To Trust or To Turn? | Sunday, May 14, 2023

Amen. Good morning, Cross Connection Church! How are you this morning? You can be seated.

Welcome to Cross Connection Church. If you are new or visiting, I don't normally dress like this, just by the way. I did a wedding yesterday and got all dressed up. Not like this, but you know, I like to dress up from time to time. Because it is an important day, I figured I would acknowledge it in this way.

We want to say happy Mother's Day to all the moms at Cross Connection Church. If you are a mom, would you stand for just a moment? We want to acknowledge all the moms in our church. Stay standing; we’re going to pray for all the moms in just a moment. We just want to say thank you to all of you moms. Obviously, we would not be here if it were not for moms, and we are so grateful for each and every one of you. We are grateful for the moms at our church and are just blessed by you. We want to pray a blessing over you as well.

Also, today, when you leave, we have a gift for you. I get to give these to my mom and to my wife, who is also a mother today. Love you!

We are going to pray for you, but also, you'll notice there are some white roses up here in a vase. Those are to acknowledge the sorrows of the day. We recognize that for some, there are ladies who don’t like to come to church on Mother's Day because it’s difficult for them. We recognize that there have been miscarriages, stillbirths, or lost little ones, and there are those who have lost older children. Maybe this is the first time you’re celebrating Mother's Day without your mom in your life. We want to acknowledge those sorrows of the day.

If that’s you today, please take one of those roses at the end of the service. If you see somebody with a white rose, maybe just pray for them. You don’t have to say anything; just lift them up to the Lord in prayer.

Now, let’s pray. Father God, we thank you so much for these women here and the blessing that they are in our church, but also the blessing that they are to their kids. Lord, the Scriptures say that children are a blessing from you. You have blessed each and every one of these moms with children, but Lord, you have blessed those children with these moms. We ask, God, that you would pour out upon them today, that you would fill them with joy and rejoicing for the wonderful call that you’ve given to them as moms.

You are a mom that doesn't go away, even when your kids have moved away. So we pray that you would bless them today, in Jesus' name. Amen. You can be seated. Thank you again very much.

A few more things I want to acknowledge before we get into the Scriptures, which we will in just a moment. As was mentioned in the announcements, a couple of weeks from today, we have an important kind of celebration here at the church. It will be the festival, or the Feast of Pentecost, which is a Jewish holiday. However, it is also an important day for the church because, if you read the opening chapters of the New Testament book of Acts, you find in Acts chapter 2 that the church began on the day of Pentecost. So, it actually is the birthday of the church.

This means that, if you go by traditional views of when the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus happened and when the church began, it is traditionally believed that this occurred in 33 A.D., which is 1990 years ago. Two weeks from today, we are celebrating the 1990th birthday of the church. We are going to have a celebration here, including a barbecue and birthday cake for the church, all that good stuff.

Additionally, if you read Acts chapter 2, you will see that one of the most important and significant events that happened at the birth of the church was the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, as well as the baptism of those new believers. We have been seeing some new believers here at the church over the last several weeks, and we want to have a baptism on Sunday, the 28th. If you have never obeyed Christ's command to be baptized and to identify with His church, we will have a baptism on that day.

You'll notice when you leave today that we have a whole bunch of these little cards, the size of a business card. It is an invite to encourage someone to come to Cross Connection Church. That would be a great day to invite them, so take a whole bunch of these if you'd like. You can give those to friends, co-workers, and neighbors to invite them to come out to one of our services.

Also, the week following that, we are going to be starting a new series of teaching. During the summer, we stop what we're normally doing; right now, we are studying through the Book of Joshua. However, beginning June 4th, we will be studying through the Old Testament book of Daniel. I know that for a number of people, they get kind of goosebumps when they hear, "Oh, we're going to go to the Book of Daniel," because there are a lot of prophetic things in that passage. But there are also many other very important applications and truths that we can learn as Daniel is...

The story of a group of individuals, specifically a guy by the name of Daniel, includes others who found themselves captive in enemy territory as prisoners of war, if you will, in a place called Babylon. They had to learn how to live as lights for their God in a difficult environment. I think it's an applicable story, and there are many sensational ways to approach a book like Daniel. However, I also want to approach it with some applicational ways, which we will be looking at when we get into that.

