Faithfulness First

Well, good morning again. Trust that you're well. We are this week coming up to Prairie Camp for our region of the Missionary Church. And so I know a lot of our families have started to move out there for the week, and some are in the process today.

And just keep that in your prayers as we have a couple of speakers out there that you can go out. This is a camp that's just south of Elkhart.

And I myself am not able to go to Prairie Camp this week because I'm actually heading to another Missionary Church camp. I'm going to Kansas.

Anybody know where Kansas is? I've been there before. I'm going to Kansas to do the mid, it's now called the Great Plains Region. They have a camp out there, a smaller one than Prairie Camp.

And I'm going to share for the next six days of Joshua. So you guys were just guinea pigs for six weeks. We're in Joshua chapter 6 today. And I want to ask you to find that in your Old Testament, your Bible.

Joshua 6 · chapter mention

And we've got a big chapter today. I've got to tell you that the irony, I wanted to put a photo up, but I didn't. I wanted to tell you the irony was not lost on me as I'm preparing Joshua chapter 6.

Joshua 6 · chapter mention

And I think you know what happens, or you're going to find out. There's some walls that come down. And in the foyer, the walls have come down.

They have come down. Those walls were, of course, not near the height or the size of the walls we're going to talk about today. And I'm pretty sure there was no marching or shouting to take them down.

They used sledgehammers. But anyway, as we come to Joshua chapter 6, it's like all five chapters up to this point have been leading to this.

Joshua 6 · chapter mention

Because today the walls are going to come down in this first step in the conquest. Israel is now across the river. They're across the Jordan River.

They are fresh off of a nationwide circumcision for the males. And they have celebrated their Passover. They are consecrated. And now it's time for the conquest to begin.

We're in Joshua 6, and it's a pretty big chapter. And so I'm going to get my glasses, and we're going to read it together. I think we're going to take the first half, so I'm going to stop at verse 14.

And then we'll come back and finish the chapter. But let's read those first 14 verses today.

Now Jericho was shut up inside and outside because of the people of Israel. None went out, and none came in. And the Lord said to Joshua, See, I have given Jericho into your hand with its king and mighty men of valor.

You shall march around the city, all the men of war, going around it once. Thus you shall do for six days. Seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of ram's horns before the ark.

On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow their trumpets. And when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, when you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat.

And the people shall go up, everyone straight before him. So Joshua the son of Nun called the priests and said to them, Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of ram's horns before the ark of the Lord.

And he said to the people, Go forward, march around the city, and let the armed men pass on before the ark of the Lord. And just as Joshua had commanded the people, the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of ram's horns before the Lord went forward, blowing the trumpets,

with the ark of the covenant of the Lord following them. The armed men were walking before the priests who were blowing the trumpets, and the rear guard was walking after the ark, while the trumpets blew continually.

But Joshua commanded the people, You shall not shout or make your voice heard, neither shall any word go out of your mouth until the day I tell you to shout.

Then you shall shout. So he caused the ark of the Lord to circle the city going about at once, and they came into the camp and spent the night in the camp.

Then Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the Lord. And the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of ram's horns before the ark of the Lord walked on, and they blew the trumpets continually.

And the armed men were walking before them, and the rear guard was walking after the ark of the Lord, while the trumpets blew continually. And the second day they marched around the city once, and returned to the camp.

So they did for six days. We'll stop right here. Let's pray. Father, we come today submitting ourselves again to your word. Our lives, Father, are full of responsibilities and distractions.

And Lord, thank you for those that have been able to join and gather in assembly today to hear your word. So be with me, be with our hearts, and prepare us to learn what you have for us.

We pray this in the name of our great Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. It's been an interesting journey through Joshua, and here we are. The book's not over at chapter 6, by the way.

We'll come back in a week or so and pick up. But for today, I want you to just try, try to imagine what it must have been like if you're an ancient Israelite.

And you're down on the ground, and you're looking up at these walls. You've been at camp. You've been about six miles away. And now here it is.

Here you are. And at this point, you don't know anything. I mean, if you didn't notice, in the passage, there's some instructions that Joshua gives to the priests, and then there's a few more instructions he gives to the people, but we have no indication that he told them yet what was going to happen.

Just do this. Just march this way. In this formation. This many times. And you get up the next morning, and he's like, we're doing it again.

