Around and Around We Go | Sunday, April 16, 2023

Amen, amen. Thank you, Anthony. I appreciate that. Praise the Lord! You can be seated. Good morning, Cross Connection Church! Welcome. We're so glad that you're here with us this morning. If you're visiting for the first time, I want to introduce myself. My name is Miles, and I'm a pastor here at the church.

Today, we're going to be getting into the Scriptures, so if you have your Bible, you can open it up to the Old Testament book of Joshua, which is near the beginning, the sixth book of the Bible. If you don't have a Bible, you can raise your hand, and one of our ushers will gladly bring you one. If you don't own one, you can keep that.

As you're opening there, I just want to reiterate one of the things that was in the announcements this morning, talking about our growth group launch this Wednesday night. I want to invite you to come out Wednesday night at seven o'clock. We're going to be starting a new session of growth groups here at the church. This is a great way to get connected to one another and also to connect to our faith, connect to God, and connect to the Scriptures. So, come out at seven o'clock this week for that on Wednesday night. I hope to see you there.

This last week, if you were paying attention at all to any of the trends that were in the news or things that were going out on social media, you might have seen, as I did, an exchange between an interviewer for the BBC and the wealthiest man alive, Elon Musk, who is the founder and CEO of SpaceX, Tesla, the Boring Company, and Neuralink. He recently purchased Twitter, which has caused all kinds of shifts in the social media environment.

There was this interesting interview between a BBC journalist, a tech reporter, and Elon Musk. It was planned to just be recorded for video by the BBC, but right before the interview started, Elon asked the interviewer, "Hey, do you mind if I stream this live on Twitter Spaces?" Twitter Spaces is an audio feature where people can listen in live to any conversation. Within a very short period of time, they had almost a million people listening to this conversation.

You might know that oftentimes the modern media, news media, likes to shoot an interview and then edit it in certain ways. Sometimes people accuse them of editing it in ways that fit a certain agenda. They weren't able to do that because Elon Musk was live streaming. In the course of the interview, you could tell that the interviewer had some sort of bias against what was happening at Twitter and Elon Musk's management of the company. At a certain point in the interview, he asserted that there had been...

This overwhelming amount of hate speech all over Twitter has raised significant concerns. At one point, Musk pushed back during an interview and asked the interviewer, "Can you cite some specific examples? I just want some specific examples of hate speech." The interviewer hesitated and struggled to provide even one example. Ultimately, at the height of the interview, Musk said to him, "Sir, you don't know what you're talking about. You lied." It was as if the corner of the internet that is concerned about media bias cheered in unison, feeling that Musk had caught the interviewer in a moment of weakness.

What was happening during this conversation was that Musk was asking an important question—one that may have crossed your mind from time to time when you look at things, even in the Scriptures. You might wonder if there is some evidence to support the claims being made. The interviewer approached the conversation with an ideological bias, an institutional bias, and a political bias that informed the way he asked his questions. Musk was pushing back, seeking specific examples, any single example.

As I mentioned, perhaps you have come to the Bible with similar questions. Maybe not this morning, since you are here on a Sunday and may already believe many of the things in the Scriptures. However, I guarantee that some of you have friends, co-workers, or family members who have those kinds of questions. As a Christian believer, you talk about the Scriptures, and they may want to know if there is evidence to support what you are saying.

Alternatively, like the BBC interviewer, some may approach the Bible with institutional bias, expressing concerns about the church. They might look at various actions taken in the name of Jesus or the church and say they have problems with the institution. Perhaps they had experiences growing up that left them with concerns about the church. They come to the Scriptures wondering about the worldview or political views of Christians or people within the church.

I will be the first to acknowledge that Christians and the church have not always been the best examples of the teachings of Christ or the claims of Christ. We should recognize that this is the case, but we must also understand that we will interact with friends or family members who hold these concerns.

Co-workers and family members might have concerns about faith, and they may say, "I know you believe these things, but I need some actual evidence." That is a valid question; it is an honest thing to ask. Frankly, the passage we are going to look at today in the Book of Joshua, chapter 6, is one of those passages that can cause people to ask for specific examples of evidence.

