SERMON: Worship Through Adversity

Worship Through Adversity and the Promise to Joshua

Thank you for subscribing to the Shepherds Church podcast. This is our Lord's Day sermon and we pray that as we declare the Word of God that you would be encouraged Strengthen in your faith and you would catch a greater vision of who Christ is.

And may you be blessed in the hearing of God's Word and may the Lord be with you. Sure seated like to invite my friend Nicholas up. I met Nicholas in I think New York State at the Airbnb. That we were at for spring Presbyterian.

I think that's when I first met you. Yeah, it was Pennsylvania. I get these states confused. If it's not where I live, I don't know where I'm at. Anyway Nicholas has become a friend of mine over the years.

He serves in. It's not Buffalo, but it's it's right there, right? Okay, yeah, so in that sort of area of New York. And they're sort of a newer church plant. They haven't been around as long as we are and we're still a newer church plant, but Nicholas has become a friend of mine.

I'm actually on his ordination committee. So in a lot of ways I get. I get to persecute him and. But Nicholas has become a great friend. He's a he's a faithful student of the scriptures and he's a I'm excited for him to bring the word to us this morning from the book of Joshua and.

With that brother. Thank you. I'm gonna be spending a little bit more time doing an introduction than I normally would just because You guys aren't going through Joshua and there's a lot of context that I think Leads into this sermon and the importance of the things we see in this sermon.

So Bear with me. We'll have a bit longer of an introduction. I'll pray. We'll read the passage and then I'll exegete the text. So if you do want to turn there our primary text today is Joshua 7 1 through 13.

Joshua as a Prototype of the Church in Acts

But to appreciate that we have to understand the book of Joshua. Joshua's coming right off the heels of the end of the Pentateuch. So Moses is that Moses has died and we see Joshua taking over his mantle on the scene.

Now if I want for you, this might be difficult for a moment. But imagine that you were a child born in the wilderness wanderings. We sang Psalm 95 today, which did allude to that. But imagine you were born after the events that led to Israel being Condemned in the wilderness for that generation and you are now entering into the land under Joshua.

You saw Moses leading God's people you heard all these wonderful Marvelous stories about Yahweh and about what he has done in your midst in the past and you've waited for 470 years since the time in Genesis 12 when God gave the promise to Abraham that he would give to Israel.

He'd make them a great nation. He'd give them land and that all the nations of the earth would be blessed through him. And 470 years later here you are having entered the promised land seen God do this great Awesome miracle at Jericho, which we'll talk about and this is where you are in redemptive history.

So 470 years from the point the promise was given to Abraham you have been now vindicated from the Exodus in the wilderness wanderings because Egypt had an occasion to look at all the good promises that God had done For Israel and then scoff at them by saying, oh well God could bring them out of the out of the land of Egypt.

But he couldn't deliver them into the promised land like he had said now. Obviously this has nothing to do with Yahweh's inability. But Israel's hard-heartedness and their faithlessness when they accepted the bad report from the spies.

So they accepted this and then they were baptized out of the reproach of Egypt as they walked through the Jordan. Over to the other side into the land of Canaan now. This is also significant because that's indicating to the Canaanites that the same God Yahweh this warrior God who brought this.

Small.

Subjugated people out of Egypt the world's superpower at the time. Delivered them destroyed the gods of Egypt destroyed Pharaoh destroyed his armies. Plundered Egypt and even took some of them with them and then led them into the wilderness.

This is the same God who defeated Egypt that is now on their doorstep in the sign that told them that affirmed to Israel. That God was blessing but also as firm to the Canaanites that God was going to destroy them was his parting the waters at Jarrah at It the Jordan.

So a lot of things are happening where God is showing not only Israel But all the inhabitants of the land that he is now coming to make good on his promises. To destroy them and to give the land of Canaan to his people.

Another very important thing. We need to understand about Joshua is it's a prototype for the book of Acts. Joshua begins with the death of Moses and they're going in to take the promised land. Remember these all all these promises point back to the Garden of Eden, which we'll get back into a little bit more later.

But this is pointing back to Eden where God promised to redeem man from his sin. So they are now entering into this new. This new era of history where God is bringing them into the promised land. Where he's making good on the promises given to Abraham given to Moses and now being fulfilled in Joshua.

