The following is Pastor Nate’s teaching transcription from Calvary Monterey’s 8/17/21 Tuesday Night Service. We apologize for any transcription inaccuracies.

Hey everyone, thanks for joining me for our Tuesday night church Bible study. And if you've been following along then you know that the last few weeks have been different. We've finished our study of Genesis and now Exodus, and in order for me to take a little break and time away from the church and from teaching, Pastor Jeff taught us through the book of Colossians over the last four weeks.

And next week we're going to get into our study of the Book of Leviticus. And I'm very excited about this study, and I'm not speaking tongue in cheek, I'm not making that up. I really am legitimately excited about this passage of scripture. In pre-Christian times, and even in the days in Orthodox Jewish circles, young Jewish boys would learn first the Book of Leviticus. Not Genesis, not Exodus, but first the Book of Leviticus.

It's a powerful book, it teaches us about the God who is holy and his call upon our lives to become holy. I'm sure I'll say it again, but I'll say it this way today. God delivered the people of Israel from their slavery in Egypt in a night, but it would take a lifetime to get Egypt out of them. And the Book of Leviticus helps us see the way that God wanted to bring his people into the sanctification process.

And personally I don't feel that the laws of the Old Testament, or the laws of Leviticus in particular, are just these archaic laws that we can just throw out completely. No, inside of those laws are principles that we should still be adherent to today as believers, as Christians. For instance, the law that taught that the people of Israel needed to build a fence structure around their roof, that's not something that we have to do today. But the principle remains. In that culture, they'd have flat roofs and people would spend much time on their roof. And so the command of God, thou shall not murder, thou shall not kill, one application of that was, "Hey everybody who's living up or dwelling on their roof, they need to put a fence around their roof so they can preserve life." So though our application of thou shall not kill or thou shall not murder is not the same today, we don't all have to put fences around our roof lines because we don't hang out on our roofs in many of our cultures today, there are things that we need to do to preserve the safety of others. And what might some of those things be? And we can think of some of those societally and we can think of some of those personally.

So in that respect I'm looking forward to getting into the Book of Leviticus to try to draw out the principles that are there in the Old Testament law of God to help us discover today what a holy life for God's people would look like today. Peter after all told us in 1 Peter that we must be holy as God is holy. And when he said that he lifted it straight from the pages of the Book of Leviticus.

So I'm looking forward to getting into those principles. But I'm also looking forward to seeing Jesus in the Book of Leviticus. I will not overly lean into typology and metaphor through my interpretation of the Book of Leviticus, but I do want to get into the sacrificial system. Because they early church, they knew about that sacrificial system and they expected that what the people of Israel were getting through the sacrificial system. When they offered those sacrifices in faith, the early church expected to get those things from Jesus and his ultimate and final sacrifice, they expected his cleansing flow. They expected fellowship with God, and so I'm looking forward to getting into those sacrifices.

But I don't want to teach the Book of Leviticus today, I'm just trying to give you a little bit of a preview for where we're going to go in the weeks to come. So tune in next week and we'll get into Leviticus 1, likely 2, and maybe even 3 together to get kicked off in our study of that 27 chapter book of The Book of Leviticus. But today I want to take you to a little passage in Joshua 5:13-15, three short verses, that really have been meaningful in my life and in my heart. And the reason why I want to share these verses with you today, whenever you're listening to this, is three-fold.

For one, these verses have been highly formative for my life as a Christian man. Secondly, I want to encourage you with the same thoughts that the Lord has encouraged me with over the years. And then thirdly, this is helpful to me because, as many of you know, I just got back from a time away. And in coming back into the ministry, there's been a lot to catch up on, a lot of work to do to submerge myself again in this beautiful work of the spirit that God is doing here on the Monterey Peninsula. And so this kind of gives me a little bit of buffer to be able to dive into research for Leviticus, to prepare to teach that to you starting next week. And it just gives me a chance to catch my breath and share this with you.

By Jericho - Joshua 5:13-15

I actually shared this passage with our high school and middle school ministry right before I left on vacation. And I thought it was an edifying time. And so I want to share it with you as well today. And the message that I've got for you today you could just call this message By Jericho. So if you read the passage with me or if you're listening to this or watching this, listen to the passage as it unfolds. This is Joshua 5:13.