I will acknowledge, before we even get into the text, that Joshua chapter 6 is one of those fanciful, seemingly fictional passages of the Bible that is hard for many to believe. It is one of those passages that critics or skeptical historians will examine and question. One of those skeptical historians, whom you may have never heard of, is Bart Ehrman. I guarantee that if you have kids in a university or college today, they have probably heard of him.

Bart Ehrman is a New Testament scholar but not a believer in the Christian faith. At one point in time, he was a critical historian and scholar. When he looks at passages of scripture like this, he has written many books for a large popular audience. Many students in university or college who take a religion or ancient Near Eastern history class will read books by Bart Ehrman. He often asks questions, asserting, "I doubt that this ever took place; this seems like a later edition." He will even mockingly state in interviews that he needs some actual evidence that this took place, claiming it did not happen.

If I were not a Christian and did not have a bias towards these things, which I will acknowledge, I might certainly be a little antagonistic towards it and ask, "Did this really happen? I need some actual evidence, some examples to validate this story."

Now, why do I say that? Look at the text in Joshua chapter 6, verse 1. We read, "Now Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel. None went out and none came in." The Lord said to Joshua, the leader of the children of Israel, "See, I have given this city, Jericho, into your hand, its king, and its mighty men of valor."

You shall march around the city, all you men of war. You shall go around the city once, and this you will do for six days. The seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of Ram's horns before the Ark of the Lord, which was the box that was in the Holy of Holies of the Tabernacle of the people of Israel. The priests are going to bear seven trumpets before the Ark.

On the seventh day, after you have walked around the city one time a day for six days, you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. Verse five states that it shall come to pass when they make a long blast with the Ram's horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, that all of the people shall shout with a great shout. Then the wall of the city, this great city Jericho, will fall down flat, and the people shall go up, every man straight before him into the city.

That's how this section begins. Now, just to briefly reference how it ends, skip down to the 20th verse of Joshua chapter 6. The people shouted after they had done this thing, going around the city one time a day for six days, and then six times around the city on the seventh day. When the priests blew the trumpets, it happened that when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, they shouted with a great shout, and the wall fell down flat. The people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city and utterly destroyed all.

Now, looking at this text, let me acknowledge that as a skeptic, it would be right for you to say at this point, "Really? This is what you're saying?" Especially if you had an institutional, ideological, or political bias against Christians and the church, you would look at this and say, "I'm going to need some actual evidence." As I shared in my message last Sunday, great claims require significant proofs. That's understandable.

In this text, we have a phenomenal, extraordinary, remarkable claim about something that took place. The church, over the last two thousand years, has not always been the best ambassador of these things. Sometimes we Christians are not always the best witnesses, especially over the last 200 years of modern history.

Western world critical scholars look at passages like this and they blow holes into the scriptures. This can cause Christians to feel on their heels when their friends, neighbors, or co-workers ask, "Really, you believe these things?" That question is understandable, and it’s one that many have experienced themselves. Perhaps your son or daughter has gone away to university or college, where they start to study various subjects like philosophy or history. They come back with the knowledge they were taught from the scriptures while growing up in church, and they ask, "Is there any evidence?"

The Bible is filled with stories that, when we look at them, seem remarkable and amazing. It would be incredible if they were true, but is it really true? Especially when we hear from various individuals in our culture that the Bible is filled with inaccuracies, additions, and myths. So, are these things really true? In our culture today, this question is raised, and it is a valid one.

Point number one, if you're taking notes: the Bible contains extraordinary and outstanding happenings that must be validated to be believed. I would say that if this is your view, it is mostly right. We live in a culture that desires tangible evidence—something we can grasp. People genuinely wonder if there are valid arguments for the existence of God. Is there evidence that any of the things we read about in passages like this actually happened? What are the historical proofs? What are the textual proofs? Is there historical documentation? Are there archaeological evidences to support the things mentioned in this passage?

These are valid and good questions. If you are engaged in asking these questions or seeking answers, you are involved in a field of study known as apologetics. The term "apologetics" derives from the scriptures, specifically from a passage in the New Testament book of First Peter, chapter 3. Peter, writing to a group of Christians 2,000 years ago, says to them, "Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and always be ready to give an..."

Answer or a defense is the Greek word "apologia," from which we get our word "apologetics." You need to be ready to give an answer or a defense, a reason for the hope that you have within you, with meekness and fear. Do it nicely and kindly, but you need to be able to offer an answer to the person who is asking you, "Really, you believe these things?" That is apologetics.

