SPEAKER_01: Hello everyone, I'm Dr.
SPEAKER_01: Steve Holt.
SPEAKER_01: I want to welcome you to the Road Church Podcast.
SPEAKER_01: Each week we go into God's Word.
SPEAKER_01: We teach chapter by chapter and verse by verse.
SPEAKER_01: We are here to build the Kingdom of God revolution through empowering people to change the world.
SPEAKER_01: So we pray this will minister to you at your heart level and change your life.
SPEAKER_01: I hope you believe that all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to his purpose.
SPEAKER_01: Because we're in the story in Joshua, Joshua chapter 9 last week, Joshua chapter 10 this week, where Joshua messes up, doesn't seek God, signs a treaty, kind of a covenant, as it were, with the Gibeonites, which is a group of people there in the city of Gibeon, right in the heart of Israel.
SPEAKER_01: And so what we're gonna find out today, more than ever, but we saw it a little bit last week, is that God often uses big mistakes in our life to actually do something big in our life through the mistake we make.
SPEAKER_01: So sometimes your biggest failures turn out to be some of the greatest miracles.
SPEAKER_01: And so with the Gibeonites, they're gonna become stone cutters and woodcutters, they're gonna become servants to Israel for hundreds of years.
SPEAKER_01: After that, they're gonna become true worshipers of God.
SPEAKER_01: They're gonna become some of the most potent warriors in Israel.
SPEAKER_01: Five hundred of them came back with Nehemiah to rebuild the wall.
SPEAKER_01: So they're an amazing people.
SPEAKER_01: And that's why I believe all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to his purpose.
SPEAKER_01: For those whom he foreknew, he also conform to become sons and daughters of God.
SPEAKER_01: And so sometimes it's the deepest pain that you go through that God conforms us more into his image than he could any other way.
SPEAKER_01: So we're gonna see in this particular chapter how what Joshua did by negligence is gonna turn out to be a great and mighty victory for Israel.
SPEAKER_01: So there's two kinds of sin, men and women.
SPEAKER_01: There's a sin of commission, and that's when we when we do something that we know is wrong.
SPEAKER_01: We know we're breaking God's law, but we do it anyway.
SPEAKER_01: That's a sin of commission.
SPEAKER_01: But there's also a sin of omission, number two.
SPEAKER_01: And a sin of omission is where we don't do something we should do, but either by negligence or ignorance, because we're not really taught that yet, or forgetfulness.
SPEAKER_01: Anybody forget?
SPEAKER_01: Anybody get too busy?
SPEAKER_01: And in the busyness of your life, you do something that you probably knew better, but by virtue of the fact that you were busy, you were anxious, you were thinking about other things, you committed that.
SPEAKER_01: So sin of commission, sin of omission.
SPEAKER_01: But God can use either one.
SPEAKER_01: And so I want to call today's message God's plan, trust God and fall forward.
SPEAKER_01: Trust God and fall forward, because you can fall backwards or you can fall forward.
SPEAKER_01: You can learn from your mistakes and take responsibility for them and become a better person, or you can keep giving excuses and running from it.
SPEAKER_01: And we all do both at times, but I want to challenge us that in in Joshua chapter 10, we see how God can work even a raid against tremendous odds.
SPEAKER_01: So turn in your Bibles to Joshua, did I say Genesis?
SPEAKER_01: Turn to Joshua.
SPEAKER_01: We're actually going to go to Genesis briefly when we look at an issue related to the Nephilim.
SPEAKER_01: But look at Joshua chapter 10.
SPEAKER_01: That's where we are today.
SPEAKER_01: And if you go back to verse 27 of chapter 9, you can see where Joshua, who we believe was the author, explains what happened with the Gibeonites.
SPEAKER_01: But now it gets a little more tricky.
SPEAKER_01: Chapter 10 is a little more tricky because in chapter 10, we're actually going to see the results of or the consequences of the decision that Joshua made, but we're also going to see how God causes all things to work together for good.
SPEAKER_01: So look at verse 1.
