First Things First - Pastor Jeff Schreve

I'm pastor Jeff Shri thanks for watching today we're in a series on Joshua called rising to the challenge you know Joshua took over from Moses when Moses died needless to say he had big shoes to fill and big fears and obstacles to overcome you and I can learn much from his faith especially during these trying times as we deal with the coronavirus and the economic and social problems that it's caused so grab your Bible and follow along as we learn from Joshua how to rise to the challenge [Music] [Music] years ago I heard about a a pastor he was visiting someone in his church she was in the neighborhood and he got through with his visit he was walking out to his car and he saw a little boy across the street and that little boy was at the front door of this house and he was trying to ring the doorbell but the doorbell was up kind of high and the little guy was not tall enough so he was jumping to try and hit the doorbell but he couldn't get it so the pastor thought you know before I drive off I'm gonna go across the street and help this little guy and so he walks up the guy the little boy looks at him he looks at the little boy puts his hand on his shoulder and gives that doorbell a good ring and then he crouches down to the little boy and he says what do we do now a little man he said now we run not what he was thinking we're in a series on the book of Joshua and we are learning some great things about the Lord through the book of Joshua you know it's interesting Joshua in the Old Testament yahushua is how you would say it in Hebrew is the name Jesus Yeshua in the Aramaic in the New Testament which is translated from Greek Jesus in to English so that name Joshua is the name Jesus and the book six book of the Old Testament the book of Joshua it's the only book in the Bible that bears the name of the Lord Jesus Christ Yeshua and it's the book of conquest it's a book of deliverance it's a book as we saw last week where we cross the Jordan River through the Ark of the Covenant stopping up the waters and the miracle of God stopping up the waters all the way the waters of the Jordan all the way 20 miles up to us to the city of Adam so that the people could cross it's an it's a marvelous book and it's a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ in so many ways as he is our deliverer who leads us into salvation who leads us into the promised land who leads us into abundant living you know I forgot mentioned this last week but the really cool thing about the Jordan River where they crossed the Jordan River it's the same place where Jesus was baptized Bethabara is where John the Baptist was baptizing people Jesus went down there to where John was baptizing Bethabara means the house of passage that's where the children of Israel crossed right at that spot so here they are they've crossed Joshua chapter 3 they cross the Jordan River they're in the promised land they go to a place called Gilgal and they're camping there and next up on their agenda is Jericho you have to fight the Battle of Jericho you have to take on Jericho Jericho is the big city the walled city that is just beyond the Jordan and so we studied that last week and we talked about how God had him take stones out of the middle of the Jordan River and they would take those stones and they set him up there in Gilgal as a circle as a monument as a reminder of what God had had done and then God said also take stones and put them in the middle of the Jordan so that you would remember what God did and they did all that and so now they're at the place it's like okay Lord what do we do now do we go out do we just go immediately and go get the enemy because I mean we have all the momentum you've just done such a marvelous miracle and and we know Lord that our enemies are scared to death what do we do now look what it says in Joshua chapter 5 now it came about when all the kings of the amorite s-- the amorite s-- were in jericho and other places around there but mostly Emmerich's and Jericho when all the kings of the Amorite hsihu are beyond the Jordan to the west and all the kings of the Canaanites who are by the sea heard how the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan before the sons of Israel until they had crossed that their hearts melted and there was no spirit in them any longer because of the sons of Israel Israel has all the momentum I mean if you think about this in terms of a boxing match the amorite sand the Canaanites and the hittites and the perizzites all those eight eighths that live in the land of promise those guys are on the ropes they're ready to fall they have no spirit left in them they have their strength and their courage has melted because God he defeated the Egyptians he parted the Red Sea he killed aaaggghhh king of Bashan and Sihon king of the Amorites and now he has he has parted the Jordan River see they were thinking to themselves they knew that Israel was was camped on the east side of the Jordan River but the Jordan River this is harvest time the Jordan always flow overflows its banks at harvest and so we said the Jordan is about a half a mile across it's about 50 to 200 feet deep so how are you going to get across you're not going to get across anytime soon that Jordan has to go down for them to get across they weren't expecting God to do this miracle so they are scared and unprepared and the question is Lord what do we do now what is our next move Lord do we go get them and look what the Lord says verse 2 at that time the Lord said to Joshua make for yourself Flint knives and circumcise again the sons of Israel the second time so Joshua made himself Flint knives