Joshua 10 Bible Study (The Sun Stands Still/Five Amorite Kings Executed) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Let's ask God to stir our hearts as we now hear from him. We spoke to him. Now he's gonna speak to us. Father, we thank you for a house tonight that's passionate about you. On a very specific weekend, people have chosen to come to the house of God and to hear from you Because, Lord, you are speaking and every time this book opens, you're speaking.

Lord, tonight we need a word from heaven. We need a specific word to our lives, to to what you want us to be like and who you want us to to understand concerning you, your character, your nature. Lord, just give us the power of the Holy Spirit in this place, lest we leave here the same as we came in. We need you, Lord. We desperately need you.

I need you in this place. Lord, this will just become information transacted from one person to another. But Lord, we need more than that. We need transformation. We need power.

And Lord, there there are people in this place that very well know that they need answers. Lord, we know that we've come here on a on a two hour Friday night, but Lord, we know that there are things going on at home. You know that. There are things going on in our minds, in our hearts that nobody else knows about. So Lord, speak through this bible study to each person the way you need to speak to them.

God, we pray that Christ would be exalted. He would be lifted high and loved, cherished and praised, God. That at the end of this study, we would be drawn to his presence. We would want to be at his feet alone. We would want to love you throughout our days, God.

So, Lord, make this what you want it to be. We submit to every verse. We submit to the warnings. We we gladly receive the encouragements. We just want to hear you speak.

And we know that whatever it is, it will be life to us. It will be life to us. Lord, come and intensify your presence in this place as your word is declared and received by your people. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Amen. Meet me in Joshua chapter 10. Before this lockdown, this study was way more interactive, but the reason why I'm up here and not down there usually is because of this whole all all the guidelines and everything else. So it's still a study, but it's it's gonna be more one way than it usually is, and I hope you're okay with that. If you have been with us for the past few weeks, you can probably agree that the last few chapters in Joshua has almost served as a series of insights about spiritual warfare.

It's almost as though we've drawn different facets of our fight in the faith through these collections of battles that Israel has had with different people groups. And it's as though God had organized it this way for us to get a complete comprehension, or at least a a very thorough one of how you and I can be successful in our own fight. It's a beautiful thing. We've learned much from Jericho. We've learned much from Ai.

Last week, we learned about the Gibeonites, and the truths still continue in this chapter. But before we get into this chapter, I have to make some clarification concerning last week. The Gibeonites who came up to Israel, Joshua and the leaders, that is a strong lesson about deception. They were supposed to be destroyed by God's people as an act of judgment, but they came in a cunning way and and they established a covenant with the Israelites as a covering from God's judgment. What they did was wrong.

And it's a picture of how the enemy can come in deceiving ways into our own lives. But we have to understand that from this moment on concerning the Gibeonites, they are no longer regarded as the enemies of God. K? They are coming into now a relationship with the people of God, and because of that contract, they are exempt. Their status before God and the people of Israel is now an ally, no longer a foe.

That is crucial because we're gonna see the Gibeonites in a different light and we have to because this treaty now is going to treat them differently. Now it's not to say that the the ends are are the means are justifiable because of the ends. Not at all. But we have to understand that the power of covenant is that they are changed before God. That is important.

We can almost make the same argument with with Jacob and Esau. Remember Jacob and Esau? Jacob was the personification of deceiver. K? He deceived his way into blessings.

But nonetheless, though we cannot praise him for his deception, that we cannot applaud him for his schemes, Jacob in that pursuit, in that sin almost, still proved in contrast to Esau that he himself desired the things of God more than his brother did. He wanted the blessings of God more than Esau did. The way he did it, was it right? Absolutely not. But what he wanted was right.

And so we see the Gibeonites in a new light, and that's important because this has to do with the Gibeonites in chapter 10. Let's read verse one. As soon as Adonai zedek, king of Jerusalem, heard how Joshua had captured Ai and had devoted it to destruction, doing to Ai and its kings as he had done to Jericho and its king, and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were among them, he feared greatly because Gibeon was a great city, like one of the royal cities. And because it was greater than Ai and all its men were warriors. What's happening here?

Well, continuing from last week, we know that Israel is only advancing into the promised land. They are making progress. And the news is continually breaking out. The the neighboring cities and the people groups are hearing day by day how this invading people are taking over. And the latest breaking news is this, not that the Gibeonites were destroyed, but they are now allies to Israel.

And this was terrifying to the king of Jerusalem because he realized the Gibeonites, they were mighty men. They were soldiers. And they have come to the place of surrendering to this people. They are not a nation to be reckoned with. And so he fears, he trembles, he he can't comprehend how this can be so.

So so what does he do in his fear? He creates a coalition. He now, from this verse on, gathers four other local kings and he says, Listen, this is no joke. Did you hear what happened to the Gibeonites? And his plan now amongst these kings is not to go after Israel, it's to go after Gibeon.

Let's get rid of Gibeon. He left our fold, he left our camp, he will pay for it. He will pay for this. And Gibeon is gonna learn something in this moment that Christians, especially who are in their early stages of faith, must learn. And it's a lesson concerning walking with God.

And here's the simple truth that Gibeon is about to learn, that any babe in Christ is gonna need to learn in this place. That warfare should not be a surprise to you when you choose to break away from this world and walk with God. It shouldn't be a surprise. We said it last week, let me say it again. You entered into a relationship with the living God.

