Covenant Promise Realized (Joshua 11-12, John Lasken)

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Sermon Notes: http://notes.cornerstonesj.org Covenant Promise Realized

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Every lesson took my heart to sing like this.
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Streams of mercy never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise.
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Teach me some melodious song, sung by claiming tongues of fire.
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Rage my mouth and fix the heart, now from thy redeeming blood.
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Here I am, heaven -pleasing, with her by my side.
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Don't you come and I hope that thy unfailing spirit to arrive at me.
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Jesus saw me when I fainted, wandering from the cold of night.
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He's too many, he's from nature, he's a focused, precious light.
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O to grace, the great of day, daily
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I'm constrained to pray. Led by hers, like a married part to me.
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Prone to wander, Lord, I flee. Prone to linger,
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God, I love thee. Take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above.
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Here's my heart, Lord, take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above.
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This morning, just to kind of set our hearts, this is from Isaiah.
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Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted.
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But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was a chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.
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All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord has laid upon him the iniquity of us all.
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He was oppressed, he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that is before its shearer's assailant, so he opened not his mouth.
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To verse 10. Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him, he has put him to grief. When his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring, he shall prolong his days, the will of the
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Lord shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied.
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By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.
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Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors.
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Yet he bore the sins of many and makes the intercession for the transgressors. He became sin, who knew no sin, that we might become his righteousness.
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He humbled himself and carried the cross.
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Love so amazing, love so amazing,
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Jesus Messiah, name above all names,
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Blessed Redeemer, Emmanuel, The rescue for sinners, the ransom from heaven,
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Jesus Messiah, Lord of all,
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His body the bread, his blood the wine,
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Broken and poured out all for love,
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The whole earth trembled and the veil was torn.
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Love so amazing, love so amazing,
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Jesus Messiah, name above all names,
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Blessed Redeemer, Emmanuel, The ransom from heaven,
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Jesus Messiah, Lord of all, is in you.
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Jesus Messiah, name above all names,
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Blessed Redeemer, Emmanuel, The rescue for sinners, the ransom from heaven,
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Jesus Messiah, Lord of all,
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Jesus Messiah, Lord of all,
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Lord of all, Lord of all.
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Let's all be seated. Paul tells us in Corinthians that whenever we break the bread and drink the cup, we do proclaim the
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Lord's death till he comes. Jesus began his teaching ministry in a synagogue in Nazareth.
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As you read the account, you'll notice that the scripture was handed to him that day.
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The scroll of Isaiah was handed to him and he read from Isaiah 61. And what an incredible moment as the
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Word of God reads the Word of God. Even today, synagogues are on a schedule as they read through the scripture.
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They read through the Torah and the prophets and the writings. Throughout the year, they will go through the entire scriptures.
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However, there is one portion of scripture that they will avoid. They will not read that chapter.
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They will skip over it. It's called the forbidden chapter. It's known as the torture chamber for the rabbis.
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Yet for you and I, it is the holy of holies for us. It is the
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Mount Everest of the scriptures. It is the most significant passage of scripture throughout the entire
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Bible because it is the original gospel. You and I know Matthew as the first gospel, but this is the first gospel.
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You can preach Jesus Christ from this passage. It is most significant because it will document the righteousness that we receive from the
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Lord. It covers the age -old question that we all struggle with is, how can
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God justify sinners? How can a righteous and holy God punish sin yet declare us righteous and forgive our sins?
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It's all answered in this portion of scripture. It's the most amazing passage because you can prove divine inspiration from this passage because it was written seven centuries before Jesus the
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Messiah. Yet as you read it, it's written as if someone is looking back at the cross.
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Let's look at this passage, and I'm going to start in Isaiah 52 because the
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Word of God is inspired, but the chapter breaks are not. So it really begins in 52 verse 13, and it begins with what has been called the
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Ece Omo of the Old Testament. In the New Testament, we hear Pilate say, Ece Omo, behold the man.
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And here it begins with, behold my servant.
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This is the suffering servant of Isaiah known as God's servant. Behold my servant shall act wisely.
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He shall be high and lifted up and shall be exalted. As many were astonished at you, his appearance was so marred beyond human resemblance, his form beyond that of the children of mankind.
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So shall he sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths because of him, for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand.
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Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
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For he grew up before him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground. He had no form or majesty that we should look at him and no beauty that we should desire him.
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He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
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And as one from whom men had their faces, he was despised and we esteemed him not.
