The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
Joshua 23Primary passage read and discussed throughout the sermon as a whole chapter
1 After many days, when Yahweh had given rest to Israel from their enemies all around, and Joshua was old and well advanced in years,
2 Joshua called for all Israel, for their elders and for their heads, and for their judges and for their officers, and said to them, “I am old and well advanced in years.
3 You have seen all that Yahweh your God has done to all these nations because of you; for it is Yahweh your God who has fought for you.
4 Behold, I have allotted to you these nations that remain, to be an inheritance for your tribes, from the Jordan, with all the nations that I have cut off, even to the great sea toward the going down of the sun.
5 Yahweh your God will thrust them out from before you, and drive them from out of your sight. You shall possess their land, as Yahweh your God spoke to you.
6 “Therefore be very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, that you not turn away from it to the right hand or to the left;
7 that you not come among these nations, these that remain among you; neither make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause to swear by them, neither serve them, nor bow down yourselves to them;
8 but hold fast to Yahweh your God, as you have done to this day.
9 “For Yahweh has driven great and strong nations out from before you. But as for you, no man has stood before you to this day.
10 One man of you shall chase a thousand; for it is Yahweh your God who fights for you, as he spoke to you.
11 Take good heed therefore to yourselves, that you love Yahweh your God.
12 “But if you do at all go back, and hold fast to the remnant of these nations, even these who remain among you, and make marriages with them, and go in to them, and they to you;
13 know for a certainty that Yahweh your God will no longer drive these nations from out of your sight; but they shall be a snare and a trap to you, a scourge in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good land which Yahweh your God has given you.
14 “Behold, today I am going the way of all the earth. You know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing has failed of all the good things which Yahweh your God spoke concerning you. All have happened to you. Not one thing has failed of it.
15 It shall happen that as all the good things have come on you of which Yahweh your God spoke to you, so Yahweh will bring on you all the evil things, until he has destroyed you from off this good land which Yahweh your God has given you,
16 when you disobey the covenant of Yahweh your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods, and bow down yourselves to them. Then Yahweh’s anger will be kindled against you, and you will perish quickly from off the good land which he has given to you.”
Read aloud, God promising to drive out the nations and give Israel the land
5 Yahweh your God will thrust them out from before you, and drive them from out of your sight. You shall possess their land, as Yahweh your God spoke to you.
Read and emphasized repeatedly, that every promise of the Lord has come true and not one has failed
14 “Behold, today I am going the way of all the earth. You know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing has failed of all the good things which Yahweh your God spoke concerning you. All have happened to you. Not one thing has failed of it.
Read aloud, warning that breaking the covenant by serving other gods will bring disaster
16 when you disobey the covenant of Yahweh your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods, and bow down yourselves to them. Then Yahweh’s anger will be kindled against you, and you will perish quickly from off the good land which he has given to you.”
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
This was Tribe's annual Pecky Day service, held the Sunday before Thanksgiving. Brian walked the congregation through Joshua 23, using Joshua's farewell address to Israel as the backbone for a message about remembering what God has done and standing on his promises rather than on personal wishes. The Pecky story, a Hunter family tradition, gave the whole thing its name and its heart.
What was said
Brian opened with a statement he asked the congregation to sit with: when we remember the victories God has given us in the past, it arms us with strength for today's battles. He asked people to raise their hands if they had ever panicked over a situation that God later resolved, then asked them to keep their hands up and let that raised hand be a testimony to themselves. The point was not abstract. The raised hands in the room were evidence that God has come through before, and that record is worth holding onto.
The group read through Joshua 23 together, with members of the congregation taking turns. When verse one came up and someone read the phrase "from the river to the sea," Brian stopped and zeroed in on it. He laid out the historical timeline: the Israelites crossed the Jordan around 1400 BC, and God spoke that phrase through Joshua at that time. Islam did not begin until around 610 AD. His point was that the phrase is roughly four thousand years old, that it originated in scripture, and that the land belongs to God because he made it and he determines its divisions.
