 Alright, so we're going to study the Bible a little bit this morning. We're going to look at this story in the Bible. Now the interesting thing, this of course is a story about some tribes in the Bible when they're about to possess the promised land. They're about to go into the promised land. An interesting situation happens before they're to go and possess the land across on the west side of the Jordan. So God had given the children of Israel all the land on the west side of the Jordan. And here you see an interesting twist to that story. But the interesting thing before we even get started, the interesting thing about the Bible is that there's so many different things that we can learn from the stories in the Bible, not only down to the individual people and the things that those people go through, but you can look at the nations. You look at the study of the nation of Israel, people and the way nations acted. But then you can also, and things that we can learn and apply to our lives today. But then you can actually pull back even further than that and look at situations between nations and learn something there. We're going to do that this morning. We're just going to do some Bible study and then I'll show you what we're going to apply from this story. But we're just basically going to look at the situation with how these nations settled the land and see what we can take from that and learn from that this morning. So in Numbers chapter 32 you see the story about the tribes that decided to settle on the east side of the Jordan River. And of course this is the tribe of Gad, the tribe of Reuben, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. So half of the tribe of Manasseh settled on the east and half of that tribe settled on the west. But you see in Numbers chapter 32, if you look down at verse number one, let's just look at what the reason that these tribes decided to settle on the east side. When everybody else went to fight for the land on the west side of the Jordan. Look at verse number one. The Bible says that the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a very great multitude of cattle. And when they saw the land of Jizer and the land of Gilead that behold the place was for cattle, the children of Gad and the children of Reuben came and spake unto Moses and to Eleazar the priest. And under the princes of the congregation saying Beth and Dibon and Jizer and Nimrah and Heshbon and Elia Lea and Shabem and Nebo and Bion even the country which the Lord smoked before the congregation of Israel is a land for cattle and thy servants have cattle. So of course they've been fighting already. Okay, they've already been fighting to get to the Jordan River and we see some of those people that they fought there. Wherefore said they, if we have found grace in thy sight, let this land be given unto thy servants for a possession and bring us not over the Jordan. And Moses said unto the children of Gad, unto the children of Reuben, shall your brethren go to war and shall ye sit here. And wherefore discourage ye the heart of the children of Israel from going over into the land that the Lord hath given them. So of course Moses' first comment is hey, you know, we're going to fight this huge war to go into the promised land and you guys are just saying hey, we're good right here. He's like, that's not going to be good for everybody else. That's not going to be good for people to think that. You know, why do you think you should get, you know, he's basically saying, are you guys just not wanting to go fight? Are you guys just wanting to just take the easy road and take this land that's here? I mean that was Moses' first suspicion. But he says, are we supposed to go fight and just give you this land right here? So it's going to be extra hard for us and you get the easy way out. But then skip down to verse number 29 and Moses basically tells them that if the children of Gad and the children of Reuben will pass over you with you over Jordan, every man armed to battle before the Lord and the land shall be subdued before you, then ye shall give them the land of Gilead for a possession. But if they will not pass over you with you armed, they shall have possessions among you in the land of Canaan. So this is God basically saying through Moses saying hey, if they will go fight with you it's okay that they have this land on the east of the Jordan. If not, they should just take what was meant for them in the first place and fight with everybody else and that's the bottom line. There's no easy way out. And then verse 31 we see the answer. And the children of Gad and the children of Reuben answered saying, as the Lord hath said unto thy servants, so will we do. We will pass over armed before the Lord into the land of Canaan that the possession of the inheritance on this side of the Jordan may be ours. So of course they build cattle fences and all these things and they leave the women and children. Their plan is they're going to leave the women and children on the east side of the Jordan. And these men will go over with the other tribes of Israel and they will fight through the promised land and then when that is done they will go back to the east side of the Jordan and possess their land. So you know it was a deal made basically. They were allowed to do it. They could take that land if they helped fight the battles on the other side. And look at the land because they had a lot of cattle. They were ranchers and they saw great pasture land. So they're thinking hey this is good for business and you know this is just good for us. So they're like this is going to be our land. They decided that they got permission and that was the caveat that they helped fight. Turn to Joshua chapter 22. So now we see there's a situation where you have these two tribes or these three tribes, two and a half tribes on the east side and everybody else is on the west side. Now right away in Joshua 22 we're going to see that trouble begins right away. In Joshua 22 look at verse number 