Then they went to Mount Sinai, got the Ten Commandments, led by Moses. Then they went to an oasis, a place called Kadesh Barnea. And the Jews sent out, anybody know how many spies? Thank you, 12 spies, exactly. And the 12 spies were sent into the Promised Land. The Israelites had been gone for 400 years. They didn't know who was living in the Promised Land. The 12 spies went out and they came back with a report after being in the land for 40 days. The 12 spies came back and said, man, there are powerful groups of people in the land, but God has given us the land. All 12 of them said, let's go in by faith and take the land. Is that what happened? No, unfortunately not. Out of the 12, how many doubted God's ability to give them the victory? Anybody know? 10 of them, right? It's a familiar story. Kids, you probably know this story. That's one of the reasons why I want to talk about it. 10 said, hey, it's a great land, but there are giants in the land. There's no way we're going to win the victory. Let's not go in. See, God was testing them to see if they had the faith to take the land back to return. And they failed God's test. And as a result, they wandered in the desert for 40 Years, the next generation would be tested again when they entered the promised land. They crossed the Jordan River, not led by Moses. Moses had died, led by a man by the name of Joshua. Exactly. And of the 12 spies, there were two of them that said, hey, there are giants in the land, but it's great land. God has given it to us. Let's go in and take it. Do you remember the names of those two spies? Joshua and Caleb. Exactly. So Joshua, that spy that had the faith to believe in God. Would be the one that would take them into the promised land. But God had a plan for them. He met with Joshua and Joshua chapter one. And he said, Hey, Moses is dead, Joshua. You're the guy. I'll be with you wherever you tread, wherever you walk. I will give you the land. But you have to be. Remember what he said to Joshua? Strong and what? Courageous, exactly. What a great message for us as a church today. Are you strong in the Lord? Yeah, God has given us the victory in Christ, but every day there is a spiritual battle that's raging around us. You, my friends, here at Riverview Church, have to be strong and courageous. Yes, God is with you, but you have a part to do. You have a part to play. God didn't just defeat the enemies on his own. These Israelites had to do battle. There would be those that would give their lives. But God was with them with the promise that I'll never leave you. He said to Joshua, I'll never forsake you. Be strong and courageous. And what I want to talk about today is returning right. Joshua enters the promised land. And the first city he encounters is a city by the name of? Jericho, exactly. And that's the story I want to talk about. Turn your Bibles to Joshua, chapter 5. Do you have your Bibles? Joshua, chapter 5. Joshua was by Jericho. Now, Jericho was a well-fortified city. I've been to Jericho. Was it Israel? And for years, people mocked the story we're about to read. They said, oh, man, our archaeologists, they've never found a city by the name of Jericho until one day an archaeologist said, hey, there's a big mound over there. I wonder what's underneath it. And when they began to do their dig, their archaeological dig, they found what the Bible. Has told us about for years, the city of Jericho, they found the walls of Jericho. One thing that's amazing about what they found, though, was rather than the walls falling inward, like archaeologists have found time after time with walled cities, because attacking armies would push the walls inside on the people that were inside. But something unique about Jericho, and archaeologists can't seem to explain it, for some reason, the walls of Jericho fell outward. perfectly allowing what the Bible says happened, that the armies of Israel clamored over the walls that fell flat and defeated this well fortified city of Jericho. But before it happened, this is what God said to Joshua, Joshua chapter five, verse 13. When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked and behold, a man was standing with a sword drawn in his hand. So Joshua looks up and here's a guy with a sword ready to do battle. Joshua said to him, Are you for us or for our adversaries, our enemies? Hey, are you part of the armies of Israel or part of our enemies? And this man said, No, but I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come. It's interesting answer, isn't it? Joshua says, Are you for us or against us? Guy goes, No. Wait a minute. You got to explain that. What do you mean by that? See, the reality was this. God wasn't so much concerned about whether he was part of the armies of Israel or part of the adversaries. What he wanted to know is this, Joshua, I'm the commander of the army of the Lord. Are you on my side? It's not about me being on your side. Are you with me? I'm not part of your army, Joshua. You need to be part of mine. That's a great question for all of us today. Are you a person that is part of the body of