Starting June 4th, we will be going through the Book of Daniel throughout the summer. This will also be a great opportunity to invite some people to church. Along those lines, today, as well as being Mother's Day, is an interesting day because it marks the 75th anniversary of the modern state of Israel becoming a nation on May 14, 1948. Seventy-five years ago today, the nation of Israel became a nation once again.

Now, why is that important? It is important because 2,800 years ago, the prophet Isaiah prophesied in Isaiah chapter 66, "Who has seen such a thing that a nation would become a nation in a day?" This prophecy came to pass and was fulfilled 75 years ago on May 14, 1948. This is a modern fulfillment of an ancient prophecy, and it serves as an awesome affirmation that the scriptures we study from are true. God has revealed that these things are true by leaving His fingerprints, if you will, on them through predictive prophecy and how those things are fulfilled.

So, in actual fulfillment, prophecy happened on this day 75 years ago. With that, would you take out your Bibles? I know that our ushers were going around and handing some Bibles out. If you don't have one, you can raise your hand, and they will bring you one. If you don't own one, you can keep that today as a gift. We are going to be in the Old Testament Book of Joshua, which is the sixth book of the Bible. If you could turn there, we will be getting into that passage momentarily.

As I was looking through this passage and thinking about how I would approach this week, I had a thought going through my mind. If I had a dollar for every time someone told me their life was much less challenging before they were a Christian, I would probably have enough to buy my family lunch this afternoon. That is something I've heard on a number of occasions. People have told me that their life was much less challenging before they became Christians. That might be your experience today, and I want to share with you that this is actually not an abnormal experience for a very simple reason.

In the New Testament, in the book of Ephesians, the Apostle Paul writes these words: "And you, Christ, has made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air." This is a reference to the devil, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience. Among whom you also once conducted yourselves in the lust of your flesh, fulfilling the desires of your flesh and of the mind. You were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

When you became a follower of Christ, when you became a Christian, a disciple of Jesus, you were then marked and set apart. You are now different. You are different because in you is the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit of God, and He begins to do a work of transformation. It is what we call theologically a work of sanctification. When you become a Christian, the Holy Spirit of God comes into your heart and begins to transform you. He transforms you by His power, He transforms you by His word, and He transforms you as you interact with other believers in fellowship with one another.

That transformation begins to mark you out. You begin to be changed; you no longer walk as everyone else. You no longer walk as you used to walk, as Paul says in Ephesians chapter 2. In fact, as that change begins to take place in your life, those whom you once associated with in your former conduct, your former life, begin to think it's strange that you are no longer a part of the group.

One of the New Testament writers, the Apostle Peter, identifies this in First Peter chapter four: "For we have spent enough of our time in the past doing the will of the world or the Gentiles, when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries." In regard to these things, those who continue in those behaviors think it's strange that you no longer run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you.

Maybe you have experienced that. You walked in a certain way in times past before you were a Christian, but now that you are a Christian, you no longer have the same desires that you once did. You no longer have the same goals or ambitions, and so your life begins to change. As your life begins to change, you become the odd one out, and those whom you used to run with think it's strange.

It's strange that you no longer run with them, and they kind of look at you like, "What happened to so-and-so?" They used to be a part of the group, but they are no longer a part of it. A number of years ago, I heard an individual, an author that I like to read, who speaks from time to time. Dr. Jordan Peterson was talking about a group of researchers who were studying zebras in Africa. That's normally where you go if you want to research zebras.

Zebras are kind of an interesting group of pack animals; they go together in herds. They are horse-like creatures that we all recognize by their distinctive black and white stripes. There has been a lot of discussion among researchers about why they have these stripes. Different hypotheses have been proposed. One is that disease-carrying flies do not like the pattern, so they don't land on them and bite them as much. Maybe that's the case. Others suggest that the stripes create a contrast that has a cooling effect in the hot sun of the savannah.

Some have even proposed that zebras use their stripes for camouflage. I have had the privilege of going to Africa twice and visiting Kruger National Park in South Africa a couple of times. One thing you notice very quickly is that zebras do not blend in well with their environment. Everything is kind of a brown grass color, which we understand living here in San Diego County, while zebras stand out very clearly. This is in contrast to their chief predator, the lion, which blends in quite well; their color fits perfectly with the grass. So, it seems that camouflage might not be the reason for the stripes.

