(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 Good to see you all again Let's take our seats and open our blue hymn book page 274 It came upon the midnight clear page 274 in your blue hymn book If you have a favorite Christmas song We are going to sing 274 It came upon the midnight clear 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 On the first It came upon the midnight clear That glorious song of old From angels bending near the earth To touch their hearts of gold Peace on the earth Good will to men From heaven's all gracious king The world in solemn stillness lay to hear the angels sing Still through the cloven skies they come with peaceful wings unfurl And still their heavenly music floats for all the weary world Above its sad and lowly plains they bend on hovering wings And ever o'er its babble sounds the blessed angels sing And ye beneath life's crushing glow whose forms are bending low Who toil along the climbing way with painful steps and slope Look now for glad and golden hours come swiftly on the wing They'll rest beside the weary road and hear the angels sing For lo the days are hastening on by prophet bard's foretold When with the ever circling years comes round the age of gold When peace shall over all the earth its ancient splendor swing Let the whole world give back the song which now the angels sing Amen. Great singing brother CJ. You want to open us with the word of prayer first? Amen. Brother CJ. Got it. Yeah, get your favorite Christmas song ready. Oh come, oh come Emmanuel. On the first. Oh come, oh come Emmanuel and ransom captive Israel that mourns in lonely exile here until the son of God appear rejoice rejoice Emmanuel shall come to thee oh Israel Gabe. 282 beautiful star of Bethlehem page 282 oh beautiful Ok, that's not the one I'm thinking of. 282? Oh, I was on 287. My bad. Alright. 282. Oh holy night 282. On the first. Oh holy night the stars are brightly shining it is the night of the dear Savior's birth long lay the world in sin and error pining till he appeared and the soul felt its worth a thrill of hope the weary world rejoices for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn fall on your knees oh hear the angel voices oh night divine oh night when Christ was born oh night oh holy night oh night oh night divine Kayla 264 on the second Oh come oh come Emmanuel on the second on the second Oh come thou rod of Jesse free thine own from Satan's tyranny from depths of hell thy people save and give them victory for the grave rejoice rejoice Emmanuel shall come to thee oh Israel Sheila 282 282 on the third gotcha 282 on the third on the third truly he taught us to love one another his law is love and his gospel is peace change shall he break for the slave is our brother and in his name all oppressions shall cease sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus ways we let all within us praise his holy name Christ is the Lord oh praise his name forever his power and glory evermore proclaim his power forever and glory evermore proclaim 292 ring the bells gotta hear you on this one kids you know this one very well ring the bells page 292 on the first ring the bells ring the bells let the whole world know Christ was born in Bethlehem many years ago born to die that man might live came to earth new life to give born of Mary born so low many years ago God the Father gave his son gave his own beloved one to this wicked sinful earth to bring mankind his love forever ring the bells ring the bells let the whole world know Christ the Savior lives today as he did so long ago wow so many kids he's got the favorites who are we going with here Aili you had the highest hand so you win she's like up to the ceiling I'm sorry say that again 294 got you God rest you merry gentlemen 294 on the first God rest you merry gentlemen let nothing you dismay remember Christ our Savior was born on Christmas day to save us all from Satan's power when we were gone astray oh tidings of comfort and joy comfort and joy oh tidings of comfort and joy let's go with front row Jack 271 oh come all ye faithful page 271 oh come all ye faithful on the first oh come all ye faithful joyful and triumphant oh come ye oh come ye to Bethlehem come and behold him born the king of angels oh come let us adore him oh come let us adore him oh come let us adore him Christ the Lord let's go with Rebecca 279 279 away in a manger got it away in a manger page 279 on the first away in a manger no crib for a bed the little Lord Jesus lay down his sweet head the stars in the sky look down where he lay the little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay two more this evening we got two more the kids are on a roll here Eli 292 on the second gotcha 292 on the second ring the bells ring the bells ring the bells what a glorious morn men and angels worship him singing Christ is born born to die on Calvary born to set his people free God himself in human form tell it Christ is born he has left his royal throne he has come to claim his own Christ the Lord has come to earth to spread the news of Jesus birth ring the bells ring the bells let the whole world know Christ the Savior lives today as he did so long ago last one Emmy Wayne a manger what page is that 270 270 all right last one yep 279 away in a manger on the second the cattle are lowing the baby awakes but little Jesus no crying he makes I love the Lord Jesus look down from the sky and stay by my cradle till morning is nigh and great singing good favorites this time we'll have our announcements all right good evening welcome back to Sherr Foundation Baptist Church for the evening service some of us have never left we're going to go through the announcements real quickly does anybody need a bulletin? all right on the front cover we have our verse of the week again it says for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior which is Christ the Lord Luke chapter 2 verse 11 of course this morning we celebrated Christmas as a church and we had the kids sing for us and I think that was actually the best our kids have ever done I thought it was really good they did minimal mistakes and the mistakes are always funny so they're not really mistakes to me I think it's cute anyway good job kids I thought they did really well they all pretty much stayed still for the most part they got ADD a little bit at the end of the last song they were doing the wave on the banner back here I was trying not to lose my mind over that but it was fine nah they did a great job anyway of course service time is 10.30am Sunday morning Sunday evening 3.30pm we're in Joshua chapter 6 tonight and if you get if you're in a food coma right now I'll just wake you up at the end of the sermon and you can just listen to it later or whatever but we're going to cover the whole chapter it's not too terribly long but there's a lot of interesting things that I want to teach you about this chapter tonight and Thursday night Bible study is 6.30pm and let's see we're still having our regular church service this week so it's the day after Christmas so we'll be in 1 Chronicles chapter 17 sowing times we had sowing today did we have any salvation out there brother? 3 and we'll praise the Lord for that and Rylan got yelled at by some lady and he still has his PTSD's he's back there shaking in the back room right now so nah he's alright so praise the Lord for the 3 you can see the praise report there at the bottom left just want to say thank you for all the people that cooked and all the people that brought stuff appreciate it it was very good the desserts were good also and we'll probably all be on a diet together at the first of the year let's see next preaching night don't forget about that next Sunday night hopefully we have enough guys who's planning on preaching? 