Battle For The Kingdom - The Book of Joshua

Hello everyone, I'm Dr.

Steve Holtz.

I want to welcome you to the Road Church Podcast.

Each week we go into God's Word.

We teach chapter by chapter and verse by verse.

We are here to build the Kingdom of God revolution through empowering people to change the world.

So we pray this will minister to you at your heart level and change your life.

Today, be encouraged by our guest speaker.

Well, my name is Matthew Rupert.

I'm the children's pastor here at The Road, and I'm really excited and blessed to be able to share the message with you guys today as we open God's Word.

We're picking up in the book of Joshua, chapter 11, and I'm just really excited about this passage.

Joshua 11 · chapter mention

It's a really fun passage to teach.

And the title of my message is The Battle of the Kingdom.

The Battle of the Kingdom.

We are engaged in a great war.

God has put us in this battle for a reason, for us to take back the ground of the enemy.

And it's quite an exciting journey.

And before I get into it, I'd like to just center myself and maybe all of us together in prayer.

So if you would just pray with me.

Father God, thank you for this day.

Thank you for your living and active word that we can open it together, that we can experience who you are through its pages.

God, would you allow your word to come alive to us today?

Speak through me, God, let me be your mouthpiece.

Let us engage your word together as this corporate body well and be able to leave this place with inspiration, leave this place with a call to action.

We pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.

So, yeah, we're picking up in the book of Joshua, chapter 11.

Joshua 11 · chapter mention

And what the pastors here at the road have done a really good job of is setting this book up so that we see this is really a book about spiritual warfare.

We've seen the demonic powers that had dominion over the land.

We've seen the heathen practices, child sacrifice that was rampant in that place.

The sins of these nations were extravagant.

We talked about the descendants of Anak and how they had taken up residence in that land, and God is sending his people Israel to judge the land and to purge it of this evil.

They are pushing back the powers of darkness in that time.

And today I believe that there is a parallel for us to grasp from this passage, a parallel of us doing the same thing, taking back the ground, pushing back the darkness, advancing the kingdom of God in this day.

But before we do that, I want to emphasize, or I guess what I want to say is I believe that in this time God wants to raise up this warrior spirit in his church, in me, in us, a people who knows their enemy, who knows their God and what he has done, who walks in obedience to their God, and because of that they see the effects, the battle being won, victory after victory.

So before we jump into the passage, something I want to do is just set up this book in terms of who is our enemy.

Yes, this is the people of Israel, and we can we can make that parallel that we are the people of God, but it obviously looks a little bit different for us today.

In Ephesians 6, verse 12, it says, For we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies, but against against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against the evil spirits in the heavenly places.

Ephesians 6:12

I think we see uh really two different camps a lot of times is we see a camp of people who are only focused on the spiritual battle, and there's a demon behind every bush, and they're only ever praying, and they're only ever focused on the spiritual realm, and then you have another group of people and they're only ever focused on the practicality behind it.

We need to do this and we need to do this, we need to take action.

And really what God is calling us to do is to marry those two into an action but also a faith, believing that there is a spiritual, there are spiritual powers at work.

And I don't know about you, but for me in this time, I am more focused on the spiritual powers at work.

We were talking about this at my group at table or my table at uh men's ministry and even in our small group, just that there are these powers that are at work today, and I don't know about you, but I don't have any hope in any single politician.

I don't have any hope in any single political revolution.

The only hope that I have for this country, for this city, for this state, is a divine move of God where He is softening the hearts of people so that they can realize the sin in their life, so that they can realize what's truly at stake.

And I think that needs to be our focus in this time specifically.

Yes, we disagree with this politician and his dictates and his morals, and we disagree with the aggressive coworker, and yes, there's the uh the drunkard who is, you know, blaspheming God, but we have to realize that there's a power at work behind all of these forces that we have to attack in the spiritual realm.

And we have to pair that with our practical action.

So let's dive right into the passage as we start with point number one: know your enemy.

It's really important to know your enemy.

I am actually, this is funny because this is on the spot, and I'm like, I don't watch football, but what what I was thinking about was how they will sit and they will watch all the reels of the team that they're about to go against.

