Elevation with Steven Furtick - This Time Around...

Episode Date: September 20, 2026

What do you do when you keep showing up, but nothing seems to be changing? Just because progress doesn’t look like you expected doesn’t mean it’s not happening. If you’re frustrated with where you are or focused on where you thought you’d be by now, discover how God can give you the strength to keep going, make adjustments, and trust Him with your next step.If you’ve just made a decision for Christ, please respond HERE: http://ele.vc/tIepfrScripture References: Joshua 6, verses 1-16, 20 – Israel marches around Jericho for seven daysSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation Church, and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your fate. Hope it gives you perspective to see God as moving in your life.

Enjoy the message. Ready for the Word of the Lord! Stand on your feet, please. I'm going to read you one verse in Joshua, chapter 6, verse 7. Then I'll seat you and read you 20 more. Fair warning. Last week I preached a message called, You Can Skip This. Tell your neighbor, you can skip this.

Trying to get you to see that some of the dumb stuff that we deal with, it's not the devil. It's a decision. And so, wouldn't it be great if we saved our strength to fight the devil when he's really attacking us? And don't self-sabotage by having a bad attitude. That was kind of where the message ended up. But sometimes I just, I don't think that my message was clear because like literally right after I preached it, my family group chat went off and Graham said, did you hear Dad, we can skip family Christmas pictures on Thursday? To which I let him know real quick, we can't skip the pictures, but we can skip the part where y'all fight about the pictures.

Come on and make me want to cut you out of my will and put you up for adoption. So you don't get to choose to skip the adversities in your life, but sometimes you can change the attitude. Because I find myself wishing that life was like YouTube and you could skip ad, right? Ad stands for adversity, not advertisement, like skip ad. Sometimes I'm even talking to somebody and I'm looking for the fast forward button, trying to hold down the side of the screen that'll make it go two times as fast, you know? or a season of my life. And this week, a relevant scripture that I touched on last week that

I want to explore a little bit more with you is from Joshua, Chapter 6. Now, this will make no sense out of context, but we'll put it in context in the next three and a half hours that I preach. Would you really be excited about that? I'm not going to do it. You're going to have to watch some servants from the archives. I'll be brief, but I just want to share with you from Joshua chapter 6 verse 7 and he ordered the army advance march around the city with an armed guard going ahead of the ark of the Lord again and he ordered the army advance march around the city with an armed guard going ahead of the ark of the Lord now that's the seed of my message today and the title of this message I'm calling it this time around this time

time around. Not talking my last time. I'm not talking about five years ago, I'm not talking about when you were the high school quarterback and the star of the team. You're 48 now. I'm not talking about what you could bench press when you were 16. I'm to my this time around. I'm not to my next time around either when you get it all together. I'm talking about this time around. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for your press. Thank you for your power. Do your thing. I give you the credit and the glory in advance.

In Jesus' name, everybody said together. Amen. Amen. You may be seated. Joshua chapter 6 is the famous story where Joshua led the people of Israel around the walls of Jericho, and they fell with a great crash. We love this story. In case you are new to church,

This is one of our greatest hits. We love this story. We like it because it's a story about a shout. And you'll see that in just a moment. Now that you're seated and comfortable and relaxed, let me do the work for you and just read you the story as it occurs in Joshua, chapter 6. The story of how Joshua, the new leader of the people of Israel, took them on a journey. around the walls of a city that was on the edge of the promised land called Jericho,

and the walls fell with the great crash. And I want you to pay attention to the details. As I read, the scripture will be on the screen. If you're ready, say yes. If you're not, here we go. Now the gates of Jericho were securely barred because of the Israelites. No one went in or no one went out and no one came in. Then the Lord said to Joshua,

Well, see, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and fighting men. God said, I've given it to you. I have given it to you. I know it doesn't look like it, but I've given it to you. I know it's locked up and you can't get in, but I've given it to you. Just because you're not in it yet doesn't mean God hasn't given it. Write that down, please. That's not in my notes. It ought to be in yours. Just because you're not in it yet doesn't mean God hasn't given it. God has promised you some things. And the Lord said, I've given it to you.

