Welcome to the Lansdale Life Church podcast.
If you're seeking a closer relationship with Jesus Christ, this podcast is for you.
Thank you for joining us today.
Okay, Joshua 10, 1 through 43.
Here is a quick reference chapter outline which we'll go through just to give you a perspective
in the first five verses.
There is an attack against Gibeon, and the city of Gibeon deceptively made peace with Israel,
and I think we remember that story where they dressed up as beggars and long travelers from
afar, and here they were in a neighboring piece of real estate, and they asked that there
would be a covenant that would be given them.
And when they deceptively received the covenant, the surrounding kings saw this as betrayal,
so Gibeon was targeted.
Number two, Gibeon cries out for help, verses six and seven, Joshua responds immediately
because Israel's covenant now required them to protect Gibeon.
Number three, God gives the promise of victory before the battle.
Think about this in our own lives.
The Lord tells Joshua, don't fear, I have given them into your hands.
Number four, Joshua obeys and advances nine through eleven.
God threw the enemy into confusion and sent hail stones from heaven.
And as we go through the scriptures, we understand that more people in battle were killed by
the hail stones than by the sword.
So in five it says that the sun stands still, and that's still an amazing thing in my mind.
How Joshua prays boldly and God answers miraculously and says that the Lord fought for Israel.
And number six, the five kings are defeated.
Joshua finishes what God began.
The kings were found hiding in a cave, and they were brought out and judged.
And lastly, in verses 28 through 43, southern cities were conquered by Joshua.
He continues the campaign to purge the land, and one city after another falls with
repeated success.
So here we have just a note.
If God gives promises, He keeps His promises.
Remember that.
I yellow line them.
I have given them into your hands.
And we would hope that in some instances when we pray for things that we understand that
God has given the situation into our hands.
And He sent hail stones from heaven.
He worked miracles.
And then it says that the Lord fought for Israel.
So often we take the mantle of resistance and fight ourselves, and we already know the answer
to that.
That really doesn't work very well.
It's when we let God work through us to fight the battles before us.
Okay, that's the background.
Now, the alignment with God's people brings opposition, and you can think about that in
your own life.
Like Gibeon, our new loyalty, which we now have in Christ, sometimes becomes difficult
in the sense that there may be loyalties that you have had in the past, and as you
begin to change those loyalties, they bring conflict in your life.
They may bring indecision because, gee, did I do the right thing?
And sometimes doubt.
However, changing sides and following Christ may make you, quote, unquote, odd.
How many have ever had that thrown at them?
Gee, you're different.
Don't like you.
In the eyes of our old friends, our work associates, our social connections, and others.
Before you were just another person talking the same stuff, trash, or whatever, doing the
same thing, doing what they do, now you're different, and you're no fun.
But you know what?
It's the best life, isn't it, when you're on this side of Calvary?
Oh my gosh.
What a contrast.
Priorities become different.
What are they?
Well, chasing for the approval of others and living only for personal gain just doesn't
fit any more.
And that is an adjustment.
That doesn't miraculously happen.
It becomes in those of you that have been following the Lord and you have ever worked
with people.
There is maybe some insecurities and some questions and maybe this and maybe that.
But as you begin to build a life in God, you'll see that there's no going back
because anything back there is what is empty compared to what we have.
So what does the living like a Christian life look like?
Our desires begin to change.
The values begin to shift.
And the things that once were felt as normal no longer really makes a lot of
sense.
Anybody identify with that?
So what matters is now honoring God and walking in obedience to Him like the
Gibeonites.
They considered themselves part of Israel.
They were the servants.
They hauled bricks.
They brought water.
They were the servants.
They assimilated in.
And so they made a life.
So now my question to you, what circumstances may have made you realize that
self-centered living was no longer satisfying?
What comes up to mind when we ask this question?
What instance or what series of instances made you realize that this just wasn't
satisfying?
What you were about?
Who you are?
It's kind of now put on the side and now you're wanting to follow the Lord.
What does that look like in your life or what did it look like?
Oh, good, good, good, good.
Yes, sir.
Having children.
Okay.
When you have children, it kind of makes you realize that self-centered
living is not going to do anything anymore.
Tell me, isn't it?
Yeah.
You know your peers, you know your peers, maybe you even work with them or
know friends, that they still don't give that up.
They still want life for themselves and then the kids get drug along,
secondary.
So when it says that you give your life up for your family, that's what
we're about, right?
Yes.
Okay.
Good deal.
What's your name?
I'm Isaac.
My name is Isaac.
Okay.
Isaac John here.
Good to see you.
Nice to meet you.
Anything else?
What comes to mind?
It's been so long ago, you forgot.
You want to say something, Charlie?
Well, I will.
It's embarrassing, but...
No.
Hey, we're all family here.
What are the reasons I'm here?
But about 20 years ago, well, I used to be kind of a drinker and
that thing there were about friends, you know, making, having the
wrong friends and trying to get ahead and impress people and stuff.
Yes.
Well, I got dragged out from after work with a bunch of people,
like all the people I worked with, and they had heard me, you
know, always talking about God and stuff to them, but I wasn't
being a good witness doing that, but I went out with them anyway
and they decided they were going to get me really drunk
because just to make me fall.
That was the challenge, right?
And so I got so bad that they had to, some guy had to drive
me home and get a cab and take me home.
And I just remember being upstairs, hanging over the toilet,
throwing up with my family, looking in the door at me with like
horror and shock.
And I just remember looking at them and saying, what are you
looking at?
And I decided just that morning when I woke up the next day
that that was it.
I was going to quit drinking and I stopped drinking after that.
So it's been like 20 years now, but I'm still paying the
price for everything I did before that going out drinking.
So and that's my story.
Yeah, you know, hugging the porcelain Goddess isn't fun,
is it?
