1 00:00:00,520 --> 00:00:03,720 This morning our sermon title is Connections. 2 00:00:05,120 --> 00:00:10,840 Let me begin with this question. Why do people want to connect 3 00:00:10,840 --> 00:00:16,520 with God more in hard times than in good times? 4 00:00:17,120 --> 00:00:20,680 I think that's a valid question. Take for instance, the matter of 5 00:00:20,680 --> 00:00:24,480 health. It's fairly easy to want to go 6 00:00:24,480 --> 00:00:26,680 to God and pray for healing, which we should. 7 00:00:28,360 --> 00:00:32,680 But then when times are good, the praise content may not be as 8 00:00:33,080 --> 00:00:38,360 energetic or as emphatic or as driven as the prayer for 9 00:00:38,360 --> 00:00:40,200 healing. I'm not saying it's never the 10 00:00:40,200 --> 00:00:42,680 case, but that often tends to be the case. 11 00:00:42,680 --> 00:00:45,240 We tend to forget. Once things are good, we tend to 12 00:00:45,240 --> 00:00:47,760 forget. I'm not saying we shouldn't pray 13 00:00:47,760 --> 00:00:49,600 for good health and hard times. We should. 14 00:00:50,480 --> 00:00:52,760 There's a Psalm, Psalm 50, verse 15. 15 00:00:52,760 --> 00:00:57,040 The psalmist says these words call upon me in the day of 16 00:00:57,040 --> 00:01:01,400 trouble. I will deliver you and you shall 17 00:01:01,400 --> 00:01:04,480 glorify me. The word glorify me is just as 18 00:01:04,480 --> 00:01:07,880 vital as calling upon him in the day of trouble. 19 00:01:11,200 --> 00:01:15,000 If the prayers in our trouble, the prayers that we pray when 20 00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:18,880 we're in trouble, and the prayers that we pray when we're 21 00:01:18,880 --> 00:01:21,760 rejoicing. If those prayers were sorted out 22 00:01:23,400 --> 00:01:28,200 and put in boxes, which would be the bigger box? 23 00:01:28,880 --> 00:01:32,440 The prayers of healing and the prayers of rescue and the 24 00:01:32,440 --> 00:01:35,920 prayers of deliverance and the prayers of whatever needs to be 25 00:01:35,920 --> 00:01:39,280 met versus the prayers of Thanksgiving and the prayers of 26 00:01:39,280 --> 00:01:42,520 joy and the prayers of glorifying, which box of prayers 27 00:01:43,040 --> 00:01:45,800 would be bigger? I think that's an important 28 00:01:45,800 --> 00:01:52,360 question for us to think about. This morning we are going to 29 00:01:52,360 --> 00:01:56,880 introduce a new sermon series based out of the Book of Judges. 30 00:01:58,120 --> 00:02:01,600 And before we go into the sermon this morning, and this sermon 31 00:02:01,600 --> 00:02:05,120 this morning is an overview, not particular any particular 32 00:02:05,120 --> 00:02:07,080 passage where we're starting out in Chapter 1. 33 00:02:07,080 --> 00:02:09,720 We're not doing that, but I want to give a little bit of an 34 00:02:09,720 --> 00:02:12,640 overview of what this book is about. 35 00:02:13,120 --> 00:02:17,800 And then next Sunday we'll dig into the book and start going 36 00:02:17,800 --> 00:02:21,280 through it. Some might wonder why a sermon 37 00:02:21,280 --> 00:02:26,920 series on this particular book. It's a dark book and the stories 38 00:02:26,920 --> 00:02:31,200 are not easy stories. And some might wonder what's in 39 00:02:31,200 --> 00:02:34,520 it even that makes it suitable to base a sermon series on. 40 00:02:34,520 --> 00:02:37,520 And and why start at the beginning of the year with that 41 00:02:37,520 --> 00:02:41,600 book? It's a book of patience, God's 42 00:02:41,600 --> 00:02:45,200 patience with one people group in their journey of life. 43 00:02:46,040 --> 00:02:49,640 And it shows how they forgot about God again and again and 44 00:02:49,640 --> 00:02:50,920 again. And every time when they were in 45 00:02:50,920 --> 00:02:53,800 a high, that's when they forgot. Never down in the bottom in the 46 00:02:53,800 --> 00:02:55,200 valley. They didn't forget then. 47 00:02:55,280 --> 00:02:57,040 They forgot God when things were good. 48 00:02:58,120 --> 00:03:03,000 It's kind of like us today. We see continual rise and fall, 49 00:03:03,440 --> 00:03:06,400 falling away from God and God sending oppressors and they 50 00:03:06,400 --> 00:03:09,480 would go into this dark valley of despair and oppression and 51 00:03:09,480 --> 00:03:12,400 then they'd cry out to God and they'd repent and then God 52 00:03:12,400 --> 00:03:14,520 rescues them and then come into a high again and then they're 53 00:03:14,520 --> 00:03:16,960 happy again and then they have time of rest. 54 00:03:18,640 --> 00:03:22,120 What this boils down to in this book have one word for this and 55 00:03:22,120 --> 00:03:25,600 it's connection. It's a connection issue and it 56 00:03:25,600 --> 00:03:29,120 does a very good job. This writer of the book does a 57 00:03:29,120 --> 00:03:33,360 very good job of painting a very accurate picture of human nature 58 00:03:33,800 --> 00:03:37,400 and what happens when people disconnect from God. 59 00:03:37,880 --> 00:03:42,680 Every time the disconnect happens, things go bad and often 60 00:03:42,680 --> 00:03:45,240 times it's the hard times God brings in our lives to connect 61 00:03:45,240 --> 00:03:49,840 us back together again. And we see this over and over in 62 00:03:49,840 --> 00:03:54,320 the book of Judges. This last December, someone in 63 00:03:54,320 --> 00:03:57,200 our church and I were having a conversation about some of the 64 00:03:57,200 --> 00:04:01,680 planning to go forward into year 2026, and this individual just 65 00:04:01,680 --> 00:04:05,120 mentioned to me the slogan for 2026. 66 00:04:05,120 --> 00:04:07,920 A good slogan for 2026 would be connections. 67 00:04:09,240 --> 00:04:12,080 And I just paused for a moment and thought about it. 68 00:04:13,040 --> 00:04:14,560 And I said to this person, that's it. 69 00:04:15,520 --> 00:04:18,880 That's what the slogan for 2026 will be, connections. 70 00:04:20,680 --> 00:04:23,040 I had already earlier suggested that we go through the Book of 71 00:04:23,040 --> 00:04:27,240 Judges as our next book to go through, partly because I 72 00:04:27,240 --> 00:04:32,040 believe the message of judges is so fitting and relevant to our 73 00:04:32,040 --> 00:04:35,280 society where we becoming increasingly in our affluent 74 00:04:35,280 --> 00:04:38,120 society, becoming increasingly disconnected from God. 75 00:04:38,120 --> 00:04:40,400 So what's the follow? Well, what the value is coming. 