Latest / Max Lucado Daily Sermons / Minister Max Lucado – Even When You Feel Alone, God Is Still Fighting for You
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: God is a God of fresh starts, new beginnings, second chances.
- 0:05Speaker 1: God is a God of glory days. And if you're
- 0:08Speaker 1: in need of some glory days, then you're in the
- 0:11Speaker 1: right place as we open a study of the story
- 0:15Speaker 1: and book of Joshua. God gave Joshua and the Hebrews
- 0:23Speaker 1: a second chance at the promised land. And if you're
- 0:27Speaker 1: ready to enter the promised land, Then you're in the
- 0:31Speaker 1: right place. You have an outline in your handout. Keep
- 0:35Speaker 1: it handy. You might want to fill in some blanks.
- 0:38Speaker 1: Let's pray. And we will get to work. Thank you Lord.
- 0:44Speaker 1: For your goodness. Your mercy. Your presence here today. We
- 0:49Speaker 1: believe there is a promised land for us to take.
- 0:52Speaker 1: And we pray. Father you would walk us out of
- 0:55Speaker 1: the wilderness. Across the Jordan. Into the land. By your hand.
- 1:03Speaker 1: That you want us to know. May we receive our inheritance.
- 1:09Speaker 1: May we possess our possessions. Please have mercy upon the
- 1:15Speaker 1: one who speaks. For his sins are many. And may
- 1:20Speaker 1: we see Jesus. And just Jesus. Through Christ we pray.
- 1:28Speaker 1: For seven years they were untouchable. 20 battles won. Seven
- 1:33Speaker 1: king conquers conquered. 25,000 miles of choice property reclaimed. Seven
- 1:44Speaker 1: years of unbridled history. They were outnumbered, but never outpowered. Underequipped,
- 1:54Speaker 1: but never overwhelmed. They were the unlikely, but unquestioned conquerors
- 2:00Speaker 1: of the most barbaric armies in history. Had the fight
- 2:04Speaker 1: been a prize fight, the referee would have called it
- 2:08Speaker 1: in the first round. The Hebrew people were unstoppable. They
- 2:15Speaker 1: hadn't always been. The Bible doesn't gloss over the checkered
- 2:20Speaker 1: history of God's chosen nation. Abraham had too many wives.
- 2:28Speaker 1: Jacob told too many lies. Esau sold his birthright. Joseph's
- 2:35Speaker 1: brother sold Joseph. Four centuries of Egyptian bondage were followed
- 2:42Speaker 1: by four centuries of Wilderness wandering, then later came those
- 2:47Speaker 1: 70 years of Babylonian detention. They had their troubles. The
- 2:54Speaker 1: Hebrew people built two temples only to lose them both.
- 2:59Speaker 1: They were entrusted with the Ark of the Covenant and
- 3:01Speaker 1: no one knows what happened to it. While they were struggling,
- 3:07Speaker 1: everybody else was advancing. Babylonia built her cities. Greece flexed
- 3:14Speaker 1: her muscles. Rome stretched its empire. But Israel just kept
- 3:20Speaker 1: dropping the cheese from the cracker. They couldn't quite get
- 3:24Speaker 1: their balance. Except during those seven years. The glory days
- 3:32Speaker 1: of Israel, this season of success, glistens on the timeline
- 3:36Speaker 1: of your Bible right between the dark era of the
- 3:41Speaker 1: wilderness wanderings out of Egypt and before the difficult days
- 3:47Speaker 1: of the judges. Moses had just died. And the Hebrews
- 3:55Speaker 1: were beginning their fifth decade as Bedouins in the Badlands.
- 4:01Speaker 1: And sometime right about 1400 BC, God spoke to Joshua.
- 4:11Speaker 1: And Joshua listened to God. And the people listened to Joshua.
- 4:23Speaker 1: And they marched. The children of Israel, over 2 million people,
- 4:30Speaker 1: marched into Canaan like harvesters into a Kansas wheat field.
- 4:39Speaker 1: They could not be stopped. Miracles happened. Jericho walls fell down.
- 4:44Speaker 1: The sun stood still. The seven kings of Canaan were
- 4:47Speaker 1: forced into early retirement. And by the end of that
- 4:52Speaker 1: seven-year campaign, the nation was That had been homeless. Became homesteaders.