Anything else?
Yes.
I think Ginny was first.
We'll let her go first.
I married the wrong person and I just wanted to be married in
the worst way and I wanted to be like other women and have
the respect and the social standing and got more confidence
at my job.
And of course at work, they're like, oh now she has a husband
and that that pressure is real in the workplace and in life.
You get more respect when you have a husband versus being
on your own.
It's it shouldn't be that way, but he turned out to be an alcoholic
and then he wanted me to drink with him.
And one night I had a margarita.
I just had one and I could only drink half of it.
And I was like, whoa, once once Charles brought this up,
this came to my mind and I was like and I could remember saying
to my husband, I've got to lay down and I went upstairs and my
bedroom was spinning.
This never happened to me before.
I was in my 30s at this point and I had to get up at 7 o'clock
the next morning to go to work.
But needless to say that marriage didn't work out because I
married the wrong man and didn't follow God.
God was telling me to get out of there and get rid of this
guy and I didn't listen.
And the consequences were grave a divorce putting a house up
on a short sale.
Disrupting everybody else's life and my kids turned out okay
despite that.
But now that I'm on my own.
I just I get up in the morning and I'm doing my devotions
and yes, Ryan after coffee.
But any yeah, well, we had a talk about that on Thursday
and Ryan said it was drugs, but anyhow, but you know, I just
I'm fine getting up doing my devotions getting to know
the Lord.
I am not concerned about what people think anymore and I
don't need a man.
I really want to get to know the Lord and just I'm good
the way I am.
Well, mine sounds like ditto compared to St. Jenny's.
I was just saying sitting here thinking it's it doesn't
pay to be unequally yoked to somebody and I thought that
I thought this Steve was a Christian.
I went to marry him if he hadn't been but he turned
out to be just nominally Christian and the same thing.
He wanted me to go drinking with him and he was mad at
me because I wouldn't go drinking with him and I'm like
we have three kids.
I'm not going to go drinking with you and leave the kids
alone.
What are you thinking and yeah, eventually the church
came and kicked him out of my house and then here I
was with three kids on my own.
So yeah, it's it pays to really know your relationship
with the Lord and put that first.
Yeah, the thought of that utopian marriage the thought
of that wonderful house with the picket fence and
the flowers.
Those things are euphemisms when you come down to
it when you get down to the practical aspects of
it.
If you don't have the Lord joining you together like
these two ladies have said, you know that that that
picture is quickly destroyed and fortunately whether
or not it's later in life or in the middle of your
life learning that is such a plus to be able to offload
those circumstances and that weight of sin and confusion
and argument and chaos so that you can have peace
in your heart.
You know, I mean that's that's that's what it is.
God brings peace.
Anyone else?
Any thoughts?
All right.
Okay, good.
Thank you for sharing.
So we have this.
Circumstance that we go through and let's look at
the progression of how we get to the abiding
peace of God.
Well, first of all, the self-life can be described as
my goals, my comfort, my decisions, my control, my
feelings, and you know, you can identify with this
either personally or through other friends that you
have my approval, my success, and of course, it's
all about me.
So that's where you start.
So as you come to Christ, there is now an awareness
that something is really missing.
You can't quite put your finger on it, but
something's missing and that's the awareness of
sin in your life.
That's the awareness that you do have limits and
it's an awareness that you really need God.
God begins now to draw you in your heart, your
mind, your will, and your life to himself as you
open up to him.
Seek me and I will be found.
And as you do that, that awareness becomes then
part of your life and you begin to surrender
what it is that you are.
Conscious decisions, not my will but yours, Lord,
letting go of control and pride and self-rule, slow
process.
Sometimes it doesn't happen overnight, but trust
then after you begin to get through some of these
things begins to replace the striving and that's
when the peace of God really comes when you
begin to offload these things.
So we have a self-life.
We have an awareness.
We have surrender and the next thing is then the
renewal process.
Thinking begins to change through Scripture and
if you don't get your nose in the word, you
won't know that there's a comparative analysis that
the Holy Spirit brings to your conscience so
that you can feed into your life blood and
into your spirit those things which are righteous.
So again, those desires come about through
Scripture, reading, prayer, praise and new
desires begin to formulate in your life.
It's less about me, less about the self and
more about God.
So you see the transformation slowly change and
your identity now shifts.
This is important.
It's from self-made to God-led.
It's as simple as I can put it in easy forms
as you yield to that process and this may
may take months or years depending upon where
you're at and what your willingness is.
And then after that, there is obedience.
Okay, wait till I get the end.
There's six of them across here.
Then you can have them all.
So you get the whole stuff.
I'm not trying to tell you what to do, but
then in obedience, faith becomes now visible.
Faith is something that is built within you
as you yield and as you walk with God and
sometimes you see the appearance of things
that materialize.
Other times you don't, you wait before the
Lord, but faith begins to be built.
Then there is a idea that choices align with
what God says in his word and not feelings.
Remember the other thing in self-life, my
goals, my comfort, my decisions, my control.
And now what is it that you want, Lord?
What are those feelings that you're giving
me?
This is different and then growth happens
through daily discussions and decisions
with the Lord about who you are.
And then last, God-centered life.
This is where you get the meat of what
you're being taught.
It's God's will.
What is it, Lord, that you want?
What is your will?
What do you want me to do?
God's glory, not my own, not for me,
but for him.
We are a lowly servant,
caring for those people that are coming
across our path.
As best we can to distribute the seed,
the love of God and God's purposes.
Lord, what is your purpose in this?
Where can I find you?
How can I get into understanding what
your purpose is?
And one big thing in this area, peace
abides in your heart.
How many realize that when the peace of
God comes, you just don't want to get rid
of it?
I mean, it's so precious.
I mean the abiding of God's presence
in your life.