SPEAKER_01: Now it came to pass when Adoni Zedek, I think I'm saying that right, king of Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_01: So this is the first time in the Bible that we have Jerusalem mentioned, heard how Joshua had taken Ai or Ai, and had utterly destroyed it, as he had done to Jericho and its king, so he had done to I and its king, and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were among them.
SPEAKER_01: That they feared greatly, because Gibeon was a great city, like one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than I and all its men were mighty.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, Adonis Edek, king of Jerusalem, sent to Hoham, I always say Hoham, Hoham, king of Hebron, Pyram, king of Jarmouth, Japhiah, king of Lakish, and Deber, king of Egalon, saying, Come up to me and help me that we may attack Gibeon, for it has made peace with Joshua and with the children of Israel.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmouth, the king of Lakesh, and the king of Egalon, gathered together and went up, they and all their armies, and camped before Gibeon and made war against it.
SPEAKER_01: And the men of Gibeon sent to Joshua at the camp at Gilgal, saying, Do not forsake your servants, come up to us quickly, save us, help us, for all the kings of the Amorites who dwell in the mountains have gathered together against us.
SPEAKER_01: Now, this is about to be the most decisive battle that Israel is going to fight.
SPEAKER_01: They're right in the heartland.
SPEAKER_01: So Jerusalem's right in the center of the Canaanites.
SPEAKER_01: It's right in the center of Canaan, and now even what we would call Israel today, and even David.
SPEAKER_01: David, when he was fighting against Saul, didn't consolidate his powers until he had Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_01: So it's really, really strategic at that time.
SPEAKER_01: And I want us to look at some of the aspects of our own lives.
SPEAKER_01: And when God's getting to the heart of our life, when we begin to pierce into the heart of the idols of our life, one of the biggest struggles we have is self-righteousness, justifying ourselves and not being willing to own what we've done or said.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: And so it's interesting that Adonized, the king of Jerusalem, means king of righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: So right at the center, at the heart of all of our lives, and right now at the heart of Israel, it's not really Israel yet, but Canaan, he's gonna have to fight the leading king who's a self-righteous one.
SPEAKER_01: And men and women, let me tell you, that's your battle.
SPEAKER_01: That's my battle.
SPEAKER_01: My battle is always gonna be self-righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: And if we're gonna cut to the heart of the idols of our life, the opposite of humility is always gonna be self-righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: So write this down.
SPEAKER_01: This is really important.
SPEAKER_01: If you're taking notes, write this down.
SPEAKER_01: When you make agreements with the enemy, expect to pay a price.
SPEAKER_01: So Joshua's about to pay a price.
SPEAKER_01: It's gonna cost some men their lives.
SPEAKER_01: They're gonna have to fight.
SPEAKER_01: It was his decision, but he made an agreement with the enemy.
SPEAKER_01: And by the way, everybody look at me.
SPEAKER_01: You've all made agreements with the enemy.
SPEAKER_01: Every one of us in this room have made agreements with the enemy at some point.
SPEAKER_01: We have agreed, we've made an oath.
SPEAKER_01: Usually in childhood and on through life, I'll never do this or I'll never do that because you're avoiding pain.
SPEAKER_01: We avoid pain that way.
SPEAKER_01: And so, and so one of the things that I struggle with is self-condemnation.
SPEAKER_01: So I tend to just just tear myself up over mistakes that I make or decisions that I make.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm learning through the process of counseling and talking to people and having mentors in my life.
SPEAKER_01: Many of you know have heard me talk about J.R.
SPEAKER_01: Palemus, former pastor up in Castle Rock, who I see almost every week.
SPEAKER_01: And we talk about this.
SPEAKER_01: We spend two to three hours together, and we talk about stuff like this.
SPEAKER_01: Because I'm learning to renew my mind, even in my old age.
SPEAKER_01: And uh, and so I've made agreements with the enemy.
SPEAKER_01: You make agreements with the enemy, and there's always a price to pay.
SPEAKER_01: And so I wish we could just say it's all forgiven.
SPEAKER_01: I get it now, but it doesn't work that way.
SPEAKER_01: It's that God's in a process of sanctification.