10. The Bible basically says here is they went over look in Joshua 22 and verse number 10. They did something as soon as they got back and they went over to the east side. And the Bible says they came onto the borders of Jordan that are in the land of Canaan. The children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh built there an altar by Jordan. A great altar to see to. So they built this great altar that everybody could see. And the children of Israel heard say behold the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh have built an altar over against the land of Canaan in the borders of Jordan at the passage of the children of Israel. So in the place where they all came over to Jordan these guys got done fighting. They went back home and they built this big altar on their side. And everybody could see it. And the children of Israel on the west side of the Jordan saw this altar that they built and they basically were greatly offended that they built another altar. They took offense to it. They're going over there. They're starting their own church basically. They're going to do their own thing over there. So Israel gathers together to go fight. They just fought together. And they went over there. They built this altar. And Israel the tribes on the west side gathers together to go fight the two and a half tribes on the east. But look at verse 26. The children of Gad and Reuben and the half tribe of Manasseh explained their way out of this in verse 26 and they said therefore we said now let us now prepare to build us an altar not for burnt offering nor for sacrifice but that it may be a witness between us and you and our generations after us that we might do the service of the Lord before him with our burnt offerings and with our sacrifices and with our peace offerings that your children may not say to our children in time to come we have no part in the Lord therefore said we that it shall be them when they shall go they should say so say to us or to our generations in time to come that we may say again behold the pattern of the altar of the Lord which our father made not for burnt offerings nor for sacrifices but it is a witness between us and you so it's like they got themselves out of it right there there's going to be no war they said look it's just a symbol it's just a symbol for our children to see that we're connected between us and you because they're separated right they're separated on the east side of the border alright so they just wanted to get connected and that was their way of doing it turn to Judges chapter 6 so let's look at the fate of the eastern tribes and all throughout I'm just going to give you two or three examples of what the eastern tribes dealt with in the book of Judges but all throughout the book of Judges you see this type of thing happening to the eastern tribes look at Judges chapter 6 we're going to read basically the story of the call of Gideon now Gideon was of you know the tribe of Manasseh so he was on the east side of this settlement and in Judges chapter 6 look down at verse number 6 we see the call of Gideon here and the Bible says and Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites so here they were being overrun already and the children of Israel cried unto the Lord and it came to pass when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord because of the Midianites that the Lord sent a prophet to the children of Israel which said unto them thus say the Lord God of Israel I brought you up from Egypt and brought you forth out of the house of bondage and I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of all that oppress you and draped them out from before you and gave you their land and I said unto you I am the Lord your God fear not the gods lowercase g of the Amorites and whose land ye dwell but ye have not obeyed my voice and there came an angel of the Lord that sat under an oak which was in Ophrah and that pertained to Joash the Abazurite and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the wine press to hide it from the Midianites so they were being oppressed by the Midianites they had no food they were starving so basically Gideon was he was farming and he was hiding he was storing food he was stashing food away and the angel of the Lord appeared unto him and said the Lord is with thee thou mighty man of valor and Gideon said unto him oh my Lord if the Lord be with us why then is all this befalling us and where be all his miracles which our fathers told of us saying did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt but now the Lord hath forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites so he's asking why has this happened to us and the Lord looked upon him and said go in this thy might that thou shalt save Israel from the land of the Midianites have not I sent thee and he said Gideon said oh my Lord wherewith shall I save Israel behold my family is poor in Manasseh so here he is on the east side of the settlements and I am the least in my father's house so basically Gideon is risen up he's raised up he is called from Manasseh so the pushback against the Midianites starts in Manasseh look at verse 25 for sake of time and it came to pass the same night that the Lord said unto him take thy father's young bullock and even the second bullock of seven years old and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath and cut down the grove that is by it so Gideon's from Manasseh and there's an altar to Baal there I mean didn't Gideon just say why has this all happened to us God have you forsaken us did God forsake them first no they forsook the Lord they have altars of Baal look dressed by the Midianites but they have they have literally adopted the gods of these heathen people to the east side of them alright so Gideon is great I mean and God is not unmerciful so he raises up judges that's the point of the book of judges is to show that God has mercy again and again and again with his people so this is the point of him raising up Gideon who's on the