I Want to Think About Thinking About God - Louie Giglio

The good news is we were going to wrap up our collection in Joshua today, but we're not. Oh, I was hoping for something, man. If it was just like crickets right there, I was going to pack it up, Kitty. I was going to just say, all right, good job. We were all headed toward the final message. And when you look at the end of Joshua, it's Joshua's farewell address. And that's kind of where we're going to park this thing eventually. But I was trying to connect the dots on something. I went back to chapter nine, I was reading this beautiful story that I'm sure most of you spent days in, in your little journal and have journaled a lot in, the Gibeonite deception. Chapter nine. And there were seven words in that chapter that just stopped you in your tracks. They stopped me in my tracks. And I said, Lord, I think you want to share that with us all today. So let's look at Joshua nine and let's find the seven words. The Gibeonite deception. Let's say that together. All three locations. Can we say it together? The Gibeonite deception. Wow. How exciting. Now, when all the Kings West of the Jordan heard about these things, the Kings in the hill country in the Western foothills and along the entire coast of the Mediterranean sea, as far as Lebanon, the Kings of the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, they came together to wage war against Joshua in Israel. However, when the people of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai, they resorted to a ruse. Aren't you glad that word's in the Bible? They went as a delegation whose donkeys were loaded with worn out sacks and old wine skins cracked and mended. They put worn and patched sandals on their feet and wore old clothes. All the bread in their food supply was dry and moldy. Then they went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal and said to him and to the Israelites, we've come from a distant country, make a treaty with us. The Israelites said to the Hivites, but perhaps you live near us, so how can we make a treaty with you? We're your servants, they said to Joshua. But Joshua asked, who are you? And where do you come from? They answered, your servants have come from a very distant country because the fame of the Lord your God, because of the fame, I love that line, we're still talking about that, the fame of the Lord your God. And we have heard reports of him, all that he did in Egypt and all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites on the other side of the Jordan, Shion and Og. And our elders and all those living in our country said to us,

take provisions for your journey, go and meet them and say to them, we are your servants, make a treaty with us. This bread of ours was warm when we packed it at home on the day we left to come to you, but now see how dry and moldy it is. And these wineskins that were filled were new, but see how cracked they are. And our clothes and our sandals are worn out by the very long journey. The Israelites sampled their provisions, but did not inquire of the Lord. Then Joshua made a treaty of peace with them and let them live. And the leaders of the assembly ratified it by an oath. Three days later, or three days after they made the treaty with the Gibeonites, the Israelites heard that they were neighbors living near them, thus the ruse. So the Israelites set out and on the third day came to their cities. Verse 18, but the Israelites did not attack them because the leaders of the assembly had sworn an oath to them by the Lord, the God of Israel. The whole assembly now, these are all the Israelites, grumbled against the leaders, but all the leaders answered, we've given them our oath by the Lord, the God of Israel, and we cannot touch them now. This is what we will do to them. We'll let them live so that God's wrath will not fall on us for breaking the oath we swore to them. They continued, let them live, but let them be woodcutters and water carriers in the service of the whole assembly. So the leaders promised to them was kept. And Joshua summoned the Gibeonites and said, why did you deceive us by saying we live a long way from you while actually you live near us? You're now under a curse. You'll never be released from sin. service as woodcutters and water carriers for the house of my God." They answered Joshua, you can't fault the Gibeonites here. Your servants were clearly told how the Lord your God had commanded his servant Moses to give you the whole land and to wipe out all its inhabitants from before you. So we feared for our lives because of you and that is why we did this. We are now in your hands do to us whatever seems good and right to you. So Joshua saved them from the Israelites and they did not kill them. That day he made the Gibeonites woodcutters and water carriers for the assembly to provide for the needs of the altar of the Lord at the place the Lord would choose and that is what they are to this day. What a word. A few key takeaways, the first one is this, that Joshua, and I'll just let it be about Joshua not about me and not about you, Joshua got it right on the big thing but he missed on this somewhat smaller one.

