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you you you you you you you you I'm a symbol of jasper The city itself is pure gold Hold in my nice glory behold In that rose O sinner, trust the Lord, be cleansed of all your sin For the sea hath provided for you to enter in And then, if you should live a hundred years below, up there you'll not regret it You settled long ago, long ago, long ago Yes, the old account was settled long ago And the record's clear today, for he washed my sins away When the old account was settled long ago Jesus, ruler of all nature O thou of God and man the Son Thee will I cherish, Thee will I honor Thou my soul's corridor and crown Am I a soldier of the cross or follower of the Lamb? And shall I fear to own his cause or push to speak his name? And when the battle's over, we shall wear a crown Yes, we shall wear a crown, yes, we shall wear a crown And when the battle's over, we shall wear a crown In the new Jerusalem Wear a crown, wear a crown, wear a bright and shining crown And when the battle's over, we shall wear a crown In the new Jerusalem On the first note This is my Father's womb And to my listening ears All nature sings and round me rings The music of the spheres This is my Father's womb I rest in the fold Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas And the wonders run Liberty, two, three, two If it seems like we're doing a lot of favorites I'm kind of using all our timeouts so fast Oh, he's back. Never mind. All right. All right. He is back. Tell me the story of Jesus Tell me the story of Jesus Write on my heart every word Tell me the story most precious Sweetest that ever was heard Tell how the angels in chorus Sang as they welcomed his birth Glory to God in the highest Be and good tidings to earth Tell me the story of Jesus Write on my heart every word Tell me the story most precious Sweetest that ever was heard All right. Two more. Miss Sheila. One night, team. One night, team. All right. In the dark of the midnight Have I offed my feasts While the storm howls above me And there's no hiding place Did the crash of the thunder Precious Lord, hear my cry Keep me safe till the storm passes by Till the storm passes over Till the thunder sounds no more Till the clouds roll forever From the sky Hold me fast, let me stand In the hollow of my hand Keep me safe till the storm passes by All right. Last one. Brother Tony. 4-12. There's a tag team. All right. 4-12. Onward, Christian soldiers. Onward, Christian soldiers. Marching as to war With the cross of Jesus Going on before Christ the royal master Leads against the floor Forward into battle See his banner go Onward, Christian soldiers Marching as to war With the cross of Jesus Going on before Going on before All right. At this time, we'll have the announcements. All right. Welcome back to Shure Foundation Baptist Church for the evening service. If you need a bulletin, lift up your hand unless you're a kid. If you need a bulletin, anybody need a bulletin? All right. On our front cover, we have our verse of the week. It says, For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 6-23. On our inside page, we have our service times. 10-30 a.m. for the morning service, Sunday morning service, and 3-30 p.m. for the evening service. We're in Joshua chapter 13. And our Thursday Bible studies, 6-30 p.m. will be in 1 Chronicles chapter number 22. And our sowing times are listed there below. We had sowing today. Did anybody have a salvation out there to record? Anybody? Oh, Brother Sean? Okay. I got one too. So that's two salvations. All right. Praise the Lord for that. I'm looking for a pen here. All right. So two salvations. That's great. It didn't rain, so that was even better. So add two salvations for the month of March. And let's see. Our upcoming events. Spokane anniversary is 14th through the 16th. Solemnity Marathon, the 29th. Men's Preacher Night, the 30th. Lord's Supper, the 13th at the p.m. service. The All SFBC Mega-Marathon, April 19th. Easter Sunday, the 20th. And Seattle Marathon is, excuse me, Seattle's second year anniversary, 25th through 27th. Pastor Anderson preaching Friday night, 7 p.m. It'll be at the church building. And last year we had to stuff 86 people in that room. So there'll probably be something similar to that. And then, let's see, we got the Solemnity Marathon on Saturday. I'll be preaching the Sunday services. May 15th through 18th is the King James Conference. And the speakers are listed there below. Chicago Solemnity Marathon will be planned this week. We'll have a little more details about that. And the Detroit Marathon on September 6th. All the other stuff is listed below. The ties and offerings, the rules and all that. And then I'm kind of like a creature of habit, so I only read off the birthdays that were bolded on the page. And I forgot my own grandson. Can you believe this? My poor little grandson didn't get mentioned, Titus. But he's not here. He's home sick. But his birthday is on March 8th. So happy birthday to Titus. We won't sing for him until he gets back. But he got lost in the shuffle. I blame Rylan completely. He's fired again for not bolding my grandson. He just doesn't like him for some reason or something. No, I'm just kidding. But anyway, that's all I have for announcements. Go ahead and sing another song. We'll receive the offering. Next hymn will be 312, Open My Eyes That I May See. On the first. Open my eyes that I may see. Glimpses of truth thou hast for me. Lace in my hands the wonderful he that shall unclasp and set me free. Silently now I wait for thee. Ready my God thy will to see. Open my eyes illumine me. Spirit divine. Open my ears that I may hear. Voices of truth I'll send this clear. And while the wave notes fall on my ear. Everything close how disappear. Silently now I wait for thee. Ready my God thy will to see. Open my ears illumine me. Spirit divine. Open my mouth and let me bear gladly the warm truth everywhere. Open my heart and let me prepare. Love with thy children calls to share. Silently now I wait for thee. Ready my God thy will to see. Open my heart illumine me. Spirit divine. At this time we'll collect the offering. And brother Ramon can you bless the offering? My father thank you so much Lord for the salvation today and thank you for this church. I pray that you bless the remainder of the service, the pastor and your spirit. And bless the families of our church as well and the offering in Jesus' name. Amen. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Joshua chapter 13 if you don't have a Bible there should be one underneath the seat in front of you. Joshua 13 Joshua 13 the Bible reads, Now Joshua was old and stricken in years. And the Lord said unto him, Thou art old and stricken in years, and there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed. This is the land that yet remaineth, all the borders of the Philistines and Al-Gashuri, from Sihor, which is before Egypt, even under the borders of Ekron northward, which is counted to the Canaanite, five lords of the Philistines, the Gazathites and the Ashtholites, Escholonites, the Gittites and the Canaanites, also the Avites. From the south, all the land of the Canaanites, and Merah, that is beside the Sidonians, unto Aphek to the borders of the Amorites. And the land of the Gibblites and all Lebanon, toward the sun rising, from Belgad, under Mount Hermon, under the entering in, to Hamath. All the inhabitants of the hill country, from Lebanon, unto Both, Mayim, and all the Sidonians. Then will I drive out from before the children of Israel, only divide thou it by lot unto the Israelites for an inheritance, as I have commanded thee. Now therefore divide this land for an inheritance unto the nine tribes, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, with whom the Reubenites and the Gadites have received their inheritance, which Moses gave them, beyond Jordan eastward, even as Moses the servant of the Lord gave them. Oror, that is upon the bank of the river Arnon, and