 If only you heard what I was saying, it was wonderful. If only you heard what I just said, I was saying that I absolutely concur with CG, the best YouTube study ever, the greatest YouTube study ever, in the history of YouTube them, in the hear's history of studying them. I'm making up words, but it's okay though. The reason why it's the best Bible study on YouTube is because of you guys. Got the best moderators, got the best audience, and so because of that, it's not mean, but we're also going over the best book ever, ever. The bestest book everist, making up words as we go. But I want to start off by saying something. And what I want to say is that guys, there's a reason why we are kind of being deliberate while we're going slow, why I'm trying to kind of get something into us. Remember back in the very beginning, the very, very, very beginning of the study, we talked about some rules. We talked about some things that kind of get us to kind of be on one accord. Let me go ahead and put some of those things on the screen because I talked about these rules for reading. You want to, one, disregard as much as possible any preconceived notions or opinions about the Bible of doctrines. So as we read, we don't want to bring those things in as much as we can. Now there's some truths that we're gonna know. And sometimes it's hard to not bring in what I've heard, what I've read, what I've seen, because I think what I've read, what I heard, what I've seen goes with what I'm reading now. And I get that. But for the sake of this Bible, say that we're gonna work on that doing just that, we are going to make the scriptures say what they say and we're not gonna make them say what it doesn't say. That's one of the issues that we have even when we're just going over other parts of the Bible. We'll try to make it say what it doesn't say. Now, it could be that what you're trying to say might be found somewhere else in the Bible, but just not in this text. Can I give you a really good example? As a matter of fact, let me give me one second. I just thought about this, but let me, because I want to put it on the screen. And I think this helps to drive home the point. One second, I should have had this prepared, but I didn't think I was gonna actually go this route. And this is in John chapter three, world's famous passage, John 3.16. On the screen, you all know the passage without even having to look at it, for God so loved the world that he gave his only, a God and son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. This is one of those passages, and there's many passages where we have a tendency to make it say what it doesn't say. What it does not say is if you believe in him, you shall have eternal life. That's not what this passage says. Matter of fact, it doesn't even say that God gave his only, but God and son because he loves the world. Now, does God love the world? Yes. And if a person wants to believe in him, will they have eternal life? Yes. That's just not what this passage says. Well, Corey, what does this passage say? This Bible, this passage says, and we've covered this before. So, okay, someone is just now joining. The part for God so loved the world, even look at it in English, but even from the Greek, this word Hutos, this is so that thus in this way, well, in what way? Well, this is piggybacking off of the previous few verses, speaking about what Moses did with the serpent lifted up, so that then those who looked on him on this serpent, they would not die. They would live. And then verse 15, so that whoever believes in him will have eternal life. So in this way, verse 16, so this is how God shows his love for the world. Then it says that whoever, or now, the reason why it says the if is missing, because that's not what it says there, it says Hennepas in order that all the believing ones, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I jumped too far. So this is how God shows his love for the world, so that he gave his son, the only one of his kind he gave. The monogamy Edokin, which is the only one of his kind he gave. His son, which is the only one of his kind he gave. Why did he give his only son? Some would say because he loves the world. No, he gave his son so that, or this word Hena, in order that all the ones that are believing in him should not perish, but have eternal life. That's why he gave his only son. Now there will be those that would make it to say what it doesn't say, and they'll say that he gave his only son because he loves the world. That's not what this passage says. Does God have love for the world? Sure, but that's not the point of this passage. You can find that in other passages, and if a person chooses to believe, that's another doctrine issue, but will they be safe? Sure, that's just not what this passage is saying. You can find it elsewhere, and there's other passages. One passage, for example, that I've covered, as a matter of fact, I've mentioned that this was my new favorite passage, this John 10-5 passage, where Jesus says that my sheep will never, they won't listen to a stranger. They simply will not listen to a stranger, and they will turn around and retreat if they hear this strange voice. But then what will people do? They'll go to other passages to try to make their point, but let's deal with the point. The reason why I say that's important is because the reason why we're going slow with this is because we're trying to develop some, as I would say, some biblical discipline. It's hard to not read something into the text. It's hard, especially if you are in the mind frame of just consuming and learning, which we all should be. It's kind of an always thing for us as believers, because we'll never get to the point to where we know all of the Bible. We're always learning and comparing and seeing, and even also testing what it is that we think that we know. And so it's hard not to bring other things in. That part I understand. But be careful not to make it say what it doesn't, I'm sorry, not to make it say what it doesn't say. Scripture, you scripture to interpret scripture, that's a good rule, only when the current scripture doesn't make sense. If the current scripture makes sense, well then if I go here, here, here, and here and bring it in, well now I can end up making that scripture that was clear, no longer make sense. Here's what I mean. So as we're reading Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers as we're reading the earlier parts of the Bible, we can go if we've got our own doctrine that we hold to. We can make these passages say what we think they say. Now sometimes we're right, sometimes we're wrong. Classic example again, we covered it this week, was the Isaiah 53 passage. The Isaiah 53 passage was not written to Gentiles, it was to Jews. Now again, can Gentiles glean something or gain something from that? Sure, but the passage was still written to Jews. It's a prophecy for them in the future when they look back and realize this is when God is gonna do something to their hearts and cause them to start believing. That's a prophecy of them in the end looking back. Now we know these things are gonna be fulfilled but because someone has been taught, someone has been told this by their pastor, by their church, by their doctrinal understanding that, oh, this means this. This means that we all can be healed physically. That's not what that means. That it's not what that means at all. Again, the truth is the truth and so whatever the truth is, in this case we'll be in Jonah, whatever truth we find in Jonah that they understood whatever it was then, then guess what? So it will also be that same truth in Matthew, Mark, look at that. Whatever the truth was in Genesis, it won't change as we go further. People tend to do that though. They change the truth the further we go to make it fit their understanding. Are you guys with me? So that being the case, let me, I wanna pull up some more of these rules though. This one right here, make sure that you mark, that you make a note of what it is that you already know. That you commit to memory what you know as a fact. Separate what you aren't 100% sure of. What is known takes priority over what is questionable. Meaning, there are some things that we know for a fact that we can't get around, some things that we've already discovered. And we've tested them as we go there. Some things that we've been kind of just making sure that we've noticed as we've gone. Now, here's the reason why. There are gonna be those that will tell us that Jesus is not God. Now, what we've read though, so far, granted, we don't know Jesus yet. In our current readings, we're just now in Joshua. We don't know Jesus. We've never heard the name Jesus. Jesus who? Interestingly enough, the name Joshua. And Jesus, they're virtually the same name because the name Joshua, the Hebrew means the Lord who says, well, that's what Jesus's name means. And there are some that may wanna call him with that same Hebrew word or in Greek, Jesus. Same thing. Didn't even think about that as I was saying this, but the point is, we don't know who Jesus is. Never heard of Jesus. All we know so far is that God has decided to covenant with Israel. And he will take extra and extraordinary steps as far as we're concerned, not for him, to guard his covenant with Israel. We know of three named covenants. And what we're doing, we wanna talk about what we know so far. We know of three named covenants. No, I'm not, Sister Becky, sweetheart, pay attention. Did I ever, see, this is what I'm talking about. This is, and I thank you for highlighting my point. Where did I say, when did I say it was only, it was only literally 30 seconds ago. Sister Becky said, so are