From His Heart

Speaker 1

Who is Jesus to you? How you answer that question will go a long way in assuring you victory in this life and the next. Here's Pastor Jeff Shreve.

Speaker 2

We can claim and proclaim and declare the word of God over our lives and over our businesses and over our families and over our children.

And God's word makes a difference because God's word is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword.

As we declare and rehearse what God's word says, then we live by it and we say, yes Lord.

And we remember that he is more than wonderful. He's more than wonderful. That's what Jesus is to me.

Speaker 1

With thanksgiving coming later this week, today's lesson is a good one to hear and apply to our hearts because if we do what it says, we'll be more thankful than we could have ever imagined. You see, there are some precise principles for Christians to heed if we want to have a life of spiritual victory and thanksgiving. And when God's children don't observe these principles, it's no wonder that so many believers experience the agony of defeat.

This is from his heart with Pastor Jeff Shreve. Thank you for joining us today for part two of this powerful and timely message entitled "Do You Want to Walk in Victory?" It's one of 10 in the series "Rising to the A: A Study of the Book of Joshua."

As we'll all learn, or some will relearn, this today, if we believe the truth of who God is, seek him in prayer, and heed his word, we can experience true victory. And who wouldn't want to do that? Open your Bible to Joshua, chapter seven, and let's see how we can learn, live, and walk the victory walk.

Speaker 2

So I want to share with you today three principles. They're very basic, but they're very essential if you're going to walk in victory. If I'm going to walk in victory, essential number one, Principle number one, you must believe the truth concerning God's character. Let's see these three principles as they work out because we're going to see them in Joshua's defeat and then we see them in Joshua's victory.

So Joshua, chapter 7, verse 2. Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to AI, which is near Beth Aven, east of Bethel, and said to them, "Go up and spy out the land." So the men went up and spied out AI and they returned to Joshua and said to him, "Ah, don't let all the people go up. Only about 2 or 3,000 need to go up to AI; do not make all the people toil up there, for they are few." So about 3,000 men from the people went up there, but they fled from the men of AI. And the men of AI struck down about 36 of their men and pursued them from the gate as far as Shebaram and struck them down on the descent. So the hearts of the people melted and became as water. Not good.

Verse 6. Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell on the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord until the evening, both he and the elders of Israel. And they put dust on their heads. And Joshua said this to the Lord. Verse 7. "Alas, O Lord God, why did you ever bring this people over the Jordan? Only to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us? Or if only we'd been willing to dwell beyond the Jordan. Oh Lord, what can I say? Since Israel has turned their back before their enemies. For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it. And they will surround us and cut off our name from the earth. And what will you do for your great name?" Joshua is in meltdown mode. He's experiencing the agony of defeat. He is very afraid that this is gonna be curtains for God's people.

So Joshua says, "We should never have crossed the Jordan, Lord. We should have just stayed. Been content to stay in Moab. And now we've crossed the Jordan. And now we're dead meat. And why did you bring us here? To destroy us?" Joshua forgot the character of God. Now, he knew it and he believed it, but he forgot it at that moment. Remember this about God. God is always good. He is always loving. He is always perfect. He is always faithful. He is always true.

Now, what had God told Joshua? "Hey, every place where the sole of your foot treads, that's the land that I've given to you." And see, Joshua knew that in Joshua chapter one. And it didn't make sense how they got beat by AI. And here's the thing. So Joshua doesn't understand. And here's the thing. You and I are going to run into things in our lives that we don't understand. Circumstances that come up, we don't understand. When you don't understand, remember this: the problem is never with God. The problem is never with God. And Joshua's kind of blaming God here. "God, did you bring us here to destroy us? What's the deal?" And God has to tell him, "Get up. Why have you fallen on your face?"

Here's the problem. Israel has sinned—Israel, namely one man from Israel, a man named Achan. As we talked about, Achan has sinned. Joshua didn't know that. And God says, "The problem is not with me, Joshua; the problem is with you. You and your people. Israel has sinned." So that's the first thing: you believe the truth concerning God's character.

Second principle for victory: you pray before you proceed. That's a simple thing, isn't it? Now, the defeat at AI. One of the things we see in the defeat at AI, reading through the lines, is they didn't pray; they just went for it. Well, let's talk about prayerlessness. What does that reveal? Number one, prayerlessness reveals a pride problem. Hey, Joshua and the guys, they knew they were desperate fighting Jericho. There's no way without God's help can we ever take Jericho. But now they face AI. "We can whip AI. AI is nothing. Lord, you don't need to worry yourself about AI. We'll take care of AI." They found out very quickly they can't beat anyone without God.

