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Use the controls, below, just like you would a VCR. Double-click the "Play" arrow to begin. This page must remain open to continue listening. To browse the internet while you listen, open a new browser window by clicking on "File", then "New", then "Window".Click here after starting sermon audio to bring up PowerPoint slides and visual aides which go along with the sermon. [A new window will open and remain blank until fully loaded. It may take 1-5 minutes to open.] Once the first slide appears you can follow along with the message and use the arrow keys to advance the slides. HelpPlease help keep this ministry free by honoring our system:Click here to recommend this sermon to others. [A new window will open. Scroll to the bottom to enter your vote or comments, then close.]Help spread the Word by casting your vote...it's a proven system that keeps this ministry free!Grace Notes Sermon Ministry: God’s Ultimate Daylight Savings Plan Joshua 10:8-14
God created time, and will someday end it,
and in heaven time will be no more. In the meanwhile, we shouldn’t be
surprised at the fact that God can stop time if He so desires.
Sometimes I wish we could do that, and often we wish we could speed things
up.
Historical Background
The children of Israel are being led by
General Joshua, and they’re taking over the land of Canaan. That includes
modern day Israel. They were taking over that land one city at a time.
They had already taken Jericho. Then they
went up against Ai. And there was sin in the camp, and Achan was the
culprit. God brought that to light, and Israel was made right with Him, and
then they took the city of Ai.
The King of Jerusalem heard about these
conquests:
v. 1-2 He was scared
3-6
Basically a league of nations. These 5 kings got together saying
“United We Stand, Divided We Fall”. They’re about to find out that United
They Fall, because you simply can’t fight against God. Men have always
pooled their efforts to try to kill Him, and you just can’t!
The children of Israel heard about this union
that was formed, and they, along with the Gibeonites pulled a surprise
attack on them.
9-11
These 5 kings and their mighty army are in retreat. They run and run
until they come to a narrow pass. Joshua has them right where he wants
them. He realizes that he must utterly destroy this enemy, else they will
surely come back to haunt him later. Israel was told to finish the job, not
do it halfway. But he has a problem, there’s not enough time to finish the
job, right.
Joshua prays for more daylight, so he can
finish what he started. Look at this incredible prayer of faith:
12-13
Time stands frozen, and the earth experienced an extra day.
For years, skeptics made fun of this story
and said, “Hogwash, that never happened, it couldn’t happen. It’s just
folklore, it’s a fairy tale.”
They say, everyone knows it’s not the sun
that moves anyway, our planet revolves and rotates giving that impression!
That’s true, but Joshua here is simply using
language that we all do. After all, can you imagine him saying, “Earth,
stop revolving and rotating, thus making it appear that the sun is not
setting?”
The weatherman has been to school, and yet
you can go home and watch the news tonite, and he’ll tell you when the sun
will rise tomorrow, and set tomorrow night.
The important thing here is not how God did
it; the important thing is THAT He did it.
He could have used light refraction to do
it…he could have stopped the motion of the entire universe…he could have
caused the sun to move in the opposite direction if he wanted to.
Other skeptics say, if something like this
happened, it would be a major historical occurrence. You’d think we’d have
some mention of it in the annals of history, other than just the Bible.
The fact is, we do have other
historical records:
Most every ancient
culture that you can study has a record of an extra-long day.
Just like most of them have a record of a world wide flood.
Here’s some research for you:
Records of the Chinese during the reign of
Emperor Yeo, who lived in Joshua’s day, report the strange occurrence of an
extra long day.
Also, Herodotus, a Greek historian, wrote an
account of an extra long day, left to us by the Egyptians.
Others cite records of the Aztecs in Mexico
reporting the sun standing still, in a year denoted as 7 Rabbits. That is
the same year that other historical records show Joshua defeating the
Philistines and conquering Palestine.
Other cultures:
Incas of Peru, Babylonians, Persians, Polynesians. Some refer to the sun
standing still; others call it an extra long day / night. Why do you
suppose? (The sun doesn’t shine everywhere at once!)
History says this happened.
Someone may say, I just can’t believe the
Bible, it’s contrary to the laws of the universe.
