1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:03,520 Hello and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast, 2 00:00:03,600 --> 00:00:06,480 where we are proclaiming the truth to the world. 3 00:00:06,640 --> 00:00:09,720 My name is Pastor Josh, and I want to thank you for listening to 4 00:00:09,720 --> 00:00:10,480 this podcast. 5 00:00:10,960 --> 00:00:14,680 I hope that this podcast can be a blessing to you and strengthen 6 00:00:14,680 --> 00:00:16,080 you in the word of God. 7 00:00:16,800 --> 00:00:20,120 Now, come along, let's look into the Bible and see what God has 8 00:00:20,120 --> 00:00:21,440 for us here today. 9 00:00:23,440 --> 00:00:25,120 Well, we're in the book of Joshua. 10 00:00:25,280 --> 00:00:27,360 Turn with me to Joshua chapter nine. 11 00:00:27,360 --> 00:00:29,840 We're going to pick up where we left off two weeks ago. 12 00:00:30,490 --> 00:00:35,490 Last week we weren't able to meet, but I do know that even after 13 00:00:35,490 --> 00:00:36,610 one week, we need some. 14 00:00:36,610 --> 00:00:39,450 Some recap when we study the Word of God. 15 00:00:39,450 --> 00:00:43,610 So in Joshua, chapter eight, it was this great revival that happens 16 00:00:43,610 --> 00:00:44,890 with the children of Israel. 17 00:00:44,890 --> 00:00:49,130 If you remember, they come out of a failure in a place called AI 18 00:00:49,610 --> 00:00:54,170 and they are not seeking the Lord's guidance, not seeking the 19 00:00:54,170 --> 00:00:54,730 Lord's wisdom. 20 00:00:54,730 --> 00:00:57,130 They go into battle, they have sin in the camp. 21 00:00:57,130 --> 00:00:58,890 Ultimately, they get that right. 22 00:00:58,890 --> 00:01:00,490 They go back, they have a great victory. 23 00:01:00,570 --> 00:01:00,730 And. 24 00:01:00,800 --> 00:01:03,840 And after that, Joshua rounds all the Israelites up. 25 00:01:03,840 --> 00:01:09,240 They follow Moses's guidance earlier on to build an altar there 26 00:01:09,240 --> 00:01:10,400 at Mount Ebal. 27 00:01:10,400 --> 00:01:12,960 And there's the blessings and the cursings. 28 00:01:12,960 --> 00:01:14,240 You have Mount Gerizim. 29 00:01:14,240 --> 00:01:17,680 And there was all of that that we talked about last time, and even 30 00:01:18,240 --> 00:01:20,560 some of the archaeological finds that have come about through 31 00:01:20,560 --> 00:01:23,360 that, that have validated these stories in Scripture. 32 00:01:23,600 --> 00:01:25,360 And there's this great revival. 33 00:01:26,240 --> 00:01:28,000 They commit themselves to obedience. 34 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:29,350 They commit themselves to. 35 00:01:29,740 --> 00:01:30,700 To following the Lord. 36 00:01:30,700 --> 00:01:33,460 And then we get to chapter nine, and this is sometimes what 37 00:01:33,460 --> 00:01:34,540 happens in our own life. 38 00:01:34,860 --> 00:01:36,580 We get to a place of revival. 39 00:01:36,580 --> 00:01:39,020 We get to a place of a spiritual victory. 40 00:01:39,820 --> 00:01:41,900 We would even maybe call it a spiritual high. 41 00:01:41,900 --> 00:01:43,700 We're in that place of victory. 42 00:01:43,700 --> 00:01:48,260 And then right away, when we find those times of obedience, when 43 00:01:48,260 --> 00:01:48,460 they. 44 00:01:48,460 --> 00:01:51,260 When we find those times of blessing, the attack comes. 45 00:01:51,260 --> 00:01:54,460 And the attack can come from different sources, from different 46 00:01:54,460 --> 00:01:54,980 angles. 47 00:01:54,980 --> 00:01:57,820 And we see in verse number one of Joshua, chapter nine. 48 00:01:57,820 --> 00:02:01,960 And it came to pass when all the kings which were on this side, 49 00:02:01,960 --> 00:02:05,160 Jordan, in the hills and in the valleys, and in all the coasts 50 00:02:05,160 --> 00:02:08,480 of the great sea, over against Lebanon, the Hittite, the Amorite, 51 00:02:08,480 --> 00:02:12,400 the Canaanite, the Perizzite, and the Hivite and the Jebusite heard 52 00:02:12,400 --> 00:02:12,880 thereof. 53 00:02:12,880 --> 00:02:13,760 And what did they hear of? 54 00:02:13,760 --> 00:02:17,240 They heard of the victory that the Israelites had, and they heard 55 00:02:17,240 --> 00:02:19,280 of their dedication to the Lord. 56 00:02:19,280 --> 00:02:21,000 They heard about the altar that was built. 57 00:02:21,320 --> 00:02:23,960 They heard about those blessings that they had received. 58 00:02:24,200 --> 00:02:25,160 And what did they do? 59 00:02:25,160 --> 00:02:28,360 Well, verse two, that they gather themselves together to fight 60 00:02:28,360 --> 00:02:31,180 with Joshua and, and with Israel with one accord. 61 00:02:31,180 --> 00:02:34,980 And so what they essentially see here is that all the evil pagan 62 00:02:34,980 --> 00:02:38,260 nations around them are uniting against good. 63 00:02:38,260 --> 00:02:42,020 And we talked about this last time that oftentimes when we are 64 00:02:42,020 --> 00:02:45,859 standing up for the things of God, the enemy will come against 65 00:02:45,859 --> 00:02:46,900 us in different forms. 66 00:02:46,900 --> 00:02:49,940 And one of those forms would just be head on attacks from the 67 00:02:49,940 --> 00:02:50,260 enemy. 68 00:02:50,260 --> 00:02:53,260 And actually what we see is people that disagree amongst themselves 69 00:02:53,500 --> 00:02:56,100 can at least agree on the fact that they don't agree with what we're 70 00:02:56,100 --> 00:02:58,170 doing, the power of God and the truth of God. 71 00:02:58,170 --> 00:02:59,610 And so they're going to come against us. 72 00:03:00,010 --> 00:03:03,370 And so when the Canaanite kings heard that the Lord delivered 73 00:03:03,530 --> 00:03:09,530 Jericho and delivered AI to Israel, they come against Israel. 74 00:03:09,530 --> 00:03:13,290 And this is the classic attack on, on the front side. 75 00:03:13,290 --> 00:03:16,210 They're going to try to defeat Israel on the field of battle in 76 00:03:16,210 --> 00:03:17,330 a head to head competition. 77 00:03:17,330 --> 00:03:19,730 And that's sometimes how the battle is for us in our life. 78 00:03:19,730 --> 00:03:22,930 I mean, obviously evil comes our way and we have a decision on 79 00:03:22,930 --> 00:03:24,170 how we're going to deal with that. 80 00:03:24,170 --> 00:03:30,360 But then we're going to see that in verse number three that there's 81 00:03:30,360 --> 00:03:31,720 going to be another type of attack. 82 00:03:32,040 --> 00:03:35,480 There's going to be an attack that doesn't come on the front, but 83 00:03:35,480 --> 00:03:37,880 actually comes secretively with deceit. 84 00:03:38,760 --> 00:03:42,440 And so one of the ideas that I think we need to think about here 85 00:03:42,440 --> 00:03:47,040 this evening and what we need to learn in our lives is that oftentimes 86 00:03:47,040 --> 00:03:49,680 Satan isn't going to package temptation. 87 00:03:49,680 --> 00:03:52,960 He's not going to package evil in a way that looks evil. 88 00:03:52,960 --> 00:03:53,640 On the front side. 89 00:03:53,640 --> 00:03:57,290 It actually might look unassuming, it might look innocent, 90 00:03:57,290 --> 00:03:59,690 it might even look pleasurable or beneficial. 91 00:03:59,690 --> 00:04:02,970 But what the Bible says is that ultimately when we compromise 92 00:04:02,970 --> 00:04:06,010 what God has told us to do, we're going to find ourselves in 93 00:04:06,010 --> 00:04:07,050 great difficulty. 94 00:04:07,530 --> 00:04:10,929 We're going to find ourselves in a place where we wish we never 95 00:04:10,929 --> 00:04:11,210 got. 96 00:04:11,210 --> 00:04:12,210 And so verse three. 97 00:04:12,210 --> 00:04:15,690 And when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done 98 00:04:15,690 --> 00:04:20,330 to Jericho and to AI, they did work willily or deceitfully and went 99 00:04:20,330 --> 00:04:24,510 and made as if they had been ambassadors and took old sacks upon 100 00:04:24,510 --> 00:04:27,870 their asses, and wine bottles old and rent, and bound up and old 101 00:04:27,870 --> 00:04:31,310 shoes and clouded up their feet, and old garments upon them, 102 00:04:31,310 --> 00:04:34,430 and all the bread of their provision was dry and moldy. 103 00:04:34,430 --> 00:04:39,309 So these people, these, these people from Gibeon hear about the 104 00:04:39,309 --> 00:04:41,670 victory and they say, okay, instead of attacking straight on, 105 00:04:41,670 --> 00:04:44,350 what we're going to do is we're going to try to pretend like 106 00:04:44,350 --> 00:04:47,470 we're Travelers, we're going to try to pretend like we come from 107 00:04:47,470 --> 00:04:50,070 a far away place and we're beggars and we need help. 108 00:04:50,500 --> 00:04:53,220 But really what they were trying to do was assimilate into 109 00:04:53,700 --> 00:04:55,620 Israel so that they would not be defeated. 110 00:04:56,500 --> 00:04:59,540 And so this is a very interesting way that we see attack 111 00:04:59,620 --> 00:05:00,220 coming in. 112 00:05:00,220 --> 00:05:04,420 So they craftily and deceitfully come in and they try 113 00:05:04,420 --> 00:05:07,940 to lead Israel into making a peace treaty with them. 114 00:05:07,940 --> 00:05:09,820 And so that actually might sound good. 115 00:05:09,820 --> 00:05:13,580 It might say to, to your thought, well, maybe this is a good 116 00:05:13,580 --> 00:05:14,140 thing for Israel. 117 00:05:14,140 --> 00:05:16,260 Maybe Israel should make a peace treaty with Gibeon. 118 00:05:16,790 --> 00:05:20,150 But the Bible actually says in the book of Exodus, Exodus, chapter 119 00:05:20,150 --> 00:05:24,150 23 that Israel was forbidden to make peace treaties with any of 120 00:05:24,150 --> 00:05:25,190 the tribes of Canaan. 121 00:05:25,270 --> 00:05:30,390 So they have a directive from God not to make a peace treaty with 122 00:05:30,710 --> 00:05:32,150 these Canaanite people. 123 00:05:32,469 --> 00:05:35,470 But yet what's going to happen is that they're going to think about 124 00:05:35,470 --> 00:05:38,950 this and they're going to basically allow themselves to fall 125 00:05:38,950 --> 00:05:42,310 into the trap of this deceit and make a peace treaty. 126 00:05:42,990 --> 00:05:47,350 And so we need to notice the way that these Gibeonites came to 127 00:05:47,350 --> 00:05:51,070 Israel because oftentimes this is how evil sneaks into our life. 128 00:05:51,230 --> 00:05:54,110 And so we need to notice the methods of deception. 129 00:05:54,510 --> 00:05:56,590 And the Bible says that Satan is a deceiver. 130 00:05:57,070 --> 00:05:59,150 The Bible says that Satan is the father of lies. 131 00:05:59,150 --> 00:06:02,990 And oftentimes we even know that he will come in in a way that 132 00:06:02,990 --> 00:06:07,750 seems to be maybe not that harmful, maybe almost as we would 133 00:06:07,750 --> 00:06:09,380 see in our life, this will help me. 134 00:06:09,380 --> 00:06:10,700 This will benefit me. 135 00:06:10,700 --> 00:06:13,460 And we see in Ephesians chapter 6 the whole idea of the armor 136 00:06:13,460 --> 00:06:13,900 of God. 137 00:06:14,300 --> 00:06:15,900 Satan is, is, is crafty. 138 00:06:15,900 --> 00:06:17,020 He's got deception. 139 00:06:17,020 --> 00:06:20,180 The Bible says that we need to arm ourselves with the armor of God. 140 00:06:20,180 --> 00:06:22,980 We need to prepare ourselves for this battle. 141 00:06:22,980 --> 00:06:26,420 Because why Satan is going to try to deceive us and come in a place 142 00:06:26,420 --> 00:06:28,260 that doesn't seem to affect us. 143 00:06:28,260 --> 00:06:32,460 And so he, he does that just as the Gibeonites do here. 144 00:06:32,620 --> 00:06:36,050 And so we need to notice that they came in, as it says here, Willy, 145 00:06:36,050 --> 00:06:41,010 or that's craftily, cleverly, they come in with man's wisdom, they 146 00:06:41,010 --> 00:06:42,730 come in with tricks. 