They're understanding their strategies and their weaknesses and all of these things because they have to know their enemy.

We the same have to know our enemy as the church.

Because the more we know, the less we are caught off guard or surprised, and the more we're able to identify it when we see it.

So, picking up in the book of Joshua, chapter 11, verse 1, when King Jabin of Hazor heard what had happened, he sent messengers, messages to the following kings.

Joshua 11:1

Now, I actually want to stop here.

When King Jabin of Hazor heard what had happened, what did he heard?

He'd heard about the people of Israel advancing victory after victory, about a divine God who is fighting on their behalf, who is sending targeted hailstones at the enemy, who is allowing the sun to stand still in the sky, giving them enough time to defeat their enemies, who is empowering this army that's been awake for 24 hours plus to defeat multiple kings in their armies in one single battle.

The enemy knows about the power of God, and prayerfully the enemy will know about the power of God being represented coming through us as his church.

They hear about it and they tremble.

All they can do is gather all of their men.

Come gather, gather, gather, send messages, send messages.

We gotta figure out what to do about Israel.

I believe in this day and age we've got to figure out what to do about the people of God.

They're not just sitting in their pews anymore, they're not just comfortable anymore.

There's a spirit in a fight welling up within them, and they're assembling, and we're seeing battle after battle won, and we don't know what to do about this.

The kings of this land are trembling in fear, and they assemble together.

Continuing with verse one.

King Jobab of Madden, the king of Shimron, the king of Asheth, all the kings of the northern hill country, the kings in the Jordan Valley south of Galilee, the kings in the Galilean foothills, the kings of Napoth Dor on the west, the kings of Canaan, both east and west, the kings of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites in the hill country, in the Hivites, in the town on the slopes of Mount Hermon, in the land of Mizpah.

I love how extensive this list is.

The Jebusites and the Hebusites and the Husites and the all the ites, they're all coming.

Everybody is coming from the east and the west and the north and the south.

They are assembling against the people of God.

They are asking, what is to be done about Israel?

I look into the, I was looking into the meaning of some of these names and found it really, really interesting because I think it gives us a picture into the strategies or the tactics of the enemy in our lives today, but also at that time.

At that time, they would use their name as a declaration.

We are this people, you know, whatever.

And we read some of these names.

Hazor means castle or strong fortress.

Madden means strife, quarreling or contention.

Shimron means height, exaltation, being lifted up.

Ashchaf means bewitched.

Amorites, the sayer, or those who talk or boast.

Hittites, the broken, shattered, dismayed or terrified, carrying the connotation of fear, terror, and dread.

Mizpah, watchtower, or a place of advantage.

You know, when I was uh reading this, I'm such a children's pastor.

I was saying this in the pre-service huddle.

I always just like see these pictures or think of these analogies that I would use for kids because that's what I'm always doing.

And one of the analogies that came to mind was like a WWE match.

And I just imagine some of these nations or cities or kingdoms being announced.

Uh Hazor, the fortress, Madden, contention, Shimron, high and mighty, Asheth, the Bewitcher, and all of them being listed out.

Ten, I I forget how many there are.

So many of them.

Versus the people of Israel.

Like seven, ten armies, fifteen armies, well, however many it is, all of these nations and kingdoms and regions are all uniting against this one enemy.

And they know at the end of the day, who they are fighting for and who is for them, and that they will win the battle.

This is the attack of the enemy.

They come boasting to be a strong fortress, a place of advantage.

They come boasting to be greater than, higher than.

They boast in their witchcraft.

They come to bring strife and derision, confusion.

They come with their tactics of fear, terror, and dread.

They boast that they will trample us down or tread us underfoot.

Has anyone ever experienced one of these tactics before?

Maybe you've just been so confused, or maybe there was that boasting or that fear that was represented in your life.

Or worse yet, maybe you felt like they were all coming to you at one time.

It can be a fearful time.

And for Joshua, I'm sure there was some intimidation, but let's continue reading.

Verse 4: All these kings came out to fight.

Their combined armies formed a vast horde.

And with all their horses and chariots, they covered the landscape like the sand on the seashore.