SPEAKER_01: And sanctification is that process in which God is getting less of you and more of him into our lives.
SPEAKER_01: And so Joshua is faced with a dilemma, and the dilemma is he signed a covenant with Gibeon, and the Gibeonites, who were allies with these five kings, have now become foes of those five kings.
SPEAKER_01: And then the enemy of Israel has become the ally of Israel, and he has to come to the rescue.
SPEAKER_01: And so look at verse 7.
SPEAKER_01: So Joshua, this is really important.
SPEAKER_01: 7 and 8, it's really important.
SPEAKER_01: So Joshua ascended from Gilgal, he and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valor.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 8.
SPEAKER_01: This is where Joshua seems to have learned his lesson.
SPEAKER_01: And the Lord said to Joshua, do not fear them, for I have delivered them into your hand.
SPEAKER_01: Not a man of them shall stand before you.
SPEAKER_01: When we make agreements with the enemy, the most important thing we can do is seek and then listen to God with our next decision.
SPEAKER_01: So remember, Joshua didn't do that.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't seek God, he didn't ask for God to give him instruction, and he got hoodwinked, he got lied to four or five times in that whole part we looked at in chapter 9 last week, and Joshua believed it because he wasn't seeking God.
SPEAKER_01: You say, well, yeah, of course you're supposed to say that you're a pastor.
SPEAKER_01: Seek God, seek God, you know, seek first the kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: No, I'm saying you really have to seek God.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I can't tell you hundreds of leadership mistakes through the years with me.
SPEAKER_01: 40 years, 10 years in Japan, the 30 years or so here, and almost 30 years.
SPEAKER_01: Well, no, it is over 30 years in Colorado Springs.
SPEAKER_01: Lots of mistakes.
SPEAKER_01: Lots of victories, lots of failures.
SPEAKER_01: But I can tell you almost every time where I have made a mistake as a leader, when I've seen other leaders make mistakes, is they didn't take the time to slow down, calm down, seek the Lord and listen for his voice.
SPEAKER_01: It's called waiting on God.
SPEAKER_01: The way to break agreements with the enemy is to seek God and wait on him.
SPEAKER_01: He'll speak.
SPEAKER_01: And so Joshua seeks the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: And the Lord then speaks to him.
SPEAKER_01: Now, this is crazy because he still has to go do a lot.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 9.
SPEAKER_01: Joshua therefore came upon them suddenly, having marched, I'd underline this, having marched all night from Gilgal.
SPEAKER_01: So that's 25 miles.
SPEAKER_01: He gathers his men.
SPEAKER_01: He has to get hundreds of thousands of men together, and they have to march for 25 miles, probably two to three miles per hour.
SPEAKER_01: That's pretty, that's a pretty good clip, with um with their swords and probably some food and things like that on their back.
SPEAKER_01: They're hiking all night.
SPEAKER_01: So with no sleep, they hike all night.
SPEAKER_01: And they ascend.
SPEAKER_01: Now listen to this, men and women, they ascend 4,000 feet.
SPEAKER_01: So from Gilgal, 25 miles, 25 to 30 miles, to Jerusalem, to the area where they're going to fight, is a, I mean, excuse me, Gibeon is an elevation of 4,000 feet.
SPEAKER_01: That's why it says he ascended.
SPEAKER_01: So they're ascending at 4,000 feet.
SPEAKER_01: How many have done 14ers?
SPEAKER_01: A lot of you.
SPEAKER_01: There's a lot more on this side of the room.
SPEAKER_01: So I don't know if this is a healthier side of the room or a dumber side of the room.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I don't know.
SPEAKER_01: I've done, I don't know, I've done like three.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not a big hike or anything.
SPEAKER_01: But I can tell you this that you got to get up early, right, you guys?
SPEAKER_01: You've got to get up early, you've got to get up there, and you've got to get back.
SPEAKER_01: So they're going for all night, 25 miles, and then they're going to go into the fight.
SPEAKER_01: So not only are they hiking all night with no rest, they're going to go into a fight and into a battle, and we're going to find out it's going to be a really, really long day.
