 Amen. Joshua chapter 6. So here we are at Jericho. Now there's a very, I'm going to kind of do things a little bit different tonight. I'm going to preach through the chapter fairly quickly. Just point out a few details here and there. But what I really want you to do is I want you to pay attention this evening, not that you don't pay attention every evening. But there's a very powerful message in Joshua chapter 5, Joshua chapter 6, and even into Joshua chapter 7. And I want to kind of tie some of that up this evening. But let's look at the details here. So please pay attention because there's a very powerful application here of the story of Jericho and why God did things the way that he did and why Joshua did things the way that he did and why things worked out the way that they did. So first of all, you know, here we are. We've taken all this time to cross the Jordan River. The Jordan River parted. There was this huge miracle that happened that all the people heard about and that's obvious in verse number 1 of Joshua chapter 6. So let's just get right into it and then I will start to explain and get to the application here in just a few minutes. But in Joshua chapter 1, the Bible says, now Jericho was straightly shut up because of the children of Israel. None went out and none came in because Governor Newsom was the mayor. I'm just kidding. He's like, lockdown. No, okay. Anyway, nothing to do with the sermon. So they're all, they heard about everything. They were afraid. Obviously, they saw the children of Israel coming. They were fearing the Lord. They were fearing the children of this army of Israel coming at them and they were on lockdown, literally. They were shut up. Nobody was going in. Nobody was coming out and they were getting ready for whatever was coming. Look at verse 2. And now the Lord said unto Joshua, so remember now, remember that Joshua just stood before, you know, who I believe to be the Lord Jesus Christ at the end of Joshua chapter 5 and then one verse later, the Lord starts giving him instructions. Now, was that the same? Now, was that, you know, Jesus or was that God the Father giving him instructions? You know, we don't know. You know, this could be, you know, just God speaking to Joshua. It doesn't really matter. But the point is that Joshua saw the Lord Jesus Christ. He saw, you know, God, you know, in two verses prior and then God gives very specific instructions to Joshua on what to do in Jericho. And the Lord said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thy hand Jericho and the King thereof and the mighty men of Valor. And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once, thus shall thou do six days. And seven priests, I mean, you would think, like with specific directions like this, you wonder if Joshua was just really paying attention or like, is he, you know, having somebody, you know, remember this for him or something because like, there's some pretty specific instructions here. He says, Do this six days, and seven priests shall bear the ark, bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams horns, and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets. And it shall come to pass that when ye make a long blast with the rams horns, and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall descend up every man straight before him. So the first time, they're supposed to go around the city one time and repeat that six times, and then on the seventh day, they are supposed to, you know, compass the city seven times and then blow with the trumpets. Look at verse six. I mean, the instructions, just imagine, you know, Joshua giving the instructions to the people. I mean, it's, people must have been wondering, why? Why do all these specific things? Well, because God said so. That's why. So verse six says, and Joshua the son of none called the priests and said unto them, take up the ark of the covenant and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams horns before the ark of the Lord. And he said unto the people, pass on and compass the city, and let him that his arm pass on before the ark of the Lord. And it came to pass when Joshua had spoken unto the people that the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams horns passed on before the Lord and blew with the trumpets, and the ark of the covenant of the Lord followed them. And the armed men went before the priests that blew the trumpets, and the real word came before after the ark and the priests going on and blowing with the trumpets. And Joshua commanded the people saying, ye shall not shout, nor make any noise with your voice, neither shall any word proceed out of your mouth until the day I bid you shout, then shall ye shout. Notice how, look, I mean, God didn't say that detail. Okay, God said, you're just going to go around the city, you're going to go around the city seven times the last day and then you're going to shout. And Joshua is being extra careful that they follow exactly what God wanted. God, you know, Joshua is saying, look, don't start taunting the people on the wall and start yelling and hollering. He's like, hey, don't make a noise. We're going to do this thing exactly how God wants