Spiritual Victory

Welcome to this week's message from the church at Chelsea Westover.

Our core values are vibrant worship, intimate fellowship, fulfilling service, and clear biblical truth.

We pray that this message changes your life.

Let's tune in to today's message and see what God has in store for you.

And turn with me in your Bibles to Joshua chapter 8.

Joshua 8 · chapter mention

And if you do not have a worship guide, raise your hand.

We'd love for you to have one.

We want everybody to be taking notes here in a little bit.

And one of the things that we believe in tremendously here is learning the Word of God.

We, hey, what's our little saying?

What?

We love it.

We learn it.

We live it.

Let's say that together.

We love it.

We learn it.

We live it.

And that is so true.

And boy, have you not enjoyed Joshua in Sunday school?

And by the way, let me tell you about Sunday school.

Actually, it's up to you teachers, really.

I thought I, as soon as I talked about it, I thought about maybe doing an outline for you so you could have do the Christmas, uh, go with each of the uh kind of give you a Christmas lesson.

Uh, but I thought, well, let's just uh, it's up to you.

If you want to have a Sunday school class these during the four Sundays in December, go ahead.

And you can take your own Christmas stories and share and use it as a time.

And then in January, we're starting uh back up uh in the book of Ephesians, putting on the armor of God.

Because in Joshua, we've been talking about warring, fighting, fighting the battle.

In fact, that's what it's all about, the spiritual battle.

And so we're gonna at uh in January, the first of the year, we're gonna look at putting on the armor of God in Ephesians.

So that's gonna be a great study as we go to the book of Ephesians.

We go from Old Testament to New Testament, and uh, and I know what you're thinking, but I didn't hear a message on Caleb.

Well, hang on, because uh I'm gonna do, I love what I normally do as a pastor here.

I preach an Old Testament book, a New Testament book, and then I'll do a topical series.

And a lot of times those topical series deal with character studies.

So we I'm I'm working on some characters.

And so we may do after the Ephesian study, we'll do a series on some characters out of the Bible, because I love character studies.

That's I I really do.

In fact, uh I almost wrote a book on some.

Actually, I did write a book on leadership with two other great men of God, uh, Dr.

John Bort and Dr.

Elmer Towns.

And those were character studies of all the great men of God in the Bible, uh, and their their personalities versus their giftedness.

And I took, you guess which ones I took and wrote on.

I wrote on the cholerics and the sanguines.

Uh uh goal-oriented and loves people.

So I I I I wrote on uh the strengths and their weaknesses, and it's called the Good Book of Leadership.

In fact, a lot of seminars are still using it as one of their books on leadership.

So uh I'm gonna go back and pull out some of my notes, and we're gonna look at some of those characters.

And I love character studies because every every one of us has a character in the Bible that we are a lot like.

I guarantee it.

I'm not gonna tell you who I'm like.

You probably already know.

I'm a lot like Peter.

Yeah, who would not have guessed that?

Impetuous Peter.

Acts before he thinks, but that's okay.

Joshua chapter 8.

Joshua 8 · chapter mention

Last week we looked at Joshua chapter 7, and we saw the spiritual defeat of the nation of Israel.

Joshua 7 · chapter mention

In fact, the war against Ai in chapter 7 was so demoralizing and so discouraging that Joshua almost was ready to quit.

In fact, we saw that last week.

I mean, he he was troubled, he was discouraged, the Hebrew word dismayed there.

Uh he was so brokenhearted and should I say, down and out that he said, God, why?

And he said, Why have you brought us out here just to kill us?

It'd have been better off if we'd stayed on the other side of the Jordan.

Why?

Very similar to what happened with Moses with the nation of Israel, also.

Very similar.

You know what I've learned over the years of studying God's Word?

There's a pattern to be, hey, to be followed.

Victory, defeat.

Victory, defeat.

Victory, defeat.

Why is that?

Let me answer it for you.

I mean, I've always asked, why, Lord, can't I just stay on the mountaintop?

Let me tell you why you can't stay on the mountaintop.

You don't grow on the mountaintop.

You grow in the valley.

So there's gonna be what we call life.

Up one minute, down the next.

I uh okay.

I need a no we uh hey, give me a little bit more light, Benji or Garrett.

I'm getting blinder.

Is that a word?

I don't think more blind, thank you.

I knew that didn't sound right back in English 101.

But you know what?

Thank you.

Yes, that's better.

That's better.

I can see better.

Hey, here's what I I want you to understand.

Life is life.

You know what life is?

Up one minute, down the next.

You one moment, full the next.

And let me tell you what I call it good to bad job.

That's what I've done.

Just a closest.

Defeat it, God defeats it.

God brings the walls down, they take it over, and then they go, whoo, look at us.

Look at us.

Man, look at me.

Now, hey, one thing about it, he said, all right.

Well, let's go on to AI, that's next.

Go ahead and send some some uh spies out.

He does.

They come back and say, Oh, no problem.

Only 12,000 people, no problem.

Only about 3,000 soldiers, if that many.

Two to three thousand soldiers.

Hey, hey, why don't you do this, Josh?

Just let me, hey, just let us take about 3,000 of our our men of valor.

Hey, hey, let us take our some of my bet soldiers.

We'll just go up there and we'll knock this out.

People just relax, chill, baby, and we'll handle it.

Next thing they know, here comes their 3,000 soldiers running back like a bunch of cowards hollering, ah, they're killing us, they're killing us.

And they did.

They killed 36 men.

36 died that day.

We don't know that one died in Jericho.

I don't, there was no listen.

The biggest battle.

36 died.

Why?

They made a mistake.

