Hey there my friend.

Welcome to the podcast today.

Brian Del Turco here.

Jesus Smart X the podcast.

And I'm here to talk about something that I think is important and it's called the Jericho Test.

That's what I'm calling it, the Jericho test or the explosive Jericho strategy.

How it opens the way to promise the truth is that we have to go through these sorts of tests and we can tease out the precedent and patterns for these things even in the Old Testament as well as the New Testament.

But as we engage the Jericho test, we can position ourselves to possess the land of promise in our personal world and in our assignment in our influence, the land of promise that God has destined for us and is calling us into.

Make no mistake about it, this glorifies God.

It also contributes to the greater Jesus story, the greater kingdom story that is unfurling and we can develop as a new covenant Christ follower as we learn from the patterns and precedents in the Old Testament.

We'll get right to this.

This is episode 350.

Can you believe it?

350 and our previous episode, episode 349, Success, God's Way.

Using these principles of, well, these concepts of principles, push and tact.

So we not only need to live and operate from sound kingdom principles, but we have to apply energy to it.

Push.

And we also need wisdom, we need tact so that we don't blow things up, keep everything on the rails and move it in the direction and towards the fruition that God wants to move it towards.

So I Encourage you, episode 349 to catch that if you haven't yet.

But welcome to the podcast Today.

There is this potential milk and honey that God has set before you and you are positioned just at the outset of that, like on the other side of the Jordan, to use the pattern in the Old Testament.

And you have to press through the j.

You have to press through the Jericho test.

We'll need to pass that test to transition into the new territory that the Lord has for us.

So in this case, the people of God were finally ready to transition from their 40 year wilderness experience after leaving Egypt.

And they were ready to transition to a land flowing with milk and honey, a territory of fertility, abundance and destiny.

And Jericho was the first major city to fall in the campaign to possess the promised land.

You can read about this in Joshua, chapter 6.

In the old Testament, you'll recall that there was another, smaller city right before Jericho, AI AI, which they did not conquer.

They experienced a defeat.

And there's a whole lesson there about why that defeat happened.

You can read about that.

But I'm saying, this is why I'm saying Jericho is the first major city to fall victoriously before the Israelites in their campaign to possess the Promised Land.

The city was built on a hill, and so it was in an elevated place.

It made it difficult to attack.

And even more, it was surrounded by.

By two walls, an outer wall that was six feet thick.

And they know this from archaeological studies and scholarship, but the outer wall was 6ft thick and the inner wall was 12ft thick.

There were timbers laid across these two walls, and houses were even built on the top of this outer and inner wall.

It was a formidable barrier.

Imagine in that day with no tanks, you know, no high explosives, but you have an outer wall that's 6ft thick and an inner wall 12ft and all.

And this entire city is on an elevated hill.

So normally, in that time, it would take an army several months to execute a siege on a city like this.

They would have to blockade it, starve out the people, and it would take weeks, months to do this.

But pure genius came to Joshua and the Israelites.

That's why this episode is about genius and it's about this explosive Jericho strategy, opening the way to promise.

Now, what does this experience of God's people at Jericho have to teach us today?

Well, we are called to develop.

We are, are prompted and motivated by God to develop as New Covenant Christ followers.

And we can learn many things from the patterns and precedents that we see in the Old Testament.

Let me read you a few sentences that Paul wrote in Romans 15, verse 4.

He said, for whatever things were written before were written for our learning.

In other words, these things that occurred with God's people in the Old Covenant, they were written for our learning that we, through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope.

So these patterns and these precedents, they reach their complete fulfillment in Christ.

The glory of the New Covenant, Paul wrote, surpasses the glory of the Old Covenant.

These exploits and these tremendous feats of faith that were experienced in the Old Covenant are in a real sense, inferior to the potential of the New Covenant.

The New Covenant surpasses the glory of the Old Covenant.

We have the fulfillment of these promises, these patterns, these precedents of how God works, what he can do in Christ in the New Covenant.

Paul also wrote in 2nd Corinthians 1:20, for as many as are the promises of God in Christ, they are yes.

