Joshua 3 (Pastor John Lasken, 12-30-18)

OK, so this is the time of the year.

It's December 30th.

There are a lot of traditions.

There's a lot of expectations.

The world has just got done celebrating what they think is the true

message of Christmas.

There's a lot of songs out there.

Hallmark has a lot of movies out there.

In our house, Hallmark Christmas movies, they even have them in July.

They have Christmas in July, right?

The emphasis is on family.

It's on peace.

It's on love.

It's on doing good for others.

And if we could only get that true message of Christmas, and we could love, and we could be in

peace, and we could enjoy our family throughout the year, not just on this day.

Well, I've got better news for you.

We celebrated the coming of the Messiah.

And that's forever.

That's forever.

That's just not for Christmas Day.

That's forever.

OK, so Tuesday is New Year's Day.

There are many traditions in our culture.

One of them is the ever notorious Christmas Eve party.

Has anybody ever done an all -nighter?

I came home from college.

I see a couple of hands.

I came home from college and pulled an all -nighter Christmas party.

That was the last time I ever did that.

But Christmas parties are a good time.

They're a good thing.

They're a good thing.

And then there's the ball that drops in Times Square.

One of our daughters actually went to Times Square with, at that time, her boyfriend.

And they were part of that crowd of people in Times Square as the ball was dropped.

Again, it was on her bucket list.

It's gone.

She never has to do that again.

New Year's resolutions.

Now, this is really a good one that goes on this time of the year.

Eat less, exercise more, be nicer to everybody.

I'm getting a lot of good pump fists this morning.

Be nicer to everybody that's around you.

The gym is a really classic example of this.

If you belong to a gym, in the month of December, you can probably get on the equipment or get in the pool

without too much trouble.

But I guarantee you, on Wednesday, this will last about six

weeks.

For the believer, we can spend more time with God in prayer.

Or perhaps we can share Christ with others, with the world that needs it.

There's an opportunity for us to look ahead at how God wants to use us

in 2019 or beyond.

And that's why I say we're on the brink of some exciting things.

Because God has plans for you.

God has plans for me.

And his plans aren't going to be thwarted.

The question is, are we going to experience it?

And to what level will we experience it?

There are statements of hope.

There are statements of something better, commitment, improvement.

This kind of takes me now to Joshua chapter 3.

For those of you who have been around a while, when I get the chance to take the pulpit, I'm preaching out of the book of Joshua.

At this rate, it'll be 15 years, we'll be done.

But in Joshua chapter 3, the nation is preparing to enter the promised

land.

They have an opportunity.

And they can look forward to what God is going to do for them and through them as they

enter into the promised land.

Now, if we're going to understand the message of chapter 3, we really have to take a look at context.

So let's step back about 40 years.

I'm at Kadesh Barnea now.

Now, the nation had been in Israel.

We know the story of how they got to Israel.

It was God's hand.

It was God's provision and care for them.

But they stayed there for over 200 years.

And the majority of that time, they were enslaved.

And they were in captivity.

And we know the story about how God called Moses and how they were released from

Israel after the plagues.

We know the story of how they went to the Red Sea.

And from the Red Sea, God took them very quickly to Kadesh Barnea.

And in Kadesh Barnea, they had the opportunity to enter the promised land.

So this isn't their first time in this rodeo.

Now, if you go to Numbers 13, you read that story.

In Numbers 13, the first two verses, God tells Moses to select 12 spies,

take one out of each of the tribe.

See, he was ready to send them into the land.

He really was.

But this wasn't going to be that time.

So as the people camped outside of Kadesh Barnea, and as

Moses was able to identify the 12 tribes, I like to go back with an

imagination and wonder what was going on in the camp as they were there.

They had been in captivity.

They were released.

They had already seen God's hand.

They knew of the promise of the land.

And they were there knocking at the door at Kadesh Barnea.

All we've got to do is send these 12 spies, wait for them to come back, and we're there.

So in Numbers 13, 21, the spies went, and they spent 40 days

in the land searching it out.

They come back.

