Skip to content When Obedience Outlasts Opposition | Joshua 10 | Pastor Sammy Rodriguez Jun 23 · 43 min ...more
When Obedience Outlasts Opposition | Joshua 10 | Pastor Sammy Rodriguez
June 23, 2025 · 43 min
Series Patria Sermons June 23, 2025 · 43 min · Patria Sermons
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Adam Mesa is Lead Pastor of Patria Church and speaks to a congregation of 12,000 about how the gospel of Jesus Christ brings purpose to every life. Patria
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0:00 Velocity job. Amen. Come on. Can we put our hands together? If you love pastor Kenny like me, say I love you Kenny.0:11 I love Kenny. I should've said pastor Kenny, but say it again. Say I love you pastor Kenny. I love pastor Kenny. So grateful for pastor Kenny. But before we we get started, I wanna introduce myself. If we haven't met0:23 yet, my name is pastor Sammy and I get the chance of being the resident pastor here at Patria. But we are going through an incredible book of the bible for this fresh start. We've been going through0:34 Joshua. How many you guys love the book of Joshua? Just give me a holy ghost wave. It's amazing. And before we go into what we're going to in a little bit of the recap, just wanna thank our senior pastors, pastor Adam0:45 and Ashley. Can we put our hands together for our pastors? So grateful that we get pastors like this, like pastor Adam, who raises up not only the next generation, but really0:57 replicates himself and reproduces himself. And so, as I've been thinking through Joshua, I've been thinking of man, this sounds a lot like our pastor, pastor Adam. Amen? Amen. And so, what we're going into, if you1:08 haven't been here yet, but throughout these these series, throughout fresh start this year, we're looking at the book of Joshua. And I have a lot of real estate to cover, so usually I come up here and say a few jokes,1:19 have some fun. But we're not we've got the whole chapter of Joshua 10. Don't worry. We're not reading all 43 verses. Just gonna read about 42 of No. I'm just kidding. About 30 of them. Are you okay with that? Don't1:30 worry. If you haven't been here before, we stand for the reading of the word. We're not gonna stand for 30 verses. Okay? I cut it down. But here's what I have. The story is, just to recap it real briefly, The story is1:41 about a group called the Gibeonites who gets surrounded and God breaks in and moves in through Joshua and sets them free. Okay? And the title of the message tonight that I have is1:53 this, is when obedience outlasts opposition. Come on, want you to write it down. Why? Because goats take notes. Alright? And so just write it down. If you don't know what a goat means, ask a young person.2:05 They'll tell you what it means. But I want you to write that down as when obedience outlasts opposition. I don't know anyone here that you've ever felt this way where you felt opposed. Has anyone in the room ever felt2:17 opposed in your life? Has anyone in the room ever felt surrounded in your life? Has anyone in the room ever felt like there was no hope but then Jesus broke in. Amen? Yes. And set us free. And and and2:29 for many of us maybe in this room, you've walked in, a friend has brought you and you're saying, I feel that right now. I feel opposed. Well, we believe that you're here for the right time and the right purpose because2:39 God wants to set you free just like he set us free. Amen? Amen. And so here's what we're gonna do is when obedience outlasts opposition. We're gonna stand for the reading of the word. If we could all stand together. In2:51 Joshua 10, the last verses it says this, you can look at the screen. It says this. It says, so Joshua struck the whole land, the hill country and the Negeb and the lowland and the slopes and all their3:03 kings. Everybody say all their kings. All kings. And it says, left none of them. He let he left none remaining but devoted to destruction all that breathed just as the Lord God of Israel3:14 commanded. And Joshua struck them from Kadesh Barnea. I'm gonna say a lot of words wrong, but it's okay. God, there is forgiveness in Jesus. As far as Gaza and all the country of Goshen, as far as Gibeon.3:27 And Joshua captured all these kings and their lands at 1 time because the Lord God of the Lord God of Israel fought for Israel. And then Joshua returned and all of Israel with him3:39 to the camp at Gilgal. Everyone said he returned. He returned. Go ahead and take your seat. Go ahead and take your seat. Now, because we don't wanna go into the the the whole scripture and the whole chapter, we're gonna3:50 look at the last about 12 to 20 verses. And I'm just gonna paraphrase it for you because that verse essentially says what John Joshua 10 is about. It's about the conquest of the southern kingdoms and the4:02 southern cities. So there's a slide up here just for you to look at, know, next time, maybe tonight or tomorrow or this week. But in the rest of these verses, these are the cities that that were