Praise God. It's a beautiful thing. It's a joyous thing. But we would be fools to not think that you've also entered into a war, a lifelong war, a battle. You are now a child of God, but you are a threat to Satan.

And the enemy oftentimes does not let go one of his own without a fight. You've probably witnessed it. I can tell you if you haven't witnessed it, I've witnessed it. That when a person who's received the seed of the word of God or is even contemplating about walking with the Lord Jesus Christ, all hell breaks loose. Things come out of the woodworks.

Oh, you would be amazed to know how the enemy pulls his hair when a sinner is even contemplating coming to Christ. Family persecution, threats, temptation. I've had young men tell me I've never had so many girls after me as soon as I start thinking about following Jesus. I've had people see a different face in their family members when they thought to themselves, I want to follow Jesus. They come from a different background, a different religious background, or or an atheistic background.

You know this very well, that oftentimes when you choose to even think about going on that narrow path, things explode. And this is certainly true with Gibeon. Gibeon is going to realize that although he knew that this God was the true God, there's gonna be a fight to follow this God. And what happens? We don't know if Gibeon knew this beforehand.

We don't know. We don't know if Gibeon and and all those mighty men said, you know, if we choose to go with Israel, our neighbors are probably gonna come after us. We don't know about that. That was premeditated or not. But what we do know about Gibeon, what we're gonna read of in one verse, is that he was totally convinced, listen, that it is better to be on God's side and to face the world than to be with the whole world and stand against God.

That's what he was convinced of. Why? Because when Gibeon was surrounded by these five kings, he makes a call to Joshua in verse six. And the men of Gibeon sent to Joshua at the camp of Gilgal saying, do not relax your hand 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. What do they do? They call upon the people of God. And what I love about Gibeon here is that this group, when they were faced with threats, like anybody who chooses to receive this word, persecution, the pleasures of life, what Gibeon shows is all they did was dig their heels deeper into their initial commitment to God. Because they think if we even choose to surrender back to our enemies, if we choose to walk back, we've been exposed to enough knowledge to know that God himself will still have his way.

God will still have his way. See, they thought beyond the temporal. If they surrendered now, there would be a relief from temporal endangerment. But they saw beyond that. There is a God who is coming to establish his kingdom.

I'm not gonna think about the now. I don't care if my high school friends like me now or not. Guess what high school people, early college people, you're probably not gonna talk to them in ten years anyway. I don't care what so and so thinks, what so and so thinks. I don't even care about what the lukewarm Christians in my church think.

God has the final say. God has the final move. And so they saw beyond the chariots and the threats and the things that were coming their way as they looked out their window and saw these five kings threatening them. They said, there's something greater than what we see. There's a God beyond us who will wipe them out anyway.

And so they choose to come to the point of saying, there's no turning back. We said yes. We want to be with the nation of Israel and we're gonna stay here. We're gonna stay here. And what's amazing about the Gibeonites is that in this moment they took advantage of their covenant blessings.

They made a covenant with the people of God and specifically with God. Meaning what? That there is an inheritance even for them. And they had the knowledge to know what to tap into in that stream of relationship, and they exercised their faith in this moment to cry out for help. Here's what I'm concerned about.

There are many Christians who even claim to be in covenant with God, but they are not aware of their inheritance. They're not aware of what they have access to because of the relationship with God. And so therefore, they they continually remain defeated. They continue remain in the state of fear, defeated. All these different things and you wonder, how is it that this professing Christian hasn't grown an inch in twenty years?

Well, here's one reason. They don't know their inheritance. They don't know what the word of God says they can have because of what Christ had purchased for them. My people are destroyed for what? A lack of knowledge.

A lack of knowledge. But when you grow in the word of God and you grow in the promises of God and you grow to understand what the cross purchased for you, You can stand in the face of even danger itself, threats towards your own life, whatever it may be, and you can be rest assured, here's what I can do because of my covenant with Christ, and you call upon his promises. This showed that Gibeon believed, that he had faith, and he exercised that faith. I can tell you that in my own life, one of those inheritances that I learned by the grace of God early on in my walk with Christ was the power of prayer. Prayer.

Prayer. And I thank God that early on in my infant stages in the faith, the Lord put sermons in my life and books in my hands about men who really prayed. Not men who were who were intelligent only, not men who had some kind of social influence, but men who are in tune with God. One of the things I've learned and you need to learn as well, please, is that God doesn't have favorites. What he did for a man of God back then, a woman of God back then, he's willing to do with you.

You have to understand. You have to grow in these things so that you can face what the enemy will bring in your life. So many Christians are defeated simply because they don't know what's in this book. They don't. But the more you saturate your mind, the more like the Gibeonites you will have a reflex.

Wasn't it a reflex? They had just walked into covenant with the people of God, but it was a reflex nonetheless. Here's threats, Joshua. Here's threats, the greater Joshua, Jesus Christ. And so they called upon this people, which I love.

You know why I love? How were they identified early on? As warriors. Warriors. That's why the king of Jerusalem was so startled.

How are these warriors surrendering to this nation? Let's prolong it. How do these warriors crying out for help? I'll tell you why, because real warriors know how to pray. Warriors don't look at their strength, their intellect, their reason, their resources.

Real warriors know how to get on their face before God and seek him and cry out for an outside influence to intervene in their situation. That's a real warrior, and they're displaying that here. And so, Gibeon, this people group, they've been tested for their faith very early on. And here's the test. Are you gonna recant?