But a prayerless person is just revealing an issue and a problem with pride. Secondly, prayerlessness always gets us into trouble. Always. Why? Because we proceed and we don't pray. So Joshua 7, they get into major trouble with AI. They lose at AI. The hearts of the people melted because they had defeat in the promised land. That wasn't supposed to happen. And they're wondering now about God's promises. They're wondering if God sent us here to destroy us. They're wondering about the character of God.

But then in Joshua chapter nine, they have a similar kind of issue in that they don't pray. They don't lose a battle, but they get deceived because they don't pray. Look what it says in verse 3. It says in Joshua 9:3, "When the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and AI, they also acted craftily and sent out as envoys and took worn out sacks on their donkeys and wineskins, worn out and torn and mended, and worn out and patched sandals on their feet and worn out clothes on themselves. And all the bread of their provision was dry and had become crumbled."

And they went to Joshua, to the camp at Gilgal. And now Gibeon was about 20, 25 miles from Gilgal where they camped. And so they came. They were next. Gibeon was next on the hit list. Joshua had defeated Jericho. He had defeated, in Joshua chapter eight, AI. Now he's going to Gibeon. That's next on the hit list. But these Gibeonites said, "Hey, we don't want to be next on the hit list. So we need to deceive Joshua and Israel into making a covenant with us." So that's why they put all these old clothes on and old food, and they got it all.

And in verse six, it says, "And they went to Joshua, to the camp at Gilgal, and said to him, and to the men of Israel, 'We have come from a far country. Now, therefore, make a covenant with us.'" And the men of Israel said to the Hivites, "Perhaps you are living within our land. How then shall we make a covenant with you?" But they said to Joshua, "We are your servants." Then Joshua said to them, "Who are you and where do you come from?" And they said to him, "Your servants have come from a very far country." They're just lying through their teeth. And Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant with them to let them live. And the elders of the congregation swore an oath to them.

And it came about at the end of three days, after they had made a covenant with them, that they heard they were neighbors and that they were living within their land. They got themselves in trouble because they made a covenant with the Gibeonites, who were next on the hit list. But they didn't know that they were Gibeonites because they got deceived because they didn't pray. First, you don't pray, you get yourself in trouble.

But now, prayerfulness, you go the other direction, and you're going to become a person of prayer. It comes with a promise. Comes with a wonderful promise where the Lord says, "Call to me and I will answer you, and I'll show you great and mighty things which you do not know." If you'll just call to me. Jeremiah 33:3. That's God's phone number. Call to me and I will answer you. He doesn't say he's gonna answer you on the first ring. That's where we lose it, you know, in prayer. "I've been calling on God. I hadn't heard from him. He hadn't picked up yet." Jesus said three words: ask, seek, and knock.

Remember, principles for victory. Number one, I am solid on who God is. And let me just say this about that. You're solid on who God is. Remember I told you God is not who you want him to be. He is who he is. But here's the thing about who he is: he's more than wonderful. So you believe the truth about God, what he says about himself and his Word. You pray before you proceed.

And thirdly, you hear and heed the word of the Lord. Now, Joshua had to deal with the sin in Joshua chapter seven because the Lord said, "I'm not going to do anything for you. I'm not going to be with you unless you get rid of this sin, the sin of Achan, where he stole those things that God had said, 'Those belong to me.'" He had stolen them. So Joshua did what the Lord said and he dealt with the sin of Achan. And then it says in Joshua chapter 8, "Now the Lord said to Joshua, 'Do not fear or be dismayed.'" Why did he say that? Because Joshua was dealing with fear. He says to him three times in Joshua chapter one, "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." He says that to Joshua because Joshua deals with that. Probably one of his Achilles heels. For him, that's the besetting sin.

And so the Lord tells him, "Hey, don't fear or be dismayed. Take all the people of war with you and arise. Go up to AI. See, I've given it to your hand—the king of AI, his people, his city, and his land. And you shall do to AI and its king just as you did to Jericho and its king. You shall take only its spoil and its cattle as plunder for yourselves. Set an ambush for the city behind it." This is, "I'm going to give you AI like I gave you Jericho." Here's the difference: you get to keep everything in AI. Everything in Jericho belonged to me. You couldn't keep any of it. Achan tried to keep some of it. He died for his sin. AI, God says, "Enjoy the spoils of war."