And then the instruction, verse 3, march around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. Have seven priests carried trumpets of ram's horns in front of the ark? On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. And when you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have the whole army give a loud shout. then the wall of the city will collapse and the army will go up. Everyone straight in. That's a good part right there.

A shout and a straight in. That's a good part right there. So Joshua, son of nun, called the priest and said to them. Watch. God's talking to Joshua. Now Joshua has to relay a message to them that God gave to him. So Joshua, son of nun, called the priest and said to them, take up the ark of the covenant of the Lord and have seven priests carry trumpets in front of it.

And he ordered the army, advance. I just read you this verse. March around the city with an armed guard going ahead of the ark of the Lord. When Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests carrying the seven trumpets before the Lord went forward, blowing their trumpets. And the ark of the Lord's covenant followed them. Reminds me of surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. The Lord's ark followed them. The Lord's ark followed them.

When they stepped, God stepped. When they moved, God moved. And the ark of the Lord's covenant followed them. The armed guard marched ahead of the priests who blew the trumpets. And the rear guard followed the ark. So they're following God. God is following them. He's got you covered from every side.

I thought you would shout about that. He's got you covered from every side. So anything trying to sneak up behind you and get you, it can't surprise attack God because he sovereignly got you covered from every side. And anything that's in front of you that you're worried about, God's got you covered on every side. More about that in a moment. But Joshua had commanded, verse 10, the army,

do not give a war cry. Do not raise your voices. do not say a word until the day I tell you to shout, then shout. So he had the ark of the Lord carried around the city, circling it once. Then the army returned to camp and spent the night there. 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 for six days. And here comes the good part, verse 15. On the seventh day, they got up at day break and marched around the city seven times in the same manner, except that on that day they circled the city seven times.

The seventh time around, when the priest sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the army, Shout, for the Lord has given you the city. Yeah, that's all right, too. Shout, for the Lord has given you the city. And drop down to verse 20, when the trumpet sounded, the army shouted. And at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a loud shout, the wall came down. So everyone charged straight in and they took the city. Give God praise that he can do stuff like that. Now you see why we love this story? It's an amazing Bible story. You see why we like to preach about it? Because it reminds us for the struggles that we face. It reminds us that God has a strategy for every situation you face.

God has a strategy for every situation that you face. Put that in the comments. God has a strategy. God has a strategy for every situation that you face. Put that in the comments. God has a strategy. strategy. Tell it to your neighbor. God has a strategy. Just because I can't see it doesn't mean he doesn't have it. God has a strategy. God has a strategy for how I'm going to get through this illness. God has a strategy how I'm going to care for my aging parent. God has a strategy how I'm going to get this special needs child the help that they need because he loves them more than I do. God has a strategy how I'm going to confront my friend about their drug addiction God has a strategy for how I'm going to endure this season of job loss and not let it get into my identity.

Somebody say a strategy. God has a strategy. I'm trying to slow down and preach this real slow, but I actually want to shout right here. But like the thing said, don't shout till the time is right, and I don't think it's time to shout yet. Because I just need to lay this foundation that God has a strategy for every situation that you face. If you don't believe that God has a strategy, ask Goliath. God had a strategy for his nine-foot-tall self with his advanced armor, his advanced under-armor technology, with his absolutely defiant attitude toward the army of the living God.

But God had a slingshot that served as a strategy because the thing that the rock could do that the sword couldn't do was to hit Goliath from a distance because Goliath was so big that he was blind. And God had a strategy to give David the exact tool that he needed to knock Goliath out. and what seemed to diminish David in the eyes of the Israelites actually qualified him in the eyes of God because God had a strategy. If you don't believe that God has a strategy, ask Philip, who said, I don't know where we're going to get enough bread and fish to feed all these people, Jesus. You're the one who was preaching so long. They got hungry till they almost fainted. Don't ask me, you should have given us advance notice, and we could have called in catering.