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Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted.
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But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities.
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Upon him was a chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.
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All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way, and the
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Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, he was afflicted, and yet he opened not his mouth.
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Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.
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By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgressions of my people?
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And they made his grave with the wicked and with the rich man in his death, although he had done no violence and there was no deceit in his mouth.
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Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him. He has put him to grief.
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When his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring, he shall prolong his days.
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The will of the Lord shall prosper in his own hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied.
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By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.
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Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, he shall divide the spoiled with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors.
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Yet he bore the sin of many and makes intercession for the transgressors.
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Hallelujah, what a Savior. It is an amazing passage because it answers all those three questions.
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How does God punish sin? How does he forgive sinners? And how does he make us righteous?
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It's all right there in Isaiah. And it's amazing as many versions of the
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Tanakh don't have this portion, yet you can go to the Shrine of the Book in Jerusalem and see the
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Dead Sea Scrolls have this passage right there in the middle, proclaiming Jesus the
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Messiah, his death for us. As we celebrate communion, we proclaim his death until he comes.
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There is no other scripture like this, there is no other parallel of scripture like this except for Psalm 22.
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And also, too, as a side note, I recommend the Journal of the American Medical Association back in 86 did a report on the crucifixion, and it's a detailed medical analogy or analysis of his death.
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So as we focus on communion and his death for us, I want to ask you to get your wafer ready, and we're going to have a moment that you can pray alone before the
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Lord, and then we'll take the bread together. He was the perfect Lamb of God.
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As John declared, Behold, the Lamb of God. He was crushed for our iniquities, yet the scripture declares,
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Not a bone of his body was broken. Jesus said, Take and eat, this is my body broken for you.
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Before we drink the cup, from Hebrews 9, 12 to 14, He entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.
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For if the blood of goats and bulls, sprinkling defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living
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God. Jesus said, Take and drink. This is my blood of the new covenant.
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Father, we thank you, Lord, for sending your Son to die on the cross for us, Lord, making a way for us to be made righteous.
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And we look unto you, Lord, the author and the finisher of our faith. We thank you for your grace, and that your mercies are near every morning.
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And we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. I want to say good morning.
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It is really exciting to be back. I know I've been away for a while, helping out over at the
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Rock. I know that Pastor Ben has appreciated prayers for his recovery.
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He had the double whammy of COVID and pneumonia. But he is supposedly in the pulpit this morning, and that's just great news,
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God being merciful and helping him recover. So we continue to pray for Ben and for our brothers and sisters over there at the
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Rock. And be in prayer for our own Pastor Jeff, as he's on a much, much deserved vacation.
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He should be back this week. But it's been an amazing morning already.
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I want to say thank you to Phil for leading us. The songs that you chose this morning were so apropos, so focusing us on the reality,
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Jesus, Messiah, name above all names. It doesn't get a whole lot better than that.
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And Rob, I had not heard the term the Everest, the Mount Everest, applying to Isaiah 53.
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While you were doing it, I heard it in the first service, and it was dawned on me that when people would go up and take this expedition to climb
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Mount Everest, it's the pinnacle, it is the thing, they get up there because Sherpas are helping to carry their gear.
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There's some fun analogy we could make on that, too. We get to the pinnacles of our faith because our
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Lord is carrying us there. One of the awesome things about the reality of the coming
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Messiah, this was planned before the creation of the world, and that God already knew my inabilities to be continually in obedience to him.
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And so it was his design that his own son would come and would take that cross up to Calvary.
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His body would be broken, his blood would be shed, and that he continually now is sitting at the right hand of the
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Father, interceding. This was all understood before the foundations of the earth.
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Our faith is so unique amongst the world. Our religion is so unique amongst the world because of what we have to hold on to, the hopes that we have, the promises that have been made to us.
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It's not about us being worthy, it's about God loving us.
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We often pray that God's presence, that we rejoice that we can be in the presence of God, but we also rejoice that the presence of God comes down amongst us.
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We get into passages of scriptures that give us assurance of everything that he has to say because his covenant promises are made complete.
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What he has to say comes true. I want to say this, that in your life, when you experience a peace that has come from the grace and love of God, you're receiving a gift that the rest of the world cannot match.
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Now we find peace in certain things. I would imagine that if God chose, and today it was announced that the entire
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COVID virus is gone, we would feel a sense of peace, and rightly so.
