Participants:
Series Code: NP
Program Code: NP220604S
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00:02 ♪♪ [ "I Surrender" begins ]
00:14 ♪♪ ♪♪ 00:33 ♪♪ ♪♪ 00:52 ♪♪ ♪♪ 01:12 ♪♪ ♪♪ 01:31 ♪♪ ♪♪ 01:50 ♪♪ ♪♪ 02:10 ♪♪ ♪♪ 02:29 ♪♪ ♪♪ 02:48 ♪♪ ♪♪ 03:07 ♪♪ ♪♪ 03:27 ♪♪ ♪♪ 03:46 ♪♪ ♪♪ 04:05 ♪♪ ♪♪ 04:25 ♪♪ [ "I Surrender All" begins ] 04:37 ♪♪ ♪♪ 04:56 ♪♪ ♪♪ 05:15 ♪♪ ♪♪ 05:33 ♪♪ ♪♪ 05:52 ♪♪ ♪♪ 06:11 ♪♪ >> Amen. 06:25 >> Well, good morning, boys and girls. Good to see you on this 06:28 beautiful first Sabbath of June. Can you believe it? Already. Summer's over. 06:36 That's how fast it goes. Good to see all of you. Nice to have you. 06:40 You're looking good today. Do you feel as good as you look? Yeah. That's good. 06:45 Hey, here's a question for you. 06:46 Thank you -- Thank you to my friend Melchizedek Ponniah, 06:50 who found this story for me. 06:52 Here's a question for you. Does anybody in your family snore? 06:57 Hmm? Alright. Who can make a snoring sound? 07:00 Let me see if you know what snoring is. Let me just hear you do a 07:03 snoring sound. What? Okay. You got it. 07:08 Yep. Anybody on this side snore? [ Laughing ] Alright. [ Imitates snoring ] 07:14 >> Yeah. >> [ Smacks lips ] Ahh. >> Yeah. 07:17 >> [ Imitates snoring ] [ Snorts, exhales ] >> My dad. 07:22 >> Your dad. That's what I figured we would pretty much get -- Dad. 07:26 Sometimes mothers snore, though. Don't tell anybody, but that's what they do, too. 07:30 So, the deal is this, guys. A little family in California, South Lake Tahoe -- they went to 07:36 bed, just like your family went to bed last night. They went to bed and Mommy and 07:40 Daddy are in their bedroom and all of a sudden Mommy wakes up and she says, "Oh, boy, there 07:44 he goes." [ Imitates snoring ] [ Snorting ] 07:51 [ Sighs ] She fell back asleep. All of a sudden, Daddy wakes up. 07:55 He hears it. "Oh, here she goes again." [ Imitates snoring ] 08:03 [ Chuckles ] And little Sissy and Junior in their bedroom -- they're hearing that same -- 08:08 [ Imitates snoring ] "That must be Sissy snoring," Junior says. 08:14 When everybody gets to the breakfast table tomorrow, nobody has slept very well last night, 08:18 and they're all saying, "Hey, that was you," "No, that was --" "I heard you." 08:22 "No, I heard you!" "No, it was you! You were snoring!" 08:26 [ Imitates snoring ] "Oh, well, who knows? Let's not worry about it. 08:32 Pass the toast, please." Well, the next morning, the problem was, same problem. 08:38 [ Snorts ] Somebody snored last night. "I tell you, I know it was you." 08:42 That went on for night after night after night after night. And finally the family says, 08:47 "You know what? We need help. Let's call the authorities." 08:54 Well, I wonder what authorities you call when you want help with snoring, huh? 08:58 Maybe you should call a doctor or something, but, no, they called the authorities. 09:02 And the authorities came over, and they said, "Are you the family that's been hearing 09:05 snoring?" "Yeah, well, it's her." "No. It's him. I'm telling you." 09:08 "Okay, okay, okay. Here's what we're gonna do. I want everybody to come out of 09:11 the house, okay? Come out of the house. Come, come, come, come, come, 09:15 come, come. Come into the front yard. Come, come, come, come. 09:17 Okay, now, I want you four to stand right here. Now, we noticed when we drove 09:21 up -- mm-hmm -- you have a crawl space to your house." Do you know what a crawl space 09:28 is? It's a hole in the foundation where you can get under the 09:30 house. "You have a crawl space in your house. 09:33 Mm-hmm." So, they got up close -- "Stay there, now." 09:37 They got up close to that crawl space, and they started making terrible noise, not 09:40 snoring, but just bang, bang, bang, bang. They played some electronic 09:43 noise -- bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. 09:46 "Stay back." And sure enough, the noise got so loud that a head poked in the 09:53 crawl space, and let's see a picture of the head that poked in. 09:56 Put it on the screen. That's it. That's a California black bear. 10:01 And that's a mother bear, and she's looking around like, "Ohh, it's so bright out. 10:06 Is the sun up already?" And then she turns around like this -- [ Snorts ] 10:13 And she walks out. And behind her comes a little cub, a baby bear. 10:18 And the baby bear goes -- [ Grunting ] He's looking up. 10:22 And behind him comes another baby bear, and he's looking around -- or maybe she's looking 10:26 around -- saying, "Is this daylight now?" And behind her comes another 10:30 baby bear. And behind her -- or him -- another. 10:34 Four baby bears and one mother. No wonder the snoring was so loud. 10:41 Oh, my. It was the bears that were snoring. 