Alignment: Worship, Discipleship, Mission

Scripture

Joshua 3:14–17 NIV

So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant went ahead of them. 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, 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 (that is, the Dead Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho. The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord stopped in the middle of the Jordan and stood on dry ground, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground.

Joshua 3:

History of the church:

The history of KUMC is layered with wonderful periods of growth and missional expansion in this community. The genesis of the community aligns with the beginning of the township of Kingwood. Kingwood was a planned development in the early 1970s and as the first neighborhood was built, Methodist lay people desired to see a Methodist Church. With some help of a local Methodist minister appointed as President of Goodwill Industries and living in the new development, they began to canvas for interest in a Methodist Church. This Methodist Minister would support their beginnings but refused to be their pastor with his current role with Goodwill Industries.

On January 26, 1972, almost 48 years ago, the first 6 families gathered in home.

I quote straight from some of our early history:

“In the coming weeks other meetings occurred and a full evangelistic effort was underway. That is, someone met every arriving moving van. By Easter Sunday, April 2, 1972, twelve families were active and services were held in the flower garden at the end of Kingwood Drive.”

I love that, 6 families, showing up to a home with a casserole when they saw a moving truck, to invite them to church.

They persistently hounded the District Superintendent, and were turned down a couple of times, asking for recognition as a church.....a charter and a clergy person to lead them.

Then growth from there happened in rapid fashion. Some slower seasons but most years for the next two decades saw an increase of 100 people in worship. 1992 there were over 1000 in worship attendance. Growth has slowed but we are pushing 1300 on many weeks which is probably close to the capacity that we can get on campus.

Missional giving has always been very high. By 92 most of the foot print existed here, SLC and society was established....

The church was from the beginning and incredible neighborhood church and a big part of Kingwood. KUMC was so good at caring for its members.

There are a couple of events that happened that I believe changed the identity of the church.

August 2005, Katrina

Season of life that we are in now, or coming out of. As a result of Hurricane Harvey and subsequent floods. Describe this time. Staff turnover, etc.

History, it means something. It is our story and it shapes who we are and where we might go. It motivates us and sends into the future. Knowing who you are dictates how you live. Knowing who you were also helps you understand who you are becoming.

When we were dreaming about this series at a retreat in the Spring, we began to look back at the seasons of KUMC that were different than others....what we found is that it is when these three things are aligned God is in clear sight, and we seemed to be moving where we are supposed to be.

The beginning of Joshua is history. It is the history of the Israelites moving into the promised land. Listen, right up front....you are not the Israelites. I am NOT saying we have been in the wilderness, and i am not saying we are going to the “promised land.” But I wonder what we might learn about this transition in the life of this family and what it might say to us now and say to us about alignment.

Joshua

See the Israelites have been in the wilderness for a generation. A long journey since they left slavery in Egypt, long have they been walking towards this promise that God has made to them. In Numbers we learn that as they approached the promise land they sent some spies to check out where God was leading them and even. When they come back....

Rebellion.

So God says, you’re not ready. You do not trust me. And when they came into the promised land it was going to be so difficult. They wouldnt make it unless they were walking with God. So God turns them away.

Isn’t it amazing that God turns us away from things because he knows we are not ready. This leads me to my first point today:

The Wilderness is for Preparation

It is in the Wilderness that they learned to be a people.

They learned the law and

learned to worship.

Learned to trust God and depend on him

learned to depend on him with limited resources

They had to invest in the next generation.

God prepares us for these things in our life. Individually, corporately, etc. When Harvey came, KUMC remembered Katrina. Katrina happened to other people and we responded, Harvey happened to us.

In life, I think sometimes we are in a wilderness without even being aware.

Story with the birth of Rylie. We had some specific prayers.

2. Difficulty in the promised land

So at the end of Moses’ life Joshua is commissioned as a leader and a mouthpiece for the people and for God. He will be the one that will lead them into the promised land. Joshua chapter 1 is the whole introduction to everything.

Instructions to be strong and courageous, why? Because check out verse 14:

Joshua 1:14 NIV

Your wives, your children and your livestock may stay in the land that Moses gave you east of the Jordan, but all your fighting men, ready for battle, must cross over ahead of your fellow Israelites. You are to help them

On the other side, there will be war, this will be hard. When we are aligned with God and we are be called to a new thing, it will be difficult. God did not save us for navel gazing....he has called us and healed us and brought us together for the transformation of the world and that work is hard. Some of us will decide to stay back, metaphorically, because we do not want to get our hands dirty. Or we get there and Go.....”God you called me here, why is it difficult?”

3. The movement of God goes through unlikely heroes

Rehab the prostitute. Chapter 2 has this incredible layer to it that I just couldnt skip over for our time today. Joshua sends a couple of spies into the land to checkout the journey before them…a lot of parallels to the last time this happened.