you saying Joshua is Jesus? Class, did I say Joshua is Jesus? Did I, did I say, I did not say that. That's the point. You get so, not just you sweetheart, but others get so ready to make a point or to pounce on a point that you're not hearing what's being either written or what's being spoken or what's being said. I never said that Jesus is Joshua. The name means the same thing. That's all I said. That's all I said. The word Joshua means the Lord saves. Jesus' name, be it Hebrew, even here make, or in Greek means the Lord who says. So that's just really the point. We haven't gotten to who Jesus is. We haven't gotten to Jesus yet. We haven't been introduced to Jesus as the name Jesus. What we have been introduced to is God and we've been introduced to God in heaven in his full glory. We've been introduced to God who has shown up on the earth. We have been introduced to this God who shows up on the earth and has interacted with man. We've seen him interact with Hagar. We've seen him physically, and I mean physically, physically interact with Abraham. We've seen him physically interact with Isaac. He rests with Isaac. We've seen him physically interact with, he interacted with Moses. We've seen God interact, we've seen him interact with Blom. We've seen this God interact with man in ways that maybe we didn't think so. We've seen him interact with Moses while he was still in heaven, while his spirit was still all over the earth, all at the same time. He also wrapped himself in fire. And as he wrapped himself in fire, what did he call himself? He called himself the Lord, the angel of the Lord, God. He said he was I am in two ways. He said, Eche, I share Eche, which is I am who I am. But he said it from a first person standpoint. And then he said his name was Yahweh. That is from the third person standpoint. In other words, when you say me, this is how you're gonna say I am to them. So now, we wanna think about what we know so far. There's a reason for this, guys. The things that God has stated for us to know from Genesis on, they're true. Okay. The things that God has stated, they are obviously they're true. And so we should remember those things. The problem is we can get so far ahead of ourselves that we might actually end up forgetting that this is a truth. The reason why I point that out is because, hold on one second. The reason why I point that out is because we can, it's easy to forget about what he's done. As a matter of fact, it's not just us that can forget about what God has done. There are people in the Bible who, the moment that he makes a statement that they'll turn around and forget what he just did. And so we're gonna see that in just a second. But, and I understand that the title is a bit catchy, the day the sun stood still. We're gonna get to that. That will be towards the end. So be listening out for that. But we need to remember what's been stated so far. Think about some of the facts, some of the truths that we've learned. Genesis three. What did Genesis three tell? Well, we learned that when God said that if you eat of this tree, then you will die. We found out that they didn't necessarily die at that moment. But the beginning of their death took place. They now enter into a phase where they are going to die. Now, it took them a while to actually get that. But then the time span of man began shrinking, began decreasing. And God pronounced that you will die. You will return to the earth that he makes a statement in Genesis three. Interesting point, interesting statement. Genesis three, he says that, and again, tattoo this. If you wanna get a tattoo, tattoo this. That the head of the serpent will be crushed by the heel of the seed of a woman, of a woman. Well, who is that? Well, we don't know. All we know is that this has been stated. That the seed of the woman, there's an enmity between the seed of the woman and enmity between the seed of the serpent, whoever that might be, whoever the seed of the woman might be. All we know is this is what God has stated. And that this seed is going to crush the head or bruise. I'm crushed ahead of the serpent and the serpent will bruise his heel. What does that mean? We don't know, but we don't have to know to accept that this is what God says. It's one of those things that he, even as he tells the Jews, you'll know it later. When it happens, you'll know it. Just recall, remember what I've said. Then we look at something like, and let's go there, Genesis 12, important passage, Genesis 12. He says, when he's speaking to Abram in verse two, he says, I will make you a great nation. Is he going to do that? Well, yes, he's going to do that. And there are some elements to this promise that he's making with Abram. I will bless you and make your name great. That is Abram. And so you shall be a blessing and I will bless those who bless you and the one who curses you, I will curse. And you, all the families of the earth will be blessed. Do they understand, is it fully known by Abram, or really anyone else at that time, what God means? Well, no, there's no way for God, I mean for Abram to know what's going to happen. There is no way for him to know what God totally means. Some of the information gets revealed as we go further and further along. But even though we didn't know at the time, nor did Abraham know at the time, was it any less the truth? No, but we know that, let's look at what it says. I will make you a great nation. Well, what does that mean? A great nation has to have, there has to be three things with it. People, land, and some sort of government, some sort of rulership. And we get introduced to those things kind of as we go. We'll fully find out the government part more so later. As a matter of fact, within a few hundred years of where we are now in Joshua, we're gonna see that when the people rebel and want a king like every other nation. Why is that important when they rebel and say that they have, as God says, rejected him, not Samuel, but they rejected God. Why is that important? Well, because there's another important passage, a fact that we learned, that when God has the children of Israel in Egypt, this is before captivity and Jacob is blessing them, he's, as he's blessing his sons, he goes to Judah and says, the sector shall not depart Judah. The sector of this rod for rulership, where is that coming from? We don't have a kingdom yet. We don't have a king. Doesn't matter. Did they understand this at that time? No, but it's still a truth. Okay, and there's a reason why I'm pulling back a little bit to go over this stuff because I wanna make sure that we use these rules as we go forward. There's going to be a king. We know that now. They didn't know that. And so if we're on the ground, all we know is this is a truth. All right, with me. Going back to what he said to Abram, you will be a great nation and I will bless you and make your name great. Every time that Abraham did anything, he just got blessed, even when Abraham was fearful and lied about Sarah, still came away with possessions. He also got the opportunity to meet God and speak with him face to face, not the full glory of God, obviously. And so he says, so you shall be a blessing. And look what he says. This other part is very important. I will bless those who bless you and the one who curses you, I will curse. And then this last portion of verse three, in you all the families of the earth will be blessed. What does that mean? We don't know. Now we know obviously now, but then there's no way for Abraham to know. There's just no way. And even now in Joshua, we still don't know. However, we're starting to get a glimpse of other people going to be blessed. There's some things that have been stated and we'll go ahead and jump into our study. But remember, some of the points that were stated, we know that people have a bad heart. They have a sinful way and God is constantly on them for their sin and he's constantly punishing them, but then also showing his love towards them, his mercy, his forgiveness and even his provision for them. That's like an ongoing thing with them as well as us. And he tells them when to get their sin in order and to circumcise their heart. Get your heart right. And they never do it. So God makes a promise that he will circumcise their heart. He also makes a promise. He also makes a promise that you will be taken out of this land because of your sin. They don't know exactly how it's gonna work, but they'll be taken out of this land. That's a fact. That's a promise. Hadn't happened yet. As a matter of fact, they are just now going into the land. In the land tells them to utterly destroy the people. Don't do not touch. We talked about this in Joshua 618. Don't touch or covet the things that are under the ban. The ban is don't, if it's any sort of person, if he says utterly destroy or kill, animals would have you kill them. Anything that is certain items that will be dedicated to the Lord, those things go to him. You don't get to covet. So if you see something you like, you don't get, I like this ring. I like this picture. I like that. I like these sandals. I like this coat. No, they're not yours. They're not yours. So don't covet the things of the other ungodly people and utterly destroy them and drive them out. We're gonna come back to that in just a second. He also makes a statement in there. And then we can also kind of see, will this have something to do with in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. He tells them that he will make them jealous because they have made God jealous by going after other gods. He will make them jealous. Now he makes this statement years previous to where we are now. Are you with me? Those things are