Understanding God's Boundaries | Joshua 15 | Pastor Joel Holm

Hey, man, hey, would you stand to your feet with

me please. If we haven't met, my name is Joel

and I'm one of the teaching pastors here on Wednesday night.

And if you haven't been around, we're in the study

of Joshua. And there are some incredibly powerful passages of

Joshua that kind of stand on their own. And then

there are these powerful passages in the New Testament that

actually don't need a lot of explaining.

They just are so amazing on their own.

And then you run into the chapter We're Gonna look

at Tonight, and the chapter We're Gonna look at Tonight.

On the surface, you go, that just doesn't seem very relevant.

You know, we're talking about thousands of years ago in

a nation settling in this land, and the chapter basically

just describes where the tribes started to settle. And there

are these kinds of passages in scripture, and if we're

not careful, we'll skip over them because they don't seem

that relevant. But Paul wrote to Timothy and he said,

all of script shirt is useful, even the ones that

don't seem highly relevant that may take a little bit

more work, all of scripture is useful. So tonight, I

believe the Lord wants to teach us two things. Money

wants to teach us from this passage, but he also wants.

To show us. The Bible's like a treasure map.

There's gold in there, and sometimes it just jumps out

at you. Sometimes you gotta hunt for it a little bit. Tonight,

we're gonna hunt for it a little bit, and we're

gonna discover there is actually gold in some of the

places that seem really irrelevant. They are rich with gold

if we will give the Holy Spirit time and not

kind of skip over them. So stay standing with me,

and we're gonna read from Joshua chapter fifteen. I'm gonna

read verses one through three. If we have our Bibles

by all means, follow along. The allotment for the tribe

of Judah, according to its clans, extended down to the

territory of Edom to the desert of Zin in the

extreme south. There's southern boundaries started from the bay of

the southern end of the Dead Sea cross south of

the Scorpion Past, continued onto Zin and went over to

the south of Kadish Barnea. Then at raspass Ran past

hesrun up to Adar and curved around to Karka.

Let me pray, Lord, we take you at your word.

That all scripture is useful, even when we read these

verses and they just seem a little irrelevant to how

we're living life right now. But God, you have given

us the spirit of God to bring truth and light

and insight and understanding. So as we study your scripture tonight,

would you speak to each person here those watching online?

Would you talk to us uniquely and distinctly with this

truth that literally will change how we live out our

lives with you and walk in your blessing.

Thank you.

For every person who's here, I thank you for their

life and how you're going to teach them.

We pray this in Christ's name. Amen. Amen, you may

be seated.

So when you read the passage, you're like this and

it seems a little opaque.

What you got to do is kind of step back.

And say, what's the bigger picture that God is teaching

through something like Joshua fifteen.

And if there's a bigger picture that God is teaching,

he's teaching about boundaries.

The entire chapter lays out the fact that God is establishing.

Boundaries for his nation, and in these boundaries.

There's an amazing amount of blessing that comes to them

through the establishment of the boundaries. If there was a

theme for Joshua fifteen, it would be blessing comes through boundaries.

But we have to understand boundaries as a biblical truth,

not a societal truth, because when you talk about boundaries

in society, and maybe for some of you, the first

thing you think is limitation.

We're taught there are no boundaries.

There's no boundaries to how you can dream, there's no

boundaries to your freedom, there's no boundaries to how you

can live. Don't ever have boundaries. There's no ceiling to you.

And God says, no boundaries are actually a really good thing,

and he inserts this chapter giving us an illustration and

an insight into how his boundaries work for us and

how through his boundaries you will discover an enormous greater

amount of blessing that comes into your life. Here's how

the Bible defines boundaries. Boundaries they provide a focus for you.

If you don't have a boundary, you don't have a focus.

If you have a backyard and you got to mow

your backyard, the fence you have is really good because

it's a boundary that says I only have to mow

this lawn. I do not need to mow my neighbor's lawn.

I have a focus. That boundary actually helps you focus

on your responsibility. Boundaries define authority. One of the first

boundaries was in the Book of Genesis where God put

like a no trespassing sign up in front of a tree.

He says, no, no, you have all of this, but

there's a boundary here. That was actually the greatest gift

he could give Adam and Eve. Society would say no,

get rid of the sign. You should have everything, and

God say no, it will.

Mess you up.