So all these things are very significant and it's very similar to us after how Jesus died. He won the victory. He won the fullness of it. Not like the death of Moses. But he won the fullness of the victory over sin death and hell.

And now we as his church are going into not just the Promised Land, but the whole world is the hands and feet of Christ.

Building.

Heavenly Jerusalem living stone by living stone as the gospel goes forth. So as we're reading through Joshua as you're considering Joshua, you need to understand that it is prototypical of what we see in Acts.

It's it's the prototype for what we are doing now as the church, but they were doing it as Israel in the promised land. And then finally to truly understand the book of Joshua. We need to understand that Joshua the way that God worked with Israel prior to Joshua largely.

Was God did things for them without as much involvement of Israel now. That might sound confusing because God always has to go before us. We know this but really if you look back to the Exodus account, we see a lot of chiastic similarities.

You can look at How the Lord again defeated Israel their gods. The Pharaoh his armies and all these things and you can look at the Battle of Jericho. God did the same thing there. But the way that the Lord did it in Egypt was the angel of the Lord or the Lord's miraculous power.

Crushing Pharaoh. Israel didn't have to do much. They just needed to go where God was taking them. But when we look at them moving into the land of Canaan. They had to pick up the Ark of the Covenant.

Walk it into the water and then the presence of the Lord did the work for them. But they had to not just trust God for him to do the work and them to walk through. They had to pick up the Ark of the Covenant which had the presence of God.

Walk it into the dangerous Jordan at the worst time of the season in the worst area and then the waters would come up. Similarly with the defeat of Egypt God sent the angel to do that the defeat of Jericho is different.

God promised them victory, but they needed to go and they needed to slay the inhabitants of Jericho so we're seeing this shift where God was doing things miraculously and now he's telling Israel you need to be faithful.

To listen to my word and walk in the ways I've given you to walk or you won't have victory which we'll read in a moment when I get to Joshua 1. Which is now so Joshua 1 1 through 9 is the key text for the whole book.

So I will be reading that today as a preamble to our text here and Joshua 1 is really all about Yahweh's promise in in in Yahweh's promise to Joshua, but also Joshua taking leadership over Israel and them accepting him.

Joshua 1 1 through 9 now it came about after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord that the Lord spoke to Joshua the son of Nun Moses servant saying Moses my servant is dead now. Therefore arise cross this Jordan you and all this people to the land which I am giving to them to the sons of Israel.

Every place on which the soul of your foot treads I have given it to you. Just as I spoke to Moses from the wilderness and this Lebanon even as far as the Great River the River Euphrates All the land of the Hittites and as far as the Great Sea toward the setting of the Sun will be your territory.

No, man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I have been with Moses. I will be with you. I will not fail you or forsake you be strong and courageous. For you shall give this people Possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them only be strong and very courageous.

Be careful to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded you do not turn it. Turn from it to the right or to the left so that you may have success wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth.

But you shall meditate on it Day and night so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have success. Have I not commanded you be strong and courageous?

Do not tremble or be dismayed for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. This is God's promise to Joshua. God in no uncertain terms is telling Joshua I will be with you like I was with Moses, which is a huge statement in and of itself.

But he's also telling him I'm going to give everybody over into your hand. All you need to do is be faithful to walk in my ways now. We know God's going to do it because God has says he's gonna use Joshua to bring in the land.

But it is a conditional promise. Joshua has to be faithful to the Word of God. We have to walk after God to receive the blessing of God to usher in the kingdom. Now this is not saying we need to be Jesus.

We can't be perfect like Jesus. But when God gives us a command, we can't just blatantly disobey it and walk in our own wisdom that leads to failure. Joshua 2 is just the the scouting of Jericho and salvation for Rahab's household.

So before any land is taken a promise is made and James actually calls the spies evangelists in his book. So God had it in his heart to send two evangelists to before he gives them any land to save a family out of there.

Which is his blessing to the nations. Remember that three-part promise from Abraham to Abraham from God to make them a great nation. Which they have become a big nation not as big as they will be. But he's going to give them a land and he's going to bless the nations of the earth.

And right here God showed mercy to a family of Canaan of Jericho in particular before he destroys the city. So we see God's covenant promises already being fulfilled in this way. Joshua 3 they crossed the Jordan which we talked about which is an echo of the Exodus.