10:44 What's the point of the story? Never fight with a bear. [ Laughter ] 10:50 Okay? That's the point. Never. Call the authorities in. 10:54 They called a company called Bear Lodge. And they came in because 120 to 11:00 150 bears every winter in South Lake Tahoe find holes to hibernate, and the bears were 11:07 sleeping the whole time! And the family thought it was you. 11:11 Oh, boy. I tell you what -- no sense fighting. 11:15 I'm not talking about a snoring bear now. I'm talking about a fallen 11:19 angel. No sense fighting a fallen angel. 11:21 You have to get somebody who knows how to fight a fallen angel. 11:25 You have to get an authority to come in and say, "Take Satan on for me." 11:30 And how would that authority be, I wonder? >> Jesus. 11:33 >> Jesus! Absolutely. Jesus -- "Schoo!" -- you pull out your sword and you take care 11:40 of my fallen enemy. And it's an easy prayer to pray, four words, plus "Jesus." 11:48 "Jesus, please help me now." When you're starting to feel a temptation coming on you -- and, 11:55 oh, little boys and girls know about that -- when you start feeling it, you say, "Jesus --" 11:59 How's that prayer go? Say it out loud with me. "Jesus, please help me now." 12:05 Let's try that again. >> "Jesus, please help me now." >> And guess who will help you. 12:13 >> Jesus. >> The one who's already beat that fallen angel. 12:17 He's not worried. He can help us. But we have -- we call out to 12:21 Him. "Jesus, please help me now." Aren't you glad for Jesus? 12:25 We can count on Him night or day. It doesn't matter who's snoring 12:28 in the house. Jesus is our Savior friend. And I'd like somebody to thank 12:34 Him on behalf of all of us in this church right now. Who would like to thank Jesus 12:39 for being our Savior friend? Sissy, I saw your hand come up first, so come here, please. 12:43 Come on over here. What's your name? >> Lily. 12:46 >> Lily. Oh, my third granddaughter's name is Lily. 12:49 I love you even more right now. That's a beautiful name. Okay, let's close our eyes and 12:55 fold our hands as Lily thanks Jesus for being our Savior. >> Dear Jesus, thank you for 13:00 being our Savior. Thank you for being with us. Please continue for being with 13:05 us and protecting us, even when sometimes it's hard to do stuff that we don't like. 13:12 Please help us to have the courage do it. Amen. 13:17 >> Beautiful prayer, Lily. Thank you very much. And thank you, boys and girls. 13:22 You can be whispering Lily's prayer in your heart as you go back to Mommy and Daddy. 13:26 Jesus, thank you for delivering us. Please help me now. 13:30 Happy Sabbath to you. 13:35 >> Please stand as we sing. [ "Build My Life" begins ] 13:40 ♪♪ ♪♪ 13:59 ♪♪ ♪♪ 14:19 ♪♪ ♪♪ 14:38 ♪♪ ♪♪ 14:57 ♪♪ ♪♪ 15:17 ♪♪ ♪♪ 15:36 ♪♪ ♪♪ 15:56 ♪♪ ♪♪ 16:15 ♪♪ ♪♪ 16:35 ♪♪ ♪♪ 16:54 ♪♪ ♪♪ 17:14 ♪♪ ♪♪ 17:33 ♪♪ ♪♪ 17:52 ♪♪ Our Scripture this morning is 18:04 found in Ephesians 6:11-13. ♪♪ 18:11 "Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand 18:14 against the devil's schemes. 18:16 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, 18:21 and against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the 18:26 heavenly realms. Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of 18:30 evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand." 18:36 [ "Worthy Is The Lamb" plays ] 18:38 Thanks. ♪♪ 18:50 ♪♪ ♪♪ 19:09 ♪♪ ♪♪ 19:29 ♪♪ ♪♪ 19:48 ♪♪ ♪♪ 20:07 ♪♪ ♪♪ 20:27 ♪♪ ♪♪ 20:46 ♪♪ ♪♪ 21:06 ♪♪ ♪♪ 21:25 ♪♪ ♪♪ 21:44 ♪♪ ♪♪ 22:04 ♪♪ ♪♪ 22:23 ♪♪ ♪♪ 22:43 ♪♪ ♪♪ 23:02 ♪♪ ♪♪ 23:22 ♪♪ 23:37 >> I want to pray with you, and then let's plunge into what we have together. 23:41 Oh, God, those words are on our minds. We just sang them as a prayer. 23:45 It's Revelation 5 where all the angels of the universe and all of Heaven all bow down and sing, 23:58 "Worthy is the lamb that was slaughtered." You have purchased people and 24:03 nations and languages and tongues, and we're in that -- we're included in that praise. 24:11 Thank you for the lamb. Bless this time. In His Word, speak. 24:16 Let His voice be the one that is dominant now. We pray in Jesus' name. 24:21 Amen. 24:23 What do you say we start off with something a little 24:25 cheerful, huh? Just a little cheerful. 24:28 Doesn't hurt us. How's it feel living in a 24:31 country that many think is going crazy? 24:37 You can't come into worship and ignore the world around you. 24:42 Back in 1992, I wrote a book. It was my first book, and the 24:45 first chapter circled around the sentence, "We are living in a 24:53 war, and the battle is intensifying." 24:58 Man, that was 30 years ago. We are still living in a war, and the battle is intensifying. 