76 00:04:42,040 --> 00:04:46,000 The book of Judges talks a lot about sin, about rebellion, 77 00:04:46,600 --> 00:04:48,880 repentance, rescue, restoration, and so on. 78 00:04:48,880 --> 00:04:52,680 But all of this is tied in with people in the stories, what 79 00:04:52,680 --> 00:04:55,320 they're connected to, what they're connected with and who 80 00:04:55,320 --> 00:04:56,960 they're disconnecting from and so on. 81 00:04:58,280 --> 00:05:01,480 Most of you who are part of this church and have been for years 82 00:05:02,280 --> 00:05:06,200 know me as a person, that my emphasis is always on 83 00:05:06,200 --> 00:05:09,680 relationships. When I was first hired as a lead 84 00:05:09,680 --> 00:05:14,280 pastor here back in 2012, in November of 2011, we had the 85 00:05:14,280 --> 00:05:17,280 interview and, and the interview process, somebody from the 86 00:05:17,280 --> 00:05:19,120 congregation sitting over there somewhere. 87 00:05:19,560 --> 00:05:22,880 So, So what will your thing be? What are you going to push when 88 00:05:22,880 --> 00:05:26,600 you're a pastor here? My response to this person was 89 00:05:26,640 --> 00:05:29,960 to the congregation at the time was I may eventually sound like 90 00:05:29,960 --> 00:05:34,520 a broken record, but my emphasis will always be relationships. 91 00:05:35,080 --> 00:05:39,600 Well, that took place 14 years ago, this last November and it 92 00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:42,080 started in February of the following year, 2012. 93 00:05:42,080 --> 00:05:43,520 And that's coming up to 14 years now. 94 00:05:43,520 --> 00:05:46,000 And I still stand by that. I have not changed. 95 00:05:46,000 --> 00:05:49,360 And in fact, I think it's more relevant, more important now 96 00:05:49,360 --> 00:05:52,280 than ever, given with everything that's happening in our culture, 97 00:05:52,520 --> 00:05:55,760 the disintegration, separation, disconnection from everything in 98 00:05:55,760 --> 00:05:57,880 our society. It's important. 99 00:05:58,240 --> 00:05:59,920 So let's think about this. We'll do a little bit of a 100 00:06:00,640 --> 00:06:03,920 review from the beginning of the Bible and then leading up to 101 00:06:03,920 --> 00:06:07,080 Judges. God's purpose in creating this 102 00:06:07,320 --> 00:06:10,520 place we call our planet, this world, was to create images of 103 00:06:10,520 --> 00:06:17,480 himself, calling them people. Image bearers are replicas of 104 00:06:17,480 --> 00:06:20,320 the one they're made after. We're made after the likeness of 105 00:06:20,320 --> 00:06:24,000 God. God wanted us to reflect him in 106 00:06:24,000 --> 00:06:27,840 this world. We are a resemblance of an 107 00:06:27,840 --> 00:06:31,000 original and God wants you and me to be that. 108 00:06:31,600 --> 00:06:36,000 It happens in little children. One of our nieces is now in her 109 00:06:36,000 --> 00:06:39,440 mid 30s and I remember so clearly when she was just just a 110 00:06:39,440 --> 00:06:45,440 little baby, tiny little bundle, and we have photos of her from 111 00:06:45,440 --> 00:06:47,720 back then. Not that long ago, she had a 112 00:06:47,720 --> 00:06:49,200 baby. She and her husband had a 113 00:06:49,200 --> 00:06:52,600 beautiful little girl. And I saw pictures and I 114 00:06:52,600 --> 00:06:56,680 thought, wow, if I would take an original photo we took back in 115 00:06:56,680 --> 00:07:00,920 the early 90s, late 80s maybe. Forget now when she was born and 116 00:07:00,920 --> 00:07:03,120 a picture of her today. They're identical. 117 00:07:03,440 --> 00:07:06,560 I couldn't tell the difference. She's an image of her mother. 118 00:07:08,840 --> 00:07:10,720 How much of an image of God are we? 119 00:07:11,760 --> 00:07:15,240 God made Adam an image of himself, and we know less are an 120 00:07:15,240 --> 00:07:17,960 image of God either. And the whole idea behind it is 121 00:07:17,960 --> 00:07:22,240 not just to appear like God, but to be like God in the sense how 122 00:07:22,240 --> 00:07:25,880 we live our lives. There's relationship involved. 123 00:07:25,880 --> 00:07:29,160 There's connection. God's plan was that the people 124 00:07:29,160 --> 00:07:33,040 he created would, out of their own free will, reciprocate. 125 00:07:33,240 --> 00:07:36,040 They would give back to God voluntarily what he had blessed 126 00:07:36,040 --> 00:07:38,680 them with. There would be genuine 127 00:07:38,680 --> 00:07:41,680 connections. Relationship consists of 128 00:07:41,680 --> 00:07:44,480 connections. That's what God images do. 129 00:07:45,520 --> 00:07:48,960 And when God created everything, he made this the nature, He made 130 00:07:49,360 --> 00:07:52,720 vegetation, he made animals and he made the man. 131 00:07:53,120 --> 00:07:56,560 And it says that he breathed into him the breath of life and 132 00:07:56,560 --> 00:08:01,040 the man became a living soul and God did something else. 133 00:08:01,080 --> 00:08:04,160 We don't have time to expand on all of that this morning, but 134 00:08:05,320 --> 00:08:11,760 God gave Adam a job and it says in Genesis, it says in Genesis 135 00:08:11,760 --> 00:08:15,240 chapter 2, verse 19, like you can take your devices or Bibles 136 00:08:15,520 --> 00:08:20,520 and read along if you choose. And here it's very, very key 137 00:08:20,520 --> 00:08:23,400 what it says here. It says out of the ground, the 138 00:08:23,400 --> 00:08:27,200 Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the 139 00:08:27,200 --> 00:08:33,760 air and brought them to Adam. Listen to see what he would call 140 00:08:33,760 --> 00:08:38,000 them and whatever Adam called each living creature, that was 141 00:08:38,000 --> 00:08:41,120 its name. So here's Adam, the first human 142 00:08:41,120 --> 00:08:45,960 image of God, a replica. He's given the responsibility 143 00:08:45,960 --> 00:08:50,080 and opportunity to participate in a unique way in the creation 144 00:08:50,080 --> 00:08:53,440 story, and he got to name the animals. 145 00:08:53,920 --> 00:08:57,640 So God give, give Adam a very important part in the process of 146 00:08:57,640 --> 00:08:59,320 creation. He made the animals, God made 147 00:08:59,320 --> 00:09:01,040 the animals. And Adam gets to put the 148 00:09:01,040 --> 00:09:03,960 stickers on or the labels like the finishing touches. 149 00:09:04,040 --> 00:09:07,200 That's hugely important. God did not stop there. 