In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of not just sitting in the premises of faith, but truly standing on the promises of God. He uses the analogy of a mountain climber who loses his grip and is hanging on for dear life, needing assistance. The speaker also references the story of the children of Israel who were on the brink of entering the promised land but allowed their own doubts and fears to prevent them from receiving God's blessings. He highlights the need for a new dimension of faith, trust, and dependence on God, rather than relying on human ways and instincts. Ultimately, the speaker emphasizes the consequences of unbelief and the importance of fully embracing the abundant life that God has promised.

The children of Israel and learning here in the great battle of coming into the Promised Land and of taking the city of Jericho, this unbelievable awesome city. History has told us, I don't know if you've ever seen in the Discovery Channel on TV and things, they've actually done some very very interesting things about the city of Jericho and how the city was built and the huge walls you know of it and on how that they had determined that there was at one point there's some, you know, a huge earthquake or some disaster that happened in a day where literally this city was destroyed. It didn't decay over a period of time. It came down all at once and they believed that humanly it was just, you know, some form of an earthquake which it probably well was in some form where God just simply shook it and took it down. But here the children of Israel though, God using the issues of life and using this city, we oftentimes, God puts in front of us Jericho's all the time, not to destroy us, not to discourage us, not to defeat us, not to bring us into any dismay, but to actually encourage us, to bring us to a place that we come to a greater realization literally of how great God is. We'll never know how great God is until we have these issues in our life, until we need God to do a work and that's how our faith grows as a Christian. Somebody once said that faith has never seen an impossible situation, just an impossible God, and I suppose how true that is. That is essentially what faith is really all about. It is learning not to look at the situations, but at the God who prevails over all of the situations of life. Because faith essentially, as we'll look at this morning, is coming ultimately to a place where our faith, God wants to bring every one of us in our faith, is to where we come to a place where we trust completely in God's Word. An unconditional, unargumentative confidence in what He says. And that anything that God said, we take it strictly on the basis of the simple fact that God has said it. That if God says something, it is immediately true. God cannot lie, the Bible says. And whatever God says is absolutely, eternally, wonderfully, gloriously, true. And that when we just realize simply if God has said it, that makes it the most awesome force that there is in all the world. But at the same time, when we have God saying something, we also live in a world where we all have our own feelings. We all have our own thoughts. We all have our own intuitions, our own instincts, our own attitudes, our own, you know, kind of general inclinations on one side. The human aspect, the unbelieving part, that's what every one of us have that. Every day when you get up, every situation you look at, you have, well, I think, I feel, I wonder. Well, I'm inclined, you know, to look at it this way. And we have a human set in way of evaluating virtually all of life. And then over here on the other side of equations, God speaks. And God to our life and to our situations. And He simply says, this is who I am. This is what I want you to do. And by faith, what a Christian is doing is realizing, I realize I have these attitudes, these feelings, these inclinations, these instincts that are humanly within me. But I also realize I am on a journey in my life to where one day I wake up in heaven, in God's presence, and I totally, completely trust in Him. And He is everything to me. And that's the journey that I'm going from. I am going from this place into this new dimension and into this new place of an absolute trust. And so faith is something that is on this journey. It is learning, essentially, to obey God. It is coming to a place that, essentially, that faith knows. It absolutely knows, in and of itself, God cannot lie. He cannot make a mistake. God has no apologies. He never looks back and says, oops, I forgot. Or, I know I said, but, I slipped. You never ever have that sense anywhere about God whatsoever. He cannot be defeated. God cannot be destroyed. He cannot be surpassed. There is no power like Him. And so when God says something, He says it. It is now fixed. It is done. And God is, ultimately, He wants to bring everyone of us to a place to where that just isn't a theory or a theology. It's essentially a theocracy that we now live in. It is a place where our life is governed by it. A theology is maybe something you mentally believe, but a theocracy is a place to where you live where He is truly king. If He says it, and He wants it, and