And Jesus being a little bit sneaky, sneaky Jesus, said to Philip, I don't know, where shall we buy? bread and the Bible says in John chapter 6 that he asked him only to test him because he already knew what he was going to do. God has a strategy. I said God has a strategy. For the thing that snuck up on you did not sneak up on God. God has a strategy for that. Tell the person next to you, there's a strategy for that. There's a strategy for the depression. There's a strategy for the anxiety. There's a strategy for the unforeseen circumstance. There's a strategy for that. And we love stories like trumpets tearing down walls because it makes me grateful that even if it doesn't make sense, God has a strategy. For every situation that you face.

Another reason we love it is because it reminds us that God has strength for every season that I live. There's a strength for every season. There's a strength for the season in your life when you're inexperienced. There's a strength for the season of your life when you are fatigued. There's a strength for the season of your life when you're busy. There's a strength for the season of your life when you're bored. There are seasons in your life when everybody else is saying how busy they are. And you yourself, you're trying to make up things to be busy with, but the truth of the matter is.

Your screen time number this week is not something you really want to share with anybody because while you say I'm busy, I'm really kind of bored. I'm bored being busy. Well, there's a strategy for every situation and there is a strength for every season. So if the season that you're in is that there's just so much coming at you, you can't get it all done. God will give you a strength for those seasons. He'll go around and make things easier that should be hard. He will fix stuff while you're in church that you couldn't fix if you spent all week at homeworking

on them yourself. You believe that? God can go to your house right now and fix something that you could spend the next 10 years making worse without him because God has a strategy for every situation. Now, this is just my introduction, so stop saying amen because I need to move past this. But we love this story because it reminds us that God has a strategy. a strategy for every situation and he has a strength for every season. God has a strategy for every situation and a strength for every season. And just like he told Joshua about Jericho, he wants

to give it to you. He has peace that he wants to give to you. God wants to give it to you. God wants to give you wisdom. God wants to give you guidance. God wants to give you direction. God wants to give you endurance. God wants to give you strength and strategy. Because for every situation, God has a strategy, and for every season, God has strength, and he wants to give it to you. But the enemy wants to keep you so filled with fear and frustration that you can't receive it. Because God has a strategy for this situation. And God has a strategy for this situation. And God has a strength for this season, and he wants to give it to you. But the enemy knows if he can keep you filled with enough fear and frustration, you will not hear what God speaks or receive what God says.

You cannot hear what God is speaking to give you the strategy, and you cannot receive what God is doing to give you strength if your heart is filled with fear and frustration. So the first miracle in this passage, Joshua chapter 6, is not that Joshua blew a trumpet and a wall fell down. First of all, the priest blew the trumpet. He didn't even blow it. But secondly, the first miracle in the passage is that he is 90 years old and still willing to do what God says, even if it doesn't make sense, especially after all the years that he spent in the wilderness. You've got to remember, this is the same Joshua who has wandered with the Israelites for 40 years in the wilderness. And after 40 years of wandering around in the wilderness, Moses dies. Joshua is the new leader of the Israelites, and he's not like Moses.

And this is what I love. See, Moses made mistakes, but Joshua made adjustments. And this is the cycle of growth, right? I heard somebody say one time, the only way to grow in life is to make mistakes. That's not true. That's not true at all. You can make a lot of mistakes and not grow. Only way to grow is to make mistakes, then make adjustments, and then you grow.