As we read in verses 25 and 26, they reported what they had seen,

a land flowing with milk and honey.

There was no problem with the land.

But 10 of the spies said they were giants and were as grasshoppers.

Joshua and Caleb said, well, yeah, but my God is greater than those

giants.

And so the people had an opportunity now to step out and to step forward in

faith or to listen to the rationale and to the understanding that the 10

spies had.

The land was amazing, but there were giants.

The nation said, no, they failed.

Now, over the next 40 years, the nation wandered through the wilderness, learned how to

rely on God for everything.

They had a tabernacle.

They had the Shekinah glory in the tabernacle.

They had a cloud during the day, a pillar of fire by night.

It led them.

It told them when it was time to move.

It told them when it was time to stay.

They encountered difficulties.

They encountered battles.

They learned how to rely on God.

And that entire generation died in the wilderness because of their disbelief.

Moses was their leader at that point in time, but he wasn't allowed to enter in either.

And so here they are again on the brink.

They're at Shittim under Mount Nebo, four miles from the River

Jordan 40 years later.

So Joshua 3 is going to take us to this scene.

They're on the brink.

Final preparations are to be made.

So we need to consider some questions as we look at it.

What are the opportunities?

What are the choices that are gonna be presented to the people at this point in time?

What's going to motivate their decisions that they're going to make at this time?

And how is their future impacted by the choices that they're going to make

today?

So let's pray.

Lord, as we open your word, as we open your truth, as we consider in Joshua,

the nation given a second chance to obediently step out in faith.

Lord, there are obstacles in their way, but you're there and you're greater than all.

I pray that as we consider this message in Joshua 3, that we find how does it

apply to us today?

The obstacles that face us today, but yet the great opportunities that are before us.

Open our eyes.

I pray that your Holy Spirit would open our hearts to your message, we pray.

In Jesus' name, amen.

So as we go to Joshua 3, the nation's in -capped, as I said, at Shittim.

It's at the foot of Mount Nebo, approximately four miles east of the River Jordan.

God's preparing them for a great opportunity, but you gotta remember that they've been here

before.

They had the opportunity before.

They could have been in there 40 years ago as they went to Kadesh Barnea.

And so we're going to look at Joshua 3, but impacting Joshua 3, I wanna do one

more set of context.

Joshua 1, verse two.

My servant Moses is dead.

Now, therefore, arise.

Go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to

the people of Israel.

You see, God tells Joshua, arise and go.

Now, Moses is no longer with them.

There has to be a certain level of uncertainty.

The leadership of Moses is not there.

The baton has been handed over to Joshua, and he's been told, arise and go.

Now, do you remember, Joshua was one of the 12 spies that

went in at Kadesh Barnea, and the nation refused his counsel.

Been 40 years of wandering, that whole generation is dead, and God is now telling

Joshua, arise and go.

Now, I love it because it comes with a promise.

It says, I'm gonna be with you.

God's going to be giving him commands and promises that go together, arise and go.

I am gonna be with you.

In verse five, then, it says, no man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life.

Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.

I will not leave you or forsake you.

No man shall be able to stand before you.

There are two implications to this.

One are the giants.

All the ites that are in the land, they are not going to be able to stand against you.

Do you remember the 10 spies said, it's a great land flowing with milk and honey, but there are giants?

God is telling Joshua, they are not going to be able to stand

against you.

It says, I will not leave you or forsake you.

But there's another implication here.

You see, he's going to potentially receive opposition.

Do you remember the nation said no to him 40 years ago?

What makes him think that he's going to motivate them to listen to a different story

this time?

It's the same land.

It's the same giants that are in there.

But he gives him a promise.

He said, no man will be able to stand against you.

I will not leave you.

I will not forsake you.

And then in verse nine, have I not commanded you, be strong and courageous, do not

be frightened and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever

you go.

Be ready.

He doesn't tell him, I'm going to make the way smooth before you.

That is not what he says.

But he does say be strong and be courageous and do not be frightened.

When I read those phrases, do not be frightened, there must be things out there that are frightening.

But he says, don't be frightened because I will be with you.

