WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:02.720 Well, this morning you'll notice I I am hobbling a bit. 00:00:02.799 --> 00:00:05.679 I had hydrocortisone shots in the bottom of each foot. 00:00:05.759 --> 00:00:10.480 So if I fall out, it's not the Holy Spirit, it's just hydrocortisone at the bottom of my feet. 00:00:10.640 --> 00:00:12.640 Sam will pick me up, put me in a stool. 00:00:12.720 --> 00:00:14.560 Um, but we we will make it. 00:00:14.640 --> 00:00:18.960 So uh speaking of drugs, this week we got uh way into the pharmacist. 00:00:19.120 --> 00:00:21.679 Is anybody watching the pharmacist on Netflix? 00:00:21.760 --> 00:00:22.640 We we got into that. 00:00:22.719 --> 00:00:27.199 It's a six-part like docuseries, and I won't ruin it because it's super good, and you should actually watch it. 00:00:27.280 --> 00:00:33.119 Um and so there's this guy, Dan, he's a he's a dad, and he's a pharmacist, and his son is murdered. 00:00:33.200 --> 00:00:34.240 That's part of the plot. 00:00:34.320 --> 00:00:35.439 I didn't ruin anything here. 00:00:35.520 --> 00:00:46.240 And here's here's Dan, he's a pharmacist in New Orleans, and uh his his son gets murdered, it's like 20 years ago, his son gets murdered, and uh his son had got caught up in drugs and uh got murdered in a bad part of New Orleans. 00:00:46.320 --> 00:00:53.520 And the police, just at the time, the murder rate in New Orleans was was awful, that the police were overwhelmed, and they just weren't motivated, they didn't do much about it. 00:00:53.600 --> 00:01:02.960 And so uh this dad, Dan, he uh he he gets motivated and he begins to solve this uh murder mystery of his own son himself. 00:01:03.039 --> 00:01:05.120 And then you would think that that would be enough, right? 00:01:05.200 --> 00:01:16.400 Like for a man's calling in his grief uh to do that, but then after that he goes back to work, he's a pharmacist, and he keeps filling all these oxycotton prescriptions that are coming into his pharmacy. 00:01:16.560 --> 00:01:17.519 Remember, this is 20 years ago. 00:01:17.599 --> 00:01:20.959 This isn't like the last couple years that we've seen uh with this issue. 00:01:21.040 --> 00:01:25.120 This is 20 years ago, he begins to see this problem going on in his community. 00:01:25.200 --> 00:01:31.200 And so then he starts to fight this because he sees this one particular doctor is prescribing all this oxycotton over and over again. 00:01:31.280 --> 00:01:34.000 He sees the addictions, he sees the deaths, it's all coming back to this one lady. 00:01:34.159 --> 00:01:36.799 And so he starts this fight and this crusade. 00:01:36.879 --> 00:01:40.719 And what you see, and what's so endearing about the show the whole time is this man. 00:01:41.200 --> 00:01:42.959 It's Dan the entire time. 00:01:43.040 --> 00:01:56.079 And you're just endeared to him, you're endeared to his heart and his mind, you're endeared that he's like super smart and a little obsessive, you're a little worried about him, and he's detailed, and he's just crying, literally, I mean he's just in tears over and over again because he cares for people. 00:01:56.239 --> 00:02:04.560 And what he would do, and you had all these tape recordings from 20 years ago where he would just, he just recorded in his grief, he had no other outlet. 00:02:04.879 --> 00:02:10.400 And so he would just he would talk into a tape recorder, and he would talk to God in a tape recorder. 00:02:10.560 --> 00:02:11.759 And so you have all these recordings. 00:02:11.840 --> 00:02:15.280 Here's what I found online this week in an interview with him this week. 00:02:15.360 --> 00:02:16.560 He said this to a news outlet. 00:02:16.639 --> 00:02:19.360 He said, I could talk, but I couldn't communicate. 00:02:19.520 --> 00:02:28.319 But I could go upstairs in my son's room and sit on his bed, and I could actually talk into my recorder, so I have commentary on how I felt. 00:02:28.560 --> 00:02:33.759 And what you see is over and over and over again, you get these recordings like, God, I need your help. 00:02:34.560 --> 00:02:38.960 God, I I don't I don't know how to get through what I'm going through. 00:02:40.240 --> 00:02:42.240 God, I know where you want me to go. 00:02:42.319 --> 00:02:46.960 I can see where I want to go and where I should go, but I don't know how to get there. 00:02:47.360 --> 00:02:50.400 I can kind of see the path where there's all this stuff in the way. 00:02:50.960 --> 00:02:57.680 And like for me, this week I'm studying Joshua, we're studying Joshua, this ancient story in the Old Testament, we're studying this book, right? 00:02:57.759 --> 00:03:03.759 And you remember the storyline is these people of Israel, they were in Egypt in slavery, and God eventually delivers them out of that. 00:03:03.840 --> 00:03:10.800 They didn't think they're gonna get out of that, and they got out of that, God delivered them out of that into the wilderness, should have taken a few weeks to get through this wandering state. 00:03:10.960 --> 00:03:23.199 We know that kind of wandering, we know the enslavement period, we know what that feels like in our lives, we know what wandering feels like, and they're in the wilderness, not for three weeks, should have taken three weeks to get through that desert, but it takes them 40 years. 00:03:23.840 --> 00:03:27.360 Because their disobedience and their apathy, finally, the next generation comes. 00:03:27.439 --> 00:03:30.000 God speaks to Joshua and says, Hey, lead my people across the river. 00:03:30.560 --> 00:03:31.120 Okay, here we go. 00:03:31.199 --> 00:03:35.840 I've got to take back our land, and I've got a river to deal with, and God provides a way through the river. 00:03:35.919 --> 00:03:36.719 They get to the other side. 00:03:36.879 --> 00:03:37.919 Remember, we looked at this last week. 00:03:38.000 --> 00:03:38.879 You're the other side. 00:03:38.960 --> 00:03:43.039 Do you think finally, you know, all forward, we're gonna we're gonna claim or get our land back. 00:03:43.199 --> 00:03:44.879 God says, no, like circumcise all the men. 00:03:45.039 --> 00:03:45.919 We talked about that last week. 00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:46.960 That was interesting. 00:03:47.199 --> 00:03:49.840 All right, they're forced to rest, forced to stop. 00:03:49.919 --> 00:03:56.479 And then this week it's like, okay, all you know, forge ahead, and then there's this city waiting for them, the city of Jericho. 00:03:56.560 --> 00:04:02.000 And this is a story for me, watching this pharmacist this week, and then studying Joshua, I'm like, well, this is what this feels like, right? 00:04:02.080 --> 00:04:08.240 Like it feels like you know where you need to go, that you see the path ahead so often in life. 00:04:08.719 --> 00:04:13.120 And it just feels like fortified city after fortified city, feels like walls. 00:04:14.240 --> 00:04:20.319 What an image for us, because we know these feelings, these feelings of being stuck, feelings of being overwhelmed, feelings of being depressed. 00:04:22.160 --> 00:04:23.199 So here's our text. 00:04:23.279 --> 00:04:27.839 I'll reread some that um Zach read and then a little bit more. 00:04:27.920 --> 00:04:29.519 Joshua 5, 13 through 15. 00:04:29.680 --> 00:04:41.839 When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand, and Joshua went to him and said to him, Are you for us or for our adversaries? 