Or else you spend 40 years like the Israelites circling the same wilderness. So it's not how many mistakes you can make that would help you to grow. If that's the case right now, let's just all cuss somebody out in church. make a mistake, and then we can grow. No. After the mistake is made, the adjustment must have made. And I was admiring Joshua for all of the adjustments that he made based on Moses' mistakes. I believe I'm preaching to a generation today in this student section that is going to make some adjustments in their generation because they don't want to make the same mistakes that their parents made. How many would praise God if your kid would make some adjustments based on

your mistakes. And isn't that your heart for them? That's why I was preaching last week. You can skip this. You can skip this because some dumb stuff that we did, you don't have to do. And some years that we wasted not worshiping God, you can invest them wisely worshiping God. And you can get ahead. You know how sometimes you see a kid and their mom has red hair, but they don't have red hair, but then you'll say, it skips a generation. I wonder if we could say, over some of these kids, that addiction is going to skip a generation. That suicidal ideations are going to skip a generation because you're going to live and not die and declare the work of the Lord. And so where Moses made a mistake, Joshua made a just mess.

Just say this out loud, boldly say, I can do it different. That's the most powerful thing you ever realize is that I don't have to keep repeating this thing that I saw. I don't have to keep repeating this. That's what the power of Christ does, right? The power of Christ comes in our life not just to cover our sin, not just to hide our sin, but to help us so that the next time I come up on this situation, I do it a little different. I tweak it a little bit. I don't say it quite the same. I don't step in the same stuff over and over again and blame the dog for dropping it.

Huh? I can walk around that. I can move around. Y'all missed that. That was really funny. That was really funny. I don't give enough credit for my stand-up here. See, I only get to preach once these days.

I used to preach three times. And when I would preach three times, I could fix the message. I could do it different every time. But this time I just got to do it once. So when I say something funny like, you don't have to step in this twice. I need you to shout to thank God that you. You don't have to go through the same crap forever and move on from it. Joshua said, we're doing this different.

Say, I'm doing this different. Come on, say I'm doing this different. I'm doing this different. I'm not just going to wander in the wilderness and keep getting water from a rock. I mean, water from a rock is nice, and I thank you, God, for it. But why would I keep drinking water from a rock when you've promised me a land of milk and honey? I want to do it different. Yeah, I can get by with this, but I want God to break through in my life.

And I don't want to just survive something that I could skip. And that's a powerful, powerful principle. That's a powerful principle that God gives you the grace to make adjustments in your life. I wonder if he's calling you to make one right now. Like, I'll give you an example from Joshua. I don't know if you've ever noticed this. But when he sent the spies to check out the promised land, he sent two. Moses sent 12.

And 10 of the 12 that Moses sent said, we can't do it. Moses made mistakes. Joshua made adjustments. So where Moses sent 12, Joshua sent two. Yeah. Joshua said we need less opinions and more obedience. Are you going to keep listening to the same friends whose advice got you in this situation to begin with?

Not even because they don't like you, but just because they don't know. God has a strategy for every situation. And so Joshua sent to not only that, but when Moses took the people across the Red Sea, you remember he stretched his staff? Well, when Joshua let him across the Jordan, God said, I want to do it different. I'm not going to use the staff to do it. I'm not going to use the rod to do it, but when the priest's feet touch the water, the waters will part because God is doing it different.

And the craziest thing that we do is stand over something and stretch a staff when God told us to take a step. Tell your neighbor do it different. Come on, why aren't you talking to your neighbor? Don't you like them? You chose to sit there. I didn't assign your seat. Tell them do it different. I'm going to do a different.

I'm going to do a different. I'm going to do a different. And so, and so let's get into the moment. Let's get into the moment. We love this story not only because of what it shows us about God, but it's just a good story. It's just dramatic. It's just amazing. God calls Joshua. He's like, here's what I'm going to do. All right, here's what I'm going to do. Get seven priests and get a seven there and then blow the trumpet and they can walk around for seven days. And when they walk around on seven days, they can walk around seven times. Just one time every day, up until seven days.