it to be done. Verse 12, Joshua rose early in the morning and the priests took up the ark of the Lord. And the seven priests bearing seven trumpets of ram's horns before the ark of the Lord went on continually and blew the trumpets and the armed men went before them. But the rear reward came after the ark of the Lord, the priests going on and blowing with the trumpets. The second day they compassed the city once and returned into the camp. So they did six days. So there they did the six day and now they're into the seventh day, verse 15. It came to pass on the seventh day. They rose early about the dawning of the day and compassed the city. That means they went around the city after the same manner seven times. Only on that day they compassed the city seven times. And it came to pass at the seventh time when the priests blew the trumpets. Joshua said unto the people, shout, for the Lord hath given you the city. And the city shall be accursed, even it, and all that are there into the Lord. Only Rahab the harlot shall live. She and all that are with her in her house because she hid the messengers that we sent. Remember, Rahab, it was promised anybody you have in your house will be saved. So I'm going to talk a little bit about that on Sunday night. So I'm not going to get too much into Rahab this evening. But it couldn't be like, hey, my cousin lives down the block on First Street. Could you save him too? No, if they weren't in the house, that was it. It was only the people in her house, verse 18. And ye, and anywise, keep yourself from the accursed thing, lest ye make yourselves accursed, when ye take of the accursed thing and make the camp of Israel accursed and trouble it. But all the silver and the gold and the vessels of brass and iron are consecrated unto the Lord that shall come into the treasury of the Lord. So the people shouted when the priests blew the trumpets. And it came to pass that when the people heard the sound of the trumpet and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat. So that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him and they took the city. Now this story right here also, this side note is like one of the most cartoonized stories out there. You know, I mean it's a veggie tail cartoon where they're throwing mushrooms or something at each other. I mean it's, you know, but it's a very serious story in the Bible and it's ruined by cartoonizing the Bible. You know, Jericho, I mean it's a very serious thing. I mean the Lord literally knocked the wall down flat and then in verse 21 and they utterly destroyed all that was in the city. Both man and woman, young and old, awk sheep and ass with the edge of the sword. Look, they killed everybody and everything in the city at the command of God. You say, wow, that's harsh. Well, that's what God said to do. And that's what they did. And look, God gave a lot more instructions. But Joshua had said unto the two men that spied out the country, go into the harlot's house and bring out thence the woman and all that she hath as ye swear unto her. And the young men that were, the spies went in and brought out Rahab and her father and her mother and her brethren and all that she had, they brought out all her kindred and left them without the camp of Israel. So we're going to talk about this Sunday night but I'll just give you a little spoiler here. You know, it's interesting that Rahab was able to basically get her entire family on board and like Lot couldn't get anybody. Lot got it, you know, two wicked daughters and a wife that was disobedient to go with him and that was about it. But anyway, we'll talk about that in more detail on Sunday night. Look at verse 24. And they burnt the city with fire and all that was there in only with silver, the gold, the vessels of brass and iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord. And Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive and her father's household and all that she had and she dwelt in Israel even unto this day because she hid the messengers which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho. And Joshua adjourned them at the time saying curse would be the man before the Lord that riseeth up and buildeth this city Jericho. He shall lay the foundation thereof in his firstborn and his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it. So Joshua literally curses Jericho here. He says, you know, whoever tries to rebuild this city, they destroyed the city, they flattened it and they destroyed everything in it and he says whoever tries to rebuild this city is going to lose his firstborn son at the beginning of the building project and his oldest son at the end of the building project. So the Lord was with Joshua and his fame was noised throughout all the country. Turn to 1st Kings chapter 16. Let's look at this curse that Joshua puts on Jericho here. So Joshua, he puts this curse on Jericho. He says curse would be the man before the Lord that riseeth up and buildeth the city of Jericho. He shall lay the foundation thereof in his firstborn and his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it. So he's saying, I think I said it backwards at first, but he's saying basically