and circumcise the sons of Israel at Gibeah hey Errol off well wait a minute Lord this this doesn't sound like a good thing to do I mean we're getting ready to go into battle and you want us to do what circumcise all the men the second time now don't read that to mean the second time like they had already had it done the first time that doesn't work that way but they this was the first time for them but it was the second time for the children of Israel to receive that command hey you're supposed to do this well that's a strange thing to do when you're going into battle you don't want to have elective surgery right before the big fight right because that's gonna knock you out for a while I heard about two little boys they were at the hospital they were sharing a room they were getting ready for surgery both were getting ready for surgery one little boy talked together little boy he said what are you in here for they're about 19 years old he said what are you in here for he said well I'm getting my tonsils out he said I'm really pretty nervous about it the other little boy said I'll don't worry about that I had my tonsils out a couple of years ago he said they put you to sleep through the whole thing you wake up you got a little bit of a sore throat you have ice cream popsicles you'll be fine in a few days he goes oh that's good he said what are you in here for he said well I'm having a circumcision friend said to him he goes man I had that done when I was born couldn't walk for a year there's a big deal to have that done but that's what the Lord said to Joshua and Joshua did so hey we want to talk today about first things first first things first what does God want to teach us between the Jordan River and Jericho at a place called Gilgal the place of it it's called the circle of stones or a place of rolling what does God want to teach us because that's where they went they crossed the Jordan and they came to Gilgal and they were there preparing to go to Jericho here's what the Lord is going to teach us today consecration comes before conquest consecration comes before conquest and worship comes before warfare and God's ways are not our ways because no general ever would circumcise his army right before the fight but that's what God did and so the Lord has things that he wants to teach us today and I want you to notice with me three discoveries what does God want from his people discovery number one God wants his people to be set apart to him his people to be set apart to him if you want to walk in victory if you want to experience the the victory of Jericho so to speak well the first thing you got to do is consecrate yourself set yourself apart God wants you set apart as a people who are holy to himself as he told Moses this people is going to be my possession my special treasure and the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ those who call on the name of the Lord for salvation we are God's holy people and God says I want you to be separate to me come out from among them and be separate says the Lord so God wants that from us and the very first thing that God had them do in Gilgal was to be circumcised let's look at it verse 4 and this is the reason why Joshua circumcise them all then all the people who came out of Egypt who were males all the men of war died in the wilderness along the way after they came out of Egypt for all the people who came out were circumcised but all the people who were born in the wilderness along the way as they came out of Egypt had not been circumcised for the sons of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness until all the nation that is the men of war who came out of Egypt perished why because they did not listen to the voice of the Lord to whom the Lord had sworn that he would not let them see the land which the Lord had sworn to their fathers to give us a land flowing with milk and honey remember they didn't go into the land when they were supposed to they didn't believe God and so God said alright you spied out the land 40 days you're gonna wander around in a circle for 40 years till all you men twenty years old and upward have died off and your children the ones you said we're gonna be prey for the people of the land they're the ones that are going in and the Lord said I swore in my wrath they shall not enter my rest and verse seven says in the children whom he raised up in their place Joshua circumsized for they were uncircumcised because they had not circumcised them along the way now it came about when they had finished circumcising all the nations that they remained in their places in the camp until they were healed takes about 10 days or so to heal from that doesn't take a year takes about ten days and so Joshua did so now to understand circumcision you have to go back to when it was first instituted God gave that to Abraham as a sign of the Covenant this is what the Lord said to Abraham very important passage in Genesis chapter 17 the Lord makes the Abrahamic covenant he says this no longer shall your name be called Abram remember before his name was Abraham it was Abram Abraham Abram the named Abram means exalted father it's kind of a tough name to have because Abram didn't have any children so he was barren he and his wife Sarah was barren and he didn't have any children but he had the name Abram exalted father but he wasn't a father until he had a son by Hagar and at this time Abram is 99 years old and he has a son Ishmael who's 13 years old but God still had a son for him the son of promise Isaac and he says your name you no longer shall be called Abraham but your name shall be Abram but your name shall be Abraham for I will make