the city that is in the mists of the river, and all the plain of Mediba unto Dibon, and all the cities of Sihon, king of the Amorites, which reigned in Hejbon, unto the border of the children of Ammon. And Gilead, and the border of the Geshurites and the Megathites, and all Mount Hermon, and all Bashan, unto Salcha. All the kingdom of Og and Bashan, which reigned in Ashtaroth and in Edri, who remained of the remnant of the giants, for these did Moses smite and cast them out. Nevertheless the children of Israel expelled not the Geshurites, nor the Megathites, but the Geshurites and the Megathites dwell among the Israelites unto this day. Only unto the tribe of Levi he gave none inheritance. The sacrifices of the Lord God of Israel made by fire are their inheritance, as he said unto them. And Moses gave unto the tribe of the children of Reuben inheritance according to their families. And their coast was from Aror, that is on the bank of the river Arnon, and the city that is in the mists of the river, and all the plain by Mediba, Heshbon, and all their cities that are in the plain, Dibon, and Bamath-beil, and Beth-beil-meon, and Jehaza, and Kedemoth, and Mesphah, and Kerjathium, and Sibmah, and Zeroth-Shehar, in the mount of the valley, and Beth-poer, and Ashdoth-pizgah, and Beth-jesh-imoth, and all the cities of the plain, and all the kingdom of Sihon, king of the Amorites, which reigned in Heshbon, whom Moses smote with the princes of Midian, Evi, and Rekhem, and Zer, and Her, and Reba, which were dukes of Sihon, dwelling in the country. Balaam, also the son of Beor, the soothsayer, did the children of Israel slay with the sword among them that were slain by them. And the border of the children of Reuben was Jordan, and the border thereof. This was the inheritance of the children of Reuben after their families, the cities, and the villages thereof. And Moses gave inheritance unto the tribe of Gad, even unto the children of Gad, according to their families. And their coast was Jezer, and all the cities of Gilead, and half the land of the children of Ammon, unto Aror, that is before Reba. And from Heshbon, unto Ramath-mizba, and Betonim, and from Mahanaim, unto the border of Devur. And in the valley, Beth-aram, and Beth-nimra, and Sukkoth, and Zephon, the rest of the kingdom of Sihon, king of Heshbon, Jordan, and his border, even unto the edge of the sea of Chenoroth, on the other side of Jordan eastward. This is the inheritance of the children of Gad after their families, the cities, and their villages. And Moses gave inheritance unto the half-tribe of Manasseh, and this was the possession of the half-tribe of the children of Manasseh by their families. And their coast was from Mahanaim and Bashan, and all the kingdom of Og, king of Bashan, and all the towns of Jezer, which are in Bashan three-score cities. And half Gilead, and Asheroth, and Edre, cities of the kingdom of Og and Bashan, were pertaining unto the children of Machir, the son of Manasseh, even to the one-half of the children of Machir by their families. These are the countries which Moses did distribute for an inheritance in the plains of Moab, on the other side of Jordan by Jericho eastward. But under the tribe of Levi, Moses gave not any inheritance. The Lord God of Israel was their inheritance, as He said unto them. Brother Brandon, will you pray for us? Amen. We're in Joshua chapter 13, and I guess if there was a title of this sermon it would be The Land Still to be Conquered. And so, let's see, last week we went through the list of all the kings, the 31 flavors of kings that Joshua and Moses defeated. And this week we are in, like, basically it's kind of gotten to the point where Joshua is old now, and stricken in years, and God wants him to make sure to divvy up the land as they've conquered a lot of land, and basically we have where God is commanding him to divvy up what's already been conquered, and to make sure that they conquer the rest of what's still lacking. And he kind of gives them this little list of things that are still lacking, and of course it's going to spill over into the next chapter of the other tribes that have not yet been accounted for for what they're supposed to inherit. So, this is basically stuff that's already been divided, but he just wants to make sure that everything that they've already been given by Moses is accounted for, and what's left over to still conquer. So, point number one tonight is, and I think it's kind of an important point, is that life goes quickly, so serve the Lord while you're young and able. Life goes quickly, so serve the Lord while you're young and able, because that's when you're in the prime of your life, and you're going to be able to serve the Lord to the best of your ability, and sometimes you might be young and not able. Sometimes when you get older, and not just sometimes, when you get older, it's just a fact you're going to slow down. You're going to get more ailments, you might get injuries where you're not able to serve the Lord like you want to. Some people are able to serve the Lord well into their older years the way that they, maybe not the way that they could, but they're still able to serve the Lord at a capacity that they want to, but you don't always get those opportunities. Look at verse number one in the Bible reads, it says, Now Joshua was old and stricken in years. And this term means that he's older and not able to perform some of the same tasks that he was probably able to perform before. It says, And the Lord said unto him, Thou art old. I love how God's just really straightforward. Thou art old and stricken in years, and there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed. So in the last chapter it kind of seemed like everything was all done. You know, a couple of chapters before that, he'd done everything, he'd conquered everything and it seems like everything's pretty much buttoned up, but there's still a lot left to do. And that's just a fact of life is that when we you know, in the generations that we live in, there's always going to be more to do. It's like, when you go to work, I think that one of the things that's frustrating about working certain jobs is that you'll do something and all the tasks will be done at your work or just any kind of work that you have to do and then the next day or whatever that week you're still having to do the same things over and over again and it just never seems like anything is ever just completely done. Like even with housework, you know, houses get messy just as fast as they got cleaned. Actually, probably faster than they got cleaned in a lot of cases and you know, I'm sure that could be frustrating for moms when they're cleaning at home and their kids come and just trash an area that was just cleaned like five minutes ago, but it's just the way life is. There's always going to be work for us to do and Joshua has worked his whole life for the Lord here. He worked for Moses. He worked and fought battles for Moses. He was a spy in the land. He came back with the good report. He was one of the only two of that generation, him and Caleb, that actually got to go into the Promised Land. All the rest of that generation died out, but Joshua's been working hard his whole life and serving the Lord his whole life and then at the end, it's like God, you know, he's old, stricken in years and God's like, you're old now, but I still got a few things left for you to do, but he's stricken in years and not able to do what he once was able to do and then God's like, hey, I got news for you. There's still a lot left to do, but Joshua is not going to get to do those things. He's not going to be able to, he's going to try to instruct them to do these things, but he's not going to be able to do these things like he used to do and just face the facts folks that someday you're not going to be able to do the things that you used to do either. There's people that, we've almost been around, this church has almost been around for, let's