In order to have a law,
you need 2 things:
·
Someone
powerful enough to create the law
·
Someone
powerful enough to enforce the law
Is God powerful enough? He is the Creator,
by the way! Can’t a clockmaker stop his clock if he wants to?
God doesn’t obey the laws of nature; the laws
of nature obey God!
So, History says it happened…
Here’s some personal application:
What is in this for us
today?
1.
The reliability of God’s Word.
2.
The reliability of God’s Care.
v. 14 “the Lord fought for
Israel”
These heathen that Israel was fighting
actually worshipped the sun…and God used the very thing they worshipped as
being their god to fight against them and prove that He is God!
You say, I wish He would fight for me. I’ve
got battles of my own. I wish I could get Him on my side!
Hey, you don’t get Him on your side, you get
on His side. He’ll fight your battles if you’ll let Him.
Remember Joshua 5? Joshua was surveying the
city of Jericho, and he encountered a strange character (the pre-incarnate
Jesus Christ). The man had a sword drawn. Joshua asked, are you on our
side, or their side? The man answered, “No”. Basically, he was saying I’ve
not come to take sides…I’ve come to take over!
3. The reliability
of God’s Power.
22-25
God gives them a visual aid, the picture of them w/ their feet on
their necks. I used my kids Legos to illustrate. God says, remember this,
this is what I will do for you, as long as you stay on my side. And
elsewhere God promises to put Satan under our feet.
Satan is a defeated
foe, and he knows it. He just hopes we won’t find out!
He’s a bully!
Ill.—in middle school, Steve Chavez (big guy)
was picking on me…but dad taught me to stand up to him. (punching bag in
the garage) I stood up to him in front of a crowd, and hit back, and he
left me alone from then on!
Satan was defeated at the cross of Calvary,
and now we can have power over sin / death / hell / grave. Yes, we can
have victory if we want it.
There’s a message here today for someone in
crisis…whether related to their family / financial / emotional / spiritual
life.
Yes, Christians have problems like everyone
else…more, I think! If getting saved is the end to problems then it has to
be the front end!
The message is that
Christianity is not the subtraction of
problems, it’s the addition of power…and thus, the multiplication
of blessings! And that’s all the more reason to avoid the division
that Satan wants to bring between us and God / us and each other!
v. 14 This means it’ll never
happen again. Never again will God stop the sun / bring time to a
standstill.
One of these days, the sun will set on your
life for the last time. Jesus said, I must work the works of Him that sent
me, for night cometh, when no man can work anymore."
Ill—farmer works daylight hours, can’t do the
real work after dark.
An artist was teaching some students how to
paint…a beautiful sunset. He took them out to a hillside, and they watched
the sun set, all the while trying to paint it.
The artist moved from canvas to canvas. He
stopped by a young man who was having trouble. “I’m having trouble getting
this barn right,” he said.
The teacher exclaimed (pointing at the
horizon), “young man, look, the sun is setting, the sun is setting, and
you’re trying to put shingles on a barn?!”
The sun will soon
set on your life. What are you getting done?
Got too many irons in the fire? Priorities
failing? Doing God’s work last, if there’s time? If you’re going to read
your Bible and pray it’ll probably need to be in the morning to make it a
priority and for it to ever get done.
Ill.—people trying to buy back health—we give
away our health trying to make more money and then we spend all our money
trying to get our health back. When will we get a grip on priorities and
time management and look at the big picture and have some vision and get our
lives in order?!
Ephesians 5:16 says, “Redeeming the time,
because the days are evil.”
Psalm 90:12 states, “So teach us to number
our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.”
Benjamin Franklin once said, “Dost thou love
life? Then do not squander time, for it is the stuff life is made of.”
We wish we could make time stand still, but
it stops for no one but God. Let’s get serious about making the most of our
time before time runs out!
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All Sermons and PowerPoint Slideshow Presentations ©Copyright Jerry Shirley and Grace Notes Ministries® unless otherwise credited. These resources are yours to use freely, but only in public worship services or private study groups and devotions. They may not be sold, republished or retransmitted in any form without written permission.