And then purpose replaces the confusion,
the chaos, and all those many things
that represent the self-life.
And then out of that, you influence
others by how you live,
how you talk,
how you act, and how you do.
Not just the theoretical, but in the doing.
So that's the progression that we go
through to be able to be servants
of the Lord.
And not that you're not servants
in the surrendering to renewal,
the renewal to obedience,
but ultimately the God-centered life
is that you're just a lowly servant.
And I always say, my wife and I
always, we declare to one another,
Lord, it is better to be a door
servant in the house of God than
anything else.
And that's simple as you know,
it's nothing but being a servant
at the door.
So question,
what was or is the hardest thing
for you to release control over
coming from the past life into this life?
What's that look like?
And as you think about that,
some of you remember my litany
of stories in the sense that
in following the Lord, being a pastor,
being an elder in different churches,
I had to face in 2015 when I knew
that my wife needed to have
more care at some point in time.
So we moved to retirement community.
And one of the big things was
giving up my car collection.
Man, I had five beautiful gaggles,
you know, wonderful, worked on
them, loved them.
And that was a decision that
I had to make over a year's period
of time.
And the Lord said, well, do you,
what do you want the five cars
your wife?
So that was an easy decision,
but it took me time to relinquish
that I fought for that thing.
I said, no, we can do this.
You know, all these beauties in
the grave, it covers over and
take them out.
Oh, you know, all that stuff
and now it's gone and you know
what I don't even look back
and I don't even would I don't
even want to go back to that
arena anymore.
It's just so pleasant to be
where I am at in the Lord.
So what was the some of the
points in your life that turned
you?
It was when I, excuse me, was
about between 50 and 60 years
old.
I'm a lot older than that now.
I'm not telling what.
But anyway, I actually said to
the Lord, I was annoyed with
George about something and God
had put George in my life.
I didn't choose if you have to
know that.
I mean, I'm glad he did that,
but he was not my initial choice
and so anyway, I said to the
Lord one day, why isn't George
perfect?
You picked him out for me.
So why isn't he perfect?
And God literally said to me,
when are you going to realize
it's not about you?
And I was like, what are you
talking about?
He said, you have to be
willing to give me everything
Gail and just abandon yourself
to me and trust me completely
so that I can do anything with
you that I want and you have to
trust me and you have to yield
yourself to me completely.
And it was about a year that I
struggled with him over that.
But once I did, I'm like, why
did I wait so long?
This is amazing.
So yeah, but it was a big
thing.
Anybody else have anything that
was the big change in their
life?
Anybody want to share?
All right, that's okay.
Oh, Roger.
Hello.
Okay.
I would say money would be a
big thing, you know, you know,
in the early days here on the
edge of survival like all young
couples are and I would not
want to give up control of,
you know, feeling that I had
to, you know, I didn't mind
tithing but anything over that
that's right.
And so I'd say yeah, that was
an issue.
Okay, you know, I think perhaps
maybe you were like my wife's
mom.
They were they were preachers
kids and they didn't have a
lot of money and every time
she would go to a bill and my
wife would watch her mom, she'd
open her purse and there would
be an envelope in there.
Let's say for groceries, she'd
bring the money out and as the
cash register person took it
she would hold on to it.
She just didn't want to let it
go and then the man had to grab
it out.
So maybe you were the same way
with your checks.
Believe it or not a church.
I had gone to my previous
church almost 12 years.
I was known I had cleaned for a
lot a lot of the people and
I was just it was like it was a
I was so familiar.
I could like no one would blink
an eye when I would go downstairs
and in the library or the gym
or whatever.
So I but I knew I had needed to
lease some time and I'm like,
no, no, no, no, no, no, I'm not
going to God and it actually had
to take a church splitting for
me to leave and then when I
came here, I realized how the
church was more religious and
more about things that I didn't
see that were I think they
meant well, but I thought they
were caught up in things that
were not important and and I
was like, this is hard going
to from a church that I'm kind
of everyone knows me to like I
barely know anyone.
God bless you, honey.
You know something in the in
the sense of life we we have we
have hopes and dreams and when
we relinquish that God I
believe gives us better than
what we would even anticipate for
ourselves and that's wonderful
that you relinquish that and to
support what she has said.
That's why it's important when
you see faces that you don't
know is to introduce yourself,
you know, be friend do and how
you don't know what's God's
going to bring about from that
and I give a testimony when
Jenny started to come here.
I don't know whether it was
Gail or whether it was myself
somebody invited you to a small
group.
Who was that?
Was that you or me?
I forget.
Okay, so, you know, and and I
could have gone down the aisle
that did whatever but she has
become such a precious part of
our group and it was only
because and I'm not using
myself as an example.
Somebody stepped out and offered
and befriended and here we are
good life in the in the sense
of the body of Christ.
I think one of the hardest things
even after I became a Christian
was getting secular rock and
roll out of my life and you
know, it didn't seem like a big
deal because I know a lot of
born-again Christians that
listen to rock and roll and
listen to secular pop music and
I mean I was getting the lead
out and you know at Calvary
Church of Satterton.
They just joked about it like
oh, yeah, you listen to Led Zeppelin
and well during covid.
I watched a YouTube channel
and God got rid of my television.
My my Verizon went on the brink
and then I got rid of them and
then I just realized I could
save money just by getting
internet and not the television.
So then I was watching YouTube
and came across good fight
ministries and they had this
whole segment.
They sold their souls to rock
and roll and I watched that
and I was appalled when I
realized what Led Zeppelin was
all about and you know when I
actually got the education
there and stop listening to rock
and roll secular rock.
I listen to Christian music
but not yeah, well, you know,
you know what's funny?
I made that progression.
I used to like 50s rock and roll 60s.