Brian then described walking over to a Free Palestine rally on the town square the morning before the service, after hearing about it at short notice. He said he went to pray but could not stay on the sidelines, so he engaged several people in conversation. He asked questions, looked for points of agreement, and said he had to call a time out a few times when claims became inaccurate, such as the claim that Israel bombs indiscriminately. His takeaway from those conversations was that the people he spoke with held their position emotionally and without much historical grounding, and that it confirmed for him why Tribe would be covering the topic more intentionally as a church family over the coming months.
Back in Joshua 23, Brian landed on verse 14, where Joshua tells the people that deep in their hearts they know every promise God made has come true and not one has failed. He made a careful distinction between a promise and a wish. God is under no obligation to fulfill wishes, even sincere and godly ones. What he has committed himself to is his own promises, and those do not fail.
The Pecky story illustrated what that looks like in an ordinary life. In 2007, Brian and Lissa had just finished building their house in Alpine, Wyoming when God told them to sell it and move to Tulsa so Brian could go to school. They obeyed, but the house had not yet closed and they were under serious financial pressure. A large tropical bird flew into the window of their small apartment, the kids named it Pecky, and the next day Brian spotted a missing-bird sign near Selah's school. They returned the bird to its owner, and the owner came running back out with a reward. Brian was clear that this was not a prosperity-gospel moment. The money from returning the bird did not solve their situation by itself. The larger principle he drew out was that God often answers financial need not with a check appearing out of nowhere but with an opportunity that requires hard work, and that the entrepreneurial members of the congregation would recognize that pattern.
He brought it back to verse 14 and the word "promise." The verse does not say every wish has come true. It says every promise has come true. That shift of one word changes everything. God is the originator and promisor of the promise, and his faithfulness to his own word, not to human desire, is the ground on which the congregation can stand.
Touch points
Things you could actually do this week.
Write down one past situation you thought was hopeless but that God worked out, and keep it somewhere you will see it this week.
When you catch yourself spiraling over a current hard situation, stop and read back through that remembered victory before you let the worry run.
If an opportunity to work hard shows up this week, treat it as a possible answer to a need you have been praying about rather than waiting for something easier.
If you run into someone who holds a view you strongly disagree with, try asking follow-up questions before stating your position, the way Brian did at the town square rally.
Grab a Bible and read all of Joshua 23 on your own before next Sunday, since the group only got through parts of it together.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages
in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
Brian talked about remembering past victories as armor for present battles. Can you think of a specific situation where looking back at what God had already done gave you strength to face something hard in front of you?
Brian read from Joshua 23 and pointed out the phrase 'from the river to the sea' as originating in scripture thousands of years ago. He also described stopping at the Free Palestine rally and trying to find common ground while still being honest when something was factually wrong. How do you hold onto biblical conviction without shutting down a real conversation with someone who sees things differently?
Brian predicó en el Día de Pecky, una tradición de la familia Hunter que la congregación Tribe ha adoptado durante sus siete años de vida. La idea central es simple: cuando recordamos las victorias que Dios nos ha dado en el pasado, eso nos da fuerzas para enfrentar las batallas de hoy. Brian usó la historia de Josué, ya anciano, dirigiéndose al pueblo de Israel antes de morir, recordándoles todo lo que Dios había cumplido, como punto de partida para reflexionar sobre la fidelidad de Dios a lo largo del tiempo.
Brian también compartió la historia del origen del nombre "Pecky". Cuando su familia vivía en un pequeño apartamento en Tulsa, Oklahoma, pasando por una época de fuerte presión económica mientras él estudiaba y trabajaba al mismo tiempo, un loro grande voló contra su ventana y aterrizó en su balcón. El pájaro resultó ser la mascota perdida de una vecina, y aunque no hubo ningún milagro financiero inmediato, Brian usó esa historia para hablar de cómo Dios suele responder a las necesidades no con dinero caído del cielo sino con oportunidades de trabajar duro. Dios no está obligado a cumplir nuestros deseos, ni siquiera los piadosos, pero sí cumple sus promesas.
El sermón también tocó brevemente el conflicto en Israel. Brian leyó pasajes de Josué que incluyen la frase "del río al mar" y señaló que esa expresión tiene más de cuatro mil años de antigüedad en las Escrituras. Compartió que el día anterior había ido a la plaza del pueblo donde había una manifestación pro-Palestina, y que tuvo varias conversaciones con los asistentes, buscando entender su postura y también compartir la suya.