They forgot God, they left God out of the equation, they decided since, hey, they thought, and see where they really messed up, they thought it was them that had taken Jericho instead of God.

Amen.

When you leave God out of the equation, you're headed for destruction.

And the sad thing about it, you don't even realize it.

Because what?

You're in the flesh.

We're in the flesh.

We're in the flesh.

We're in the flesh.

Because we think we did it.

So here's the setting.

Now, Joshua repents.

Joshua is a sack closed and ashes.

He runs back to God where he all he said, God, I'm sorry what's happened.

God tells him, hey, you got to get rid of sin in the camp.

There's sin in the camp.

You got to deal with it.

He deals with it.

We saw that Achan.

Hey, they'd stoned the whole family, put them to death, then burned the bodies.

And then God says, Now you've obeyed me.

You've gotten sin out of the camp.

You've gotten sin out of your life.

Now I'm ready to help you now go back and do what you're supposed to do, and that's take Ai.

So let's go now and take Ai.

And we pick up the story in chapter 8.

And the Lord said unto Joshua, Fear not.

Now remember in chapter 1, when he comes into Canaan, the first thing he says four different times, fear not, have courage, fear not, have courage, fear not, have courage, fear not, have courage, have courage.

And now he's going right back to what he did in chapter one.

He said, Hey, these old boys need some, hey, encouragement.

And so he says, Fear not.

Listen to me, folks.

Say this with me, church.

Say this.

Fear not.

Fear not.

Fear not.

Why?

God's with us.

God's not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

2 Timothy 1, 7.

Fear not.

Don't be discouraged.

I'm with you.

Now notice what he says.

Don't be discouraged.

That's what would dismay mean.

Take all the people of war.

In other words, don't take 3,000.

Take all 600,000 army men.

Hello.

God never told, hey, God always told them to take them all.

It's a, hey, it's a one family.

We are like a church.

God doesn't want just a handful to be involved.

He wants us all to be involved.

Can I get an amen?

So he says, take them all.

Gotta be.

And rise, go to Ai.

See, I have now watch, giving it into the hand, the king of Ai and his people and his city and his land.

In other words, he said, before you even leave today, I'm with you.

The city's yours, the king's yours, the people are yours.

You're gonna have victory.

Now I don't know about you, but if God tells me I'm gonna have victory, bless God, charge.

Amen.

He gives a promise.

This is a promise.

This is not, I think you're gonna win.

You're gonna win.

Folks, the church has won.

And it's time we start live.

We've got the next, hey, this opportunity.

I know the politics thing, and I know we're tired of it, but let me tell you, hey, we've got an opportunity with the division that's trying, Satan's trying to do in America.

We've got the best opportunity now to go out into our community and preach the love of Jesus and the love of God and everybody coming together as one that we've had in a long time.

Amen.

I'm serious.

I really believe that.

I believe God has given the church an opportunity to have revival again as a whole.

I really believe that.

I really do.

He's setting the stage so we can come in.

So today I want us to look at four things that I see in this whole chapter.

One, the words for the second attack, then we're gonna look at the warriors in the second attack, then we're gonna look at the warring in the second attack, and then we're gonna look at the worship after the second attack.

So let's begin with number one, the words.

Look at it, verse one and two.

Look at verse two.

Not only did he say, Hey, I'm gonna give you the city, then he says, and thou shalt do to Ai and her king as thou did unto Jericho and her king.

Only the spoil thereof and the cattle thereof shall ye take for a prey unto yourselves, lay thee and ambush for the city behind him.

Woo! Man! Talking about some truth.

Look, if Achan had just been still and know that there's a God, and listened to God, and been patient with God, instead of trying to decide he would take the spoils himself, he'd take the silver, he'd take the Babylonian garment, hey, and take it to his tent.

Look, look how good God is.

If you do it God's way, hey, he'll give you the spoils.

Amen.

He didn't have to die.

His family didn't have to die.

If it had done it God's way instead of his way, he would have enjoyed the spoils plus still be living.

Hello, that's good, preacher.

Amen.

You see that?

Why?

Because God says, you give me what's mine, you give me the first fruits, hey, of all that you have, and I'll take care of you.

Oh, he says that I'll fill the barn, and your wine presses will be running over so much you can't contain it.

Preach that word.

Proverbs 3, 10 and 11.

Are you hearing me, church?

So what truth?

Look at the look at the truth here.

So in verse 1, he says, hey, look, he says, fear not.

God's not giving us the spirit of fear.

Notice the second thing he says, now don't faint, don't get disturged, don't give up, neither be thou dismayed.

See, Joshua had lost heart and interest in conquering Canaan because he had been defeated.

He didn't know how to handle defeat.

You know why a lot of us don't get back up after we defeated.

We don't understand and learn how to handle defeat.

We've got to learn how to handle defeat.

Can I say something?

Not everybody gets a trophy.

Amen.

Boy, we gotta, everybody's gotta get a trophy.

We don't want to hurt their feelings.

Well, I got news for you.

That's not life.

Not everybody gets a trophy.

You gotta learn to lose.

You gotta be a good, hey, hey, hey, you gotta be a, I don't like to say a good loser.

I've never been a good loser, but you gotta learn to be a good sport.

And you gotta learn from your losses and your defeats so that you can become stronger and better when you get back up.

That's what you need to teach your children.

You can't teach them, well, well, I hear parrots all the time.

It's okay, Johnny.

Johnny, it's okay.

It's okay.

Teach.

No, no, it's not okay.

You just got your backside whipped.

No, it's not okay.

What did we do wrong so we could correct it?

What did we how did, hey, did we listen to God?

Let's get God, make sure God's in the equation.

No, so important.

So we see, hey, he says, don't be discouraged, and look what else he said.