important. Sometimes we forget about those things because we just get head over heels and I get it, the excitement, the desire to just jump into the word. But let's remember that this word did, the beginning of this didn't start here. If you want the full context, go to the beginning and work your way through. Remember these five W's. I wanna put this up and then we're gonna jump into it. Who, who is the writer and who is the audience? What, what is the subject and the circumstances? When, when is this taking place? Where, where is the setting? Why, why is this written? The overall purpose. And remember we covered this before. Here is our Old Testament timeline. Do not forget that if you haven't taken screenshot, take a screenshot, save it to your phone, to your computer. Now that being said, let's jump into Joshua. In Joshua we'll pick up in chapter seven because we're left off, we left off in at the very end of chapter six where they go into the land. Remember one of the things he says, not to covet. What are they gonna do? The very, at the very beginning, they are going to covet someone who's gonna do something. Now, also remember this right here. This verse, before we go into it, numbers 33, 51. We read this last week. Let's read it again. Chapter 33, verse 51. He says, speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, when you cross over, this is before they go into the land, when you cross over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land. The word for all is call. It means the same in Greek, the same in English, the same in Spanish, the same in Swahili, all of it, everything, drive out all the inhabitants from before the land, I mean, from other land, from before you and destroy all their figured stones, that is their idols and mine and so forth, destroy all their molten images and demolish all their high places. And you shall take possession of the land and live in it, for I have given the land to you to possess. Now, remember the land that he's described that he's given to them, all of the boundaries, to this day Israel has never enjoyed all of that land. Now, if he's given it to them, at some point in time, rest assured that he will eventually give it to him. He's not make these promises where he's gonna turn his back on what he said even in spite of their disobedience. Why will God not turn his back on Israel because of his disobedience? I gotta ask this question, because it's very important. Why do we know God will not turn his back on Israel because of their disobedience? And there are people that will say that God has fast forward a few thousand years, that God has left Israel, he's dealing with the church, if any Jews wanna come on board, come on board, but God is not dealing with Israel anymore. He's dealing with a spiritual Israel. There's one glaring reason why that can never be true. There's one reason because why that's false. Why, there you go. Praise God, now, she's not the only one, but Abra-nay says, don't go on it. Abra-nay says, his covenant with Abraham. In order for Israel to have been forgotten to be replaced, then let's go back to Genesis. That covenant with Abraham, this is God making this covenant. And what's important about this covenant is this is a unconditional covenant. Remember, there are conditional covenants and there are unconditional covenants. A conditional covenant isn't if then. If you do this, then I will do that. So if this is my eye, if I do this, then my eye will be better. But if you do this, then I will do that. Notice as he makes this covenant with Abraham, and if we go to chapter 15, there is no if you do this, then I'll do that. There is none of that. So this is an unconditional covenant. Now the Mosaic covenant is conditional. And so there will be those that will think the way, say, since Israel kept disobeying God, breaking the covenant will then all bets are off. Yes, if that were the only covenant, this covenant is not as superior as the Abrahamic covenant. Matter of fact, in this covenant that they're in now, the Mosaic covenant, he will keep reiterating. The only reason why he won't do away with them is because he'll keep remembering his promises with their fathers, not because you all are wonderful. And you'll hear him say that. He said before, not because you guys are great, because you guys are so disciplined, because you guys are so faithful. No, but because of the promises that I made with your fathers, I will remember my covenant that I made with him. Well, which covenant? The Mosaic covenant, but the Abrahamic covenant. And he reiterates that covenant with Abraham. He reiterates it with Isaac and with Jacob. That's why. And so he is going to fulfill his word, going back to numbers. He says that this land that I have given to you, verse 53, and you shall take possession of the land and live in it for I have given the land to you to possess it. It's yours. Do what you're supposed to. 54, you shall inherit the land by lot, according to your families to the larger you shall give more inheritance and to the smaller shall give less inheritance. Wherever the lot falls to anyone, that shall be his. You shall inherit according to the tribes of your fathers. Here it is. But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall come about on those whom you let remain of them will become, look what he says, as pricks in your eyes and as thorns in your sides. And they will trouble you in the land which you live. Here it is. This is harsh right here. This is a hard warning and they don't take it. He says, and as I plan to do to them, I will do to you. The hurting, the whooping, the punishment that I plan to do to them, I'm going to do to you. If you don't drive them out, I'm going to do it to you. So not only will they be a thorn, a prick to you in your side, I'm also going to punish you the way I was going to punish them. All that in mind, this is just before they're getting ready to cross over. They cross over again and guys, we're not talking about years that have passed. It's not like these are years that have passed and they see here this and then they see a miracle after a miracle, after a miracle. And then what do they do? Forget it. They forget what God has said. So going to Joshua chapter seven, verse one. But the sons of Israel acted unfaithfully in regards to the things under the ban. So this is after the walls of Jericho come down. The sons of Israel acted unfaithfully in regard to the things under the ban. Notice this is plural. This is plural guys. This is plural banin. This is plural. For Achan, the son of Camry, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zara from the tribe of Judah took some of the things under the ban. Therefore the anger of the Lord burned against the sons of Israel. Notice how God said the sons of, or the Bible's written, the sons, some of them, or the sons of Israel acted unfaithfully. Well, what do you mean sons? What do you mean sons? This is plural, but all we see is Achan. How could it be that it is plural what all we hear about is Achan, huh? What's that, what gives? We'll find out. Verse two. Now, Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth Avon, east of Bethel, and said to them, go up and spy out the land. So the men went up and spied out Ai. They returned to Joshua and said to him, don't let all the people, or don't let all the people go up, only about two or 3,000 men need to go up to Ai. Do not make all the people toil up there for they are few. People are Ai, they're still a small group. We don't need to send the entire army. We don't need to send the Air Force, the Navy, the Marines, the Coast Guard. We don't need to send immigration. We don't need to send the, let's just send the Sheriff County police department out there after them. Let's do that. Verse four. So about 3,000 men from the people went up there, but they fled from the men of Ai. The men of Ai struck down about 36 of their men. They hadn't been defeated yet. They had lost a single person up till then and pursued them. And this is important. Look what happens. The men of Ai struck down about 36 of their men and pursued them from the gate as far as Shebarine and struck them down on the descent. So they went after them, they pursued them and as they were pursuing them, they also killed some men as they were leaving, as they were pursuing after them. So the hearts of the people melted and became as water. Why? Now the hearts of Israel have melted. Folks at Ai said, we ain't going down without a fight. And God didn't leave them into their hands. You ought to understand something. The people of Israel, these aren't the greatest soldiers. They're not, there's nothing special about their fighting prowess, nothing at all. They're not the greatest swordsmen, not the greatest archers, none of that stuff. They don't have the finest iron or metal. The best chariot, they don't have any of that stuff. What do they have? They have God, which is vitally important guys, vitally important. So verse six, then Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the art. And the reason why I'm moving deliberately and slow because there's some things that are being pointed out that we need to take into account and remember, especially in light of what's going to happen. So you already know the story. Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell on the earth on his face before the Ark of the Lord until the evening, both he and the elders of Israel, and they put dust on their heads. Joshua said, Alas, oh Lord God, why did you ever bring this people over to the Jordan? Now Joshua is acting just like they were acting. Why did you bring us over here for us just to die? Why, why, why, why, why? Why did you ever bring us, this people over to Jordan only to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites and destroy us? If only we had been willing to dwell beyond the Jordan. Oh Lord, what can I say, since Israel has turned their back before their enemies. In other words, we were treated in front of our enemies. For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it and they will surround us and cut off our name from the earth. And what will you do for your great name? God, they're hurting us. They're beating us up. They're whooping us. And that's gonna also make you look bad. The core amount of translation from what God said, shut up, shut up, they're sinning the camp. Verse 10, so the Lord said to Joshua, rise up, why is it that you have fallen on your face? Israel has sinned and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them. And they have even taken some of the things under the ban and have both stolen and deceived. Moreover, they have also put them among their own things. Why does, what's up with this plural? They and their, and you already said the sons, what's up with this plural? All we, you told us it was aching, what's up with this plural? Does anybody have any idea why they think why this plural is used? There's only two reasons why the plural could be used. One reason because more than one person's involved or two, if one is guilty, you're all guilty. Could be, what do you think? Let's go back to it. Therefore the sons of Israel cannot stand before their enemies, they turn their backs before their enemies for they have become accursed. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy the things under the ban from your midst. Rise up, quit all that crying, hush up. Or, how many of you all parents will say the same thing? Something like, stop crying before I give you something to cry about. I'd say, get up, consecrate the people and say, consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, for thus the Lord God of Israel has said, there are things under the ban in your midst. Oh Israel, you cannot stand before your enemies until you have removed the things under the ban. So the call goes out, y'all tomorrow we gotta do something. We gotta clean house. Can you imagine Aiken? Like, uh oh, I've been found out. Aiken, by the way, Aiken, you're an idiot. Aiken, I don't, I'm not trying to be mean to you, Aiken, but you are an idiot, you are a stupid, you are a moron, this is God. He literally just delivered these people into your hand and you are lacking nothing. I think it's okay, I think it's safe to say Aiken, that was a dumb move on your part. Matter of fact, selfish move that got other people killed because of your actions. Verse 14, in the morning you shall come near by your tribes and it shall be that the tribes which the Lord takes by lot shall come near by families and the families which the Lord shall take shall come near by household. So house by house, family by family and we're gonna figure this out. Amen. Then verse 15, you know what? Let's drop down to verse 16. So Joshua rose early in the morning and brought Israel near by tribes and the tribe of Judah was taken. So now we're getting, so he goes through the tribe, now he gets to the tribe of Judah. I'm pretty sure Aiken's thinking, please keep going, please, no, no, please, please, please. Have you ever, you get singled out and they're getting closer and closer and closer to you? They're drawing in closer and closer to you. He brought the family of Judah near and he took the family of the Zerais, getting closer and closer. Then he makes his way, let's get to verse 18. He brought his household near man by man and Aiken, son of Cameron, son of Zabbi, son of Zara and the tribe of Judah was taken. Then Joshua said, Aiken, my son, I implore you. By this time, Joshua is older now. He says, my son, I implore you, give glory to the Lord, the God of Israel and give praise to him and tell me now what you have done. So now we're getting somewhere. Do not hide it from me. So Aiken answered, Joshua said, truly, I have sinned against the Lord. It's almost like, you remember when, what was it, Jimmy Swagger, when he was got caught and he's in his pulpit and he's crying, I have sinned. Oh, by the way, if you don't send me, if you don't send me this amount of money, God is gonna kill me. He didn't go that far. But when I saw among the spoils a beautiful mantle from Shinar, y'all know what a mantle is, right? Like a woman's shawl, basically. It was so pretty. I just had to have it. I'm talking when I went to Neiman Marcus and it was beautiful. I just, oh, Joshua, it was to die for, literally. And 200 shekels of silver and a bar of gold, 50 shekels in weight. So I saw some money. I saw some cash. Then I covered them and took them and behold, they are concealed in the earth, inside my tent with the silver underneath it. So Joshua sent messengers and they ran to the tent and behold, it was concealed in his tent with the silver underneath it. They took them from inside the tent and brought them to Joshua and to all the sons of Israel and they poured them out before the Lord. Then Joshua and all of Israel with him took Achan, the son of Zara, the silver, the mantle, the bar of gold. This is where he gets bad. His sons, his daughters. You see why the they, the there, the sons, the plural was used? His daughters, his oxen. Don't take the oxen, his donkey, his sheep, his tent and all that belonged him and they brought them up, they packed them everything up to the valley of Acarb. Joshua said, why have you troubled us? The Lord will trouble you this day and all Israel stoned them with stones and they burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones. They raised over him a great heap of stones that stands to this day. Now, briefly, you'll see this term to this very day. When you see that something was and it stands to this very day, it doesn't mean to this day, which in other words, the reason why we need to pay attention to how we're translating stuff, that didn't mean that to this day, to this day right now, 2023, almost at 19 something, not the 7th of 1900 anymore, but 2023, it doesn't mean to this day, till that day, the day of, that is being recorded. Are you with me? So, verse 20, finishing up, I'm sorry, Silom, verse 26, and the Lord turned from the fierceness of his anger, therefore the name of that place has been called the valley of Acarb to this day. Now, chapter eight, verse one. Now, the Lord said to Joshua, do not fear or be dismayed. And I want you all to see what happens here with God, what God says or what we find out. Do not fear or be dismayed. Take all the people of war with you and rise and rise and go and see, go to I, see, I have given it into the hand, giving you, given into your hand, I'm sorry, the king of I, his people, his city and his land. You shall do to I and his king just as you did to Jericho and his king. You shall take only its spoils and its cattle as plunder for yourselves. Set an ambush for the city behind it. Wait a second, wait a second, wait a second. You mean to tell me, so here we've got Achan who takes of the spoils of Jericho if you would have just waited on God. If you would have just waited, because what does God say? You can take the spoils for yourself now. If you would have just waited. Secondly, does anyone see a big distinction now going to I now versus the first time they went to I? Can anyone see there's something really, really important, something big, something that's here now that was not present the first time they went to I? You need to see this, by the way. You need to not only see this here in this with Israel and I, but you need to see it with yourself. Does anyone see the glaring issue? Jeff says the trusting God. Well, yeah, but there's something more to that, Jeff. There's something more to them trusting God. I think they believed God. I think they were trusting God, though there was some unfaithfulness, but not with that. They just, they were not trusting or not doing what God told them to do. Let's see, let's find out. By the way, Gaythor, you're right. So Joshua rose up with all the people of war to go to I, and Joshua chose 30,000 men of valiant warriors, and he sent them. He commanded them saying, see, you are going to ambush the city. Do not go very far from the city, but all of you be ready. And remember, we talked about how when they ran the first time they went, they got beat and as they were retreating, as they were retreating, while they were retreating, they were still getting struck down while they were fleeing. Notice what happens. V and I and all the people who are with me will approach the city. And when they come out to meet us as the first, we will flee from before them. Remember, we fled the first time, we're gonna flee this time because they're gonna be drawn out and try to kill us like they did the last time. They will come out after us until we have drawn away from the city. They are fleeing before us at the first sight, they will say. So we will flee before them. And you shall rise from your ambush and take possession of the city for the Lord your God will deliver to your hands. Then it will be when you have seized the city that you shall set the city on fire. You shall do it according to the word of the Lord. See, I have commanded you. So Joshua sent them away and they went to the place of ambush and remained between Bethel and I on the west side of I. But Joshua spent that night among the people. Now Joshua rose early in the morning and mustered the people. And he went up with the elders of Israel before the people to I. Then all the people of war who were with him, I know I'm reading a lot, guys, but there's a point in