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

🎵Piano music plays🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 Alright, welcome back to Shur Foundation Baptist Church afternoon service. You'd find your seats and find a hymnal, red or green hymnals. 294 stepping in the light, 294 in the red or the green. 🎵Piano music plays🎵 Trying to walk. Trying to walk in the step of the Savior. Trying to follow our Savior and King. Shaping our lives wise the set example. Happy, how happy the songs that we bring. How beautiful to walk in the steps of the Savior. Stepping in the light, stepping in the light. How beautiful to walk in the steps of the Savior. Let it pass on by. Pressing more closely to Him who is leading. When we are tempted to turn from the way. Trusting the arm that is strong to defend us. Happy, how happy your praises each day. How beautiful to walk in the steps of the Savior. Stepping in the light, stepping in the light. How beautiful to walk in the steps of the Savior. Let it pass on by. Walking in footsteps, gentle forbearance. Forward steps of faithfulness, mercy and love. Walking to Him for the grace freely promised. Happy, how happy your journey'll go. How beautiful to walk in the steps of the Savior. Stepping in the light, stepping in the light. How beautiful to walk in the steps of the Savior. Let it pass on by. Trying to walk in the steps of the Savior. Upwards, still upward, all humankind. When we shall see Him, the King in His beauty. Happy, how happy your place at His side. How beautiful to walk in the steps of the Savior. Stepping in the light, stepping in the light. How beautiful to walk in the steps of the Savior. Let it pass on by. Brother Eli, can you open us with a word of prayer? Heavenly Father and Lord, thank you for this church. Thank you for this away graceful way of becoming. We sing with our full hearts in the name of the Lord. Put us in a mindset towards the Lord Jesus. In Jesus' name, amen. The second hymn is Oh, How I Love Jesus, 183. Oh, How I Love Jesus. The first hymn. There is a name I love to hear. I love to sing it through. It sounds like music in my ear. The sweetest name on earth. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus. Because He first loved me. It tells me of a Savior's love. He'll guide to set me free. It tells me of His precious blood. The sinner's perfect King. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus. Because He first loved me. It tells me of my Father half in store for every day. And though I tread a darksome path, He'll sunshine all the rain. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus. Because He first loved me. It tells of one whose loving heart can fill my deepest hole. And soon our own bears a spot that none can bear below. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus. Because He first loved me. Amen. All right, good evening. Welcome back to Sure Foundation Baptist Church. Some of us have never left. Let's take our bulletins and go through the... Besides the kids? All right. We'll never get one. On our front cover, we have our verse of the week. It says, nevertheless, the foundation of God, stand assured, having this sealed, the Lord knoweth them that are His, and let everyone that nameth the name of Christ shall not depart from iniquity. 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 19. On our inside page, we have our service times, 1030 a.m. for our morning service. We've been going through a series, preached two sermons so far on the foundations of our faith. And I preached about the deity of Christ this morning. And let's see, tonight we'll be in Joshua chapter 9. Thursday evening Bible study will be in 1 Chronicles. We'll finish up chapter 19. And let's see, the Solanid times are there below. We had Solanid today. I know our group had, group one had two salvations. Anybody else get anybody up there? Any salvations? No, no, no, no? No? Okay. So four salvations today? All right. Praise the Lord. So we had 12 yesterday when we were out in Gresham. So we had 13 Solanids out yesterday and 12 salvations. So that was a pretty good day. And really beautiful weather. Today was too. It's just a little cold in the shadows. So of course Brother Ramon's preaching the gospel and the poor kid, he's just got a football jersey on. Even Rams fans can get saved. And the power of God is just, his word is just very powerful. So anyway. So yeah, we're doing well on salvations in January. That's awesome. Let's see. On our page over on the right there, we're still going through that New Testament challenge. Keep going and finish. And let's see, the Indianapolis church is celebrating a one-year anniversary. And even if you're not going to be able to go, at least just maybe tune in for the services if you can. Be of support. Don't forget to hit the subscribe button on their YouTube channel. That is coming up on the 1st and 2nd of February. February 15th is the Sweetheart Banquet. We'll have a sign up for that coming soon. And then Pastor Weeb will be preaching for us. And that'll be a Western theme. So don't forget to dress up, keep it classy, and you can fulfill your destiny as a sheriff or bounty hunter, train robber, whatever. And then we'll have a good time. We'll eat some good food, hear some good preaching. And he'll be preaching for us. Pastor Weeb will be preaching for us on Sunday as well. So it'll be good to have him and his wife here visiting with us. May 15th through 18th is the King James Conference. And let's see, the Chicago Soul Waning Marathon. Just wanted to give you some dates that are way out there. June 28th. And get with brother Justin from our Indy Church for that. And then September 6th is the Detroit Soul Waning Marathon. I don't have a lot of details for that right now. You might just get with Brandon Pringle on Facebook. Or I think he's mainly just on Facebook. Get with him for the Detroit Soul Waning Marathon details. And let's see, all the other stuff we've already gone through. And we'll probably sing. Hopefully Miss Jessica will be back by Thursday. We can sing her happy birthday. But happy birthday anyway, if I don't get to see you, Miss Jessica. I'll be turning 50 years old Friday. The big 5-0. Officially over the hill. I'll be officially an old man at that point. Oh, is there some 50-year-olds in here? Are you 50? I'm 52. What? 52-card pickup? Brother Ramon, you're over the hill too, right? Alex, yeah. Sorry, brother. 53? 43. Oh, 43. OK. All right. Well, I'm joining the 50 Club here next week. Yeah, I'm not having any kind of midlife crisis. I wasn't thinking about buying a Corvette or anything. So I already got the shiny red truck. So anyway, that's all I have for announcements. Go ahead and sing another song. And we'll receive the offer. All right. Next time is 2-33. Tell me the old, old story. 2-33. All right. All in first. Tell me the old, old story of once in things of all, of Jesus and his glory. Oh, Jesus and his love. Tell me the story simply as to a little child. For I am weak and weary and helpless and defiled. Tell me the old, old story. Tell me the old, old story. Tell me the old, old story of Jesus and his love. Tell me the story slowly that I may take it in. That wonderful redemption, God's remedy for sin. Tell me the story often for I forget so soon. The early new of morning has passed away at noon. Tell me the old, old story. Tell me the old, old story. Tell me the old, old story of Jesus and his love. Tell me the story softly with earnest tones and grave. Remember I'm not an earth whom Jesus came to save. Tell me the story always if you would really be in any time after all. A comforter to me. Tell me the old, old story. Tell me the old, old story. Tell me the old, old story of Jesus and his love. Tell me the same old story when you have caused to fear. That this world's empty glory is costing me to hear. Yes, and when that world's glory is dawning on my soul. Tell me the old, old story Christ Jesus makes me whole. Tell me the old, old story. Tell me the old, old story. Tell me the old, old story of Jesus and his love. This time we'll collect the offering. This time we'll collect the offering. This time we'll collect the offering. Amen. Turn to Joshua chapter 9. Joshua chapter 9. Follow along as we read the entire chapter. Joshua chapter 9. Joshua chapter 9, the Bible reads, And it came to pass, when all the kings, which were on this side Jordan, in the hills and in the valleys, and in all the coasts of the great sea, over against Lebanon, the Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, heard thereof, that they gathered themselves together to fight with Joshua and with Israel with one accord. And when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done unto Jericho and to Ai, they did work wilyly, and went and made as if they had been ambassadors, and took old sacks upon their asses, and wine bottles, old and rent, and bound up, and old shoes, and clouded upon their feet, and old garments upon them, and all the bread of their provision was dry and moldy. And they went to Joshua unto the camp at Gilgal, and said unto him, and to the men of Israel, We be come from a far country, now therefore make ye a league with us. And the men of Israel said unto the Hivites, Peradventure ye dwell among us, and how shall we make a league with you? And they said unto Joshua, We are thy servants. And Joshua said unto them, Who are ye? and from whence come ye? And they said unto