Then he inspires them.

Hey, this is all.

He said, Don't be afraid, don't be discouraged, and here's why.

Look at what he says.

Verse 1.

Go up to Ai.

Remember?

Get up.

Get up and go.

Don't get up and moan.

Get up and go.

And he says to Ai, I have given it into your hands the king of Ai and his people and his city and his land.

This was an inspiring promise indeed.

And let me remind you: if God be for us, say it with me.

Who can be against us?

God is my refuge and strength at very present help in time of trouble, Psalm 46.1.

Get up, attack, go.

When you get down, hey, when you go down, the righteous get back up seven times, Proverbs 24, 16.

And you don't just get up, you attack.

You regroup and attack.

You regroup and listen to God and then attack.

And we see this.

Powerful.

Look at what he just powerful.

The words, there's two things here in your outline.

The words of inspiration, which we just looked at.

Now look at the second thing, the words of instruction.

After the inspirational words, God gave Joshua instruction for the second attack.

Hey, listen to me.

When you get defeated, if you don't hear anything, listen to this.

This is good.

When you get defeated, if you'll get back up and say, God help me, God teach me, God will give you the right instructions and teach you from your defeat how you can be victorious.

Can I get an amen?

That's good, folks.

Look at what God says.

He gives them instruction.

Now that Joshua's up, Joshua says, Okay, Lord, I'm ready.

Tell me what I need to do.

Look at what God says.

The instructions, first of all, about the soldiers.

Look at what he says, verse 1.

Take all the people of war with thee.

He said, Don't go, hey, don't send a group, send them all.

Hey, we're not playing business.

We don't care if there's 10,000, 12,000.

Hey, we don't care if there's 200.

Bless God, we're fixing to send 600,000.

Take them all.

We're fixing to take the hey, we're finished and take those suckers out.

Jesus.

You're going with everything you got.

You're not holding anything back.

Then notice what he says secondly.

Then he says, now here's how you're going to siege it.

Look at verse 2.

Thou shalt do to Ai and her king as I did unto Jericho and her king.

It was to be like the siege upon Jericho.

In other words, annihilation's coming.

You're going to do to Ah what you just did to Jericho.

Now, I'm sure by this time Joshua's thinking, uh, are we going to circle it seven times and blow the trumpet?

What are we going to do this time?

He said, Don't get ahead of me, Joshua.

I'm going to tell you how we're going to do it.

You ever wonder what God wants you to do?

Four of us?

All y'all die?

Okay, that's a little better.

I mean, have you ever wondered what God wants me to take this job?

God wants me to leave this job.

God wants me to date this person.

God doesn't.

God wants me to marry this person.

God doesn't.

I mean, haven't you?

Don't you ever wonder about some things like that?

Well, listen, if you'll be still and ask him, he'll tell you.

He said, Joshua, just hang on.

I'm sure Joshua said, well, you've told me we're going to take it.

Hey, I got my trumpeter.

He's got his lips ready.

We'll circle it seven times, blow the trumpet.

He said, No, just I got another way.

Here's how we're going to do it, Joshua.

Now notice.

He said, All right, we take all the people.

Then he says, now, hey, he says, we're going to take it.

And then notice what he says.

Then he gets some anxiety.

He says, and then verse 2, he says, and only the spoils thereof and the cattle thereof shall you take for pray unto yourselves.

In other words, hey, I'm going to bless you this time.

You're going to take it.

And again, as I told you, Proverbs 3, 9 and 10.

Honor the Lord with the substance and with the first fruits of all things, of thy increase, and so shall thy barns be filled and running over.

So he says, Hey, I'm going to take care of you.

You're going to have all you need.

And then notice what he says.

Now here's how you're going to fight the battle.

Look at what it says in verse 2.

Lay thee an ambush for the city behind it.

See, the strategy was basically the setting up of an ambush for Ai.

Okay, we're going to ambush you.

How are we going to do it, Lord?

I'm going to tell you.

Just be still.

He says, I will instruct thee.

I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way thou shalt go.

I will guide thee with my eye.

Psalms 32.

Now let me tell you how we're going to ambush them.

Watch this.

It's going to be good.

Takes me to the second point.

The warriors and the second attack.

He says, Let me tell you what you're going to do with your warriors.

And by the way, Ai gives us some instructive information about how they did it.

Look at verse 3.

Joshua arose and all the people of war to go against Ai.

Here we see the evidence that, again, they were committed to being obedient to God.

Ladies and gentlemen, listen to me.

You can't ask God, hey, to direct you if you're not committed to being committed to his direction.

Can I get an amen?

Because when God tells you, you got to do it, or you're going to end in defeat.

You can't ask God to give you direction and you not be committed to doing it.

You got to be doers of the word, not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

That's the word.

That is.

James 1.22.

You deceive yourselves of God's direction, God's power, God's comfort, God's protection, because you do it your way.

And when you do it your way, what happens?

Disaster.

Discouragement.

Defeat.

Destruction.

Now watch.

Look at the example of the commitment.

Joshua arose and all the people.

The leader must show by example, and Joshua's a good example here in demonstrating a commitment to the Lord's work.

In 1 Peter chapter 5, verses 1 through 4 is the leadership.

1 Peter 5:1–4

Really, it's the passage.

Of the crown of for the shepherd.

You know, when we stand before the beam of judgment seat, we're all going to receive crowns, but there's one, there's six crowns, but one of those six crowns is just for shepherds.

The leader, the leader of the church, the leader, Joshua, Moses, one crown.

But you know what he says in 1 Peter chapter 5, verse 1 and 4?