And Joshua did what the Lord said. Hey, if we're gonna walk in victory, we have to walk by faith. We walk by faith and not by sight. What is faith? Faith is simply doing what God says to do. That's faith. Faith is not some kind of warm feeling that you get. Faith is not some kind of hunch that you have. It's not goosebumps. That's not faith. It's not liver shivers; that's not faith. It's not a step into the darkness. It's a step onto the word of God. That's what faith is. And God says, "Do this," and you do it. And God says, "Hey, this is how you're gonna go up against Jericho." They did what God said. And what happened? Victory. Victory. Because when you do what God says, you experience victory.

The Bible says in 1 John, chapter 5, "Whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith. And who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the son of God?" Our faith is the victory that overcomes the world. And you don't feel your way to faith? See, some people say, "Well, I just don't feel." It doesn't matter what you feel. You just do what God says, whether you feel it or not.

I'll give you an example. One of the things that people struggle with a lot in life, in church, Christians struggle with this a lot: forgiving people who hurt you, forgiving people who hurt someone you love. That is almost harder. If somebody does something directly to me, that's one thing that I have to forgive. If they hurt my kids, then that's a whole different level of forgiveness. Because there's just this love that we have for our children where we just want to protect them. And so you have to be able to forgive. Jesus said, "If you don't forgive men when they transgress against you, your heavenly Father won't forgive you." And if God doesn't forgive me, I'm sunk because then I can't walk with him.

So a friend of mine had a situation where someone wronged him terribly, and he was talking to his pastor, and his pastor said to him, "Wade, you need to forgive that person." He said, "Oh, I don't feel that at all. I mean, I just have bad feelings toward this guy." And so I don't feel like forgiving him. He said, "You forgive him by faith." Now, the feelings may still be there, but you just choose to walk by faith and not by sight. You choose to walk by faith and not by feelings. Faith is simply doing what God says to do. And then faith is bolstered by declaring the word of God. Faith comes by hearing, Romans 10:17, and hearing by the word of God. You say, "I don't have much faith."

Speaker 1

Jeff.

Speaker 2

Well, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. The more that you intake of the word of God, the more that you can build up your faith, the more that you say, well, Lord, this is what you say, and I trust your character, and I trust who you are. And so I can take a step out on your word. You just say, Lord, I believe that you're good. I believe that you're perfect. I believe your word is true. I believe that if I trust you and take a step of faith, that you're not going to drop me in the grease. He who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who seek. Hey, we walk by faith and not by sight. Faith is doing what God says to do. And it's bolstered by declaring the word and then putting it into practice in your life.

This is so cool. So Joshua, chapter eight. They defeat AI. They do it God's way. They do it according to the word of the Lord, and they defeat AI. And then God has them do something really strange in terms of military conquest. This is what they do. They take a trip to a place called Shechem. It's about 30 miles from their camp. Shechem is this area in between two mountains. You have Mount Ebal on the east side and Mount Gerizim on the west side. Shechem is also called Sychar. That's where Jesus in John chapter four met the woman at the well. That same place Abraham in Genesis chapter 12 built an altar to the Lord at Shechem. Shechem is an important place.

Joshua comes up to Shechem, and this is what the Scripture says he did. Verse 30: Then Joshua built an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, in Mount Ebal, just as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the sons of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses. An altar of uncut stones on which no man had wielded an iron tool. And they offered burnt offerings on it to the Lord and sacrificed peace offerings. And he wrote there on the stones a copy of the law of Moses which he had written in the presence of the sons of Israel. And all Israel, with their elders and officials and their judges, were standing on both sides of the ark. Between the Levitical priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, the stranger, as well as the native. Half of them stood in front of Mount Gerizim, and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, just as Moses the servant of the Lord had given command at first to bless the people of Israel. Then afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse, according to all that is written in the book of the Law. There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded which Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel with the women and the little ones and the strangers who were living among them.