I mean up until probably 10 years
ago and now what's funny with
this new car I got that's part
of the transportation issue for
Joni and has a special gate in
the back and it has a feature
on the radio about sounds of
nature sounds of the universe
soothing.
So I made the transition from
rock and roll to classical and
it was nice but when I turn
on the radio even classical to
me is and all I do is when I
punch this thing it's birds
singing water flowing and it's
so soothing.
I can't get over it.
I mean, you know, you change in
the sense of what you listen
to not that there's anything
with rock wrong with with
classical but it's just that
your tastes begin to change.
Yes, Brian.
Specifically to that point
because this past the past week
two weeks.
I haven't listened to any music
at all and I went through this
cycle where the type of music
it's not it's not rock and
roll but it's basically, you
know, very secular and it's you
know, it's it's stuff that even
a lot of the stuff that they
say it's it's you know, and I
knew this and that was talking
about a hard thing to release
control over this.
So that was something that
especially going to the gym,
you know, like the type of
stuff like, you know, like it's
kind of like the heavy metal,
you know, stuff that's like
pumping you up and you know,
and it was just all it was it
was filthy.
Really.
If you really listen to the
words and like but then you
go to the beat and you can
like you can play off at all.
I'm just listening to the beat
but like you like pumping that
in like constantly and so,
you know, I went through a
period of time in this in
the last nine years that I
was you know that I didn't
listen to any music at all.
I was like taking everything
I couldn't like and I
remember thinking back and
most recently I was like,
you know, this last few months
I've been really getting on
track and I've been like,
you know, thinking back to
when, you know, I was on
point like long, you know,
and and I remember I wasn't I
didn't listen to any music at
all, you know, and once I
started listening to some music
and then I went back to kind
of what I liked, you know,
it was, you know, and so the
last so just speaking on
what she was saying in this
last question the last week
or two weeks and I almost I
almost gave in today, you
know, or or, yeah, on the
way home. I almost gave in
today and I put on the put
on Spotify, but advertisements
came on and I was like, I
really want to listen to just
one particular song and it's
very worldly, you know, and
I've and I went around the
block and I and another
another advertisement and I
couldn't, you know, to the
point where, you know, like
eventually I was like, you
know why and I just I just
turned it off. I'm like, you
know what, like, yeah, I
shouldn't be listening to
that anyway. And and so, yeah,
when you talk about the music
that so literally this last
week or two weeks and like
silence from that I feel
has, you know, it is I feel
has helped clear me out.
It's it's all that's your
spirit. Yeah. Good. All
right. Was that a hand for
something? Oh, you okay?
No. Okay. All right. So
here's another question along
those lines. If God is truly
at the center of your life,
what would others see differently
about you between B.C. and
A.D. not general things. What
would they see different about
you coming from the old life
to the new life? What would
that look like? All right. How
are you? Good. How are you?
Good. No problem. I would
say like related to the first
question. I think what people
would see differently about me
is that I'm not as self-centered
not selfish, you know, not
doing things just because
this is how I feel not
leading on my own understanding
and they would see that I'm
keeping God first because that
was my answer to the first
question. Like one of the
hardest things for me to release
control over is, you know, just
my life just in general, you
know, because you want to trust
God but things could go left
and you know, you want to you
always want to have a backup
plan just in case. So just
releasing all that and just
trusting God like kind of
like that blind faith, you
know, it's kind of it's hard.
But yeah, I think that's
what people would see. So you
didn't burn all your bridges
at first, right? Yeah. Okay.
All right. Anything else? Yes,
Dottie. When I was first saved,
my neighbor and my neighbor
and I before we were saved,
we used to sit and have coffee
together and sort of
philosophize over all the
different religions and ideas
and all that kind of stuff,
you know, and everything and
we thought we had it all
figured out. And then I
got saved and I was so
excited to run down to her
house. Wrong. And I'm a friend
who is just a coffee drinker
just having a good time, you
know, together and she kicked
me out. She said you can
leave and big time. She said
Dottie, you just can't say
it's just Jesus is the way
the truth in the light. I
said, well, I don't know. I
just found that out. That's
what we've been looking
for. Carol, you know, I found
out that she was a Rocha
Crucian. So no wonder there
were some things going on
that was quite different. And
so, but you know, about three
months later, the Lord worked
on me because I think I was
probably real preachy. And
yeah, and and the Lord said
me, Dottie, I want you to go
back and I want you to
apologize. Ask her forgiveness
for just not what I said,
but how I said it. And I
did and and Carol said, come
on in, have a cup of tea.
Did you get back to your
coffee? Yes, we did. Well,
yes and no.
Yes. Sometimes when you
have a difference now of
persuasion, you sit around
and don't know what to talk
about. I have my sons.
We'll turn it back on. So
you can pray for me. Next
Monday is our next time
together. So, you know, it's
not like an hour. I mean,
you know, two and a half
hours go by. We're still
having coffee and you know
in the restaurant and they
just about kick us out the
door for somebody else to
sit in that booth. But it
is what it is. But it is
hard to find that common
ground sometimes to to to
befriend people, but God
will give it to you. Okay.
So we have a couple of
questions we answered. Let's
take a look at a statement.
If Christ is living within
us, the evidence that others
will see is not what we
say or how we live our life
for how we respond and how
we treat others. What's
that look like? Well, first
of all, it's loving one
another in 1st John 5 to if
we love and obey God, we
will know that we will love
his children. Serving is
another aspect. 1st Peter
410. Each of you have been
blessed with some of God's
wonderful gifts to be used
in the service of others
to use your gifts. Well,
another exhortations showing
kindness to one another Ephesians
432 and be kind to one
another tender hearted
forgiving one another even
as God for Christ's sake has
forgiven you another
exhortations show hospitality
1st Peter 4 9 be hospitable
to one another without
grudging. So maybe that's
my challenge this week.