150 00:09:07,240 --> 00:09:10,400 He made him a wife, someone to help him, his equal, also an 151 00:09:10,400 --> 00:09:14,440 image of God, same as him, who would help him to do his job in 152 00:09:14,440 --> 00:09:17,360 creation. And they were both holy and 153 00:09:17,360 --> 00:09:20,800 perfect, God's images, doing what they're created to do. 154 00:09:21,680 --> 00:09:25,360 They were free, moral human beings with responsibility. 155 00:09:25,680 --> 00:09:27,760 It couldn't get better than it was. 156 00:09:28,280 --> 00:09:32,520 Well, we know the story. Sin came into the world through 157 00:09:32,520 --> 00:09:36,320 Satan. He tempted Eve to question God's 158 00:09:36,320 --> 00:09:41,320 command and Eve listen to Satan eating from the forbidden fruit. 159 00:09:41,320 --> 00:09:43,760 She took some, gave it to Adam who was with her, and that was 160 00:09:43,760 --> 00:09:48,320 the entry of sin into creation. So sin broke the connection. 161 00:09:49,720 --> 00:09:53,160 The relationship between God and his people had now been broken. 162 00:09:53,760 --> 00:09:57,280 Their sin brought an end to this connection, to this 163 00:09:57,280 --> 00:09:59,720 relationship. And from then on it would never 164 00:09:59,720 --> 00:10:01,760 be the same again. And it's still not the same. 165 00:10:01,760 --> 00:10:06,160 It's not like it was. Well, Long story short, Adam and 166 00:10:06,160 --> 00:10:10,160 Eve were driven out of the garden and life from that point 167 00:10:10,160 --> 00:10:12,760 on was difficult. And it still is, as we all know 168 00:10:13,440 --> 00:10:16,560 and will continue until Jesus returns and restores everything 169 00:10:16,920 --> 00:10:19,680 that is still to come. Hasn't happened yet, but one day 170 00:10:19,680 --> 00:10:22,560 it will. There's enough evidence in life 171 00:10:22,560 --> 00:10:25,400 that points to this. We don't doubt, we don't 172 00:10:25,400 --> 00:10:27,880 question that Jesus will one day return. 173 00:10:28,120 --> 00:10:31,400 He was sent, lived and died a sinless life, died on the cross 174 00:10:31,400 --> 00:10:34,840 for our sins, and he rose from the dead, is in heaven now. 175 00:10:34,840 --> 00:10:36,920 He's going to come back. But going back to the Genesis 176 00:10:36,920 --> 00:10:41,040 story, we find that as we go further, that sin didn't just 177 00:10:41,040 --> 00:10:43,600 stay at that level, it just amplified and increased and 178 00:10:43,600 --> 00:10:45,280 grew. And God was sorry he had started 179 00:10:45,280 --> 00:10:47,240 the whole thing. I'm sorry I made people. 180 00:10:47,240 --> 00:10:51,680 He said the world had gone bad. He was going to destroy all of 181 00:10:51,680 --> 00:10:53,440 life. But one man found favor in his 182 00:10:53,440 --> 00:10:55,040 eyes. His name was Noah, his wife and 183 00:10:55,040 --> 00:10:56,600 three sons. God said, I'm going to spare 184 00:10:56,600 --> 00:10:59,400 this family. I'm going to start over, told 185 00:10:59,400 --> 00:11:02,680 Noah to build an ark, a large boat, bring one pair of each 186 00:11:02,680 --> 00:11:05,600 kind of animals and seven of the clean kinds. 187 00:11:05,600 --> 00:11:08,800 And so God said, I'm going to start over, you know, and your 188 00:11:08,800 --> 00:11:12,960 family and your sons, your wives going to the ark and I will save 189 00:11:12,960 --> 00:11:15,440 you built the ark. God did everything he said he 190 00:11:15,440 --> 00:11:16,960 would. The flood came, destroyed all of 191 00:11:16,960 --> 00:11:22,280 life except it was in the ark and that was that. 192 00:11:24,600 --> 00:11:28,360 But we find that in Genesis, the the flood story was not the end 193 00:11:28,360 --> 00:11:31,000 of it. Sin continued again after the 194 00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:35,120 story of the flood and God promised he wouldn't destroy the 195 00:11:35,120 --> 00:11:38,200 world again like he had. But then God continued his 196 00:11:38,200 --> 00:11:40,160 journey. In Genesis chapter 12, verse one 197 00:11:40,160 --> 00:11:43,280 to three, we have the story where God's started the program 198 00:11:43,280 --> 00:11:48,400 or the the the journey of saving humankind by grace through 199 00:11:48,400 --> 00:11:51,920 faith. Genesis 12 one to three, God 200 00:11:51,920 --> 00:11:56,800 spoke to Abraham and it says, and the Lord said to Abraham to 201 00:11:56,800 --> 00:12:01,120 Abram, get out of your country from your family, from your 202 00:12:01,120 --> 00:12:03,360 father's house to a land that I will show you. 203 00:12:04,040 --> 00:12:08,480 I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your 204 00:12:08,480 --> 00:12:10,560 name great, and you shall be a blessing. 205 00:12:11,840 --> 00:12:13,280 I will bless those who bless you. 206 00:12:13,440 --> 00:12:17,320 I will curse him who curses you, and in you all the families of 207 00:12:17,320 --> 00:12:23,000 the earth will be blessed. Now Abraham did not have an easy 208 00:12:23,000 --> 00:12:24,520 life. He had many challenges. 209 00:12:24,520 --> 00:12:27,640 He followed God's command, however, and he was called the 210 00:12:27,640 --> 00:12:30,760 father of the righteous. Fast forward through his life. 211 00:12:30,760 --> 00:12:35,200 Abraham had a son named Isaac. Isaac received the same promise 212 00:12:35,200 --> 00:12:39,240 from God that Abraham had. And then Isaac had two sons, 213 00:12:39,240 --> 00:12:41,960 Jacob and Esau. And through Esau the blessing 214 00:12:41,960 --> 00:12:45,440 was called and Jacob had sons, and from those sons came the 12 215 00:12:45,440 --> 00:12:48,680 tribes of Israel. God had promised to Abraham he 216 00:12:48,680 --> 00:12:52,160 would give him the land of Canaan, and God also told him it 217 00:12:52,160 --> 00:12:54,400 would be difficult. In fact, God told him your 218 00:12:54,400 --> 00:12:58,760 descendants will be slaves in the land of Egypt for 400 years. 219 00:12:58,760 --> 00:13:02,080 That's a long time. Well, that happened. 220 00:13:02,080 --> 00:13:05,720 The children of Israel migrated to Egypt during the famine and 221 00:13:05,720 --> 00:13:08,280 Joseph's time. They grew into a nation, but 222 00:13:08,280 --> 00:13:10,640 they were forced to work as slaves under a new king. 223 00:13:11,800 --> 00:13:15,680 Then after 400 years of slavery, finally under the leadership of 224 00:13:15,680 --> 00:13:19,080 Moses, they were set free. The wilderness experience was a 225 00:13:19,080 --> 00:13:21,040 very difficult experience. They had to go through the 226 00:13:21,040 --> 00:13:24,920 wilderness to the promised land. A lot of learning happened. 