- 5:02Speaker 1: And they had begun farms, villages in a new era
- 5:05Speaker 1: of hope. And their accomplishments were so complete. That the
- 5:11Speaker 1: historian summarized them with this paragraph at the end of
- 5:14Speaker 1: the book. So the Lord gave to Israel. All of
- 5:20Speaker 1: the land which he had sworn to give their fathers.
- 5:24Speaker 1: And they took possession of it. And they dwelt in it.
- 5:30Speaker 1: The Lord gave them rest all around. According to all
- 5:34Speaker 1: that he had sworn to their fathers. And not a
- 5:37Speaker 1: man of their enemies stood against them. The Lord delivered
- 5:42Speaker 1: all their enemies into their hand. And not a word
- 5:46Speaker 1: failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken
- 5:50Speaker 1: to the house of Israel. All came to pass. Three
- 5:56Speaker 1: words mark the days of Joshua. Power, presence, and possession.
- 6:02Speaker 1: During these seven years, the army of Joshua experienced the
- 6:06Speaker 1: power of God. They experienced the presence of God. And
- 6:10Speaker 1: most of all, they took possession of the land God
- 6:14Speaker 1: had promised them. Power, promise, possession. Three huge words in
- 6:20Speaker 1: the book of Joshua today. I'm wondering, are they huge
- 6:23Speaker 1: words in your life? You don't need to cross the Jordan,
- 6:30Speaker 1: but boy, you sure do need to get through the week,
- 6:32Speaker 1: don't you? You aren't facing Jericho, but you're facing rejection
- 6:39Speaker 1: and heartache. You don't look over your shoulder at Amalekites
- 6:46Speaker 1: chasing you or Canaanites chasing But disease or debt, these
- 6:56Speaker 1: enemies are rampant. And maybe today you're wondering if you
- 7:01Speaker 1: have what it takes to face tomorrow. Maybe you can
- 7:07Speaker 1: relate to the little boy I saw recently in an airport.
- 7:12Speaker 1: Judging by the flip-flops and the baseball hats, the family
- 7:18Speaker 1: was headed south. On a week's vacation. And judging by
- 7:24Speaker 1: the concerned look in the father's face. He was worried
- 7:28Speaker 1: if they were going to make the connection. Everything about
- 7:33Speaker 1: him said hurry up. We got to catch the flight.
- 7:37Speaker 1: He was a man on a mission racing down through
- 7:40Speaker 1: the concourse of the airport. I wondered if the little
- 7:43Speaker 1: boy was going to be able to keep up. The
- 7:48Speaker 1: mom could. She was matching her husband stride for stride.
- 7:52Speaker 1: The other brothers could. The older boys, they seemed to
- 7:56Speaker 1: be doing fine. They just hitched their backpacks up on
- 7:59Speaker 1: their back and rode in the draft of their dad
- 8:03Speaker 1: and mom. But that little boy didn't help matters that
- 8:07Speaker 1: he was so young, maybe five or six years of age,
- 8:10Speaker 1: had short legs, didn't help matters that half of humanity,
- 8:14Speaker 1: it seemed, was crammed inside the concourse. It didn't help
- 8:18Speaker 1: matters either that he was dragging this little backpack on wheels,
- 8:24Speaker 1: had Mickey Mouse on the back. He was doing his
- 8:28Speaker 1: best to keep up. But his parents just kept getting
- 8:32Speaker 1: farther and farther, and he was more and more by himself. Finally,
- 8:36Speaker 1: I saw him throw his backpack down on the floor,
- 8:39Speaker 1: right in the middle of a concourse, and yell out
- 8:42Speaker 1: in the direction of his disappearing family, I can't keep up.
- 8:49Speaker 1: We've all been there. Life has a way of just
- 8:55Speaker 1: getting ahead of us. Taking the life out of us.
- 8:59Speaker 1: It's not that we don't try. It's not that we
- 9:02Speaker 1: don't want to. It's just that we run out of
- 9:06Speaker 1: steam and we run out of fight. I think the
- 9:11Speaker 1: book of Joshua is in the Bible for seasons like that.