Forgiving one another
Colossians 3 13 forgive
anyone who does you wrong
just as Christ has forgiven
you and the last aspect here
of what we look like is help
the fallen and the needy
Ecclesiastes 4 10 if you
fall your friend can help
you up. But if you fall
without having a friend
nearby you are really in
trouble. So that is the
exhortation that we should
have loving serving showing
kindness showing hospitality
forgiving and helping the
falling now.
Yeah.
Showing hospitality
you have to understand that
when he says hospitable to
one another that means to
Christians it doesn't mean
that you can't show love to
outsiders but at the same
time you should not show the
kind of hospitality that
brings a person who is not
a Christian into your home
because that's opening the
door for seat.
It really is it's in John
3.
I'm a brother and the
in that exhortation.
I just want to make that
clear.
That's good.
It's saying in John
and I do.
We know that
we love this show.
Yeah.
Love everybody the same
love children or single
of everybody because everybody
is his children.
No, no, no, no, no, no,
that's how they shall know.
Yes, and not that we're
supposed to not be kind to
strangers.
It's not saying that it's
just saying be careful
who you're hospitable to
and bring into your home.
Do not bring somebody who's
not a person into your home
and like invite them in
and to stay for a while.
Yeah, same with open arms
you embrace somebody now.
I would embrace you as
arms because you're a
fellow believer.
I would still invite you
into my house if you were
not a believer, but I
wouldn't open my arms.
I would be kind to you
hospitable to you in order
to win you.
Yes, in order to befriend
you hope that you see
something in our lives
that you would want but
that's there's a differentiation
between Christian and
non-Christian.
Okay.
Yes, yes, yes.
I want to say I disagree
with that, but I do have
a question with that.
So I get what you guys
are saying about that.
But what about when Jesus
came down into the all the
disciples like none
of them were Christians.
None of them were anywhere
near what we're supposed
to be but Jesus opened
his arms to all of them
full-heartedly and he was
hospitable to all of them.
Like I just feel like if
we're supposed to be like
Jesus the culture kind of
says watch out for certain
people, but I feel like
Jesus if you look at what
he did in the Bible, it
kind of says the opposite
of that says it doesn't
matter what you drag
along behind you.
It's all is welcomed.
You know what I mean?
Like I feel like I kind
of look for the people
who are shunned against
the community Christians
have a home Christians
have the church as their
home. It's the people
outside the church who
don't have a place to
come and feel the
hospital hospitality that
Christians can provide.
Well, no, that's true.
And and and let me
differentiate a little
bit and help you out in
that when Christ started
his ministry, he eased
them into his understanding
and he worked slowly
with them and then he often
told them you do not
understand these things.
So he progressively opened
himself and his feelings
and that last day that
he was with them.
I wish that this cup
would pass from me and
he shared and he cried
with them. So you see
the relationship build
in a stronger sense
from when he started
with them and then
when he ended up with
them and that's basically
the same that we're
doing. Yes, we'll open
ourselves. Yes, we'll
manjah with them, but
as as they become one
with us, we open ourselves
totally without reservation.
Okay. All right. Good.
Good point though.
All right. Yes, Charlie.
What what Gail said,
it just reminded me of
something a long time
ago where I was going
to this church and
resist older woman and
she kind of took this
young guy under her
wing kind of and
you know, he was into
drugs and stuff and
she was trying to help
him and she would she
would do all kinds of
things for him and
take him to doctors
appointments and you
know, try to show him
God's love and
everything and then
one day he killed her
and he took he stole
he stole things from
her house that he so
he could get drugs.
And I think that's
kind of what
Gail means you have
to be it's good to
be kind to people
wise and wise
his serpents.
But you know the weeds
grow up with the with
the pears grow up with
the weeds.
So you have to you
have to be careful.
That's all and so
I mean if you have open
eyes and you try it
you try to be the
best you can towards
people and lead people
and just just have
some discernment.
That's all.
Well, a lot of you
never grew up with
the Jesus movement as I
did it and I ended up
with 40 kids in our
house in a home meeting 40
kids home meeting can
get that and I want
to tell you the stuff
that was off the wall and
so okay Lord, it was just
like babysitting 40
children.
You know, well, you know,
I'm living with this,
you know my over here and
then we're reading the
Bible and we're doing
this and something over
here and you know,
and I said, oh my God,
what you put me into but
you know out of that and
it fast forward about
four or five years as
some of the crowd thinned
out because we were preaching
the word and showing
them the light as we all
do I ended up with a couple
that we have a deep
Christian relationship with
after 35 years and
they know the Lord they're
serving the Lord and
the fruit of that
relationship in the
beginning was yes,
we opened our home.
Yes, we fed them.
But yes, now we have
somebody that's truly and
I don't consider them
a disciple anymore than
just a real dear friend
both his he and his wife.
I mean and that was a
progressive state,
you know over a period
of time and I'm saying
I'm not saying it takes
35 years.
But all I'm saying is
that there is a progression.
Yes, I'm not saying
that you shouldn't
be hospitable.
Georgia and I used to
participate in this
program called warm
showers where people
who are cycling across
the country could come
and stay at our house
overnight get a meal to
have a warm shower.
No charge.
One time we had this
young man who was
actually originally from
Taiwan.
He was studying in a
University in in
New York and we were
the first stop on his
trip across the country
and we shared the gospel
with him in our dinner
table that night and
he was amazed.
He said I've never heard
anything like this before
and so I mean opportunities
like that.
I'm not saying you
shouldn't be hospitable
like that.
I'm just saying just be
careful and don't have
people like Charlie was
saying come live in your
house for a while and
take over your life.
That's not proper.
Yeah, that's good.
Okay.
Yes, Brian.