147 00:06:42,730 --> 00:06:47,210 They come in in a way that doesn't seem to be as clear as what 148 00:06:47,210 --> 00:06:48,370 we would hope they would be. 149 00:06:48,610 --> 00:06:51,050 We always hope that people are clear with us and honest with us. 150 00:06:51,050 --> 00:06:53,850 But the truth is, is that people in the world and Satan are 151 00:06:53,850 --> 00:06:54,610 not going to play fair. 152 00:06:54,610 --> 00:06:56,850 They're not going to play by what we would consider to be the 153 00:06:56,850 --> 00:06:57,050 rules. 154 00:06:57,050 --> 00:06:58,890 And that's exactly what happens here. 155 00:06:58,890 --> 00:07:03,020 And so they come in, they were clever and they misrepresented themselves. 156 00:07:03,020 --> 00:07:06,220 They pretend, you see that there in verse four says that they, 157 00:07:06,220 --> 00:07:09,340 they made as if they had been ambassadors. 158 00:07:09,340 --> 00:07:13,500 So they misrepresent themselves and they, they give basically 159 00:07:13,500 --> 00:07:16,740 false evidence to these things. 160 00:07:16,740 --> 00:07:18,300 They, they basically lie. 161 00:07:18,300 --> 00:07:22,420 They say they're from a faraway country and they, they dress 162 00:07:22,420 --> 00:07:25,020 a certain way, they appear a certain way, and then they talk a 163 00:07:25,020 --> 00:07:27,100 certain way and then they act a certain way. 164 00:07:27,100 --> 00:07:28,660 So let's go down in verse six. 165 00:07:28,660 --> 00:07:32,240 And they went to Joshua unto the camp at Gilgal and said unto 166 00:07:32,240 --> 00:07:36,440 him, and to the men of Israel, we come, we become from a far country, 167 00:07:36,440 --> 00:07:38,600 now therefore make ye a league with us. 168 00:07:39,320 --> 00:07:42,680 So there's the pitch there, there's the, there's their desire. 169 00:07:43,480 --> 00:07:46,040 And Israel has to make a decision on what they're going to 170 00:07:46,040 --> 00:07:46,160 do. 171 00:07:46,160 --> 00:07:47,560 Are they going to be discerning? 172 00:07:48,120 --> 00:07:52,080 Are, are they going to be clear in what God has called them 173 00:07:52,080 --> 00:07:52,480 to do? 174 00:07:52,480 --> 00:07:54,760 Are they going to entertain this opportunity? 175 00:07:54,760 --> 00:07:55,320 Verse 7. 176 00:07:55,640 --> 00:07:59,400 And the men of Israel said unto the Hivites, peradventure ye 177 00:07:59,400 --> 00:08:02,720 dwell among us, how shall we make a league with you? 178 00:08:02,720 --> 00:08:05,560 And so right then and there we see in verse number seven that they 179 00:08:05,560 --> 00:08:07,000 entertain this idea. 180 00:08:07,400 --> 00:08:08,920 They entertain this idea. 181 00:08:08,920 --> 00:08:12,720 So what ultimately happens here is that instead of just rejecting 182 00:08:12,720 --> 00:08:16,160 this, knowing that this is the wrong thing to do, instead of asking 183 00:08:16,160 --> 00:08:19,320 God for wisdom, instead of saying, lord, are these people who 184 00:08:19,320 --> 00:08:22,320 they say that they are, they just say, hey, so, so what would 185 00:08:22,320 --> 00:08:23,000 that look like? 186 00:08:23,470 --> 00:08:26,070 What would it look like if we made a treaty with you? 187 00:08:26,070 --> 00:08:29,230 What would it look like if we came in partnership with you? 188 00:08:29,230 --> 00:08:29,670 Verse 8. 189 00:08:29,670 --> 00:08:32,910 And they said unto Joshua, we are thy servants. 190 00:08:33,950 --> 00:08:35,870 So again you see what they're trying to do. 191 00:08:35,870 --> 00:08:38,390 They're trying to come in and, and act unassuming. 192 00:08:38,390 --> 00:08:39,910 We are your servants. 193 00:08:39,910 --> 00:08:42,590 And Joshua said unto them, who are ye? 194 00:08:42,670 --> 00:08:44,230 And from whence come ye? 195 00:08:44,230 --> 00:08:47,310 And they said unto him, from a very far country, thy servants are 196 00:08:47,310 --> 00:08:49,275 come because of the name of the Lord thy God. 197 00:08:49,275 --> 00:08:51,950 And so they actually say the reason why we're coming is because 198 00:08:51,950 --> 00:08:53,390 of the power of your God. 199 00:08:54,830 --> 00:08:58,190 Now there is a recognition of God's power here, but I don't believe 200 00:08:58,190 --> 00:09:00,190 that this is an authentic recognition. 201 00:09:00,190 --> 00:09:04,070 Now people are basically using the Israelites faith to come in league 202 00:09:04,070 --> 00:09:07,390 with them and ultimately use them and control them. 203 00:09:07,390 --> 00:09:09,790 And so the Gibeonites lie to Israel. 204 00:09:10,990 --> 00:09:14,670 Even though they say they have proper admiration and honor for God, 205 00:09:14,670 --> 00:09:15,790 we see that they don't. 206 00:09:16,350 --> 00:09:20,150 And ultimately we know that the word of God has come before Israel, 207 00:09:20,150 --> 00:09:22,390 they, they know who he is and they know that they need to be on 208 00:09:22,390 --> 00:09:22,910 that side. 209 00:09:22,990 --> 00:09:27,150 For we have heard the fame of him and all that he did in Egypt. 210 00:09:27,150 --> 00:09:29,470 So it doesn't say anything about them coming to worship. 211 00:09:29,470 --> 00:09:32,550 They just say, we've heard of this fame, of this God, and you know, 212 00:09:32,550 --> 00:09:34,030 we've heard about his power. 213 00:09:34,270 --> 00:09:36,430 And you know, we, we want to be a part of this. 214 00:09:36,430 --> 00:09:39,790 We want to come in and reap the same benefits that you're reaping. 215 00:09:40,110 --> 00:09:43,390 And, and I find this very interesting because, you know, there's 216 00:09:43,390 --> 00:09:48,030 a lot of people, I think, that are wanting the benefits of what 217 00:09:48,030 --> 00:09:53,110 we have in peace, what we have in confidence, what we have in strength, 218 00:09:53,110 --> 00:09:55,590 but yet are not willing to come and submit themselves under 219 00:09:55,590 --> 00:09:57,550 the truth and the guidance of the Lord. 220 00:09:57,550 --> 00:10:01,110 They want the external benefits without the internal commitment. 221 00:10:01,270 --> 00:10:01,990 And verse 10. 222 00:10:01,990 --> 00:10:05,550 And all that they did, all that he did to the two kings of the 223 00:10:05,550 --> 00:10:09,230 Amorites that were beyond Jordan, to Sihon the king of Heshbon, 224 00:10:09,230 --> 00:10:13,120 and Og, the king of Bashan, which was at Asheroth, wherefore 225 00:10:13,120 --> 00:10:15,600 our elders and all the inhabitants of our country spake 226 00:10:15,600 --> 00:10:18,920 to us, saying, take victuals with you for the journey, and go 227 00:10:18,920 --> 00:10:22,040 to meet them, and say unto them, we are your servants, therefore 228 00:10:22,360 --> 00:10:24,120 now make ye a league with us. 229 00:10:24,360 --> 00:10:28,000 This our bread we took hot for our provision out of our houses on 230 00:10:28,000 --> 00:10:30,120 the day we came forth to go to unto you. 231 00:10:30,200 --> 00:10:33,880 But now behold is dry and it's moldy. 232 00:10:34,040 --> 00:10:37,970 So again, they're just trying to prove that they're not coming 233 00:10:37,970 --> 00:10:39,170 with bad intentions. 234 00:10:39,570 --> 00:10:42,130 And these bottles of wine which we filled were new. 235 00:10:42,130 --> 00:10:45,250 And behold, they rent, they be rent, and these are our garments, 236 00:10:45,250 --> 00:10:48,970 and our shoes are become old by reason of the very long journey. 237 00:10:48,970 --> 00:10:51,010 Again, they're trying to give as much proof as they can. 238 00:10:51,090 --> 00:10:54,490 And sometimes that should be a red flag for us if someone's trying 239 00:10:54,490 --> 00:10:55,890 to validate something about their life. 240 00:10:55,890 --> 00:10:59,850 Like I, I know that sometimes we're trying to prove ourselves to 241 00:10:59,850 --> 00:11:02,410 people, but we need to be careful about trying to justify all 242 00:11:02,410 --> 00:11:04,730 these things because ultimately God can speak for us. 243 00:11:04,730 --> 00:11:04,930 Let. 244 00:11:04,930 --> 00:11:06,530 Let our actions do our talking. 245 00:11:07,120 --> 00:11:08,400 And that's what they don't do. 246 00:11:08,400 --> 00:11:12,160 And obviously Israel could have investigated this, went to the 247 00:11:12,160 --> 00:11:15,080 Lord, asked him for wisdom, asked him for guidance, and God would 248 00:11:15,080 --> 00:11:15,680 have directed them. 249 00:11:15,680 --> 00:11:17,360 But that's not what happens here. 250 00:11:17,440 --> 00:11:20,840 So Joshua and the leaders of Israel, instead of just rejecting 251 00:11:20,840 --> 00:11:24,960 and thinking and praying, they accept the deception of the Gibeonites. 252 00:11:25,840 --> 00:11:28,360 And this is where I would like us to pause and think about this 253 00:11:28,360 --> 00:11:28,960 for a minute. 254 00:11:29,040 --> 00:11:32,400 How often do we just jump right into the first thing that we 255 00:11:32,400 --> 00:11:37,200 hear, the first attraction, the first wave of some kind of trend? 256 00:11:37,830 --> 00:11:40,590 Sometimes you'll see someone say, you know, maybe someone says 257 00:11:40,590 --> 00:11:43,390 the name of Jesus and immediately we think like, hey, we 258 00:11:43,390 --> 00:11:45,270 need to jump onto everything that person's teaching. 259 00:11:45,750 --> 00:11:49,830 Be very cautious about someone who says, hey, I'm religious. 260 00:11:49,830 --> 00:11:51,430 Hey, I'm a Christian now. 261 00:11:51,430 --> 00:11:52,550 Believe everything that I say. 262 00:11:52,550 --> 00:11:54,790 Hey, that doesn't necessarily mean that that person's a Christian 263 00:11:54,790 --> 00:11:56,470 just because they say that they're a Christian. 264 00:11:56,870 --> 00:11:59,470 We see that the Bible says over and over again that there are 265 00:11:59,470 --> 00:12:02,790 going to be people coming as wolves in sheep's clothing. 266 00:12:03,360 --> 00:12:05,600 The Bible says that there's going to be people that come that 267 00:12:05,600 --> 00:12:07,520 preach Jesus, but a different Jesus. 268 00:12:07,920 --> 00:12:10,160 The Bible says in Second Corinthians that there's going to 269 00:12:10,160 --> 00:12:12,960 be people coming preaching a gospel, but a different gospel. 270 00:12:13,520 --> 00:12:16,160 And so the Bible says here that these people come with, with 271 00:12:16,160 --> 00:12:19,640 all of this evidence externally trying to show, but they 272 00:12:19,640 --> 00:12:23,160 have no internal truth when it comes to what they're doing. 273 00:12:23,160 --> 00:12:24,160 They're deceptive. 274 00:12:24,720 --> 00:12:26,640 And so they don't ask counsel. 275 00:12:26,640 --> 00:12:28,320 Look at verse number 14 with me. 276 00:12:29,130 --> 00:12:31,730 Because verse number 14 is really telling where the Israelites 277 00:12:31,730 --> 00:12:32,970 hearts are in this case. 278 00:12:33,770 --> 00:12:38,850 And the men took of their victuals and asked not counsel at 279 00:12:38,850 --> 00:12:40,050 the mouth of the Lord. 280 00:12:40,050 --> 00:12:42,730 Right there we see their wrongdoing. 281 00:12:44,250 --> 00:12:46,250 It's sometimes easy to be deceived. 282 00:12:46,810 --> 00:12:48,930 And God's not asking us to be all knowing. 283 00:12:48,930 --> 00:12:52,730 He's not asking us to know every single truth that's in the 284 00:12:52,730 --> 00:12:53,170 world today. 285 00:12:53,170 --> 00:12:57,230 He's not asking us to be able to quote every passage of scripture. 