For the better part of my last 25 years of life, I have dedicated a lot of my time to the study of apologetics. Even my most recent trip overseas to the Middle East, to Jordan and Saudi Arabia, was largely focused on looking at the evidence. What evidence is there that supports the passages of Scripture that we've been studying here on Sunday mornings? We have been going through what is called the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, examining passages in the book of Exodus that discuss the children of Israel being in Egypt, leaving Egypt, crossing the Red Sea, and entering what is today modern-day Saudi Arabia, specifically a place called Mount Sinai. What evidence is there that the events we read about in the Bible are valid and true?

My trip with my friends David Guzik, Lance Ralston, and Chuck Musalwhite to Saudi Arabia was purely to see the evidence. Additionally, the research I am currently doing for my doctoral studies is all in this area of apologetics. Why do I study these things? Why do I invest so much energy into them? This probably drives my wife crazy, as I am constantly watching videos, listening to podcasts, and reading books about these topics. The reason is that, at my core, I am a skeptic.

Are there any skeptics here this morning? That's me; I want answers. I live in a culture of critical skeptics—America is filled with them. From a young age, we are taught to be skeptical, to look into the evidence, and to try to determine whether these things are true. I don't think that's wrong; I don't think that's bad. In fact, two thousand years ago, at the beginning of the church, there was a skeptic named Saul who was also doubtful about the claims of the early Christians. Most notably, he questioned the biggest claim, which we as the church throughout the world celebrated last week. We celebrated Easter, and this week, we are still celebrating Easter among the Orthodox Christians. What is the great claim of Easter? That Jesus was crucified on Good Friday.

Laid dead in a tomb until Sunday, the tomb was open and empty on Sunday morning. He appeared alive to his followers. After that point, as raised from the dead, that is the claim that is the foundation of the Christian church. Saul, a skeptic, heard people claiming that they had seen the Risen Lord. He was a skeptic to the point that he persecuted Christians; he tried to destroy them. Maybe you know a skeptic like that who just tries to obliterate everything that you say or believe when you interact with them. They are just like Saul of Tarsus.

Then, Saul of Tarsus moved from being one of the great skeptics of Christianity to being arguably one of the greatest proclaimers of Christianity. How did he make this move? He no longer identified himself as Saul but, from that point on, identified himself as Paul. The great shift came when Saul of Tarsus had a personal encounter with the Risen Jesus. From that day forward, he proclaimed, "I have seen Jesus of Nazareth alive after he was crucified." It radically transformed his life. This great skeptic became a great proclaimer of Christ.

He acknowledges himself in one of his letters, First Corinthians chapter 15, that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most important hinge, if you will, of the Christian faith. If it did not happen, all of this stuff that we do on a regular basis as Christians—coming to church and worshiping God—is completely pointless. The work that I do as a preacher, if Jesus didn't raise from the dead, is completely pointless. Paul writes it like this in First Corinthians chapter 15: "For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then all of our preaching is useless and your faith is pointless. We apostles, followers of Christ, are lying about God, for we have said that God raised Jesus from the grave. But that can't be true if there's no resurrection from the dead."

You see the logic following it through. If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised. If Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless, and you are still guilty in your sins. In that case, all who have already died believing in Christ are just lost. If our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world. That was Paul's view.

The resurrection is the most important part of the Christian faith. Point number two, if you're taking notes, is that the whole of the Christian faith rises or falls on the proof of the resurrection. I talked about that specifically last week, but that's not my focus this week. This week, we're looking at another extraordinary and outstanding happening from the Bible.

Not the resurrection, but here in Joshua chapter 6, there is this extraordinary event where the Bible describes the children of Israel coming to the city of Jericho in the ancient Near East. They walked around the city thirteen times over seven days, shouting, and the walls fell flat. They then came and destroyed the city. That's an outstanding claim; it's an astounding thing that the Bible says. We read about it here in Joshua chapter 6. If you have your Bibles open, look at chapter 6, verse 6.

So then Joshua, the son of Nun, the leader of these people, called the priests and said to them, "Take up the Ark of the Covenant and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of ram's horns before the Ark of the Lord." He said to the people, "Proceed and march around the city, and let him who is armed advance before the Ark of the Lord."