1, 2, 3 4 is that maybe? what's that guy that ran with Kamala Harris? that's his wave I don't want to see that wave walls, don't do the walls wave nah I'm just joking I think and then Gabriel is going to be preaching the other Gabriel the big Gabe is coming to preach so that would be good and let's see we have the 31st is going to be our New Year's Eve service and we'll pray in the New Year that will be our midweek service so it will be Tuesday so if you can make it for that that would be great and let's see January 1st New Testament challenge begins and I forgot to bring that clipboard let's see, Gabe will you go grab that clipboard that's sitting on my backpack right there and hand it to me please this wreath is hanging on by a thread here alright it's going to fall off while I'm preaching I just know it so this is the calendar form of that challenge that I was talking about this has the whole New Testament calendar form and then there's also that whole year that whole year Bible one is the New Testament challenge in the 30 days but it's printed off like the regular ones we usually have but then it has the Old Testament and the New Testament and it goes all the way in and you read the New Testament twice and then you finish off with the Old Testament and then it just rolls into the next year and then you read the New Testament 30 days and then you start the New Testament again with the Old Testament and once you're done it's at a regular pace though, so like 15 minutes a day and then by the time you're done you should be finished with the New Testament two times in one year, once at the fast pace, once at a regular pace and then the whole Bible cover to cover within the year, having read the New Testament twice in one year though so you really kind of just get a little extra, you get a little New Testament twice and then the Old Testament once, so if anybody's interested in doing that we have the sheets for that otherwise you can just do the New Testament challenge or if you're not going to do it at all that's fine too but just let me know when you want to get right with God and then I'll be praying for you, no I'm just kidding, alright but it is a good challenge to do if you just want to do even just, I got some other charts back there that has a reading plan, they're sitting on the fireplace back there as you walk in on the left hand side and it has some different Bible charts that you can do and it has the words that might be a little tougher in the King James, you know the false friends words or whatever probably that, what's his face that weirdo likes to say anyway, so and there's calendars back there if you didn't get a chance to get a calendar I got some bookmarks to hand out and brother Ramon you can start handing those out now if you want while I'm doing this but anybody I got tons of bookmarks kids can have them yeah so but brother Ramon those have ten of the same ones in each package so you probably have to take them out of the package yeah so yeah just one each, yeah so yeah you have to open up the package there's like ten in each one so they probably don't need ten of the same one, alright sorry I thought I'd explain that also yeah the Shure Foundation Baptist Indie Plant is celebrating one year February 1st and 2nd and there will be a soul winning on Saturday, lunch will be provided at Chipotle, there will be bowling alley rented from 2 to 5 PM and so we can all fellowship and hang out and bowl and then I'll be preaching the services on Sunday February 1st and 2nd that's that weekend in Indianapolis at our church plant and our church plant's doing really well so if you want to go there and see what it's all about that'd be a good service to go to so May 15th through 18th is of course the King James Conference and we'll have guest speakers Pastor Shelley, Pastor Mahia, Pastor Anderson and of course I'll be preaching there and that's all that's all I have for announcements I think everything else is done and with that we'll go ahead and sing another song and then we'll receive the offering alright our next song will be page 287 in our blue hymn books page 287 Beautiful Star Bethlehem Beautiful Beautiful Star Bethlehem page 287 blue hymn books sing out loud with me on that first Oh beautiful star of Bethlehem shining afar through shadows dim giving a life for those who long have gone in guiding the wise men on their way unto the place where Jesus lay beautiful star of Bethlehem shine on Oh beautiful star of Bethlehem shine upon us until the glory dawn Oh give us thy light to light the way into the land of perfect day beautiful star of Bethlehem shine on Oh beautiful star the hope of light guiding the pilgrim through the night over the mountain till the break of dawn and into the light of perfect day it will give out a lovely ray beautiful star of Bethlehem shine on Oh beautiful star of Bethlehem shine upon us until the glory dawn Oh give us thy light to light the way into the land of perfect day beautiful star of Bethlehem shine on Oh beautiful star the hope of rest for the redeem the good and bless yonder in glory when the crown is won for Jesus is now the star divine brighter and brighter he will shine beautiful star of Bethlehem shine on Oh beautiful star of Bethlehem shine upon us until the glory dawn Oh give us thy light to light the way into the land of perfect day beautiful star of Bethlehem shine on great singing at this time we'll have our offering on on on the seat in front of you Joshua chapter number six Joshua six the Bible reads 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 into thine hand Jericho and the king thereof and the mighty man of valor and ye shall compass the city all ye men of war and go round about the city once thus shalt thou do six days and seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of ram's horns and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times and the priests shall blow with the trumpets and it shall come to pass that when they make a long blast with the ram's horn and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet all the people shall shout with a great shout and the wall of the city shall fall down flat and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him and Joshua the son of none called the priests and said unto them take up the ark of the covenant and let seven priests bear the seven trumpets of ram's horn before the ark of the Lord and he said unto the people pass on encompass the city and let him that is armed pass on before the ark of the Lord and it came to pass when Joshua had spoken unto the people that the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of ram's horns passed on before the Lord and blew with the trumpets and the ark of the covenant of the Lord followed them and the armed men went before the priests that blew with the trumpets and the reward came after the ark the priests going on and blowing with the trumpets and Joshua had commanded the people saying ye shall not shout nor make any noise with your voice neither shall any word proceed out of your mouth until the day I bid you shout then ye shall shout so the ark of the Lord compass the city going about it once and they came into the camp and lodged in the camp and Joshua rose early in the morning and the priest took up the ark of the Lord and seven priests bearing seven trumpets of ram's horns before the ark of the Lord went on continually and blew with the trumpets and the armed men went before them but the reward came after the ark of the Lord the priests going on and blowing with the trumpets and the second day they compass the city once and returned into the camp so they did six days and it came to pass on the seventh day that they rose early about the dawning of the day and compass the city after the same manner seven times only on that day they compass the city seven times and it came to pass that the seventh time when the priest blew the trumpets Joshua said unto the people shout for the Lord had given you the city and the city shall be accursed even it and all that are therein to the Lord only Rahab the harlot shall live she and all that are with her in the house because she hid the messengers that we sent and ye and any wise keep yourselves from the accursed thing lest you make yourselves accursed when you take of the accursed thing and make the camp of Israel curse and trouble it but all the silver and gold and vessels of brass and iron are consecrated unto the Lord they shall come into the treasury of the Lord so the people shouted with when the priest blew the trumpets and it came to pass when the people heard the sound of the trumpet and the people shouted with a great shout that the wall fell down flat so that the people went up into the city every man straight before him and they took the city and they utterly destroyed all that was in the city both man and woman young and old and ox and sheep and ass with the edge of the sword but Joshua had said unto the two men that had spied out the country go into the harlot's house and bring out thence the woman and all that she had as you swear unto her and the young men that were spies went in and brought out Rahab and her father and her mother and her brethren and all that she had and they brought out all her kindred and left them without the camp of Israel and they burnt the city with fire and all that was therein only the silver and the gold and the vessels of brass and of iron they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord and Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive and her father's household and all that she had and she dwelleth in Israel even unto this day because she hid the messengers which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho and Joshua adjured them at that time saying cursed be the man before the Lord riseth up to buildeth this city Jericho he shall lay the foundation thereof in his firstborn and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it so the Lord was with Joshua and his fame was noise throughout all the country brother Alex will you pray for us will you pray for us Amen, alright well it's been a little bit since we've been in Joshua here so I'm just going to recap where we were last time last time we were in Joshua chapter 5 the next generation was circumcised