227 00:13:25,480 --> 00:13:28,640 All the people who rebelled, they they died. 228 00:13:29,840 --> 00:13:32,560 The desert wanderings came to an end and it was under the 229 00:13:32,560 --> 00:13:35,040 leadership of Joshua that finally the long ago promised 230 00:13:35,040 --> 00:13:41,320 land came, became their land. Maybe wonder why that land? 231 00:13:43,040 --> 00:13:45,400 One speaker I listened to mentioned that if you look at 232 00:13:45,400 --> 00:13:48,400 the map of the world today, in the world that day, the way it 233 00:13:48,400 --> 00:13:52,440 was populated, the land of Canaan was a unique place. 234 00:13:53,160 --> 00:13:55,840 It was not some out of the corner, out of the way place, 235 00:13:55,840 --> 00:13:58,760 hidden somewhere where nobody would go and nobody would be. 236 00:13:59,840 --> 00:14:02,560 Kind of speaks to the testimony of our Mennonite people who 237 00:14:02,800 --> 00:14:05,560 usually wanted to move away from society, away from culture. 238 00:14:05,800 --> 00:14:09,360 God places people in the land of Canaan, and it's an interesting 239 00:14:09,880 --> 00:14:13,040 place to be. If you look on the map, you see 240 00:14:13,040 --> 00:14:16,400 Damascus there in Jerusalem. Now the bottom is Egypt and the 241 00:14:16,400 --> 00:14:19,720 top there's a Syria, the, the, and then there's the Arabian 242 00:14:19,720 --> 00:14:21,520 desert, the Near East. That's all deserts. 243 00:14:21,520 --> 00:14:24,040 So any travel that people would do, they would from the bottom 244 00:14:24,040 --> 00:14:26,640 left hand side to the top right hand side, they would go through 245 00:14:26,640 --> 00:14:29,640 Jerusalem and Damascus. That that valley, that area, 246 00:14:30,240 --> 00:14:33,680 those were the trade routes. That was like the hub, like 247 00:14:33,680 --> 00:14:38,360 Toronto or New York or or any of the major cities where everybody 248 00:14:38,360 --> 00:14:40,960 knew this is the trade route. This is where they go. 249 00:14:42,080 --> 00:14:45,400 God wanted to place his people where the whole world would get 250 00:14:45,400 --> 00:14:48,080 to experience what kind of a God he was. 251 00:14:49,120 --> 00:14:53,440 And that's the land that the children of Israel were given. 252 00:14:54,320 --> 00:14:56,200 Well, initially things did go well. 253 00:14:56,640 --> 00:14:59,840 You read the book of Joshua under his leadership, they 254 00:14:59,840 --> 00:15:03,840 occupied that territory and things did go well, mostly. 255 00:15:03,840 --> 00:15:07,160 There were some things that went wrong, but we'll, we'll just 256 00:15:07,160 --> 00:15:08,760 look at them briefly as we go on. 257 00:15:09,280 --> 00:15:12,920 But they had a very good start. But good starts don't mean good 258 00:15:12,920 --> 00:15:16,440 finishing, good finishes. Just starting well does not mean 259 00:15:16,440 --> 00:15:18,520 ending well. It can and it should. 260 00:15:19,000 --> 00:15:21,240 Anybody can leave the starting line in a race. 261 00:15:22,200 --> 00:15:24,880 Anybody can apply for a job and start a job. 262 00:15:26,360 --> 00:15:28,080 Finishing. That's another story. 263 00:15:29,040 --> 00:15:32,440 As the people of Israel took over the land, the time came 264 00:15:32,440 --> 00:15:36,000 that Joshua died. It tells us in the early part of 265 00:15:36,000 --> 00:15:39,840 the judges that as long as Joshua lived and the elders who 266 00:15:39,840 --> 00:15:42,880 lived with Joshua, things went reasonably well. 267 00:15:43,760 --> 00:15:46,240 But in time people would compromise. 268 00:15:47,320 --> 00:15:50,320 And so this morning we'll pick some key passages, and next 269 00:15:50,320 --> 00:15:52,360 Sunday we'll begin at the beginning of the book, as I said 270 00:15:52,360 --> 00:15:54,280 earlier. So this morning let's read 271 00:15:54,280 --> 00:16:00,440 Judges chapter 2, verse 7 to 10. Judges 2, seven to 10. 272 00:16:02,440 --> 00:16:07,000 So the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all 273 00:16:07,000 --> 00:16:10,520 the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen 274 00:16:10,520 --> 00:16:13,360 all the great works of the Lord which he had done for Israel. 275 00:16:14,000 --> 00:16:17,240 Now Joshua the son of Nun the servant of the Lord, died when 276 00:16:17,240 --> 00:16:21,920 he was 110 years old, and they buried him within the border of 277 00:16:21,920 --> 00:16:25,720 his inheritance at Timnah Harris in the mountains of Ephraim on 278 00:16:25,720 --> 00:16:30,440 the north side of Mount Gash. When all that generation had 279 00:16:30,440 --> 00:16:35,520 been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after 280 00:16:35,520 --> 00:16:40,440 them who did not know the Lord nor the work which He had done 281 00:16:40,720 --> 00:16:46,760 for Israel. That last part of verse 10 is a 282 00:16:46,760 --> 00:16:52,040 very sad testimony of what would repeat itself numerous times. 283 00:16:52,040 --> 00:16:58,320 And even in our culture we see a repeat of the same thing the 284 00:16:58,320 --> 00:17:01,680 people did as God wanted during the days of Joshua. 285 00:17:02,000 --> 00:17:06,960 The connection held the connection held during that 286 00:17:06,960 --> 00:17:11,599 time, but when Joshua died, it was like the ending of a 287 00:17:11,599 --> 00:17:14,920 chapter. Things had gone reasonably well 288 00:17:14,920 --> 00:17:16,880 under his leadership. And I say reasonably for a 289 00:17:16,880 --> 00:17:19,400 reason, because there were some compromises, small ones, but 290 00:17:19,400 --> 00:17:23,040 there were. And if you read the story of 291 00:17:23,040 --> 00:17:26,000 Joshua and the book of Joshua, we find that taking the land was 292 00:17:26,000 --> 00:17:30,160 a huge, monumental task. God gave them the land, yes, but 293 00:17:30,160 --> 00:17:33,680 they had to work for it. It was just here's the land, 294 00:17:33,680 --> 00:17:36,440 take it it. They had to fight the battles. 295 00:17:37,640 --> 00:17:40,920 And Joshua LED well. The people followed faithfully 296 00:17:41,120 --> 00:17:43,040 under his leadership. Things went well for the most 297 00:17:43,040 --> 00:17:48,280 part, but when he was gone and also the elders of his time, the 298 00:17:48,280 --> 00:17:51,240 people compromised. And it was their compromises, 299 00:17:51,240 --> 00:17:54,800 their disconnect from God that repeatedly got them in trouble. 