Pastor Melinda Song
QUESTION: What do an airplane, bicycle and a church have in common?
ANSWER: If either stops moving forward, you’re in trouble!
The Assemblies of God is a Contemporary Pentecostal Church Movement. We either move forward or backward, rotate or stagnate.
TOP is celebrating our 40th anniversary In 112 days. It is time for us to move forward and step into our Promised Land.
The Lord reminded me of Joshua 3:4 that I used in a message I shared at a wake service…Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before. We are going where we have not been before.
Joshua 3:1-6 (NIV)
Early in the morning Joshua and all the Israelites set out from Shittim and went to the Jordan, where they camped before crossing over. [2] After three days the officers went throughout the camp, [3] giving orders to the people: “When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the priests, who are Levites, carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it. [4] Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before. But keep a distance of about a thousand yards between you and the ark; do not go near it.”
[5] Joshua told the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do amazing things among you.”
This narrative marked a transition in the lives of the Israelites – a crossing over of the Jordan from the wilderness into the Promised Land.
The two spies had returned with good report from Jericho and so “early in the morning Joshua and all the Israelites set out from Shittim and went to the Jordan, where they camped before crossing over. After three days the officers went throughout the camp, giving orders to the people…
In every transition, we must be prepared for…
THE WAIT
Waiting is the hardest part of trusting. When we get to the crossing moments of life we are not just waiting around, we are waiting for God. And we can trust His timing and His wisdom.
Isaiah 30:18 (NLT)
So the LORD must wait for you to come to Him so He can show you His love and compassion. For the LORD is a faithful God. Blessed are those who wait for His help.
From Theresa’s WhatsApp sharing:
First use of the word wait is referring to God. God Almighty is waiting for us to come to Him.
The second time the word wait is used in this verse is about us doing the waiting. We are blessed in our waiting. The word blessed here means more than just happiness; it’s moving in the direction of peace and happiness.
What do the children of Israel see ahead of them? They could see the Promised Land and the Jordan.
Joshua 3:15 Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest
They would have realized that crossing the Jordan was impossible. The Jordan at flood stage was probably more than a mile across, turbulent and easily 10-20 feet deep in many places. There was only one way around their problem and that was to go through it.
So many of us face “personal Jordans” that it seems uncrossable. Churches can feel that way too when the way forward seems blocked by all kinds of barriers.
Very often people are at the end of their resources that God is able to show His power.
It is never about what we can do,
it is always about what GOD can do.
Ephesians 3:20 (NIV)
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,
Finally, after three days, came the instructions.
[3] …“When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the priests, who are Levites, carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it. [4] Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before. But keep a distance of about a thousand yards between you and the ark; do not go near it.”
The rest of Joshua 3 goes on to tell us something that is echoed throughout Scripture: What is impossible with men is possible with God. (Luke 18:27).
All we have to do is keep an eye on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, be sensitive to the move of God in and around us and follow in obedience!
THE PREPARATION
Joshua 3:5
Joshua told the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do amazing things among you.”
Consecration
Why not sharpen their swords or spears? Because God’s ways are not our ways.
For God’s people, spiritual preparation is the most vital element. Holiness precedes blessings and God works deeply in us before He works powerfully through us.
The things we do in consecration are NOT works of righteousness to earn God’s favor or overcome the enemies. These acts of consecration, like confession, remove the barriers to God’s power, to fellowship, and so prepare our hearts to receive God’s grace. They build our faith so we will put our feet in the water, cross over, and go up to possess the land.
Besides the call to consecration God also promises that He is going to do amazing things. Thus the people of Israel were to expect God to work a miracle.
Expectation
Except for Joshua and Caleb, the people were one generation removed from the Red Sea deliverance. They had only heard about the great escape from Pharaoh’s army. They had not witnessed it.
Just as he rolled back the waters of the Red Sea, he rolled back the waters of the Jordan River. The people walked across the dry riverbed of the Jordan River just as their parents walked across the dry sea-bed of the Red Sea.
This is our concern for 2nd generation Christians who may not have experienced that mighty deliverance out of the kingdom of darkness.
God has no grandchildren.
The Word of God
Joshua 3:9
Joshua said to the Israelites, “Come here and listen to the words of the LORD your God.
Romans 10:17 tells us that “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God” (NKJV).
They have to understand that these were not man’s instructions but God’s instructions and He is in their midst. As they turned their eyes and ears to God, faith arose in their hearts.
THE MOVE
The Lord Leads
Joshua 3:11
See, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth will go into the Jordan ahead of you.
The Ark of the Covenant, representing God’s person, presence and power leads the way. God Himself goes before them as their source of victory.
“The battle is the Lord’s,” or, as Joshua said, “This is how you will know that the living God is among you and that he will certainly drive out before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites and Jebusites.” (3:10)
The Lord is also leading us.