east side he's in this tribe in Manasseh but there's an altar of Baal there so they've adopted these wicked gods alright I mean he cuts down the grove you know we see then the judgment starts right look down at verse number 33 but they're clearly being influenced by these eastern nations verse 33 then all the Midianites so after they cut the grove down what happens after Gideon cuts the grove down then all the Midianites and the Amiculites and the children of the east were gathered together and went over and pitched in the valley of Jezreel, skip down to verse 35 and he sent messengers through all Manasseh who also was gathered after him and he sent messengers unto Asher unto Zebulun and unto Naftali that they came up to meet him so look they reunite look they start the war in Manasseh in that eastern country and then they call all the other tribes for help but it all begins there okay now this whole thing concludes in chapter 7 in verse 24 where the Bible says you know and Gideon sent messengers through all Mount Ephraim saying come down against the Midianites and take before them the waters unto Bethbara and Jordan then all the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together and took the waters unto Bethbara and Jordan look they pushed them back across all these tribes they pushed them back across that natural protective barrier which was the Jordan River okay look at Judges chapter 10 look the physical waters that God put there was I mean it was for a reason I mean the physical Jordan River itself was there for a reason and they pushed them back when Gideon rose up to judge the people pushed them back across those waters right but when they were back across those waters were those two and a half tribes safe at that point no they had to push them further from there okay so it wasn't just getting them across the Jordan that they had to do in order for the two and a half tribes on the east side to be safe they had to push them further than that okay keep that in mind turn to Judges chapter 10 look at another example Judges chapter 10 look at verse number 6 in Judges chapter 10 of verse 6 the Bible says and the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord and served Balaam and Ashtaroth and the gods of Syria and the gods of Zidane and the gods of Moab and the gods of the children and Ammon so Moab and Ammon are east so if you're looking at a map you got the Jordan River you've got the west side tribes here you got the two and a half tribes here and then Moab and Ammon are east of the eastern tribes now the gods so they started serving all these gods again and the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel and sold them into the hands of the Philistines and into the hands of the children of Ammon and that year they vexed and oppressed the children of Israel 18 years and the children of Israel that were on the other side of the Jordan in the land of the Amorites which is in Gilead Gilead is Gad so here we see that they're taken over again but it was the east tribes that got hit first look at verse number nine moreover the children of Ammon passed over the Jordan to fight also against Judah and against Benjamin against the house of Ephraim so that Israel was sore distressed and the children of Israel cried under the Lord saying we have sinned against thee both because we have forsaken our God and also served Balaam so once again we see that the trouble started in the east but you see that it eventually caused trouble for the entire nation because it started in Gad but then they pushed across the Jordan to the west you see and Baal spread you know the worship of Baal also spread so the physical danger started on the east the false god danger started on the east and it all pushed across the Jordan eventually alright so look there's many more stories like this in the book of Judges that we could look at but look here's the one I'm trying to get at this is all just a point of introduction alright this is why they had trouble this is why these two and a half tribes had trouble because they were separated they were physically separated from the other tribes of Israel and they were doctrinally separated as they accepted they were influenced by the tribes on the east side of them so they had good godly people on this side and they had the wicked people on this side and they were the ones that were influenced first so there was a physical separation there but a doctrinal separation as well so look they were the ones that were threatened and invaded first period both doctrinally and then physically because the doctrinal stuff always came first because look God's not going to throw the first punch he never does we always turn against him and then the judgment comes the chastisement comes so all that is point of introduction the title the sermon this morning is in the midst is that there is protection in being part of the main settlement period alright there's protection in being part of the main settlement so what kind of protection are we talking about here first of all the eastern tribes were constantly the first to be attacked alright we could go and just study judges for another two hours and see that that's going on they were on the other side of the Jordan river I mean think about it they were on the border they were on the border my wife brought up when we were talking about this sermon my wife brought up this story of I don't know if you all remember back in 2009 these Iranian these hikers they were hiking along they were on the Iraq side they were like three kids from Berkeley three Americans and they were they were hiking along the Iraq Iran border I mean what a great place to hike right and what happens is these guys or these two guys in this gal they get beckoned they see a soldier beckoning them right but they're walking along the Iranian Iraqi border and they think they're on the Iraqi side they're pretty sure they're on the Iraqi side and they get beckoned by this soldier and they don't really know where the border