The Formula for crossing your Jordan / Joshua 3:16,14-17

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The Formula for crossing your Jordan / Joshua 3:1-6,14-17

Unbelief sees the obstacles, but faith sees the opportunities!
Warren W. Wiersbe
Prokopē (progress) describes not merely moving ahead but doing so against obstacles.
John F. MacArthur
Getting over Jordan
Joshua 3:1-6, 14-17
No matter
How well you live
And how much you LOVE GOD
You will & have to
Face obstacles
In your life
It’s my experiences
With God
More often than not
That God will Permit
Obstacles
To come into our lives
And then there are times
That God just doesn’t
permit obstacles
To come into our lives
But God will Place
Obstacles
To come in our PATH
Sometimes God
Will put a difficult obstacle
Right before
Our desired objective
There are times
That God will
Put something between
where we are & where we’re trying to go
And you have to learn
In life
How to deal
with these obstacles
And how to overcome
These obstacles
When we look at Psalm 23
David has a VISION — VICTORY — BUT A VALLEY
Psalm 23:1–6 (KJV 1900) 1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters. 3 He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. 4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. 5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: And I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
The First 3 verses is David’s VISION
The Last 2 verses is David’s VICTORY
But verse 4 is David’s obstacles/VALLEY
And so it is with us
That God will often times
Place something
In between where we are
And where we’re trying to go
And there’s 3 different ways
We can deal
With our obstacle
1st: We can Flee from the presence of the Obstacle
2nd: We can Fold under the pressure of the Obstacle
3rd: We can Flourish despite possession the Obstacle
This is the posture
That the people of God
Have taken in our text
They are now faced
With a serious obstacle — It is the Jordan River
Crossing the Jordan River
Is not a difficult task
If you research it or go their
Under normal conditions
The Jordan River
At it’s widest point
Is only about
A 100 feet wide
And at it’s deepest point
It’s only about
4 feet deep
But when you look
At this particular text
The bible says that
At the time of this text
It’s harvest time
Joshua 3:15
Now this is significant
Because now
They’re here at the Jordan River
And it’s harvest time
And the bible says
In verse 15 at harvest time
That the Jordan River
Was at flood stage / flood level
Which means
That the children of Israel
Is standing at the Jordan River
At the most
Difficult & Dangerous time
In fact
The Jordan River at this time
Was literally uncrossable
Humanly uncrossable
Out of all
The seasons & The times
That God could have bought them
To the Jordan River
This was the most
Difficult-Daunting-Dangerous time of the season
At any other time
they could have cross over
on foot
But God didn’t ordain
their path to be easy
God deliberately
Led them to the Jordan River
When it was
Difficult-Daunting-Dangerous
I emphasize that
Because the question
Now becomes [WHY]
WHY to these your children
Note: Why would God allow things to be more difficult than they have to be especially at this time.
There are times
God will allow
Things to be difficult
Because God is Hoping
That the difficulty
Of the situation
Will cause you to depend more on the Savior
Note: It’s called necessary trouble to teach you to deepen your dependence not on SELF but on the SAVIOR
Proverbs 3:5 (KJV 1900) 5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; And lean not unto thine own understanding.
Example: Not to fully lay on your bed is impossible but God wants you to fully lean on Him.
Somebody saying right now
God
It doesn’t have to be
This difficult
This hard
This Rough
And God is saying
Yes it does
Because if it wasn’t
As rough as it is
you wouldn’t be
Praying—Praising—In Church—Bible Class/Weather—Serving
God says
I brought you to this point
But I only did it
Because I have plans
To allow you to get over it
God never brought the children of Israel
To the Jordan River
Just to keep them
On this side of Canaan
But this is the reason
why He brought them here
was to expose them
To something better
But you can’t get to better
Apart from ME/GOD
God knows that there’s something
Waiting for you on the opposite side of THIS
And you’re never get to THAT
If you can’t deal with THIS
You’ll never get to THAT
If you break down over THIS ]
And when you get to your THIS, this is what you have to do ........