SPEAKER_01: It's going to be a really long day for them.
SPEAKER_01: So, look at verse 10.
SPEAKER_01: So the Lord routed them before Israel, killed them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, chased them along the road that goes to Beth Horan, and struck them down as far as Ezekiel and Macedah.
SPEAKER_01: And it happened as they fled before Israel and were on the descent of Beth Horan, that the Lord cast down large hailstones from heaven on them as far as Ezekiel, and they died.
SPEAKER_01: There were more who died from the hailstones than the children of Israel killed with the sword.
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
SPEAKER_01: I want to say two things.
SPEAKER_01: First of all, believe God for the promise that He's given you, and God has promised Joshua that He would get a victory.
SPEAKER_01: And then, and this goes right alongside, expect signs and wonders.
SPEAKER_01: Expect God to go above and beyond what you could ask or think.
SPEAKER_01: Expect that God who gave you the promise, that God spoke to you that promise is going to come through in ways that are amazing and even miraculous.
SPEAKER_01: Hailstones.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if they were 70-pound hailstones or whatever.
SPEAKER_01: That seems like what they are in the book of Revelation.
SPEAKER_01: But these hailstones are targeted.
SPEAKER_01: I've put on four roofs in my house in Black Forest, and I'm almost convinced that every time there's a hailstorm, my house is targeted.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm always putting on new roofs and everything.
SPEAKER_01: Fortunately, I have an American family and they do me really well, and I always turn out, it always turns out better than it was before.
SPEAKER_01: But these hailstones are targeted to the five kings and hitting them.
SPEAKER_01: They're not hitting the Jewish, the Hebrew army.
SPEAKER_01: Isn't that amazing?
SPEAKER_01: They're targeting, hitting the enemy, and and they're going to actually kill more of these kings' army than even what Israel can do with the sword.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what's happening.
SPEAKER_01: There is a partnership with the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: There's a partnership with the Holy Spirit where you still have to pick up the sword.
SPEAKER_01: You still have to pick up the sword and you still have to fight.
SPEAKER_01: So this morning, not untypical for Sunday morning for me, I got up at four and I spent a lot of time with the Lord, and I was moved to work on a prayer about conquering the enemy.
SPEAKER_01: So I was crafting a prayer from Scripture, and part of that prayer was, Lord, I'm partnering with you.
SPEAKER_01: I'm partnering with you.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, men and women, you've got the sword of the spirit.
SPEAKER_01: We have the helmet of salvation, breastplate of righteousness, belt of truth, shodding our feet with the gospel of peace, so a shield of faith, and the sword of the spirit.
SPEAKER_01: So we carry a sword, but God partners with us, and He does more than we could ask or think.
SPEAKER_01: Do you believe that?
SPEAKER_01: That you are more than a conqueror?
SPEAKER_01: That you're more than a conqueror, but you still have to step up and go out and conquer.
SPEAKER_01: You still have to pick up the sword, which is the Word of God.
SPEAKER_01: And one of the struggles that we have in evangelicalism is we don't, we're not opening God's word, but somehow we're expecting that God's gonna hit them with hailstones.
SPEAKER_01: And yet God partners with us.
SPEAKER_01: That's what Genesis 1, 26 and 28 is about.
SPEAKER_01: It's about us taking dominion.
SPEAKER_01: We have to take dominion.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you are gonna come up for prayer in the service, at the end of the service today, and someone from our ministry, kingdom ministry team, is gonna lay hands on you, following the dictates of Scripture, to pray for you, but it's God who does the healing.
SPEAKER_01: But it's a partnership in which God calls us to be a witness for Christ, and then he changes people's hearts.
SPEAKER_01: It's us that lay hands on the sick, and then God heals them.
SPEAKER_01: So it's this partnership is happening here, and he says here the hail storms killed more than even the Hebrew sort.
SPEAKER_01: That's what God wants to do, church.
SPEAKER_01: God wants to take you stepping out just a little bit by faith, trusting him just a little bit, and watch what he will do.
SPEAKER_01: That exciting?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I get pumped up about that.