Are you gonna turn back when there's threats? When this whole Jesus thing isn't as easy as you thought? When you realize that there's a price, that there's blood involved in it? They don't. But here's the beautiful thing.

Now Israel is gonna have their own test in the same circumstance. Let's read in verse seven. So Joshua went up from Gilgal, he and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valor. 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.

What's the test here? If I was down there and we can talk more without these things on our faces, I would ask. But because we can't, I'm gonna just say it. The test in this whole dilemma is that in the chapter before this, Israel had made a covenant with the people they were supposed to destroy. They had no right to lay a finger on one Gibeonite.

But here now is a circumstance. Here now is a unique opportunity, not for Israel to get rid of Gibeon, but outside sources to get rid of Gibeon. And so here's the temptation of Joshua and the leaders, perhaps. This is a a thought that could occur in this moment. Well, we can't touch them.

We can't get rid of them. We've established a treaty. But that doesn't mean that these guys can't, and we're off the hook. What was supposed to be ours initially can now be ours again, and so it could have went down like this. We're sorry, Gibeon.

We know that we can't touch you, but you're not even supposed to be a part of us anyway, so good luck. Joshua does no such thing because Joshua understood the profound weightiness of something called a promise. A promise, a vow, an oath that was established so much so that even when that promise was being tempted for his own benefit to be broken, he stood firm. No. He suddenly moved, and he acted upon what he had said.

You're part of us. That means your blood is our blood. Your flesh is our flesh. We're coming to help. Covenant is easy to make.

Covenant is not so easy to keep, especially when it's very difficult. Put it in any sense, especially marriage. You make that covenant. Oh, it's exciting. Oh, you're in love.

Just give it a few years and see what will happen. When the enemy attacks, when flesh attacks, when selfishness arises. Oh, Joshua shows here yes that when you say your yes as believers, nobody should even ask us, do you promise? That yes should be so concrete. Our character should be so straight that when we say yes, there should be no question to the promise.

I trust you're gonna do it. When you say no, it's a no. But this is beyond just humans giving their vows. That's not what we're learning here about Joshua. Oh, it goes much deeper than that.

Joshua as a leader makes a vow. He keeps his vow, but there's a leader down the road who doesn't, who is the actual exact opposite of Joshua. Hundreds of years later from this time, we read of a situation dealing with the Gibeonites, believe it or not. And this is the beauty of the bible. Don't skip any books.

You go to the books you like, you're gonna miss out on the the profound revelation that is awaiting because we skipped something else. Down the road from this moment on, we see something happen that is quite amazing because it doesn't deal with you and I making promises, again, it goes much deeper than that. Turn your Bibles to second Samuel. Second Samuel chapter 21. What's happening in second Samuel 21?

Well, beyond Joshua, Israel is now dominating the land of Canaan. Oh, this is beyond conquering. No. Now they've established a kingdom, and now beyond that they have a king. The second king in the line in this dynasty, king David.

And down the road in in king David's reign, something unusual happens. Something strange, a phenomenon. What happens? Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year. So a drought, a famine comes one year.

He goes, okay. Then another famine comes another year. He goes, what's going on here? Then it comes to the third year and he goes, okay, we gotta seek God on this. This is something unusual.

This is something very strange. What is the why is the Lord allowing this to happen? And so he begins to seek God and he gets an answer. He gets an answer for this act of discipline, and it's in the second part of verse one. And the Lord said, there is blood guilt on Saul and on his house because he put the Gibeonites to death.

Now, you go to second Samuel, you you almost forget about the Gibeonites. They're highlighted in Joshua mainly. But the Holy Spirit does us a favor in the second part of this, in the in verse two, to explain, to give us a a a recap. So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. Now the Gibeonites were not of the people of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites.

Although the people of Israel had sworn to spare them, Saul had sought to strike them down in his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah. So it says though the Holy Spirit is saying, hey, remember Joshua chapter nine. Remember Joshua chapter 10. What happens here? Saul, for some reason, in his zeal, perhaps thinking to himself, we wanna reclaim what originally belongs to us, begins to now slaughter the Gibeonites.

Now this is beyond Saul's time, and God remembers the promise, and God begins to do what? Touch the people of Israel in judgment. Now you know what's amazing? He does the exact opposite as Joshua. And I've learned from this that Saul was crazier than I thought.

We know the famous story about Saul. Right? God says, I want you to destroy not some all the Amalekites. They're an ancient enemy to the people of Israel. And what does Saul do?

He kills some. And then here's this establishment of a promise from years ago, and when God says, I am in covenant with them through this treaty. You can't touch them. Saul touches them. Like, he does the exact opposite of what God tells him to do.

It's incredible. And so what does he do? He causes a famine, and I'm sure God would have prolonged it if David had not sought God and asked for answers. Now you and I might read this. Right?

And this tells something about how we're not like God in many ways, including in this way. We might read something like that, like a famine, like you're gonna affect a people after a promise that was made hundreds of years before its time. This is a little extreme, god. This is a little bit too much. You're causing a national famine because of a promise with somebody that they weren't essentially supposed to be in covenant with initially.

Why does God take such means to express his utter distaste for promise breaking? One simple reason, because it's a reflection on his character as a promise keeper. That's why. See, in the flesh, we might read something like this and go, that is extreme. And we might even call it grace to say, even though Saul killed the Gibeonites, God didn't do anything about it.

Isn't God so free? Thank God he's not so binding. That's not something to celebrate. We might celebrate that on a human level. We break promises all the time.

