You Are Still Strong 2

If you have your Bibles, I’d invite you to turn with me to Joshua chapter three. Joshua chapter three. I just want to echo what they said in the announcements, how proud we are of our children’s ministry. Lauren and her team put on an incredible event last night. So amazing. You know, this church loves kids. This church believes in kids. This church sows into the lives of kids because kids are the future. There is no future of the church without children. And so, man, we’re so so grateful for all the people, the great volunteers. They’ve got this army of volunteers that do such amazing work to make all that possible. So thank you all so much from the bottom of our hearts.

And we are in a series that I have entitled, this is week two. It’s entitled, You Are Still Strong. Turn to your neighbor and say that. You are still strong. And man, I’m excited for this message, Joshua chapter three. It says this beginning verse one early in the morning, Joshua and all the Israelites went from Shidom and went to the Jordan where they camped before crossing over. Everyone say, I’m crossing over. I’m crossing over.

After three days, the officers went throughout the camp, giving orders to the people. Here’s what they said. When you see the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord your God and the Levitical priests carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it. Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before. But keep a distance of about two thousand cubits. That’s just over about just over half a mile, between you and the ark. Do not go near it. Joshua told the people, consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you. Joshua said to the priests, take up the Ark of the Covenant and pass on ahead of the people. So they took it up and went ahead of them. And the Lord said to Joshua, Today I will be able to exalt you in the eyes of all Israel, so that you may know that I am with you as I was with Moses.

Can I get a good amen on that? So I want to preach for a few minutes this morning from this subject, the path forward. The path forward. And Heavenly Father, we’re so grateful to be here. We’re grateful that your presence has already been here with us. And we thank you for your precious, so precious holy scripture, that we get to come in here and to study it and to learn from it and to take it seriously and to be transformed by it. We ask that you speak to us this morning, and we ask that you help us to listen and to receive and to be changed. And scan in your sons, let me pray. Everybody said? Amen.

The path forward

Okay, well, last week you probably remember if you were here, we talked about God’s people in the Old Testament. We’re called the Israelites, and how because of their unbelief, specifically what they said and what they listened to, instead of entering into the promises of God, they died in the wilderness. An entire generation who should have entered into God’s promises died in the wilderness, save for two people. And that wasn’t God’s fault, that wasn’t God’s judgment. That was simply a consequence of them being careless with their words and with their ears ago. The reason is this is if you’re not deliberate, you can become those people. And in fact, we know this about scripture that their story is there to serve as a warning for us. Paul says that exactly. He’s talking about the Israelite people, these things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us. They were written, the things that happened to them are examples and were written down as warnings for us.

So you could write this down. If we’re not careful, we can hear the promises of God and believe the promises of God, but never enter into the promises of God. And I believe that this word is a word in season, not just for you as a person, even though I think that’s true. I think it’s also true for us as a church. Because the season that we’re in as a church, it’s an exciting season. But how many people know that this is it’s not just an exciting season, it’s a critical season. Like this is a season for the church to have a lot of fun. But it’s also a season for the church that is paramount that we conduct ourselves in the right way.

We’ve just come through like this huge transition. But I want you to think about this with me. Transition is not inherently positive. Sometimes transition can be negative. In fact, you just talk if you’d allow me to talk church talk for just a couple minutes or a quick minute. We know lots of lots of churches were friends with lots of churches that have completed the transition that we just completed, and that was the death of that gonna happen here? No. No, of course not. But I’m trying to communicate to you that how you handle yourself in transition is incredibly important. Because transition is not inherently positive. Transition is inherently neutral. It can be good and it can be bad.

And there’s hundreds of examples that are true even in your own life, but I’ve got a few examples to give you. Think about this. Moving to a new city. Positive or negative? Depends. Right? Depends on like a lot of different things. It depends on how you conduct yourself during and after the transition. It depends on your motivation for moving. It depends on things that are outside your control, things that are inside your control. But it’s a transition, but it’s not necessarily a positive one. It’s neutral. Here’s another one. Becoming parents. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? It depends. Right now, now, from God’s perspective, kids are always a blessing. But we know like a lot of couples that never should have had kids, or at least weren’t ready to have kids. Getting a promotion at work. Maybe thinking, oh, more money. That’s always good. Well, I wouldn’t be so sure. Sometimes a promotion is a great thing, and sometimes a promotion is something terrible.