We Step Out in Faith
[13] And as soon as the priests who carry the ark of the LORD—the Lord of all the earth—set foot IN the Jordan, its waters flowing downstream will be cut off and stand up in a heap.”
Before God would part the waters of the Jordan a condition had to be met – a step of faith.
[15] …Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, [16] the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea) was completely cut off….
God was ready, willing, and able to perform an amazing miracle, a feat that would prove that he was the living God. But the condition hinged on the people’s faithfulness. The priests had to get their feet wet.
God wants to do some amazing things tomorrow but before he does, we are required to demonstrate our faith. Like an automatic door, it will only open as we move toward it.
Kierkegaard wrote, “Without risk there is no faith.” For faith to be faith, we venture out beyond our own abilities and resources. We take the step before God acts. We have to step out of the boat if we want to walk on water.
God is willing and able to supernaturally intervene but He won’t until we first demonstrate faith by walking forward on the path of obedience. Compared to God’s part, our part is miniscule but necessary.
It is God’s presence as the one and only living God that sustains believers regardless of what life might bring. The key is staying focused on His presence, stepping out in faith, and following Him in obedience.
THE MIRACLE
Joshua 3:15-17 (NIV)
[15] Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, [16] the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho.
The parenthetical statement for the Jordan at flood stage is significant because it makes the point that a great miracle was involved.
“All during harvest” refers to the early summer harvest. The Israelites crossed on the tenth day of the first month (4:19), which corresponds to March-April. At this time, the river was still swollen from the spring melting and rains. The Jordan was a tempestuous, raging river at flood stage. During the dry season, at its widest point, the Jordan was 100 feet wide, now it was over a mile wide.
When the priests stepped into the river, God caused the waters to heap up at a town called Adam (usually identified with Tell ed-Damiyeh 16 miles away).
[17] The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground.
God not only stopped the water, but He also dried up the river for the people to cross over.
Many insist that the event could be explained as a natural phenomenon.
• On December 8, 1267 an earthquake caused the high banks of the Jordan to collapse near Tell ed-Damiyeh, damming the river for about 10 hours.
• On July 11, 1927 another earthquake near the same location blocked the river for 21 hours.
Note that these stoppages did not occur during flood season. God could have employed natural causes but the timing would have still made it a miraculous intervention.
Considering all the factors involved it seems best to view this occurrence as a special act of God brought about in a way unknown to man.
(1) The event came to pass as predicted (3:13, 15).
(2) The timing was exact (v. 15).
(3) The event took place when the river was at flood stage (v. 15).
(4) The wall of water was held in place for many hours, possibly an entire day (v. 16).
(5) The soft, wet river bottom became dry at once (v. 17).
(6) The water returned immediately as soon as the people had crossed over and the priests came up out of the river (4:18).
CONCLUSION
God preserved Joshua 3 for us not simply to convince us that in due time He will being us over. He also gave it to us to remind us that we are not yet completely over. We in our experience are always somewhere between v. 2 and v. 17.
ILLUSTRATION:
The Australian coat of arms pictures two creatures–the emu, a flightless bird, and the kangaroo. The animals were chosen because they share a characteristic that appealed to the Australian citizens. Both the emu and kangaroo can move only forward, not back. The emu’s three-toed foot causes it to fall if it tries to go backwards, and the kangaroo is prevented from moving in reverse by its large tail.
Those who truly choose to follow Jesus are like the emu and kangaroo, moving only forward, never back.
When God tells us to move we have a choice.
a. We can move forward and be blessed, or
b. We can stay where we are and become stagnant.
If we expect to receive God’s promises we have to do our part which is to move forward. We’ve got to do our part and if we do it, God will show us, as we watch, how He will turn the impossibility into promise fulfilled.
Our response when God tells us to move ought to be:
a. Yes, Lord
b. Lead the way, Lord
c. Where ever you lead I will follow
We must follow:
a. Without hesitation
b. Without reservation
c. Without question
Joshua 3:4 (NIV)
Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before. But keep a distance of about a thousand yards between you and the ark; do not go near it.”
As long as the church follows the God’s leading it will be safe and successful.
We as humans like to hold on to the familiar, God wants us to be people who are willing to grow and expand, and claim new territory. For believers today, crossing the Jordan represents passing from one level of the Christian life to another.
How is God calling you to get your feet wet? Are you being faced with an obstacle, a challenge that seems like impossibility? Will you take the first step of faith?
We need to remember that faith honours God and God honours faith! God delights in favoring people who will get their feet wet.
Brothers and sisters, I long to see God do what only God can do! We must believe that nothing is too difficult for God. We must focus on Christ and follow Him. We must cast out all sin and set ourselves apart to Him. And we must be ready to move when He does His work, always being mindful that if anything is going to last, it’s from the Lord.
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