him, From a very far country thy servants are come, because of the name of the Lord thy God. For we have heard the fame of him, and all that he did in Egypt, and all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites that were beyond Jordan, to Sihon king of Heshbon, and to Og king of Bashan, which was at Ashtaroth. Wherefore our elders and all the inhabitants of our country spake to us, saying, Take victuals with you for the journey, and go to meet them, and say unto them, We are your servants, therefore now make ye a league with us. This our bread we took hot for our provision out of our houses on the day we came forth to go unto you, but now behold it is dry and it is moldy. And these bottles of wine which we filled were new, and behold they be rent. And these our garments and our shoes are become old by reason of the very long journey. And the men took of their victuals, and asked not counsel at the mouth of the Lord. And Joshua made peace with them, and made a league with them, to let them live, and the princes of the congregation swear unto them. And it came to pass, at the end of three days, after they had made a league with them, that they heard that they were their neighbors, and that they dwelt among them. And the children of Israel journeyed and came unto their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, and Chiphira, and Beoroth, and Kirjath-jearim. And the children of Israel smote them not, because the princes of the congregation had sworn unto them by the Lord God of Israel. And all the congregation murmured against the princes. But all the princes said unto all the congregation, We have sworn unto them by the Lord God of Israel, now therefore we may not touch them. This we will do to them, we will even let them live, lest wrath be upon us, because of the oath which we swear unto them. And the princes said unto them, Let them live, but let them be hewers of wood, and drawers of water unto all the congregation, as the princes had promised them. And Joshua called for them, and he spake unto them, saying, Wherefore have ye beguiled us, saying, We are very far from you, when ye dwell among us? Now therefore ye are cursed, and there shall none of you be freed from being bondmen, and hewers of wood, and drawers of water, for the house of my God. And they answered Joshua, and said, Because it was certainly told thy servants how that the Lord thy God commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land, and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you, therefore we were sore afraid of our lives because of you, and have done this thing. And now, behold, we are in thine hand, as it seemeth good and right unto thee to do unto us do. And so did he unto them, and delivered them out of the hand of the children of Israel, and they slew them not. And Joshua made them that day hewers of wood, and drawers of water, for the congregation, and for the altar of the Lord, even unto this day, in the place which he should choose. Brother Bill, can you pray for the service? Brother, thank you for the reading of words. Amen. Brother Bill, your book is right below this drawer right here, just so you know. Your song leading book. Okay. It's something I need to lose it. Alright, Joshua chapter 9. We, let's see, last week Ai was destroyed. They killed the king, hung him on a tree, and Joshua is basically starting, they're starting to just kind of go from city to city and destroying these places. They had that little hiccup with Achan taking the thing that he was not supposed to do, and he was stoned and killed. Then, of course, God blessed them and allowed them to destroy Ai. And now they are, people are hearing about, they've already heard what's already happened with Egypt, and after 40 years they're still kind of afraid of this army. People know it's coming, and now they've kind of devised this plan that kind of just gives us this little prelude in the first couple verses. And the title of the sermon tonight is The Gibeonite Deception. The Gibeonite Deception. Point number one is God's enemies have this super villain team up. And this is something that doesn't just happen in this passage here, but it happens in real life, it happens in, you know, I've seen this happen just to our church. You know, to churches like our church. This happens, this is just one of Satan's designs that he attacks God's people with. Look at verse number one, it says, And it came to pass when all the kings which were on this side Jordan, in the hills and the valleys and the coast, and the great sea over against Lebanon, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite heard thereof, that they gathered themselves together to fight with Joshua and with Israel with one accord. So, you know, this has definitely happened, you know, in times past, this has happened throughout history where, you know, God's enemies don't have these rules that we would have as God's children. We're not gonna just team up with the Catholics and the Mormons and the Jehovah's Witnesses to fight against Satan's forces because we don't have, you know, these common things with the Jehovah's Witnesses. I preached about how they have a different Christ. You know, we're not gonna team up with the Mormons because they don't believe in the true God. They don't believe in the Trinity as we would believe it. The Jehovah's Witnesses don't believe that Jesus, they don't believe in the right Jesus. They don't believe in the Jesus that we believe in. So we're not gonna team up with a bunch of people that believe a bunch of different things that we do. We do believe in biblical separation as Baptists. Now, of course, we can get down with people that might believe a little bit differently on stuff, even when it comes to Israel and the post-trib or pre-trib rapture or post-trib, but we could still be fellowshipping with people that are pre-trib. I've proven that. We've had people here that believe that and preach in this pulpit. And that's fine, as long as they're not preaching it here, you know. But I'm not gonna go to some, you know, other Old Life Beat Church and preach the post-trib rapture like, hey, can you come preach for me? And then I just get up and preach the post-trib rapture. I already know that they don't believe that and that they wouldn't want me to do that, so of course I'm not gonna do that. But, I mean, we could still be friends because we believe the essential doctrines. But God's enemies, they don't care about that stuff. And I've seen that proven over and over just with people who love to attack our church and churches like our church. They will just, it doesn't matter what they believe, they'll all just gather together in this big, giant trash can. And that's what they like to call themselves, the trash can, because that's what we've kind of called them. And they take that moniker on, they love that. They're like, where are the trash cans? Well, you know, that's not really anything to be proud of. I mean, if you're trash, you're just trash. And, you know, they obviously don't think that they're trash, they think we're trash. But if you're against God's people, you're against God's churches, you're trying to destroy the works of God, then you are trash. I mean, what are we trying to do? What's our goal? Our goal is not to destroy other churches. Our goal is not to destroy other Christians. Our goal is to, you know, seek and save that which is lost. Our goal is to preach true doctrine. Our goal is to preach the Bible. But what does the enemy want to do? Well, they want to gather themselves together and fight with Joshua and the children of Israel with one accord. This is how they team up. But what's sad is that God's people fail to see the divide and conquer mentality of the enemies. And that, you know, we can't, you know, it's weird that, you know, in the past several years I've just seen so many people just fall off. And a lot of times it's not because they're just infiltrators. Sometimes there have been infiltrators that have come against our church and they just came in to infiltrate. That's true. But sometimes it's just envy and strife. It's what I preached about on Thursday night. They just get envious. They just want to strife because they want to be the top dog. They think that there's some sort of pecking order that they have to be in. And they just want to stab their way up to the top. And they want to be number one. It's bizarre. It's just not something that Christians should strive for. It's like, why don't you just be who you are? Be comfortable in your skin. I mean, David didn't use Saul's armor for a reason. Because David didn't fit into that armor. Saul was head and shoulders above the rest. And Saul used that armor. And so David's like, I have not proved these things. So he's like, I know what I'm good at. I'm good at using a sling and stones. And this is what he used to kill the giant. He walked up to a guy with full armor on and a guy holding stuff for him, a shield. So he had a guy holding a shield for him and everything. And then Goliath's got this huge spear. He's got a huge sword. And David just walks up with what he's good at fighting with and slays Goliath. So sometimes people just can't be, they're not able to be in their own station in life. And they just want, they have this need to be the top dog. And that, unfortunately, starts strife. Because it really is just envy. And people will be like, well why would I envy