286 00:12:57,230 --> 00:13:01,230 But what he is asking us to do is to come to him and have that relationship 287 00:13:01,230 --> 00:13:03,990 with him and allow him to guide us into the decisions that 288 00:13:03,990 --> 00:13:08,110 we're making and the partnerships that we're making and 289 00:13:08,110 --> 00:13:10,749 the friendships that we're making and the relationships that 290 00:13:10,749 --> 00:13:11,270 we have. 291 00:13:11,350 --> 00:13:13,350 And here what happens is this. 292 00:13:13,430 --> 00:13:17,750 They do not ask for the counsel of the Lord. 293 00:13:18,550 --> 00:13:20,310 What would this look like with our lives? 294 00:13:20,660 --> 00:13:21,540 It would look like this. 295 00:13:21,700 --> 00:13:24,060 We have a big decision to make, as we've already mentioned 296 00:13:24,060 --> 00:13:25,140 in our testimony time. 297 00:13:25,140 --> 00:13:27,660 Like I've got to make a decision, but I'm just going to do 298 00:13:27,660 --> 00:13:31,340 what makes me feel right, what makes sense to me, what. 299 00:13:31,340 --> 00:13:36,820 What adds up in the grand scheme of my perception, my senses, 300 00:13:37,060 --> 00:13:38,340 my surroundings. 301 00:13:38,420 --> 00:13:41,820 But instead what we need to be doing is pleading with the Lord for 302 00:13:41,820 --> 00:13:44,660 His wisdom, for his counsel, for his guidance. 303 00:13:45,220 --> 00:13:47,900 All of us come to different periods of our life where we have 304 00:13:47,900 --> 00:13:50,410 to make really impactful decisions. 305 00:13:50,570 --> 00:13:52,610 I can think of some of those decisions in my life. 306 00:13:52,610 --> 00:13:55,250 Obviously, where you're going to go to school, what you're going 307 00:13:55,250 --> 00:13:58,170 to do for a career, who you're going to marry, how you're going 308 00:13:58,170 --> 00:13:59,850 to raise your children, where you're going to live. 309 00:13:59,850 --> 00:14:02,410 All of these things are huge decisions. 310 00:14:02,570 --> 00:14:06,250 And I think all of us hopefully would agree that we should 311 00:14:06,250 --> 00:14:09,490 be falling before the Lord in humility, pleading with him to give 312 00:14:09,490 --> 00:14:10,650 us wisdom on those things. 313 00:14:11,290 --> 00:14:14,250 I think, sadly, some people that claim to be Christians don't 314 00:14:14,250 --> 00:14:15,930 even do that with those big decisions. 315 00:14:16,330 --> 00:14:18,090 But I'm going to pose to you here this evening. 316 00:14:18,090 --> 00:14:20,370 I think that we need to be asking the Lord for his counsel in 317 00:14:20,370 --> 00:14:23,530 all these decisions, even the decisions that might seem unassuming. 318 00:14:24,090 --> 00:14:26,250 You know, someone might come and say, hey, can you do this favor 319 00:14:26,250 --> 00:14:26,730 for me? 320 00:14:27,450 --> 00:14:30,050 Well, we should be like, well, of course I should do that favor 321 00:14:30,050 --> 00:14:30,290 for them. 322 00:14:30,290 --> 00:14:33,970 But I would encourage you to, as the book of Ecclesiastes says, 323 00:14:33,970 --> 00:14:35,210 consider the whole matter. 324 00:14:35,930 --> 00:14:39,050 Think about some different elements to this and think about 325 00:14:39,050 --> 00:14:40,490 what this would mean for me as a Christian. 326 00:14:40,490 --> 00:14:43,090 Think about what this would mean for me as a, as a father, as 327 00:14:43,090 --> 00:14:44,190 a husband, as a, as. 328 00:14:44,190 --> 00:14:45,350 As a servant of the Lord. 329 00:14:45,350 --> 00:14:48,350 And what I would say here is that they just rush right into this 330 00:14:48,350 --> 00:14:49,950 relationship with these Gibeonites. 331 00:14:50,430 --> 00:14:55,030 And I would, I would just caution you so much to seek the counsel 332 00:14:55,030 --> 00:14:56,990 of the Lord in the decisions that you're making. 333 00:14:58,270 --> 00:15:02,190 I would, I would venture to say that most Americans, most Christians 334 00:15:02,190 --> 00:15:05,430 in general in this world, are not as intentional as they need to 335 00:15:05,430 --> 00:15:07,310 be with the decisions that they're making in their life. 336 00:15:07,550 --> 00:15:10,190 It's kind of like just fly by the seat of my pants, right? 337 00:15:10,570 --> 00:15:13,370 As long as I'm doing this, I'm doing that, I'm going to church on 338 00:15:13,370 --> 00:15:14,650 Sundays, everything's okay. 339 00:15:14,650 --> 00:15:17,650 But I would say for us, a lesson that we can learn is that 340 00:15:17,650 --> 00:15:21,410 we could avoid a lot of issues and struggles in our life if we seek 341 00:15:21,410 --> 00:15:22,770 the counsel of the Lord. 342 00:15:22,770 --> 00:15:28,170 And so the Gibeonite deception was a clever deception, and therefore 343 00:15:28,170 --> 00:15:30,050 we know a very powerful deception. 344 00:15:30,050 --> 00:15:33,770 Because if something like, let's say, for example, we're cautioning 345 00:15:33,770 --> 00:15:35,130 ourselves against a false teacher. 346 00:15:36,500 --> 00:15:39,740 If a false teacher walks into our church, he or she is not going 347 00:15:39,740 --> 00:15:42,300 to be wearing a sign around their neck that says, I'm a false 348 00:15:42,300 --> 00:15:42,740 teacher. 349 00:15:43,620 --> 00:15:46,140 They're not going to get up and teach, by the way, what I'm about 350 00:15:46,140 --> 00:15:47,460 to teach you is a false teaching. 351 00:15:47,460 --> 00:15:51,460 They're going to present it in a way that seems to be true. 352 00:15:51,860 --> 00:15:55,140 They're going to present themselves in a way that looks good, 353 00:15:55,140 --> 00:15:56,220 looks attractive. 354 00:15:56,220 --> 00:15:58,740 That's why so many people follow false teachers. 355 00:15:59,860 --> 00:16:03,780 If false teachers were so clearly open about their false teaching, 356 00:16:03,780 --> 00:16:04,980 no one would follow them. 357 00:16:05,060 --> 00:16:08,600 But we know that there's so much attraction with someone who's 358 00:16:08,600 --> 00:16:10,080 trying to lead someone astray. 359 00:16:10,240 --> 00:16:13,520 So what we see here is that there's a lot of power in deception. 360 00:16:13,520 --> 00:16:16,480 But the real problem, even though we can look at this and say, 361 00:16:16,560 --> 00:16:19,680 well, those terrible gibeonites, they're such deceivers, 362 00:16:20,080 --> 00:16:24,520 these are the big, big sinners in this passage of Scripture, I would 363 00:16:24,520 --> 00:16:28,120 venture to say that the real problem was that Joshua and the leaders 364 00:16:28,120 --> 00:16:33,040 of Israel did not seek the Lord's counsel when the the deceivers 365 00:16:33,120 --> 00:16:34,000 came their way. 366 00:16:34,850 --> 00:16:37,290 So a lot of times we look at a Christian and we see that they get 367 00:16:37,290 --> 00:16:39,530 deceived and we go, wow, those terrible false teachers. 368 00:16:39,530 --> 00:16:40,930 And they're going to face condemnation. 369 00:16:41,410 --> 00:16:44,690 The Bible does teach that the false teachers will face their day. 370 00:16:45,170 --> 00:16:48,570 But I will say that those Christians who are misled and make 371 00:16:48,570 --> 00:16:50,850 the wrong decisions are also responsible too. 372 00:16:51,330 --> 00:16:53,730 You know, I'm responsible for you and what I'm teaching you. 373 00:16:53,730 --> 00:16:54,970 I think about that a lot. 374 00:16:54,970 --> 00:16:55,970 I pray through that a lot. 375 00:16:55,970 --> 00:16:59,410 And I do my best to present to you what I believe is, is the truth. 376 00:17:00,060 --> 00:17:02,660 But at the end of the day, you could hear what I'm preaching and 377 00:17:02,660 --> 00:17:04,620 go, yeah, but I want to do my own thing. 378 00:17:05,020 --> 00:17:09,060 So I'm going to go and just decide to follow whatever I want 379 00:17:09,060 --> 00:17:09,420 to follow. 380 00:17:09,660 --> 00:17:12,060 One day when I stand before the Lord, I don't have to answer 381 00:17:12,060 --> 00:17:15,100 for the decisions that are made after the truth is presented. 382 00:17:15,579 --> 00:17:18,140 Same thing goes as false teaching is presented. 383 00:17:18,380 --> 00:17:22,660 So the people, Christians have a responsibility to make the decision 384 00:17:22,660 --> 00:17:25,420 on whether or not this is true, whether or not this is false, 385 00:17:25,659 --> 00:17:27,539 whether or not this is biblical, or whether or not this 386 00:17:27,539 --> 00:17:29,499 is just completely anti Scripture. 387 00:17:29,499 --> 00:17:33,179 And so what I would say for us all is when you hear someone come 388 00:17:33,179 --> 00:17:37,459 to you in the name of peace, in the name of the gospel, in the 389 00:17:37,459 --> 00:17:41,259 name of the truth, in the name of friendship, in the name of partnership, 390 00:17:41,498 --> 00:17:44,299 the Bible teaches, don't be unequally yoked. 391 00:17:44,699 --> 00:17:47,219 That's a passage of Scripture in second Corinthians, and we could 392 00:17:47,219 --> 00:17:50,059 talk hours about what that means to be unequally yoked. 393 00:17:50,059 --> 00:17:53,570 But essentially it's making relationships with people that are 394 00:17:53,570 --> 00:17:55,450 unsaved that are going to lead us astray. 395 00:17:55,850 --> 00:17:59,770 And the Bible says here that there should not have been this league 396 00:17:59,770 --> 00:18:00,610 that they make. 397 00:18:00,610 --> 00:18:04,330 But yet the reason why they fall into this trap is because they 398 00:18:04,330 --> 00:18:07,010 did not seek the counsel of the Lord. 399 00:18:07,010 --> 00:18:11,970 They took of what they saw to be approved by their own leaders. 400 00:18:11,970 --> 00:18:13,810 There they say, well, of course, this makes sense. 401 00:18:13,810 --> 00:18:14,730 And so verse 15. 402 00:18:14,970 --> 00:18:18,910 And Joshua made peace with them and made a league with them 403 00:18:19,470 --> 00:18:20,830 to let them live. 404 00:18:21,070 --> 00:18:24,110 And the princes of the congregation swear unto them. 405 00:18:24,830 --> 00:18:29,230 And so this shows that they did not trust the counsel of God. 406 00:18:29,550 --> 00:18:32,270 They trusted the circumstances around them. 407 00:18:32,989 --> 00:18:35,630 They looked at the bread, they looked at the food. 408 00:18:36,910 --> 00:18:37,310 They. 409 00:18:37,390 --> 00:18:39,910 They saw how stale it was. 410 00:18:39,910 --> 00:18:42,670 They saw how broken down those people looked. 411 00:18:42,870 --> 00:18:44,390 They look like travelers. 412 00:18:44,630 --> 00:18:47,190 They look like people coming from a faraway land. 413 00:18:47,350 --> 00:18:50,070 And they said, well, what we see is what we believe. 414 00:18:50,070 --> 00:18:51,910 And the Bible says something completely different. 415 00:18:52,630 --> 00:18:55,910 Second Corinthians says, we walk by faith and not by sight. 416 00:18:55,990 --> 00:18:57,390 It's not always what we see. 417 00:18:57,390 --> 00:18:59,590 It's what we know to be true from God. 418 00:18:59,590 --> 00:19:01,350 And so we don't go off of what we see. 419 00:19:01,350 --> 00:19:04,070 We go off of what we know that God has already told us. 420 00:19:04,790 --> 00:19:06,190 So say, for example, this is. 421 00:19:06,190 --> 00:19:08,550 This is sometimes how it looks in our society today. 422 00:19:09,090 --> 00:19:13,570 Well, we know that the Bible says this about this action, but 423 00:19:14,610 --> 00:19:16,530 that person that's doing that's really nice. 424 00:19:17,170 --> 00:19:18,050 So, you know what? 425 00:19:18,370 --> 00:19:20,450 How could I judge them for that? 426 00:19:20,450 --> 00:19:21,650 They're very nice to me. 427 00:19:22,210 --> 00:19:26,050 Well, what we've done is essentially the big word, the compromise, 428 00:19:26,050 --> 00:19:30,690 where we compromise because of what we feel, we compromise by what 429 00:19:30,690 --> 00:19:31,970 we've experienced. 