25:07 Uvalde, Texas -- another name seared into the collective psyche of Americans. 25:12 10 days before, Buffalo, New York. Eight days after it, Tulsa, 25:18 Oklahoma. And there have been headlines since. 25:22 Please. But those are just the guns. We're living in a war, and the 25:28 battle is intensifying. I'm talking about war inside everybody who is in this space 25:32 right now. There is a raging war inside of us, and the battle is 25:37 intensifying. And if there ever were a time when the story we are about to 25:41 read addresses and engages us at this moment in living, this is it. 25:45 Open your Bible to Joshua 5. Come on. And I'm gonna keep this on the 25:49 screen here because I love what our Brittany Doyle did with this graphic. 25:54 "Joshua fit the battle of Jericho." That was the last time you and I 25:57 were together. That's part one. Here's part two -- "When the 25:59 lesser meets the greater." And I -- Look at that. You have to look up to him. 26:04 Open your Bible to Joshua chapter 5. Let's go. 26:06 Joshua 5, right at the end of the chapter, please. Right at the end, you'll see it 26:11 there. The last three verses of the chapter. 26:14 Yep. Joshua 5:13. 26:29 Oh, boy. Joshua and all the people that he leads -- they've just crossed 26:36 the mighty Jordan River. The wispy trail of a thousand Israelite campfires meanders 26:45 into the heavens. "I got to be alone. I just have to be alone." 26:49 And he steps away from the crowd that he leads, wanders out into the gathering twilight shadows, 26:57 having no idea that just as his predecessor, Moses, accidentally stumbled into a desert bush 27:06 engulfed in flames, but not disintegrating -- even so now, he's gonna "accidentally" 27:13 stumble in a theophany where the same deity that was in the flames will now take on 27:18 physical form. And, oh, my, what physical form. "Now when Joshua was near 27:27 Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a --" schoo! -- "a drawn 27:34 sword." You don't have to be an authority on guns or swords to 27:39 know that a drawn sword or gun means you are facing an imminent offensive threat. 27:50 True or false? But of course. And so Joshua -- this is 27:57 amazing, the valor of this warrior-leader. "Joshua went up --" 28:02 I'd have run back, but Joshua runs forward and asks that barked command -- "Who goes 28:08 there?" That's what a sentry always cries out -- "Who goes there?" 28:11 Joshua asks it this way -- "Are you for us or for our enemies? And the stranger stands there. 28:20 By the way, one author I read describes the stranger as lofty in statute, lofty in stature 28:28 and armed with a commanding presence." [ Chuckles ] Oh, boy. 28:34 The stranger doesn't flinch. Joshua lunges toward him. The stranger has a one-word 28:42 answer. I want you to watch this. "Who are you? 28:48 Are you for us or against us?" And the stranger replies, "Neither, but as commander of 28:57 the army of the Lord I have now come." One-word answer. 29:03 The Hebrew actually reads, "No." The NIV said, "Listen, you can't put 'no' because how can you 29:08 answer a yes-or-no question with 'no'?" "Are you for us or against us?" 29:12 "No." Please. You haven't answered the 29:15 question yet. So they try to soften it up. They say, "Neither." 29:19 No, the Hebrew -- I checked it out. It's "lo." 29:21 It means "no." "No!" "But as commander of the army of 29:25 the Lord I have now come." "I am infinitely greater than you can possibly imagine. 29:32 And I'm the commander of the armies. That's why I've come." 29:38 Wow. Keep reading. "'Neither,' he said. 29:43 'But as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.'" 30:03 The identical words that the deity speaks from the raging fire of the burning bush to 30:09 Moses are now repeated. "Take off your sandals, boy. You're on holy ground now." 30:18 As Robert Alter correctly observes, both stories are dedication episodes as a leader 30:24 is about to embark on his mission. And by the way, we already 30:27 know -- At this point in the story, we know the leader, this commander, is divine. 30:34 Two reasons why we know. Number one, if it were an angel, you know what the angel would 30:40 have done when Joshua hit the ground? The same thing he did with 30:43 elderly John on the isle of Patmos -- "Stop!" Gabriel said, "Stop, stop, stop. 30:47 I'm one of your brothers. You don't worship me. You worship God." 30:51 Not a word. The stranger receives that worship without a comment. 30:58 And then secondly, there were no chapters when Joshua penned these memoirs. 