Then Joshua 4 we see the memorial stones. They placed these stones in the water so that God well not the water at the time. But so that whenever they're their children look back. They will remember the great things that Yahweh has done as he has called us to do.

Joshua 5 is the reinstatement of the covenant sign in the celebration of Passover. Now as your sermon series is about worship I want to take a moment to focus here because it doesn't make a whole lot of sense again.

Think about this you are an Israelite. Going into the land one of the things that they need to do is they need to take the Passover. Before they can take the Passover they need to Be circumcised and the whole generation of that new generation coming up was not circumcised in the wilderness.

Scripture doesn't come out and say why that is. I think it's because of the covenant unfaithfulness of Israel. So God stops the covenant sign from going forth indicating that the the promises of God are stalled.

But now with the death of Moses with the death of that generation They make their way into the land and in the presence of their enemies. They circumcise the men of Israel, which seems like a very poor decision.

But again Yahweh protects his people even though there were spies in the land, even though Canaan knew they were there and coming after Canaan they still trusted the Lord enough to circumcise them to set them apart unto Yahweh restoring the covenant sign.

To make a table in the presence of their enemies alas Psalm 23 kind of a preamble to that. Eating the fruit of the land not the manna any longer before they go and do in Joshua 6. What they do at the Battle of Jericho and then finally before Joshua 7 we have the Battle of Jericho.

Now this is an incredibly significant battle it was the most fortified city of its day there weren't many places like it. What you need to understand about? Warfare in the Old Testament like this was that they didn't have the kind of siege weapons we have today.

Really if a city had a really strong fortified wall in Jericho had layers upon layers of walls. It basically meant that they could stay hold up in the walls and as long as they had provision. Then they wouldn't need to come out.

They could just sit there for a long time and they planned for these things. So they would have had provision in a city like Jericho. And also Jericho knew they were coming. So this was not a surprise.

They had time to prepare. So what would Israel do? How do they conquer it? Well Yahweh approaches Jawah. Yahweh tells Joshua how they are to do it and this is the most interesting part of Joshua 6. I believe and again, it's it's a victory by liturgy the the Lord said this is what you are to do.

They didn't take swords and beat down the walls. Yahweh said take the Ark of the Covenant and for six days walk around the city with the Ark. Blasting trumpets then on the seventh day. I want you to walk around again but you're gonna do it seven times and then on the seventh time the priests are gonna blast the Trumpets and the people are gonna yell and then the walls are gonna come down and that happens on the seventh day.

They walk around seven times. They blast the trumpets the people yell and then the walls come down and it doesn't say that a single Israelite was lost in this Battle. The Lord has given Jericho to them in a very unique way in a miraculous way again.

Indicating that God is using even the earth itself against them because these walls are made of the earth. He's using the base elements of creation. Against the Canaanites, but it's even more interesting than that when we think about what's actually happening.

I would argue that the walls coming down in Jericho and I know this might seem weird. I'm getting there. It's really like a circumcision of sorts a circumcision is something that sets Israel apart unto the Lord.

It tells the world this belongs to Yahweh. Well, the walls are made of the earth and they are cut down and in a very real sense. That is Yahweh saying I am setting this apart for myself. This is mine now.

Now the reason that's significant if you put it into context with the typological Reading of what is seven times seven? Why does Yahweh care about all these sevens Nick? It doesn't make sense, right? So why do they have to walk around the city seven days?

Why do they have to do it seven times on the seventh day? Why does all this matter well to an Israelite who would have known the Pentateuch very well. They would have been they would have been hearkening back to this 49 imagery.

The idea of seven times seven is a Sabbath of Sabbaths, right? It's pointing toward the 50th year. Which is the year of Jubilee when the slaves would be set free. This land of Canaan the land that God promised to Israel was under Canaanite oppression.

It was defiled by the Canaanites in their sacrifices to their gods and these abominations of practices. They had been doing and when Yahweh cut down the walls of Jericho and did this in this seven times seven fashion.

Pointing to the year of Jubilee what he was saying was I have freed this land from the Canaanite oppression. And I am giving it to Israel. Yahweh is claiming the land for himself. So that Israel can properly worship the true God in the land that he has given them to worship.