And so the question for us as a church in this season of transition, and I realize that this is a little bit cheesy, is this are we gonna believe God and enter into his promises, or are we gonna choose to wander in the wilderness? That’s the question. But are you going to manage it in a way that allows you to enter into that promise or not? Right? You’ll notice something important in the story, and it’s this God does not force his people to enter into his promises. God will respect your right to wander. Did you hear what I said? God will respect your right to wander. He doesn’t need you to, he doesn’t want you to, but it’s your choice. So the question for you is if do you have a promise from God? And the answer is always yes. Do you have a promise from God? And if you do, are you willing to do what it takes to walk into it? And I want to show you three areas from this story that we have to manage as a church, three areas that we have to manage as a people. And these are also areas that you have to manage as an individual if you’re going to enter into what God has for you.

Alignment

So, number one, if you’re taking notes, I want you to write it down. It’s really simple. It’s this word, alignment. Alignment. Will you turn to your neighbor and say that word with me? Alignment. Verse 2 says this. After three days the officers went throughout the camp, giving orders to the people. And here’s what they said when you see the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord your God and the Levitical priests carrying it, you are to move out from your position and follow it. Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before. But keep a distance of about two thousand cubits, because you between you and the ark do not go near it.

So the first thing God tells his people as they’re getting ready to enter into the long-awaited promise that he has given them that they’re finally living into. And the first thing he says to them as they walk is this follow the ark. Follow the ark. And you might be thinking, is that Noah? Is that Noah and the Ark? Is that like it’s not Noah and the Ark? The Ark was, and you’ll have to forgive me if I cheapen it. I don’t mean to. It was a sacred chest. And it was built by the Israelites under God’s very specific instruction. And they would carry it with them, and this ark, this sacred chest, it symbolized God’s presence, God’s power, and God’s guidance. And so God says to his people, follow the ark, and then you will know which way to go. Oftentimes you have to commit to following God and doing things his way before you get clarity. Right? It says this, follow the ark, then you will know which way to go. Follow the ark. Right?

And did you notice the instructions? I found it interesting. It says this first, follow the ark, but keep your distance. Isn’t that interesting? Follow the ark, but keep your distance. In other words, don’t get ahead of God. In other words, don’t force a move. Don’t force a decision if it’s not the time. If you feel rushed, if you don’t feel peace, well, then it’s probably not God. Don’t get ahead of God. Like business owners, there are so many decisions that you have to make. Parents, there are so many decisions that you have to make. Young people, listen to me. There are so many decisions that you have to make, and so many decisions that you’ll have to make. And think about this. What was God’s command? Was it to just like go out there and make it happen? No. Was it to do it on your own, pull yourself up by your own bootstraps, like trust in your own talent and giftings and abilities? No. God’s call is to follow. And like God tells Joshua, be courageous. Absolutely. He tells He tells him, be courageous. But does courage mean doing it by yourself? No. In fact, in fact, I would say this: that it takes courage to obey the voice of God. It takes courage to slow down enough to hear the voice of God. It takes courage to say, God, if you’re not in this, I don’t want it.

So look, there are a lot of opinions when it comes to what Jordan and I ought to do as the new lead pastors of this church. Did you know that? More opinions than you might think. Just because you’re older than us doesn’t mean you’re our mentor. Okay. But lots of great opinions. We appreciate great wisdom. Not opinions, wisdom. We appreciate great wisdom. But I just gonna let you know, like at this church, we follow the ark. We follow the lead of God. If God says move, then we move. If God says stay, we stay. If God says speak, we speak. If God says shut up, we shut up. Right? Because this is God’s church. I just work here. Like you call me lead pastor, and that’s great. I appreciate that’s that’s what it says on my door. But you know what? There’s a leader of this church that’s not me. But this is Christ’s church. And so, like there’s gonna be a lot of things that people think we ought to do, but it’s just not it’s not what God has put on in our hearts to do. And so it’s like, man, it’s not about what we think, it’s about following the presence of God, it’s about following the leading of God. And and like even I feel this that even if if you’re praying and you’re fasting and you’re believing God for wisdom and you and you reach out and you get a no, then I even even then I believe that God is in the know. Because I think he’s opening doors for us. And so just know this that what me and Jordan are gonna do, we’ve got lots of ideas, lots of creative things that are super cool, but we are supremely committed to following the ark. Supremely.