300 00:17:55,200 --> 00:17:57,560 God wanted a relationship with His people. 301 00:17:57,920 --> 00:18:00,520 He wanted to use them to bless all nations. 302 00:18:00,520 --> 00:18:05,320 Remember what happened, what caused the break in the 303 00:18:05,320 --> 00:18:09,040 relationship? What what caused the disconnect? 304 00:18:10,280 --> 00:18:13,440 What the old generation had experienced and lived through 305 00:18:13,960 --> 00:18:16,640 had not transferred to the young generation. 306 00:18:16,720 --> 00:18:20,320 A break had happened, a disconnection happened. 307 00:18:22,120 --> 00:18:25,120 We know the old generation fought many difficult battles, 308 00:18:25,280 --> 00:18:28,320 but for the young generation, they did not have to fight those 309 00:18:28,320 --> 00:18:31,160 battles. The land was passed on to their 310 00:18:31,440 --> 00:18:35,440 to them as free of work as an inheritance. 311 00:18:35,440 --> 00:18:39,960 Here it is, the old generation had witnessed the power of God 312 00:18:39,960 --> 00:18:42,480 in the desert and the miracles in fighting these battles. 313 00:18:43,040 --> 00:18:45,840 The young generation did not have those experiences and it 314 00:18:45,840 --> 00:18:48,920 wasn't their fault either. The history of the old 315 00:18:48,920 --> 00:18:51,760 generation did not transfer to the young generation. 316 00:18:51,760 --> 00:18:55,280 There was a break this, the disconnect was real. 317 00:18:55,440 --> 00:18:57,880 It severed them from the old generation. 318 00:18:57,880 --> 00:19:00,520 It severed along the lines of knowledge of history. 319 00:19:01,120 --> 00:19:03,280 It severed along the historical values. 320 00:19:03,280 --> 00:19:06,320 It severed along the spiritual lines and the moral lines. 321 00:19:06,960 --> 00:19:09,960 It makes one wonder, what is it that makes this happen? 322 00:19:10,600 --> 00:19:13,600 Why do the spiritual connections sever? 323 00:19:14,640 --> 00:19:18,040 Why does it happen that at one that which was at one time so 324 00:19:18,040 --> 00:19:20,560 healthy, strong and vibrant, pulsing with life? 325 00:19:20,560 --> 00:19:23,920 Why does it fade, decline and wither and die? 326 00:19:25,040 --> 00:19:27,920 Why does the new generation not pick up and take to heart what 327 00:19:27,920 --> 00:19:30,120 the older generation has lived through and trusted in? 328 00:19:30,520 --> 00:19:34,120 I've seen this in my own time. I've read many books on this. 329 00:19:34,920 --> 00:19:39,000 It's been highlighted here and there and often times, even when 330 00:19:39,000 --> 00:19:43,080 the older, the older generation does try to teach the younger 331 00:19:43,080 --> 00:19:45,880 generation their history and does try to instill the values 332 00:19:45,880 --> 00:19:48,600 of the past into the young generation, many in the young 333 00:19:48,600 --> 00:19:50,760 generation simply don't take notice. 334 00:19:52,400 --> 00:19:56,320 It's all about the latest, the newest and whatever shifting 335 00:19:56,320 --> 00:20:00,200 values, newest teachings. Never mind what the foundations 336 00:20:00,200 --> 00:20:03,120 of the older generations were. Let's go back to judges. 337 00:20:03,120 --> 00:20:05,760 Now. We don't know if the older 338 00:20:05,760 --> 00:20:08,440 generation did not teach or did not train the young generation. 339 00:20:08,440 --> 00:20:11,720 What we do know is the old generation was not perfect in 340 00:20:11,720 --> 00:20:14,080 fact. They had taken a few shortcuts 341 00:20:14,080 --> 00:20:16,080 themselves. They shouldn't have. 342 00:20:16,400 --> 00:20:20,920 We'll go into that next Sunday, and we know those shortcuts were 343 00:20:20,920 --> 00:20:23,200 wrong. Even though Joshua was a good 344 00:20:23,200 --> 00:20:25,920 leader, a few things happened that shouldn't have happened 345 00:20:26,320 --> 00:20:27,760 again. We'll look at it more next 346 00:20:27,760 --> 00:20:30,880 Sunday. We'll see in the story of the 347 00:20:30,880 --> 00:20:33,920 judges in the whole book that the biggest struggles would not 348 00:20:33,920 --> 00:20:36,600 come from without. Although there were struggles 349 00:20:36,600 --> 00:20:39,960 from without, the biggest struggles would come from inside 350 00:20:40,280 --> 00:20:45,320 temptations of the heart. It's not the outside problems 351 00:20:45,320 --> 00:20:47,040 that disconnect us from God so much. 352 00:20:47,040 --> 00:20:50,880 It's the response that comes outside of us that reveals how 353 00:20:50,880 --> 00:20:53,960 weak we are. The temptations do not 354 00:20:53,960 --> 00:20:56,840 disconnect us from God, It's our response to the temptations that 355 00:20:56,840 --> 00:21:01,280 disconnect us from God. I think, for instance, the story 356 00:21:01,280 --> 00:21:04,320 of Samson won't spoil it, but if you know the story of Samson, he 357 00:21:04,320 --> 00:21:08,040 was a man who could handle anything and everything that 358 00:21:08,040 --> 00:21:11,200 came against him, but what was in his heart he couldn't control 359 00:21:11,880 --> 00:21:15,040 and he fell. Think of our own country, the 360 00:21:15,040 --> 00:21:18,280 moral values that held for generations, for hundreds of 361 00:21:18,280 --> 00:21:21,320 years in Europe and in and when this land was settled. 362 00:21:22,160 --> 00:21:25,120 Most of them haven't compromised at this time. 363 00:21:25,120 --> 00:21:28,600 There seems to be no sight, no end insight to the compromise. 364 00:21:29,200 --> 00:21:32,600 And it's not just the culture, friend, it's the church as well. 365 00:21:32,920 --> 00:21:38,680 It's becoming acceptable, increasingly so, and we're now 366 00:21:38,680 --> 00:21:42,040 facing a situation in our country where pastors may have 367 00:21:42,040 --> 00:21:44,680 to go to prison for the words they say from the pulpit out of 368 00:21:44,680 --> 00:21:49,520 the Scripture. In the days of judges, the 369 00:21:49,520 --> 00:21:52,240 judges, compromises happened and the things that God had 370 00:21:52,240 --> 00:21:55,160 forbidden were not only allowed, they were celebrated. 371 00:21:56,640 --> 00:21:59,320 I've said this in the past that bears repeating that in our 372 00:21:59,320 --> 00:22:02,240 time, the latter half of my lifetime, first there was the 373 00:22:02,240 --> 00:22:06,720 mantra of tolerance. We should be tolerant. 374 00:22:06,920 --> 00:22:08,920 Allow people to believe what they want to believe. 