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But I want to say that regardless of circumstances, regardless of opposition, regardless of trials that you go through, when you feel the peace that comes from the grace and love of God, regardless, when you feel that peace, it's a gift the rest of the world cannot match.
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So this morning we're gathering together, it's the first Sunday of 2022, and I want us this morning to focus on the covenant promises of God because they're given in scripture and they're not to be denied.
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Rob, I like how you highlighted that in synagogues Isaiah 53 is the forbidden chapter.
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Well, I'm here to tell you that all scripture is given by God and is profitable for instruction.
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All scripture is living and active and sharper than any two -edged sword. We have scripture and God promises to each one of us his presence and God promises to each one of us that he will put his peace in us because greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world.
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Now, we have been studying in Joshua 1, I've been here, and we're in Joshua 11 and 12.
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We're going to be continuing and at the end of the military campaigns that are fought for a reason.
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But what's going to end up happening at the end of it is the land is at peace. I want to say that for each one of us,
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God promises a peace. And starting out, I want to use three examples of peace as a leapstone into our study in Joshua 11.
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The first one, Sandy and I, while we were in the Navy, I was on active duty on board the ship, but the wife is as much part of the service as the husband is.
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So while Sandy and I were in the Navy, we had good friends Gary and Sue. Gary served on board ship with me and was on my last six -month deployment.
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Towards the end of that deployment, Gary started to notice a problem. His vision was getting wrong.
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And we stopped into our last port of call before we crossed the ocean to come home. It was a
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Navy base, and he went out to the gym and played some racquetball with some friends. And he came and he said,
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I didn't know which ball to hit. He was seeing double. When we got back to the
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States, Gary went to the doctor, and he was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor, cancer.
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It was a hard blow. It was an obstacle to be sure.
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A few months later, Sandy and I, I was getting ready to muster out of the military and to move on.
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We had a realtor to the house talking about putting our house up for sale when the phone rang.
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It was Sue. She said, what do you and Sandy mean when you mean you've accepted the
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Lord as your Savior? So we told the realtor we'd have to do this later, and we went over.
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That evening, Gary and Sue accepted the Lord in truth. Now, Gary was afflicted with an inoperable brain tumor, and he went through treatments.
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He went into remission at one point, but it was a difficult life for him.
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Obstacles, to be sure. For about a year and a half, we got a phone call from Sue.
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Gary told her, the angels are singing to me. God gave
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Gary a gift, and the peace in his heart in those last couple of days cannot be expressed.
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The world would say Gary had a tough deal. He did. But God had love and grace and mercy, and he gave
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Gary peace. Now Gary is at home with the Lord.
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Consider David, man after God's own heart. Now, David was called by God to be the king of his people, but David felt pretty bad with Bathsheba, with Uriah the
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Hittite. Scripture would indicate that David was in denial that what he did was wrong, because God sent
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Nathan to him and told him a story. Eventually, Nathan said, you are that man.
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Scripture tells us that David was broken for his sin, realizing that against God and God alone had he sinned.
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He confessed, he repented, and got to the point where he could pen some of the most amazing words in the
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Psalms, 86. Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer. Listen to my plea for grace.
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There is none like you among the gods, O Lord. Teach me your way, O Lord.
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In Psalm 145, I will extol you, my God and king, and bless your name forever and ever.
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Every day I will bless you. You see, David went from a man who fell, and a man who was confronted, and a man who was broken and in despair, to a man who then confessed, repented, and God gave him peace of heart, that he could pen these amazing words of worship and praise and submission to the sovereignty of God.
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God's grace bringing peace into a heart. Now I want to consider the nation of Israel and the
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Promised Land. Almost 4 ,000 years ago, Abram, his name was not yet Abraham, Abram, I don't know what he was doing, but in my imagination, he's out in the fields, taking a walk,
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I don't know. But God had a word for him. He said, leave this land, leave the land of your fathers.
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I will show you another land. I will make you a great nation, and all the families of earth will be blessed through you.
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He was told to go, and there was a land promised to him. And so Abram went.
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We know the many stories that follow that of Isaac, and the offering that God required of his one son, his only son.
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We know the stories as they continue on to the time of Joseph, as a young man, proud of who he was, but his sons, jealous of who he was, sold him into slavery.
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And he was sent down to Egypt, where he went into the house of Potiphar. Now we do know the account of the faithfulness of Joseph in the presence of Potiphar's wife, in the jail, called in to make prophecies.