remember they didn't get circumcised all the way through that 40 years after they left Egypt and then the Passover was kept and then manna ceases they were getting manna that whole 40 years God was just giving them bread every morning they just had to go collect it and the manna ceased after they ate of the fruit of the land for the first time after they crossed the river Jordan and then Joshua meets the captain of the host of the Lord's army which was a Christophany or a pre-incarnate appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ went through and showed or at least attempted to prove all that which I think everybody probably agrees with that and this happens right before Joshua leads the attack against the first heathen nation city nation basically it's like this big walled fortress city and that is the first city that God allows them to conquer in the promised land because they've already conquered Og, Abashen and all that other area but this is the first of the promised land on the other side of Jordan that they're going to conquer so and so let's look at verse number 1 the Bible says now Jericho was straightly shut up because of the children of Israel none went out and none came in so they got everything locked down tight and so and it says and the Lord said unto Joshua see I have given into thine hand Jericho and the king thereof and the mighty man of valor so God is speaking to Joshua directly so Joshua is a prophet he's also the judge of Israel just like Moses was the judge Joshua is in complete control he's the boss there's no other boss that's why God is speaking directly to him when it comes to this and it says and he shall compass the city all ye men of war and notice it says all ye men of war and he's talking to Joshua here so he's including Joshua as one of the men of war right and go round about the city once thus shalt thou do six days so what are they supposed to do so you know they're getting the battle plan here but what's he supposed to do they're all supposed to go around six they're supposed to go around once around the city six days right and seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of ram's horns and the seventh day shall compass the city seven times and the priest shall blow with the trumpets so the last day is different than the other six the last day they go around the city seven times and then they blow the trumpets so on the seventh day is different so and this is you know it's talking about seven specific days 24 hour periods are days right and only in creation do people doubt literal days these days right like you'll have people that say there's day age theory like God took specific you know it'll say in Genesis the first day but if you get the modern versions it'll say instead of it saying the first day it'll say a day so it's not very specific is it so the modern versions will change to make it seem like it took God time periods but he calls them days but in the King James Bible if you'll flip over to Genesis chapter two real quick and just keep your you got bookmarks now so put a bookmark where you're at there and I can actually tell you to put a bookmark there or a ribbon and then in Genesis chapter two I just want to show you this really quickly Genesis chapter two two it says on the seventh day what does it say the seventh day it's the definite article right God ended his work which he had made and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made and God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made do you think God wants us to understand that it was the seventh day not the seventh billionth day the seventh day that God created this world in six literal days and on the literal seventh day he rested just like in our chapter here he didn't tell them to circle around six billion days but he's just tricking us and saying it's six days you know these weirdos that just believe that it took billions of years for this world to be created that God is just not powerful enough to do it in six literal days it's just weird because people just want to make modern science fit into the Bible but why don't you just believe that God did what he said he did that it was literally six days he rested on the seventh and so you know people just believe this weird theory of theistic evolution that God had to use evolution to make the world what it is and so they do they fit this that God had to use evolution to create what we have here today it's bizarre that Christians would come up with this because they just they don't know how to read the Bible right they don't understand the Bible or they just don't want to be laughed at and mocked because they don't want to defend the Bible because then they'd have to defend that God could just speak things and they happen God could just speak the universe into you know it's funny it's called the universe because God said and things happen it's a single spoken sentence and he just said things and they happen but people are just such skeptics they don't want to believe what the Bible says and you know if you just think that one day means a billion years then you might be just re not intelligently thinking I'm not going to say the other word but it's just ridiculous I'll use that one God made everything in six little days anyway this destruction of Jericho though it might it might actually possibly picture I think the end times and the reason why I think that is because you have these seven trumpets that it's talking about and it will sound that will sound after the rapture happens so after the rapture happens when Jesus comes and changes our vile bodies into everlasting bodies that can't die then what happens after that well those seven angels start to sound off these trumpets and then God starts to rain down his wrath upon the heathen world but what's happening here these priests are starting to prepare to sound these trumpets and then it's seven priests seven days and then they sound the trumpet on the seventh day turn over to Revelation chapter 8 now I'm not saying it perfectly fits but it is interesting how it does fit somewhat with the end times because after we get raptured we have a body that can never die it can never get hurt if someone locked up and you have an everlasting body and they shoot you with a glock or any kind of gun a bazooka whatever it is what's going to happen if someone just launches an RPG at a saved indestructible person what's going to happen you're not going to die right? so that's interesting isn't it have you ever thought about that? you know because we're going to be on the earth at the same time that there's still going to be people that aren't in glorified bodies so we're going to live in a time in the millennial reign of Christ when there are going to be unsaved people that are in not glorified bodies but that happens after Christ comes and subdues the heathen and he judges the heathen and he does that pretty quickly but when the children of Israel go into the promised land who's leading them? Joshua's leading them and he pictures Christ leading us into that reign and then they have to fight those battles to subdue those kingdoms Christ doesn't have to fight that hard he just has to say die and then people die he fights them with the sword of his mouth and we don't have to lift a finger so it is a little bit different it's not a perfect shadow it's not a perfect picture but look at Revelation 8 one it says and when he opened the seventh seal there was silence in heaven for the space of a half an hour that's how you prove that ladies go up a half hour later into heaven I'm just kidding I'm just kidding I have to tell that joke every time though sorry I'm just joking and I saw the seven angels which stood before God and to them were given seven trumpets so the seven angels there's seven angels they get seven trumpets and I really was joking I'm sorry about that had to skip to verse six so these seven angels get seven trumpets and they're about to sound also but it says and the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound so there's silence in heaven the people of God have already in chapter seven they've already they already appeared in heaven all different kindreds tongues and tribes and nations of the earth right so now flip over to chapter nine verse twenty so the plague starts as the trumpets blow one by one different plagues hit the earth and it starts destroying these heathen nations these heathens the beast and his armies so verse twenty says and I mean there's some pretty bad plagues I just don't have time to get into the whole thing but it's just interesting what it says in chapter nine verse twenty it says and the rest of the men which were not killed by the plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands that they should not worship devils and idols of gold and silver and brass and stone and of wood which can neither which neither can see nor hear nor walk neither repented they of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their fornication nor of