that? Or why would I envy this? It's because you just want to be the top dog. That's what it all boils down to. And it's just sad that it's turned out this way with some of these people. And Christians are supposed to be striving together for what, to what? To reach people. Remember when we used to have the mega marathon? Remember how we used to cover all 50 states? Remember when the whole world was basically covered by some zone or another? Remember that? Well we can't even do that anymore because of all the strife that has happened over the years. And why, how does strife happen? Envy. That's how it happens. And envy and strife. And we're like, no, it was for a good reason. Whatever, you can just tell yourself whatever you want. But the fact that these states are not covered and we don't do this every year anymore? That's not because of some Calvinist or some friend of a Calvinist shaking hands and rubbing the shoulders with another Calvinist. That's ridiculous. That is ridiculous. When's the last time I preached at a Calvinist church? Have you ever seen me do that before? Have you ever seen me have a Calvinist come in here and preach at our church? Never. And people just, again, they get envious of other people and they just find a way or find a reason to attack when it's just people wait for an opportunity. And when they get that opportunity, they're like, here it is. Here's my time to shine. Here's my 15 minutes of fame. But what they don't realize is that fame is only going to last for a fleeting moment. And then people are going to go about to continue to not listen to your sermons because now you're just a bozo. They might listen to it for a little while and then they're just gone. Now it's back down to zero views, one view, two views. And it's like, who cares? What was all that for? So you could just have your attack day. You could have your day in the sun of attacking somebody. But we're giving in and doing what the enemy wants us to do. Because they take and gather up this big storm of people, like they want to do to Joshua and the children of Israel, and they're doing what we should be doing. They're doing what we should be doing and God's people are failing in some of these areas because we're allowing them to do what we actually should do. But they're doing it with everybody, every weirdo that's ever existed, that's ever attacked our church or ever attacked our churches. They're just friends with all of them. Oh, are you oneness? Okay, cool, so am I. Well, I'm not oneness, but you know what? I hate this pastor. I hate that pastor. I hate this church. You know, whatever it is you believed, whether you're a Pentecostal now or, it doesn't matter. We just hate, we hate you. We hate this church. We hate soul winning. We hate hard preaching. We hate that you believe that homos can't get saved or whatever. And then they just make up all this stuff in a reason they hate us. It's like, what are we actually doing that's so bad? Oh, going soul winning and preaching doctrine. Okay, I guess we're bad for that. But turn to Hosea chapter four, verse six. Hosea four, six. So Joshua, in Joshua nine, two, it says that they gathered themselves together to fight with Joshua and with Israel with one accord. And this is, it seems like this would make the odds stacked against the children of Israel because they just probably have a lot more people. They have a lot more soldiers. And the Bible says in Hosea four, six, it says my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. It seems like if you just read the Bible that the children of Israel are doing good and then they just allow, they just start slipping on things, slipping on the commandments and then doing things the wrong way. They allow themselves to slip and then all the enemies gather up against them and destroy them. And then they're like, oh hey, maybe we should get right with God. They get right with God. They do things good for a while and then rinse and repeat. It's like they fall into the same traps over and over and over again. And it's nothing new in Christianity either. There's been some great movements in the past. But look at the past generation, maybe not the past generation, but the Baptist of the Jack Hyles day. I mean he had the biggest church in America. And do you think the Baptist church is the biggest church in America now? It's not. Independent fundamental Baptists are not the biggest churches in America anymore. It's now the fun centers. It's now the smoke and lights and the rock and roll and all that kind of stuff has taken over. And God's people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. And I'm not saying the Baptists haven't made mistakes. Of course they have. But we should not be just falling for all this garbage. But what do the enemies do? They just love to attack. They'll just attack any way they can. It doesn't matter. They'll just lie. And see, we have to fight nobly. We have to fight and we have to have integrity when we fight. We can't just make up lies and then fight against the enemy with lies. But they can lie whenever they feel like it. Nothing that they say has to have any truth to it. And they have no conscience. So why would they have to tell the truth? They don't have to tell the truth and they don't in many aspects. But we should be unified and we should be able to have allies outside of our church that are unified with us. I'm not saying that we're not independent. Of course, stay independent. But you can still be allies with people that believe the same things as you do without fighting with each other all the time about it. I mean, not everything has to be fought about. But when it comes to independent Baptists, it seems like a lot of things that people like to do is fight. And it shouldn't always be a fight. We should be able to have some unity and not fight about things that are just, you know, that aren't important. There are some things that just aren't things that we should separate over. Now, I'm gonna have you turn to 1 Peter 5-8. And in Romans 16, it says that we're supposed to, we are supposed to have division in some instances. It says, now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you have received and avoid them. Yes, we are supposed to separate and avoid certain people and certain doctrines. You know, we're talking about major problems, major doctrines, wicked teachings. But in Romans 16-20 it says, and the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. Look, a false doctrine is an attack of Satan. Our church, you might not realize this, but our church is attacked by Satan on a regular basis. It's attacked in a myriad of ways. And Satan is always looking to attack us for what reason? To divide and conquer. That's what his game plan doesn't really change. 1 Peter 5, it says, be sober, be vigilant because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour. He's constantly on the prowl. He's like a roaring lion. He's constantly looking to devour Christians so he'll pick us off one by one. That's what lions do. They don't kill everybody in the church at the same time. They get one at a time. They'll get your heart in some way or they'll just get you out of church in some way, shape, or form and they just pick you off one by one. Lions, they need to eat every day or every other day or whatever, so they're going to just try to get you and pick you off one by one. But it says, they're walking about seeking whom he may devour, whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. Look, we all go through afflictions. All brethren go through afflictions that are serving the Lord Jesus Christ, but Satan is there to resist us. He wants to resist those that are steadfast in the faith. He doesn't care about the ones that are not serving. He cares about the ones that are. And so his game plan is to go around and try to pick people off that are steadfast and try to get them to fall from their steadfast. He has a plan and he enacts it and that's why we have to put on the armor of God. That's why we have to be ready. That's why our church has to be one. That's why we have to have one accord. That's why we have to be vigilant and sober about the things and be serious about what we're doing. I'm not saying don't have fun. We try to do fun stuff. We joke around. We have a good time. But there is a time to be serious about things and we need to be serious about serving God. In 2 Timothy chapter 4, go ahead and turn to 2 Timothy chapter 4 verse 2. Because look, I'm sure you guys have read comic books or some people have read comics before or watched some comic book movie or whatever. Sometimes the super villains team up in the comics. They have this, because they have like the Justice League or the Avengers in comic books. And there are a team of super heroes that team up to battle against a greater threat. And they have like these villains that also team up and they have a greater threat. And they try to pick off all the super heroes. So that's what these enemies of God like to do. They like to band together and try to have this big rush against a smaller amount of people and try to destroy them. So that's why it's like a team up. And they don't care. Again, they don't care what the other people believe in their group necessarily. At the time, they just wanted to destroy the people that they came to destroy. They could be at odds with things. But their one goal is to destroy that which is right and