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Pasajes bíblicos mencionados:
Josué 23 (capítulo completo, con énfasis en los versículos 5, 10, 11-13 y 14-16)
Proverbios (referencia general a que la sabiduría vale más que el oro)
Read the full transcript5,989 words
Speaker 1I I got it. Yes. I think I think that's it. Hi.
Speaker 2Perfect. Okay. And everyone in the room can hear if the Holy Spirit's putting something on your heart today to share. It's not just the people on the stage that the Lord speaks to. I know you know that.
And we come here together to hear from the Lord. So if while we're worshiping this next song and the Lord puts a picture, a word, an encouragement, a scripture, a testimony on your heart, if it's from the Lord for you to share, just raise your hand. Gretchen has the handheld microphone. She's rolling around. She'll see you.
Lord, we thank you for your presence in this place. Come speak to us. Come speak to us. We ask that you would do a new thing in us today. Maybe some people in this room are going through a trial, maybe have strained relationships, maybe there's a work situation that's just completely occupying all of your bandwidth right now.
But we ask that in the trials of life that you would press us and make new wine, that we would press into you in a trial. We would remember what you've done in the past, and then we would press into you. And then on the other side of it, new wine will be made out of us. That's our prayer today, Lord.
Speaker 3Yes. Yes. And
Speaker 2in the crushing and in the pressing, will you make a
Speaker 3new wine? Yes. Yes.
Speaker 2New fruit, a new depth of faith, a new depth of trust?
Speaker 3Yes. If
Speaker 2we press into you, that's our part. So as we sing this, let this
Speaker 1just be the cry of our heart truly
Speaker 2to embrace the trials of many kinds, as Paul says, for it brings endurance.
Speaker 3When we sang the verse, we are breaking new ground. A short scripture.
Speaker 1Penetrated.
Speaker 2Got everybody. Amen.
Speaker 3And that is his everlasting promises are our armor and shield. So holy spirit, together with one voice, one heart in unity with you, we ask for that connection. We declare right now, we decree that the connection for each of us individually and corporately, the connection between your everlasting promises, so many promises. But you have a promise for each one of us today individually. We we step into that connection.
That's the way it is in the name of Jesus. We're not gonna retreat. We're not going to dodge. We're gonna step into the connection and the promise that you have for us individually and corporately today. We thank you for that.
We thank you for insight. We thank you for greater knowledge. We thank you for greater understanding of what you're doing right now. Right now, Lord. Thank you, Jesus.
Not just some spiritual ethereal thing out there, but in our hearts and in our minds. We thank you for that. The reality of who you are, the reality of your promises, the reality of all that you have for us. We thank you. Yes.
We thank you. We praise your name. We worship you, Jesus. We magnify your name. We declare that you are the king.
Yes. There's nothing false about you. That's right. Everything about you is truth. Everything about you is power.
Everything about you is freedom. Yes. Oh, Lord, we step into your freedom. Yes. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you.
Speaker 2My favorite things that Lee says is if that's the way it is. Yes, That's the way it is. I feel like sometimes we get to speak a promise, read God's word, and then just say it out loud. That's the way it is. Yes, Lord.
Regardless of what it may look like around me or what I might feel, that's the way it is. And he's never changing. So what we've seen him do in the past and the things we can stand on his promises and his word, how he's come through, that's the way it is. It's not changing. Yeah.
So, Lord, today, we just thank you as we remember and we celebrate pecky day. Yes, Lord. Lord, that some people are gonna learn about today. What's a pecky? I want one.
Lord, we just thank you that you are never changing. Yeah. That you're faithful, your promises are true, and that when we sing these songs, it's not just like some idea or some, like, grasping wind that we're maybe You are God, and you are all Yes. Mighty. So I just pray over hearts in this room today, whatever might be distracting pulling them away from meeting with you, the risen savior, the living king today, the lover of their soul, the one who knows every intricate detail of their heart and their life, whatever might keep them today, would you reveal that to them?
Then give them a conviction to repent or lay it down and just come boldly into your presence today because that's what we ask for, to be changed by you today. And I love that line in the song. It says, make me whatever Yeah. You want me to be. Yes, Lord.