their thefts. Why is that? Why is it during this time where God is pouring his wrath upon the earth and they know what it is because when Jesus first makes his appearance we're happy because we're getting rescued from the great tribulation but they're hiding in the caves in the dens of the earth because they're afraid of the wrath of the lamb but why aren't they just saying oh hey didn't know that you were real now I'm sorry I'm going to get saved why aren't they doing that because they're reprobates that's why isn't that why they would like why would you want to go through all these plagues that the angels are throwing at you and if you have time spare time just go back and look at what God's throwing at them these locusts that come out and sting them for months on end all these different plagues it's horrible but this is the state of the promised land in Joshua chapter 6 the children of Israel go to take it from these reprobate societies that cannot be fixed why is God just saying hey go in and kill everybody don't leave any left to breathe men women and children why is he doing this the only people that are getting saved are people like Rahab and what she's one family out of the whole city that's actually getting out of this alive and it's only because she's like come on dad come on mom come on brothers and sisters trust me stay at my house tonight or you're all going to die and whoever got saved out of her house were the only fortunate ones because she had that corner house or wherever she was on the wall remember her house was on the wall of the city but she's the only one that got saved and she's the only one that's going to make it out of this so God is having the children of Israel come in and destroy them because they're not fixable they're not redeemable he's not saying hey come in and see if you guys can get these people saved he's saying come in these people are trash they're castaways they're scum they won't repent they're bowing down and worshipping idols they're doing all these wicked things now let's flip back to Joshua chapter 6 verse 5 I'm going to revisit that thought a little bit later on in the sermon but these people you know it does kind of have a semblance of what's going to happen why is God just going to punish the earth later on in the book of Revelation because these people aren't fixable because they've taken the mark of the beast and they can no longer be saved that's why because people just act like God's just he's so mean why would you serve a God like that well you know some people can't be fixed that's why looking back at Joshua 6 5 it says and it shall come to pass that when they make a long blast with the ram's horn and when you hear the sound of the trumpet all the people shall shout with a great shout and the wall of the city shall fall down flat and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him I'm going to read this part to you one more time because this is very important that you just get this real quick all the people shall God's saying this is what to do this is what you need to do all the people shall shout with a great shout and the wall of the city shall fall down flat and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him so that's what God says he says the wall is going to fall down flat and the people are going to go straight up and Joshua the son of none called the priest and said unto them take up the ark of the covenant and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of ram's horns before the ark of the Lord and what does the ark of the Lord represent when they take the ark before them why are they doing that? what is the purpose of them doing that? does anybody have any idea? did you say God? well yeah but what is on the top of the ark the mercy seat and the cherubims cover what? the mercy seat and that's the presence of God that's what that represents so when they are carrying that ark around they are essentially it represents them carrying God around because when that ark is in the tabernacle or whatever when his presence comes down it comes down through that tent that tabernacle and they see that cloudy pillar comes down into that spot and then meets with them there so they are basically carrying it around and that represents God to them so verse seven the people pass on and compass the city compass around compass is a circular motion there and let him that his arm pass on before the ark of the Lord so some people are passing on before the ark of the Lord and it came to pass when Joshua had spoken unto the people that the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams horns passed on before the Lord so am I right about that the ark so the last verse said they pass on before the ark of the Lord and in verse eight it says that they passed on before the Lord you see how that's giving us it's saying that the ark of the Lord and then it says passed on before the Lord so it's signifying that it's talking about the same thing right so the ark of the Lord is talking about the Lord right there right the ark isn't the Lord but it's the presence of the Lord and blew the trumpets and the ark of the covenant followed them so again signifying it's the Lord right and the armed men went up before the priest and blew with the trumpets and the rearward came after the ark and the priest going on with the blowing of the trumpets and Joshua had commanded the people saying you shall not shout nor make any noise with your voice neither shall any word proceed out of your mouth and it kind of sets me back to that scripture where it says there was silence in heaven for the space of a half hour so there was just nothing being said up in heaven and then you think about this verse and they were not supposed to say anything he said don't say anything just be completely quiet don't let any word proceed out of your mouth until the day I bid you shout then shall you shout so verse 11 so the ark of the Lord compassed the city going about at once and they came into the camp and lodged in the camp and Joshua rose early in the morning and the priest took up the ark of the Lord and seven priests bearing seven trumpets of ram's horns before the ark of the Lord went on continually and blew with the trumpets and the armed men went before them but the rearward came up or came after the ark of the Lord the priest going on and blowing with the trumpets and the second day they compassed the city once and returned to the camp and so did they six days so they did exactly what God said to do and it came to pass on the seventh day that they rose early about the dawning of the day and compassed the city after the same manner seven times only on that day they compassed the city seven times so just like God said that last day they do it seven times so and if you know anything about that number seven it represents that day of completion so we have seven days in a week why do we have seven days in a week because that's the model that God used when he made the earth he made it in six days and on the seventh day he rested we have a seven day week that's the only thing that works for us it's still in effect today from the 6,290 days ago or years ago that he made this earth that's the system that's still in place people have tried to change times change calendars we do have different types of calendars but a seven day week is the only thing that works because God just made it that way so seven kind of represents that number of being complete and what's going to be complete the complete annihilation of this city is what's going to be complete he's telling them how to completely get this huge victory against them but it says and it came to pass on the seventh time when the priest blew the trumpets Joshua said unto the people shout for the Lord hath given you the city and the city shall be accursed even it so the city shall be accursed even it so the city itself and all that are therein so anybody there right to the Lord so they're the city's cursed the people are cursed then it says only Rahab the harlot shall live she and all that are with her in the house so they're protected the people that are protected in the house and what was the sign that she had to show that she was that she was the one that was what house it was that scarlet thread that was to be hung out the window remember which what represents the blood of Christ so that's the only thing that protected her and it says which was a symbol or a token that she was saved right she and all that are with her in the house because she hid the messengers that we sent and ye and any and ye in any wise keep yourselves from the accursed thing lest ye make yourselves accursed when ye take of the accursed thing and make the camp of Israel a curse and trouble it so there's some important things to learn here you know they're going in and he's warning them before he goes they go in there because these soldiers they're going to probably find things that they want to keep they're going to find people that they might want to spare you know a pretty