But if you understand your authority and what it is

and what it's not, then you will be able to

flow with God so much better. And the enemy actually

uses their lack of understanding of boundaries to tempt them, going,

that's not a boundary for you.

You can be like God.

But when we understand boundaries in the positive way, they

actually kind of define our authority.

Boundaries provide safety.

One time I was on the border of South Korea

and North Korea. Right there on line, they have this

like a big piece of tape, and I wasn't paying attention,

and I stepped over into North Korea, and all of

a sudden, this big g I say, and grabbed me

and pulled me back over. As long as you're on

the right side of the line, you're safe. You get

to the wrong side of the line, you are no

longer safe. And boundaries create for us this really safety zone.

That's important. Boundaries enable stewardship. I am really grateful that

I am responsible for my finances. You saw the great

video on generosity, but I'm actually very grateful that I'm

not responsible for your finances. So I'm accountable to God

for my finances. Thankfully, I'm not accountable to God for

your finances, and it provides kind of this responsibility. I

have the stewardship. I have boundaries, set priorities. They don't

actually limit you. I'll give you an example. If you

put boundaries on how much you scroll on social media,

you will open up a great avenue of time to

pray instead of your Bible. The boundaries on social media

or television create this openness for so much more. That's

not a bad boundary, that's actually a really good boundary

because of all the other things it opens up for

so boundaries biblically are really healthy, really powerful.

And Joshua fifteen.

Although it seems like here's a chapter just about they're

settling the land, the theme is, no, let's learn about

what boundaries are and how God uses them, because what

we're going to discover in this passage his blessings are

directly connected to how you live out the truth of boundaries.

So you have this whole chapter and it seems like

it's just settling which tribes, what lands, and you'll.

Skip over it.

And if you skip over it, you'll miss the fact

that God throws a story in the middle of this chapter.

Look at verse thirteen. In verse thirteen, he throws his story,

and here's how it reads. In accordance with the Lord's

command to him, Joshua gave Caleb, son of Japuna, a

portion of ju kurioth Arba, that is, Hebron Arba was

the forefather of Anak. From here Hebron Caleb drove out

three anak Kites, Sheeshai, Ahima and Talmai, the sons of Anak.

From there he marched again the people living Endeavor formerly

known as kurioth Cephyr and Caleb said, I will give

my daughter Axa in marriage to the man who attacks

and captures Kurioth cephyr Othniel, son of Kennz. I'm doing

pretty good with these translations, aren't I. Caleb's brother took it.

So Caleb gave his daughter Axa to him in marriage.

Verse eighteen. One day she came to Othnil. She urged

him to ask her father for a field. When she

got off her donkey, Caleb aster, what can I do

for you? And she replied, do me a special favor.

Since you have given me the land and the neative,

give me also the springs of water. So Caleb gave

her the upper and lower springs. Now, let me give

you a little bit of background storytelling that shows you

how these boundaries are illustrated. You gotta work a little

bit harder when it comes to a chapter like this.

Here's the background. Judah is Ba basically the fourth born

son of Jacob, and the tribe of Judah, was the

first to receive an inheritance in the land of Cana.

In the first twelve verses of this chapter, they define

the boundaries of Judah's inheritance, and they're described in reference

to geographic location. One of the lessons that comes out

of here is the idea of seasonal boundaries. They have

been in the wilderness, they have been in captivity.

Before that, they lived as a family.

Now they are coming into a season where God says,

you're going to move into a promised land.

And I'm going to divide up the land. If you

don't understand seasonal boundaries.

You will try to jump ahead of God and it'll

mess your life up.

But if you understand there.

Are seasonal boundaries, and everything in God's timing is perfect,

and waiting for his blessing is the best thing you

can do. So there's seasonal boundaries, all right. Then we

go on this entire chapter and even the chapters around it.

They describe that Caleb and Judah are not receiving God's

blessing in a vacuum.

It's not just them, many.

Other people, all the other tribes, all the other Jewish people.

They're receiving God's fulfilled promise directly attached to Caleb. There

is a people boundary. God never blesses you in a vacuum.