see, what'll be seven years? Let's see, it'll be like nine years or something that this church has been a ministry in October. So, we've been around for a while and some of us have gotten older and, you know, we just keep trucking, but I know that I've slowed down compared to what I used to be able to do when I first started this church. So, it's just a fact of life. The older you get, the less you're going to be able to do. When you get out of the prime of your life, right now, if you're in the prime of your life, you're like, oh, I can still do all this and that. Wait until you're in your 50s, 60s, and 70s. I just was watching Pastor Jimenez's sermon from the Philippines last night and he had his dad stand up in church. His dad's 75 years old. He made the trip over to the Philippines. He still goes soul winning. He's still doing things at 75 years old. God has blessed him to be able to do those things. What a blessing to have your dad being able to be soul winning with you and still serving the Lord at 75 years old, but not everybody is able to do that. So, life does go quickly, though, and you just don't know what a day may bring forth. Life is like a vapor, isn't it? So, you know, Joshua's old. He's stricken in years. God tells him he is. He probably already knows that, but God just has to make sure to remind him of that. But, you know, you are old and, you know, what he's saying to God is you're old and there's a lot of left work to accomplish. And the main bulk of the work has been done, but again, there's pockets of land. There's fortresses and strongholds that they have not been able to defeat, and some of these are pretty large, apparently, and they have not been completely subdued. The majority is conquered, but as soon as, you know, the army is done rolling through, like last chapter for the Jebusites, for instance, they burn Jerusalem with fire. And then what? The Jebusites are still there. How are they still there? Well, once they moved on to another place, they probably just came back in, fortified the walls, and then just stayed there and dug in. So, they just come back to the locations that are not reinforced and they dig in. So, even though Jerusalem was burned, the Jebusites still have this pocket, and then eventually they build that castle up to the point where David even has a hard time taking that fortress again. He's like, the blind and the lame could fight you off, David, which was kind of true, except for they found a way in, didn't they? So, you know, they just strengthened these strongholds, built up some walls, and they're even just harder to get out. So, I would just say this, like, as the people of God, that we need to understand that we need to spend our time between the dashes of our life wisely. Don't wait to serve the Lord. You could wake up fifty and regret not using the time that you had more wisely. Not going soul-winding. Not reading your Bible. You know, you can't get those days back. It's just like the manna that fell in the wilderness. It was just there for that day, and you can't just double up. It's gone. It's rotten, and you've missed that day of Bible reading. You've missed that day of prayer. You've missed that time of soul-winding, and you know, it's easy to just get into a routine where you're just not doing things for the Lord anymore, and we can't be that way, and especially if you know better, and you go to a church like this, and you know you're supposed to be out doing these things. You know you're supposed to be reading your Bible. You know you're supposed to be praying. You know you're supposed to be coming to church on a regular basis. You know you're supposed to be soul-winding at least once a week, and you're not doing that. But you know what? When you wake up, and you can't do it anymore, and you're feeling bad that you didn't do those things, you should have listened to what God tells Joshua here. But Joshua doesn't have anything to regret because he's worked his whole life for God. But we don't want to wake up with regret later on and just say, hey, I guess I just blew it. But you've heard sermons like this. You've heard this kind of stuff preached multiple times. Don't just sin away your life, the grace that you have in your young life, and the times that you do have to serve the Lord, and just act like, well, I'll do it some other day. That's what a lot of people say. I'll just do it some other day. And then the next thing you know, 20 years has passed by, and you said, I'm just going to do this some other day. Let's look at some verses. Let's look at Psalm chapter 103, verse 15. Psalm 103, verse 15. Because our time here is, it goes faster than you think, and you kids are like, oh, time goes by so slow. It does, until you're an adult, and you have to work, and you have to pay bills, and things like that. I was just at a house, and they were talking about, it was a young couple, and the guy was talking about how he tells some of his friends and family that are still living with their parents, like, hey, enjoy the time that you have living with your family when you don't have to be an adult, because adulting is not always fun, as they say, adulting. When you have to pay bills, when you're stressed out about whether you're going to be able to pay the rent, and things like that, adulting is not always fun. But you know what's fun? Being a kid, not having all that responsibility. But once you turn, you know, the age when you start working and stuff, that time goes by fast. Look at Psalm 103, verse 15, it says, as for man, his days are as grass. As a flower of the field, so he flourishes. For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone. And the place thereof shall know it no more. And it's kind of true about our lives, like, we don't really, we spend our time here on earth, and it's very short in comparison to a lot of things, and obviously, if you're saved, you're going to live forever, and that is the truth, but our time spent here is about, in comparison to a lot of things, our time is just really short here, and it's comparing it to the days of grass. I mean, how long does your grass last at home? You know, when you mow it, that's like a week, right? But when you just let it grow, it still dies, it still withers away, flowers still wither in the sun and die, and so God is basically saying, hey, you know, you have your time to flourish. So there is a time to flourish, but eventually, the wind passes over, it's gone. And our time here is very precious, but it is shorter than you think it is. Look at Psalm 90, verse 9. This is a psalm that Moses actually wrote. Psalm chapter 90, verse number 9 says, For all our days are passed away in thy wrath. We spend our years as a tale that is told. The days of our years are threescore and ten. He's talking about, you know, kind of the average lifespan of being 70 years old. I'm 50 now. I just turned 50, so my halfway life, if I make it that long, is I'm past the halfway point. 