So it was, in verse 8, when Joshua had spoken to the people that the seven priests bearing seven trumpets of ram's horns before the Lord advanced, and they blew the trumpets. The Ark of the Covenant of the Lord followed them. Then the armed men went before the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard came after the Ark. While the priests continued blowing the trumpets, they went forward.

Now Joshua had commanded the people, saying, "You shall not shout or make any noise with your voice, nor shall a word proceed out of your mouth until the day that I say to you, 'Shout,' and then you shall shout." So he and the Ark of the Lord circled the city, going around it once, and then they came back to the camp and lodged in the camp.

Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the Ark of the Lord, the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of ram's horns before the Ark of the Lord. They went continually and blew the trumpets, and the armed men went before them, but the rear guard came after the Ark of the Lord while the priests continued blowing the trumpets.

On the second day, they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. They did this for six days. But it came to pass, in verse 15, on the seventh day that all the people of Israel rose early about the dawning of the day and marched around the city seven times in the same manner. On that day only, they marched around the city seven times.

And the seventh time, it happened that when the priests blew the trumpets, Joshua said to the people...

Shout, for the Lord has given you the city! Now the city shall be doomed by the Lord to destruction, and all who are in it—only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all who are with her in her house, because she hid the messengers that we sent. You, by all means, abstain from the accursed things, lest you become accursed when you take the accursed things and make the camp of Israel a curse and trouble it. But all the silver and the gold and the vessels of bronze and iron are consecrated to the Lord; they shall come into the treasury of the Lord.

So the people shouted. When the priests blew the trumpet, it happened that when the people heard the sound of the trumpet and the people shouted with a great shout, the wall fell down flat. The people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city. They utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, ox and sheep, and donkey with the edge of the sword.

But Joshua had said to the two men who spied out the country, "Go into the harlot's house and from there bring out the woman and all that she has, as you swore." The young men who had been spies went in and brought out Rahab, her father, her mother, her brothers, and all that she had. So they brought out all the relatives and left them outside the camp of Israel. But they burned the city and all that was in it with fire. Only the silver and the gold, the vessels of bronze and iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord.

Joshua spared Rahab the harlot, her father's household, and all that she had, so she dwells in Israel to this day because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho. Then Joshua charged them at that time, saying, "Cursed be the man before the Lord who raises up and builds the city of Jericho. He shall lay its foundation with his firstborn, and with his youngest he shall set up its gates."

Now, at this point, you might be wondering why I read through the entire thing. There are two reasons. First, I wanted you to get the whole picture of what happens here, the whole picture that maybe some critical skeptics you might know will look at and say, "Come on, really? You really believe that this actually happened?"

The second reason I wanted to read through this is that as we're going through this passage, there are some important things that I want to highlight that we find here in this extraordinary story. You see, if you are a Christian today and if you're going to follow Christ and the Scriptures, then it is your belief and conclusion that these things are inspired Scripture. As inspired Scripture, you believe that these things actually happened, and so you have an interaction with a...

A family member, co-worker, friend, or neighbor might ask, "Come on, you really believe this?" This can put you back on your heels. They may say, "I need some evidence. Do you have any evidence that these things actually happened?" I want to take just a few minutes today to talk about the evidence because this is an extraordinary story—a remarkable thing that we are told happened here in this text. The question of whether there is any evidence is a valid one.

The fascinating thing is that the only historical evidence we have—written evidence—that there ever was a city called Jericho is the Bible, which you hold in your hands today. Back in the 1940s, there was a young Bedouin who was a goat farmer, a herdsman, and a shepherd. While with his goats in this region of the world near the Dead Sea, he threw a stone into a cave and heard clay pots break. When he went into the cave, he found tons of clay pots. Ultimately, researchers were brought in to examine these clay pots, which came to be known as the Dead Sea Scrolls.

How many of you have heard of the Dead Sea Scrolls before? They were found in the 1940s, and over a period of years, multiple caves were discovered near an area called Qumran, close to the Dead Sea. Among those were many scrolls of the Scriptures, including the scroll of the Book of Joshua. In that region, we read about the city of Jericho. There are no other writings in antiquity where we read about Jericho, so the Bible tells us that there was a city near the Dead Sea called Jericho. If the Bible is true, we should be able to find ruins of that city.

