Joshua 23: 2-3, 8-11 (New Revised Standard Version)
Joshua summoned all Israel, their elders and heads, their judges and officers, and said to them, “I am not old and well advanced in years; and you have seen all that the Lord your God has done to all these nations for your sake, for it is the Lord your God who has fought for you.
But hold fast to the Lord your God, as you have done to this day. For the Lord has driven out before you great and strong nations; and as for you, no one has been able to withstand you to this day. One of you puts to flight a thousand, since it is the Lord your God who fights for you, as he promised you. Be very careful, therefore, to love the Lord your God.
This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Let us pray.
I’ve snuck a sermon series on ya’ll. In my mind, I’ve put together a “Walking in Your Anointing” series. I just felt that we need that because when you walk in your anointing, then you can trust that circumstances will not get us down. It’s important to be reminded of that from time to time because it so easy for us to lose our focus on what’s most important in life and that’s our relationships. Our relationship with God and others shapes and molds who we are.
Have you ever heard the expressions: “Don’t get mad, get even?” “Revenge is dish best served cold.” Or if you want to quote William Congreve and say “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.”
When walls go up, that normally signifies a deal breaker, and that’s usually when the battle begins. But the battle is not ours to fight.
I’ve talked about the fact that there is meaning in the detours of life and that you should not ever let anything or anyone one stop you from receiving God’s blessing and anointing in your life. But more importantly we have to remember that the battles of life are not ours to fight. It just not. When we go through the trials of life we have to be patient to receive the blessings that God has something waiting for us. This is not a new message, but it is one that needs to be preached anyway because as the years roll by and God blesses you to see them, life gets harder and we need to continually encourage each other and trust in God.
We need to be reminded of that and I as I read the Bible for my personal time with God, I found myself reading that Book of Joshua. And it is a book of battles and a book of promise. And the promises are good and bad. If you serve the Lord and obey His commands then you will be blessed, but God knew that it wasn’t always going to be the case with them and told them what was going to happen in advance and they still didn’t listen.
God said that he’d deliver if the Israelites held up their end of the bargain.
At this time, Moses has been buried and Joshua was now the leader of this massive group of people.
But on that first battle at Jericho, the Lord delivered and it was beginning of the victorious battles that the Lord handed over to the children of Israel. I really enjoyed reading the battle of Jericho. But the song about Joshua was a little embellished in my opinion. Joshua didn’t fight the battle of Jericho. God did. You may talk about your Kings of Gideon. You may talk about your men of Saul. But there’s none like your Mighty God at the battle of Jericho.
The walls came tumbling down after Joshua told the priest and the assembly to blow the horn and make a mighty noise after they marched around the wall of Jericho silently six days earlier when Joshua said “Shout! God has given you the city and everything in it! So offer it up to God!” The walls came down and only Rehab and her family was spared.
On that day the Lord gave the Israelites victory over the Amorites. Joshua spoke “Sun stand still at Gibeon and Moon in the valley of Aijalon” the sun stood still, and the moon stopped and did not set for a day. There has been no day like that before or since.
Have you ever had a Jericho moment in your life where God blasted through some mighty walls? If you haven’t then keep on living. If you believe in God then watch Him at work in your life! Cause we all need to remember that the battle is not yours! Let God be the wall breaker! Because he is a true wall breaker! Amen! I’m a living witness to this! And I love testifying about how God shows out in my life. That’s something that I cannot be quiet about because God is mighty and God is awesome. Ya’ll don’t hear me this morning because if it had not been for the Lord… ya’ll gone make get happy this morning because God the power of God is mind blowing…
I remember years ago when I worked as a chemist. It was time for me to go to licensed to preach school. I had put in my leave form three months in advance. And three days before I was supposed to leave the lab director told me that I couldn’t go. Yeah, that’s what they do. Ya’ll know what I’m talking about. I was so mad that if you broke an egg on my head you would’ve seen it fry on me. I was boiling mad, and that night… I wrote a letter of resignation. And I handed it to him and gave him a two week notice. I was not going to let this opportunity pass me by. I just couldn’t do it!!! I had waited too long to get to the point to where I was ready to become licensed. I started to take matters in my own hands, but something told me to pray. I keep on working and just ignored the feeling that I had and I just couldn’t function. I went into the bathroom and began to recite “I lift my eyes to the hills- from where will my help come from? My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth. He will not let my foot be moved; he who keeps me will not slumber. The Lord is my keeper. The Lord wills me from all evil; He will keep my life. The Lord will keep my going out and coming in from this time and forevermore.”
Yes, that went down. You have to speak the words in your life. You have to speak the word in the lives of our children. We have to speak the word in the circumstances of our lives because things will not change or get better if we don’t.
I got myself together and I went back to work ready to not be on the job anymore. I calculated how many purses I had to sell on eBay to get me through the next couple of months and I didn’t worry about it anymore.
That night… when that man read that letter, because my supervisor ran and called him in the middle of the night out of his sleep and he said: “Well we couldn’t let you go because you didn’t find anyone to work in your place.”
I told him that it wasn’t my job to find someone to take my place while I was gone because I put in the time.
He said that he would see what he could do. He didn’t want to lose one of the best workers that he had. Then he said plus I don’t have the time to train anyone else to do what you do because you’ve been here for too long.
So know, when you put the Lord in it, be prepared for a win fall! God doesn’t half step… we do, and it’s time for us to quit playing with God and do what’s right.
Ms. Anita did a children sermon that inspired me to do two sermons. The one that I did the last Sunday I preached and this one.
In order to always win the battle in life all we have to do is two things and she told the children what they needed to do. She already gave them what they needed for their arsenals to defeat the enemy. But now I gotta tell it to the grown folk because I can’t assume that you were really listening or that you read your Bible. Like Solomon said in Ecclesiastes there is nothing new going on under the sun.
So if Christ tells us to love God and love others then that’s what we need to do because it’s a matter of life and death. I don’t know about you, but I’m choosing life! The question is what are you planning to choose? Well I’m praying that life is your answer, and if it’s not then we need to lay have Mr. Vincent, Ms. Campbell, and Mrs. Lee put hands on you and pray for you. We need to anoint you and pray that sprit off of you because this is only temporary and what we need to stay focused on is where we’re going once we leave here. Oh, ya’ll don’t hear me this morning because I’m crunk today because I know that God is a true wall breaker. I know that God makes a way out of no way. I know God shows out. If you call on him he’ll be there! He wants to be there… he's there even when you don’t call him because God has it like that! I know God is the same God yesterday, today, and tomorrow. But do you know?
Keep living… and you’ll see that God is all powerful and able. I don’t know what’s going on in your life, but if you having a Jericho moment, and then you need to shout! You need to shout: “God has delivered this situation over to me and I got victory in Jesus Christ!” Watch the walls come tumbling down! Watch the doors being opened! Watch people heart’s melt with fear like the Ammorites because you are walking with the anointing God has for you! Sit back and relax and just let God work! The battles is not yours! So why make it be?
If you believe the affirmation of faith that we recite every Sunday then you need to understand that the battle is not yours! Ask God to prove himself to you because he wants to. But the question is will you let him? Amen! Amen! Amen!
