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: Well, men and women, we're in the book of Joshua.
SPEAKER_01: And as you guys can tell, some people have commented that, you know, where's Steve?
SPEAKER_01: But I've been in kind of a staggered approach with coming back.
SPEAKER_01: And so you're gonna have me a lot more as things move along.
SPEAKER_01: But uh I think with all that's happening in my personal life, I want to make that a priority.
SPEAKER_01: That's the highest priority in my life, and so I'm doing that.
SPEAKER_01: And God's doing great things.
SPEAKER_01: There's some really cool stuff happening in our marriage, in our family, and so I'm excited about that.
SPEAKER_01: So be encouraged.
SPEAKER_01: It's a very encouraging time.
SPEAKER_01: Um, we were looking at the book of Joshua, and I want to emphasize that Joshua is a spiritual warfare manual.
SPEAKER_01: It is a spiritual warfare manual.
SPEAKER_01: And what you may not realize, because I I mentioned it months ago, I think it was probably in March, February, March, when we were just starting out in Joshua, and then we had some things happen, and we we had a break, and now we're back into it.
SPEAKER_01: The fact that there are the sons of the Anakim, or sons of Anak, that are in Canaan at this time.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, these we believe from Numbers 13 to be the descendants of the Nephilim.
SPEAKER_01: Now, who are the Nephilim?
SPEAKER_01: If you've been with me when I went through spiritual warfare, when I've talked about Satan demons and the kingdom of God, which I'm just starting on Tuesday morning with the men, I talk about the fact that in Genesis 6 there were the sons of God.
SPEAKER_01: Some have called them the watchers of God.
SPEAKER_01: The spirits, disembodied spirits, some call them angels and demons, that's fine, came down and mated with the daughters of men.
SPEAKER_01: So there was this race of giants in the land in Genesis 6.
SPEAKER_01: The book of Enoch talks more about this than the Bible does, but we do know that it's referenced all through Scripture.
SPEAKER_01: These giants were created, kind of half demonic, half human.
SPEAKER_01: I know you've got, man, Steve's really getting spooky now.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, I'm talking about Orthodox Christianity, okay.
SPEAKER_01: There's disagreement on some of the details, but most scholars would agree with what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_01: That were now settled in Canaan.
SPEAKER_01: So when the original twelve disciples 40 years before went in, that's what they noticed was that the sons of Anak, the sons of the Anakim were there, and that created fear in them, and they did not want to take the land.
SPEAKER_01: Ten of the 12 disciples.
SPEAKER_01: Only Joshua and Caleb stood out.
SPEAKER_01: Said, we can take it, we can take it.
SPEAKER_01: And God, I believe, in his divine and wonderful and beautiful plan, wanted them to go in then, but because of their unbelief and their lack of faith, they couldn't.
SPEAKER_01: So they missed out on the promised land for 40 years, and that whole generation, except for Joshua and Caleb that didn't believe, were not allowed to go in.
SPEAKER_01: Even Moses wasn't able to go into the promised land.
SPEAKER_01: So now we're going in.
SPEAKER_01: Now they're coming in.
SPEAKER_01: And you're going to start to see the move of God working in such a way that God tells Joshua to wipe out an entire people group.
SPEAKER_01: So he'll go in and wipe out an entire people group.
SPEAKER_01: He's like, Well, what is this?
SPEAKER_01: Is God for genocide?
SPEAKER_01: No.
SPEAKER_01: God was wiping out the Anakim.
SPEAKER_01: God was wiping out these giants, these descendants of the Nephilim, to do that.
SPEAKER_01: And you're going to see that in Hebron.
SPEAKER_01: You're going to see that with Caleb as we move along.
SPEAKER_01: So this is really a spiritual warfare book that's not all that different than what you go through and what I go through.
SPEAKER_01: So two weeks ago tomorrow, would they be 13 days ago, I was in my backyard doing something, and the Holy Spirit came upon me.
SPEAKER_01: I was cutting wood.
SPEAKER_01: Do you believe God can work while you're cutting wood?
SPEAKER_01: And he told me to read the book of Isaiah, almost an audible voice, and then go to the fire pit.
SPEAKER_01: So I went to the fire pit, and for the next three hours I interceded.
SPEAKER_01: As I interceded, God spoke to me about spirits that were arrayed against my marriage, against my life, and against this church.