And when they walk around seven times and they shout. And so I'm not to shout until they'll blow the trumpets the whole time. Because if they start shouting them too early, they might start talking when they give it to camp at night. If they start to tell them, they'll give it to camp at night, they might do what the generation. under Moses did, and they start murmuring and gossiping, and they start gossiping, and then they feel like grasshoppers, because they gossip their way and they feel like grasshoppers when really have given them the power to defeat giants, and the enemy will start to frustrate them, so come not to say anything, but just to march around the city for seven days. And on the seventh day, it's going to be good.

And on the seventh day, the walls are going to fall, not only fall, but they're going to call flat. They're going to come down so you can go over them. They're going to come down. It's not just going to be normal rubble. actually going to flatten the walls so that they can get over. I'm actually going to do something amazing in this situation. And this is the moment that they have waited for. Do you understand they've been circumcised so that they are reminded of the covenant? Do you understand that they've

been through the Jordan so that there's no going back to the wilderness? Do you understand that Joshua has consecrated them and appointed leaders? And this is it. This is, we're We're there, man. We are there. We're going to do it different. What that generation couldn't do, we're going to do. God's going to do for us. We're going to do this.

We're there. They didn't do it, but this time around, we're going to fight. It's going to be different. So Joshua, son of none, called the priest and said to them, take up the ark of the covenant of the Lord and have seven priests carry trumpets in front of them. Verse seven. And he ordered the army. Now, this must have been music to their ears.

They've wandered around and around for 40 years. And Joshua says the word they've been waiting for, verse 7. Advance. How good would that feel if you'd been stuck in something for four decades? You can get out of this. It's yours. God is giving it to you. Go forward.

Advance. To hear this direction from Joshua, they have waited a long time to go forward. They have waited years and years for God to give them the next direction, because although he sustained them in the wilderness, they were not meant to permanently live there. I keep bringing you back to that because there are moments in your life where God will say, move forward, go forward, move on. move on with a broken heart, move on with a lot of questions, move on with unpaid bills, move on with bad credit, move on, with the tendency still, move on.

So when Joshua gathered the people and said advance, I bet they were ready to tear down the goalposts on Jericho because they've been waiting for this. But here's what got my attention and why I read you that one verse at the beginning because I was very strategic what I read you because I want to read you this. He said, put it back up, advance march around the city. I will remind you that these people have just spent 40 years walking around the wilderness. So now they've come to the moment. And this is it. He's going to bring us in.

This is it. Milk and honey. This is it. Giant's fall. This is it. And Joshua says, Advance. And no sooner can they high five

than Joshua says the next word. The one word they didn't want to hear. Around. Hold up. I don't know if I heard you right. Joshua? You said advance, right? Mm-hmm.

Because I met with God and he told me he gave us the land. Okay, but then Joshua, it sounded like you said around. The city? Because I met with God, and that's what he told us to do. So we're going to go around. So which one is it? Captain Joshua.

Are we advancing? Or are we rounding? I made the word rounding up. But you know exactly what I mean by rounding, don't you? When you circle the same situation over and over again, when you circle the same problem over and over again, and you think that you're making progress on something only to end up exactly where you started. Come on.

To think that you have forgiven an offense and only to feel the bitterness come back with a vengeance when they post their new car that their new husband bought them on Facebook is to say, now, wait a minute, God, I thought we were moving on, but you said around. Because if the enemy can't use fear, to keep you from going in. Or if he can't use frustration, he'll use your future. I will explain.

The enemy wants to use your future as a tool to get you to neglect the now. That's it. That's it right there. To neglect the now. I had two pastoral conversations in the last few weeks, and both of them were remarkable. One of them was with a young man who's in his 30s. And he said something strange to me.

He said, I'm really looking forward to my 40s. I said, oh? He said, yeah. I think my 40s are going to be wonderful. I think my 40s are going to be amazing. Now, remember, he's in his early 30s. It's not like he's 39 and having a birthday next week. He's still got a few years to go before 40.

He said, I cannot wait for my 40s. I said, what's going to be different in your 40s? He said, financially more stable. My kids will need less for me. He started describing something to me. And the funny thing is, I'm listening to him from these magical 40s, from these fantastic 40s. I'm going like, bro, like, have you ever had somebody show you something on their phone? And you look at it and you go, I'm sorry to tell you this, but that's not real.