conquered in Joshua 104:14 afterwards. So Mekedah was conquered, Libnah was conquered, Lachish or Lachish or whatever you wanna say was conquered. Giza was Hey hey, join me with it. Know, try and say Eglon was4:25 conquered conquered. Hebron was conquered and Debir was conquered. And we look through Joshua 10 and it really is about the conquest where God said, I am gonna be with you. Joshua4:37 responded and then God backed it up. Amen? Amen. But here's where I want you to see where the tension of the story is. Why? Because as you've been following through the book of Joshua, every attack from4:49 the Israelites were initiated by God and the people of Israel. So Jericho was initiated from God to Joshua to his people. AI was initiated. Even when they fell they initiated back.5:01 But this is the very first battle in which they're responding to some other place being attacked. Okay? So let's look into it and let's read it right here in in Joshua 10 verses 1. You can5:13 stay seated because we're gonna read a few verses. It says this, as soon as Adonai Zaddek, king of Jerusalem heard how Joshua had captured Ai and had devoted it to destruction, doing to5:25 Ai and its king as he had done to Jericho and its king, and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were among them. Pause real quick. If you weren't here last week, pastor5:37 Aaron spoke a beautiful message. But essentially, the Gibeonites were all about you know deceiving the Israelites because they were close enough but they didn't wanna be conquered. And so what the Gibeonites did was they5:49 tricked the Israelites. The Joshua and the Israelites made a covenant with the Gibeonites thinking that they were foreigners in a faraway land, but they were next door neighbors. Joshua rushed into it. He didn't seek the6:00 Lord, made a covenant. They were deceived. Now these same people that deceived Joshua are saying help help. Check it out. Check it out. Let's see what happens. And he feared greatly the the6:12 the king of Israel because Gibeon was a great city like 1 of the royal cities, and because it was greater than Ai, and all its men were warriors. So Adonai Zedek, king of6:24 Jerusalem, sent to Hoham, king of Hebron, to Piram, king of Jammah, to Japhia, king of Lashish, to Dabir, of Eglon, saying, come up to me and help me and let us strike Gibeon for it has made6:35 peace with Joshua and with the people of Israel. Then the 5 kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jammoth, the king of Lashish, and the king of Eglon6:47 gathered their forces and went up with all their armies and encamped against Gibeon and made war against it. And the men of Gibeon sent to Joshua at the camp at Gilgal saying, do not relax your hand6:59 from your servants. Come up to us quickly and save us and help us for all the kings of the Amorites who dwell in the hill country are gathered against us. So Joshua went up from Gilgal, he7:11 and all the people of war with him and all the mighty men of valor. Okay. Pause. Okay. I I You're like king what? King this? King what? King Just say king king of kings. Somebody say king of7:23 kings. Sorry. That's all you gotta remember. Jesus on the throne. I wanna show you this map because that was a lot. But before I do No. No. No. Don't show me yet. Don't show you. It's okay. But before I do, I want just7:33 to paraphrase real briefly. The Gibeonites deceives Israel. Israel makes a covenant with the Gibeonites. They find out that they're neighbors. So Joshua says, you're gonna be woodcutters and7:45 water pourers for the altar. Now, Gibeon Gibeon now is being attacked by 5 kings and now Joshua has a chance. Will he respond quickly or will maybe he take7:57 a few days? You know what I'm saying? Like when you make a bad decision and then someone needs your help and say, I'll be there in a year. You know what I mean? Email my assistant's assistance and maybe I'll get back to8:08 you. Right? The Gibeon reached out to Joshua and here is where Joshua responded. But before we do look at this map. This map is it's kind of far away to see. But this shows you the 5 kingdoms with the8:20 red arrows coming to Gibeon. And I'm already kind of giving you a sneak peek. But it says there, Joshua goes from Gilgal to Gibeon. We know Joshua wins, okay? But Joshua marches through there. It shows where8:32 their counter attack is and it shows what happens after that. The first point I want you to write down is this. I want you to write this first point down. Is that God already promised the victory.8:44 God already promised the victory. Write that down in your journal. In verse 8, it should be on the screen. We're gonna read this. Because Gibeon, you know, the Gibeonites reached out to Joshua and then Joshua responds8:55 with this. And the Lord said to Joshua, do not fear them for I have given them into your hands. Not a man of them shall stand before you. 1 more time. Let's look9:07 at it 1 more time. Just 1 more time. 1 more time. 1 more time. And the Lord said, do not