his oldest son is going to die at the beginning of the building project and then when he gets ready to set up the gates and finish the project, his youngest son is going to die. It's going to cost him two of his sons. And sure enough, look at 1st Kings chapter 16. Look what the Bible says here. The Bible says, look, this is several hundred years later in 1st Kings chapter 16. Look at verse 33. The Bible says, and Ahab made a grove. And Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him. In his days did Hyal the Bethelite build Jericho. So here he is. Here's the fool that comes on the scene and says, hey, I've got an idea for a building project. He laid the foundation thereof in Abiram, his firstborn, and set up the gates thereof in his youngest son, Segeb, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Joshua, the son of none. So this guy goes and he does it. He goes and he rebuilds Jericho. Look, it doesn't say he failed. He rebuilt Jericho. Jericho exists today. Jericho exists today. Jericho was found throughout the Old Testament. It's even in the New Testament. Look, somebody did it and it was this guy. This guy did it. But here's the thing. Don't you think that this guy knew this curse? I mean, don't you think that this guy knew? I mean, it's not like they didn't know the story of the, you know, didn't have the stories of Joshua and what had happened. You know, this was Ahab and he was wicked. But let's say, okay, let's say that he didn't know. Let's say he personally didn't know. Or he, you know, look, I'm sure somebody told him. I'm sure somebody told him like, hey, man, there's this curse. Maybe you want to rethink this. But here's the thing. Here's the thing. He proceeded anywhere. Anyway, it's not that he didn't know or somebody didn't tell him. I'm almost positive this was such a common thing. Look, we know about it. He knew about it. Okay, look, it's a positive thing. God preserves his word for all generations. He knew about this. He just didn't care and he built it anyway and he paid the price. He paid the price for it. Now go back to Joshua chapter 5. So here we see, here we see that, you know, they get to Jericho. There's all these specific instructions. But let's look at Joshua chapter 5 and the end of Joshua chapter 5 real quickly and just kind of tie this together for you this evening. Look at Joshua chapter 5 in verse number 13. This is when Joshua comes upon the man and it came to pass when Joshua was by Jericho verse 13. That he lifted up his eyes and looked and behold there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand. And Joshua went unto him and said unto him, art thou for us or for our adversaries? That's what Joshua said to this man. He said, are you for us or are you for our enemies? He didn't know who this man was. And he said nay. He said nay. He said no. I mean, that wasn't a yes or no question that Joshua gave him. He said, are you for them or are you for us? And he said no, is what he said. But as captain of the host of the Lord, am I now come? And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and did worship and said unto him, what sayeth my Lord unto his servant? After this event, right after this event, God gives Joshua very specific instructions on how to approach the battle of Jericho. He tells him what to do. He tells him who and what to destroy. He tells him what to keep. He tells him what not to keep. He tells him where to put what you keep. He literally tells them what to say in this battle, down to the details of what they are to say. And then at the very end, he tells them to not rebuild. And Joshua curses the city. These events, these events, turn to Hebrews chapter 10. These events show the seriousness of finding and obeying God's will right here. That is the message of Joshua chapter 5, Joshua chapter 6 and Joshua chapter 7, which we'll look at next week. But it shows the seriousness of obeying God's will. Turn to Hebrews chapter 10. Let me give you a New Testament example of this for us as saved believers. Joshua chapter 10. We always talk about Joshua chapter 10 in verse number 25. It's a great verse in the Bible about coming to church and how you should be coming to church. But there is a much bigger message in Hebrews chapter 10. Let's look at it together. Hebrews chapter 10, look at verse 24. Verse 24. And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works. One another. He is talking to saved people here. He is talking to the brethren here in Hebrews chapter 10. Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another. And so much the more as you see the day approaching. He is talking about assembling in a church. Verse 26. For if we sin willfully, for if we sin again, the brethren, again, saved people here. If we sin willfully, after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins. Look, a lot of people are very confused about these verses here. This is not confusing. This is not confusing. But what this shows is that Hebrews chapter 10 is talking about saved people. It mentions gathering together as a church to exhort one another. But then the context is coming to church, but he just starts talking about sinning willfully. Meaning you know what the will of God is, but you don't do it anyway. You go against it. For if we sin willfully, there remains no more sacrifice for sins. But here's what is coming. So there's no more sacrifice for sins. He's saying here, he's saying, Paul is saying, Jesus isn't going to die for you again. Jesus died for you one time. That's the whole point of the book of Hebrews, is that that one sacrifice is good enough for you. Is that one sacrifice? It's not like the bulls and goats. Jesus came and he died one time and that's it. That's enough. So he says, if you saved people, decide to just go against God's will, he says, here's what's coming. A certain fearful looking up for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. He's like, look, God's going to have indignation towards you. Saved person. He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses. Of how much sorrow punishment suppose ye shall be ethot worthy who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God and have counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing and had done despite unto the spirit of grace. He's saying, look, if you know what God's will is and you don't do it, it's like you're just stomping all over Jesus. That's what he says. He's like, here's, you know, for we know him that says, vengeance belongs to me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, the Lord shall judge his people. I like a lot of people are like, oh, vengeance belongs to me. You know, they just quote those words. In this context, he's talking about taking vengeance against you, saved person. It's not about judging his people. Judging saved people. The Lord shall judge his people. You are his people. I hate to break it to you in this context, but you are God's people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. So yes, Hebrew 10-25 is talking about coming to church and gathering together. But the main message of Hebrews 10-24 through 10-31 is look, if you know the will of God and you don't do it, there's judgment coming. You're not going to lose your salvation. God's going to beat you is what it's saying. It's like, you know, you're going to fall into the hands of the living God. Look, as a saved person, you should be afraid of God's judgment. I mean, this isn't that hard. But that's what it's saying. Saved people. So look, let's talk about knowing God's way. I'm going to give you, look, if you are in a position, here's what I know. You are either in a position right now where you are going to have to make a major decision in your life or you're soon to be. Because that's kind of how life seems to go. I mean, I just had one of those in the last month and a half. I mean, there's all kinds of those I can think of in just the last two years that we're just in my life alone. I know that those types of decisions are coming your way if you're not in one right now. So I'm going to give you a methodology tonight on how to know God's will, on how to know God's way. Look, it's a really simple process of elimination, really. But look, God does not speak to us audibly. You say, Joshua knew exactly how to prosecute the battle of Jericho because God told him. I mean, that was pretty easy. I mean, God just says, do this, do that, do this, don't say this, don't keep that. Destroy this, destroy all of that, keep that lady in that house. I mean, it's very specific. And God literally spoke it to him. God does not speak to us audibly today. Okay, yes, we have the Word of God. And that's what we need to use. But look, the Bible says that God has given us His Word. That's what we have. So how do we know with all these specific situations that come up in our life if we're following God's will or not? That's what we're going to talk about this evening. So listen up. I pray that you listen tonight because if we are not, if we are not following God's will, what I'm trying to get you to understand before we even get started here, it's not that He's not going to bless us. It's not that God's not going to bless us because isn't that what you hear today? We go to church and we just want to hear about all the blessings that God's going to pour upon me. And anything that happens in my life, you're like, oh, God's just blessing me. And it's all about getting God's blessings. But here's the thing, it's about avoiding God's fiery indignation. That's what we should be focused on in our lives is avoiding God's indignation. Staying within God's will, avoiding that judgment coming down upon us. And if blessings come, hey, that's a bonus. Look, that's the safe way. You want to talk about living a risk-averse life, that's the risk-averse methodology to the Christian life to try to avoid that indignation. If blessings come, thank God for it. But it's important that we get this right. So now let's look at this methodology. Turn to Revelation chapter 2. Let's talk about this methodology with a church first. I'll explain it to you with a church because there was a church that went through this in the Bible. Look at Revelation chapter 2. Let's look at the church of Ephesus. They went through this and, you know, they failed in this area. And I'm going to show you how they could have recognized