single woman for some of these soldiers that aren't married hey I could just capture her and she could be my wife or whatever or clothing jewelry anything that they want that they don't have it's theirs for the picking that's you know normally spoil are the things that people get in war when people would go to war in those times or any time you know we were just talking about you know these Nazi guns that soldiers in World War II they would kill an officer or something and they'd get these guns that they could take off of them and they'd bring them back they'd sneak them back to the United States and people there's a market for them you know they still have the Nazi logos on them or something and people collect these things I guess but you know there's trophies and awards that you get for spoil the Bible talks a lot about it and there's nothing wrong with getting spoiled but God had already said don't touch anything don't take anything the only thing that we're taking is the things that go into the house of the Lord which is going to be the silver the gold and the brass and the iron right so I don't think it's been said in this chapter yet but that's what it says later on but he says everything there is cursed the people are cursed only rate habinger people are allowed to live and don't don't touch or keep the it says anyways keep yourselves from the accursed thing lest you make yourselves accursed so this is a great lesson for us and it's a great lesson for them don't take anything that's cursed and bring it into the camp so there's things that we should stay away from also that are cursed that we shouldn't bring into our camp that could trouble us also and so when something or someone is accursed we should keep ourselves from it also or them and you know don't take or partake of it don't hang out with it or them so don't bring them into the camp, don't bring it into your home, don't bring it into church, like what? well how about like alcohol or drugs. You shouldn't bring them into your home, you shouldn't bring them into your camp you shouldn't bring them into your church you shouldn't be on them in your church how about pornography or fornication or adultery? These are things that you should not allow to your life, how about filthy lucre, like money, and money gotten through ill gains, like gambling or bartending or loan sharking, which hopefully nobody's doing that, but payday high interest loans, if you work at a place like that, I mean you're just basically scamming people out of their money. Or, I talked about being a bankster earlier, you know? I'm talking about a bankster that like, you make your living off of just high interest loans and things like that. Those are things that we should stay away from. That's getting your gains from ill ways. How about sodomites? We don't wanna be around them, let them around our children, be around them ourselves, and even if they're in your family, they're like, well yeah, but that's my cousin. I don't care if it's your Siamese twin. You should stop hanging around them. You should not let them around your kids. You're like, yeah, but they're funny. Yeah, that's what they seem to be, but behind closed doors, they're filthy. And really, nowadays, they don't even care about acting filthy out in the world. It's right, I mean, we've seen it firsthand. I don't even need to tell you guys this. You already know, but you know, these guys that charged into Jericho, they probably looked at people's faces and felt bad for them, I'm sure. But we gotta be aware not to just feel pity for people that might look innocent enough, but they're really not. And something that you bring into your home might seem innocent, but it's not. And we gotta avoid the cursed thing, the things that God says to avoid and to stay away from, we should just stay away from, why? Because God said so, that's why. Because God told us not to, that's why. We're not gonna bring sodomites into our church. Why would you wanna do that? So that they can corrupt our church? We don't wanna bring false prophets into our church. We don't wanna hang out with them. We don't wanna listen to what they have to say in their preaching. We don't wanna suffer them to be in our church teaching lies to people. It's like, but you know, it's funny, nobody wants to be associated with our kind of churches, but these same Baptist pastors that will just say, oh, we can't have anything to do with these Andersonite people or whatever, but they'll let any weirdo in their church and let them teach all kinds of junk to people in their church as long as they're not Steven Anderson disciples or whatever they call us. It's so weird. Because I've been in churches where they just let any, I mean, they're letting all kinds of weirdos in their church that believe, they're just straight up teaching Calvinism. And you know that the pastor doesn't believe that. But then they're just allowing some Calvinists to be a deacon at the church. But that's okay. That's just fine. Or that they are hardcore repent of your sins or hardcore lordship salvation. I mean, I've been around some characters in the life of these churches. And the fact that they're just allowing anything goes pretty much. As long as you're putting the tithe in the envelope, you're a-okay, and they'll never challenge that person, they'll never say anything about them, as long as they love Israel and the pre-trib rapture. It's just perfectly fine. Yeah, brother. Yep, you're my brother. No matter what. And they can sit there and rail, they can lie, they can be the biggest gossip in the church. They can just cause chaos and havoc all they want. But as long as you're not one of us. If you're one of us, get that person out of the church. I've just never seen anything like it. I've been dealing with this issue a little bit lately, and it's just, it's bothersome. To watch the railing that I've seen lately, it's sickening. It really is. Because in reality, the most, we love the old IFB. I do love the old IFB. They might teach some garbage stuff, but as long as they're saved, and they believe the right things as far as the core doctrines, I'm cool with them. I might not agree with them about the pre-trib rapture deal, but you know why I don't? Because there's no verses for it. Show me a verse. Chapter and verse. Jesus is coming back in the clouds before the tribulation. Show me that verse. Oh wait, you don't have one? Okay, well then I don't believe that. But I can show you a verse in Matthew chapter 24 that says immediately after the tribulation, he's coming back. That's why I believe it. And you know, I don't believe that Jesus could come back at any moment because in second Thessalonians chapter two, it says these things, that he cannot come back until the son of perdition is revealed. But you know what, if you wanna believe something stupid, then go ahead and believe it. And then they're like, that's heresy. Heresy? Or you guys believe that Jesus went to hell. So you're a heretic. Well have you ever read Acts chapter two verse 31? Where it says his soul was not left in hell? Well it's funny, I actually have a verse for what I believe. How about the other verse in Acts chapter two that says the same thing? How about Psalm chapter 16? How about Jonah chapter two? How about like Genesis chapter 22? I mean there's, how about every offering in the whole Bible? You have to burn them with fire in the offering. His soul was made an offering for sin. Do you burn every offering? Yeah you do. That didn't mean really burning though, Pastor Thompson. Okay. You're a heretic. How am I a heretic? You're just a railer. That's what you are. That's a very serious charge to call somebody a heretic when you actually have a verse to show somebody and they don't. You're so stupid, Pastor Thompson. It's Abraham's bosom that he went to. Chapter and verse. Chapter and verse. Why don't you give me a chapter and verse on that? Do you have a chapter and verse on that? No you don't, because there is no chapter and verse on that. And besides that, Abraham's bosom is a body part, it's called a chest. There is no cool place in hell the last time I checked. Hell is a hot place where people go to suffer for eternal fire for the sins that they've committed and because they didn't believe in Christ. I mean I just, to call somebody heretic when they actually have a scripture to show you, more than one scripture, multiple scriptures, I could show the whole doctrine. But they just, heretic, you are a heretic. And then when you feed them the scriptures, they're just like, can't compute, can't compute. They just go crazy. So irritating, I'm sorry, but that just. And then, but what I'm trying to say is that they act like we're the mean ones and the hateful ones, but I don't go, you believe in the pre-trib rapture? I want nothing to do with you. We don't act like that. Every place we ever go on a soul wanting trip, we've always tried to just connect with the local pastor and say, hey, what do you believe? So we can just say, hey, we want you to