SPEAKER_01: Because of what God wants to do to bring revival, what God wants to do to bring a spiritual kingdom revolution to Colorado.
SPEAKER_01: I think we're key to that.
SPEAKER_01: And that since April there's been this demonic attack.
SPEAKER_01: And I felt like, time will tell, fruit is always the way we know, that I broke something in the spirit that, and it's not just me.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just saying God chose me for the as a senior pastor of the church and the father of my family and the husband of my wife to stand in the gap.
SPEAKER_01: And so I did.
SPEAKER_01: And I battled, and it's made a marked difference in my marriage.
SPEAKER_01: It's made a marked difference in what's happening with our staff team.
SPEAKER_01: God is on the move.
SPEAKER_01: And if you were with us on Monday night, you saw the Holy Spirit come down in that prayer gathering that we had in the chapel with other churches and stuff.
SPEAKER_01: It was packed out, standing room only.
SPEAKER_01: God was moving.
SPEAKER_01: And God's going to move today in a mighty and powerful way through this service.
SPEAKER_01: And I want to open with a spiritual warfare prayer that I wrote for this because as we go in, you're going to see we're going to talk about this idea of compromise, how we compromise in our lives in chapter 9.
SPEAKER_01: So let us pray.
SPEAKER_01: Would you guys pray with me?
SPEAKER_01: Why don't we all stand?
SPEAKER_01: And if you would just agree with me in prayer as I pray.
SPEAKER_01: We praise you, Lord, that you are above all principalities and powers and might and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come.
SPEAKER_01: We rejoice that you have put all things under your feet and given Christ to be head over all things to the church, which is your body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus, we come to you as the family of God.
SPEAKER_01: Your kingdom of God's citizens, the church.
SPEAKER_01: Gathered together in prayer.
SPEAKER_01: We confess that Jesus Christ came in the flesh and walked the earth to do two things.
SPEAKER_01: You came to destroy the works of the enemy and to restore us into healthy living spiritually, mentally, emotionally, physically, and relationally.
SPEAKER_01: You destroyed death and the power of the enemy by dying on the cross, descending into the depths of hell, the place of the enemy, and swallowed up death into your life.
SPEAKER_01: You rose from the dead by the power of God.
SPEAKER_01: Your death and resurrection have freed us from the bondage of fear and death.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus, you have destroyed death and all the power of the enemy.
SPEAKER_01: With death conquered and the enemy defeated, you came up out of the tomb alive.
SPEAKER_01: You then ascended to the Father in heaven, where you now sit at the right hand of the throne of God in glory.
SPEAKER_01: There is no other name given among men, whereby we must be saved.
SPEAKER_01: But at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, you sent out your disciples two by two and told them to heal the sick, cast out demons, and proclaim that the kingdom of God had come.
SPEAKER_01: You said, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.
SPEAKER_01: Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy.
SPEAKER_01: We now come against any demonic powers of darkness and bind their power right now by the authority and blood of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: We invite you, Holy Spirit, to rule over our lives, our homes, and our service today.
SPEAKER_01: We ask you, Lord, to bring a mighty, powerful move of your spirit in this church and in this city and in this state.
SPEAKER_01: God, use each of us to make your name famous in our city.
SPEAKER_01: Come in power, O Lord, and draw many into your kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: We pray thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: Today, set the captives free.
SPEAKER_01: Today, release salvation, healing, and deliverance at the road and bring a revolution of the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_01: In the name and the blood of Jesus, we pray.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Alright, God bless you guys.
SPEAKER_01: You can be seated.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
SPEAKER_01: So we are in, we are in Joshua chapter 9.
SPEAKER_01: Very interesting.
SPEAKER_01: This is about compromise.
SPEAKER_01: How many of you know that when you compromise, there's consequences?
SPEAKER_01: How many of you know that when you don't compromise, there's consequences?
SPEAKER_01: Which consequences do you want?
SPEAKER_01: So one results in blessings from God, and the other results in hurt and pain and all kinds of obstacles that you sometimes take, it takes years to get out of.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes you never get out of them because of compromise in your life.
SPEAKER_01: And so in chapter 9, Joshua's going to compromise.
SPEAKER_01: You think after the battle at I and with Achan, they might have figured out a few things.
SPEAKER_01: Well, Joshua and the leaders in Israel get deceived.
SPEAKER_01: It's not open rebellion, but there's a deception that happens.
SPEAKER_01: So look, let's start at verse 1.
