I Want to Think About Thinking About God - Louie Giglio

0:16 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, Kenny. 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 9. 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.

1:15 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.

2:56 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.

4:46 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 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.

6:08 And that is what they are to this day. What a word. A few key takeaways. The first one is this. Joshua, and I'll just let it be about Joshua and not about me and not about you. Joshua got it right on the big thing.

6:34 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.

7:53 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.

8:49 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 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?

9:28 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 thought try 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.

10:44 How do you 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.

11:14 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 write our ships today Did you pray about it?

12:16 It's 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.

12:48 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 on the payphone and take me and Andy to somewhere south of the old Brave Stadium to the impound yard to get the car.

13:50 And then I had to drive to Tucker where they lived dropped them off at about 3.15 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.

14:28 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.

15:12 And I'm sitting in there under conviction, so mad. In either 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 paths straight the word here this this word really i'll show you what it means in just a second but it's it's more clear acknowledge in all your ways so when the people come with the moldy bread and the sandals acknowledge him Thank you.

16:17 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.

17:15 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. 1 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 tethered to the Spirit of God.

18:19 this Artemis thing has got everybody thinking about space. I know most of you are like, I'm sure Louis is going to 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.

18:54 Do you know what an EVA is? It's an extra vehicular activity. Spacewalk. like why can't nasa just say they were on a spacewalk Today we're going on an EVA, so we're going outside the station. and we're just going to be out in space. Happy about it. Look at that. I'm out in space. Want to 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.

19:55 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.

20:56 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. And who has to go fight for them now? Joshua. Remember that?

21:49 Now Joshua's got to 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 in a 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. Thank you.

22:40 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 cold. puzzle your first step with God is a simple prayer. let's go back really quick to proverbs three five and six 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 i started realizing that when i acknowledge him in all my ways, I'm getting knowledge.

23:51 to say, God, I just want to acknowledge you. Let me just make a little slight turn here. And this is all underneath this word. It's not saying, God, I want to know what you have to say or what you think about this. I'm just, you know, doing that one last check. I just want to check that last box I interrogated them 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 Thank you.

24:45 I kept looking at it. The more I looked at it, I realized that's what I want. I want to know you. I want to know him. in all my ways, I want to know him. In all my ways, in the great and the granular, I want to know him. And so my prayer, my simple prayer is, Jesus, I want you.

25:22 I want you. I got guys here wanting to make a treaty, but I want you. Are you in the treaty? Thank you. 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 in 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 going to get to 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.

26:20 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'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.

27:19 I got to make the choice at two o'clock, whether I get a news flash or a text from an angel or somebody writes something in the sky, I've still got to make the decision by two o'clock and I'm going to 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 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.

27:54 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 starting a new class or going to a new gym. You got invited to play pickleball with 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?

28:32 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.

28:57 I got my paddle and 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 you to know I want you. and I'd like to win also.

29:25 How about this one? You've 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 financial advisor, it looks like it'd recommend this and that and that. What do you recommend?

30:10 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. Do you want me to tell you what it is? I have no idea. you would help me in that zone. But I know there's a new one.

30:42 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.

31:15 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 if you pay the right rate. The episodes are 44 minutes long. I mean, one's 42, but they average out 44 minutes long. I added it up. It's 14.5 hours. 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.

32:16 and what is he going to say? He's going to say, well, did you pray about it? And you're going to 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.

32:42 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'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.

33:40 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 going to start inquiring of the Lord and when he tells me I'm not going to lie I'm going to say thank you I'm so glad I inquired of the Lord