Bridge of Faith

Where my father and my wife are from in Mexico, there is a large river that runs through the village. It was made a very long time ago, and as a matter of fact,

my father, and my wife’s grandfather helped build it in which my father lost part of his thumb in the construction of it.

It is of a very crude design, but has lasted until now and is currently still the only method of crossing the river.

Try to imagine, its like one of those old rugged, wobbly bridges you would see somewhere in the Amazon rainforest. It has very thick cables holding the sides together and

The floor of the bridge is made out of slats of thin wood. They bend and groan as you walk over them making noises.

It extends approx. 200 to 300 feet from side to side. The cables that support it are wound very tight I am sure but still severely bows in the center.

As you walk on it, it sends a recoil lifting your next step ever so slightly as if you were walking on springs.

Its always in need of repair, so as you cross it you can see spots where the slats didn’t line up correctly, so there is a large gap there.

If you’r not careful your foot could get caught and you would be stuck on the bridge with one foot dangling in the air.

When the river is high in the rainy season, the bow in the center of the bridge gets wet. Sometimes it gets so high that it is impossible to cross because the river overtakes the height of the entire bridge.

At this point, no matter why to you might need to cross, You’re stuck there.

If you looked down at the water between the gaps in the wood, you could get a severe case of vertigo and actually fall over the meager side cables to be carried away by the river.

I asked my father while I was preparing this message for you about his recollection of the time before the bridge was built. You see before this bridge, there wasn’t one.

He said for all of the years prior to the completion of it they had to swim across, or had to wait until the water level was low enough to cross on foot, or horse back, other wise risk death by being dragged away from the current. You might ask, why is all of this danger necessary?

Why in the world would people have to risk not only their lives but that of their children too? Well it is simple, to get to the other side.

On the other side, there was a train stop. If you needed to go anywhere quickly, the train was your only option. If you needed to take care of any business, If your child was sick and needed medical attention fast, you needed to cross.

No matter how rickety the bridge was or high the water was,

If you had to fly across it, you would do it wouldn’t you?

Well actually because of their fear, some never crossed and lived their whole lives in the village.

When some body needed medical help, their only hope was that they would cross, other wise they would die.

Some decided the fear of cross was so severe they did. Even though they would could plainly see the benefit to them just on the other side. They feared leaving where they were comfortable. They would stand at the edge of the bank and waive at the braver souls that crossed over to the other side.

That reminds me a lot of us modern day believers.

I include myself because despite what I would like to think.

That’s right even though I stand here before you sharing this message with you, there are many times I have trouble crossing over to the other side.

Do know what I mean about crossing over?

I mean leaving our old sinful habits behind us and crossing over to a life style that Followers of Jesus Christ ought to live.

I try to live a sinless life but every once in a while, I mess things up

I started to think about this and wanted to know what causes us to stumble, and I came to the conclusion that its because maybe we just don’t trust the “bridge” that carries us over to that other lifestyle.

You see we are not trapped by high waters or by fear of falling over are we, no, we are afraid that the bridge isn’t strong enough to hold our weight.

Well if we believed Jesus when he said in

Matthew 11:28

“come unto me all ye that labor and are Heavy laden and I will give you rest”

What does that say?

It says heavy laden. So are you saying that Christ is strong enough for my burdens?

Yes, That’s exactly what I am saying.

And not only that, I am saying that he is strong enough to carry the sins of the World.

How do you know that?

Cause the bible tells me so. Let me share a little story with you all here today to help bring my main point home.

My goal is to show you very clearly that no matter how many times we may have wanted to trust Jesus to carry us over to the other side, but then we heard the river roaring beneath us

And the groans of the slats from the weight of our sins and decided not to cross.

We settled for just standing at the edge waiving at those who trusted him enough to be carried over.

And if we are not careful, we might just die here.

All because we didn’t trust the bridge.

Who’s the bridge? That’s right Jesus.