20 years? I mean, that went by fast. But it says, And if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, 80 years, yet is their strength, labor, and sorrow, for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. What's that saying? Well, that it's hard when you're 80. It's hard to get around. It's hard to do work, and your strength is labor. To get around is just hard work. And it says it's soon cut off. We fly away. We die. And so Moses is basically saying, hey, we live our days like a tale that is told, and we don't have a long time on this earth. We don't get to live as long as Adam and Methuselah and all those early people that lived. We have the shorter cut time span. And some people do live longer than that. Some people do live in their 90s. But that is the rare occasion really. Turn to Psalm 39. Psalm 39. Verse number four. So Joshua, he's old, he's stricken in years, but he does have a positive thing to look back on, that he served the Lord with all of his might, all the years of his life. The people that followed him loved him. They served him. They kept the commandments. And he doesn't have anything to really look back and say, man, I wish I would have done more. He did as much as he could. I feel like he did a great job. Look at Psalm 39, verse four, it says, Lord, make me to know mine end and the measure of my days what it is that I may know how frail I am. Behold, thou hast made my days as in hand breath, and mine age as nothing before thee. Verily, every man at his best state is altogether vanity. We are frail in comparison to a lot of things. We are, you know, it says our days are as a hand breath. And hand breath is what, like the thickness of your hand? That's not a very long time span. And it says even at our best state is vanity. I mean, on this earth. Obviously we're gonna get a new body, which I'm very thankful for, but our best state here is basically nothing. Turn to James chapter four, verse 13, James chapter four, verse 13. What am I trying to get you to see here is that we have to take time into perspective. And, you know, when you're young, things are a lot easier, that's the time. You just wanna, I mean, I'm just trying to get you to understand, we gotta serve the Lord while we have the time. And a lot of times people just get too busy to serve God. They start thinking about things and veering off the path really easy. We're sinful and we just, we start thinking about things that really don't matter as much as serving God with our life. And look, I'm not saying don't have fun, don't do fun things, that's not what I'm saying. I'm just saying that we should get serious about serving God. And if you're falling off that path, then you should probably get back on it and be more like Joshua where he was just serving till he was old and stricken in years. Look at James 4, 13, it says, Go to now ye that say today or tomorrow we will go into such a city and continue there a year and buy and sell and get gain, whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appearth for a little time and then vanishes away. It's like a puff of smoke. It's just a short period of time. For what ye ought to say, if the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that. But now ye rejoice in your boastings. All such rejoicing is evil, therefore to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin. So that verse in context, you know, people use that verse a lot, but what is it talking about? It's saying, hey, those people that are just boasting, hey, tomorrow I'm going to do this, I'm going to continue this, I'm going to sell, I'm going to get gain, but our life is a short life and to sit there and boast about what we're going to do and where we're going to live and all this other stuff, you don't know what a day is going to bring forth and all rejoicing and boasting is evil. Therefore, if we know that we're supposed to be doing something good and we're not doing it, it is sin, right? Isn't that what the context is right there? Now go to Ephesians chapter 5, Ephesians chapter 5, and this is, you know, I really like this passage right here, I think that this is helpful for Christians, and sometimes I think that we can kind of set the cruise control and we just kind of go through the motions and we go to church, we do, you know, maybe you do read the Bible every day, maybe you do go to church on a regular basis, maybe you do go soul winning, but sometimes we can do that on a cruise control, where it's just kind of automatic we're just going through the motions, but, you know, is there any substance to what you're doing? Are you just going through the motions or do you actually care about what you're doing? Are you doing things in the spirit? Are you doing things in the power of your own flesh? Do you actually care about the people that you're going to? Do you actually care about getting to know God better while you're reading the Bible? Do you actually have fervency in the prayers that you pray to God? Do you actually care about worshipping God when you're at church? Do you actually want to be at church when you're at church? These are things that we should care about and we should want Ephesians 5, 14 says, Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. Now some people are, they seem to be awake, but really they're asleep. They seem to be awake and plugged in, but really they're kind of dead in their works, they're dead in their spirit to a certain extent, and, you know, if we would just wake up and get out of the conundrum that we're in, then Christ would give us the light that we need. See then, that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise. God wants us to walk circumspectly. What does that mean? Well circumspect means careful and cautious to consider the possible consequences. What are the consequences of me just, you know, phoning it in, or just, you know, being apathetic to things? What are the consequences of these things? Like being asleep as a Christian. What are the consequences of being ineffective? What are the consequences of being a lazy Christian? What are the consequences of being apathetic about other people's salvation? What are the consequences of being one that says someone else can do it? Someone else can pick up after me. Someone else can clean up my mess. What are the consequences of being one that says I've done my tour of duty. I've done my tour of soul winning. It's time for me to coast now. What are the consequences of one that refuses to pass on your wisdom to your spouse or your children? What are the consequences of that? Well, we get to see in the book of Judges what the consequences are of that because children rose up that knew not Joshua and they knew not the Lord. Somehow that great generation forgot to pass it on to the next generation. They were great in all these different ways, but for some reason they just didn't pass it on? How is that possible? What are the consequences of one that refuses to reach the next generation? What are the consequences of that? We should think about the things that we do and the purposes that we have in our life for Christ. Instead of just throwing it in and just being asleep at the wheel basically. It says in verse 16 redeeming the time because the days are evil. It's not saying like the days have like Satan's going to jump out at you or something necessarily, but that could happen. But what's it talking about? The days are evil meaning harm comes. Things happen because we're just living in a sinful world. You just don't know what's going to happen from day to day. So why is it saying redeeming the time? Because we've already wasted a lot of time. And we need to stop wasting time and start serving the Lord with all of our heart. Start loving him with all of our heart. With all of our soul. With all of our mind. With all of our strength. Put away the petty squabblings and the reasons why we just don't like this person or that person. And love our brothers and sisters in Christ as we should. And stop holding grudges against each other. Redeeming the time because the days are evil. We need to be like Joshua and Joshua's generation and go to the end like he did. That should be the mindset and not just like I'm just going to coast. Cruise control. I like cruise control when I'm driving. It really bothers me when people stop and slow down and tap their brakes when I have cruise control on. Who hates that in here? It's like dude get off your brakes we're on a freeway first of all. Just keep the gas on. But that's fine when you're driving but to just cruise and just not think about things and all you're doing is just going like this I mean you can pretty much watch movies on a freeway if you're doing that. Don't recommend it. But we don't want to be like the generation that Moses had to lead do we? Where everybody just is like I just want to go back to Egypt and have the leeks and the garlic and all the good stuff. Do I want the good food? I just want to go and go back to Egypt and be in bondage like I was before. That's