31:04 There were no verses set out. And in fact, the conversation is not over. 31:08 If you keep reading in chapter 6, verse 1 says Jericho is locked up tighter than a drum. 31:12 They are scared. And we'll talk about the walls coming down next Sabbath, 31:16 you and I together. But then you go to verse 2. And what does verse 2 say? 31:21 It says, "And the Lord said to Joshua --" That's capital L, capital O -- I'm s-- Yeah, 31:29 capital L-O-R-D, all caps. It's the famous Hebrew Tetragrammaton, the four 31:35 letters. Some think it might be pronounced "Yahweh." 31:38 He takes the name. He's as divine as they come. Trust me. 31:45 Ah. But I want to give careful attention, you and me, for the 31:49 few moments we have. I want to look at this, this title of his. 31:53 "As Commander of the Army of the Lord, I have come." Now, in the Hebrew, "Commander," 31:58 the word is "sar." And by the way, in Daniel 8:25, the Messiah is called "sar," 32:04 which means "prince," "Sar sarim," "Prince of princes." 32:08 So, whoever this being is, he's of high and noble personage. He's a sar. He's a prince. 32:14 You can translate it "captain," as the old King James does. You could do it like the NIV. 32:18 He's Commander. "As Commander of the army --" "Sabaoth." 32:23 This is an abbreviation of "Sabaoth," and it means "host" or "armies." 32:27 And some translations -- I love the translation that renders this "angel armies." 32:32 "I stand before you now as the prince of princes, the Commander of the angel armies of the God 32:39 of the universe. I am...He." Boom! 32:48 On the ground again. Wow. Robert Alter renders this in the 32:55 words, "And he --" the Stranger, capital-S Stranger -- "said, 'No. 33:00 For I am commander of the Lord's army. Now I have come." 33:04 Now watch this. "This pronouncement, just two words in the Hebrew, is meant to 33:09 portentous. Now is the beginning --" This is what the Stranger is saying. 33:15 "Now is the beginning of my great mission of conquest in which you --" with your face to 33:20 the ground -- "in which you will serve as my human deputy." My, oh, my. 33:27 I wish there'd have been a camera right there -- click! -- because there you have Joshua on 33:32 his face before the one who, when this tall, lofty-in-stature Stranger will come as a Christ 33:38 child, will take the name of the man with his face in the dirt. Yeshua. 33:45 "I'm Yeshua." That's what they called Jesus. That's what Mary called her 33:47 little baby -- "Yeshua." Same name. How would you like it if God 33:52 took your name before He showed up on Earth? Wouldn't that make you feel 33:57 good? Joshua, of course, has no clue. Freeze that frame because 34:03 there's one more -- there's one more aspect of this divine warrior we need to zero in, 34:08 drill down on right now, and that is His drawn sword, okay? Let's look at the sword again. 34:13 Not before we notice "Patriarchs and Prophets," who identifies this individual 34:18 very correctly now, exegetically, we now understand spot on -- "It was Christ, the 34:22 Exalted One, who stood before the leader of Israel." Didn't Jesus -- Hey, wait a 34:27 minute. Wait a minute. When Jesus came to Earth, didn't 34:29 He at one time say, "Before Abraham was, I am"? Didn't he say that? 34:35 Yeah. "I am. I am the I am." There is no question in 34:42 Scripture who this angel is, who this -- this sword-unsheathed stranger is. 34:51 He's the Eternal One himself. "It was Christ, the Exalted One, who stood before the leader of 34:55 Israel." Now let's go back and see that moment again. 34:58 "Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man --" 35:02 Now, my friend Jacques Doukhan has written the Sabbath school lesson core for adults. 35:07 We're studying right now the Book of Genesis. And just this week he pointed 35:12 out that this word, "man," is the same word to describe the man that attacked Jacob by the 35:20 creek, Jabbok. And we know who that man was, don't we? 35:26 Same word. Same man. Deity in human form. Wow. 35:34 And he looked up and he saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword. 35:38 The last time we saw a drawn sword in Holy Scripture preceded this moment. 35:45 And I wish you could guess it. If you could guess it right now, I'd have a special prize for 35:49 you, if you can guess it right now. You'd have to do it right now. 35:53 Too late. But I would have sent you to Rodlie, and he would have had 35:56 something for you. Okay. So, let's go back to the 35:59 Book of Numbers. This is the last time we've seen an angelic being with a sword 36:05 in the hand. Now you're getting it, aren't you? 36:06 Number 22:23 -- "And when the donkey saw the angel of the Lord --" And by the way, this is 36:12 the moniker by which the second person of the Godhead shows up in the Old Testament. 