Therefore, through him, through Christ also is our Amen.

Our agreement are, so be it to the glory of God through us.

So let's look at this pattern.

Okay, what do we see here?

I don't know what is before you?

You may have over the horizon faith, or you may have faith horizons where you know that the Lord is, is tilting you towards some fulfillment of some promises in your personal world, in the realm of your assignment and calling, and in the sphere of your influence and impact.

All of this is for the glory of God.

This is not for just personal, you know, aggrandizement or selfishness.

This is all for the glory and the story of God.

It all fits into a greater narrative, the Jesus story and the unfurling of his kingdom.

So let's look at this.

The first thing we want to mention is that as Joshua, just on the eve of this conquest of Jericho, he encountered a man with a drawn sword.

You can read about this in Joshua, chapter five.

And we know, looking back at this and, and looking at the whole council of Scripture, that this was a pre incarnate visitation of Jesus Christ.

Scholars would call this a christophany.

Do you know there were times where even before Christ came in the incarnation as a baby at the beginning of the Gospels, there were times where he came to the earth as a christophany, a pre incarnate.

That's what that means, a pre birth visitation of Christ on the earth.

And this is one of those experiences.

And Joshua, he fell on his face.

He worshiped what's referred to as the captain of the Lord's angel armies, the Lord of hosts.

Just to show you how militant God is, the most common name for God in the scriptures is the Lord of hosts, which means the Lord of the angel armies.

And this was the appearance of Christ.

In this capacity, Moses took off his shoes.

Well, just as Moses, I should should say, took off his shoes before the burning bush, Joshua was told to take off his shoes, for he was on holy ground.

So just as God appeared in the burning bush to communicate with Moses and commission him to bring the Israelites out of Egypt and to confront Pharaoh, So now, May 40 years later, in the same way, Joshua, who was the successor of Moses, is told to take off his shoes, for he was on holy ground.

This is God appearing to him.

This is Christ himself.

So Joshua positioned himself, now you're going to see, to receive some special directives.

So here's a big part of the explosive Jericho strategy.

It's to position ourselves before the commander, to receive specific directives, answers and solutions and directions.

We are to take on that matter, on that opportunity, on that challenge that you're Facing then the precedent is, don't say what most people are saying.

We're going to see that we need to lift up our shout, our high praise and our life message to the king and watch barriers fall.

So the direction was to march around this city six days in silence.

Only the priests were to blow the trumpets of the rams horns during those six days as they marched with the ark of the Lord.

And then on the seventh day when the priests blew the trumpets, the people were to raise a great shout.

And as they shouted to the Lord, it was we'll come back to this.

But it was the commander of the Lord's army who ascended in their shout to reign over their challenge.

I've heard that archaeologists, biblical archaeologists and those who have studied this site, it appears that the walls did not fall out flat.

It appears that they were just shoved vertically into the ground.

And that gets me to think that there was some kind of a host of angel army that descended on those walls and frankly just shoved them straight in the ground.

They were able to go up over those, over that, over that fall of the wall, straight into the city.

Now let me ask this question though.

Here's another principle we can, we can really pull out from this.

Why do you think God had them march around the walls for six days in silence, don't say anything.

He wanted their mouths shut.

Why?

Well, what kept them in the wilderness for 40 years?

The murmuring, the grumbling, the complaining in their tent.

Oh that we could go back to Egypt.

Oh that we could eat leeks and onions by the Nile.

Oh you brought us out here to die.

Were there not enough graves in Egypt, Moses, that we could just stay there and end our lives there?

We want to return to slavery.

I think in the Book of Numbers.

I don't have a reference for you, but you could search this out.

I think it's fascinating.

It says there that the Lord heard what was being said in their tents and the Lord promised, just as you have said, so I will do to you.

Isn't that something?

We need to know this.

Our words are important, our everyday, even conversational speech and our venting verbally is vital.

We want to vent with the Holy Spirit and say God's words and speak God's promises and magnify the Lord with our venting.

If we're going to vent, let's vent in Kingdom way, right?

Let's vent in a way that actually is conducive to angelic activity.