Story It’s about a tight rope walker who for a long time amazed his audience but daringly walking across this tight rope.

When it came time for them to react on that belief, they were too afraid to cross.

I tell you friends it is the same for us.

We have heard About this Jesus, we have read about this Jesus, we have experienced his movement in our lives but yet when he calls us to cross the bridge, no body wants to get in the wheel barrel.

You know, we are not the only ones who ever feared this bridge that God has put before us.

Remember the story of how our God brought Israel out of Egypt? When Pharaoh was gaining up on them and it seemed all would be lost, God stepped in.

But see they didn’t know Jesus in those times. They knew he was coming, but they didn’t know him. So What did God do when they believed he could deliver them?

He parted the red sea.

The bible said that they walked over on dry ground.

Exodus 14:22

This is what God did for the nation of Israel, in their time of need and belief. Though they had their battles of doubt during this transition, the fact that they followed Moses into the wilderness shows a lot of faith.

So when God stepped in to deliver them in their time of need, it wasn’t only to show Egypt that the God of Israel was the one and only God, but was to show Israel God could be trusted.

In order that Israel might be saved from the pharaoh, what was it they had to do? They had to cross over to the other side. They had to take God at his word. I am sure there was a great deal of fear involved in this scenario.

Looking at these massive walls of water on both sides must have been an awesome sight. But they were saved by faith in him

They had to choose, go back to Egyptian life or trust in Him and become, His people

Because they believed in him, they crossed over to safety. After this, they spent 40 years wandering in the desert Becoming God’s people

Learning to trust God and learning about his ways.

Now get this, when the time came to enter into the promised land, they had had to take it by force. Now God spoke to Joshua and told him what to do in order that they might be successful in battle, but first they had to show God they believed in him yet again.

Before God would lead them into the land they had to cross the Jordan River.

Joshua 3:17

17 Then the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan; and all Israel crossed over on dry ground, until all the people had crossed completely over the Jordan.

That’s right, they crossed once at the Red Sea to get to safety by Gods awesome might, now they needed to cross once more to show their faith in God.

Though they knew they were crossing over into battle, they were following God, because in order to take possession of the land, they had to drive out the occupants. I want you all to understand something here.

Notice if we back up to Exodus

Exodus 13:17-18, 17 Then it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, “Lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt.” 18 So God led the people around by way of the wilderness of the Red Sea. And the children of Israel went up in orderly ranks out of the land of Egypt.

We read that God knew that if they had to go into battle at that time that they would turn and run back to Egypt, because they were new at trusting God.

Read EXODUS 13:17-18

So he led them to the Red Sea to show them that they were well protected, and that they could in fact trust God. Then we read on later in Joshua that they knew they were going into Battle. And they went in willingly. Boy, talk about a change in heart.

See it was a process.

They had to learn that they could indeed trust God.

See we generally only hear about the parting of the red sea but he parted the waters again for the nation to gain entry into the promised land.

But I think their crossing the Jordan into inevitable battle is just as important. So why did they cross?

Because they trusted the bridge on which they walked over to get to the other side. If they didn’t trust the bridge at the red sea they would have sealed their fate with the Egyptians.

Or if they didn’t trust the bridge that God provided for them at the Jordan, they would be the ones standing at the bank waiving at the braver souls who did trust the bridge, and who are now enjoying life in the promised land given and blessed by God.

See the Promised land is where they were supposed to be living, because that is what God wanted. They learned in the desert how to live how God wanted them to.

When they were ready they had to cross over.

Not to cross over means your living life on the worlds side.

But if you trust in the bridge that Jesus provides for you, then you cross over and start living on the Christ side which is where God wants you.

But you have to cross. God gave the Israelites dry ground,

But he gave us Jesus. AMEN, to know and trust.

We got to know Jesus on the worlds side of the river, but now if you want to be with Jesus,

You have to cross over to the other side.

And when you learn that you can truly trust him, all of your life’s problems become like water under the bridge.