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 Welcome to the Lansdale Life Church podcast.

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 If you're seeking a closer relationship with Jesus Christ, this podcast is for you.

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 Thank you for joining us today.

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 It's good to be in church. It's beautiful weather, so I'm just happy it's sunny now.

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 You know, we left Nashville and it's 80 degrees in February sometimes,

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 so we're like looking at the forecast and it's like snowing again in March like,

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 but I'm glad it's warming up here and the church looks great.

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 Everybody, who was out for the church work the other day?

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 Yes, great turnout. Great work. It looks amazing.

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 So who here was, who was here for Joshua 7 last week? Yeah, cool.

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 Awesome. So it was about, you know, the Israelites' defeat against AI,

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 which I've always thought was weird when we started learning about artificial intelligence.

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 So I don't know if there's some hidden messages that they knew about back then, probably not.

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 But anyway, AI is the name of this city. And we heard about how they lost the battle

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 because of disobedience of this one guy, Aiken, and now they're going to go and fight them again.

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 So the title for this message is Simple Leadership.

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 Now, if you're like me, as soon as you start talking about leadership,

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 I get bored and also kind of stressed at the same exact time because I picture like,

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 whenever I hear about leadership, I picture like a seminar that's just like,

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 here's what you have to do. You know, or I picture, you know, I worked in a cubicle before

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 and I just pictured those, those sad little posters of the one red guy going this way

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 and all the blue guys going this way. And it's like leadership and it's just so,

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 I don't know, so corporate and boring. But as I was reading this passage,

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 I realized I'm like, you know, obviously leadership is very important.

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 And it doesn't have to look like, you know, leadership in your life doesn't have to look

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 like the corporate strategy of all the manipulation of people to make them perform better. You know

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 what I mean? There is leadership that qualities that we all have, and there's areas of leadership

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 that every single person has that God has put them in areas of influence. It could be a bubble

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 of one person that you are called to be a leader of, or maybe like a thousand people,

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 whatever it is, there's an area in your life, whether it's in your family, your friends,

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 at work, there's someone in your life that is looking to you in some way as a leader.

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 And the type of leadership that every Christian is given is amazing. It's in 2 Corinthians 5.19.

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 Does anyone know this verse? It says, God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself,

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 not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

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 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ as though God were pleading through us. We implore

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 you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. So everywhere we go in our life, we are on this

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 mission of reconciliation. We are leaders leading people to Jesus. And the most important thing

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 is if we are leading people to Jesus, we better make sure we're being led by Jesus, right?

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 There's too many churches and too many Christians and people out there that are obviously not

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 following Jesus, but then they try to do the things that look like they are, right? So it's

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 really important that we know we are being led by Jesus. He is the head of the church,

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 and we also have earthly leaders in our lives. You know, like Paul says in the letters, he says,

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 you know, follow me as I follow Christ. So there are earthly leaders. We are leaders in different

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 areas, but ultimately there is one leader, Jesus Christ, the forerunner of our faith.

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 So there are some just topics in here that some points I'll give you them to you upfront

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 for why I think, I guess a method for being led by God and being a good leader that is here in

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 chapter eight. So first one is obedience. Okay. Obedience is the first step. You got to make

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 sure you're obeying God. You're doing the things he says to do. You're not doing the things he

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 says to not do like really clear Christianity 101. Obedience matters because if you're not obeying

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 him, you're not allowing him to lead you. You're not going to really be a good leader of

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 reconciling people to God. Number two, we'll see, it is important to be encouraged and validated

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 by God to find that thing inside of our hearts that needs to be approved of and needs to find

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 acceptance. Don't be searching for it in the world and in people, make sure you're finding it in God.

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 Number three, seek his wisdom. Like he has great plans for your life. He also has great

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 plans for very specific things that you need to do today even. So seek his wisdom.

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 Number four is pretty cool. Show no mercy to the enemy. There's an enemy, the devil, who wants to

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 like steal, kill, and destroy everything about your life. Show no mercy. Just crush him under

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 your foot like the Bible tells us to do. And finally, dedicate yourself to God and read his word.