- 9:18Speaker 1: That the book of Joshua is in the Bible to
- 9:22Speaker 1: remind you that no matter where you are in life,
- 9:29Speaker 1: your best days can be ahead of you. That there
- 9:35Speaker 1: is power, there is presence, and there is a possession.
- 9:40Speaker 1: Here's the big message. God has a promised land for
- 9:45Speaker 1: you to take. The story of ancient Israel is really
- 9:52Speaker 1: divided according to geography. Geography is helpful biography. when it
- 10:00Speaker 1: comes to studying the early days of Israel. The countries
- 10:05Speaker 1: of Egypt, the time in the wilderness, the settling of Canaan,
- 10:10Speaker 1: all of these represent the conditions of the people. In Egypt,
- 10:15Speaker 1: they were slaves. In the wilderness, They were free from
- 10:19Speaker 1: Egyptian bondage, but they weren't free from their own fear.
- 10:24Speaker 1: In Canaan, and finally in Canaan, they became people of
- 10:28Speaker 1: the possession, people of the promise. They became victorious people.
- 10:35Speaker 1: And I would suggest to you that we too have
- 10:37Speaker 1: our Egypt, and we too have our wilderness, and we
- 10:40Speaker 1: too have our Canaan. Before we knew Christ, we were
- 10:45Speaker 1: in Egypt. We were in bondage to guilt to sin
- 10:52Speaker 1: we were receiving the consequence of our sin and destined
- 10:57Speaker 1: to be penalized for our sin separated from God forever
- 11:01Speaker 1: we were held back by the leg irons of guilt
- 11:07Speaker 1: and human nature we were held captive slaves we were
- 11:12Speaker 1: by our fear of death but then came our Moses
- 11:18Speaker 1: our deliverer, Jesus Christ. And he walked us through the
- 11:24Speaker 1: Red Sea. He set us free. He brought down to
- 11:30Speaker 1: his knees the Pharaoh, the devil, who sought to destroy
- 11:34Speaker 1: us and keep us captive. He released us. And Jesus
- 11:39Speaker 1: invited us to enter into the promised land, a time,
- 11:45Speaker 1: a season, glory days, if you will, an existence of victory. Now,
- 11:52Speaker 1: you may have been taught that Canaan is a metaphor
- 11:59Speaker 1: for heaven. You may have even sung some of the
- 12:03Speaker 1: hymns that said, to Canaan's land, I'm on my way
- 12:08Speaker 1: where the soul of man never dies. Well, bless the
- 12:12Speaker 1: hearts of those dear hymn writers. But they were wrong.
- 12:17Speaker 1: canaan does not represent heaven it can't the the the
- 12:25Speaker 1: imagery doesn't work heaven has no enemies ask joshua if
- 12:31Speaker 1: canaan had any enemies heaven has no struggles or battles
- 12:36Speaker 1: but joshua had at least 20 battles that we know
- 12:39Speaker 1: of Heaven knows no stumbles or struggles. And you'll see
- 12:44Speaker 1: as we study the story of Joshua that Joshua's men
- 12:47Speaker 1: had both. They stumbled. They struggled. But they won more
- 12:52Speaker 1: than they lost. And they had within them a sense
- 12:57Speaker 1: of the power of God. And they claimed the promise
- 13:00Speaker 1: of God. This is what God offers. Not a land
- 13:05Speaker 1: that is void of struggle. but a life that is
- 13:09Speaker 1: guaranteed to succeed. God has a promised land, a promised
- 13:14Speaker 1: land for you to take, a promised land for me
- 13:19Speaker 1: to take. Canaan then does not represent the life to come.
- 13:25Speaker 1: Canaan represents the life we can have and experience right now.
- 13:33Speaker 1: Joshua's story can be your story. What Joshua did, you
- 13:39Speaker 1: can do. I believe the book of Joshua is in
- 13:43Speaker 1: the Bible to convince you and me to do what
- 13:47Speaker 1: Joshua did. Come out of the wilderness into the promised land.
- 13:53Speaker 1: God has a promised land for you and me to inherit.
- 13:57Speaker 1: And it looks something like this. It is a life
- 14:01Speaker 1: in which we are more than conquerors through Christ alone.