that which is good. In 2 Timothy chapter 4 verse 2 it says, Preach the word. Be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. As long as we preach the word, there's always going to be people that come against our church. There's always going to be people that hate our church and want to stop it. Because the moment we stop preaching the word, the moment we stop preaching the Bible, then Satan will no longer care about this church. He's no longer going to try to come against this church. But as long as we're preaching the Bible, he's always going to come at us. So, you know, we could stop preaching against false prophets or preaching one aspect. And, you know, it's not going to stop him from coming against us. But this is why people stop preaching the word of God. They stop because they don't want to go through persecution anymore. And, yeah, we have our little times of where we're not being persecuted. But if you preach the word of God, you will be persecuted. Because if you preach the word of God, you're going to preach the whole counsel of God. You're going to preach everything in the book. And, look, the Bible offends people. Stephen tells the whole history of Israel and all he says is you do always resist the Holy Ghost. And they killed him for it. For just saying you resist the Holy Ghost because it was true. And they knew it. And they hated him for it and killed him. So, and why though? Why do you have to keep preaching the word? Well, look at verse 3. It says, for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. But after their own lust shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. So, look, we've got to preach the word now because there will come a time that even when you are preaching it, people are going to still heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. So, but if you stop, don't you think that they're going to heap to themselves even more? It's going to come early. So, while we can, we're going to preach the word of God. And it says they'll turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables. They're going to start believing stuff that's just not even true. Made up stories. A bunch of folklore. Like the Nephilim and the flat earth and a bunch of other garbage. But when pastors stop preaching the Bible, Satan can just bring in his teachers and his teachings. And look, as long as I'm the pastor here, we're going to preach the Bible at this church. And that's just the way it is. But the other ways that Satan can attack us, what's the other way Satan can attack our church? Well, how about just keeping a bunch of wicked people in our church? Not getting the leaven out of our church. The Bible says we're supposed to get leaven out of our church. A little leaven, leaven at the whole lump. If we stop exercising church discipline, then that's another way for Satan to attack our church. Like, the devil can attack our church in many different ways, but that's another way. He can send people our way and then people are just doing whatever they want. And if the pastor just doesn't have a spine, he doesn't have a backbone, he doesn't exercise church discipline, or he just doesn't honor church discipline that's happening from another church and you know that, I mean, that's garbage. We've thrown people out and then told the pastor of that church that someone's, you know, hey, this person that's going to your church has been church disciplined. And it's like, yeah, but, you know, we just won't let them become a member. What does that have to do with anything? You're still letting them around the congregation. You know, what is that all about? Well, I'll tell you what, your church is going to be cursed by God for allowing that person, that leaven into your church, and you're just not, you want to talk about rightly dividing. These guys are always like, you're just not rightly dividing the scriptures. No, you're not rightly dividing the scriptures. They just think that what some list of who's a member and who's not is this, well, they're not on the list. We're not going to let them be in the Sunday school classes or whatever. Where's that in the Bible? You're supposed to have some rolling log of who's in and who's not. That's not what it says. It says, you know, put away from among yourselves that wicked person. You're supposed to get them away from you and shun them. How are you teaching them that they need to get right with God when you're still allowing them to be around your people? You hypocrite, you just want the numbers? Well, guess what, you're going to have the curse of God upon your church when you don't honor the mark of another church that has marked that person for church discipline. You're a phony, you're a fake, and, you know, let that church be accursed. I'm not saying for them to go to hell, I'm just saying let the curse of God be upon them for not honoring the mark because that family's never going to get right with God as long as you just allow them to stay at your church. It's going to infect and infest the rest of that church with leaven. Now, also, another way the devil can attack your church is that you don't forgive. Because when someone has done something wrong and they've gotten right with God, some people don't want to forgive in their heart the things that that person's done. That is also wrong. And, like, you know, how I see this play out sometimes even online with some of these online weirdos is they'll drag something that someone's already gone and got forgiveness for, but they don't forgive. See, God's forgiven them, their church has forgiven them, but, oh, you're going to just hold something against that person for the rest of their life and bring it up and draw it out in front of everybody? That's wicked. The throat just keeps throwing sins in people's faces. It's wicked. It's wrong. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 2. They're like, why are you so fired up, Pastor Thompson? Well, you know why I'm fired up? Because I just see all this division happening, and then people just act like, you know, the way that they're behaving is godly and right. And it's not. It's not godly. It's not right. And to sit there and act like it's okay to just attack people for their looks, but one person attacks someone over their looks, but then you're like, well, you should never do that, it's so wrong, and then you do it to somebody else. Well, it's okay for you to do it, but they can't do it. It's like, what are you talking about? It's okay for you, but not for them? You think someone else should say something to that person and rebuke them, but you don't rebuke the people on your camp that do it? That's wrong. You're a hypocrite. You're a lying piece of garbage and a hypocrite if you do that. Because what's good for the goose is good for the gander, right? Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 7. It says, When someone sins and they're thrown out of the church and you bring them back in, you're supposed to forgive that person, not hold a grudge against them. You're a hypocrite. You're a hypocrite. The Bible says that a rapist should surely be put to death, right? They should go and just be killed. That's it. And we wouldn't have to deal with them in our society more. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about people that just did some, you know, whatever crime it was, that's not punishable by death, those people should be forgiven and be allowed to just live things down. But I just see a lot of people online not letting people live things down from their past. And it's trash. And you call yourself a Christian when you won't forgive something from somebody's past, but you constantly throw it in people's faces over and over again, years and years later, that is wicked. That is not Christ-like behavior. It's not. And you know what you've done is you've let Satan get advantage of you. You've let Satan get an advantage of your church, and we are not ignorant of his devices. When he has an advantage of us, we're in deep trouble. The Bible says that we're supposed to let all bitterness, in Ephesians 4-31 it says, Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. You know what malice is? Intention to do evil and ill will. If a Christian has malice and their intention is just to do evil and have ill will towards each other, that is wicked. If that's your sole existence for attacking another Christian is to have malice, to hurt them, to have some evil put upon their life, what's wrong with you? If your ill will is to destroy somebody else's church or destroy somebody else's congregation, people that go to that church, you are wicked. There's no excuse for that. In Ephesians 4-32 it says, And be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Did you forget that you got forgiven for a bunch of stuff, too, when you started just trashing people all over the Internet? Look, it's repulsive. It really is. So, let's see, turn to Philippians 2-1. See, Satan, he's always looking for a foothold in our lives, in our families, in our churches, and what does he want to do? He wants to devour us. He wants to pick us off one by one. That's what lions do. While you're turning there, I'm going to read from you Revelation 12-10. It says, And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now has come salvation and strength in the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ, for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. You