And the next morning, we're doing it again. And it goes on for six days.

The other thing to remember is that Israel is not really very experienced in fighting. Yeah, they've had some skirmishes, but they're not really great.

They're not a greatly armored, you know, super experienced fighting force. They certainly have no experience in what will be needed to take a fortified city, and that would be siege warfare.

They don't have siege works. Probably some of them were wondering, what are we going to do to get over these walls? And if you aren't sure about how impressive this city was, even as far back as Moses, when he was still alive, back in Deuteronomy 9, verse 1,

Deuteronomy 9:1

Moses once talked about how big these cities are. Here's what he said in Deuteronomy 9, verse 1. Hear, O Israel, you are to cross over the Jordan today to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than you, cities great and fortified up to heaven.

Deuteronomy 9:1

Oh. Great and fortified up to heaven? That sounds pretty tall to me. And actually, with the benefit of modern archaeology, we have a pretty good idea what Jericho would have looked like.

Archaeological excavations have been undertaken on this site, in the old Jericho site. It started in the late 1800s, went on, a big one in the 1960s, and then it picked up again in the 1990s.

And what have we learned about this famous city of the palm trees? That's what it was called. Well, we've learned that it was about 9 or 10 acres in whole, so not a giant city.

9 or 10 acres. Think like, you know, 9 or 10 football fields. It was built up on a mound. You can see from one of the photos there. It would be about a mile and a half, maybe two miles to circumnavigate it, to walk around it.

Probably take you, if you're an army carrying an Ark of the Covenant, probably take you about an hour. The walls themselves, let me try to explain these.

The walls, it started with a 12 to 15 foot retaining wall at the base. Again, this has all been dug up. And then there was a trench kind of dug around to the bedrock, you know, and that was to prevent anybody from tunneling underneath to get into the city.

On top of the base wall, so think 15 feet. Then there was the first brick structure, built of red mud bricks. And they say that was about 20, it ranged from 20 to 26 feet tall.

And above that was kind of an open space between what would be two city walls. And in that open space, as we've learned a few weeks ago, there were houses built into the wall.

Think of Rahab's house. It was built into the wall. We know that. Finally, there was another inner wall that was, again, about 20 to 26 feet tall.

So all that to say, if you're down on the ground, and you're a little Israelite out there marching, and you look up, it's going to be 50, maybe as much as 60 feet of what appears to be sheer wall.

And yet, as intimidating as this must have been for the Israelites, and I'm sure it was, we will remember that the greatest fear has fallen upon the inhabitants inside.

It's them whose hearts have melted. It's the Jerichoites whose courage is gone. And this helps explain why this city has not preemptively tried to attack Israel at a time when they would have been very vulnerable.

Again, as we noted before, they just had their circumcisions. But they have actually been, verse 1 tells us, shut up inside and outside all because of Israel.

Nobody comes in. Nobody goes out. And the reality is, they can do it, and they can sit tight for a long time. Again, we know from archaeology and history, there was a freshwater spring inside the city.

We also know that because the Jordan was at flood stage, and that was just after the first harvest, Jericho would have just harvested all their grain.

They would have all the food from the fields that they had brought into the city. They are well supplied. They can hold out for a long, long time.

But God says in verse 2, the Lord says to Joshua, see, I have given Jericho into your hand with his king and mighty men of valor. I wonder what Joshua was thinking.

Like, oh, have you? Okay. God talks like it's already a done deal. And then in verse 3, he goes on, and he gives Joshua the battle plan. The battle plan.

And what is the military strategy, the expert strategy God's got for his people, to take the city, march around the city. It's not, let me teach you how to build siege works, or let me tell you you should sharpen some more arrows

so you can do another volley and just keep at them with the arrows. No. There's no mention of any battering rams or anything else. He basically says, have a parade.

Have a parade. One full march around the entire circumference of the city and do it for six straight days. And the formation is going to be like this.

God says, I want a guard up front of soldiers, and then I want in the middle, I want the priests, and they're going to be carrying the Ark of the Covenant, and seven of them are going to have these ram's horns.

By the way, if you're curious, a member of our congregation, Kevin DeMott, brought me a ram's horn. I should have at least taken a picture of it.

I didn't want to bring it up here because somebody will break it, but it's pretty cool. It's in my office if you want to take a peek afterward.