430 00:19:32,130 --> 00:19:34,050 We compromise in our senses. 431 00:19:34,050 --> 00:19:37,610 Instead of saying, lord, I feel a certain way, I must be feeling 432 00:19:37,610 --> 00:19:39,450 wrong, because your word says this. 433 00:19:39,530 --> 00:19:43,130 And so in this scenario, they were told not to make a league with 434 00:19:43,130 --> 00:19:44,010 these nations. 435 00:19:44,890 --> 00:19:46,330 God clearly says it. 436 00:19:46,410 --> 00:19:50,490 But yet, because of their senses and because of what they perceive 437 00:19:50,490 --> 00:19:52,650 around them, they say, well, it must be okay. 438 00:19:53,050 --> 00:19:57,210 And that's why we see so many believers, so many churches drifting 439 00:19:57,210 --> 00:19:58,130 away from the truth. 440 00:19:58,130 --> 00:19:59,930 Because you know what? 441 00:19:59,930 --> 00:20:01,130 That was for a different time. 442 00:20:02,370 --> 00:20:03,770 We live in a different time today. 443 00:20:03,770 --> 00:20:06,610 And so therefore, we don't need to hold it as a standard anymore. 444 00:20:07,090 --> 00:20:07,850 And so. 445 00:20:07,850 --> 00:20:10,290 So it's walking by sight and not by faith. 446 00:20:10,290 --> 00:20:13,410 And so the opposite of walking by faith is walking by what we see 447 00:20:13,410 --> 00:20:15,570 and what we understand and what makes sense to us. 448 00:20:16,210 --> 00:20:19,410 So if culture says something, then okay, it must be okay. 449 00:20:20,210 --> 00:20:21,410 But it's the opposite. 450 00:20:21,650 --> 00:20:23,570 No, we go back to what the word of God says. 451 00:20:23,570 --> 00:20:27,250 I'm going to tell you, there are days where I wake up and I feel 452 00:20:27,250 --> 00:20:27,970 a certain way. 453 00:20:28,120 --> 00:20:30,360 I don't know if you guys know what that means, but sometimes I 454 00:20:30,360 --> 00:20:34,040 just wake up and I feel like I don't want to go the way of. 455 00:20:34,360 --> 00:20:35,800 Of what the Bible says. 456 00:20:35,800 --> 00:20:38,960 You say what a pastor thinks that it's sometimes hard to live 457 00:20:38,960 --> 00:20:40,680 for the Lord in our strength, in our flesh. 458 00:20:41,960 --> 00:20:44,600 I'm supposed to be nice to people when they're mean to me. 459 00:20:44,760 --> 00:20:47,720 I just want to get up in the morning and tell people how I feel. 460 00:20:47,960 --> 00:20:49,960 And sometimes I don't feel very nice. 461 00:20:50,360 --> 00:20:51,560 The idea would be this. 462 00:20:51,720 --> 00:20:54,520 We don't act on what we feel. 463 00:20:54,680 --> 00:20:57,480 We act on what we know to be true. 464 00:20:58,210 --> 00:20:58,370 So. 465 00:20:58,370 --> 00:20:58,690 So. 466 00:20:58,690 --> 00:20:59,970 So I wake up. 467 00:20:59,970 --> 00:21:01,970 I sometimes maybe I'm the only person. 468 00:21:02,530 --> 00:21:03,450 I don't feel love. 469 00:21:03,450 --> 00:21:06,250 Sometimes when I wake up in the morning, I don't feel the love 470 00:21:06,250 --> 00:21:07,090 of God when my. 471 00:21:07,090 --> 00:21:11,770 My knees are aching and my children are a certain way and they're 472 00:21:11,770 --> 00:21:14,090 acting up and I'm going, lord, why don't you love me? 473 00:21:14,090 --> 00:21:14,770 What's going on? 474 00:21:14,770 --> 00:21:17,370 But instead of saying, lord, you must not love me because of all 475 00:21:17,370 --> 00:21:20,690 these problems that I'm facing, we say, lord, I know you 476 00:21:20,690 --> 00:21:23,650 love me, so therefore get me in a place where I need to be right 477 00:21:23,970 --> 00:21:27,650 so that I can live in that love today, no matter what my circumstance 478 00:21:27,650 --> 00:21:28,130 might be. 479 00:21:28,530 --> 00:21:30,370 So it goes back to that same principle. 480 00:21:30,370 --> 00:21:34,770 Living by faith and not by what we see, not by what we feel. 481 00:21:35,570 --> 00:21:38,650 It would be so easy to turn our backs and say, well, Lord, it 482 00:21:38,650 --> 00:21:40,209 doesn't make sense to me, so I'm done. 483 00:21:41,410 --> 00:21:43,410 This makes a lot more sense to do this. 484 00:21:44,130 --> 00:21:49,370 Many a person over the years has fallen into sin, but yet thought 485 00:21:49,370 --> 00:21:52,010 that it was the right thing to do because they justified it in their 486 00:21:52,010 --> 00:21:52,370 feelings. 487 00:21:53,950 --> 00:21:55,150 Well, you know what these. 488 00:21:55,150 --> 00:21:56,830 My heart tells me to do this. 489 00:21:57,630 --> 00:22:00,110 And if my heart tells me to do this, I'm supposed to listen to my 490 00:22:00,110 --> 00:22:00,350 heart. 491 00:22:00,830 --> 00:22:02,270 The Bible says something completely different. 492 00:22:02,270 --> 00:22:04,430 Don't listen to your heart because your heart's just desperately 493 00:22:04,430 --> 00:22:04,950 wicked. 494 00:22:04,950 --> 00:22:06,110 It will deceive us. 495 00:22:06,670 --> 00:22:08,470 So, so we go back and we see verse 15. 496 00:22:08,470 --> 00:22:11,550 Joshua makes peace with them and makes a league with them to let 497 00:22:11,550 --> 00:22:11,950 them live. 498 00:22:11,950 --> 00:22:14,430 And the princes of the congregation swear unto them. 499 00:22:15,870 --> 00:22:18,030 So they find themselves in trouble. 500 00:22:18,940 --> 00:22:20,100 They find themselves in trouble. 501 00:22:20,100 --> 00:22:20,420 Why? 502 00:22:20,420 --> 00:22:23,020 Because they did not seek the counsel of the Lord. 503 00:22:24,060 --> 00:22:27,700 And so because they believed what the Gibeonites were bringing 504 00:22:27,700 --> 00:22:32,340 to them, they made a treaty and they broke the truth of what 505 00:22:32,340 --> 00:22:33,900 God has called them to live out in their life. 506 00:22:33,900 --> 00:22:34,620 They compromised. 507 00:22:34,620 --> 00:22:37,380 And so God allows Israel to make treaties with destinations, 508 00:22:37,380 --> 00:22:39,300 but not with nations from this area. 509 00:22:39,300 --> 00:22:40,780 God says, don't do this. 510 00:22:42,060 --> 00:22:42,780 So they. 511 00:22:43,260 --> 00:22:44,220 They make a mistake. 512 00:22:45,180 --> 00:22:48,420 And we're going to see here that even though they make a mistake, 513 00:22:48,420 --> 00:22:49,100 there is Hope. 514 00:22:49,740 --> 00:22:50,180 God. 515 00:22:50,180 --> 00:22:52,660 God does forgive in verse 16. 516 00:22:52,660 --> 00:22:55,380 And it came to pass at the end of the three days after they had 517 00:22:55,380 --> 00:22:59,100 made a league with them that they heard that they were neighbors. 518 00:22:59,820 --> 00:23:01,340 So it's that, oh, moment. 519 00:23:01,900 --> 00:23:03,500 We got deceived, we got caught. 520 00:23:03,500 --> 00:23:04,580 They're actually neighbors. 521 00:23:04,580 --> 00:23:05,500 They're actually from Canaan. 522 00:23:05,500 --> 00:23:05,740 We. 523 00:23:05,740 --> 00:23:06,540 We messed up. 524 00:23:07,020 --> 00:23:10,020 We made a treaty with someone that we were not supposed to make 525 00:23:10,020 --> 00:23:10,700 a treaty with. 526 00:23:11,190 --> 00:23:13,510 And I think this is oftentimes what we see happening in a lot of 527 00:23:13,510 --> 00:23:13,990 people's life. 528 00:23:13,990 --> 00:23:17,030 It's that moment of regret, it's that moment of realization. 529 00:23:17,670 --> 00:23:20,310 It's that moment of, well, I wish I didn't do that, but I did 530 00:23:20,310 --> 00:23:21,390 it, so now I got to deal with it. 531 00:23:21,390 --> 00:23:24,070 That's what we see here happening in verse number 16. 532 00:23:24,390 --> 00:23:27,270 They find out at the end of three days that these people are. 533 00:23:27,270 --> 00:23:28,950 Are not who they say they are. 534 00:23:30,230 --> 00:23:33,670 And I'm going to tell you, there's going to be people that present 535 00:23:33,750 --> 00:23:38,520 themselves in a certain way to you, whether it be personally or 536 00:23:38,520 --> 00:23:43,280 just publicly, that eventually the Lord will reveal their hearts. 537 00:23:43,520 --> 00:23:46,640 Eventually their true character will be seen. 538 00:23:47,280 --> 00:23:47,600 And. 539 00:23:47,600 --> 00:23:49,680 And we know them by their fruit. 540 00:23:50,160 --> 00:23:53,400 And so what happens here is that they are revealed to be the 541 00:23:53,400 --> 00:23:56,240 Canaanite neighbors and that they dwelt among them. 542 00:23:57,120 --> 00:24:01,560 And so Joshua and the people of Israel discover that they have 543 00:24:01,560 --> 00:24:04,950 been deceived, but then they're kind of stuck because they 544 00:24:04,950 --> 00:24:05,150 made. 545 00:24:05,150 --> 00:24:07,870 They've made a treaty, so what do they do? 546 00:24:08,750 --> 00:24:12,590 And so even even though they recognize that there is this issue, 547 00:24:12,670 --> 00:24:14,110 they're going to deal with it. 548 00:24:14,110 --> 00:24:19,270 I believe in a way that basically was the best that they 549 00:24:19,270 --> 00:24:19,990 could in that moment. 550 00:24:19,990 --> 00:24:21,750 And I think that's sometimes what we have to do after we make 551 00:24:21,750 --> 00:24:22,390 bad decisions. 552 00:24:22,390 --> 00:24:25,070 We have to submit ourselves to the Lord, and we have to make a decision 553 00:24:25,310 --> 00:24:27,830 on how to obey him in that moment. 554 00:24:27,830 --> 00:24:28,430 We can't go. 555 00:24:28,430 --> 00:24:29,310 We can't change the past. 556 00:24:29,310 --> 00:24:32,630 I. I've tried to wallow in past regret. 557 00:24:32,870 --> 00:24:34,310 We can't live on our past. 558 00:24:34,790 --> 00:24:37,470 All we can do is get right with the Lord right now and say, 559 00:24:37,470 --> 00:24:37,870 you know what? 560 00:24:37,870 --> 00:24:39,030 That's a mistake that I made. 561 00:24:39,110 --> 00:24:40,790 And this is how we're going to deal with it now. 562 00:24:40,790 --> 00:24:41,790 So verse 17. 563 00:24:41,790 --> 00:24:45,030 And the children of Israel journeyed and came unto their cities 564 00:24:45,030 --> 00:24:45,830 on the third day. 565 00:24:45,910 --> 00:24:47,670 Now their cities were Gibeon and. 566 00:24:47,830 --> 00:24:50,790 And Chair, first chair for. 567 00:24:50,870 --> 00:24:52,910 And be Roth and Kirath, Jarem. 568 00:24:52,910 --> 00:24:55,630 And the children of Israel smote them not, because the princes 569 00:24:55,630 --> 00:24:59,210 of the congregation has sworn unto them by the Lord God of Israel. 570 00:24:59,210 --> 00:25:01,930 And all the congregation murmured against the princes so basically 571 00:25:01,930 --> 00:25:06,290 what happens here is they say, even though we should not have made 572 00:25:06,290 --> 00:25:08,450 a treaty with them, we made a treaty with them. 573 00:25:08,450 --> 00:25:09,450 So now we can't kill them. 574 00:25:09,610 --> 00:25:10,810 We've got to keep our work. 575 00:25:11,050 --> 00:25:13,050 We can't go back on what we have promised. 576 00:25:13,450 --> 00:25:14,730 And verse 19. 577 00:25:15,290 --> 00:25:17,930 Well, verse 18 tells us that everyone's murmuring. 578 00:25:17,930 --> 00:25:19,130 They're like, we can't do that. 579 00:25:19,130 --> 00:25:20,970 We need to just go back on our promise. 580 00:25:21,210 --> 00:25:21,730 Verse 19. 581 00:25:21,730 --> 00:25:24,920 But all the princes said unto all them, all the congregation, we 582 00:25:24,920 --> 00:25:27,840 have sworn unto them by the Lord God of Israel. 583 00:25:27,840 --> 00:25:29,680 Now therefore, we may not touch them. 584 00:25:30,080 --> 00:25:31,440 This we will do to them. 585 00:25:31,520 --> 00:25:35,360 We will even let them live, lest wrath be upon us because of 586 00:25:35,360 --> 00:25:36,840 the oath which we swear unto them. 587 00:25:36,840 --> 00:25:37,520 So, meaning this. 588 00:25:37,520 --> 00:25:39,120 Well, two wrongs don't make it right. 