Yes. Just, Lord, make us whatever Yes. You want us to be. Yes. In Jesus' name.
I see some new faces. I see a fairy movie. Thank you so much. Where does he like it to fit again?
Speaker 1Like, this last week, it was, like, still I
Speaker 2mean, that looks good to me.
Speaker 3It's good.
Speaker 2He's doing
Speaker 1okay. He's over there undergoing his treatment. You gotta have more power than that. Yeah. No.
You would never make it in a school. You know, there are there are a lot of people a lot of our tribe fam is traveling. Today, they have they have left town for Thanksgiving vacation, but it's just great because we got a lot of people in town or back in town for Thanksgiving. So as you guys who are just visiting for Thanksgiving, as you're on your way on the road out of town, just give all of our normal tribe fan a high five so that you trade places, and we're we're we're all we're all it's great to see new faces. It's great to see the Kropinskis.
Some of the Kropinskis here. Probably a lot of you don't know the Kropinsky family. We did life in church with them. How many years ago did you move? Seven.
Seven years ago. We just celebrated Tribe's seventh birthday at the end of October. And so Kropinski family, welcome to Tribe. Here we are, like, couldn't get Brian out of the bars, so we just had to do church in a bar. If you are visiting and passing through, we're so glad that you are joining us today.
And if you are back from California for for from the fall break, you're here for the winter, so glad that you guys are here. And if you're new and visiting, we're we're really good. I told Patrick over there. I'm just like calling out people left and right there. Don't worry.
You'll get your chance. I was like, man, you look so sharp. I gotta preach better. Like, let me see if I can make some notes. So Patrick is a protege of Chuck who has worked for decades at the mission, and Chuck introduced us to Patrick recently as Chuck Federoff goes around and represents Saint John's mission.
And so, Patrick, great to see you today. And David's home on Thanksgiving break. Hello, buddy. Good to see you, David. Alright, guys.
If you have your Bible with you, turn to Joshua chapter 23 and couple of statements for the the the preamble. Today is pecky day. How many of you this is your very first pecky day. You're like, I do not know what you're talking about. Oh, great.
Great. Wait. You've been here for a pecky day or you just didn't raise your hands? Okay. I'll let you off the hook.
I just didn't see your hands, but I see your faces. So pecky day pecky day is a hunter family tradition that has become a tribe family tradition for seven years now. It is a Sunday when our family recalls and celebrates the goodness that God has demonstrated toward us. And here's something really important to to to keep in mind. You may even wanna take a picture or write it down.
When we remember the victories God has given us in the past, it arms us with strength for today's battles. So I'll put that up on the screen. When we remember the victories God has given us in the past, it arms us with strength for today's battles. Meaning just take a moment and let that sink in. How many of you, for this question, you don't mean to raise your hand, How many of you have found yourself in some sort of a tight spot or difficult situation or or hard place and you just freak out?
This is the worst thing. It's never gonna get any better. How, like, you just wring your hands and you worry and you stress. And then that situation gets resolved whether you think that it is by natural or you know it is by the sovereign hand of the Lord, but you look back and you're able. Now this is a question that I will ask you.
How many of you have looked back on a past situation that you thought was the end of the world, but when you look back, you're like, oh my gosh, God totally worked that out. Oh, keep your hands up, keep your hands up, keep your hands up. Okay, let your raised hand be a testimony to yourself right now about this statement. Amen. Amen.
Thank you Jesus. Can you put your hands down? Mhmm. When we remember the victories that god has given us in the past, it arms us with strength for today's battles. That's what that's what the hunters have been a hunter family, my last name is Hunter.
My wife, miss us, the worship leader, she was just right up here. Hello. And our family has been celebrating pecky days since our kids were very little. And I'll tell you more about pecky day, but what I would like to do right now is to to jump into God's word and read a passage together from Jeremiah chapter 23. And when I say together, let me Joshua?
Joshua. Sorry. What'd I say? Jeremiah. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. The the the the What are the It's been a morning. It's been a morning. Joshua, thank you.
I can always tell by the the quick look of consternation that just washes across your faces that I'm like, I must have done something wrong. What have I just done wrong? I can't usually think of it, so I have to ask you. And guess what? You guys are always really good about pointing out where I've messed up.