It's a big, long ram's horn. And it wasn't really good for making music. It was for signaling, military, or ceremonial matters. And then following this little contingent of the priests, there's a rear guard.

So very symbolically, God's, of course, His presence is centralized in the Ark. God is saying to His people, I am with you. I am in the center of it all.

March around the city, six straight days. And, of course, we've got God's number of perfection mentioned several times. I think like 14 times the number seven occurs.

Seven priests, seven trumpets, and by the end of it, they're going to march around for seven days. And on the seventh day, they're going to march seven times around.

So that's the strat. That's what the kids say, I guess. That's the strategy. The strat. Have a parade, a religious festival kind of parade. Blow on the horns.

But, by the way, Joshua goes on to tell them, I don't want a word out of anybody. Not for six days while you're marching. Secondly, verse 10, you shall not shout or make your voice heard, neither shall any word go out of your mouth until the day I tell you to shout.

Then you can shout. Wouldn't it be cool if we could, like, train our children that way? Not a word out of your mouth for six days. No. We like our children.

We like them talking. Shouting. Well, not so much. Next morning, day two, same drill. Verse 12, the priests are taking up the ark of the Lord again.

The seven priests are on the trumpets, blasting continually. I mean, what were the people inside Jericho thinking? Circumnavigate a second time.

And so they did it for six days. Now let's pick up and let's read the rest of it in verse 15. On the seventh day, they rose early at the dawn of day and marched around the city in the same manner seven times.

It was only on that day that they marched around the city seven times. And at the seventh time, when the priests had blown the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, Shout, for the Lord has given you the city.

And the city and all that is within it shall be devoted to the Lord for destruction. Only Rahab, the prostitute, and all who are with her in her house shall live because she hid the messengers whom we sent.

But you, keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction, lest when you have devoted them, you take any of the devoted things and make the camp of Israel a thing for destruction and bring trouble upon it.

But all the silver and gold and every vessel of bronze and iron are holy to the Lord. They shall go into the treasury of the Lord. So the people shouted and the trumpets were blown and as soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted a great shout and the wall

fell down flat so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him and they captured the city. Then they devoted all in the city to destruction, both men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys with the edge of the sword.

But to the two men who had spied out the land, Joshua said, go into the prostitute's house and bring out from there the woman and all who belong to her as you swore to her.

So the young men who had been spies went in and brought out Rahab and her father and her mother and her brothers and all who belonged to her and they brought all her relatives and put them outside the camp of Israel.

And they burned the city with fire and everything in it, only the silver and gold and the vessels of bronze and iron they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord.

But Rahab the prostitute and her father's household and all who belonged to her, Joshua saved alive. And she lived in Israel. She has lived in Israel to this day because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.

Joshua laid an oath on them at that time saying, Cursed before the Lord be the man who rises up and rebuilds this city Jericho. At the cost of his firstborn shall he lay its foundation and at the cost of his youngest son shall he set up its gates.

So the Lord was with Joshua and his fame was in all the land.

Seventh day is now here. And it looks like Joshua's up extra early. It's a big day. Dawn of the day. He knows what's ahead. And he knows that this time it's not just one time around.

It's seven times around. And although in the reading of the passage it looks like right before the march is done and they're going to shout he's giving all these instructions it's pretty safe to conclude.

He probably told all the people before they left. This is what we're going to do. These are the instructions about the plunder. About Rahab.

And the time comes. It had been silent for six days. Minus the blaring horns of course. Verse 10. You shall not make your voice heard. No word shall come out of your mouth until the day I tell you to shout.

Then you shall shout. And again by the seventh day can you imagine what the people of Jericho are thinking as they're looking down from the walls wondering what is happening here?

What are these strange people doing? Do they think that fire is just going to come and fall from heaven on us? Well it hasn't yet. Do they think like our walls are just going to fall down for them?

They don't know.

Next morning day two same drill they keep going I'm sorry same next circumference round two they make their way all the way around. Joshua has given them those instructions about Rahab and her family and about the plunder specifically about the city he says this everything and everyone in it

is devoted to the Lord devoted to destruction. The city verse 17 and all that is within it shall be devoted to the Lord for destruction. This is what scholars sometimes call the ban or in Hebrew harem it's the complete destruction of an entire city

to the Lord and we have to realize that this is only one of two cities that God says this about only two Jericho and then Ai that comes next.

