1 00:00:01,520 --> 00:00:04,320 Good morning. How are we feeling? 2 00:00:06,120 --> 00:00:09,520 Thanks, Bryce. Hey, my name is Preston. 3 00:00:09,520 --> 00:00:13,120 If we haven't met yet, I get to serve on staff with this church 4 00:00:13,120 --> 00:00:18,440 as our college ministry director called the salt company and guys 5 00:00:18,440 --> 00:00:22,520 this is kind of we had kind of had last salt this Thursday and 6 00:00:22,520 --> 00:00:24,560 really kind of putting a bow on it. 7 00:00:24,560 --> 00:00:27,680 So going to be saying bye to some college students here for 8 00:00:27,680 --> 00:00:30,320 the summer coming up. It'll be exciting, but it's kind 9 00:00:30,320 --> 00:00:32,600 of part of it. And so I don't know about you 10 00:00:32,600 --> 00:00:34,240 guys. Like if you think about the 11 00:00:34,240 --> 00:00:36,640 season of our church, the type of church that we're a part of 12 00:00:37,040 --> 00:00:39,280 and the fact that we live in Arizona and this might be the 13 00:00:39,280 --> 00:00:42,960 worst place to be in June and July, there's probably some 14 00:00:42,960 --> 00:00:46,280 summer plans starting to brew. Like this is the last week of 15 00:00:46,560 --> 00:00:48,880 probably below triple digits perhaps. 16 00:00:48,880 --> 00:00:51,560 Sorry to say it. You know, you guys, it's like 17 00:00:51,800 --> 00:00:55,400 it's warming up. But it's interesting to think 18 00:00:55,400 --> 00:00:58,400 so. Today's May 3rd, 9 months ago, 19 00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:02,760 August 3rd was our first like Sunday service as a church. 20 00:01:03,240 --> 00:01:05,960 Isn't that crazy? Yes, I think it is. 21 00:01:05,960 --> 00:01:08,360 Some of you guys felt like three years. 22 00:01:09,800 --> 00:01:13,240 In some ways it has, but it's just been really, really 23 00:01:13,240 --> 00:01:18,160 exciting and God's done a lot And you know, something 24 00:01:18,160 --> 00:01:21,640 interesting whenever we open up God's word, something that I 25 00:01:21,640 --> 00:01:24,480 always was taught when you get an opportunity to teach it, 26 00:01:24,480 --> 00:01:27,280 which I actually think this is a great principle for us any day 27 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:30,480 is to answer to ask the question like pray to God, ask the 28 00:01:30,480 --> 00:01:32,760 question like God, what do you have for us this morning? 29 00:01:33,680 --> 00:01:36,960 Like what is it in We're about to read Joshua 22 and guys, this 30 00:01:36,960 --> 00:01:38,960 is a text that a lot of times during a sermon series, they 31 00:01:38,960 --> 00:01:43,480 just like skip over Joshua 22. And so it's like, God, what do 32 00:01:43,480 --> 00:01:45,720 you have for us this morning? What do you want to teach us 33 00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:48,040 today? And not that it that we get to 34 00:01:48,040 --> 00:01:49,280 tell the Bible what it teaches us. 35 00:01:49,280 --> 00:01:51,400 But no, there's all the principles, there's the story. 36 00:01:51,680 --> 00:01:54,640 And understanding it in their town helps us apply it to our 37 00:01:54,640 --> 00:01:56,400 town in Tempe and where we Live Today. 38 00:01:56,800 --> 00:02:00,680 And we live in a very transient city with, with a transient 39 00:02:00,680 --> 00:02:02,480 church where we got college students, right? 40 00:02:02,480 --> 00:02:04,360 We got young adults, we got families. 41 00:02:04,360 --> 00:02:08,680 And we're about to enter into a transient season, meaning this 42 00:02:08,680 --> 00:02:12,040 summer, like this is a time where we have travel plans, set 43 00:02:12,360 --> 00:02:16,080 internships, you're going on all these things. 44 00:02:16,360 --> 00:02:18,520 And so things will start to, to change because we're going to be 45 00:02:18,520 --> 00:02:21,760 departing either to home for, for school or, or for 46 00:02:21,760 --> 00:02:25,320 internships or onto vacation. There might even be a Sunday 47 00:02:25,320 --> 00:02:28,400 that you miss, which is OK, by the way, you don't have to do 48 00:02:28,400 --> 00:02:30,640 that. But this. 49 00:02:30,640 --> 00:02:32,400 So here's here's the big question today. 50 00:02:32,400 --> 00:02:36,240 So we'll be in Joshua 22. Like I said, the big question 51 00:02:36,240 --> 00:02:40,400 today is how do we be a departing people fully united to 52 00:02:40,400 --> 00:02:44,200 him, a departing people. Like I said, we're in a 53 00:02:44,200 --> 00:02:47,040 transient city. We have this church with a lot 54 00:02:47,040 --> 00:02:50,360 of people that have travelled in or here for school and things 55 00:02:50,360 --> 00:02:51,720 are going to change over the summer. 56 00:02:52,320 --> 00:02:54,360 Not that we're not going to have church over the summer, just 57 00:02:54,360 --> 00:02:55,480 saying we're going to have church. 58 00:02:55,520 --> 00:02:56,360 We will be here. OK. 59 00:02:56,360 --> 00:02:58,880 We're open every Sunday, 10 AM. Right, Pastor? 60 00:02:59,680 --> 00:03:02,680 OK, yeah, that'd be news for me. Hey, this is this will be 61 00:03:02,680 --> 00:03:04,240 helpful for us. But there's an over first quick 62 00:03:04,240 --> 00:03:07,080 overflow of the sermon. There's kind of three flows this 63 00:03:07,080 --> 00:03:08,560 morning. There's a context we'll talk 64 00:03:08,560 --> 00:03:10,440 about. There's a conflict and then 65 00:03:10,440 --> 00:03:12,360 there's a challenge at the end. So these are flows and ours 66 00:03:12,360 --> 00:03:15,520 aren't necessarily points. But within each of these flows, 67 00:03:15,520 --> 00:03:17,680 we'll answer, find an answer to our question. 68 00:03:17,680 --> 00:03:21,640 How do we be a departing people fully united to him? 69 00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:24,920 And so there'll be plenty of principles in our text this 70 00:03:24,920 --> 00:03:26,240 morning. And so if you're taking notes, 71 00:03:27,160 --> 00:03:28,640 here's a tip for you. Write down the stuff that's 72 00:03:28,640 --> 00:03:30,960 helpful and just don't write down the stuff that's not. 73 00:03:30,960 --> 00:03:32,920 Is that simple there? You don't have to write down 74 00:03:32,920 --> 00:03:34,480 everything. Write down what's helpful for 75 00:03:34,480 --> 00:03:34,960 you. Sound good? 76 00:03:35,960 --> 00:03:39,680 OK, let me pray for us, Father, we are thankful. 77 00:03:40,520 --> 00:03:42,000 We're very thankful for the word of God. 78 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:45,240 We're thankful for the church God that we can come, we can 79 00:03:45,240 --> 00:03:47,800 gather together. God has one body with one hope, 80 00:03:47,800 --> 00:03:51,320 with one spirit, and learn from you, learn from your word. 81 00:03:51,320 --> 00:03:53,800 And so God, we pray that you would reveal to us what we need 82 00:03:53,800 --> 00:03:58,000 to hear this morning. God, in this chapter, it's so 83 00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:02,280 significant that even for our lives as a church in a transient 84 00:04:02,280 --> 00:04:05,560 town with some transient people where there's change coming, 85 00:04:05,560 --> 00:04:07,600 that's just natural and part of the rhythm. 86 00:04:08,120 --> 00:04:11,560 God, as we see that in Joshua 22, would you help us understand 87 00:04:11,720 --> 00:04:14,880 God that we can be fully united to you and fully united to one 88 00:04:14,880 --> 00:04:18,839 another in the body of Christ as we pursue in it all? 89 00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:20,680 So God, would your spirit do what your spirit does? 90 00:04:20,680 --> 00:04:23,280 Would you convict us? Would you teach us and call us 91 00:04:23,600 --> 00:04:25,680 to new life in Jesus name? Amen. 92 00:04:26,280 --> 00:04:30,600 Amen. All right, Joshua 22, verse one, 93 00:04:31,160 --> 00:04:33,040 we'll read a couple verses. We won't read the whole chapter 94 00:04:33,560 --> 00:04:39,080 today, but we will bounce around and I will navigate us, which 95 00:04:39,080 --> 00:04:40,160 makes sense. That's kind of my job this 96 00:04:40,160 --> 00:04:46,000 morning. Verse one At that time Joshua 97 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:50,920 summoned the Reubenites in the How should I practice Jadeites? 