here, went up with him and drew near and arrived in front of the city and camped on the north side of I. Now there was a valley between him and I. And he took about 5,000 men and set them in ambush between Bethel and I on the west side. They stationed the people, verse 13, all the army that was on the north side of the city, the north side of the city. And it's rear guard on the west side of the city and Joshua spent the night there in the midst of the valley. And it came about when the king of I saw it that the men of the city hurried and rose up early and went out to meet Israel. They were hungry to go fight them. We beat them first the first time. We're gonna get them again. We are gonna get them again. But they did not know that there was an ambush against them behind the city. Joshua and all the people pretended to be beaten before them and they fled by just like the last time. And all the people who were within the city were called together to pursue them and they pursued Joshua and were drawn away from the city. So not a man, not a man, not a man that is a male each, that's the Hebrew word here, each not a male was left in I or Bethel. There were ladies, there were women and children there who had not gone out after Israel and they left the city unguarded and pursued you. They were really confident, overconfident. Then the Lord said that Joshua stretch out the javelin that is in your hand toward I for I will give it into your hand. So Joshua stretched out the javelin towards the city. Now let's drop down. We know what happens. They pursue them. The ambush takes place. They capture the city. They slaughter all the men. Verse 24, Now when Israel had finished killing all the inhabitants of I in the field, in the wilderness where they pursued them and all of them were fallen by the edge of the sword until they were destroyed, then all of Israel returned to I and struck it with the edge of the sword. All of that day, both men and women were 12,000 people for Joshua, did not withdraw his hands, which he stretched out the javelin until they had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants. Israel took only cattle, only the cattle in the spoil of the city as plundered for themselves, according to the word of the Lord, which he had commanded Joshua. So Joshua burned I and made it a heat forever, a desolation unto this day. He hanged the king of I on a tree until even at and at sunset, Joshua gave command and they took his body down from the tree and threw it in the entrance of the city gate and raised over it a great heap of stone that stands to this day. Then Joshua built an altar. Let's drop down to let's see. Because I don't want to read all of this. Okay, now I asked a question. I asked a question, why? Cause all of a sudden it seemed like the people of Israel, all of a sudden became better soldiers. Why couldn't they defeat I the first time versus this time? Well, the first time, it wasn't that they didn't have confidence they did. They never consulted God. If we go back, Joshua did not consult God. Joshua sent out the spies. They came back and said, do this, that was never the way before. It was as God told them. So the first time, God was not part of it. The second time, oh, now after you get whooped, now you want to consult God. Now after you've been beaten, now you want to hear what God has to say. Huh, isn't that how we do things? Just like us, we will plan to do something on our own. And we'll go out, it might even look like, yep, yep, we got this in the back piece of cake. Get beat, get destroyed, get hurt, whatever. Oh God, what's wrong? Don't you love me anymore? Well, yeah, I didn't tell you to do that. I didn't tell you to go out there and mess with them people. I'm doing the leading, you are not. And that was the point. The point is, you never consulted me. Had you have consulted me, I would have told you exactly what to do, if to do it at all. Oh, by the way, you would have found out, Mr. Acons, but you're dead already. You would have found out, I was going to give you the spoils. Did I not tell you that I'm going to reward you with these different things? God is going to bless you. It's a land flowing of milk and honey. What do you think God is going to do with the milk and honey? Since you are his people, all you've got to do, he stated in the covenant that you also remember, these Jews, all of them did exactly what the Jews, that their fathers and grandfathers did, when agreeing to the covenant with Moses, everything that you said, that you commanded, we will do. Remember, in the Mosaic covenant, it is a conditional covenant. If then, if you do this, then we'll do that. Now, in the covenant, Moses tells them, yeah, y'all ain't going to succeed. You're going to fail. You're going to be driven out. But they believe it's going to happen, and they don't. So they come back and say the exact same thing that we will do exactly what you say. Five minutes later, God who? We got this. I'll tell you what, God, sit down over there, God, we got this. Inethnoi. But that's us, right? How many of you all just, let's just be honest. In this, it's a Bible study, but let's just have a, as we say, a come to Jesus moment where we just say, yeah, we're going to tell the truth to him and devil. How many of you have done things on your own without consulting God, without praying? Lord, because if it's good to do on Monday, want to be good to do on Tuesday, I don't have to go and do this thing as though it's going on. It's just too good to be true. I've got to take advantage of it right now. And then find out, yeah, I messed up. Can we just be honest? Buy a show of hands, buy two hands, two feet, whatever you got, we don't have enough limbs on our body to mention all the time that we have stepped out without God saying so. Then come back, oh God. How many of you all remember? Some of you, most of you should remember. By the way, Loria, thank you so much for the Super Chat. I appreciate that. How many of you all remember? Some of you folks are young. Some of you folks are young. Ashley Renee, you might not remember this because you're pretty young. So Ashley might not remember this, but the rest of you guys, most of you all remember this. Who all remembers what life was like prior to 2001? What life was like, 1999, pre-Y2K, 2000? Who remembers life? Go on, we were doing our thing. America, oh man, we were just awesome. We didn't have this issue about worrying about if our president was crazy or sane or this or that. Remember the first president we wanted about his mental fitness was not, was not Biden. They talked about Bush as though he was an idiot, which he wasn't. Save the thing about Trump. So pre-2000 versus now. After some terrorists got ahold of these planes, what did we do? Oh God, would you please, even atheists, even people in Congress. Oh, remember these were the folks on the steps of the Capitol singing in unisons. Like, wait a second, God bless America. You all don't believe in God, but again, that's what happens. When someone gets defeated, when someone gets crushed, when someone gets put down, he said I was nine, but I still remember. That's what happens. We decided now, let's go to God. She said I was in the womb. So you don't remember, I mean. I wish, how cool would it be to be young again? But that's how it was, right? That's what happens here. And it's a cycle. It's a cycle, every time there's something that happens, it forces people, believers and unbelievers alike, to run to God. So ask yourself this question, why would God ever cease to have calamity happen on the land? If it's the one thing that will get believers and non-believers alike to go to turn their face to him. Yeah, guess what you can count on? Guess what you can count on, because you tend not to want to praise God when the blessings come. Remember these people, let's go back to last week, they complained about eating Chick-fil-A sandwiches. They complained about eating bread sandwiches. This is silly, but some of y'all who are poor, like I was growing up, you know what a bread sandwich is. What's a bread sandwich? Get you a piece of bread and just eat it. Think about what you would like to have on it. Man, I sure wish I had some eggs and put on this. I would love a fried bologna, we had a bologna. I would love to have a fried bologna, you fry that bad way and put it on your cheese. You ever had a bread and butter sandwich? Do we eat bread and butter sandwiches anymore? Yeah, bread and butter. Or hey, you might just wanna, we did this, we put ketchup and mustard on a sandwich. We had condiments. Put ketchup and mustard on the bread. It's a burger without the meat. This was pre-vegan, this was pre-vegan back then. Yeah, so y'all don't know. You got a little syrup, put some syrup on there or however you say, syrup. Syrup or syrup or syrup, however you wanna pronounce it with two syllables or not. Yeah, cinnamon or sugar. If you're really, really country and just as ghetto as you wanna be, you can do a grease sandwich. Anybody ever had a grease sandwich? Yeah, that's how you know. That's how you know you're doing bad. You got a grease sandwich. Where did the grease come from? Well, you got these two pots, these two pans on the stove or beside the stove. Two pans or vats of grease. What's in those things of grease? Come on, poor people. Especially if you're in the 70s, you got two things of grease and you better not mix those greases up. You got grease runoff from the beef and then you got grease runoff from the fish. You better not mix those two greases up. I got a spanking one time. Yeah, but bacon fat, all that, listen, bacon fat. It, pork also, bacon, yeah, yeah. But if you mix that grease with the fish and