And so you might be thinking, why? Why? Why do you need to follow the lead of God? Well, verse 4, it tells us this because you have never been this way before. Right? We’ve never been this way before. Marshall and Cindy, have we ever been this way before? We’ve never been this way before. We don’t know. And so, but here’s what’s great is that we don’t have to find out, we don’t have to, we don’t have to go and explore a thousand wrong ways to do it. We’re gonna follow the ark, follow the leading of God. And I want to declare this over you. God is gonna take you to someplace new. This church has never gone this way before. Your family has never gone this way before. But hear me, you have got to follow the ark. You have to stay aligned with the ark. Aligned with what God is doing. Not side by side, behind, right? You’re not you’re not side by side, you’re behind him. Right? You’re you’re not getting ahead of him, you’re not jumping ahead. You’re not, you’re not, you know, it’s easier to ask for forgiveness than permission. Like, that’s not how it works with God, right? And sometimes there is times when you have to just like pray and take a leap of faith. Absolutely. But just understand this. The place that we will be and the place that you’re called to be is behind God, following his lead. He’s the shepherd, and we are the sheep.

And I want to say it like this. You can hear God’s voice. You can. And we say, oh, maybe you can. Maybe Pastor David, maybe you can. Pastor Cindy probably can, but I but I can’t. Look, you can hear from the voice of God. And you don’t need a Pope. You don’t need a cardinal. You don’t need a priest. You don’t need a pastor. You don’t need anybody else between you and God for you to hear from God. You can hear from God yourself. And look, I’m not dissing any of those. I’m a pastor. I’m not dissing any of those positions. I like the Pope. I’m not dissing any of them. I’m just saying this that you never allow a gatekeeper between you and your father. Right. I can give you counsel. Marshall can give you counsel. Right? But but you don’t need our permission to hear from God yourself. God can speak a fresh personal word to you about your family. And I’m grateful if he would use these words. Fantastic. But God can say something specifically to you. You can hear his voice. He’s the shepherd, and you’re the sheep.

Look, Jesus says this in John chapter 10.

The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice.

What’s he talking about here? The gate, you’re like, oh, there is a gatekeeper. Well, in this particular case, the gatekeeper is the father, right? It’s God the Father. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, Jesus, and the sheep listen to his voice. We listen to the voice of God. Where? Ahead of them. He goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. And then listen to this, verse five.

But they will never follow a stranger. In fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.

I’m declaring this over you. Starting today, you’re gonna hear God’s voice. I’ve never heard God’s voice. Well, that’s cool. Starting today, I’m declaring it over you as one of your pastors. You’re gonna hear God’s voice. You’re gonna be led by the Spirit. You’re gonna pray about things, and you’re gonna get answers specific. You’re gonna get clarity on what God wants you to do. And then listen to this the voice of the stranger, you won’t follow. The voice of the stranger, hear me. Your children will not follow. In the name of Jesus. The voice of the stranger, your marriage will not follow. The voice of the stranger, your business will not follow. See, but it’s it’s about being aligned. Alignment. Aligned with what God is doing, aligned with where he’s taking us, and aligned with what God is doing in you, you as a person and us as a community as well. Number one, alignment.

Preparation

Number two is this preparation. Say preparation. Preparation, verse five. Joshua told the people, consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you. Preparation. Doing things today that will prepare you for tomorrow. Doing things today that will prepare you for tomorrow. It’s an interesting word, isn’t it? Consecrate. Consecrate. What does that mean? It means this. Consecrate means to treat as sacred. So God says, treat today as sacred. Prepare today. Get ready today. You can write this down. I never know when God is gonna do something amazing, so I always prepare today. I never know when God is gonna move, so I prepare today. I never know when God is gonna open a door of opportunity, so I prepare today.

Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, the Lord will do amazing things. Well, think about like this the amazing thing God wants to do in you is attached to you preparing today. God wants to do something amazing tomorrow, but it’s attached to you preparing today. Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, God will do amazing things. Only God can do the amazing thing, but only I can prepare today. Only God can do the amazing thing, but only I can prepare today. And a lot of times I see people trying to force the amazing thing instead of doing the small things that would make it would make them ready for when God comes and does something.

Like you know, you know what something I’ve noticed? I’ll just tell you, young people. Sometimes the promises of God from our perspective feel like they can take a long time. Right? Am I the only one? Feels like it takes a long time. But when the promises of God finally do come, they come quick. So you gotta be ready. Young people, when opportunity docks, you better be ready to open the door. Because it doesn’t wait around for you to put your Nikes on. So put them on now. Like prepare now. I’ll prepare when the opportunity comes. It’ll be too late. Right, like young men, if you’re thinking like, man, I’ll learn how to treat a lady when God brings me one. It’ll be too late. I’ll learn how to manage my money when God makes me rich. It’ll be too late. Right? Like you can’t tithe on a hundred dollars, and you think you’re gonna be able to tithe on 10 grand? You’re crazy. It’s easy now. Right? So you prepare today. You develop discipline today, right? Like I’m gonna learn how to lead when I get a promotion. It’ll be too late. So learn how to lead now.

Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, the Lord will do amazing things. I’m believing God for a miracle, but today is sacred. What I do today matters. I’m believing God for a breakthrough, but today is sacred. What I do today matters. I’m believing God for an answer, but what I do today matters. Today is sacred. I have faith for today and hope for tomorrow. I have faith for today and hope for tomorrow.

Exodus chapter 3, verse 5. This is a very cool scripture where God comes and he’s introducing himself to Moses. He appears at the first time. Does anyone remember how he appears? It’s this burning bush, right? It’s a plant that’s on fire. And God’s voice is coming from the plant that’s on fire. And here’s what he says. God says through the plant to Moses,

take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.

Yeah, I love this verse, not just because I have a bad habit of taking off my shoes at inappropriate times, which I for sure do. The whole staff knows this. If we if a meeting goes too long, I’m taking my shoes off. You got 30 minutes. After that, the piggies are coming out. Some cool pastors gave us a gift card for the transition to Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse. We had never been before. We’re not bougie people like that. We’d never been. So me and Jordan went, and it’s like the fanciest meal I’ve ever had. Do you think I took my shoes off under the table? You bet. Of course I did. I rarely, if ever, eat with shoes on. We were we went to Disney on ice with my daughter. And you were singing and she’s having fun, and then she leans over and she says, put your shoes on, your feet stink. Oh wow. Grit and Barrett. Yeah, so me and God in this verse, I keep waiting for him to tell me that. Take off your shoes.

I love this verse not just because of that, but because of where Moses was. He says, You’re standing on holy ground. And I’m sure probably Moses was thinking, like, where? Here? Like, what is it? I’m in like a little cave or something? Like what? Like, what’s significant? Not Egypt where you were, not the promised land where you’re going, but right here, right now. This is holy ground. Moses, you’re on the run, you’re on the run. This is holy. You’re nowhere close to fulfilling God’s purpose for your life. This is holy. Moses, you’ve married a strange woman in a strange land. This is holy. Some of the husbands in here are like, I hear that. I married a strange woman in a strange land. Moses, you’re supposed to be leading a nation, and instead you’re tending sheep. But this is holy. God says, right where you are, right now, this is holy ground. So consecrate today. Consecrate today. Treat today as sacred. Prepare today. Because when God comes and moves, it happens quick. So you gotta be ready.

D. L. Moody says this the world has yet to see what man can do through one man who is wholly consecrated to him. And by God’s help, I aim to be that man. What can God do through you? Well, only God knows. But only you can prepare. What can God do through you? Only God knows, but only you can treat today as sacred. Only you can do the work now to be ready for what he has for you. And so young people, like I tell you all the time, like, I love you, but the phone thing scares me. Because I’m afraid that this is gonna be the death of your dream. Like the hours and hours and hours that people spend doing nothing. Like, do you realize how incredible you could be at almost anything? Like if you spent hours a day getting ready. So get ready. You’ve got no excuse being 25 and not good at anything. Get ready. Like God wants to do something cool through you. And God’s gonna be the one who does the amazing thing, but only you can prepare. So prepare. Number one, alignment. Number two, preparation. And I’m wrapping up.