SPEAKER_01: Because if you don't have God, you're on your own, man.
SPEAKER_01: And you're gonna be in a battle.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody in this room, every person on the face of the earth is going through battles.
SPEAKER_01: Wouldn't you like to go into battles with God?
SPEAKER_01: Wouldn't you like to go into battle with the Holy Spirit?
SPEAKER_01: Wouldn't you like to go into battle with Jesus leading the way because you're in partnership with Him?
SPEAKER_01: So if you don't know Christ here this morning, if you've never truly put your faith in Christ, do it today.
SPEAKER_01: Come to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Begin the partnership.
SPEAKER_01: Begin the personal, vital, dynamic, growing daily relationship with Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit and the power of the Word.
SPEAKER_01: Be a Word and Spirit believer that walks in the inerrancy and infallibility of God's Word, but through the power of the Holy Spirit giving us wisdom and discernment that's beyond us.
SPEAKER_01: Expect signs and wonders.
SPEAKER_01: Let's all say that.
SPEAKER_01: Expect signs and wonders.
SPEAKER_01: You're walking in the power of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: That same power that was alive on the earth 2,000 years ago is alive in each one of you.
SPEAKER_01: And so we walk in this power of the Holy Spirit by which signs and wonders follow the believer.
SPEAKER_01: That's what Mark 16 says.
SPEAKER_01: And as it does, he needs us to believe him for it because the biggest struggle of our life is a lack of faith.
SPEAKER_01: The biggest struggle of our life constantly is not just sin.
SPEAKER_01: It's really not sin.
SPEAKER_01: It's really lack of faith.
SPEAKER_01: Because when we walk by faith, God's allowed to work in a partnership with us in an exciting and tangible way.
SPEAKER_01: And so, first of all, what we see here is these hailstones coming down.
SPEAKER_01: Battles going on.
SPEAKER_01: Five kings against Israel.
SPEAKER_01: Then Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day.
SPEAKER_01: I circled That.
SPEAKER_01: By the way, when I'm preparing a sermon, I read it and I reread it and I reread it and I reread it, and it was like the fifth time I read it, it was in the day.
SPEAKER_01: That really caught my attention.
SPEAKER_01: In the day.
SPEAKER_01: So in the middle of hundreds of thousands of men in battle on this battlefield, on hills, in valleys, all around the area, bloodshed everywhere, huge battle.
SPEAKER_01: Joshua, listen, he takes time to pray.
SPEAKER_01: He wasn't too busy to pray.
SPEAKER_01: So I don't know what happened between the first time he messed up with the Gibeonites where he didn't seek God, but we've got two instances here, and one is in the middle of the battle, he prays.
SPEAKER_01: Isn't that amazing?
SPEAKER_01: Man, you guys gotta come alive a little bit more than that.
SPEAKER_01: Isn't that amazing?
SPEAKER_01: Come on.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if it's the fall colors and you wish you were up there right now.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
SPEAKER_01: Liz and I were up in uh fair play in Breckenridge last few days, and it's just gorgeous, just stunning.
SPEAKER_01: And if you're gonna leave today and go up and this is your chance.
SPEAKER_01: They're beautiful right now.
SPEAKER_01: It's a good time to go.
SPEAKER_01: And it was bumper to bumper traffic coming back into town.
SPEAKER_01: But wake up.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody, wake up.
SPEAKER_01: Wake up.
SPEAKER_01: God loves you.
SPEAKER_01: He thinks you're awesome.
SPEAKER_01: Um drink more coffee.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I don't know what it takes.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you look really sad.
SPEAKER_01: You look like you're really like somebody hit you with a two-buffer or something this morning.
SPEAKER_01: At 4 o'clock, that's the way I felt.
SPEAKER_01: But at 4 15, I didn't feel that way.
SPEAKER_01: Because I worked out.
SPEAKER_01: That helps.
SPEAKER_01: But I just love this part.
SPEAKER_01: Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day.
SPEAKER_01: Now listen to what he's gonna pray.
SPEAKER_01: You don't, you have to be kind of in an extreme situation to pray a prayer like this.