SPEAKER_01: And it came to pass when all the kings who were on this side of the Jordan in the hills and in the low lands and in all the coasts of the great sea toward Lebanon, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite heard about it that they gathered together to fight with Joshua and Israel with one accord.
SPEAKER_01: So, because of what had happened to Jericho, because of what happened at I, everybody's on edge in Canaan.
SPEAKER_01: And all these kings, which all represent different people groups, decided to form an alliance.
SPEAKER_01: They come together in one accord, because as you can imagine, they're figuring out well, the reason Jericho fell is because Jericho was a lion.
SPEAKER_01: The reason I fell is because I was a lion.
SPEAKER_01: So why don't we bring all our forces together and array ourselves ready to fight Joshua?
SPEAKER_01: Men and women, the enemy knows your victories.
SPEAKER_01: The enemy knows how powerful you are.
SPEAKER_01: You are created in the image of God.
SPEAKER_01: So here's my point that this is pictorial, this is anecdotal, this is actually a scene that really occurred where the kings gather together, but it's a picture, men and women, of spiritual warfare too.
SPEAKER_01: The principle of the New Testament, which is concealed in the old, is revealed in the new.
SPEAKER_01: And so in our lives, when you start having some victories, you start seeing some spiritual breakthroughs in your life, get ready for hell to also be on notice about your life and begin to array demonic powers against you.
SPEAKER_01: That's why the warfare is so important to understand so that you're not just continually blown away.
SPEAKER_01: Because we do.
SPEAKER_01: I get blown away too.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not focused, I don't have enough attention on what the enemy's doing.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying we focus on the enemy too much.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, there's we some people it's a demon behind every bush.
SPEAKER_01: Other people, there's no demons behind any bush.
SPEAKER_01: But somewhere in between is the right answer that Jesus, this is what we've got to understand, Jesus came, and the first thing he did, Mark 1, really describes that he started preaching about the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_01: Then as a result of preaching about the kingdom of God, everywhere he went, religious leaders were opposed to him, and demonic powers were opposed to him.
SPEAKER_01: So you can count on the fact that if you start walking in the spirit, you're gonna have two enemies: religious people who don't like it because you're too fired up, and demons, the demonic.
SPEAKER_01: So that's what's happening here.
SPEAKER_01: There's an array of kings that I think represent even spiritual warfare here, arrayed against Joshua.
SPEAKER_01: But when the inhabitants of Gibeon, this is really important, the Gibeonites, this is what our point is in chapter 9.
SPEAKER_01: But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and I, they worked craftily.
SPEAKER_01: Underline in your Bible, they worked craftily and pretended to be ambassadors.
SPEAKER_01: Underline, pretended to be ambassadors.
SPEAKER_01: They took, this is really, really ingenious what they did.
SPEAKER_01: You gotta hand it to them.
SPEAKER_01: They took old sacks on their donkeys and old wineskins, torn and mended, old and patched sandals on their feet, and old garments on themselves, and all the bread of their provision was dry and moldy.
SPEAKER_01: This took some work, man.
SPEAKER_01: This is not like overnight.
SPEAKER_01: And they so they've been planning this for a while.
SPEAKER_01: This is probably weeks before you know this actually occurs.
SPEAKER_01: And they went to Joshua to the camp at Gilgal.
SPEAKER_01: So Gilgal is kind of their headquarters now, and said to him and to the men of Israel, We've come from a far country.
SPEAKER_01: Now, therefore, make a covenant with us.
SPEAKER_01: Make a covenant with us.
SPEAKER_01: So they realized that they were next.
SPEAKER_01: They only lived 25 miles away, but the spies haven't evidently haven't gone that far.
SPEAKER_01: And so they pretend to be from a far country to fake out.
SPEAKER_01: Joshua, do you think God knew that?
SPEAKER_01: Do you think God was aware of exactly what they were doing?
SPEAKER_01: Of course he was.
SPEAKER_01: There are schemes of the enemy, church, that are really crafty.
SPEAKER_01: He knows your weaknesses.
SPEAKER_01: He knows my weaknesses.
SPEAKER_01: And he's gonna craftily work to deceive you and to fake you out, and that's what's happening here.
SPEAKER_01: So that's why in 2 Corinthians, Paul writes, keep Satan from taking an advantage of us, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.
SPEAKER_01: The problem is we are.