589 00:25:39,679 --> 00:25:41,600 I think that's sometimes what we end up doing, right. 590 00:25:41,600 --> 00:25:45,600 We will make a mistake, and then to fix that mistake, we go back 591 00:25:45,600 --> 00:25:46,920 and we try to do another mistake. 592 00:25:46,920 --> 00:25:47,520 And that's. 593 00:25:47,520 --> 00:25:49,520 That's something that can get us into more trouble. 594 00:25:49,520 --> 00:25:52,950 So they say this, we're not going to get back into pulling. 595 00:25:52,950 --> 00:25:55,590 We're not going to deceive them because they deceived us. 596 00:25:55,990 --> 00:25:58,990 Because that's the idea of recompensing no man evil for evil. 597 00:25:58,990 --> 00:26:01,150 We're not going to do unto them as they've done to us. 598 00:26:01,150 --> 00:26:03,030 We're going to treat them with honor and respect. 599 00:26:03,110 --> 00:26:03,510 Why? 600 00:26:03,670 --> 00:26:05,350 Because we made a commitment to them. 601 00:26:05,829 --> 00:26:07,870 Because if they would have come back and said, well, we made 602 00:26:07,870 --> 00:26:10,350 a treaty with you, but now we're going to kill all of you, then 603 00:26:10,350 --> 00:26:12,630 that would have been essentially the same thing that the 604 00:26:12,630 --> 00:26:13,590 other people did to them. 605 00:26:13,830 --> 00:26:16,510 So they said, no, we need to keep our word and we need to deal 606 00:26:16,510 --> 00:26:18,090 with our consequences. 607 00:26:18,090 --> 00:26:19,890 We need to deal with what happens. 608 00:26:19,890 --> 00:26:23,210 But there is a plan, and God's grace does shine through in all of 609 00:26:23,210 --> 00:26:23,490 this. 610 00:26:23,650 --> 00:26:27,170 And verse number 20, he says, we're not going to let them die. 611 00:26:27,170 --> 00:26:27,770 Verse 21. 612 00:26:27,770 --> 00:26:30,610 And the princess said unto them, let them live, but let them 613 00:26:30,610 --> 00:26:34,410 be hewers of wood and drawers of water unto all the congregation, 614 00:26:34,410 --> 00:26:37,090 as princes, as the princes had promised them. 615 00:26:37,810 --> 00:26:41,290 So essentially what happens is they spare their lives, but they 616 00:26:41,290 --> 00:26:44,370 allow them to become what's called bond servants, which essentially 617 00:26:44,370 --> 00:26:45,770 would be that they're working for them. 618 00:26:45,930 --> 00:26:48,370 They're working for them for that time because that's what the 619 00:26:48,370 --> 00:26:49,690 original agreement was. 620 00:26:50,490 --> 00:26:54,570 And so even though the people complained about this, the. 621 00:26:54,570 --> 00:26:57,410 The rulers, the leaders, the princes still knew that they had 622 00:26:57,410 --> 00:26:58,970 to do what was right and honorable. 623 00:26:59,130 --> 00:27:00,410 They had to keep their oath. 624 00:27:00,410 --> 00:27:03,010 And so I think that this is something that we can learn from 625 00:27:03,010 --> 00:27:06,850 in our life, that if we make a mistake, if we are deceived, instead 626 00:27:06,850 --> 00:27:09,530 of trying to deceive them or trying to turn back and trying to 627 00:27:09,890 --> 00:27:12,530 not be a person of our word, we need to be careful not to continue 628 00:27:12,530 --> 00:27:16,850 to sin, but to live as morally and as honest and with integrity 629 00:27:16,850 --> 00:27:17,490 as we can. 630 00:27:17,650 --> 00:27:21,570 You know, one of the things that we want to teach to the next 631 00:27:21,570 --> 00:27:24,850 generation, but really we need to teach it to all generations, is 632 00:27:24,850 --> 00:27:26,930 to have integrity, to have character. 633 00:27:26,930 --> 00:27:30,250 And what that means is, I want to do the right thing, even if it's 634 00:27:30,250 --> 00:27:33,570 difficult, I want to do the right thing, even if no one's watching. 635 00:27:33,730 --> 00:27:36,650 I want to do the right thing, even if nobody knows that I'm doing 636 00:27:36,650 --> 00:27:37,250 the right thing. 637 00:27:37,600 --> 00:27:40,120 Because sometimes it's easy to do the right thing if people are 638 00:27:40,120 --> 00:27:40,560 watching. 639 00:27:41,520 --> 00:27:43,920 Sometimes we still do wrong even when people are watching. 640 00:27:43,920 --> 00:27:45,560 But that's another whole story. 641 00:27:45,560 --> 00:27:49,440 But what we do sometimes when it's in private or when we think 642 00:27:49,440 --> 00:27:52,800 we can get away from the struggle or the punishment for this 643 00:27:52,800 --> 00:27:55,720 sin, folks, we're never going to get rid of the punishment of sin, 644 00:27:55,720 --> 00:27:58,640 even though we ultimately know the punishment of sin is death, which 645 00:27:58,640 --> 00:28:00,480 we, God has spared us in. 646 00:28:00,720 --> 00:28:03,480 But there are certain decisions that we sow into our life 647 00:28:03,480 --> 00:28:06,080 that eventually our sin is going to find us out. 648 00:28:06,490 --> 00:28:07,850 And that's exactly what they do here. 649 00:28:07,850 --> 00:28:09,610 They say, look, we need to recognize this. 650 00:28:09,610 --> 00:28:12,890 We need to be above reproach, and we need to keep our word. 651 00:28:12,890 --> 00:28:17,690 So I think that it is a mark of godliness for them here in this 652 00:28:17,690 --> 00:28:21,690 case, to not remove them, not kill them, to keep their word. 653 00:28:21,690 --> 00:28:22,490 So verse 22. 654 00:28:22,490 --> 00:28:25,570 And Joshua called for them, and he spake unto them, saying, wherefore 655 00:28:25,570 --> 00:28:27,010 hath ye beguiled us? 656 00:28:27,010 --> 00:28:30,490 So he calls them out on their deception, which I think is appropriate, 657 00:28:30,890 --> 00:28:35,190 saying, we are very far from you when ye dwell among us. 658 00:28:35,510 --> 00:28:40,390 Now therefore you are cursed, and there shall none of you be freed 659 00:28:40,390 --> 00:28:44,510 from being bondmen and Jewers of wood and jars of water for the 660 00:28:44,510 --> 00:28:45,990 house of my God. 661 00:28:45,990 --> 00:28:48,790 So he says, even though we can't kill you, we're going to put 662 00:28:48,790 --> 00:28:51,670 you into subjection to our God by serving us. 663 00:28:52,150 --> 00:28:52,830 Verse 24. 664 00:28:52,830 --> 00:28:56,470 And they answered Joshua and said, because it was certainly told 665 00:28:56,470 --> 00:29:00,770 thy servants how that the Lord thy God commanded his servant Moses 666 00:29:00,770 --> 00:29:03,530 to give you all the land and to destroy all the inhabitants of 667 00:29:03,530 --> 00:29:04,810 the land from before you. 668 00:29:04,810 --> 00:29:09,010 Therefore we were sore afraid of our lives because of you and have 669 00:29:09,010 --> 00:29:09,530 done this thing. 670 00:29:09,530 --> 00:29:12,410 So basically, the Gibeonites are trying to justify what they Did. 671 00:29:12,410 --> 00:29:15,290 They said, we were just afraid that your God was going to kill us. 672 00:29:15,450 --> 00:29:16,970 We were just trying to do what we could. 673 00:29:17,210 --> 00:29:19,530 We believe that your God's going to take all of this land. 674 00:29:19,610 --> 00:29:22,690 So we were just trying to find a way instead of being honest and 675 00:29:22,690 --> 00:29:24,240 coming and saying, hey, we, we. 676 00:29:24,240 --> 00:29:25,640 We want to worship your God. 677 00:29:25,640 --> 00:29:26,440 They said, well, we. 678 00:29:26,440 --> 00:29:27,720 This is, this was our plan. 679 00:29:28,120 --> 00:29:31,240 And this, I think this is also a testament of just how messed up 680 00:29:31,480 --> 00:29:32,840 the ways of man can be. 681 00:29:32,840 --> 00:29:36,840 Like, just so off, so, so far from what the word of God says. 682 00:29:36,840 --> 00:29:37,480 Verse 25. 683 00:29:37,480 --> 00:29:41,480 Now, behold, we are in thine hand, as it seemeth good and right 684 00:29:41,480 --> 00:29:43,960 unto thee do unto us do. 685 00:29:44,440 --> 00:29:47,640 And so did he unto them and delivered them out of the hand of 686 00:29:47,640 --> 00:29:49,720 the children of Israel, that they slew them not. 687 00:29:49,720 --> 00:29:54,400 And Joshua made then that day hewers of wood and drawers of water 688 00:29:54,400 --> 00:29:58,400 for the congregation and for the altar of the Lord, even unto 689 00:29:58,400 --> 00:30:01,040 this day in the place which he should choose. 690 00:30:01,040 --> 00:30:03,360 And so essentially what we see is this. 691 00:30:03,600 --> 00:30:07,880 Joshua allows for them to have mercy and grace from God, to be spared 692 00:30:07,880 --> 00:30:10,880 and to live peaceably amongst the people of Israel. 693 00:30:11,440 --> 00:30:14,640 And so I would say that the Gibeonites are extended grace and 694 00:30:14,640 --> 00:30:18,130 mercy as well, because they deserve death, but they get the opportunity 695 00:30:18,130 --> 00:30:21,250 and the blessing to live amongst the people of God and to 696 00:30:21,250 --> 00:30:22,810 serve them and to serve the Lord. 697 00:30:22,890 --> 00:30:24,530 And so I think that that's a blessing. 698 00:30:24,530 --> 00:30:28,330 Joshua could have killed the Gibeonites, but he said, no, we're 699 00:30:28,330 --> 00:30:30,570 going to let them work for us and for the Lord. 700 00:30:30,570 --> 00:30:33,330 And Joshua said, hey, look, we need you to commit to the Lord. 701 00:30:33,330 --> 00:30:34,050 And that's what they did. 702 00:30:34,050 --> 00:30:35,730 They said, okay, we're going to commit. 703 00:30:35,730 --> 00:30:37,730 This is, this is better than dying. 704 00:30:37,730 --> 00:30:39,370 And that's essentially what they do. 705 00:30:39,530 --> 00:30:43,780 And so the Gibeonites were obviously not in the best scenario. 706 00:30:43,780 --> 00:30:46,700 The best scenario would be that they weren't subjected to the 707 00:30:46,700 --> 00:30:50,300 Israelites, but ultimately they were going to serve as wood 708 00:30:50,300 --> 00:30:51,780 cutters, as water carriers. 709 00:30:52,020 --> 00:30:55,460 But they did know that those things could be for the Lord. 710 00:30:55,940 --> 00:30:59,340 And, and they knew that ultimately this is going to be a 711 00:30:59,340 --> 00:30:59,820 blessing. 712 00:30:59,820 --> 00:31:01,620 So the, the question would be this. 713 00:31:03,780 --> 00:31:06,740 Do we feel as if the Gibeonites found salvation in the 714 00:31:06,740 --> 00:31:07,420 God of Israel? 715 00:31:07,420 --> 00:31:08,100 I think they did. 716 00:31:08,910 --> 00:31:11,230 Even though they were perfect, I don't think that even though they 717 00:31:11,230 --> 00:31:13,830 weren't perfect, I think that they found salvation much like the 718 00:31:13,830 --> 00:31:16,830 Gentiles, like Rahab did and some of the others in. 719 00:31:16,830 --> 00:31:17,550 In Scripture. 720 00:31:18,430 --> 00:31:21,430 And so I. I think that there's a lot to be said about the Gibeonites 721 00:31:21,430 --> 00:31:25,270 and Actually, after Joshua chapter nine, we see more about the 722 00:31:25,270 --> 00:31:26,510 Gibeonites in Scripture. 723 00:31:26,670 --> 00:31:32,030 So I think that what they do here by submitting to this servanthood, 724 00:31:32,030 --> 00:31:32,350 they. 725 00:31:32,350 --> 00:31:33,390 They receive blessings. 726 00:31:33,390 --> 00:31:37,300 The Gibeonites become servants at the tabernacle later on, and so 727 00:31:37,300 --> 00:31:38,300 they're used by God. 728 00:31:38,380 --> 00:31:40,780 And, and so they work at the tabernacle. 729 00:31:40,940 --> 00:31:42,620 The Gibeonites become. 