Not only does the Bible tell us that there was a city called Jericho in and around that region, but it also describes what became of the city. Here in this text, we are told a number of things: the city had a wall that fell flat, and the city was destroyed and burned with fire. The question then becomes, do we have any archaeological evidence to support these claims? Can we go and examine this evidence?

What is amazing is that both critical and believing scholars, archaeologists, and historians agree on the evidence found in that area near the Dead Sea. Eight miles northwest of the Dead Sea, on the west side of the Jordan River, just as the Bible said, there are ruins of a city that has been archaeologically excavated.

At least three times in the last hundred years, specifically in the 20th century, different groups have gone in to research and excavate the area of Jericho. One team was led by a German group in the early 1900s, from 1907 to 1909. A second team was led by a man named John Garstang from 1930 to 1936, and a third team was led by a woman named Kathleen Kenyon from 1952 to 1958. These three different teams of excavators found evidence that the site was indeed Jericho.

What other evidence did they find? Here's the astounding thing: as they began to uncover the site, they found that about 3,400 years ago, around 1400 BC, the city of Jericho experienced a massive cataclysmic destruction. The archaeological evidence shows that the city had two separate kinds of walls. The first wall was a stacked stone retaining wall. I have a little diagram; the first picture here is a side view. Although it's not the best representation, the dark area indicates the stacked stones that created the retaining wall. They would stack a whole bunch of uncut stones and fill it in with dirt, rubble, and various materials.

On top of the retaining wall, they found evidence of mud brick walls, which created the second wall. As they continued to excavate, they discovered that at some point in history, around 3,400 years ago, the mud brick wall fell down flat. This created an amazing ramp up into the city. As they excavated further, they found that not only did the wall fall flat and the city experience destruction, but the city was also completely burned.

Archaeologists excavate layer by layer, allowing them to see different periods of time. They found that shortly after the wall fell, the city was burned with fire. More interestingly, they discovered that all the grain storage in the city was completely full. Those who invaded the city did not take the grain; instead, they burned it. The grain storage, which contained all the wheat grain from that period, was entirely intact.

Just burned with fire, which indicates to the researchers that it was sometime in the early spring during the time of the wheat harvest, which is right around the time of Passover. They also found clay pottery in that area that helps them to date the period of time from roughly 1400 BC. All of that aligns with the Scriptures.

Now, if you want to check this stuff out for yourself and you don't want to take me as the authority, you can fact-check me. In fact, I want you to fact-check me. I don't want you to do it right this second; I want you to listen to me, and you can do it later this afternoon. If you go to my website, pastormiles.com/Jericho, you can watch about a 35-minute video on the excavations of Jericho to see what the researchers have found. The amazing thing is that the evidence supports the narrative of the Bible.

Check the receipts. How many of you have heard the name Carl Sagan before? Carl Sagan said, "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." I completely agree. Here's the awesome thing: so many times when researchers go and look at the historic accounts of the Bible and investigate these things scientifically through archaeology and other methods, they find validation.

Point number three, if you're taking notes: the evidence of history and archaeology consistently validates the testimony of the Bible. Are the claims and stories of the Bible far out? Yes. Are they extraordinary and remarkable and sometimes amazing? Absolutely. But the evidence in history and archaeology continues to validate the claims of Scripture.

So, what should we take away from that? If that is the case, what should we take away from it? Two things I want you to consider. First, I do not think, nor do I argue, that since the evidence in archaeology and history validates what the narrative of the Bible says, it should instantly turn a skeptic into a believer. I'm not saying that; I'm not arguing that. But I do think it should challenge the skeptic to consider the evidence.

To see where the evidence leads, we must ask whether it leads to a plausible conclusion that what the narrative of Scripture says is true. That's the first thing. Second, if the evidence of archaeology and history supports the narrative of the Bible and the research validates many of the events as they are portrayed in the Scriptures, we need to ask the question: what is the implication of that?

I suggest to you that it implies extraordinary and remarkable things have happened in times past. If amazing, phenomenal, extraordinary things have happened in times past, then we have to ask the question: were there phenomenal causes of those extraordinary and phenomenal things?