13 When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” **14** And he said, “No; but I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?” **15** And the commander of the Lord’s army said to Joshua, “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.

“When Joshua was by Jericho he lifted up his eyes and looked. And behold a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, "Are you for us or for our adversaries?" And he said, "No, but I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come." And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, "What does my Lord say to his servant?" And the commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua, "Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy." And Joshua did so.

Let's pray together. Father, this beautiful little passage, at least to me, you've used it so many times at various cross-roads in my life. And you've encouraged me and helped me to really process the burdens that I experience in life as a man. And so Father I pray that you use this passage and concept and story from Joshua's life to help relieve the burdens that many people are feeling during the season of life that we're in today. And Lord that you would strengthen them for that which lies ahead, by helping them know that you Lord, are prepared. You have the plans, and that you must be sought and worshiped. I thank you Lord and praise you, in Jesus name we pray together. Amen.

The Situation

Now this whole scene unfolds at a place called Jericho. Now up to this point in God's word, Jericho has been mentioned 12 times. And nearly every time that it's mentioned, it is spoken of as a place that the people of Israel will one day visit, one day need to deal with. For the most part Jericho is mentioned to Moses, as God tells Moses that one day the people of Israel would go into the land of promise, the land of Canaan, cross the Jordan River, and have to deal with, almost as a first major obstacle, the city of Jericho. Whenever Jericho is spoken of up to this point, they are always across from Jericho. The people of Israel looking across the Jordan River. Across into their future. Jericho being a problem that is yet future, or distant from their current today experience.

Now the reason why Jericho was so ominous was because it was the first and mightiest city that God had decided to judge in the land of Canaan. And now Joshua, as the newly installed leader in Israel, he is the first one to be by Jericho. That's what it tells us there in verse 13. When Joshua was by Jericho. Now this was a new experience. Not just for Joshua, but as I've been saying for anyone. No one had ever been by Jericho before. Joshua was filling the shoes of the man, Moses who we saw in the book of Exodus was an amazing leader and will continue to see him lead throughout the book of Leviticus and Numbers and on into Deuteronomy.

But here at this point in God's revelation, Joshua has taken over leadership for Moses. Moses, an incredible man. But Joshua is now the new leader in Israel. And I only imagine that this position that Joshua was placed in, sitting there by Jericho, I think it must have been a difficult position for Joshua to be in. I mean I can't imagine what it would be like to assume leadership from a man like Moses. I mean even his death was supernatural in nature. But this guy, at 80 years of age, rolling back into Egypt. Miracles, plagues being unleashed by his word and prediction and through his staff. The messenger of God. And then the people of Israel being rescued from their captivity by God almost single handedly through Moses, and then panicking at the Red Sea and Moses lifting his hands and his staff and praying and the waters parting. And God delivering his people through the waters of the Red Sea. And then on the other side of the Red Sea it seemed that almost every moment that they were thirsty or hungry. Moses could speak a word and God would miraculously provide for his people. The manna from heaven, the quail blowing in to the land. The waters that were made fresh or the water coming from the rock.

Over and over again, God providing for his people through the hand of Moses. And then of course, there was the moment where God spoke from the Shekinah glory cloud and called Moses up to the mountain top to hear from him, dictating and saying that no one else was allowed to go. No one else could approach him, everyone else had to stay at the base of the mountain. But Moses could go up. For 40 days and 40 nights, the glory of God. The flashing of lightning, the rumbling of thunder occurred up there on Mount Sinai and the people of Israel watched in awe. And then Moses returns with Ten Commandments engraved by the finger of God himself. And the Levitical code of the law from God.

Now Moses was an incredible man. Even after he returned to the people after two 40 day stints on the mountain top he would seek the Lord every day in a place called the Tint of Meaning and his face would glow with the afterglow of God's glory. This was the man that Joshua was required to replace, and of course no one could replace Moses. This is why the book of Joshua begins with God imploring Joshua not to be fearful, but to take courage. To be courageous.

Now this man was going through much. And not only that, but at this point in the story, the people of Israel have gone into the promised land and there have been a couple of key markers that actually made them more vulnerable than they would otherwise have been. First of all, they were bought through the Jordan River. And of course the way God does things, they were bought through the river miraculously but then the river closed behind them and this was during the flood waters time of the year. And so the people of Israel had no way to escape quickly from the land of promise, they were in a sense trapped by the elements inside the land.