Christ saying, Lord, I am part of your army? It's not a whether or not you're going to do everything that I desire, but my desire is to do everything that you've challenged me to do. And the first lesson I want to give you some lessons that I see in this return by Israel. The first lesson I see here in Joshua, chapter five, is this, don't miss those God intervention moments in your life. See, the person that was standing here with Joshua was God himself. In fact, most theologians believe this is a Christophany, an Old Testament appearance of Jesus Christ, that that person with the sword drawn was Jesus himself, the commander of the army of the Lord. The reason why they believe that, look at Joshua's response. When he heard that, he fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, What does my Lord say to his servant? And the commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua, Take off your sandals from your feet for the place where you're standing is holy. That verse sounds a lot like something that happened earlier to another great hero of the faith. Anybody know who that is? Moses, exactly. Moses at the burning bush. He sees a bush that's burning, but not being consumed by the fire. And as he's approaching, a voice speaks out of the bush and says, Moses, take off your sandals. The ground you're standing on is holy ground. See, Joshua was having an encounter in this moment with a living God, just like Moses did. And I want to tell you this, in your life, there will be times when God will intervene in your life. It may not be as blatantly as it is here. With Elijah, it was just a still, small voice. In the New Testament, it talks about the Holy Spirit convicting you of sin in your life. of things happening that, you know, God is intervening in your life today. I would ask your husbands today, are you open to God intervening in your life? Wives today. Every day, are you saying, God, I want to meet with you, I want you to change me and grow me. Kids today, young adults, singles. Same question. Or are you going about your day every day saying, God, I want you to intervene in my life. I believe there is a God who created everything we see around us. And by the way, I love these outdoor services for this reason. It reminds us of the beauty of God's creation. Think about the grass underneath your feet. Scientists, in all their wisdom, in all their knowledge, they cannot create one blade of grass, not one blade. And yet our kids in school are taught in public school that this all happened by some atheistic, undirected process. Look around you. The beauty of God's creation is so powerful. And this same God that created everything we see around us came as that Savior on the cross for you and for me. Are you willing to meet with him when he came to Riverview today? Did you say, hey, God, I want to meet with you today. or are you open to those God intervention moments in your life? Or you wanna say, God, I have a relationship with you. I want you to change me to be more like Christ. And in this pandemic, what has God been teaching you? As we have been forcibly slowed down, what has God been teaching you in your life? Have you looked for those lessons? As you see all the unrest around us, in our nation, racial tension, Are you saying yourself as I have been convicted of more and more during this time? Jesus, you are the answer for our country today rather than a message of revenge and hatred and getting back and getting even. Are we more convinced of God? Your message is this. Love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute yourself, persecute you. Never avenge yourselves. Never take matters into your own hands. Like Romans 12 says, never repay evil for evil. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with what? With good. Riverview Church, this is a time more than any other where we need to stand up and say, God, we believe in your wisdom. We believe in your power. Riverview Church, we need to be a light. When people walk on our campus, they need to sense more than ever the love of Jesus Christ from all of you, the reality that Jesus Christ has truly changed your life. And when someone wrongs you, there's not a desire to get even and get back, but there's a desire to love and forgive, just like Jesus when he hung on the cross, the only person on earth who never did anything wrong, and yet said, Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. More than ever, Riverview Church, we need to be a community that's radically different from the world. I hope you see around you brothers and sisters in Christ that have been called to change the world with a radical cross cultural countercultural message that breaks down barriers and is so against what our flesh wants to do. Our flesh wants to get even and get back and hate and revenge. But you've had those God intervention moments in your life. And you say, you know what, God, I believe in your plan. And I love that about Joshua beyond the fact that we need to be open to God's intervention. The second thing is this. Grow in your confidence in God's plan. See, Joshua