SPEAKER_01: But that's why at the road I talk pretty regularly about spiritual warfare is because we're not supposed to be ignorant of his schemes, but you'll be ignorant of his schemes if we're not taught how to not be ignorant of his schemes.
SPEAKER_01: So in Ephesians 6, Paul writes, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
SPEAKER_01: Wiles, schemes.
SPEAKER_01: Both words have the idea of snare.
SPEAKER_01: Write this down.
SPEAKER_01: Don't get ensnared.
SPEAKER_01: So I've trapped animals in my life.
SPEAKER_01: I've trapped rabbits, I've trapped squirrels, I've trapped gophers.
SPEAKER_01: Gophers are my favorite.
SPEAKER_01: I hate gophers.
SPEAKER_01: Gophers are demonic.
SPEAKER_01: Gophers are satanic, man, and they ruin your yard.
SPEAKER_01: I remember one time in our house, Liz had these beautiful flowers, and I saw them get sucked into the ground by a stupid gopher.
SPEAKER_01: I took a 22-caliber pistol, I put it in the hole, and I just started firing, man.
SPEAKER_01: I don't think I got it.
SPEAKER_01: You have to use traps.
SPEAKER_01: You have to use traps and ensnare them, and the way you snare any animal is to put bait in it.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you can catch them going through their tunnels and all that, and there's some ways to do that, and I like that style of trapping, but the best is to put like an apple with some peanut butter on it, and then man, you get them so much faster.
SPEAKER_01: Well, guess what?
SPEAKER_01: The enemy knows your apple and your peanut butter, and he's gonna snare you if you're ignorant of his what?
SPEAKER_01: His schemes.
SPEAKER_01: Don't be ignorant.
SPEAKER_01: And right now we're gonna see how ignorance is gonna cost Israel a lot of issues here.
SPEAKER_01: So compromise is subtle, it's quiet, and it's gradual.
SPEAKER_01: Compromise is subtle, quiet, and gradual.
SPEAKER_01: It's not out and out rebellion, it's just not being on top of your game.
SPEAKER_01: It's not being on top of your game.
SPEAKER_01: You know, Jesus said, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
SPEAKER_01: The gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
SPEAKER_01: That's really important.
SPEAKER_01: Gates of hell.
SPEAKER_01: So whenever you go to Israel, if you've ever been to Israel, they'll take you to a gate.
SPEAKER_01: It's up in Galilee, because it's it's kind of on the system of the tours.
SPEAKER_01: You'll see the gate, and a gate is about the size of this room.
SPEAKER_01: You go, what?
SPEAKER_01: Because we think of a gate as something like, you know, Fort Apache or something, you know, from the Western Army forts.
SPEAKER_01: Not like that.
SPEAKER_01: A gate was actually where all the courts of law occurred.
SPEAKER_01: So the gates of hell means the place where the enemy comes to strategize and build schemes against you.
SPEAKER_01: The gates of hell shall not prevail means the schemes of hell shall not prevail.
SPEAKER_01: Now he's talking about the church at large.
SPEAKER_01: I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
SPEAKER_01: So don't worry about the church.
SPEAKER_01: Never worry about the church.
SPEAKER_01: Pray for the church.
SPEAKER_01: But God is going to continue to see his church advance all over the world.
SPEAKER_01: Now, it may not be advancing in America to a huge degree right now, but it is advancing in Africa.
SPEAKER_01: It is advancing in Asia.
SPEAKER_01: It is advancing in Iran and Iraq.
SPEAKER_01: God's church is moving because the gates of hell are not prevailing.
SPEAKER_01: But in our individual lives, the gates of hell, there's a strategy for you, there's a strategy for me.
SPEAKER_01: You've Got to not be ignorant of his schemes.
SPEAKER_01: And the way to develop ability and power against the enemy is to know his schemes in your own life and be aware of that.
SPEAKER_01: Well, that's that's not happening here because look, they they want to make a covenant with us.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 6.
SPEAKER_01: They want to make a covenant with us.
SPEAKER_01: You know what that is, church?
SPEAKER_01: That's an agreement.
SPEAKER_01: We've all made agreements with the enemy.
SPEAKER_01: That's why children's ministry is so important at the road, is because that's when kids make agreements.
SPEAKER_01: That's when they make an oath.
SPEAKER_01: They don't know it.
SPEAKER_01: It's just self-protection at that point.