their failure. And you'll see, look, you'll see in Revelation chapter 2 and the way Jesus talked to them in Revelation chapter 2 that it wasn't about blessings. It was about fiery indignation. It was not about, you know, do I bless you or not bless you. It was about fiery indignation. Look at Revelation chapter 2 in verse number 2. This is the church of Ephesus. Look at what the Bible says. I know thy works and thy labor and thy patience. And how thou canst not bear them which are evil. I mean, that sounds pretty good. I mean, right away, this sounds like a good church. You know, I mean, this sounds like a church that I would recommend that you go to if you were visiting somewhere. I mean, Andal has tried them which say that they are apostles and are not and has found them wise. They are like they are finding out false prophets and has borne and has patience. And for my name's sake, thou hast labored and has not fainted. These people are working hard. Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee because thou hath left thy first love. Remember therefore, from whence thou art fallen and repent. He's saying change. He's saying fix this and do the first works. Or else I will come unto thee quickly and take away your blessings. And I will not bless you. No, he says I will remove my candlestick out of his place except thou repent. Look, there's a lot of good things that these people were doing. I mean, this up until verse number 4 and into verse number 5, this sounds like a great church. But they just forgot the first works here. They forgot the first works. I mean, they had labor. They had patience. They didn't put up with evil. They were kicking out false apostles. And then he says they labored again in verse number 3. I mean, these people are working. These people are working. The point number one is this. It is possible to carry out your responsibilities in this Christian life while forgetting the most important ones. And God and Jesus here, he didn't say, look, they were carrying out some responsibilities here. Some big responsibilities that a lot of churches don't carry out. And Jesus said to them, he said, fix it or I'll destroy your ministry. That's what he said. He said, fix it or you're done being a church. Carrying out your responsibilities while forgetting the most important ones is never God's way. That is never going to be God's way. God would never want that. These people were spending all their time doing other things. They were spiritual things. They weren't bad things, but they neglected the most important thing. And God says, I'll destroy this ministry if you don't fix this. Let me give you some more examples, some more personal examples. This house of God. Look, there's a lot of work that keeps this place going. There's a lot of work. I mean, think about it. There's a lot of work that maybe some of you see, maybe some of you don't. You think about the cleaning. Think about the repairs, the lights, the toilets, the remodeling, the bomb busting. Look, that's a real thing to me, unfortunately. The signs, the security, the events. Man, the events. Think about that. The planning, the shopping, the accounting, the banking, the copying, the recording, the designing, calling places, researching things, homeschool activities, more shopping, more activities, more cleaning. Look, I haven't even mentioned preaching. I haven't even mentioned preaching. Look, a person could get so busy in the ministry, in the works of the church. Look, I look at that church at Ephesus and I'm like, they're busy. I get it. A person could get so busy in the work of the ministry it could be overwhelming. What if we got a new building? What if we got a new building and I was just like, you know what? We have to have bathrooms. What if we got a new building and it had one bathroom? And I'm like, we have to have bathrooms. Is that true? Is that true? There is a break in one of the bathrooms one Sunday night and Garrett and I had to come in. Look, we have to have bathrooms. The bathrooms broke at Verdi Baptist Church. One of the men's bathroom, like the water went off and you want to have a group of 200 people come in and have no water in the bathroom. Do you know what kind of mess that would be in about half an hour? It would be terrible. Garrett and I came in. The floor was destroyed. We replaced the whole floor. We were here until 10, 30, 11 o'clock at night, fixed the toilet, the whole thing. All I'm saying is that had to be done. It was super important. It had to be done. But what if we got a new building and we needed bathrooms and we needed some kind of remodeling in order for the church to go? And I started a building project and I recruited a bunch of guys and I'm like, we got to knock this thing out. We got to get this done. We can't have people using one bathroom. We got to have these facilities. The air conditioner is not working. We have to get this fixed. I'm like, we're just going to cancel soul winning for like three weeks and we're just going to knock this thing out. Look, that's God's will because God wants us to have a building. Does God want us to have a building to have church in? Of course he does. Does God want us to