You’ve Got God On Your Side

If the enemy can't make you fearful about what you're facing, if he can't make you frustrated about what you're facing, he just make you look forward to the future. He just gives AI this arrival illusion, it's an illusion. So now you are standing in the future that you imagined and you are waiting on the one that isn't real. You see what I'm saying? There is no version of your future that is frustration-free. - Wow. - Come on. But there can be a stronger you that steps into it. There is no version of your future or my future. There is no version of your life that is frustration-free. If you are broke and you get the money to pay off your bills, you will now have the frustration of having enough money to pay off bills, which means people are gonna wanna borrow. So you're gonna go from the frustration of broke to the frustration of people wanting to borrow. There is no version of your future that is frustration-free. There is no advance without a round. There is no moment in your life and I know how we get AI, we get arrival illusion, like I can't wait for the day that I'm gonna get my temper under control. You may never have your temper under control. You may need the Holy Spirit all the time to help you with what you can't control. Because yeah, you may get a little older, you may not wanna rage as much anymore, you may just not even have the strength to yell about stuff. So it may change a little bit, but that anger, this is what I said to my friend who's in his 30s

who wants to get this for. This is what I said to my friend at year 10, want to get to year 20. I said, there is no version of your future that is struggle-free. But what you do now determines which you walks into that future. (audience applauds) So, this, are you with me? Are you with me? Are you with me? I got just a little bit more, I gotta get you there. Somebody shout, we're there! That's what they thought, we're there! It's the promised land, it's Jericho, and Joshua confirms that he goes, "Advanced! Yeah! Advanced! Let's go!" Advanced, march around, around! We've got around, down! We want to go ahead! I got struggled down, I want to get to my 40s, 'cause my 40s is gonna be paid off and it's gonna be peaceful and it's gonna be amazing, right? Right? Lie to me, tell me it is, I have to believe it! (audience laughs) There is no version of your future that is frustration-free. But there can be a stronger you that steps into it. I love that so much, that's so good. So now I know what God told him to walk around. Because he needed to teach them to follow more than he needed to teach them how to fight.

(audience applauds) That hit me when I saw it. Watch, this is the part I saw, because essentially what my friends are saying, "I want to get to the good part." How many have felt that way? They're like, "I want to get to the good part." Like the easy part of, like the good part of relationship. I'm with you, I'd pray that for you. I want goodness and mercy to follow you all the days of your life. But the idea that this good part is coming, it's the myth of when I get there. And I'll prove it to you, you know this, but maybe you just need me to point it out, what you already know. After the walls fell, they still had to fight. And after they fought that battle, they still had to defeat 31 kings. So we shout over seven days in the walls fell. Well, that's awesome. But guess how long it took them to take the land? Seven years. You're always gonna be circling something. That's why you gotta stop while you're circling and just praise the Lord for where I am right now. (congregation applauding) You've been trying to get to the good part, get to the part where you're strong, get to the part where you've got this,

you gotta manage now, you gotta tighten now, you gotta write now, you lost the weight now, you gained the muscle now, you lost the fat, you gained the muscle, you did the stuff, you did it all, I'm gonna get there. And when I get there, it's the myth of when I get there, it's the myth of when I get there. But the miracle of Joshua chapter six is not the seventh day when they shouted, it's the second day when they showed up. I said the real miracle of Joshua chapter six is not the seventh day when they shouted, it's the second day when they showed up Let's imagine this, since we've got great imaginations and we can imagine the future. Let's imagine the passage, right? Advance around the city and don't say anything because I can't have you talking about how stupid this feels to go around. Now on the first day, you're fired up in the Holy Ghost. Now we're getting fired up in the Holy Ghost. Now I don't know why we're walking around but something good's about to happen. We're about to go in only to find out when you get home that night and take off your armor. You've got to explain to your wife that you went for a walk today. Imagine your wife, she's like, how did he go today? Did we take Jericho? Did we take him maybe?