We say yes, we say no. That doesn't mean anything to us if we break it. We might get a little frustrated. No. God causes a famine to happen.

You and I think, why? You know why? You know why we can we can celebrate even this in second Samuel 21? Because God has made a lot of promises to you and me. That's why.

And God has no intentions of breaking his promises that he has made even though they were thousands of years ago. So I look at second Samuel 21 and I see a famine. I see discipline. We see that and guess what I do? He's a promise keeping God.

He's not loose with his word like we're loose with our words. He's not so light with his commitment like we are light with our commitments. I thank God that he is severe when it comes to his promises. I don't want God to be like me on his word. Thank God he is holy.

He is beyond us. See, what the the the carnal man wants to do is create a God in their own image. That is the worst thing that you can do for yourself. Because you fail you and you fail others and the last thing that we need is God failing us. I've had failure.

I've committed failure and I've been recipient of failure, but there's one thing I'm certain of. God has never failed me and he won't fail you. And so this manifestation of judgment, you don't look at that and say this is severe. You look at that and say, Hallelujah. God keeps his word.

And it's shown in the fact that when we don't, he is not pleased with that because it's it's an assault on his own character. Can you imagine living day by day as a Christian not knowing if God is going to keep his promise? That's a terrifying thing. The reason why I can go to bed at night and wake up with a song on my heart is I know that he's going to keep me. And I know he's going to provide for me.

And I know that he's not gonna let me walk out into deception. He's gonna guide me until the end and sanctify me through so that when I stand in his presence, I will stand with a smile. And you can too. So Joshua is reflecting the character of God. Saul didn't and he paid for it and the people paid for it.

We celebrate that he's a promise keeping God. We don't criticize him because in our idea, grace is just you make a mistake. No. No. No.

That's not grace. That's a setup for disaster. Does God give grace? Does God forgive us when we sin? You better believe it.

Christ paid a high price for us to dip our hearts, our minds, our hands, our feet into that fountain of blood that never runs dry. We praise God for that. But God doesn't sin and he doesn't make mistakes. And he shows it through acts like this where we say, oh God, you are holy. That's what it means.

You are otherly. You are not like me. I want to worship you because of that. Imagine Saul was your king and God wasn't your king. Imagine David was your king and God wasn't your king.

We would always be disappointed. So what happens? Let's go back to Joshua 10 verse eight. 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.

So Joshua came upon them suddenly. He acted immediately, having marched up all night from Gilgal. Sometimes obedience takes a lot out of us. And what I love what God is doing here is he's encouraging him again. I mean, Joshua has been continually encouraged and what I love about this is that God's saying, again, don't be afraid.

Why? Because it's a special type of assignment. For the first time, Joshua is not just gonna be facing an enemy, he's gonna be facing a confederation of enemies. There's going to be a grouping. There's going to be an alliance that's coming against Joshua.

This is going to be more overwhelming than just one enemy at a time. And so God steps in and says, don't be afraid. You know what this proves to me and you? This is what it proves. You know, we go to Joshua one and we see these promises at his call, his initial setting out into the promised land.

But God isn't one who just gives us something, gives us a ministry, gives us a calling, gives us a life, and when we're born again, makes us feel good because it feels good to get saved right in the beginning, and then zooms out and says, I'll see you when you get to heaven. No. What we see here is that throughout the journey, throughout the mission, God walks with Joshua. And when he comes to a new circumstance, God knows in his wisdom when to make himself more known and he says, don't be afraid. This is something new, but I'm here with you.

Then he stays silent sometimes. And then he knows when to speak again. I challenge you to read Paul's life in the book of Acts and see how Jesus does the same. Seems like Jesus knows when to come when he's in prison. He says, don't be afraid.

There's people still in here. There's more people in here for me than against me. Don't be discouraged. Jesus knows. He walks with us.

He talks with us. He knows when to manifest his voice. He knows how to use a brother or sister to speak precisely at the right time. And what it's gonna cost you and me is to just keep walking in obedience. We want Jesus to tell us, do not be afraid, but we're not doing anything worthy of faith.

We want Jesus to to make himself known, but we're not doing anything worthy of him to comfort us. But Joshua acts in obedience and God assures him, I'm with you. I'm with you. And this is how God makes himself known in this act of obedience. Look at verse 10.

So they come against those kings around Gibeon, a surprise attack. And the Lord threw them into a panic before Israel, who struck them with a great blow at Gibeon and chased them. And now you go to verse 11. And as they fled before Israel, while they were going down the ascent of Beth Horon, the Lord threw down large stones from heaven on them as far as Ezekiel, and they died. Now look at this insight.

There were more who died because of the hailstones than the sons of Israel killed with the sword. So Joshua all night walks with his band of soldiers. They come to a surprise attack and he assured him, I'm gonna be with you. He didn't know how, but he says, I'm gonna be with you. He acts in faith and as he acts in faith, as he steps out in what he could do, God did what only he's able to do.

And he began to manifest a miraculous power in such a way where he launches hailstones. Now listen, it doesn't say that he struck any Israelites. We're talking about laser pointed vision from heaven. The only people that were affected by these hailstones were the enemies of Israel. Talk about aim.

God destroys these enemies. And what we are told is that more were destroyed by God's hand than by the sword in Joshua's hand. And here's a simple truth for you and I, that as you and I do God's work, the best thing that we can do is invite God into that work. It It doesn't mean that we don't work. It doesn't mean that we don't step out in faith, but you can rest assured for this, that God will show up and he will do more than you and I can imagine.

