God's Faithfulness & Our Faith

Thank You

CPK volunteers stepping in the help people who were either out or have been out of town and wanted to be in the service.

Last Sunday of 2018

New Year approaching - I like this time of year - evaluate, rethink, set goals.

Reality is that next week isn’t different from this week but a new year begins

Some set new year’s resolutions - some resist it after years of failure.

God works in rhythms, seasons - not just moving forward

God installs traditions and repeating events to help us remember God’s faithfulness and to continue walking in faithfulness across generations.

If we always look ahead to the next thing without taking time to remember then we are likely to suffer from spiritual amnesia.

Problem

We forget God’s faithfulness

As we look toward the future and a new year, our faith will be strengthened if we take the time to remember God's past faithfulness. (Personally & Church)

God establishes traditions and memorials to help current and future generations remember God’s faithfulness.

God works in rhythms, seasons - not just moving forward

New Year approaching - evaluate, rethink, set goals.

Reality is that next week isn’t different from this week but a new year begins

Some set new year’s resolutions - some resist it after years of failure.

God works in rhythms, seasons - not just moving forward

God installs traditions and repeating events to help us remember God’s faithfulness and to continue walking in faithfulness across generations.

If we always look ahead to the next thing without taking time to remember then we are likely to suffer from spiritual amnesia.

& 4

Want us to see a pattern and then apply that pattern to our own lives

The message part will be different this morning because my desire is to take the time this morning to pray together as a congregation

See the pattern / apply the pattern

Pray

The Setting

God faithfully led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt. Ten miraculous plaques the finally led to the death of every first born son unless they applied the blood from from an unblemished lamb on their doorpost.

Pharoah regretted the decision to let the people go and began chasing them until he had the entire group trapped between his chariot army and the Red Sea. God commanded Moses to lift up his staff and stretch his hand out over the sea and God drove back the waters until the entire nation crossed on dry land. The Egyptians tried to follow but were drowned by the waters.

God gave the 10 commandments to Moses. In God commanded the people to make a special box for the stone tablets that was overlayed in pure gold. Rings were attached to the box so poles could be inserted so that the box itself would never be touched. The Ark of the Covenant was of central importance and represented the presence of God among them.

Moses led the Israelites toward the promise land for 40 years. He was the only leader some people had ever known. He was trusted.

The Situation

New Leader

Can he be trusted? Do we follow him? Will God be with Joshua in the same way that he was with Moses?

Crossing the Flooded Jordan River

They are ready to enter the promised land but a flooded river stands before them.

The Jordan River is normally 100 feet across and only 3 - 10 feet deep. tells us that Jordan was flooded and overflowing the banks. During flood season Jordan River can swell to a width of .5 mile in some places and a depth well over 10 feet with rapidly moving waters.

Except for a few people, most of the people had not witnessed God parting the Red Sea. It was just the stories of their parents “walking up hill both ways through 3 feet of school...” Was this just our parents or grandparents exaggerating?

Possessing the Land

The peoples inside the land probably felt protected by the flood waters as though their god, Baal, had built a wall of protection around them.

We don’t know what 2019 holds for us personally or as a church. I expect there will be challenges leading to opportunities for us to grow and mature in our faith

Some of these situations will be beyond our own abilities. They will require faith, meaning, unless God intervenes a hopeful solution is impossible.

Israel

Personally

CrossPointe

God Speaks

God speaks to Joshua telling him what they need to do. (V7)

Then Joshua goes to the people saying, “Come here and listen to the words of the Lord your God.” (v 9) Read

Step into a raging river with the sacred Ark of Covenant. Once your feet get wet the the ground will become dry.

Crisis of Belief | Henry Blackaby in Experiencing God

I imagine this led to a significant crisis of belief.

Do we trust our new leader? Did he really hear for God? Are we really going to walk into a raging river with the Ark of the Covenant? Moses just raised his hands and the waters receded but Joshua wants us to put our lives in danger.

“When God invites you to join Him in His word, He has a God-sized assignment for you. You will quickly realize you cannot do what He is asking on your own. If God doesn’t help you, you will fail. This is the crisis of belief when you must decide whether to believe God for what He wants to do through you.

At this point many people decide not to follow what they sense God is leading them to do. Then they wonder why they do not experience God’s presence and activity the way other Christians do.” (pg 134)

“The way you respond at this turning point will determine whether you become involved with God in something God-sized that only He can do or whether you will continue to go your own way and miss what He has purposed for your life.” (pg 134)

(v 15) “The feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the brink of the water...”

Faith

“We forget that when God speaks, He always reveals what He is going to do – not what He wants us to do for Him. We join Him so He can do His work through us. We don’t have to be able to accomplish the task with our limited ability or resources. With faith we can confidently proceed to obey Him because we know He is going to bring to pass what He purposes. Jesus indicated that what is impossible with man is possible with God. The Scriptures continually bear witness that this is true.”

Joshua and the Israelites responded with faith - they did not accomplish any great feat on their own but rather they trusted God that he was going to do what he said he would do.

God Acts

(v 16) the waters stopped in a heap… very far away. This is the same word used for what God did at the Red Sea as part of the poetic celebration inExodus 15:8

The ESV Study Bible Chapter 3

This apparently means that the water was stopped as far upriver as Adam, identified with modern Damiya, east of the Jordan and just south of the confluence with the Jabbok River (about 18 miles [29 km] north of the fords of the Jordan). It is a place where mudslides have occasionally completely blocked the Jordan’s southward flow, most recently in 1927 for some 20 hours. When the text says that the waters coming down from above stood and rose up in a heap, the implication is a supernatural act: either the waters stopped with no visible physical obstruction holding them back, or else a mudslide blocked the river, supernaturally timed to coincide with the priests’ dipping their feet in the brink of the water (Josh. 3:15).