you the father of a multitude of Nations and I will make you exceedingly fruitful and I will make nations of you and Kings shall come forth from you and I will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant now here's the covenant to be God to you and to your descendants after you and I will give to you and to your descendants after you the land of your sojournings all the land of canaan for an everlasting possession and I will be their God God said further to Abraham now as for you you shall keep my covenant you and your descendants after you throughout their generations this is my covenant which you shall keep between me and you and your descendants after you every male among you shall be circumcised and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin and it shall be the sign of the covenant between me and you that's the covenant here's the sign of the covenant I'm gonna be God to you into your descendants and here's the sign you need to be circumcised the circumcised means to cut away and the Lord is saying hey this is important why because it's a it's a sign of you being separated to me you being separated from sin and from the sin of the Canaanites all around you and the the sin of the Canaanites the people that lived in the land it was a very sexual society and that's why the Lord said you drive those people out you don't let them stay in the land why because bad company corrupts good morals and you don't pick up on their ways because their ways were ways of fornication they were ways of adultery they were ways of sodomy and God says don't do that you're my people and so circumcision hits on that and it hits on the the man for procreation to remember that he is to be holy to the Lord so physical circumcision was a sign of the Covenant now Joshua was told to do that to the people to the men take all the men and circumcise them now remember they were supposed to do that the command was at 8 days you have a baby boy 8 days after he's born circumcise him but they didn't do it of course they didn't do a lot of things they were supposed to do God says of that generation that Moses brought out of Egypt he said for 40 years I loathed that generation there are people who err in their hearts they don't know my ways and God said I swore in my wrath they shall not enter my rest when they had a chance to go into the Promised Land they said God you're not able God we don't believe you we're gonna get wiped out we would that we had died in Egypt let's appoint a ruler and let's appoint a leader and go back to Egypt and they would have killed Moses and Aaron in Joshua and Caleb had it not been for the Lord showing up and intervening it was serious business you can read about that in numbers 13 and 14 man God was really upset I swore in my wrath they should not into my rest well when they turned back at Kadesh Barnea didn't go in the land they wander around for forty years well they didn't obey the Lord in this sign of the covenant which is circumcision so now you have all these guys that grew up born in the wilderness guys they grew up and now they have to be circumcised and so when the Lord says Joshua you do this Joshua doesn't argue he doesn't say now Lord let's let's think about this because these people in Jericho you know if we're hurting them we can't fight and this wouldn't be good Joshua just obeys he just says okay Lord I'll do it doesn't make sense to me but I will do it I got a gift this week from the blade holders David and Tony Blair holder they gave me a little little key ring thing and it says two words on it yes Lord yes Lord I saw David was that man up a couple of weeks ago and he had one of these and I commented on I said that's really cool and he said well I'm glad you like it he got me one so I told him I really like a new car and anyway on the other side it says this Luke 4 or Luke 6:46 why do you call me Lord Lord and do not do the things that I say hey they're the two responses to the Lord when he says do this we either say yes Lord always say no sir you can't say no Lord because as soon as you say no he's not your Lord why do you call me Lord Lord and do not do the things I say now this wasn't a minor thing that God was asking Joshua to do it was a major thing and Joshua did it and he made the Flint knives I went on YouTube to see how you make a flint knife you take a rock and you take a piece of Flint you hit chunk out of that thing that Flint knife is sharp and so he did that and he circumcised those guys and he did that it says that in verse three so Joshua made himself Flint knives and circumcised the sons of Israel at Gibby F hey are alaaf Gibby off hey are a lot you know what that is you know that means it's the hill of the foreskins I've been to Israel several times we never go there you know I mean I don't want to get nobody wants to go there hey let's see Bethlehem let's see let's see the hill of the foreskin nobody wants to do it that's what they called it I'm not making this office right in there you can look it up and so they did that with with there are lots of guys you know we don't know how big the children of Israel at that time how many they numbered but it was a million maybe a million and a half so out of that million and a half you have lots of men that need to have that done it's a major deal it was a test of faith and they obeyed and not only was it a test of faith but this act the Lord says it rolled away the reproach and the taunts of Egypt look at verse 9 then the Lord said to Joshua today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you so the name of that place is called Gilgal to this day Gilgal means circle of stones it means wheel it means