There are always people related to the blessing of God

in your life. And if you don't understand the people boundary,

You'll just go. It's me and God, and what can

I get that I need? That will be the blessing

of God. And you will miss out because you won't

factor the people that God includes in that boundary. Caleb

was once a partner spi to Joshua. Remember forty years ago,

twelve tribes went into the land. Two of them Joshua,

and Caleb says, we can do this. Ten said we

can't do it, and the Israelites decided, no, we can't

do it. They end up wandering through the wilderness. Caleb

was not one of those bad spies. He was a

descendant of Judah. He began the process of driving the

children of anarch from his inheritance. So he's already doing

this conquering and he's promised these things because of.

His faithfulness to God. He makes all of.

These successful campaigns. Then he issues a challenge. Anyone who

can conquer this town was to be given the hand

of his daughter Axa in marriage and Othniel, who is this.

Very brave, capable warrior.

Also Caleb's nephew. He steps forward, he accepts the challenge.

He reveals his military skills later after Joshua's death in

what they call the time of the Judges, the very

first judge, the very first spiritual leader over Israel.

In this season, it's Othnil.

And you have two characters in Joshua fifteen who stand

out has been fully devoted.

To God, Caleb and Othniel.

These are people of great holy character, and it's an

illustration of what I call an identity boundary. There's a

boundary around who you are supposed to be. And when

you understand the boundary of who I am, not who

I am, not how I live, not how I live not.

If I understand the boundary, I will walk in the

blessings of God as illustrated by Caleb and Othniel. Caleb's

legacy is passed down. He was always confident in proclaiming

God's promises.

You got to have this identity boundary.

Do not think you can live however you want and

walk in the blessings of God. And there's a reason why,

we'll explain it in a minute. Then Joshua fifteen shows

us God's faithfulness in bestowing his promised blessings, but it

also shows that we have to take an active.

Part in these blessings.

He's given them the land, but they've got to do

some of the battling. God has promised if Caleb and

his sentence and inheritance in this and now the promise

is being fulfilled. But they're able and willing to step

out in faith because of what God has promised. Then

and you have the story of the daughter who's really

I have such an interest and an admiration for this

girl because she says, listen, I know you've given me this,

but Dad, could I have the very best? And she's

commended for going to the father with an expectation that

the father.

Wants to give her the very best. And there's a

faith boundary where.

You put a fence around your circumstances and say faith

is going to define these circumstances. And she walks into

these springs of water and gets the very best because

she's willing to ask for.

Something in a great way.

Then you've got this period of Joshua where they're settling it,

and you realize this is just part of a story.

It's out of settling it that they would become a

nation and kings would come like David, as we learned

about earlier in the service through which the Messiah would come.

And there is this thing called the Kingdom boundary that

even Joshua fifteen is part of.

A bigger story. Whatever blessing God has for.

You, there is a bigger story to it. There's a

bigger purpose to it. He is a loving father who

wants to meet your need. But he never stops just

meeting your need. He takes advantage of blessing you in

a way that will really advance his kingdom. And if

you don't understand the Kingdom boundary, you will miss out

on some of the blessings because you're only focused kind

of on yourself. So here we have this illustration of

these boundaries, and I'm gonna take a few minutes and

unpack them because they're illustrated. And here's what I'm really

gonna believe. The Holy Spirit's gonna do. As I teach

to you these boundaries. The Spirit of God is going

to kind of bring to life just one or two

of them. Listen to him, and God's gonna nudge you

and saying, you know what, you can kind of improve

in this area of this boundary because there's a blessing

waiting for you your promised land. You're blessing from God

and they'll jump out at you.

All right.

So here's the first one, the identity boundary. Caleb and

Othniel and who they were. God's blessing comes when God

receives the glory. And the reason why Caleb and Othniel

are illustrated in the story is because there are people.

Through their story, through what they did, through.

How they believed, through how they acted, God could trust them.

Boundaries set focus.

And when you have an identity boundary, it looks like this,

how will I be known? What kind of integrity will

I have? Will my word matter? What is my gifting

and my offerings to God?

In service? And I'm am I growing?

These are all traits that you begin to develop. You

become a better Christ follower. You become more faithful to Him,

not as a means of earning anything, not as a

means of gaining salvation. But you know, I want my

identity to define who I am, my identity in Christ.

And obedience really matters.

Why because when I obey God, God goes Oh.

I can trust Joel.

I can dump financial blessings into Joel. Why because he

has an identity boundary of generosity. So I will dump

blessing into him because I can trust him. There are

some of you. God is just waiting to.

Pour financial blessing into you, but he loves you too much.

