Faithful Promises

And I titled it Faithful Promises, Trusting God's Covenant, and everyone say, Keep in Art. Yeah, there's something about keeping art into the bargain. And I just started to, just gonna sound weird, but I just started to go home. I study, I do all that stuff, and I'm like, I'm just gonna go home and just start randomly open my Bible and read.

So then I don't have a problem reading my Bible, but I'm like, I just want, I don't know, I'm gonna start reading another chapter a day, like I'm just gonna start going something different. So I went home, opened up, boom, I'm in Joshua. So that's what we're gonna be at today. But it's really interesting what I came across and what we're gonna talk about because I think it's so important.

And I don't want anyone to get mad or upset about anything, but there is something really special I hope we see today that things happen when we honor our commitment. Okay, one person said amen. Something happens when we honor our commitment. Amen?

And we're gonna see something really special today in Joshua. So if you don't, if you want to go ahead and turn to Joshua chapter 10, and I'm gonna lead us there, I'm gonna get us up to this point. I don't know if you know who Joshua is, but Joshua is Moses dies and Joshua's next, right? And I think it's really cool.

I don't have time to talk about this. I could start preaching right now just on that because could you like who in here maybe is who's up next? You ever thought about that? Like Moses was a man, but then Moses died.

So then the Lord says Joshua lead him across. You know what I mean? I just was thinking about that. If my son watches this later, bro, you're next.

Daddy's got a lot of work left in him, but I'm just letting you know there's gonna be a time where I'm gonna, I'm gonna be done and God's gonna say a little ride of your next, bro. I'm speaking it right now. Yeah, amen, right? Amen.

Come on. But so Joshua's mission from God, we're just gonna run through a couple of points here. Lead to Israelites into the promise land. We've all heard about the promise land.

That was his task. Conquer the territories. Ensure faithfulness to the covenant. Distribute the land among the tribes.

And secure Israel's future by renewing their commitment to God. Go next. Go to the next slide. And then this is what has kind of happened leading up to chapter 10.

I'm just trying to give you a little backdrop so you're not completely lost. But crossing the Jordan River, the battle of Jericho, who knows the battle of Jericho. That's everyone's favorite. Okay.

The battle of AI, not artificial intelligence either. That's a battle we have now. Renew of the covenant, preparation for further conquest and the deceptive treaty with a Givianites. And we're gonna talk a little bit about that today.

But what I want to kind of start with is that where we're gonna be at is where Joshua, at what part of this is Joshua at. And this is where he is on the conquest. This is where he's taken cities. This is where he's going in and going to work.

And so we're gonna be talking about a story in the midst of that. You can stay right there. But I just want to, I'm gonna talk to a little bit about chapter 9 before I jump all the way in to give you just a little bit of the backdrop of what's going on as they're conquering things. The Givianites, they're aware of Israel's conquest.

And fear being destroyed. Listen, they're destroying everything. Everything. I mean, why though?

Because God's promise to them. So they're in and they're taking over the territories. The land, the promise land, they're coming in and they gotta do things that take over it, right? So they're coming in and they're doing it.

And there's a Givianites. They hear about it. And it's super, I found it super interesting too. Because I love it.

But they find out about it and they're afraid. Is that loud out there y'all? They're afraid. So guess what they give you a nice do?

They do what? Yeah, not first. First they disguise themselves. They try to put it as if they're like this far off distant land.

They're these people. They, I'm just going to use my version, but they scuff their sandals off, right? Their crocs. They probably cut the nose out of the front of them.

Anybody's kids crocs talking here? My son's do. Yeah, he loves them. The place bass on the front of them just open.

Those are just going crazy. They got them all busted up. They're like, look at our bread. It's moldy.

They try to like really show like we're not who you think we are. You know, we're someone from a far off kind of get them, you know, feel for them, right? So they get them, they do all that and like get them to understand and travel for a long distance. So then they approach the giving us approach Joshua and Israelites at Gilgal and they request a peace treaty.

They claim to be from a distant country like we talked about, not to make a covenant with Israel. Because who wants to be destroyed? Like nobody wants to be destroyed, right? So then you have Joshua and Israel's decision.

The leaders of Israel without seeking God. Did you hear it? Without seeking God. Just sides.

They look at everything and accept their story and make the covenant, right? Didn't seek God first. So then it comes to find out three days later the Israelites discovered the giving of the knights were actually their neighbors living nearby. Ooh, wee.