He lays it out that I am learning to absolutely do it, and I am realizing that this is right in the face of all of the other struggles and difficulties and human unbelief that I have. It says, but God, if I do this, what about this? And if I do whatever it is, that's going to open me up to this or that, or how can this happen? Or God, what you are saying, it is utterly impossible. And that's precisely what God did with the children of Israel over and over and over again. He brought them into a place where everything, humanly, would say. You know, you throw down a rod and it's going to become a serpent? Don't think so. You stretch out a rod over a river and it is going to open up? Don't think so. You know, you lift up a rod into the air and ask God to give you a victory over your enemies and He will? I don't think so. But God is somebody, essentially, this is precisely what He is wanting to do within our lives and within the children of Israel lives. He is going to bring them into a Canaan and the very first thing they are going to really encounter is this city of Jericho. Unbelievably huge city. We'll look at that a little bit in a few moments. But everything, humanly, is going to say, how can we ever even begin to get to it? It's impossible. And God smiles and He says, no. With God, nothing is impossible. I am with you. Oh yeah, right. And these are the struggles that we all have all the time in our lives of learning to where we theoretically know that. I assume we are all sitting here because theologically we believe these things. But I want to know today if the issue is not so much theologically what I believe but it's theocratically what I believe. Am I resting in those things? Am I trusting in those things? Am I depending upon those things? Am I putting my life right in a place where those things are true and I'm going to live it out? In actual human experience within my life. That's a theocracy. That's to where I'm really looking and saying, God, I'm not just simply suggesting or believing or subscribing. We have these old songs that we love to sing. Like the old hymn, Standing on the Promises I Cannot Fail. I think so often we ought to change the verses as Christians sometimes and just sing, Sitting in the Premises. I hope I don't fail. Sitting in the premises doesn't do you any good. In your home or your marriage. Raising your children or dealing with the issues of life. Until it comes to where I'm truly standing on the promises. So often we're like Christians. We're like the old story of the mountain climber. Out there one day going along and all of a sudden he loses his grip and he slips. As he kind of edges down a hill over a cliff there. Next thing you know he's dangling and there's a thousand foot drop. And there he is nowhere to go. And he's hanging on for dear life and he needs some assistance. He needs some help. He can't get up. And as he's just dangling there he begins to cry out for anybody up above that could possibly hear. And after he cries and cries out he hears a voice that says, I'm here. I hear you. I'm God. Trust me. Oh, he just rejoices ecstatic of all the ones who could possibly have heard him and responds. And he's heard God and he says, oh, this is wonderful. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, God. And he says, what do you want me to do? And the Lord says, let go and I'll catch you. He hangs there for a few moments and he says, is there anybody else up there? Well, so often that's we're ones that the thought of who God is we can cry out. And we believe he's there. And yet at the same time in our human ways we're oftentimes while we're doing that we're also saying, is there anybody else up there rather than just him? And here in this wonderful chapter in this wonderful verse, I think that we we learn some things that we'll be looking at within it. How to exercise faith in the real battles of our lives. What as I said earlier, where's your Jericho today? What is your Jericho today? What is it that you would look at that just seems to you bigger than life? Impenetrable, impossible to overcome. Something there that just stares at you and just the mere presence of it almost mocks you. Laughs at you, ridicules you. What makes you just feel absolutely hopeless as a Christian reduced to nothing. Well, here's some things that I want to suggest to you that are just essentially all about the children of Israel. What they had to learn for this one verse there in verse 30. This by faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were compassed about for seven days. The first thing I want to mention here is that I believe that learning and that God wants us to be learning to exercise faith in the battles of life. And in so learning to do it where we really look and say I want to, I want to truly live by faith. That one of the things in order to when you realize if I'm going to take my Jericho, whatever it is, there's got to be something where I look at it and rather than all of the instincts, all the opinions, all of the ways that I try to do it. Let's see how many battering rams am I going to need to try to get through the wall? How big of ladders am I going to need to get over? What size