know what the devil does day and night? He accuses you. He accuses every single person in this room day and night because we sin. And sometimes he accuses us when we haven't. He's just like, you know, just like he did with Job. Does Job serve thee for naught? But touch his flesh, and he'll curse thee to thy face. That's what he told God. God's like, alright, I don't think he will. Go ahead. He's in your hands, but you're not allowed to kill him. And did Job do it? No. So Satan just goes before God to accuse people. And, you know, let's not give him something to accuse us of. But those are the devil's devices. You know, he rears up these armies, these super armies to attack churches and to attack the people of God. Look at Philippians 2 verse 1. It says, If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any vows and mercies, fulfill ye my joy that ye may be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord and of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife and vain glory, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. You know, our lives as Christians would be a lot better, and our churches would be a lot better if people would keep these principles in mind. And start just thinking, hey, instead of thinking about ourselves all the time and how we can rise up the ranks and how, you know, instead of envying and strife and all this other stuff, if we would just start looking at people and thinking about people better than ourselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Thinking about other people, quit being so selfish. And our churches would be a lot better and a lot better off. All right, rant over. Let's move on to the next point, all right? Number two, so the first thing, it's kind of given us this pre-, this little pre-log here, or prologue's just showing us, hey, all these nations have now combined. They're not going to just, you know, stay with one city being fought against at the same time. Now they're all just going to combine and try to fight against Joshua and his forces of the children of Israel. But now, number two, the Gibeonites pull a trick-a-roo to save their own bacon is basically what's going to happen next here. So, verse number three, the Bible says, and when the inhabitants of Gibeon, it's Joshua 9-3, it says, when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done unto Jericho and to Ai, they did work wily. And so that word wily means cunning, or craftily, or sly, and went and made as if they had been ambassadors and took old sacks upon their asses and wine bottles old and rent and bound up. So you probably watched the Looney Tunes cartoons when Wile E. Coyote, you know, he's always trying to trick the roadrunner so he can catch him and eat him, right? So, Wile E. Coyote, he's just, you know, he's wily trying to pull these tricks, so basically what they're doing is they're trying to pull a trick on the children of Israel because the mandate of God is to go into the Promised Land and kill everybody. Wipe them out, replace them, and take over. Now, the Gibeonites are part of this crew. They're part of the people that God has a problem with, but they come up with this idea, they're like, we're not, we have no chance. You know, they realize this, and so they pull this trick here. Verse 5 says, And old shoes, and clouded upon their feet, and old garments upon them, and all the bread of their provision was dry and moldy. And they went to Joshua unto the camp at Gilgal, and said unto him and to the men of Israel, We become from a far country, now therefore make ye a league with us. So they come with all these raggedy clothes on, you know, they're trying to look like they came from a faraway country, and they're trying to trick them. But like, you know, I mean, they must have played it off pretty good because they're getting one over on them here pretty quickly. But what does it mean, make a league with us? So it's not like, you know, a sports league or something like that. It's an agreement, basically, an agreement to not kill them. You know, or to be on their team or on their side. It's an alliance. It's a collection of people, countries or groups that combine for a particular purpose. So, like, you know, the League of Nations, it was like the United Nations, it's kind of like the same type of thing, where all these nations say, hey, we want to be this one nation or whatever. So they want to join up with them is basically what they're saying. Now verse 7 says, And the men of Israel said unto the Hivites, So now it's identifying who they are. They're the Hivites. So they're from Gibeon, but they're Hivites. And it says, The men of Israel said unto the Hivites, Peradventure, which means, like, perhaps you dwell among us, and how shall we make a league with you? So, if you look at the table of nations in Genesis chapter 10, it clearly shows us that they are related to the Canaanites. These people are Canaanites, and they're from, you know, they're from, they're born from Canaan. Now when Ham did that weird stuff with Noah, Noah cursed Canaan. And so Canaan's line is cursed, and so he said, A servant of servants shall you be. So, which means, you know, you're not just going to, you know, be destined to work for other people, but you're going to be like a bond, it's like basically saying they're going to be bond servants. So, which is basically like being a slave, okay? So, this is the curse of God upon them, and so these Canaanites are cursed by Noah, and ultimately they're to be overthrown, they're to be killed. So, in verse 8 it says, And they said unto Joshua, We are thy servants. So they're putting themselves under the bondage of the children of Israel. And Joshua said unto them, Who are ye? and whence come ye? And they said unto him, From a very far country thy servants are come because of the name of the Lord thy God, for we have heard the fame of him in all that he did in Egypt. And that's probably true, you know, I'm sure they do know that. And all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites that were beyond Jordan to Sihon, king of Heshbon, and to Og, king of Bashan, which was at Ashtoreth. Wherefore our elders and all the inhabitants of our country spake to us, saying, Take victuals with you for the journey, and go to meet them and say unto them, We are your servants, therefore now make ye a league with us. This is our bread, we took hot for our provision out of our houses on the day that we came forth, to go unto you, but now behold it is dry and it is moldy. And these bottles of wine, which we filled were new, and behold they be rent, and these are garments, and our shoes are become old by reason of the very long journey. So I don't know how long of a journey it would take to have your shoes go bad, because shoes can last a long time, but I'm not sure how long that they're saying, I don't even know, I mean they're telling us what they said, but it's a very long journey apparently. So I mean I probably would be suspicious, and I'm sure Joshua's suspicious, I'm sure the children of Israel are suspicious, but you know, number three tonight, before making a big life altering decision, ask counsel at the mouth of the Lord. This is very important, this is a very important point here, and verse 14 explains this, and you know, Joshua normally probably wouldn't make a decision like this without asking counsel, but look what it says, and the men took their victuals, and asked not counsel at the mouth of the Lord. It's a big mistake, you know, they're supposed to kill all the inhabitants of the land, and so because they don't ask, they do the thing that they're not supposed to do. It says, and Joshua made peace with them, and made a league with them to let them live, and the princes of the congregation swear unto them. Once you do that, see once God, God is like really particular about things like this. If you swear an oath, whatever comes and proceeds out of your mouth, that you will do, and he would rather have you keep what you say you're gonna do than to break it for any reason, and so once you say you're gonna do something, you need to do it, and so they have already promised them they're not gonna hurt them, they're not gonna do anything, but they've been deceived, they've been tricked, and it says, and it came to pass at the end of three days after they had made a league with them that they heard that they were neighbors, and that they dwelt among them. Whoops. So these guys are in the land. They're really close. They were probably knocking on their door necks to destroy their city also, and the children of Israel journeyed and came into their cities on the third day. Now, the cities were Gibeon, and Shepherah, and Beroth, and Kerjath-jurim. Do anybody remember from Thursday night what the other name of Kerjath-jurim is? It is Hebron. Hebron. So Hebron, which is the same place where Abraham made his altar a long, long time ago in Genesis. So it is kind of an important city because it also becomes what a sanctuary city later on. That's the place where Joab did the under the fifth rib, remember, from Thursday night? So that's where Joab kills Abner under the fifth rib. Anyway, so Gibeon has also kind of been part of our Bible study on Thursday night because Gibeon is also the high place where they're making the sacrifices, and David has taken the Ark of the Covenant into the city of David, but the high place in Gibeon is where they're doing the