And then once they were inside the land, God told Joshua that the people needed to reconcile an error that they had committed. That all through their wilderness wanderings as the older generation had died off, the younger men who were now the capable warriors, they'd not been circumcised as part of their outward representation of the inner covenant that God had made with them. And so after they're bought into the land of promise, vulnerable because the river has closed behind them, they circumcise the young adult men who would be the fighters and warriors for Israel. So they're physically vulnerable. Geographically vulnerable, physically vulnerable. And then at that moment God ceased to bring the manna to feed the people of Israel every day. They had only one option, go forward. We're vulnerable, we're weak, we can't go backward. And we need food. We've got to move forward.

And I imagine now, Joshua by Jericho in this moment, fearful and perhaps stressed, worried. Trying to figure out how in the world are we as God's people going to defeat this city. Now I should mention that... and I hope if you followed us through our study in Genesis and even Exodus, I hope that you know that the people of Israel were going to be God's instrument of judgment upon these nations. So God had been very long suffering with the nations inside the land of promise and that they were guilty of great evil. And of course the things that God did to Egypt were very public and so they had time to repent. And some of them like Rahab even did. But for the most part hard heartedness had settled in. And now finally after decades and even centuries in some cases, God is finally willing to judge this group of people. And the people of Israel will be the instruments of God's judgment. And so this is part of the reason why they needed go up against Jericho.

1. Life Is Often by Jericho

Now the first thing that I wanted to really say here today, to you, is that in my opinion I think life, a lot of times it feels that it is by Jericho. And what I mean by that is that perhaps if we could take some license here and think of Jericho like a metaphor for the stages of life or the seasons of life, the situations of life that we find ourselves in or even sins that are difficult for us to overcome. Life is often by Jericho. In other words there's often some major decision, some major stage that we're entering into. Some major season that we're going into. Some situation that is brand new for us. Or some sin that it's time for us to overcome.

It causes us to feel that we're no longer across from Jericho, but we're by Jericho. And sort of the design of life, to me it feels that we're constantly across from, then coming up next to, and by new Jerichos all the time. For instance, I'm sure many of you have had conversation with a 12 or 13 year old who's dealing with 12 or 13 year old issues. And isn't it amazing how simple it all sounds? To you. They're struggling with what their friends think, they're struggling with the way they look, or they're struggling with the way they feel. They're struggling with the pressures that they're experiencing in life at that time.

And maybe you, years removed from being 12 or 13 years old, you've got a perspective on all of that. "Hey, what your friends think, well don't even worry about that. In a few years they probably won't even be your friends and you're going to move on from them and you're not going to care what they think any longer." Or, "That's not a mature way to live your life, being concerned with what other people are thinking. Be a person of character, that's what truly matters." Or, "The way you look or the way you feel, well don't worry you're not going to always look or feel like you do when you're 12 or 13 years old. There's this thing called puberty, you're going through it and you are going to come out on the other side of it. Don't be stressed about it, the most beautiful 12 and 13 year olds aren't usually beautiful forever. So just keep on moving, keep on trucking," kind of thing. Or, "Hey you're stressed out with your pre-algebra homework? Well I'll show you what stress is, I've got to make a multi-million dollar decision in my business right now." Or something like that. You might have a perspective today. But here's the thing, when you're 12 or 13 years old you don't know any of those things, you've not had those experiences. For you it's a big deal because you've never been by that Jericho. You've never been by that situation.

And I think that life is so often this way. Just when you get to that point where you've figured out what it's like to be in your late thirties or something like that, you leave them and a new season of life comes. Just when you feel like you've got life dialed, a new physical hurdle comes in. A sickness or injury or disease enters into your life or body. Just when you think that you've got your career nailed down, there's a new Jericho, a new obstacle that comes into your life. And whether you're 13, or 15, or 17, or 20, or 30, or 40, or 50, or 60, or 70, or 80, there are these new moments that come where life, it's by Jericho once again.