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 So that's what we'll get, go through tonight. So I'm just going to run through them one more

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 time. Obedience, be encouraged and validated by God. Seek his wisdom. Show no mercy to the enemy

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 and dedicate yourself to God. So like I said, the last chapter was a loss, a defeat, 35, I think it

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 was, 36 people died because of this guy Aiken because God said don't take any of the spoil

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 of Jericho and he did anyway and he hid it in his tent. And then they went to battle against AI

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 and 36 people died. And then finally God whittled down the group of Israelites down to just him and

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 he finally confessed. He's like, yeah, I did it. Yep. Eight. And so now they ended up, you know,

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 the wrath of God, they killed him, his family, all this stuff. They wiped out and now the sin

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 is removed. Like he had blood on his hands. 36 people died. That's pretty bad. So now

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 Joshua and the people of Israel are back in obedience with God. And that is the very first

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 step because again, obedience makes you actually aware that you're following God. You're not doing

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 just what you want to do. You're not being led by your flesh. You're being led by the Holy Spirit

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 and you're doing what he tells you to do. So these are really simple things like these are black

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 and white things, right? You know, the Bible says like sexual immorality, drunkenness, greed,

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 stealing, hatred, lust, gossip, lying, all those things. It is really good to get them out of your

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 life. Like straight up, just get them out of your life. And God gives you the power to do that.

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 Next is do what he does say to do, right? It says, love the Lord your God with all your heart,

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 soul, mind and strength to love him and love your neighbor as yourself to love people around

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 you. It tells the Bible tells us to meditate on his word and it renews our mind. We start to

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 think like God. We see things the way he sees them. And then we also have really simple, go to

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 church, Christianity 101, right? We got to be around the brethren and then other things too,

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 you know, they all come to mind. But that's a really important first step. If you're

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 walking in disobedience to God, a lot of bad stuff happens. You start having doubts.

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 It's, you start having insecurities, fears. You're not leading anybody. You're led by

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 every little word someone says to you, like, does this person like me today? Like,

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 am I going to lose my job? It's just, you're reacting constantly. But if you're walking

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 in obedience, it says you have confidence towards God and you can have strength,

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 like essentially everywhere you go, because you know, all right, I'm actually choosing

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 to the best of my ability to follow God in my daily life. So number two,

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 be encouraged by God. So this is, let's, let's read verse one. Now the Lord said to Joshua,

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 do not be afraid nor be dismayed. Take all the people of war with you and arise and go to AI.

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 So it's very important too, as Christians, like we need to be coming to God. It says right here,

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 the Lord spoke to Joshua. Number one, Joshua has to be available and listening. I don't know

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 what it looked like, but if we look at people in the Bible elsewhere, that looks like them getting

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 alone, maybe going on a mountain, just being there quiet and praying and maybe reading the

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 law back then, reading the word and just praying and listening to God. And could you imagine

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 hearing that voice speaking to you? Do not be afraid or discouraged. Like, I'm going to

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 be with you. You're going to win this battle, like feeling God's presence speaking to us.

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 And we have the Holy Spirit. He does do that. He does speak to us. And if you don't feel like you

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 hear from God, I promise you it's just a matter of time. And it's a matter of, of getting away

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 from the distraction and hearing from Him. And I know because I've gone through times of insecurity

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 and anxiety and fear, and I felt like, you know, a different version of myself. And I remember like

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 one of these times lasted for months and I'm like, what is wrong with me? I feel like, you know,

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 like I used to be just so lighthearted and like confident. I feel the exact opposite now.

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 And it took a moment with God that I realized what was off. I was distracted. I was distant.

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 I started disobeying God in areas and trying to justify it. All these things started to seep in

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 and I was seeking to find purpose and validation from people. And that's a recipe for disaster.

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 But in that moment when I came to God and I allowed Him to correct me and to love me,

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 I suddenly, my soul felt like I like drank water for the first time. Like it was like,

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 oh my gosh, this is what I needed. Like, I felt like, you know, everything I was searching for

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 around me, suddenly like I was satisfied. This is what I truly wanted. I wanted to

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 hear God's voice. I wanted to be close to Him. And I wanted to be encouraged and validated by Him.