36:16 Often it's -- New King James will say capital A 'cause they know this is the divine one. 36:21 When the donkey sees the divine one standing in the road with a -- schoo! -- drawn sword in 36:27 his hand, the donkey turns off the road into a field. Balaam beats it to get back on 36:32 the road. That poor, hapless donkey. Last June, we did a series, 36:37 "For The Love of Animals," and we relived this moment. What's going on here? 36:45 The drawn sword once again is a position of imminent offensive danger. 36:54 "I can pull this trigger right now." "I can thrust this sword 36:59 right now." It's meant to be that way. So, what's going on here? 37:04 Does it bother you that God would somehow embrace a militant stance, that He would show up as 37:09 a warrior God, a sword-bearing God, if you please? I want to talk about our little 37:14 community here. I'll call it the academy. It is the natural tendency in 37:18 the academy -- talking about a university community. It is the natural tendency for 37:22 us to be against war and armed conflict. We are pacifists by nature. 37:28 You take a straw vote in this campus, I'm telling you, pacifism wins hands down. 37:32 Why? Because that's what bright minds say -- "We don't believe in war. 37:35 We don't believe in armed conflict." 37:37 But in embracing that stance, we need to be very careful not to 37:42 push out of the realm of possibility this idea we are 37:49 in a war and the battle is intensifying, not to simply 37:52 eliminate that notion that God is also a -- schoo! -- offensive 38:01 imminent danger divine being. And while I understand -- 38:09 And I love the picture just like you do. 38:11 I love the abundant passages in Scripture in which God 38:13 identifies Himself as a mother. 38:15 The maternal picture of God is a sweet one -- Isaiah 49. I love the compassionate picture 38:21 of God as a shepherd in Psalm 23. I love God as a friend and a 38:25 lover as portrayed in the Song of Solomon and John 15. I even love the picture of God 38:32 in Psalm 91, where He's portrayed as a mother hen, and when Jesus comes to Earth, his 38:37 last words to Jerusalem are, "How often have I as a mother hen have I longed to draw you as 38:42 little chicks to me, but you would not come to me?" I love the warm-- I resonate 38:48 with the warmth of these metaphors, these analogies that God has embedded in scripture. 38:54 But holy scripture also portrays a very militant warrior side of deity, as well. 39:01 Otherwise, Joshua 5 is simply an aberration that we can just kind of "get it out." 39:06 Eh, a little crazy there. Nope, nope, nope. In fact, Jeremiah, when he calls 39:11 upon God, in one moment of great desperation -- read Jeremiah 20 sometime -- Jeremiah says, "But 39:17 the Lord is with me like a mighty --" and then the New Revised says, "No, we'll 39:20 call it like a dread warrior." Why are you with me as a dread warrior? 39:25 So that my persecutors will stumble and not prevail. "When I'm in danger, I need a -- 39:30 I need a sword-wielding God. I don't need a mother hen now. I need a warrior God. 39:40 I'm in danger! Do you understand? I'm gonna die! 39:43 Deliver me!" That's Jeremiah. And I'm telling you, it's rife 39:47 in the Old Testament. It's everywhere. The militant picture of God? 39:51 The Psalms radiate with militancy. Let's just take the first Psalm 39:54 where it shows up. This is Psalm 2:9 -- "You --" speaking to the Messiah -- "will 39:58 break them --" speaking of the rebel nations -- "with a rod of iron, you will dash them to 40:03 pieces." Now, that isn't a warm-and-fuzzy picture. 40:07 That's militancy. And guess what -- the Bible's last book grabs this line and 40:12 says, "That's the picture of Jesus." Watch this -- Revelation 19. 40:16 This is Jesus on the white stallion. You remember Jesus on the white 40:19 stallion? Everybody loves that picture. I do, too. 40:21 And he's got a robe that's dipped in blood, and he has a crown on his head, and the 40:25 host -- the army, the angel armies -- are all with him. It's the Second Coming in 40:29 Revelation 19. Notice how it's described here. "And she --" 40:34 This is just before 19. "And she --" that's the woman -- "gave birth to a son --" that 40:38 would be a male child, that's the Messiah -- "who will rule all the nations with an iron 40:46 scepter." What's going on here? This is a militant God. 40:51 The one that gets snatched up to heaven is a militant God. Keep reading. 40:54 Chapter 19 -- "Coming out of his mouth --" on the white stallion, the returning Christ, who, in 40:58 that chapter, is called the Word. "Coming out of his mouth is a 41:02 sharp sword with which to strike down the nations." Mercy, keep reading. 