Those 75 Asian kids all playing stairway to heaven in perfect synchronization, that is not real. That's AI. That's AI. And I wanted to look at him and be like, bro, I hear what you're describing this like, this future version of your, of your, this version of your future that is frustration-free. I hear what you're describing, but that's not real. That's AI. AI stands for a rival illusion. Uh-huh, uh-huh.

That's the myth of when I get there. Because he's struggling so much in his 30s. I mean, life has got him by the throat in his 30s, and he's going, if I could just turn 40. And somebody's 40, like, if I could just be 30. So you're looking for fast forward. I'm looking for rewind, and neither one is real. Touched somebody.

That's not real. That's not even real. When we get there, we're going to walk up, and the people are going to bow down to us, and they're going to give us the promised land. Just because God gave us the promised land doesn't mean we won't fight for it. We've got to fight for this. Advance. Around. Advance.

Advance. Advance. Advance. All progress doesn't feel like a straight line with God. Advance around. I'm not going to get dizzy doing this illustration, but just soak it in real quick, and then I'll quit. Advance around.

Advance. The same week that my friend in his 30 said that to me, one of my friends who's a pastor said to me, you know, year 10 of pastoring. is really rough. I said, is it now? Tell me about that. He says, really rough. Don't have all the resources, got all this debt we're having to take on. He said, I just look forward to year 20. And it just so happens that I can send him a postcard from year 20. Because everything that he's imagining about year 20, I'm living in. And it is amazing. And it is great. Now, you've had people do this to you, too. There is somebody who has looked at your life and they see it as frustration-free. And you just want to scream back at them. What it actually cost you to be you. So let me make an announcement. It's not real. It's not real. Let me help you with this. It's not. It's AI. It's a rival.

Allusion. It's like the Israelites, when we get there, we're going to get there, we're going in. Ah, not yet. You're going around. And around. But we just went around. Yeah, but you're going to keep going around. Because you're always going to be circling something.

You're going to either be circling the wilderness or the walls. I'm going to say that again. I guess my mic cut out because you didn't say anything when I said that. You're either going to be circling the wilderness. or the walls. Somebody shout, give me the walls. I'll take the walls. I'll take the walls. See, because the difference between the wilderness and the walls is that a wilderness, no matter how much you walk around in it, a wilderness cannot move. But walls can fall. Walls can fall. And we love this passage because it reminds us that walls.

can fall. You can come out of debt. You can come out of depression. You can come out of defeat. You can come out of, you can survive a divorce and love again. You can survive some, you can deal with a diagnosis and not lose your mind, even if the enemy attacks your body. Walls can fall. But the interesting thing about the passage to me is not the shout. It's the silence. The interesting thing to me is not the seventh day that they shouted. That's the good part, right? That's the preachable part. That's the part that we put in a song.

My praise is the waters. My enemies drown in. My praise is the shout that brings Jericho down. But I see this passage as being about persistence more than praise. I don't see this passage as being so much about the day that they shouted. And the walls fell. I think faith is about the days you show up and they don't. Is that good? Is that good, birthday boy? Fifty-four years old. I can't wait to get to my 60s. I can't wait to get to my 70s. I mean, how long are you going to wait for God to do something for you? 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'd 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, 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 going to want to borrow. So you're going to 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 around. There is no moment in your life. And I know how we get, we get AI, we get a rival illusion. Like, I can't wait for the day that I'm going to 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 want to 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 forward? This is why I said, I don't 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. So, this, are you with me? Are you with me? Are you with me? I got just a little bit more. I got to 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, Advance! Yeah! Advance! Let's go!

Advance! March around. Around. We've got around down. We want to go ahead. I got struggled down. I want to get to my 40s. My 40 is going to be paid off and it's going to be peaceful and it's going to be amazing, right?