have a clean bathroom? Of course he does. God's will would never be to forsake the first works, ever. Or to be so obsessed. Look, we're going to be so obsessed. Here's every other church in the whole country right here. Or to be so obsessed. What do you got a message from a pastor that said this very thing? To be so obsessed with other ministries that there's no soul winning anymore. That's just our mission. It's just our mission that we share our gospel non-audibly. I think that's what it said. I'm like what? God just wants me to have a ministry that just ministers to the two year olds and share the gospel non-audibly. Look, it's not of God. It's not of God because God will not contradict himself. This is the methodology. This is, look, we would be doing what God wanted by neglecting something that God wanted. You know, it's not God's plan. That's how we know it's not God's plan. And it's the same thing on an individual level. And I know several of you have gone through a specific individual example that I'm going to give on this. Look, God is not going to contradict himself. That's how you know if it's God's will. That's how you know if it's of God. Here's one for guys. And this is like, from the perspective of the ministry, this is like Satan 101. This is like the first thing that Satan pulls out and he's like I'm going to get this guy with this. It's because it's happened to, I think every single one of you in the last two years. But it's this. You know, you get a job or you get offered a promotion that would not allow you to come to church. And I'm proud to say that every single one of you have made the right decision. You get, you're like God's blessing me. I lost my job and I got offered this job and I've just got to be out of town. And, you know, I just got to miss church. I'm not talking about a project comes up and you have to, you know, miss a Saturday or something. But what I'm talking about is taking a job knowing that you're not going to be able to go to church. You're out of town all the time. This has happened to a lot of you in the last two years. It's one of the most common attacks on men. And you can't go to church. You can't lead your family. Father's Day sermon, hello. Look, it's not of God. But you say, I have to support my family. Yes, you do. But God is never going to contradict himself. He will never, God's will will never contradict his will. It's really that simple. It's Satan trying to find cracks is what it is. And then, when he finds those cracks, he'll drive wedges in him. Look, I had one of these happen two years ago. Garrett, when we first moved here, Garrett, you know, you guys think you're in this alone. We've all gone through this. Garrett, when we first moved here, had no job. Thank God I had a job when we moved here. He had no job and he was out looking for a job. The first job offer he got, the first job offer he got. I have his permission to tell this story. And I don't think I've told any of you this. The first job offer that he got was some union position in San Francisco traveling during the week and coming back on the weekends. It was literally four times what he makes right now. If he would have worked that job for six months, he could have saved more money than he saved in the last two years. Four times. He's like, man. You know, we thought about that for about three seconds. Look, the point is this. That's Satan trying to find cracks because he's like, oh, you know, I'll do this for six months. I'll go and I'll do this for six months. You know, I'll just make this money and I'll put it away and then it'll be all good. But you know what? That wouldn't have been the end of it. That would have been the start of it because that would have been a wedge in that crack. And here's the thing. I don't care if it was 500 times the amount of money. The decision would have been the same. You know what? The decision for him would have been the same. I didn't even have to step in there. I mean, you think for like a second. You know, he's like, for a second, he's like, oh man. And then it's like, oh yeah, church. Maybe it was two seconds. But here's the point. This is an attack on every single man. It happened to all of you over the last year and a half. Ladies, you think you're exempt from this type of attack? Ladies, you could become so obsessed with things in your life that maybe seem spiritual. Maybe you become obsessed with helping a friend or helping people, even at church maybe. And you ignore your responsibilities at home. You ignore the schooling of the children. You ignore your own children. Look, this is not God's will. Turn to Deuteronomy chapter 6. Here's your first works, ladies. Look, there's a lot of first works. Look, your first works are to lead your children at home. That's your first works. Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse number 5. Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse number 5. The Bible says, And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart and all thine soul and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart. And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children. And shall talk of them when thou sittest in the house, when thou walkest by the way, when thou wise down, when thou wiseest up. Look, it's you that's there during that time. When you rise up, when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, it is the mother that's there. And if she's out doing other things, if she's out, look, you could spiritualize those things. But if you're not getting those things done, look, that's not God's will. That you would be doing those things. So look, everybody can fall into this. Men and women. Men and women can fall into this. Look, I mean, some things seem spiritual. But you know if it's God's will, if it falls in line with his other wills in your life. If it falls in line with what he says in the Bible. Contradicts the Bible, but God doesn't contradict himself. But here's the thing. Here's another note, folks. You say, this is pretty complicated. How am I going to recognize all this stuff? Here's the thing. If you have a strong spiritual life, if you're in church, you're serving God, you know, you're soul winning. Look, I'm talking about you're sold out. You're sold out. I mean, you're in church to the point where like, imagine this, you like it. You know what? I mean, here's the news flash. I like being here. I like it here. I mean, that's why I keep coming back. I'm kidding. I would come back anyway. But I mean, I like it here. I like it here. I'm not good. Look, I am not somebody that is just going through the motions. I know many of you aren't either. But there's no place that I would rather be. I can't wait to get here on Wednesdays. I mean, look, it's literally, it's literally, I mean, think about, is this true for you? It is literally what I want to do with my life. So many people sit there and search what I want to do with my life. This is what I want to do with my life, right here. Look, when you get there, when you get there, these attacks are really easy to see. Because something comes along, it doesn't matter what it is. Because you're at that point where you're on the right track. You know what you want to do with your life. You're serving the Lord. Something comes along and it starts pulling you away and you recognize it. And you recognize it, like, right away. And you're like, whoa, it starts, it starts stealing your heart. It starts stealing your heart. And you're like, oh yeah. You're like, but, you're like, but yeah, but you're the, you're the leader of the church. And you know, there's a 50% chance you're going to be the pastor in a few weeks. You know, it probably wouldn't happen to you. Oh yeah, this happened to me. Like three months ago, this happened to me. This happened to me, actually, it started in January. I had a promotion at work. Somebody offered me a promotion. I mean, who's ever thought of turning down a promotion? You ever got a promotion and said, no, I don't want that? I, some way I was doing my job at work. And somebody offered, they offered me a promotion. And I was like, okay, I took the promotion. And everything flipped on its head. Everything flipped on its head. All of a sudden, like, I'm getting calls in the evenings. It's taken up, you know, my weekends. I'm getting calls in evenings. I'm working on Saturday mornings. I mean, it's just like, you know, I mean, it's just, it's, it's crazy town. And I'm just like, I'm staring at the ceiling. And before I'm going to bed, thinking about work and stressed out, I'm just like, whoa! I'm like, whoa, this isn't good. I'm like, this isn't good. I got to change this. And I got out of there. And I got out of there because my heart has to be here. And I knew that that, that promotion wasn't of God because what it was doing to, what it was trying to do to my spiritual life. It was trying to pull me away. If I, I'm telling you, if I was, if I was a career engineer and a career professional engineer, that would have been a great role for me. I would have, I would have destroyed that role. It would have been awesome. I'd have loved it. Five years ago, I'd have loved that role. But I was just like, whoa, no, no, no, no, no. This is not what I want here. This is not what I want. And I got out. But I recognized it. But it could have been easy to just say, look, oh God, this is just, sorry, somebody else has to run soul winning. I've just been blessed by God. Look, you could misinterpret things like that. But God will never contradict His own will. And God's will is that we're here. God's will that we're serving here. God's will that we're out there, preaching His gospel to a lost and dying world. That is God's will. And anything, I don't care. Anything, work, people, family, anything that pulls that away, that's a wedge that Satan's trying to drive in and it's not God's will. That's how you can tell. Look, I got out. I took less money. Who cares? I mean, they're like, they're like, you know, talking, I'm like, I don't really care what the salary is. You know, I mean, look, God's going to take care of me. All I got to do is just keep finding the direction I need to go and just keep doing what I'm... Look, I know what I'm supposed to be doing. That's the difference, you see? That's the difference between the guys that made the right decision between this situation