- 14:06Speaker 1: Who loved us. A life in which we do not
- 14:08Speaker 1: lose heart. Can you imagine? A life in which the
- 14:12Speaker 1: love of Christ compels us. A life in which we
- 14:16Speaker 1: are exceedingly joyful in our what? Affliction. A life in
- 14:22Speaker 1: which we are anxious for nothing. In which we pray always.
- 14:26Speaker 1: In which we do all things in the name of
- 14:29Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus. Giving thanks to God the Father through him.
- 14:33Speaker 1: This is the life God offers to us. In God's plan,
- 14:37Speaker 1: in God's land, we win more often than we lose.
- 14:44Speaker 1: We forgive as quickly as we are offended. We give
- 14:47Speaker 1: as abundantly as we are given. We boast only in Christ.
- 14:51Speaker 1: We trust only in God. We lean wholly on his power.
- 14:55Speaker 1: Most incredibly, we actually do more than Jesus himself. Jesus
- 15:02Speaker 1: stunningly said, Most assuredly, I say to you, he who
- 15:07Speaker 1: believes in me, the works that I do, he will
- 15:10Speaker 1: do also and greater works than these he will do.
- 15:15Speaker 1: What an extraordinary statement. But from God's perspective, the normal
- 15:22Speaker 1: Christian life is one of victory and breakthrough and success
- 15:28Speaker 1: and accomplishment. God invites us to cross over into Canaan.
- 15:34Speaker 1: I'm wondering if you're interested. Besides, aren't you weary of
- 15:41Speaker 1: the wilderness? You see, just as Canaan represents the victorious
- 15:47Speaker 1: Christian life, wilderness represents the defeated Christian life. In the desert,
- 15:53Speaker 1: the Hebrew people, they were liberated from Egyptian bondage, but boy,
- 15:59Speaker 1: you wouldn't know it to look at them or listen
- 16:03Speaker 1: to them. would you? Just three days into their freedom
- 16:08Speaker 1: and the people complained against Moses saying, what shall we drink?
- 16:12Speaker 1: A few more days passed. Children of Israel complained against
- 16:16Speaker 1: Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.
- 16:18Speaker 2: Oh, that we had died by the hand of the
- 16:21Speaker 2: Lord in the land of Egypt. You have brought us
- 16:24Speaker 2: out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.
- 16:29Speaker 2: They contended with Moses. They complained against Moses.
- 16:32Speaker 1: These people inhaled anxiety like oxygen. They bellyache to the
- 16:38Speaker 1: point that Moses actually prayed, what shall I do with
- 16:41Speaker 1: this people? They are almost ready to stone me. Keep
- 16:46Speaker 1: in mind, these people only days before had witnessed the
- 16:51Speaker 1: power of God in high definition. Each one of them,
- 16:57Speaker 1: each one of them had seen the stages of deliverance.
- 17:03Speaker 1: They saw the locusts gobble the crops, the boils devour
- 17:07Speaker 1: the skin, the flies buzz through Pharaoh's court. They saw them, God,
- 17:12Speaker 1: turn those chest-thumping Egyptians into shark bait right before their eyes.
- 17:20Speaker 1: But when God told them just days later, Crossover into Canaan.
- 17:28Speaker 1: The 12 spies came back and all but two said
- 17:34Speaker 1: it couldn't be done. And those 10 who said it
- 17:39Speaker 1: couldn't be done actually said, we were like grasshoppers over there.
- 17:43Speaker 1: Just tiny, tiny little grasshoppers. They're going to squash us.
- 17:52Speaker 1: So God gave him some time to think it over.
- 18:02Speaker 1: He put the whole nation in time out. For 40 years.
- 18:07Speaker 3: 40 years.
- 18:12Speaker 1: They wandered in the wilderness. Out of Egypt. But not
- 18:19Speaker 1: out of fear. Not free from dread. Not free from doubt.
- 18:26Speaker 1: They were saved. Yeah. But they weren't strong. Consequently, they
- 18:34Speaker 1: had this ho-hum time in the wilderness of walking in circles.
- 18:42Speaker 1: Same food every day. Monotonous. Humdrum. Four decades of tedium.