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 And that's true for every single person. And I love this because in Romans, it kind of talks about it.

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 Romans 8 says, for you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the

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 spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, Abba, Father. What Jesus said on the cross, Abba,

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 Father. And the Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.

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 And if children then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. So when you get time with God,

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 His Spirit speaks to your spirit in ways that you can't explain. Like He speaks to you and says,

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 you are my son, you're my daughter. Like, and you've suddenly realized who you are and you're

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 strong. And when you know who you are in Christ, that is when you can truly start leading people

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 to Him because you hear from Him. You know who, what He says about you. You can say

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 what Jesus feels for people. Like He loves you so much. And I love, my dad had this cool analogy.

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 So he had, he preached at church like years ago and he had this big jar,

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 probably like this big, and then all these little cups. And then he had a much bigger jar

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 that he then started filling the one in the middle. So again, the one in the middle is

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 bigger than all these little cups surrounding it. And then he just started dumping water into it

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 and it filled up the big jar to overflowing. And it ran down the sides into all these little cups.

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 And then he picked up the jug of water again and dumped more water and it flowed over into

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 the smaller cups and then they filled up and they started overflowing. And what he was saying

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 is it's crucial. You cannot pour into anyone's life around you, your husband, your wife, your

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 kids, your friends, whatever area that you're called to be a leader and to be strong and

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 pointing people to Jesus. If you're not being filled with the Holy Spirit, you can't fill anybody else.

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 Like you can't do that in your own strength. But when you are filled with the Spirit of God,

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 it is freedom and liberating and God uses you in ways that you didn't know you could be used

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 and the people around you suddenly are changing. They're being filled up and they're pursuing God

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 as well. So we have obedience and then being encouraged and strengthened by God.

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 Let's jump down to verse two now again.

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 And you shall do to AI and its king as you did to Jericho and its king. Only its spoil and its

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 cattle you shall take as booty for yourselves. Lay an ambush for the city behind it. So Joshua

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 rose and all the people of war to go against AI. Joshua chose 30,000 men of valor and sent them

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 away by night. And he commanded them saying, behold, you shall lie an ambush against the city

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 behind the city. Do not go very far from the city, but all of you be ready. Then I and all

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 the people who are with me will approach the city and it will come about when they have gone

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 out against us at the first that we shall flee before them because that's what happened last

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 time. They ran away because they're being killed for they will come out after us till

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 we have drawn them from the city for they will say they are fleeing before us as at the time

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 at the first time. Therefore we will flee before them. Then you shall rise from the ambush and

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 seize the city for the Lord your God will deliver it into your hand and it will be when you have

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 taken the city that you shall set the city on fire according to the commandment of the Lord

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 you shall do see I have commanded you. So this plan works out perfectly, which we'll jump down

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 and read about. But Joshua, this is the second battle that he got direct insight from God on

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 how to win it. And it's interesting that this first time they went against the city of AI,

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 it doesn't say anything about God's direction. It says Joshua sent out spies. They came back

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 and they're like, hey, we got this. These guys are tiny. We can wipe them out. Just send like

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 two or 3000 people as soldiers to kill them and we'll win. And Joshua was like, yeah, sure.

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 It sounds like a good plan. Well, that's when he chose they chose one of the bad guys, Aiken,

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 who messed everything up. But it doesn't say that he really unless I misread it. I'm like 99% sure

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 he just had this plan. They went and did it and they lost. But the battle before this with

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 Jericho, you know, it was the seven times marching around the stomping the blowing your

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 horns. This was a plan from God. The walls fell down and they won the battle. Then they had a

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 plan of their own. It failed. And now God's giving them a plan and they're going to win.

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 And it's important to realize that like God has specific plans. He has wisdom for our life,

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 literally like that you need to hear that I need to hear today for our, my life, your life. We

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 need to know what he says, because if he has intricate plans like this for a battle,

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 like how much more does he have plans to prosper you and not to harm you in your life,

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 in your marriage, in your friendships, in your business or, you know, your work, whatever you do,

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 God wants you. He does want you to point people to him. And that is lots of times through success,

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 but also it's times through trials and how you respond. But I mean, I think some of those

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 soldiers, if they didn't know this was God's plan to run away, they could be like, oh no,

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 I'm like, I'm on the defense again. I'm running away. We're going to get killed.