00:04:42.720 --> 00:04:48.079 And he said, No, but I am a commander of the army of the Lord, and now I have come. 00:04:48.800 --> 00:04:54.240 And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped, and said to him, What does my Lord say to his servant? 00:04:54.560 --> 00:05:02.560 And the commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua, Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy, and Joshua did so. 00:05:02.800 --> 00:05:07.759 So here's a picture of what Jericho probably looked like back then. 00:05:07.920 --> 00:05:11.279 So, like when we say walls, it was like a complex of walls. 00:05:11.360 --> 00:05:13.519 It was like two walls and stuff in between. 00:05:13.680 --> 00:05:16.319 I mean, I mean, imagine trying to overcome this. 00:05:16.639 --> 00:05:18.560 So Joshua sees this. 00:05:18.800 --> 00:05:20.160 He has to go through this city. 00:05:20.319 --> 00:05:26.720 This city is nestled up against up against like these hills, these mountains, and his land, the land they're going to take back, their land is up in these mountains. 00:05:26.800 --> 00:05:28.959 So he knows where he needs to go, but he has to deal with this city. 00:05:29.040 --> 00:05:33.680 If he passes by the city, that all these soldiers will come out, trap him in the mountains, and attack him. 00:05:33.920 --> 00:05:35.360 He tries to just outweigh them, right? 00:05:35.439 --> 00:05:37.279 That would have been a popular way to handle the situation. 00:05:37.360 --> 00:05:41.040 You just like surround the city, cut off the food, eventually you starve out the city, right? 00:05:41.519 --> 00:05:43.519 But then other cities would have come and attacked them. 00:05:43.759 --> 00:05:45.600 They didn't have the weapons to overcome the walls. 00:05:45.759 --> 00:05:46.959 He's stuck. 00:05:47.839 --> 00:05:49.199 He's stuck. 00:05:51.040 --> 00:05:52.560 What is he gonna do? 00:05:52.800 --> 00:05:55.279 He needs breakthrough, but he doesn't have the power. 00:05:55.439 --> 00:06:02.639 So the story says that Joshua looks up and sees this figure, this commander, commander of the army of the Lord. 00:06:02.720 --> 00:06:04.560 Some people think, well, it might have been an angel. 00:06:04.720 --> 00:06:07.120 Some people say, no, it's the precarnate Christ. 00:06:07.199 --> 00:06:09.360 It actually was Christ, some people say. 00:06:10.000 --> 00:06:14.639 This figure, whatever this figure was, he sees this figure. 00:06:14.720 --> 00:06:15.920 He says, Are you for us? 00:06:16.000 --> 00:06:17.600 Are you for our enemies, right? 00:06:17.839 --> 00:06:20.240 This is how we like to play the game, us them. 00:06:20.560 --> 00:06:21.920 Like, are you on my side? 00:06:22.000 --> 00:06:23.199 Are you on their side? 00:06:23.360 --> 00:06:25.040 Like, are you with the Republicans? 00:06:25.199 --> 00:06:26.560 Are you with the Democrats? 00:06:26.720 --> 00:06:31.360 Are you with me or them, or he or she, or we or that side of the family, or this side of the family? 00:06:31.439 --> 00:06:32.480 We always like to do that. 00:06:32.639 --> 00:06:34.560 And God usually doesn't play that game. 00:06:34.639 --> 00:06:38.639 And he says, No, no, no, no, neither take your shoes off. 00:06:39.279 --> 00:06:42.319 Something more important than that us them stuff. 00:06:42.639 --> 00:06:47.920 And what he's saying is, stop analyzing and trying to control me and where I'm at. 00:06:49.199 --> 00:06:57.120 The way forward is to live in awe and vulnerability, to actually live in humility and weakness. 00:06:58.240 --> 00:07:00.319 2 Corinthians 12, 9 says this. 00:07:00.480 --> 00:07:01.040 This is Paul. 00:07:01.199 --> 00:07:04.240 Paul was wrestling with a what he called a thorn in his flesh. 