- 18:57Speaker 1: Does that sound miserable? Does that sound familiar? Do you
- 19:05Speaker 1: ever sense a disconnect between the promises that you read
- 19:11Speaker 1: in the Bible and the reality that you have in
- 19:15Speaker 1: your own life? You've read the promises. Jesus promises abundant joy,
- 19:22Speaker 1: but you live with this pervasive grief. The epistles speak
- 19:28Speaker 1: of grace and yet you shoulder such guilt. The apostle
- 19:35Speaker 1: says we're more than conquerors and yet it just seems
- 19:39Speaker 1: like every day you're conquered again by that same temptation.
- 19:43Speaker 1: You ever feel like you're in the wilderness? less than
- 19:52Speaker 1: a month ago I sat down for lunch with a
- 19:54Speaker 1: good friend who described his life with wilderness language rut
- 20:03Speaker 1: stuck walking in circles he's a christian And he can
- 20:11Speaker 1: tell you the day that he was led out of Egypt.
- 20:17Speaker 1: But he can't tell you the last time he defeated
- 20:19Speaker 1: a temptation or experienced an answer to prayer. 20 years
- 20:26Speaker 1: into his faith and he battles the same lusts that
- 20:30Speaker 1: he did the day of his baptism. He's out of Egypt,
- 20:37Speaker 1: but Egypt's not out of him. And he didn't use
- 20:40Speaker 1: the words, but I could sense between what he said,
- 20:46Speaker 1: this sentiment. I thought the Christian life would be better
- 20:51Speaker 1: than this. He did use words like disappointment, disengaged. It's
- 20:59Speaker 1: like the doorway to spiritual growth has a secret code
- 21:03Speaker 1: and everybody knows it but him. He didn't know what
- 21:08Speaker 1: to do. He didn't know who to blame. Some days
- 21:11Speaker 1: he blames himself. Some days he blames the church. He
- 21:15Speaker 1: thinks about changing congregations, thinks about changing translations. He doesn't
- 21:20Speaker 1: know whether to be busier or to slow down or
- 21:23Speaker 1: to join a group or get out of a group.
- 21:25Speaker 1: He just doesn't know what to do. My friend is
- 21:30Speaker 1: not alone in the wilderness. Some years back, the Gallup
- 21:35Speaker 1: organization went on a search for people who lead victorious
- 21:39Speaker 1: Christian lives. You might call it a search for Joshua's.
- 21:45Speaker 1: They wondered what percentage of Christians are actually propelled by
- 21:50Speaker 1: their faith. How many believers experience promised land victories on
- 21:55Speaker 1: a regular basis? How many Christians, in other words, live
- 22:00Speaker 1: like Christians? With an ear toward God, an eye toward heaven,
- 22:05Speaker 1: a hand toward the needy, how many would describe their
- 22:08Speaker 1: days as glory days? Anybody want to hazard a guess?
- 22:11Speaker 4: 13%.
- 22:13Speaker 3: 13%.
- 22:19Speaker 1: Nearly nine out of Christians, in other words, languish in
- 22:25Speaker 1: the wilderness. Nearly nine out of ten have been disappointed
- 22:34Speaker 1: by their faith.
- 22:35Speaker 5: 13%.
- 22:37Speaker 1: Waste away in the worst of ways. In the land
- 22:42Speaker 1: of in between. They're out of Egypt. But they're not
- 22:45Speaker 1: in Canaan. 13%. If a hospital only released 13% of
- 22:55Speaker 1: its patients. If a high school only graduated 13% of
- 23:01Speaker 1: its students. If only 13% of investors saw a return
- 23:08Speaker 1: on their dollar. If a baseball team. Only had 13%
- 23:14Speaker 1: of its batters ever get on base. Wouldn't someone be alarmed?
- 23:20Speaker 1: I think the church has a serious problem with getting
- 23:25Speaker 1: people into the promised land. I think also the church
- 23:31Speaker 1: has an incredible opportunity. 2.8 billion people on our planet
- 23:39Speaker 1: call themselves Christians. According to this study, about 2 billion
- 23:46Speaker 1: of those people are languishing or limping along with half
- 23:53Speaker 1: their cylinders not working. What would happen? We can only imagine.
- 23:59Speaker 1: What would happen if those 2 billion people went in
- 24:01Speaker 1: for a tune-up? How much more joy would be released?
- 24:06Speaker 1: How many more prayers would be offered? How many hungry
- 24:10Speaker 1: people would be fed? How many marriages would be salvaged?