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We know these stories of the faith of a man named Joseph. Eventually, he brings
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Egypt from seven years of plenty to be prepared for seven years of famine throughout the land.
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And what ends up happening is the clan of Israel leaves the promised land and comes down to Egypt, and God protects them.
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They're out of that land that God had sent Abram into. They grow and they multiply such that the
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Egyptians are feared, and they put them into slavery, and eventually, we do know in Genesis 12, the plagues, the hardening of hearts, the first Passover, and eventually, let my people go, and Pharaoh says, okay.
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And it all doesn't go all that well. We have the Red Sea, and eventually, the people get to Kadesh Barnea.
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That promised land is there for the taking. And so they send 12 spies to land flowing with milk and honey.
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But you know what? They got giants. They were the Malachites, and we're like grasshoppers.
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We can't do it except for Joshua and Caleb, and the people listen to the ten, and so they go.
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Forty years later, now, they're at Shittim. It's a camp east of the
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River Jordan. It's the beginning of the book of Joshua. Moses is handing over the reins to Joshua because Moses is not going to be able to go in to the promised land.
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God makes some promises to Joshua as he's considering the next step.
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Joshua 1, starting in verse 3. Every place the sole of your foot will tread upon,
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I have given to you. There's that promised land again. Just as I promised to Moses, from the wilderness and this
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Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, the land of the Hittites, the great sea, going down the sun shall be your territory.
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That land that God promised Abraham almost 4 ,000 years ago as the nation is at Shittim ready to enter the land is promised once again to them.
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Now they're going to cross into the promised land, but you know the first thing they got to do?
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They got to get across that river. As we've studied way in the past, this
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River Jordan at that time was at high flood. It was a raging torrent.
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It was not, I mean, right now we do see pictures of migrants crossing the
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Rio Grande and it's this moving but quiet river. That's not what the River Jordan was.
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This was a scary raging river at high flood. And the way they got across?
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The priests had to put their foot down as if to step into the river and then
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God stopped the waters. And the ark stands in the middle of the river and the people pass over in front of the ark to the other side on dry ground.
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And so now then people are in the land and there are obstacles facing them. This land that is promised to them, but there are obstacles facing them.
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They are going to fight battles for a long time. It's a couple of years. Jericho, a couple of battles with Ai.
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The Southern Alliance. Today we're going to talk about a Northern Alliance and that's just the tip of the iceberg.
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And so eventually the land is at rest. After 470 years from when the covenant promise was given to Abram, the land is at rest.
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And so today we're going to consider this final military campaign. What brings them there? And the reality of the fulfillment of God's promise recorded in the book of Joshua.
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Let's pray. Father, as we turn to this passage in scriptures, we are amazed at the power of a sovereign
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God, of the promises made, of the promises kept. We, Lord, acknowledge that we have lands to capture.
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We have obstacles in front of us, but Lord, as with Joshua, we are told that it has been given to us as an inheritance and when we surrender to God, he's the one that goes before us.
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Give us your words, your instruction, your encouragement. We pray this morning in Jesus' name.
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Amen. The battle. It starts in Joshua 1 through 11, as we get prepared for it.
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When Jabin king of Hazor heard this, he sent to Jobab, king of Madon, and to the king of Shimron, and the king of Atshaphoth, and to the kings who were in the northern hill country, and in the
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Erebus south of Chinneroth, and in the lowland in Naphoth Dor on the west, and to the
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Canaanites in the east and the west, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites in the hill country. Does this sound like a whole lot of people amassing in war against Israel?
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It is. Then they came out with all their troops, a great horde, in number like the sand of the sea on the seashore, with very many horses and chariots.
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And all these kings joined their forces and came and then camped together at the waters of Merom to fight against Israel.
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You see, Israel is crossing into a land that has obstacles. And they've been fighting.
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They've been doing battle. But God has always promised that he would go before them.
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They've been warned against disobedience. They've experienced the problems at Kadesh Barnea the first time they tried to fight
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Ai. But here's these things. Any previous defeats were not God's incapability.
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Any previous defeats were disobedience on the part of Israel. And so now they've crossed the
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River Jordan. They've rededicated themselves. They fought many individual battles. The south is there.
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They've always relied on the God of their fathers. And the south is conquered. And so now they're ready to face the north.
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And it's said that Jabin, the king of Hazor, heard this. Well, this, following the pronouns, is important.
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Specifically, it refers to the end of chapter 10. And in chapter 10, there was the battle against the southern alliance.