He got it right on crossing the mighty Jordan but he missed on this one and he missed because it was seemingly smaller. They were still alarmed but not like we need the waters to roll back and we need dry ground to cross on and we need a sign from the Lord that we're to cross over. The second takeaway, these are very practical, is that the enemy may come at you guns blazing but he might come at you with moldy bread and oftentimes as he comes with guns blazing we're like oh my goodness this is the enemy. But he wants us to be wise enough and sensitive enough and connected enough that if it's moldy bread we go oh I see what you're doing. The third takeaway is that the descent, and we've talked about this a lot, is where most climbers die. Most climbers do not die on the ascent, they die on the descent. And here's Joshua and they've seen the walls of Jericho fall down. Once they got everything sorted out with Achan they've wiped out Ai and then here come these guys with worn out sandals and moldy bread and they're like all right we'll do it. And it just reminds us that the enemy's primary point of attack is not before the battle, although he's busy before the battle, it's after the battle. And if you've seen God do something significant in your life you better believe the enemy is on the backside of it waiting for you with moldy bread. The fourth takeaway is that some of the most dangerous sins are the ones we don't talk about. And I just stared at this phrase you know verse 14 that's that's where why we're in this text today. The Israelites sampled their provisions but did not inquire of the Lord. They interrogated, who are y'all? Where'd you come from? They investigated. Do you mind if we go through your stuff? But they didn't inquire. They asked the right questions, they looked in the right places, but they didn't go to the right source. And they committed a tragic sin. And the sin was this, they committed the sin of not thinking about thinking about God. It's not unusual in our team, we have a very large team here, 200 some odd people, it's not unusual to make a decision as a leader And to try to think about all the implications of that and to miss something happens to me all the time.

And I remember a few months ago, actually back last year, I made a decision, I tried to think about all the people that were going to be impacted by the decision, the communication happened and then two people, all of a sudden I was like, oh my word, these two people were not included and they were not in the loop on this decision. I had to get out of my office and walk down the stairs and go down a few, you know, offices down the way and knock on the door and have somebody say, yeah, come in and walk in and say, I am so sorry. I am so sorry that that got communicated and that I hadn't communicated that to you before it was communicated because I know what that said to you was maybe that you didn't matter in the equation and I want you to know that you do matter. I just forgot and I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I didn't think about you. That happens to us. But when it is that we're not thinking about God or we're committing the sin of not thinking about thinking about God, then we get ourselves in a lot of trouble. And what happened to Joshua, isn't this an encouraging story, by the way? This is Joshua who got this one wrong. And what Joshua didn't do in that moment was think about thinking about God. He just thought we'll line them up and interrogate them and then we'll get all their luggage out and investigate them. And he didn't think about thinking about God. And this is where we want to right our ships today. Did you pray about it, is the way my mom would say it. I remember asking my mom in college times if I could go to West Palm Beach on spring break with some people and she didn't like the way it felt and she said no. And I was like, well, I think we're already going, you know, it's already planned. Everybody's already like kind of like locked in. And then she said the dreaded words, have you prayed about it? And then what did I say? Yes, ma'am.

I just lied. I lied. It's like Andy's dad. We wanted to go see Fleetwood Mac at the Omni. This is old times before State Farm and all that stuff, if anybody was around back then. And it was on a Saturday night, of course, because every time we wanted to go see Elton John or Fleetwood Mac or whoever it was that was playing in that era of time, it was always on Saturday night and Andy's dad was a pastor. And so he was always up early on Sunday getting ready to preach all day and lead a church all day. And we're going downtown to the Omni to something and getting our car towed occasionally and other interesting things. I remember one time, I won't get into the details, but the car did get towed and my dad had to come from Smyrna to pick us up as we called him at a pay phone and take me and Andy to somewhere south of the old Brave Stadium to the impound yard to get the car. And then I had to drive to Tucker where they lived, drop them off at about 315 in the morning on July 3rd before we have the biggest July 4th celebration service in the history of church and have Dr. Charles Stanley standing in the door in the garage. So we said to him, we wanted to go see Fleetwood Mac. And you know what he said? Have you prayed about it? And you know what we said? We have. We lied. And so, did anybody ever seen Fleetwood Mac in their prime? Anyone that old? Thank you. God bless you. Lord, somebody help these people out after the gathering. The place is just euphoric and I am miserable.