That's what we get from this truth. And listen, even in the new covenant, we can expect the miraculous as we step out in obedience. Are you saying large stones are gonna fall down? We're in a different dispensation with a different mission, brothers and sisters. But this principle here, and we can pull out a 100 more from the old and new testament, is true even in 2020.

When you and I step out on what God called us to do, God will show up when he needs to show up. And sometimes, in the miraculous. Here's proof. Let's go to the book of Mark in a very controversial chapter. Mark 16.

Let's go to the last few verses of Mark 16. And let's see if this is a principle because we interpret the Bible in light of the Bible. It's easy to go to Joshua 10 and say God will do this and that. What does the whole bible say? That's what bible study is about.

Mark 16. Look at verse 17 with me, and look what the word of the Lord says. And these signs will accompany those who believe. Now can we be honest with this verse, please? No matter what kind of theological background you have.

Does it say that these signs will follow those who are apostles or to those who believe? Those who believe. Right? Do we believe? I hope so.

If not, you will tonight by Jesus' grace. These signs will accompany those who believe. In my name, they will cast out demons. They will speak in new tongues. They will pick up serpents with their hands.

And if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them. They will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover. Now, I'm sure right now, as I just read those verses, there's a mixture of excitement and nervousness as I just read those verses. Right? I'm seeing heads nod.

I can tell you that there are groups and sects of Christianity that would take verses like this and interpret it this way. If you are a Christian, you will be able to do these things as a normative lifestyle. You'll be able to do these things regularly. You'll be able to do these things almost by command. And it goes beyond that.

If you don't do these things or if these things are not real in your life, you have to check your faith and see if you are really, actually, rightly related to God. The interpretation doesn't just even stay within our faith. It goes beyond that, specifically with Muslims. If you've watched Muslims versus Christian debates, I've seen it on different tapes, where at one point in that debate, usually near the end, on the Muslim side, they will take out actual poison and in front of the whole crowd, they will say, if you're really a Christian, and they'll read this verse, drink this poison and prove to us if your faith is true, and prove to us if this promise is true. Both interpretations are clearly wrong, and both interpretations can lead to catastrophes if we don't understand what Jesus meant.

I'm saying, well, what is the interpretation? All you and I have to do is read the last verse. Look, what does it say in verse 20? And they went out and preached everywhere while the Lord worked with them. Who worked with them?

The Lord. And confirmed the message by accompanying signs. What signs? The signs that we just read of. Who's accompanying them with the signs?

The Lord. So this can't mean that as a Christian who believes in the gospel, that by command, these things can happen. Here, you wanna go you probably know this. There are people in churches that actually handle snakes, poisonous snakes, to try to prove that this verse is true. Look it up.

They handle snakes and they're poisonous snakes, and I read in one article recently that one of them actually got bit and died. Nothing about the scripture says pick up snakes, drink poison at dinner or at a debate. No. No. No.

No. No. There is a context and verse 20 provides that context. These signs are in the context within the framework of those who would commit themselves to worldwide mission and preaching the gospel. That's the context.

And this is the understanding. You and I do what they did. What did they do? What they were able to do. Preach.

Pick your bags up. Travel to where God called you to travel, and declare the gospel of Jesus Christ. And as you move forward in that simple obedience to the great commission, you can rest assure that according to the Lord's wisdom, he will come with the appropriate signs to validate and empower that very message that's coming from your lips. That's the interpretation. Doesn't that solve all these issues?

See, the danger again, here we're at bible studies. When you take a verse and you interpret it the way you want to and you don't honor the context and when you don't have context, you have Amos. The Lord is accompanying them with these signs. He puts the words in their mouths. He puts the power when they lay their hands and and they want to pray for healing.

He protects them when a snake bites. He protects them when they're on the mission field and they are there invited for dinner and somebody wants to kill them, unbeknownst to them, and they drink something and it's poisonous but it doesn't kill them. He does all of that in the context of radical faith fueled gospel preaching mission. K? That's how we understand it.

I don't follow these signs. And I don't need anybody from any faith to come up to me and say, do this and prove you're a Christian. I will preach. The Lord will do the rest. Just relax.

Right? He does the signs. I do what I can. I go out like Joshua with a sword in my hand and do what I need to do and he'll provide the hailstones if he wants to provide the hailstones. It's a simple truth.

And what's amazing is you can read something like Mark sixteen, nineteen, and 20 and say, you know, yeah, this is the right interpretation. But I get something out of it. Here's what I get out of it. It gives us the idea and the impression that the miraculous is reserved for those who go out and do what Jesus called them to do. The miraculous, these signs are within the realm of radical obedience to the call of God.

Let me put it this way, Don't expect the Lord to accompany signs if your idea of Christianity is sitting on a comfortable pew and hearing a good message. May I say this without being too specific? Because my experience doesn't trump over scripture. Scripture trumps over any experience. I can tell you this, that there have been wonderful manifestations of the presence and power of God within settings like this.

But I can also say, especially early on in my faith, that there is something unique about God's power and his manifestation when we went to the streets and preached the gospel. I can't explain it. You wanna know stories? Maybe one day we can sit down as a group and hear those stories. But let me tell you this, my eyes have been marked for life.

Because on a consistent basis, a group of people just said, church has to go beyond the four walls. We need the church. We need teaching. We need doctrine. But there is a special assistance that the Lord gives even when you go to where you need to go, for work, for school, but you have a mission in your mind, you'd be shocked to know how God will show up to validate the message from your life in your lips.