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And in chapter 10, God fought the fight for them. And in chapter 10, the battle was going and the enemy was trying to escape.
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And Joshua had the courage to stand in the middle of the battlefield and raise his hand and say, son, stand still, that this battle could go on.
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And God honored his prayer. And the son stands still. That's another amazing story in and of itself.
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But he would have heard of this, how the God of Israel fights for Israel.
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He would have known of the battles that were fought before the nation.
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Because it said, Rahab told the spies that the hearts of the people are melted in fear.
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He knows of all of this. He also knows about the Gibeon alliance.
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And that's another story, but how Gibeon made an alliance. All of these things are standing there.
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And there is a total victory that Israel has experienced so far. The southern kingdom, the southern part, has been taken.
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And so he knows this. And so he calls all of these kings together.
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These were not best buds. They're not BFFs. They wouldn't be texting each other.
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They didn't really like each other. In fact, they battled and warred against each other. But he calls them with full confidence that they are going to join because here's the thing.
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The enemy of my enemy is my friend. And for all of them, the enemy was
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Israel. More succinctly put, their motivation was
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Satan. And the enemy was God. And Satan needs to stop this progression of the nation of Israel so that the coming
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Messiah can be stopped. And so these southern nations, motivated by Satan, come together in an alliance to fight against Israel, who has already taken the southern part.
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And it says it's a great horde. The accounts say that 300 ,000 infantry, 10 ,000 cavalry, 20 ,000 chariots.
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Now, the accounting of what Israel has, it varies. And it depends on where you're reading.
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You could go into Numbers 1, where of all the clans, all the total fighting men may come up to somewhere around 600.
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Probably that's not what they're at. But I will say this. They don't have horses. And they don't have chariots.
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Psalm 20, verse 7, some trust in chariots and in horses. But we trust in the name of the
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Lord our God. And so the battle is on. We have the northern kingdom.
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They've come together because in one, they want to oppose God and the progress of God as motivated by Satan.
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And in the south, you have Israel. Israel's got the advantage.
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Satan's going to try to stop them. But here's the thing. Worldly power means nothing to God.
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I can take you to 1 Kings 19 .35, where Israel is surrounded by the
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Assyrians, 185 ,000 troops killed in one night by one angel.
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God isn't really overly impressed by the size of the northern alliance army, their horses, or their chariots.
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Because God promised to go before Joshua. And everything else is nothing because God is going to go before them.
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So the battle is on. Now, the first question is, why is Israel required to participate in this battle?
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He's their chosen people. It's their promised land. Why not just give it to them?
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Well, I've got a couple of thoughts. I can't really give you a verse in Scripture to it. But I've got a couple of thoughts. One is, it will help to demonstrate the need for reliance on God.
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Do you remember what they did at Ai the first time? They went out to battle without turning to God.
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And they got defeated. They had sin in the camp. They got defeated.
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God got their attention. Things got right. And they beat. Relying on God is an important thing, demonstrating to them.
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And then there is the opportunity to witness and to celebrate God's victory.
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To be able to see, I'm stepping out in faith and obedience to God, and God is giving me victory over this obstacle, is a great gift.
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It helps us understand that we can trust him the next time. And we get to realize,
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I don't care what the opposition is. God's promise prevails. I mean, we've heard the stories over the last many months.
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Pastor John MacArthur out in California, who said, I hear what you're saying, oh,
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Governor, but we're going to continue to meet. And the difficulties that he had,
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God chose. He didn't have to, but God chose to resolve that to where the government in California not only gave them the right to go back, but repaid all of the fees and fines that they had been given.
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Greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world. So the battle lines are set.
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Satan has called his armies. They're going to fight against the people of God. They're going to fight against and try to stop the promise of the coming
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Messiah and against the provisions, the promise of this promised land. He's going to do everything he can.
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But in reality, the odds are against him. The odds are on Israel's side.
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And so in chapter 11, verse 6, the battle begins. And the Lord says to Joshua, and there are three amazing things in this next verse.
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The Lord said to Joshua, do not be afraid of them, for tomorrow at this time,
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I will give over all of them slain to Israel. You shall hamstring their horses and burn their chariots with fire.
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I don't care what the circumstances are that they were facing. I don't care what the circumstances are that you're facing.
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Yes, I do. Because they're real. But what I mean to say is, don't be afraid.
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You can be overwhelmed and all this stuff. I get that. But I got a promise for you from Scripture.