They perform the word of the Lord.

We're not to address angels or to pray to them.

We're to pray to the Father, but we can ask the Father.

Lord, would you send out your ministering spirits right now to minister on my behalf?

And let me just, you know, declare to you who you are, your nature.

Let me magnify you, let me speak your words of promise and give those angels some fuel, if you will, to energize them.

And they perform the word of the Lord.

It says, I believe in Psalm 103.

And so we want to be careful about that.

I mean, the Israelites in the wilderness, they got to that point where they were so chronically negative and murmuring and complaining.

Eventually God says, I've heard you.

I've heard what you're saying in your tent.

You thought you were just talking to each other, but I was listening.

And just as you've talked, that's what I'm going to do to you.

I'm going to make sure that your future is just like you've been chronically saying.

Right?

So the Lord shut their mouths this time.

That's what I think.

I think he.

The last thing he needed would be for them to.

To be walking around these walls and complaining and murmuring.

He had them walk for seven days or six days with their mouths shut.

You discipline your mouth.

He's saying, I think this is all part of it in this case, and I think there's a lot we can learn here.

But just imagine the angelic activity which was released that pent up faith.

And when they obeyed that and then released a shout to the Lord.

Think of that angelic activity that was released when the walls of Jericho were flattened.

A great verse in Psalm 118, verse 15.

The sound of joyful shouting and salvation is in the tents of the righteous.

But it doesn't end there.

There's more.

The right hand of the Lord does.

Valiantly.

Do you want.

Do you need the right hand of the Lord to act valiantly on something in your life or calling?

Well, then you need to fill the sound.

The sound of your tent, your domicile, your life needs to be filled with joyful shouting and salvation.

Can you see the correlation here between the sound of joyful shouting and salvation and the activity of the right hand of the Lord?

The right hand of the Lord always speaks of his royal authority and strength.

Whenever he bears his sleeve and begins to push out his right hand and into the earth and do something, it's over.

Whatever he's applying his right hand to immediately yields to the sovereignty of God.

Notice that correlation, the correlation between the sound of joyful shouting and salvation in your life, in your mouth, in your conversation, in your home, in your work, in your pursuits.

The correlation between all of that and the activity of the right hand of the Lord on your behalf.

So what are some takeaways?

I got just four very quick takeaways from this precedent, from this pattern.

We need to get skillful in the kingdom, don't we?

How does God work?

What does he understand about humanity?

We need to yield to his ways, to his patterns, to his precedent.

Number one, Discover this precedent from the epic Jericho event and let's seek fresh encounters with the Commander.

You know, there's.

I think this way often.

I'm not perfect at it, I'm not perfectly consistent with it, but I think this way often.

There may be something pulling on my focus, something pulling on my attention, and it just.

It's just kind of in me.

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I don't got.

I can't listen to this.

I can't keep allowing my energy to be siphoned off into this issue.

People.

Issues, circumstantial issues.

Our priority is to seek fresh encounters with the Commander.

And let's commit ourselves to his directives.

He, when we come in, he knows what our attitude is.

When we come before him, do we have a commitment to his directives?

And let's don't declare what we've been saying during those wilderness years or what the generations are saying.

Let's be silent.

The power of silence.

Silence is power.

Then when it is time to open our mouth and shout with heaven sound, that's the precedent that we're after.

Number two, in addition to this discovering and just allowing this precedent to instruct us, Number two, let's take some time to think about what could be called from the realm of science, the signal to noise ratio in our life.

How can I filter the noise around me?

And let's be honest, let's get real.

What about the noise on the inside, that internal speak?

What are you going to do?

What are you going to do?

What are you going to do?

What about that?

What would they think?

You tried this before, whatever that is, that internal noise on the inside.

We have noise on the outside coming at us.

We have noise on the inside that tries to.

To.

To conflate and fill us.

And let's resolve to discover that true signal from the Commander.

Let's resolve to tune into that and to amplify that and allow that to resonate within us.

This comes from the Lord.

So let's take Some time to do an audit.

Let's do an odd.

Let's do an audio audit.

Boy, there's almost the word audio in the word audit.