You know, sometimes
I would feel that
that I was sort of called
just to to reach those
types of people like the
people that are outside of
the church, you know,
I've been quite the outcast
from the church from the
get-go growing up myself
and then sometimes I think
that like our God protects
me.
He allows me like and then
this you know, I was I
think about the verses
that talk about like
how the spirit, you know,
you can't fight the spirit
because it's more powerful
than you like it tells
us very clearly that
and so.
Basically, I used to
so I had to meditate on
on that because thinking
that like all right,
you know what I'm out
here and like, you know,
going into some real dark
heavy heavy spiritual
type of thing trying to
reach people that are
like, you know and basically
I'm not sure if basically
I think that we are supposed
to reach out to the people
that are outside of the
church and and basically to
basically pray to our God
to protect us from those
spiritual attacks and
still, you know, one way
or another.
I feel that there's a
type of people that I'm
extending a knowledge
branch to, you know,
there's no pre-qualification
to be friend.
There's no pre-pre-qualification
to bring them in.
It's just a matter of how
much you give of yourself
to them, you know,
and how much you open, you
know.
That's right.
You know, and this comes
and doesn't that bring
us full circle about when
we rely on God to direct
our paths, then he will
show us that individual
we should be going to that
group of people that we
should be going to, you
know, and and fast
forward in the sense that
yeah, we can go out and
evangelize but at the end
of the day, where did
God lead you in that
evangelistic out out flow
of your life, you know,
was it that you maybe
should have listened and
talked with this person
and so you didn't and
whatever.
So things kind of get
murky and confused.
Whereas when we have
God's leading the seed
is planted.
That's our responsibility
and whose responsibility
it is to bring increase.
It's his.
Yeah, so we just leave
it with the Lord.
All right.
So we're we're looking
at a lot of interesting
things here and in
verses 6 to 7 those
like the Gibeonites in
covenant can call for help.
So what's that look like?
The Gibeonites were not
Israelites by birth, but
they had the right to
call Joshua because they
had entered into a covenant
with Israel and when
they were threatened they
urgently sent word to
Joshua come help.
Don't abandon your servants.
It says come up quickly
to us and save us.
So Joshua responded immediately
and honored their covenant.
Here are some spiritual insights
into our covenant with God.
One covenant creates an
access to the Lord.
We are also in covenant
with God.
So prayer is again not
begging and some the
somebody that is distance to
us.
He is our friend.
He is our God.
It is calling upon a
relationship now already
established like a father
and son or father and
daughter.
So that gives us access to
covenant removes us from
standing alone in isolation
when we are in covenant
with God.
We are near we are never
fighting our battles alone.
Now, sometimes we choose
to until we understand
that relationship.
He wants all things brought
to him.
He desires to be our friends
our father covenant brings
a faithful response.
Joshua did not delay.
He went up from Gilgal
with his whole army
marching through the night
instantaneous response.
God responds to his covenant
people not reluctantly
but faithfully and often
swiftly.
And the last point is covenant
transforms our identity.
It's like the Gibeonites.
We were once outsiders,
but now we can say we are
your servants in Christ.
We move from outsiders to
belonging children who can
call on their father for
help when other one under
pressure.
We remember that we have
covenant backing.
He declared that to us when
we are overwhelmed.
We don't retreat.
We call for help and I
don't there's not enough
people in the church today
that call for help.
You come up to somebody
in church service.
How are you?
Oh, I'm fine.
Okay, I accept that but if
I keep hearing that all the
time and and and try this
on for size somebody comes
up to you and said,
how are you kind of give
it a give a rehearsed?
Well, you know, I had
this situation in my life
and I need prayer.
It's over kind of lay it
out there and see where it
goes.
I mean see how open people
become to that.
I mean we need to transfer
the help across the lines
and not just well,
I'm okay and when we pray
we approach God with
confidence not hesitation.
Okay, let's build on that
question.
What would confident prayer
look like in your life
right now?
What would you do with
confident prayer with the
confidence that you have?
My suggestion is this by
thanking him for answers
to prayer even before
they happen.
Go the next mile claim
that victory.
You know, you can dance
around that thing all your
life.
Lord, please help.
I'm being patient.
I've waited five years
for this.
Thank him.
I've gotten to the point
now where some of you know
that again, my wife is
disabled.
She has MS and naturally an
MS you die from complications.
That's not a happy thought.
But I started once again
after years of letting
God do what he was either
going to do or not do,
started praying for her
about three years ago.
And recently I just started
thanking him for her healing.
Not praying for her
healing but thanking him
for her healing.
So again, I had taken
that step.
All right.
God works through obedient
action verses 9 through 11.
Obedience then opens us
for God's power.
Joshua didn't wait for the
ideal conditions.
The weather was right.
The moon was not in the sky
so he could sneak up on them.
He just did it.
He acted on what he knew
was right.
God's intervention often meets
us in motion,
not in hesitation.
Well, I'm waiting for God.
Okay.
Well, you can wait for God.
But what action can you do?
Again, our action demonstrates
trust that we trust in him.
Again, marching all night
requires faith.
Gosh, Joshua couldn't see
the outcome yet.
Yet true faith isn't passive.
It takes steps forward
even when the full picture
may not be clear to us.
And then three,
God fights alongside our
obedience.
As Joshua engaged the army,
God threw them into confusion
and even sent hail stones
from heaven to kill them.
And the victory was clearly
God's.
It became, it came while
Joshua was actively engaged
in the battle.
Are we engaged in that battle?
And then fourth,
God's power always exceeds
our human effort.
I mean, I just can't say that enough.
I have enough mistakes in my life
to where I did something
and it was totally wrong
when I backed up and said,
okay, God, you take this
and you control it.
You work in it.
God worked things out.
Scripture says more died
from the hail stones
than by Israel's sword.
Our role then is obedience.