I can't explain it in detail now, but I can tell you this. Jesus becomes real in a unique way when you take the great commission seriously. And we can we can prove that through scripture. Was the Holy Spirit sent so that we can have fuzzy feelings when the worship is just right? Or is the Holy Spirit sent for us to be witnesses?

And we're asking a Holy Spirit come and Holy Spirit move in my life. He he will only move when you move. And he will only show when you and I go. You don't have to go to Peru. You don't have to go to Africa.

This could be your mission field. But all I know is this about the a verse like this. God can show you never mind the nonbeliever that needs to see power. You, how real he is and how this verse is real when you just take the great commission more seriously. It's powerful.

I hope nobody in here feels condemned with that kind of exhortation. I hope you sit there tonight and say, that is the most exciting thing I heard this week. If that's true, then Lord make me mission minded. Not so I can see things happen, I wanna see souls saved. But you'd be amazed to know how in that process God will make himself so known to you, it would even shock you, never mind the unsaved.

I love that story, Paul. There he is warming himself by a fire and a snake comes out and bites him and he shakes it off like it's nothing, and everybody's like, what? Did Paul go out there and say, I'm gonna find a snake, and I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna let his fangs come into my hand and show you that I'm a Christian, that this gospel is absolutely absurd. But because he was on a mission, his life was a mission, these signs just followed him. These signs just followed him.

I just heard a testimony actually the other day on YouTube of a man, and this is a reputable source, this is not just some random clips, we have to be careful of random clips. But this man who preached in front of abortion clinics regularly, and one day he found himself preaching in English, in English. And then he came into contact with a man and his wife who heard him speak one day on the way to this abortion mill and they did they did not go through the process. And they showed him, they went on FaceTime and showed the child that was born as a result of the conviction through his preaching. But when he was talking to them, he realized that they barely knew any English.

And then when they went away, he thought to himself, how did they understood what I said? And when he called them again and explained, the man had said in his broken English, no, everything you said that day was in perfect Spanish. I heard everything you said as though you spoke fluent Spanish. Even that man in that moment did not know that the miraculous was happening, but he was simply being obedient. Where was he?

America. And you wonder why Christians are so bored with their faith, and Christians are so dull, and Christians don't see what they wanna see. Well you gotta get moving. Get a couple friends and get serious. Stay consistent enough.

And don't just give up after two weekends. See what God will do. See what God will do. Not with the ambition to say, oh, I wanna see God do something. No.

You wanna see soul saved whether he does anything or not. The greatest miracle is that when your words come in broken gospel presentation, a soul still gets saved, never mind the miraculous. That's the greatest miracle. I'm not miracle fishing with this kind of a verse. I'm just saying God wants to accompany our lives with power, but he doesn't energize lazy Christians.

And I pray that in the future, in the near future, by God's wisdom, that this church itself, as designed by the word of God, would pump out missionaries, and that we can hear stories in this very church of how God did this and God did that, God saved this and God showed himself that way. But until then, we're missionaries and this is our mission field. I get excited reading a verse like that. Let's go back to Joshua lest we get carried away. What happens?

Verse 11. It says, as we were read that large stones came from heaven, but look at this, on them as far as Azekah. Now I read this, and this is this is another thing even in my own heart to learn that random details are not random details. Azekah. And I thought to myself, Azekah.

I know Azekah. And here's the reason why. Because when we went to The Holy Land, we went to this place called Azekah. So it really stood out to me. But it stood out to me in another portion of scripture, and perhaps you know where I'm going now as I tell you to turn to first Samuel seventeen one to understand that at Azekah, there was another battle hundreds of years after this time that's worthy of our consideration.

In first Samuel seventeen one, we are told that the nation of Israel was encamped at this specific location between Socoh and Azekah. And you read on in first Samuel 17, and what's that battle specifically? Just say it if you know it. David and Goliath. And when we were in The Holy Land, that was probably one of the most thrilling experiences because there wasn't all this gift shops and this and that around all these distractions.

It was just pure dirt and grass and field. And when we pulled up to this place, there was a little sign that says Zika. And our tour guide said, this is where David and Goliath fought. And I thought to myself, well, we don't need a gift shop. I just took five smooth stones from there, as smooth as I can find them, and they're in my room right now.

I don't know if I'll ever use them. But I remember looking on that field between Socoh and Azekah and thinking and trying to replay this whole scene in my mind in first Samuel 17. And as they were we just read the whole chapter together, I began to think, where did David run to? Where was the brook? Where did he find these stones?

Where did the and he began to the tour guide even began to explain where the Philistines could have ran towards after the the defeat and the Israelites came and chased them away. It was one of the most thrilling things ever. But what happened at Azekah? They put on Saul's armor on David. He says, get this off of me.

I can't do this. He goes down with his slingshot and he he grabs, according to first Samuel seventeen forty, five, smoothed what? Stones. And not because of his perfect aim, though he probably was gifted as a shepherd, but because of the grace of God that assisted him, all he needed was one. And he aimed it at that forehead of the vile Philistine that was taunting the people of God in the name of God, and he fell down like a ton of bricks.

And I thought to myself reading this verse in Joshua, oh, Lord, In Joshua's day at Ezekiel, you sent large stones from heaven to destroy Israel's enemies. And many years later, you took one little stone, and you used it to destroy Israel's enemy in the same place. Here's the wonderful truth. Both David and Joshua were doing the same thing. They were stepping out in obedience to the call of God and acting in faith.