I'll be honest with you that this is one of the reasons why this passage has meant so much to me in my life personally. Some of you, you've actually heard me share this passage before because of the fact that it is and has been so instrumental in my own life. In fact at our church at Calgary Monterey at our church building, the platform from which I normally preach, underneath the carpet there's a wood panel. And I actually before we carpeted it I wrote these verses because of their significance in my own life personally. They had a lot to do with my own calling into life and into ministry. Because when I was 19 years old I was really wrestling with the call of God on my life. I sensed that the Lord was calling me into a life of teaching, declaring his word. And I begun to try sharing the word, I begun to attempt getting into any ministry opportunity that I could find.

And even some of the key people in my life that I began sharing with that I was sensing a call into maybe even pastoral work and ministry, they began saying things to me that were honestly discouraging. They discouraged me from the ministry. They were challenging me and saying, "Well are you really sure that you want to devote your life to that? Are you really sure that that's the path that you want to take? There's a lot of other things out there that you could be doing." And they were trying to dissuade me from entering into the work of the Lord. And I think some of them, looking back on it now, they had a strategy of trying to really challenge me because they knew that the work of the Lord, the work of church ministry, of pastoring can be a real challenge so a man has to be very convinced in his heart that God is calling him to it, that it's not someone else calling them but it is God calling him.

So I think that was part of the strategy but honestly for me at that time of my life it was very discouraging. And I remember sitting there one evening just reading the Bible, studying it, thinking about it, and I came to this passage in Joshua. And the Lord began lifting my burden, because I felt that I was by my Jericho at that time. Looking back it really wasn't that big of a deal, but it felt like a big deal to me in that moment. And I looked at this man Joshua who I felt connected to him, I thought he must have been so stressed out about what was coming. He must have been so overwhelmed with what was about to happen in his life, and he must have been so confused as he was trying to scramble for the plan.

But then this figure shows up with his sword drawn. And all Joshua really needs to do is bow and worship., And the plan of God was then delivered and unfolded. And I remember when the Lord ministered that into my heart, I felt such a sense of relief. That even if my life didn't follow the normal, logical steps and plans that others might pursue, that God was in charge of my life. But the first thing I wanted you to see is that life often feels this way. It often feels that we are by Jericho.

2. We Often Try to Figure Out Jericho

13(Joshua) lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?”

Now the second thing I wanted to say to you is that we often then, when we're by Jericho, we often try to figure out Jericho. That's my reading of what it says Joshua was doing there in verse 13. It says that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold a man standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went and said to him, "Are you for us or for our adversaries?"

Now there's a lot of different ways that this could have been said, it's hard to decipher the tone that Joshua used in this moment. But I can't help but think that Joshua was at least to a degree interrogating this man. He wanted to know why this man had his sword drawn. Joshua as the commander, as the fil-in for Moses, as the head honcho, as the leader, he'd not given a commission to anybody to draw their sword. He was still conjuring up the plan of attack against Jericho. And so he wanted to know of this random figure, "Hey, your sword is drawn. Are you for us or are you for our adversaries?" This helps us I think understand what Joshua was doing there as he looked out upon Jericho in his solitary place. He was not praying there by Jericho, but he was likely stressing by Jericho. Trying to figure out how to take out, how to defeat this city. This walled fortress of a town.

And I think this is often what we're prone to do. This is the way that our flesh wants to take us. We see the obstacles, the hurdles, the problems, the crossroads, the stages, the seasons, or situations, or sins of life. We see them and in our minds we begin to strategize alone by ourselves, trying to figure out how to solve the rubix cube so to speak. How to solve the problem, the issue that's in front of us. We attempt to come up with our own plan.

Now I believe that God has given us a heart, a soul, a spirit, but a mind as well that we are to use for his honor and glory. I'm not one of these overly spiritual people who in the morning wakes up and asks the Spirit to show me whether I should put on my right shoe first or my left shoe first. Or whether I should wear socks or not. Or brush my teeth, or what I should eat for breakfast. These are not things that I generally bring to God. I believe that he's given me a mind for a reason and that he helps me think through and strategize and accomplish his mission and his purposes for my life with the brain that he has given to me.