of cannon am I going to need to try to break through the thing? But rather than I realize, nope, not all the human ways of trying to do this. God, I want to open up my life to a whole new dimension of faith and of trust and of dependence upon you. That is something there that God wanted the children of Israel to really do. You see, 40 years earlier they had gone into the land, 12 spies. And 12 spies when they went in, you perhaps remember this story, when they came in earlier to check out, God had promised them, here's the land of Canaan flowing with milk and honey. It's all yours. I'm going to give you a wonderful life. And they're off and they're running and they're so thrilled. They're almost like just a brand new babe in Christ, this new Christian. God loves me. He's going to bless me. He's going to take care of me. Life is so wonderful. Remember those days. But so often, just like the children of Israel, as they neared, you know, this wonderful life that they had laid out, milk and honey and blessing and victory, houses you didn't build, wells you didn't dig, olive yards and vineyards you didn't plant, cities you didn't build, all these things, God says, I'm going to give it to you. And they say, oh, this is so wonderful. But then, just before they went in to get it, they sent in 12 spies. They said, well, let's go check out and see this wonderful land we've got and how we're going to kind of go take it. And they're all enthused, all excited. And they go in and 10 of the 12 spies come back and says, wow, it is something. And there's milk and there's honey and there's grapes and there's, you know, fruit and there's nuts and there's stuff like, wow, it's so glorious. It's so wonderful and it's so beautiful and so gorgeous in there. But there's one problem, there's giants in the land. Giants. We can't take the giants. We're like grasshoppers, they said. We're like grasshoppers and these giants will just squash us. We don't have any chance at all. And the people, all of a sudden, they're saying, wait a minute, no. Two of the 12, Joshua and Caleb said, no, no, no. Yes, all that's true. All of that is true. But you've got to realize we also saw the Lord. And he told us everything is going to be fine. And they said, yeah, right. Sure. And immediately what happened? Their own inclinations, their own instincts, their own feeling, their own idea of battering rams and how many ladders they'll need and how they can take it took over. And as soon as that took over, unbelief came with it. And they said, we can't do it. As wonderful and as joyous and as full and as rich as this life that God seems to want for us can be, we cannot see how we ourselves can personally take it. And one of the first things that ever has to really happen, and so they just sat there for 40 years. They all died miserable lives. They spent 40 years murmuring, chiding against God, chiding against Moses, striving with one another. Murmuring back and forth all around a dust bowl of a desert in the wilderness. There, you know, no good for God, no good for man, no good for themselves, no good for anything. And there they spent the 40 years of their lives where you just kind of look and say, whatever went wrong? And the thing was, is that they never came to a place where, first of all, God's word became central. They didn't do that. But when they came into the land, when this new generation now comes in, we're told in Joshua chapter 1, you might turn to it because I'm going to read a few verses out of here, Joshua 1, 1. It says, Now after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spake unto Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses his minister, saying, Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou and all of this people, under the land that I do give them, even to their children of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said to Moses. From the wilderness of this Lebanon, even into the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and of the great sea towards the going down of the sun, shall be your coast. There shall not be any man able to stand before thee all the days of thy life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee. I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. Be strong and of good courage, for unto this people thou shalt divide for an inheritance the land which I swore unto their fathers to give them. Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is of the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee. Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein. For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. God said to Moses, he said, Moses, you know why they never had the land? You know why they just dreamed of milk and honey? You know why they just talked about it, and why they sang about it, and why they wondered about it? But they never tasted a grape. You want to know why? Joshua, it was simply because they did not follow my word. I told them, and they didn't do it. And he says, if you want to prosper, if you want to have that place, you know, where in your life where the blessings come, he says, I want you to take my word, and he says, and don't you turn to it from the right or the left. Don't turn away from it. Don't mess with it. What I say, I mean. What I mean, I say. It's simple. It is clear. Just do it. And you know, the simplest thing to me so often in the Christian life is just deciding, in a sense. It's not a hard decision. It may be hard by faith to really begin to enact it when you haven't done it, you know, experientially before. I can tell you, I believe it gets easier and easier all the time because anything else is more ridiculous with time. And you realize there is nothing so true with time as God's word. But initially, I know. So when you step out, you know, to trust him. And wondering, is his word true? And then you begin to find it is. And then again and again it is. It is. But ultimately, when you just simply look, if God says something in his word, do it. And one of the things that was so different with this new generation that had this great victory that the other generation didn't know, it's interesting, it begins there. It says, Moses, my servant, is dead. Now, I mean, Moses was a nice fellow, and it's not like they're happy about it. But it is something. We're over. He says to him twice, that after the death of Moses, his servant, God says, Moses, my servant, is dead. And he tells them now. He said, essentially, as you go through these next eight verses, God says, Joshua, the exact same place that Moses had in the hearts and the lives of the people, now my word is to have. They followed Moses. Moses said, we're going this way. They went this way. Moses lifted up the rod. They did what he said. He wanted him here. He wanted him there. And wherever he led, they followed Moses, followed Moses, followed Moses. He says, Moses is dead, but my word isn't. And he said, I now want you to take my word and put it exactly where Moses once was. So often, the interesting thing about this is we so easily follow human beings. We so easily pick up a human, somebody's book and just read it about marriage. And we read it about this or we read it about that. Or we go to church and somebody tells us, do this. We say, oh, I'm going to go do that. In the meantime, I think God sits there and says, you know, they have my word. They've got it every day. Why don't they get up and just read the thing? And whatever it says, do it. Just simply do it. It's a novel idea for a lot of people. But it's the amazing thing is that when somebody does that, when they finally look at God's word and just simply what God's word tells them to do. He tells Joshua, he said, I want you to meditate in this word day and night. The book of Psalms, David begins the wonderful book of Psalms by saying, Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth at the feet of the scornful, but his delight shall be in the law of the Lord. And in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he says, and he shall be like a tree planted by rivers of water. He'll bring forth fruit in his season. His leaf also shall not wither. And whatsoever he does shall prosper. The person that begins to realize the magnificence of God's word, they take God's word and whatever it says, they find themselves just simply, I'm going to meditate in a day and night. And whatever it says, I am going to do it. Could you imagine how many battles do you have right now? How many Jericho's are you around? If there's just something, and maybe your marriage, maybe your children. Are you looking through the word and saying, God, what does your word say about marriage? What does it say? What does it say about me as a husband? What does it say about me as a wife? What does it say about me as a parent? What does it say about me and whatever it is, give me the directions and whatever you tell me to do, I'm not going to say, well, wait a minute. My natural inclination here is you want me to love this woman? As you love the church, she'll walk all over me. That's my inclination, maybe. The Lord says, well, you kind of walk all over me, but I still love you. I win you. You're worth it. Whatever it may be, the human reasoning may not fit, as you may think of it. But there's something there, and when somebody begins to do whatever it is that God's word says to do, when it says, wife, submit your husband, submit to him. Have you seen the idiot? Or whatever else that we may do. But when there's somebody that just says, my natural inclination is to protect myself, or to do this, or to do that. Not just simply, God, that's just ridiculous. It's just dropping, opening my hands with a thousand foot drop, and thinking you'll catch me. And that's exactly, to me, the glorious journey that God wants to take every child of His on through their life. To where I am coming to a place that His word says something, I let go of all my muscles holding on, trying to hold into the cleft of the rock, and trying to squeeze in there so I don't drop and die. And it isn't until finally I just let everything go and say, God, Your word. I am going to follow Your word. And this was something, when somebody realizes this, realizes the place of the word of God within our lives, and then we simply do what it says. How important that is, and God wanted the children of Israel. He's going to