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 But they were aware of the fact that this is what God wanted. Jericho told them.

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 And so even when you feel like things aren't going your way and you feel like you're retreating

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 or you're in a trial or a persecution, remember God has a plan and everything.

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 And don't suddenly lose heart and don't, you know, misrepresent God because things

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 aren't going your way, but always like remember he has a plan and ask him for the answer

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 in that the hard times you're in as well. So I have some examples. Honestly,

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 sorry, I have a lot of allergies. I'm okay. Sorry. Yeah, I got bad allergies. I'm on like,

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 I know I'm on like 10 different things, which isn't good. No, it's not. So I have a couple

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 examples of that. I mean, honestly, like I had a business in Nashville that I Maria and I were

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 praying about and there's so many confirmations and we did it and it was great. You know,

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 we did it for five years and it did awesome. And then we sold it. But during that time,

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 I became like a Joshua where I was like, Oh, like, okay, this works out. God blesses things

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 I do. Now I have this idea. I'm going to do it. And it was like some, it was a shipping

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 business for Amazon. And if you buy a box truck, you can have someone drive and do all these

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 deliveries. I'm like, yeah. So like, I just went for it and like, you know, I prayed about it and

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 I like didn't really pray long enough to get real direction. And I was just like, I got it.

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 And Maria's like, do you think you should really be doing that now? Like might be better to wait.

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 And I was like, no, watch. Like it'll be good. It'll work its way out.

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 We didn't even end up doing one delivery for Amazon. It did not go well. I was overwhelmed

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 and the box truck that I had bought, I ended up using it for my other business,

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 doing deliveries. And this college kid drove it under a bridge and just destroyed the entire box.

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 And it was like $9,000 in damage. And again, I didn't pray about this next thing. But I'm like,

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 Oh, this business, I can't have the hit my insurance. I'll pay out of pocket the nine grand.

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 So I pay out of pocket. And a few months later, we dissolved the business and I could have had

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 it under insurance. Like it was just so many things that I'm like, I got to make this work

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 because you know, I can do it. And then I look back and like, that was a lot of stress,

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 a lot of money, a lot of wasted time that had I really prayed and listened to my wife.

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 If I just waited, like none of that would have happened. And so there are areas in your life

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 that are just really simple, sometimes like decisions and choices that if you pray about,

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 you can be saved from a lot of pain and heartache. And you can actually walk into

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 much better things for you. I love Proverbs three, five through six,

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 everyone should know this one. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own

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 understanding and all your ways submit to him and he will make your path straight.

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 I love that. If you just trust him, trust him. He has a plan for you. And if you submit to him,

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 again, obedience, he will make your path straight. He won't make your path become a

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 truck under a bridge. Okay, that won't happen. And if it does glorify a minute,

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 I had some good conversations with my employee after that. And, you know,

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 I'm believing he will walk with the Lord after that. All right. So the points again, we had

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 obedience, be encouraged by God and seek his wisdom and his plan.

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 Let's jump down from verse eight to 18. Then the Lord said to Joshua,

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 stretch out the spear that is in your hand toward AI for I will give it into your hand.

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 And Joshua stretched out the spear that was in his hand toward the city.

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 So those in ambush arose quickly out of their place. They ran as soon as he had stretched it

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 out and they entered the city and took it and hurried to set the city on fire.