So there is a liturgical victory that happened by their obedience to the word not a single person lost is recorded. It's a complete victory and it's Yahweh's laying claim to the land of Canaan. So they are on this high of this fulfillment of four hundred and seventy years of waiting for prophecy to come to pass.

All these great things have happened and everything's great. Everything's great. But I do want to point out something from Joshua 6 verses 17 through 18 read Joshua speaking the city shall be under the ban and the ban is referring to they can't take anything from it.

It has to be destroyed.

Generally.

The city shall be under the ban. It and all that is in it belong to the Lord. Only Rahab the harlot and all who are with her in the house shall live because she hid the messengers whom we sent. But as for you only keep yourselves from the things under the ban so that you do not covet them and Take some of the things under the ban and make the camp of Israel accursed and bring trouble upon it.

Yahweh had given them a prohibition. Yahweh said don't do something. And as we'll read in a moment they did something. Let's pray Father God in heaven. We thank you for your word. We thank you for your truth.

We thank you for this day of rest and worship. We thank you for this example that we have in the scriptures that is warning to us. I pray Lord God that you would soften our hearts to your truth. You would till the ground of our hearts that we may hear your word that we would respond to it in faith.

That we would apply it to our lives and fix our eyes upon Jesus Christ is our hope and our Savior and For the one in whom we are motivated by it's in his name. We pray. Amen. Joshua 7 verse 1. I'll read 1 through 15 or 1 through 13.

Achan’s Sin and the Defeat at Ai

But the sons of Israel acted unfaithfully in regard to the things under the ban for Achan the son of car me the son of Zebedee the son of Zerah from the tribe of Judah took some of the things under the ban.

Therefore the anger of the Lord burned against the sons of Israel. Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai which is near Beth Avon East of Bethel and said to them go up and spy out the land. So the men went up and spied out Ai.

They returned to Joshua and said to him Do not let all the people go up only about two or three thousand men need to go up to Ai. Do not make all the people toil up there for they are few. So about three thousand men from the people went up there but they fled from the men of Ai.

The men of Ai struck down about 36 of their men and Pursued them from the gate as far as Sheba rim and struck them down on the descent. So the hearts of the people Melted and became his water. Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord.

Until the evening both he and the elders of Israel and they put dust on their heads. Joshua said alas, oh Lord God Why did you ever bring this people over the Jordan? Only to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us if only we had been willing to dwell beyond the Jordan.

Oh Lord, what can I say since Israel has turned their back before their enemies? For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it and they will surround us and cut off our name from the Earth and what will you do for your great name?

So the Lord said to Joshua rise up. Why is it that you have fallen on your face? Israel has sinned and they have also transgressed my covenant. Which I commanded them and they have even taken some of the things under the ban and have both stolen and deceived.

Moreover they have also put them among their own things. Therefore the sons of Israel cannot stand before their enemies. They turn their backs before their enemies for they have become accursed. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy the things under the ban from your midst rise up consecrate the people and say Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow.

For thus the Lord the God of Israel has said there are things under the ban in your midst. Oh Israel, you cannot stand before your enemies until you have removed the things under the ban from your midst.

This is the Word of God. So the first thing we see we're standing in this liminal space that Israel doesn't know about that Joshua doesn't know about in verse 1. But the sons of Israel acted unfaithfully in regard to the things under the ban for Achan The son of Carmi the son of Zabdi the son of Zerah from the tribe of Judah Took some of the things under the ban therefore the anger of the Lord burned against the Son of Israel.

What did God promise to Joshua what God promised to Joshua was that if they were faithful? To do what he said that he would be with them that he would deliver them. And this is also what the whole book of Leviticus is about the whole book of Leviticus is a book about what?

Israel must do to have God dwell with them again. The presence of Yahweh going before them and dwelling with them is what gives them victory. It's what sets them apart from the other nations. And by the way, if you have the presence of Yahweh among you and you are not blessed it is a curse to you just like it was to the Philistines who Stole the Ark of the Covenant and then God smote them for having the Ark and they got to the point where they delivered it.

Back to Israel. They're like we don't want the Ark anymore. The Ark is superior to our deities and he's cursing us. You have to have the presence of God in the right way in the right way that God has prescribed.

Otherwise, it is not a blessing. It is a curse to you that's going to be the difference between glory and hell and how God's presence will be punishing the wicked and glory we will be With the Lord in his perfect presence his blessed presence for all of eternity where there will be no more tears.