SPEAKER_01: But when they see mom and dad fighting, when they see uh their parents go through a divorce, or they're at school and they give a wrong answer and the whole class laughs at them, they make an agreement.
SPEAKER_01: They make a covenant with the enemy and say, I'll never do that again.
SPEAKER_01: I'll never, I'll always.
SPEAKER_01: It's called a vow.
SPEAKER_01: We make vows.
SPEAKER_01: I'll never risk again.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you have been through bankruptcy, and some of you said, Well, I'll never do that again.
SPEAKER_01: Well, some of that's good if it's if it's sinful, but some of it's not good if it's a blessing from God, but you're making a vow because the enemy wants to limit the greatness that's within you.
SPEAKER_01: And so we make vows in our life and agreements.
SPEAKER_01: And one thing I love about, you know, working with kids, and when I was in seminary, going to graduate school in Southern California, I was at the Anaheim Vineyard, and that's what I signed up for.
SPEAKER_01: I served every other week in children's ministry because I had little kids, but I also valued the fact that it's at that early age where the formation occurs of the kind of principles you're going to live by.
SPEAKER_01: And so we make vows, right?
SPEAKER_01: And some of you've seen your parents beat up on each other, or you've seen situations where you've been made fun of, or you've been bullied, and you make a vow.
SPEAKER_01: And some of those kind of vows can be things like, I'll never let anybody get close to me because they're gonna hurt me.
SPEAKER_01: Or I'm never gonna risk again.
SPEAKER_01: I'm never gonna risk in love again.
SPEAKER_01: I'm never gonna forgive those kind of people.
SPEAKER_01: And what that does is it grows into a foothold that becomes a stronghold in your life.
SPEAKER_01: Be careful of that, church.
SPEAKER_01: And guess what?
SPEAKER_01: There's a way out.
SPEAKER_01: And we'll see it at the end of the chapter.
SPEAKER_01: There's actually a way out that's actually in this chapter.
SPEAKER_01: It's really cool.
SPEAKER_01: Then the men, verse 7, then the men of Israel said to the Hivites, Perhaps, this is so funny to me.
SPEAKER_01: Oh my goodness.
SPEAKER_01: Perhaps you dwell among us.
SPEAKER_01: So how can we make a covenant with you?
SPEAKER_01: But they said to Joshua, we are your servants.
SPEAKER_01: And Joshua said to them, Who are you?
SPEAKER_01: And where do you come from?
SPEAKER_01: Alright, look.
SPEAKER_01: First compromise, not listening to your conscience.
SPEAKER_01: These guys, I mean, the leaders of Israel and Joshua, they looked at that and went, This does not make any sense.
SPEAKER_01: Think about it.
SPEAKER_01: You're in a far country.
SPEAKER_01: Why would you come all the way to us to develop a covenant or have a covenant with us when you don't even live here?
SPEAKER_01: So their conscience was already telling them the truth, but they didn't listen to it.
SPEAKER_01: And men and women, you can train your conscience to kind of that gut knowledge, ah, this doesn't really add up.
SPEAKER_01: This, you know, this seems a little fishy to me.
SPEAKER_01: But then you don't listen to it because of convenience.
SPEAKER_01: And that's the first compromise is we don't listen to that that deep sense in our conscience that says, I'm not sure if I should trust this person.
SPEAKER_01: There's something about it that seems fishy, and they're already picking that up.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 9.
SPEAKER_01: So they said to him, From a very far country, your servants have come.
SPEAKER_01: Now listen to this.
SPEAKER_01: Because of the name of the Lord your God, for we have heard of his fame, and all that he did in Egypt.
SPEAKER_01: So that's 40 years ago.
SPEAKER_01: And all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan to Sahon, king of Heshbon, and Og, king of Bashan, who was at Ashtaroth.
SPEAKER_01: So here's what they're doing: they're saying, they're mentioning things that happened way back in the past, because if they say anything about Jericho or I, it gives them away.
SPEAKER_01: Because they wouldn't know about that.
SPEAKER_01: Because they've been traveling from a far country.
SPEAKER_01: So second compromise is letting yourself get flattered.
SPEAKER_01: Letting people flatter you.
SPEAKER_01: That's what they're doing.
SPEAKER_01: They're flattering Joshua and the leaders of Israel.
SPEAKER_01: Your God is so great.
SPEAKER_01: You're what God has done for you is so awesome.
SPEAKER_01: We want to be a part of the team.