God's role is the outcome.
Like we plant seeds,
he brings the increase.
We obey
and he brings the outcome.
And he does far beyond
what we can do ourselves
when we stop sitting
and passively waiting
for God to show up.
And I've been in that situation
so I know those circumstances.
The question then,
as he calls us to step forward
in obedience,
what impediments cause us
to hesitate and not move forward?
What does our hesitations look like?
Why do we hesitate?
Fear? Fear of?
Fill in the blank.
Fear of?
Ah, boy.
A lot of the fears of...
Fear...
Being wrong?
Fear of not fitting in, maybe.
Okay.
Yeah, that's the fear of man,
that, isn't it?
That trumps the fear of God.
Yeah.
Okay, that's good.
Yes.
So, we are hesitating.
Why are we hesitating?
Well, related to the fear idea,
just like, well, in Joshua's case,
you know, they could be fearful of their life,
of dying.
That's one of the things
I think about when trusting God
is that, you know,
the Bible talks about when you serve God,
all those who live in Christ Jesus
shall suffer persecution.
So, you could suffer martyrdom.
You're putting your physical health
at risk and everything else.
So, things like that,
you think about it as just like, you know,
you may want to pull a Peter,
maybe deny the Lord,
just to get out of the physical torment
and punishment.
But yeah, it's stuff like that fear.
Well, you know, I have
tuned in on what they call 2CTV.
It's an Iran-y
journalist
that his parents are living in Iran
and he lives in the English settlement
outside London.
And every day he goes over what's happening.
And my heart bleeds for the,
and he shows videos
of the people and the martyrdom
that goes on just by virtue of them
wanting to be free
and then secondarily the Christian enclaves
within that.
And I've learned now through that,
that there is a tremendous outpouring
of the Holy Spirit
and universal visions of God
that people in thousands are coming to the Lord.
Now,
what's that have to do with what we're talking about?
Well, without persecution,
there probably wouldn't be the visitation
that's coming about.
It's amazing.
But yeah, you're right.
There's the fear of,
and you can fill in the blank.
Gail?
What's your fear?
Well,
it used to be
okay,
that I didn't trust in the sovereignty of God.
Because once I realized
and accepted the fact that God was sovereign
over everything
and that I could trust Him
no matter what the situation was,
then my fear disappeared.
I might still have a little bit of anxiety
and curiosity,
like how's this going to turn out?
But I don't have that same,
like,
I want to run away from this situation.
I can't,
I can't deal with this
because I'm just letting God just
play it through
and work in my heart to accept it
as His will being allowed
and that He is teaching me something through that.
Was that not a process?
It was a process,
a long process.
A to Z.
Yeah, I mean,
it's maybe sometimes a lifetime.
Ryan?
Yep?
Fear of moving forward without a vision.
Okay.
You know,
and so
the solution to that is pray for the vision.
It seems to be.
Because the vision accomplishes where you're going.
It's not this way and that way and back and forth.
Two steps forward, back.
Once you have the vision,
God then fills in the detail.
The calling of God.
You know,
when God called me to the ministry,
I said,
what's that?
I don't want that.
I was,
I was going down to the,
the Florida Atlantic Ocean Science Institute
to be a,
to be a naturalist
and explore the waters.
You had the calling before the vision.
Yeah, it was me.
Life turned around very quickly.
and that's a story for another day,
but it's the idea of what your vision is against what God wants for you.
You know,
I will say on this side of life,
it's a lot more blessed to stand up here at my age,
share with you the goodness of the Lord than it would be to be a successful marine biologist.
So anyway,
Amen.
So,
now there's something else?
Well,
wasn't it,
wasn't Joshua?
So didn't he have,
you know,
he was shown basically,
you know,
he was showing the vision that he couldn't be obedient without being shown something.
That's the whole point.
So without being shown something,
you know what I mean?
There's going to be fear because there's no vision.
There's no,
God didn't give him direction.
You know what I mean?
And being lost and being without purposes is where the fear comes from,
you know,
and so
I know I bounced around without a vision and I asked for prayer in this church
and I thank you guys for praying because you know,
I feel it's ready to move now.
So you were tethered out there pretty far.
Absolutely.
I was,
I was really trying to figure it out myself and I prayed for the vision and I see clearly now.
So I thought I'm not freaking out.
You know,
if it's in God's will,
you know,
I know it will be done.
But think about this.
Joshua had enough experiences with serving Moses and now he's the captain and all the miracles
that he probably didn't have fear.
But he didn't want to move without the Lord's blessing.
Think about that.
I mean that that's that's a mature statement of where I'm not completely there and that it wasn't necessarily fear in his part.
What he wanted to do is wait for God because he remembered what God did to the mountain when people didn't wait.
They built the calf.
You know,
the people were slaughtered.
People didn't listen.
They died in the wilderness and here is Joshua.
He made the transition because he trusted God.
That's a that's a tough thing to think about.
You know,
out of all those millions of people,
one guy made it.
Gee,
I was just going to say two guys didn't Caleb make it.
but I mean,
yeah,
yeah.
So Joshua,
what did he wait for?
Because it was,
you know,
this elite emotion,
so like no hesitation.
So that's what I was saying with that.
Yeah.
Okay.
God can't steer a parked car.
right.
You know,
you move and you know,
yeah,
so that resonated with me.
And so what,
what did he wait on?
So why?
He waited on the fishes.
Why?
Yeah.
Why did he wait?
Oh,
because he didn't hear from God.
Yeah,
he knew,
he knew what he had to do because there was a covenant established between the Gibeonites and them because he committed full force and measure to control and help the Gideonites for ward off.
The enemy which was they asked for help now.
Yes,
he did because they were now in covenant the covenant came after they deceived Joshua and the leaders.
Joshua and the leaders made a covenant.