a rolling and God rolled away the taunts and the jeers and the reproach of Egypt here's what was going on you know when the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt and its major major major Egypt is the world power and God brought them to nothing through a series of 10 plagues and then wiped him out in the Red Sea everybody's talking about what God did this is these are huge miracles and the Red Sea is like the miracle of miracles and Pharaoh has been reduced to nothing and so this was a big deal but now when they came out they went to Sinai Moses got the Ten Commandments they weren't supposed to be there very long because from Sinai then they were going to Kadesh Barnea which is the southern part of the promised land and they were going to go in but they didn't go in because of unbelief and so God says you're not going in then but your sons and your daughters they're going to go in and so Egypt the Egyptians heard about it and they heard that they didn't go into the Promised Land that they wander around in the wilderness and they're dying in the wilderness and no doubt they're saying their God was not able to bring them in you know when they got to Kadish Barnea and they didn't go in God was gonna kill them all start over with Moses and Moses said Lord he said please don't do that he said I prayed for forty days God don't kill your people he said because the Egyptians are gonna hear about it and they're gonna say because the Lord was not able to bring his people in they were already saying that stuff Moses knew that was going to be going on and when they didn't go in the land and they wandered around in the wilderness and people were dying in the wilderness that was the taunt that was the jeer that was the shame that was heaped upon God's people and God that God wasn't able to bring his people in so when they crossed the Jordan and they're in the Promised Land and they obey God with circumcision the sign of the Covenant Lord the Lord said that rolled away the reproach from Egypt I did bring you in the land just like I promised you are my special people just like I said so this rolled away the reproach now what does that have to do with us today I mean we read about circumcision in the Old Testament big time we read about it in the New Testament because it's a very Jewish thing and the Pharisees and scribes and all the religious leaders I mean that was a big deal and when Paul Saul of Tarsus becomes Paul the great apostle he's going and he's preaching and he's got people behind him false teachers behind him called Judaizers who come in and when Paul preaches the gospel and then leaves they come in behind Paul and they say to the people now listen you can't be a Christian until you're circumcised you have to follow the commandments of Moses and Paul got so mad about this because in Galatia they came in and did that and Paul says in Galatians chapter 5 verse 12 he said listen circumcision doesn't mean anything would that those who are troubling you would even mutilate themselves what does that mean he said these guys like circumcision so much just let him go castrate themselves it doesn't mean anything for a believer to be circumcised what matters is what that circumcision picture it was an outward symbol for an inward work in the heart Jeremiah chapter 4 verse 4 says this circumcise yourselves to the Lord and remove the foreskins of your heart men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem or else my wrath will go forth like fire and burn with none to quench it because of the evil of your deeds what did God want is people to do he wanted them to circumcise the heart now the evidence the sign was circumcision of the flesh but God is always interested in the heart God is not interested in the externals if the heart's not right the externals don't mean anything we watched today four people get baptized baptism is a visible picture of an invisible reality the invisible reality is I've given my heart and life to Jesus I belong to him and and so I'm baptized to give a picture of the fact that I died in my old way of life and I have a brand new life in Jesus now if you don't have a brand new life in Jesus oh you haven't died to your old way of life and have a brand new life in Jesus baptism doesn't mean anything doesn't mean anything because it has to start in the heart jesus said to the Pharisees this people honors me with their lips but their heart is far away from me but in vain do they worship Me teaching as doctrines the precepts of men it's all about the heart God doesn't see as man sees man sees the outward appearance but the Lord looks at the heart so spiritual circumcision in today's world in the on this side of the it happens when you trust Christ as Savior and Lord it says in Colossians chapter 2 verse 11 in him in Jesus you were also circumcised it was not a circumcision performed by human hands but it was a removal of the corrupt nature in the circumcision performed by Christ that takes place in the heart it takes place in the heart where you died your old way of life and you're given a brand new life in Jesus Christ so right off the bat hey what do we do now Lord well now we circumcise the men and obey the command the sign of the Covenant second discovery second thing that they did and that God wants his people to do he wants us to celebrate his great deliverance God likes celebrations he likes feasts the Jews had seven feasts that they would experience and celebrate throughout the year and the biggest of the celebrations was the feast of Passover Passover where they remembered what the Lord had done for them in leading them out of Egypt see that the Passover came with