basically what they're saying. Like it was before I was saved or whatever. I just want to be like the generation that Jesus had to suffer. Why would you want that? It was a wicked generation. He said it all the time. I want to be like the generation that Joshua had. The people that followed him. They followed him to the end. But unfortunately the one problem they had is they did not pass it on to the next generation. I'll just say this. Hey we need to be more like Joshua. We need to be more like that generation and redeem that time. Because the days are evil and you don't know when the next time you're even going to be able to walk again is. Because something can happen and look I don't want that to happen but things happen in our lives. Injuries happen. Just disease happens. People happen. We can't stop those things from happening no matter what. How we use the beginning on a tombstone most people don't get tombstones anymore but if you do look into a cemetery and you see that those two dashes are there you don't even get to use that full space in between the dashes to live a lot of your life. Because as a baby what are you doing for God? Not much. Goo goo ga ga feed me. When you get saved in between that dash and however long you can actually function and get things done through that dash. A lot of that time is not time that you really want to think back upon. You don't want to think about how nobody comes to visit you when you're in some rest home and forgets about you. You don't want to think about the times when everybody leaves you and forsakes you. So the dash that you want to serve in is the time when you have the most ability to do so. And you want to serve the Lord with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul, with all your strength. Point number two, there is still plenty of land that remains to be conquered. And I would say that about the city that we live in. We've gone over this city a lot and hit all the hot spots many times. And we've hit places in Portland and in Gresham. We've hit small towns. We've hit a lot of places. But there's still plenty of land to conquer. I would say that if you want to just kind of compare some of the places that they couldn't conquer to the places we can't. Well how about the places that you have to buzz in. You can't quite get in. They have a stronghold, right? These apartments are built so that you can't go into the gates. And if you do they start calling the police on you right away. You can't park your vehicles there. And it's like these strongholds that we can't quite get to the people, right? It's kind of like that. But look at Joshua chapter 13 verse 2. It says, this is the land that yet remaineth. All the borders of the Philistines and all Geshurai. So all the borders of the Philistines. So they didn't conquer one single city of the Philistines this whole time. Moses didn't and Joshua didn't. And the Philistines are like the toughest of all the groups pretty much. The Philistines are the ones that give the most problems to Samuel. The most problems to Eli before him. The most problems to David. I mean obviously David kicks their butts but you know he actually fights with the Philistines for a while. I mean it's kind of weird but the Philistines have the giants on their side too. Remember that kind of gives a foreshadowing of that. How the Philistines have the other remnants of the giants. But God's saying hey the Philistines still need to be conquered and all Geshurai. So turn back to Joshua chapter 12 verse 4. And it does kind of mention these people here. The Geshurites and the Mecophites. But look at Joshua 12 4 it says, and the coast of Og king of Bashan which was of the remnant of the giants that dwelt in Ashtaroth and at Edri. And reigned in Mount Hermon and in Salcha and in all Bashan unto the border of the Geshurites and the Mecophites and half Gilead the border of Sihon king of Heshbon. So what God is saying is that they haven't got to the Geshurites. All the borders, all of Geshurai they have not gotten to and they haven't touched the Philistines. So God's saying hey I want you to go take care of them. Now Geshur means stronghold or fortress. They're named after what they probably were good at doing is probably building these types of things. And Mecah fell within the lots of Naphtali. These places fell in the lots of Naphtali and Manasseh. But Israel was never able to completely drive them out. Just like the Philistines they couldn't drive them out either. And they remained small autonomous nations within Israel much like the Philistines along the coast in David's day. Turn to 2 Samuel chapter 10 verse 6. So if you look at the sea, you probably can't see this very well but this is the Sea of Galilee and Geshur is like off to the side here. This whole area and then Mecah is like this little spot right up here. I don't know how accurate this map is necessarily but these two nations are close together and they seem to be linked in some way because you'll see why here in just a minute but it says and the children of Ammon where I had you turn to 2 Samuel chapter 10 verse 6 it says and when the children of Ammon saw that they stank before David the children of Ammon sent and hired the Syrians of Beth Rahab and the Syrians of Zobah 20,000 footmen and of King Mecah a thousand men and Ishtab 12,000 men. So this nation is still giving problems to them even in David's time. I already preached about this how the Ammonites they hired all these people to come and help them and the king of King Mecah a thousand men. So they weren't very big but this specific nation Mecah was a problem to them even in David's time but what's interesting is that there's women named after their country that are actually of Geshur this other country. You're like why are you telling us this? Well I just think it's an interesting tidbit out of the story that I'm choosing to tell you because I want to because I'm the pastor but anyway so the nation of Geshur which again is on that eastern coast there the upper eastern coast appears to have enjoyed more peaceful relationship with Israel during David's time likely due to David's marriage with Mecah. So his why so he had a marriage with a woman named Mecah and she was one of the so she was the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur. You guys quit fiddling around over there. David's son Absalom was born to Mecah so when Absalom killed his half brother Amnon he fled to Geshur for refuge if you remember that story in the Bible David's son Absalom remember when Absalom killed his brother he went to stay with them because he is the grandson of the king of Geshur. So and Mecah which she's named after that this country up here she's that's her name but she's she's actually the daughter of the king of this country does that make sense? You tracking you following here? So anyway so the location I showed you the location and it's currently what would be considered the Golan Heights in Israel right now and let's see so yeah the Geshurites were an independent kingdom before Joshua arrived and during the time of David and after the time of David so even into Solomon and even way after that so they're just like so basically again you can't see it very well but Manasseh inherited here and so they fell within the lot of Manasseh but they just couldn't drive them out and they also fell within Naphtali and so also Geshur fell within a lot of one of the tribes of Israel also and they just could never drive them out so they just kind of had to stay there living with them so they just weren't able to do it which is kind of strange but they just they were just tough they just could not be driven out so but what's interesting also though that David married Makkah she's named after that country so again they must have some sort of connection where they're friendly with each other or whatever and so Absalom David's son fled there Geshur joined Aram to capture Bashan way later it's talked about in first chronicles so