And here's how God comes when we act in faith. He can either provide the miraculous from a source that is beyond our own, or he can take our resources and do miracles through them. Large hailstones, that was not them. David, he grabbed something, and God did a miracle with it. What did they have in common?

They stepped out on faith and obedience to God. See, that is the pathway to seeing God do amazing things. And I pray that your life would be marked by those things, that this church would be marked by those things, that God would do miracles from sources that are beyond our own, and God would take our sources and do miracles through them. God is able, and he's faithful to do that. Let's come back as we close now to Joshua chapter 10.

Speaking of miracles, we are about to read of one of the most profound miracles in the entire Bible. You are familiar with that, I'm sure. One that is open to much critique, but it shouldn't be when we understand who God is. So verse 12 tells us, at that time, Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day when the Lord gave the Amorites over to the sons of Israel. And he said in the sight of Israel, meaning, this wasn't a private thing.

This was in front of the whole congregation. Joshua stops in the scene. And in front of the whole camp, all the people of God, they were witnesses. Something arose in him of so much faith that he begins to ask something that is beyond his world that is actually from the solar system. And he says, sun, stand still at Gibeon, and moon in the Valley Of Aijalon.

And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped until the nation took vengeance on their enemies. Is this not written in the book of Jasher? The sun stopped in the midst of heaven and did not hurry to set for about a whole day. I can tell you that there have been multiple attempts to make this sound so reasonable to the mind, but I refuse to do it. And I will not apologize for the Bible.

All this verse is saying is what it says. Joshua made a radical prayer, God heard it, and what happens is that there was daylight for an extended period of time, and there was a withholding of the night to come in as scheduled. Now here's where the critique can come. As you know, in basic science class, the sun doesn't move. We as the world, the earth, move around the sun.

So here's a perfect proof text to say if you're a Christian, you don't believe in science. Look. The Bible thinks that the sun moves and the sun stands still and and that it revolves around us. It's a very simple way of answering to that. All this is saying is what you and I say a lot.

We use different language concerning our solar system, the way the world works, and it doesn't mean that you and I are unscientific. I'll prove it to you. If you've ever said, let's go see the sunrise or sunset, you are unscientific. Nobody wants to admit that. Right?

Right? What do you does the sun actually rise? Does the sun actually set? No. And all Joshua is doing is making it very human and giving language to it to something that is perceived, like what we perceive when we wake up early in the morning or when we go out tonight to see the sunset.

The sun, like what you and I see today, stands at a point in the air and provides light and illumination. And all Joshua is doing is saying stay there to provide more light. God understood the spirit of this prayer. God answered that prayer and it happened. It happened.

The sun did stay in its place or the earth was slower in moving around the sun. What's more important is that the prayer was answered. And we might not even be satisfied with that. Right? Our minds might be going crazy right now.

How did God do this? And what were the repercussions for the world and the solar system for something to be abnormal? Didn't that ruin the flow of how nature works and this and that? Here's the thing, it's a miracle. God doesn't need to explain how miracles work.

That defies the purpose of what a miracle is. A miracle is a supernatural intervention from God that defies the laws of physics to accomplish something that is beyond human comprehension. That's a miracle. To attempt to try to explain it and make sense of it is decoding the very fact that it's a miracle. That's what a miracle is.

So you go to Egypt early on in Exodus, and what do you see? He provides darkness for days but in one central location, Goshen, there's light. How? You go to Isaiah 38, Hezekiah is sick, the prophet says, here's a proof that he's gonna deliver you, and the son dials back 10 steps. How?

Here's how. God is sovereign over the sun. That's how. God created these planets as objects. He spoke them out of his mouth and they dangle in the blackness of space, and they obey everything he says.

And he can do and move and shine and not shine and do whatever he wants without any consequences. Even if it defies physics. He's not he's not he's aware of that. You know that. Right?

He knows, but he's able to manipulate it because he is sovereign over those things. And so what you and I get from this is surely God is sovereign. He is the one who is master over all. Now here's the thing. Now we might read something like this in different portions of scripture and think, why doesn't God do stuff like that today?

That would be amazing to see. That would be a wonderful thing to witness. Right? I make the case tonight that he is doing miracles every single day still, even with the sun. Because the sun is not operating apart from his will, even now.

Here's proof of that. You know this in the Sermon on the Mount, but I'll read it to you. Matthew five forty five. Jesus says, so that you may be sons of your father who is in heaven, for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust. You know who allows the sun to come?

You know you know the the joy of experiencing the benefits and the light and the warmth and even the what it does to our whole attitude and emotional state, God. Every single day, God determines the brightness of the sun, the heat of the sun, the location of the sun, that's his sovereign decree. And you're wondering, well I want this supernatural phenomenon. Well, it's coming. All the sun is waiting for is the command of God and it will be a very scary object of judgment in the book of Revelation.

Just read it and see what the sun is gonna do as a response to God's word. All it's called to do right now in this age of grace is rise and shine. And God is behind that. Now we could read a verse like this and think, well, yeah, it proves the sovereignty of God and we're closing here. And that's a wonderful application, but that's not the purpose of this being recorded.

Look at verse 14. There has been no day like it before or since when the Lord heeded the voice of a man, for the Lord fought for Israel. What made this miracle powerful is not the fact that God made the sun or the earth slow down, however you want to look at it. What made this miracle such a profound experience was that it was a response to the cry and a plea of a man. Joshua asked for it.