But for some of us today this can sound hard harsh a judgment from the Lord that is sometimes difficult for modern people like us to make sense of so what are we to make of this?

Well for starters I think I would just remind us it's not like God has not judged people on the earth before. There was in Genesis 6 a time where he judged all the people on the earth he wiped out everything that breathed in Genesis 6 save for Noah and his family.

And then there were also those wicked cities on the plain if you remember Sodom and Gomorrah where fire did fall out of heaven and destroy them because of how wicked they were so the Lord has done this before devoted people wicked people to destruction.

But let me remind us of a few things that might help us with challenging passages like this one. I would say first off let's remember that these people are not innocent.

these Canaanites in fact including the people here in Jericho they are as the Bible describes them exceedingly wicked. That's what the Lord himself once told their forefather Abraham 400 years in the past.

He once said to Abraham I'm going to give you this land of Canaan but the iniquity of these people is not yet complete or another translation it hasn't quite reached its limits.

And in case you're curious what kind of abominable practices they were up to you need look no further than to passages like Leviticus chapter 18 Leviticus 18 lists out some of the grossest perversions of the people of Canaan this is what they were all about they were all about

Leviticus 18 · chapter mention

adultery incest homosexual relations bestiality even child sacrifice these were routine they were not crimes they were routine ways that they worshipped their false gods many of the Canaanites literally burned their children

to false demon gods in ritual sacrifice including the people of Jericho right here and if their perversions weren't enough Deuteronomy 18 also highlights the rampant presence of the occult the occult all throughout the land divination omen reading

fortune telling witchcraft sorcery mediums and necromancers these were a very sick twisted dark people consumed with the worship of the deviant worship of literally demons since we know there are no other real gods they're demons

and given how bad they were God was very concerned about the influence that they would have on his people if they were left in the land he wanted to protect them from becoming like them and he knew that if any of these wicked nations were left in the land and refused to join Israel and effectively bow to the

true God he knew this would be very bad for the purity and the holiness of his nation and God's not just theorizing again if you know a little bit of biblical history you know that back in Numbers chapter 25 there was this whole Baal of Peor incident what happened back then well the Israelites

Numbers 25 · chapter mention

tried to be on friendly terms with the Moabites and the Moabites their neighbors befriended them and sent in their Moabite women into Israel's camp to basically seduce the men into ritual prostitution and if you know that story God's wrath nearly destroyed the camp

God had specified very clearly and repeatedly in the Pentateuch I do not want you to intermarry with these people Deuteronomy 7 4 because this is exactly what they will do they will turn your hearts away from me to serve their false gods hence his

command as far back as Moses Deuteronomy chapter 20 verses 17 and 18 he says you shall devote them to complete destruction as the Lord your God has commanded that they may not teach you to do according to all their abominable practices that they have done for their

Deuteronomy 20:17

gods and so you sin against the Lord your God and finally I think a third thing for us to remember is something about the nature of sin itself and and what sin ultimately brings what it ultimately leads to it's it's demonstrated to us right here in

Joshua 6 sin leads to death but you know it's also talked about later in the New Testament the Apostle Paul in Romans 6 23 says the wages of sin is death so please understand it's never an injustice that God brings judgment on people

for sin the only difference here is that he was on this occasion uniquely using his covenant people as agents to administer it so it's everything devoted to the Lord for destruction in this city minus Rahab and her family who have surrendered to the Lord by

aligning with his people but there are also clear instructions about the plunder again just rehearse this God says leave it all behind the instructions are you can pick up the precious metals the silver the gold the bronze the iron but those are not for you to take home don't take any of that home and hide

it in your tent they're for the treasury of the Lord they're holy for the ministry of the tabernacle it's not until verse 20 really that the action starts and our narrator is so quick about so succinct it's it's borderline anticlimactic

isn't it the way he relays it how on the seventh day seventh trip around as soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpet everybody shouted with a great shout and the wall fell down flat again the wonders of archaeology you know what else they've discovered on this

site they've they've confirmed this event digs in the 1960s and again into the 1990s have uncovered sediment layers that's what happens over time sediment just creates layers and builds things up inside those sediment layers they have found individual red baked mud bricks

almost as if they tumbled down which they did and they've even dated them they've dated them to approximately the early 1400s we think the year's like 1405 these would have created by the way natural ramps I've got one picture up there it's it's not quite good because