tell them to do some things that seem utterly ridiculous. I want you to walk around a city every day for seven days. What? How in the world? What military journal? Have you read this from God? You know, sort of a thing. But the amazing thing, you see, God's just simply looking, saying, I want you to obey me. I want you to trust me all day, every day, while you're walking. And when they're learning this, when I learn the place of the word, a second lesson they had to learn before the walls were to come down, is they had to learn and they had to realize that God's blessings are a gift. The simplest thing. That God's blessings are a gift. Joshua, chapter 5. If you're still back there in Joshua 1, turn on over to Joshua chapter 5 and look at verse 13. For it says, And it came to pass when Joshua was by Jericho. Here they are. They're now, Joshua is by Jericho. There he is. He's looking over the city, probably thinking about his battle strategy. How am I going to take the city? How many battering rams am I going to need to try to break through this thing? You know, how many, how high of ladders are you going to need? How are we going to have this victory? God, you told us we've got to go take Jericho. There it is in front of us. I believe you. I trust you. And now he's probably out there trying to work some sort of a battle strategy. It says, It came to pass that when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and he looked and behold, there stood a man over him against him. With his sword drawn in his hand. And Joshua went unto him and he said, Out there for us or for our adversaries? Here Joshua, probably again tense, nervous, sweating. The burden of, you know, the world upon his shoulder. The children of Israel are now following him, listening to him. And he now is there about to lead them into something that's the most incredible battle of all of their lives ever even dreamed of. They're heading right now for Jericho. He doesn't have a plan yet on how it's going to happen. And there he is looking at the city. And all of a sudden a man appears before him with a sword drawn in his hand of all things. He probably jumps back startled. Out there for us or for our adversaries? Whose side are you on? Who are you with? And then as he hears this voice, he says, Neither. But as captain of the host of the Lord, I might now come before you. Simply what he's saying there when he says as captain of the host of the Lord. He says, I just happen to be commander in chief of all the armed forces of heaven and earth. The host of God. All of the powers of heaven and earth. I'm the commander. And there as he looked at him, he says, Joshua, so often right now today, maybe you're sitting there wondering where the Lord is. Lord, are you for us or against us? Whose side are you on? Will you help us? Are you going to come through? Get on my side, please. In the meantime, the Lord says, I'm sorry, I don't take sides. Just mine. The issue, Joshua, is am I on your side or not? The issue is, Joshua, are you on my side? Are you surrendered to me? Are you given to me? Do you trust me? And Joshua, you know, finds himself there. It says, this is my now coming. Joshua fell on his face to the earth and did worship. And he said unto him, What sayeth my Lord to a servant? Oh, the key when you want Jericho, when you truly want the battles in your life, the issues of your home, the issues of your relationships, the issues of your health, your finances or whatever it is, these huge battles in life that we're so often inclined. I've got to get my forces together. I've got to get my team together. I've got to, you know, strategize this in that meantime. I believe there the Lord. He just stands in one day. In the meantime, as you're doing all this now, Lord, here's our plan. You got to join our team. This is a good team. You want to be with the winning team. God, join us. Meantime, there's a strange, eerie feeling. God, I don't know whose side you're really on yet. But when there's something here, Joshua realizes he just fell on his face. And he says, what do you want me to do? There's somebody that's going to win. There's somebody there when you lose your own agenda and you don't have to win. You don't have to lose to truly be a winner. You just have to submit. You've got to come to that place where God, your word, whatever it says, I want it. And I also realize that whatever it is, it's going to come from a blessing from you. It tells us then, as it says, that the captain of the Lord simply speaks there to Joshua. And he says, loose thy shoe, verse 15, off thy foot for the place whereon thou standest is holy. The Lord tells him, he says, Joshua, take off your shoe. Worship me. That's the battle of life. Surrender to me there. Chapter 6, verse 1, it says, Now Jericho was straightly shut up because of the children of Israel. None went out and none came in. And the Lord said unto Joshua, See, I have given unto thine hand Jericho. Can you imagine that the Lord, now here's Jericho with all of it. And now the Lord just pointing at it, standing. He says, take a look at Joshua. It's a gift. I am giving it to you. I'm going to give you the blessings of life. It isn't going to