A Story of redemption – (it’s not how you start but how you finish) Joshua 9:1-27
- The children of Israel have just crossed over to the promised land
- God fought the first battle for them – the wall of Jericho
- In this Battle, they are shown how to totally rely on God- that their work was not to take up arms but to lift their voices in Praise to God, and God would and did win the battle for them
- I think in life, we forget how mighty our God is- How His thinking is not our way of thinking
- We forget to ask Him to just fight for us and instead we try to do it on our own-we formulate big and mighty ways- We think of redemption from addiction as impossible (Impossible in our own eyes
The Bible tells us that when God fought for them – Fear fell among the people of the land – they melted with fear – And catch this: Seeing how the “Israelites” destroyed the city of Jericho ( Joshua 2:10)
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- When God fights for you; His victory becomes you victory –
- What battles are you facing today, Sickness, money, marriage, kids, addiction, hopelessness
- Ask God to fight for you! – Prayer meeting
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- I think that we sometime look with our physical eyes and only assume that a certain things can only happen to certain group of people, certain class, certain background, but am here to remind you- when God fights for you- he breaks through our human perceptions
- And there might be some truth in that – That GREAT things do happen to the Children of God
- Jeremiah 33:3 (Ampc) – Call to Me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things, fenced in and hidden, which you do not know (do not distinguish and recognize, have knowledge of and understand).
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- But we have to be careful that this Victory, even if it’s ours – we have to make sure that it’s through the power and direction of God
- We have no power, wisdom, or even the ability to do anything apart from Him
- And this is what we see today, the Israelites made a mistake and made decision without seeking God – They made a decision apart from Him
- The people of Gibeon carried out a plan to deceive
- They took old sack clothes, torn wine skins, patched garment, and dry bread that were moldy
- You enemy the devil is smart, stop thinking that without God, you can overcome his wicked plans
- Vs 9: They came as servants – A good thing. There are things in your life that have come as good things, but they are not from God or of God
- Vs 14: “But they did not ask the advice from the Lord”
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- Joshua made peace with them!
- Remember Deuteronomy 7:2 (Nkjv)– When the Lord your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them
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- This evening I want to remind you of the dangers of making decisions apart from God
- Joshua thought that they were doing something good, only to be deceived into sin
- The Bible says that He knows tomorrow. So why are we not asking Him for direction and guidance regarding tomorrow? Stop walking in your own wisdom
- In Exodus 34:12 (Nlt) Be very careful never to make a treaty with the people who live in the land where you are going. If you do, you will follow their evil ways and be trapped
- God has already seen tomorrow – What is going to happen when the Israelites don’t destroy those that God commanded
- “If you make covenant with them, you will be following their evil ways and be trapped
- The problem comes in when we look with our own eyes, and we ignore what the Lord is asking of us
- We often don’t listen to God, when we find ourselves in a place or regret – Then we blame God
- Let us cling to God, His word that we may hear Him whisper in clouded market – Puyallup fair example
This is a story of Redemption
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- In God’s Kingdom it’s not how you start but how you finish
- The Bible is about many people who started out very badly, but our God redeemed them
- Rehab – The prostitute that saved the spies – She was one that ended up being part of the line of Jesus
- Samson – wasted power but at the last minutes killed the more people than in his lifetime
- The woman at the well
- Moses a murderer on the run
- Saul a villain – changed and becomes Gods greatest ally
- The prodigal son
- Myself – interesting going back to Kenya was different from 2007 when I left
- The same God that redeemed these people is the same God that is here today, saying, its doesn’t matter how you started, but what matters is how you finish
- The Bible tells us even though the Gibeonites came in as a lie, they stayed in with the Israelites and adopted the Israelites way of worship
- We see some of the great mentions in the Bible were Gibeonites:
- Gibeon become a priest city. The ark of the Lord stayed there for a period of time
- 1 Chronicles 21:29 (Nlt For the tabernacle of the Lord and the altar of the burnt offering, which Moses had made in the wilderness, were at that time at the high place in Gibeon
- 1 Chronicles 16:39 (Nlt Meanwhile, David stationed Zadok the priest and his fellow priests at the Tabernacle of the Lord at the place of worship in Gibeon, where they continued to minister before the Lord.
- One of David’s mighty warriors was a Gibeonite – 1 Chronicles 12:4 (Nkjv) -Ishmaiah the Gibeonite, a mighty man among the thirty,
- God appeared and spoke to Solomon at Gibeon – I King 3:4-5
- Gibeonites were among those who helped Nehemiah build the wall of Jericho – Nehemiah 3:7(Nkjv) -And next to them Melatiah the Gibeonite, Jadon the Meronothite, the men of Gibeon and Mizpah, repaired the residence[a] of the governor of the region [b]beyond the River.
- Nehemiah 7:25 (Nkjv) the sons of [a]Gibeon, ninety-five
- Prophets came from Gibeonites – Hananiah came from Gibeonite – Jeremiah 28:1(Nkjv)
- This evening I want to remind you that it’s not how you started but how you finish
- As I close:
- Have you acted on your own plans?
- Have you deceived others?
- Have you been deceived?
- Have you run away from God – Like the prodigal son, have you messed up so much this far that you feel like it’s too late?
- Are you in the will of God?
- In this story whether you identify as Gibeonite, Joshua or Israelites- the same is true- It’s no how you started but how you finish
- I want to pray for all of you who need to return to the counsel of God, under His protection and guidance – If that’s you; please stand up
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