I wonder about that.

But let's take some time to to do an audit about the signal to noise ratio in our life.

How can I filter out the noise external to me coming from people and circumstances and scenarios and situations?

And what about that noise on the inside?

What am I allowed to resonate to echo within me?

And can I come up with a fresh commitment to really discover and lock in on that true signal?

Because what we want is a signal.

We don't want the noise to be high and the signal to be low.

We want the signal to be high and the noise to be low.

Or maybe non existent, if we can take it that far.

Resolve to discover and amplify the true signal of your life that comes from the Lord.

So the first takeaway is to, hey, let's hook into this Jericho precedent.

The second thing is to do an audit.

Let's take some time to think about our signal to noise ratio.

Number three.

Now release your shout with high praise.

Make a joyful noise.

Declare God's promises with firm faith.

You have to speak, you have to open your mouth.

Remember, your shout is filled with God's thoughts, God's words.

And it truly is your authentic internal voice coming via your new nature, your born again spirit.

It's a life voice which guides you and it overcomes.

Don't make the mistake of minimizing this.

Your shout is greater than all the other noise.

And if you could understand what the demons, how they respond to your authentic life voice and your shout of faith in the promises, what it does to them, you would be doing it more often.

So would I.

Your shout is greater.

Release your shout with high praise.

Make a joyful noise.

Amen.

So discover this precedent, this Jericho genius.

Number two, let's, let's work on our signal to noise ratio.

And number three.

Now release our shout.

Now here's, here's the best one, because we have to do these three to get to this one.

Number four.

As the sound of your life shout increases, expect God to ascend over the affairs of your life.

This is to me is one of the greatest promises in the Bible.

Psalm 68:1.

Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered.

Okay?

When God stands up, when he rises up over that situation in your life, your enemies will be scattered.

They do not stay.

They can't.

Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered.

And there's also a verse which says Says that God has gone up in the midst of the shout.

He has gone up in the midst of the shout.

Now, wait a minute, you might say, I thought God was already king.

He's already sovereign.

He's already transcendent over everything.

Yeah, he is.

But we need to localize this.

We need to make it personal.

We need him to rise up and ascend over that circumstance, that situation, that scenario.

Maybe that door of opportunity that's before you, or maybe that mountain that needs to be removed so that you can proceed.

Expect God to ascend over these particular specific affairs of your life.

Let God arise.

We don't need abstract dogma or theology here.

We need materialization.

We need a localization.

We need an applied specificity to something in our life that brings glory to him, points to him, releases more of the of the potential in you.

So as your life shout increases, expect God to ascend over the affairs of your life.

The scripture says God has ascended in the midst of the shout, the shout of faith.

So there we have it.

Four takeaways.

Discover this precedent.

Signal to noise ratio.

Release your shout with high praise and then an expectation that God will ascend over the affairs as your life.

Now, as I.

As you engage this kingdom dynamic, and maybe you can share this with others.

One of the best things you could do, if something really, you know, resonates with you and gets highlighted for you, you need to tell someone else about it.

You need to teach them, you need to disciple them.

Not only apply it to your own life, but also begin to talk it up with others, share it with them.

And as you engage this kingdom dynamic, you can progressively possess the land of promise that God has destined for you.

We need to see this template, this principle, this pattern, this precedent, and God will receive the glory.

His story will be pointed to and his purpose will be realized.

What do you think?

We've been blessed.

I'll land it with this.

Paul says in Ephesians 1:3, we've already been blessed with every blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.

We just need to make this commitment to the commander with his directives and release a higher sound.

So, Holy Spirit, we do ask that you would give us illumination and understanding, that you would give us a new breakthrough in sound in our life, that God inhabits, that angels traffic on, and that releases us into new things.

We thank you for it.

We commit to it.

In Jesus name, Amen.

Well, this is episode 350.

Thanks for listening.

Do you know anybody who would value this today or you think could be, you know, prompted by it or encouraged or challenged by it.

Would you share this episode with them?

Episode 350.

It's available.

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Share it with them.

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Okay.

Hope to catch you next time.