375 00:22:08,920 --> 00:22:10,640 You don't have to agree. We'd just be friends and you 376 00:22:10,640 --> 00:22:11,520 believe this. I believe this. 377 00:22:11,520 --> 00:22:14,320 We're good. It didn't stay there from 378 00:22:14,320 --> 00:22:16,080 tolerance. It migrated and became 379 00:22:16,080 --> 00:22:17,360 acceptance. I don't want you to just 380 00:22:17,360 --> 00:22:18,960 tolerate. I want you to accept it. 381 00:22:19,920 --> 00:22:23,080 So it's about acceptance. Accept everything and everything 382 00:22:23,080 --> 00:22:27,360 that goes on except at all from from tolerance and acceptance, 383 00:22:27,360 --> 00:22:29,000 it migrated further to embracing. 384 00:22:29,000 --> 00:22:30,520 I don't want you to just tolerate and accept. 385 00:22:30,520 --> 00:22:32,000 I want you to embrace it. Own it. 386 00:22:34,120 --> 00:22:35,800 And then it migrated to participation. 387 00:22:35,800 --> 00:22:37,360 No, you have to actually now do it. 388 00:22:39,040 --> 00:22:41,440 Tolerate it, Accept that, embrace and do it. 389 00:22:42,240 --> 00:22:44,000 If you don't do it, then you discriminate. 390 00:22:45,120 --> 00:22:47,520 Now we're coming to a new step. It's called prosecution. 391 00:22:49,200 --> 00:22:50,600 If you don't do it, we're going to punish you. 392 00:22:52,880 --> 00:22:56,680 When the connections of history are severed, when the past is 393 00:22:56,680 --> 00:23:00,560 forgotten and values are trashed, there's no telling 394 00:23:00,560 --> 00:23:05,080 where this drift will lead to. And one thing we'll find as we 395 00:23:05,080 --> 00:23:09,880 go through judges is these weak points, and they most often 396 00:23:09,880 --> 00:23:12,840 happen when people have a good, when things are going well. 397 00:23:12,840 --> 00:23:15,120 I don't want to destroy this, don't want to jinx it, don't 398 00:23:15,120 --> 00:23:17,680 want to mess it up. In fact, I want it better. 399 00:23:18,080 --> 00:23:20,720 From good to even better entitlement. 400 00:23:20,800 --> 00:23:24,800 It's about myself now. For the people of Israel, it was 401 00:23:24,800 --> 00:23:26,960 when they shifted their focus away from God. 402 00:23:27,120 --> 00:23:29,600 When they compromised their connection with God, that's when 403 00:23:29,600 --> 00:23:33,400 they fell. Some of them said nature abhors 404 00:23:33,400 --> 00:23:36,440 a vacuum. When we disconnect from God, we 405 00:23:36,440 --> 00:23:39,560 don't just live disconnected. We do connect to something else. 406 00:23:41,200 --> 00:23:45,200 Our connection with God and our connections with each other are 407 00:23:45,200 --> 00:23:48,400 key in determining the health and success of our journey 408 00:23:48,400 --> 00:23:51,080 through life. Some people have good, strong, 409 00:23:51,080 --> 00:23:53,680 healthy relationships between them and God and with people. 410 00:23:53,800 --> 00:23:55,200 They have good, solid connections. 411 00:23:55,200 --> 00:23:58,920 Praise God for those. But then there are people who 412 00:23:58,920 --> 00:24:02,120 compromise their relationship with God and with people, and 413 00:24:02,120 --> 00:24:06,320 they draw away the isolate, or worse, the link up with people 414 00:24:06,320 --> 00:24:09,800 who are destructive and help them disconnect even further. 415 00:24:09,800 --> 00:24:14,360 And they live very disconnected, fragmented and scattered lives. 416 00:24:15,240 --> 00:24:18,800 When connections fail, people are exposed and vulnerable to 417 00:24:18,800 --> 00:24:21,440 attack. The less we as God's people 418 00:24:21,440 --> 00:24:24,960 connect, the easier it is for Satan to isolate us and take us 419 00:24:24,960 --> 00:24:27,200 down 1 by 1. You know how? 420 00:24:27,200 --> 00:24:30,600 A bed of coals and a fire, everything that's in the center 421 00:24:30,600 --> 00:24:33,040 is red hot, glowing. But if you take a piece of wood 422 00:24:33,040 --> 00:24:36,000 that's burning or a ember or a coal put off to the side, it 423 00:24:36,000 --> 00:24:39,600 cools off and just dies out. That's what happens to people 424 00:24:39,800 --> 00:24:42,320 who claim to be part of the body of Christ but disconnect 425 00:24:42,320 --> 00:24:45,280 themselves. Hebrews chapter 10, verse 23 426 00:24:45,280 --> 00:24:49,600 writes, Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without 427 00:24:49,600 --> 00:24:52,480 wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 428 00:24:53,080 --> 00:24:57,000 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and 429 00:24:57,000 --> 00:25:00,560 good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together 430 00:25:00,560 --> 00:25:03,800 as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another and so 431 00:25:03,800 --> 00:25:06,520 much more as you see the day approaching. 432 00:25:07,200 --> 00:25:12,560 It's about holding steady, staying connected, continuing on 433 00:25:12,560 --> 00:25:16,640 together in unity. And in the book of Judges, we 434 00:25:16,640 --> 00:25:19,760 find in a number of occasions the phrase and they all, 435 00:25:19,760 --> 00:25:23,600 everybody did that which was right in their own eyes. 436 00:25:26,640 --> 00:25:30,240 A commentary that I've been reading to go through the sermon 437 00:25:30,240 --> 00:25:33,440 series is by Terry Brensinger called the Believers Church 438 00:25:33,440 --> 00:25:36,840 Bible Commentary, and he writes, the book of Judges might well 439 00:25:36,840 --> 00:25:38,760 have been written during our own lifetime. 440 00:25:39,480 --> 00:25:43,120 Indeed, the situations described and the themes developed ring 441 00:25:43,120 --> 00:25:46,960 true today with such force and clarity that the modern reader 442 00:25:46,960 --> 00:25:50,240 rarely escapes taking part in the storyline. 443 00:25:50,760 --> 00:25:53,760 With a deepening sense of anticipation, we mount the 444 00:25:53,760 --> 00:25:57,320 stage. We share the joy and utter 445 00:25:57,320 --> 00:26:00,480 excitement of both divine blessing and human potential. 446 00:26:00,920 --> 00:26:03,640 Painfully, so too do we experience the increasing 447 00:26:03,640 --> 00:26:07,600 frustration of watching our own individual and communal dreams 448 00:26:07,600 --> 00:26:10,520 unravel. In many ways, The Book of Judges 449 00:26:10,840 --> 00:26:13,960 is a book for the contemporary world. 450 00:26:15,240 --> 00:26:17,920 The book describes our modern world today. 