1 Peter 5:1

He says, first of all, you got to lead, hey, willingly, not for money, not for prestige, not for power, but you got to have a heart to lead and shepherd the people because you love God and you love them.

And then you lead by being an example.

But then he also goes to 1 Timothy chapter 4, verse 12, and he tells us all that we are to be examples.

1 Timothy 4:12

He says, Let no man despise thy youth, but you and I are to be examples as believers in word.

That means in what we speak and how we speak in conversation, in our behavior.

And then we're to be in love.

We're to love people unconditionally.

In spirit, we're to have a kind, blessed spirit.

In faith, we're to believe what God says and do what God says, and we're to live in purity, in holiness, and keeping ourselves pure for God.

We're to be examples.

Amen.

That's it.

And we will be held accountable for that.

And then look what else we see.

We see not only the commitment, but the choice of the warriors.

Look at verse 3.

Joshua chose out 30,000 mighty men of valor and sent them away by night.

Whoa! The choosing of the warriors did not negate the instructions to take all the people to war, but now out of all 600,000, he says, Ho! Now I need the best of the best.

I need the mighty men of valor.

I need the Navy SEALs.

I need the Green Beret.

I need the special force.

You know what that means?

I need those that are mature, and I know that they're faithful and I know they're trained.

I've seen them in action.

They're the best.

Every time I've called on them, they've been faithful.

Every time I've given them a task, they've been faithful.

Those are the ones I need.

Not the once a month Christians.

I need those that when the doors are open, they're there.

Hey, when the task need to be taken, it's there.

It's taken.

I don't need the Christmas attenders and the Easter attenders.

I need those faithful, mighty men and women of valor.

600,000?

No, I don't need 600,000.

Oh, we're all going, but I need 30,000 that I know when when they go in, it's all over.

See, I don't think the 3,000 were mighty men of valor that went on.

I think they were just regular soldiers.

But now we're talking, and let me say, I'm not that I'm condemning a regular soldier.

But what we're talking about is, and Darren said it, the faithful, mature Christian.

What did Paul tell Timothy?

All right, Timothy, you got a job to do.

I'm fixing to be beheaded.

I'm fixing to leave, go to be with God.

He says, it's up to you.

And then he said in 2 Timothy 2, 2, what did he say?

Timothy, choose out from among you faithful men that are able to train others.

These are the faithful men that have trained others, that have been in the battles.

These are the warriors.

You got to remember Joshua's a warrior.

He's a great general.

And you're going to see this when he lays out the task.

So we see these are the mature Christians.

That's why I love Iwana.

Do you realize what we're training here through Iwana?

Let me help you.

Here's for Iwana.

You need your kids in Iwana.

You need your kids in our Sunday school.

You know what?

We're training approved workmen of not ashamed.

We're training those mighty men and women of valor through the word of God.

Oh, and guess what?

We just found out.

I wana has soccer.

So this spring, uh, God willing, we get some grass on the, if it'll rain, so we can get some grass.

If not, well, bless God, they can kick in the dirt.

But hey, we're going to start I wanna soccer.

Rick's real excited.

He's a soccer coach.

We're gonna have them, hey, they're gonna be kicking the ball, but they're gonna be memorizing scripture.

Ha ha.

I'll kick you in the name of Jesus.

Hallelujah.

Amen.

But notice, hey, it was God chose them.

God chooses.

Now we, hey, this is awesome.

Look at the character.

Mighty men of valor.

They had proven themselves.

And look at the choosing.

30,000.

He knew exactly how many he needed.

See, there has to be a choosing process.

What's this in our life?

God chooses you to be saved.

You have to accept him.

Amen.

You've got to accept him.

Then God chooses you for a task.

You've got to be prepared for the task.

Amen.

And I've got news for you.

God chooses those that he can trust.

Amen.

Much is required.

Yes, that's it.

You really want to be used greatly by God?

Here it is.

Just start growing.

Start being faithful.

Oh, just start doing.

Hey, hey, hey, when those and let me tell you, start with the most menial task.

Putting up a chair.

But do it faithfully.

Young people, do it faithfully.

Do it faithfully.

Be there, and you say, Well, I'm I I got better gifts than to just put up a chair.

No, you don't.

Because if you can't put up a chair, what makes me think you're gonna do something else?

Hello?

Hey, David.

David started as a sheep herder.

Doesn't get any lower than that.

Stinking sheep.

And you get upset because you have to wash a dish.

How'd you like to shovel sheep manure?

Hello?

Hello?

Hey, are you listening?

Start at the lowest.

You know where I started cleaning bathrooms at Thomas Road Baptist Church?

And I'd been a police officer.

The only job was available when I got there, and let me tell you, when you don't have a job, listen to me.

And you got your family with you, and you just got a place to live, an apartment, you gotta have a job.

I didn't care.

I needed a job.

Well, I don't know if I want that job.

Well, you're not hungry enough yet.

Amen.

Hello.

You listening?

Start at the bottom.

Be willing to do it.

Hey, do it at the bottom.

Hey, if you're faithful in little things, Bottom make you great in big things.

If you can't be faithful in little things, forget the big things.

You'll never see them.

Amen.

Because God is going to use those that are faithful.

You don't start out being a Navy SEAL by just bless God.

I'm going to be a Navy SEAL.

You won't last a day.

They choose out from among the servicemen those that have been faithful and tough and smart and hey, obey.

And they're the ones that they say, these guys got it.

They have the potential to be a seal.

Now, great, let me tell you the ones that go in seal school, they're the best of the best.

And still only 30% of them make it.

You want to be a radical Christian?

You don't know what you're asking for.

Hello?

You gotta be, hey, you gotta be radically sold out.

I don't want that.

I just want to be saved and go to heaven.