be something that is going to come there because you've earned it. It isn't going to come because of your sweat. It isn't going to come because of your energy, your effort, your genius, your capacity. The blessings of life are a gift of God. The true things that are wonderful, that are glorious, that are eternal, they aren't because you're clever or the timing was right or you were quick to the punch or you understood or you were smarter or you were stronger or you had more stamina than somebody else. That's what the world always wants to sell, the persistent one, the one there with all of the fight, you know, within and wins. You know, and the all of these different things as if it's just something there. And all God wanted to do is look and say, you trust me, I will give you as a gift the blessings of life. And, you know, I don't know about you, but I look at God, I look at the blessings of life that he's given me. Unbelievable blessings. I mean, I look at, you know, I look at my parents. I look at my brothers, my sisters, my nieces, my nephews, my cousins. I look at the family. That's unbelievable. I look at my wife. I look at my children. I look at my grandchildren. I realize I didn't do. How did you earn that? How do you one day wake up and whatever blessings that there are that are just all around you and you realize, God, you are so unbelievably wonderful. When I look at the relationships of life, I look at the people in the body of Christ. I look at people all over the planet in many ways. It's glorious, wonderful relationships. And to sit there and just realize I am so rich. And yet at the same time to think, well, I earned it. I did it. I somehow or another did anything. And you realize the things that are wonderful in life, God just gave them to you. He just gave them to you. I look at my wife. We'll be 37 years here in a couple months. Almost daily people come up to me and say, how did you get such a wonderful wife? She is so awesome. And they go on and on about it. Frankly, I'm tired of it. But anyway, I want to take credit for it somehow or another. And I used to try to take credit. I would actually used to tell people, I'll tell you something. You should have met her when I did. She was a mess. But after 20 years with me, she's really turned into a really wonderful woman. Nobody's bought into that yet. Nobody said, wow, you're something, you know. And everybody knows or just realize, hey, fella, this is a most incredible gift. And you had nothing to do with it. And it is in spite of you, you know, not because of you. And believe me, we know her and we know you and she is a gift. Nothing earned there, buddy. But I mean, how many things in life that we have that we realize, God, this in the greatest blessings of life, God just gives them to you. And here with Jericho, God says, if you think you can fight for that and earn that and do something that you can take that on your own, have at it. But it'll destroy you in the process or you can do it my way. And trust me, bow before me. Believe my word. Do what my word says. And I'll give it to you as a gift. And then lastly, another great lesson that when you want to take a city, is that realize that they come through a humble faith, a very humble sort of a faith. By faith, it says in verse 30, the walls of Jericho fell down after they were compassed about for seven days. You got to realize these walls of Jericho, they were massive structures. Historians and archaeologists have gone back and gone through this city and looked at it and realized that these walls of this city, they were so huge, they're so high in places. There was absolutely no way anybody could even get through a wall with any technology at that time or that they could scale these walls. And they were so high and so powerful that at the top of these walls, in some places they could ride several chariots side by side. I mean, these were not just like a wall that we think of a wall today. These things were so thick. And then at the very height of it, up sometimes 60, 80 and 100 feet high. Unbelievable walls. But at the top of it, chariots could ride. And here he's looking, as they're looking at a city like this. And here it's just one of their first obstacles, if they ever really want to take Canaan. In a human perspective, I mean, how impossible this is for a bunch of slaves, a bunch of people just kind of brought out of slavery, wandering in the wilderness, no warfare equipment, no strategy, no military genius about them. And here they are, is that they're looking at this thing. And they're realizing, you know, how in the world can they take this? Way back in Deuteronomy, when the children of Israel first went into the land and they report came back. And that they, how, that boy, there's great blessing and it's wonderful. But we're like grasshoppers. They felt that way. And they looked at them, they're giants in the land, and they were big. But there was never an argument ever about that, for one moment, as far as Moses or God were concerned. Moses himself, he told the children of Israel at the very beginning of their journey. It says in Deuteronomy 4, 37 and 38, Moses said to them, and because he loved thy