SPEAKER_00: Hello, what a great song.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Lois.
SPEAKER_00: That is perfect for what I'm gonna speak about.
SPEAKER_00: So thank you and thank you, Holy Spirit, for prompting her.
SPEAKER_00: So we're at chapter seven of Joshua.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if you were wondering, you could think, if you were a preacher, how come with everything in Joshua, you get chapter seven?
SPEAKER_00: Because at first look, it's pretty depressing.
SPEAKER_00: This morning, ending on a high note, the Israelites are in the promised land.
SPEAKER_00: Rahab and her family are saved, Jericho is destroyed, and it says at the end of chapter six that the Lord was with Joshua and his fame spread throughout the land.
SPEAKER_00: This people of Israel, they'd got the promise, they'd been prepared, as we heard this morning, walking in their purpose, their future was just starting.
SPEAKER_00: But but and it's a huge uh-uh.
SPEAKER_00: Literally, we then get to Joshua 7.
SPEAKER_00: And we hear this story of one guy.
SPEAKER_00: Um, I'll call him different names because I don't always pronounce it the same, but you'll know who I mean.
SPEAKER_00: But Achan, he'd been unfaithful, he'd not done what the Lord had said, he'd taken some of the sacred things of the people from Jericho into his own tent, as it were, and he knew that was wrong.
SPEAKER_00: Joshua told the people this was a direct instruction from God not to do it, and he'd also Joshua told the people that doing it would lead to their destruction, but he'd done it.
SPEAKER_00: So we read in uh in Joshua 7 that he stole these things, and then straight after Jericho, I mean, I reckon they were in pretty good mood, really.
SPEAKER_00: They were probably quite upbeat and they're ready to go to the next town, which is quite funny because it's AI, which you know means something different these days, but they're ready to take the next town, and they've sent spies, they've been to the town, they've come back and they've reported, oh, we won't need many of our army, Joshua, to go and fight them.
SPEAKER_00: It's fine, it's gonna be easy, and so 3,000 men go, but they're routed and defeated, and 36 of them die, and it's because, as God reveals to them, that their defeat was a direct result of sin, of someone taking the sacred items of their lies, and the next day it becomes clear through a process that Joshua undertakes with the Lord that it's Achan who sinned against God.
SPEAKER_00: He sinned, he's taken the plunder, he's hidden it, and unfortunately, I'll say it's a pretty depressing chapter.
SPEAKER_00: The result of that is Achan and his sons and his daughters are stoned to death.
SPEAKER_00: And they then make a monument of stones where that happened, and that place becomes known as the Valley of Achor.
SPEAKER_00: So it's this awful thing, just in the promised land.
SPEAKER_00: But one man, one act of disobedience, stopped the Israelites in their tracks.
SPEAKER_00: I think that's really sad, don't you?
SPEAKER_00: One man's sin having this profound impact on the whole community.
SPEAKER_00: You know, I'm sure you know it, but sin is damaging.
SPEAKER_00: Ever since the Garden of Eden, sin, us not living by God's standards, has been damaging.
SPEAKER_00: It's damaging to us, it's damaging to those close to us, to our community, and ultimately to our relationship with God.
SPEAKER_00: And on that like personal, individual level, our choices and our sin, they impact us, but they impact others as well.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I'm pretty sure you haven't caused the death of anyone, let alone 36 people, but we will have impacted others because sin damages and destroys, damages relationships, people's finances, people's mental and physical health, the communities that they live in, and worst of all, the Bible teaches us that God can't tolerate sin.
SPEAKER_00: And so if you go home, I'm not going to read all the chapter, it's quite long, but go home and read it because you'll see quite clearly that what happens, uh Achan's sin has to be identified, has to be known what it is.
SPEAKER_00: It's judged and purged, and then for him came punishment.
SPEAKER_00: And I just pause there because that's pretty depressing.
SPEAKER_00: But what's even sadder is what the name Acor means, because I think that adds some of our understanding about what was going on for the Israelites at this point.
SPEAKER_00: And Acor means a place of trouble, of affliction, a taboo place, a place you don't want to go.
SPEAKER_00: And actually, it's it's so strong, it's like this severe kind of trouble.