You won't do it because he knows it'll mess you up,

But you go no. I want this identity boundary. I

want to be defined as a follower. I want to grow,

I want to learn. I want to have this integrity

so that God can trust me with the responsibility that

comes with a blessing, Because every blessing.

Comes with responsibility.

A story of God's miracle in your life is a

responsibility to share. That his blessing financially is a responsibility

to steward. That relationships are a responsibility to help build

the body of Christ.

So every blessing of.

God has to be seen not just as something that helps.

Me, but it's a responsibility.

So my identity boundary, I got to be like Caleb

and Authnil and wherever I'm at now, just as Nathan

said it in the video, I just need to grow

a little bit. I want my identity to be clearly defined.

I want it to set the focus.

So I know my family knows I'm a follower of

Jesus Christ, this is who I am, and God.

Goes, Oh, Joel, I can trust you.

Here's a whole bunch of blessing in your life because

now I can trust you. The usual has wandered for

forty years because he couldn't trust them yet, But with

calebern Othniel he could trust them. Then you get into

the faith boundary. This is where you have this sense

of I want a boundary that sets my priorities. And

this daughter, she expects the best from her dad, and

that's commended for her. The Bible teaches us over and

over again that we should have a confidence in coming

before our father. We should be like children who cry

out abba Father, because God's blessing is always greater than

your need. We will have a need. We will bring

the need to our Father. We have defined what we

want God to do by our need, and God knows

our need. But I've seen it happen over and over again.

He doesn't just.

Heal your body. He heals your soul, He heals your mind.

You get this full healing. His answer and blessing is

always greater than your need. And what faith does is

it moves you from simply defining your relationship to God

by need to now having an expectation of how much

greater this Father is, who will give me more than

I could ever imagine, beyond my wildest imaginations. But you

have to have this kind of faith boundary where you

have a confidence in your Dad, and that boundary sets

the priority of if I'm going to have this boundary

when it comes to the circumstances of my life, my

boundary of the circumstances of my life will not be

my ability to solve those circumstances. I had the weirdest

thing happened. I didn't even know this existed. Last week.

I I discovered that my car just stopped working. All

the dashed lights went crazy, and I took it in

and I found out that I had a rodent too

through all my electrical I didn't even know that was

a thing.

It's really creepy.

I got rats in my car, and my first response

was to go through all of.

The things I could do to take care of us.

I gotta take it to the dealer, I gotta talk.

To my insurance, and I'm getting frustrated, And all of

a sudden, I thought I am preparing a teaching on

having a faith boundary that you trust God with everything.

But in real life, I'm just stressing and.

Trying to micromanage and control the whole situation. And have

you ever been slapped by the Holy Spirit? The Holy

Spirit just slaps me. This daughter, she knew her Dad

wanted to give her the very best. Please understand my heart.

Sometimes our prayers don't speak very highly of our father's

id identity and our father's nature. And you have this

boundary around your circumstances that says, I'm not going to

define them by my control over them. I'm going to

define them by a faith that is there because faith

expects the very best from Dad in heaven.

Then you have this seasonal boundary.

So a seasonal boundary is the timing of God that

is illustrated through this. There is a season that comes

and the promise of God is fulfilled.

By them taking the land.

Now that promise has been around for one hundreds of years,

but it's now in this moment that it's coming to pass.

And there is this boundary.

In our life that we have to understand around seasons

that exist. God's timing for the blessing. Because God's blessing

at the right moment is worth the weight, and God's

blessing that you want to get at the wrong moment

will never really be God's blessing. We talked about boundaries

being there for safety. They protect us. The boundary from

the tree, it'll protect you. Don't go to the tree.

We have this.

God protects us with seasonal boundaries. When God says not yet, Joel,

it's not your time yet, Joel, that's a seasonal boundary,

and I have to understand that seasonal boundary. A couple

examples of this. If you're younger and you're single and

you want to get married.

If you don't.

Understand seasonal boundaries, you may rush into a decision that

will not sustain itself because you're so eager for something,

and God has even promised you that. But is it

the timing of it? Is it the season of it

that causes that to happen. Some of you have this

calling and desire for ministry, which is amazing, and God's

even put a promise in your heart about ministry, which

is amazing.

Is it the season of that?

And seasonal boundaries cause us to step back and say, God,

you are orchestrating my life and the timing of my life,

and I'm going to trust the boundaries that are there.