go to a good church, here's a good church. We've always tried to send people to good churches. But they accuse us of just going and getting a bunch of people saved and leaving the babies in the dumpster. Oh, it's great that you got them saved, but who's gonna disciple them? Well, we would've sent them to you, but you're a bozo. We would've sent them to you, but you're too busy hating to even come and help us. You won't even labor. You just sit there on your pedestal and your high horse and your ultra-spirituality that you really don't have because you won't even lift two fingers to get somebody saved because you're a lazy bum. But then you're gonna criticize what we do. But I still love the new, I mean, the old IFB, I love the new IFB too, but I still love the old IFB. But they don't return the favor. It's usually you're a heretic, you're a cult, blah, blah, blah, but you know what? They act more cult-like than we do. If some old IFB pastor walked in and sat in here, I wouldn't treat him badly at all. But we'd get the stink eye in half the churches in this town if our family showed up there, guaranteed. Anyway, let me move on. Really gotta move on, sorry. Okay, I went a little crazy on that one. All right, accursed. So basically, okay, let me ask you this. He says, from the accursed thing, lest you make yourselves accursed. So can Christians become accursed? Yeah. But that doesn't mean we get thrown in hell for anything. Christians can't go to hell. So what does that mean? That God's wrath can be placed upon us where he'll beat us here on earth. He'll chasten us here on earth. He'll punish us here on earth. In Hebrews chapter 12, verse six, it says, for whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. So, chasten and scourging means he's beating us, right? And it says, every son whom he receiveth. So, yes, that means everyone. So that means every one of God's children sin. Except for Jesus, of course. But every one of us is adopted. And so, we get, if it says every son, that means every one of us sin, and we get beaten. So, and if we commit one of the sins in 1 Corinthians five, you know, the Bible says that we're supposed to pull from among ourselves that wicked person. And so, that person then becomes the accursed thing, doesn't it? Don't they? And then we're supposed to get rid of that person and kick them out, and we mark them. They become accursed. And then, if they get it right, then the mark can get taken off of them, and then they're not accursed anymore. They get right with God. So, it can get so bad, also, that God would just kill you and take your life. Turn to 1 John chapter five, verse 16. 1 John chapter five, verse 16. Is there a sin that you commit that God would kill you for it? Well, Saul, King Saul was killed for going to a witch. The Bible says in 1 Chronicles that he was killed because he did not, you know, obey the word of the Lord, and basically the last straw was that he went and saw a witch. In 1 John 5, 16, it says, if any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death. I do not say that he shall pray for it. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not unto death. So, there's sins that are unto death. Of course, all sin brings forth death, but what it's saying here, though, is that there is a sin that you could commit that would be worthy of death in God's eyes as a Christian, but he says, I do not say that he shall pray for it. We shouldn't just say, God kill that Christian. You know, we shouldn't curse other Christians, right? I mean, obviously, if they did something that was, you know, I mean, the Bible says we shouldn't. I say that he shall, I do not say he should pray for it. He shall pray for it, but I mean, I guess there might be, you know, exceptions to the rule. I don't want to get into that, but the best thing that we can do, though, when we anger the Lord and we take of the accursed thing or we hang out with the accursed person is we ask God for mercy, you know? The great thing about God is that he is merciful. He is forgiving, and, you know, obviously, I'm not talking about going to him for forgiveness and getting spiritual salvation. If you're already saved, you're already saved, but physical salvation and physical mercy from chastening by God or directed at us from God, because when someone gets thrown out of the church, what's he do? He turns them over to Satan. I mean, so he allows Satan to chasten us. I mean, that's not, you're like, that's not cool, but that's what it says. For the destruction of the flesh. Like, I don't want Satan to be unleashed. I mean, look what he did to Job. I mean, obviously, God probably gives him parameters and says, just like he did with Job, hey, you can do this to him, but don't kill him. I mean, maybe we have stricter parameters, but I'm sure sometimes he's like, all right, go ahead, kill him. I don't know. He allowed Saul to be killed. He allowed other people to be killed in the Bible, so. The good news is that in 1 John 1-8, it says, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. So we don't wanna deceive ourselves and say, hey, what I'm doing's okay. We don't wanna do that, because the truth is not in us. If we say we don't have sin, you're just lying to yourself if you say that. But it says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Does he say he will if we ask him? Yes. If we confess our sins, because we all have them, so we all should be doing this from time to time, right? Probably every day, probably like four times a day. But Psalm 86 verse five says, for thou, Lord, art good and ready to forgive and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee. So when we call upon God, not just as like, oh, forgive me, Lord, I did this thing, but like, when we know we screwed up, and we know when we've screwed up, and we call upon him, he is ready to forgive. I wish more people were like that. And he's plenteous in mercy. I wish more people were like that. I wish more Christians were like that. But you know who is like that? God is like that. And I'm glad that our supreme ruler, our Lord and Savior, our master, our God, is forgiving. So at least we have somebody in our life that is actually plenteous in mercy and forgiving, and he's the main one that actually matters. So when all forsake us, at least God won't do that to us. Turn back to Joshua 6, 19, it says in verse 19, it says, but all the silver and gold and vessels of brass and iron are consecrated unto the Lord. They shall come into the treasury of the Lord. And why? Because you can make things out of it. You can make weapons, you can make tools, you can use these things to further, to buy stuff, whatever. And these things can be cleansed with fire from the filth, because everything's accursed. But the Bible talks about it in other places that you can cleanse these things through the fire, right? And so it was okay to pass these things through the fire, burn them up, and even when it talks about our works, the things are able to be passed through God's fire, when it talks about the fire burning up the wood, hay, and stubble, what passes through. The gold, the silver, the precious jewels, right? So verse 20 says, so the people shouted when the priests blew the trumpets, and it came to pass when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city. Now, Revelation 11, 15 says this, and the seventh angel sounded, and there were great voices in heaven, saying the kingdom of this world are become the kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever. So when the final trumpet sounded in Joshua, I mean, this is signifying, you know, obviously they still had all these battles to fight, but it still signifies something, that this is now, it's the doom of all these nations. Joshua has become the man. At the end of the chapter, what's it say? The fear of Joshua came upon all these people, and the fear of Christ is gonna come upon the heathen nations of this world when he comes down with his big shout. He's gonna come with a shout, and people are gonna be terrified, all these people that made these great speeches, and talk all bad about him, and all the wicked things that they've said about him, they're gonna be quivering in fear, and they're gonna be, like, literally trying to hide, like, putting things on top of them, thinking they can hide from them, but they can't hide themselves from him. But when this actually happens, you know, once that happens, the kingdoms of this world are gonna become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he's gonna reign, and nothing's, he's not gonna have to fight all these battles, it's just gonna be one big mega battle where he just kills them all, and then he separates the sheep from the goats, he lets some people live into the millennium, and then he rules and reigns and shows how it's done. This is how a real king rules, this is how a real beneficial king rules, this is how it's supposed to be, this is how it would've been if things were done right, and we get to rule and reign with him. People