is apparently but this is an Iranian soldier he beckons them over to them and then you know the story goes that they cross over into Iran at that point and to you know you see this armed guy beckoning you they went over to him they didn't know who he was they get captured charged with espionage or whatever Iran charges them with and they spent like two years in prison before the United States was actually able to get them back right but I mean I remember even thinking at the time that this was going on what were they doing hiking along the Iranian border right I mean look you probably shouldn't just be walking right down that physical line so close where you don't know you know maybe I'm in this country maybe I'm in that look maybe they should have been in the midst of the camp maybe they should have been closer to home closer to safety right because look when the lion hunts his prey he never goes to the center of the pack he goes after the alpha male that's not how it works everybody knows you've all seen you know the nature programs or whatever they're looking for the weak one that falls behind that stays at the water hole when they don't know you know they're like oh you know they're always left and they didn't realize it well that's who the lion gets every time right so I mean look it's the one that's fallen behind it's the small one right so the one that's not in the midst you say well lion you know well the analogy is interesting and it's actually in the Bible look at your bulletin right first Peter 5 first Peter 5 8 says be sober be diligent because be vigilant because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour so let's look at the river itself okay think about the river I mean so why did God choose to put these people on the west side of the Jordan because there's protection in the actual physical river itself that's why even sun sue I don't know if you've ever heard of the art of war he talks about river warfare I mean he talks specifically about you know prosecuting war using a river I mean it's there's several points in the book about specifically rivers one of them is this when an invading force crosses a river on its onward march do not advance to meet it midstream it will be best to let half the army get across and then deliver your attack so it's saying when you're on that say we're on the west side of the Jordan and there's an army coming to invade us he's literally telling us here how to attack that army what you're supposed to do is let the army get halfway out of the river onto your land and then attack the army when half of them is still in the river and half is out of the river that way you push the other half into the river and now you've got all of them stuck in the river basically but now that doesn't apply at all when you think about being on the east side of the Jordan you are literally at this point you are between the river you're the one that's going to be pushed into the river as you get invaded from the east side so it was strategically a horrible horrible position for them to be in basically it shows you why God's plan was perfect for the children of Israel for their physical protection going on the east side of the river actually worked against them but guess what turn to Acts chapter 2 God has given us a Jordan river today a physical Jordan river and I'll show you that now turn to Acts chapter 2 and just look at verse number one so we see you know God has got to leave us with all of our enemies surrounding us with no protection right so God has provided that for us today he provided that physically for the children of Israel with the Jordan river look at Acts chapter 2 in verse number one and the Bible says when the day of Pentecost was fully come they were all with one accord in one place you know look some weren't logged in from other states they were all together in one place in the church right here look at verse number 41 so of course they're all together in one place and this great miracle happens this speaking in tongues speaking in other languages happens they get all these people saved it's this great wonderful thing that happens look at verse number 41 and the Bible says then they that glad to receive his word were baptized in the same day they were added unto them about 3,000 souls and they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship and breaking of bread and in prayers and fear came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles and all that believed were together and had all things in common sold their possessions and goods and part of them to all men as every man had need and they continuing daily with one accord in the temple and breaking of bread from house to house did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart so here we see that being physically together led these people to be of the same heart of the same mind of the same doctrine they were all in one accord they were all together in one accord but they were physically together they were physically literally in one place I mean this is super important for the believer today to understand this that you need to be physically together with other believers period it's not you know we live in a day where you can be you know connected to so many different people but the Bible teaches that you are to be physically together and then you will be in singleness of heart right look Paul look at Paul's letters throughout the Bible look at Paul's letters he's constantly he's visiting a place while he's writing letters to another place remember Wednesday night we talked about the Galatians right I mean he visited them and then he left for a while and then he had to write letters to them because he's like hey you know if I'm not there you know things went awry right so I mean we need to be physically together in one place I mean there's strength in the gathering of believers period and protection it's your Jordan remember turn to Deuteronomy chapter 31 you think this is a new concept you think that oh we're in the church