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God is with you. He says, don't be afraid of them, because tomorrow
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I will go before you. Those moments where you're in bed, having a hard time settling your mind down because of the concerns of something that might be going on at work, within a family, a disease, those times where your mind is, don't be afraid of them, for tomorrow
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I will give over all of them slain. I will give. This is confidence that we have the rest of the world flat out cannot understand.
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And they're confused by our quiet heart in the midst of difficulties.
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But then he also says, you shall. Now, the fight against the armies,
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Lord is going to fight this fight for them. But the people are told, don't go after for your own possession their horses or their chariots.
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They're not for you. Hamstring the horses and burn the chariots so the temptation is gone.
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God is not looking for you to find the wherewithal from the world to fight tomorrow's fight.
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The powers, the strengths and everything else that the world has, that's not where God wants you to go.
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And so he's told them that you shall hamstring their horses and burn their chariots with fire.
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Now, these alliances have come together and are anticipating taking the fight to the
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Egypt, to the Israelis. A ton of people, horses, chariots, Satan motivating them.
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And so what does God have Joshua do? He goes at them. So Joshua and all his warriors came suddenly against them by the waters of Merom and fell before them.
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God directs Joshua to step out. I've told you to step out. Don't wait and don't be afraid.
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Step out, rely on him. Take the fight to Satan and to his enemy.
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Now this passage is going to have two different thrusts. The first thrust starts in verse eight and they're going to go after the armies and they're going to head east basically towards the
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River Jordan. And they're going to overtake them and they're going to continue to fight until there is none remaining.
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God gives the victory. My brothers and sisters, this is a very important concept.
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None remaining. When that attack comes, when that temptation comes, when that opposition comes, when that perhaps thing in your mind comes and you're given the power of God, the grace of God, the mercy of God to overcome it, don't hold back a little bit of it because you might enjoy it tomorrow.
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Get rid of it entirely. It says that he fought until it was completely done and there was none remaining.
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And then it says that Joshua and his men hamstrung the horses, burned the chariots.
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Total, total defeat. The second thrust goes now in the other direction.
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The armies have been defeated. Now he's going to turn back and he's going to head to Hazor which is identified as the key city, the key kingdom in the north.
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They're the ones that called the alliance together. They're going to go and they're going to completely raze this city.
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There's a term called Kherom. It's the holy war that God demands and calls for total destruction.
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It's one that's been debated as, it doesn't sound like a loving God, but it's given when people's hearts are so turned away from God that his righteousness demands judgment.
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And so Hazor is torn down and all of the other cities of all of these other kings are completely torn down.
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But God does say that the cities on the other mounds, the people are all eliminated, but Israel's allowed to take plunder from those.
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So God does provide for his people. It says in verse 15, just as the
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Lord commanded Moses, his servant, so Joshua did.
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He left nothing undone of all that the Lord had commanded to Moses.
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Moving on in verse 16, we now start to see perhaps an after action report, if you would.
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That's my first military reference. It talks about the extent of the land that they recovered.
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The hill country, the Negev, the Goshen, the lowland, Ereba. It talks about the extent of the land.
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And if you match this up with a similar passage in Joshua 10 on the southern kingdom, you've got the whole promised land.
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What God told Abram, he would get. And they were temporarily in there, left there, went down to Egypt.
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God called them back. They failed to get in there at Kadesh Barnea. They go to Shittim and they come in. And after two years of battle, that is the entire land that was promised to them.
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God's covenant promise realized for that first time to the full extent. Now, since that time, there have been problems.
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The northern kingdom broke off, Rehoboam, Jeroboam, and the northern kingdom, very, very wicked, taken away in exile in 721
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BC by the Assyrians. And at this point in time, they're still considered the lost 10 tribes.
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The southern kingdom in 586, finally defeated by the Babylonians, taken into exile for 70 years.
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They do come back, but they don't have the whole land. They've got a piece of it. And then in 70
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AD, the fall of Jerusalem to Rome. And that's an amazing, amazing gift of God.
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In 1948, Israel was allowed to reestablish as a nation.
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They don't have the whole land yet. Don't look at that as the full completion of the full covenant promise of the promised land.
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That is yet to come. We know that in the millennial kingdom, God sits on the throne. Jesus sits on the throne and reigns.
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That full covenant promise is yet to come. But at that point in time, after the northern kingdom,
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God fulfilled that covenant promise. This was foretold even back in Numbers 13.