throw rocks at you, ding, you know, it's like, oh, where'd that come from? Haha, RPG, fool, no, I don't know, I mean, I don't think they love RPGs, but who knows, it'll be interesting. But what's really interesting is that Joshua leading the children of Israel into the Promised Land, it does represent the Lord Jesus Christ leading us into that millennial reign, excuse me, where we rule and reign with him for a thousand years, but another interesting tidbit is that archeology supports the account of the book of Joshua and the battle of Jericho. This is a historical book, Joshua, and the only written account of this true life event. You could literally book and place a ticket, and you know, if the Palestinians don't kill you, and go to where the ruins of this city are right now. There's no disputing of the experts, that they know exactly where the ruins are of the city. In 1907, it was excavated by a German team, they were able to trace the lower retaining walls that hold the earthen embankment around the tel. I'll explain what a tel is here in a minute. There's a short section of stone wall that can be seen at Tel Jericho today. But what was the purpose of the retaining wall? So like basically, a tel is like kind of like a, it's like a mound that looks like an abnormal hill, and it looks like a hill, it looks like just a lump, but it's actually, you know, it's got stuff underneath it. And the retaining wall that they would build around it is so they could just lump all the stuff on it, and eventually it starts to look like, you know, just like a regular hill. But they do that because if you just, who's ever taken a bucket of dirt, and you just kind of throw it on the ground, and then like it kind of just spreads out? But if you made like a rock retaining, like a little mini rock retaining wall, and you dumped a bucket of dirt into that, it would fill up and become like a little mound, right? So basically, this is what Jericho kind of looks like today. And so, but on the top of Jericho, on the top of Jericho, there was something similar. They have a retaining wall around it, and then they had on the top of that, so like they had this, they had the retaining wall around it and then they had a wall that went up on top of it. So just say this is like the retaining wall around it. They had walls that went up to there, and then they also had inner walls around it, but the city was kind of shaped, you know, like a big long, and then it had a retaining wall on the inside of it too. It's hard to show it without like a real model or something, but anyway, there's three different, and the walls were made of mud bricks, okay? Like you'd see, you've seen bricks, of course, and they're made of mud bricks that, you know, you'd put in like a brick kiln or whatever, and there's three different teams that excavated Jericho. The first one was Ernst, Sellen, and Walter Watzinger in 1907 to 1909. John Garstang, 1930 to 1936. Kathleen Kenyon, 1952 to 1958. So the outer wall and further up the embankment that was the inner wall, and it was very well, so the whole thing was very well fortified. When they came upon this place, they were probably thinking there's no way we're gonna be able to do this, but you know, they had faith, obviously, but archeology proves the Bible true as a second witness to its accuracy. I would believe the Bible even if I didn't, I never knew where Jericho was, but the fact that Jericho has been found and excavated three different times, you know, it obviously helps fortify your faith, and it obviously, the Bible stands alone, I believe it, without archeology, but we have archeology to prove Jericho exists 100%, and the walls did fall down flat, and when they fell down, these brick walls fell down, and like I said, they already had like that retaining wall around it, and when the brick wall fell down flat, it kind of, it fell and sloped out like this, so it like sloped out, and so when the Bible says that they were supposed to run up into the city, it said that because it kind of made like a little ramp for them all to run up inside, it was like, it kind of just made them like little stepping stones to just run up into the city, because otherwise they would have had to climb up this tall retaining wall to get inside the city, but because they fell down flat, and when something falls down flat, and then they have nothing but that retaining wall, it just fell and kind of rolled out like that, so that's how they found it when they dug it up, they found all these bricks all the way around the retaining wall, and they could have just ran right up, but of course they dug it out and moved a lot of those bricks out of the way, but so, and they also proved that it happened during the spring harvest, remember, it happened during the spring harvest when the barley and all that stuff was being harvested, because they found a bunch of containers with burnt, with all the burnt stuff in it, they found a layer of burn inside that mound of earth, so basically what a tell is, like I said, is that it's a mound, and so think about a layer cake, who knows what a layer cake is, right, it's a cake that has all these different layers, if you cut that layer cake, it has all these different layers inside of it, that's how archeologists dig out these things, and so they go down into these layers and they find pieces of pottery, or coins, or things that will help you date how old that place was, because if say a city in the ancient times is sacked and burnt, well they just go and they put everything, another city on top of it, like Seattle was burnt in a fire, and you can go to the underground of Seattle, right, and check it out, well, that's because they've just built another city on top of it, and so that's what this Jericho is like, it was destroyed, it was burnt with fire, and then when they found that burn layer, they found all this barley from that harvest, preserved from 3400 years ago, just like the Bible says. So, when it was excavated, they found the mud bricks, and then that Kathleen Kenyon, the last person to go and excavate it, she has diagrams where she wrote that she found the bricks all fallen around, sloping out, she said it wasn't the retaining wall, it was the red bricks, but, so she's basically attesting to what the Bible says also, but then she says that the pot, she was looking for a specific kind of pottery, and she said because she didn't find that one specific kind that she was looking for, that she said, well this happened 150 years earlier, and so she tries to throw out the fact that it was actually, you know, that there was nobody, that it was, that that happened 150 years earlier than Joshua, so they tried, she tries to throw out the biblical account because of that. So, I just think that she was probably a God hater, but now people go by what she says, because she was the last one to excavate it, but earlier people agree with the biblical account, even one of the people that worked for her agree with how it was found, and even her own writings prove that it was true. But people just want to make the Bible look bad, and so that's kind of what she was doing. But, you know, if you have literary evidence and physical evidence of something happening, and the bricks were used as a ramp to climb up the city to attack the city, Joshua 6.20b says, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him and took the city, you know, this is what happened, this is what the Bible says, and I don't need some woman that doesn't know what she's talking about. I mean, she's apparently some expert, but she's looking for one piece of pottery. She just wants to throw out the story of Joshua, that's what it is. But even though she found the red brick, she drew pictures of the red brick, you could go back and see all of her studies on it, but she just wants to say that it was an earlier date or whatever. So, the tell mounds, basically, there's still tons of them all over the place in the Middle East that haven't even been excavated yet, but they're very interesting. You can watch videos about it if you want to after church. I could show you one that's actually pretty interesting. So, verse 21 in our text says, and they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox and sheep and ass with the edge of the sword. So, these are the gnarly parts of the Bible, like I said earlier, that the scoffers and atheists love to point out and throw in our face. Your God's a genocidal maniac who kills children and women and animals. They'd probably be more upset about the animals, actually, than anything else, but why does God want us to do that? Turn to Leviticus chapter 18, Leviticus chapter 18. Now, in Leviticus chapter 18, it talks about a lot of perversion sins, like sleeping with your relatives and just a bunch of weirdness, but I'll just pick it up at verse... 22, Leviticus 18, 22. Thou shall not lie with mankind as with womankind. It is an abomination. Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith. Neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto. It is confusion. Defile not yourselves with any of these things, for in all these things the nations are defiled, which I cast out before you. Who's he talking about? Where are they at right now? They're in Jericho. So, if he says the nations are defiled, which I cast out before you, is Jericho one of those nations? Yes, they are. And the land is defiled. Therefore, I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomitteth out her inhabitants. He shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations. Neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth among you, for all these abominations have the men of the land done, which were before you, and the land is defiled. And the land spewed not you out also when ye defile it, as it spewed out the nations that were before you. For whosoever shall commit any of these abominations, even the souls that commit them, shall be cut off from among their people. Therefore, shall ye keep mine ordinance, that ye commit not any one of these abominable customs, which were committed before you, that ye defile not yourselves therein. I am the Lord your God. So he just straight up says, all these nations that I'm kicking out from before you, are doing these things. They're murderers, they're throwing their children in the fire and murdering their own children, and there are all kinds of perversions going on. This is why God is destroying Jericho and killing everybody inside. It's not just for no reason, it's not just because he hates women and children and animals and all this other stuff. The place is completely defiled. That's why the beasts are getting killed too. It's not like, what do the animals do? They get the death sentence too. They're defiling them. So there's a reason why God did it. So that's why God said, kill them all and let me sort them out. You know, have you ever heard that saying, kill them all and let God sort them out? Well, God's saying, kill them all and let me sort them out. I mean, he's actually saying it. So I don't like it when people say that, but God's actually saying it. So when he says it, it's okay. Because he's good. His judgments are right. Who are we to reply to God and say what's right or wrong? When he says to do something, you know, if he says jump, we're supposed to say how high? How fast and how long do you want us to jump for? Verse 22, back in our text says, but Joshua had said unto the two men that spied out the country, go into the harlot's house and bring out thence the woman and all that she hath as you swear unto her. And the young men that were spies went in and brought out Rahab and her father and her mother and her brethren and all that she had and brought out all her kindred and left them without the camp of Israel and they burnt the city with fire and all that was therein, only the silver and gold and vessels and the brass and iron, they put it into the treasury of the house of the Lord. So again, burned that grain, burned everything in the whole place and that's what you find if you look at that layer of burning in that tale in Jericho today. And it says, and Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive and her father's household and all that she had and she dwelleth in Israel even unto this day because she hid the messengers which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho. And it's interesting that it says Joshua saved Rahab the harlot and her father's household. And this kind of reminds me of that verse where it says, you know, what must I do to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy house. It's kind of like, you know, it says Joshua saved Rahab the harlot and which Joshua pictured Jesus of course. So obviously she was saved before that I believe but it's still an interesting picture, it's a good picture. In Hebrews 11, 30, I won't have you turn there but it says by faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were compassed about seven days. By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed, not when she had received the spies of peace. This whole mission here was a mission of faith and great things happened for God's people and Rahab married Salmon which was of the tribe of Judah and of course I've already preached about this but she was one of, she's in Jesus' genealogy. She's mentioned specifically by name. Joshua 626 and Joshua adjured them at that time saying curse be the man before the Lord that riseth up and buildeth the city Jericho. He shall lay the foundation thereof in his firstborn and his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it. The fulfillment of that, I won't have you turn there but that actually gets fulfilled. So Joshua prophesized this and says hey if anybody builds this city again they're gonna literally lay the foundation thereof of their firstborn child and their youngest son shall set up the gates of it. So this city was never to be rebuilt but someone did rebuild it. In 1 Kings 16 33, you can turn there if you want but you don't have to. This is the fulfillment of that prophecy. And Ahab made a grove, 1 Kings 16 33 and Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him. This is many many years later. In his days did Heil the Bethelite build Jericho he laid the foundation thereof in a biram, his firstborn and set up the gates thereof in his youngest son, Segub, according to the word of the Lord which he spake by Joshua the son of Nun. So I mean it sounds like he literally did that. It's pretty crazy, pretty weird. But he really wanted to build that city Jericho back up again. But what's even more crazy is that I mean I guess it's not more crazy but what's interesting is that Jesus goes to Jericho and when he's, three times in three different gospels I think it's talking about the same event where blind Bartimaeus is healed from his blindness. And then he's only mentioned once but when Jesus does, he goes to Jericho, he goes through Jericho and he heals sublime men. But it's funny because right before Joshua goes into Jericho he looks up. Do you remember that verse where in chapter five it says he looks up and he sees the captain of the Lord's host. So he sees Jesus. And it's interesting because it says he looks up. I mean he must have been looking at the ground all of a sudden and it says he's by Jericho and he looks up. And then when Jesus is mentioned in Matthew chapter 20 he's healing blind people. So both, when you see Joshua who pictures Jesus he's looking up at the real Jesus. He's able to see him. And then when Jesus is actually in Jericho blind people are asking him to heal him. I don't know. I don't know what that means exactly but it's definitely very interesting. So last verse it says so the Lord was with Joshua and his fame was noise throughout all the country just like Jesus' fame went throughout all the country. And so this is like one of the most famous stories in the whole Bible, the Battle of Jericho. There's a song about Joshua fighting the Battle of Jericho. Who knows this song? Raise your hand. All the kids, you should know it. Yeah, Joshua fought the Battle of Jericho and the walls came tumbling down. All right, I'm not singing the whole thing. I don't have a good voice. All right, that's all we got tonight. All right, let's pray. Lord we thank you so much for this great story in the Bible and Lord I pray that you just bless us as we go our separate ways. We thank you Lord for this great story and the things of faith that we can learn by it. Pray that you just help us to love the Bible, help us to be thinking about things where we can prove our lives and stay away from the accursed things and Lord help us to stay on task and help us to have a love for our Bible this year and to want and desire to read the Bible cover to cover and pray that you just help us to just hunger after the things of God and help us to love you and make you number one in our life this year. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen. Lou Himmels, last song this evening, page 285. Angels we have heard on high, page 285. Angels have we heard on high. ["Angels We Have Heard on High"] Angels we have heard on high on the first. Angels we have heard on high, sweetly singing o'er the plains and the mountains in reply, echo back their joyous strains. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, On the second, shepherds, why this jubilee, Why your joyous strength prolongs, Say, what may the tidings be, Which inspire your heav'ly song? Gloria, in excelsis Deo, Gloria, in excelsis Deo, Come to Bethlehem and see Him whose birth the angels sing, Come adore on bended knee, Christ the Lord, the newborn King, Gloria, in excelsis Deo, Gloria, in excelsis Deo, Deo, on the last, a manger laid, Jesus, Lord of heaven and earth, Mary, Joseph, Lanyorane, with us sing our Savior's birth, Gloria, in excelsis Deo, Gloria, in excelsis Deo, And thank you for joining us this Sunday for our Christmas services. We'd love to see you back here next week. Brother Alex, you want to end us with a word of prayer?