This is the season I'm in.

Now there will be another season I'm in and those

boundaries will shift in. So you have to understand what

are the boundaries that exist right now in this season.

If you are a married couple and you've got five

little kids, you got some boundaries.

Do not let the enemy make you feel.

Guilty about stuff because you're raising five little children and

you can't be volunteering twenty hours a week.

That's okay.

It's a season and there are seasonal boundaries that God defines.

But when you don't understand seasonal boundaries, you just say, God,

I want this now, I want to right now. You

go no, I trust you God in your season, in

your timing. Lead me and give me a discernment of that.

What happens oftentimes if we don't understand this idea of

seasonal boundary, then we try to force it and then

discouragement comes in because it doesn't happen. This story illustrates

for us that there was a specific season that God

planned for them to walk into their blessing and the

promised Land, and there is a season that God has

for you. Some of you are holding on to a promise.

Do not let go of that promise. You hang on

to that promise, but understand that there are seasons in

the Lord, and understand those boundaries that are and you

trust them with them. Then there's the people boundary that

this story is not just about a couple of individuals.

It's about a nation that God's blessing is found in people,

and these other tribes receive this land. God's blessing is

always connected to others. And here's why this boundary is

so important for us, because boundaries, I told you biblically

are about stewardship. You know what you are responsible for.

Let me give you a good example of this. One

of the boundaries of people that society will impress upon

you was build a fence around your life.

And when it comes to difficult.

People, marginalize people, people who will take from you, do

not let them in that fence. And society will say

boundaries are really good around people. But then they will

define the people boundary around the people who will help you,

who will promote you, who will advance you, and the

ones that won't keep them on the other side of

the fence. And if we buy into societies thinking about

people boundary, we will do exactly the opposite. We will

do what society says, and we will never walk into

God's blessings because God's blessings comes oftentimes through the people

that are part of the boundaries of our life. There's

this passage that Paul was teaching the church about in

Romans twelfth when he said this, don't be proud, but willing,

but be willing to associate with people of lower position.

Don't be proud, but the marginalized people, the people who

are lower You put them inside the fence. The janitor

who works at your office place that everybody walks past,

that nobody cares about because he's just the janitor who

works the graveyard chieft, you put him inside.

He's a people. You put them in.

That that relative who is just driving you nuts, put

him inside. Don't be proud, be willing to associate with

people of lower status. Why Because society has a way

of saying you're important, you're not important. You're important, you're

not important, And they use categories such as wealth or

sometimes race or identity to say.

You're important, you're not important, and Jesus is is no.

What we're gonna do is we're gonna go to the

people whose society has says are not important, and we're

gonna welcome them, and we're gonna counteract the lie. We're

gonna show them how valuable there are. We're gonna counteract

the live of society that says they're not important. I'm

gonna go to that homeless person and I'm gonna show

them dignity and love and respect, and I'm gonna counteract

the lie that society says you're not important. And when

I do that, when I understand people boundaries biblically, there

is a huge blessing that I receive. But if I

buy into society's definition of people boundaries and I'm only

gonna let people in who help me, who make my

life easier, I will miss out on so many blessings

of God. And right now there are some of you,

and maybe this is the one that the Holy Spirit

kind of brings to your mind. And you've got some

people in your life and they kind of fit that

lower marginalized people, and sometimes it's difficult and you want

to put them on the outside of the fence and

God's saying you are missing out a blessing in your

own life, because Jesus says, when you do this to

the least of these, you've done it to me. You

will discover a whole other side of Jesus. In doing that,

we counteract that lie. Then there's this kingdom boundary where

God's blessing is more than just your blessing. Because we

talked about boundary defines authority. So I am a dad,

I have three kids. That's my boundary as a dad.

I am not your kid's dad. I have no authority

over your kids. I have authority over my kids. That's

how boundaries work in a sense, and that gives me

my authority. Now you apply that principle into God's kingdom.

You are in the Kingdom of God. You have authority

in the kingdom of God. Israel is setting up the

histories that Christ will come and God's blessings in your

life that you are eager for, that you are praying.

Come.

When you get a sense and an understanding of there

is a kingdom authority here. It's not just about me,

but it's about how this blessing in my life won't

just be in me. It will be through me, and

you have this kingdom boundary that defines the authority that

you walk into and you say, oh, I get this now.