00:07:04.319 --> 00:07:05.680 We don't know what it was. 00:07:05.920 --> 00:07:11.040 Some sort of weakness, something he didn't like, maybe a sin, maybe some brokenness, maybe some hurt. 00:07:11.120 --> 00:07:12.160 We're not quite sure. 00:07:12.399 --> 00:07:14.319 Something he didn't like, something's bothering him. 00:07:14.639 --> 00:07:16.800 He's saying, God, take it from me, God take it from me. 00:07:16.879 --> 00:07:17.519 It's not going away. 00:07:17.600 --> 00:07:21.600 Verse 9, but he said to me, God said, My grace is sufficient for you. 00:07:22.879 --> 00:07:26.240 For my power is made perfect in weakness. 00:07:27.040 --> 00:07:33.600 Paul says, Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 00:07:33.759 --> 00:07:40.319 So it means only in our weakness are we met by the power of the presence of God and love of Christ. 00:07:40.480 --> 00:07:41.839 I wish it were different. 00:07:42.160 --> 00:07:43.920 Wouldn't it be nice? 00:07:46.720 --> 00:07:51.199 All the kindest people I know are the ones who have been the most broken. 00:07:52.000 --> 00:07:52.319 Right? 00:07:52.720 --> 00:07:58.480 The guy at the table, at the dinner table, and he's just sharing great story after great story and victory after victory. 00:07:58.560 --> 00:08:01.040 At the end of the meal, you're like, that guy's a jerk. 00:08:02.720 --> 00:08:03.120 Right? 00:08:03.279 --> 00:08:05.839 It's not the guy you actually want to be around. 00:08:06.639 --> 00:08:10.480 It's in weakness that we actually know the presence of God. 00:08:11.920 --> 00:08:16.000 The way to victory is not to pull up your bootstraps even more, right? 00:08:16.399 --> 00:08:19.600 It says, take your shoes off, kneel down, bow down. 00:08:19.759 --> 00:08:24.160 More openness, more confession, more repentance, more vulnerability. 00:08:25.040 --> 00:08:26.480 That's maturity. 00:08:26.720 --> 00:08:28.480 That's growth and grace. 00:08:29.360 --> 00:08:34.080 So, by means of some application for our lives, here are a few questions for our hearts. 00:08:34.320 --> 00:08:37.600 I was asking myself this week, reading through this text. 00:08:38.159 --> 00:08:41.120 What am I unwilling to face or feel? 00:08:41.440 --> 00:08:44.399 What am I unwilling to face or feel? 00:08:45.440 --> 00:08:46.639 What armor? 00:08:47.360 --> 00:08:52.320 What armor have I developed over time that is only weighing me down now? 00:08:53.519 --> 00:08:55.440 So, what am I unwilling to face or feel? 00:08:55.600 --> 00:09:00.240 What armor have I developed over time that is only weighing me down now? 00:09:00.879 --> 00:09:05.120 What am I still holding on to, but am actually enslaved by? 00:09:05.919 --> 00:09:06.240 Right? 00:09:06.399 --> 00:09:09.519 Do you see how these would be the kinds of questions Joshua be wrestling with? 00:09:09.679 --> 00:09:11.840 I gotta let go of something, I gotta see something. 00:09:12.000 --> 00:09:13.120 What am I holding on to? 00:09:13.200 --> 00:09:15.120 Am I actually enslaved by it? 00:09:16.320 --> 00:09:22.879 What would it mean for God's strength and presence to become your starting point and your way forward? 00:09:23.120 --> 00:09:25.039 What would that mean for you? 00:09:25.759 --> 00:09:27.919 In light of facing weakness. 00:09:29.279 --> 00:09:35.679 In light of that, there's a way forward, but the way forward is actually by bowing down and living in humility and in your weakness. 00:09:36.000 --> 00:09:38.000 Joshua 6, 1 and 2. 00:09:38.559 --> 00:09:42.879 Now Jericho was shut up inside and outside because of the people of Israel. 00:09:43.039 --> 00:09:45.440 None went out and none came in. 00:09:46.240 --> 00:09:51.360 And the Lord said to Joshua, see, I have given Jericho into your hand with its king and mighty men of valor. 