98 00:04:50,920 --> 00:04:53,920 Jadeites in the half tribe of Manasseh, the whole half tribe 99 00:04:53,920 --> 00:04:56,520 of Manasseh. Verse 2 And he said to them, You 100 00:04:56,520 --> 00:04:59,120 have kept all that Moses, the servant of the Lord commanded 101 00:04:59,120 --> 00:05:02,720 you, and have obeyed my voice in all that I have commanded you. 102 00:05:03,280 --> 00:05:06,400 You have not forsaken your brothers these many days down to 103 00:05:06,400 --> 00:05:10,960 this day, but have been careful to keep the charge of the Lord 104 00:05:10,960 --> 00:05:13,400 your God. And the Lord your God has given 105 00:05:13,400 --> 00:05:15,680 rest to your brothers as he has promised them. 106 00:05:16,360 --> 00:05:19,480 Therefore, turn and go. You can underline that I have 107 00:05:19,480 --> 00:05:22,640 that underlined in my Bible. Therefore, turn and go to your 108 00:05:22,640 --> 00:05:27,880 tents in the land where your possessions lie, which Moses the 109 00:05:27,880 --> 00:05:30,800 servant of the Lord gave you on the other side of the Jordan. 110 00:05:30,800 --> 00:05:33,840 That's important context here. The other side of the Jordan, 111 00:05:34,600 --> 00:05:37,840 verse 5. Only be very careful to observe 112 00:05:38,080 --> 00:05:41,520 the commandment that the in the law of Moses, the servant of the 113 00:05:41,520 --> 00:05:45,080 Lord commanded you to love the Lord your God, to walk in all 114 00:05:45,080 --> 00:05:48,080 his ways, to keep his commandments and to cling to him 115 00:05:48,400 --> 00:05:51,160 and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul. 116 00:05:51,480 --> 00:05:56,120 So Joshua blessed them and sent them away and they went to their 117 00:05:56,120 --> 00:05:59,480 tents. OK, so here's the context here, 118 00:05:59,480 --> 00:06:02,040 right? Verse one through 6. 119 00:06:02,040 --> 00:06:04,680 So what happened? If you've been with us in this 120 00:06:04,680 --> 00:06:07,440 Joshua series, they've just been on this conquest of land. 121 00:06:07,440 --> 00:06:10,360 They've crossed the Jordan and they've conquered all this land. 122 00:06:10,360 --> 00:06:13,080 They've gone to battle together, they've built things together, 123 00:06:13,080 --> 00:06:16,080 they've captured land together. There's been all these things 124 00:06:16,080 --> 00:06:18,760 that God has done, all these things that the work of God has 125 00:06:18,760 --> 00:06:21,000 done. They've been together and all of 126 00:06:21,000 --> 00:06:22,720 it. And now they're about to depart, 127 00:06:22,960 --> 00:06:25,840 they're about to scatter, and some of these tribes are about 128 00:06:25,840 --> 00:06:28,000 to go back to the land that was promised to them. 129 00:06:28,800 --> 00:06:31,680 And specifically, as we saw, some of that land is on the 130 00:06:31,680 --> 00:06:35,600 other side of the Jordan, this, this river that got actually 131 00:06:35,600 --> 00:06:38,880 parted for the people that walk through this other Red Sea 132 00:06:38,880 --> 00:06:41,560 moment, this Jordan, this significant place, they're about 133 00:06:41,560 --> 00:06:45,440 to go across it. And so they're about to go do 134 00:06:45,440 --> 00:06:49,680 that. Sorry, I'm figuring out where 135 00:06:49,680 --> 00:06:53,360 we're at. Well, this, this matters because 136 00:06:54,880 --> 00:06:58,800 if you think about it, they've just been in battle together and 137 00:06:58,800 --> 00:06:59,840 they're about to cross the Jordan. 138 00:06:59,840 --> 00:07:01,680 They're about to go live on the other side. 139 00:07:03,080 --> 00:07:05,240 There's probably people, if you think about battles, if you 140 00:07:05,240 --> 00:07:07,240 think about war, if you think about these things, there's 141 00:07:07,240 --> 00:07:09,360 probably people that didn't don't like Israel. 142 00:07:10,560 --> 00:07:13,400 And so these people, they're about to go back across the 143 00:07:13,400 --> 00:07:16,000 journal, back across this physical landmark, they're about 144 00:07:16,000 --> 00:07:19,360 to be separated from the rest of Israel. 145 00:07:20,360 --> 00:07:22,440 You got these two tribes. You even got this whole half 146 00:07:22,440 --> 00:07:26,800 tribe of Manasseh. And so they're about to go over 147 00:07:26,800 --> 00:07:29,360 there. And so Joshua, as he thinks 148 00:07:29,360 --> 00:07:32,960 about these things and you can think about this tribe, there's 149 00:07:32,960 --> 00:07:34,680 concern arising up. They're like, hey, we're about 150 00:07:34,680 --> 00:07:36,400 to be separated from the rest of the pack. 151 00:07:37,360 --> 00:07:39,680 You know, what happens when we get separated from everyone 152 00:07:39,680 --> 00:07:41,520 else? What happens to us on part of 153 00:07:41,520 --> 00:07:44,000 our church, you know, as we depart for internships, for 154 00:07:44,000 --> 00:07:47,040 travels, for, for these things, what happens when we depart? 155 00:07:47,480 --> 00:07:49,400 And so Joshua has a great leader. 156 00:07:49,400 --> 00:07:52,400 He gives them some commands. He says, hey, we're about to go 157 00:07:52,400 --> 00:07:55,080 scatter. We're about to be separated from 158 00:07:55,080 --> 00:07:57,920 one another. But let me give you a few 159 00:07:57,920 --> 00:08:00,840 things. And so look with me at verse 5. 160 00:08:00,840 --> 00:08:06,480 I want to show this to you because Joshua, he's not as 161 00:08:06,480 --> 00:08:08,880 concerned about the physical attacks as he is the spiritual 162 00:08:08,880 --> 00:08:12,400 attacks. He's less concerned about enemy 163 00:08:12,400 --> 00:08:14,000 people trying to come in and get them. 164 00:08:14,440 --> 00:08:17,440 He's more concerned about, hey, what's spiritually going to 165 00:08:17,440 --> 00:08:20,120 happen when we separate? And if you remember, this is a 166 00:08:20,120 --> 00:08:23,600 beautiful list that Joshua gives his people in verse 5. 167 00:08:23,600 --> 00:08:26,600 It says only be very careful. He says, hey, you're about to 168 00:08:26,600 --> 00:08:27,800 scatter. You're about to go to the other 169 00:08:27,800 --> 00:08:31,840 side of the Jordan, but be very careful to observe the 170 00:08:31,840 --> 00:08:35,039 commandment in the law that Moses, the sermon of the Lord 171 00:08:35,039 --> 00:08:38,720 commanded you to love the Lord your God, to walk in all his 172 00:08:38,720 --> 00:08:41,559 ways, to keep his commandments and to cling to him and to serve 173 00:08:41,559 --> 00:08:43,840 him with all your heart and with all your soul. 174 00:08:45,840 --> 00:08:48,360 And so why is this so significant that Joshua gives 175 00:08:48,360 --> 00:08:49,680 him these commandments in verse 5? 176 00:08:49,680 --> 00:08:52,160 These people are about to scatter, right? 177 00:08:52,160 --> 00:08:53,160 They've just done all these things. 178 00:08:53,160 --> 00:08:57,040 And and so Joshua reiterates, because Joshua knows the most 179 00:08:57,040 --> 00:08:59,880 dangerous attack that could happen to these people as they 180 00:09:00,240 --> 00:09:03,120 depart apart from one another. It's not physical, but it's 181 00:09:03,120 --> 00:09:08,480 spiritual that they might go off and and go after unknown gods or 182 00:09:08,480 --> 00:09:12,360 forget what God has done that in this season of separation, 183 00:09:13,040 --> 00:09:15,400 they'd forget all the things that God's called them to do. 184 00:09:18,160 --> 00:09:20,760 And so this is what I wanted to see is that a lot of times 185 00:09:21,120 --> 00:09:23,680 separation can lead to isolation. 186 00:09:24,800 --> 00:09:26,800 Separation can lead to isolation. 187 00:09:26,800 --> 00:09:29,400 So when you separate from the battlefield, when you separate 188 00:09:29,400 --> 00:09:33,640 from the mission field, it can often lead to an isolation, 189 00:09:34,440 --> 00:09:38,080 isolating yourself from God, isolating yourself from the God 190 00:09:38,080 --> 00:09:39,280 who led you through all the things. 191 00:09:40,400 --> 00:09:41,960 Especially when you start to think about our church, how 192 00:09:41,960 --> 00:09:44,520 we've done God's been doing these crazy things in the past 193 00:09:44,520 --> 00:09:47,120 nine months, building this up and people come to faith, 194 00:09:47,120 --> 00:09:52,320 baptisms, all the celebrations. It can be easy as we separate or 195 00:09:52,320 --> 00:09:55,560 scatter just because of the natural flows of the summer that 196 00:09:55,560 --> 00:09:57,400 we can forget about all that God has done. 197 00:09:59,640 --> 00:10:04,760 And so Joshua, he knows that Israel, part of their part of 198 00:10:04,760 --> 00:10:06,840 the nation is about to be separated from the rest, 199 00:10:07,400 --> 00:10:11,400 possibly even isolated. And so when it but when it comes 200 00:10:11,400 --> 00:10:14,720 to us, when it comes to us being obedient to Jesus, this is 201 00:10:14,720 --> 00:10:17,120 always harder when we're separated from one another, 202 00:10:18,160 --> 00:10:20,120 especially if you think about this group, this community that 203 00:10:20,120 --> 00:10:23,880 we've just gathered together with, done life with, confess 204 00:10:23,880 --> 00:10:28,720 sin with followed Jesus with. When you separate yourself from 205 00:10:28,720 --> 00:10:33,800 that community, it can be much harder to be obedient to Jesus. 206 00:10:33,800 --> 00:10:40,080 And so again, when you think about our church body classes 207 00:10:40,080 --> 00:10:42,240 are finishing up high school and middle school. 208 00:10:42,240 --> 00:10:47,160 We're coming to an end. Summer's coming, summer's 209 00:10:47,160 --> 00:10:48,960 coming. Write that one down. 210 00:10:48,960 --> 00:10:52,840 Summer's coming. I mean, no matter the the age 211 00:10:52,840 --> 00:10:55,000 group here, like we, we probably have different flows within the 212 00:10:55,000 --> 00:10:56,040 summer. We have vacations with the 213 00:10:56,040 --> 00:10:59,160 summer, We have a natural departing in the summer, But 214 00:10:59,160 --> 00:11:03,760 even with that separation can lead to isolation. 215 00:11:06,280 --> 00:11:09,840 And so here's as we get to the a point within this part, if 216 00:11:09,840 --> 00:11:12,280 you're going to intentionally depart, right? 217 00:11:12,280 --> 00:11:14,880 Because God, he tells, he tells Israel, he's like, Hey, this is 218 00:11:14,880 --> 00:11:17,520 your land. Like God's not intentional about 219 00:11:17,520 --> 00:11:19,080 them. Hey, going, it's not like he 220 00:11:19,080 --> 00:11:22,640 forgot about these tribes. God was intentional about 221 00:11:22,640 --> 00:11:25,280 allowing them to depart from one another to have certain parts of 222 00:11:25,280 --> 00:11:27,360 land that there there's a little bit of separation here. 223 00:11:27,520 --> 00:11:30,800 That was intentional by God. And just like in God 224 00:11:30,840 --> 00:11:33,640 intentionally sends them. There should be intentionality 225 00:11:33,640 --> 00:11:36,680 behind us as we depart for the summer or things change or this 226 00:11:36,960 --> 00:11:41,600 rhythm of life comes into play. But if we're not intentionally 227 00:11:42,440 --> 00:11:45,880 departing, right, if we're not intentionally going on vacation, 228 00:11:45,880 --> 00:11:48,760 if we're not intentionally going to our internships, if we're not 229 00:11:48,760 --> 00:11:50,720 intentionally here, we're going to have a hard time 230 00:11:50,720 --> 00:11:52,800 intentionally being obedient to Jesus as well. 231 00:11:56,120 --> 00:12:00,000 So just like Joshua says for us, I think a big miss that we could 232 00:12:00,000 --> 00:12:07,040 have is that when we look at a season in front of us, when we 233 00:12:07,040 --> 00:12:10,160 think about our vacations, when we think about our internships, 234 00:12:11,560 --> 00:12:13,960 that we we think that this is just an opportunity to put a 235 00:12:13,960 --> 00:12:19,280 pause on our faith. Like we compartmentalize our 236 00:12:19,280 --> 00:12:23,120 faith to a Sunday. We compartmentalize what God 237 00:12:23,120 --> 00:12:25,560 wants to do in our life to just our small group. 238 00:12:27,040 --> 00:12:30,480 But we don't realize the intentionality behind God not 239 00:12:30,480 --> 00:12:34,440 only to send these tribes throughout the land, but also 240 00:12:34,440 --> 00:12:38,280 the intentionality from God to send us throughout the land, 241 00:12:40,080 --> 00:12:42,800 that our vacations could be more like mission trips, that our 242 00:12:42,800 --> 00:12:45,960 internships could be a way to honor God and bring Jesus to 243 00:12:45,960 --> 00:12:50,400 that workplace. And so for us, like as we 244 00:12:50,720 --> 00:12:55,400 scatter on these things, just like God was giving Israel rest 245 00:12:55,400 --> 00:12:58,000 in the land after their hard work, I think God wants to give 246 00:12:58,000 --> 00:13:01,040 us rest as well. And so Joshua, he gives them 247 00:13:01,360 --> 00:13:03,720 this command right in verse 5. You can look back at it. 248 00:13:05,200 --> 00:13:10,320 He says, hey, be very careful as you depart to observe the 249 00:13:10,320 --> 00:13:12,680 commandments to observe the law of Moses. 250 00:13:14,040 --> 00:13:16,480 Be very careful to love the Lord your God. 251 00:13:17,080 --> 00:13:20,120 Be very careful to walk in all his ways to keep his 252 00:13:20,120 --> 00:13:25,200 commandments, to cling to him, to serve him with all your heart 253 00:13:25,200 --> 00:13:27,640 and to serve him with all your your soul. 254 00:13:29,520 --> 00:13:33,400 Because here's the reality. It's in this isolation when sin 255 00:13:33,400 --> 00:13:35,080 can easily creep in in our lives. 256 00:13:36,480 --> 00:13:40,400 And so for not intentional and obedience to Jesus, we're going 257 00:13:40,400 --> 00:13:42,120 to we're going to be obedient to something else. 258 00:13:42,800 --> 00:13:46,760 And so I love how Moses, the writer of some of the Old 259 00:13:46,760 --> 00:13:49,720 Testament, he writes this in Genesis, Genesis 4. 260 00:13:49,720 --> 00:13:53,200 This is talking about sin. This is actually gone talking. 261 00:13:53,200 --> 00:13:54,600 This is just the back half of this verse. 262 00:13:54,600 --> 00:13:57,280 It says sin is crouching at the door. 263 00:13:57,880 --> 00:14:01,920 This desire is for you and you must rule over it. 264 00:14:02,720 --> 00:14:05,080 There's a whole scene there between Cain and Abel going on 265 00:14:05,520 --> 00:14:08,120 God's talking about sin and how it creeps in. 266 00:14:08,360 --> 00:14:11,880 And then in first Peter, right Peter, another author within the 267 00:14:11,880 --> 00:14:15,280 New Testament, talking about sin, talking to the people he's 268 00:14:15,720 --> 00:14:18,120 he's talking to in first Peter in the letter, it says be sober 269 00:14:18,120 --> 00:14:22,800 minded, be watchful. Your adversary, the devil prowls 270 00:14:22,800 --> 00:14:26,680 around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. 271 00:14:28,520 --> 00:14:32,480 When we separate, when we depart, it's it's not that 272 00:14:32,480 --> 00:14:34,920 separation or, or, or going on vacation. 273 00:14:34,920 --> 00:14:36,440 Those aren't bad things. Those are really good things. 274 00:14:36,440 --> 00:14:39,280 There just needs to be intentionality there because 275 00:14:39,280 --> 00:14:41,160 it's easy for that to turn into isolation. 276 00:14:42,560 --> 00:14:45,040 And when we get isolated, this is where sin wants to creep in. 277 00:14:45,040 --> 00:14:46,400 That's where the enemy wants to get us. 278 00:14:46,760 --> 00:14:49,360 This lion, or if you're like my daughter Monroe, she's a 279 00:14:49,360 --> 00:14:50,880 cheetah, I'm a lion. She always says that she's 280 00:14:50,880 --> 00:14:51,760 still, we're starting to role play. 281 00:14:51,760 --> 00:14:53,920 She's starting to get these things in her head, make relief. 282 00:14:56,200 --> 00:14:59,440 Lions roar. OK, I'm a lion. 283 00:14:59,440 --> 00:15:03,600 You're a cheetah. That's like a terrible thing 284 00:15:03,600 --> 00:15:05,640 because the devil's the lion in this text. 285 00:15:05,640 --> 00:15:10,680 So Yikes. You see what I'm getting out 286 00:15:10,680 --> 00:15:14,560 here? Part of Israel was separated 287 00:15:14,560 --> 00:15:17,600 from the rest by God's design, with intentionality from God. 288 00:15:17,600 --> 00:15:20,360 Yet in separation, it can lead to isolation. 289 00:15:21,480 --> 00:15:25,560 We're potentially setting into vacations, stepping into like 290 00:15:25,560 --> 00:15:27,520 leaving all these things. It's going to feel different. 291 00:15:29,280 --> 00:15:32,440 In this separation, there can be isolation and we don't want 292 00:15:32,440 --> 00:15:33,760 that. It's in our isolation where the 293 00:15:33,760 --> 00:15:37,280 enemy wants to attack us. He wants to separate us and 294 00:15:37,280 --> 00:15:42,520 isolate us. So we must be intentional that 295 00:15:42,520 --> 00:15:45,560 as we depart, we're very careful to be obedient to Jesus 296 00:15:45,560 --> 00:15:48,320 observing the scriptures. Here's here's the thing about 297 00:15:48,320 --> 00:15:51,320 vacation and and Bible reading. I think there is some of us are 298 00:15:51,320 --> 00:15:52,400 you're like, dude, I love reading the Bible. 299 00:15:52,400 --> 00:15:53,520 I got the best Bible reading habit. 300 00:15:53,520 --> 00:15:55,440 Just you're just always waiting for someone to ask you about 301 00:15:55,440 --> 00:15:58,960 your Bible reading habit. Nothing wrong with that. 302 00:15:58,960 --> 00:16:02,960 I, I might actually fall in line with that one, but it's like on 303 00:16:02,960 --> 00:16:05,080 vacation, the expectation is that you're going to read your 304 00:16:05,080 --> 00:16:08,360 Bible the same way you've always read your Bible or, or on 305 00:16:08,360 --> 00:16:10,160 vacation, you're like, I'm just not even going to bring it 306 00:16:10,240 --> 00:16:12,360 because I know I'm not going to get to it. 307 00:16:12,360 --> 00:16:14,200 I actually think both of those are bad expectations. 308 00:16:15,120 --> 00:16:17,840 I think when we go on vacation, man, we ought to honestly put 309 00:16:17,840 --> 00:16:20,520 together a simple Bible reading plan that we can have the right 310 00:16:20,520 --> 00:16:23,160 expectation to get in it. You know how restful that would 311 00:16:23,160 --> 00:16:25,560 be if you just had a handful of verses that every morning you 312 00:16:25,560 --> 00:16:28,640 just got up 30 minutes before the kids, 30 minutes before 313 00:16:28,640 --> 00:16:31,160 everybody else, and you just spent a little bit of time with 314 00:16:31,160 --> 00:16:33,600 God. I mean, you're away from the 315 00:16:33,600 --> 00:16:36,240 stresses of life. Hopefully you can turn off the 316 00:16:36,240 --> 00:16:38,240 emails and work and stuff. That can be pretty hard 317 00:16:38,240 --> 00:16:41,440 sometimes on vacation. But to have that, that simple 318 00:16:41,440 --> 00:16:44,000 bite of God's word, the bread of life, to get some of that in you 319 00:16:44,000 --> 00:16:47,120 every morning on vacation, all the stresses of life are put to 320 00:16:47,120 --> 00:16:48,200 the side and you're just having fun. 321 00:16:48,360 --> 00:16:49,360 You know how fulfilling that would be. 322 00:16:49,360 --> 00:16:52,040 That would fill you up well. And so read your Bible on 323 00:16:52,040 --> 00:16:55,040 vacation for real. Make a simple plan, love the 324 00:16:55,040 --> 00:16:56,680 Lord like marvel over his creation. 325 00:16:57,160 --> 00:16:59,240 Oh, man, asking people, what do you do here in the summer? 326 00:16:59,600 --> 00:17:01,360 Like, oh, we go to the mountains, man. 327 00:17:01,360 --> 00:17:03,240 When you go to the mountains this summer, dude, look at his 328 00:17:03,240 --> 00:17:05,760 creation. What a great opportunity to 329 00:17:05,760 --> 00:17:11,440 marvel, to depart and fall in love with Jesus even more. 330 00:17:11,440 --> 00:17:14,119 And, and I'm thinking about, I mean, it's so easy for us to 331 00:17:14,119 --> 00:17:17,920 fall into substances, drinking, smoking, whatever on vacations. 332 00:17:18,240 --> 00:17:19,880 That's a lot of times in our country, our culture. 333 00:17:19,880 --> 00:17:23,119 It's like that's what you do. You consume alcohol, you do 334 00:17:23,119 --> 00:17:26,880 this, you do that, man, Don't let vacation be a time that 335 00:17:26,880 --> 00:17:28,160 changes the way you follow Jesus. 336 00:17:29,200 --> 00:17:32,280 Man, fight those sins now, but also fight those sins on 337 00:17:32,280 --> 00:17:35,000 vacation. And I'm thinking about this too. 338 00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:39,000 Like for anybody that's going on an internship this summer or 339 00:17:39,000 --> 00:17:40,840 things like work is going to change this summer. 340 00:17:41,040 --> 00:17:43,880 Man, what a great opportunity for you to grow in your 341 00:17:43,880 --> 00:17:45,440 character to serve your workplace. 342 00:17:45,880 --> 00:17:49,280 Like perhaps your your boss somehow takes a sabbatical. 343 00:17:49,280 --> 00:17:51,360 Maybe your boss is like Aceo is never present in the summer. 344 00:17:51,800 --> 00:17:54,680 Man, what a great opportunity for you to step up and to serve 345 00:17:54,680 --> 00:17:57,160 your workplace and not necessarily make a great name 346 00:17:57,160 --> 00:17:59,440 for yourself. But ma'am, what if that's 347 00:17:59,440 --> 00:18:01,800 something that God wants to do to bless you, to bless your 348 00:18:01,800 --> 00:18:03,080 family? Perhaps there's a promotion 349 00:18:03,080 --> 00:18:05,240 there and it would actually bless your workplace to bring 350 00:18:05,240 --> 00:18:07,760 the Christian values in to the place you work. 351 00:18:08,680 --> 00:18:11,320 Like God's intentionally doing things this summer. 352 00:18:11,320 --> 00:18:14,600 That's what I want you to see. And so to conclude this thought, 353 00:18:16,160 --> 00:18:18,800 how do we be a departing people fully united to Him? 354 00:18:19,640 --> 00:18:22,960 We are intentional about our obedience to Jesus. 355 00:18:24,320 --> 00:18:26,200 We're intentional about our obedience to Jesus. 356 00:18:26,200 --> 00:18:32,240 Not very profound sentence, very practical sentence, not the 357 00:18:32,240 --> 00:18:36,440 easiest sentence. So there's some incredible right 358 00:18:36,440 --> 00:18:38,440 principles here. Joshua gives us their reply to 359 00:18:38,440 --> 00:18:43,160 our lives. But that's not it. 360 00:18:43,160 --> 00:18:46,600 That's not all that's here. There's some, there's some 361 00:18:46,600 --> 00:18:49,440 conflict arising. OK, buckle up. 362 00:18:49,440 --> 00:18:52,120 Here it is, verse 10. So here's the scene, right? 363 00:18:52,120 --> 00:18:55,200 Remember with me these tribes, they got done fighting, they're 364 00:18:55,200 --> 00:18:57,840 ready to go to their their land. Part of these people are going 365 00:18:57,840 --> 00:19:01,120 off and some of it it's on the other side of the Jordan. 366 00:19:01,560 --> 00:19:03,640 So there's some fears like, all right, we got some separation. 367 00:19:03,640 --> 00:19:04,720 Are they going to forget about us? 368 00:19:04,720 --> 00:19:07,240 What should we do? What's happening here? 369 00:19:08,040 --> 00:19:08,840 Here we go. Verse 10. 370 00:19:10,400 --> 00:19:13,240 And when they came to the region of the Jordan that is in the 371 00:19:13,240 --> 00:19:17,600 land of Canaan, the people of Reuben and the people of Gad in 372 00:19:17,600 --> 00:19:20,840 the half tribe, the whole half tribe of Manasseh built there at 373 00:19:20,840 --> 00:19:23,560 an altar by the Jordan. That's important. 374 00:19:24,120 --> 00:19:27,600 They're an altar by the Jordan, an altar of imposing size. 375 00:19:29,320 --> 00:19:31,840 I can't help but hear Donald Trump's voice in there, an 376 00:19:31,840 --> 00:19:35,000 imposing size, verse 11. And the people of Israel heard 377 00:19:35,000 --> 00:19:36,920 it, heard it. So they heard about this 378 00:19:36,920 --> 00:19:40,800 happening, the imposing size. And behold, the people of Reuben 379 00:19:40,800 --> 00:19:44,560 and the people of God and the half tribe, the whole the whole 380 00:19:44,560 --> 00:19:48,160 half drive of NASA have built the altar at the frontier of the 381 00:19:48,160 --> 00:19:51,560 land of Canaan in the region about the Jordan on the side 382 00:19:51,560 --> 00:19:53,360 that belongs to the people of Israel. 383 00:19:53,920 --> 00:19:56,400 And when the people here's the conflict, when the people of 384 00:19:56,400 --> 00:20:00,520 Israel heard of it, the whole assembly of people of Israel 385 00:20:00,600 --> 00:20:02,920 gathered at Shiloh to make war against them. 386 00:20:04,120 --> 00:20:06,960 OK, I have I have this word written next to this it says why 387 00:20:06,960 --> 00:20:10,000 question mark? So these guys are get, you know, 388 00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:11,760 they get sent off to the place where they're supposed to go and 389 00:20:11,760 --> 00:20:13,840 they're like, hey, what's hey, let's build this, let's build 390 00:20:13,840 --> 00:20:16,240 this altar. And so they build this altar and 391 00:20:16,240 --> 00:20:18,280 the rest of Israel hears about it and they're like, well, 392 00:20:18,280 --> 00:20:21,680 that's not good. And so they gear up, they get 393 00:20:21,680 --> 00:20:24,000 ready for war, what they had just been doing. 394 00:20:24,160 --> 00:20:27,200 And now there's this civil war that's about about to happen. 395 00:20:28,760 --> 00:20:31,160 Yikes. Like that's not good. 396 00:20:31,160 --> 00:20:33,000 They were used to have, they had war against the enemy. 397 00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:34,480 Now they have war against themselves. 398 00:20:35,360 --> 00:20:37,880 They're departing people. But how can they be united 399 00:20:37,880 --> 00:20:39,840 together? Well, here's the thing we need 400 00:20:39,840 --> 00:20:43,240 to understand about altars. I don't think we have them 401 00:20:43,240 --> 00:20:44,800 really today, which is probably good. 402 00:20:44,800 --> 00:20:48,280 But altars, they're synonymous with sacrifices. 403 00:20:48,920 --> 00:20:50,960 You don't build an altar if you're not going to make a 404 00:20:50,960 --> 00:20:55,120 sacrifice to it. And so Israel, they're like, 405 00:20:55,120 --> 00:20:57,640 whoa, whoa, whoa. You're about to build this altar 406 00:20:57,640 --> 00:21:01,920 then of imposing size, and you're building this thing. 407 00:21:02,080 --> 00:21:04,160 That only means that you're going to be sacrificing things 408 00:21:04,160 --> 00:21:06,480 on it. You're making sacrifices there. 409 00:21:07,560 --> 00:21:09,320 And so they're like, dude, this isn't great. 410 00:21:10,160 --> 00:21:12,520 You're over in this land that used to belong to the 411 00:21:12,520 --> 00:21:15,640 Canaanites, where they had these gods that they'd make sacrifices 412 00:21:15,640 --> 00:21:17,840 to. Are our brothers and sisters 413 00:21:17,840 --> 00:21:19,560 these other tribes? Are they about to separate from 414 00:21:19,560 --> 00:21:22,560 us and now in their isolation, about to make sacrifices to 415 00:21:22,560 --> 00:21:25,160 false gods? That's the question, that 416 00:21:25,160 --> 00:21:28,720 they're actually like whole oh, no, Like, has the enemy come 417 00:21:28,720 --> 00:21:32,840 within exactly what Josh Joshua feared about the spiritual 418 00:21:32,840 --> 00:21:33,760 attack? Is it happening? 419 00:21:33,760 --> 00:21:38,520 And they're like, Oh, no, we need to go confront this, our 420 00:21:38,520 --> 00:21:40,320 friends, you know, these other tribes, they're about to 421 00:21:40,320 --> 00:21:43,440 separate from us, but also really separate from us. 422 00:21:44,440 --> 00:21:46,400 And so you're like, why would they wage war against himself? 423 00:21:46,400 --> 00:21:49,040 Well, to them, man, war was necessary in this situation 424 00:21:49,800 --> 00:21:52,400 because they're like, man, dude, following God's A-Team sport. 425 00:21:52,960 --> 00:21:54,720 If you guys go down, we're going down. 426 00:21:54,720 --> 00:21:57,560 We, if you break the covenant, we break the covenant because 427 00:21:57,560 --> 00:22:02,000 Israel as a nation, they have a, a covenant with God that he is 428 00:22:02,000 --> 00:22:04,080 theirs and, and, and they are his. 429 00:22:04,640 --> 00:22:07,080 And so when one of the team, part of the team goes down, they 430 00:22:07,080 --> 00:22:09,480 all go down. And so like, dude, we can't let 431 00:22:09,480 --> 00:22:13,000 that happen. And so they suit up for war and 432 00:22:13,000 --> 00:22:16,800 they go confront him. And so to summarize a big chunk 433 00:22:16,800 --> 00:22:20,840 of texts here, verse 13 through 20, Israel, the rest of the 434 00:22:20,840 --> 00:22:22,440 nation, they're like, dude, we got to go check out what these 435 00:22:22,440 --> 00:22:24,080 tribes are doing. They're building this big altar, 436 00:22:24,320 --> 00:22:26,480 imposing sides. And so they go and they're 437 00:22:26,480 --> 00:22:30,160 suited up and they're their spiritual leader, Phineas, the 438 00:22:30,160 --> 00:22:33,760 son of Eliezer, the priest. He goes with them to confront 439 00:22:33,760 --> 00:22:36,800 him about this altar. And so they show up and they're 440 00:22:36,800 --> 00:22:38,360 like, it probably sound a lot like this. 441 00:22:38,360 --> 00:22:40,800 It was like, hey, bud, what are we doing here? 442 00:22:41,600 --> 00:22:43,880 Like, what's up with this, you know, kind of altar thing, You 443 00:22:43,880 --> 00:22:46,160 know, kind of crazy, huh? Altars are kind of crazy. 444 00:22:47,280 --> 00:22:49,080 And he's like, you know, altars are for sacrificing. 445 00:22:49,080 --> 00:22:50,520 This probably what Phineas sound like. 446 00:22:51,440 --> 00:22:53,760 Altars are for sacrificing. Do you guys remember where we 447 00:22:53,760 --> 00:22:55,840 make sacrifices? Not at this altar. 448 00:22:56,320 --> 00:22:59,360 We got another one. And so they kind of come up and 449 00:22:59,360 --> 00:23:02,640 they're like, dude, you guys are, are, are doing a big no, no 450 00:23:02,640 --> 00:23:05,280 here. And and not only that, he brings 451 00:23:05,280 --> 00:23:07,240 up people, he brings up situations. 452 00:23:07,640 --> 00:23:11,360 Said he'd remember what happened at pure where the sin entered in 453 00:23:11,360 --> 00:23:13,000 and a plague came. He's like, you guys remember 454 00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:13,920 that. You remember Aiken? 455 00:23:14,520 --> 00:23:17,320 Aiken was this guy who helped take down Jericho as earlier in 456 00:23:17,320 --> 00:23:19,680 Joshua, he took some of the spoil from within. 457 00:23:19,680 --> 00:23:22,960 He wasn't supposed to. And then not only did Aiken die, 458 00:23:22,960 --> 00:23:25,640 but the rest of Israel suffered. It's a team sport. 459 00:23:25,640 --> 00:23:28,240 They're like, dude, if you suffer, if one of us breaks the 460 00:23:28,240 --> 00:23:29,560 covenant, we all break the covenant. 461 00:23:30,120 --> 00:23:32,360 So before that happens, either you're with us or you're not 462 00:23:32,360 --> 00:23:34,600 with us. There's this conflict that's 463 00:23:34,600 --> 00:23:37,000 arising. Really what they're saying is 464 00:23:37,480 --> 00:23:39,880 what, you know, Israel, Phineas, these guys are saying to the 465 00:23:39,880 --> 00:23:44,080 rest, it says do not make misguided or make sacrifices you 466 00:23:44,080 --> 00:23:46,280 don't need to make. They're saying, hey, you're 467 00:23:46,280 --> 00:23:48,200 making the wrong. If you're building this altar, 468 00:23:48,200 --> 00:23:50,320 that means you're probably going to make sacrifices to it. 469 00:23:51,320 --> 00:23:54,920 So don't make it wrong to sacrifice, Don't make sacrifices 470 00:23:54,920 --> 00:23:58,800 God never called you to make. That's what these people are 471 00:23:58,800 --> 00:24:01,360 saying. So this conflict right the 472 00:24:01,360 --> 00:24:04,760 application for us, especially when you think about sacrifices, 473 00:24:05,120 --> 00:24:08,960 especially when you think about following Jesus in the same way 474 00:24:08,960 --> 00:24:11,440 they're saying, hey, don't make sacrifices God never called you 475 00:24:11,440 --> 00:24:13,360 to make. For us today, we don't want to 476 00:24:13,360 --> 00:24:15,440 make sacrifices. God's never called us to make. 477 00:24:16,880 --> 00:24:20,360 We don't want to be people making sacrifices of our sexual 478 00:24:20,360 --> 00:24:24,360 purity on the altar of lust, or sacrificing our family on the 479 00:24:24,360 --> 00:24:29,160 altar of work, or sacrificing integrity on the altar of money, 480 00:24:30,200 --> 00:24:34,160 or sacrificing the character of our spouse on the altar of 481 00:24:34,160 --> 00:24:37,200 pride. We don't want to be people who 482 00:24:37,200 --> 00:24:40,200 are making sacrifices God never called us to make. 483 00:24:41,240 --> 00:24:48,080 We don't want to make the wrong sacrifices and it's often times 484 00:24:48,080 --> 00:24:53,120 in isolation, this one, we make those, not only are we do we get 485 00:24:53,120 --> 00:24:56,800 separated, but we get isolated and it's in those isolations we 486 00:24:56,800 --> 00:25:03,160 make the wrong sacrifices. And so for Israel, the covenant, 487 00:25:03,160 --> 00:25:05,880 right, the one they hold with God, it's a team thing. 488 00:25:05,920 --> 00:25:09,680 It's a team sport. To be faithful to God for them 489 00:25:09,680 --> 00:25:12,600 was a team thing. So if one teammate goes down, 490 00:25:12,600 --> 00:25:17,880 the whole team goes down be all. It's the same thing for us, like 491 00:25:17,880 --> 00:25:21,040 following Jesus. It's a team sport, like we're 492 00:25:21,040 --> 00:25:24,880 together in this Paul, he's a he's a writer in the New 493 00:25:24,880 --> 00:25:27,480 Testament. He talks about this a lot in in 494 00:25:27,480 --> 00:25:30,000 the book of Ephesians, Ephesians 4 one through 5. 495 00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:32,240 I want to read it for us, help you see this. 496 00:25:32,240 --> 00:25:36,360 This is a beautiful reality of the church that we're all part 497 00:25:36,360 --> 00:25:38,880 of the same body that he is a vine. 498 00:25:38,880 --> 00:25:41,040 We are the branches. We're all part of the same body 499 00:25:41,040 --> 00:25:42,520 of Christ. This is what Ephesians 4 says. 500 00:25:43,080 --> 00:25:46,880 I therefore, a prisoner talking about Paul, urge you to walk in 501 00:25:46,880 --> 00:25:48,880 a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 502 00:25:49,440 --> 00:25:51,560 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, 503 00:25:51,880 --> 00:25:54,360 bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the 504 00:25:54,360 --> 00:25:57,240 unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 505 00:25:57,680 --> 00:25:59,000 This is what I want you to see. Verse 4. 506 00:25:59,000 --> 00:26:03,320 There is one body. 1 Spirit, just as you recalled to 1 Hope 507 00:26:03,320 --> 00:26:07,240 that belongs to your call. 1 Lord, 1 faith, one baptism, one 508 00:26:07,240 --> 00:26:10,880 God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in 509 00:26:10,880 --> 00:26:13,840 all. Not to go crazy deep here on 510 00:26:13,840 --> 00:26:18,120 this theology of being a part of the body of Christ, but it's a 511 00:26:18,120 --> 00:26:22,200 team sport for us. We're all in this together. 512 00:26:22,440 --> 00:26:23,840 I think there's a Disney song about that. 513 00:26:27,760 --> 00:26:31,200 Molly loves Disney. I've heard. 514 00:26:31,240 --> 00:26:32,520 I've heard a preacher say this once. 515 00:26:34,200 --> 00:26:35,880 There's no such thing as personal sin. 516 00:26:37,400 --> 00:26:38,560 There's no such thing as personal sin. 517 00:26:38,560 --> 00:26:40,400 Think about that. It's like I thought all sins 518 00:26:40,400 --> 00:26:42,800 personal. This is what that means. 519 00:26:44,080 --> 00:26:48,880 There's no sin that only effects you every time you make a wrong 520 00:26:48,880 --> 00:26:52,240 sacrifice. Every time you sin, not only 521 00:26:52,240 --> 00:26:54,200 does it affect yourself, it's going to affect other people. 522 00:26:55,960 --> 00:26:59,520 It's a team sport. Because in reality, every time 523 00:26:59,520 --> 00:27:04,160 we sin, right, it's not just us. I got at the least of it. 524 00:27:04,280 --> 00:27:06,600 Maybe my sin doesn't directly affect you because I didn't 525 00:27:06,600 --> 00:27:09,880 directly sin against you, but it doesn't directly affect me. 526 00:27:10,320 --> 00:27:11,880 And so you get less of me because of that. 527 00:27:13,400 --> 00:27:16,120 Like our sin always effects each other. 528 00:27:16,120 --> 00:27:19,960 So in the sense, there's no such thing as personal sin because 529 00:27:19,960 --> 00:27:22,080 following speak, following Jesus is a team sport. 530 00:27:24,120 --> 00:27:29,680 And so to conclude this part of this flow of the conflict, how 531 00:27:29,680 --> 00:27:32,400 do we be a departing people fully united to him? 532 00:27:33,400 --> 00:27:35,920 Will we keep ourselves from making the wrong sacrifices? 533 00:27:38,200 --> 00:27:40,680 We don't want to make sacrifices God's never called us to make. 534 00:27:44,200 --> 00:27:47,680 So there's a lot there. And come back into the text. 535 00:27:47,680 --> 00:27:50,440 Israel, they're dressed for war, baby, The civil war. 536 00:27:50,440 --> 00:27:54,240 It is a Bruin. And So what, what happens next? 537 00:27:54,240 --> 00:27:59,720 Well, in verses 21 to 25, when they confront them about this 538 00:27:59,720 --> 00:28:01,800 altar, right? We have these few tribes that 539 00:28:01,800 --> 00:28:05,000 have come off on their own. They've built this huge altar. 540 00:28:05,000 --> 00:28:06,880 They come to confront them with real evidence. 541 00:28:06,880 --> 00:28:08,280 They're like, dude, it's a team sport. 542 00:28:08,280 --> 00:28:10,240 If you go down, we all go down. We got to figure this out. 543 00:28:11,000 --> 00:28:16,120 Well, turns out perhaps this is a application to most civil 544 00:28:16,120 --> 00:28:18,600 wars. There was a big entire 545 00:28:18,600 --> 00:28:20,960 misunderstanding of what this altar was about. 546 00:28:21,680 --> 00:28:23,080 There's this huge misunderstanding. 547 00:28:24,000 --> 00:28:28,440 And so these tribes, the Reuben, Gad, Manasa, the whole, the half 548 00:28:28,440 --> 00:28:32,920 tribe, but the all of it, the whole half, they respond, 549 00:28:33,280 --> 00:28:35,800 they're like, Hey, actually, guys, if we're actually breaking 550 00:28:35,800 --> 00:28:39,720 the covenant, if we're breaching the faith with God, if we're 551 00:28:39,720 --> 00:28:42,240 going after false gods, literally what the Scripture 552 00:28:42,240 --> 00:28:44,600 says, it says, let the Lord himself take vengeance. 553 00:28:44,600 --> 00:28:48,400 She's like, no, no, no, If this altar was meant for sacrifices, 554 00:28:48,520 --> 00:28:50,560 if it was going to go after, if these were going to be wrong, 555 00:28:50,560 --> 00:28:53,600 sacrifices here, let the Lord come take vengeance on we're, 556 00:28:53,600 --> 00:28:55,600 we're with you guys. We're still in this coveted. 557 00:28:57,200 --> 00:28:59,240 And so they tell the rest of Israel that like, Hey, actually, 558 00:28:59,240 --> 00:29:02,720 this altar, this altar is to be a witness. 559 00:29:03,400 --> 00:29:04,880 This altar is not for sacrificing. 560 00:29:04,880 --> 00:29:09,040 It's a witness for all who can see it because it's you know, 561 00:29:09,040 --> 00:29:11,800 I'm imposing his eyes. He said we're with the Lord 562 00:29:11,800 --> 00:29:15,120 everybody who sees this altar. It's a witnesses go, hey, we are 563 00:29:15,120 --> 00:29:19,880 with the Lord our God that this altar would represents the works 564 00:29:19,880 --> 00:29:23,680 of God, all that he's done. And so when the rest of Israel 565 00:29:23,680 --> 00:29:28,320 hears this, they're like, hey, this report, it's good in our 566 00:29:28,320 --> 00:29:30,680 eyes. Let me show you verse verse 33. 