SPEAKER_01: And they flatter them.
SPEAKER_01: Church people.
SPEAKER_01: Church people flatter all the time.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I've run off most of those people from the road.
SPEAKER_01: But occasionally they show up.
SPEAKER_01: It's usually the prophetic types.
SPEAKER_01: I'm a card-carrying prophet.
SPEAKER_01: And whenever you want me to leave one of your meetings, I will.
SPEAKER_01: I don't even know these people.
SPEAKER_01: You'd seriously, you'd not believe what I hear.
SPEAKER_01: So flattery.
SPEAKER_01: And people are going to flatter you.
SPEAKER_01: They're going to say things because they want to get you.
SPEAKER_01: In a disingenuous way.
SPEAKER_01: So they they comprise.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, our elders and all the inhabitants of our country spoke to us, saying, Take provisions with you for the journey and go to meet them and say to them, We are your servants.
SPEAKER_01: Now therefore make a covenant with us.
SPEAKER_01: So here we go again.
SPEAKER_01: They really want this covenant.
SPEAKER_01: This bread of ours we took hot for our provision from our houses on the day we departed to come to you, but now look, it is dry and moldy.
SPEAKER_01: So they continue with their narrative.
SPEAKER_01: And these wineskins, which were filled, were new, and see, they're torn now.
SPEAKER_01: And these are garments and our sandals have become old because of the very long journey we've been on.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, this is really where they lose control of the narrative.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 14.
SPEAKER_01: Then the men of Israel took some of their provisions, but they did not ask the counsel of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: So this is the bottom line.
SPEAKER_01: They didn't ask counsel from the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Third compromise is they didn't seek God.
SPEAKER_01: They didn't wait on God.
SPEAKER_01: They didn't ask God for wisdom.
SPEAKER_01: What does the scripture say?
SPEAKER_01: That if you lack wisdom, God is generous in blessing you with that wisdom.
SPEAKER_01: God will give you wisdom.
SPEAKER_01: He'll give you wisdom in any situation that you're in.
SPEAKER_01: But you have to ask and you have to wait.
SPEAKER_01: And I'll tell you, man, waiting sometimes is hell to pay because it's so hard.
SPEAKER_01: Take it from me.
SPEAKER_01: We have to go through times in our life where things aren't just instant oatmeal.
SPEAKER_01: It's not like microwave God.
SPEAKER_01: That God actually is training and equipping you through waiting.
SPEAKER_01: It's in waiting that God is building your character.
SPEAKER_01: And so oftentimes in our life, our job, our marriage, our parenting, our finances, we tend to want to go with pragmatic and practical, which is nothing wrong with that.
SPEAKER_01: God's given you a mind to use.
SPEAKER_01: But sometimes there's things in our life, and you and you just learn it, I think we just learn it by training, that you know practically, that's what I should do, but something in your spirit says, I need to wait on God.
SPEAKER_01: I need wisdom about that.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not sure that is the right way to go.
SPEAKER_01: And so you start waiting on God.
SPEAKER_01: So in this case, it's pretty, this is pretty funky stuff right now because everybody thinks something fishy's up.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't make sense that people from a far country have come.
SPEAKER_01: There's so many things that don't line up, but they don't seek God.
SPEAKER_01: They don't seek God, and they get themselves in a real pickle.
SPEAKER_01: So now they're gonna make this covenant and watch what happens.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 15.
SPEAKER_01: So Joshua made peace with them.
SPEAKER_01: He made a covenant with them, and he let them live, and the rulers of the congregation swore to them.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 16.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 16.
SPEAKER_01: And it happened at the end of three days, underlying three days, after they had made a covenant with them, that they heard that they were their neighbors who dwelt near them.
SPEAKER_01: If they had waited three days, just waited three days, they would have never made this covenant with them.
SPEAKER_01: So not waiting on the counsel of God's dangerous stuff.
SPEAKER_01: And in this case, if they waited on the Lord, it would have saved them a lot of pain in the future.
SPEAKER_01: I love Isaiah 40, 31.
SPEAKER_01: Those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength.
SPEAKER_01: They will soar on wings like eagles.
SPEAKER_01: They will run and not grow weary.
SPEAKER_01: They will walk and faint not.
SPEAKER_01: Psalm 27.
SPEAKER_01: This is the two verses that have ministered to me the most over the last five months.
SPEAKER_01: I would have lost heart unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
SPEAKER_01: Wait on the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart.