So years ago, my daughter needed to buy a car.

She was at college here in sokal And so I

went on Craigslist and that's how much money she had

and what kind of cars she needed to do when

you kind of type everything in and one car popped up,

just one car, and it had been on Craigslist for

literally like four hours, and it.

Seemed perfectly right.

So, you know, but it's Craigslist, so you don't always

like a serial killer on the other end of this car.

I have no idea, you know.

So there's a phone numbers. I call the guy right,

and so he answers, and he answers with his name. Hi,

this is you know, Chris Jones or whatever.

You know. I got the car for sale.

So I thought, well, if he gave me, if he

gave me his name, I could give him my name.

So I said, oh, Hi, this is Joel Home. I'm

calling on behalf of my daughter. She's interested in your car.

And there's dead silence. Oh that's kind of weird, and

he goes, did you say Joel Home.

I said yeah.

He said, are you the Joel Holme who wrote the

book See Life Different? Now this is craigslist, forty million

users one car. I wrote a book called Sea Life Different.

I like twelve people bought the book.

And he has the book and he goes, are you

the guy who?

Okay, this is how karline.

My first thought was he knows I'm a minister. He's

gonna give me a really good deal on this car.

And then God kind of slapped me again. Kingdom boundary.

Joel Kingdom boundary, I said, I am. I said, can

you see the car? And I went to this appointment

with my daughter to buy a car, but with Kingdom.

Boundary, something more is going on here. We began to

talk the first time we saw the car, and she

ended up buying in. It was a good car and

all that worked out.

But we talked and I could tell something was wrong,

and I asked him, I said, you know what's going on?

He told me about his daughter who had made some

really bad decisions and now was in a life of drugs.

And had fallen away from the Lord. We talked and

we prayed. The next week I called him up. We prayed,

some more. A month later, I called him up, we

prayed some more. Month later he called me up and said,

she's back. She came back to church. She gave her

life to Christ.

Now, if you think the car defines God's blessings.

Not just for me, my daughter's just watching this, going wow, Dad.

Yes, there's such blessing for you and through you. But

they come in boundaries. There's an identity boundary. Be holy,

be like Christ.

Become trustworthy so God.

Can pour his blessing into you, because there's so much

more he wants to do, and he does it through blessing,

but he's got to be able to trust you. There

is a people boundary, or the people that we allow

within that fence are the means by which blessing comes

to us.

There is a seasonal boundary.

Where you go in this season there will be some

blessings from God. In the next season there will be

different blessings from God. And I can't push it and

I can't wreck God's timing because his perfect blessings are so.

Worth the weight.

There is a faith boundary, or whatever circumstance you're facing,

you're going to be defined. The fence is going to

be faith with an expectation that this heavenly Father is

going to answer greater and I'm going to start to

pray bold prayers because of the boundary of faith, and

there is this kingdom boundary. I don't think we have

a clue how much God wants to bless us. I

don't think we have a clue. When if Asian says

beyond all we can ask or imagine, I think he's

actually telling the truth. We can't even ask, we can't

even imagine. But if we will understand this principle from

Joshua fifteen, The gold in this chapter on surface looks

pretty insignificant, but when you realize, oh, Joshua is illustrating

boundaries taught all throughout the New Testament, and through this

story in the middle of it, he's illustrating something. Okay,

Holy Spirit, which one is it for me? So we're

going to take a moment, as I think we should

always do with the Word of God and pause Jesus

that I'm gonna send you the Spirit and he'll reveal

to you. He'll remind you. So I'm gonna ask you

to close your eyes and bow your heads, and I'm

speaking to those of you who are christ followers and

you're Christians. There is a father in heaven who wants

to bless you. And as I read out these boundaries

one last time, trust that the Holy Spirit is gonna

nudge you with one, maybe two of them. And then

you take that nudge and this week you pray it through,

you study it through, you begin to practice it through

you position yourself.

For blessing.

You couldn't even begin to imagine. There's an identity boundary.

Follow Jesus well and be trustworthy so He can pour

blessing into you. There's a faith boundary. Get to know

your dad. Expect the very best from your dad. Ask

for the very best from your dad. There's a seasonal boundary.

Know the timing of God. Be patient, wait with expectation

and with hope. Embrace this season and all the blessing

in it, but be patient.

For the next season.