So Joshua three, starting in verse one.

Then Joshua rose early in the morning and they set out from Shittim.

And they came to the Jordan, he and all the people of Israel and lodged there before they passed over.

And so Joshua rose early.

I love the level of anticipation that has to be going on in his heart right now.

After having 40 years ago, spent 40 days in land and having the people reject the message

and reject the faith, God is telling him now.

And so he arises early and he goes, this is the beginning.

So now before him is this new land, is God's provision.

What were his thoughts?

Was he thinking about the difficulty of motivating the people at Kadesh Barnea?

Was he thinking about the two spies that came back this time?

Do you remember what the spies said this time?

The land is afraid because of us.

Do you remember them?

They went in and they spent time with Rahab and Rahab told them that the people's hearts

melt at the report of what you have been doing.

So Joshua's got to be encouraged as he's ready to step forward.

And then it also says that the people also rose.

What's not happening at this point in time?

It says no mention of a cloud or the pillar moving.

Did you notice that?

That that has now stopped.

It is now God leading the people through his leader, Joshua.

The people are used to seeing, and I don't understand how it happened, but they're used to seeing the pillar of fire

or the cloud move and it's like, okay, time to pack up tent and let's go.

There's no mention of that here.

It's just God say go, Joshua arises, and all the people go with them.

Now, I, again, use my imagination.

They spent a little bit of time at Shittim.

The spies were in the land.

It wasn't a long time.

This was days, not 40 days.

But it doesn't take a lot of imagination to think that some of them took that little four mile walk to see what was going

on on the other side of the hill.

And I'm telling you, it was a huge raging river.

It says that this is at flood time.

We're talking about the snow melt from the mountains.

We're talking about the river where it perhaps is at its largest, and it is a torrential at

flood river.

We're going there.

So Joshua rose and the people rose with them.

They had the stories of the Red Sea.

They had those stories, but this was now going to be a time of faith.

This was gonna be a time for them to move.

A number of years ago, I had the opportunity to raft through the Grand Canyon on the Colorado

River.

The second largest rapid on the river is called Granite Rapid.

It's just under a class five.

It's pretty nasty and it's loud.

And the campsite that we got to go in was 50 yards upstream

of Granite Rapid, and that's where we spent the night.

Now, the interesting thing about this campsite was there are some horticultural groups that had planted all kinds of

things.

And so when you camped there, you got buckets of water and you watered all this stuff.

It was a gorgeous, beautiful, peaceful camp, except for this raging river

that was out there.

And so that's what you slept all night, listening to this river.

And the anticipation and the heartbeat and the adrenaline was pretty high.

So here's the nation now.

They're going to break camp from Shittim under Mount Nebo, and they're gonna go to

the shores of the River Jordan, and they're gonna hear this all night as they make

camp.

Joshua 3, verses two to five, a formula for success.

At the end of three days, the officers went through the camp and commanded the people.

As soon as you see the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord your God being carried by the Levitical priests, then you shall

set out from your place and follow it.

Yet there shall be a distance between you and it, about 2 ,000 cubits in length.

Do not come near it in order that you may know the way you shall go, for you have not passed this way before.

Then Joshua said to the people, consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders

among you.

So now the Lord is gonna give them some instructions, the formula of how they are there to turn

anticipation into action, how they are to turn opportunity

into success.

Now, remember, the spies had come back.

They had the account of Jericho, which, by the way, was just beyond the Jordan.

That was their next obstacle.

But this first obstacle was going to be this river.

They knew the message from the spies, that the people of the land were in fear

on the coming of this nation of Israel.

But there had to be anticipation as to what was going on.

And so the directions.

First, be ready as soon as you see the Ark being carried.

They were to not have time to break camp.

They weren't going to have time to get their family together and have one last breakfast.

They weren't gonna have time to do that.

When the Ark moved, they were to be ready.

And so they were to be watching and they were to be on watch.

But note that the emphasis is on the Ark.

It's when you see the Ark, that's when you should be ready, the Ark of the Covenant.

This is going to be an act of commitment.