let's see so turn back to Joshua chapter 13 verse 3 Joshua 13 verse 3 the Bible says from Sahor which is before Egypt even unto the borders of Ekron northward which is counted to the Canaanite five lords of the Philistines the Gaza fights and the Ashdod fights Ashdod fights excuse me the Ashkena fights the Gitites so Gath is basically the city and the Ekronites and also the Avites so it kind of has that like little addition there so those are the so there's five lords of the Philistines they have five cities and these are the same five cities that you know plague Israel all throughout and then you have this Avites so and this is just some other extra area that belongs to the Philistines it's the sixth city obviously probably just a smaller town or something but it says from the south and all the Canaanites and Merah and besides beside the Sidonians unto Aphek to the borders of the Amorites and the land of the Giblites and all Lebanon toward the sun rising from Balgad under Mount Hermon unto the entering of Hamath so he's just God just spelling out all the areas that they still need to hit and so he talked about Geshur and Makkah and then now he's explaining where they still need to hit at basically every place in the Philistine land of the Philistines so and it's really interesting because today Israel is still trying to throw all the all the people out of these specific areas and this is where Trump wants to go in and take out all the Palestinians and replace them and make like you know whatever some fancy location where Trump's golden statue is going to be put or whatever well I forgot what they want to call it does anybody know what they're going to try to call it like I don't know the Taj I don't know anyway I'm not following it that closely but I know that Trump wants to take all the Palestinians and place them in different places and clean up and make it all new and touristy and all that stuff but they've been just really hard to get out Gaza is always just in the news it always has been they just have been a thorn in the side of Israel for a long time and I'm not saying that they're the Philistines or whatever but they're definitely still in Gaza causing problems and they're still Israel's still trying to kill them and they just haven't been able to do it so but so but in the table of nations the Philistines do come from the line of Ham and Sidon is the first son of Canaan and so the borders of Canaan start in Sidon and then drift over and I don't have time to turn there but Sidon, Gaza, all these different places have always been these Canaanite strongholds verse number six says all the inhabitants of the hill country from Lebanon unto Misrath off Maim and all the Sidonians them will I drive out from before the children of Israel only divide thou it by lot unto the Israelites for an inheritance as I have commanded thee so you know Joshua still can't he can't do all that work but he still can throw lots he still can cast lots and say hey I want you to give them the lands that they've inherited by lot so God's saying he'll take care of driving them out but he wants Joshua to divvy up the lots or the lands by lot to the areas that have already been conquered and secured this is pretty important militarily because you know that's such a vast area that you know it's like you have all these military forces going in and taking care of business and then the people that probably flee and get away as soon as the military leaves they're just coming back to those areas so God's probably thinking here like well I gotta get these places inhabited you know it's one thing to kick them out but you still have to the people have to stay there so that they have a place to stay and keep these people out because if you're just going around and just going around and conquering these places over and over again they're just gonna move back into the spot and you're gonna have to fight them all over again so it seems to be the reason why God would have this happen it's important to occupy what you've already taken you can't just go around in circles just like reconquering everything and you have to secure and keep and settle what you already have verse seven now therefore divide this land for an inheritance unto the nine tribes and the half tribe of Manasseh so you know to apply this just spiritually I kind of already mentioned this but if you think about this area of Vancouver there's about seven independent fundamental Baptist churches in this area then you have other churches that are not necessarily independent fundamental Baptist churches but they're just like you know just other Baptist churches there might be Slavic Baptist churches that don't even believe in eternal security and then you have other ones that are like you know from the Southern Baptist convention and ones that aren't King James only but there are seven independent fundamental Baptist churches that are King James only and are salvation by faith alone and we're kind of just it's kind of like you know you have all these tribes of Israel that are kind of taking this promised land and they all have their own different you know things that they do well and things that they don't do well but they're kind of dividing up the land and we kind of we don't have our own little territories here or anything the whole city is ours basically if we want it but and a lot of some of these people don't even go soul winning but some of them do some of them do I know Skyview does I know Bridgeway Baptist goes door to door I don't know how they do their soul winning necessarily but I do know that at least two or three of these these other churches do go door to door soul winning or at least they go door to door so but we're also trying to reach and try to take these pockets and go you know we do seem to kind of just comb over and go back over all these areas it's kind of what we have to do and we're also trying to reach out to the surrounding areas and regions and things like that too that's what the Lord Jesus Christ left us to do and like Joshua we too will get old and we too will die without completing our tasks which sounds kind of sad but you know the next generation has to come in and do the same thing over again but we also have to get to new lands and so on and so forth but this cycle has happened since Jesus left you know but do you see a big movement of independent Baptist in Jerusalem no you don't but do you think that there has been people saved in Jerusalem over the years probably so but they probably weren't Jews you know they're probably the Palestinians but who knows we don't really know because just like the the the flower that wilts and the grass that gets cut down and is remembered no more we don't really know the history of what's happened in other in these other places we only know what history is still exists that hasn't been burned by these different heritage type churches like the Catholic Church or the Muslims you know they've all that stuff is just lost all we just all we know is that we have to just continue on and then when the next leader comes you know all these different you know Joshua's a great leader and what what each city in this country and all around the world needs is leaders that have a vision to reach people and preach the gospel and continue to do these things until Christ comes that's the plan and we divvy up the land and you know it's pretty cool that we actually do have seven independent Baptist churches I wish they would all have a vision of soul winning like our church has of soul winning you know I think that we could probably do a lot of great things but unfortunately we can't seem to do anything together without fighting you know there's it's always just some dumb thing that doesn't really matter like oh we we believe in the post-trib rapture so we're heretics or something so but it seems like the children of Israel didn't really get along that great in some areas either but unfortunately we just there's certain things that