451 00:26:19,160 --> 00:26:22,640 It clearly illustrates what happens in a person's life and 452 00:26:22,640 --> 00:26:26,200 then end of the in the life of a people group what happens when 453 00:26:26,200 --> 00:26:29,360 they lose their connection with God and their connections with 454 00:26:29,360 --> 00:26:33,240 each other when they start each doing their own thing. 455 00:26:33,440 --> 00:26:37,160 In Judges 17 verse 6, it says in those days there was no king in 456 00:26:37,160 --> 00:26:38,960 Israel and everyone did which was right. 457 00:26:38,960 --> 00:26:44,920 What was right in his own eyes. How relevant today. 458 00:26:45,600 --> 00:26:48,080 People just doing what the jolly well please and if you don't 459 00:26:48,080 --> 00:26:49,360 like it in this church, go to another one. 460 00:26:49,360 --> 00:26:53,360 They'll do it whatever flavor style and color and shape and 461 00:26:53,440 --> 00:26:57,600 worship you want or behavior you want or belief you want. 462 00:26:57,600 --> 00:27:01,880 It's all there. But the Bible is being 463 00:27:01,880 --> 00:27:06,680 forgotten. It covers a turbulent time 464 00:27:06,680 --> 00:27:08,520 season in which we Live Today, too. 465 00:27:09,600 --> 00:27:13,200 But you know what also is there? When the people fell, God 466 00:27:13,200 --> 00:27:15,800 allowed them to be oppressed, and they cried out and they 467 00:27:15,800 --> 00:27:19,080 repented, and God would redeem. That's also true. 468 00:27:20,400 --> 00:27:22,480 They went through cycles of highs and lows. 469 00:27:23,200 --> 00:27:26,520 They compromised God's laws, went after the idols, and 470 00:27:26,520 --> 00:27:28,480 repeatedly they disconnected from God. 471 00:27:30,120 --> 00:27:32,800 And one of the interesting things in the story is that they 472 00:27:32,800 --> 00:27:35,400 never compromised their connection with God in the 473 00:27:35,400 --> 00:27:37,800 downtime. Then they they engaged it again. 474 00:27:38,720 --> 00:27:41,440 Those were the times in which they wanted the connection with 475 00:27:41,440 --> 00:27:46,600 God back again. It was always in the easy times 476 00:27:47,080 --> 00:27:49,880 when they abandoned God, when they wandered away. 477 00:27:50,840 --> 00:27:53,520 It was always when they had it good. 478 00:27:55,160 --> 00:27:58,520 It's a sad but true reality. In the easy times, it's easy to 479 00:27:58,520 --> 00:28:01,400 lose their connections. And again, as I mentioned, we'll 480 00:28:01,400 --> 00:28:03,840 see this as we go through it in the coming weeks. 481 00:28:05,480 --> 00:28:09,040 You know how people sometimes do and they maybe lost something or 482 00:28:09,040 --> 00:28:11,840 things went bad and things went South and things went bad. 483 00:28:12,520 --> 00:28:14,960 And then they pray, Lord, if you arrest me, I will never again. 484 00:28:14,960 --> 00:28:17,760 I will always we make all these promises and always in the hard 485 00:28:17,760 --> 00:28:19,480 times, I will always start going to church. 486 00:28:19,480 --> 00:28:21,160 Now I'll start giving now I'll start serving you. 487 00:28:21,160 --> 00:28:23,360 I'll stop my addictions and I'll start loving people. 488 00:28:23,360 --> 00:28:25,920 And I will always we make these. I will always, I'll never again. 489 00:28:25,920 --> 00:28:29,520 Sentences right? They always happen down there. 490 00:28:31,000 --> 00:28:34,440 I'm not saying they can't happen here, but why they always happen 491 00:28:34,440 --> 00:28:41,320 down there. The same commentator makes this 492 00:28:41,320 --> 00:28:44,440 comment here. This Bible commentator says the 493 00:28:44,440 --> 00:28:46,200 Israelites to evil in the eyes of the Lord. 494 00:28:46,880 --> 00:28:49,400 The Lord repeatedly brought upon the people of foreign oppressor. 495 00:28:49,920 --> 00:28:52,240 The Israelites then cried to the Lord for assistance. 496 00:28:53,160 --> 00:28:56,120 The Lord raised up a judge or delivered to rescue the people. 497 00:28:56,760 --> 00:29:02,360 The judge LED Israel to freedom. The land had rest this whole 498 00:29:02,360 --> 00:29:05,360 period of time. The book of judges lasted over 499 00:29:05,360 --> 00:29:10,520 300 years. Then there's always spans a time 500 00:29:10,520 --> 00:29:14,080 spans of good times and time spans of bad times. 501 00:29:14,680 --> 00:29:18,480 We as a country, we as a nation have had it good for a long, 502 00:29:18,480 --> 00:29:21,880 long time. But we're not being a good 503 00:29:21,880 --> 00:29:28,800 people. We read that Joshua died and the 504 00:29:28,800 --> 00:29:32,520 people continue their conquest, but then in chapter 2, verse 7 505 00:29:32,520 --> 00:29:34,520 to 10, we have a rehearsal of the death of Joshua and the 506 00:29:34,520 --> 00:29:36,640 events that followed. See, there's overlap in the 507 00:29:36,640 --> 00:29:37,840 book. And in fact, I just want to 508 00:29:37,840 --> 00:29:40,680 mention this here as well. The book is not a chronological 509 00:29:40,680 --> 00:29:42,600 timeline. That's not how the book is 510 00:29:42,600 --> 00:29:46,640 written In our sermon series. We don't want to focus on that, 511 00:29:47,200 --> 00:29:49,360 but just what God did in these stories. 512 00:29:50,560 --> 00:29:54,000 But the time in which we live now, too, is so similar to their 513 00:29:54,000 --> 00:29:56,240 times. You see, there's never been a 514 00:29:56,240 --> 00:30:01,120 time in history ever before where anybody's had it better on 515 00:30:01,120 --> 00:30:05,200 earth than we do today. And never has so much changed so 516 00:30:05,200 --> 00:30:08,520 fast at such breakneck speed as it's happening today. 517 00:30:08,840 --> 00:30:11,680 We talk of AI, we talk of technology, and the list goes on 518 00:30:11,680 --> 00:30:14,800 and on. The times of confusion have also 519 00:30:14,800 --> 00:30:17,760 never been greater than they are now in terms of moral values. 520 00:30:18,080 --> 00:30:19,720 But let me just say, God is watching. 521 00:30:19,840 --> 00:30:22,920 The same God we find in Judges is still on the throne. 