanites. But they know that what they're
23:13
dealing with is a group of people that are different
23:15
than the rest of the people on the planet. And
23:18
so what they're going to do is take advantage
23:19
of that. And guess what? That's exactly what
23:22
people in the world will do with you. They know
23:25
what the standards are, they know what it means
23:27
to be a Christian, you know, at least somewhat
23:29
they do, and they know that you're supposed to
23:31
be upright and you're supposed to be honest and
23:33
you're supposed to have integrity and many times
23:36
people who are in the world will take advantage
23:38
of your integrity and you have to be aware of
23:40
those things. I've had this kind of situation
23:43
come up a number of times. And again, I'm not
23:45
saying that we need to be absolutely cynical,
23:47
but we need to be people who are seeking God,
23:49
and we need to be people who are trying to have
23:52
some kind of discernment when we're dealing with
23:54
the people who are around us, especially those
23:56
who aren't following God. And when you're talking
23:58
about an unbeliever, unbelievers do what unbelievers
24:01
do, and we need to understand that. You've been
24:05
listening to Crosswalk with Pastor Steve Winnery.
24:07
Crosswalk is the radio ministry of Calvary Chapel
24:10
Tri -Cities in Kennewick, Washington. If you're
24:12
wanting to know more about what it means to follow
24:14
Christ, then please contact our church office
24:16
by phone at 509 -736 -2086. You can also look
24:21
us up online at calvary -tricities .org. Calvary
24:26
Chapel Tri -Cities is offering two in -person
24:29
training courses for those seeking to serve in
24:31
missions or ministry. The School of Missions
24:33
starts with 12 weeks of classroom -style learning
24:36
and local outreach in the Tri -Cities, Washington,
24:38
followed by a 10 -week cross -cultural mission
24:41
outreach. The School of Ministry, this course
24:43
is 18 weeks of in -person learning environment,
24:46
followed by a four -week mission trip. Find out
24:48
more at calvarytrainingcenternw .com.