Dr. Peterson was discussing how researchers were having a hard time tracking and following individual zebras because they gather together in large herds. The researchers would mark one zebra that they were watching, but when they looked down at their notes and then back up, they couldn't find it among the many others. They had a bright idea: they took a bucket of red paint and a sponge on the end of a stick, loaded it with paint, and drove up in one of their Land Rovers. They put a nice big red dot on the haunch of the zebra. What do you think happened next?

Zebras can be identified individually, but they often fall prey to lions. Researchers discovered something fascinating: zebras are not camouflaged in their environment; rather, they are camouflaged in the herd. When they gather together, it becomes very hard to distinguish individual zebras. However, as soon as one zebra has an identifying mark, it is more likely to be attacked and killed by a lion.

This concept can be related to the challenges faced when one becomes a Christian. The same author, the Apostle Peter, who wrote about those who think it strange that you no longer run with them, also wrote just a few verses later in First Peter, chapter 5, verse 8: "Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil goes about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." In the Scriptures, the devil is depicted as a lion seeking whom he may devour. When you become a Christian, you have been marked out; there is a difference. You have been set apart, and you now bear the mark of Christ upon your life. At that point, you can be sure that the enemy will come after you. This is what we call spiritual warfare, and it is a very real reality.

The enemy targets those who are now with the Lord. He does not go after you when you are part of the herd, as you are doing the will of the enemy and following after his course. However, as soon as you begin to walk with the Lord and follow Him, things begin to change. Your life becomes more challenging. Many people say that their lives were much less challenging before they became Christians, and this is not an abnormal experience. In other words, it is the normative Christian experience to be marked out and to face opposition.

If you are not experiencing the enemy's opposition or challenges in your life, you might want to question why that is. It could indicate that you are blending in too well with your old life and those who live according to that old pattern. In First Peter, the Apostle Peter reveals an important truth about being a Christian and being joined to Christ. The first point in your sermon guide this morning is that the normative Christian experience is one of imminent attack and warfare.

At this point, if you're wondering what this has to do with the Book of Joshua, that is a good question. I want to show you what it has to do with the Book of Joshua. If you were here with us last week, we were in Joshua chapter nine, and Pastor Garrett went through that passage where we read about a group of people who were in the Promised Land. They were among the people that were marked out to be destroyed or removed.

Now, it sounds terrible, but that is exactly what God was doing. He was bringing His people into the land and expelling the rest of the people from the land. There was a group of people who were among those marked out to be removed from the land who came to Joshua craftily to set up peace with him. We read about it in Joshua chapter 9, verse 1.

It came to pass when all the kings who were on this side of the Jordan, that is, the west side of the Jordan River where the children of Israel had now come into the Promised Land, heard about what Joshua and the children of Israel had done to the city of Jericho and the city of Ai. They had destroyed those two cities. Then all of these kings gathered together to fight with Joshua and Israel as one accord.

These individuals, these kings who represented little city-states and major cities throughout the land of Canaan, would normally be in opposition to one another. However, now they had a common foe and joined together in a league to fight against Joshua and all of Israel.

In verse 3 of chapter 9, when the inhabitants of Gibeon, one of the cities of the Hivites, heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai, they worked craftily. They pretended to be ambassadors and took old sacks on their donkeys and wineskins that were torn and mended. In verse 6, they went to Joshua at the camp of Gilgal and said to him and the men of Israel, "We have come from a far country; now therefore make a covenant with us."

At this point in the story, Joshua and the children of Israel are in enemy territory. They have crossed over the Jordan River and come into what is the Promised Land, the land of Canaan. They have effectively poked the bear, having seen the destruction of a great city called Jericho, and then moved from there to a lesser city called Ai. Two cities have now been destroyed as they are moving in.

The land was filled with leaders from major people groups, including the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. All of these groups, as Garrett mentioned last week, had been stirred up to come against Joshua and fight with him and Israel in one accord. However, there was one city among the people identified as the Hivites—the city of Gibeon. The Gibeonites could see the handwriting on the wall, a saying that comes from the Book of Daniel, which we will be studying this summer.

They recognized that Jericho had fallen, and Ai had fallen. They were aware of what had happened in Egypt four decades earlier with Pharaoh and the Egyptians when the children of Israel left. They also knew about the events on the east side of the Jordan River with the Amorite kings Sihon and Og in that region. Understanding the situation, the Gibeonites determined that they needed to make peace with Joshua. This was indeed the right inclination; they recognized that it was not because Joshua and the people of Israel were strategically awesome or had great strength, but rather that their God fought for them. Therefore, they decided to make peace with Joshua and his God.