Ah, you got a man of God. It made a peace treaty that says we're not going to, we're not going to hurt you. We get it. You're far off.

You don't. We're going to do all this. And then they find out that they made all of that up and their neighbors. And then if you continue to reach out and I'm not going to, I don't have time to do all that.

I'll let you finish reading it. It's a really cool story. But it ends up being he doesn't hurt him. Doesn't kill him.

He turns him into he does curse him though. You know, this is what you'll do. And for the rest of your existence. So then we're getting, as we're getting up into, we're passing that now, now we're getting in chapter 10, right?

And chapter 10 is interesting. This is where we're going to land. Verse 25 and chapter 10, Joshua said to them, do not fear or be intimidated. Be strong and courageous.

Say courageous. For this is what the Lord will do to all your enemies against whom you are. I love how the Amplify version of this are about to fight. All your enemies you're about to fight.

Man, this is, I'm excited today. Because this is going to be good. We got to jump in. I got so much guys.

I'm not going to keep the air pass 130. All right. So we're starting in chapter 10. But the first thing we're starting at is the Gibeonites plead for help.

So here's what happens. They find out all these surrounding cities and stuff they hear about the treaty. They don't like it. So they team up.

They're going to go to Gibeon first. So then here's where the Gibeonites do their whole after. After they did the deceptive thing. They did all that stuff.

Now they're reaching out to Joshua. Send your man. Come help. We need help.

They're about to team up on us. So starting in Joshua 10, verse six, it says, the Gibeonites then sent word to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal. Do not abandon your servant. Don't abandon your service.

What do you mean? The ones that, oh, you were lying to us. Don't abandon your servants. It says, come up to us quickly and save us.

Help us. Because all the Amorite kings from the hill country have joined forces against us. Read chapter verse seven with me all. Joshua marched up from Gilgal with his entire army, including all the best fighting men.

So let me get this straight real quick for us to start off. After all the deception, everything, Joshua still honored his commitment and immediately marched up there. He didn't waste no time. Help us.

Help us. He said, not, not, hey, you used to go. Just go ahead. No, you're always the best man.

He went up there. Oh, yes, it's going to be good. So the first thing I want to just point out, honor and a commitment. Keeping the promise, the peace treaty that was made.

You all can read it up there. Despite the Gibeonites earlier, Joshua honored the treaty made with them, showing integrity, faithfulness to his work. I don't know who it is today, but I'm here to talk to somebody about honoring their commitment and their faithfulness to their work. What did you make a word with?

And understanding what we're talking about here. There's deception. There's all of that stuff. But I'm telling you guys, there's a lot of times when we do things and we're like, ah, nope, because what you did.

But I think what often happens in that, because it feels right, we're missing something though. When we don't honor our commitment of our word, we said, hey, this is what I'm going to do. I get this happen, but this is what I'm going to do. Because you know what I'm learning, church?

My word and my commitment and what I decided to do with it is those two I'm honoring. And I'm telling you, you're going to see here real quick that it gets a little hairy, but man, some really cool stuff happens. So the first thing that happens, we see that immediate help is needed and reached out. And Joshua, first thing he does, marches right up there.

No questions asked to honor his commitment he made. Alright, the second thing we're going to see, guys' assurance. I don't know if you have Geico State Farm, what you have, but if you don't have guys' insurance, you better get better. I know the agent.

I'll hook you up with him. Just come see me. I'll get you a good quote. It's all free.

But Joshua 10 verse 8 says, the Lord said to Joshua, do not be afraid of them. I have given them into your hand. Not one of them will be able to withstand you. I want to point out something real quick.

I think I have it in here and get ahead of myself. Yeah, I do. The rapid response in the divine insurance. Joshua's immediate response shows his commitment to the covenant he made and his trust in God's God.

God's promise of victory shows his faithfulness and support for Joshua in Israelites. In Joshua's commitment that he made, this happened and he instantly starts marching and then God speaks. Alright, I'm going to do it this way. I don't think you guys understand what I'm saying.

So, Joshua made a commitment. Right? To see all that stuff. Something happens.

No thought. Joshua starts marching. On his commitment that he already made, God starts speaking. Come on, Jared.

You're going to have to help me today. He made a commitment. He honored his commitment and was walking towards it and God starts speaking on it. To give him assurance, nothing's going to get in your way.