The priests stood in the middle of what was the Jordan River as the people crossed over on dry ground.

When they came back up on dry ground the waters returned.

“When God invites you to join Him in His word, He has a God-sized assignment for you. You will quickly realize you cannot do what He is asking on your own. If God doesn’t help you, you will fail. This is the crisis of belief when you must decide whether to believe God for what He wants to do through you.

At this point many people decide not to follow what they sense God is leading them to do. Then they wonder why they do not experience God’s presence and activity the way other Christians do.” (pg 134)

“The way you respond at this turning point will determine whether you become involved with God in something God-sized that only He can do or whether you will continue to go your own way and miss what He has purposed for your life.” (pg 134)

Faith

“We forget that when God speaks, He always reveals what He is going to do – not what He wants us to do for Him. We join Him so He can do His work through us. We don’t have to be able to accomplish the task with our limited ability or resources. With faith we can confidently proceed to obey Him because we know He is going to bring to pass what He purposes. Jesus indicated that what is impossible with man is possible with God. The Scriptures continually bear witness that this is true.”

Joshua and the Israelites responded with faith - they did not accomplish any great feat on their own but rather they trusted God that he was going to do what he said he would do.

Remembrance

God commanded Joshua to select one man from each of the 12 tribes of Israel.

They were to take a large stone from the river bed, from the very place where the priests stood and carry them over to the other side.

With those 12 stones, Joshua built a memorial - monument so that they and all future generations would remember God faithfulness

4:19 “When your children ask their fathers in times to come, ‘What do these stones mean?’ 22 then you shall let your children know, j‘Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground.’ 23 For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up for us until we passed over, 24 so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever.”

“When your children ask their fathers in times to come, ‘What do these stones mean?’ 22 then you shall let your children know, j‘Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground.’ 23 For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, kwhich he dried up for us until we passed over, 24 lso that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mmighty, that you may nfear the Lord your God forever.”

OUR RESPONSE

1) Ponder, 2) Praise, and 3) Proclaim

1) Think, 2) Thank, 3) Tell, and 4) Traditions

PONDER Together

“I will ponder all your work, and meditate on your mighty deeds”

Your Story

What challenges have you faced in 2018?

Take time to write them down now. What emotions were tied to this situation.

Our Story

This we faced an impossible challenge as a church family. On Sunday, February 4, our lead pastor of 15 years informed the church of 3 things:

The church would need to leave the building we had been in since 2011

We only had $3,000 in the bank

He felt led to as lead pastor

A local pastor took me out to lunch and told me that he has never heard of a church surviving a move from a permanent facility back to a mobile environment. Add to that challenge the loss of your lead pastor and financial situation things seemed impossible.

Crisis of belief

As church family we had to decide

“You will quickly realize you cannot do what He is asking on your own. If God doesn’t help you, you will fail. This is the crisis of belief when you must decide whether to believe God for what He wants to do.”

What did this crisis of faith look like for you, in your own personal situation?

God Speaks & God Acts

God Acts

What did God speak to you in this situation?

Did God impress a particular passage of Scripture?

How did God meet you in the impossible situation?

Our Story

God humbled us as a church family and lovingly led us to our knees to depend upon him in prayer.

No degree of human wisdom was sufficient. No amount of strategic planning would lead to success.

God either stepped in and cultivated unity and community among us AND he would provide a place and means for us to continue the privilege of being his body. He had the right and the authority to bring our fellowship to an end.

All our plans plans. I remember one meeting standing up and saying how all our plans had failed. Either God provided something in the coming week or this might be the end. I remember Christine Rivera, who typically doesn’t like to speak up felt led to suggest the idea of this school or others out this way.

God moved - people called back, we had a walk through a had the place verbally reserved.

Crisis of Belief

PONDER

“I will ponder all your work, and meditate on your mighty deeds”

PRAISE

“I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart; I will recount all your wonderful deeds.” ()

PROCLAIM

“I will tell of the kindness of the Lord, the deeds from which he is to be praised, according to all the Lord has done for us.” ;

REPEAT

The memorial from .

Rhythm of Rememberance

Weekly Sabbath

Rosh Hashanah - 2 day festival marking the beginning of the year (repentance and prayer for fruitful year

Yom Kippur - day of fasting and repentance

Fest of tabernacles - celebrate the Exodus out of Egypt

Passover

Communion

Jesus gave the church something to help us remember his faithfulness

Jesus was celebrating the Passover with his disciples

Institution of the Lord’s Supper (LUKE 22)

14And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. 15And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” 17And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. 18For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” 19And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 20And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

Ponder

God lead Israel to build a memorial So that they would always remember and pass on the story to future generations.

Do you tell your children of God’s faithfulness in your life?

The mercies of God that he would die for us

I believe that your faith in the coming new year will be strengthened as we remember God’s past faithfulness.

Jesus, the God-Man,

Communion invites us to regularly and consistently reflect and remember

Praise

Response

Communion should lead our hearts to repentance and praise

Prayer

Proclaim

Communuion

As we partake in communion together, we proclaim:

1. Jesus died for my sins, he is my Savior - his death is sufficient to pay the penalty for everyone

2. This is why we invite people who have not yet trusted in Jesus to refrain from taking communion but to reflect.

God's Faithfulness & Our Faith

Introduction

Impossible Situation | Israel

Crisis of Belief | Israel

Our Response | Israel

OUR RESPONSE

Impossible Situation | Your Story & Our Story

Crisis of Belief | Your Story & Our Story

Our Response | Your Story & Our Story