41:06 Verse 21 -- "He will rule them with an iron scepter --" there it is. 41:09 And we say, "Well, that's just a -- that's just like a mace in a graduation. 41:13 You know, the marshal has a mace, and we all follow him. No, no, no. 41:16 This is not a mace. This is an iron, and this is a sword. 41:19 Watch this. "The rest were killed with the sword coming out of the mouth of 41:23 the rider on the horse." This is not a namby-pamby portrayal. 41:28 This is a militant portrayal. Nobody is denying -- I understand that -- the militant 41:35 portrayal of deity in scripture. But I do have friends -- Now listen -- and they're my 41:39 friends. I do have friends who work very hard to show that the militant 41:43 portrayal of God needs to be softened and explained away so that we don't -- so that we will 41:48 not have a God behaving in ways we would not behave. "Well, if I wouldn't do that, 41:51 God can't do that." Who says? Who says you're the template? 41:57 I want you to think about this. Here's the point. In our effort to clean up God's 42:03 reputation and to show that he's not like the God extremists tend to portray him as, we may 42:09 inadvertently miss and unnecessarily destroy the profound comfort and reassurance 42:14 that comes from sc-- scripture's depiction of a militant God, as we've just seen here in 42:20 Joshua 5. That's my point. Be careful what you deny. 42:26 Most people are right in what they affirm and wrong in what they deny, by the way. 42:29 That's a little principle of life. Just tuck that away. 42:31 Most people are right about what they affirm and wrong about what they deny. 42:35 You'll think that through, and you'll get it. There are two real-life, right 42:41 now reasons why we need this sword-drawn commander of the angel armies to be the God we 42:46 call upon today -- today -- right now. Two of them. 42:50 I'm gonna give you the first one. Reason number one? 42:52 Because a General Conference Session is convening Monday morning in St. Louis, Missouri. 42:57 That's why. Now some of you are saying, "Pfft. I don't even know -- 43:02 What is this General Conference Session business?" That's okay. 43:05 It's just internal language to describe the gathering of leaders and delegates from 43:09 literally all over the planet. And they will gather in a stadium. 43:13 Now, in pre-COVID days, on the second weekend of this 10-day festival, on the second weekend, 43:21 70,000 people crowded into a -- packed into a stadium. But now we've got COVID. 43:27 In fact, this event was postponed once and twice. And now they'll be gathering. 43:34 This time, with crowds much smaller, with some delegates actually not able to -- not 43:38 being allowed by the U.S. government to come into this country at all. 43:43 They'll be on Zoom. In fact, I got to tell you, something beautiful happened to 43:48 me totally serendipitously. Friday -- so, I'm coming up the stairs from downstairs, and I'm 43:53 walking by here, I look in the sanctuary -- good night -- who are all these people? 43:57 They're everywhere. They're taking pictures. Finally, after we had a 44:01 wonderful visit together -- and I'll say more about that in one second -- but I want to show you 44:05 these people. They're General Conference delegates. 44:09 They're going to St. Louis to be there Monday morning. I took a picture of them. 44:14 Here they are. I want you to take a look. And there's a flag in the 44:18 background. I want you to tell me, whose country is that flag from? 44:22 Huh? Every American knows those two stripes belong to what country? 44:28 Ukraine. I want you to look at those men and women, they're pastors and 44:33 wives, they're conference presidents and wives, they're union president and wife, 44:37 they're seminary president and wife. What, are there about 40, 50 of 44:41 them? When I realized who they were -- and I had a translator that 44:46 jumped up. When I realized who they were, I said, "Listen, I got to be 44:49 talking about you. We have been praying for you with all our hearts. 44:54 You are something else." And they began to tell stories of what it's like in Ukraine. 44:59 They got out, and they're going back when this is over. This is not like a vacation. 45:04 They're going back. And then they came up -- 'Cause I said, "I want you to 45:08 see that there's a cross embedded in this platform." It's a beautiful cross. 45:13 And so they came up, and I said, "I want to have a prayer with you at the foot of the cross." 