age now you think this is a new concept it's not a new concept it's the same concept look at Deuteronomy 31 look at verse number 12 the Bible says in Deuteronomy 31 12 we see the same concept of this protection in the gathering of believers in the Old Testament all the people together men and women and children and by stranger that is within thy gates that they may hear and that they may learn and fear the Lord your God and observe to do all the words of his law so what is the result of us all being together even the children by the way it doesn't say accept the children go to Sunday school all the people are together and it says men women and children and it says the result of that is that you will fear the Lord your God what was the problem with all these different things that happened in judges when they got overtaken whether it was from the east or wherever is they stopped fearing the Lord they first stopped fearing the Lord then they started bringing in the false gods so look they're saying you have to gather together gather the people together that is the command look at verse 13 and that their children which have not known anything may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God so the children are supposed to be part of the gathering too so they will what they'll learn to fear the Lord your God that's what's happening in a family integrated church when the children are hearing the Bible preach they're learning to fear the Lord period and as long as you live look and this is interesting as long as you live in the land whether you go over Jordan to possess it so basically it even makes a little shot at you know you're supposed to live over the Jordan here you're not supposed to be you know it makes a reference to the Jordan here of that protection that's why the Lord chose the west side for that protection he has the local church for you for a reason for your protection if you never come to it or you don't visit it very much it's not gonna protect you you know if you live on the other side of the Jordan river the Jordan river is of no value to you it's the same thing so the local church is your Jordan river turn to Ephesians chapter 5 verse 25 we make another real quick application just for the ladies just for the ladies so listen up ladies Ephesians chapter 5 in verse 25 so we see that the Jordan river that the local church is our protection that God has given us look at Ephesians chapter 5 verse 25 husbands love your wives even as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it ladies did you know that your husband is your Jordan river your husband is there for your protection he is there to love you and protect you as Christ gave I mean he's there to give himself for you if necessary so are you on board are you living on the other side of the Jordan with your husband or are you this you know are you rebelling against your husband because if you're rebelling against the person that God has given you to protect you you're living on the east side of the Jordan the protection will be of none effect so don't so live on the west side live in that protection that the Lord has provided you look the bible says that the woman is the weaker vessel that's why he gave you your husband to give you that protection to give you that comfort in your life as Christ loved the church Christ loved the church with everything that he had and that's what you have in your husband use it live on the west side use that protection it's there for you God provided it for you the second point is this turn to Joshua chapter 22 so we see that God gives us protection God gave us protection our church is our Jordan river ladies your husband is your Jordan river look at Joshua first 22 Joshua chapter 22 I want to show you with my second point here the importance of sticking with God's plan the importance of sticking with God's plan look at Joshua 22 in verse number one the bible says then Joshua called the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half tribe of Manasseh and said unto them so this is after they fought this is after they did what they were supposed to do you have kept all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you and have obeyed my voice and all that I commanded you and you have not left your brethren these many days under this day but have kept the charge of the commandment of the Lord your God and now the Lord your God have given rest under your brethren as he promised them now therefore now return ye and get under your tents and under the land of your possession with Moses which Moses the servant of the Lord gave you on the other side of Jordan he releases them he said hey because look Moses didn't go right Joshua went and fought the battles Joshua commanded these men that said they would come across and fight they fought on the west side they did a good job they fulfilled what they promised to do Joshua releases them he said you did it go home go to your land go back to your families look at verse number 10 and this is what we just we we saw this earlier and they came under the borders of Jordan that are in the land of Canaan in the children of Rubin and children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh built their an altar by the Jordan a great altar to see to and the children of Israel said behold the children of Rubin and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh had built an altar over against the land of Canaan in the borders of Jordan in the passage of the children of Israel and when the children of Israel heard it the whole congregation of the children of Israel gathered themselves together at Shiloh, to go up to war against them. For the Lord hath made, skip down to verse 25. So they go to war because they gather at Shiloh. You know why they gather at Shiloh? Because in Joshua 18, that's where the actual altar is. That's where the tabernacle is. That's where the real altar is. So they're jealous for their God. This is actually a good thing that they're doing here. They're upset. They