Defeat Is Not Necessarily The Final Word

When they saw the city of Ai, they thought to themselves, "as big and tough as we are, this will be a piece of cake, it will be like a ride through the park, Joshua we only need to send about 3 thousand men to handle this, AND if they leave in the morning they’ll probably be home for lunch."

Well we all know, that they over estimated their own abilities, they became so caught up in the victory that thy forgot about God and thought thy had done it on their own.

Paul wrote in I Corinthians 10:12, "SO, IF YOU THINK YOU ARE STANDING FIRM, BE CAREFUL; THAT YOU DON’T FALL."

The Israelites are not the only ones who have a problem with pride, the church still does today. When a church begins to have success it is easy for her to believe that they are special and that the victories they have won are because of their own goodness and abilities. They begin to walk with their head held too high, and to develop a superior attitude. They forget that it is God, not them, who brings the increase. Many who were once great leaders in church have fallen, because they thought they were something special, and that they were the sole cause for the churches success.

This year we have seen a lot of good things happen at ETCC, but let’s remind ourselves of this truth, any victory that we have is God’s, and any increase we have experienced has come from him. It is certainly not because of how great we are -- but rather how great God is.

MANY TIMES THE SOURCE FOR DEFEAT STEMS FROM PRIDE, AND WHEN GOD’S PEOPLE ARE PRIDEFUL (IN THEM SELVES) THEY FORGET AND FEEL THEY DON’T NEED GOD. WHICH LEADS US TO OUR SECOND SOURCE OF DEFEAT.

B. PRAYERLESSNESS

If you notice I did not list any scripture verse for prayerlessness, the reason is, is because they did not pray, they did not seek God’s direction.

God had given them specific instructions for the battle of Jericho and Joshua and the Israelites followed those instructions to the letter, and were therefore victorious.

And now, we find them going off on their own, not bothering to inquire of the Lord. Their attitude had to one of the following, "We don’t need to ask God about this we can do it ourselves, OR they just forgot about God all together.

I don’t know for sure, but I really do believe if Joshua and the leaders would have sought the Lord’s guidance, if they would have humbled themselves and sought direction from God before they went to battle, I believe that God in some manner would have let them know, that there were things they needed to take care of before they went off to war. And this defeat could have been avoided.

How many times has the church gone out and done things for their own agenda and never once inquired of God, to see if it was his will for the church. How many decisions have been made, how many actions have been taken, without asking Our Savior and Our God direction.

How silly, how stupid, how insane, how illogical, absurd, irrational and unsound to engage the enemy in battle without keeping the lines of communication open between the troops and the commander and chief at head quarters. It is a recipe for defeat, it is prescription for disaster.