what? What is that word up there? What is that word? Fear. 1 more time. What is that word up there? Fear. Fear. It says, do not9:16 fear them for I have given them into your hands, not a man of them shall stand before you. God has already promised the victory. I love that in that verse9:28 Joshua in in in 8 where he says, don't fear them. It'll be on the screen. The Hebrew word for that, again ask a Hebrew scholar around you, I'm gonna say it wrong, but it's Yare. Right? Yare which means9:40 terror, dread and intimidation. Terror, dread and intimidation. What Jesus what God was saying to Joshua is he said, even though 5 kings have come around against9:51 you, do not be terrorized by that. Do not have dread for that and do not be intimidated by that. Joshua was being reminded of what God spoke to him in Joshua 110:03 9 where it says, have I not commanded you to be strong and courageous? Joshua was reminded that but but here's what I want you to look at this in a moment is this is that Joshua had just made a10:15 moment where he failed. He made a moment where he made a covenant with the Gibeonites even though they weren't far away. He Joshua didn't consult the Lord and so he failed. So I wonder if Joshua was10:27 feeling, man is God still with me? I don't know if you've ever felt that where maybe maybe you've been doing a great job. You've been running after the Lord, but then you make a failure. You make a decision where you10:39 don't seek the Lord. And our question is, God, are you still with me? Or are you with them? And I love how God responds to Joshua and he says to him, he says, don't fear10:50 them. Do not fear them. Why? Because none of them will stand before you at the end of the day. Do not be intimidated. Do not have dread. Do not have terror. And for11:02 some of us in this room, we're in a time where there's a lot of intimidation. We're in a time where there's a lot of terror. We're in a time where there's a lot of dread. But God's saying even though it looks stronger11:13 against us than for us. I know my bible says he who is in us is greater than he who is in the world. Can I get an amen? Amen. And I wanna encourage you tonight that in the same way God11:25 said that to Joshua, God is saying that to us, do not fear them. Even if you fail. Maybe you failed last night. Maybe you made a decision to go back to your past last night and you've come to the altar again and God's11:37 saying, don't fear them, I'm still with you. Don't fear them, I'm still with you. Don't fear them, I'm still with you. Amen? Amen. At the end of that verse, what's so beautiful about that verse in Joshua 10 8, it says11:48 this other part where it says, I have delivered them. And that Hebrew word is natan or Nathan. Shout out to pastor Nathan. Amen? Which means his name means a gift. Like, I'm God's gift, know. So12:00 that's why we love him so much. Can I get an amen? But look at this, Hebrew word natan, to give, to hand over. And what Jesus, what God was saying to Joshua, he was saying, don't have12:11 fear, intimidation, right, or or dread or terror because I'm hand wrapping this these 5 kings to you. They think they're gonna come and conquer you and the Gibeonites. I've actually wrapped them in12:23 a bow and they're gonna be a gift for you. I've hand delivered them to you. And my question for you just to ask yourself and ask your family and ask the Lord is maybe the opposition is a gift for you.12:35 Come on. I'm preaching right now. Maybe the opposition is a gift for you. What does that mean? It's a gift hand wrapped because God's saying they won't stand before you anymore. That opposition that you felt, they won't12:46 stand before you anymore. Amen? Amen. I want you to to see this on the screen. I wrote this down and you could write it. It says, the battle is won before it even begins. God12:58 fights in the future tense while you're standing in the present tense. And I want you to capture that because that yeah, come on somebody. Yeah yeah. We can put our hands together in church. Right? I want you to hear13:07 that. God fights for you in the future tense while we're standing in the present tense. Right now, want you to think of your present circumstances. I want you those who are in the courtyard, the cafe13:19 watching online in the room. I want you to think of your present circumstances. You're thinking, there is no way I'm getting out of this. There is no way I'm digging myself out of this hole I dug. But God has already13:30 fight God has already given you victory in the future while we're fighting in the present. Amen? And all we gotta do is surrender to God's will and we'll see what happens just as we see with Joshua. Okay? So as we keep13:42 reading into this because we got a few points that I wanna do is in verse 9 through 11 it says this, right? So God says, wait wait take it off the screen. God says don't be afraid. God says don't be afraid. I'm13:53 gonna No man's gonna stand before. Now let's see Joshua's response. Does Joshua act immediately or does he take some time to respond to what God says? Let's look at the verse. It says14:05 this. So Joshua came upon them suddenly. Everybody say suddenly. Suddenly. Say it like you mean it. Say suddenly. Suddenly. You know, suddenly's happened suddenly. I don't know if you had a deep word. I know. Hallelujah.14:16 Thank you pastor Sam. Suddenly's happened suddenly. Somebody say suddenly. Suddenly. So Joshua came upon them suddenly having marched up all night. Somebody say all night. All night. From Gilgal. The Lord threw14:28 down, keep going. And the Lord threw them into a panic before Israel who struck them with a great blow at Gibeon and chased them by the way as far as the ascent of Beth Horon and struck them as far as Azekiel14:40 and Mekita. And as they fled before Israel, this is wild. While they were going down the ascent of Beth Horon, the Lord threw down large stones from heaven and and as far as Akeita and they died.14:52 Okay. This is a different stony, not like a curtain moving on. Okay. They were moving, they were more who died because of the hailstones than the sons of Israel killed with the sword. Can I get an amen? Amen.15:04 Point number 2, want you to write this down is this, is obedience moves before the miracle. Obedience moves before the miracle. I love this part because what what what do we see here?15:16 What we see here is this. We see Joshua immediately responding to what God said. God said, don't be afraid. I've delivered you them into your hand. And then Joshua says, he suddenly15:28 responded and he marched all night. He suddenly responded and he marched all night. And I want you to hear this. Here here's where you gotta gotta take into account. The the the march from Gilgal took initiative.15:41 It was hard work on Joshua's part. The march from Gilgal to Gibeon involved a climb of 3300 feet and over about 20 miles. This was 8 to 10 hours of hard15:52 marching all through the night. All for someone he made a deceitful covenant for. And and for us when God speaks to us sometimes, we want all the16:04 info Is anyone like me and you kinda want all the information before you move, you take action? Can can can we be honest here and raise our hand real quick? Anyone like me? How about how about anyone like me, you know,16:15 you feel this way and we give a little bit of delayed obedience. Anyone always late to the party? You say, time does it start? 8 PM? Alright. I'll be there at 11 PM. You're like, excuse me. What are you doing? Come on.16:25 And and a lot of times what we do is we act in the Lord when God says something to us and we say, okay God, I'll be there but I'll just be a little bit late. That's delayed obedience. Delayed obedience is disobedience.16:35 Joshua was spoken to him. God said, no 1 would none of those men will stand before you. Now Joshua could have waited, let Gibeon get taken out by the 5 kings and that deceitful16:46 covenant could have been wiped off the face of the earth. But Joshua was a man of his word. Joshua wasn't delayed in his obedience. He wasn't begrudging in his disobedience or in his in his obedience. Anyone met16:58 that person? Maybe that's you. Don't raise your hand. Where where where someone asks you to do something, the Lord asks you to do it and you do it but you do it like this. I'm here, aren't I? And you're like, no.17:10 The the the point is is immediate joy filled obedience. Can I get an amen? Amen. And Joshua, when God said that to him that 5 kings were coming after him, it said he suddenly went. He17:22 hiked he hiked over 20 miles, 3300 feet in elevation and changes just so he could be obedient to the word of the Lord. Amen? Amen. The second point that you're writing down that you're hearing is17:34 obedience moves before the miracle. I want you to write this down. It's on the screen. It says, when you obey, God throws things into your battle you could never manufacture.17:46 When you obey, God throws things into your battle you can never manufacture. I love this because you gotta think of, they're carrying all their weight and all their might and all their strength and they're marching up17:57 and down 20 miles. And then when the sun rises, which we're getting ready to go to a point where the sun stands still, Joshua says, let's fight. And the moment they step out to fight, God throws the enemy into a18:09 panic and throws large hailstones down on them. And it says that more died from the hailstones than the men of Israel killed in their time. What happened was that Joshua18:21 responded with obedience and the miracle happened after the fact. I think a lot of us are believe, if you're believing for a miracle in your life, can you give me a a hand raise? Give me give me some kind of action.18:31 You're believing for change in your family. You're believing for change in your city. You're believing for change in your occupant. Whatever that is. But what happening is God's saying, I wanna speak to you something and18:41 we're asking the Lord this. We're saying, God, speak something fresh to me. And God's saying, I want you to obey the last word I said. And then I'll speak the next word to you. And what's happening is we're stagnant18:53 because we haven't been obedient to what God said. And God already said to Joshua, I've none of them will stand before you but if Joshua stayed in Gilgal, they would still be standing. What19:05 I love about Joshua is that it took grit, hard work, effort. Joshua just didn't get that word. Amen, Lord. Will you just float me over to Gibeon and and and then you'll just move19:17 your hand and it will be done. No. Joshua had to do the hard work. Because obedience a lot of times looks like hard work. Obedience looks like hard work and putting 1 step in front of the other and moving in19:28 movement. And once Joshua and all of Israel moved, God responded. And if I could encourage you in this area is this, is that as you respond in your obedience to the Lord,19:40 miracles happen. The 5 kings came together, which we have the crowns up here. You're like, what are those? Don't worry, we're gonna talk about them in a second. The 5 kings came together thinking that they would have19:52 victory over Gibeon. They wanted to stop Joshua. They wanted to stop Israel. But Joshua responds and God moves in power. The moment they step and attack those 5 kings, a20:03 panic was in the camp and hailstones fell from heaven. As we keep going, and I don't know if you're there in the story like me, I'm there in the story. Think about this hailstones are falling. The 5 kings20:15 are retreating. And then we get this wild prayer from Joshua. And check this out in this verse. And at the time Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day when the Lord gave the Amorites over to20:27 the sons of Israel and he said in the sight of Israel, sun, stand still like Gibeon and moon in the valley of whatever that word is, Ahijah, Lun, Shekinah glory. And the sun stood still and the moon20:39 stopped until the nation took vengeance on their enemies. Is this not written in the book of Jashar? The sun stopped in the middle of heaven and did not hurry to set for about a whole day. There has been20:51 no day like it before or since when the Lord heeded the voice of a man for the Lord fought for Israel. So Joshua returned and all of Israel with him to the21:03 camp at Gilgal. I want you to write this third point down. Is bold prayers are formed in God's presence. Amen. Bold prayers, bold21:14 proclamations are formed in God's presence. Just just for a second, as I was spending time with the Lord preparing this message, I was thinking about Joshua and just thinking about his army for a little bit. I don't know21:26 if you're like like like me in that. And and they had just marched 20 miles. They had just fought so many people. And then Joshua has to say this. Joshua has to tell the son, hey, day, last a little21:38 longer so we could keep working. You imagine the army? They're like, yo Joshua, bro. Just for a second, please. Can we get some water? Right? Can we do something? But Joshua was so convinced at what God21:50 said. He knew he could speak to the sun and the sun would stop. Come on now. Bold prayers. What did I say right here? Bold prayers are formed in God. Why could Joshua know22:02 that if he spoke and he didn't pray in his private closet. He didn't declare this. He said, he declared it in front of all of Israel. He said, son, stop here. Moon, stop there until we take our vengeance in22:13 what God said. Check this out. I want you to look at this. Why could Joshua pray that? In Exodus 33 11, it should be on the screen. It says this, thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face22:25 to face as the man speaks to his friend. When Moses turned again into the camp, his assistant Joshua with the son of Nun, a young man. Somebody say a young man. Young man. Would not depart from the22:37 tent. Take that off. Why why could Joshua speak to the son? Because he remained in the presence. Okay. I'm gonna say it again because about half of us caught that. Why could Joshua speak to22:49 the physical son to stop because he remained in the presence. In Exodus 33 that was right after the golden calf And Moses was interceding for the people of Israel. Moses23:01 was saying to God and God was saying, just go I'll send an angel. And Moses says, if your presence doesn't go with us, don't take us up out of here. But in that verse Joshua, it says that when Moses would leave the tent,23:13 where the glory would come down. It says when Moses would leave Joshua would stay. Joshua knew the presence of the Lord. Joshua knew what it23:25 looked like to be in the glory of God. So when God's glory was on the line, when God's word was on the line, he knew he could speak to the s u n son because he knew the s o n son. Can I get an23:37 amen? And I think for some of us, as the here's the thing. Bold prayers are formed in God's presence. For some of us, we have small prayers. But small prayers23:49 never move the sun. Bold prayers