They are now going to be understanding that there is something that God has to do

for them.

And so now the people were to all be ready to go.

Go back to Kadesh Barnea.

What were the people doing?

When the spies came back, they heard the report.

What did they do?

They considered the report.

How did they consider the report?

Well, it appears that the obstacles are too great for us.

Yeah, the land is good, we're not going.

Their command now, you see the Ark move, go.

Watch the Ark.

But the second thing now is to keep a distance from the Ark of about 2 ,000 cubits.

There's two issues here.

One is God's holiness.

The people were not to suppose the privilege of getting close to God's

holiness.

God's holiness was an important thing to the nation of Israel.

And for the Ark, the people were not to violate.

They were supposed to respect that.

But quite frankly, practically, they didn't know the way.

And the Ark, it says, will show them the way to go.

Remember the Shekinah glory, the cloud, the pillar of fire?

They're not there now.

There's a new marching order.

So the next instruction is to consecrate themselves.

Now I posit that this is probably the most important of the instructions.

Other than going and other than doing, this was vital for them.

The nation was supposed to be separate from the world.

They were not to be impacted by the practices, the religions, the idolatry,

the influences of the world.

Being consecrated meant having themselves devoted uniquely to God and

putting the other things aside.

Remove those things that are not honoring to God.

So I ask the question, why?

Why is this so important?

We do know that God can and does act regardless of who we are.

We believe through scripture that God has a chosen people, a unique people, Israel, called to

himself.

But God doesn't limit his blessings to them.

Think of Rahab, think of Miriam's father, the Midianite priest,

think of Nineveh.

God does and will act in spite of us.

So what's the big deal here?

Well, I think it's so that the nation will be ready to experience what God wants them to experience.

And that's his blessings on them.

We're going to get, in 2019, the opportunity to be part

of God's work.

I know that.

Are we going to be ready to be part of God's work?

For the nation of Israel, there are at least four reasons driving this.

One of them is that 40 years ago, they proved that they didn't have the heart.

They were perhaps going through the motions, but their heart was not devoted to God.

So when the bad news came, they melted.

They melted.

Perhaps the second reason to consecrate is the reality that once they cross this river, there's going to

be significant spiritual warfare going on.

The temptations that they have are going to be immense.

And if they have not consecrated themselves before God, are they going to be prepared to stand

up to those temptations and to that spiritual warfare?

The people needed to be devoted to God.

As a people, as individuals, we know this through the battle of Ai, how

a small sin could impact the whole camp.

They got to get rid of those things that are going to distract them, and they need to be ready to move out.

Verse five, it says, "'Tomorrow God will do wonders.'".

The promise has been given.

Time has come.

Nothing is going to stop God's plan.

Their job now is to get up, go, follow, and do the job.

Now, I love this because Joshua gives no credit to himself.

All the credit for everything that's in this chapter is going to God.

Another thing to note, as they're getting ready to cross the River Jordan, there are no mention of military plans.

There are no mention of military preparedness.

There are no mention of getting yourselves strengthened and armed and ready to go.

It is all about when the ark goes, get ready and move.

When God says it's time to go, it's time to go.

Don't get ahead of him, but when it's time to go and he goes, get ready to follow him.

Deuteronomy 33, verse 29, states this.

"'Happy are you, O Israel, who is like you?'.

"'A people saved by the Lord.'".

He puts them in perspective that they are uniquely blessed.

What they have is awesome.

Happy are you, O Israel, people saved by the Lord, the shield of your

hope and the sword of your triumph.

Who they are, what they are, and what successes they have come through the Lord, who is the

shield, who is the sword, not through their own devices or their own powers.

"'Your enemies shall come fawning to you "'and you shall tread on their backs.'".

There will be victory.

There will be trials and there will be confrontation and there will be enemies,

but there will be victory.

Moving on, verse six and following.

"'Joshua said to the priests, "'Take up the ark of the covenant "'and pass on before the people.'.

"'So they took up the ark of the covenant "'and went before the people.

"'The Lord said to Joshua, "'Today I will begin to exalt you in the sight "'of all Israel, that they

may know that "'as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.'".