Deuteronomy, chapter 27 and chapter 28 talk about doing this. Moses said, when you get in the land, this is what you're supposed to do. You're supposed to come to this place, Shechem. You have Mount Ebal on your right side as they're staring at it, Mount Ebal on the right side, Mount Gerizim on the left side. You have the sons of Israel. You had 12 tribes. Six of the tribes are going to be in front of Mount Ebal. Six of the tribes are going to be in front of Mount Gerizim. Mount Ebal is the mount of curses. Mount Gerizim is the mount of blessings. And you're going to read what Moses wrote by the Lord, and you're going to call out the curses. And the people on this side, when you call out a curse, they say amen. And when you call out a blessing, the people on this side in front of Mount Gerizim, what do they do? They say, amen. Amen means let it be so.

This is an important time in the life of Israel. This area, Shechem and Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, are like right in the middle of the promised land. And God is having Joshua proclaim his word and his law, the law of curses and blessings over the land. And they did that with all the people there. And they said, amen, let it be so. We want the word of God on our lives. We want the word of God on this land. We want to walk in God's ways. And when we walk in God's ways, what happens? We're blessed. Amen. And if we walk in disobedience to God's ways, what happens? There's a curse associated with that. And we say, amen, Lord, your ways are right concerning everything.

Listen, the Bible says in Psalm 92, it is good to give thanks to the Lord and to sing praises to thy name, O most High, to declare thy loving kindness in the morning and thy faithfulness by night. To declare that means to utter, to say, to proclaim, to rehearse. And you and I need to rehearse over and over and over again God's word on our life, land, so to speak, on our family, on our home, on where we live. And we proclaim the goodness of God, and we proclaim the word of God, and we say amen. Let it be so to the ways and the word of God. God wants us to do that. That changes us. We have the privilege to declare to this generation that the Lord is upright. He is my rock, and there's no unrighteousness. His ways are right concerning everything.

It took time to do that. They took time out of conquest to go there and proclaim the word of the Lord. And the people said amen to the word of the Lord, to the ways of the Lord. We will follow the Lord. As Joshua closes this book in Joshua chapter 24, where does he go? He goes to Shechem. And at Shechem he says, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. And as we declare and we rehearse what God's word says, then we live by it. And we say, yes Lord. And we remember that he is more than wonderful, more than marvelous, more than miraculous could ever be. He's more than wonderful. That's what Jesus is to me.

Speaker 1

And we pray that that is exactly what Jesus is to you as well. We also hope these have been uplifting and stirring insights for you today from Pastor Jeff Shreve on From His Heart with today's lesson called "Do You Want to Walk in Victory?" It's from the extensive 10-message series that we're airing the last half of this month called "Rising to the A Study of the Book of Joshua." You can find out more about how to get this entire series on a USB flash drive, CDs, DVDs, or an MP3 digital download when you go to the Listen link at fromhisheart.org.

Are you wrestling with one aspect of your faith that you just can't seem to get over? Maybe some disappointment, some doubt? Something you just don't agree with in scripture? Fear of peer pressure or criticism from others, or a myriad of other issues that can't be solved unless you become strong and courageous in the Lord. And that is surely doable for those who will surrender everything to the Lord and walk in victory.

Earlier this month, we aired a brand new series from Pastor Jeff entitled "Strong and Courageous." It's designed to empower each of us to fully trust and lean on the Lord and be strong and courageous in our faith. There have been many strong and courageous people who have supported this ministry over the last two decades, and Pastor Jeff shares God's Word with passion, commitment, and authenticity. He receives no income from any donations to From His Heart. He is our chief volunteer for your gift today.

To help us sustain and expand this outreach, Pastor Jeff would like to send you the six-lesson series "Strong and Courageous." It's available in multiple formats. You can simply make that gift online at fromhisheart.org or you can call 866-40-BIBLE (866-40-24253), and your gift will help us reach people around the world each and every day. Thank you for being a blessing to so many. Again, call 866-40-BIBLE or go to fromhisheart.org.

I'm Larry Nobles with our final hope for you today, and that is that you celebrate Thanksgiving tomorrow and perhaps all weekend and learn to deepen your thanks for the blessings you have. Join us next time for a penetrating and uplifting message called "Doom, Gloom, and a Radiant Christian." Join us then when we'll open up God's Word and share real truth, love, and hope from His heart.

Speaker 2

There is tremendous truth. There is hope that you always dream Love. He can heal every spirit.

Speaker 1

From his heart.

Is the listener supported Broadcast Ministry of Dr. Jeff Shreve speaking the truth in love to a lost and a hurting world.

Remember, no matter what, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.

Find out more at fromisheart.org.