SPEAKER_01: Wait, I say, on the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: And so, if they had waited on the Lord just three days, if Achan had waited on the Lord one day, he wouldn't have lost his life.
SPEAKER_01: And in this case, Israel would not have compromised.
SPEAKER_01: Then the children of Israel journeyed and came to their cities on the third day.
SPEAKER_01: Now their city was Gibeon, Sherephah, Eroth, Beroth, and Kershoth, Jiram.
SPEAKER_01: But the children of Israel did not attack them because the rulers of the congregation had sworn to them by the Lord God of Israel, and all the congregation complained against the ruler.
SPEAKER_01: So here's the first consequence.
SPEAKER_01: The first consequence of compromise is loss of trust.
SPEAKER_01: You want to lose trust with your wife men.
SPEAKER_01: Compromise on something.
SPEAKER_01: Just compromise.
SPEAKER_01: Compromise on finances, compromise on the internet, compromise at your job, and when your wife finds out, she's just so happy.
SPEAKER_01: You want to ruin a marriage, just keep compromising here and there and there.
SPEAKER_01: Say you're going to do this and then do that.
SPEAKER_01: And the loss of trust.
SPEAKER_01: So the people are upset with a loss of trust because we know historically that Gibeon was one of the most rich, powerful cities in all of Canaan.
SPEAKER_01: They couldn't attack it.
SPEAKER_01: Because they had made this covenant.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 19, then all the rulers said to all the congregation, We have sworn to them by the Lord God of Israel.
SPEAKER_01: Now therefore we may not touch them.
SPEAKER_01: Consequence of compromise.
SPEAKER_01: Number two, bound by God's word.
SPEAKER_01: Bound by God's word.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, Deuteronomy 7 says, if you make a covenant, you have to keep a covenant.
SPEAKER_01: So they're following, they're bound by God's word, they're bound by their honesty, they're bound by their covenant.
SPEAKER_01: And they can't get out of it.
SPEAKER_01: They can't get out of it.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 20.
SPEAKER_01: This we will do to them.
SPEAKER_01: We will let them live, lest wrath be upon us because of the oath which we swore to them.
SPEAKER_01: So this is Deuteronomy 20.
SPEAKER_01: So in Deuteronomy 20 it says, if your enemies come and they seek peace, you're to give them peace.
SPEAKER_01: And it seems like, listen now, this is important.
SPEAKER_01: It seems as though the Gibeonites knew God's word.
SPEAKER_01: They go, hey, look, look, here's what Moses says.
SPEAKER_01: And it wasn't Deuteronomy 20 because there weren't chapters.
SPEAKER_01: But here in the book of Deuteronomy, it says that if we come in peace, they're going to be bound to save our lives.
SPEAKER_01: You think Satan doesn't know the word of God?
SPEAKER_01: Do you remember in Matthew 4 and Luke 4 with the temptation of Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: Satan quotes Scripture.
SPEAKER_01: Out of context, nonetheless, and for his own purposes for sure, but he quotes Scripture.
SPEAKER_01: That's why men and women it's so important that we know God's word.
SPEAKER_01: Because the enemy knows God's word.
SPEAKER_01: Religious people know God's word.
SPEAKER_01: And you can find yourself in an alliance with a believer that's more dishonest than an unbeliever.
SPEAKER_01: Anybody ever had that happen?
SPEAKER_01: You ever been cut off in traffic with somebody who's got a little fishy on the back of their car?
SPEAKER_01: And the ruler said to them, Let them live.
SPEAKER_01: Now this is real, this is the we're getting into some of the good part.
SPEAKER_01: And the ruler said, Let them live, but let them be woodcutters and water carriers for all the congregation, as the rulers had promised them.
SPEAKER_01: Then Joshua called for them, and he spoke to them, saying, Why have you deceived us, saying, We're very far from you when you dwelt near us?
SPEAKER_01: Now therefore you're cursed, and none of us shall be freed from being slaves, woodcutters, and water carriers for the house of my God.
SPEAKER_01: So they answered Joshua and said, Because your servants were clearly told that the Lord your God commanded his servant Moses, see, they know the scriptures, to give you all of the land and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, we're very much afraid for our lives because of you and have done this thing.
SPEAKER_01: And now here we are in your hands to do with us as it seems good and right to do to us.
SPEAKER_01: So another consequence is you have to change your plans.