Did we take him, did we take him your big strong warrior? And he's like, yeah, well, about that man. It was kind of interesting today because he said advance but then he said around and so we were like, fired up in the Holy Ghost and we fired up in the Holy Ghost. But we fired up but then we kind of frustrated 'cause all we did was walk and we're right back where we started. I mean, it was kind of nice to have some trumpets and stuff that's peaceful, you know, epic sounding. Sound like something about to have a trumpets with your plume, whoa. Sounded like bum, bum, bum, bum, bum. Tum, tum, tum, tum, tum, tum, tum, tum, tum. But then here we are back home. Remember I told you last week, Jericho isn't big and only took about 10, 15 minutes. So ain't got to explain to her, why are you back home and it's 8.30 in the morning? I thought you had a job, I thought you had a fight. You feel me? Why am I dramatizing this? 'Cause I think you feel like that some days, huh? I think you feel like that a lot of times when you're trying to have a conversation with your parents, but they never listen to you. And you're like, why can't we make any progress here? We just go round and round and around and around. I took my wife on a date night

and guess what it ended in, a fight. Around and around. I even got her flowers. I got her flowers and she said they look kind of dead. See the reason I took her on the date night is so we could end up somewhere different after the date. But here we are, still both on opposite sides of the bed just round and round and round. Now, I gotta move through this point, but who am I preaching to today? That in an area of your life, you are like, I am sick of circling this. I am sick of dealing with this. I am sick of going through this. I am sick of, I walked around enough in the wilderness. I thought I was there. This is supposed to be my 40s. I'm supposed to be, why, you see this gray hair? How come I still don't know what I'm doing with my life? And I've got gray hair. I was supposed to be there by now. I know you've been feeling that. I know you've been feeling that. You wanna get to the good part. Come on, God, bring the walls down. Come on, God, bring the giant down. Come on, God, split the Jordan, split the sea. Do the thing, do it, God, do it for me. Dead for them, dead for Daniel, dead for lunch,

dead for most, do it for me, do it for Joshua. I'll shout, God, ah, I'll shout, hallelujah. I'll shout, thank you, Jesus. But the miracle is less about the shout when the walls fall. And it's more about showing up when they don't. And because you don't need God to be more specific, you need to take the next step. (congregation applauding) - Great, great, great. I need you to be more specific, God. Notice what Joshua did not tell the people. He didn't tell them anything about the seven days. Find it, find it, and I'll retire on the spot. I'll turn in my preaching microphone and my badge and my gun. And I'll never preach again if you can find where Joshua told the people, all right, y'all, it's gonna be kind of weird, but we're gonna walk around, but it's gonna be good 'cause we're gonna have trumpets and it's gonna intimidate the enemy. And on the seventh day, we're gonna take seven laps. We're gonna really turn it up on the seventh day. And we're gonna shout. Find me where Joshua told them what was gonna happen on the seventh day. He didn't tell them any of that. Instead of giving them the specifics, he gave them a step. When Joshua, thank you Lord, thank you Lord, for what you showed me, had spoken to the people,

the seven priests carrying the seven trumpets before the Lord went forward, blowing their trumpets so they're going forward but they're going around so they're obeying God but nothing is changing and not a brick is falling from the wall and not a sign is coming from the sky and not a single evidence that God has spoken is presenting and manifesting itself in physical form but they went forward, blowing their trumpets and the ark of the Lord's covenant followed them. Stay with me verse nine. The armed guard marched ahead of the priests who blew the trumpets and the rear guard followed the ark all this time, all this time the trumpets were sounding but Joshua had commanded the army. Don't give a cry, don't raise your voice, don't say a word. It's not in your mouth, it's in your march. Don't say a word until the day I tell you to shout, didn't shout, so he had the ark of the Lord. So he had the ark of the Lord. The ark of the Lord represented the presence and the protection and the power of God. It's where the Ten Commandments lived, it's where the man alive, it's where Aaron's rod lived, it's where what they went through in the wilderness was commemorated for them to take forward into their future. So he had the ark of the Lord carried around the city, around the city, so they're walking around but they are not alone.