- 24:14Speaker 1: How many people would thrive? How many orphanages would be built?
- 24:18Speaker 1: How many orphanages would we need? Could it be that
- 24:27Speaker 1: the church's next great mission field is sitting inside the church?
- 24:36Speaker 1: And could it be that the greatest project you can
- 24:39Speaker 1: face looks at you back from the mirror? Wouldn't you
- 24:44Speaker 1: like to cross into the promised land? Think about the
- 24:47Speaker 1: Christian you want to be. Think about the Christian you
- 24:53Speaker 1: want to be. The attitudes and attributes you want to have. Generosity, kindness, compassion.
- 25:01Speaker 1: Think about the attitudes and habits you want to discontinue.
- 25:06Speaker 1: What are they? Endless negativity. Unending anxiety. Critical spirit. Here's
- 25:17Speaker 1: the big news. With God's help, you can close the
- 25:23Speaker 1: gap between the person you are and the person you
- 25:28Speaker 1: want to be. With God's help, you can close the
- 25:34Speaker 1: gap Between the person you are. And the person you
- 25:38Speaker 1: aspire to be. Glory days await you. With God's help
- 25:46Speaker 1: you can live from glory to glory. And what happened
- 25:51Speaker 1: with Joshua. Can happen with you. Joshua and his men
- 25:56Speaker 1: did this. It happened. And they went from dryness to.
- 26:07Speaker 1: From the barren land to the promised land, from manna
- 26:10Speaker 1: to feasts, from arid deserts to fertile fields. Yes, they
- 26:15Speaker 1: came out of a generation of defeat, but they left
- 26:20Speaker 1: behind a legacy of victory. Refugees no longer. They became homesteaders.
- 26:32Speaker 1: They inherited their inheritance. They possessed their possession. So much
- 26:38Speaker 1: so that it's worth a second read how the historian
- 26:44Speaker 1: summarized their victory. So the Lord gave to Israel all
- 26:49Speaker 1: of the land which he had sworn to their fathers.
- 26:52Speaker 1: They took possession of it and they dwelt in it
- 26:55Speaker 1: and the Lord gave them rest all around. According to
- 26:59Speaker 1: all he had sworn to their fathers and not a
- 27:01Speaker 1: man of their enemies stood against them. The Lord delivered
- 27:04Speaker 1: all their enemies into their land. Not a word failed
- 27:07Speaker 1: of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to
- 27:10Speaker 1: the house of Israel. All came to pass. Wouldn't you
- 27:14Speaker 1: love that as your epitaph? It can be. I want
- 27:19Speaker 1: you to personalize that promise. You're going to see this
- 27:22Speaker 1: verse appear in a reduced version on the screen with
- 27:26Speaker 1: all the references to Israel removed. And I've left those
- 27:30Speaker 1: phrases blank because I want you to put your name
- 27:32Speaker 1: in there. See what I mean? We're going to read
- 27:38Speaker 1: this verse out loud. And every time you see a blank,
- 27:42Speaker 1: you put your name in there.
- 27:44Speaker 3: Okay?
- 27:44Speaker 1: Don't be timid. Don't be embarrassed. This is God's plan
- 27:49Speaker 1: for you. This is a summary paragraph of the promised
- 27:53Speaker 1: land life. You ready? Here we go. The Lord gave
- 27:59Speaker 1: to all the life he had sworn to give and
- 28:05Speaker 1: took possession of it and dwelt in it. The Lord
- 28:08Speaker 1: gave to Rest all around and not an enemy stood,
- 28:13Speaker 1: not a word failed of any good thing which the
- 28:15Speaker 1: Lord had spoken to. All came to pass. Imagine the thought.
- 28:22Speaker 1: You at full throttle. You as you were intended. You
- 28:26Speaker 1: as victor over Jericho's giants and the troubles of life.