I don't need that other stuff.

So you want to be in the back of the line, I guess.

Well, it doesn't matter how as long as I'm in the line.

That's the wrong attitude, folks.

It really concerns me if you're gonna be in the line at all.

If you don't want to be the best you can be.

No, you need to check which line you're in.

Hello, just a thought.

So, you gotta choose.

Choose you this day whom you're gonna serve.

Me and my house, we're gonna serve God.

You bring your children up in a home where you have daily devotions.

You go to church.

I didn't have a choice.

When my Sunday morning, I'm going to church.

Folks, I'm telling you, if I could just, but I can't.

You gotta choose.

I had to choose for myself.

I used to think people like me were crazy.

Now I know they are.

Now I am one.

Now be the one.

That's right.

Amen.

So look at the third thing, the commands.

Now watch him real quick.

Send them away by night.

Uh-oh, it's not gonna be easy to be a mighty value valor.

Hey, a man of mighty valor, a woman of mighty valor, uh-uh.

They had to go all night.

They had to march and get in position all night while the other ones were sleeping.

They were working, they were marching, they were sacrificing.

Thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

2 Timothy 2, 3.

Now watch.

Now, here comes the strategy.

Ye shall lie and wait against the city, verse 4.

Here we see patience is needed.

Uh-oh.

Gotta be patient.

Let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect, hey, and ready for service in all areas.

James 1, 4.

And then look.

Now here's the side.

Behind the city.

Uh-oh.

Has a place.

Hey, hey, hey.

Verse 4.

Behind the city.

God has a place for every soldier.

That's a good point here.

He has a place for every soldier.

And by the way, behind the city meant you weren't going to be the one up on the stage.

Hello.

Isn't it amazing the people behind the scene?

Can I say something?

If the people behind the scene were not faithful to do their job, hey, the stage would never happen.

Amen.

Thank God for the behind the scenes people.

Thank God for Jason, Garrett.

Thank God for being back there on the whoever on the thank God for the camera workers, but thank God for the nursery workers.

Thank God for them down there in the working with your kids.

Hey, thank God for the kitchen folks.

You enjoy one of the best meals in town, the best restaurant in town.

It's the only restaurant in town, but it's still the best.

Because people get here at 6:30, 7 o'clock before you pull in here at 9:30 or 10.

Setting up, taking down.

Thank God for those men behind the scene.

Let me tell you what God calls you.

Mighty men and women of valor.

Woo! That's good, preacher.

And I know what you're thinking.

I wish so-and-so was here to hear this.

No, you need to hear it.

I need to hear it.

But maybe they are watching.

A lot of them are.

Amen?

But now watch, this gets good.

The lowly place.

Humble yourself.

I mean, it's just, and we all have our place.

Hey, some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors, some teachers.

We all have our place for the purpose of perfecting the church, building the church.

Ephesians 4, 11, and 12.

We all have our place.

The question is, are you involved in your place?

Now watch this.

If you're not involved in your place, the body's suffering.

The army's in trouble.

The army has a weak spot.

Amen.

If you're not doing your job.

You say, I really don't know what to do.

Let me tell you how to find out.

Just start doing something every.

Hey, do something.

If you don't like it, do something else.

If you don't like it, finally you're going to find something you like.

And guess what?

You may not like it, but if you're the only one there to do it, till somebody else shows up to do it, do it anyway.

Amen.

Just be a servant.

Get in on it.

Get in on it.

Now watch.

Then verse 4, go not very far from the city.

Let me just go ahead and lay it out for you.

Then he says, verse 4, be ye ready.

Be ready to give an answer for the hope that lies within you.

Can I get an amen?

1 Peter 3.15.

And then he says in verse 5 and 6, and I and all the people that are with me all approach into the city.

Let me just tell you basically what he said.

He said, Here's what we're going to do.

We're going to take the 30,000 men of valor.

You're going to go behind the city.

You're going to march all night.

All night you're going to go around and come in, be on the backside of the city.

And he says, then I'm going to take the rest of the army.

Well, he says, and then I'm going to take 5,000 and send them to the east.

Because there's a little town called Bethel there that was going to help, help Ai.

City of about 3,000.

He said, so I'm going to send 5,000 over here so that when they try to come and help, you're going to take them out.

But then we're going to charge like we did in the like y'all did in the first battle.

And they're going to see us and they're going to say, oh, they're coming again.

Oh, remember what we did last time?

Oh, we attacked them.

We ran out.

We put them running.

We killed 36 of them.

Oh, he said, so you act like the same like they did the first time, attacking the front, and then what's going to happen?

They're going to come out.

They're going to come after instead of sitting there and fighting, probably which they could have beaten them.

But hey, knowing that they probably would lose some more calves guilties or whatever.

But he was thinking, he said, we're going to turn around and run, and they're going to think that we're running like we did the first time, and they're going to come after us, and after we get so far, then you 30,000, you're going to go in there, you're going to burn down the city, and after you burn down the city, you're going to come out and come in behind them, and we're going to turn around.

And we're going to have them boxed in from all directions.

Now that's a pretty good strategy.

That's God's plan.

And sure enough, it happened.

Now watch.

Let's go.

Let's go on down to the third thing.

In verse 8, he says, You're going to burn the city.

That's the final judgment.

He says you're going to burn it.

You're going to burn everything.

Death and hell will cast in a lake of fire.

This is the second death.

Whosoever's name was not found written in the book of life and cast in a lake of fire.

Revelation 20, 15.

What a picture.

What a picture.

What a picture.

Now look at the third thing, the warring going on.

First of all, the arrangement.

Look at it.

He tells them exactly how he's going to do it.

I just told you.

Notice the second thing, the ambush.

