Wake Up Call

Sunday Morning September 16, 2001 Bel Aire Baptist Church, Hobbs, New Mexico

WAKE UP CALL

Joshua 7:1-13

Introduction:

1. We live in a great country of technology, government structure, wealth, military defense, military intelligence service, etc… Unfortunately, our country has learned this week that sometimes all of our power is not enough. Tuesday morning as I sat watching my television, I was stunned. You know we see things like this happening in other countries all the time, but it never has had much affect on me. But for me, all I could do Tuesday was sit with tears in my eyes and pray. Although I am sure you know this, I want to share with you the chronological order of events of Tuesday morning. Mike Small gave me this information. He took this off the Internet from CNN.

2. 8:45 a.m.: A large plane, possibly a hijacked airliner, crashes into one of the World Trade Center towers, tearing a gaping hole in the building and setting it afire.

9:03 a.m.: A second plane, apparently a passenger jet, crashes into the second World Trade Center tower and explodes. Both buildings are burning.

9:17 a.m.: The FAA shuts down all New York City area airports.

9:21 a.m.: New York city Port Authority orders all bridges and tunnels in the New York City area closed.

9:30 a.m.: Bush, speaking in Florida, says the country has suffered an “apparent terrorist attack.”

9:40 a.m.: The FAA halts all flight operations at U.S. airports, the first time in U.S. history that air traffic nationwide has been halted.

9:43 a.m.: An aircraft crashes into the Pentagon, sending up a huge plume of smoke. Evacuation begins immediately.

9:45 a.m.: The White House evacuates.

9:57 a.m.: Bush departs from Florida.

10:05 a.m.: The south tower of the World Trade Center collapses, plummeting into the streets below. A massive cloud of dust and debris forms and slowly drifts away from the building.

10:08 a.m.: Secret Service agents armed with automatic rifles are deployed into Lafayette Park across from the White House.

10:10 a.m.: United Airlines Flight 93 crashes in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, southeast of Pittsburgh.

3. I am going to stop here, but as we all know there were many more things that occurred Tuesday. I never imagined something like this would ever happen on U.S. soil, but it has. It is a time of sorrow and mourning, but I also believe it is a “wake up call” for a nation that once was a godly nation. Our nation, as a whole, has become complacent concerning the things of God. Sin is no longer a “big deal” to most people. We have rationalized and questioned sin so long that our children can’t even really distinguish what is sin and what is not. Our churches have become places of argument and politics instead of places of prayer and worship. Our leaders in our churches seek power and authority instead of humbleness and servitude to God. Our nation has become so powerful and smart that we decided to put God on the “back burner”. Without God, this is just a glimpse of what could happen. Let me assure you that I am not glad that this has happened, but we need to realize the spiritual aspect of what has happened and that we better turn back to God.

4. Many times in the Old Testament, the nation of Israel experienced attacks and great losses of life by the hand of their enemies. I want to share with you one of those times and what the Israelites and we today can learn from it.

5. Turn with me to Joshua 7:1-13.

I. Pride

Proverbs 16:18

“Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.”

A. Powers

1. Israel had just won the battle of Jericho in a mighty way.

2. God led His people, they followed, and they were victorious.

3. The nation of Israel was extremely powerful and they became very prideful.

a) They were taking the credit for this victory.

b) They had forgot where the power had come from.

B. Prestige

1. The leader of Israel, Joshua, was becoming well known.

Joshua 6:27

“So the LORD was with Joshua, and his fame spread throughout the land.”

2. Joshua is now becoming pretty confident in himself and we see in verse 2 that Joshua is sending out spies.

a) Did God tell him to do that? No!

b) Who made that decision? Joshua.

3. The leader of Israel was extremely prestigious and was becoming prideful.

a) Joshua was taking credit.

b) Joshua had forgot where the prestige belonged.

II. Pain

A. Preparation

1. We see the makings of a bad situation.

2. The devil was preparing the way of destruction for the Israelites.

a) One of the Israelites, Achan, took some treasures from Jericho although God told them to destroy everything and not take anything from Jericho.