the tenth plague and the tenth plague was God says I'm going to send my death angel into Egypt he's going to kill all the firstborn but if you will take a lamb an unblemished lamb a spotless lamb and you will slay that lamb and put the blood of that lamb on the doorposts of your house and on the lintel the top part of your door and you can see the blood there on the top and on the sides it makes a cross and God says you put the blood of the lamb on your door when the Death Angel comes in when I see the Blood I will pass over you that's why it's called Passover and the Jews did it and the Death Angel passed over them and there was a great outcry in Egypt because everyone's household was touched by the death of the firstborn but there was no outcry in the land of the Jews in the in Goshen where the Jews lived why because they obeyed God and they put the blood on the doorpost now on the lintel just like God said now Passover is huge and God says hey you need to celebrate this every year on the 14th of the first month which is the month nine sand and it says in verse 10 while the sons of Israel camped at Gilgal they observe the Passover on the evening of the 14th day of the month on the desert plains of Jericho they observe Passover you know why that's so significant because the first time they did it was the inauguration of the Passover in Exodus chapter 12 when Moses did it and all the people did it and that's when the Death Angel came through that was the first time you know they did it a second time then it is a second time at Mount Sinai and they didn't do it again they never did it in the wilderness they didn't circumcise their kids like they were supposed to they didn't celebrate the Passover like they were supposed to listen to what the Lord says in Exodus chapter 12 and you shall observe this event as an ordinance for you and your children for ever when you enter the land which the Lord will give you as he has promised you shall observe this right and when your children say to you what does this right mean to you you shall say it is a Passover sacrifice to the Lord who passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when he smote the Egyptians but spared our homes and the people bowed low and worshiped big deal the Passover but this is the only third time in their history that they're going to celebrate it and now they celebrate it in the promised land and you know what else it says it says in Exodus chapter 12 that no uncircumcised man shall celebrate should celebrate the Passover you can't do that so they had to be circumcised first things first you had to be circumcised so you could celebrate the Passover and the Passover is a time of rejoicing and it's a time of remembrance you remember what the Lord has done and you celebrate what the Lord has done now you say well what do we do here we don't celebrate the Passover no because Jesus took the Passover and he transformed it into the Lord's Supper and that's what we celebrate and we celebrate our deliverance when Jesus for us on the cross says in the book of first Corinthians 4 as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes and we think on the cross as we sang that wonderful song that Heather led us in we think about what he did for us when he died for us and rose again from the dead and that is coming up we're gonna have a special Lord's Supper service on October 13th Sunday night in here and we're going to just think on the cross and preach on the cross and remember the cross and take the Lord's Supper together it's important to do that it's important to do that as a congregation it's important to do that as just an individual Christian to remember how the Lord delivered you to remember when the Lord delivered you and how the Lord delivered you and the circumstances of that I still remember years and years ago I heard my pastor Daman should preach a sermon and he had a sermon illustration about a black pastor who had a dump truck on his pulpit he always kept a dump truck little toy dump truck on his pulpit somebody said pastor why do you keep a dump truck on your pulpit he said because I was working on a dump truck when the Lord saved me and the Lord called me and I never want to forget where I came from never want to forget where it came from I had a guy tell me this was a few years ago friend of mine I went to high school with Jackie Lee we were talking one day and he's kind of a straightforward guy he told me he said Shrieve he said you know in high school you were the meanest guy in school I said I was not he said yeah you were you the meanest guy in school I was not he said you were the meanest guy in school I said if you don't take that back on a punch you I said in his perspective not it didn't get in a lot of fights or anything but I was sharp tongue and and we would cut people down in high school and lunchtime was terrible and man if you had a zit on your nose you just wanted to be sick that day because you're just gonna get brutalized and that's the way it was in our high school and so I could see a little bit of where he was coming from and I thought about what he said and I thought God thank you for changing me so I'm not that guy anymore now sometimes I can still be a little bit like that guy but most of the time I'm not that guy anymore you know what happened to that guy who is the meanest guy at Cypress Creek High School in January of 1980 on a Monday night he died he gave his life to Christ and Christ came into him and my life is hidden with Christ in God as Paul said for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ and God when Christ who is our life is revealed then you also will be revealed with him