Because I did not inquire of the Lord. And I'm sitting in there under conviction, so mad. In either way. way it's not the road we want to live on. We want to live on the road of the wisdom rider. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways submit to him. Now the translation I wanted to grab here, somehow I messed up on that, is acknowledge him. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your path straight. The word here, this word really, I'll show you what it means in just a second, but it's more clear acknowledge. In all your ways. So when the people come with the moldy bread and the sandals, acknowledge him. When people have a ruse, acknowledge him. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight. Most of us probably memorize this text somewhere along the way, right? But this is it. If you'd like to add a few to it I'll give you some really quickly. Psalm 32 8, I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. I will counsel you with my loving eye on you. Isaiah 30 21, whether you turn to the right or to the left your ears will hear a voice behind you saying this is the way. Walk in it. James 1 5, if any of you lacks wisdom you should ask God who gives generously to all without finding fault and it will be given to you. Psalm 25 4, show me your ways Lord. Teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me for you are God my Savior and my hope is in you all day long. John 16 13, but when he the spirit of truth comes he will guide you into all the truth. Proverbs 16 9, the mind of man plans his way but the Lord directs his steps. Psalm 73 24, you guide me with your counsel and then afterward you will take me into glory. First John 2 27, as for you the anointing you receive from him remains in you and you do not need anyone to teach you but it's his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real not counterfeit just as it has taught you remain in him. The fifth observation is that the goal is to stay to stay tethered to the Spirit of God. This Artemis thing has got everybody thinking about space and I know most of you are like I'm sure Louie's gonna

preach on Artemis at some point and I will at some point but it's got all of us thinking about space and I was just thinking about this idea of staying tethered to the Spirit and I went back to our resident astronaut Shane and I just went back and searched some of the times that he was on an EVA. Do you know what an EVA is? It's an extravehicular activity. Spacewalk. Like why can't NASA just say that we're on a spacewalk? Today we're going on an EVA so we're going outside the station and we're just gonna be out in space. Happy about it. Look at that. I'm out in space. Let's see something crazy. But you don't go out in space without two things being true and you can zoom up and find them in the detail of every one of these photos. The first thing is true is that you are attached by a carabiner, I'm sure it has a sophisticated NASA name, to the side of the space station. Were you to lose your grip, you're attached. You are also attached to a support system which is bringing you the necessary ingredients for life because you are in an environment where there is no oxygen to breathe. So you're out in space doing crazy things, but you're very much tethered to the source of life. And that's what God's wanting for you and wanting for me. The sixth observation we're laying in this spacecraft is that if you make or have made a bad alliance, and we're gonna talk about this next week, there is grace for that. Because some of you are sitting here right now going, hmm, I fell for the moldy bread. And if that's true, I cannot say that there are not gonna be consequences. Some of you are living in the consequences of the Gibeonite deception.

You asked some questions and looked in the bag, but you didn't inquire of the Lord, and now you're stuck with it. I just wanna encourage you today, there's grace in that. You're like, what do you mean by that, and how are you getting that? Very next chapter, all these other kings that we read about, they realized, okay, the Gibeonites made a deal, so let's go take out the Gibeonites, because now they got a partner. Joshua's got a partner. So let's take out the Gibeonites, and here are these five kings come against the Gibeonites, who has to go fight for him now? Joshua, remember that? Now Joshua's gotta go step into the oath. But even in that, that's when the sun stood still. God helped Joshua win a battle, fighting with people that he shouldn't have been able to deal with in the first place. I take away from that, there's grace for us when we make bad alliances, if we come back to God and put our total dependence on him. It does not mean he will just jettison you out of a bad situation that you're in right now, a bad business deal that you're in, or a bad marriage that you're in, or a bad whatever that you're in that you shouldn't have gotten into in the first place. But he will bring grace to you and redeem it somehow

if you totally surrender to him today. And then the last takeaway is this, that what God is wanting is a simple prayer in the great and in the granular, a simple prayer. I wanna encourage you today that your first step with God is not some gigantic theological puzzle. Your first step with God is a simple prayer. Let's go back really quick to Proverbs 3, 5, and 6. In all your ways, acknowledge him. I took quite some time just to meditate on that word. Studied it, dug under it. And the more I looked at it, I started realizing that when I acknowledge him in all my ways, I'm getting knowledge. To say, God, I just wanna acknowledge you. Let me just make a little slight turn here and this is all underneath this word. It's not saying, God, I wanna know what you have to say or what you think about this. I'm just, you know, doing that one last check. Just wanna check that last box. I interrogated him, I looked through their stuff, and I asked God, check, check, check. That is not what this word means. This word means I want you. I want you. I do not just want the right answer, I want you. I don't just want you to tell me if it's left or right, I want you. I want in all my ways, you.