SPEAKER_01: You have to change your plans.
SPEAKER_01: But look at what happens next.
SPEAKER_01: This is the good news.
SPEAKER_01: There is actually good news in chapter 9.
SPEAKER_01: So he did to them and delivered them out of the hand of the children of Israel so that they did not kill them.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 27, last verse.
SPEAKER_01: And that day Joshua made them woodcutters and water carriers for the congregation and for the altar of the Lord in the place which he would choose even to this day.
SPEAKER_01: Alright, why is that good news?
SPEAKER_01: Here's what you find out about the Gibeonites.
SPEAKER_01: The Gibeonites were incredible servants to Israel from that day forward.
SPEAKER_01: Isn't that amazing?
SPEAKER_01: They actually became the assistants to the priest in the tabernacle and in the temple.
SPEAKER_01: They were key in rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem with Nehemiah.
SPEAKER_01: So here's what happened: God used a compromise to actually bring a blessing.
SPEAKER_01: So whatever mistakes you've made, whatever compromises you've allowed, repent.
SPEAKER_01: Turn from it.
SPEAKER_01: And God wants to use even your sin for his blessing.
SPEAKER_01: If you'll let him do it.
SPEAKER_01: And when I look at stuff happening in my life, man, I'm going to turn that into a blessing, you guys.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to be better.
SPEAKER_01: My wife's going to be better.
SPEAKER_01: Our family's going to be better.
SPEAKER_01: This church is going to be more powerful because of what we've been through.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not going to sit there and just always be bumming.
SPEAKER_01: Let's repent.
SPEAKER_01: Let's begin to move out.
SPEAKER_01: Let's forgive.
SPEAKER_01: And let's let God show up with greater double anointing than we ever could if we hadn't gone through that.
SPEAKER_01: So some of you, some of you are in, you may be in an adulterous affair.
SPEAKER_01: You may be compromising with some stuff in your life.
SPEAKER_01: I'm telling you, repent, come back to Christ, come back to the people of God, come back to those that you're close to.
SPEAKER_01: And I don't know what the consequences will be.
SPEAKER_01: It could be really, really hard for a while.
SPEAKER_01: But we're passing through the valley of the shadow of death.
SPEAKER_01: We're not camping out in the valley of the shadow of death.
SPEAKER_01: You're passing through.
SPEAKER_01: You'll get through it.
SPEAKER_01: Men and women, you'll get through it.
SPEAKER_01: And some of you today, when we go to prayer, you need to come up here and you need to just confess all and begin the wonderful blessing and the journey of new life in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you are not saved in this room.
SPEAKER_01: It's time to get saved.
SPEAKER_01: You've always battled with assurance of your salvation.
SPEAKER_01: And the reason you battle with assurance of your salvation is maybe because you're not saved yet.
SPEAKER_01: Get assurance.
SPEAKER_01: Come to Him.
SPEAKER_01: Say, Lord, I struggle with assurance.
SPEAKER_01: I struggle with whether I'm going to heaven or not.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not sure if I really know you.
SPEAKER_01: Let's seal the deal today.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you need healing.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you need God to touch you physically, mentally, emotionally, maybe relationally, a healing.
SPEAKER_01: God's going to come.
SPEAKER_01: God's going to do it.
SPEAKER_01: And I just, isn't this a crazy story?
SPEAKER_01: What a turn of events, man.
SPEAKER_01: I was reading verse 26 and 27 like a million times the last couple weeks.
SPEAKER_01: Because always I can't, I get so excited to speak.
SPEAKER_01: So I'm always way ahead.
SPEAKER_01: So then I was reading that, I'm going, oh, he turned a curse into a blessing.
SPEAKER_01: That's what God does.
SPEAKER_01: God takes curses and covenants and assignments of the enemy.
SPEAKER_01: And if we'll realize it's an assignment from the enemy and then turn it and ask God to show up and make you a better person because of it, he will.
SPEAKER_01: He will.
SPEAKER_01: Because he came to heal the brokenhearted.
SPEAKER_01: He came to set the captives free.
SPEAKER_01: And you can't know freedom really until you're a captive.
SPEAKER_01: And when you realize you're a captive, you can get set free.
SPEAKER_01: And that's the most important thing in all of our life.
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.
SPEAKER_00: For more information about the Road Church and to find more content like this, go to theroad.org.
SPEAKER_00: That's therode.org.