invite heaven to interrupt the earth. And Joshua in front of everyone said to the son, because he knew being formed in the24:00 presence. And here's what's beautiful about that. Just a little nugget not even in my notes is this. Joshua was a young man. He probably didn't even know that he was gonna be the next in line to command. He probably24:11 thought Moses was gonna inherit his promised land. But what did Joshua do? He didn't worry about a title. He worried about staying in the presence of God. Can I get an amen? Come on, I'm preaching this tonight. He24:22 worried about staying and remaining in God's presence. And it was from his presence and humbling himself that God exalted him. Amen. That's when he could pray those prayers. That's when he could tell the son in front of24:34 everyone stand still. And the son stood still. Bold prayers are birthed and formed in his presence. Amen? I24:46 love this part. Joshua 10 15. I don't know if we have the whole verse, we don't. But it says this. Essentially, says, he returned to Gilgal. And I put right there a place of consecration. Here's what I24:58 wanna encourage you with this. I want you to capture this moment is that all throughout Joshua's exploits with the people of Israel. All throughout that Joshua would go and conquer kingdoms and then he would return25:10 to the place of consecration. Joshua would go and conquer kings and then he would return to the place of an altar and consecration and the place of a covenant.25:22 And here's what I wanna encourage a lot of us with because the enemy will attack us of course at all times. But we know we're gonna be watching when we're weak. Right? We know we're gonna be watching when we need25:31 breakthrough. But it's after a great breakthrough where the enemy will come and attack us and we're not even ready for it yet. Why? Because we didn't return to the altar. We didn't return to where God25:43 said. It speaks of David, the King David. He was counting his numbers. He was doing all this. But it was says it says, when kings go off to war, he stayed behind. And he was walking around25:55 his castle and then he saw Bathsheba. And that's where that happened. It's because it was a great breakthrough he had. And he instead of going back to the altar, instead of being in the place where he was called to be,26:06 he remained and where he thought he should be and that's where he fell right after the a great breakthrough. And I wanna encourage you with this, it should be on the screen. Is that miracles don't26:18 exempt you from the altar. They draw you back to it. Miracles don't exempt you from the altar. They draw you back to it. Amen. And a lot of times for whether it be you know people in the faith and pastors26:30 and leaders. Anyone can fall but sometimes we fall because our pride puffs us up and humility brings us down and it's like our pride, our ego goes before a fall. And Joshua knew, he said26:42 if I could if I need to conquer the whole land, I need to continue to go back to my altar. Some of us in this room tonight, your word for tonight, the reason you came is God is reminding you go back to your26:54 altar. Go back to the place of covenant. Go back to the place of consecration. Go back to the place where God promised you and what he did and you'll meet God there and that will be protection27:06 for you. Amen? Amen. I love that. You know, all the kings and everyone was leaving. Miracles don't exempt you from the altar, they draw you back to it. But then again, as we continue on a few more verses left because27:17 everyone had had had left. But then here we enter in and we find out what happened to those kings. Touch your neighbor say what happened to those kings? Verse 16 it says this, these27:29 5 kings fled and hid themselves in the cave at Mekedah. And it was told to Joshua, hey Joshua, the 5 kings have been found hidden in the cave at Mekedah or Mekedah, however27:41 you wanna say it. And Joshua said, roll large stones against the mouth of the cave and set men by it to guard them. Check this out. But do not stay there yourselves. Touch your neighbor say, don't you stay there. Don't27:53 there. Come on. Touch your other neighbors say, you don't stay there either. But don't you but do not stay there yourselves. Pursue your enemies. Attack their rear guard. Do not let them into their cities for the Lord28:05 your God has given them into your hand. When check this out. It it says Joshua says, don't stay there but then what does Joshua do? Joshua goes with his people. When Joshua28:17 and the sons of Israel had finished striking them with a great blow until they were wiped out and when the remnant that remained of them had entered into the fortified cities, then all the people returned safe to28:28 Joshua in the camp of Mekita. Not a man moved his tongue against any of the people of Israel. Point number 4, I want you to write down. As we have 1 more point left, we're gonna get it all in. I promise you and then28:39 we're gonna let you go at the right