God answered it. Now, the Bible is cautious enough to say that it hasn't happened before then and nothing like it has ever happened or will ever happen. So we can't leave here thinking that we have some kind of authority to ask God to control the weather. But the principle is powerful. And here's the principle, that Joshua was totally in line with the will of God.

And Joshua was in a certain dispensation fulfilling a certain mission that will never be repeated again, so to speak. What is that mission? Conquering the land of Israel. What was the challenge? There are people outnumbering him.

What did he need? An intervention from God. And God was moving in this point of history in such a unique way to fulfill a very unique mission. And so we can read that and be satisfied with that interpretation. Just because it happened at a point in the biblical history doesn't mean it has to be repeated.

Just because it's there in the Bible doesn't mean it's normative and people will pull verses like this and say, pray and see if the sun stops moving or the earth stops moving. That is not what we believe as Christians. Nonetheless, there is a principle here. Here's the principle. As I see it, there is a man under a certain dispensation, under a unique mission, that has a window open from heaven in a unique way and he took advantage of it.

Like what made Joshua come to this point to say, sun stands still and moon don't move? What was it? Was it just random? I believe it was the result of faith. What did he see prior to this?

He saw large hailstones coming down with sniper aim, destroying the enemies before him. Not one Israelite was touched. And if you saw that, I'm sure you would pray big prayers too. Here you are attacking and God says, I'm gonna be with you and all for a sudden you see these rocks coming from the sky destroying the people and you're just saying, what is going on? And here's Joshua, no question in his mind that this is God that says, if this is God, sun stand still.

And God heeds to that man's cry. Historical? Yes. Celebrating God's sovereignty? Absolutely.

Nonetheless, I look at that and safely interpret it to say, though he was in a certain dispensation with a certain mission, I still have the same God. You still have the same God. Does that mean we can pray for the sun and the moon? Stop. No.

What it does mean is that under my dispensation and yours and with the mission that you and I have, we must pray big prayers. Big prayers. You're saying, well, what kind of prayers? Go into the mission field long enough and you'll see what kind of prayers you'll pray. Go and fulfill the will of God, if he had called you to that kind of ministry, and put yourself in danger and see what kind of prayers you will pray.

Prayers outside of the will of God? Prayers outside of reason and wisdom? Testing God? No. But see, Joshua is operating in a specific scene where again there is a window of opportunity.

He just saw things happen supernaturally and he's operating in the faith according to the moment. And I think it's safe to say that we can pray not ridiculously, not carelessly, not in a way where if God doesn't answer something so outrageous that we say he's not the same God, but to say, Lord, under the the the boundaries of this bible, especially in the new covenant, understanding my mission as an ambassador of Christ and knowing the challenges ahead, I'm going to pray big prayers according to your will. Big prayers that the hearts of men would change, that you would open doors miraculously, that that you would provide in a certain way. And you're saying, no, we don't have the right to do that. Here's the thing, when you go to James chapter five and when James wants to encourage the Christians to pray, what example does he go to?

Jesus? Paul? The disciples in the new covenant? No. He goes to Elijah.

He goes to Elijah who prayed in such a powerful way and he says, he's a man just like us. And you and I must have the wisdom to say that we will not act in such a manner where we pray for things ridiculously. Because here's the thing, the sun standing still does no benefit for you and I in this dispensation. Joshua was not out with his coworkers and he's like, you know, I'm gonna prove to them that God is real. Son, stand still.

Let me show you guys that God is real. Moon don't move. No. Specific dispensation, specific mission that required specific supernatural power. And so we pray according to what we have before us, and we ask God with faith to do things that will fulfill the mission that you and I have.

And guess what? It's not to impress people with miracles. We need conviction. We need power. We need what we we read of in Mark 16.

Lord, let these signs follow. As I go forth, stretch forth your arm, and he will do it according to what he needs to do to make sure that the mission is fulfilled. What an awesome God we serve. Let's pray and thank him for his goodness tonight. Father, we thank you for Joshua chapter 10.

Lord, we thank you that you're a promise keeping God. You gave us promises beyond our lifetime, beyond our parents' lifetime, hundreds and thousands of years ago, and they still stand today. And so we can take you by your word, and we do tonight. And we ask, Lord, that you would eradicate all doubt, all fear. And Lord, you would, in fact, do the reverse.

You would awaken a zeal and a passion. Lord, if there's anybody in here that doubts that you are real, Lord, show them in the way that you need to show them through your word and the conviction of the Holy Spirit. But Lord, even for the believer who's become dormant and stale in their faith, bored if they are honest, help them realize that you accompany, that you assist, that you provide a special measure of your spirit's power to those who take the call of God seriously in their context. Lord, we are excited with such a truth. We don't feel condemned in your presence tonight.

We don't feel beaten up that we don't preach enough. We understand that there is a way of life that is ready to be open to us. Understand that there is a way of life that is ready to be open to us. If we just say my work is gonna be a mission field, and my school is gonna be a mission field. And I'm gonna ask God to use me as much as I might not feel like it, I don't have the emotions, I don't have the the the stirring in the moment, but, God, just let me know that I live for a mission and that, God, you will honor that, and you will do wonderful things that will blow our own minds.

We believe you tonight. And, Lord, tonight, in light of this truth that we heard, we're gonna worship you, assist us in singing your praises. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.