The kings joined forces and established their camp around the waters near Moram to fight against Israel.

Josephat tells us that this army represented 300,000 foot soldiers, 10,000 horses, 20,000 chariots.

So not only are they coming with their boastful names, but they're coming with their boastful numbers and military equipment.

I remember, is anyone else in here a Narnia nerd?

I just loved Narnia.

My grandmother read us the books.

We watched all the movies.

We watched some of the like super duper old movies that no one's ever heard about because we found them.

But um, in one of the movies where they're coming, or I guess Line the With New War, they come and there's the giant enemy army, and then there's the Narnian army, and the flying eagle thing comes and says, They come, your grace, in numbers and strength fall greater than our own.

And then I remember the sergeant saying, Well, numbers do not win a battle.

And then Peter saying, No, but I'll bet they help.

And I think that's how it can feel to us.

We feel intimidated by these things.

And yes, we know the truth.

We know that God is bigger, we know that he's greater, but that problem comes face to face with us, and we're like, This is too great for me.

Well, yeah, it's too great for you, but it's not too great for your God.

We must stand united as the church of Christ, as the church of God to battle against these evil powers.

Matthew Henry commentary says, They here unite against Israel as against a common enemy.

Thus are the children of this world more unanimous and therein wiser than the children of light.

The oneness of the church's enemies should shame the church's friends out of their derision and division and engage them to be one.

The enemy is not playing games.

They are assembling, they are conspiring, they are being strategic, and they are figuring out what is the best way to stump the people of God.

And we're standing around arguing about minor doctrinal beliefs, arguing about the color of the carpet in the sanctuary, arguing about, can you believe that Sandra said this?

Sandra said that, Sandra said that.

And we're we're we're perplexed with all of these things, and God is saying, there's an enemy at foot, and you need to put your differences aside and realize that you have a mission, you have a battle to fight.

Can you imagine like two brothers in arms going into battle, you know, side by side on the front lines, and they're arguing about who got the extra piece of hard tack for breakfast?

No, they are united because they have an enemy in front of them.

They're not worried about what's to the right or to the left.

They're just worried about how they're gonna work together to accomplish the mission.

And I believe that's God's call for us as the church to be united against this single enemy.

I believe that God is raising up a generation like this in this time.

And I'm excited to personally be a part of it.

A generation that knows the truth of God's word and is able to stand on that, who has the power of the Holy Spirit emboldening them so that they can stand in the face of these taunts and strategies and tactics and say, we will not bow to your strategies.

We will only bow to the one true God, and therefore we will stand in boldness to oppose you because we, at the end of the day, have the victory.

Two weeks ago, I made a call or an invitation for people to join us in that mission in our children's ministry.

We had such a wonderful response.

I was so grateful for that.

And I want you guys to know that invitation still stands.

We invite you to partner with us as we raise up this generation.

Do you remember the generation prior?

They were fearful.

The spies come back and they're like, oh, we can't go in there.

There's giants in the land.

We're like little grasshoppers to them.

We we can't go in there, we can't face them.

And the entire, the entire congregation of Israel, probably millions of people, oh no, what are we gonna do?

God gave us this promise, and he's not gonna let us get the promise.

This is terrible, we should just stay here.

They fell prey to the strategy of the enemy, his fear tactics, his tactics of intimidation, and they failed to lay hold of that promise.

Let us not be a generation that cowers in fear because the enemy looks so big.

But let us remember who our God is.

In light of uh the passing of Charlie Kirk, I was pondering some of these concepts, and I actually didn't listen to Charlie Kirk that much.

In fact, um I remember listening to a few of the episodes and being like, oh my gosh, our country is like toast.

Like, this is so depressing.

And so I stopped listening.

But when when I heard that he had passed, I it was the day after I was in my quiet time with the Lord, and I just found myself weeping on behalf of our country, on behalf of a generation that essentially is being threatened.

It's like, do you see him?

You see what he did?

He stood up, he stood for truth, and yeah, look what happened to him.

And this generation is experiencing these fear attacks that I I found myself pondering this and saying, hey, my life is is no more safe or sacred than someone like that.