Expectation

Number three, expectation. Expectation. Joshua chapter 3, verse 7. And the Lord said to Joshua, Today I will begin to exalt you in the eyes of all Israel, so that you may know that I am with you as I was with Moses. So notice here that God tells Joshua what he’s going to do in him before he does it. You tracking with me? Right? He tells, he says, I’m going to do not I did or I’m doing, I’m going to do something amazing in you. So, like, why, why would he do that? Well, I think there’s a probably a number of reasons. First one is so that so that Joshua can align himself with God so that he can prepare himself. But I also believe that God told him what he was going to do so that he could fill his heart with faith and expectation for what God was gonna do.

Pastor, is it okay to expect? Absolutely. Absolutely. Pastor, is it okay if I expect God to do something amazing? Absolutely. Is it okay if I expect God to do the impossible in my life? Absolutely. Is it okay to expect God to use me in a big way? Absolutely. Listen to me, a lot of times faith shows itself as expectation. I expect God to come through. Right? Fear expects God to not come through, faith expects God to come through. I think there’s like a lot of Christians that think maybe it’s spiritual somehow to be sad and depressed and sorrowful and you know in despair, and like, look, I don’t know. I just I just don’t think that’s how it’s gonna be in heaven. Like, I don’t think there’s gonna be despair in heaven. And did you know that Jesus taught us to pray that his will be done on earth as it is in heaven? And so heaven’s gonna be awesome. But until I get there, I’m believing for God to do something amazing now, too. I’m filling my heart with expectation. Filling my heart with expectation.

Look again at what God said. And the Lord said to Joshua, Today I will begin to exalt you in the eyes of all of Israel. That’s the promise. I will begin to exalt you in the eyes of all of Israel. Isn’t that an interesting thing to say? That he exalts him. How? How? Do I get a promotion? Do I get a sweet job title? Do I blah blah blah? He’s going to exalt him in the eyes of all the people. In other words, in other words, Joshua, I’m going to give you influence. Can I tell you? Can I tell you what this city needs? It needs influence. This city needs a people of influence. Not affluence, necessarily. Not talking about rich people, influence. Our city needs people who are willing to influence the city in everything we do and everywhere we go. And when you walk into your workplace, there’s an influence on you. And when you walk onto campus, there’s an influence on you. And when you walk into your school, there’s an influence on you.

You might be thinking, oh, is it so that I can be rich and super cool and everyone can like me and I can feel really great about myself? Hard no. Influence is always about God’s purpose. Always. Influence is always about God’s purpose. Influence is about bringing people into what God has for them. Influence is about bringing people back into the presence of God. Your influence is about bringing people back to the gospel. And so God says, I’m going to give you influence, but it’s not about you, it’s about what I’m going to do through you. And so the way I figure it is this. But I can tell you what I think. It’s that I see a great and influential church. And I expect God has worked, God is working, and I expect Him to continue to work through this place through this people.

I expect you, you, all you people, right? Like you know, you know, believer center is not a building, right? That’s you. Like when someone says believer center, you know what they’re talking about, right? You. You’re the church. You are the church. So I believe as tiny little ambassadors of God’s kingdom and of this church, like as we dismiss this service here in 10 minutes or whatever, that you’re gonna go out and the gospel of Jesus Christ is gonna spread to a hundred different restaurants. To target, to Walmart, to Smith. Well, I don’t know where you’re going. To your house, wherever you’re going, I believe the presence of God is going into the city. To to to heal things that are broken. In your own power? No, not in your own power. Just assume I’m never talking about doing anything in your own power. But but having the expectation, God, you can use me in a cool way today. It doesn’t have to be flashy. Like, man, maybe it has something to do with some cool interaction that I have with a homeless person. I don’t know, whatever. Something small. Right? Like a like I can go and encourage, like I’m walking, and pretend I’m like an 80-year-old lady, and I walk and I can bring encouragement to some young person. I don’t know, whatever. There’s a million different ways. But I have an expectation that God will use me today. I expect it. I ask for it, and then I receive it and I expect it. Number one, alignment. Number two, preparation. Number three, expectation.