sacrifices. So these are the places. This is where they're from. That's where they live is in these places. Pretty interesting. I mean, later on, it's just gonna be kind of weird how God works it out that these people are actually gonna be serving the children of Israel. It says, and the children of Israel smote them not because the prince of the congregation had sworn unto them by the Lord God of Israel, and all the congregation murmured against the princes. So the problem is is that they made promises to people that they were supposed to destroy, and when leadership fails to do that which the Lord had commanded, the people are gonna get upset, and so this is a big wake-up call for the leadership, and the children of Israel are murmuring against them. They've done something that they're not supposed to do. They've done something wrong. This is why they should have asked counsel at the mouth of the Lord. That verse isn't there for no reason in verse 14. They asked not counsel at the mouth of the Lord, and God is just kind of being silent through all this. He hasn't rebuked Joshua. I remember a couple chapters ago, Joshua was on the ground praying for hours before dark, and the Lord's just like, get up, what are you doing? So he's praying at a time when he shouldn't be, and then now he's not praying before when he should be. So it's not like, again, Joshua's not perfect. He makes mistakes, but here he's made this mistake, and so have the princes of the children of Israel, but Joshua, he's the main leader, and so they're murmuring against them, and it says, but all the princes said unto the congregation, we have sworn unto them by the Lord God of Israel. Now, therefore, we may not touch them. So the people are mad because the leadership has gone in a wrong direction. They have not done what the Lord commanded, and they were supposed to kill them, not make friends with them. So that's the problem. This we will do to them. We will even let them live lest wrath be upon us because of the oath which we swear unto them. Now, later on in the Bible, we'll go there here in a bit, but later on in the Bible, this actually shows forth when people do try to touch the Gibeonites, and there's a big punishment for that, but so I would just say this. Let's make some application for us as God's people. Well, when it says ask not counsel at the mouth of the Lord, what would you say is the modern application for asking not counsel at the mouth of the Lord? Are we able to go to some prophet and ask him, hey, will you ask God this question for me? Are you able to do that today? No, well, I mean, you can. You got Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel. You got the Lord Jesus Christ. You got the Apostle Paul. You got the book of Joshua. You got King David, and you got Samuel. We got prophets. All their writings are in here, and who actually spoke? Who is actually the Bible written by in reality? It's written down by holy men, but they spake as the Holy Ghost moved them. So when we go to ask counsel at the mouth of the Lord, we need to be going to the Bible for our answers of what should I do? What am I supposed to do in this situation, God? We should pray, obviously. God, what should I do? Show me what I should do, and then we should read the Bible on a regular basis so we know what the Bible says, and we can search out the answers in the Bible for the questions that we might have or for the hard positions that we are in, because when we're in a hard spot, we don't know what to do. How do we ask counsel at the mouth of the Lord? Well, how about just look in the Bible and see what the Bible says we should do? You're like, well, you know, I got this job offer in this city, and the city is a town of 500, but it's a really good job. Well, does it have a good church there? I don't even know if it has a church there. Should you move there? How do you know that? Well, the Bible says that we're not supposed to forsake the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the day approaching. So what's more important, going to this job that might be your dream job and missing church every single day that you're supposed to be there or being in a good church with God's people and doing the things that God wants you to do? I mean, going to the mouth of God, how about Hebrews chapter 10, verse 27? That's the one that's gonna help you out, right? So before you move to a place with no good church, maybe you should just go and ask counsel at the mouth of the Lord and find out whether you should actually do that. How about before you marry someone that you don't know? Maybe you should get to know them. Maybe you should spend a season of life getting to know that person. Maybe they're crazier than you realize. Maybe once you marry them, there's a bunch of things that you didn't realize that you didn't agree with them about. Like she just wants to have one kid, and you wanna have 12. Well, that's kinda gonna be a problem, isn't it? And she wants to have, I wanna be a working woman and all this other stuff, and you didn't want that. You want her to be a stay-at-home mom and have 12 kids. Well, you didn't really think about that before you got married. You're just like, I love you. All you know is I love you right now. That's all that matters. Yeah, and then you start squeezing the toothpaste from the top, and then you start leaving the toilet seat up at night and all this other stuff, and then you start to have the after-the-honeymoon phase. And sometimes the honeymoon phase is never a phase at all. It's just like, oop, you're in the after-the-honeymoon phase before it even starts. So, I mean, just sometimes you might wanna get to know somebody. I think all the time. What about if they're not saved? You know, I love this person, but they're not even saved. But I think I can change them. I think I can get them saved. It's like, no, you don't marry someone that's not saved. You don't date someone that's not saved. You wanna date them so bad? Get them saved. And you're like, well, what if they're pretending? Make sure. How do you make sure? Well, just do your best. I don't know. Just ask the questions. Put them through the gauntlet. Try to trick them somehow with the questions. I don't know. Well, just make sure. And don't just go, oh, yeah, they're Catholic. They're saved. Oh, they're Mormon. They say they believe in God. You're setting yourself up for a world of hurt, for a life of pain. God destroyed the world with the flood because saved people married unsaved people. And the world got so wicked that God said, I'm done. Let's hit the reset button. I mean, that was it. How about before you quit a job, maybe give it two weeks notice and have another job lined up before you do it? This generation doesn't even understand that. They're like, well, this just isn't my calling to work at McDonald's. The two week notice thing, I realize that that's kind of a dying phase. That's just what I was always taught with my parents. Hey, put it in two weeks notice. But here's what I tell people even though that's a dying thing. Here's what I tell people. I say, do it anyway and God will still bless you even though they did you wrong. Put it in the two weeks notice. You're like, well, where's that in the Bible? Well, we're still supposed to be faithful. We're still supposed to treat our masters with, and I say masters as in we work for them. They pay our checks. They consider our masters at that point. We work for them. We're employees. So what about before you confront a friend or family member that could cause a relationship to change forever, maybe you should think about that. Is it really worth bringing that thing to their attention or is it just something that you're just irritated with and you can live with? I mean, some things that you fight with people about can change that relationship forever and you can't take those things back. Sometimes it's just best to think about those things before you just try to confront somebody with it and a brother, what is it, a brother offended is harder to be won than what, a strong castle? I think that's how it goes. Once you offend them, it's hard to win them back over. So there's your going to the mouth of the Lord about it. I mean, you gotta think about some of these things. Inquiring at the mouth of God, how do you do it? Well, pray and read the words of the book and hopefully the one that you're holding in your hand, you should be holding in your hand anyway, the one in front of your face, should I co-sign for this loan? No. It's just automatic. Automatic, don't do it. I don't care if it's your kid, I don't care who it is. Don't do it. Signing for surety is not something you should do. Should I lend money and charge them interest? No. It's against the Bible to charge interest for especially someone that's your brother in Christ. It's wicked. Just read the Bible, it'll explain. Should I let this homo family member around my children? No. Don't trust them. They're deviants. Should I let this Mormon family member babysit my children? No. They're false prophets. Why would you want someone just drilling stuff into your children's head all day that doesn't believe in the same God that you do? Should I allow my children to stay all night at someone's house I don't know? No. You shouldn't. You're like, well, where's all this in the Bible? Trust me, you're gonna find it. I don't have time to get into all this. I mean, I'm just kind of