I desire to live a life of impact and influence people, and who's to say that something malicious or something not malicious could happen to me and I would leave my family behind, or or it would be ended just like that.

And as I was pondering this, two things came to mind.

Number one, this is not something new in Christian history.

From the beginning of Christianity, people understood the risk that they were taking by following Christ.

And they woke up every day, and thousands, maybe millions of people today wake up every day asking themselves the question Am I going to live through today?

Am I going to lose the things that I hold dearest in my life?

Is my faith going to compromise the things that I think I should have in this life?

And I think it's good for us and it's valuable for us to contemplate this.

But the second I came to understand that this is the fear tactic of the enemy.

They want us to fear, feel intimidation.

They want us to feel feel fear or dread and say, you know what?

Maybe it's not worth it.

I'll be a Christian, I'll hold on to my little light, but I'm not going to shine it out that much, I'm not going to make that much of an effort because I don't really want to lose this, or I don't really want to lose that, or this might be in danger.

The enemy claims that they are gathering in the valley with their witchcraft boasting fear and derision, saying, We will trample you down.

Oh, yeah?

Well, you forgot about one thing that I serve a bigger God, a God who has broken the power of sin on my life through Jesus Christ.

A God that fights for me against my enemies, a God that sets a table before me in the presence of my enemies, a God that promises that every misfortune, every setback is actually an opportunity for God to use it for my good and to advance his kingdom on the earth.

A God who says that even to die is gain.

I believe that God is raising up a generation in this time that when one person is cut down or silenced or censored, that there would be five, ten, a hundred people that rise up in their place that say, You may censor someone, you may silence someone, but we're not stopping, we're not shutting down, we're coming in more power, in more authority, and more boldness because we recognize the enemy that is at work.

We recognize the enemy that's at work, and we know our God.

And that's point number two, knowing our God and what he has done.

Let's continue reading with verse six.

Then the Lord said to Joshua, Do not be afraid.

By this time tomorrow, I will hand them all over to Israel as dead men.

I believe that in this moment God is saying to us in this room, do not be afraid.

I think we should just ponder for just a second.

What might be a fear in our life right now?

The addiction in your life you are facing, the taunting saying you will never be free, you will never be delivered, you will always be bound in this way.

Do not fear that enemy.

The circumstances that are overwhelming you in this very moment, God is telling you, do not be afraid.

The intimidating conversation that you need to have, but you've been putting it off, God is saying, do not be afraid.

The person who God has been nudging you to evangelize to, to share your faith with, but you're afraid, God is saying, do not be afraid.

By this time tomorrow, your enemies that are taunting you, that are that are seeming so intimidating, so fearful, I will hand them over to you as dead men.

These enemies will bow to my power through you.

And Joshua knows and understands this.

The enemy has no power over you.

If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior, you have asked him to be the Lord of your life, he has cleansed you from sin.

That power no longer has any authority to bind you.

He has filled you with his Holy Spirit, the power of God Himself living in you, and now you're not a victim to the darkness, you can speak to it, you can speak into it.

If you Have not done that, I want to invite you today.

If you've not asked Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior, today is a perfect day.

You might be experience experiencing the power of addiction in your life, or anxiety, or fear, or intimidation, or or depression, or suicidal thoughts.

God is saying, you do not have to fall prey to the power of the enemy any longer.

I can set you free today.

And for many, he sets them free in an instant.

And for some, like me, he sets us free victory after victory through the process of sanctification, year after year, looking back and saying, Look how far God has brought me.

The enemy no longer has power over me.

We can walk into this victory through the power of Christ.

He says, Then you must cripple their horses and burn their chariots.

This horde, this monster of an army, a whole region is united against them, coming against Israel.

But Joshua is not discouraged because he has a history with God.

He's been walking step by step in faith and obedience, hearing the word of God, stepping out, and God comes through in miracles, in power.

And so Joshua's not, I'm sure he feels feelings of intimidation.

I'm sure there's an element of fear.

But he he's ready for this battle.

And I pray that that is my story.

That I've been walking in freedom, that I've been walking in victory after victory as I hear the voice of God and I step out in faith, and that I have this history with God, and I look back and I'm like, you know, God has done so much.