45:16 And before we had the prayer, they said, "Listen, we want to sing a song to you." 45:21 And so, one of them, one of the women went to that piano right there and started playing kind 45:25 of this Slavic minor-key song, and my heart was just moved. Because they told me -- the 45:30 translator said, "This is a song about friendship with God and how He's the savior, and He can 45:34 rescue us." And when I heard those men and women who know the meaning of 45:38 crisis -- We're sitting around whining about the price of gas! 45:42 Take a look at those people! They're not even worried about gas. 45:46 They're talking about air -- "Can I breathe? Will I be breathing tomorrow? 45:52 When I hear them singing, tears just came to my eyes. I said, "Man, Dwight, don't 45:57 start crying now." It was moving. It was the tune, the words. 46:02 And we knelt down, and I prayed for them. Right here. 46:08 24 hours ago right now. So that's what's happening in St. Louis. 46:14 There'll be people like this -- like this -- coming from all over the world. 46:19 We need to be praying. We need to be praying militantly for this General Conference 46:23 Session that comes at such a troubling hour of this nation's and world's histories. 46:28 I mean, we have no idea what's coming next. Lookit -- 10 days, 8 days, 46:34 4 days -- boom! America's going crazy. And it's not just America. 46:38 That's the point. It's the whole planet. We need to pray for our leaders. 46:43 Sometimes we sit on the sidelines, and we kind of armchair quarterback, and say, 46:47 "Well, that's not what I would do. I wouldn't do that." 46:50 Well, who cares what you would do? You're not our leader. 46:55 We pray for the leaders. The Bible says, "Pray for those who lead you." 47:00 We must pray. This is the toughest time in human history to be a leader -- 47:06 anywhere. Thanks to this pandemic and the detachment now that's in the 47:11 faith community. Oh, no, no, we gotta get militant. 47:15 What's th-- I love this promise. I've memorized it, and I quote it to myself all the time. 47:19 God speaking here -- "Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver you, and you will 47:23 glorify me. "Just call on me --" shoop! -- "Call on me. 47:27 I have what it takes. Just call on me. I don't step in if you don't 47:30 want me. Call on me in the day of trouble." 47:33 We need to call on God on behalf of our leaders, on behalf of our members, and on 47:38 behalf of the suffering. We have Adventists who are suffering today on this planet, 47:41 have no way to come out of the country. They cannot come. 47:50 A century ago, these words were written. "If the eyes of Joshua had been 47:53 opened, as were the eyes of the servant of Elisha at Dothna --" when he saw chariots of fire all 47:58 around that little village -- "and Joshua could have endured the sight, he would have seen 48:05 the angels of the Lord encamped about the children of Israel, for the tra--" oh, I love 48:10 this -- "the trained army of heaven had come to fight for the people of God, and the captain 48:15 of the Lord's host --" captain of the angel armies -- "was there to command." 48:23 Oh, that gives me courage. No matter how discouraging life is on this planet, no matter how 48:29 discouraging the circumstances are in your life right now, I need you to know, on the 48:34 authority of holy scripture, that the captain of the angel armies is on your side, and if 48:38 you need all the angels of heaven, he'll send them to you. He will send them to you. 48:43 Don't you ever capitulate with the enemy. Don't you ever say, "Well, this 48:46 time, I'm gonna have to give in. This time, I gotta yield. This time, it's too -- this 48:50 temptation is too strong for me." Don't you ever capitulate. 48:55 He's able. But like I told the children, you have to ask. 49:01 "Jesus, please, help me now." Don't give up. Don't give up on your marriage. 49:10 Don't give up on your job. Don't give up on your aspiration. 49:15 Don't give up. Don't give up with your struggle for pornography. 49:21 Struggle with pornography -- that's reason number two. Yep. 49:25 We got a problem. Houston, we have a big problem. The enemy has found a way to 49:32 burrow in to the faith community, anonymously. With 24/7 access. 49:41 It's called pornography. I'm glad our lead chaplain's right here. 49:45 He's so proud of his daughter, who was -- Sophie -- who was singing a moment ago. 49:49 But our lead chaplain José Bourget is here, and we're gonna be working with the 49:53 Center for Faith Engagement this fall. Their idea, and we jumped on 49:58 board. Isn't that right? We jumped on board and said, 50:01 "Let us help you." And we're taking on the darkest darkness the enemy has. 50:09 He has taken an entire human race -- almost -- captive to pornography, sexual addiction. 50:17 It's not gonna be comfortable this fall for the university or for Andrews Academy or for 50:22 Ruth Murdoch Elementary School or for the church or for the community, because we can no 50:27 longer straddle the fence when it comes to countercultural life of sexual purity. 