with me is like when you're on the right track, all you do is just keep on that track and then it's easy to see this stuff coming at you. And you know, listen to people who maybe are trying to warn you. Trying to tell you that maybe, because sometimes you don't see stuff, but that's why we're here together. To exhort one another. So listen and look, well, how do you have listened? A lot of you came and you said, you know what, I got the situation. This looks really good. It's a lot more money and what should I do? I was like, you know what to do. You're like, yeah, I know what to do. Like, okay, it's like a five-second conversation. And you made the right call. And look at it now. I mean, look. Remember the man. Let's get back to the story. Remember the man in Joshua chapter 5 before they went to Jericho. Joshua said, are you with them? Or are you with us? You know what he said? He said, take off your shoes. You're standing on holy ground. I'll let you know who I'm with when the Father tells me who I'm with. It depends on how you act. It depends on what you do. It depends on how you... If you listen to the Father, then I'm with you. That's what he was saying. That's why he said, no, take off your shoes. That's what you do right now. And then you open your ears and listen to what God has to say. And you'll see in the next chapter that if they don't do what he's supposed to say, they don't follow God's will, that that man with the sword is not with them. One chapter later that he's not with them. If you follow the Father's instructions, I'm with you. If not, fiery indignation. That's the point. That's the point of this story. And guess what? They were headed into battle. They were headed into battle. You know what? They were headed into a battle. Turn to 2 Chronicles, chapter 25. They were headed... Just think about this for a second. Think about these situations. Think about that situation with Garrett. And say it was a thousand times more money. Say it was a million dollars a day. We're going to give you. Here's the reason that it's so easy. That it's so easy to say it's not God's will. It's not for me. Here's why. Turn to 2 Chronicles, chapter 25. In this story, Amaziah goes and he's about to go to battle and he hires an army from Israel. He has all his men and then he hires. He pays all this money to a mercenary army from Israel. And look what God says in verse number 9. No, verse number 7. 2 Chronicles, chapter 25, verse number 7. But there came a man, a God to him, to Amaziah, saying, Oh King, let not the army of Israel go with thee. Look, he said, don't take these people with you. Don't take these people with you. Because the Lord is not with Israel. To wit with all the children of Israel. He says, you can't hire these people to go with you. He's like, God's not with them. And the king is like, he's a thinking man. He just paid them all this money and now you're saying I can't use this army that I've already paid them. Look at verse number 8. But if that will go, do it. Be strong for the battle. God shall make thee fall before the enemy. For God has power to help and to cast down. It's like, look, go ahead and do what you want. God can help you or he can destroy you. That's what the man of God said here. And look at verse number 9. In Amaziah, being a rational, aren't we rationalizing? I mean, aren't we a rationalizing being? We can rationalize anything, us stupid humans. We will rationalize any stupid thing that we possibly can. And Amaziah does this. He says, in Amaziah said to the man of God, but what shall we do for the hundred talents which I've given to the army of Israel? He's like, I've already paid them all this money. What about that? And here's the problem. Here's the problem with people that think that way is they don't realize this. And the man of God said, the Lord is able to give thee much more than this. So the problem is faith. The problem is if you're going to pay me, if you're going to give me some promotion that's going to take my heart away and not let me to go to church and not let me lead my family and you're going to give me all this money, you could give me a billion dollars. And it's just a lack of faith on my part because I don't believe that God can give me that much. That's what I'm saying. I don't believe that God can cover that. And the man of God says, the Lord's able to give me much more than that. If you haven't noticed here folks, we're in an active battle. If you haven't noticed, that's kind of the whole point of this church. That's kind of the whole point. This church is our army. This church is our army. I mean, we are literally soldiers for Jesus Christ. Look, your family is the people. And they are under attack. You need God with you. Or it will be a disaster. I mean, look around you. How many disasters do you need to see in this life? But that is how important it is to do things God's way. Because he will not contradict himself. That's what I'm trying to tell you every single week is what God's way is. Every single week, day in, day out, look, he will not contradict himself. It's easy to see. Just listen. Just listen as Joshua did. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.