SPEAKER_00: And this is where the Israelites find themselves so soon after the victory in Jericho.
SPEAKER_00: Now I hope that lots of us are in a great place with God today.
SPEAKER_00: Whether you are or aren't today, I bet there are things you can look back and think, gosh, there have been times where I felt afflicted, times where I felt like I'm in trouble, times where I know I've not done what God wanted me to do.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe some of us are like the Israelites in that we are just heading to a wilderness, or we know we're in a wilderness like they've been.
SPEAKER_00: We feel we're dry and in the desert, and maybe we have to stop today and identify what's happening in our own lives.
SPEAKER_00: I did think as I was preparing, maybe some of us have been disobedient, or at least grumbling and complaining.
SPEAKER_00: I don't mind a little grumble occasionally myself.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not renowned for it, but I know I can have a little grumble.
SPEAKER_00: But we can grumble, we can complain, we might even be being disobedient, moving away from what God's plan is and his instructions to us.
SPEAKER_00: And so as we look at this today, I want us to be honest with ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: Because if we're not, you might as well get your phone out and have a look on Google.
SPEAKER_00: Because literally we need to be honest with ourselves today and say, God, identify if you need to in me what's happening at the minute in my life, what might be impacting my journey of faith, my joy, my victories in you, my relationship, most importantly, with you, Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Because I think we know when we've sinned.
SPEAKER_00: Achan did, he knew it was wrong, he hid it.
SPEAKER_00: He wouldn't have hidden the items if he had didn't think he'd done wrong.
SPEAKER_00: And we might not like that word.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, you probably don't hear it anywhere but church, but we actually all know a sense of right and wrong, and we've all felt that burden of either our own wrongdoing or the burden of others' wrongdoing impact on us.
SPEAKER_00: There's a verse in Romans and chapter 3, and it says this Romans 3, 23.
SPEAKER_00: All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
SPEAKER_00: Quite like that, because it means I'm no different to you, and even David Wade is no different to us.
SPEAKER_00: All have sinned and come short of the glory of God because we know that's the truth of who we are, and sin, as we say, is anything that falls short of God's plan, whether it's harming us or someone else, ultimately our sin is against a holy God.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe that causes you some fear or trembling, and I don't mind a little bit of that as long as we move away from it, because what we really know is Jesus paid the price.
SPEAKER_00: That's the reassuring thing.
SPEAKER_00: That's the thing that takes away the ominous, on I can get that word, ominous sound of that, the fear, the tremblings, Jesus paid the price.
SPEAKER_00: Isn't that amazing?
SPEAKER_00: Despite our wrongdoing, despite our mistakes.
SPEAKER_00: We're really privileged because we can look back at Joshua 7 through the lens of Jesus' death and resurrection.
SPEAKER_00: We're privileged to know already the work is done.
SPEAKER_00: And we can receive that gift of our sins forgiven, knowing He took our punishment, He took our place in judgment.
SPEAKER_00: Death isn't the result of our sin as it was for Achan.
SPEAKER_00: Isn't that great?
SPEAKER_00: But more than that, Hebrews 4, 16 says, Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
SPEAKER_00: We haven't just got sins forgiven, we've got a clear route, an open heaven, a connection with the Father, to power, healing, comfort, and all that God offers.
SPEAKER_00: You know, Acham was in the promised land, he'd been saved.
SPEAKER_00: Just reflect on that this moment this moment, this moment, this afternoon.
SPEAKER_00: We have lots of us been saved.
SPEAKER_00: And if we haven't, we can be today.
SPEAKER_00: We're like Acham, we're in the promised land in one sense, we've been saved.
SPEAKER_00: We know that we don't live with death and punishment, we live under the cross.
SPEAKER_00: But I don't know about you, but I know there are times where I can continue to do the wrong thing, and maybe we need to identify some of those areas today today.
SPEAKER_00: Scott said this morning, God is looking for pure hearts, not perfection.
SPEAKER_00: We're not going to get to perfection until we're in heaven with him, but he's looking for pure hearts.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm not talking about that first repentance at salvation, but about an ongoing day in, day out willingness to turn towards God and away from the stuff we know isn't best for us.
SPEAKER_00: The willingness day by day to walk in his plan for us.
