True North | Week 8 | Bill Bush

The big idea

Worship isn't just singing — it's our weapon, because it means surrendering to God's side rather than trying to get God on ours.

God has already provided a way for us to join His side through the cross, and true worship is what gets us there. Rather than worshiping to earn God's blessing or get Him to fight for us, we're called to surrender first, focus on faithfully walking with Him rather than winning, and trust that our only way across to His side is through Jesus.

Point 1 of 5

Pastor Bill walks through Joshua 5, where Joshua meets the commander of the Lord's army and asks whether he's friend or foe. The commander answers neither, and Joshua falls in worship and surrender. Pastor Bill explains this reveals that God will never be on our side because our side is the way of death; instead God provides a way for us to be on His side, and worship that tries to earn or obligate God's favor is actually legalism.

Point 2 of 5

Building on Joshua bowing before the commander, Pastor Bill argues that in God's economy you surrender first and the victory follows, the opposite of how the world fights. He quotes Abraham Lincoln's line about wanting to be on God's side rather than asking whose side God is on, and ties singing in worship to being a surrendered choice, not just a feeling.

Point 3 of 5

Reading through Joshua 6, Pastor Bill shows how God had Israel march silently around Jericho for six days, then seven times on the seventh day, led by priests blowing rams' horns rather than any conventional siege tactic. He points out this put the people in the line of fire for no apparent military advantage, proving the act was really a worship processional, not a strategic assault.

Point 4 of 5

Pastor Bill unpacks the sevens repeated throughout the Jericho account as symbols of God's completeness contrasted with the counterfeit, never-finished number six, arguing our job is to stay faithful to the walk God gives rather than fixate on the outcome we want. He illustrates this with his own church's building being finished right before COVID shut it down, and with parenting and marriage, showing planning is everything and nothing.

Point 5 of 5

Pastor Bill turns to Numbers 21, where the Israelites, dying from snakebites brought on by their own complaining, were told to look at a bronze snake lifted on a pole to be healed, foreshadowing John 3:14-16 and 2 Corinthians 5:21 where Jesus becomes sin for us on the cross. He notes archaeological findings at Jericho that match the biblical account exactly, tying God's faithfulness in that story to His faithfulness in providing the cross.

Take it into your week

Pastor Bill's charge is that worship is our weapon, so surrender has to come before the walk and the walk before the win.