there's more wall than just a couple spots that fell down but that gives you some idea natural ramps would get created by the bricks all falling down and you can just make your way right up into the city which is exactly what the people of Israel do wonder there was there any fighting were there any skirmishes I

doesn't say that there were but I would presume yeah there was some fighting but the men of Jericho who are not dead by the sudden collapse of the wall are so absolutely stunned and panicked so that apparently resistance is pretty futile because we have not one Israelite casualty recorded not

one it's at this point Joshua turns to his two trusted spies same too that that was he sent into Jericho in chapter two of Joshua the same guys that were hosted by this woman in her house and hidden and they're now commanded and dispatched by Joshua in

verse 22 go into the prostitute's house and bring out the woman and her family and we're told that they do just that they brought out her relatives and put them outside the camp of Israel spared again from archaeological evidence we've uncovered that

most of the city's walls fell in except for one part the northern part there's a section of wall that was still intact meaning that not all the walls fell I know sometimes the artwork shows them all falling but obviously there's Rahab and call me crazy it doesn't say in the text but I'm guessing her house was in the

northern part of the wall verse 25 Rahab her father's household all who belong to her Joshua saved alive you know the New Testament book of Hebrews is more specific about how she was saved Hebrews 11 verse 31

Hebrews 11:31

says it this way by faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies by faith and we learn now that she not only makes her home with Israel she she becomes

Israel she and her family are recorded even in the genealogical lineage of David and Jesus Christ just one more thing happens on this day after the dust I imagine all the dust is settling from the walls falling down we read it in

verse 26 Joshua now turns to the people and he lays an oath on them he says should somebody get any ideas and lay a new foundation to this city it will be at the cost of his firstborn somebody go on further and set up some new gates in a new city they've

rebuilt here it will come at the cost of his youngest son these are sobering words in this curse but apparently it's from the Lord and not just from Joshua's mind given that this curse is later going to be fulfilled about 450 years

later in first Kings 16 some genius under King Ahab decides he would like to rebuild the city and he does and we read there of how both of his sons died the Lord wants the ruins of this city to sit as they are as

an enduring example our chapter closes on another note of how again the Lord is just solidifying Joshua's leadership his fame is spreading but it's not because of how great Joshua is it's because as the very last

verse says the Lord was with him as we step back again today and try to take stock of what we're seeing here we again want to ask ourselves why would this particular incident be recorded as it is why would the Lord see

fit to have this written down for our instruction as Paul says all of the Old Testament is Romans 15 4 I think the message here is actually pretty simple two words faithfulness first faithfulness

first I think that's what this is all about for Joshua faithfulness first for the people of Israel faithfulness first for the priest carrying the ark the other priest blowing the trumpets even for Rahab

faithfulness first God fights for his people but his people must put faithfulness first and as they do they see obstacles overcome again Hebrews 11 take you back there to another verse the one before

Rahab the writer also credits the people of Israel for their faith Hebrews 11 verse 30 it says this by faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days it happened by faith by God's people putting faith faithfulness

Hebrews 11:30

first but we might wonder now that's that's a nice catchy way to say it I mean it's not all that catchy it's a way to say it but what does it actually mean how do I put faithfulness first what does it mean to be faithful first in my life and I I do think our

chapter gives us some answers to that question and I think the very first answer that we see is this number one it means recognizing that insurmountable obstacles call for extraordinary help putting faith first means recognizing

that insurmountable obstacles call for extraordinary help again 50 to 60 foot walls especially to an ancient person look pretty insurmountable a city locked up sourced by a fresh spring a huge food

supply in the city they can hold out you know again archaeology I think I've got a picture of this archaeologists have uncovered jars in the site at Jericho that were full of grain meaning that and it makes sense with the with the text these people barely touch their food supply it's

still there it's it's entombed for us at this archaeological site they could hold out indefinitely Israel very much was facing an insurmountable obstacle in those walls and they had to have enough faith to leave their camp to come to the

city and listen to Joshua's orders to do this thing where they march around every day that was going to position them to get something to receive something and that something was God's extraordinary help I love how the Apostle Paul describes God's

power the help God provides us this is second Corinthians chapter 4 verse 7 he says this but we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to God not to us other