522 00:30:22,920 --> 00:30:28,600 He's watching and as I said before, we'll go through this 523 00:30:28,600 --> 00:30:32,040 whole book starting next week, but there's a passage I want to 524 00:30:32,040 --> 00:30:34,280 read this morning. This happened actually before 525 00:30:34,280 --> 00:30:38,880 Joshua even died. Read with me Joshua 2 Judges 2 526 00:30:39,200 --> 00:30:41,920 verse one to six. Then the Angel of the Lord came 527 00:30:41,920 --> 00:30:43,840 up from Gilgal. Remember, this is not beginning 528 00:30:43,840 --> 00:30:47,800 in the in the story and said, I LED you up from Egypt and 529 00:30:47,800 --> 00:30:50,720 brought you to the land which I swore to your father's, and 530 00:30:50,720 --> 00:30:53,280 said, I will never break my covenant with you, and you shall 531 00:30:53,280 --> 00:30:56,120 make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land. 532 00:30:56,400 --> 00:30:58,120 You shall tear down their altars. 533 00:30:58,840 --> 00:31:01,680 But you've not obeyed my voice. Why have you done this? 534 00:31:01,920 --> 00:31:05,720 Therefore I also said, I will not drive them out before you, 535 00:31:05,720 --> 00:31:08,320 but they shall be thorns in your side, and their gods shall be a 536 00:31:08,320 --> 00:31:11,400 snare to you. So it was when the Angel of the 537 00:31:11,400 --> 00:31:14,440 Lord spoke these words to all the children of Israel that the 538 00:31:14,440 --> 00:31:17,240 people lifted up their voices and wept. 539 00:31:18,480 --> 00:31:20,920 Then they called the name of that place Bochum, and they 540 00:31:20,920 --> 00:31:23,440 sacrificed there to the Lord. And when Joshua had dismissed 541 00:31:23,440 --> 00:31:25,560 the people, the children of Israel went each to his own 542 00:31:25,560 --> 00:31:31,080 inheritance to possess the land. This is a dark part even of the 543 00:31:31,080 --> 00:31:35,160 story of Joshua. They had not done as they should 544 00:31:35,160 --> 00:31:36,800 have. They did a lot of good things. 545 00:31:36,920 --> 00:31:39,920 They did no bad things, just not all the good things they should 546 00:31:39,920 --> 00:31:41,240 do. Think of that for a moment. 547 00:31:41,600 --> 00:31:44,360 We just focus often on, well, I'm not doing bad things, how I 548 00:31:44,360 --> 00:31:48,440 must be OK. Not doing good things is not OK. 549 00:31:48,720 --> 00:31:51,200 One of the good things was to clean out the land, clear out 550 00:31:51,200 --> 00:31:53,920 all the idol worship, get rid of all that dishonored God in the 551 00:31:53,920 --> 00:31:55,520 land. They had not done that. 552 00:31:55,840 --> 00:31:57,480 They did a lot of it, just not all of it. 553 00:32:00,400 --> 00:32:02,920 And then later on, Joshua passed away. 554 00:32:02,920 --> 00:32:05,040 And it does say here at this point in time, they wept. 555 00:32:05,560 --> 00:32:08,160 We don't find that they change their lifestyles. 556 00:32:09,320 --> 00:32:11,920 The question that comes to our mind is if an Angel of God would 557 00:32:11,920 --> 00:32:17,000 walk into our facility this morning, which we don't expect, 558 00:32:17,360 --> 00:32:19,760 but the message is true in the live that He has for us in His 559 00:32:19,760 --> 00:32:23,720 Word, what would He tell us? Maybe our community, What would 560 00:32:23,720 --> 00:32:27,560 He tell our community? He's not so much concerned 561 00:32:27,560 --> 00:32:29,280 about, oh, just get rid of all the bad things. 562 00:32:29,320 --> 00:32:32,120 Are we living up to the good standard that he's given us? 563 00:32:34,880 --> 00:32:37,240 There was an outward appearance of holy living, yes, sure, but 564 00:32:37,240 --> 00:32:41,320 it was just that. Who are we connected to? 565 00:32:42,160 --> 00:32:47,720 God or stuff or culture? We've been given the opportunity 566 00:32:47,720 --> 00:32:49,720 to choose God. Let's go back to the book of 567 00:32:49,720 --> 00:32:54,000 Joshua 2415. This is now before Joshua passed 568 00:32:54,000 --> 00:32:56,160 away. This is there's a bit of overlap 569 00:32:56,160 --> 00:33:00,200 in these stories here. And Joshua says, if it seems 570 00:33:00,200 --> 00:33:03,240 evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day 571 00:33:03,240 --> 00:33:06,440 whom you will serve, whether the gods which your father's served 572 00:33:06,440 --> 00:33:09,120 that were on the other side of the river, or the gods of the 573 00:33:09,120 --> 00:33:10,760 Amorites and whose land you dwell. 574 00:33:10,760 --> 00:33:11,920 They had entered the promised land. 575 00:33:12,400 --> 00:33:15,160 But As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. 576 00:33:16,400 --> 00:33:17,720 We're going to be connected to God. 577 00:33:19,720 --> 00:33:22,440 We like the people of Israel in the book of Judges. 578 00:33:22,760 --> 00:33:24,960 We've been placed here on this earth for a season and for a 579 00:33:24,960 --> 00:33:27,400 time. We didn't choose this place. 580 00:33:27,400 --> 00:33:30,960 This time God gave it to us. But we have an opportunity. 581 00:33:31,480 --> 00:33:34,600 We have a privilege and a responsibility, just like Adam 582 00:33:34,640 --> 00:33:37,480 in the Garden of Eden. What are we going to do with it? 583 00:33:38,440 --> 00:33:42,080 God give Adam an opportunity, Eve, Abram an opportunity, gave 584 00:33:42,080 --> 00:33:44,160 Moses and the people of Israel opportunities. 585 00:33:44,680 --> 00:33:46,320 Then Jesus came and died for our sins. 586 00:33:46,320 --> 00:33:47,640 He gave the Israel's opportunities. 587 00:33:48,320 --> 00:33:50,560 In Christ Jesus. We've been set free to connect 588 00:33:50,560 --> 00:33:56,160 with Him, to connect with God and connect with each other and 589 00:33:56,160 --> 00:34:01,040 live in relationship with Him. If you want, this can be yours. 590 00:34:01,720 --> 00:34:05,320 God is calling us. You have the opportunity, the 591 00:34:05,320 --> 00:34:10,080 responsibility to surrender, to commit, and to connect and live 592 00:34:10,080 --> 00:34:13,080 in relationship with Him. And out of that, all the rest 593 00:34:13,080 --> 00:34:14,320 flows. Let us pray. 594 00:34:15,679 --> 00:34:20,159 Thank you, Lord, for this first Sunday of 2026. 595 00:34:21,199 --> 00:34:24,280 Thank you for the grace you gave us as we started this journey. 596 00:34:24,960 --> 00:34:26,679 I pray, Lord, we'll be faithful to you. 597 00:34:27,679 --> 00:34:29,600 Lord, help us to stay connected to you. 598 00:34:30,239 --> 00:34:33,120 Give us wisdom and insight to stay strong. 599 00:34:33,840 --> 00:34:36,080 Help us, Lord, to connect with you in a way you designed us to 600 00:34:36,080 --> 00:34:38,000 connect with you. And as we go through this year, 601 00:34:38,280 --> 00:34:40,440 maybe experience your presence in our lives. 602 00:34:40,679 --> 00:34:41,920 Thank you, Jesus. Amen.