When we come to an event like the story of the children of Israel going into Jericho, walking around the city thirteen times over seven days, and then the walls fell flat, we see that the evidence in archaeology supports this narrative. The walls did fall flat, creating a ramp that led into the city, and they did burn the city without taking any of the spoils. When we look at these details and find that they validate the text of Scripture, we must consider what could possibly have caused the walls of Jericho to fall flat at just the right time.

You either have to conclude that it was a cosmic coincidence, which it could have been, or you have to ask: could it possibly have been Divine Providence? Here’s the challenge: moving from cosmic coincidence to Divine Providence is a significant step for a skeptic. I understand the skepticism involved.

Point number four, if you're taking notes: if the testimonies of the Bible are validly proved, then supernatural causes are, I think, the only acceptable explanations. Herein lies the challenge; we live in a completely modern culture, a naturalist culture. These are two terms that you may not be familiar with, but let me explain. We live in a culture that has a naturalistic view of the world, one that does not believe in anything supernatural. We think that this world is all there is, and we have been told this for a very long time. As a result, it’s hard for us to accept the possibility of the supernatural.

To make the leap to a supernatural cause, we must acknowledge that we often have a presuppositional bias against the supernatural. When the evidence seems to indicate that there might have been a supernatural cause, we tend to come up with alternative explanations because we reject any possibility of the supernatural.

However, here's the amazing thing: the vast majority of people studied, when asked, believe that miracles exist. Over 80 percent of people in our culture believe that there are such things as miracles—events that seem to defy the natural laws of physics—that they or others they know and trust have experienced. Yet, despite this belief, they often feel compelled to find some other explanation because they do not believe in the supernatural.

The challenge arises when the evidence suggests that something supernatural has occurred. In such cases, we must consider, with an open mind, what that might mean. It could indicate that our worldview has a significant problem, and many of us struggle to acknowledge and accept that reality.

Interestingly, when you study the claims of Scripture and examine them, sometimes even scientifically, you may discover evidence that plausibly supports the assertion that these events actually took place. My only question to my skeptical friends, of whom I have many, would be: have you considered the evidence?

Finally, I want to make one last point of application for your consideration. This point is not primarily about the historic validity or veracity of these claims, but rather about their historic significance. If these events took place as the Bible claims and as archaeological evidence at least plausibly supports, what is the historic significance of that for you and for me?

I suggest that, at the very least, it would be this: every single one of you, at some point in your life, will encounter something like the city of Jericho—something that is too big, too great, and too awesome for you. It will be something that you cannot possibly overcome by your own strength, ingenuity, or strategy.

At some point in our lives, all of us will encounter a Jericho. It may not happen this week or even this year, but eventually, you will come into conflict with a stronghold that you cannot defeat. Here’s the amazing thing: God said to the children of Israel, "I want you to walk around it 13 times."

Why? What was the point of that? I can't speculate about what God was thinking when He instructed them to walk around the city 13 times, but I can speculate about this. I think that by the 13th time they were making their circuit around the city of Jericho, there was not a single person among the children of Israel who had any hope of defeating it. They all likely came to the conclusion that they were toast; they were sunk. The city was way too big and too great, and there was nothing they could do to defeat it.

If you ever watched VeggieTales, the peas were sitting on the wall of Jericho, saying, "What makes you think that by walking, you will be knocking down our wall?" For those of you who don't know that reference, you need to get VeggieTales.

By the end of the 13th time around that wall, I guarantee you there was not a single person, from the oldest to the youngest in the nation of Israel, who thought for a second that they could take this down. If anything, I think God made them walk around it 13 times to make them all skeptical of their own strength or strategy. Then Joshua said, "Okay, shout!" and they went, "Ah, no, louder!" According to the Scriptures, the walls fell flat.

What is the historic significance of this? It serves to remind us of what the Scriptures teach: greater is He who is in you than he who is in this world. No weapon formed against us shall prosper. The weapons of our warfare are mighty in God for the tearing down of strongholds like Jericho. In Christ, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. If anything, a story like this...

The historical significance is that God subdues those things that we cannot overcome in our own strength or by our own strategies. I want to encourage you today that this is good news!

Now, we are going to close our time together by partaking of communion, and I think it is fitting that we do this today. If you received one of these when you came in, you can take it out now. If you don't have one, just a moment, and our ushers will come and hand them out so you can grab one.