the grease from the beef, yeah, mama said we got a problem. Boy, because now what does she have to do? She has to go out and buy a whole new thing at Crisco and Crisco calls money back then. They ain't still Crisco anymore. But when you have bad times, what happens? It causes you to focus on God. It makes you focus on God. And so don't be surprised when God relishes the opportunities when you mess up for him to step in. You just got through complaining about bread, manna, which by the way was a sweet of bread. Then you got to meet with it for, that was a short time, but still, you complain about that. Then you just cross over into this land. And when you cross over into this land, what happened? What happened just last week, guys? Well, for us, but for them thousands of years ago. Well, what happened when the children of Israel crossed over into the land? What happened to that manna? The manna dried up. No more manna. Why? Because I'm giving you this land that God told Abram, he was gonna give them this land flowing with milk and honey. They're eating giant, they're eating grapes, the size of plums, the size of apples. They're eating to their hearts content, good food. But what do they wanna do? It's not enough, God, because we don't tend to want to praise God when we're getting blessed. Maybe for the moment. But then after that, what else you got, Lord? This it. We are what have you done for me lately kind of people. Lord, what else have you got? That's it. We're tired of this blessing, Lord. That was them. So now let's go to chapter nine. We got a problem. We have a problem. Houston, Jerusalem, by the way, they haven't made it to Jerusalem just yet. By the way, Sheila, that's gross. I have to stop and say Sheila, that's gross. Pineapple sandwiches, what in the world? Now, pineapple by themselves. Pineapples by themselves, which we didn't eat very many pineapples by themselves except for when we had ham and I would eat the pineapple off the end rate. Let me get. Now it came about, chapter nine, verse one. Now it came about when all the kings who were beyond the Jordan in the hill country, it's a big problem getting happened guys, beyond the hill country and the low land and on the coast of the great sea toward Lebanon, the Hittites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Parasites and the Hittites and the Jebusites, all these heights heard of it, that they gathered themselves together with one accord to fight against Joshua and with Israel. When the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and I, they also acted craftily. They're not, we ain't getting any fight these people. Nope, tank gonna happen. Why? Because they know we're not fighting. We are not fighting Israel, we're fighting God. Incidentally, if you let God work in you, folks will see the God versus seeing the you. Some folks will act ignorantly and wanna fight you, but if you wanna fight for your own self, defend yourself, rather than letting God fight your battles, then it's you against him and whatever happens, whatever happens. But if you're letting God do it, who's gonna beat God? I don't care who it is. So they acted craftily though, this time, and set out in envoys. What they did was without reading the whole thing, they took their food, they got the worst of the food, whatever made it look moldy, what have you, crumbling, what have you. They went to them and said, we're just poor people. Listen, and so, can you help us out? Can you make a covenant with us? And so what do they do? They make a covenant with these Jews. They make a covenant with the Jews. Let's see. Go to verse seven. The men of Israel said to the Hibis, perhaps you are living within our land. How then shall we make a covenant with you? But they said to Joshua, we are your servants. Then Joshua said to them, who are you and where do you come from? They said, they're lying, they're lying to them. Your servants have come from a very far country of the fame of the Lord of God. We've heard of the fame of the Lord of God. We've heard what God is doing, for we have heard the report of him and all that he did in Egypt. How many people have heard the fame of the Lord in your life? Interesting, just put it out there. And all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan and Sihon, the king of Hashan and Agh, the king of Bashan, who was at Astoroth. So our elders and all the inhabitants of our country spoke to us saying, take revisions in your hand for the journey and go and meet them and say to them, we are your servants now. Then make a covenant with us. This is bread. This was, I'm sorry, this, our bread was warm when we took it, these are good liars, by the way. Thank you, Jeff, I appreciate that. Thank you so much. When we took our provisions out of our house on the day that we left to come, but now, behold, it's dry and have become crumbled. These wine skins, they used to be full, but as they're torn, we're not doing good at all. We, listen, we are down in our luck. Can you help us out? So then the men of Israel, verse 14, took some of their provisions and did not ask for the counsel of the Lord. Why are you gonna do it? Again, the men of Israel took the provisions and what do they do again? Did not ask for or seek the counsel of the Lord. Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant with them to let them live and the leaders of the congregation sworn oath to them. God takes their oath serious. God obviously takes his own oath serious, but he also takes the oath of the people. He takes them serious. You know why I know? Who does the Bible say the scepter shall not depart from? Judah. Does anybody know why Judah is the one that the scepter shall not depart from? Let's just stop for a second. Let's just, let's have a pop quiz. By the way, you do have the benefits of your phones or your computers. You can Google this. You can go back in the Bible. Why is it Judah? Judah was not the first born of the second one. Why is it Judah? Why are we saying the scepter shall not depart from Judah? Does any, does, and I'm gonna, I have to hold off because I wanna make sure I wanna see if you guys got this. Why is it Judah? Judah's not the oldest. Does anybody remember who the firstborn of Jacob is? And I wanna, I'm gonna, again, pop quiz. Got to find out, got to find out. Why is it, why is the scepter not passing from Simeon? The scepter shall not depart from Simeon. Why not Simeon? Why, who are the oldest boys? The separate monkey move said Ruben. Why isn't the scepter passing from? Why doesn't Jacob say the scepter shall not depart from Ruben? Got an a-renay. She is just a genius. She's just smart. Ruben and Simeon and Levi messed up. How, what do they do? Well, remember, remember our sister Dinah, not Dinah Reviews, not this Dinah, another Dinah. Dinah, their sister was violated. And the man said, listen, I love her so much. Like, I don't know. Listen, maybe Dinah was just, listen, she was just, she was gorgeous. She was finding, he saw her and like, I've got to have her, but he didn't do it the right way. He lay with her without getting permission from her father, permission to marry her. And so what do they do? The two brothers concocted a scheme. Not one brother slept with his father. The other two brothers decided they concocted a scheme and make a covenant with these people. Make a covenant with them and then they will take part in it. They will crucify themselves. They will circumcise themselves. And what did Jacob say after they circumcised them and then while they were at healing, they went and killed them. Jacob was upset in theories because not because of what, so much what they did, but you made a covenant with these people. Unlike us, a covenant matters. A covenant means something. And so if you make a covenant, now you ought to think about this for a second. Put your thinking caps on. I want you to think about this as hard as you can. Let's think. If God holds your covenant with another person seriously, if he regards your covenant with another person, let's just say monkey moves makes a covenant with Jeff or Steve Cooper makes a covenant with Janice, they make a covenant. God expects you to honor that covenant, whether it be a conditional covenant or an unconditional covenant. Do you all hear me? God expects you to honor your covenant. Your word matters. Why is that important? Well, if God expects you to honor your covenant, certainly he wants you to know that he's gonna honor his covenant. Do not miss this, guys, going forward. God doesn't break his covenant. Even when you break it, he, you know what? I wanna keep this covenant only because of the covenant that I made with, because I made a covenant. And I'm not a man like you who should lie. I don't make up stuff. I don't just, I mean what I say and I say what I mean. Exactly, monkey moves, your word is your bond. It's supposed to be. It's supposed to be. It's supposed to be, but that's not the case. And so because of that, God is bothered when you make a covenant. So they make a covenant with these gibbonites. So what do they have to do? They have to keep the covenant. God expects them to keep this covenant that you made with the gibbonites. Are you with me? So Israel took some of the provisions. I'm sorry, let's drop down to verse 15, Joshua may appease. So Joshua takes part in this, which is sad, Joshua, come on, Joshua. Joshua, you have this blessing upon you. You have this guidance from God. So he says, Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant with them to let them live. And the leaders of the congregation swore an oath to them. Now they're gonna find out that they had been lied to. And so Joshua says to them, well fine, you'll be workers for us