think, hey, they're going to make their own nation. They're going to make their own God. We're going to take care of this problem right now. And of course, in verse 25, they explain it away. And they say, for the Lord hath made Jordan a border between us and you, ye children of Reuben, the children of Gad, ye have no part in the Lord. So your children make our children cease from fearing the Lord. Therefore, we said, now let us prepare to build an altar, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice. So they came to war. And they're like, hey, it's not, we're not trying to sacrifice over here. That's still at Shiloh. That's still there. It's just for a witness that it may be a witness between us and you and our generations after us. So look, it was just a witness, a monument of sorts, right? But think of this new altar. Think of this thing that they built. Because of their separation, they built this, right? Because of their separation. And just everyone freaked out. They thought they were building another altar. And even though it wasn't necessarily unto a false God, it was not an altar that the Lord commanded to be built. It was not God's plan that they live on the East side. It was not God's plan A that they build this altar, basically. So they went out and their intentions were, it's not that their intentions were bad, right? It was still pretty brazen to set up this witness altar. They kind of just made it up. They kind of just thought it would be a good idea themselves, but it wasn't God's plan. Same thing with the land that they settled, all right? They were not amongst the people. They felt separated immediately. So they go and they build this fake altar, basically, right? That almost gets them, you know, killed. So look, when you're, the point is this, when you're not amongst the congregation, you'll be easier to remove from the doctrines that you've been taught. And it'll be easier to separate you. Hebrews 10, 25, you don't have to turn though. Just read if you're not forsaking the assembly of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another. If you're with the congregation, if you're with what God has provided for you physically in person, it will be harder for you to drift off into weird fake altars, basically. Someone's gonna say, hey, hey, don't go build some weird altar. That's not in the Bible, right? Someone will tell you that if you're amongst the people. But if you're all by yourself, turn to Malachi chapter three. If you're all by yourself, all bets are off. Malachi chapter three. Being in the midst of the people also strengthens your faith. Look at Malachi chapter three. Look at Malachi chapter three. And look at verse number 16. The Bible says in Malachi 3, 16, then they that feared the Lord spake often to one another. And the Lord hearkened and heard it, and the Book of Remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and for them that thought upon his name. So here we see that in Malachi 3 that they're strengthened because they speak often to one another. They're fellowshiping together. They're together speaking to each other. Being amongst the congregation strengthens you through difficult times even. I mean, think about soul winning. I mean, how many times have you heard people that don't come to church, that aren't in a good church say, oh, well, we're just gonna start our own soul winning thing where we're at or whatever. Look, it's just never gonna work well because you don't have that congregation strengthening you. Look, I mean, there's difficult times out soul winning. I mean, I remember when we first got to Sacramento, I specifically remember this time. We pulled up, it was like the first time we had gone soul winning in Sacramento in a really nice neighborhoods. You say, what worries you? What kind of neighborhoods worry you when you're out soul winning? The kind of neighborhoods that worry me are where there's like $500,000 homes and up. Those scare me. You pull up to those neighborhoods, and I just remember sitting in my car being like, oh man, this is gonna be rough when you pull up to these nice neighborhoods because these people aren't gonna be receptive. Is the first thing that comes into your head. But then guess what? Your soul winning partner in his family pulls up next to you and you're like, oh, well, at least I'll get to talk to brother Vladi or brother David or whatever. We'll get, you know, in neighborhoods like that, you just start to learn that look, it's just better fellowship time. You guys, no one else wants to talk to you, so you get to talk to each other. Brother Joe Jones one time went to a neighbor. Pastor Joe Jones and I went through a neighborhood and I can't even remember knocking a door. It was a neighborhood like that. We just talked the whole time. We're just like, knock, knock, knock. Everyone's like, get out of here. We're like, okay, and we're just talking the whole conversation the whole time. I was like, it felt more like fellowship than soul winning, I told them when we were done. He's like, hey, whatever, either way. But look, that is where the congregation strengthens you in times like that. You know, I mean, sometimes, look, sometimes God's service is rough. Sometimes God's service is tough. Like, I mean, we kind of had a tough week, you know, with some of the things that happened around the church here. Yesterday, I'm with Garrett and Jacob and we're building something outside the church to keep some of these bums out of here. And we're coming to the church. We're going to Home Depot. We're coming to the church. And we're almost done and we forget a drill bit. And we're like, ah, we gotta go all the way back to the house to, you know, Garrett's like, I'm gonna out Garrett. He's like, ah, we gotta go all the way back to the house to get a drill bit. I'm like, hey, I was like, going back to the house and getting a drill bit is God's service. That's serving God. You know, we're driving back to the house. It's just God's service. And you know what? Thank God