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At the end of 40 days, they returned from spying out into the land. These are the spies. And they came to Boazos.
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I'm sorry, that's the wrong one. This is where the spies come and say, don't. But Joshua and Caleb, now remember that name,
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Caleb. In verse 18, it says, Joshua made war a long time with those kings, the northern kingdom.
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This was not a quick one day, it's over type of a battle. This took time.
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Now this entire conquest, north -south, is over two years. Faith is not an event.
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Faith is not overcoming something by the grace of God, by faith.
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Faith is ongoing. It is a commitment. It is a lifelong commitment.
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Joshua fought a long time and found victory. It says that as he fought, as the battle went on, none of the king's hearts were softened.
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They would have heard of what happened in the south. They would have heard of how
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Gibeon was protected. They would have known about the folly of trying to stand up against God.
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They would have known that the sun stood still for a day. I'm sure that word spread around, but none of them turned.
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They remained faithful to the prince of the power of the air, Satan, who convinced them to remain in opposition.
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And so God's judgment comes. Israel had problems.
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They continued to have problems, but God never lost the covenant with them. Harem is never given to the nation of Israel.
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It is given to these other kings, and it's the hardness of heart that's the difference.
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A couple of things to note as we come to the end of this conquest. One, Joshua came at that time and cut off the
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Anakim from the hill country, from Hebron, from Deborah, from Anab, and from all the hill country, and from all the hill country of Israel.
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Joshua devoted them to destruction with their cities. Do you remember the Anakim? Those are the giants from the 10 spies back from Kadesh Barnea.
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They were the tipping stone that made the 10 spies say, we cannot do it.
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They're too big. They're too much. At that time, Joshua came, and by the power of the
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Lord, the Anakim were cut off. Now, the passage does go on because it gives us an extra, oh, by the way, it says, there was none of the
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Anakim left in the land of the people of Israel. Only in Gaza and Keth and Ashdod did some remain.
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There were some left. As we get further into the book of Joshua and the land is given, apportioned to the various tribes,
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Caleb is going to go up to Joshua and say, give me the hill country. He's over 80 years old.
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And he said, I still got it, dude. Give me the hill country. I believe he knew that the
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Anakim were still there. And God had told him way back at Kadesh Barnea, it is not a problem because I'm the one that's going to fight the fight for you.
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And Caleb steps up and mans up and says, give me that land. Those Anakim, they're yours,
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God, and I'm going to be your servant. And he takes that land and he ousts the Anakim, praise to God.
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The finality of the conquest, Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the
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Lord had spoken to Moses. And Joshua gave it as an inheritance to Israel, according to their tribal allotments.
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And the land had rest from war. There is a fulfillment of promises that God has given, that promised land was there, obedience, and a knowing that God is with you and he will fight before you.
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Now, chapter 12 gives us a whole lot of details. The first several verses talks about Moses and the battles that he won.
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Now, Moses never crossed the Jordan. He was never allowed into the promised land. But he did lead the people east of the
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Jordan. And the land that they conquest, they conquered. Gad, Reuben, and a half tribe of Manasseh said, can we have that?
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And they said, OK, fine. But you've got to send your fighting men to fight with the rest of your brothers first. But it lists the kings that he fought.
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And then, starting in verse 7, it talks about all the conquests on the west. It takes account of the major battles.
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It talks about Jericho. It talks about Ai. It talks about the southern alliance and the northern alliance and all these great battles.
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But you know what? It lists 31 kings. What we have seen in the book of Joshua is the tip of the iceberg.
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There were a lot of battles, a lot of opposition. And God fulfilled his promise.
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Where he said in Joshua 1, verses 5, no man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life.
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Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them.
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My brothers and sisters, I want you to take this as a promise for you. Change the pronouns if you have to.
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No man is going to be able to stand before you. Satan is not going to be able to stand before you. The oppositions and the trials are not going to defeat you.
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They're not going to say that it's going to be easy. Jesus didn't pray to his father to take them away from all problems.
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He said, I don't pray that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them in the world. In those days of trial, he says, there will be trials.
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But he promises to be with you. They will not stand before you, just as I was with Moses and all of the other patriarchs.
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God says, I will be with you. Be strong and be courageous.
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So what do we do with this? God fulfilled his promise to Israel.
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400 years earlier, he had made a promise to Abram. And now he's delivered this land to his people.
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That campaign began at the shores of a raging high flood river, a frightening river, that the people had to put their foot as if to step in it.