567 00:29:32,120 --> 00:29:38,480 Verse 33 says they tell them all this verse 33 and the report was 568 00:29:38,480 --> 00:29:41,720 good in the eyes of the people of Israel and the people of 569 00:29:41,720 --> 00:29:45,760 Israel blessed God and spoke no more of making war against them 570 00:29:45,760 --> 00:29:49,240 to destroy the land where the people of Reuben and the people 571 00:29:49,240 --> 00:29:53,160 of God were settled. Verse 34, the people of Reuben 572 00:29:53,160 --> 00:29:56,520 and the people of God called the altar witness. 573 00:29:57,120 --> 00:29:58,440 Witness. That's an important word. 574 00:29:58,440 --> 00:30:01,000 It actually is in some of this other texts we didn't read 575 00:30:01,240 --> 00:30:07,240 witness a witness for they, they said it is a witness between us 576 00:30:07,760 --> 00:30:13,760 that the Lord is God. So this altar, it's not meant 577 00:30:13,760 --> 00:30:16,400 for sacrifices. This altar is meant to be a 578 00:30:16,400 --> 00:30:20,960 witness, a witness to all that God has done. 579 00:30:22,760 --> 00:30:26,840 And so why is this important? Well, like I said earlier, we 580 00:30:26,840 --> 00:30:30,760 have the context, the OR the, the, the conflict. 581 00:30:31,160 --> 00:30:35,560 Then we have a challenge. Well, the challenge is this in 582 00:30:35,560 --> 00:30:41,720 the in the New Testament, God calls us a witness that there's 583 00:30:41,720 --> 00:30:46,160 no longer this altar of a witness, but us as humans, we 584 00:30:46,160 --> 00:30:49,320 are witnesses. Actually in Acts 1, Jesus says 585 00:30:49,320 --> 00:30:53,240 this Acts one verse 8, it says, but you will receive power when 586 00:30:53,240 --> 00:30:56,920 the Holy Spirit comes comes upon you and you will be my witnesses 587 00:30:57,520 --> 00:31:00,800 in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria to the end of the earth. 588 00:31:01,040 --> 00:31:05,800 You will be my witnesses. And then so in in the same way 589 00:31:05,800 --> 00:31:11,720 that this altar was built in Joshua to tell the world of the 590 00:31:11,720 --> 00:31:17,600 works of God, our lives in our lips are meant to tell the world 591 00:31:17,600 --> 00:31:21,600 of the works of God. That's what it means to be a 592 00:31:21,600 --> 00:31:26,000 witness. In this witness, this altar is 593 00:31:26,000 --> 00:31:27,400 actually the thing. Sure. 594 00:31:27,400 --> 00:31:29,040 You're like, dude, that that created conflict. 595 00:31:29,040 --> 00:31:32,080 It's like no, no, actually this witness was the thing that God 596 00:31:32,080 --> 00:31:36,280 wanted to use to unify the tribes all together under 1 597 00:31:36,280 --> 00:31:41,320 nation. That the witness, the telling of 598 00:31:41,320 --> 00:31:45,480 the works of God is actually what unifies the people of God 599 00:31:45,480 --> 00:31:49,400 on the deepest level. And so the question is, or the 600 00:31:49,400 --> 00:31:53,760 challenge even, does your life tell the story of Jesus? 601 00:31:55,680 --> 00:32:00,520 Do your lips tell the story of Jesus for us today? 602 00:32:01,480 --> 00:32:04,920 Like if you've experienced the works of God, if you submitted 603 00:32:04,920 --> 00:32:08,120 your life to Christ, if you believed he lived the perfect 604 00:32:08,120 --> 00:32:13,400 life, died the death, rose from the grave, does your life model 605 00:32:13,400 --> 00:32:18,600 that? Do your lips proclaim that And 606 00:32:18,600 --> 00:32:21,320 so there's something that's that's honestly interestingly 607 00:32:21,400 --> 00:32:23,120 sad. And obviously I'm not I didn't 608 00:32:23,120 --> 00:32:28,480 like survey this room. It's interesting barn a group 609 00:32:28,480 --> 00:32:31,160 they do studies and surveys and stuff. 610 00:32:31,800 --> 00:32:35,880 They found that 55% of born again believers. 611 00:32:35,880 --> 00:32:37,800 So people who would say, yes, I've truly placed my faith in 612 00:32:37,840 --> 00:32:42,520 Jesus. 55% of them say that yes, I have talked about my faith. 613 00:32:42,520 --> 00:32:46,240 I've talked about Jesus with at least one person in the last 12 614 00:32:46,240 --> 00:32:50,720 months, 55% that's above half, right? 615 00:32:50,720 --> 00:32:55,520 But if you think about it, that's 45% of people that 616 00:32:55,520 --> 00:33:00,680 haven't in the past 12 months. Like that's a long time. 617 00:33:02,200 --> 00:33:04,880 Like 12 months is a is a long time. 618 00:33:07,120 --> 00:33:10,200 And, and guys, as a church, I think we can normalize talking 619 00:33:10,200 --> 00:33:13,120 about Jesus. I think we can be a people that 620 00:33:13,120 --> 00:33:15,680 are winsome with our witness, like we can be a people that 621 00:33:15,680 --> 00:33:18,680 unified together by the way we witness to other people about 622 00:33:18,680 --> 00:33:21,720 Jesus, by our lives and our lips, the works of God. 623 00:33:22,680 --> 00:33:24,720 I think we can be those people. I think that statistic doesn't 624 00:33:24,720 --> 00:33:29,040 have to be true in this room. I think we can be a church that 625 00:33:29,040 --> 00:33:32,200 normalizes what it talks about. And actually, I think that's 626 00:33:32,200 --> 00:33:34,240 going to be something that God uses to unify us. 627 00:33:36,120 --> 00:33:37,760 And here's the reality too. You don't have to bring to 628 00:33:37,760 --> 00:33:39,600 someone to faith in one conversation. 629 00:33:39,760 --> 00:33:41,200 If you know how to do that, let me know. 630 00:33:41,200 --> 00:33:44,920 I will take notes. I'll tell everybody, it's a lot 631 00:33:44,920 --> 00:33:47,240 of times, guys, it's simple conversations about who God is, 632 00:33:47,240 --> 00:33:48,960 what he's done in your life, what he's doing in your midst, 633 00:33:49,640 --> 00:33:52,520 Those small conversations, the normalizing of communicating 634 00:33:52,520 --> 00:33:55,800 your faith. That's often what God uses to 635 00:33:55,800 --> 00:33:57,480 bring people to faith. They get people interested in 636 00:33:57,480 --> 00:34:01,320 Christ, but that's what the Spirit uses to do it. 637 00:34:02,120 --> 00:34:03,760 And so here's a common like response I get. 638 00:34:03,760 --> 00:34:06,080 It's like, bro, wait, people don't actually want to know 639 00:34:06,600 --> 00:34:09,840 about Jesus. Like I would talk about my faith 640 00:34:09,840 --> 00:34:11,320 if people actually wanted to hear about my faith. 641 00:34:11,920 --> 00:34:15,679 It's a reaction that I honestly hear a decent amount. 642 00:34:16,280 --> 00:34:18,040 Well, don't worry, there's another group called Lifeway. 643 00:34:18,040 --> 00:34:22,040 They did a survey on Americans like, hey, how interested would 644 00:34:22,040 --> 00:34:25,480 you be to talk about someone else's personal faith or Jesus? 645 00:34:26,400 --> 00:34:31,320 And 66% of people of Americans are open or interested in 646 00:34:31,320 --> 00:34:34,880 hearing about other people's personal faith. 66%. 647 00:34:34,880 --> 00:34:36,880 So that means if you've got three people you talk to about 648 00:34:36,880 --> 00:34:39,199 Jesus that you witnessed to, two of them are going to be like, 649 00:34:39,199 --> 00:34:41,239 oh, dude, I'm kind of interested, at least open to 650 00:34:41,239 --> 00:34:43,159 that. That's crazy. 651 00:34:45,880 --> 00:34:50,920 So, and, and here's the thing too, I think a lot of skeptical 652 00:34:50,920 --> 00:34:53,000 people, it's like they don't want to hear anything I have to 653 00:34:53,000 --> 00:34:55,719 say. Actually, I think skeptical 654 00:34:55,719 --> 00:34:59,120 people don't really care what your church institution has to 655 00:34:59,120 --> 00:35:00,600 say. They might even care what the 656 00:35:00,600 --> 00:35:03,080 Bible has to say, but they really care about what you have 657 00:35:03,080 --> 00:35:06,320 to say. People care actually about what 658 00:35:06,320 --> 00:35:09,080 you believe the works of God that you've seen, that you've 659 00:35:09,080 --> 00:35:10,320 experienced, that you've been a part of. 660 00:35:11,360 --> 00:35:13,360 People really care about what you, what you personally 661 00:35:13,360 --> 00:35:18,320 believe. So hopefully that encourages 662 00:35:18,320 --> 00:35:21,720 you. So yeah, this is the challenge. 