in glory when I was in college was a Sunday night service and there was this song that we did I'd never heard us ever do this song before but the the worship pastor was saying a day and he started with Sunday and he said it was on a Sunday somebody touched me it happened on a Sunday somebody touched me it was on a Sunday somebody touched me and how does it go that somebody was the Lord that must have been the hand of the Lord that's how the song goes and so they went from Sunday to Monday to Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday and they said when we say the day that you came to know Christ you stand up and you sing it with us that's your day and so for me it was Monday and I got to stand up and people were standing up different days you know if you weren't sure that was an uncomfortable song because I don't I don't know when Jesus became a real I don't know when I was saved did you know they knew exactly when Passover was the 14th of Nisan first month for them march/april time is the month Nisan they knew when it was they Moses and the people in Joshua they knew when the Death Angel came through you know when you've been saved was it on a Sunday was it on a Monday was it on a Friday do you know hey you know what if you're not sure it can be today because the Bible says today if you hear his voice harden your heart behold today is the day of salvation salvation and so God had them rejoice and celebrate the Passover and then it says something very interesting about the manna look in verse 11 and on the day after the Passover on that very day they ate some of the produce of the land 11 cakes and parched grain roasted corn that was good and the manna ceased on the day after they had eaten some of the produce of the land so that the sons of Israel no longer had manna but they ate some of the yield of the land of Canaan during that year now don't you know they've been eating manna for 40 years manna you know what the word manna means manna means what is it they didn't know what it was it was this fine frosted stuff look like kind of like frosted flakes like melted Krispy Kreme Doughnuts it was just kind of on the the ground like Dew and they would come up to it and they'd say what is it and they'd say man they didn't know that's what it means what is it manna and so they would take it and you could eat you're gonna eat it it was like wafers filled with honey and it was sweet and it was good but you're having that for breakfast lunch and dinner for 40 years manna bagels manna pancakes manicotti I mean yours having manna all the time and so when they got into the promised land they were able to eat some of the fruit of the ground and it was wonderful that roasted corn was wonderful and the manna ceased God they didn't need the man anymore because they could now eat off the land in the desert there's nothing to eat so God had to provide for them but now there was provision in the promised land hey the manna was a reminder of God's faithfulness to them the Passover was a reminder his time of rejoicing and remembrance and the manna was their reminder that God provided for them even in the desert and even when the manna ceased it was God's reminder of his faithfulness that he had promised them the land flowing with milk and honey and now they were in it and it all speaks to God's faithfulness do you know in Revelation chapter 19 when Jesus comes on the white horse he's called faithful and true because he's faithful to his promises is is impossible for God to lie he's faithful and true so god what does he want what's next Lord well I want you to be set apart to me secondly I want you to celebrate the deliverance that I've given you and thirdly God wants his people to surrender to his lordship you know the Bible says in Romans chapter 12 verse 1 I urge you therefore brethren by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living and Holy Sacrifice acceptable to God which is your spiritual service of worship everyday we're just come before the Lord we just surrender anew in a fresh Lord I want you to be lord over me this is what it says happened with Joshua verse 13 now decant now it came about when Joshua was by Jericho that he lifted up his eyes and looked and behold a man was standing opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand and Joshua went to him and said to him are you for us or for our adversaries and he said no rather I indeed come now as captain of the host of Yahweh of the Lord and Joshua fell on his face to the earth and bowed down and said to him what has my Lord to say to his servant and the captain of the Lord's hosts said to Joshua remove your sandals from your feet for the place where you are standing is holy and Joshua did so Joshua had an encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ we call that a christophany in theology it's it's the Lord coming before his incarnation he's coming to in a human form where people can interact with him you know he came to Abraham in Genesis chapter 18 he came to Samson's parents in the book of Judges there are different times when the Bible talks about the angel of the Lord that's the Lord Himself this is called the Lord of hosts the captain of the Lord of hosts we have a name for that in the names of God it's Jehovah ceballos the lord of Angel armies and he comes and he teaches us an important lesson about surrender see the Lord comes to you and to me he doesn't come to take our side he comes to take over are you for us or for our adversaries no I come as captain of the Lord of hosts I'm not on your side you need to get on my side that is critical sometimes we think well you know we want God on our side Moses told