00:09:51.519 --> 00:09:54.240 Now I would have looked at it, I'm sure Joshua's a bit like, what? 00:09:54.320 --> 00:09:57.600 Like, because what it looks like to me is a fortified city. 00:09:59.279 --> 00:10:00.639 And point number one is this. 00:10:01.039 --> 00:10:02.000 A few points to guide us. 00:10:02.080 --> 00:10:10.159 Point number one is this our fight is to rest and remember the victory already won as to be people of calling and mission. 00:10:10.240 --> 00:10:11.600 The order matters there. 00:10:11.840 --> 00:10:14.799 Because this is what keeps being laid out in the story of Joshua. 00:10:14.960 --> 00:10:19.519 God is giving them and declaring over to them victory before they have victory. 00:10:20.559 --> 00:10:27.600 Our fight is to rest and remember the victory already won for us, and Jesus as to be people of calling and mission. 00:10:28.000 --> 00:10:31.600 So this commander of the Lord, he goes on to give this plan to Joshua. 00:10:32.159 --> 00:10:33.200 Here's how we're gonna handle this. 00:10:33.360 --> 00:10:34.559 You're gonna arm some men, okay? 00:10:34.720 --> 00:10:35.919 So you got some armed men. 00:10:36.080 --> 00:10:39.840 And then you're gonna have some priests, and you give the priests some trumpets, okay? 00:10:39.919 --> 00:10:42.320 You know, real intimidating trumpets. 00:10:42.799 --> 00:10:45.200 And then you have the Ark of the Covenant after that. 00:10:45.360 --> 00:10:48.240 Okay, so to these people, it's just gonna look like a chest. 00:10:48.399 --> 00:10:51.519 But they understand this is the presence of God. 00:10:51.600 --> 00:10:57.200 So you got some armed soldiers, you got some guys with trumpets, and you got like a chest, okay? 00:10:57.360 --> 00:11:02.320 And these guys are gonna walk around, you're gonna walk around the city every day. 00:11:03.279 --> 00:11:06.320 Now, what's interesting in that, we could read right over, is the trumpet. 00:11:06.399 --> 00:11:07.919 That's the most interesting thing, at least. 00:11:08.320 --> 00:11:13.519 We've talked about the ark previously, but for today, the trumpet's kind of interesting because this just showed up for us. 00:11:13.759 --> 00:11:17.200 And these trumpets were used to declare the year of Jubilee. 00:11:17.360 --> 00:11:21.600 And so what that means is anybody would have heard it then when those trumpets played. 00:11:21.679 --> 00:11:29.519 What it meant to them was it meant the presence of God's kingdom bringing liberty to captives. 00:11:32.799 --> 00:11:34.320 See, the victory's already won. 00:11:34.720 --> 00:11:43.360 So they're playing a victory song, walking around a city that is fortified, and they have no way to overcome the city. 00:11:43.919 --> 00:11:46.559 And the victory song is already being played. 00:11:47.200 --> 00:11:52.960 And the reason why is that victory, victory is by receiving, it's not by merit. 00:11:54.960 --> 00:11:56.080 It's not by earning. 00:11:56.159 --> 00:12:03.679 That even in your weakness, even when the city is fortified, even when you don't know your way forward, that is when you still have victory. 00:12:04.720 --> 00:12:08.320 Because you have the presence of God, that God is for you, He's with you. 00:12:08.960 --> 00:12:12.320 So Joshua's men, they march around the seventh day, they march around seven times. 00:12:12.480 --> 00:12:14.080 After that, they blow those trumpets. 00:12:14.639 --> 00:12:16.639 Imagine the sound for the people. 00:12:17.279 --> 00:12:18.799 That proclamation? 00:12:19.919 --> 00:12:21.679 What a sound for them. 00:12:22.720 --> 00:12:26.080 The walls fall down and they go into the city, they take the city. 00:12:26.240 --> 00:12:27.600 So the point is this. 00:12:27.759 --> 00:12:29.519 I mean, what a great image for this point. 