We are going to partake of communion today, which reminds us of Jesus's body that was broken for us and His blood that was shed for us to accomplish what you and I could not achieve by our own strength, our own strategy, or our own religious efforts. There is no possible way that you or I could deal with the problem of our own fallenness and sin before a perfect and holy God.

So, what did God do? He overcame the Jericho that you and I could never overcome through Jesus's death, burial, and resurrection. I am going to invite Anthony to come up, and our ushers are going to distribute the communion elements. If you don't have one, you can grab one now. Anthony and our worship team are going to lead us in a song of worship. Please hold on to this for just a minute, and we will partake together.

As we sing this song, which is appropriate for this passage, I want you to remember that God in Christ Jesus overcame the stronghold of our sin that we could never overcome. This has given us a new right standing with a holy God, and it also assures us that in Him, we are more than conquerors.

God, I pray that You would speak to our hearts by Your Spirit as we contemplate these things now and ready our hearts to partake of communion, for we ask this in Jesus's name.

Lord, we thank You for Your grace and Your goodness, as evidenced by the awesome and great things that You have done, most notably what You did for us on the cross.

Jesus, on the night before He was crucified, had a meal with His followers. At a certain point during the meal, He took bread, broke it, blessed it, and gave it to His disciples, saying, "Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you."

For you do this in remembrance of Me. Let's partake together, remembering His body broken for us.

In the same manner, after they had eaten, He took the cup and said, "This is My blood, the blood of the New Covenant, which is shed for many for the removal of sins. Do as often as you drink it in remembrance of Me." Let's partake together.

Lord, we thank You today for Your body and blood. There is no way that we, by our own power or strength, could overcome the guilt and shame of our sin to pay the debt. But Jesus, on the cross, You said, "It is finished," paid in full. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission or removal of sins. You, the perfect spotless Lamb, gave Your life for us. You took our sin to give us Your righteousness. We praise and thank You today for Your grace. We’re rejoicing in You.

Let's stand together. You can pass your cups to the aisles; the ushers will grab them. Anthony is going to lead us in that chorus one more time.

God, I pray that we would have that confidence in You, that hope in You today. As we encounter challenges, difficulties, and unworkable situations in our lives—which every single one of us will face—it's easy for us to go around and around those things, to think about them, survey them, contemplate, and meditate upon them from every angle. That is worry, which produces anxiety, headaches, stomach aches, and all kinds of other issues and problems.

God, You desire that we would come to You and bring our cares and concerns to You. You said, "Cast your cares upon Me, for I care for you." Bring our burdens to You. "Come to Me, all you who are burdened and heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Lord, I pray that we would find in You...

You that rest at peace, that joy, we praise You, Lord. And now may the Lord bless and keep you. May He make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. May He lift up His countenance upon you and give you His peace. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of His Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.

If you need prayer today and are facing some sort of challenging obstacle or difficult situation, come and spend some time in prayer with our prayer leaders here. May the Lord bless your day. I hope to see you Wednesday night at seven o'clock for our growth group launch. Come on out; it will be a great time of worship. We'll talk about what growth groups are and get you connected to a group. God bless you, and have a wonderful day.

Good morning, Cross Connection! If you're looking for a way to really get plugged in and connected here at Cross Connection Church, as well as a way to be discipled, I want to encourage you to show up this Wednesday night at seven o'clock here in the sanctuary for our growth group kickoff. We're going to be introducing all the different growth groups that we're launching this Wednesday night, so I hope to see you there.

Hi everyone, I'm Andrea, Pastor Miles' wife, and I have a special announcement for all you ladies at Cross Connection. Coming up on Friday night, April 28th, at 6 PM, we're having a ladies' Bunco night here at the church in the youth room. The whole point of our game night is to give us all an opportunity to have some fun and connect with one another. If you've been looking for a chance to meet some new friends and get connected at Cross Connection, this is a great opportunity for just that.

So come on out Friday, April 28th, at 6 PM. We're playing a super easy and fun game, which will ensure that you connect with a bunch of new ladies at the church. Go to events.ccchurch.com to RSVP so we know how many ladies to be prepared for. If you happen to own a foldable card table, would you consider lending it to us? Please label your table with your name and phone number underneath and drop it off here at the church office Monday through Thursday before April 27th. I hope to see you there!