I'm gonna stop there.

This is the first instruction now.

These are specific instructions that he's giving and the first one is to Joshua.

I will begin to exalt you.

God is the one who exalts the leader in his church and his

family.

There is no room in God's economy for an individual to try to accede

to self -glory.

If there's going to be success and if there's going to be reason to celebrate, it's God who has to be the

one who is exalting and who is lifting him up.

Going back to chapter one, God promised to be with him.

There's no greater formula for success than to be walking with God as your source

of power.

Joshua's told you better stay on the straight and narrow, but the truth is that it's all about

God.

Now, God referred to Moses and I find this kind of intriguing.

As I was with Moses, so I will be with you.

Now, a couple of observations about Moses.

First of all, he had a most amazing and special relationship with God.

My goodness, he got to go up on Mount Sinai and even though he only got to experience the

backside of God when he came down, just that experience was so intense that the people couldn't bear to watch.

He had to put a veil over his face because of the residual glory of God, the unique

relationship that Moses had and God is saying, as I was with Moses, I will be with you.

God spoke to the nation through Moses.

On the other side, the people complained.

Moses didn't have a real smooth ride of it, did he?

The people were dissatisfied.

They were saying, send us back to Egypt.

The people complained.

Moses didn't have an easy ride of it.

He didn't always have their full agreement and then there was the fact that Moses

didn't get to enter the promised land through his own sin.

But here's the truth, God never abandons Moses.

Let me read Deuteronomy 34, verse 10 as we get towards the end of the

Pentateuch.

And there has not arisen a prophet since, in Israel,

like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face.

And God is promising Joshua, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.

Joshua, it's not gonna always be easy.

Joshua, there are going to be difficulties.

Joshua, you're probably going to have some failures, but I'm gonna be with you.

Moving on, starting in, I'm gonna give you verse six and then verse eight again.

Joshua said to the priests, take up the Ark of the Covenant, pass on before the people.

So they took up the Ark of the Covenant and went to the people.

In verse eight, as for you, command the priests who bear the Ark of the Covenant, when you come to the brink of the

waters of Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan.

The priests now have specific tasks.

The first one is, they're the ones that were allowed to take up the Ark.

Nobody else was allowed to take up the Ark.

They were to take up the Ark.

Now, once that Ark is lifted, there is a commitment to motion.

Once that Ark is lifted, there is commitment for the nation that we are moving

forward.

Again, remember, no cloud, no pillar of fire, just directions to go.

They were going to be the first to go.

That Ark needed to pass in front of the people.

Anybody ever see the movie, The Patriot?

It's a great movie.

It's a story about Benjamin Martin.

It's the Revolutionary War.

He heads up a militia.

Now, as the movie comes towards its end, Benjamin's son, Gabriel, has been killed.

Tavington, I think he was Colonel Tavington, had murdered him.

Benjamin Martin is distraught.

In fact, he is discouraged.

He's feeling it's too much for him now.

I can't go on.

So now, the militia and the regulars are lined up in what would be a pivotal battle against

the Brits.

Now, on one side, you had the militia, this ragtag group of farmers who

were being trained by this French guy.

And on the other side, you had these crisp formations of British redcoats,

one after the other after the other.

And you looked at it and you go, oh boy, this isn't gonna go well.

Well, we do know the story that they were a diversion and that the regulars were behind a hill.

But there had to be this sense of despair.

And their leader, Benjamin Martin, had seemingly given up.

But I love this scene because on comes Benjamin Martin with the flag, riding in front of this troops.

And what is he doing?

He's motivating them.

He's encouraging them.

He's giving them the ability, the fortitude to go forward into the

battle.

You know what the Ark is?

The Ark is the presence of God in front of the people.

The Ark is God's presence in front of the people.

And if the Ark was to move forward, there was this understanding that we can move

forward because God is going forward in front of us.

And so the people watched the priests and the priests take the Ark.

It's not the priests that they're watching.

It's the Ark.