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 And when the men of AI looked behind them and they saw behold the smoke of the city ascended to

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 heaven. So they had no power to flee this way or that way. And the people who had fled to the

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 wilderness turned back on the pursuers. Now, when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had

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 taken the city and that the smoke of the city ascended, they turned back and struck down the

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 men of AI. Then the others came out of the city against them so that they were caught in

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 the midst of Israel. Some on this side and some on that side. And they struck them down

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 so they let none of them remain or escape. But the king of AI they took alive and brought him

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 to Joshua and it came to pass when Israel had made an end of slaying all the inhabitants of AI

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 in the field and the wilderness where they pursued them. And when they all had fallen by

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 the edge of the sword until they were consumed that all the Israelites returned AI and struck

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 it with the edge of the sword. So it was that all who fell that day both men and women were 12,000

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 all the people of AI for Joshua did not draw back his hand with which he stretched out the spear

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 until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of AI. Only the livestock and the spoil of that

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 city Israel took as booty for themselves according to the word of the Lord which he had commanded

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 Joshua. So Joshua burned AI and made it a heap forever a desolation to this day. And the king

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 of AI hanged on a tree until evening and as soon as the sun was down Joshua commanded that they

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 should take his corpse down from the tree cast it at the entrance of the gate of the city raise over

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 it a great heap of stones that remains to this day. Pretty brutal like he did not allow anything

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 anyone at all to escape. And there's a lot of good commentaries like you know obviously

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 there's parts of us that are immediately like everyone had to die like couldn't it just be like

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 the really bad people. That's the thing though like the people all the people in here were really

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 bad like kind of like at the level that we saw pre-flood where the bible says that every single

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 thought and intention of their heart was always evil all the time. That makes today seem like

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 you know we're living a perfect life and also like the amount of stuff that I don't even

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 open and accept it is just so disgusting. Like we don't even see anything like that today on that

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 on that level that um you know wiping these people out was needed like this could not continue.

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 So if you have some concerns and questions about that there's a lot of good videos and

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 commentaries on that I would totally recommend. But there is a message to us today and I love

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 let me find my verse

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 yeah I don't know if I had that one but what it's showing us is we cannot give the enemy a foothold

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 in our lives. This was the land of Israel it was God said take it and don't leave anyone and if

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 we give if they gave the enemy a foothold which they actually did they became a thorn in their side

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 they were tempted drawn away and they ended up losing the land like they were out for a really

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 long time and a lot of people died and there was so much sin and sickness and awful stuff because

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 they let the enemy still live in their land and what that says to me is I don't want to let

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 the enemy have a square inch of my house. I don't want to let the enemy have a single moment

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 of my day because if I start allowing sin in my life and trying to hide it and justify it and say

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 it's okay it grows like hidden sin just grows it doesn't get better on its own and we see like

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 Jesus like in Galatians it says those who are Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions

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 and desires crucifixion was brutal and it was both like total like you're killing this person

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 as well as it's a spectacle like look this person did something horrible which we I love that Jesus

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 never did a single thing a single sin and yet he took our sin and went through that kind of

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 humiliation and pain but this for us like we need to realize like we need to crucify

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 the passions that we have the desires that we have that are not of God and we can't allow it

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 to continue and live because it will start to thrive um I remember uh growing up my

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 grandma I remember when we were at uh Langhorne Terrace Baptist Church and we had the pews and

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 you had the little two dogs that were like magnetic and one was black one was white and

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 they like magnetized to their faces like they're opposed I just remember we still remember I think

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 Zach uses that analogy you have them here tonight okay that would be awesome

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 yeah but she said like you have these two dogs and you know it's the one white dog obviously

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 is like you know this you're you know the new man the new nature that the spirit-filled man

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 that talks about in the bio then you have the flesh which which is the black dog and if you

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 feed the white dog it grows and grows and the black dog starves and starves until it's

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 non-existent and the white dog you know crushes it you feed the black dog it grows and grows

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 and the white dog you know withers away and the black dog defeats it and so I think that's

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 essentially what you said but that's true for us if we feed our flesh which the bible says

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 technically is dead like it's it died like our flesh died with Christ and we're risen in new life

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 with him but if we doubt that and we feed the our old ways like well those desires will grow

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 we need to crucify the flesh and we need to also push the enemy push Satan out and rebuke him in

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 every area of our life and I love Romans 16 20 the God of peace will soon crush Satan

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 under your feet the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you God makes peace in our life

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 it is him that does it the God of peace makes peace in our life by crushing Satan under our

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 feet and grace which is essentially God's power and ability to do what he's called us to

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 the grace of the Lord will be with you and he enables you to do it