No more pain. No more suffering.

But.

Joshua and Israel didn't know about the faithless act of Achan and by the way Achan means serpent if that helps you at all kind of put together what's going on here. So the moment an Israelite would read this or a Jewish person would read this in the Hebrew.

They would make this connection between Achan and wickedness. Achan and serpent Achan in Eden even. So the anger of God is burning against Israel, but the Israelites are unaware. They are still rejoicing over the victory of Jericho, which is perfectly reasonable.

What we looked at in Joshua 6 we didn't read it. But God told Joshua how to go about that battle. Joshua did what God said and they had victory. That is kind of the formula for success. God tells you to do something you obey and then God gives them the victory.

But what does verse 2 say. This is where Joshua is this is where Israel is and where their mind is. Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai which is near Beth Avon east of Bethel and said to them Go up and spy out the land.

So the men went up and spied out Ai so so far so good. They did this with Jericho. Things turned out. Well, we're being wise according to the world just because God is with us doesn't mean we throw wisdom in the toilet.

And we don't do our diligence. They spy. Things look good to them. So they proceed. They returned to Joshua and said to him do not let all the people go up only about two or three. Thousand men need to go up to Ai and do not make all the people toil up there for they are few.

So basically they are small potatoes. Israel's fighting force at this time should have been around six hundred thousand. They're saying just send a small little band. We don't need to do anything with this rinky-dink town.

We just took Jericho and again I don't want to impose too much. I don't want to read too into that. But it's not unreasonable to say they just took this big Amazing city. This should be an easy win. They were probably thinking in these terms.

They have God's blessing. They are going to go and take dominion in the land because God is blessing them. But again in the text, there's no mention of Yahweh's presence going before them. There's no mention of Yahweh telling Joshua how to approach this battle.

They're not walking around the walls and doing all these things. All we see is in verse 4 so about 3 ,000 men from the people went up there, but they fled from the men of Ai. They fled from the men of Ai doesn't say that the Ark of the Covenant was before them.

It doesn't say they put the Lord before them. It just says they went and they fled. The men of Ai struck down about 36 of their men and Pursued them from the gate as far as Sheburim and struck them down on the descent.

So the hearts of the people melted and became as water and that phraseology. So the hearts of the people melted and became as water. Those were promises that were given to Moses and then fulfilled In the land of Canaan by Rahab where she affirms that their their hearts were melting like water.

They had great fear before Israel, but now the table has flipped and Israel has great fear of this tiny little town that was able to push them back again. They have sick they have like five hundred ninety some thousand people in the wing.

But they're afraid because they know that Yahweh did not go before them. They know that Yahweh did not bless it and then we see Joshua's response to this. Now before we look at Joshua's response, I do want to point out the fact Joshua did have the Urim and the Thummim.

They used to cast lots for things but it doesn't in any way shape or form again state that Joshua consulted with the Lord or Tried to go to the priest and do the Urim and the Thummim for the counsel of the Lord.

They had a more direct route to get some wisdom in these ways that was given to them and then Joshua. It's not stated that he pursued that so they did this in by all accounts in the scripture according to their own wisdom verse 6 then Joshua tore his clothes and Fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord.

Until evening both he and the elders of Israel and they put dust on their heads. So they are lamenting this great defeat and then the first time we see the ark of the Covenant in this chapter. It's not the ark going before them.

No, it's Joshua and the elders going before the ark and sackcloth and ashes. Lamenting the defeat it would be like going to a general after they didn't consult him. And just being broken saying why did we lose?

Why did we lose there? They didn't do what they ought to have done in approaching Yahweh first, but they approached him in defeat. Let's go on. Joshua said alas. Oh Lord God. Why did you ever bring this people over the Jordan only to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites?

To destroy us if only we had been willing to dwell beyond the Jordan. Oh Lord. What can I say since Israel has turned their back against their end before I'm sorry since Israel has turned their back before their enemies.

For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it. And they will surround us and cut off our name from the earth. And what will you do for your great name? What is Joshua doing? He's blaming the Lord for their loss saying God.

Why would you do this? Why would you bring us into this land and then cause this defeat now? Our enemies are gonna come after us and oh, by the way, if you're not with us that Jordan's not gonna rise up again.