SPEAKER_01: There's no place in history where this ever happened, except once.
SPEAKER_01: And yet Joshua asked that, let me ask you here, buddy, look at me.
SPEAKER_01: This is really important.
SPEAKER_01: Do you think that your problems and your struggles are unique to you?
SPEAKER_01: Now, I'm not saying they're they're not unique to everybody, but I'm I'm saying, are they unique to you?
SPEAKER_01: Just go like this.
SPEAKER_01: If you go like this, it's the wrong answer.
SPEAKER_01: But you go like this, okay?
SPEAKER_01: It's unique to you, right?
SPEAKER_01: That's a unique situation that you're in.
SPEAKER_01: Do you think that God, knowing that you're in a unique situation, doesn't appreciate your unique prayer that you're praying?
SPEAKER_01: You may never pray it again because it's unique to that situation.
SPEAKER_01: What you prayed this morning, some of you prayed this morning about some things that are kind of rotten in your life and some bummer situations that you're in, and you prayed something, and you might have then later said, Ah, he'll never answer that.
SPEAKER_01: Well, I want you to look at this because you're here today because God is used to that.
SPEAKER_01: He expects that from his people, that at times when you're in unique situations, you're praying unique prayers.
SPEAKER_01: Joshua does that, and we know historically this is very, very unique.
SPEAKER_01: Look what he asked God to do.
SPEAKER_01: So, who he sees?
SPEAKER_01: Here's what I think is happening.
SPEAKER_01: I think Joshua's looking at what's going on and he's going, holy Toledo.
SPEAKER_01: No, he's probably saying, Holy Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_01: Um, there is, all these kings were in the heart of Israel.
SPEAKER_01: If we wipe these guys out, we move the entire movement forward in taking Canaan in one day.
SPEAKER_01: Versus weeks and weeks and weeks it could take.
SPEAKER_01: He sees he could do it in one day.
SPEAKER_01: He needs a little more time.
SPEAKER_01: So look what he said.
SPEAKER_01: Then Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day, when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, so my sense is that this kind of was known.
SPEAKER_01: Did you guys hear what Joshua prayed?
SPEAKER_01: Did you hear what Joshua prayed?
SPEAKER_01: No way, he prayed that.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what he prayed Sun stand still over Gibeon.
SPEAKER_01: And moon in the valley of Ajilon.
SPEAKER_01: So the sun stood still and the moon stopped.
SPEAKER_01: Now that's that's from the vantage point of Earth, looking at it.
SPEAKER_01: We know that the sun didn't stop, but the earth in its rotation stopped for a period of time till the people had revenge upon their enemies.
SPEAKER_01: That's a pretty unique prayer, you guys.
SPEAKER_01: And all the scientists out there go, that's that's the reason we don't believe the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: That never happened, except that we have records in Egypt, the Incas, and in various other nations around the world of in their calendars figuring out with their astrologers, astronomers, and scientists that it appears there was a time in history that some some believe around 1400 to 1500 BC that the earth stopped moving for something like a 24-hour period or a little less than that period of time.
SPEAKER_01: That's in those cultures.
SPEAKER_01: And look at what it says next, this is really important.
SPEAKER_01: Is this not written in the book of Jasher?
SPEAKER_01: What?
SPEAKER_01: Book of Jasher?
SPEAKER_01: So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day.
SPEAKER_01: So, and there has been no day like that, before it or after it, that the Lord heeded the voice of a man.
SPEAKER_01: For the Lord fought for Israel, then Joshua returned and all Israel with him to the camp at Gilgal.
SPEAKER_01: So here's what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_01: I don't think God's probably gonna stop the rotation of the earth for you and me.
SPEAKER_01: But I'm saying it's here.
SPEAKER_01: He's quoting from the book of Jasher, and by the way, we have lots of extra biblical sources that are quoted in Scripture.
SPEAKER_01: There's a book of Jubilees, the book of Jasper, and the book of Enoch that are in Scripture.
SPEAKER_01: They're not, those documents are not inerrant and infallible, but they're quoted as informative for us in our understanding of the inerrant scripture.