However, as Garrett noted last week, they did the right thing in the wrong way. It is safe to say that probably every single one of us in this room has done the right thing in the wrong way at some point. The Gibeonites came to Joshua seeking peace, and Joshua and the leaders of Israel also did the right thing in the wrong way.

What did they do that was right? God had commanded them back in Deuteronomy chapter 20 that if a city sought to make peace with them, they should make peace with that city. So, they did the right thing, but they did it in the wrong way. Joshua 9:14 states that they did not ask counsel of the Lord. The people of Gibeon were lying to Joshua and the children of Israel, and their lie would ultimately be exposed, as all lies eventually are. Joshua and the children of Israel could have seen through this deception if they had sought counsel from the Lord. Again, it is safe to say that...

Probably more than a few of us have gotten into some trouble in our lives because we did not ask counsel of the Lord ahead of time. "Lord, what do you want me to do in this situation?" is a very important prayer to pray. I want to encourage you on that point: when you come to a crossroads and face a difficult situation, and you don't quite know what to do, that is the prayer to pray. If you do not get an immediate answer, the answer is to wait. Just wait.

That's hard for us, but it's an important lesson to learn. The prophet Isaiah says, "Those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up on wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint." So, it is a good thing to wait upon the Lord.

King David also got himself into trouble because he did not seek counsel of the Lord and did not wait upon Him. He counsels us in some of his Psalms, saying, "Wait upon the Lord." He emphasizes this twice to remind us that it is an important thing to do.

In Joshua and the children of Israel's case, they did not ask counsel of the Lord. They made peace with the Gibeonites, but there were still city-states coming against the children of Israel to fight with Joshua and Israel as one accord. There was still a problem. One city had made peace with them, but there was still an issue.

Look at Joshua chapter 10, beginning at verse 1. It came to pass when Adonizedek, king of Jerusalem, heard how Joshua had taken Ai and utterly destroyed it, as he had done to Jericho and its king, and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were among them, that he and his people feared greatly. They feared greatly because Gibeon was a great city, like one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than Ai, and all its men were mighty.

Therefore, Adonizedek, king of Jerusalem, sent to Hoham, king of Hebron; Piram, king of Jarmuth; Japhia, king of Lachish; and Debir, king of Eglon, saying, "Come up to me and help me, that we may go and attack Joshua." This group of people was gathered together in one accord to fight against Joshua and all of Israel.

But now it says, "Come up to help me that we may go and attack Gibeon, for it has made peace with Joshua and the children of Israel." Therefore, the five kings of the Amorites—the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon—gathered together. They went up, they and all their armies, and camped before Gibeon, making war against it. Previously, they were in a league to fight together against Joshua and all of Israel, but now they have joined together to fight against one of their own. They have camped and laid siege against a city among the Hivites, their own cousins, if you will.

Why would they do this? The people of the city of Gibeon have made peace with Joshua. Now, Adonizedek—this name is interesting because maybe you've heard the word "Adonai" before. It is a word that means "Lord." The word "Zedek" may not mean much to you, but in Hebrew, it is the word for "righteousness." So, his name means "the Lord of Righteousness," and he is the king of Jerusalem, which is the city of peace. The Lord of Righteousness from the city of peace is kind of an interesting thing.

If you come across a guy in the Bible called the Lord of Righteousness, you might think he seems like a pretty good guy. However, if the Lord of Righteousness has set himself to oppose and go against God and the people of God, you can know one thing for sure: he is an imposter. He is what we would identify as an illustrative type of an antichrist character in the Bible.

So, you have this individual, an antichrist character in the Scriptures, Adonizedek, who gathers a group of others with him to come against the people of God in Joshua chapter 9. But now he gathers that same group of people to come against those who have made peace with Joshua and the people of God.

Again, why was my life less challenging before I became a Christian, before I entered into that relationship with God? The normative Christian experience is an experience of imminent attack and warfare. Now, the people of the city of Gibeon are being attacked because they have made peace.

Why do you find yourself in a place of attack in spiritual warfare? It is because you have made peace with Joshua. The name Joshua in Greek is Jesus. After making peace with Jesus, you can expect that the enemy will come to oppose you, just as the enemy came to oppose the people of Gibeon in this passage.

You once walked according to the course of this world, in step with the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, in step with the Devil. But now you are different. You are in a league with Jesus. You have made peace with Joshua and with the people of God. Those on the outside think it is strange that you no longer run with them. You have put a nice big red blotch of paint right on your haunch, and the one who goes about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour, has identified that you are in a league with Joshua.