Verses 14 through 17.

Now notice the awareness of the ambush in verse 14.

It came to pass when the king of Ai saw it, that they hastened and rose up early, went out against Israel to battle.

Joshua had set things up well.

And look at verse 14.

Went out against Israel before the plain.

The king of Ai assumed that the warriors he saw on the north were Israel's army attacking.

Again, he assumed, and wrongly, that they were the only Israelite attackers.

In fact, verse 14 says, For he wished knew not that there were liars in ambush against him behind the city.

And then notice the attack.

The men of the city went out against Israel to battle, and not only did he send the warriors about 3,000, he decided, he said, this is it, we're going to take them out.

He took the whole city, all 12,000 people.

And I'm sure he saw a big army in front of him.

But he didn't know there was 30,000 behind him of the best of the best.

So he said, hey, this is it.

We're ending it today.

Oh, yeah.

He just didn't know how much he was fixing to end it.

I mean, he started out with a crown, ended up as a corpse.

Hello.

Let's go.

And look what happens.

The luring.

Joshua and all Israel, verse 15, made as they were beaten before them and fled by the way of the wilderness.

The fleeing would uh, hey, bring the action of the Israelite soldiers in the previous attack.

They would be thinking they're running again.

And then the look at it, the eagerness.

Look at verse 16, the eagerness of the king and the people that were in Ai were called together to pursue after them, and they pursued after Joshua and were, hey, hey, drawn away from the city.

They went after them with great vengeance and great excitement, great vigor, because they had defeated them before, but they didn't realize, verse 17, there was not a man left in Ai or Bethel that went not out after Israel.

They all went after Israel.

All of them.

Abandoning the city was a catastrophe for Ai.

It gave the ambushers unhindered opportunity.

Look at the third thing, the annihilation.

Woo!

The fourth, look at verse 18.

The Lord said, I will give it into thy hand.

The victory of Ai, the annihilation of Ai, was due to the power of God, not Israel.

Not of their own skill, but because of God.

He decided the strategy.

Now watch.

The ambush arose quickly, verse 19, out of their place, ran and they hasted.

The ambushers did not waste time.

They attacked immediately.

And then look at verse 19 and 28, set the city on fire, burnt Ai, and made it a heap.

And look at verse 20.

And when the men of Ai looked behind them, they saw the smoke of the city, and they had no power to flee.

The army of Ai, not the people of Israel, now were faint-hearted.

In other words, here's what Joshua told them.

He said, For we run, I'm going to have my spear up, and I'm going to keep my spear up.

And as the smoke and the fire begins to burn, I'm going to keep it up until everything's destroyed.

Everything.

And after everything's destroyed, and I see you start coming out, and you're now attacking from the rear, I will keep my spear up until we annihilate every one of them.

Just like Moses had to do when Joshua and them helped him hold up his arms.

When his arms came down, they would start losing the battle.

As he kept his arms up, they won the battle.

Amen.

Wow.

Wow.

They smote it with the sword, verses 24, 26, 28, 29.

Look, smote it with the edge of the sword.

Joshua drew not his hand back.

He kept it up until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai, burnt Ai, made it a heap forever, even a desolation, and to this day, the king's, the king and his carcass raised thereup on a grape heat of stones.

Wow.

And then verse 27, the fourth thing, we see the awards.

From the warring.

Wow.

We see the annihilation.

We see the ambush.

We see the arranging, and lastly, we see the awards.

Look at verse 27.

Only the cattle and the spoil of that city is will took for a prey and in themselves according to the word of the Lord which he commanded Joshua.

God said the spoil.

Of victory could go to the people.

Can I tell you this?

Listen to me.

When you fight for God, you stand for what's right, you stay faithful, the rewards are coming.

You don't cheat God, you don't keep back from God, you don't hold back from God.

The rewards are coming.

The crowns are coming.

Look what he did for him.

Look what he did for them.

If Achan had only listened and waited, seek ye first the kingdom of God, say it with me.

In his righteousness, and what?

All these things shall be added unto you.

Hey, you know why people, I was thinking the other day.

Why do people have financial problems?

That's a good question.

Here's what God laid on my heart.

I was going through this when I was thinking about, you know, giving God what's his, and then he fills your barns and your wine presses.

Give him the first fruits.

Here's what happens.

One, one, we spend too much.

We spend too much.

You say, no, wait a minute.

No, that's not true, Pastor Danny.

I don't make enough.

No?

Let me tell you something.

I can remember when I started ministry what I was making.

And I'm not, and I'm not walking the snow five hours and all that stuff.

But when we got married, we lived in a little apartment.

I was a pastor in Open Door Baptist Church.

It took her three months to save up money.

It took her three months to buy Walmart curtains.

Wasn't making a whole lot of money, folks.

But you know what?

I look back.

We were just as happy as we are now.

We were just as excited as we are now.

We were having just as much fun as we are now, probably more.

Because let me tell you something, when you have to trust God for everything, it's a little more exciting.

Amen.

It really is.

I'm going to tell you something, folks.

It really is.

And we didn't go in debt.

We didn't use credit cards.

See, back then you couldn't get a credit card like you can now.

I mean, you you had to have money to get a credit card.

The so how can I get a credit card?

I want a credit card because I need help and money, but I gotta have money to get a credit card if I got money when I need the credit card.

Pay as you go.

Amen?

But we spend too much.

And what I was my granddaddy taught me very early, you sp hey, you live in your means.

But see, we get credit cards and we go get ourselves so much in debt that we're head over heels in debt, and then we're in trouble.

Second thing, we don't give enough.

Give, and it should be given unto you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over shall men give back unto you.

Luke 6.38.