SPEAKER_00: God knows what we're up to.
SPEAKER_00: Always.
SPEAKER_00: But sometimes we have to acknowledge it.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we have to stop being deceitful, not thinking that we're hiding things and actually make a decision to change and go back to the cross.
SPEAKER_00: Acham's sin was disobedience, coveting, stealing, and then hiding his sin.
SPEAKER_00: Now, it's probably something different for some of us.
SPEAKER_00: You know, there's sometimes there are things that we struggle with that others don't.
SPEAKER_00: But when we confess to God, when we know the price is paid, that the work is finished, we can turn round and continue to move on into new places.
SPEAKER_00: So going back to Achan, what happens is, as I say, he's stoned, his family's stoned, they build this monument, and then God resets the agenda.
SPEAKER_00: And in verse 26 of Joshua 7, we see that it's like God just draws a line in the sand.
SPEAKER_00: The Israelites can carry on moving into the promised land, they can take the rest of the cities and they take AI.
SPEAKER_00: But the name of that valley remained.
SPEAKER_00: It's like this permanent reminder that Israel's first act of disobedience in the promised land, which came so quickly, was there.
SPEAKER_00: This stone monument there to remind them of what had happened, that one man's wrongdoing.
SPEAKER_00: And they kept calling it the Valley of Achal.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't know about you, but maybe there are areas in your past where you know you're forgiven.
SPEAKER_00: You're probably carrying on on your faith journey, you're even loving and serving God, but there's some memory there.
SPEAKER_00: Your own monument, your own valley of trouble and affliction, something that still rises up and looms over you on occasions.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's a name someone's put on you in the past, maybe a sadness that you just can't shake, even a rawness with past trouble, past uh sin you've done or others have done to you.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe trouble that you just can't shake yourself from.
SPEAKER_00: And I just felt that there would be some of us here that we just wish we could truly move on, that we wouldn't have that behind us, always hanging over us.
SPEAKER_00: Patterns in our life which we just desperately wish could be broken, you know, because the sad thing is it doesn't stop at AI.
SPEAKER_00: The Israelites kept on disobeying God, both as individuals, people like King David, and also as the tribes and nations.
SPEAKER_00: And I think we do that sometimes.
SPEAKER_00: There are things that are pertinent to us that others don't struggle with, but actually we let build up and become a problem.
SPEAKER_00: Small jealousies or desires or a comparison or habits, things other people wouldn't struggle with that become a problem for us.
SPEAKER_00: And so just want to look for just a couple of minutes about I think the most amazing thing about the Valley of Achilles, because I find it really emotional.
SPEAKER_00: I love this story.
SPEAKER_00: It moves me in my emotions because actually the best bit about this story is that there is an answer to our past, to things said over us, to patterns of behavior we're going to break.
SPEAKER_00: And this is a thing of great beauty, of hope, of promise, of kindness, something that just shows us the real true character of God.
SPEAKER_00: You see, the Valley of Achal gets mentioned twice more in the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_00: Hosea 2 and Isaiah 65.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to read them to you.
SPEAKER_00: And as I do, think of maybe something in your life that you need to just let go of for good.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm seeing the impact of these verses.
SPEAKER_00: So Hosea 2, 15.
SPEAKER_00: There I will give her back her vineyards and will make the valley of Acor a door of hope.
SPEAKER_00: There she will respond as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt.
SPEAKER_00: The valley of Acor, a door of hope.
SPEAKER_00: Isaiah 65 says, Sharon will become a pasture for flocks and the valley of Acor, a resting place for herds, for my people who seek me.
SPEAKER_00: I think that's great.
SPEAKER_00: Wow, isn't God good?
SPEAKER_00: A place of hope and a resting place for those that seek him.
SPEAKER_00: It's no longer a taboo place, it's no longer a sad place.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, God says, No, have a door of hope, have a resting place for those who seek me.
SPEAKER_00: I think that's worth a hallelujah, because that is great.
SPEAKER_00: God can do that for us.
SPEAKER_00: He can change the place to a place of hope, a place of rest.
SPEAKER_00: Now it's just one problem.
SPEAKER_00: 650 years between Joshua 7 and Hosea.