So thank you for the accountability, and I need it when I sit in this position. Joshua chapter 23, and we're going to read this passage together. And if you're new to Tribe, one of the one of the unique things that we have with our formatting here at Tribe is I really do not want this to be a monologue, but I really welcome and invite this time that we spend together to be a dialogue. I want to hear from you. Questions, comments, connections.
And by connections, if there's something that we're reading or something that we're talking about that reminds you of something else, maybe maybe it was a dream that you recently had from the Lord or something that you were reading recently or something that you've been studying. Oh my gosh, that reminds me of. Well, you know what that is? That's just creating a mental hyperlink in your brain. And when that hyperlink just jumps out to you, I would love to hear it because how many of you know who have been in this format of tribe for a while that it's really great when one of you makes a connection, then that helps the rest of us to make that same connection.
And the more connections we make with God's word and his principles and his ways and his truth, the more cemented those things become in our brain and in our hearts. Right? Mhmm. So with that in mind, as we begin to read Joshua chapter 23 together, we'll take turns reading, and then as we get into the conversation, I would love to hear from you. If you raise your hand, Gretchen will get you the mic and the the mic is so that we can hear your voice in this room, but it's also for all of our families that participate in the tribe service through the livestream right here this morning.
Without further idea, why don't we start reading in verse one, and we're going to read the whole chapter is so good. So let's just enjoy feasting on God's word together. Joshua chapter 23. Would you begin reading in verse one, please? Pause.
How many of you heard that? How many of you caught that? So, so, do you know, do you know what I'm zeroing in on? Repeat that phrase, please. What's the catch phrase, the buzzword that we've been hearing a lot?
Finish it. So, this expression first written down in the is over four thousand years About when Joshua was was speaking these words. From the river to the sea. Out of the mouth of the Lord through Joshua. This is not a new phrase.
This is not a a a crafty, pithy phrase that has been recently invented. This phrase is 4,000 years old. So, to give you some some context, the Israelites crossed the Jordan River into the promised land around 1400 BC. Historical, actual, verifiable history. The birth of Islam occurred so much later, Around the seventh century AD when the prophet Muhammad received his first demonically inspired revelation around 06/10 So, if you do the math two thousand years separated.
When god made that statement first, then, the birth If we want to talk about historical claims to the land. Two thousand years before the birth of Islam. God already said from the river to the sea. But who owns the land? God.
It's his. He owns the title deed to the earth. Why? Because he made it. He made it.
When you make your own planet, you get to do anything you want on it and to it. Subject to Teton County LDRs. Pending. Babe, I don't wanna get political. He owns the planet.
He owns the land alone gets to decide the divisions 4,000 ago the god of the Bible said, from the river to the sea, I have given this land to you, who easy for me to say essentially whatever I want because in some ways some of the things that I say, personal opinions, because we are of similar frequency, I can say them loudly and passionately. And because you already agree, I understand that your nods and agreements sometimes has the effect of just being in an echo chamber, right? And so I don't have too many well, I could jump on social media and post some things and get into a really fun trivial like social media fights. And it's tempting because like you could be rather anonymous and just say the craziest things and then you get crazy things back and then there it goes from there. But I don't have too many occasions to interact and engage with people that have different viewpoint.
And so I didn't know about this until 09:30 yesterday morning. But there was a I I don't know who organized it, how it went out, but we found about a we found out about rally on the town square the war in Israel and it was a free Palestine rally and they had posters and they were chanting slogans. And I wanted to go there and like counter protest with my own signs and like I wanted to have one sign that said, you know, had the flag of Israel on the other side of the sign. It would say free Palestine from Hamas. But cooler heads talked me down and I said, well, I'll just go and and pray and Christine Schuler was there.
I don't know. Maybe somebody else I was just going to pray but I I I am a and I couldn't stay away. And so I walked over and I engaged in two or three or four very meaningful conversations with people. I asked questions. I asked asked follow-up follow-up questions.
Questions. And I learned a lot about their misguided and lack of understanding and emotional position. And when we take the time to hear other sides of the story and just because there are two sides of the story doesn't mean that I learned a lot about their mindset. People who would be staying there, I don't want to say today or again. That particular mindset there, I tried really hard to come their way numerous times.