Yes,
we'll take care of you.
You can be part of us and then they found out it wasn't a faraway land.
It was their neighbor next door.
But having made the covenant.
They were loyal to the covenant and then the act of obedience came when they were,
when he was asked to help for their protection.
Okay.
Yes,
study.
discussion tonight.
I was thinking of Joshua himself.
He believed God
and faith is really
the bottom line to all all this is really who God is and he was the one who
believed God with Caleb out of the 10 spies that went in in the first place.
So he waited all this time still in faith,
but he was learning.
He was building and understanding God's character understanding more of the covenant.
And so when he was ready to move take God was ready to move.
He knew his man and his man knew his God.
So he really had a relationship that that was fit for the battle.
There was no questions asked.
He am I doing the right thing because he already knew God was in back of him
because of covenant because of the obedience because of the promise that
God gave him and then he went forward now.
Excuse me a second here.
So I don't lose my voice.
Oh my gosh after eight o'clock now.
Yeah.
Okay, can God intervene
to accomplish his purposes?
We know the answer.
Yes.
Do we believe God can alter circumstances for his purposes?
Yes, we do.
So here are the
hailstones coming down.
Here is the sun and the moon stopping in their paths.
Oh, what a sight that was and these overt actions show God actively fighting
for the Gibeonites and completing the promise of covenant to them through
the Israelites about these wonderful miracles.
God is shown as Lord over all creation.
These miracles emphasize that the sun and the moon are created objects
under God's authority not deities.
This was especially significant in the ancient Near East where many
nations worship the sun and the moon Gods.
If you remember we talked much about this and the worship of all
these different things that were manifested in idols that the sun
and the moon the stars even some of the animals were worshipped and
we learned all that in Exodus.
These acts are a powerful criticism against pagan worship.
The Canaanites culture associated celestial bodies with divine powers
and Joshua 10 dramatically shows that what pagans revered really
just obeyed God's spoken word and did what he wanted them to do.
Time itself is under God's control.
The length and day symbolizes that God rules not only matter and
weather but time and seasons the time that the matter and the
weather I can get it's hard for me to I mean I believe it that get
my mind around the fact that he stopped time and he stopped the
seasons because of this need and he can accelerate or delay or sustain
whatever he needs to do for his purposes for your purposes and my
purposes that the Christ Christiology is the study of Jesus Christ
which supports Joshua as a historical type.
You know we see in Joshua his name Yeshua is the same root name
as Jesus is a type pointing to Christ Joshua's victory with
extended light foreshadows Jesus bringing the ultimate light and
final victory to us and the question is in what ways have you
experienced God accelerate delay sustained circumstances for his
purpose today and I won't ask that that we have gone past our
time so we'll finish the next two pages when God fights for
his people strongholds fall believe that believe that Joshua
faced a coalition of powerful Kings fortified cities united
armies and overwhelming opposition yet he knew what he had
to do by every human measure these were strongholds in other
words they were deeply rooted well-defined and intimidating
strongholds are one of the strongest releases of the enemy
when we try to fight alone.
He has a stronghold it's for us to ask the Lord to fight for
us and take these strongholds down but when God steps in the
battle everything changes he fights in ways we cannot and we
gave examples of that tonight victory is decisive when God
is involved and his presence turns defense into breakthrough
as it says in second Corinthians 10 for the weapons of our
warfare are the weapons of our wherefore are mighty through
the God to the pulling down of strongholds Amen for that.
All right.
Let's see what we got here.
God's victories.
We can we can shortcut that I want to kind of get to the end
remember this.
I'll go back a little bit at the bottom.
Not this question here but look at these resistance is of
resist on unresolved pain in your life build your life in
Christ confront reoccurring issues and stay faithful even
when progress feels slow.
Now what I'm giving you is a direct result of about three
and a half years of relationship and mentoring with
a man at Meadowood.
He started out a very successful individual think 1700 people
in the organization.
He was a an architect for he ran an architect firm.
He didn't know the Lord.
I met him in a when we had the Victory Garden at Meadowood
we were planning on who gets what plots to put vegetables
out and I won't mention his last name because I think
I don't want to embarrass him in this but we'll call him Bob
and he came to me and he said you know, he said we ought
to do this this and this and then I built a relationship
well all the time that we then when we start at the prayer
meeting on Wednesday his wife used to come and I said Bob
I said why don't you come you know, that's not for me.
So that was some years ago.
Well fast forward in our relationship of building him in
all those things that we talked about unresolved sin
doubt and so forth.
He now is presenting every fifth Wednesday.
That's his lot that he was willing to take an exhortation
about the Lord because now he knows the Lord.
He's asked me about the presence of God and we went
through that and this is what he says and this just blessed
me.
God is with us in a fresh new relationship every morning.
There's no tears that he doesn't notice.
God is never too busy to hear our prayers.
God is never perplexed or overwhelmed.
God is available to us at all times.
God is never taken by surprise.
God will not sleep and get drowsy.
God is never caught off guard.
God never gives us leftovers and God never comes up
short.
And God will not let you stumble.
I thought these things were again especially interesting
coming from a man that I knew that didn't know the Lord
to a man now that is serving and sharing in in a prayer
meeting and it just blessed me.
So I just want to give you those things as an example
of how God transforms people.
So Lord we thank you for your blessing tonight.
The good conversations that we have had.
Lord I trust that we walk away with a little bit more
of your understanding in our spirits that we can walk
closer to you serve you better.
Lord we thank you so much for calling us into your
kingdom each person here as they know you in the
name of Jesus and everyone said amen.
Thanks for joining us at Lansdale Life Church as we
praise God and discuss his word.
Don't forget to join us for worship live Sunday
mornings at 10 a.m. Eastern on YouTube.
Be blessed and have a great day.