from now on. You will be kind of our slaves. You'll be hewers of wood and so forth and fetching water, all those things. So Joshua was bothered, but wait a second. You made a covenant. Because you made a covenant, we have to adhere to this. Verse 21, the leaders said to them, let them live so they became hewers of wood and drawers of water for the whole congregation, just as the leaders had spoken. Then Joshua, verse 22, called for them and spoke to them. Why have you deceived us saying we are very far? Because we got two choices. Listen, I respect their game. I'll be honest with you. If I were the givingites, these people coming together, I would have done the same thing. If you can't beat them, join them. I'll tell you what, we're not gonna fight you. We're not gonna fight you. What we will do though, we'll work for you. We'll work for you and live. Now they're builders of wood, hewers of wood and drawers of water. It wasn't as though that they're gonna stay with them, live in slave quarters and so forth. You know, you work for us when we need you to. The problem is, the other people who are against Israel hear about it. Let's drop down to chapter 10, verse one. And we're getting close to this topic that we wanna get to about the sun. Now it came about when Adonai Zidek, which is an interesting name for his name, Adonai or Adonim, Adonizidek. Adonim, which is my Lord, righteous. Zidek is for righteous. So, but this king is not righteous. Adonizidek king of Jerusalem, oh, we're gonna make our way to Jerusalem now. Of Jerusalem heard that Joshua had captured I and had utterly destroyed it, just as he had done to Jericho and his king, so he had done to I and his king. And he also heard that the inhabitants of Gibein had made peace with Israel and were within their land. And he feared greatly because Gibein was a great city. So if it's a Gibein, what will you do to us? But he's not getting ready to make, they're not getting ready to make a peace bond with him, no? So what do they wanna do? They wanna go and fight Gibein. Verse four, come up to me and help me. He's asking other kings and attack Gibein for it has made peace with Joshua. These are enemies and with the sons of Israel. So the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jama, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon. These are some weird names, by the way. What happened to good old fashioned heavenly names? Good old fashioned American names, like Indianapolis, Dallas. I'm just kidding, I'm kidding. They gathered together and went up with all their armies and camped by Gibein and fought against him. Then the men of Gibein, this is why this packed this, Dianna says she loves the names. That's because your name Dianna and there was a person in the Bible named Dianna. There's nobody in the Bible named Corey. Steve said he was just in Indianapolis. Okay, man. But this is why this covenant is important. Again, these guys are smart. You make a covenant with us. You can't hurt us, but guess what you also have to do? You have to protect us. Do not, Gilgasein, do not abandon your servants. Come to us, they send word to them. Come up to us and help us quickly and save us and help us for all the kings of the Amorites that live in the hill country, have a symbol against us. So Joshua went up to Gilgau. He and all the people of war with him and all the valiant warriors. The Lord said to Joshua, see now he's talking to the Lord. Do not fear for I have given them into your hands and not one of them shall stand before you. So Joshua came upon them suddenly by marching all night from Gilgau and the Lord confounded them before Israel. And he slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon. And he pursued them by the way of the accident. We'll get to the point, y'all. As they fled before Israel while they were at the descent of Beth Huron, the Lord threw large stones from heaven on them as far as Aziz. First of all, that's unfair. That's not fair. We had to fight you, we were retreating and now God is throwing fire boulders from the sky. You chose the wrong people to fight. There was more who died from the hell stone than those whom the sons of Israel killed by the sword. Then Joshua, here it is. And here's the question from you guys in a second. Then Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the sons of Israel. And he said in the sight of Israel, oh son, stand still at Gibeon and oh moon in the valley of Aijalan. So the sun stood still and the moon stopped until the nation avenged themselves of their enemies. Is it not written in the book of Yashar, as is Yashar, and the sun stopped in the middle of the sky and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day. There was no day like it that before it or after it when the Lord listened to the voice of a man for the Lord fought for Israel. Why is this happening? Couple of things. One, they bring up this point about this book. You've heard this book. Do not go out and buy this book. Don't go look for this book. The book is no longer in existence. So if someone is trying to sell you the book of Yashar or Jashar, how do you pronounce it? Do not, do not buy it. The book is not accident. Matter of fact, what you will buy is a 17th century or 18th century, copy of a book that is not. This book is just a chronicle of the feats of God through these men. And so the reason why this is chronicled because it's just, this is an amazing story. God is hearing the request of Joshua stop the sun, hold the moon. Why? Now there's a couple of explanations for this. Yes, we're saying the sun stood still. When we know it's not the sun that's moving, it's us, the earth that's spinning on its axis and rotating around it in orbit. We get that. And the moon is moving around us. So what do you all, what would you all conclude? There's a couple of possibilities. What do you all think happened? Did the sun, it's not moving, but we're talking from our vantage point, which by the way, we still say the same thing. This is not something where these are just ignorant people that made up something so we know, ah, that's proof. The Bible is false. No, because even today with all of our science and technology and understanding, what do we say? We still call it sunset and sunrise. Is the sun actually setting? No, is the sun actually rising? No, we're not saying that at all. But we're saying from our vantage point the same sort of language is used today is used then. So, and clearly God knows what the sun is doing. He made the sun. He made the earth, He made the moon. He made all of the planets, the stars, the cocoa, I mean all of those, the celestial bodies and He made those, gave them to us. Remember what white, does anybody remember why He gave us all those stars and planets and so forth? What are these comments for? What are these asteroids for? What are these planets for? What are these, does anybody remember what those were for? Well, He says, I will give them to you when it's lights in the sky, but also to mark locations, but also as for to note times and seasons, which we can. But here, what do you think happened? There's only a couple of possibilities. There's a few possibilities that could be the case. Either the earth stopped spinning, the earth is spinning at a thousand miles an hour. So does the earth all of a sudden stop spinning when it comes to a complete halt? You would think scientifically, well, if the earth just all of a sudden stops spinning at a thousand miles per hour, a few miles over a thousand miles per hour, then everything else will just keep moving. When your car comes to a complete stop, that means that everything in the car is gonna stop. If that car is starting to break, you're gonna keep moving, right? Wouldn't that happen if the earth stopped? Possibly, possibly. And then we see all of our weekend astrologers, and astronomers, I'm sorry, in the chat. Or another possibility, the sun and the moon rotated and moved around the earth. So the earth kept spinning, but then God caused the sun and the moon to move around. Is that a possibility? Maybe. Or another possibility, everything just slowed down. Maybe everything kept spinning, but maybe instead of a thousand miles per hour, and then continuing on its orbit, because the orbit not just is spinning, but the orbit also has to factor in. What about if it just slowed down? So that one day, instead of being a 24-hour cycle, was a 48-hour cycle. Is that a possibility? Is it possible that the earth didn't stop spinning, that the moon didn't do it, nothing did anything, but just God caused it to look that way? Is it possible? Well, I don't know. Guess what? Nor do you. Here's what we do know. If the earth were to stop spinning, if it's a scientific act, that would be catastrophic to everything on the planet. Everything on the planet would be destroyed if the earth scientifically stopped spinning. We're not speaking about something scientific, are we? If God stops the earth from spinning, then guess what? It just stopped spinning. But if God stops the earth from spinning and he maintains everything in balance, amen, can he do it? Yes, he can. What if he's, what if he wants to take for one moment, take the sun and move it around? Could he do it? Yeah, you know why he could do it? Because that sun, that moon, this earth, and everything in it belongs to him. He made it, he controls it. The balance of it is kept by him. Again, why don't we move closer or further away to the sun? God, why is the moon at the right distance from the earth and stays there? God, why don't any other planets collide with the other? God, that's the answer. Did God cause it to look that way? I don't know, why would He cause it to look like? He didn't have