Nothing is going to stop you. No, it doesn't matter. You honor your commitment. I honor mine.

I'm going to protect you guys and this is going to happen. Whew, I'll get excited all by myself up in here. Whew, I love that so much. He just, man, I have to wonder how many times do we not see.

I'm going to tell myself how many times do we not see or get there guys. Because we're not honoring our commitment and marching. And then we're like, God, come on. Where are you?

He's like, yeah, you're not doing what you said you were going to do. I can't even give me room to work here. So after that, we have one of the coolest parts, the battle and the supernatural. Yeah, come on.

Say it with me. Intervention. Whew, I don't know who needs that today. But if you didn't know you have access to a supernatural intervention, all you got to do is honor your commitment you made and you have access to that thing.

And boy, when I tell you when that, when that intervenes, that whole situation changes. You're going to see something right now that's going to blow your mind. This time he's so excited. And then the Lord threw them into confusion before Israel.

So Joshua and Israelites defeated them completely at Gibeon. Did you hear what that just says? Before I go crazy, someone please, I'll let's sink in for a second. Because the Lord threw them into confusion.

I don't know if you didn't know that was something your guy could do, but did you know your guy could confuse the enemy? That he can cause a confusion that gets them all stirred and out of place? You didn't know that? Listen, it's almost like he did, I don't know how you want to put it, but he caused a confusion and then Joshua gets to knock him out.

He said, now I'm going to give you a pleasure. We got too many people. Let me just stay here for a second. We got too many people that are like, oh God, take care of this.

He said, give it, it's going to be so much better if you do it. Like, I'll confuse them. I'll be the guy that gets behind me underneath and then someone comes up behind you and pushes them and you fall over them. You know what I mean?

It's like God calls confusion amongst them. Wow, what an awesome God we serve. He threw them into confusion first. He started all of the commitment and he said, I'm committing to my Word and I'm walking.

I hope you guys are getting this. It says, Israel pursued them along the road going up to Bethorne and cut them down all the way to the Vale. And you guys awake? Just want to make sure you're awake with me all the way to the Vale, across the town.

As I fled before Israel on the road down from Bethorne in the Vale, the Lord, hear me out y'all. The Lord hurled large hair of the Hailstone down on them and more of them died from the Hail than were killed by the sword of the Israelites. So you ever heard, you know, I'm just going to talk about it. So in my commitment and I'm marching into Lord gave me a promise.

I'm keeping my promise. So we're aligned with his promise, my promise, and we're walking and he's taking care of. Did you want me to read again? He's taking care.

He's throwing large Hail killing them. He's other years under stores, but he's knocking out half of them for them. I don't know if you guys need to read it again with me, but we're not, I don't know if we have faith for stuff like this that happens. I'm wondering if maybe we're just not walking in faith like some of these people we talk about because if I honor my commitment and I'm keeping it and it looks hairy and don't look good, oh my God, it's still making way.

He's creating things that you haven't seen before. I'm not going to say that probably like, look at this thing off me. Anything at this point right now, just adding me. Keep.

Can you hear me, Church? Okay. So we have a little bit of head. So we have the, I love it.

I'm going to take this down if you got a pen and a paper and just want you to think about this. Divine confusion. That's a weapon you didn't know that you had access to. God has the ability to drop in Divine confusion.

God caused confusion among the Amorites and the Lavalians. Hey, Adrian, if you're from Laval, I love you. I'm just kidding. I'm from West Virginia, so that's why I'm making jokes.

Y'all, you can make fun of me. I'm a Mountaineerian. And then super natural hailstones. A hailstones which killed more enemies than the sort of Israel.

Highlight God's direct intervention in the battle. And then this is the part, y'all, that just I was frozen. I was so suckled next. Go the next line.

Maybe. Next line. The sun stands still. I don't know if you've read this story or not, but I'll just be honest with you, Church.

The first time it's come alive with me. And wow, that it, it rattled me to my core. In verse 12, on the day of the Lord, the God gave the Amorites over to Israel. Joshua said to the Lord in the presence of Israel, you ready?

The sun stands still over Gibian. And you, moon, over the valley of Cressa town. So the, he said, Asia long. I know what it says.

I like Cressa town better. So the sun stood still and the moon stopped till the nation avenged itself on its enemies. As it is written in the book of Joshua, we're not going to talk about that. I don't want to waste time talking about that.