What's stopping him from doing this?

I think we we get so caught up in every new challenge, right?

It like it comes before us and we're like, oh no, this is terrible, and we forget like all of the things that God has done.

Right now, my wife and I are facing kind of a complex tax situation, and it's feeling a little intimidating because we've already deferred for quite so many months and we've been working with the IRS, which is a nightmare, and working with other uh organizations and trying to figure all of this out.

And my wife and I find ourselves, catch ourselves, I should say, saying, Oh, this is so discouraging, this is so depressing.

And God has been challenging me.

Have you forgotten my hand of provision in your past?

Have you forgotten when I came through for you?

When I allowed you to buy a house when it seemed impossible, when I paid off$20,000 or$12,000 in debt when you have$1,000 in your bank account?

Have you forgotten about all of these miracles in this one category?

Just financially.

Like, you're right, God, this is not any bigger than any of the other challenges.

I can trust you.

Revelation 12, 11 says, and they have defeated him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony.

And they did not love their lives as much that they were afraid to die.

We overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the Word of our testimony.

Our testimony reminds us that God is bigger, that we know our God and we've seen what He can do.

And some of us maybe we're younger in the faith and we don't have that big of a history.

Well, I encourage you, just look around the room.

There is the physical presence of God's provision, of God's protection, of God's victories evident in this room.

So I wanted to do a little exercise.

I think this will be fun.

But um we're all gonna stand up and dance it.

No, I'm just kidding.

We're all going to uh respond to some statements of God's protection or provision or what he has done.

So if you can relate to any of these statements, at the end of each statement, I want you to say amen.

And as I would coach the kids, we're not going to do it like super chill.

We're gonna say amen, strong and confident.

We don't have to scream, but we're gonna do it really, really good.

Anyway.

So if you can agree with these statements, say amen.

Has God saved you from the power of sin in your life?

Has God saved you from an addiction in your life?

Amen.

Has He freed you from thoughts in your mind that have plagued you?

Has God healed you from a physical infirmity?

Has God provided for your needs when the odds seemed impossible?

When we look around the room, we see the provision of God.

We see who God is and that He is fighting on our behalf.

The next point is walking in obedience.

Walking in obedience.

We will see that not only does Joshua believe and understand who God is, and that gives him boldness to step out, but it gives him boldness to walk in obedience.

So Joshua and all his fighting men, verse 7, traveled to the waters near Muram and attacked suddenly.

And the Lord gave them victory over their enemies.

The Israelites chased them as far as Greater Sidon and Mizrafath, Mayim, and eastward into the valley of Mizpah until not one enemy warrior was left alive.

Then Joshua crippled the horses and burned all the chariots as the Lord had instructed.

Joshua doing this was defying his own natural wisdom or intuition as a leader.

When you are acquiring or attacking an enemy, it only makes sense to acquire their tools or their resources.

But God is saying, nope, burn the chariots, cripple the horses, and Joshua obeys.

Sometimes in our life, the obedience of God doesn't necessarily make sense, but he is doing this to provide for us a way that we understand it's only God.

And I think sometimes we focus too much as Christians on acquiring the tools of this world.

Psalms 20, verse 7 says, Some nations boast of their chariots and horses, but we boast in the name of the Lord our God.

Psalms 20:7

We are not boasting in our resources, in our tools, or certainly not in the world's tools or resources.

We are boasting in the name of God.

And that's kind of cool as a Christian, because we're not supposed to boast, but guess what?

We can boast about our God.

You know, He's bigger and He's stronger.

Psalms 1, verses 1 through 3 says, Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers, but they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night.

Psalms 1:1–3

They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season.

Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do.

Recently the Lord has been convicting me in areas of ministry, in areas of business and pursuing dreams, that we are not intended to acquire the tools or the resources of the enemy.

How often do, and there's wonderful tools that we should utilize in some aspects, but I'm telling you what a personal conviction for me is, is how long are we, how often do we go to Google or in our modern age, do we go to Chat GPT saying, What should I do?

Opposed to going to the presence of God.

How often do we turn on our favorite YouTuber to counsel us instead of going to the presence of God?