1st: TRUST the PLAN of GOD
2nd:TRAVEL the PATH of GOD
3rd: TREAD on the PROMISE of GOD
Quote: It’s not time to break down before the break thru
The Jordan River
In this text
Is Symbolic of difficult crossing
The Jordan River
In this text
Is symbolic of dangerous & daunting assignments
Jordan represents the path that’s difficult
Jordan represents the path that’s daunting
Jordan represents the path that’s dangerous
Jordan represents the path that’s deep
Jordan represents the path that possibly could be discouraging
Somebody is at
Their Jordan River
Standing at the Rivers edge
You’ve at a
Daunting—Difficult seasons of your life
And you’re wondering
Why God
Did you bring me
To this point at this time NOW
By your own assessment
you’re doing
What you thought God has order
In your life to do
You’ve been faithful
In your engagements
When it comes down to Christ
you’ve been giving
your Time Talent Tenth
And God
Is still trying you
With Trials & Tribulations
And it’s because
God wants to show you something
How was the children
Of Israel able
To cross their Jordan
The Formula for Crossing your Jordan
1st: They had to have a Willingness to Follow [ V. 2,3,4 ]
whenever you get to the point
when nobody can’t tell you nothing
when you think you Know it All
when you think you Seen it All
when you think you Heard it All
when you think you Been There & Done that
And nobody can’t tell you anything
you are getting ready
To miss your blessing
Because
you don’t know it all
And whenever you get
To the point
To where you can’t learn
From somebody else
you’re about to miss your blessing
you have to be willing to follow
Verse 2&3
you have to be willing to follow
you have to be willing to submit
you’ll never be a leader
If you can’t submit
To being a follower
But note
what you’re following
Because you can’t follow
Everything & Everybody
Verse 3
“when you see”
So we’re following
The Ark of the Covenant
The Ark of the Covenant
It was a box
It was overlaid with gold
In the box
The contents of the box
It had a gold jar containing manna
It had the Ten commandments
It had Aaron’s budding Rod
On top of the Ark of the Covenant
Was a lid
Made of pure 100% gold
That lid is what’s called
The Mercy seat
Basically symbolize
Where God would dwell
Which is the reason
Why the angels
Was to be on one side
Of that Mercy seat
The angels looking down
Symbolizing
The worship & protection of God
In the Mercy seat
This Ark of the Covenant
It symbolizes
The visual presence of God
It was the presence of God
In the text
Joshua says
“when you see” Follow the Ark
So the text says
We are following
The presence of God
Not Following—House—Cars—Cloths—Possessions—Material Things
Our command
Is to follow
The presence of The Lord
Because I’ve discovered
If you get His presence
Other stuff will come
Not only
Are we not pursing Possessions
We’re not even pursing People
Verse 3
“when you see”
“ NOT THEM”—“FOLLOW IT”
Now the Priest
Are carrying
The Presence
But you’re not follow the priest
you’re following the Presence
It gets kind of tricky
Because we take
Our eyes off the presence
And start looking at the People
Who are associated
With the presence
And when they mess up
They get us messed up
But your job
Is not to follow
The Prophet The Priest or The Pastor
Per-se
Your job is to follow The Presence
Note: Some people got it really bad because some people lift the Priest/Pastor above the Presence.
I’m not the presence
I’m just the one
Carrying the presence
I’m not The Word
I’m just the Word Carrier
Verse 4
“you’ve NEVER BEEN”
Note: you don’t come here to get Revelation from me/Pastor, you come here to get confirmation from me. You come here without the benefit of me knowing what you’re going thru. The Word of God is the Revelation you need confirmation to what the Lord has been telling you.
God gets the Glory not the Pastor
If you are not willing
To follow the presence of God
you will not be able
To cross your Jordan River
The text tells us
who to follow
or what to follow
But it tells us
How to follow
Verse 4
About 1/2 mile between you & Ark
It’s hard to keep
your distances from the
Presence of God
Without keeping your distances
From the people who is carrying the presence
I can’t get too close
To the presence
Nor the people
That’s carrying
The point is this;
1st: The Presence/Ark of the Covenant can’t be so Common to us that we lose Reverence
But they were to keep
their distance
by 1/2 mile
Why?
To remind them
of the sacredness
of the ark
and the holiness
of the God it represented
They were to have
no casual or careless
intimacy with God
but a profound spirit
of respect and reverence
God was to be considered
not “the Man upstairs”
But the sovereign and holy God of all the earth
Note: Don’t even text using “ OMG “/ COMMON
The Church has become Common
Communion common
The Pulpit/old days
The Pastor has become Common to the members
The Formula for Crossing your Jordan
1st: They had to have a Willingness to Follow [ V. 2,3,4 ]
2nd: They had to have a Washing of their Flesh [ V. 5 ]
Verse 5
In other words
Don’t look thru the Window
But look in the Mirror
Window—you see everybody & everything else
Quote: Folks Who aren’t patient with other people are people who stop looking in the mirror
Quote: People that don’t have no redeeming grace is people who stop looking in the Mirror.
1 Corinthians 11:28 (KJV 1900) 28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.
Verse 5
I want to do something
Wonderous or Amazing for you
Who are washed
This generation came thru
The wilderness
And they saw wonder after wonder after wonder
As they was wandering
Thru the wilderness
And not one time
As they was walking
Thru the wilderness
Did The Word tell them to wash
For 40 years
A Wonder
Bread can do from heaven
A Wonder
Moses struck a rock—water came out
A Wonder
Water was bitter and a tree made it sweet
A Wonder
1 pair of shoes 40 years
A Wonder
1 change of cloths 40 years
A Wonder
They got Hot a pillar cloud cooled them by day
A Wonder
They got Cold a pillar of fire warm them by night
A Wonder after Wonder after Wonder
That blesses me
Because even when
I was in the Sin of Commission— God telling you NOT to do something but you still do it — A Wonder
I was in the Sin of Omission— God telling you to do something and you don’t do it — A Wonder
I was in the Sin of Disposition— God telling you to do something and you do it but with the wrong heart — A Wonder
So why do the
Children of Israel
Have to wash now
Because the Wonder
You’re about to see
Is going to be a wonder
You have never seen before
Those wonders
That you got before
was because
I rain on the Just
As well as the Unjust
The Unsaved— Didn’t Love ME
Wash & Wonder
The Formula for Crossing your Jordan
1st: They had to have a Willingness to Follow [ V. 2,3,4 ]
2nd: They had to have a Washing of their Flesh [ V. 5 ]
3rd: They had to Walk by Faith [ V. 14,15,16 ]
Exodus 14 Moses stretch his rod
Exodus 14:13 “Stand Still”
But Now in Joshua “STEP”
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