Not that that's a waste time, but I got other stuff I'm going to talk about. We'll hit that later. Um, because I know a lot of people have questions about that, but did y'all, did y'all, uh, do you read that? So Joshua says in public to everybody, sun, stay still moon, stay.

I'm going to give you a little heads up. It stays. Think about the boldness. The boldness to make a request like that.

Actually, you know what? I'm going to change my words there because I don't, I really don't want this good confused. He commanded it. He didn't request it.

And I started looking like, man, where else in the Bible does it have like, because you know, there's prayers, there's requests and things. But this is one time y'all that a man of God commands something to happen and God honors it. And boy, do I tell you when I read that, I'm like, what? He's not a request.

He's standing. He's like, you stay and you stay. And I don't know if you know, but this isn't just like a, a little thing. You're talking that this man's talking to the sun and the moon telling it stay in his place.

I got work to do. He says, so the sun stood still in the moon stop till the nation avenged itself and enemies, as it is written in the book of Jesher. The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day. Church, help me out.

Come on. Like, I really won't, I don't know. Today I want, I hope you know that I want you to leave with faith like you've never had before. And maybe you're not excited yet.

But if you're not reading what I'm reading, the sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day. I'm, I'm probably the God is just like, why is this, why is this not down yet? The sun down, I should be going home right now. It's dinner time.

And this thing's still beaming in the sky and it hasn't even moved. Wow. Are you kidding me? It delayed going down a full day.

There has never been a day like it before or since. A day when the Lord listened to a human being, surely the Lord was fighting for Israel. I don't know if you know it or not, Church, but your Lord is fighting for you. Maybe your commands aren't, you're not being bold enough.

Maybe you're just asking them to do this, but I'm telling you, we just read about a man that said stop, you stop and you stop, the solar system. What I'm talking about, just a little, like we're talking, I don't even know what they're calling, I don't want to mess it up, but we're talking about real something really, really wild that's never been seen or done before. And Joshua just understood, I believe, and had faith enough to ask and command something so boldly because he was so committed to completing his covenant and what he made. And my God, it had me wondering what if, what could happen if we got to be so serious about the word, our word and our commitments and honoring them, what could happen?

Because if he can stop the sun in the moon, I guess where does it end or where does it start, right? We have a God that is doing the impossible and I just am wondering, Church, so what do we have? We have a bold prayer. Joshua's bold prayer for the sun to stand still reflects his extraordinary faith and dependence on God.

Are you dependent on God? I think there's a lot of people that claim to depend on God, but I don't know, that's a dependent on this world to be like, hey, sun, stop. You know what I mean? Could you imagine asking that?

I would have been like, hey, Joshua, bro, I know it's been hot out. Ask for something smaller, bro. You're reaching for the stars here, literally. And then God's response, the miracle of the sun standing still demonstrates God's willingness to intervene powerfully on behalf of his people.

And I want to say this before I move forward, Church, because I believe this in my heart. There's never been a day like it before since. Maybe I don't know if you read your Bible, like I remind, but it doesn't say that there can't be another one. I'm reading that and I'm looking at it like, hold up.

He just said it's never happened since. And that like, I could have done a back look. There's still, it's still open to happen today. That's why I said we have to have faith for it, Church.

He doesn't close it all. There's never been a day like it before, and it hasn't been a day like it since. And like I said, I got looking at other things and trying to study to see other requests, even when I just said it right there, like even some things Jesus asked. They were all requests.

This is a command and it was honored. And I have to try to connect it to because I believe it is that Joshua honored his commitment. I don't think that, I don't know if it would have went another way if he didn't. But what we're reading about, he did.

And all of this stuff is happening. So it's just how we start really thinking, Church. Where's our faith really at? We serve a God that honors commands in the midst of something that started with deception.

In my commitment to honor, my word, my promise. He's right there saying the same. And wow, that really shook me to the core. Joshua commands and God listens.

That is something special, which leads me to the next slide. Pressure, births, diamonds. Y'all ever heard that? That's a popular one.

God took it a little bit further for me, showed me through this story that pressure, births, diamonds, beautiful things, whatever, how you want to look at it. Challenging situations can lead to strong people, right? But let's take it a step further. Commitment, birth, miracle.

And guess what? After the first part takes place and you get that now. And you're now a strong person. Strong people now create miracles.