time. Point number 4 is this, don't stop at the cave, finish the command. Don't stop at the cave, finish the command. Somebody say it with me. Somebody say, don't stop at the cave.28:50 Stop at the cave. Come on, say it with me. Don't stop at the cave. Don't stop at the cave. Finish the command. Finish the love this part and and you know, Javi is probably gonna help me up here.29:02 Thank you, Javi. Thank you for coming up. Can we give it up for Javi real quick? I'm not gonna put a crown on him but he's gonna help me put it up. But but this far This this part stuck with me. It stuck with me because29:13 Joshua found these men that were once kings over people hiding in a cave. And all 5 kings were in the cave. And that was a good chance for Joshua to pull up and be29:25 like, yo, Dang. Okay. Wow. Let's let's try him. Okay. That's dope. Okay. Wow. That's cool man. Maybe.29:36 Oh, I can't fit. What are we gonna do? Okay. Actually, you know, thank you. Can you put them on that chain real quick? Okay. He's gonna put them on that chain. And Joshua, what Joshua could have done is he could have29:48 stayed in the cave. Somebody say, stay in the cave. Stay in the cave. And Joshua could have stayed just with the crowns of the king. But what Joshua did is he It's all right. It's all right. Victory will come.30:00 Don't worry. There's forgiveness in the Lord. Amen, Javi. Joshua could have stayed at the cave and not pursued the men that were30:11 fleeing. But Joshua said, roll a stone in front of it and don't don't even go in there yet. I want you to pursue them until they enter fortified cities. And it says Joshua left.30:23 Joshua left and what did he do? He pursued them until they enter fortified cities. And once they did, then he returned to the cave. I want you to write this down. It's this, many conquer kings but never take kingdoms.30:34 Partial obedience feels easier believes future problems. We got this on? We got this on? I think a lot of us are like this. Right? Look at this. Right? Where we we go through life and30:46 we have our victories. Yes. And we're like, you know what? I conquered the kings that's good enough for me. And they said, we stay here with our crowns and we get a flex on them. We get a put you know,30:58 before our social media. Hey, look at what God's done. Blessed and highly favored hashtag Hallelujah. Won't he do it? Thank you Jesus. And Joshua, what he could have done is he could have stayed at the cave. He could31:10 have stayed there, he could have killed the kings, he could have partnered with the kings, but what did he do? He's like, I'm not here to get the credit. I'm not here to worry about my own crown because in Revelation it31:21 says that all crowns will be thrown at the feet of Jesus Where they say holy holy holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come. Amen? Amen. But I want you to think about these these31:32 crowns. Maybe 1 of these crowns is this pride is at least I got this far. Maybe 1 of these crowns could be comfort, it's good enough where I am. Maybe 1 of these crowns could be a fear of conflict, I don't31:44 wanna fight anymore. Anyone with me? Put don't put your hand up, alright? Maybe it's a distraction, others other things are more urgent now. Maybe it's comparison. Others haven't even made it this31:56 far. Joshua could have stayed at the cave, but he wanted to fulfill God's command. And I love this that Joshua didn't worry about all these crowns and all the kings. He didn't worry about getting the32:08 credit. He could have put all of Israel together and said, look at what I did. I conquered all 5 kings. Look at what I did. But he rolled a stone in front of it and Joshua said, do not stop at the cave.32:20 Finish the command. And I think for some of us tonight, as we relate to that story, as we relate to what the Lord is saying through Joshua 10, is that some of us has32:32 stopped at the cave. Some of us have liked the crowns that we've aggregated and the crowns that we've accomplished. Joshua rightfully so could have32:43 taken these crowns. But what did he do? He didn't worry about the credit. He didn't worry about what it looked like because he knew that there was only 1 king that could wear the crown. And32:55 if I could encourage anyone on this point, feel the holy spirit on it, is that I just feel this is I feel like for some of us you've stopped at the whatever that means to stop at the cave. You haven't fulfilled all33:07 of what God is asking you to walk in. And what God is saying is he's saying, do not be okay with just conquering kings when I've called you to conquer kingdoms.33:22 And I love that about Joshua's. He said roll a stone in front of him. Joshua also could have stayed there. Right? Joshua can put it like, roll a stone. I'll be here. You guys keep going. No. Joshua went with him. Partial33:34 obedience will ultimately end in destruction for us because we're not fully being obedient to the word of the Lord. Amen? Alright. We're ending here. Promise you last point