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 Ephesians 6 let's actually turn there

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 all right

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 verse 10

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 finally my brethren be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might

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 put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil

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 for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalities against powers against

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 the rulers of the darkness of this age against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the high places

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 therefore take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day

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 and having done all to stand stand therefore having girded your waist with truth having put on the

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 breastplate of righteousness having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace

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 above all taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts

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 of the wicked one and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the word of

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 God praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit be watchful to this end with all

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 perseverance and supplication for all the saints what a powerful passage like we go through our life

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 sometimes and we forget we're in the middle of a battlefield like there's a war raging around us

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 that we need to be aware of and it's not the people you know so many people are like it's the

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 libs you know it's like obviously you know and people will say it on the other side whatever

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 there are spiritual hosts of wickedness like in the high places of government on both sides

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 there is evil stuff at play and we need to be aware that the only hill we want to die on

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 is the hill of the cross right that is the hill we die on and obviously things flow from there

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 we stand for truth we stand to protect those who are oppressed all of that but we don't hitch our

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 you know i heard this say like sometimes people hitch their cart to like a political party and

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 they'll like ride or die with this political party like we only do that with Jesus that's

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 that's who is our ride and die right ride or die like it is Jesus he is the one that we

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 we follow with that kind of fervor so we wrestle against evil things but we have so many great

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 promises here like number one being aware of the truth of the word of God makes you aware of the

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 truth and all the deceptions around you we need to know what the truth is i love the breastplate

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 of righteousness because this has spoken to me so much because in your own works you'll never

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 be good enough you're gonna fail if you start condemning yourself because of your own righteousness

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 that you're wearing your own like breastplate like you will be fall into despair but if you

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 realize you're wearing the righteousness of God that protects your heart that's why we wear the

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 breastplate of righteousness his righteousness protects our heart from condemnation and from

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 puts out the attacks of the enemy if you lack faith guess what you can just ask God and he

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 gives it to you but if you're constantly doubting that God is in control and has a plan for you

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 and wants to turn things around and wants to glorify his name in your life and you start to

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 doubt that and you have no faith the attacks of the enemy hit you and they're fiery and they

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 start burning but if you have faith you can put out every single attack of the enemy

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 obviously the helmet of salvation being aware that heaven is coming Jesus is returning and

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 the sword of the spirit which is the word of God we we kill the things of the flesh and the enemy

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 and all of it by knowing the word of God and you know you don't have to have a memorize but it

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 helps but knowing the truth and using it as a weapon like Jesus did when he was tempted in the

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 wilderness so leave no room for the enemy show no mercy push him out of your life by the power of

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 God finally yeah we're doing good let's go back to joshua joshua 8 verse 30

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 now joshua built an altar to the Lord God of israel in mount yball

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 as moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the children of israel as it is written in the book

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 of the law of moses an altar of whole stones over which no man has wielded an iron tool

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 i like that God essentially built his own altar they are undefiled objects from the earth that

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 he created at creation and so he didn't want people working on them with tools that's pretty

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 cool and they offered on at burnt offerings to the Lord and sacrificed peace offerings and there in

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 the presence of the children of israel he wrote on the stones a copy of the law of moses which he

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 had written then all israel with their elders and officers and judges stood on either side of

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 the ark before the priests the leviets who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord

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 the stranger as well as he who was born among them half of them were in front of the mount of

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 garizim and the and half of them were in front of mount yball as moses the servant of the Lord had

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 commanded before that they should bless the people of israel and afterward he read all the words of

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 the law the blessings and the cursings according to all that is written in the book of the law

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 there was not a word of all that moses had commanded which joshua did not read

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 before all the assembly of israel which the with the women the little ones and the strangers who

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 were living among them man it took us months to get through leviticus numbers all that

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 and he read that whole thing right then that must have been a long worship service and sometimes

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 people complain about an hour and a half that was a long worship service but these people were

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 dedicated right they were dedicated to God and he reviewed the law to remind them that they were

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 a holy people that they and they renewed their dedication to this covenant to God

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 and in this dedication right there was worship there was praising him there was sacrifice