00:12:29.759 --> 00:12:34.480 We say it all the time here grace is the end of earning, it's not the end of effort. 00:12:35.200 --> 00:12:38.399 It is absolutely the end of merit and earning. 00:12:39.600 --> 00:12:43.039 But it empowers us to move forward in calling and mission. 00:12:43.279 --> 00:12:48.480 God's grace and the Holy Spirit empowers us in personal transformation and what it means to fight our battles. 00:12:48.720 --> 00:12:51.360 So the story goes on, and it's a massacre, right? 00:12:51.440 --> 00:12:58.320 Like we sing the song in Sunday school, we're gonna teach the song over there, but we sort of leave out the part that like everybody's massacred. 00:12:58.879 --> 00:13:01.039 Men and women and children. 00:13:01.519 --> 00:13:03.120 We talked about it a couple weeks ago. 00:13:03.200 --> 00:13:09.840 We talked about war and the wrath of God, and we talked about how I talked about how I have my problems with this, I have issues, I'm still wrestling with some of this stuff. 00:13:09.919 --> 00:13:10.720 I mean, I have a problem. 00:13:10.879 --> 00:13:12.960 These women and children are massacred. 00:13:13.440 --> 00:13:14.559 You can listen to that sermon. 00:13:14.720 --> 00:13:15.039 Good sermon. 00:13:15.120 --> 00:13:17.120 I won't re-preach it, I'll save it for you. 00:13:17.440 --> 00:13:18.799 But here's what we do know. 00:13:18.960 --> 00:13:30.480 Point number two the judgment of God is staggeringly awful, which moves us to deeper astonishment and appreciation of Jesus' work in love. 00:13:31.679 --> 00:13:36.399 We understand grace and love because we understand judgment. 00:13:36.960 --> 00:13:39.120 We understand our imperfection and sin. 00:13:39.600 --> 00:13:45.200 A God that is just toward it, but a God who decides to be gracious despite it. 00:13:46.080 --> 00:13:48.720 And the image we have in this story is Rahab. 00:13:49.039 --> 00:13:50.399 Mentions again in Joshua 6. 00:13:50.480 --> 00:13:51.600 She was mentioned in Joshua 2. 00:13:51.679 --> 00:13:52.559 Do you remember in Joshua 2? 00:13:52.639 --> 00:13:56.879 She helps out the spies who come, they come ahead to check out the city, see what's going on. 00:13:57.039 --> 00:14:00.159 So when this day comes, I'll know where to go in the city and how to handle the city. 00:14:00.320 --> 00:14:03.039 And Rahab saves them when they're found out. 00:14:03.519 --> 00:14:12.960 And they say, God says to her, hey, when I come into the city, if you do nothing, go into your house and do nothing, you'll be saved. 00:14:13.279 --> 00:14:14.639 So here we have these two images. 00:14:14.720 --> 00:14:17.919 We have this military stud, Joshua, who has quite a resume. 00:14:18.080 --> 00:14:20.240 I mean, this guy's a leader of leaders. 00:14:21.039 --> 00:14:23.519 And he has to take his shoes off and he has to bow down. 00:14:24.240 --> 00:14:26.399 And then we have Rahab, and she's saved. 00:14:26.960 --> 00:14:29.200 A prostitute, a harlot. 00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:30.960 No resume. 00:14:32.240 --> 00:14:35.120 And in her nothingness, she's saved. 00:14:36.639 --> 00:14:45.440 And what we have is we have both of these people experiencing God's love and presence, salvation, acceptance in their nothingness. 00:14:46.000 --> 00:14:49.919 What good news to us because sometimes we feel like Joshua and sometimes we feel like Rahab. 00:14:50.799 --> 00:14:52.320 Sometimes we feel like we have the resume. 