we just won't get along with other people on and that's fine but if as long as they're doing the work I don't care I don't I don't care if we fellowship with them or not but I still consider them my brothers in Christ and I want the best for them I want them to do well and do good so Ephesians 1 turn to Ephesians 1 but we too as believers will inherit our own land just like the children of Israel did but you know we are fighting for an inheritance that's not in this world see they're fighting a physical battle in the world that they you know in this world that they lived in at that time and they were getting physical land but the picture for us is that we're fighting but we don't get to keep this land that we're going to be on it's not like we get to claim you know the Tiger Tree neighborhood or something because it's going to be on fire because Babylon USA if you believe Babylon USA doctrine but it may not be that maybe it's some other place but if everything goes down today I think it probably is but if it's not then we could have America divvied up who knows but we also will have you know rewards coming to us but the but the thing the fighting that we do here is a spiritual fighting the swords we have or the sword of the Lord and you know the Spirit of God in our hearts and we preach the Bible we preach the Gospel to people and we're going to get rewards for that and just because we're not in the most receptive area we still get people saved every single week we still get people saved every month and we supplement with other things so look at Ephesians 1 10 it says that in the dispensation of fullness of time he might gather together and won all things in Christ both which are in heaven and which are on earth even in him in whom also we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will that we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ in whom ye also trusted after that ye heard the word of truth the Gospel of your salvation in whom also after you believed you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of his glory see we just now we have a down payment given to us which is the Holy Spirit but the inheritance the thing that we that's purchased we don't have that possession yet we don't have our glorified bodies yet we don't have the rewards yet so we're kind of earning the rewards now and so the more we do as Christians now the better our rewards are going to be later we already get eternal life that's the baseline that's like the baseline reward system that everybody gets but on top of that the cherry on top is the work that we do here and the children of Israel they didn't just have some easy ride where they didn't have to do anything they still had to suit up put their armor on go out to battle march all that stuff but some of those places were harder to conquer than others and it's kind of like that for us here too you know some of the neighborhoods are harder you know the fences the gates the the dogs in certain areas you know just all every place that we go has some different challenge so look at Romans 8 verse 14 Romans 8 verse 14 Romans 8 14 says I'm just going to start reading as you get there Romans 8 14 says for as many as are led by the spirit of God they are the sons of God for you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear but you have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba father the spirit itself bear witness with our spirit that we are the children of God and if children then heirs heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ if so be that we suffer with him that we may be also glorified together so the cool part about being a child of God is that we are heirs and not only heirs but joint heirs with Jesus Christ that doesn't mean we get all the same trophy I mean we do we all get the same everlasting life trophy but on top of those I mean obviously we're not glorified like Jesus can be glorified we're not it's not the same as in that but we are joint heirs of everlasting life and then the rewards are based upon what we do in this life so but it says in verse 37 if you skip down there it says nay in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us see Joshua and the children of Israel were conquerors they were conquering that land but we're more than conquerors through him that loved us we are sons we are daughters of Christ and we get to be joint heirs with him which is such a huge blessing that I don't think that we really fathom how big that really is look at second actually let's look at Luke chapter 19 verse 17 while you're turning there I'm going to read 2 Timothy 4 7 2 Timothy 4 says I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous judge shall give me at that day and not to me only but unto all them also that love his appearing we're all going to get a crown of of righteousness just like the Apostle Paul those that love his appearing look at Luke 19 17 it says and he said unto him well thou good servant because thou has been faithful in a very little so he's saying a very little have thou authority over ten cities see the small things that we do seem like they are going to have big rewards you know how people have those reward systems at certain places and we are like oh yeah I get a free coffee after like 10 after buying 20 of them or whatever but the opposite is going to be in heaven sounds like you know I mean obviously this is a parable but he's saying hey you've been faithful as long as we're faithful in those little things he's going to give us big rewards for those faithful things that we are faithful in so the second came saying Lord thy pound hath gained five pounds and he said likewise to him be thou also over five cities in Matthew 25 it has the same concept I won't have you turn there but it's basically he's saying the same thing be ruler over many things enter into the joy of thy Lord when it's all said and done everything that we've done and suffered through on this earth is going to be totally worth it the fact that we serve God with all of our heart with all of our soul with all of our mind and we serve the Lord with fervent passion in our lives and just know this that the things that we do are going to have great giant rewards for us turn to Matthew 6 19 Matthew 6 19 we're going to have huge rewards laid up for us in heaven because the things the physical things and the spiritual things that we do in this life in our flesh through the Spirit of God through this book and through the local church through unity in the brethren through the commands of the Lord Jesus Christ who said if you love me keep my commandments look at Matthew 6 19 look what it says see a lot of people want to lay up stuff for their retirement for all this stuff but what should we be laying up for look what it says Matthew 6 19 lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break through nor steal for where your treasure is there will will your heart be also so here's my question where is your treasure at tonight is it in the things of this earth is that what you're focused on or are you focused on the things that are in heaven because that treasure will never be able to be stolen from anybody it's never gonna rust it's never gonna end up being taken away eternal rewards cannot be taken from you the only way you can lose them is to not gain them here when you don't do when you don't make effort to get rewards here you lose them by not doing them here that's how you lose them like when it says you suffer loss and those things are burned up as chaff they're burned up because you had the opportunity to do them here and you just didn't get them because you weren't doing what you were supposed to be doing you were doing other things that don't matter you're not laying up for yourselves treasures treasures in heaven but instead you wanted to have the whatever house that you wanted to have you wanted to have all these things that really in the grand scheme of things are not as important Psalm 16 5 says the Lord