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 and they read the word of God and it's important for us all these steps of what it looks like

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 to truly be led by God and to be a good leader this is a huge one to dedicate yourself we need

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 to dedicate ourselves to God both in practice which looks like worshiping him it looks like

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 reading his word studying it marinating on it daily um but also like it's not just actions

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 it's our heart do we realize like in first peter says you are a chosen people a royal priesthood a

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 holy nation God's special possession that you may declare the praises of him who called you

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 out of darkness into his wonderful light he calls us a holy nation and a royal priesthood

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 that is some new covenant dedication to God like we are so separated from all of our old life

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 and everything that is evil in this world that were so separated that we're like priests like

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 priests back then they were so holy and separate from like the the common things and the dirty

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 things and like so are we like we need to be walking in our daily life dedicated to him

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 both in actions but especially like we need to be doing it in our hearts

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 and that looks like worshiping him that looks like praising him that looks like thanking him

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 always like that looks like meditating on his word and when you realize the bar to which you're called

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 i found it makes me want to rise to the occasion right when you realize you are a royal priesthood

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 you are an ambassador of Christ suddenly you're motivated you're not just some random wandering

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 Christian what just waiting around for Jesus to come back if you think about him like you are

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 literally sent on a mission to proclaim the word of reconciliation because there's a heaven and

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 a hell and Jesus is coming back soon and he's empowered you to do amazing things that

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 eternally change people's lives and that is being an ambassador and a minister someone who just

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 simply is led by Jesus and points people to Jesus and he does the rest so i want to pray us out i

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 have some questions but i hope i hope you guys are encouraged i know i was studying this like

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 it's so important on a daily basis i feel like i'm just reminding myself like what i'm a part of

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 you know someone oh maria asked me yeah someone my wife asked me she's like she heard a question

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 and it was great she's like what are you thankful for uh for God apart from like the

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 obvious sins forgiven and salvation and you know obviously all the blessings of family and stuff but

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 like what's something that you're thankful for and for me i immediately thought like i'm just

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 so thankful that i'm a part of something so much bigger than myself i'm so thankful that i have

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 so much purpose that is like wrapped up in him like if i'm truly an ambassador of Christ

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 if i truly have good works that he's called me to walk in that he had planned since the beginning

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 of time then this is a pretty big deal like each day of my life is a pretty big deal and it's the

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 truth and that's the truth for you too like if you feel like like depressed or bored or like

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 confused about the meaning of life like this is it you are part of something massive you the

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 random people you walk by are people and callings on your life that you can point them to him and

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 like they can be saved and it's just amazing like we need to remind ourselves the helmet of

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 salvation we need to be constantly thinking about this amazing thing that we're a part of

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 and live as if he's coming back today so let's pray Lord i just thank you so much um

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 that you are our head Lord you are our forerunner you are the greatest leader Lord you are king your

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 God Lord and i just thank you so much um that we have you to look to God you're not a distant God

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 Lord but you are right here so close you're in this place right now Lord and when we go home

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 Lords you say we can find you in the secret place that the father is in the secret place

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 and so Lord i pray that we would prioritize the secret place Lord that we would take time out in

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 the morning or the evening or wherever it is Lord to get alone with you so that we can

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 find your wisdom Lord we can find your acceptance and your encouragement that we can be led by you

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 Lord and in turn we could lead people to know you as well i just thank you so much uh for your

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 love for us God your grace and your mercy and i pray that you would bless these conversations

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 tonight Jesus name amen so i do have some questions there we go take a picture um

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 so who has been a leader in your life and what did you love about them

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 what areas of your life do you see yourself as a leader are you allowing God to use you

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 that's a double right there and how aware are you lately of God's hand in your life

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 and the last one let's just be honest like there's no judgment if you feel like you've been distracted

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 lately because all of us have gone through that it's best to just be like yeah i've been distracted

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 and i'm not really aware of God moving me and like guiding me and it'll be a good thing to pray about

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 thanks for joining us at Lansdale life church as we praise God and discuss his word

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 don't forget to join us for worship live Sunday mornings at 10 a.m eastern

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 on YouTube be blessed and have a great day