giving you some things that you might ask yourself some questions about. Should I tell my whole horrible past to my brand new friend? No, you probably shouldn't. Because sometimes people just can't get over some of the things you tell them, and some people are hyper spiritual and super judgmental, and even though they're supposed to forgive and supposed to overlook some of those things, they won't do that. And then they start telling other people about it, and do you want people to know everything you've done wrong? You probably should just make that between you and the Lord. How about should I drink alcohol and smoke marijuana as a Christian? Be sober, be vigilant. You don't want the devil to come and scoop you up and make it easy, all right? Joshua 9 21, and the princes said unto them, let them live, but let them be hewers of wood and drawers of water unto all the congregation as the princes had promised. So what did they say? Well, we're gonna let you live, but you're gonna serve us forever, basically. They already put themselves under their service, but they said they're specifically gonna be the ones that bring wood and draw water. Now, and Joshua called for them, and he spake unto them, saying, wherefore have you beguiled us, or for what reason have you done this? Saying, we are very far from you when you dwell among us. And to me, this question is really easily answered. We don't wanna die. I mean, that's what I would say, right? They know they're gonna die. God's on their side. They already know what he did in Egypt, what he did to the Egyptians. They already know that God, part of the Red Sea, killed Pharaoh and all of his people. He's killed Og. He's killed all these other people. He's destroyed Ai. He's destroyed Jericho, and they're next. They're a few days journey from them, and it's like, duh, we don't wanna die. That's really a good reason, right? It says, now therefore, you're cursed, and there shall none of you be freed from being bondmen and hewers of wood and drawers of water for, notice what it says there, the house of my God. So what is the house of God? Well, at the time here, it's the tabernacle that was in the wilderness, the tent that they would take everywhere with them. And so what is their new job? To basically be bondmen. He said they're cursed as bondmen. What does that mean? Well, that is what you would call they're basically, so they're like slaves. That's what they are. They've become slaves now. Joshua has cursed them, but I mean, I'm just saying if this is me, I'm happy that I'm still alive because what's the alternative here? The alternative is death. Now, if they kill them now, they're gonna be in deep trouble, but they've already put themselves under the bond. They've already said we are your servants, and then look what it says next here. It says, and they answered Joshua and said because it was certainly told, they're given the reason why they did it, because it was certainly told thy servants how that the Lord thy God commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you. Therefore, we were so afraid of our lives because of you and have done this thing. Why'd they do it? They're afraid. They don't wanna die. It's the same reason I would have said too, right? And now behold, we are in thine hand as it seemeth good and right unto thee to do unto us do. That's a pretty humble thing to say. I mean, they're really behind the eight ball, so to say. They're really in a bad spot, and they know that they've already sworn to them, but you know, sometimes people say stuff and take it back, but the children of Israel are not going to do this. Joshua's not gonna do this, and you're like, well, that seems messed up that they would make them their servants, make them their bondmen, and it's something that these people are never gonna be able to get out of. Well, there were rules in God's law that they could not do. If they punched somebody and knocked out their tooth, then they'd have to let them go free. If they did certain things, they would have to let them go, and there were rules that they were not allowed to break. Now, obviously slavery is a really hot topic. It's not something that's especially very popular. It's not a good thing. It's not, but in this situation here, I mean, when it comes to dying or having to serve the people that were gonna kill you anyway, I'd rather serve, and a lot of people would say, well, I'd rather die than be a servant. Well, I wouldn't, and it seems like they probably are gonna have places to live. They're probably gonna be treated pretty decently, and there is a time when they don't get treated decently, but God protects them, and God judges those people that mistreat them, so why did they deceive them, though? It's better to be, they've basically become the first power company for the children of Israel. They become like, back then, they didn't have electricity, so they become the first power company. They're the ones that are hewing the wood, and so they're kind of like a protected union at this point now. They're not allowed to just kill them and do whatever they want with them, so now they provide all the wood for everybody, and they provide the water. I mean, now they're the first water company also, so these are the first utility companies for the children of Israel, basically, and you can't just kill them, and they have to provide food for them, allow them certain pleasures, obviously, and allow them to get married, and all kinds of stuff, but what they did took a tremendous amount of faith, and I believe that this is pictured, this is a picture of in the New Testament when you would see Gentiles come to Jesus, and people that were not part of the covenant would come to Jesus and say, hey, please heal my son, please heal my daughter, please heal my blindness, and it was always somebody from another country, like the Syrophoenician woman, and he said, hey, it's not fit to give the children's food to the dogs, and Jesus calls her a dog. It's pretty harsh. She's like, even the dogs eat the crumbs from the master's table, and he's like, I haven't seen this kind of faith, not in Israel, and then he grants her her request. You have multiple Gentiles coming to Jesus, and even though they're not part of the covenant, are not even allowed to go in the temple, and they have greater faith than the actual children of Israel themselves, and Jesus saves them just like he saves everybody else, and you know what? We are all servants of sin before we get saved, and we have to have a fear of God before we come and get salvation also, so just like the children of Israel were servants and bond servants in Egypt, then they were freed by the Lord, which pictures our salvation. We're bond servants to our sin, and Christ frees us, and then we serve him now, so this is that picture. You have these guys that they don't deserve salvation, but they come, and even though they tricked them, they still, what did they want? They just wanted to live. They just wanted to be surviving what they saw happening. They knew it had a death mark on them, and that's what we do when we realize that we're lost. We realize we're lost and that we need a savior, and we're gonna die and go to hell, which is these guys feared God. They said that they feared God, and they feared the children of Israel, and that's why they go through this big elaborate hoax just so they cannot be killed. That's what they do, so I don't really blame them. To me, the Gibeonites are not enemy. These guys actually have a great amount of faith, and I have no problem with them. I think that they did a good thing. What other nations did this? What other nations were like this? Well, you could say the Rechabites were kind of like this, the Kenites. They kind of joined themselves alongside the children of Israel, but these were the ones that were marked for death, though, and they joined up with the children of Israel. Obviously, this is in the Old Testament. They're supposed to kill everybody, but there's always a remnant in nations, right? Obviously, these guys picture a remnant. They're a remnant of the Canaanites that actually are saved from the wrath because they are destined to die. They were supposed to be killed. God allows them to survive somehow, and then they what? They served the children of Israel, but they served what? They served the house of God. I mean, that's a pretty high honor in reality because we also, we weren't, as Gentiles, we weren't part of that original promise, right? But, you know, Jesus Christ, he rent that veil in two to picture what? That we're all able to get in on God's plan and promise. We can all be part of the kingdom of God. And we all get to serve the Lord in his holy temple. We're all gonna serve in heaven together. And we're all gonna be kings and priests unto the Lord our God. So, they're like, hey, do whatever seems good to you. But that's kind of the way we are. We have to be too. Hey, we get saved and we become servants of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not like he doesn't make us do stuff, but he wants us to do stuff. And they get the fear of the Lord and they get a stay of execution. So, of course, God haters would say, this is so horrible, you know, but if you got put in a similar position, you'd choose the same thing. Death or chop some wood and bring some water up. Like, sign me up, man. I'm good. And then, so like, in 2 Samuel, we don't have time to go