730 00:31:43,260 --> 00:31:45,020 Or the city of Gideon. 731 00:31:45,260 --> 00:31:47,540 Gibeon becomes a priestly city. 732 00:31:47,540 --> 00:31:51,620 And actually the Ark of the Covenant stays at Gibeon often in 733 00:31:51,620 --> 00:31:53,540 the days of David and Solomon. 734 00:31:53,540 --> 00:31:57,500 You can read about that in 1st Chronicles chapter 16 and chapter 735 00:31:57,500 --> 00:31:58,060 21. 736 00:31:59,020 --> 00:32:03,420 One of David's mighty men in 1st Chronicles 12:4 is a Gibeonite. 737 00:32:04,460 --> 00:32:07,740 God appeared and spoke to Solomon at the city of Gibeon. 738 00:32:08,460 --> 00:32:13,660 Gibeonites were among those who rebuilt the walls of, of Jerusalem 739 00:32:14,060 --> 00:32:16,700 in Nehemiah chapter three and chapter seven. 740 00:32:17,260 --> 00:32:21,620 And actually some prophets, like Hananiah, the son of Azure, 741 00:32:21,620 --> 00:32:24,460 came from Gibeon in Jeremiah chapter 28. 742 00:32:24,620 --> 00:32:28,620 So I believe that these are some examples of the great things 743 00:32:28,620 --> 00:32:32,980 that God can do for people who are sinners, who had bad intentions, 744 00:32:32,980 --> 00:32:36,660 but ultimately came in humility and were restored and forgiven. 745 00:32:37,060 --> 00:32:40,180 And so, just like all of us, I think all of us could identify with 746 00:32:40,180 --> 00:32:41,460 one aspect of this story. 747 00:32:41,460 --> 00:32:44,260 I mean, maybe you've never been deceptive in your life, but 748 00:32:44,340 --> 00:32:46,820 I know that most of us have probably had some issues in our life 749 00:32:46,820 --> 00:32:48,660 that we don't deserve to be used by God. 750 00:32:48,660 --> 00:32:50,180 And the Gibeonites did not to be. 751 00:32:50,420 --> 00:32:53,140 Did not deserve to be used by God, to be servants of God. 752 00:32:53,140 --> 00:32:57,100 But yet God in His mercy and his grace allowed for them to be 753 00:32:57,100 --> 00:32:58,900 used by His. 754 00:32:58,980 --> 00:33:03,070 His people, and ultimately used in many of the, the aspects 755 00:33:03,070 --> 00:33:06,950 of the Old Testament and the building of the walls and in, in 756 00:33:07,030 --> 00:33:11,910 professing the word of God and being used by David as a mighty man. 757 00:33:11,910 --> 00:33:14,470 There's so much that we could talk about when it comes to that. 758 00:33:14,470 --> 00:33:17,750 But I think that the bigger lesson that we can learn in Joshua 759 00:33:17,750 --> 00:33:20,710 chapter nine, and I think it all could be wrapped up in verse 760 00:33:20,710 --> 00:33:21,270 number 14. 761 00:33:22,150 --> 00:33:28,050 Anytime someone comes to us with a plan, with a friendship, with 762 00:33:28,050 --> 00:33:32,410 an association, we need to seek the counsel of the Lord. 763 00:33:32,650 --> 00:33:34,410 Now, how do we seek the counsel of the Lord? 764 00:33:34,410 --> 00:33:37,450 There's a couple ways that we can seek the counsel of the Lord. 765 00:33:37,770 --> 00:33:41,610 I would say first and foremost to come before him in prayer, to 766 00:33:41,610 --> 00:33:43,050 ask the Lord for wisdom. 767 00:33:43,770 --> 00:33:48,770 We need wisdom on who we are associating with in our lives now. 768 00:33:48,770 --> 00:33:50,570 What do we do when we lack wisdom? 769 00:33:50,570 --> 00:33:54,610 I think that the book of James tells us a great place to start when 770 00:33:54,610 --> 00:33:56,910 it comes to wisdom, when we lack wisdom. 771 00:33:57,070 --> 00:34:00,470 I preached a few sermons in the book of James, James chapter 772 00:34:00,470 --> 00:34:03,950 one, and I've titled them what to do when you don't know what to 773 00:34:03,950 --> 00:34:04,070 do. 774 00:34:04,070 --> 00:34:06,510 There's times in our life when we don't know what to do. 775 00:34:06,750 --> 00:34:10,030 So, Lord, should I make a partnership with this person? 776 00:34:10,910 --> 00:34:12,990 Lord, should I serve at this capacity? 777 00:34:13,470 --> 00:34:15,230 Should I work at this place? 778 00:34:15,390 --> 00:34:18,110 Should I be friends with this person? 779 00:34:18,590 --> 00:34:22,830 James chapter one says in verse number five, if any of you 780 00:34:22,830 --> 00:34:28,009 lack wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally 781 00:34:28,009 --> 00:34:30,409 and abradeth not, and it shall be given him. 782 00:34:30,809 --> 00:34:32,249 But let him verse 6. 783 00:34:32,249 --> 00:34:36,609 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering, for he that wavereth 784 00:34:36,609 --> 00:34:39,929 is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and toss. 785 00:34:40,089 --> 00:34:44,009 So I think the first step is to ask the Lord in prayer, for wisdom, 786 00:34:44,809 --> 00:34:49,289 for discernment, say, lord, is this, what do you want me to do? 787 00:34:49,289 --> 00:34:50,889 What's the wise decision here? 788 00:34:50,889 --> 00:34:52,310 What's your path? 789 00:34:52,310 --> 00:34:54,870 What's your will for this relationship? 790 00:34:54,870 --> 00:34:56,710 And I think that that's something that we should think about. 791 00:34:57,510 --> 00:35:00,390 Not just with our personal friendship relationships, but everything. 792 00:35:00,550 --> 00:35:04,070 I think where we work plays a huge role in what we do in our lives, 793 00:35:04,630 --> 00:35:08,750 who we do business with, where we live, how we live, how we raise 794 00:35:08,750 --> 00:35:10,390 children, how we serve. 795 00:35:10,710 --> 00:35:15,030 Every aspect of our life should be aligned into the wisdom 796 00:35:15,030 --> 00:35:15,510 of God. 797 00:35:15,510 --> 00:35:20,000 Not just where we go to church, not just certain things on 798 00:35:20,000 --> 00:35:21,680 Sunday mornings, but our whole lives. 799 00:35:22,320 --> 00:35:26,800 24, 7, 365 should be bathed in prayer for the wisdom of God. 800 00:35:26,880 --> 00:35:30,640 So that's one way that we could seek God's counsel. 801 00:35:30,640 --> 00:35:33,920 But another way that we can seek God's counsel is obviously found 802 00:35:33,920 --> 00:35:34,600 in His Word. 803 00:35:34,600 --> 00:35:36,960 I want you to turn with me to Psalm 119. 804 00:35:37,840 --> 00:35:42,080 Some of you know Psalm 119 and the riches that are found in that 805 00:35:42,480 --> 00:35:43,560 long, long chapter. 806 00:35:43,560 --> 00:35:47,280 But in Psalm 119, I could just point out a few verses that that 807 00:35:47,280 --> 00:35:54,720 teach us to find the wisdom and the discernment in the counsel 808 00:35:54,720 --> 00:35:56,320 of God through his word. 809 00:35:57,040 --> 00:35:58,720 So Psalm 119, verse 5. 810 00:35:58,720 --> 00:36:02,960 Oh, that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes. 811 00:36:04,080 --> 00:36:05,360 And so the idea would be this. 812 00:36:05,360 --> 00:36:10,560 Our desire should be that God directs us to keep his word. 813 00:36:10,560 --> 00:36:14,080 And then verse 9 wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way 814 00:36:14,880 --> 00:36:17,280 by taking heed thereto unto thy word. 815 00:36:18,080 --> 00:36:18,800 Verse 11. 816 00:36:19,200 --> 00:36:23,040 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against 817 00:36:23,040 --> 00:36:23,520 thee. 818 00:36:24,080 --> 00:36:25,640 Verse after verse deals with this. 819 00:36:25,640 --> 00:36:28,040 I could go to so many more there in Psalm 119. 820 00:36:28,040 --> 00:36:31,340 But one that I think is very appropriate is Psalm 119. 821 00:36:31,460 --> 00:36:32,000 105. 822 00:36:32,480 --> 00:36:34,720 Psalm 119, 105 says this. 823 00:36:34,720 --> 00:36:39,120 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. 824 00:36:39,930 --> 00:36:40,130 The. 825 00:36:40,130 --> 00:36:43,770 The idea that we see repeated over and over again in Psalm 119 826 00:36:43,770 --> 00:36:48,410 is that the word of God, the scriptures are there for us to find 827 00:36:48,490 --> 00:36:49,330 our direction. 828 00:36:49,330 --> 00:36:51,290 God speaks to us through his Word. 829 00:36:51,450 --> 00:36:55,170 I often think about that analogy of if we had a completely 830 00:36:55,170 --> 00:36:56,129 darkened room. 831 00:36:56,129 --> 00:36:57,490 And there's a lot. 832 00:36:57,490 --> 00:37:00,250 I actually did this one time when I was teaching the teenagers, 833 00:37:00,330 --> 00:37:02,450 I. I got a guy up on the stage. 834 00:37:02,450 --> 00:37:03,610 This was a long time ago. 835 00:37:03,770 --> 00:37:07,370 And I turned as much lights as I could off in the building, and 836 00:37:07,370 --> 00:37:12,140 I put up on the stage a bunch of, like, chairs and different things, 837 00:37:12,140 --> 00:37:12,700 obstacles. 838 00:37:12,700 --> 00:37:14,740 And then I blindfolded him to make it even worse. 839 00:37:14,740 --> 00:37:17,580 And I said, okay, now you start on that side of the room, and 840 00:37:17,580 --> 00:37:19,140 I want you to try to cross the stage. 841 00:37:19,220 --> 00:37:21,220 And he was stumbling, he was falling. 842 00:37:21,220 --> 00:37:22,220 He was trying to find his way. 843 00:37:22,220 --> 00:37:23,140 Got all turned around. 844 00:37:23,460 --> 00:37:24,900 And the picture would be this. 845 00:37:25,540 --> 00:37:28,700 But that's how a person without the word of God is trying 846 00:37:28,700 --> 00:37:30,180 to navigate this dark world. 847 00:37:30,180 --> 00:37:32,340 The world is dark, and there's a lot of distractions. 848 00:37:32,420 --> 00:37:35,440 And so a person trying to figure it all out is going to be 849 00:37:35,440 --> 00:37:37,600 getting hurt, getting lost, getting confused. 850 00:37:37,600 --> 00:37:39,200 And I don't know if any of you guys have been lost. 851 00:37:39,200 --> 00:37:42,160 I can tell you story after story about being lost in my life. 852 00:37:42,480 --> 00:37:44,040 I had one story that I came. 853 00:37:44,040 --> 00:37:45,320 When I first came to church here. 854 00:37:45,320 --> 00:37:47,840 I got lost up in Pennsylvania in the middle of nowhere. 855 00:37:47,920 --> 00:37:49,560 And it was like I thought I was going to get killed. 856 00:37:49,560 --> 00:37:51,560 I thought I was going to get, you know, abducted. 857 00:37:51,560 --> 00:37:52,520 I didn't know what was going to happen. 858 00:37:52,520 --> 00:37:53,680 I was out in the middle of nowhere. 859 00:37:53,680 --> 00:37:54,920 It was a scary feeling. 860 00:37:54,920 --> 00:37:56,560 And sometimes that's how we feel in this world. 861 00:37:56,560 --> 00:37:59,400 We're so scared, we're so vulnerable because we don't have 862 00:37:59,400 --> 00:37:59,760 guidance. 863 00:37:59,760 --> 00:38:02,220 But the Bible says what Psalm 119, 105. 864 00:38:02,220 --> 00:38:05,500 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. 865 00:38:05,660 --> 00:38:08,940 It illuminates where we're going, so it gives us direction. 866 00:38:09,660 --> 00:38:13,700 It allows us to identify obstacles, and it gives us comfort 867 00:38:13,700 --> 00:38:15,100 to know that we're not alone. 868 00:38:15,100 --> 00:38:17,860 Because when that light shines, we see that the Lord is right 869 00:38:17,860 --> 00:38:18,620 there with us through it. 870 00:38:18,620 --> 00:38:20,140 And that's what the Word of God teaches. 871 00:38:20,540 --> 00:38:23,940 And so over and over again in Psalm 119, it talks about the benefits 872 00:38:23,940 --> 00:38:26,700 of resting and trusting in the Word of God. 873 00:38:27,500 --> 00:38:29,900 And So I think that what we could say is this. 874 00:38:30,060 --> 00:38:33,340 When we're looking at how to find the counsel of the Lord, instead 875 00:38:33,340 --> 00:38:36,460 of like the Israelites that just said, okay, they look great. 