I think as business leaders, as leaders, as in every realm of influence, do we not understand or remember that God is all-knowing?

He knows more than the YouTuber, He knows more than, yes, ChatGPT, he knows more than the internet, he is all-knowing, and certainly he is able to give you what you need to walk in confidence and push back the kingdom of darkness, to advance your business.

If we are sitting before the presence of God saying, God, every tool, every resource is yours, give me wisdom to lead, give me wisdom to do this, don't you think God is going to answer that?

We so often walk in the counsel of the ungodly.

Oh, let me go to this person and that person.

But those who delight and meditate in the Word of God, meditate in His presence, they are like a tree planted by the riverbank, bringing fruit in its season.

Their leaves never wither, and everything they do prospers.

We're not relying on the horses or chariots of this world.

We're relying on our God.

And for me personally, I get overwhelmed because there are so many resources in so many categories.

And so you listen to one podcaster and he says this, but then you listen to the other and says this, and he says that, and he says this.

And in this season, right now, I'm turning all of that off and I'm saying, God, I'm gonna sit in your presence and I'm gonna ask you to give me insights on what to do practically and spiritually.

And what's been so cool is to see God do that.

And he will do that for each and every one of us.

We should be seeking God instead of seeking to hear the voice and obey the commands of this world.

Joshua then, verse 10, turned back and captured Hazor and killed its kings.

Hazor had at one time been the capital of all these kingdoms.

The Israelites completely destroyed every living thing in the city, leaving no survivors.

Not a single person was spared, and then Joshua burned the city.

The capital city of these kingdoms.

This was not mentioned accidentally, this was on purpose, that the capital city was burned to the ground.

In our society, there are capitals.

There are not physical capitals.

I'm talking about spiritual strongholds and princes and powers and authorities that are holding rule and reign in our society.

I think about the sexual revolution and how it's wreaked havoc among so many people.

Or relativism, people seeking and pursuing their own truth just to their demise.

Addictive culture in drugs, alcohol, pornography have enslaved so many.

Identity confusion, redefining gender and family, spiritual apathy, indifference to God, coldness of heart.

God wants to break these powers down, and he wants to use you to do it.

He wants to break them down in the lives of people, and I believe that he wants to break them down in our society at large.

And he is calling us as the church to do this.

Verse 12, Joshua slaughtered all of the other kings and their people, completely destroying them, just as Moses, the servant of the Lord, had commanded.

But the Israelites did not burn any of the towns built on mounds except Hazor, which Joshua burned.

Joshua was making an example of this capital city.

That this wasn't being repurposed, it wasn't being used for something else.

This symbol of authority and power in this area was being burned down, being dismantled.

Verse 14, and the Israelites took all the plunder and the livestock of the ravaged towns for themselves, but they killed all the people, leaving no survivors.

As the Lord had commanded his servant Moses, so Moses commanded Joshua, and Joshua did as he was told.

Carefully obeying all the commands that the Lord had given to Moses.

Carefully obeying all of these commands.

You know, I believe that in our time, in the next days, weeks, months, and and and years, God is going to move in power and he is going to anoint people with power and authority in ways that they have never experienced before.

But when he does that, we have to be careful to obey all the laws, all the intuitions that we receive from God.

Because we have seen so many times pastors and teachers and people in leadership who have been given the gifting, have been given the authority, have been given all of these things, and they stand in leadership positions, but soon they become careless instead of careful.

Not careful to follow all of the instructions of the Lord, not careful to spend that number one time in the presence of God, not relying on the insights or the instructions of the wicked, but on relying on the presence of God to lead and guide them.

And we see these leaders fall and they fail.

We must be careful to obey all the instructions of the Lord.

So Joshua took control of the entire land just as the Lord had instructed.

This is verse 23, had instructed Moses.

He gave it to the people of Israel as their special possession, dividing the land among the tribes.

So the land finally had rest from war.

God has called us as believers into spiritual warfare to push back the powers of darkness, to loose the captives and advance his kingdom on the earth in his absence.

You know, I think of the parable of the talents.

And some theologians use this as an example of what Jesus did.