If you are feeling insignificant...

look beyond people that look just like you

4. Where we are going, God goes before us....

Israel is being led by God, out of the wilderness this seems to be the #1 lesson....Look at it in the story:

Joshua 3:3–4 NIV

giving orders to the people: “When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the Levitical priests carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it. Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before. But keep a distance of about two thousand cubits between you and the ark; do not go near it.”

Joshua 3:3 NIV

giving orders to the people: “When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the Levitical priests carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it.

The get ready to cross and God tells Joshua, this is how its going to work.

They get ready to cross and God tells Joshua, this is how its going to work. Joshua and the leaders tell the people....Hey this is going to be hard. We have to cross the huge body of water, impossible. But God is going first.

The whole story has been headed here. The author of this book makes a huge deal about this....not simply historically, but theologically, and symbolically because this is a major turning point in the life of Israel. Crossing the Jordan means everything! This is not just a physical crossing, it is a declaration that we are all in.

And to be clear God says…the ark goes first. My presence goes first.

The message to Israel, might it be the message to us even now…Where I am sending you, I will go before you.

This is the biblical witness:

Deuteronomy 31:8 NIV

The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”

Isaiah 45:2 NIV

I will go before you and will level the mountains; I will break down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron.

Missio Dei from Chris last week.

5. Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow

Joshua then gives the most important instructions to the Israelites as they prepare for this journey:

Joshua 3:5 NIV

Joshua told the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you.”

Joshua

Consecrate means make yourself Holy, set apart. In their time this meant abstaining from any distractions and cleansing from any false gods, or anything that would be getting in the way.

This comes to mean, even for us today, submit yourselves to the cleansing love of God that changes you.

Why? because God desires to work through Holy people. He yearns to pour himself into those that will humble themselves before Him.

This is fasting and praying. This is what we called you to at the very beginning.

We do not fast and pray to earn God’s attention or presence, but we do it in preparation to be ready, we do it seeking him. We do it knowing He is faithful.

6. Step out to a place that only God can accomplish it

Where they are going, what they are about to walk through....only God can do it.

Joshua 3:10 NIV

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.

Their best efforts, their business minded leadership, their best planning and all of the brightest of the group will not be able to make this happen without them.

Joshua 4:6 NIV

to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’

Transformation of the world:

How do we transform the world: From NT scholar and professor Joe Dongel, speculating that there are 4 approaches and the first three are very common and just wrong

We transform the world:

Our efforts, hard work

church business plans

This has been called practical atheism. We dont really believe God is or can interact right now.

Very little prayer

2. God transforms the world: A lot of the time this comes from an ok place, elevating God’s sovereignty.

Only God

God will do whatever he wants to

This is the saved and waiting. This is the church that has not added a member in 57 years and are convinced its just because their church town is dying that no one has joined the church.

3. Both/and partnership: We do our part and God does God’s part

simple partnership

There is still little prayer here.

Very little power. practical cessationalism, God’s power isnt for us.

4. Alignment with Him. Worship, discipleship, mission. John Wesley talked about this alignment with the means of Grace. Positioning ourselves, constantly in a place where we are seeking God.

It is the consecrated people that God chooses to work with. God tells these people to carry the ark into the middle of the river. This is alignment. This is God’s people empty enough, dependent on Him, and God’s power poured out in them, through them, for them, in spite of them.

7. Remember and tell the story:

Joshua knows quickly that they need to remember the truth about this moment. This will become a part of their story, and it needs to shape them, but it also needs to be God’s glory.

Joshua 4:4–6 NIV

So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, and said to them, “Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’

Joshua 4:4–7 NIV

So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, and said to them, “Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.”

Joshua

Joshua 4:

Friends, our history thus far is largely about building buildings and growth in attendance and missional spending. These are good and fine and wonderful.

There is nothing written of a movement of prayer, there is nothing written of a movement of holiness, there is nothing written of Holy Spirit revival.

When I began this series, I gave you a state of the union…all of the amazing things that are going on at our church. Let’s not pat ourselves on the back much of what we do, we do in our own power.

What do we do?

Align ourselves in worship, discipleship, mission. These things are not separate…they are linked. It is in worship that we encounter a holy God. It is in discipleship that we learn and grow and experience what it means to follow, it is out of this all that we are sent.

Consecrate yourself. Remove distractions, make this a priority. lean into Him. Some of us will miss this very thing, are missing this very thing because we are too busy and too dependent on ourself.

Go! From the beginning this has been a laity movement. From the beginning. It has not been about clergy or leadership. 6 families bugging the snot out of the conference. 6 families bringing casseroles to homes with moving trucks… Whatever is in front of us, you will lead the way.

When you come forward today to receive. Remember this story. This is what Christ gave us so that we will not only remember but live in this story. Our God goes before us. Our God sustains us. Jesus is the bread of life. Jesus is the one who sends us out from this table.

Maybe in hearing today you feel like a change needs to be made in your life. Selfishness, apathy. Living in your own strength. Or maybe in hearing today you want to ask God to be in your life. You want to cross a threshold and go from hearing about God to following Jesus. That opportunity is before you.