I was like, I can agree with that. I can certainly agree with that. I would say, I have a many times I said, I have a different position than that. Would you like to hear my position? And the few people that I engaged with were very open minded to hear my position.
And several times I did have to like call a time out and say that's just not true. That's actually wildly inaccurate which doesn't that's not a good like conversation keeper goinger. That kind of a statement. But it just got it just got so outlandish. For example, several times they tried to say that Israel is guilty of indiscriminate bombing.
I said, I I that is that statement right there is inaccurate. And if you if you want to try to take another run at that statement that I could agree with, I'd be happy to. I looked for a lot of opportunities to come their way. Again, I apologize for saying there and themed as if like bruh. Because the individuals that I talked to, man, they just believe so strongly.
But one of my takeaways is it was confirmation to my heart we're going to cover here as a tribe family the holidays are Hey, you could you could see somebody with that and be like, hey, that's in the Bible. Big, broad emoji. God said that first. Back to to Joshua 23. Let's keep reading.
Pick up in verse five. We'll continue on. Or you want me to read it? Okay, I'll read. Verse five, this land will be yours.
Oh. For the lord your god will himself drive out all the people living there now. You will take possession of their land just as the lord your god promised you. So, be very careful to follow everything Moses wrote in the book of the instruction. Do not deviate from it turning either to the right or to the left.
Make sure you do not associate with other people still remaining in the land. Do not even mention the names of their gods much less swear by them or serve them or worship them. Rather, cling tightly to the lord your god. As you have done until now. For the lord has driven out great and powerful nations for you and no one has been able to defeat you.
Since the creation of Israel in 1948, do you know that every single country that has attacked Israel has ended up losing geographical territory to Israel? And in concessions for peace, Israel has given back the Sinai Peninsula, Verse 10, each of you will put to flight a thousand of the enemy, for your lord your god fights for you just as he promised. So, be very careful to love the lord your god but if you turn away from him and cling to the customs of the survivors of these nations remaining among you and if you intermarry with him, you will know for certain that the lord your god will no longer drive them out of your land. Instead, there will be a snare and a trap to you, a whip for your back, and thorny brambles to your eyes, and you will vanish from this good land Yeah, let's just go to 16. Soon I will die, going the way of everything on this verse.
Good to underline. Deep in your hearts, you know that every promise of the lord your god has come true, not a single one has failed but surely, as the lord your god has given you the good things he promised, he will also bring disaster on you if you disobey him. Will completely destroy you from this good land he has given you. If you break the covenant of the lord your god by worshiping and serving other gods, his anger will burn against you and he will quickly vanish Let's circle back around to verse 14 Joshua says, soon I will die. Going the way of everything on earth In 2007, Lisa and I and our family, we had just finished building a house down in Alpine, Wyoming and it was a beautiful 3,000 square foot stick frame house on six acres overlooking the Salt River.
And we had just finished vacuuming up the last fuzzies of the newly installed carpet. And God began to speak to me about putting the house on the market. And we're like like we literally designed the staircase and the entry with Selah like with Selah coming down in her dress on like her senior prom with her date and like like, I mean, we were gonna be there forever. And the Lord's like, put it on the market. I'd like you to move to Tulsa, Oklahoma, and and I want you to go to school there.
Because I hadn't been to college. I was just a, like, a climber, dirtbag, ski bum that like like got tricked into ministry. Here I am. And so in 2007, I said, he said, I want you to go to go down to school subsequently has sold three or four more times, never for as much as it sold to us in 2007. Praise the lord.
He moved down to Tulsa, Oklahoma. I'm in school full time. I don't know. I'm taking nineteen or twenty credit hours. I'm trying to work full time because of our mission statement and our core value with our two young children.
Our core, one of our core values was family. And for us and our choice, living according to our core values, we believe that it was important for Lissa to stay home with the kids. And so even though I'm working full time, I had a couple of jobs. And it seemed like every, like, every month there was always like extra month left at the end of our paycheck that happened to anybody here in Jackson ever. And it was, it was, it was rough, like, like, turning diapers inside and out and trying again and like because the house hadn't closed.