876 00:38:37,180 --> 00:38:38,580 It looks like they're telling the truth. 877 00:38:38,580 --> 00:38:40,940 That bread looks like it's pretty old. 878 00:38:41,100 --> 00:38:41,660 So you know what? 879 00:38:41,660 --> 00:38:43,620 We're just going to take it and we're just going to believe it 880 00:38:43,620 --> 00:38:45,260 and not seek the counsel of the Lord. 881 00:38:45,340 --> 00:38:47,740 What we should do is say, lord, come to him in prayer. 882 00:38:47,740 --> 00:38:48,700 Ask him for wisdom. 883 00:38:49,100 --> 00:38:51,740 Number two, go to His Word and look for guidance. 884 00:38:51,820 --> 00:38:54,940 And I would say, biblically speaking, number three, go for godly 885 00:38:54,940 --> 00:38:59,920 counsel with someone that is a trusted spiritual leader or spiritual 886 00:38:59,920 --> 00:39:00,600 companion. 887 00:39:01,320 --> 00:39:04,640 I encourage you to find someone in your life that you could 888 00:39:04,640 --> 00:39:07,480 look to to say, you know what, they might not be right about everything, 889 00:39:07,960 --> 00:39:11,800 but there's someone that I can bounce ideas off of that I can have 890 00:39:11,800 --> 00:39:13,080 pray with me through this. 891 00:39:13,080 --> 00:39:16,520 And sometimes the Bible says that counsel is a good thing. 892 00:39:17,080 --> 00:39:19,320 There's wisdom in the multitude of counselors. 893 00:39:19,560 --> 00:39:21,480 And so I'm not saying that we go to everybody. 894 00:39:22,130 --> 00:39:24,490 You know, I'm not just going to walk up to someone that just joined 895 00:39:24,490 --> 00:39:24,810 the church. 896 00:39:24,810 --> 00:39:26,570 Let's say someone, they just got saved today. 897 00:39:26,570 --> 00:39:29,530 And I walk up to them and I ask them a heavy, complex biblical 898 00:39:29,530 --> 00:39:29,810 question. 899 00:39:29,890 --> 00:39:31,210 They might go, I don't know. 900 00:39:31,210 --> 00:39:31,730 I don't know. 901 00:39:31,810 --> 00:39:34,690 So I'm not saying that everyone is at the capacity to be 902 00:39:34,690 --> 00:39:37,610 able to be a spiritual counselor, but I would say that you 903 00:39:37,610 --> 00:39:40,170 need to find someone in your life that you could say, hey, you 904 00:39:40,170 --> 00:39:40,410 know what? 905 00:39:40,410 --> 00:39:42,770 I've been asking the Lord for wisdom, and he's been leading me 906 00:39:42,770 --> 00:39:43,090 this way. 907 00:39:43,090 --> 00:39:44,170 I've been studying His Word. 908 00:39:44,170 --> 00:39:45,170 He's been leading this way. 909 00:39:45,170 --> 00:39:46,170 What do you think? 910 00:39:46,170 --> 00:39:48,290 And don't just ask them of their opinion. 911 00:39:49,060 --> 00:39:50,700 Okay, so, like, what do you think about this? 912 00:39:50,700 --> 00:39:53,860 But say, what do you believe the Bible says about this? 913 00:39:54,980 --> 00:39:55,700 Would you pr. 914 00:39:55,700 --> 00:39:58,540 Would you partner and pray with me about this decision in my 915 00:39:58,540 --> 00:39:58,820 life? 916 00:39:59,060 --> 00:40:01,300 Because what that's going to do is that's not going to show that 917 00:40:01,300 --> 00:40:04,860 that person has all the wisdom in their mind, but that they're seeking 918 00:40:04,860 --> 00:40:07,220 God's wisdom as well in that process with you. 919 00:40:07,300 --> 00:40:09,860 And so I believe that's how we should seek the counsel of the Lord 920 00:40:09,860 --> 00:40:11,860 in our lives when we're making any decision. 921 00:40:12,340 --> 00:40:14,980 And so don't think of it as something that's overwhelming. 922 00:40:14,980 --> 00:40:17,580 Sometimes people struggle with the will of God. 923 00:40:17,580 --> 00:40:19,580 They say, well, I just don't know what the will of God is for 924 00:40:19,580 --> 00:40:19,860 me. 925 00:40:20,710 --> 00:40:22,670 I just don't know what decision he wants me to make. 926 00:40:22,670 --> 00:40:24,110 I don't know who he wants me to be with. 927 00:40:24,110 --> 00:40:25,910 I don't know what he wants me to do. 928 00:40:25,910 --> 00:40:29,110 I understand those sentiments, but what I would say is this. 929 00:40:29,430 --> 00:40:32,110 Obviously, if we're praying, if we're seeking the word of God, 930 00:40:32,110 --> 00:40:34,510 if we're seeking Godly counsel, he is going to lead you 931 00:40:34,510 --> 00:40:35,350 in a direction. 932 00:40:35,910 --> 00:40:38,270 It's whether or not we want to walk through that door and say, lord, 933 00:40:38,270 --> 00:40:39,870 okay, that's, that's easy. 934 00:40:39,870 --> 00:40:40,270 That's good. 935 00:40:40,270 --> 00:40:40,910 I can do that. 936 00:40:40,910 --> 00:40:42,070 Or, lord, that's difficult. 937 00:40:42,070 --> 00:40:43,110 But I'm still going to do it. 938 00:40:43,110 --> 00:40:43,350 Right. 939 00:40:43,350 --> 00:40:44,230 That's the idea. 940 00:40:44,390 --> 00:40:47,110 So for Joshua, chapter nine, they were deceived. 941 00:40:47,110 --> 00:40:50,280 But then again, I love, I love how the Lord works. 942 00:40:50,280 --> 00:40:55,240 Because even in Israel's fall, and if you want to call it that, 943 00:40:55,240 --> 00:40:58,360 or their, their deception that they bought into, there's still grace 944 00:40:58,360 --> 00:40:58,800 for them. 945 00:40:59,200 --> 00:41:01,040 It was never too late for them to turn around. 946 00:41:01,440 --> 00:41:02,880 And then you see the other story. 947 00:41:02,880 --> 00:41:04,040 You see two sides of the coin. 948 00:41:04,040 --> 00:41:06,560 You see the Israelites forgiven and restored. 949 00:41:06,560 --> 00:41:10,040 And then you see the Gibeonites who came with really bad 950 00:41:10,040 --> 00:41:15,030 intentions, but ultimately came in and were forgiven and used 951 00:41:15,110 --> 00:41:15,830 by God. 952 00:41:15,830 --> 00:41:18,470 And so I think that that's a beautiful picture because, hey, maybe 953 00:41:18,470 --> 00:41:19,270 you've been deceived. 954 00:41:19,430 --> 00:41:22,030 There's no, there's no shame in that other than just get right 955 00:41:22,030 --> 00:41:22,470 with God. 956 00:41:23,430 --> 00:41:24,910 And so what does this look like? 957 00:41:24,910 --> 00:41:25,430 Practically? 958 00:41:25,670 --> 00:41:28,870 I would say, number one, look at your personal relationships. 959 00:41:29,990 --> 00:41:31,670 You would say, well, what do you mean by that? 960 00:41:31,750 --> 00:41:34,830 Who are you having your closest relationships with and where's 961 00:41:34,830 --> 00:41:35,630 their spiritual walk? 962 00:41:35,630 --> 00:41:38,990 Are they leading you away from the word of God, or are they leading 963 00:41:38,990 --> 00:41:39,990 you to the word of God? 964 00:41:40,200 --> 00:41:42,160 Are they leading you closer to the will of God? 965 00:41:42,160 --> 00:41:44,360 Are they leading you farther away from the will of God? 966 00:41:45,080 --> 00:41:48,400 The Bible talks about bad company corrupts, good manners or 967 00:41:48,400 --> 00:41:48,920 good morals. 968 00:41:48,920 --> 00:41:51,760 We have to be careful on who we're surrounding ourselves with. 969 00:41:51,760 --> 00:41:53,600 But then secondly, I would say this. 970 00:41:53,600 --> 00:41:53,880 Who. 971 00:41:53,880 --> 00:41:57,000 Who are we making more corporate relationships with? 972 00:41:57,320 --> 00:42:00,440 And I'm not going to sit here and say you should, you know, boycott 973 00:42:00,440 --> 00:42:02,280 whatever company that you want. 974 00:42:02,520 --> 00:42:04,360 If you want to boycott a company, boycott a company. 975 00:42:04,360 --> 00:42:04,880 I don't care. 976 00:42:04,880 --> 00:42:08,160 But what I would say is this, just be careful on how it affects 977 00:42:08,160 --> 00:42:09,080 your Christian walk. 978 00:42:09,480 --> 00:42:14,520 If it affects and hinders your conscience, stay away from it. 979 00:42:14,840 --> 00:42:15,800 Stay away from it. 980 00:42:15,960 --> 00:42:17,480 And I would say this too. 981 00:42:17,560 --> 00:42:20,520 Think about who you're receiving biblical counsel from. 982 00:42:20,520 --> 00:42:21,800 Biblical teaching from. 983 00:42:22,440 --> 00:42:25,400 Today we live in a world that there's a lot of benefits of technology. 984 00:42:25,640 --> 00:42:28,040 Like there, there are great things with technology. 985 00:42:28,600 --> 00:42:31,400 Now, you don't just hear from your pastor on Sunday morning. 986 00:42:31,400 --> 00:42:34,540 You can hear from 50 different pastors throughout the week. 987 00:42:34,940 --> 00:42:36,620 And that's a good thing, right? 988 00:42:36,620 --> 00:42:38,620 More Bible, good things. 989 00:42:38,780 --> 00:42:43,060 But at the same time, just as that gate has opened with a lot of 990 00:42:43,060 --> 00:42:46,700 good information, so that gate has opened for a lot of bad information. 991 00:42:47,500 --> 00:42:50,820 What we have to be careful with is discernment on who we are 992 00:42:50,820 --> 00:42:52,460 taking biblical advice from. 993 00:42:52,460 --> 00:42:54,620 Biblical teaching, from biblical preaching from. 994 00:42:55,020 --> 00:42:56,700 Because there's a lot of people that are. 995 00:42:57,180 --> 00:42:57,700 I'm just. 996 00:42:57,700 --> 00:42:59,420 I'm gonna get on my hobby horse here just for a second. 997 00:42:59,420 --> 00:43:02,230 There's a lot of people that are not qualified to be teaching 998 00:43:02,230 --> 00:43:06,390 you the Bible, but yet they feel as if they are qualified, and 999 00:43:06,390 --> 00:43:10,830 therefore they might be misleading you willingly or unwillingly 1000 00:43:10,830 --> 00:43:12,270 in a false direction. 1001 00:43:12,590 --> 00:43:16,350 There might be people that are using the name of Jesus for some 1002 00:43:16,350 --> 00:43:19,270 sort of financial benefit or some sort of following, but at the 1003 00:43:19,270 --> 00:43:22,350 same time are not giving us the true content of the Scriptures. 1004 00:43:23,230 --> 00:43:24,830 So how do you interpret that? 1005 00:43:24,830 --> 00:43:25,070 How. 1006 00:43:25,070 --> 00:43:27,230 How do you discern whether or not someone's true? 1007 00:43:28,330 --> 00:43:28,570 It's. 1008 00:43:28,570 --> 00:43:29,690 It's not that difficult. 1009 00:43:30,090 --> 00:43:32,690 You just say, are they matching up to the Word of God? 1010 00:43:32,690 --> 00:43:34,330 Are they preaching the word of God? 1011 00:43:34,330 --> 00:43:35,770 Are they living the Word of God? 1012 00:43:36,090 --> 00:43:36,730 That's it. 1013 00:43:37,450 --> 00:43:38,770 I'm not asking, are they perfect? 1014 00:43:38,770 --> 00:43:39,610 No one's perfect. 1015 00:43:39,610 --> 00:43:41,770 You follow me around long enough, you're going to find that 1016 00:43:41,770 --> 00:43:42,650 I'm not a perfect person. 1017 00:43:42,650 --> 00:43:44,130 Some of you have already found that out. 1018 00:43:44,130 --> 00:43:44,730 That's okay. 1019 00:43:44,970 --> 00:43:47,210 But the reality is, it's not about being perfect. 1020 00:43:47,530 --> 00:43:51,090 It's about, is the teaching aligned with the truth of God's word? 1021 00:43:51,090 --> 00:43:54,250 And does the life match up to what God has called them to live 1022 00:43:54,250 --> 00:43:55,690 out as teachers and preachers? 1023 00:43:56,730 --> 00:44:00,090 So there's someone that gets up and says, hey, love your wife 1024 00:44:00,090 --> 00:44:03,170 and love your family and be the best husband that you should 1025 00:44:03,170 --> 00:44:03,450 be. 1026 00:44:03,450 --> 00:44:05,530 And then you follow him around and he's a. 1027 00:44:05,530 --> 00:44:06,890 A despicable husband. 1028 00:44:07,290 --> 00:44:08,170 And there's some. 1029 00:44:08,170 --> 00:44:10,170 There's some disparity there, right? 