2 Corinthians 4:7

translations have it all surpassing power some even say extraordinary power it's power that comes from beyond us it's power that is beyond us I mean listen Israel's shouting really loud didn't put a crack in the walls you do understand

that right trumpet blasts don't make bricks fall it's not like they stomped their feet really hard and created a seismic event besides not all of the wall came down some of it stood where Rahab was and last time I checked foot stomping

doesn't make earthquakes they needed a precise strike they needed at this moment and specific strike from the Lord to bring down their obstacle and not kill Rahab's family in the process faithfulness first means recognizing that insurmountable

obstacles call for God's extraordinary help I wonder have you ever experienced something like this in your life an obstacle that seemed insurmountable and you saw God's help I know I have maybe it

was in a physical need an area that was very scary where you needed a move of the hand of God it's something that couldn't there's no way I see that this gets solved or fixed or this person gets healed and it happened of course I would remind us that the

biggest and most insurmountable obstacle our race has ever faced has been overcome by God the sin that separates the sin that builds a wall between a holy God and sinful people like us talk about completely

insurmountable there was nothing any of us could do not a person on the earth not Moses not Elijah nobody no amount of human trying no amount of sacrifices once upon a time no amount of I'm really really sorry this time Lord is ever going to be able to take down that wall of

separation until God sent his extraordinary help in the name of Jesus until the moment God sent his one and only son to our earth to live the perfect life to die that innocent death and in so doing to bring down that obstacle of the wall of

our separation listen it fell flat at the cross didn't it praise the Lord curtain torn but there's another feature to our story and this is one we might almost look past something else that putting faithfulness first is going to mean let

me take us on to number two number two what is faithfulness putting faithfulness first mean it means consistently engaging in the warfare of worship in the warfare of worship I don't know if you thought about

worship that way did you realize that worship is a form of warfare you know it's funny every time I send a text on my phone and I'm the pastor please understand sometimes I use unique words that maybe not everybody would and whenever I'm trying to say something about worship you

know what my dumb autocorrect does it changes it to war ship w-a-r how was war ship today I thought it was great like I want to talk to people about like a Navy

destroyer or something but honestly it's a good reminder it's a good reminder I want to share a quick little story can I do that with you from another historical book in the Bible quick little story in Israel's history comes from the book of second chronicles you don't have to turn there

the king at the time of the king of Israel Israel's got the kingdom they're in the promised land and his name is Jehoshaphat he's a pretty good one and what happens in second chronicles chapter 20 is that his kingdom finds itself under attack swarms a great horde of hostile

2 Chronicles 20 · chapter mention

forces an armed multitude we're told are coming at him and Jehoshaphat gets the report what's he do well first thing he does is he prays he prays stands right in the assembly there in Jerusalem right in the in the temple courts and he seeks the

Lord's help good for him good example let me read his prayer second chronicles chapter 20 just a couple verses from it verse 7 did you not our God drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and give it to the descendants of Abraham your friend and then he says down in verse 12 for we are

2 Chronicles 20 · chapter mention

powerless against this great horde that is coming against us we do not know what to do but our eyes are on you you know what happens next the spirit of the Lord comes upon a certain Levite right there in the assembly and this guy starts prophesying and

what he says is God's gonna take care of this horde and you guys are not even gonna have to fight second chronicles chapter 20 verses 18 and 19 here's the king's response then Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground and all Judah

2 Chronicles 20:18

and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the Lord worshiping the Lord and the Levites of the Kohathites and Korahites stood up to praise the Lord the God of Israel with a very loud voice I like that part more shouting they all get up the next

morning they head out into the wilderness to try to intercept these these invaders this massive horde but you know what's interesting is next thing we know instead of it being military orders that comes out of King Jehoshaphat's mouth instead it's like he's directing a worship service he

appoints singers this is what he does not archers not you know Calvary it's he directs singers and he has them put on the special holy attire so that they can do what leave the whole army in song give thanks to the Lord for his steadfast love endures forever that's what they

sing and then what happens do they fight a great battle no but they win a great victory because it's only because the Lord does the fighting for them as predicted that massive horde of their enemies unbeknownst to them they all inexplicably

decide they don't like each other and they turn on each other and they wipe each other out all three allied enemy groups destroy each other and all Israel did was sing that's the warfare of worship don't ever underestimate the power