I kept looking at it. The more I looked at it, I realized that's what I want. I wanna know you. I wanna know him. In all my ways. I wanna know him. In all my ways, in the great and the granular, I wanna know him. And so my prayer, my simple prayer is, Jesus, I want you. You I Want you I Got I got guys here wanting to make a treaty, but I want you are you in the treaty? So, what does that look like practically I don't think and this is just me you can take this for what it's worth I don't think it means standing in the line at the quick service place and going. I don't know Do I get the six nuggets or the ten nuggets? I don't know. I am conflicted Lord I just want you I want to know what you are about. I want you to be in this decision I want to acknowledge you and all my ways. I'm sorry. Just give me one more minute I want to just acknowledge you right now I don't want to lean on my own understanding because I don't know whether I'm gonna get the six or the ten Can you just give me one more second? So I'm acknowledging you Lord right now I don't really you know, there's a point where a mom and dad are looking at their kid going. I Don't know. Why don't you just pick which pair of tennis shoes you want and put them on? Right But there are some other times let me just point to four I Have to make the call today I have to make the decision today It's D-day Well, I I'm guessing if it's time to make the decision that you've interrogated And I'm guessing that you've investigated But just ask have I say it with me inquired

Have I told God, you know today's the day I mean, I know, you know today's the day and got to make the decision by two o'clock I just want you to know one more time. I want you Do not let me do something. That's not you I got to make the choice at two o'clock whether I get a newsflash or a text from an angel or Somebody write something in the sky I've still got to make the decision by two o'clock and I'm gonna make the best one I can make because I've interrogated Investigated but I've also inquired Just in the event that the Lord wants to bring somebody through the door at 150 feet 154 and go, you know what? I just had this thought that maybe you should stop and think about this and you went Thank you so much I'm glad I inquired Of the Lord Or maybe this scenario you're heading into a meeting or you're going on a business trip or you're going to this conference that You have to be at for a few days or you're you're starting a new class We're going to a new gym. You're gonna invite you to play pickleball your neighbor And instead of just getting all your stuff together or getting all my stuff together we paused and said Lord you know, I'm going to Cleveland for three days, right? Is there any assignment there That you have for me I just wanted to inquire of the Lord You know, we're going to play pickleball this afternoon Sally asked me to go I Just want to stop because I got my outfit I Got my paddle in my little bag and my water bottle and I got my shoes feel-good, I Just wanted to stop and inquire. Is there anything you want me to do at the pickleball today? And if there is I just want I just want you to know I want you And I'd like to win also

How about this one you got a windfall And I'm just kind of leaning into people more in my demographic you've got an inheritance Sale a disbursement And you talk to your financial advisor Because you're smart You interrogated and investigated But did you inquire of the Lord and did you say to him we just got a windfall After Talking to the fight financial advisor. It looks like it recommend this and that and that what do you recommend? I Just want to make sure that we inquired of the Lord Okay, let's just bring it down to this last one there's a new Netflix series coming out Tell me to tell you what it is. I Have no idea You you would help me in that zone, but I know there's a new one Everybody's talking about it Have you heard of it It's 20 episodes The crazy thing is you can watch them back-to-back But you don't have to you will but you don't have to Have you ever been in that zone Kids go to bed. I swear go to bed right now We're watching four more episodes tonight. And if you're not in your room in ten minutes, you're living somewhere else It's A new Netflix series coming out. You'll find out what it is soon. It's 20 episodes. I looked it up Because it was made for commercials But you can watch it on Netflix without the commercials that you pay the right rate. The episodes are 44 minutes long. I Mean ones 42, but they average out 44 minutes long. I Added it up. It's 14.5 hours You

Did you inquire of the Lord Did you say to him I would like to invest 14 and a half hours of your life in this series Good And what is he gonna say he's gonna say well, did you pray about it? You're gonna say well, that's what I'm doing right now I'm inquiring of the Lord Before I spend 14 and a half hours of his life On that series And then you can just break that down a hundred ways Don't depend on your own understanding but in all of your ways acknowledge him in all of your ways say I want you and You know, please understand I'm not trying to bring conviction to anybody if you watch Netflix all night last night and barely got here this morning I don't I'm not trying to get into your space I'm just asking the question Is the 20 episode 14 and a half hour investment gonna make you any more like the person God wants you to be and Could you say every time you say Let's go on to the next episode. I want to know you. I Want to know you Jesus I want you. I Just want you and If not, then we all need to back up and we need to turn our ships around and we need to say you know What I want a life that ends up being what God wants for me and more than that. I want God so I am going to break up the ruse and I'm gonna start inquiring of the Lord and When he tells me I'm not gonna lie I

Want to say thank you, I'm so glad I inquired of the Lord