If we're looking at 2019, and there are things that God is telling you to do, it's not

Pastor Jeff that you need to be looking at.

It's what's God telling you to do?

What's God got for you in store this year?

And so now we move on in verse nine and following to the people.

Joshua said to the people, come here and listen to the words of your Lord, your God.

And Joshua said, here is how you shall know that the living God is among you and that he will without fail

drive out from before him the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Hivites, the Perizzites, the

Girgashites, the Amorites and the Jebusites.

Before the Ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is passing over before you into the Jordan.

Listen, there are some requirements that they are to do.

They're gonna come and watch.

They're gonna anticipate.

They're going to know that the world can't stand and then they're gonna watch as God holds back the river.

But I want to first emphasize verse 11.

The key to this is the Ark.

It's the Ark that's passing before you.

Numbers 10 tells us about the power of the Ark.

It's the Ark.

It's God who's going to be leading the way before them.

It's God's presence.

So the things they are to do, come listen.

They need to put themselves in touch with God's truth and with God's word.

We need to be, if we want to succeed in 2019, we need to be in touch with his

word.

And being in touch with his word does not mean coming to church on Sunday to hear pastor.

It means personally spending time in his word.

Be in touch.

Choose to hear the message of God over the message

of the world.

I assure you that if you spend more time listening to the message of the world than you do

spending time seeking God's message in his word, I assure you which one's going to

influence you.

The first thing there to do is to come and listen.

Joshua 1 .8, this book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shall meditate on it day

and night so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it, for then you will make

your way prosperous.

Then you will have good success.

Rely on God's word.

Then as you step out on his ministry and his mission for you, you got

the power to succeed.

The second thing is to anticipate in verse 10.

They are to anticipate.

This is how you will know, he will.

Now what's in front of them after they cross the river?

A whole bunch of ites.

What was in the land at Kadesh Barnea?

A whole bunch of ites.

They need to anticipate that once they go into the land, God's hand is going to

deliver them from those ites.

It's his plan.

You see these, God could do that to these ites anyway.

He could get them out of the land if he chose.

That was totally his call.

Were the ites gonna stay there or not?

But he left them there for the nation of Israel.

And again, I ask why?

And I think it's because they're going to represent a test of the people's

heart and their obedient faith as they go into and occupy

this land.

Deuteronomy 7, verses one to four.

When the Lord your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it and clears

away many nations before you, and get this, it's the exact same seven.

The Hittites, the Gergashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, Jebusites.

Seven nations more numerous and mighty than you.

More numerous and mightier than you.

And when the Lord gives them over to you, you defeat them.

Then you must devote them to complete destruction.

You shall make no covenant with them.

You shall show no mercy.

You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons.

For they will turn your sons from following me to serve other gods.

Then the anger of the Lord would be kindled against you and he would destroy you quickly.

In this battle in 2019, when God sends us out to do his work,

to the extent that we compromise to what the Lord wants us to do, that's

to the extent that we lose our power to be his hand.

He's gonna succeed.

Do we get to experience it?

Do not turn to them or they will turn you.

The next one is to know that the world will not stand up against.

You see, all these heights can't do it.

They're greater and more numerous than you are, O Israel, but they are not going to stand up.

First John 4, for greater is he that is in you than he

that is in the world.

In verse 13, we now have the nation at the brink and they're told to

watch as God holds back the water.

Back in Exodus 14, the nation is leaving Egypt and they're confronted with a pretty good sized

body of water, the Red Sea.

Pharaoh's armies are coming after them and the sea is here.

God tells Moses, stretch out your staff and the sea is parted, the ground is dry and they pass through.

This time they're in front of a river.

Now there's not an army behind them, but there's a promised land out there.

Kadesh Barnea, they had the chance, there is a promised land out there, but there's giants.

Okay, they know the story.

They know the story of how God held the waters back and they passed through.

Moving on to the end of the chapter, verses 14 to 17.

So when the people set out their tents to pass over the Jordan with the priests bearing the Ark of the Covenant before

the people, as soon as those bearing the Ark had come as far as the Jordan and the feet of the priests bearing the Ark were

dipped in the brink of the water.