00:14:52.879 --> 00:14:55.279 Sometimes we feel like we have nothing left. 00:14:57.360 --> 00:15:00.000 I listened to this podcast called The Mocking Cast. 00:15:00.080 --> 00:15:07.919 And this past week they highlighted an article that came from the New York Times written by Jennifer Wiener, and she wrote about the Super Bowl halftime show by Shakir and J Lo. 00:15:08.080 --> 00:15:08.639 Did anybody watch it? 00:15:08.720 --> 00:15:09.360 You want to admit that? 00:15:09.519 --> 00:15:10.960 Confess that out loud here in church? 00:15:11.440 --> 00:15:12.480 Want to admit it? 00:15:12.799 --> 00:15:13.679 Nobody's going to. 00:15:13.840 --> 00:15:14.480 I watched it. 00:15:14.720 --> 00:15:15.360 I remember. 00:15:15.440 --> 00:15:16.399 I remember all of it. 00:15:16.559 --> 00:15:20.320 And what you'll remember, if you saw it, is I know you, I know you saw it. 00:15:20.480 --> 00:15:34.480 And uh, what you'll remember is uh you'll remember some dancing, you'll remember some of that, and what you'll come away with is this one thought of she's 50? 00:15:36.399 --> 00:15:40.080 JLo's 50, and her hips were doing that. 00:15:40.240 --> 00:15:43.279 Like, how'd her hips do that and her bottom was doing stuff? 00:15:43.440 --> 00:15:44.559 I mean, I don't, I'm not. 00:15:45.039 --> 00:15:48.799 Her face, how that f her skin, right? 00:15:49.039 --> 00:15:51.039 Here's what Jennifer Wiener writes. 00:15:51.120 --> 00:15:57.679 She says, I thought that pregnancy would be a nine-month time out from competing in the looking good Olympics. 00:15:57.919 --> 00:16:12.480 Alas, I had my daughters in the heyday of the hot mom, an era where billowy maternity garments gave way to bump hugging body con styles, where celebrities left the hospitals holding their newborns, wearing their skinny jeans, no respite there. 00:16:12.799 --> 00:16:17.679 Forty was clearly too soon to surrender, given Halle Berry and Jennifer Aniston. 00:16:17.919 --> 00:16:22.480 Still, I'd been picturing 50 as the year where I'd be done. 00:16:22.639 --> 00:16:26.399 I'd quit dyeing my hair and donate my high heels. 00:16:26.480 --> 00:16:36.720 I'd greet the occasional chin hair with a Buddhist master zen and treat my body like a place I could exist without apology instead of something achen to a seedy apartment complex. 00:16:36.960 --> 00:16:47.120 A place I needed to constantly manage and improve with unruly bits to be waxed and plucked, painted and dyed, trussed and spandex and lifted with underwire. 00:16:47.279 --> 00:16:48.960 She goes on and she goes on. 00:16:49.200 --> 00:16:52.399 And what she's saying is 50 would be the year for her. 00:16:53.600 --> 00:16:55.279 50 was her year. 00:16:55.600 --> 00:17:00.320 A place where she could finally give herself grace rather than judgment. 00:17:00.480 --> 00:17:02.240 And then she saw the Super Bowl. 00:17:02.320 --> 00:17:10.799 And then she saw this meme, this picture like the next week, the picture of JLo at 50 and Blanche from the Golden Girls at 50. 00:17:11.200 --> 00:17:16.960 So 1985, Blanche, who was a hottie, right? 00:17:17.200 --> 00:17:21.440 The symbol of Hottie in 1985, that was 50. 00:17:22.079 --> 00:17:24.000 And this is 50 today. 00:17:25.359 --> 00:17:28.319 And you can't help but look at it and feel judged. 00:17:28.880 --> 00:17:30.720 Because I'm supposed to look like that. 00:17:30.960 --> 00:17:33.440 Or maybe for us, uh, Brad Pitt at 56. 00:17:33.519 --> 00:17:34.720 Have you seen him lately? 00:17:36.640 --> 00:17:37.759 I'm not that. 00:17:38.880 --> 00:17:40.480 I mean, my feet don't even work. 00:17:40.559 --> 00:17:42.880 I had to get shots in my feet, right? 00:17:46.880 --> 00:17:50.400 I mean, how easily we're sent into judgment. 00:17:52.079 --> 00:17:54.880 And I mean, we're talking about worldly judgment there. 00:17:56.160 --> 00:17:59.200 And then there's judgment in religion. 