The same guy who wrote that the enemy goes about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour also wrote in the very same passage: "Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you." Do not think it is strange.

Point number two, if you're taking notes: do not be surprised if life as a Christian is challenging. One of Peter's good friends, another follower of Jesus named John, wrote a New Testament letter. In 1 John chapter 3, he wrote, "Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you." Do not be surprised if people in the world do not like the way you live or the things you believe as a follower of Jesus.

There was a time in our nation when you could assume that the better part of the people you interacted with on a regular basis shared the same basic worldview as you, informed by the Judeo-Christian worldview and the Scriptures. That is not the case today. Increasingly, that is not the case. Very often, the most vocal among us in our society are those who oppose anything that is of God. Therefore, you can anticipate and expect that if you are a follower of Jesus, especially one who is seeking to be faithful to God and His ways, you will face challenges.

You will be marked and identified by our culture as one that opposes the direction in which it wants to go. Just expect it; do not be surprised or marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you. When John wrote that in First John, chapter 3, verse 13, he was echoing the words that Jesus had spoken to John, Peter, and the rest of the disciples just before He was crucified. In John, chapter 15, Jesus said, "If the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you; yet because you are not of this world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you."

Remember the word that I said to you: a servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you. Look at church history; the last 1,990 years of church history mostly involve the people of God living in places where they are opposed by those among whom they live. We have been blessed and privileged to live at a time and in a place where that is not the case, but do not expect that it will always be this way. It is highly likely that in your life, opposition will increase to the worldview you carry, which is informed by the Scriptures.

It is becoming increasingly the case that if you believe and speak what the Scriptures say regarding what is a man, what is a woman, what is a right lifestyle, what is a wrong lifestyle, and when life begins—if you go down the list of all these different things—the more you hold to this, the more you will be vocally opposed by those in this world. That vocal anger and criticism can easily trigger into physical opposition. Expect it; do not marvel if the world hates you. If the world hates you, you are doing the right thing. Please understand and recognize this: the Gibeonites were under attack because they did the right thing. Did they do it in the right way? No. Do we always do the right thing in the right way? No. But it is always right to do the right thing, and they did the right thing.

If the world hates you, know that it hated me first. It is true that we should be surprised if our life as followers of Jesus is without attack. So, we have the lay of the land here; the story is pretty clear. Under Joshua's leadership, the children...

The people of Israel have come into the promised land. They have crossed over the Jordan River and witnessed the fall of Jericho and Ai. Now, they are in a peace treaty, if you will, with the Gibeonites, who will ultimately serve within the temple. It is an amazing thing that God allows in this whole situation.

Now, the Amorite kings have banded together against Joshua to come against them. However, they are now coming against the Gibeonites, who face a choice. I want to suggest to you today that this is a choice you face on a regular basis, and it will be a choice that will increase in your life more and more as time goes by.

Do the Gibeonites and all the people of the city trust in their newly established covenant with this man named Joshua, whom they do not really know, and with this group of people called Israel, to whom they have no real connection? Or do they retreat and turn back to their old connections, their old relationships, the people among whom they have lived for a very long time? They could say, "Hey, listen, we were only tricking them. We wanted to save ourselves. We went there and dealt craftily, and it was really easy because they were foolish."

They could have gone to Adonizedek and all the other people there and said, "Listen, we are of you. We are just like you. We are brothers. We have been a part of this land for a very long time. We only did that to try and save ourselves and to get the benefits." They could have blended in with their old stripes, showing their allegiance by saying, "I am one of you. We are no different. We are just the same, you and me."

The Gibeonites had a choice: break covenant with Joshua and the people of God to save themselves, or trust in Joshua and the people of God for protection. The struggle is real, and as I said, I think as time goes by, you will experience this struggle more and more.

Point number three, if you are taking notes: beware of the temptation to break covenant or just go with the flow. That is the temptation—to just go with the flow. This is what one of Jesus's earliest followers faced.

Maybe you've heard the name Peter before. Jesus had just told Peter and the rest of the disciples, "If the world hates you, know that it hated me before it hated you. If it persecutes you, know that it persecuted me first." Then Jesus was arrested and taken to the house of the high priest Caiaphas for a trial. Peter, the Gospel of John says, followed at a distance to see what was going to happen. He came into the court of the house of Caiaphas, watching Jesus's trial unfold. We don't know how far away he was, but he was right there.