1030 00:44:10,570 --> 00:44:13,690 Not that he will be perfect, but if his lifestyle does not reflect 1031 00:44:13,930 --> 00:44:17,250 in coordination with what he's preaching, there's probably a major 1032 00:44:17,250 --> 00:44:17,850 issue there. 1033 00:44:18,490 --> 00:44:20,130 Same thing with someone preaching the Word. 1034 00:44:20,130 --> 00:44:24,220 They say, you know, for example, hey, put your Bibles down 1035 00:44:24,220 --> 00:44:25,020 now, listen to me. 1036 00:44:25,020 --> 00:44:26,220 This is the real good stuff. 1037 00:44:26,220 --> 00:44:26,660 That's. 1038 00:44:26,660 --> 00:44:27,620 That's a red flag. 1039 00:44:27,620 --> 00:44:29,100 Run away from that, okay? 1040 00:44:29,260 --> 00:44:31,340 Because the opinion of man does not matter. 1041 00:44:31,580 --> 00:44:32,820 It's the word of God. 1042 00:44:32,820 --> 00:44:36,700 As Psalm 119 says, the word of God is what's going to stand forever. 1043 00:44:37,100 --> 00:44:38,940 My opinions, if God tarries. 1044 00:44:38,940 --> 00:44:43,020 My opinions are not going to last in 100, 200 years. 1045 00:44:43,340 --> 00:44:45,900 There's most likely no one's going to remember my name. 1046 00:44:46,380 --> 00:44:49,540 But what I need to do is preach the gospel so that we know 1047 00:44:49,540 --> 00:44:51,340 that the Word of God is going to stand forever. 1048 00:44:51,340 --> 00:44:53,980 The gospel of Jesus Christ is going to stand forever. 1049 00:44:53,980 --> 00:44:56,620 And so it's not about acclaim, it's not about praise. 1050 00:44:56,620 --> 00:45:00,620 And so if there's a person who is building their ministry off of 1051 00:45:01,580 --> 00:45:06,380 attention and praise and fanfare and a congregation of, of 1052 00:45:06,540 --> 00:45:10,460 fans and celebration in that regard, folks, that's the wrong motivation. 1053 00:45:10,620 --> 00:45:11,820 That's the wrong motivation. 1054 00:45:11,820 --> 00:45:15,300 The right motivation is that the Word of God is celebrated, that 1055 00:45:15,300 --> 00:45:19,740 we point to Jesus and nothing else for salvation. 1056 00:45:20,020 --> 00:45:21,340 And I encourage you to think about that. 1057 00:45:21,340 --> 00:45:24,260 I encourage you to think about who you are taking in when it comes 1058 00:45:24,260 --> 00:45:26,700 to your ear gate and your eye gate and all of those things. 1059 00:45:26,700 --> 00:45:29,340 When it comes to what you're intaking throughout your week, some 1060 00:45:29,340 --> 00:45:32,460 of you might say, well, you know what, I don't struggle with 1061 00:45:32,460 --> 00:45:32,660 that. 1062 00:45:32,660 --> 00:45:33,580 I'm pretty discerning. 1063 00:45:33,580 --> 00:45:34,580 Well, that's fantastic. 1064 00:45:34,580 --> 00:45:35,700 Stand strong in that. 1065 00:45:36,180 --> 00:45:39,540 But what I would encourage you is to seek the wisdom and counsel 1066 00:45:39,540 --> 00:45:41,860 of God for those decisions in your life. 1067 00:45:43,220 --> 00:45:47,840 I use this as an analogy so often, and I have to, you know, I 1068 00:45:47,840 --> 00:45:50,160 got to come up with new ones, but I, I've only lived one life, 1069 00:45:50,160 --> 00:45:53,080 so I can't, I can't make up any new ones unless I steal other 1070 00:45:53,080 --> 00:45:53,600 people's. 1071 00:45:53,680 --> 00:45:59,360 But when I started, when our first child was born, I recognized 1072 00:45:59,680 --> 00:46:02,240 the, the weight of being a parent. 1073 00:46:03,200 --> 00:46:07,640 And I realized that I was going to make mistakes as a, as a 1074 00:46:07,640 --> 00:46:08,080 father. 1075 00:46:08,880 --> 00:46:11,360 But one of the things that I committed to the Lord was like, lord, 1076 00:46:11,360 --> 00:46:13,120 I want you to guide me as a father. 1077 00:46:13,600 --> 00:46:14,720 I want to do this right. 1078 00:46:15,280 --> 00:46:17,840 I want to raise my children in the nurture and ammunition of the 1079 00:46:17,840 --> 00:46:18,040 Lord. 1080 00:46:18,040 --> 00:46:19,440 I want to raise them in the Word. 1081 00:46:19,440 --> 00:46:19,800 Why? 1082 00:46:19,800 --> 00:46:21,920 Because I've only got one shot with each one of them. 1083 00:46:22,560 --> 00:46:24,240 And I, and I don't want to miss that shot. 1084 00:46:24,240 --> 00:46:26,960 Now for some of us, maybe, maybe we weren't in that place. 1085 00:46:27,280 --> 00:46:28,960 And I've been wrong in a lot of things. 1086 00:46:28,960 --> 00:46:32,920 But what I will say for my life is that the desire for me is 1087 00:46:32,920 --> 00:46:34,720 to not waste this. 1088 00:46:34,720 --> 00:46:38,800 And so I remember asking God, give me wisdom, give me strength 1089 00:46:38,800 --> 00:46:40,240 on how to deal with this child. 1090 00:46:40,700 --> 00:46:43,660 But then what happens is, is that after the first one was born 1091 00:46:43,820 --> 00:46:46,100 and we like, I was praying over him constantly. 1092 00:46:46,100 --> 00:46:48,540 And then the second one was born and I was praying over constantly. 1093 00:46:48,700 --> 00:46:51,380 And then after Your first, second, maybe for some of you, the 1094 00:46:51,380 --> 00:46:53,300 fourth, fifth, and sixth, you start saying, I've got this handled, 1095 00:46:53,300 --> 00:46:53,740 okay? 1096 00:46:53,980 --> 00:46:55,100 I'm a pro at this. 1097 00:46:55,900 --> 00:46:57,740 And that could be in a lot of areas, right? 1098 00:46:58,860 --> 00:47:00,540 I used to pray over my job. 1099 00:47:00,620 --> 00:47:02,300 I used to pray over my marriage. 1100 00:47:02,300 --> 00:47:04,980 I used to just, like, ask the Lord for wisdom and counsel. 1101 00:47:04,980 --> 00:47:08,490 But now that I have it all taken care of, I can coast. 1102 00:47:08,650 --> 00:47:12,610 Folks, we should never get to a place of spiritual apathy, that 1103 00:47:12,610 --> 00:47:15,930 we don't seek the counsel of God in every area of our life. 1104 00:47:16,410 --> 00:47:19,450 Even if you think you got it, keep asking God for wisdom. 1105 00:47:19,770 --> 00:47:22,730 Because the reality is, is that just when we start letting up, 1106 00:47:22,810 --> 00:47:25,130 just when we start thinking we've got it all together and we've 1107 00:47:25,130 --> 00:47:27,330 got it figured out, that's when those curveballs come. 1108 00:47:27,330 --> 00:47:29,890 That's when the gibeonites come into the camp and start trying 1109 00:47:29,890 --> 00:47:30,650 to deceive us. 1110 00:47:30,650 --> 00:47:33,250 And we say, no, we need to be on guard, and we need to be asking 1111 00:47:33,250 --> 00:47:35,930 for the wisdom of God, the counsel of God in everything that 1112 00:47:35,930 --> 00:47:36,850 we do in our lives. 1113 00:47:37,090 --> 00:47:38,490 And so that's my challenge for you. 1114 00:47:38,490 --> 00:47:39,650 That's my challenge for me. 1115 00:47:39,890 --> 00:47:40,570 And as. 1116 00:47:40,570 --> 00:47:43,730 As brothers and sisters in Christ, let's pray for each other. 1117 00:47:44,370 --> 00:47:49,770 I pray frequently for the hearts and minds of our church to 1118 00:47:49,770 --> 00:47:53,570 not be deceived from the attractions of this world. 1119 00:47:54,130 --> 00:47:55,010 I really do. 1120 00:47:55,810 --> 00:47:57,570 And the truth is, is that my. 1121 00:47:57,570 --> 00:48:03,200 My concern is that we have so much outward stimuli in our life 1122 00:48:03,200 --> 00:48:07,360 that we forget that this is the only thing that is the source 1123 00:48:07,360 --> 00:48:08,440 of truth in this world. 1124 00:48:09,160 --> 00:48:11,920 And I know all of us know that intellectually, but sometimes we 1125 00:48:11,920 --> 00:48:14,600 can easily drift when our senses are pulled away. 1126 00:48:15,160 --> 00:48:19,680 And so no matter how you feel, no matter who's treating you a certain 1127 00:48:19,680 --> 00:48:23,240 way, no matter what the news is telling you, no matter what anything 1128 00:48:23,240 --> 00:48:26,080 is saying, go back to the truth of the word of God and say, 1129 00:48:26,080 --> 00:48:30,410 yep, I know that people say this, but God says this, and then 1130 00:48:30,730 --> 00:48:31,490 live in that. 1131 00:48:31,490 --> 00:48:32,490 Stand true to that. 1132 00:48:32,570 --> 00:48:34,970 It's okay to be stubborn in that, right? 1133 00:48:35,130 --> 00:48:37,570 Sometimes being stubborn is a bad thing, when we're stubborn in 1134 00:48:37,570 --> 00:48:39,850 our own strength, but being stubborn in the truth of God is a 1135 00:48:39,850 --> 00:48:40,330 good thing. 1136 00:48:40,810 --> 00:48:43,930 You know, if you've ever had a child that is stubborn like, we think 1137 00:48:43,930 --> 00:48:45,450 of that sometimes as a negative thing. 1138 00:48:45,850 --> 00:48:48,410 But if they're stubborn for the truth, if they're grounded in 1139 00:48:48,410 --> 00:48:51,490 the truth, fortified in the gospel message, that's a good thing. 1140 00:48:51,490 --> 00:48:54,090 All of us should be fortified in the truth of God. 1141 00:48:54,730 --> 00:48:56,210 And that's what we have to do as Christians. 1142 00:48:56,210 --> 00:48:57,610 That's what we have to stand for. 1143 00:48:57,770 --> 00:48:59,450 And so I just wanted to share that with you guys. 1144 00:48:59,450 --> 00:49:01,490 This evening I'm going to close in a word of prayer and then 1145 00:49:01,490 --> 00:49:03,290 after that I have a few announcements and we'll be dismissed. 1146 00:49:03,290 --> 00:49:04,770 Lord, I thank you for this time that you've given us. 1147 00:49:04,770 --> 00:49:07,810 I thank you for the opportunity to come before you this 1148 00:49:07,810 --> 00:49:11,650 evening with our hearts open and ready to be taught and be led. 1149 00:49:11,650 --> 00:49:14,250 Lord, we pray that we can seek your counsel. 1150 00:49:14,250 --> 00:49:17,730 Lord, seek your wisdom, seek your guidance in all capacities in 1151 00:49:17,730 --> 00:49:18,130 our life. 1152 00:49:18,130 --> 00:49:20,650 Lord, help us to have our families dedicated to you. 1153 00:49:20,650 --> 00:49:22,450 Help us to have our jobs dedicated to you. 1154 00:49:22,450 --> 00:49:24,830 Help us to have our marriage is dedicated to you. 1155 00:49:24,830 --> 00:49:27,390 Help us to have all of our decisions, whether it be financial 1156 00:49:28,030 --> 00:49:31,790 decisions or locational decisions or any decision. 1157 00:49:31,950 --> 00:49:35,790 Lord, help it to be all put before you for your counsel. 1158 00:49:35,870 --> 00:49:39,349 And Lord, that we don't get deceived from the ways of the world. 1159 00:49:39,349 --> 00:49:41,390 And so I pray that you be with us as we go our separate ways. 1160 00:49:41,390 --> 00:49:43,070 Be with our fellowship to follow. 1161 00:49:43,070 --> 00:49:44,470 We ask all these things in Jesus name. 1162 00:49:44,470 --> 00:49:44,990 Amen. 1163 00:49:46,190 --> 00:49:48,790 Thank you again for listening to the Middletown Baptist Church 1164 00:49:48,790 --> 00:49:49,390 podcast. 1165 00:49:49,630 --> 00:49:52,060 I hope that this sermon has been a blessing blessing for you. 1166 00:49:52,700 --> 00:49:54,940 You would like to find out more information about our church 1167 00:49:54,940 --> 00:49:58,380 or this sermon, you can find us at middletownbaptistchurch.org 1168 00:49:58,700 --> 00:50:01,260 or find us on Facebook or YouTube. 1169 00:50:01,980 --> 00:50:06,460 You can also email me directly at Josh Massaroiddletownbaptistchurch 1170 00:50:06,460 --> 00:50:09,100 dot com if you've enjoyed this podcast. 1171 00:50:09,260 --> 00:50:13,740 Please subscribe and follow along for future podcast and updates. 1172 00:50:14,380 --> 00:50:15,260 Thank you so much. 1173 00:50:15,580 --> 00:50:16,300 God Bless. 1174 00:50:16,540 --> 00:50:17,820 Have a wonderful day.