Now the Jordan overflows all its banks through the time of harvest.

The waters coming down from above stood in a great heap as far away as Adam, the city that is beside

the Zarethan.

And those flowing down to the sea of the Arabah, the salt sea, were completely cut off.

See, they didn't back flood underneath them.

They were also cut off.

The people passed over Jericho.

Now the priests bearing the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord stood firmly on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan

and all of Israel was passing over on dry ground until the nation finished passing over the

Jordan.

First thing is obedience.

The people followed, the Ark went, and then the priests actually

had to step.

And this is different than the Red Sea where Moses put the staff out and the sea was parted.

In this scene, the river was raging.

I wanna tell you, when I was standing in front of Granite Rapid and that river

was raging, I would have loved to have seen a mark.

This is the path I want you to take, John.

I would have loved to have seen that, but there wasn't.

For the priests, there was no parting of the water

until they actually put their foot there.

Then the water was parted.

And did you catch this?

Not only did the water part, but the river dried up.

The failure from Kadesh Barnea is now behind them.

The years of wandering in the wilderness are now over.

The people are now positioned in the promised land to go forward, to take that promise,

to occupy the land.

God's promise was sure.

So what do we do with this?

Then the nation was at the brink as they were encamped at Shittim, and then as they came to the Jordan, the

nation was at the brink.

God was setting his plan in motion for these people, but

obedience was gonna be required.

Action must be taken.

Blessings were definitely available.

God is going to accomplish his plan.

If it's his plan, he's going to accomplish his plan.

The question is, how much and how would the nation of Israel get to experience it?

We are on the brink of some amazing things.

It's December 30th.

Tomorrow is New Year's Eve.

The day after that is New Year's Day.

I don't know what they are, and I don't know when they are, but God has said, I have plans for

you, for your good.

He has some amazing plans.

He's going to accomplish it.

The question is, how are we going to be involved?

Now, I want you to think within your own self.

What is it that God's calling you to?

Everybody in this room has a spiritual gift.

I know that scripturally.

God equips all of us according to his plan, and God is calling you to use that

gift for the betterment of his body, for the one another.

God's calling you to do something.

If you want to make a New Year's resolution, there's a good one.

What's God calling me to do?

Is he calling you to be in fellowship with somebody else, to be an encourager?

Is he calling you to go out into a dark world and evangelize?

Is he calling you to get involved in a one -on -one discipleship relationship?

What has God got for you, and where is he calling you to right now?

There's a River Jordan out there, and it's scary to step across that River Jordan, but

that's just the first obstacle, and God will clear the way.

And then once you get into the land and doing what God, there will be opposition.

There will even be failures, but God is greater than all of these.

New Year's resolutions are easy to make.

They are.

They're not so easy to keep on the long haul.

Resolutions that we make towards God are similar.

They're easy to make, but they're so important to keep on the long haul.

The nation of Israel had to step out.

God's got a calling for you.

You need to respond.

We need to respond.

But here's the reality.

We get the power of the Holy Spirit.

God promised over and over and over again, I will be with you.

I will be your strength.

I will go before you.

We have the Holy Spirit.

We need to turn to him.

We got to give him our heart.

We've got to step out.

We have to keep the course, and we have to go so that we can experience

his blessings.

As we move into 2019, I guarantee you God has amazing things in plan.

I don't know what, and I don't know when, but he does.

Step out.

Be his soldier.

Be his thing.

There's going to be a song we're going to sing.

Walk by faith in his power, and I

guarantee you you will experience amazing things.

Worship team would come forward.

Lord, as we look ahead, we consider how the nation of Israel looked

ahead when they were in camp at Shittim under Mount Nebo, realizing the

failures from 40 years earlier.

But this was a new opportunity.

This was a new calling.

This was a promise of things to come, expectations, and then the promise of

your presence, your power.

You're going before them.

I pray, Lord, that this challenge reaches each one of us within our hearts today

for this year ahead, that we don't just act on the short term, but we be committed to

walking by faith in your power.

In Jesus' name, amen.