- 28:32Speaker 1: You and your promised land to life. Folks, I'm not
- 28:35Speaker 1: saying it's going to be easy. The enemy never goes
- 28:39Speaker 1: down without a fight. But I am saying this, you
- 28:42Speaker 1: were made for Canaan. And Joshua's story is in the
- 28:46Speaker 1: Bible to show us what God did, yes, but to
- 28:50Speaker 1: show us more what God does. And I want to
- 28:54Speaker 1: personally invite you not to miss a single weekend in
- 29:00Speaker 1: which we study Joshua. not to miss a single one
- 29:05Speaker 1: of the 18 Joshua messages. Yes, 18. It's not a
- 29:11Speaker 1: short series. By the end of June, I pray that
- 29:17Speaker 1: you have discovered a new understanding of the inheritance that
- 29:23Speaker 1: God has for you as revealed through this wonderful, powerful,
- 29:28Speaker 1: life-changing story in the Old Testament. Are you ready to march?
- 29:36Speaker 1: So am I. Let's all be standing. I've written a declaration.
- 29:39Speaker 1: that we're going to repeat every weekend that we study
- 29:43Speaker 1: the book of joshua i know this is your first
- 29:45Speaker 1: time to read it but don't let unfamiliarity create timidity
- 29:50Speaker 1: fill your hearts with hope and your lungs with air
- 29:54Speaker 1: let's make this declaration together These days are glory days.
- 29:59Speaker 1: With God as my helper, I will be all he
- 30:03Speaker 1: wants me to be, do all he wants me to do,
- 30:07Speaker 1: and receive all he wants me to receive. My past
- 30:11Speaker 1: is past. My future is bright. God's promises are true
- 30:17Speaker 1: and his word is sure. These days are glory days.
- 30:22Speaker 1: And all the church said, Thank you, Lord, for the
- 30:25Speaker 1: promise of second chances, of new starts, and of fresh beginnings.
- 30:34Speaker 1: Today we receive that. We choose to hear your promises
- 30:39Speaker 1: instead of Satan's lies. We choose to stand on your
- 30:43Speaker 1: truth instead of his deceit. And we declare that we
- 30:47Speaker 1: are people of God, that we have been bought and
- 30:51Speaker 1: brought into the promised land. And now, dear Lord, we
- 30:55Speaker 1: seek to inherit our inheritance, possess our possessions, to be
- 30:59Speaker 1: the people that you have called us to be. Through
- 31:02Speaker 1: Jesus we pray. And all the church said. Thank you.
- 32:39Speaker 6: Thank you.
- 33:32Speaker 3: You Loving you alone feels so beautiful. And yet, it
- 36:56Speaker 3: hurts the most.
- 37:01Speaker 4: You became my quiet sunrise, the dream I never dared
- 37:06Speaker 4: to say.
- 37:09Speaker 1: Every smile you gave.
- 37:10Speaker 4: So freely took my breath a little away. held this
- 37:16Speaker 4: love like fragile glass so precious soft and true but
- 37:23Speaker 4: every beat inside my heart was only reaching out to
- 37:27Speaker 4: you unspoken love is sweet and painful like honey mixed
- 37:35Speaker 4: with rain.
- 37:37Speaker 7: A tender hope i hold so tightly while it Slowly
- 37:43Speaker 7: breaks me. Loving you from just one side now leaves
- 37:48Speaker 7: my soul in silent blue. Cause the deeper that I
- 37:53Speaker 7: fall alone, the lonelier I do.
- 38:00Speaker 3: I can't blame.
- 38:01Speaker 8: My heart for choosing someone it could never keep. So
- 38:07Speaker 8: I smile through hidden heartache And love you.
- 38:12Speaker 5: Quietly Unspoken love is sweet and painful Like honey mixed
- 38:19Speaker 5: with rain A.
- 38:21Speaker 7: Tender hope I hold so tightly While it slowly breaks
- 38:27Speaker 7: me Loving you.
- 38:29Speaker 6: From just one side now Leaves my soul in silent
- 38:34Speaker 6: blue Cause the deeper that I fall alone, the lonelier
- 38:41Speaker 6: I do.
- 38:47Speaker 7: Maybe loving you in silence is the closest I can stay.
- 39:05Speaker 8: Though it leaves behind a sorrow that may never fade away.
- 39:15Speaker 5: Unspoken love is sweet and painful like honey mixed with rain.
- 39:23Speaker 5: A tender hope I hold so tightly while it slowly
- 39:29Speaker 5: breaks me loose.
- 39:20Speaker 1: The Lonely Hour
- 39:46Speaker 6: I do.