fathers. Here he just looked at him, he says, and because he loved thy fathers. He brought thee out of Egypt with his mighty power. To drive out nations before thee, greater and mighty than thou art. To give thee their land for an inheritance, as it is this day. God told that you hear Moses, he says, by the way, I want you to realize. I love your fathers. I've just got this thing for you. I just love you. Don't try to figure it out. I can't figure it out myself. You know, I don't know if he didn't say that. That's my opinion. But anyway, where God basically just said, I love you. I'm taken to you. I love your fathers. They've made promises to me, and I'm keeping them. They care, what their fathers cared about is their children. God take care of my children. And so I'm looking and says, okay, I will. I love you and I love them. And so because I love your fathers, I've given this land. I want to bless your life. I want to do wonderful things for you. I'm going to do wonderful things for you, and I want to give you a land. And he says, in which I am well aware that it is now inhabited by forces. That are greater and mightier than thou art. You're no match for them. You will never take them on your own. You'll never have it. But Moses also looked there, and he already knew very well. That's the whole thing that life is all about anyway. The greatest blessings of life are a gift of God. Moses knew only too well. He'd already stood before Pharaoh. He'd already watched the plagues come through. He'd already seen rivers open. Everything he did took a God that was greater and mightier than any enemy he'd ever come. And now Moses was wanting to tell the children of Israel. This is how life must become for you. You have got to be able to. Yes, you've got huge battles. You can maybe look at the hopeless marriage. You can look at the issue with the children. You could look at this with your career. You can look at whatever your Jericho is. And God says, no matter how you analyze it. Final analysis. It will still be bigger than you. I promise you. But the thing is that when somebody comes and God says, but I want you to trust me. And then the interesting thing. It tells us here in Joshua chapter 6 verse 10. Here the Lord instructed them in between those verses. He says, Moses, I want you to tell the children of Israel that walk around the city. Just march around it. Every day for seven days. Once a day. I want the Ark of the Covenant to go before them. And the priest with ram's horns to be blowing these things before them. And then the people to walk behind them. Now listen to this. It tells us in Joshua 6 10 and Joshua commanded the people saying you. Shall not shout nor make any noise with your voice. Neither shall any word proceed out of your mouth until the day that I bid you shout. And then you shall shout. Now. This is one of the greatest tests I think of faith. Here the Lord now tells me says I want you for seven days. Just as meditate to look at who I am to look walk around the enemy. And keep your mouth shut. Not a word. Not a single word. Speechless. You want to win a battle. Be quiet. What a strategy. I mean can you imagine how many how many battles have you when you've gone into. And lost because you open your mouth. I would say most of my battles that I lost. That was that was the very point I lost. Now you listen to me woman. From then on it was over. I lost. You know or something. I mean how many times in life that you. There's something that you're your intellect your inclination. But how would it be. Could you imagine if whatever your Jericho is there was your speechless. You had nothing to say. You just are going to walk and you may realize these are the very children of Israel. That they spent 40 years murmuring murmuring against God murmuring against Moses. Wherefore you brought us out in our cattle out here to die in the wilderness of hunger of thirst or whatever it is. Every day they had an opinion about anything and everything. What was wrong. And now God says. Be quiet. What would it be like if whatever your Jericho is for the next seven days you said nothing. You just walked around it. Put your eyes on the ark. And the priest ahead of you. You just simply looked at the word of God. There the ark there was the commandments of God were within the ark. The word of God was within the ark. It was the presence of God symbolized for the children of Israel. And the Lord told him he says the priests are going to go with the ark of the covenant in front. And you just simply walk behind the word. For seven days. Walk behind the word. Walk in the footsteps of the priesthood and be quiet. And here is these people went in for seven days. Quiet. Silent. Walking around meditating on the word. Looking at their priest. Waiting upon God. And then he says in the seventh day. Shout. As they walked around it seven times. And there it was a rejoicing with a sense. A shout of victory before the walls came down. I believe that if what he wants to bring every one of us to. Is that before the walls of Jericho come down literally. Before the battle is won. Before whatever your Jericho is. Is over and done and settled and finished. He wants it finished