It was under contract but it hadn't closed. And so we were in a really difficult place financially and we were we were praying and we were trying to stand in faith the best that we could but I mean maybe we're the only people that can relate to crushing financial pressures and it was and you know what? The the amount of zeros don't matter. It's all relative, you know, like, maybe it's two zeros for you and that's a lot but it's the same equal amount of pressure for somebody that, like, their crushing load has got, three or four zeros. The amount of zeros is irrelevant.
It was just crushing financial pressure on our family, and we didn't know what to do. We're trying our best to like stand in faith. And one day, we were in our small little like apartment. Like, it was so small like like, you know, you could spin around and, like, touch all of the bedrooms. And we're we're sitting on the couch one morning and we we hear this big bump that banged on our second story little like porch window, sliding glass porch window.
And I go out, I pull back the curtain, and I look and the most incredible thing was sitting on our porch that I had never ever ever seen before. It was about I mean, it was big. It was about this tall, sitting there. He had flown into the window and was dazed and was like, what is going on? And I was equally confused thinking, what is going on?
The kids jumped up. They looked out the window. You know, I mean, they I think it's Christmas all of a sudden. They're like screaming and going Christmas. Get back.
Get back. This is like, birds. And so I opened the sliding glass door and it looks at me and I'm looking at him and I walk out onto the porch and we're regarding one another and I don't know what to do. I've never like had a bird before. And so I just stuck my finger out like this.
Watch your eyes And it hopped on my finger. And I was like, yes. Then I hold my finger up. I'm looking at him. And he, like, I think I'm like, like, I'm training this bird right now.
Like, literally, I'm training it and then it like, hop, hop, hop, hops up onto my shoulder and I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm a I turn around and I show Lissa. I'm like this is like my proudest moment. Like I'm literally training this bird. We have a connection. Like I always I always knew it.
Like I just I always wish that I had the ability for dogs to know where I was pointing. That like never really worked out. But I just like I thought this is my breakthrough in like communicate, like interspecies communication. Lissa is standing inside the house and what does she say? Do not bring that thing in here.
And of course, the kids are asking, can we keep it? So, I come in to the apartment with this bird on my shoulder that is like, hello to me. The kids are like jumping up and down. They're they're little. They're jumping up and down.
They want to keep it. They want to pet it like it's this weird like alien in our house and they they want to keep it then the next thing they want to do is give it a name. Yes, see? Yes, you know. And and they're like, what do we name it?
What do we name it? Can we keep it right about that moment? This bird leans down and goes right on my ear. I think just to say hello because you know, they don't have like thumbs to shake hands. So, I think it was like a hello chump and the kids unanimously say, pecky.
So, they wanted to name the bird pecky and he's on my shoulder. We don't know what to do with this. We've got like life and things and and like school and and and so we keep it that day and we're like, you know, the kids are petting it and what, we don't know. Does it eat baby food? Does it eat tuna or strawberry?
I don't know. Like Starbucks. I don't know. And so we found a old milk milk crate. And that night, we put the bird on the linoleum floor.
We gave it a little dish of water and, like, some food and put the milk crate over it. And he was kind of hunched in there. And he put a towel over it because that's what you do at night for birds and poor guy. And then the next day, Selah had to I was taking Selah to school and we're trying to figure out what to do with this bird. We're driving in the car and there was traffic, our normal route to school.
And so I said, let's like I'm pretending to be Jason Bourne, let's take a shortcut through this neighborhood and we'll get there even quicker. And this is about, I don't know, several miles from home. And I'm going through this neighborhood and Selah goes, ah, she screams and I slam on the brakes and I'm like, I've taken my Jason Bourne driving skills too far. What have I done? Now I've hit a cat.
Like, I just undid all of my animal like connection and she goes, dad, look and there was a sign that was stapled to the telephone pole and it said, missing bird reward and a phone number. And I I don't know. Maybe I don't think like camera phones were like that good at the time. So I had Selah like like write down the number for me or I wrote it down. Whatever.
I took her. I dropped her off to school. I came back home and I said, Liz and Liz was like, she was like trying to come to terms with this, you know, new thing in her house. Like, I don't know. So they were staring each other down.
I go, Liz, I think I found like, I think that bird like didn't come from like Panama. I think it's somebody's bird that escaped and there was like a couple of miles away I saw like a like a missing bird signing a phone number. And so this is like, call it, call it, call it right now. Called the number and said, hey, we have a giant blue tropical bird. And the lady's like, oh my gosh, we got her address.
And we're like, let's take the bird back while, you know, like, sailors at school. So, like, doesn't like break her part too much and so we put the bird in the truck in the milk crate and we take it to this lady's house. She comes running out and she she, like, you know, throws back the towel and she holds out her finger and Diego, which was the bird's actual name, which is not a hops on her finger and then up her shoulder. And I was like, I can't remember. But she probably did.
And she's like, thank you so much. Like, we've had this bird for fourteen years. I guess they live a really long time. And the the door got left open and he went out adventuring and I'm so thank you. Thank you.
Thank you for finding our bird. This is so great. You've reunited our family. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. Hugs, hugs, hugs. And then they go off in in the house and we like, well, I guess we did a good deed for the day and we go back to get in our truck. We're about to drive away and she comes running out of the house far be it from me and this story to give you the impression that if you have some type of need magically money appear out of the sky or have it fly into your sliding glass window. Now, let me let me give you a quick principle principle about this and then I'm going to focus in.
Would you put verse 14 of Joshua up please? Lucy's running bridge for us but she's back Pay no attention to the amazing AV person behind the sliding barn door. It wasn't $900 cash that Now, I understand that sometimes god work, he's sovereign. He can do what he wants, how he wants, when he wants and sometimes and maybe some of you would have this testimony of miraculously a timely check arriving when you need it the most. That's like a refund for overpayment of insurance or something.
And maybe that's never happened to you. Okay. Money didn't fly into our sliding glass door. We did need to convert the bird into money. And sometimes it and I have found often times that the way the lord works especially for you entrepreneurial business owners, business starters, money smart people that operate according to godly kingdom principles that that capital usually just doesn't magically fly into your sliding glass windows but some type of opportunity The Lord knows your needs.
And instead of just giving you money, what he might do is give you an opportunity to work your butt off that would result in a great blessing. There's a quote maybe by by Eisenhower long time ago that said, opportunity is often overlooked by most people because it is usually dressed in overalls and looks like hard work. And so one of the Bible says in the book of Proverbs that wisdom is better than gold. Gold we need to pay bills and to do life around here. But when you have need of financial provision, often times, god will answer that need that you have by providing an opportunity for you to work your hiney off or give you an idea that's his idea that will require some sweat equity from you.
But as you put that in, you open up a channel or a conduit for him to pour his financial blessing through Somebody, please talk to me Bus Chuck. Usually looks debasing. I want to look at Joshua does not say in verse 14 and then we're going to land the plane with a couple of things that he does say. Because we try to in our minds intellectually rewrite this verse. What we try, what our flesh tries to rewrite that verse to say is that deep in your hearts, you know that every wish Does the Bible say that?
What if your wish altruistic? Meaning, it's got great good purpose godly but their operative word is there your desire It says that it's giver, the originator promisor. You guys are so helpful. See how we're doing this together? The promisor of the promise.
Who is that? He is the originator and it is his our wish, and he loves when you engage in dialogue with him. But did you know that he is under even though he loves you and you are his favorite and your picture is on his refrigerator in heaven, in the kitchen. He is under zero obligation to make your wishes come true. Even if you say that they are a godly desire.
It doesn't even affect or move him. It does not put him in any type of stressed out situation. Oh, I I really want to do this for them. I love them so much You cannot manipulate him. Let's look at what this verse says.
Three things. Have to who's from the South in here? Okay. You'll you'll pick up what I'm putting down. We have to grab a hold of.
It's just it's such a good phrase.
Speaker 2Just close your eyes with me for a second as we just transition to one more way
Speaker 1to
Speaker 2worship. Let's just let our confidence in who he is rise. And there's a sign up right over there by where the donuts Gaston will show you where the sign up is. At noon and bring a lost friend. I feel like maybe our tagline should start to be, you got this.
The way it is. That's our next tribe T shirt. Yeah, deep in your heart.