didn't argue with the Lord. He just said, Lord, what do you have for your servant? Even though Joshua was the leader of the nation of Israel, God, what do you have for your servant today? Wasn't any argument, wasn't any debate, because God's plan would be a challenge, as you know. Jericho was a well-fortified city, and if you were a general that day, you might have said, hey, I got a plan. We'll do a diversionary attack to Jericho from the north, but then we'll really hit him from the south and knock down those walls somehow. Yeah, there'll be a lot of casualties, but that's probably what a general might come up with. But here's the plan of God to defeat Jericho. The plan of God was this. Jericho is a well fortified city. Joshua, here's your strategy. You're going to walk around the city one time. On the first day, then go back to camp. You're going to do that on the second day, on the third day, on the fourth day, on the fifth day, on the sixth day, on the seventh day, God said, change of plans. And Joshua's probably thinking, yeah, yeah, yeah, change of plans, change of plans, something different, God, rather than walking around the city. God said this, and it sounded, it must have sounded so foolish to Joshua. Joshua, you're not going to walk around the city one time, two times, three times, four times, five times, six times. You will walk around the city seven times. And on the 7th, March, your trumpet players are going to blow their trumpets. Your people are going to give a great shout. And those powerful walls over there. They're going to fall down. Now you must imagine how difficult that must have been for Joshua to take that message to his army. This is how we're going to defeat that well-fortified city. This is God's plan. But the amazing thing is, Joshua did it. And he stood up in front of his army and he gave that plan, which sounds so foolish to the world. I'm sure they were being mocked as they walked around the city one time that first day. And then the second time, the armies of Jericho following them all around the city, ready for an attack. But it doesn't happen the first six days. And on the seventh, they march around seven times. How foolish, how ridiculous. During this pandemic, I had one of my neighbors say to me, we were getting into a discussion about faith and the Lord. He said this to me, said, Mel, do you really believe that a blood sacrifice 2000 years ago has any impact on our lives today and I said absolutely with all my heart I know it sounds foolish to you but this is God's I have great confidence in God's plan. And I talked to him about, you know, justice and the love of God, yet the justice of God. And I know it sounds foolish to you, but this is God's plan. It doesn't matter what we think. It doesn't matter what our opinion is. What sets Jesus apart from the rest of history is the fact that he died and rose again, which gave his plan amazing authority. Riverview Church, we have the answer today for our world. Do you believe it with all your heart? Do you hold your head high? Not ashamed of a message that says, love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you. It doesn't matter how many times you've been wronged. Seventy times seven, Jesus told Peter. Don't be counting. That's the message of the cross, and it's worth it, my friends. Today, like Joshua, do you have an amazing confidence to follow God's plan? See, it wasn't really about Jesus conquering the promised land. It was about Jesus conquering the hearts of the Israelites. Do you really believe it today? Do you hold your head high as a believer in Jesus Christ? Turning back to Joshua chapter six, chapter five, I'm sorry, says at the end here, Joshua says, when he says, take off your sandals, the feet, the ground you're standing on is holy ground. He was meeting with God. And Joshua knew the right response and the plan was given. But here's the amazing thing. When you read that story, you have to ask yourself the question. God promised them victory. But the Israelites still had to go in and fight. It was still the work of God, but they had a part to do. And theologically, you probably all know this. Does God need us at all? Does God need us to do his work? No. God could do his work all by himself. But for a number of reasons, he's called you to be a part of it, just like he told the Israelites, the walls will fall down. You have to go in and conquer the city. You have to have the faith to believe it. See, here's the third lesson. Rejoice in the part you have in God's work. God's called you to be a part of it, to experience the joy of making a difference for God. During this lockdown pandemic, the front door of my house, the handle on the lock broke, and it had been falling off. It was an old lock, and I was like, finally, I tried to fix it a few times. Finally, I ordered a new lock from Amazon. came and I took off the old lock, the old handle, and I was putting on the new one. My little daughter, 11-year-old daughter, Capri, came and was watching. Dad, what are you doing? I said, I'm putting on this new lock. The old one's broken. Yeah, Dad, that's a good idea. And I said, hey, Capri, could you pick up that screw for me? Because I need that for the lock. Yeah, could you get that screwdriver over there? She said, oh, yeah. And she started getting involved in the work. Now, I didn't really need her to do any of that. But because she was there and she saw what was going on, she had these little jobs to do. And eventually, the lock and the door was fixed. And when I went to tell my wife about it, and my daughter was with me, what do you think she said to my wife? My little 11-year-old daughter said, we fixed the lock, Mom. We did it. She was part of the process. She had joy in the process of helping her dad. All of us should have that same attitude. Riverview Church, we are the body of Christ around you, our brothers and sisters in this eternal family. You'll be together with them forever and ever. And as we are facing many challenges in our world today, God wants you involved in the work. Don't minimize the gifts and abilities God has given you. None of us can do it alone. But you have the joy of experiencing the fact that what you do for God will impact all of eternity. We are here for a reason. to make a difference in the lives of people who are groping through their lives, wondering, what is my life all about? And the message is this, you are created by a God who loved you all the way to the cross. And if you place your faith and trust in Him, yes, I know in your eyes it's a foolish message, but it's backed up by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. If you believe it, you're set free. You're forgiven. That is the message the world needs to hear. Do you own that message? Do you own the part God has given you in that message? Do your part in the work God has given us to do. And as you do that, have a heart that's focused on God, regardless of the opinion of the world. Joshua probably realized more than anyone how foolish this plan Sounded to march around the city seven times and blow the trumpets and those walls would fall down It took a step of faith to convey that plan. It took a step of faith by the Israelites to receive that plan But they believed it and they saw God do an amazing miracle That's our challenge today church to believe the plan of God to believe the role that you have. You are a light wherever you are at. You're a light where you're at. Nothing else compares to what God has given you to do. When I was 12 years old, I got my first job. My first job was to work for the father of a friend of mine. He said to me one day, I don't know why. Why don't you why aren't you doing this for your dad? He said, Hey, my dad's looking for someone to do some work around the yard. Can you do it? I said, Well, how much will I get paid? Two dollars an hour. I said, I'm in. Two bucks an hour, I'm in. I wasn't hurting anything. As a 12-year-old kid, that was amazing. When I got there, this kid had a massive property. His dad had a massive property. And the job that I had, I didn't know until I got there. I just showed up on Saturday morning, and I would do this for the next few Saturdays, for like seven or eight Saturdays in the fall. His job for me was to take this mound of horse manure, put it into a barrel and spread it, and spread it around his garden, massive garden. He had a big property. Threw out all of his bushes. I would take this stuff, wheel it around, and throw it all around his yard, his bushes, his garden for $2 an hour. The job stunk in more ways than one, amen? It stunk. But I found, finally, the money to buy what I wanted. But here's what happened to me. I love playing basketball, and I love Converse sneakers. And when my parents bought them for me, they're like $24 back then. Now they're who knows how much. Basketball shoes are over $100 each when you buy them. Back then, those Converse were $24. And when I went to the store to buy them, I said to myself, these Converse sneakers are worth 12 hours of me spreading horse manure. They're not worth it. I'm not buying those anymore. And instead of buying the $24 Converse, which are the best. If you know Converse sneakers, they had the best traction on wood floors. But they were too expensive. They weren't worth 12 hours of my horse manure spreading. So I bought these cheap little high tops that look just like Converse, but they were called Goody Good Sports. You can imagine the abuse I took from my friends for wearing good sports. I told them, Converse aren't worth it. It's not worth my 12 hours. See, when you come to faith in Christ and you really understand what Jesus has done for you, everything else in this world is not worth it anymore. When you understand who Jesus is and the implications for your eternity and that our life is but a breath, then it's over. It's gone. For us to spend our lives following any other pursuit than the job God has given to us is a total waste of time. It's not worth it. It's not worth it, regardless of what the world says. Young people today, if you're in high school, junior high, hold your head high in school as a Christian. Somebody says to you, you