as we wrap up this story because this puts a33:46 beautiful bow as God says that he was going to deliver every single person. No 1 would stand before him. Let's look at this verse. Then Joshua said, open the mouth of the cave and bring those 533:58 kings out to me from the cave. And they did so and brought those 5 kings out to him from the cave. The king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmah, the king of Lashish, and34:10 the king of Eglon. And when they brought out these kings out to Joshua, Joshua summoned all the men of Israel and said to the chiefs of the men of war who had gone with him. Check this out. Come near and34:21 put your feet on the necks of these kings. Then they came near and put their feet on the necks of their kings. Come on. Someone stomp your foot like that. Somebody come on 1 more time. Someone stomp your foot just just34:33 like that. Come on. Maybe 1 more time stomp your foot just 1 more time like that. Amen. Do not be afraid or dismayed. Check this out what Joshua says. Be strong and courageous for thus the Lord will34:45 do to all your enemies against whom you fight. And afterward Joshua struck them and put them to death and he hanged them on 5 trees and they hung on the trees until evening. But at34:57 the time of the going down of the sun, Joshua commanded and they took them down from the trees and threw them into the cave where they had hidden themselves. And they set large stones against the mouth of the cave35:09 which remain to this very day. The last point I want you to write down as we're finishing up, I think keys are coming in behind me. Maybe not, maybe I'll just go back and play them myself. That's okay. Is I want you to35:20 write this last point down. Reproduce courage in the next there prophesy. He's like, the whole reason?35:32 Reproduce courage in the next generation. Take a picture of it. Write it down. Reproduce courage in the next generation. What do I wanna say about that? I love that Joshua at the end of all35:44 this, no 1 spoke anything bad about Joshua or Israel because they saw Joshua pray that prayer. They saw the hailstones coming down. They saw everything that was happening.35:56 They saw the kings going into a cave, and that cave would soon become their tomb. They saw them hiding in that. But Joshua, he could have put his foot on every neck36:08 and killed him himself and said, look at what God did through me. But what does Joshua do? Joshua brings his chiefs to put the feet on the neck not he36:19 himself. What God spoke to Joshua to be strong and courageous, he repeats it back to his chiefs. I want you to hear this because everyone was around. The greatest leaders don't36:31 create new words. It's not up there. They echo God's words into the hearts of others. I'm a say it again for the people in the back because this is this is good. The greatest leaders don't create new words.36:43 They echo God's words into the hearts of others. This is on the screen. Joshua didn't just walk in courage. He made sure others would too. I love this36:55 part. And we're closing. We're ending. I promise you. But I love this about Joshua that he could have put his feet on the next, but he reproduced courage.37:07 Encouragement is in simplicity putting courage in somebody. That's the beautiful thing about a person of encouragement. Barnabas in the book of Acts actually wasn't his real name. He was a37:18 wealthy man. And his name was changed to Barnabas because he was such an encourager. They said, we're gonna call you Barnabas son of encouragement. He would put courage in people. And Joshua, what's so37:30 beautiful about him, he put courage in his chiefs that day. He put courage in the people of Israel that day. He put courage in all the people that were around in the people of Israel that day. Why? Because he had his37:42 chiefs come up and said, listen, they will they will be under your feet. They will not stand before you. Has God not said? And as I end, as we talk about37:54 this obedience that will outlast, when obedience outlasts opposition, some of you in this this room tonight in in the Courtyard Cafe online, you feel like the Gibeonites. You38:06 feel like you've been surrounded. 5, you know, in biblical terms 5 is the number of grace though. And those 5 kings thought they could surround Gibeonites, but you yourself, you feel like, man, feel38:17 surrounded. I feel like I've, you know, I'm trying to reach out to the Lord, but I feel like I'm on the edge of of death. I'm on the edge of defeat. I'm on the edge of depression, whatever that area is. And Joshua,38:29 what's so beautiful about this book while we're going through it. Joshua is a shadow and type of Jesus. And Joshua responds just like Jesus responds because in the Bible it says this, for the wages38:41 of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. And I wanna pray for for everyone in the room as we close tonight, you bow your heads and you close yourShow more
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