Slide 1
Joshua 6:2-5, “Then the Lord said to Joshua, ‘See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for 6 days. Have the seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing trumpets. 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.” When God calls you to do something, do you follow by faith or do you do your own thing?

Slide 2
Joshua 6:10, “But Joshua had commanded 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.’”
Hebrews chapter 11:30, “It was by faith that the people of Israel marched around Jericho for seven days, and the walls came crashing down.”

Slide 3
Joshua 6:15-16, “On the seventh day, they got up at daybreak and marched around the city seven times in the same manner, except that on that day they circled the city seven times. On the seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the army, “Shout! For the Lord has given you the city.”

Slide 4
Joshua 1:9, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

My name is Cole Hunt. I am a senior at Thunder Ridge High School. When I’m not at school you’ll probably find me playing golf or playing basketball with my buddies. But my favorite type of food is refrigerated pizza, like the cold pizza when you come home from school. I just don’t think anything beats it. A bible verse that really resonates with me is Philippians four 13. I can do all things through Christ has strengthens me. This really helps me on the days that are super tough and decisions that I have to make that are tough, like deciding where to go to school next year. I’m graduating in a week and a half, and I’m super excited just to kind of live my last summer here in Colorado and then go to university of Arizona to pursue architecture. Something really cool I’ve been a part of here at Cherry Hills is being a seventh grade boy, small group leader. It’s the joy of my life when I get to come here on Sundays and play basketball with the boys and be competitive and then sit down after the message and have super meaningful conversations.

Well, good morning.

As you may have seen from the video, my name is Cole Hunt in Zaps who honor and privilege to be speaking in front of you this morning. And some of you may remember me from last year where I spoke about the prodigal sun. But this year, man, I’m so excited to speak on the story of Jericho. And you see the story of Jericho. It takes place in the book of Joshua chapter six. And this is the first major battle that’s the Israelites face as they enter the land of Canaan. And this is marking the shift from the Israelites wandering of the wilderness to now stepping into the promised land. And you see, Jericho was this huge, largely feared city that no one thought anyone was going to break into at the time. And taking the city was crucial for the Israelites to gain a foothold and the land and to secure and surrounding area.

It was a massive challenge for the Israelites ’cause they had to have patience, trust and faith in God’s plan through it all. This story starts off in Joshua six verses two through five where it says, then the Lord said that, Joshua, see I have delivered Jericho into your hands along with its kings and its fighting men march around the city once with all your armed men. Do this for six days. Have the seven priests create trumpets of Rams horns in front of the ark on the seventh day march around the city seven times with the priest blowing trumpets. 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 and everyone straight in. And you see these verses here, God, he’s giving the Israelites very specific directions, but not only that, but to have patience and trust in his plan.

Can you imagine what it’d be like if the Lord said you audibly, Hey, go march around those walls for six days and that city’s yours. What? What is a time in your life where it felt like that? And yes, this is a little silly, but for me it was the overtime game last January between the Broncos and the Buffalo Bills. And I’m sorry if you’re a Bills fan, but if you didn’t watch the game, I’ll give you a little overview. So the game went into ot, the Warner, this going on to the a FC championship. And the Broncos had the ball, but they had a quick three out. And of course when Josh Allen and the Bills get the ball, your hope just sinks in your stomach until it dropped back in the pocket and threw the ball downfield and our safety intercepted the ball. It was this moment of us as Broncos fans having no hope to all of a sudden rejoicing in the Broncos going on to win the game. And yes, this is just a silly old football game. The Israelites probably had no idea what football even was, but they were going through the same sorts of things. They had to have patience and trust in God’s plan through it all.

When God asked you to do something, do you follow by faith or do you decide to do your own thing? So today we are talking about patience, faith, and trust. And you see the Israelites, they literally walked around the walls for six days and did nothing. Can you imagine that? Trusting in the Lord for what’s to come and having the patience be like, Hey, those walls are going to fall down on that seventh day. It tells us in verse 10, but Joshua had commanded the army, do not give a war cry. Do not raise their voices. Do not say a word until the day I tell you to shout. And here the Israelites, they’re cultivating patience. They’re keeping on going. When times get tough and they’re predetermining, that when they’re tempted to give up, they’re gonna keep pushing through. It tells us in Hebrews chapter 11, verse 30, it was by faith that the people of Israel marched around the city of Jericho for seven days and the walls can crashing down. And I just want you to think to yourself, when is a time you literally felt like you couldn’t keep going? And we obviously won’t be marching around walls for seven days to get a city, but maybe it’s that project at work you really don’t wanna do or that relationship in your life that you don’t wanna fix.