I came to preach to somebody today. You may be walking around it but you are not alone in it. The ark of God is with you. The ark of God is with you. The ark of God is with you. The presence of God is with you. It's that they took the ark and they carried it around the city, circling it once. Then the army returned to camp and spent the night there and Joshua got up early the next morning and the priest took up the ark of the Lord. The seven priests carrying the seven trumpets went forward marching before the ark of the Lord and blowing the trumpets. The armed men went ahead of them and the rear guard followed the ark of the Lord while the trumpets kept sounding. So on the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. They did this six days, verse 15. On the seventh day, that's the good part, right? That's the part you wanna get to, right? That's the part you wanna skip to, right? That's the part you want God to bring to you. That's when you're gonna be grateful. That's when you're gonna feel good. That's when you're gonna have an assurance. That's when you're gonna be kinder. That's when you're gonna forgive. That's when you're gonna move on.

On the seventh day, they did this for six days and on the seventh day, that's the good part, but I wanna tell you, stop waiting to get to the good part. Get to the God part. (congregation applauding) Because the one thing that they had on the first day and the second day and the third day and the fourth day and the fifth day and the sixth day. And the seventh day, that was the same, was the ark. And so on, every day that they marched, they had the ark. Even when no bricks moved, they had the ark. Even when there was no visible sign of progress, come on, I'm preaching, they had the ark. On the second day, when they felt stupid going around the walls, they had the ark. On the third day, when they were starting to question, is anything ever going to happen? Because Joshua never told them on the seventh day it's coming down. They just had to do it this time around. This time around. Not so focused on the seventh time that you missed this. I've got the ark this time around. And my life started changing when I stopped looking for the good part and started looking for the God part. Because I found out that in the highs of my life, there's a God part. But in the lows of my life, there's a God part too. I've got the ark. That in the seasons where people are surrounding me,

there's a God part. But in the seasons where I'm all alone crying myself to sleep and nobody texting to check on me, I've got the ark. And the reason that I can survive as I circle this issue in my life is not because I'm watching walls fall. And it's not because I have proof. It's because I have his presence. And I came to remind somebody today, you've got the ark. Not when you get there, but right here, right now. You've got God. And if you've got God, I can circle this as long as it takes because I've got God. And I'm not waiting for a wall to begin to crumble for me to have faith because I've got God on every circle that I make. So if somebody's cussing me out, I've got God. If they fire me, I've got God. If they promote me, I've got God. If nobody else will help me, I've got God. If my mother and mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up if the doctors can't help me. I've got God. If they sue me, I've got God. If they slay me, I've got God. God, that would be difficult. I've got the presence because I've got God. I'm crazy. Because I've got God, God. That's how I'm walking around these walls because I've got God. You can't make me doubt him. He lives inside of me.

I know too much about him, so I go around and around. And all this time the trumpets were sounding, all this time the trumpets were sounding. They won the trumpets were sounding, they too the trumpets were sounding, day three the trumpets were sounding, day four the trumpets were sounding, but nothing was happening with the wall. That's all right. I'm not blowing my trumpet because of a wall. I'm blowing it because of a word. And if I walk in this word, if I walk, I've got God, he said he gave it to me. I've got God. He said he beat with me. I've got God. He said he never failed me nor forsake me. I've got God. I've got God. Your neighbor is confused. Why are you praising God? You've got cancer. Yeah, I've got cancer, but I've got God. I've got an art. I'm going back for another round of treatment, but just as I'm going back for another round doesn't mean I can't rejoice. This time around, this time around, this time around, this time around, this time around. I don't even have to wait to shower because my wall's already fell. It's not because of Joshua, but because of Jesus, shout out. So what are you waiting for? What life are you waiting for? What level are you waiting for? My Bible says, let everything, let everything, let everything that has read the last time I checked.

The trumpet was an instrument that you play with your breath, and all of this time the trumpet was sounding through every heartbreak, through every setback, through every laugh, this time around. Let everything that has spread, praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let everything that has spread, praise the Lord, let everything that has spread, praise the Lord, let everything that has spread, praise the Lord, let everything that has spread, praise the Lord, let everything that has spread, praise the Lord, let everything that has spread, praise the Lord, let everything that has spread, praise the Lord, let everything that has spread. [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC]