A Defining Moment
Introduction
Joshua is nearing 80 years of age, all of his followers are relatively young, most born in the wilderness. It’s the only life they have ever known. Based on what they have been told by Joshua and Caleb, they have been waiting a long time for this day. However, the wilderness is not so bad; it is predictable and very familiar. Their parents had gotten use to Egypt and slavery, now they were leaving the only life they had ever known.
God had given them shoes that did not wear out, their feet did not swell, water out of rock, bread from heaven. and often times meat to eat. Their direction came from a cloud in the daytime and a pillar of fire by night.
Their generation had known very little about a Life of Victory. To them, life was full of disappointments, delays, and dead ends.
Yet, today, here is something I think they could all agree on:
1. It is God who brought us here.
2. It is God who will keep and preserve us here.
3. It is God who will take us on from here.
Here at the Jordan, Joshua believed that the same God that mad a “highway in the wilderness” could also make a “way through the river.”
QUESTION: Facing any new challenges; new territory?
Sickness, pain, bereavement, failure, financial disaster, job loss, opposition, trouble in your marriage.
The Lord can provide a way where there is no way.
Joshua faced a rather complicated situation, yet with great clarity, simplifies it.
NOTE: They were told to:
SET OUT
SANCTIFY YOURSELF
CROSS-OVER
1. ORDERS THAT HAD TO BE OBEYED.
2. CONDITIONS THAT HAD TO BE FULFILLED.
3. PROMISES THAT HAD TO BE BELIEVED.
What do you do with God’s promises?
Underline them in yellow, blue or pink.
Appropriate them in faith.
1 Kings 8:56: "Blessed be the Lord, who has given rest to His people Israel, according to all that He promised. There has not failed one word of all His good promise, which He promised through His servant Moses.”
I. Celebrations 3
God’s Presence- “go after it” (go for it).
Celebrate God’s Presence
“ark of the covenant of the Lord your God”
Master Messiah
He is my DELIVERER
He gives me DIRECTION
Proverbs 6:20-22
“My son, keep your father's command,
And do not forsake the law of your mother.
Bind them continually upon your heart;
Tie them around your neck.
When you roam, they will lead you;
When you sleep, they will keep you;
And when you awake, they will speak with you.
MERCY SEAT
Lamentations 3:21-23
“This I recall to my mind,
Therefore I have hope.
Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions fail not.
They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.”
Mercy- He did not give me what I deserve.
MANNA
Speaks of God’s Providing
Psalms 37:25
“I have been young, and now am old;
Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken,
Nor his descendants begging bread.”
His Presence is a reminder of my need for INTIMACY WITH CHRIST.
ILLUSTRATION: Recently I spent a day with Charles Stanley.
“Life Principles To Live By”
Our intimacy with God – His highest priority for our lives-determines the impact of our lives.
Obey God and leave all the consequences to Him. (If God tells you to run through a wall; head for it!)
The awareness of God’s presence energizes us for our work.
God does not require us to understand His will, just obey it, even if it seems unreasonable.
The dark moments of our life will last only so long as is necessary for God to accomplish His purpose in us.
Trusting God means looking beyond what we can see to what God sees.
If necessary, God will move heaven and earth to show us His will.
God assumes full responsibility for our needs when we obey Him.
As children of a sovereign God, we are never victims of our circumstances.
Obedience always brings blessing.
No Christian has ever been called to “go it alone” in his or her walk of faith.
II. ANTICIPATION 5
“tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.”
Psalms 77:13-14
“Your way, O God, is in the sanctuary;
Who is so great a God as our God?
You are the God who does wonders;
You have declared Your strength among the peoples.”
Chain Breaker
If you’ve been walking the same old road for miles and miles
If you’ve been hearing the same old voice tell the same old lies
If you’re trying to feel the same old holes inside
There’s a better life
There’s a better life
If you’ve got pain
He’s a pain taker
If you feel lost
He’s a way maker
If you need freedom or saving
He’s a prison-shaking Savior
If you’ve got chains
He’s a chain breaker
Joshua 3:7: “I will be with you.”
Watch word for conquest
“You shall know that the living God is among you.” – His presence sustains the Lord’s people.
Psalms 27:1-3
“The Lord is my light and my salvation;
Whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the strength of my life;
Of whom shall I be afraid?
When the wicked came against me
To eat up my flesh,
My enemies and foes,
They stumbled and fell.
Though an army may encamp against me,
My heart shall not fear;
Though war may rise against me,
In this I will be confident.”
Psalms 27:13-14
“I would have lost heart, unless I had believed
That I would see the goodness of the Lord
In the land of the living.
Wait on the Lord;
Be of good courage,
And He shall strengthen your heart;
Wait, I say, on the Lord!”
III. CONFRONTATION 10
Jordan will produce Jericho
Joshua 3:10: “And Joshua said, "By this you shall know that the living God is among you, and that He will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Hivites and the Perizzites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Jebusites:”
7 Tribes- 7 number of perfection in the Bible.
When the Lord is with you, it’s a perfect storm.
Obedience to the Lord does not promise no battles. There’s a reason we need the armor of God.
IV. EXALTATION 7
Psalms 75:6-7
“For exaltation comes neither from the east
Nor from the west nor from the south.
But God is the Judge:
He puts down one,
And exalts another.”
1 Peter 5:6-7
“Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, 7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.”
V7 Addie in Israel; her ring in Hebrew
Satan is in REDUCTION BUSINESS.
Jesus is in EXALTATION/PROMOTION BUSINESS.
Proverbs 6:26
“For by means of a harlot
A man is reduced to a crust of bread;
And an adulteress will prey upon his precious life.”