that I had these two guys with me yesterday because it built me up, it strengthened me. So, I mean, together, you know, the Bible says being together, talking together, being congregated will strengthen your faith. It's your protection. It's your Jordan River. Just keep, look, just keep serving together. You're gonna get beat down by yourself. If I was by myself this week, I'd have been like, depressed. Okay? Seriously. You say, oh, but you know, you're the satellite leader. I would have been depressed if I was by myself this week. But I'm not by myself. I got you guys. I got, you know, Sunday always to look forward to. Wednesday, soul winning. I mean, look, this is what keeps us going in this life, no matter what. It's like, bring it on, anything. As long as we're together. As long as we have our Jordan River that God has provided us. Right? Conclusion. Look, the tribes, think of these tribes, these two and a half tribes, Gad, Reuben, the half tribe of Manasseh, they didn't have, they weren't, they didn't have bad intentions. Just remember this for a second, okay? They didn't have bad intentions when they settled on the east side. But they should have stayed with God's program. Their decision to separate themselves from the nations, it had consequences for generations, if you read the Bible. Whenever you separate yourself from God's plan, the same will be true for you. Think about that for a minute. When you separate yourself from God's plan, it will have generational consequences for you. You say, that sounds scary. It should. Let's learn from the Bible. Look, now here's something else. Are you recognizing a little bit of theme here when it comes to like intentions? When you, there's a lot of good intentions in the Bible. There's a lot of people who are like, hey, I'm gonna try this and this is gonna happen. Have you started to notice when you read the Bible, when you listen to Bible preaching, have you started to notice this theme in the Bible that intentions don't really matter much? Have you started to notice that you should? As you read the Bible more, you should understand that look, your intentions don't mean much. What matters is your methods. That's what matters. What matters is results. What matters is your actions. That's what matters. Look, the whole Bible. Look, the Bible is God has given you methods. I mean, think about this. God has given you methods and then he shows you proven results that come from those methods. Intentions, what, where are intentions at? If you go out and you have good intentions and you end up hurting a bunch of people, what does it matter what your intentions were? You still hurt those people. Oh, but I didn't mean like that. It doesn't matter. When you veer from God's methods, you will not get the same results. So you sit here and you read the Bible, right? You read the Bible and you see that God gives you these methods and he says if you do it this way, here's an example, this will happen. And not only will this happen, here's a bunch of examples of how it did happen. And here's a bunch of examples of how it didn't happen for people. I mean, he gives you examples on both sides. But if you veer from that plan, all bets are off. For you, for your family, for the church, for everything. If we veer from God's plan, we're just kind of like entering into a random number generator or something. I don't wanna do that. I know the results I want in my life. I think you probably do too. If you know anything about the Bible, I mean, most people, most Christians know the results they wanna have in your life. So follow God's methods, because your intentions mean nothing. If your methods don't match the Bible, it's that simple. You don't know more than God. You haven't figured something. Look, that pastor, that pastor looked great to them. Look at all this green grass. I'm sure they were doing their numbers. I've done this. Hey, if I rent another 100 acres next year, I can increase my flock this much. They're sitting there doing the numbers and they're like, well, our business is gonna thrive in all this and look at this land. Look at all the water holes in this pasture. This is great. Moses, give us this land. But they didn't see the invasions. They didn't pencil that in. They didn't see the influence of these nations on their children, on their wives. Pretty soon, hey, they're increasing that flock. They're increasing that flock. They're moving their business forward and their children are literally worshiping the devil. Intentions mean nothing. It's the methods that matter. I mean, that's the Bible. That's the Bible. It doesn't matter how it pencils out in your stupid little logical mind. You stick to the methods that God has given you in the Bible. You stick to his way. You stick to his Jordan River in your life, which is the church, the local church, not YouTube. The people gathered together, talking together. You stick to your family. You take solace in your husband and protection in your husband and you get on board with your husband and you get on his program and you help him with his program and then you will have that protection. Stick to God's plan because your intentions mean nothing but the methods mean everything. And God, look, God promises you those results. It's that simple. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for just these huge lessons in the Bible, God. I mean, I thank you for these just the infinite lessons that we can learn from the Bible, from the nations, from the people, from the world that we're reading about in the Bible. We thank you for the methods that you've laid forward. Just please help us to understand that we need to stick to what you're saying. And it doesn't matter that we just, we want things to go a certain way. We have to stick to the way that you said it. We thank you for all this wisdom. Lord, I ask that you bless soul winning this afternoon. Bless this church, bless all the people in it and bless church this evening. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.