Roll away the stone

And I want you to notice one thing about these verses that we read. It’s this is notice it’s the Lord who will do the amazing things. It’s the Lord that will do the amazing things. So here’s what’s awesome. I feel no pressure to do amazing things. Just to let you know, I feel no pressure to preach amazing sermons. I feel no pressure to have an amazing gift. But I do feel a sacred and timely call to obey. And I believe this is that if we’ll align and we’ll prepare and we’ll expect, God will come and do amazing things in our lives, in our hearts, in our families, in our workplaces, in our church, and in our city. My last thought, I’ll do what I can do, and I’ll trust God to handle what only He can do. I’ll do what’s possible and trust God with the impossible. I’ll do what I can in the natural and I’ll trust God for the supernatural.

You know, there’s a cool story. I know many of you know it, but Jesus is preparing to raise his best friend from the dead, Lazarus. And many of you know the words that he says. He he the power of God comes out of his mouth, just like we talked about last week. And he says this phrase, right? Lazarus come forth. Y’all probably know that. Lazarus come forth. But did you know that before he says Lazarus come before forth? He says this, hey disciples, roll away the stone. That’s what he says. Hey, disciples, roll away the stone. And this might shock some of you, and it might offend some of the more charismatic folks in here. I don’t mean it to, but like in the natural, I can’t raise the dead. I can’t. But you know what? I can roll away a stone. I can do that. And you know what? I can’t change this city. But you know what? I can love people. I can serve people, I can faithfully lead a church, I can faithfully teach the Bible. I can love my wife faithfully. I can be a good dad. I can’t change this city, but I can serve this city. And I believe that if we’ll be faithful to serve this city, God will be faithful to change this city. If we’ll be faithful to roll away the stone, God will be faithful to raise the dead.

Listen to this. When we pray, God will answer. When we knock, God will open the door. When we repent, God will forgive. When we wait, God will renew our strength. When we call, God will be near. When we abide, God will produce fruit in us. When we stand firm, God will fight for us. When we give, God will multiply. When we roll away the stone, God will raise the dead. Amen.

When I think about this, and I’ll I’m wrapping up, but when I just think about this room and I think about like how many Joshuas are in here, how many Calebs are in here? Like the unbelievable potential. Like, man, I’ll go into the youth room on Tuesdays. It’s like a billion decibels in there. It’s like wild. There’s a thousand degrees, it stinks. It’s wild. It reminds me how far I’ve been doing this for a long time. I was like, I can’t believe I used to do it in here, but the it’s amazing. But like you look at all these young people, and it’s like they could change the world. Y’all could change the world. There’s so much like, oh, this next generation. Don’t listen to any of that, man. You guys are powerful. You can change the world. Just turn off your phone, everyone’s. But you can do it, man. But the question is, are you willing to do what it takes to enter into the promises God has for you? It’s not always going to be easy. It’s going to be about aligning yourself with the presence of God, preparing yourself and expecting God to use you.

Here’s my closing statement. God has a path forward for you. And Joshua’s story highlights three key areas we need to manage to step into it. One, alignment. Like the Israelites following the ark, God is inviting us to follow and to align with where God is leading us. Number two, preparation. Treat today as sacred. How we prepare now sets us up for the amazing things God will do tomorrow. Three, expectation. Fill your hearts with faith, believing God will lead you into great things, not for your glory, but for his purpose.

Pray with me. So, Heavenly Father, today we thank you for all you’re doing in this church. We thank you for all you’re doing in our lives. And today we commit ourselves to walking in alignment with you, to preparing ourselves to be used by you. And to filling our hearts and filling our minds with faith and expectation for what you want to do in us and what you want to do through us. And their ideas, favor in their family. And Father, I pray that you would lift these people up, not for their own gain, but to be used by you to spread your gospel and to spread your light to this city and to this world. And Father, we say thank you for that. And we receive it as done. And it’s in your son’s name we pray. Everybody said. Amen.