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And God stopped the water. There are raging rivers that frighten us. But we have a
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God who is going to stop that water. After two years of battle, this goes on.
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The victory was accomplished by God with participation from his people.
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So here we are in 2022. God's got a plan for each one of you.
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He does. I'm going to promise you that in 2022, there are going to be oppositions and there are going to be trials.
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But I'm also going to, on the word of God, stand and promise you that there are blessings and there is a hope.
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The things that you are going to encounter, you have a hope that God is there. Think about the
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Beatitudes. Blessed are the pure of heart, for they will see God. That is a promise to you.
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Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. That is a promise to you.
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These are hopes that we have. And we've got a hope eternal that the world can never give you.
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Because one day, brothers and sisters, those of you who have accepted the Lord, we will be in the millennial reign and we will be in the new
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Jerusalem. If there is somebody here who doesn't understand and who has not made that profession of faith, let this morning be that opportunity.
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Bow your head in prayer and say, God, I have sinned against you, but you sent your Son to the cross, foretold before the foundations of the earth.
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And when Jesus died on the cross, he said, to tell us, die, it is finished. My sins have been covered by the sacrifice of Christ.
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As Rob read to us and taught us at the beginning of communion, it's the blood of Christ that cleanses us.
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See his grace. See the mercy of God in action in your life.
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My friend Gary, he got a tough shake, as the world would say, and it was.
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It broke our hearts. It really broke my heart when Gary said, I didn't know which ball to hit because I'm seeing double.
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I knew something was wrong. And I'm sure I wept when
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I heard the news that he was told he had inoperable brain cancer.
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I knew what that meant. And it was harsh. But because Gary became a child of God, his hope was founded on the
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Lord and his promises are made true. We know his promises are made, shown here in Joshua 11, where the land was made victorious because God's covenant and his covenant is true.
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And so today, Gary, having been ministered by God's angels at the end, is now sitting at the right hand of the
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Father. Similarly, each one of us, we should be anticipating the grace of God coming for us.
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Understanding the opposition of Satan, we have a promise, the victory that's going to come.
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Please take this time to reflect on the victory that God gave his people over 3 ,000 years ago.
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Look forward to the promises of his second coming. Be prepared today to follow his lead, to rely on his sovereign power.
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Watch for his victory. As a closing prayer, I'm going to read out of Deuteronomy 9, verses 4 and 5.
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Close your eyes, turn your heart to God. And as I do this, if the worship team would come forward.
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Do not say in your heart after the Lord your God has thrust them out before you, it's because of my righteousness that the
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Lord has brought me in to possess. Don't say it's my righteousness or the uprightness of my heart that I get to go in, because I'm wicked.
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But the Lord your God is driving them out before you, that he might confirm the word of the
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Lord that was sworn to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
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Rest assured in God. So stand.
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One last song. Are you low?
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It's your breath in our lungs.
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So we pour out our praise. Pour out our praise.
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It's your breath in our lungs. So we pour out our praise to you only.
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You give life.
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You are love. You bring light to darkness.
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You give hope. You restore every heart that prayed.
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Are you low? It's your breath in our lungs.
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So we pour out our praise. Pour out our praise.
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It's your breath. So we pour out our praise to you only.
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And all the earth will shout your praise.
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Our hearts will cry and these bones will sing. Great are you.
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And all the earth will shout your praise.
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Our hearts will cry and these bones will sing. Great are you,
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Lord. And all the earth will shout your praise.
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Our hearts will cry and these bones will sing.
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Great are you, Lord.
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It's your breath in our lungs. So we pour out our praise.
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Pour out our praise. It's your breath in our lungs.
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So we pour out our praise to you only. Great are you,
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Lord. Great are you,
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Lord. Under the authority that it says all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable to each and every one of us.
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Under the authority that it says the word of God is living and active. I'm going to change one word. Hopefully there's acceptance of that.
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It starts out. Hear, O Israel. Hear, O Cornerstone.
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You are to cross over the Jordan today. To go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than you.
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Cities great and fortified up to heaven. A people great and tall. The sons of Anakim, whom you know and of whom you have heard it said, who can stand before the sons of Anak.
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Know therefore today that he who goes over before you as a consuming fire is the
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Lord your God. He will destroy them and subdue them before you.
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So you shall drive them out and make them perish quickly as the Lord has promised you.
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Go into the world in the truth and knowledge of the victory of our Lord God in your lives. Amen.