You don't give enough.

See, God didn't prosper you to hoard it, He prospered you and me to give it.

Amen.

We don't need more, we need to give more.

And that's a lesson that wasn't in the outline, but God said, teach it.

And I'm telling you, it has been a lesson for me and Susan 35 wonderful years.

It works, folks.

It works.

And there's a lot of other solid Christians in this building right here sitting today that would tell you the same thing.

They're where, you know why they are where they are today?

It's because they learn to live within their means and they learn to give.

That's what God blesses.

I'll open the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing.

That's what he says.

He'd either, hey, either he would do it or he's a liar.

Can God lie?

No.

Hebrews 6.18, God can't lie.

So it's you gotta remember, you gotta make the choice.

You gotta make the choice to do what God tells you to do if you want to be that mighty man and woman of valor.

When God gives you, hey, God's not gonna use people that half-heartedly serve him to a certain extent.

You know, hey, he's gonna use you half-heartedly.

I know I've been there.

I've been there.

I know when I was being used half-heartedly.

Because I was just giving half-heartedly.

It works.

And that brings me to the last point, and I'm through.

The worship.

Benji, take note.

You've been wanting to hear something about worship?

Watch this.

After they were rewarded, after they had won the battle, the worship comes after the second attack.

Look, following the account, look what happens.

Now, wouldn't it seem reasonable now after they just now defeated Ai, they defeated Jericho, let's go to the next city.

Let's go to the next city.

Instead, they take a break and go about 30 miles into the middle of the country with Mount Gerizim on one side and Mount Abel on the other side in the beautiful, most gorgeous valley, most richest valley of the whole promised land.

But what that does for them, it puts them in the middle of all their enemies.

There were seven enemies, seven nations in that Canaan, I mean, in the uh area that they were going to have to, you know, defeat.

So they're gonna be now right in the middle of those enemies, and instead of preparing for attack, they're taking the whole nation Israel to worship.

You say to them, oh no, no, that's the best thing to do.

Oh, it is if God tells you to do.

Because he will protect you.

And he did.

And the Canaanites were frightened to death, especially after they hear again of what just happened to Dea.

They're not worried about tacking, they're worried about running and hiding.

So he takes them all and they worship.

Now, watch this real quickly.

Write it, fill in the blanks, because this is so powerful about worship.

Verse 30, the priority of worship.

Then Joshua built an altar unto the Lord God of Israel in Mount Abel.

We see that the priority of worship is seen throughout Scripture.

You would think that after a great victory, again, Israel will be concerned about the next battle.

No.

Why?

The great general realized, Joshua, that it is our spiritual condition, not our military condition, that matters with God.

And I don't care how great we rebuild our military, and I'm for it.

If we don't rebuild our nation for God, we've missed it.

Amen.

We've missed it.

Baby agrees too.

John 4, 23 and 24, the hour is coming and now is that we shall worship God in spirit and truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship him.

Notice the second thing.

Look at the precept for worship.

Joshua 8.31, as Moses, the servant of the Lord, commanded.

This particular worship situation was commanded by Moses earlier in Deuteronomy 11, 29, 30, after they had won the victory.

Now it is commanded by Joshua, because God told Joshua, and Jesus said himself in Matthew 4.10, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God.

Come now, let us worship, let us bow down before Him.

Hebrews 10, 25, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some are, but exhorting one another so much more as you see the day approaching that you can come and worship him in this place.

We've had worship today.

Spirit, the singing, the reading of the scriptures, the preaching and teaching of the scriptures.

It's a priority.

And then the precept.

It's commanded by God.

David said, I was glad when they said, Let us go into the house of the Lord.

Psalms 122, 1.

Then look at the place at worship.

Mount Abel, Mount Gerizim.

The place was 23 miles right in the middle.

And then look, though, the protection.

Look at verse 30.

God said, Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things, and I will protect you.

He protected them.

And then look at number five, the price of worship.

Look at verse 31.

They offered their burnt offerings unto the Lord and sacrifice peace offerings.

A burnt offering and peace offerings, which represented, hey, hey, their covenant with God and represented the sacrifice of God for them.

Wow.

David said in 2 Samuel 24, 24, I will not offer up anything that does not cost me something.

Worship costs you.

It costs you a Sunday morning.

Cost you a Wednesday night.

Cost you about three hours a week.

That's really a big burden, isn't it?

But it costs you.

Well, I got a headache today.

I'll watch it.

I'll watch it on TV.

I'm glad you do.

Still not like being here.

Worshiping with God's people.

I love it.

I love, you know what I love when you come in, you tell me about your week, you hug me, you we uh just we get to encourage each other.

We need to be encouragers, we need to pray for one another.

That's why we worship and we hear the word and and spirit.

And then notice the price they offered, it's sacrificed.

And then the people, look at the people, all the children.

Aren't you glad we got a children's minister here?

You bring the whole family, the whole family worships together.

Christmas is gonna, and special services when we're all together.

It's such a special time.

And then look what takes place in the worship, Benji 32 through 35, the proclamation of the word through music and through the word itself.

Writing the word of God for public reading is important.

Thank God for our Bibles.

Now I put it up there for you, but aren't you glad we got our Bibles?

You ought to be reading this book every day.

God gave his life so that you could have this book.

God gave his son, excuse me, so that you could have this book.

In the beginning was the word, the word was with God, and the word was God.

So you could read about him every day.

The reading of the Word of God, the completeness in the Word.

He read all the words of the law.

Aren't you glad you're in a church that preaches the love of God but also the judgment of God?

Can I get an Amen?

And then notice also, again, the congregation, everybody.

And then the last thing, I love verse 33.