in your heart in such a way. As you can just simply learn to walk quietly. And follow a big stick. Sort of speak. But you can just follow the word of God. Do what it is. Has to say nothing. Look at your priest. And then by the end of those seven days. Joshua says. Alright. Let it go. And by then it was as if they all knew they won. They shouted. I believe God when he brings you to a place. When your faith has happened before the walls have come down. And whatever it is. Is where you can smile and rejoice. I don't know how it's going to happen. I just know it is. I don't know how the walls come down. Never seen them come down before. Never been in a battle like this before. But what a great example. What a great way to now learn every issue in the rest of your life. Because after that Jericho. There will be another Jericho. And another Jericho. And another Jericho. And there will be many of them through your life. But when you have come to a place. You realize. Whatever God's word says. I'm going to do it. I'm not going to go by my human inclination. And then as I do it. I'm going to realize. Anything that comes out of this. It isn't going to be my genius. It's a gift of God. If one day God gives me this marriage. Or this family. Or this career. Or this. Or whatever blessing it is. Whatever my Jericho is. If God gives it to me. I'll be the most humbled person in the world. I'll be the one that I'll say. It wasn't my genius. It wasn't my strategy. I just walked around it. Wondering. What am I doing? How do you win a battle by walking around a city? This is stupid. But then has God humbled me. And humbled me. And I listened to his word. And I was quiet. And I kept my mouth shut. I waited upon him. I followed his word. I waited for the priest. And then a joy came one day. That I'd been silent so long. Instead of coming out in hostility. Or anger and frustration. I came out with a shout of rejoicing victory. I've won. Then the walls come down. And then it's immaterial when they do. Or how they do. The victory has been won inside. Jesus once told Thomas. When Thomas had literally. He'd heard about Jesus being raised from the dead. And Thomas said. I will not see until I put my finger in his side. I won't believe until I put my finger in his side. Well the next thing you know. Jesus appears before him. There's Thomas. And Jesus says to Thomas. He says. Come on Thomas. Put your hand in my side. Didn't say Thomas ever had to do that. Or did it? But Jesus looked at Thomas. And he says. Thomas blessed are they. Who have not seen. And yet believe. When there's something that I don't have to wait. I don't have to see to believe. I've now come to a place where Lord. Everything in the world looks hopeless. But I don't care. I believe your word. I believe I'm more than a conqueror through Jesus Christ. I believe I have the victory. Now keep me quiet. Let me walk around and wait. And see your answer. Amen. Let's stand and pray together. Lord Jesus how we thank you. And we praise you that this is the God who you are. And Lord I pray for each one of us today. Whatever our battle may be. Whatever our Jericho may be. Whatever our struggle in life may be. Lord that we can come. To a place with you. Where we look to you. And we realize Lord help me listen to your word. Help me not to turn to it. Away from it to the right or to the left. But to meditate in it day and night. And Lord that as a result of it my life. It becomes like a tree planted by a river. Brings forth fruit in the season. As leaf doesn't wither. And whatsoever he does prospers. Lord may your word take that place within my life. The supreme place that overrules doubt. Struggle. Unbelief. My rationale on how to do things. It begins to silence me before you. As I realize Lord you love me. And you care for me. And you want to bless me. Lord may each one of us realize that. That you look at us and you say I do love you. And if I spared not my own son for you. Would I not give you all things. Lord help us to be able to realize. God you have. You've given your son. What's Jericho to you? What is my Jericho to you? It is nothing. And Lord that we could just by faith. Begin to have that faith grow. And be strong in us. And that it would just silence us. And then Lord whatever you tell us to do. Just to quietly. Hear the children of Israel. They fought all their battles. Seemingly with their mouth for 40 years. And lost everyone. And then finally you told them. He says now I want you to put hands and feet. On your faith. And close your mouth. I want you to follow my word. And follow the priest. And be quiet. Stand still ultimately then. And see the salvation of the Lord. When we're done. Lord may we be ones. That one day we look and realize. God you are so good. And that we can say with Paul. What does a man have? That he hasn't received it from God. And if he's received it from God. Why does he boast as if he hasn't? Lord may we be ones. That we can look at all the blessings in life. And saying thank you Jesus. You have truly blessed me. And it's been a gift. I didn't earn it. Help me not to try to earn it now. To win the battle now. But to rest in you Jesus. In your wonderful name we ask it. Amen.