SPEAKER_01: Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_01: So here's my point is that God understands what you're going through.
SPEAKER_01: And God understands the pain that you're going through, the battles that you're fighting, and you think your prayer is not going to be heard because it's kind of weird, it's kind of strange, and I'm telling you, if it's, I'm not saying they always are, but if it's inspired by God, God's gonna answer.
SPEAKER_01: God is gonna move on your behalf, He always does, He always has, and you're more than a conqueror, and He's gonna do things that will amaze even your imagination in Him.
SPEAKER_01: So trust God for that.
SPEAKER_01: Now, okay, so I went out a little bit on a limb last week, and I thought I needed to clean up my mess because I mentioned the Nephilim.
SPEAKER_01: And in so doing that, I um I probably opened up Pandora's box.
SPEAKER_01: I started thinking about it later.
SPEAKER_01: And we're coming in to verses 16 through 27.
SPEAKER_01: Now, what you're gonna see from 16 through 27, and then also 28 until 40 in the rest of this chapter is a almost seems like a genocide campaign because Israel's gonna be told by God to just wipe out all these people.
SPEAKER_01: So I need to go back to what I said last week so you have some historical background about the Nephilim.
SPEAKER_01: And the Nephilim were the descendants of Anak, and they were mainly concentrated in Canaan.
SPEAKER_01: So I'm gonna I've got the passage, I'm gonna put it up.
SPEAKER_01: This is from Genesis chapter 6, and this gives us the context of what I was talking about last week, and I'm gonna elaborate a little bit more briefly here this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Now it came to pass when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God, the Elohim, plural, the Elohim, saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful, and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.
SPEAKER_01: So spirit beings came down, and this is really kind of spooky stuff, but it's historical.
SPEAKER_01: These spirit beings, some would call them angels or demons, came down and mated with the daughters of men, with female human beings created in the image of God.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 3.
SPEAKER_01: And the Lord said, My spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh, yet his days shall be 120 years.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 4, there were giants on the earth.
SPEAKER_01: These are the Nephilim in those days and also and also afterward, because there has been a misconception that through the flood all of the Nephilim were wiped out.
SPEAKER_01: Right here, it's pretty clear.
SPEAKER_01: There were giants on the earth in those days and also afterward.
SPEAKER_01: When the sons of God came into the daughters of men, and they bore children to them.
SPEAKER_01: So there's a progeny.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I want to put that in juxtaposition to Genesis 9.
SPEAKER_01: So I'm going to put up Genesis 9.
SPEAKER_01: Now, the sons of Noah, this is after the flood, who went out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Jephthah.
SPEAKER_01: And Ham, listen to this important, was the father of Canaan.
SPEAKER_01: Now, why is it that in the case of the other sons, nothing's mentioned about where they were settled or where they went.
SPEAKER_01: But on Ham, he was the father of Canaan, and these three were the sons of Noah, and from those the whole earth was populated.
SPEAKER_01: So here's the point, church.
SPEAKER_01: Much of the Canaanites were Nephilim.
SPEAKER_01: This was what the original twelve spies were so fearful of 40 years before.
SPEAKER_01: We saw the descendants of the Anakim.
SPEAKER_01: We saw the descendants of Anak there.
SPEAKER_01: And because of their fear, they wouldn't go in because of these giants.
SPEAKER_01: So now we're on a campaign by God into the promised land, not just to take the land, but to also destroy the Nephilim.
SPEAKER_01: These I would call them genetically impure men and women.
SPEAKER_01: The grammar, this is really interesting.
SPEAKER_01: And if this is boring to you, then just turn it off and go, Steve's really lost his marbles this time.
SPEAKER_01: But in verse 4, where it says, and also afterward, can be in the grammar translated whenever they cohabited.
SPEAKER_01: Whenever they cohabited.
SPEAKER_01: And implies that it's ongoing, meaning that these watchers, that's another term in scripture in the Old Testament, watchers or these spirit beings, Nephilim, could be on the earth even today.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, there's a belief in the book of Enoch, Jasher, Jubilees, as well as the passage we have here in Scripture, that these were immaterial beings, the Elohim or the sons of God, the watchers in the spirit world, could take on any form that they wished.