663 00:35:22,240 --> 00:35:23,760 Be a witness for Jesus this week. 664 00:35:25,480 --> 00:35:26,760 OK, so here's the conclusion, right? 665 00:35:26,760 --> 00:35:30,240 We're coming to a close conclusion of this challenge. 666 00:35:30,240 --> 00:35:32,560 How do we be a departing people fully united to him? 667 00:35:32,800 --> 00:35:34,440 We witness to others about Jesus. 668 00:35:35,520 --> 00:35:39,960 It's very simple. We witness to others about Jesus 669 00:35:41,160 --> 00:35:45,320 and now I could give you tactics, tips, tricks, whatever 670 00:35:46,360 --> 00:35:51,520 to be a witness, but I'd rather just tell you the story of the 671 00:35:51,520 --> 00:35:53,360 greatest witness I've ever experienced in my life. 672 00:35:55,160 --> 00:35:59,120 So if you know my story a bit, we didn't grow up going to 673 00:35:59,120 --> 00:36:02,240 church, didn't really know God. Jesus didn't really have 674 00:36:02,240 --> 00:36:03,600 anything against him. Wasn't like angry God. 675 00:36:03,600 --> 00:36:10,800 None of that bless you. So for me, in high school, I had 676 00:36:10,800 --> 00:36:16,320 a friend named Hank Evans. And So what I didn't realize is 677 00:36:16,320 --> 00:36:17,760 that Hank had been following Jesus. 678 00:36:19,000 --> 00:36:22,080 And so Hank and I were kind of reuniting our friendship 679 00:36:23,640 --> 00:36:27,360 messaging over Snapchat. That's what you would do to do 680 00:36:27,360 --> 00:36:29,720 that. And and so I'm like asking him 681 00:36:29,720 --> 00:36:31,880 like, Hey, do you, you know, you party do this, do you that? 682 00:36:31,880 --> 00:36:33,680 And he's like, Nah, bro, I don't, but I'm pumped to hang 683 00:36:33,680 --> 00:36:36,600 out. And so Hank and I were actually 684 00:36:36,600 --> 00:36:38,920 never able to hang out because a few days after that, Hank ended 685 00:36:38,920 --> 00:36:42,840 up passing away. So he passed away. 686 00:36:43,160 --> 00:36:45,120 His heart stopped while he was longboarding. 687 00:36:47,720 --> 00:36:51,680 But it was his parents that I think had the greatest witness. 688 00:36:52,760 --> 00:36:57,600 So that happened almost a year. Would it be 2014, May of 2014? 689 00:36:58,880 --> 00:37:03,400 And so his parents, what they started to do, I mean, you think 690 00:37:03,400 --> 00:37:06,960 about the situation, how easy it would be to isolate yourself, 691 00:37:06,960 --> 00:37:08,600 separate yourselves from everybody else. 692 00:37:09,240 --> 00:37:10,680 What they did was is like, you know what? 693 00:37:10,680 --> 00:37:12,400 There's a lot of hurting people, not just us. 694 00:37:13,360 --> 00:37:15,440 And so as they're trying to lead their family through the 695 00:37:15,440 --> 00:37:18,760 siblings, Hank siblings, they have started inviting all of 696 00:37:18,760 --> 00:37:20,080 Hank's friends over to their house. 697 00:37:20,680 --> 00:37:22,640 They can't. Once you come over, I'll share 698 00:37:22,640 --> 00:37:23,720 with you where my hope comes from. 699 00:37:25,120 --> 00:37:27,880 And so they start inviting his friends over and it's kind of 700 00:37:27,880 --> 00:37:30,960 like you go there to like for you, pay your respects or 701 00:37:30,960 --> 00:37:33,240 whatever. And eventually it turns into a 702 00:37:33,240 --> 00:37:36,040 Bible study. They start telling me, hey, this 703 00:37:36,040 --> 00:37:39,480 is where our hope comes from, that there's a God who does 704 00:37:39,480 --> 00:37:44,560 miracles, that even though God didn't bring our son back to 705 00:37:44,560 --> 00:37:47,080 life, he brought his son back to life so that we could live 706 00:37:47,080 --> 00:37:50,400 forever. And I don't even know that this 707 00:37:50,400 --> 00:37:52,920 was a Bible study. I ended up just going just 708 00:37:52,920 --> 00:37:57,280 because nothing against God, nothing against Jesus. 709 00:37:59,080 --> 00:38:00,600 They start reading the Gospel of John. 710 00:38:00,600 --> 00:38:04,480 They get to this story about this man who was born blind, one 711 00:38:04,480 --> 00:38:06,640 of the greatest witnesses, and this man is like, man, I don't, 712 00:38:06,880 --> 00:38:08,320 I don't know anything about Jesus. 713 00:38:08,760 --> 00:38:10,480 They put this man on trial. He's like, I don't know much 714 00:38:10,480 --> 00:38:12,400 about Jesus. I just know that once I was 715 00:38:12,400 --> 00:38:16,080 blind, but now I see. And through the witness of my 716 00:38:16,080 --> 00:38:21,600 friends, parents and the witness of that scripture, man, God used 717 00:38:21,600 --> 00:38:25,680 that to open up my eyes. These are just faithful people, 718 00:38:26,240 --> 00:38:29,360 broken people, man. I could tell you stories and 719 00:38:29,360 --> 00:38:33,040 stories and stories that they told me in that basement that 720 00:38:33,040 --> 00:38:38,600 God used to open up my eyes. I mean, that's a prayer for our 721 00:38:38,600 --> 00:38:41,320 church. We might be like, man, why does 722 00:38:41,320 --> 00:38:44,240 God have this for me? Why is he separating me out? 723 00:38:44,240 --> 00:38:45,680 Why am I the only Christian at my work? 724 00:38:47,120 --> 00:38:49,000 Man, God's intentional about sending you there. 725 00:38:50,200 --> 00:38:52,080 He wants to do something there. He wants you to be a witness 726 00:38:52,080 --> 00:38:55,640 there. God's intentional with 727 00:38:55,640 --> 00:38:59,520 everything He does. I've heard it said if God puts 728 00:38:59,520 --> 00:39:01,160 you where you are with intentionality, you should live 729 00:39:01,160 --> 00:39:02,280 where you are with intentionality. 730 00:39:03,200 --> 00:39:05,200 Maybe you've heard mission is movement. 731 00:39:06,160 --> 00:39:09,120 This is how God works. He moves us around from place to 732 00:39:09,120 --> 00:39:11,440 place. And the altar of your life is to 733 00:39:11,440 --> 00:39:16,080 be a witness of what God has done through your life and 734 00:39:16,080 --> 00:39:18,400 through your lips. So let me pray for us. 735 00:39:23,360 --> 00:39:28,960 Yes, Jesus is our prayer. Not even now would you help us 736 00:39:28,960 --> 00:39:33,400 see, Lord Jesus, that you were the one who came down. 737 00:39:34,320 --> 00:39:38,720 God, you came down to put yourself back up on an altar, an 738 00:39:38,720 --> 00:39:42,160 altar of a cross. Got to be the sacrifice, to be 739 00:39:42,160 --> 00:39:46,360 the one true sacrifice, the once and for all sacrifice. 740 00:39:46,360 --> 00:39:48,640 God that we don't need to make sacrifices to anything else. 741 00:39:48,640 --> 00:39:51,960 There's no other God that we need to submit to, but you're 742 00:39:51,960 --> 00:39:54,920 the only God that we ought to submit to. 743 00:39:57,920 --> 00:40:00,960 And so God help us now see that that there's no other sacrifice 744 00:40:01,240 --> 00:40:04,320 worthy of having God which help us not sacrifice their family 745 00:40:04,320 --> 00:40:05,920 forever. These false gods, whether it's 746 00:40:05,920 --> 00:40:11,120 lust, money, work, whatever. Lord God, help us see that 747 00:40:11,120 --> 00:40:14,520 you've been so good to us, that you've been faithful to us, that 748 00:40:14,520 --> 00:40:17,400 this is a A-Team sport. God, there's no such thing as 749 00:40:17,400 --> 00:40:21,120 personal sin all over. Every time we sin, it affects us 750 00:40:21,160 --> 00:40:25,080 and somebody else. So God help us fight that. 751 00:40:25,080 --> 00:40:29,120 Help us not be isolated. But intentionally departs, God 752 00:40:29,120 --> 00:40:31,120 to be with you tomorrow at your creation. 753 00:40:32,520 --> 00:40:35,000 God, ultimately, I pray that you would raise up witnesses within 754 00:40:35,000 --> 00:40:38,760 this room, God, that you would open up the eyes of the blind to 755 00:40:38,760 --> 00:40:42,560 see once again. Do we see that, God? 756 00:40:42,560 --> 00:40:44,760 Jesus, you, you're the one who can change us. 757 00:40:47,720 --> 00:40:50,840 God that you rose again so that we could live with you forever 758 00:40:50,840 --> 00:40:54,080 and ever and not just have heaven, but have you. 759 00:40:54,880 --> 00:40:58,200 So help us see it. Jesus, his name, me bro, Amen.