And it's it's in a volatile high tide season where we can't cross it. So now we are stuck in this town between a rock and a hard place. And by the way, that town doesn't have walls any longer. God. What why have you done this thing?

And I think that Joshua's response is very similar to our response. It's very easy to look at Characters in Scripture like this and say wow. Joshua was sure faithless. We are very faithless, too. How often has it been in your life when there's been a failure or a difficulty or you didn't get that job or maybe you got?

A cancer diagnosis and you're saying God, where are you? I thought that I thought that life wasn't supposed to be like this. I thought this I thought that I thought the other thing God you didn't fulfill what I expected therefore You must have gotten this wrong.

Now in this case, this is not like a cancer diagnosis. This is not like you not getting a job. God hasn't promised you to have not cancer or to get a job. But God did promise to Joshua in Joshua 1 that he would be with them and nobody could stand before him.

But again, Joshua didn't think back if they obeyed Yahweh. Again, Joshua didn't know about Achan's wickedness his deception his his stealing the things that the Lord said He shouldn't take and again, he didn't think about the fact that he didn't consult with Yahweh.

He didn't think about the fact that Yahweh hadn't instructed him to go and take AI all he was thinking about was that the brokenness and the destitution of their Circumstances and he goes into this spiral where the where the process gets worse from like, oh we lost 36 men.

Which is horrible by the way, but what they lost about 36 men. Most of them were fine. But he goes from this one loss to wow. All the people are gonna come after us and we're gonna die and why would you even have brought us here?

Why couldn't we have just been content over there? Which reminds us a lot of Israel after they had left Egypt and then longed for Egypt Egypt again to be their taskmaster. This is not a picture of faithfulness.

This is a picture of forgetfulness. This is a picture of faithlessness and not remembering the promises of God and the conditions of God for victory. So, how does God respond to this? And again, we can very clearly make application to us here when God Promises something to us.

We don't always know how it's gonna come about in our case. We don't have God giving us direction go attack Jericho go attack AI. But he has taken dominion over all the earth and he has told us to go and it can be very frustrating.

When you lose a family from your church, it can be very frustrating. When you go and you try to take dominion for the Lord, but it doesn't work and you're like Why would this happen? It's frustrating in your denomination when you see a church plant start and then die off for no discernible reason.

All these things can be frustrating, but that doesn't mean we should turn to God and say God, how dare you? So the Lord said to Joshua verse 10 Rise up. Why is it that you have fallen on your face? Israel has sinned and they have also transgressed my covenant.

Which I commanded them and they have even taken some of the things under the ban and have both stolen and deceived. Moreover, they have also put them among their own things. Therefore the sons of Israel cannot stand before their enemies.

They turn their backs before their enemies for they have become accursed. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy the things under the ban from your midst. So we need to understand again. We need to understand Leviticus.

We have to have some understanding of the presence of God and how we need to live. God promises to covenant. God has covenant covenanted with us. He promises to be with us, but we have to obey God. We have to do what God says in order for God to remain with us now again, we have Christ.

This is different for us this I'm referring to the Old Testament, but we do need to abide in Christ. Otherwise we could be cut off from the vine, right? That's what the scriptures tell us. We need to obey and follow Christ in what he has called us to and when we sin.

We have an advocate before the father. We can repent we can turn we can do all these things. But what is not going to make you effective for the Lord is when you have secret sin or hidden sin or sin that you don't Want to put to death, but you're just not feeding at the moment and then you're trying to serve the Lord.

Why would any of us expect to have victory if we are not consecrated vessels meant to be used of God? And by the way if the Lord for some reason does take you in your sin and Uses you despite yourself that often could be a curse upon you because God might still use your evil for good.

But that still is going to be a curse to you. Some people plant a church and they think it's going well. But they don't have the blessing of a Presbytery or maybe he doesn't live up to the qualifications.

The man does it in his own way and then you see blessing you see people coming to this church. But what if it's the Lord? Fattening the calf so that there's a day of destruction and God's glory is seen more clearly through the destruction of the wicked who had been raised up like Egypt to be destroyed.

Showing the Lord's great power. We can't sin. We can't hide sin in our lives. Expect to serve the Lord and expect that to be a blessed thing for us again. God might work in spite of you. Sure that congregation might die.