SPEAKER_00: And I will say with absolute certainty, you haven't got 650 years.
SPEAKER_00: So let's not delay moving forward in the era God wants us to move forward with Him.
SPEAKER_00: We can do it today.
SPEAKER_00: Because that transformation we see of the Valley of Acor is life-changing today.
SPEAKER_00: Because God's the same yesterday, today, and forever.
SPEAKER_00: He still loves us, he still moves, he's still full of mercy and forgiveness, and he's still kind, he's still good, he's still generous.
SPEAKER_00: Hosea is the same root word as Joshua and Jesus, and in fact, the whole book of Hosea teaches us to turn towards God and away from sin.
SPEAKER_00: But the thing is, you have to do something, because that's the thing about doors.
SPEAKER_00: You have to do something, you have to open them and move into them.
SPEAKER_00: It's not automatic.
SPEAKER_00: And so the Valley of Acre, that door of hope, because Jesus has opened it, He's brought us back, He's paid the penalty, that's up to us, both at an initial choice of repentance and as we carry on our journey, whether we take hold of that opportunity of hope.
SPEAKER_00: So, although it looks like a really depressing story, I want to encourage you today to accept that mercy, grace, and forgiveness that Jesus offers.
SPEAKER_00: Leave the things of the past, in the past, be renewed and restored and able to receive more of God's blessings, be willing to flourish.
SPEAKER_00: And the Isaiah 65 verses says, the valley is now a resting place.
SPEAKER_00: Now I don't back you, but I definitely don't feel rested if I'm in trouble, in pain, or fearful.
SPEAKER_00: But once again, God's working and he says to the Israelites, that memory, whatever it is that's troubling you, can be a resting place.
SPEAKER_00: When?
SPEAKER_00: When you seek me.
SPEAKER_00: Isaiah is looking forward to a bright future for the people of Israel, and he mentions this valley of Acor.
SPEAKER_00: But again, it's not passive.
SPEAKER_00: We need to do something.
SPEAKER_00: He says, for those who seek me.
SPEAKER_00: And we have that opportunity today as well.
SPEAKER_00: And I know that God is here today through his spirit, and I think he wants to lead us into that door of hope again.
SPEAKER_00: Lots of us have been through it hundreds of times.
SPEAKER_00: He wants us to step in to what's next, seek him to find true rest.
SPEAKER_00: And I want you to move in that today.
SPEAKER_00: You know, you're called to freedom, you're called to be who God created you to be.
SPEAKER_00: You're called to move in his spirit, to move in the gifts that he's given you, the freedom that we can lead others, the freedom to evangelize, the freedom to live life to the full.
SPEAKER_00: That's waiting for us through the door as we seek.
SPEAKER_00: Today matters.
SPEAKER_00: The future matters.
SPEAKER_00: God has chosen you and He wants to see you flourish and be fruitful.
SPEAKER_00: But you're not just chosen, you're appointed to bear fruit, fruit that will last.
SPEAKER_00: So as I finish in, my prayer today is that my and your valley of Acor would become a door of hope, a resting place where we seek God and we seek to make him known to others.
SPEAKER_00: God is still the God of transformation, and whatever valley you might be in, it's just a valley.
SPEAKER_00: He can change it.
SPEAKER_00: Instead of being trouble and affliction and pain, he says, I'm going to make it a door of hope.
SPEAKER_00: God can turn around whatever life has thrown your way.
SPEAKER_00: And just this sense of today that I think some of us are like at a threshold or stuck in something.
SPEAKER_00: And today, with trust and obedience, God wants us to just step forward.
SPEAKER_00: I'd urge you, don't settle where you are.
SPEAKER_00: God's got so much more for you.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because we live with hope.
SPEAKER_00: And we live with this promise of that trouble and taboo place disappearing and becoming hope and rest.
SPEAKER_00: So just respond to the spirit as we worship, if the team would come up.
SPEAKER_00: Just respond as the spirit moves.
SPEAKER_00: Allow yourself if you need prayer, go to the back for prayer.
SPEAKER_00: But just move as we're singing in your own mind, in your own life, with the areas you need to just get gone and they seek God for the answers this afternoon.
SPEAKER_00: Thanks and