He came and he entrusted something to his disciples, and then he went to heaven.

Well, this master leaves his servants with these talents, and what are they instructed to do with them?

Oh, bury them in the ground.

No, they're instructed to multiply them.

We have been left on this planet with an incredible mission, not to take the wonderful gifts and talents that God has given us and hide them to ourselves and allow it to be confined to our weekly Bible study.

He's saying, No, let your light shine.

Multiply these gifts and talents, multiply the kingdom of God while I'm away.

Because there are people who are desperate for it, people who are relying on that.

When I was a teenager, I lived in this really small town, and I just think with a smile on these memories where I would ride my bike to our little church and I would go inside and I would play the piano and I would just worship God and I would just spend time with God.

And there were some times where I just really felt the presence of God.

And I just felt like as this young teen, that God's love was just so visible to me and so tangible to me.

And I would, I would initially just kind of be brought to my knees or brought to tears and just being like, oh God, you're so good.

But what was so fascinating about those times is even though I was a teenager and certainly not wanting to evangelize in any way, the Lord would put on my heart, yeah, you see this love?

Do you know how many people have never experienced this love?

And I would be brought to tears for the sake of people, and I'd be like, oh God, use me, use my life to share this love with other people.

Because there are people that are hurting and desperate to see that.

In closing, remembering that this battle is a battle for the kingdom, Hazor was burned to the ground.

The capital of the kingdoms was reduced to ashes, and that was not an accident.

God was showing his people that no stronghold, no prince, no so-called capital of darkness could stand in the face of his power.

Today there are capitals in our culture: sexual brokenness, relativism, addiction, identity confusion, spiritual apathy.

These are the pillars that the enemy has used to shape our society.

But just as in Joshua's day, he was called to go into the darkness and take possession, we are called to do the same, to speak to the darkness.

We have to remember that we are not a victim of the darkness.

If we have Jesus Christ living in our life, his power is being manifest through us, and we can speak into the darkness, into these situations and speak life.

Matthew 16, verse 18 says, And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Matthew 16:18

Gates don't move, they are defensive.

And Jesus promised that when the people of God stand in faith, walk in obedience, and carry his truth and his spirit into the world, the gates will fall.

What I desire to see in myself and in the church at large is that we are Christians, that the enemy is seeing the power of God manifest through our lives, and they tremble in fear.

They see the people of God rising up in this day, and they're saying, Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, this is breaking script.

What are they doing?

We've got to counsel together, we've got to come up with a plan.

Oh, and they will.

They will counsel together, they will bring all of their tactics, their fear, their intimidation, their proclamation that they are higher than, that they are greater than.

But as the people of God, we stand in faith, knowing who our God is, and being willing to step out in faith and build that history with God.

We think about Psalm 23.

Yes, they are assembling, the nations are raging against us, but God laughs.

In Psalm 23, he says, Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, yeah, that's what they're gonna make it look like for us.

Oh, you're walking into death, everyone.

Christians, you better be afraid.

You're walking into death.

Oh, what wait, what does it say?

I will fear no evil.

Why?

Because God is with me, his rod and his staff, they comfort me.

And guess what?

In the presence of my enemies, he's preparing a table.

He's providing with the enemy encompassing me.

We have victory in the name of Jesus, and we can walk out in boldness if we will know who our enemy is, know his strategies and his tactics, if we will remember who our God is and build that history with him, and if we will walk in obedience, church, I believe that in my life I will see miracles.

I will see people being set free from addiction and abuse and self-harm, that these tactics, these strategies of the enemy are falling off the shoulders of hurting and dying people, that they would look at us and say, you know what, I was surrounded.

I was surrounded with my confusion and with these tactics of the enemy.

But when you walked into my life, light shot across the room, and God came and met me in that moment, and now I am free.

God wants to use me.

God wants to use you.

If we would just be willing and step out in faith, as we worship God today, I encourage you to take this time and encounter who God is and allow him to speak into your life so that you can walk out in obedience, obeying those commands.

Thank you for listening to the Road Church Podcast.

We pray today's message has empowered you to make a difference in your world.

For more information about the Road Church and to find more content like this, go to theroad.org.

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