There is a people boundary. Know that God brings people

into your life to bring blessing into your life. Not

always easy, but his blessing will be there. And there

is a kingdom boundary.

That through you. There is a greater story going on.

But you have to have that boundary of kingdom that's

got to define you. Boundaries are there to focus us.

They are there to define our authority. They provide safety,

they enable stewardship, They set our priorities. Jesus, I thank

you for each person in this auditorium and those who

are watching online.

Spirit of God is only you can.

Would you nudge each of us to understand how we

apply Joshua fifteen in our walk with you.

We are so grateful that.

You are this amazing father who blesses abundantly. We thank

you for this word from Joshua fifteen that teaches that

your blessing is connected to these boundaries.

So lead us teach us this week.

As we pray, as we study your word, as we

live it out. Give us continued revelation Lord that like Caleb,

like Othniel, like Axa the Daughter, we would walk in

all of your blessings because we understand and practice your boundaries.

With every head bowed.

If you're here tonight, there's one exception to this, and

that is if you don't know Christ, then this can't

just be applied as a natural principle. And you may

be here and you're not sure where you stand with

Jesus the Bible actually says that one of the greatest

temptations of the enemy is to try to persuade us

that we're okay when we're not okay.

And I would consider it a privilege if you would

let me pray for you. You'd say, Joel, I don't

know where I stand with Jesus.

If I was to die tonight, I'm not sure where

I would spend eternity. The Bible's really clear. If you

believe in your heart and confess with your mouth, you

will be saved. You don't have to have any doubt

about it. Not because of your great work, not because

of your spirituality, because of His work on the cross,

His death and his resurrection forgives you and frees you forever.

But you receive that, and something very real and very

supernatural takes place in you. With every head bowed, with

every idea, I'm just gonna ask you to do one thing.

Just so I can make contact. Then I'm gonna pray

for you.

And this is a prayer you have to wrap your

heart around my words and offer to the Lord. But

you say, Joel, would you pray for me? I want

to know without a doubt that my life belongs to

God and that I am his and my eternity is sealed.

I want to walk into His blessing through these boundaries,

but it begins by giving your life to Christ and

receiving His life.

With every head bowed and eyes closed.

At the count of three, would you just lift your

hand so I can see where it is, and then

I'm just gonna pray for you. One, two, three, Hold

your hand up wherever you're at, just so I can see.

Thank you, Thank you, thank you, thank you, every section.

Thank you.

You are not lifting your hand to me, you are

lifting it to the Lord. It's like a prayer you're

giving Him. As you raise your hand him, you're saying, Jesus,

I'm here, take my life.

I receive your life. Lord.

You see each of these hands that are lifted up,

I thank you for their life. I thank you that

tonight there need be no doubt, no fear come to you,

and we acknowledge that we are sinners and we have

gone our own way, and we thank you that you

took it on yourself to come to us, to die,

to resurrect that we could have eternal life. And tonight

we receive that eternal life. We do the great exchange.

We give you our life and we receive your life

for today and for eternity. I pray each person who

has raised their hand would have that assurance by the Spirit.

Of God that you would fill them.

That we will live out these days in your blessings

as we live out your divinely inspired boundaries.

We pray this in the name of Christ. Amen and Amen.

Come on, Church, let's celebrate. Can you help me honor Pastor.

Joe Home for such a powerful and practical message.

Thank you so much, Joe.

And also, let's celebrate church all the people that gave

their life to Christ and are committed to continue on

their faith journey.

Hey, if you just.

Raise your hand for the first time, Patriot wants to

be a church that helps complement your faith journey.

There's some information on the screen.

If you pull out your smartphone and go to www.

Dot Grow dot Faith, we'll give you a PDF book

from our founding pastor and it just talks about next

steps in walking out your faith journey. And speaking of

faith journey, if you want to call Patriot home, maybe

your next step is Growth Track.

It's a class we have.

Every Sunday at nine am. It talks about our vision

and our values, but most importantly, you get to know

you more and how you can make a difference in

the Kingdom of God.

Amen. This all stand to our feet.

If you need specific prayer, we'll have our prayer team

that will love to pray for you. I'll pray generally

and you'll be dismissed. Heavenly Father, thank you so much

for teaching us about biblical boundaries. Thank you that you

minister to us and give us the courage to apply

this outside of these walls. In Jesus' name, we pray.

Hey man, God bless you.

You're dismissed.

Thank you,