Lie to me. Tell me it is. I have to believe it! There is no version of your future that is frustration. free, but there can be a stronger you that steps into it. So now I know why God told him to walk around, because he needed to teach them to follow more than he needed to teach them how to fight. I 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? Like I want to get to the good part, like the easy part of life, like the good part. relationship. I'm with you. I 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 like 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 and the walls fell. Well, that's awesome. But guess how long it took them to take the land? Seven years. You're always going to be circling something. That's why you've got to stop while you're circling and just praise the Lord for where I am right now. Huh? Uh-huh. You've been trying to get to the good part. Get to the part where you're strong. part where you've got this. You've got to manage now. You've got it right 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 going to get there. It's the myth of when I get there. 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 6 is not the seventh day when they shouted. It's the second day when they showed up. And they showed up the second day, the third day. 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 it go today? Did we take Jericho? Did we take them, baby?

Did we take them? Then we take them, your big strong warrior? It's like, yeah, well, about that, man. It was kind of interesting today because he said advanced, but then he said around. So we were like, fired up, and the Holy Ghost. We're fired up, and the Holy Ghost. But we fired up, but then we're kind of frustrated because all we did was walk, and we're right back where we started.

I mean, it was kind of nice. They had some trumpets and stuff. It's peaceful, you know, epic sounding. Sound like something's about to happen. Trump is blown. Whoa. It sounded like, bum, bum, bum, boom, boom, do.

But then here we are back home. I remember I told you last week, Jericho isn't big. It only took about 10, 15 minutes. So I 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?

Because I think you feel like that some days. 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 we make any progress here? We just go round. I took my wife on a date night and guess what it ended in? A fight. I even got her flowers.

I got her flowers. 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've got to 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 how 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 want to 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. Did it for them. Did it for Daniel. Did it for Elijah. Did it for Moses. Do it for Moses. I'll shout, God. 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. Because you don't need God to be more specific. You need to

take the next step. 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 never preach again, if you can find where Joshua told the people, all right, y'all, it's going to be kind of weird, but we're going to walk around, but it's going to be good because we're going to have trumpets, and it's going to intimidate the enemy, and on the seventh day, we're going to take seven laps. We're going to really turn it up on the seventh day, and we're going to shout, and the wolves are going to fall down. Find me where Joshua told them what was going to 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, oh, thank you, Lord, thank your 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 9. The armed guard marched ahead of the priest 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, then 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 manna lived. 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. He said 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 priests 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

arc 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 want to get to, right? That's the part you want to skip to, right? That's the part you want God to bring you to. That's when you're going to be grateful. That's when you're going to feel good. That's when you're going to have an assurance. That's when you're going to be kinder. That's when you're going to forgive. That's when you're going to move on. On the seventh day, they did this for six days, and on the seventh day, that's the good part. But I want to tell you, stop waiting to get to the good part.

get to the God part 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 arc 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 miss 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.

You've got the presence of God. You've got the Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead. 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. 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 father and mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up. If the doctors can't help me. 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 all this time the trumpets were sounding, all this time the trumpets were sounding. Day one, the trumpets were sounding. Day two, 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 got God. He said, He gave it to me. I got God. He said he'd be with me. I got God.

He said he never failed me nor forsake me. I got God. I got God. Your neighbor is confused. Why are you praising God? You've got cancer. Yeah, I got cancer, but I got God. I got an art.

I'm going back. I don't even have to wait to shout. because my walls already fell. Not because of Joshua, but because of Jesus. The Bible says, let everything, let everything, let everything. I checked the trumpet was an instrument that you play with your breath. For joining us. Special thanks to those of you who give generously to this ministry.

It's because of you that this ministry is possible. you can click the link in the description to give now or visit elevationchurch.org slash podcast for more information. And if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe, you can share it with your friends, you can click the share button, take a screenshot, and share it on your social stories and tag us at Elevation Church. Thanks again for listening. God bless you.

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