But God, he told the people of Israel, he would lead them to victory against the city of Jericho by faith. And the definition of faith is this. Faith is a profound trust, confidence, or alliance to a person idea or divine power often maintained without physical proof. And yes, this is just a silly old Google definition, but in Hebrews chapter 11 verse one, it actually tells us this faith shows the reality of what we hope for. It’s the evidence of things we cannot see. You see, the Israelites had so much faith in the Lord that with no proof on the seventh day that those walls would come down. They had faith that they would. But then I asked myself, well, what allowed them to have this faith? If we look back to verse two, it told us that the Lord already gave Jericho into their hands. The Lord told ’em to have faith through this process, even though it seemed a little strange and the path wasn’t completely straightforward. He commanded the army to march around those walls for seven days. And then on the seventh day, they marched around the walls seven times, blew on their horns and shouted, and the walls came down. Can you imagine the excitement they might have had? They literally marched around those walls for seven days.

And while I think this is a crazy, beautiful miracle, here’s what I think is even more crazy, the Israelites, they marched around these walls for seven days and nothing happened. They had to have trust in the Lord that that seventh day would come and that those walls would fall down. Trust is the foundational belief and a partner’s consistency, honesty and reliability, allowing for emotional safety and vulnerability without fear of harm. And like I talked about before, man, JICA was just this huge, largely fortified city with giant walls. No one thought the city was going to be conquered, but yet it wasn’t until the final day, the final lap, the final moment that things finally changed. They push and push to keep going, trusting in the Lord’s plan. And that’s when the walls came down. The story closes out in verses 15 and 16. On the seventh day, they got up a daybreak in March around the city seven times in the same manner.

Except on that day, they circled the city seven times. On the seventh time around when the priest sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the army. Shout for the Lord has given you the city. Again, this is an amazing, beautiful miracle, but are you able to keep going when nothing’s happening? Like on days one through six, are you gonna get so stuck on the idea that man, when’s the seventh day gonna come? Don’t miss a process of what God is doing in your life. ’cause He is faithful and good even when we don’t feel it, even when we don’t see it. And I feel like sometimes for us, man, we’re tempted to give up and we need the the patience, faith, and trust to keep going. And a couple of months ago for me, I was in the middle of a college church and many of you adults in this room, you’ve been in my shoes, you know exactly what that’s like.

And maybe for you high schoolers in the room, that’s not very far off for you and maybe you felt pulled to study one thing because you love it, or perhaps you’re like me and you don’t even know what tomorrow’s gonna look like. But for me, I felt a call towards ministry and architecture. And over the past two years in ministry, I’ve just been so blessed to lead a small group of seventh grade boys to go with them to summer camps and help them grow and responsible young men. And then at the beginning of this year, people start asking me about my future. And I’m like, Lord, is this what you have for me? Is this what your plans are for my life? And then I started taking an architecture class where I got it to build models and design unique things. And I got asked the same question and I’m like, Lord, is this it?

Is this really what you have for me? And this is the thing I still wrestle with day in and day out, but sometimes I’ll get worried or anxious about my decision to pursue architecture. Like, Lord, what is the purpose you have for me? And there’s times when I want to give it all to the Lord, every decision, no matter how hard or how possible that may feel. But sometimes there’s just this frustration that builds up, Lord, why can’t I have the answer now? Why do I have to wait? And maybe for you in this room, it’s why do I have to work in that same project I do at work every single week? Why do I have to have that tough conversation with that person that I love? And it’s hard. But then I’m reminded in the beginning of Joshua where God tells him this in verse nine, be strong and courageous.

Do not be frightened. Do not be dismayed for the Lord. Your God is with you wherever you go. And there’s times when, trust me, I wanna take control and I wanna be like, Lord, this is what I wanna do. But then I take a step back and I remind myself who God is. ’cause He is faithful and he is good every single day. And that helps me to keep going, knowing his strength is there to help me. And as far as to Jesus, we are called to stay faithful no matter what. And that takes determination and return to the Lord over and over again no matter how hard that feels. But not only do that, but to listen. We have to decide ahead of time, man, that when life gets hard, we will keep going until the Lord tells us to stop.

So where in your life can you do that today? What can you keep pushing through that may be really tough right now because that’s where patience grows and God’s work becomes more visible in your life. Let’s pray. Dear Jesus, just thank you so much for this beautiful morning. We all get together, together and hear your word. Lord, I pray if there’s any of us in this room that don’t know you, Lord, that we just have an encounter with you and just know that our attorneys are forever changed. Thank you for this beautiful morning and just help us have grace through our Sunday. Jesus I pray. Amen.