50:31 We must face pornography, we must face the confusion over 50:35 sexuality and morality in this culture. 50:37 We gotta -- We will have to face it. 50:41 We will have to face it. Together. 50:44 In a Christ-like way. But we can no longer hide. 50:50 We're losing them too fast -- too fast, too many -- 50:55 through sexual addiction. Oh, how we need praying people 51:03 this fall. One more quotation, and I'll sit 51:05 down. "Battles are to be fought every 51:07 day. 51:08 A great warfare is going on over every soul between the prince of darkness and the Prince of 51:13 life." That battle is over your heart, that battle is over my heart. 51:16 "There is a great battle to be fought, that the inhabitants of the world may be warned of the 51:20 great day of the Lord, that the strongholds of the enemy may be entered. 51:25 Breach the strongholds! That's what this fall will be about -- taking the offensive. 51:32 Enter the strongholds, "and that all who love the Lord may be gathered under the bloodstained 51:37 banner of Prince Emmanuel." Yeah, that's Revelation 19. Bloodstained, sword in his 51:44 mouth. "I'm coming. Don't give up. 51:48 Don't quit yet! I'm on my way. And I have the help you need for 51:55 your addiction. I have the power you need for your victory. 52:01 Ask me. I have the sword." By the way, Calvary -- 52:08 bloodstained banner of Prince Emmanuel. I'm gonna draw the cross for you 52:13 right here, right now. I'm not making the sign of the cross. 52:16 I'm gonna draw the cross, all right? So, here's a cross. 52:19 Tell me, is this the cross? Is that the cross? Watch this. 52:28 If I grab the top part and turn it around, what do I have? It's a sword. 52:36 Imminent, offensive strategy! Shwwp! It's the cross. 52:42 It's Calvary. Calvary. Wow. 52:51 "They will hurry to be gathered under the bloodstained banner of Prince Emmanuel." 52:54 That's where I want to be. How about you? I want to be there. 52:59 I want to be under that banner. I want to stand in the shadow of Calvary. 53:03 I want that sword turned in defense of my little, tiny life. For the glory and honor of the 53:14 Lord Jesus. We need to pray for two reasons. St. Louis General Conference 53:19 Session, Andrews University, Andrews Academy, Ruth Murdoch Elementary School, 53:23 Pioneer Memorial Church. Not next week but next fall. Both of them. 53:28 We start praying right now. What do you say? Let's pray right now. 53:33 Kneel with me, please. ♪♪ Oh, God, here we are. 53:48 Your children. Your people. If the commander, if the prince 53:58 of princes, if the captain of the angel armies should appear right now, we would be flat on 54:07 our faces. I understand the truth about you, God. 54:12 You don't display your power to get some sort of high over everybody dropping to the 54:17 ground. But there are times in this battle when we must be reminded 54:25 that the one who leads the angel armies is an eternal, infinite, omnipotent threat to the fallen 54:35 angel armies. Greater is he who is in us than he who is in the world. 54:43 And so we bow before you. We're not flippant about this. We're not saying there's some 54:53 other way, either. The cross is the only way. The bloodstained banner is the 55:05 only flag under which we will stand. O Father, we pray for St. Louis. 55:12 If Joshua's eyes could've been opened, he'd have seen the chariots of fire. 55:16 In our mind's eye right now, we see chariots of fire gathering around that place in St. Louis. 55:24 O, be with our leaders, dear God. Grant them more than human 55:28 wisdom. This is -- This is the toughest time in history. 55:32 With all that these circumstances represent, this is the toughest time ever. 55:40 Anoint our leaders. Anoint the delegates. Anoint the membership of this 55:47 global faith community. Bless our delegates from Ukraine. 55:51 We just saw them on the screen. O, God, bless them, please. Protect the church in that 55:56 war-torn insanity. And protect the church and your people in this nation that 56:04 struggles -- struggling to survive. We call upon the Prince of 56:14 princes, the captain of the angels' army... to take charge in our space. 56:24 And so we pray for this university, the academy and elementary school, and every 56:30 head and heart bowed before you. Father, we lift high the cross as our only hope. 56:38 Joshua found courage out of that encounter. We, too, find courage. 56:42 Nobody's turning back. Lead us, O God. Lead us in the mighty name of 56:52 our commander and captain. Let all the people say amen. 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Revised 2022-06-14