Joshua stood there and said, stand still. Stand still. Joshua was a strong individual. Joshua knew what he was out to do.

Joshua had faith to pray, hold it. And Church, come on. You're not getting this. Ultimately it led to just a complete victory.

Complete victory. Don't leave today without getting that pressure, birth, diamonds, which means challenging situations, things that you go through. They can lead to you being a strong individual. And then once you get to that point and understand that you're a strong individual, you know how the ability to create miracles.

And don't get a twist that God's the one that creates them. But what I'm saying is you have an understanding now that your faith independence is on him. And listen, you can look at me crazy, Church. But I can't read the word that's in there and I believe it to the fullest.

That my God is capable of doing the things that maybe I can't wrap my brain around. But maybe I just have a student faith that said, you know what? God do this. Because I know that he loves me that much.

My faith would just align up with what he's calling me to do. Remind you, Joshua's in his purpose. He's walking out his purpose, y'all. Some deceptive things happen.

But guess what? He says, I'm still honoring my commitments. And in the midst of all of that, listen, God's showing up and showing up. He ain't just showing up.

He's showing up. He's letting him know. So commitment, first miracles. And we have complete victory.

Joshua 10, 20 to 25 says, so Joshua and the Israelites defeated them completely. But a few survivors managed to reach their fortified cities. The whole army then returned safely to Joshua in the camp of Oldtown. And no one, I didn't want to leave anybody out.

John, I want to spread it out. And no one uttered a word against the Israelites. Joshua said, open the mouth of the cave and bring those five kings out to me. So they brought the five kings out of the cave, the kings of Jerusalem, Cumberland, the Vale, and Oldtown, and Crescenttown.

When they had brought these kings to Joshua, he summoned all the men of Israel and said to the army's commanders who had come with him. Come here and put your feet on the necks of these kings. So they came forward and placed their feet on their necks. We're arriving at 25.

Joshua said to them, do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged. Be strong and courageous. This is what the Lord will do to all the enemies you are going to fight.

All of the enemies you are going to fight. He put them out there. He said, I want you all to see this. All that you're going to fight.

Nothing, it didn't you hear what God said, nothing's going to stand in your way. If you go all the way back to the start of Joshua and he's taken over, he lets him know, I'm going to do everything and I promise Moses. Everywhere that you walk, Joshua, everywhere that you walk, I'm going to be there. And Joshua was standing there.

And I don't know what you're fighting, y'all. I really don't know what you're going through. But in this situation, I'm telling you, I just read the craziest story in my opinion. Like the craziest story.

You probably tell somebody that, they're going to be like, you're crazy. The sun stood still for almost a whole day. God listened to a human. He took a command from a human.

And it's like, wow, this is incredible. And it boosted my faith as I'm reading this. And the thought today is to understand that God is for you. And not just on the level that we say it, y'all.

I'm talking about God is for you. God wants to intervene in your life. He causes divine confusion. He can, yeah, right?

You're going to be looking at things different now. There's going to be mass confusion. You're going to be like, right? And then your just go start slinging and everything because you're like, it's confused.

I'm knocking it out this time. And the encouragement and the strength, Joshua's words to his commander reflects God's repeat of encouragement to be strong and courageous. Joshua's telling his men, didn't I tell you? Put your feet on the next.

Didn't I tell you? We got to be strong and courageous. Then we got God's faithfulness. The victory reiterates God's faithfulness to his promises and his support for his people.

Church, God came through. God came through. I want you to know, these things, I want to know, I got four points. And I'm just put on there, upheld by God.

He upholds everything. Did y'all just read what you read? Everything. Honored by us though.

It comes down to us, God. What are we honoring? Are we holding our commitments? Honor our commitments is number one.

Trusting God's faithfulness is number two. All that's up there. Pray boldly. Number three.

I hope that that takes a new meaning. I'm like, that's a basic point. God means I give it after you read this. I feel like it's going to have a whole other meaning to it.

If we could learn to pray like that. Be strong and courageous. We say it all the time, Church. The way you can come up and actually get ready to close, I'm going through that.

I was worried. I cut some stuff out. But this is a really powerful testament, y'all. Y'all can stand with me.

Do the importance of keeping our promises and the faithfulness of God and keeping his. Joshua, at an unwavering trust in God, in his commitment to honor his covenant that led to a crazy victory, a miraculous victory.