unleashed by your worship guys you're in a circumstance you're up against a great obstacle you're scared you're frightened you're dismayed worship worship the Lord sing your praises when things look bleak sing your praises especially when things

look bleak when your first reaction is to panic worship God can and will do amazing things because what Israel was doing back on that day and I'm not talking about 2nd Chronicles 20 I'm talking about right here in Joshua 6 this was a worship procession

priests trumpets arc what's at the center of the whole thing what's the focal point I mean the men of Jericho had surely seen soldiers before but have they seen this it's the they're holy men it's they've got this sacred box that they're carrying on

poles they're blasting horns they're making a procession it looks like they're having a worship service Israel was declaring their God's sovereignty and even in the very formation with the ark at the center they were invoking God's central presence and power in the midst of their conflict

can you do the same can I do the same the next time we are facing a battle in life can we worship you know sadly a lot of people do exactly the opposite they might pray but they

are not joyful prayers and it's not much worship in fact some people when they get in the the dark circumstances the huge obstacles you know some people stay at home from corporate worship and they never praise God they never worship they worry but they don't sing sing your praises to the

Lord for it's true his steadfast love does endure forever remember faithfulness first means we will consistently engage in the warfare of worship let me give you one last thing a final point about what putting faithfulness first will mean number three

number three it means trusting and obeying God's instructions even when they don't make sense trusting and obeying God's instructions even when humanly speaking they don't make much sense

let's back up a few days before this day at Jericho what did God say he said circumcise all the males all the fighting force circumcise them have them laid up for weeks on the literal eve of their long-awaited conquest that didn't make much sense

it's like Joshua might have been thinking God are you sure you want to do it now you know Joshua's a human being and I don't have a insight into his mind he's in heaven but you have to wonder if the first time he heard about the order to circumcise he's

like oh okay you know Lord we had like 40 years to do this I mean even just like maybe last year could you given us a month's notice God says no do it right now while you're vulnerable on the banks of the Jordan six miles from your enemy next it was don't

don't worry about any of the bows or the swords you know they're fine but just get everybody in formation and do a worship procession but those walls Lord what what about the walls I mean the city is sourced to hold out indefinitely and something's something's

got to be done about those walls but faithfulness first meant that Joshua and all the people and those priests carrying the trumpets in the ark it meant that they were going to trust and obey God's instructions

even when I'm sure they did not make a lot of sense because last time I checked walls don't come down with marching and I'm not aware of any city ever being breached with trumpets and a

shout it didn't make sense but you know sometimes God's instructions can seem like that to us but it's then when all he needs from us is to be obedient and watch and see what he will do let me ask you do you find it

easy or hard to trust God's word maybe some parts are not so hard but are there some other parts that are more challenging do you ever find some parts of God's word peculiar maybe even strange do you find it hard to

obey his instructions for your life do they not make sense all of the time we can't afford to give much of anything to the Lord certainly not tithe from our income that doesn't make any sense or I can't afford to

wait around for a perfect mr. right or perfect mrs. right a mate who's actually an equally yoked believer or I can't take this test and keep up with my class if I don't cheat like I know all of them do often where

we find it hardest to obey God's instruction is where we have a hard time making sense of things we don't see any other way you won't make that sale if you're not a little dishonest just embellish embellishments part

of being a good salesman whether it's advancing in your career or in education you know education can be really hard so many forms of compromise come at a person in the field of education the list of challenging situations in our

lives can be endless but faithfulness first means we will trust and obey God's word even when its instructions might not make a lot of sense to us in the moment faithfulness first also means coming up against insurmountable

obstacles and waiting to see God's extraordinary help and faithfulness first means that we will never abandon worship even in those hard and challenging and uncertain times but we will

actually engage in it and remember that it is spiritual warfare let me pray for you as we close would you stand with me as we do heavenly father we thank you again for lessons from

your word instruction meant for us we thank you lord as we're reminded today as walls come down that the greatest wall was brought down by your son the wall of separation between a holy god and sinful people like us who would otherwise rightly be destroyed we

thank you for mercy we thank you for the gift that jesus was your son and so lord all of our faith is in him it's rooted in jesus and his work but lord help us in our lives as we live them each day to put faithfulness first

to resist lord worldly ways of thinking and doing things we pray for your help we know that we have it by your spirit and we will give you the praise and we pray all of this in the name of jesus amen