the people when they had made the golden calf and they were committing all kinds of sin he comes down off the mountain he takes the Ten Commandments they were on the two tablets and he throws them down he's so frustrated so upset so angry and he said whoever is on the Lord's side come over here that's the big question who is on the Lord's side the Lord didn't come to take your side he invites you to come to his side there's a great quote from Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln said this my concern is not whether God is on our side my great concern is to be on God's side for God is always right hey you on the Lord's side you're on the Lord's side he didn't come to take your side he came to take over and the Lord came to fight your battles here's Joshua Joshua's got a big problem and here's the big problem how do you defeat Jericho Jericho is shut up they have walls they historian says probably a double wall that's a double walled city how do you fight that I mean Joshua has a ragtag me that has some swords and some shields and some Spears but what is that against big walls you need a catapult you need a battering ram he didn't have any of that so Joshua's thinking how are we going to take Jericho well he doesn't have to worry about taking Jericho because the Lord has come and he's captain of the hosts of the Lord and he's going to fight the battle you know when David faced off with Goliath Goliath said to him hey come here little boy I'm gonna break you up and feed you to the pigeons and he cursed David by his gods and David said to Goliath you come to me with a sword and a spear and a javelin but I come to you in the name of the lord of hosts the god of the armies of Israel whom you have taunted this day the Lord will deliver you into my hand and I'm gonna cut off your head and I'm gonna feed the bodies of the Philistines the dead bodies of the Philistines to the beasts of the field and the birds of the air that all the earth may know that there is that God in Egypt and the Lord does not deliver by sword of spear the battle is the Lord's and he will deliver you into our hands the battle is the Lord's he didn't come to take your side he came to take over he is the one who will fight for you jesus said apart from me you can do nothing and the Lord comes and he wants us to get low in his holy presence what does Joshua say to the Lord what has my Lord to say to his servant he bowed low and the Lord said take your shoes off Joshua for the place on which you're standing is holy take your shoes off Joshua why why my shoes because that's a sign of respect to take your shoes off because every shoe has a heel and God wants us to get low before him not even an inch of shoe leather to raise us up no we're we're low before him take your shoes off Joshua place on which your standing is holy Jericho wasn't holy place Jericho was an awful place that's why God was going to destroy it wipe it off the map but wherever the Lord is that's a holy place where the Lord is that's a holy place you know the Lord is here in this place this place is dedicated to the Lord and committed to preaching the word and lifting up the Lord Jesus Christ and the Lord is here where two or three are gathered together in his name there he is in the midst and the Lord is here and we're in a holy place what has my Lord to say to his servant to say to his servants take your shoes off for the place on which you're standing is holy I want to close out today with us taking our shoes off before the God of the universe before the Lord Jesus who is holy holy holy and I know in our seats it's hard to kneel but I want you to get low and I'm gonna get low and we're not gonna have a come forward invitation we're gonna have a time of just praying to the God of the universe the God who says I want you to be holy you shall be holy for I am holy the God who says I want you to remember what I did when I sent my son when he died on the cross and rose again from the dead and I want you to surrender to me would you bow with me you want to rise to the challenge it starts by giving your heart and life to Jesus Christ maybe you're watching and you know about Jesus but you don't really know him today's the day for you pray this simple prayer with me Lord Jesus I need you I know that I'm a sinner and I'm lost and I can't save myself but Jesus I believe that you are God in the flesh I believe you died on the cross for my sins and rose again from the dead and right now I ask you to come into my life to forgive me of my sins to be my Lord and my Savior and I surrender all to you and I promise to follow you all the days of my life my friend if you'll pray that kind of prayer and mean it the Lord will come in and your life will never be the same I'd love to hear from you to know that you're watching to know that God is using this broadcast to make a difference in your life to know that you just prayed that prayer to receive Christ as Savior and Lord please take the time to call that toll-free number write me email me let me know what's going on and how we can pray for you you really are important to God and you're important to us and we're here for you from his heart is the viewer supported broadcast ministry of dr. Jeff Shrieve who believes that no matter how bad that you may have messed up in life God still loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life you can find out more about that plan when you go to from his heart dot o-r-g [Music]

Channel: From His Heart Ministries

Views: 2,450

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: zjvpGg5Zmgo

Length: 46min 39sec (2799 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 26 2020