there, but in 2 Samuel chapter 21, Saul has killed the Gibeonites. He's killed a bunch of them. And there's actually a famine for three years. And David's like inquiring of the Lord, like, why? Why is this famine going on? What's going on? And it's because Saul in his zeal for Benjamin and for Judah was slaying the Gibeonites. And what ends up happening is that David says, hey, what can I do to make this right? And they're like, we don't want any silver, we don't want any gold, but we want, you know, Saul's family to be held responsible. And I don't really quite understand how this makes it right because they didn't really have anything to do with it, but they end up, you know, hanging like seven of Saul's family members and they hang them and kill them for what they did to the Gibeonites. I'll have to deeply study into that a little bit more, but, you know, it's definitely, God's punishment was upon the nation of Israel and the nation of, yeah, the nation of Israel was unified at that time and God put, you know, because of Saul's bloody house and his, that zeal was not a right kind of zeal. You know, God, they had promised not to destroy the Gibeonites and Saul's breaking that promise. And because of that zeal, because of that false zeal, that wrong zeal, his house, even after he died, had punishment upon it for something that he did. So, anyway, which, you know, it basically, you know, it was a brilliant plan that they did, though, to get, you know, themselves out of trouble and even though they end up having to be servants, it's still better than dying. So, you know, people, when the children of Israel were conquering, you know, and some people got to live, being alive is a lot better than being dead. So, a living dog is better than a dead lion? Is that how the, yeah, that's a proverb, right? And dogs aren't really highly favorable in the Bible. So, I mean, something alive is better than something dead, right? So, verse 26 says, and so he did unto them and delivered them out of the hand of the children of Israel, verse 26, that they slew them not. Joshua made them that day hearers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation and for the altar of the Lord, even unto this day in the place which he should choose. What is this talking about? Well, it's already said it once, for the house of the Lord, so they're chopping wood and bringing water for the whole congregation, but also specifically, now for the altar of the Lord, even unto this day in the place which he should choose. What place does he choose later? Where's the place where the temple's built? Jerusalem, right? So, they serve in, maybe not in the temple, but they serve the house of the Lord when it's built at Mount Moriah. So, there's this argument that the temple was in the city of David and the temple mount that is there today is not in the right location, that the temple, you know, it's basically, this teaching is based upon ridiculous conspiracy theory and conjecture. So, it's manipulation of the scriptures, it's not true, and I don't have time to get into the full details of it, but the Bible says that these guys, their job was to bring water and bring wood to that location. There's nowhere in the Bible that it says that running water has to be at the location of the tabernacle or temple. You will not see that anywhere in the Bible, but this conspiracy theory or whatever is like, you know, it had to be where the Gihon Springs were because, you know, that had running water and the Bible says that there has to be running water. The Bible doesn't say that. Now, the Gihon Springs are about 800, let's see, 800 meters, or 2,824 feet away from the Gihon. So, the Gihon Springs are, you know, less than a mile away from the temple mount that's currently where I believe the actual temple mount is because how are you gonna lose track of the temple mount? Anyway, and those stone walls that are there that, you know, the Jews go like this back and forth on all the time, there's a bunch of rocks, they're not rocks, but they're stones that were thrown down from the top of that when Jesus said in Matthew chapter 24, he said there shall not be one stone left upon another that shall not be thrown down. Thrown down where? From the top of that mount. So, those are retaining walls for Mount Moriah, okay? The Gihon Springs are not up there, they're down below in the city of David. And the city of David, the Bible clearly says, I think it's in 2 Chronicles chapter 5, that they took the ark out of the city of David. So, if they took it out of the city of David, then where's the temple not at? Not in the city of David. There's a little clue for you. So, the Bible doesn't say it has to be where running water is, and if you got people that actually their job is to take water to the temple, then what's the problem? And if you have a spring that constantly runs there, you can fill that up, and those guys, their job, as the water company technicians, to bring that water up there. So, yeah, they did need water to wash, they had to fill up the molten sea or whatever, they had to fill that stuff up, there's no doubt about that, they had to have clean running water, but the temple doesn't have to be built next to a spring, the Bible does not say that. And what about when it was wandering through the wilderness all those times? I'm sure that they probably had to set up somewhere close to water, but the Bible doesn't say they had to. I'm sure that they still had people that went and got water, that was their job. The Levites probably did it, now they're like, yay, we have Gibeonites to do this job for us now, right? But the temple does not have to be next to water, the Bible does not say that, it doesn't say it has to be next to the Gihon Springs, and it's less than a Sabbath day journey to go from the Gihon spring to the temple mount, and you're like, Sabbath day journey, that's only found in Acts 1-12, and the Sabbath day journey is about three quarters of a mile. According to how far they walked from Jerusalem to the Mount of Olives, the day when Jesus went from the Mount of Olives, now the Sabbath day journey is probably, it's not necessarily found in the Old Testament, but that was the tradition at that time, is that you could only walk a certain amount, and it was like 2,000 cubits or something like that. Anyway, they were only supposed to walk so far in a day, so they wouldn't break the Sabbath. So, anyway, just a little tidbit there, because people will say all kinds of weird stuff, and it's like, does it really matter? You're like, Pastor Thompson, does it really matter? Well, the truth does matter. If you have someone just saying, the temple mount isn't really the temple mount, even though all those rocks, just do me a favor, after church, or you can do it right now, Google stones from the temple, and then just type that in, stones from the temple at the temple mount, and you'll just find all kinds of images of all the rocks that came from the temple that Jesus prophesied would be thrown down are all still there. They're there right now. Just Google it right now. It's like, Jesus' prophecy came true. But this same guy that says this stuff, he's like, the Jews say that we're lying because all those walls are still there. Those are the retaining walls. Because Jesus said not one stone will be left upon another that should not be thrown down. He's talking about the buildings, though. He says, see these buildings? There won't be one stone left upon another that won't be thrown down. So if you're talking about throwing it down, wouldn't the last stone not really have to be thrown down if it was at the very bottom of that retaining wall? Where are you gonna throw it down to? He's talking about the top of the temple mount. Mount Moriah is where the temple mount is. It's a mountain. It's called Mount Moriah. It's not lower than the mountain where the city of David is. And the city of David's been excavated. They haven't found all the temple. The temple was massive. Guess where it's at? It's at the bottom of the retaining wall. Just look for yourself. It's right there. There's never even been done on it. All the pavement is still smashed. Why haven't they taken it all out? I have a good reason why. Because Jesus prophesied it would happen, and I think he wants the stones to stay there so that we know that his prophecy came true. Let's bow for prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for the Bible and how it proves things over and over. I pray that you'd help us to be in one mind and one accord, striving for the faith of the gospel. I pray, Lord, you'd help us to see our need for unity with other Christians and other believers, and Lord, that we wouldn't get caught up in petty squabbles. Lord, sometimes it can be difficult. People can be real antagonistic and make us want to fight and defend each other. But I pray that you'd help us to just stay on mission and try to just do our best to just try to just work for the kingdom of God, work for salvation, work for sound doctrine, and Lord, just for the unity of the saints and the fellowship of the saints. Lord, that we realize that there's an actual enemy to fight, and that enemy is not believers. I pray that we would just get those things in perspective, Lord, and we ask that you'd bless us as we all go our separate ways tonight. Lord, that we pray for each other this week. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.