But what I'm suggesting here is that there are moments where the obstacles are present. The stress begins to come in, and we are tempted in those moments to only and exclusively turn inward and not to pray and cry out to God. Not to ask the Lord, say, "Lord honestly this feels impossible to me. I don't know what to do. I've used my mind, I've thought this through and I just don't know what the right decision is." Now Joshua was not in that place, and so he challenged this man. This is often what we try to do, we try to figure out Jericho alone. But the beautiful thing to me is that when we are by Jericho in our lives, Jesus is also by Jericho. That's what I wanted you to see. Jesus is also by your Jericho. Notice the answer of this mysterious figure in verse 14. He said, "No, but I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come." The man's identity is revealed with a simple word. First of all he was clearly not just any old Israelite, he was this special man. He was the commander of the army of the Lord.

3. But Jesus Is Also by Jericho

14 And he said, “No; but I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come.”

Now in Exodus we actually confronted this figure. We saw him in Exodus 23, he's called the Angel of the Lord. God said, "I sent an angel before to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. Beware of him and obey his voice." And now this angel appears so that he can do his job. Bring them into the place which God has prepared.

Now I believe that this is a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus Christ. Part of the reason that I believe this is because this figure, as we'll see in the next verse, commands and then receives the worship of Joshua. And in other passages in scripture, such as Revelation 19, when humans attempt to worship angels, not deities, not God, but angels, the angels rebuff them, correct them. Say, "Get up, I'm just an angel, I'm part of God's created order like you are. I'm not worthy of worship." But this figure receives worship from Joshua. Clearly from God, receives the worship that only belongs to God. He must be God incarnate and so it's very possible that this is a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus Christ. An appearance of Jesus in the Old Testament era. So because of that I just wanted to say it this way, Jesus is by Jericho. Jesus is by your Jericho. He's got his sword drawn, he's ready to fight. He wants you to turn to him for the plans and the purposes that he has for you.

You know the Bible says in multiple places that Jesus right now is living to make intercession for you and for me. I just wish that I had a full concept of what that means. I wish I could just see that, a glimpse of it for a moment. So that I knew how in my corner so to speak Jesus is. How much he's battling for me, praying for me, fighting for me. How much he wants to lead my life. I wish I could just catch a glimpse of how much my good shepherd is working to steer this little sheep to his perfect place and path and purposes.

Jesus said in Matthew 28:20 concerning the making of disciples and going out into all the world to fulfill his mission, he said, "I'm with you always. Even to the end of the age." Even though he's invisible to us he is with us, present with us. It's always been interesting to me, whenever I read the Book of Acts to notice the places in Paul the Apostles life where the Lord showed up most powerfully and intimately for him. The first place is in Acts 9, where Paul is not even known as Paul yet. He's still Saul the unconverted rabbi, teacher, Jewish man. He who is persecuting the church. And in that moment, far from God, running from him, he is dropped to the ground on the way to Damascus and the Lord speaks to him from this bright light and says, "Saul, why are you persecuting me?" And he says, "Who are you lord?" And he says, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting." That's the first moment that the Lord appears to Paul in a powerful way. Then in Acts 18.

Paul is now serving the Lord. And in the city of Corinth he's afraid for his life. And the Lord appears to him in the night. Says, "Paul, do not be afraid for I have many people in this city." Appearing and encouraging his man. Then years later, Paul eventually was allowed to preach the gospel from the temple precincts. A dream come true. Something he'd longed for his entire life. And as he shared his testimony he said, "And then Jesus told me to go to the gentiles." And with that word the Jewish crowd threw dust in the air and their garments and his message was wholeheartedly by the crowd rejected.

And again this had been Paul's dream, to preach a gospel in Jerusalem. I think he envisioned a great revival occurring, but the exact opposite happened. And with depression, there in a dungeon the Lord appears to Paul and says, "You've testified of me in Jerusalem, take heart for you will testify of me in Rome also." And eventually years later on the way to Rome, on a ship out in the middle of the Mediterranean with a storm that was so intense that they did not see the sun for a number of days, an angel of the Lord appears to Paul and tells him, "God is going to protect every single person on this ship. He will deliver you to Rome."

You see over and over again when Paul was in, as he said to Timothy, the mouth of the lion, Jesus was there present with him in those moments. In times of sickness, the Lord was there. When Paul asked the Lord three times to remove his thorn of the flesh that he felt limited his ministry potential and experience, Jesus said, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in your weakness." Over and over again when you look at Paul's life, the time's that Jesus is present are at the moments of the deepest times of despair and trial and calamity within his life.