00:17:59.680 --> 00:18:05.519 There's judgment in families, there's judgment in relationships, there's judgment upon sin. 00:18:06.799 --> 00:18:09.279 And it's all because there's standards. 00:18:10.079 --> 00:18:12.960 And some of these standards are real and some of these standards are made up. 00:18:13.119 --> 00:18:17.920 But it's all a life of either, a life of either under judgment or under grace. 00:18:19.200 --> 00:18:24.480 And we as a people of God are no longer under judgment. 00:18:24.720 --> 00:18:25.839 We're under grace. 00:18:26.000 --> 00:18:27.440 The judgment is awful. 00:18:27.680 --> 00:18:31.039 The judgment is real and it is staggeringly awful. 00:18:31.200 --> 00:18:38.720 It's a massacre upon our imperfection and sinfulness, which gives us greater appreciation and astonishment of God's grace to us. 00:18:39.039 --> 00:18:42.160 See, this story is a part of a bigger story. 00:18:42.319 --> 00:18:46.480 We don't just moralize Joshua and say, oh, be strong and courageous. 00:18:46.640 --> 00:18:49.119 Like, go, here are three tips to be strong and courageous. 00:18:49.200 --> 00:18:49.839 How limiting. 00:18:49.920 --> 00:18:51.440 More judgment upon you. 00:18:52.400 --> 00:18:53.200 No, no, no. 00:18:53.279 --> 00:18:55.440 This is be strong and courageous. 00:18:55.759 --> 00:18:59.119 And Joshua's head is down in front of Jericho. 00:18:59.200 --> 00:19:01.519 He's not strong and courageous. 00:19:02.079 --> 00:19:05.519 And there could have been judgment upon him for that lack of faith. 00:19:06.000 --> 00:19:07.599 And God is gracious. 00:19:07.920 --> 00:19:11.839 In Joshua's weakness, he's present with him. 00:19:12.240 --> 00:19:14.799 The trumpet sound, they're playing for us. 00:19:14.880 --> 00:19:15.920 The music is playing. 00:19:16.079 --> 00:19:17.279 Point number three. 00:19:17.599 --> 00:19:22.160 We need the invading, conquering grace of God in our hearts. 00:19:23.519 --> 00:19:32.880 So the images for us to behold this morning, yes, it's Joshua in his bowing, Rahab and her nothingness, and the trumpets are the point. 00:19:34.319 --> 00:19:37.759 The victory's already been sounded before you even get to work. 00:19:38.079 --> 00:19:40.079 Before you're righteous, you're declared righteous. 00:19:40.240 --> 00:19:43.359 Your sin is put upon the cross, and Jesus' righteousness is given to you. 00:19:43.440 --> 00:19:50.400 You're forever beloved before you do a single thing, no matter what you've done or whatever you do, we have victory. 00:19:50.799 --> 00:19:52.400 And in your weakness, He is with you. 00:19:52.799 --> 00:19:57.839 My brothers and sisters, may you bring your weakness to him who is faithful to be with you always and forever. 00:19:58.079 --> 00:19:58.960 Let's pray together. 00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:08.960 God, thank you for your grace and mercy to us that while you have judgment, you choose to be gracious. 00:20:09.440 --> 00:20:24.160 All the judgment that you would ever have toward any of our mistakes, any judgment of opinion, any judgment of disappointment, any judgment of justice has all been settled in your grace on the cross in Jesus the Christ. 00:20:25.519 --> 00:20:32.240 What beautiful images for us to behold this morning that we get to live lives of receiving the kingdom of God. 00:20:32.559 --> 00:20:42.240 That we are your children by your work and your love, your pursuit of us, that we have victory long before we win little battles in our lives. 00:20:43.759 --> 00:20:45.920 Help us to rest and remember more. 00:20:46.480 --> 00:20:48.079 That Jesus is enough. 00:20:48.400 --> 00:20:50.880 In his great and powerful and mighty name we pray. 00:20:51.119 --> 00:20:51.680 Amen.