Three times Peter was asked, "Aren't you with the Galilean? Aren't you with that guy from Nazareth?" And three times he swore, "I do not know the man." He was in the exact same situation as the Gibeonites, perhaps similar to situations you might face at work. Many times when we fail the test, because God is so gracious, we get to retake it.

A short time after that, Peter had to retake the test. He and John were preaching in the name of Jesus after Jesus had been crucified, risen from the dead, and ascended into heaven. They were preaching in the same Jerusalem they had been in before, and they were taken before the high priest and the ruling council. They were beaten and forbidden to speak in the name of Jesus. There they were, facing opportunity number two. Peter and John said, "We're going to obey God rather than man. We're going to continue to preach in the name of Jesus."

Both of those individuals lived the rest of their lives expecting persecution. Peter was ultimately crucified like his Lord. John is believed, from tradition, to be the only one of the disciples who was not martyred for his faith, though he experienced a lot of persecution as well, including being banished to a prison on the island called Patmos in the Greek Isles.

Now, that might sound nice to you, like you could go vacation in the Greek Isles, but it wasn't nice then. If you read the histories of the last 1,990 years of church history, you'll find countless individuals, many whose names will never be known to us here on Earth, but they are known in heaven. These individuals were put in positions where they were told, "Just recant your faith in Christ, and we'll let you go." Some of them watched their wives and children be killed in front of their eyes, being told, "If you will just...".

Recant, and we will let you go. They were in the same place that the Gibeonites were put in. Now, maybe not to that extent, but you might find yourself in a similar situation at some point in your neighborhood, among your friends, or maybe at work when the subject comes up. People want to know: What is your view on LGBTQ issues? What is your view on when life begins in abortion? What is your view on male and female roles? What is a man? What is a woman? What are the roles of men and women in the church, society, or household?

In that situation, the temptation is to just keep your mouth shut and blend in. If I just stay with my black and white stripes here, no one will see me. Don't move; they can't see you, kind of a thing. It's to blend in with the crowd, smile with an embarrassed sort of agreement, and duck and cover for cancel culture. That's the temptation.

What did the Gibeonites do? Look at verse 6 of Joshua chapter 10. The men of Gibeon sent to Joshua at the camp at Gilgal, saying, "Do not forsake your servants. Come up to us quickly, save us, and help us, for all the kings of the Amorites who dwell in the mountains have gathered together against us."

Point number four: The challenge for the Christian is to remain in the faith and faithful. It's to remain in the faith and faithful. So, Joshua, verse 7, ascended from Gilgal, he and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valor. The Lord said to Joshua, "Do not fear them, for I have delivered them into your hand. Not a man of them shall stand before you."

Joshua therefore came upon them suddenly, having marched all night from Gilgal. The Lord routed them from before Israel, killed them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, and chased them along the road that goes to Beth-horon, striking them down as far as Azekah and Makeda.

It happened as they fled before Israel and were on the descent from Beth-horon that the Lord cast down large hailstones from heaven on them as far as Azekah, and they died there. There were more who died from the hailstones than the children of Israel killed by the sword.

Then Joshua spoke to the Lord in that day when the Lord delivered the Amorites before the children of Israel. He said in the sight of all Israel, "Sun, stand still over Gibeon, and moon, in the valley of Aijalon."

And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped till the people had revenge upon their enemies. Is it not written in the Book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day. There has not been a day like that before it or after it. The Lord heeded the voice of a man, for the Lord fought for Israel. Then Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to the camp at Gilgal.

Now, at this point, when reading through a passage like this, the one who is skeptical of the Bible will understandably get stuck on what has been called the long day of Joshua. If you read commentary on this passage, there are all kinds of different opinions and views that suggest this is just poetic writing, trying to explain it away. This is a truly magnificent and miraculous thing that appears to have happened in this passage. The skeptic will say, "Come on, the long day of Joshua? You actually believe that Joshua said, 'Sun, stand still,' and the sun stood still?"

But listen, at this point, if you believe that the children of Israel came out of Egypt by miraculous power, crossed over the Red Sea on dry ground, and existed in the wilderness for four decades receiving food from God on a daily basis in the form of miraculous manna, and that God provided and protected them during that time, then you can also believe that they miraculously crossed the Jordan River on dry ground. By God's miraculous power, the walls of Jericho fell down, and Ai was destroyed. If you believe any of that, this is not all that hard to believe.