You see Jesus, he is by Jericho. He's by your Jericho. He is there with his sword drawn, ready to help you. With his unseen army, the angel of the Lord appears to Joshua and says, "No, but as commander of the army of the Lord I've now come." I've always loved that answer from the Lord. Because Joshua says, "Are you for us or for our adversaries?" And he says no, neither. I've got my own team, my own thing. And the questions is, are you going to be on my team? Are you going to follow me? Because I'm ready to fight, I'm ready to go into war.

4. Our Job Is to Trust Jesus at Jericho

14 And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant? 15 And the commander of the Lord’s army said to Joshua, “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.

Now the last thing I want you to see before I let you go is that when it comes to our Jerichos, our job is to trust Jesus once again afresh there. It says that Joshua in verse 14 fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, "What does my Lord say to his servant?" And the commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua, "Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy." And Joshua did so. What did the Lord want Joshua to do? He wanted Joshua to worship. That was his first duty.

And I imagine Joshua at this point so beautifully relieved. So beautifully relieved to realize that the pressure was not on him, that he was not really the commander, but that the Lord was the commander. And that he ended to worship the Lord. I think this must have been an intense relief for this man.

You know I told you before that this passage has been beautifully used in my own life in the past, but over the years the Lord has ministered this same passage and this same concept to me time and time again. Even recently I was just praying about the work that God is doing here on the Monterey Peninsula and through Calvary, Monterey, and this incredible church. And it's been, I think I could say it, a high stress kind of season over the last year and a half with COVID and government restrictions, and masks, and vaccines, and politics. And it's just been a time of real upheaval. And I haven't always known what to say, I haven't always known what to do. And combined with all of that, there have been a myriad of decisions that have had to be made. And not just for the immediate future but decisions that need to be made for the long-term future. There have been staff challenges and changes and positions shifting, and by the grace of God he has stood with us through all of that. But it has been a challenge.

And I was praying about it recently, and just sharing with the Lord that I kind of at times wish that I was a little bit more of one of those real leadery type of pastors. One of those guys who feels like they could be a CEO of any company out there because they're just filled with vision and leadership, and they just love having meetings and corralling people and moving forward. And sometimes I think I wish I had a little bit more of that and I was just kind of praying about that to God. And I just sensed the spirit saying to my heart, mate the thing is the church isn't a business and I don't need a CEO. If I needed one I would have called one to be the pastor of Calvary, Monterey. But I called you. And the thing is that you're just an under shepherd leading other shepherds, but there's a chief shepherd. His name's Jesus. And he's got his sword drawn, and he's ready to go. And he's got beautiful plans for this little crazy church in this little crazy town. And he's going to do some beautiful and incredible things. And your job is to worship him and to more fully be connected to the head, Jesus. So that his vision and his dreams and his mission and is purposes can be executed here on earth as it is in heaven.

And in a fresh way, once again like the Lord has done so many times, that word just encouraged me. It just invigorated me and helped me to remember afresh and understand the Lord is with me. I can trust in the Lord with all my heart, I do not have to lean on my own understanding. And in all my ways I can acknowledge him and he will make straight my paths. And I believe that the Lord wants to do the same thing for you. Every Jericho that you come up against, the Lord wants to stand with you. He is there with his sword drawn and he can, and he will, get you through.

Closing

Now here's the thing, when you trust the Lord in this way, when you're by Jericho and after you're done trying to figure out Jericho, and once you realize that Jesus is also there at Jericho and your job is to trust him. Once you do, you have to be ready for some wild plans. Because what the Lord told Joshua, in Joshua 6, was to walk around the city once a day for six days. Then on the seventh day walk around it seven times, all the while walking in complete silence. And then on that seventh day, the seventh time they surrounded the city, to blow the trumpet and wait and see what God does.

That's not a great battle plan, unless God is in the equation. You see you have to be ready once you worship the Lord and lean upon him. You've got to be ready, not to lean on your own understanding as the proverb says. But on the plans that the Lord has for your life. Sometimes they won't make a lot of sense from a human vantage point, but because God is involved they make all the sense in the world. So church, let's be a people who trust him, who lean upon him. God bless you, have a great week.