believe in a guy that died 2000 years ago and that impacts your life today. Hold your head high and say, yes, absolutely. I can't believe you don't. Say it with boldness. I want to tell you today, Jesus is the answer for the world today. Above him there is no other. Jesus is the answer. That's why you're here today. You've dedicated your life to Jesus Christ. You know that no one else in history comes close to the person that he was and is today. Have great confidence in the plan of God. Know you have a part in his work and be focused on what God has for you to do, regardless of the opinion of the world. Here's a sad verse as I close today. The walls of Jericho fell. The Israelites clamored over the walls. They won a great victory. The next verse in the book of Joshua, Joshua seven, chapter seven, verse one says this, but the people of Israel broke faith in regard to the devoted things. They disobeyed God. When they went to the next city, they lost resoundedly because they disobeyed God. They broke faith with God. And for us today, you're going to experience some victories as God intervenes in your life, as you begin to realize more and more what God has called you to do. But there will be those temptations to kind of put your walk with Christ on autopilot. Say, man, I've made it. I've had some victories in my life. I'm putting my walk with Christ on autopilot. Here's the challenge. Don't become complacent in your walk with God after the victories God gives you. Keep pushing forward. Keep doing what God has called you to do. Keep being that light for Christ that Jesus has called you to be. Don't be complacent. I'm reminded, I think about this girl often, a girl by the name of Lindsay Jacobellis. She was in the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. And still is today, my understanding is, the world leader in medals of all different events in snowboarding. But this would have been her first gold medal. She's coming down the hill at Turin. She's ahead of the pack by quite a bit. And as she's coming down this downhill snowboard course that they had laid out, she comes over the last hill, and she knows she's in first place. And as she comes over the hill, she does a little kick move and grabs her snowboard, but doesn't bring it back down in time and falls right before the finish line. And another girl from another country passes her at the finish line to get the gold, and she won. The silver got up in time to win the silver. I've read articles about how that moment has haunted her for the rest of her life. She was that close to the gold and became complacent at the very end. And I know Satan would love for that to happen in our lives, for us to walk our walk on autopilot, to take our walk for God, with God for granted. But we as a church need to rise up and say more than ever, what the church has, this treasure that God has given us, is what the world needs today, the amazing message of Jesus Christ. And he's entrusted to you, my friends, to take it wherever you're at and to hold your head high with joy and say, yes, I'm a believer in Christ. Yes, I believe that Jesus is the answer for the world today. And his message of love and forgiveness is exactly what we need to share with people all around us. We turn right, Riverview Church. We're back here together. Let's come back together, fired up to finish what God has called us to do, to be that light for him wherever he has you. Amen, church? Amen. Let's pray together. There's your heads about today. I don't know where you're at spiritually in your walk with God, but God knows. Our God's amazing all around us, you can see his handiworks, his fingerprints are all around us, and he says in his word that he knows the number of hairs on your head. He knows the days you will live before you live them. He knows all about you. And maybe today, as we return and we reopen here at Riverview Church, this would be the day that you would say, God, I desire to follow you with all my heart. I've been drifting away from you. I'm coming back. I believe you are the answer not only for the world today, but for me today. And I put my faith and trust in you. Lord Jesus, we love you. Thank you for your goodness to us. Thank you for all the blessings you've showered upon us each and every day. You're so good to us. Can't wait till we see you face to face in all your glory and all your power. We love you, Jesus. And we pray this in your matchless name and all God's people said, Amen. Let's all stand together and sing this song. Oh, there's nothing better than you. There's nothing There's nothing better than You, Lord. There's nothing, nothing is better than You. Oh, there's nothing better than You. There's nothing better than You, Lord. There's nothing, nothing is better than You. Amen. We are reopened. Amen, church. Thank you so much for coming out. So good to have you here. We'll see you here next week. Same time, same place. Please live this week all for him. Amen. God bless you. Have a great week. Greet one another. Wave to one another. Don't touch one another. Don't do that. Put your masks on.