In fact, it has been said, and I think it's probably true, that if you can get past the first opening words of the Bible, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth," the rest of the story is not all that hard to buy. Does the Bible describe miraculous events? Yes, it does. The amazing thing is we still see miraculous events happen in our day.

Let me give you one example: 75 years ago today, in fulfillment of a prophecy written 2,800 years ago by Isaiah, the nation of Israel became a nation once again after over 1,900 years in exile from their land. Reviving a language that was long dead, Hebrew is now spoken in the land of Israel. Israel, as the prophets described more than two thousand years ago, would become the breadbasket of the world, a fruitful land.

Nation, if you go to Europe today, I will be flying to Germany tonight. If you go and buy yourself some bananas at Aldi, which we have here and is from Germany, you will see "made in Israel." You might also buy mangoes, papayas, or all kinds of different things made in Israel. The Scriptures describe all Israel becoming this tremendous wealth among the nations, and here we are. The new Silicon Valley is probably in Tel Aviv. That's a phenomenal thing to see; it's miraculous.

You might say, "Well, miracles don't happen." However, there are many writings on miracles that have been validated and substantiated in our day. So yes, is it hard to believe that Joshua said, "Son, stand still," and they had a long day? Yes, that's hard to believe. Is it harder to believe than that, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth? No, actually, it's not.

When we look at a passage like this, I have to conclude that I don't know what God did if the sun stood still. I don't know how God did it, but I know that the Bible describes that God did it. The fact that there is a nation of Israel today at least speaks to the fact that God did it. So, I don't know what He did or how He did it; I simply know that He did it. I believe that it reveals this very simple truth: God moves with great power on behalf of those who are not ashamed to trust greatly in Him.

That was the story for the Gibeonites. They did the right thing in the wrong way, but when it all came down to it and they were put in a pressure situation, they did the right thing in the right way. They said, "Joshua, come help us, come save us," and God protected them mightily. God moves with great power on behalf of those who are not ashamed to trust greatly in Him. That was true for the Gibeonites, and that will be true for you as well when you face challenging difficulties.

When you are put in a situation like the Gibeonites, the temptation is to turn and run. The temptation is to blend in and hide. However, it is in that moment that we need to trust in the one who has great power to overcome whatever we might face.

What does this mean for you and me? The Apostle Paul wrote in the New Testament book of Romans, "If we confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." The scripture says, "Whoever believes on him will not be put to shame, for whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."

I want to encourage you today. If you are a follower of Christ, a believer, those words are still true for you today. Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord, whoever believes in him, will not be put to shame as we trust greatly in him.

But I also want to speak to any of you here this morning who have not yet put your faith in Jesus Christ and experienced his saving grace and forgiveness. It says here, "If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved." Whoever believes in the name of the Lord will not be put to shame. He is calling out to you this morning to trust in him. I can't think of a better day to say, "I want to follow you and trust in you."

Would you stand with me as we close in prayer?

Father God, I thank you for powerful stories like this in Joshua that remind us of these important truths. It is not abnormal when we experience attack and warfare spiritually in this life. We should not be surprised or marvel when we face challenges. Lord, when we are tempted to throw in the towel and go with the flow, hiding out in the crowd, you fight for those with great power who trust in you and follow you by faith. God, would you help us and enable us to do just that: to trust in you and to be bold in our faith and our faithfulness?

Lord, give your church boldness. That's certainly what is needed in 2023 as we go about our lives here in San Diego County. We are living in a society and a culture that is increasingly walking in darkness, and you have called us to be a bright shining light, a salt for the Earth. God, help us to be just that—not to hide the light under a bushel, oh no, but to let it shine.

We praise You, Jesus. This morning, as we're standing here in an attitude of prayer, I want to give you an opportunity to do exactly what Paul talks about in Romans: to trust in Christ, to confess Him as Lord, and to receive His grace and forgiveness. If that's you, would you just indicate that by lifting up your hand so I can see it real high?

Lord, I pray that you would move in our hearts. Remind us that You are powerful. Remind us in our lives that You are good. Lord, remind us that You fulfill Your word, even as we saw 75 years ago today, and even as we see in our lives on a regular basis. Help us to trust in You. Would you move mightily in and through Your church? We pray this in Jesus' name. And all those that agreed said, "Let's sing to the Lord."