SPEAKER_01: And so they continued to procreate even after the flood.
SPEAKER_01: Josephus, the great Jewish historian, secular Jewish historian, even talks about the Nephilim as being like the titans in Greek mythology.
SPEAKER_01: So let me read.
SPEAKER_01: I'll move very quickly.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 16.
SPEAKER_01: And that's what's happening.
SPEAKER_01: And this is why it's so important that you read it from the perspective of the Nephilim.
SPEAKER_01: But these five kings had fled and hidden themselves in a cave at Macadah.
SPEAKER_01: And it was told Joshua saying the five kings had been found hidden in the cave of Makedah.
SPEAKER_01: So Joshua said, roll large stones against the mouth of the cave and set men by it to guard them.
SPEAKER_01: And do not stay there yourselves, but pursue your enemies.
SPEAKER_01: Attack their rear guard.
SPEAKER_01: Do not allow them to enter their cities, for the Lord your God has delivered them into your hand.
SPEAKER_01: And then it happened while Joshua and the children of Israel made an end of slaying them with a very great slaughter, till they had finished that those who escaped entered fortified cities.
SPEAKER_01: And all the people returned to the camp, to Joshua, Makedah, in peace.
SPEAKER_01: No one moved his tongue against any of the children of Israel.
SPEAKER_01: Then Joshua said, Open the mouth of the cave and bring out those five kings to me from the cave.
SPEAKER_01: So there's a strong possibility that these five kings are that genetically mixed Nephilim.
SPEAKER_01: And they did so and brought out these five kings to him from the cave: the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmouth, the king of Lakish, and the king of Egalon.
SPEAKER_01: So it was when they brought out these kings to Joshua that Joshua called for all the men of Israel and said to the captains of the men of war who went with them, Come near, put your feet on their necks.
SPEAKER_01: You know what that reminds me of?
SPEAKER_01: Romans 16, 20, that we've put, we have crushed the enemy under our feet.
SPEAKER_01: And they drew near and they put their feet on their necks, and Joshua said to them, Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed.
SPEAKER_01: Be strong, good courage, for thus the Lord will do to all your enemies against whom you fight.
SPEAKER_01: And then he struck them and he killed them.
SPEAKER_01: And then, men and women, verse 28, all the way through the rest of the chapter, is one king after another king being destroyed.
SPEAKER_01: What's our point this morning?
SPEAKER_01: I believe that in all of our lives, God wants to get to the heart of the matter.
SPEAKER_01: When he gets your heart, there's such a move of the Spirit that he begins to topple down other idols in our life.
SPEAKER_01: He's got to get to our heart.
SPEAKER_01: So here's Joshua going right into the heart of Israel, coming against the self-righteous king of Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_01: And all these arrayed demonic spirits, these Nephilim, and it takes strength and courage to topple them, but you're gonna see this was the biggest victory in Israel's history.
SPEAKER_01: Right here.
SPEAKER_01: Because of a mistake, listen, because of a mistake by Joshua, he had to go and he had to he had to be true to his integrity and favor that he had signed the covenant with the Gibeonites.
SPEAKER_01: He went and did that, and then suddenly God arrayed a situation where five other major kings come.
SPEAKER_01: And in one, I don't know if it was 28 hours or 45 hours, I don't know what this long day was, but they covered in a day and a half or two days what would have taken months to do.
SPEAKER_01: Because the Spirit of God came because they were partnering with the signs and wonders God that does great things for his people.
SPEAKER_01: And he does great things for you if you'll trust him.
SPEAKER_01: Don't limit, don't limit what God can do in your life.
SPEAKER_01: I'm challenging you, don't do that.
SPEAKER_01: I do it, we all do it, but let's grow to not do it.
SPEAKER_01: And trust God in new and powerful ways that can so supersede what your thoughts are.
SPEAKER_01: And his creative imagination toward you is amazing.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to the Road Church Podcast.
SPEAKER_00: We pray today's message has empowered you to make a difference in your world.
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