Audacious Faith

AUDACIOUS FAITH

Josh. 10:5-13

INTRODUCTION

A. HUMOR: THE GREAT PHYSICIAN

1. A doctor died and went to heaven, where he found a long line at St. Peter’s gate. As was his custom, the doctor rushed to the front, but St. Peter told him to wait in line like everyone else. Muttering and looking at his watch, the doctor stood at the end of the line.

2. Moments later a white-haired man wearing a white coat and carrying a stethoscope and medical bag rushed up to the front of the line, waved to St. Peter, and was immediately admitted through the Pearly Gates.

3. "Hey!" the doctor shouted. "How come you let him through?" "Oh," said St. Peter, "that was God. Sometimes he likes to play doctor." AREN’T YOU GLAD HE DOES!?

B. TEXT

9:14 The Israelites sampled their provisions [old wine-skins, moldy bread, worn-out clothes] but did not inquire of the Lord. 15 Then Joshua made a treaty of peace with [Gibeah] to let them live, and the leaders of the assembly ratified it by oath. 10:5 Then the five kings of the Amorites—the kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish and Eglon—joined forces....against Gibeon and attacked it. 9 After an all-night march from Gilgal, Joshua took them by surprise. 10 The Lord threw them into confusion before Israel, so Joshua and the Israelites defeated them completely at Gibeon. Israel pursued them along the road going up to Beth Horon and cut them down all the way to Azekah and Makkedah. 11 As they fled before Israel on the road down from Beth Horon to Azekah, the Lord hurled large hailstones down on them, and more of them died from the hail than were killed by the swords of the Israelites. 12 Joshua said to the Lord in the presence of Israel: “Sun, stand still over Gibeon, and you, moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.” 13 So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the nation avenged itself on its enemies

C. THESIS

1. Today we’re looking at audacious faith. God challenges us to enlarge our concepts about what is possible with God. If we follow his lead we’ll believe God for bigger things!

2. Momentum was developing with Israel taking the land. 5 kings banded together to fight against Gibeah because they had entered a covenant with the Jews. God used this incident to allow Joshua to demonstrate “Audacious Faith.”

I. WHEN ISRAEL MESSED-UP

A. TRUSTING TO OUR REASON, ALONE

1. The first thing that Israel did was that they depended on their own intelligence for making decisions and didn’t inquire of the Lord. Millions of people take the wrong paths in life because they don’t seek God’s direction first.

2. “Trust in the Lord with all your hearts and lean not upon your own understanding! In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths” Prv. 3:5 NKJV. We don’t abandon our reason; we submit our intelligence to the greater intelligence of God!

3. Now what Gibeah did was really a smart move! They knew they couldn’t defeat Israel, so they made up their minds to make a treaty with them. They were actually following Jesus’ advice; “A king...about to go to war against another king [but can’t win, should]...send a delegation...and ask for terms of peace” Lk. 14:31-32. Like Gibeah, we are all under judgment. Have YOU made peace with God through His Son Jesus?

B. OUR MISTAKES & GOD’S GRACE

1. After Israel found out that Gibeah was one of the evil nations God had commanded them to destroy, the Israel leaders probably said, “Oh, no! We made a mistake! We blew it!” But we serve an AWESOME GOD who’s able to take our messes and turn them into miracles! God’s big enough that our mess ups don’t throw God’s plans for us off the rails!

2. God used their mistake to bring 5 nations together (outside of their walled cities) so Israel could defeat all 5 in one battle! God turned their mistakes into marvels!

3. Some of you have made mistakes; you kick yourself over the mistake. But we don’t serve a Karma-God who says, “You got yourself into this, so you have to live with it!” No, we serve a Grace-God, who says, “I’m going to take your mistake and make it into a multiplication!”

4. There’s the promise and the payoff. In between is the process. Don’t give up during the process. The enemy wants you to quit before your payoff. You may have a crazy 5-fold attack on you, but you also have a 5-fold powerful God who’s got your back and is going to power-slam your problem!

II. FOUR MIRACLES OF THIS BATTLE

A. SUPERNATURAL ENDURANCE

1. The men of Israel had been up a full 12-hour day when they were mustered to march all night (another 12 hours) the 27 miles to Gibeah. Immediately on arriving, without sleeping or eating, they entered a battle that lasted at least the next 24 hours, then they had to set up camp, cook their dinners, etc.