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Joshua 3:1-3:17 (NIV, NIRV, TNIV, KJV)

CROSSING OVER

Text: Josh 3:1-17

Joshua had a difficult task in front of him. He was to lead the people across the Jordan into the promise land. He was to achieve what his mentor Moses failed to do 40 years ago. But first, he had to crossover the Jordan river.

Crossing over a new year is an important event. We need to spend some time reflecting on the past and plan the future.

The following are 5 things we should do when we crossover a new year.

1. CROSS OVER WITH YOUR GOALS EARLY.

Josh 3:1 – Then Joshua rose early in the morning; and they set out for Acacia Grove and came to the Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they crossed over.

Never leave for tomorrow what you can do today.

Stop talking and start doing. God is waiting for you to start.

Josh 3:15,16 And as those who bore the ark came to the Jordan and the feet of the priest who bore the ark dipped in the edge of the water (for the Jordan overflows all its banks during the whole time of the harvest) that the waters which came down from the upstream stood still.

The waters stopped only when the feet of the priest touched the water.

It is better to fail attempting to do something than succeed in doing nothing.

Illustration : The people who failed

Thomas Edison – failed in 10,000 bulb experiments

Bill Gates – dropped out from college to pursue his soft ware business

Peter – was the only man who walked on water and sunk…

2. CROSS OVER WITH GOD’S PRESENCE

Josh 3:3 Whenever you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the priests, the Levites, bearing it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it.

We need to be God chasers. Run after the things of God. Be passionate about the things of God.

In Ezekiel, there is life wherever the river flows but the water from off shoots from the river of God became stale and ended up as swamps and marshes but

Eze 47:9 – And it shall be that every living thing that moves , wherever the rivers go will live..…for they will be healed and everything will live wherever the river goes.

Eze 47:11 But its swamps and marshes will not be healed; they will be given over to salt.

God’ presence brings life. The absence of God will brings death.

3. CROSS OVER WITH URGENCY

Josh 3:4 Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits, by measure.

This is a prophetic picture of the church crossing over to rule and reign with Jesus in God’s Kingdom approximately 2000 years after the first coming of Jesus.

We are living in the last of the Last Days. Make full use of the time to achieve the purposes of God.

Eph 5:15,16 See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

1. Walk carefully
2. Walk wisely
3. Walk consciously (redeeming the time)

If you knew you had one year to live, what are the things you would plan to do in the last year of your life ?

Eg. New Straits Times – 35 years old corporate figure Dr. Liew dies in a freak accident.

You can lose money today and earn it back tomorrow. However, time is something you can only lose once.

4. CROSS OVER WITH A CLEAN UP

Josh 3:5 Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, the Lord will do wonders among you.

Josh 5:5 For all the people who came out had been circumcised, but all who were born in the wilderness on the way as they came out of Egypt had not been circumcised.

It appears Israel was not living under the covenant during the 40 years in the wilderness. Everyone was caught by surprise. A spiritual check up will high light areas we need to adjust in our lives.

Physical check ups - Need to be done at the beginning of each year
Cholesterol and sugar levels, cancer markers
Make adjustments to your lifestyle

Spiritual Check ups are needed every year

5. CROSS OVER WITHOUT HEAVY BAGGAGES

Josh 3:10 By this you shall know that the living God is among you, and that He will without fail drive out from before you the Cannanites and the Hittites and the Hivites and the Perizzites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Jebusites.

All the “ites” were the hidden ghosts Israel failed to defeat 40 years ago. Our hidden ghosts often comes back to trouble us.

We need to release to God “mountains” and understand that He will remove the mountains in our lives.

Josh 4:20 Now the people came up from the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and they camped in Gilgal on the east border of Jericho. (20) And those twelve stones which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up in Gilgal.”

It is significant that this happened on the tenth day of the first month, this is exactly forty years to the day, since Israel marched out of Egypt.

Leaving the edge of the river, the Israelites went to a place called Gilgal to make their camp. Gilgal was “on the eastern border of Jericho (v. 19).

Gilgal means “the reproach has been rolled away.”

God rolled away the following things at Gilgal :

a) Forty years of spiritual defeat, failure, death, cancers.
b) 40 years of wandering.
c) 40 years without a vision.

1. God said go out and gather up the harvest, he didn’t say go into someone else’s barns and pull out that harvest and take it into this barn.

I.                   The people are directed to follow the ark (v. 2-4). II. They are commanded to sanctify themselves (v. 5). III. The priests with the ark are ordered to lead the van (v. 6). IV. Joshua is magnified and made commander in chief (v. 7, 8). V. Public notice is given of what God is about to do for them (v. 9-13). IV. The thing is done, Jordan is divided, and Israel brought safely through it (v. 14-17). This was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes.

The percentage of American adults who identify themselves as Christians dropped from 86% in 1990 to 77% in 2001. This is an unprecedented drop of almost 1 percentage point per year. The percentage of American adults who identify themselves as Protestants dropped below 50% about the year 2005. Confidence in religious institutions has hit an all-time low. There appears to be a major increase in interest in spirituality among North Americans. However, this has not translated into greater church involvement. Mainline denominations have been losing membership for decades in the U.S.; conservative denominations have been growing. At the present rates of change, Islam will become the dominant religion in the world before 2050 CE. At the present rate of change, most Americans would identify themselves as non-religious or non-Christian by the year 2035 CE. The numbers of "unchurched" people has increased rapidly in the U.S. These are individuals who have not attended church in recent months. Agnosticis, Atheists, secularists. and NOTAs (none of the above) are growing rapidly. Interest in new religious movements (e.g. New Age, Neopaganism) is growing rapidly. In particular, Wiccans are doubling in numbers about every 30 months.

Attendance: The average number of people at Protestant church services has been declining:

The rapid expansion of Islam worldwide, due primarily to the disparity between Muslim and Christian birth rates. A re-energized conservative Christian movement in the U.S. Ongoing conflict over equal rights for homosexuals, and related issues of Biblical authority. This has been particularly noticeable in Canada where same-sex marriage became available across the country in 2005-MAY. Growing "pop spirituality" in fiction, films, and the general culture.