All Israel and their elders and their officers and their judges stood on the side, hey, the ark, on the side of the ark, and on that side before the priests of the Levites, which bear the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, half of them over against Mount Gerizim, and half of them over against Mount Abel.

A worship service is not an entertainment service.

A worship service is a participation.

Can I get an amen?

You participate.

You come, you lift your hands, you sing, you pray, you fill in your books, you're writing in the word.

You're learning.

We're learning together to be more like Jesus.

Amen.

Amen.

To be warriors for Jesus.

We're warriors.

Now I don't know about you, but here's the invitation.

If you're not saved, you're not a soldier.

If you're not saved, you're not a soldier.

You're not even in the army.

You need to get saved today.

Behold, now's the time of salvation.

Behold, now's the day of salvation.

Right now, 2 Corinthians 6.2.

Right now.

Right now.

But now if you are in the army, listen to this.

If you are in the army, it's time to ask God, hey, where's my place?

Where do you hey, what am I?

Am I infantry?

Am I a gunner?

Am I in the mess hall?

Hey, where am I?

Lord, where do you want me?

Because there's no minimal job.

The mess hall is just as important as the pulpit.

And don't, hey, Jesse, don't ever forget that.

Darren, y'all that there, and all of you that work, and the ladies that help prepare the food, uh, Anne and everybody, don't ever forget that.

It's just as important.

I promise.

You have a part in everything that goes on.

Do you realize if you're fulfilling, if it's putting up one chair, putting it down, getting the baptistry ready?

Fred was doing that this morning, and two or three others.

Whatever.

You'll have a part in the crowns that God is gonna issue out on the beam of judgment seat because you've been involved in his ministry.

That's important, folks.

You mean to tell me, Brother Danny?

My just picking up a chair is gonna really mean something?

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

There is not a, hey, a cup of cold water given in his name that's not noticed.

Amen.

Isn't that good?

Isn't that good?

Folks, I didn't start out behind the pulpit.

I started out cleaning bathrooms.

I really did.

You know where my preaching started?

Started in a nursery.

No, excuse me.

Nursing home.

Nursing home.

Nursing home.

Wait, wait now.

There was only about 15 in the home where I went every Sunday for almost six months.

And I I had to go get them out of bed, put them in the wheelchair, and wheel them in to the little chapel.

Me and had two Christian service workers.

Half of them didn't know a word I said.

But man, I'd preach like I was preaching to thousands.

Loving on them.

And I had one little lady, she just, amen, it didn't matter what I said.

Amen.

Amen.

And but that was like saying, Sing them to a bulldog to me.

We'd love on them, then go take them to the cafeteria, feed them, take them back.

Did that for six months every Sunday.

Then one day God let me preach the 10,000 regularly at Liberty University.

But that took years, years.

But you know it didn't matter when I was preaching to the 15 and when I was preaching to the thousands.

It didn't matter.

I preached the same way.

It doesn't matter, hey, this thing's standing room only, or you just, hey, half full, and most of the time we're full, but half full, it doesn't matter.

I'm gonna preach everything I've got.

Because I'm not preaching for you.

I'm preaching standing before an awesome God.

And one day I'll give an account for how I preached and what I preached this Sunday morning to you.

That's who I'm preaching for.

When I get through and I walk back, y'all don't have a clue what I'm thinking.

I love you and I'm patting you and shaking hands with you.

But when I get out there and walk out that door right by myself before everybody starts coming out, you know what I say?

Lord, I hope I pleads to you today.

Because that's all that matters.

Now you can pat me on the shoulder and say, Pastor, that's a good message.

And I like that.

But I didn't do it for you.

I did it for him.

Because it's my position.

It's where he's called me and chosen me and placed me.

This is what I do for him.

And for me not to do it.

My place would be empty.

And you say, well, you could, Rick can take your place, and so and so Sylvester can take.

Yeah, they can get up here and preach because they're called to preach.

But hey, they can't take my place.

Nobody can take my place.

God's chosen me, giving me my gifts for my reason.

And I'm the one that He wants to do what God's called me to do.

Nobody else can do what God calls me to do.

Oh, they can do the same task, maybe, but they can't do what God's called me to do because God's called me to do it.

And God has something for you.

Right.

Special.

Come on.

Are you getting this, folks?

It couldn't have been a better Thanksgiving message.

Thankful for who you are.

You're beautiful.

You can look up yourself in the mirror and you say, I'm fat.

No, you're not.

You're wonderful.

God has beautifully created you for who you are, and don't you forget it.

And God doesn't create junk.

Now for me it came pretty close, but hey, he doesn't create junk.

Glory.

You're fearfully and wonderfully made.

So this Thanksgiving, be thankful for who you are.

And be thankful that God's got a plan for your life.

A beautiful plan.

But it starts right here.

Way down here.

And the more faithful you are, the higher you go.

The more mature you get and faithful you are, the higher you go.

And then one day, you're not even gonna realize it.

He's gonna come and he's gonna tap you on the shoulder shoulder.

And he says, I got a special task for you.

Jesus, come with me.

I'm gonna show you.

I need you to go and get behind this bush.

And when I raise the spear and cry out, Jehovah Jirah, you attack.

And I'll lead you.

And I'll be with you.

And here's the good news.

I'll give you the city.

There's not a person in here who doesn't want to be, hey, live happily ever after.

Not one of us.

You can, you can, you can.

I promise you, you can if you do it God's way.

There is a storybook ending, but it has to be done God's way by his storybook, the B I B L E.

And if you'll do that, you'll have that storybook ending.

Let's pray.

Thanks again for tuning into this week's message.

We pray that your life has been changed.

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We hope you have a wonderful day and again, God bless you.