to cause it to look that way. He's not the Muslim God, where they say Jesus just, it was not Jesus on the cross of somebody that God made to look like Jesus. If God stops, if God says, you know what, for today I wanna replace the sun and the moon. Put the moon where the sun is and the sun where the moon is, he could do it and there'd not be a problem. If God, whatever the point is, because God asked a question. God asked a famous question to Abram and to Sarah. Did anyone remember what the question, and it was a rhetorical question with the implied answer being yes, does anyone know why or what the question that God asked Abram and Sarah? Very important question that goes from then up to now. It matters and you need to remember it. Does anyone remember, recall the question that God asked most, that God asked Abram and Sarah? Remember, they didn't think that they could have a baby at their late age, but he asked a question. Amen. She says, is there anything too hard for God? Is there anything too hard for God? Is there anything too hard for God? What's the answer? No, no, listen, you know what God could do? God could take all nine planets. I understand Pluto ain't a planet. There might be another planet this and that. I'm not going there. He can take all nine planets. He can take all the moons that hover around Jupiter or what have you or Saturn is a Saturn. They can take, he can take our moon. He can take the sun and juggle them all if he wants to. Cause he's God. Is there anything too difficult for God? No. Remember, he asked this question when talking to Abram. He asked this question when talking to Abram at what did he just do? One, he had just came and visited Abram, him and two other angels. You remember those two other angels who went to Sodom and Gomorrah. He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah while at the same time when the king of Bemalek wants to take Sarai and make him his wife. Okay, you think that I can't get this woman who's old, she ain't that old. She ain't older than me, God would say. I can't make her pregnant. Tell you what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna take a Bemalek who is fertile and his women who are fertile. Nobody's getting pregnant. I will close every womb up there and make it so nobody, no man can perform. I don't mean to be vivid, but no man can perform and no woman could have her womb open. I'll close the wombs and hinder the men. Then once you get your woman back and then everything is prayed for, everything is good to go, guess what I'll do? Everybody in the house or the Bemalek's household is getting pregnant. Now, so I can close a womb, I can open a womb, I can give life, I can take life. Like he said to Job, very important that he's making with Job, who do you think I am? That's the question. Who do you think I, I know who you think you are. You think you're somebody special to where you can go and attack I without even asking me or consulting me. That's who you are. You think you're special because you can make a covenant with these people without consulting me. Again, what's your problem? Who do you think I am? Remember when they dab in a bee who can go to God with this profane fire. We don't know what it was. Maybe at the wrong time or they came in the wrong way. He said that any and all, whoever that includes me and you, whoever approaches me, I will be regarded as holy. I will be looked upon as who I really am. I'm God. I'm not your friend. I'm not your brother. I'm not your cousin. I'm not your father. I'm not your mother. I'm God. There's a huge point there. I am God. He is God. Or as Charlotte says, God is God. God. Which God? You know who God is. Not the Muslim God, not the Hindu God, not the Buddhist God. The God who created all this stuff. Now, for some folks would say, that just doesn't make any sense. Him stopping the sun. That's illogical. No, it's not. It is illogical. God, I couldn't get it right. It's illogical for anyone to think that the sun could not stop moving. Now I'm not saying I don't know how he did it. Truth be told, I don't care how he did it. But it would be illogical for a human being, any human being, to say that God could not stop the sun or the moon or stop the earth, stop the current astrological patterns from happening. He couldn't do that. That's not scientific. That's illogical. Okay. But we're even an atheist if we're supposing that there is a God. If there is a God, if we know there is, then stopping the rotation is not a hard thing. Matter of fact, it's illogical to think that he couldn't. It's illogical to think that whatever he wants to do, he can do. It's illogical to think that since there is a God, that he can create the earth or creation in six days. Matter of fact, it's also illogical to believe that he could have taken six seconds or six milliseconds to create it. It's his to do what he wants to and doesn't he always do so? Remember, he's the very same God who flooded the earth, gave the earth a bath, who will also give the earth a good cooking soon enough. He's that God. He's the very same God who can take on flesh. Come. Sacrifice his body on the cross to pay a debt. Remember, again, going back to Leviticus, because that's one of the promises of what he's gonna do. He is gonna offer his blood on the altar for the atonement of men for their souls. That God. That's why he makes a statement in Exodus three. Eche Eche Eche, which is I am what I am. I am who I am. I am right now. I am when that son needed to be stopped. I am when, if I destroy the son, if I make a new son, if I'm whatever I am, I'm the guy, I'm the man, I'm the guy. There's nobody like me. So that's the point. Unfortunately though, guys, and this is where we stop. Unfortunately though, unfortunately, the Jews don't get it. You've seen all these miracles. You just witnessed God stopping the son and they needed the son to be stopped more daylight. Josh was asking for more daylight because we need more time to finish killing these folk. We need some more time to finish killing these folk. Okay, fine. So here's the request. And the fact that you come to me and ask me to do this, no problem. God will think, no problem. That it, is that it? Just stop it, no problem. Cause he's got, he can do what he wants. Now, that being the case, that being the case, space is hell. No, space is not hell, Tony. Maybe you're being facetious, space is not hell. After all of these things that he did, has done and even will do, what will they do? They will sin. With all this sitting taking place, even in the spite of all these signs, all these wonders, all these miracles, what does that tell us? It's not the signs, it's not the wonders, it's not the miracles that will save you. That's not what it says. It's not those things that even causes you to even wanna believe. It's always and only the presence of God. Notice when they do right. They do right in the presence of God. Minus the presence of God, they don't do right. So in the Old Testament, what kept them saved their faith in God, but it was only void and kept because of God's presence or the man of God. Now we've got something different. We have the Holy Spirit, his presence being with us. And so we'll stop here. We're gonna, I've decided to go ahead and slow it down just a tad bit because I do wanna start pulling out more of these little points because and the reason why is I think that we're missing how we read this thing. Someone asked me to kind of explain my dispensational hermeneutics, which we've been using and you all, we go through it and no one bats an eye about it until we put a title or label on it, not to say that you ought to be dispensationalist. That's not what I'm saying. Don't be dispensationalist. But the hermeneutics that you read, that's the hermeneutics that you have all the time. When you read C-Spot Run, when you read a menu, when you read about what you're doing when you go through the airport, when you go through the airport, when you go to the airport, your flight leaves at class. Tell me, if your flight leaves at 2 p.m., is it okay to get there at 1.45? Is it okay to get at the airport at 1.30? If your flight leaves at 2, you get there at 1.30? No. Because you even have a dispensational hermeneutic when reading how to go to the airport and what to do. Why? Because you understand that it's 2023, 2001 is the reason why we have to get there an hour, hour and a half early. How we, so that's how the Bible is put together as well. So we're reading it. We're not reading as though none of these other things happen. So when we get to the New Testament, all of these other things have happened. Guess what? The largest bulk of God's revelation is prior to the cross. He's building off of something. That's why it's important. So, Jonesy, you'll definitely be on standby. You'll be mad. You get there at 1.45. Yeah. All right, well, you wanna buy another ticket? We got another plane leaving in an hour. But that way you're not gonna be on that. If you will not make that one, sir. But, I was gonna think I had a story to go with that, but I won't. Anyway, guys, thank you so much. We will pick this back up in, what is the next one? We'll probably start off in 11. Yeah, we'll start off in chapter 11 and make sure. Probably in 11, we might jump. We're not gonna read every single chapter and every single word in Joshua, but we'll deal with the main points because I want us to focus or get it, I mean, to be drilled into us, disciplined how we read the Bible, how we earn everything we say. Did Jesus die on the cross? Well, yeah, well, prove it to me. Go to the past and show me. Amen. So, guys, thank you. I look forward to seeing you guys later. In the meantime, be blessed.