is the portion of mine inheritance of my cup thou maintainest my lot you know who's responsible for maintaining our lot when we go to the afterlife God thou maintainest my lot he's taking care of it isn't that nice you know because we live here and we have a place that we have to take care of you have to mow the lawn and do the maintenance of a house it's kind of annoying and when things start going wrong with the house that you have and it's like oh man I got to do the roof I got to do this I got to do that you know the siding needs to be done it's expensive it's annoying cutting the grass every five minutes is annoying in the summertime here because the grass just grows crazy right but you know what's cool is that the inheritance that we have coming in heaven God maintains that for us I don't know how that works but he does and in Daniel chapter 12 go ahead and turn to Daniel chapter 12 it says and he said if you can get there real quick Daniel chapter 12 and he said go thy way Daniel for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end many shall be purified and made white and tried but the wicked shall do wickedly and none of the wicked shall understand but the wise shall understand so Daniel was confused when he was told all these things in the book of Daniel the book of Revelation kind of unlocks all these things in the book of Daniel but the wicked aren't going to understand these things but some day he was saying that the wise shall understand and from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away and the abomination that maketh desolate set up there shall be 1290 days or 42 months or three and a half years right blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days but go thy way till the end be for thou shalt rest and stand in thy lot at the end of the days so what is he saying he's saying at the end of those 1335 days from the beginning of the final seven years so that he's going to get his resurrected body and he's going to get the lot that God promised to him so we will inherit we will inherit and what did Daniel get I don't want to be too crass but he got his you know what's chopped off when he was on this earth but he was a very spiritual man very spiritual he prayed three times a day he went through some really serious testing you know he was put in some really crazy situations he was put into a den of lions that were hungry and wanted to eat him but God put him through all those tests and he came through his gold right he didn't have I mean he got taken away probably from his parents obviously I don't think his parents were raising him in Babylon it was the master of the eunuchs and he just passed test after test God blessed him tremendously and he said you know what you're gonna you're gonna rest for now but stand in your lot at the end of days I'm sure Daniel's rewards are gonna be really great you know what sometimes we're gonna go through hard times in our life but God is gonna give us a great reward at the end of it and you know in our in our lives things can seem like oh man this is just going so wrong it's going so wrong I just can't it's hard for me to serve the Lord right now but find a way find a way to break through and do it anyway do what you can I mean I've preached that sermon before do what you can hey maybe you can't do what you used to do but do what you can and God will bless you for it like here's ten cities I didn't know I was gonna get ten cities for that but you don't know it's not like I'm and it's not like I'm just like writing things down like please God give me ten cities I'll do this for you God I mean I don't really know what he's gonna give me okay and honestly I don't really care but I know that he's gonna do far more than I could ever hope for or imagine you know what I care about I care that my children are saved I care that my grandchildren are saved and their grandchildren and their children after them I care about the people in this church I care about their children being saved I care about this community I care about this community being saved that's what I care about this is where this is where I'm at this is our area this is our promised land right here and we're trying to get the rewards in this area and get people saved so that they can get rewards too John chapter fourteen verse one says let not your heart be troubled you believe in God believe also in me and my father's house or many mansions if it were not so I would have told you I go to prepare a place for you and if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am there ye may be also we have a place prepared for us we have a lot that's maintained for us we have treasures in heaven for us but he's just saying hey be faithful that's all God really wants he wants us to be faithful in the things that we're given not everybody's given the same amount of talents notice that there was in that story there's multiple talents given to different people what does that represent probably the the advantages that you have as a Christian how much money you have how much skills you have you know you not everybody has the same gifts but if you're faithful in the few things that you do have God will will plentiously reward you for those things when the time comes now I don't have time to go any further but basically he just the rest of this chapter he he basically kind of goes off you know Ruben, Gad and Manasseh basically get their spots and I did I did want to go a little further into some of this stuff but I don't I just simply don't have time for it but I think that's a good place to stop let's go ahead and pray and we'll get going here Lord we thank you so much for the book of Joshua and the spiritual pictures that it can show us Lord I pray that you just help us to be faithful in the things that we do have Lord that we'd use the life that we do have whether we're infirm whether we have whatever situation we're in Lord that you would help us to look past our infirmities and help us to use the time that we are healthy to serve you Lord and to think about the future and be circumspect in our wisdom pray Lord that you'd help us to keep our eyes on the prize of right of the treasure that we could get in heaven as opposed to the treasure we could get here on earth and Lord help us to keep our children and the next generation and the generation after that in our minds Lord that we'd teach them and not let them fall by the wayside Lord we don't have Sunday school and bus routes and things like that but Lord let us not go so far that we just forget this generation and that we wouldn't teach these children also pray Lord that you'd bless this church and help us to grow here Lord and we know that you build the church and we just pray that you'd bless us bless our numbers here but Lord bless us spiritually and we pray these things in Jesus name Amen Amen Amen. Last hymn is 116 He leadeth me 116 in the green or the red He leadeth me O blessed thought O birth within the comfort rod What e'er I knew, where e'er I be Still tis God's hand that leadeth me He leadeth me, He leadeth me By His own hand He leadeth me Is faithful for where I would be For by His hand He leadeth me Sometimes it seems of deepest gloom Sometimes where Eden's powers bloom The water's still o'er troubled sea Still tis His hand that leadeth me He leadeth me, He leadeth me By His own hand He leadeth me Is faithful for where I would be For by His hand He leadeth me Lord I would bless thy hand in mine forever evermore be mine content whatever Lord I see. Still tis my God that leadeth me He leadeth me, He leadeth me By His own hand He leadeth me Is faithful for where I would be For by His hand He leadeth me And when my desk on earth is gone, when by thy grace the vict'ries won In desk, O be I, will not flee, since God through Jordan leadeth me He leadeth me He leadeth me By His own hand He leadeth me Is faithful for where I would be For by His hand He leadeth me Amen. Brother Brandon, can you close this with a prayer? Amen.