Breakthrough
Notes
Transcript
I’m not sure about you guys but one thing that drives me crazy is traffic.
especially when you are on a long trip and you are trying to get somewhere.
because if you are like me you just start to get really impatient and it seems like when there is traffic everyone becomes a bad driver.
Well this past week I was reading an article about the worlds worst traffic jam.
It took place in Beijing in 2010.
What happened is they were working on road construction to (Ironically) make the highway less congested and it was roughly a 62 mile stretch.
And thats not to crazy, but the construction actually caused this highway to become so congested that this 62 mile stretch went from an hour trip to from start to finish it would take you 3 days to complete.
And what was so bad about this is that when you think about a traffic jam that bad you also imagine it was not uncommon for people to run out of gas.
and so that person has to wait for help and they are blocking the road.
I mean this was a complete mess and even though it only took 3 days to get through the traffic the entire back up lasted 12 days.
But you know I bet if we interviewed people stuck in that traffic jam they probably felt helpless.
They probably felt like there was nothing they could do to get out of this traffic Jam.
But you know relating this to where we are today:
There are times in our life where we feel stuck.
Where we feel helpless, where we are running out of fuel.
We get stuck in a relationship that seems toxic
We get stuck in a financial hole and have no idea how to get out
And really if you are a Christian one of the biggest things we feel like we get stuck on is our walk with God.
Where we feel like we are at a stand still in our walk with God.
But here is the thing, God does not want us to be at a standstill in our life, but He desires us to be moving closer in our relationship with Him and to diving deeper into the calls He has given us.
And really if you have been with us the past few weeks we have been talking about the Israelite people.
And the Israelite people have been wondering around the wilderness for 40 years at this point.
And now they are finally getting ready to enter this place that God has called them to which is the promised land.
And if you have been with us the past few weeks you know that the issue that they face is that there are so many things that are separating them from the promise land.
And today we are looking at one of the biggest things separating the Israelites which is this body of water called the Jordan River.
And really we are going to see how they are able to go from being stuck to being mobile.
And we are going to be seeing how we can get past those moments in our life where we are stuck (where we are hopeless, and we feel numb) and move us into having a breakthrough.
So once again we are in Joshua 4:1-17 and we are just starting out in verses 2-4
Joshua 3:2–4 (ESV)
2 At the end of three days the officers went through the camp 3 and commanded the people, “As soon as you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God being carried by the Levitical priests, then you shall set out from your place and follow it. 4 Yet there shall be a distance between you and it, about 2,000 cubits in length. Do not come near it, in order that you may know the way you shall go, for you have not passed this way before.”
So the people are stuck and really have no idea how they are going to get over the Jordan River
Because this was not a creek but it was a body of water that could easily wash the people away if they tried to cross.
And so the people are stuck and in the middle of this they are commanded that they do not move until the see the Ark of the covenant move (which represented God)
So in a way they are being told look do not move until God moves.
Basically if you are going to make it past this thing you are going to need God.
And you know we all have a Jordan River in our life
Something that separates us from where God wants us
But if we are going to cross that Jordan in our life we need to hold tightly onto God.
And in verse 4 it really tells us why this is crucial because it tell everyone to stay back, (not because its saying to stay far away from God, but so every person in the army has a clear view of the Ark (the thing that represented God).
because they have never done what they are about to do.
And so the leaders are telling them look don’t take your eyes off God, because you might not know how to get past this place you are stuck in but He does.
You know its almost like if you were getting ready to take a cross country road trip and you had the option of you can try to figure out the route on your own and just wing it
Or you could use an app on your phone that will not just tell you where to go automatically, and it tells you if there is an accident, traffic, a road closed whatever it is it will let you know
Well if you are anything like me its not even a question. You are using the phone, because it knows the best way to go, and it already knows any issues that are coming your way and where your going.
and really thats why this passage is saying do not take your eye off God, because He already knows you and He knows what your will face.
So hang tightly on to Him.
And look at the next part in verse 5, because it says don’t take your eye off God.
But then it says while you are waiting for Him to move prepare yourself.
Look at verse 5 with me:
5 Then Joshua said to the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.”
So they are getting ready to cross the Jordan and you think Joshua (who is the leader) would be telling the men to make boats or sharpen your swords to get the promise land
But instead of Joshua saying prepare yourself physically, He says I want you to prepare yourself spiritually.
Because it doesn’t say you are the one that will work wonders, but it says God is.
But the issue is that so often we want to be the one that gets us unstuck and we do everything we can and we are just exhausted and we do not see much progress.
In college I swam and I had the worse technique, I would plow through the water, while the people I would swim against would sometimes just glide.
And so I would put in twice the effort, and still be a little slower because my focus wasn’t completely in the right place
And this passage says the focus of you getting unstuck is not yourself but it is God.
So prepare by seeking God first.
look at verses 7-13 with me. It says:
7 The Lord said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. 8 And as for you, command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, ‘When you come to the brink of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan.’ ” 9 And Joshua said to the people of Israel, “Come here and listen to the words of the Lord your God.” 10 And Joshua said, “Here is how you shall know that the living God is among you and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Hivites, the Perizzites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, and the Jebusites. 11 Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is passing over before you into the Jordan. 12 Now therefore take twelve men from the tribes of Israel, from each tribe a man. 13 And when the soles of the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off from flowing, and the waters coming down from above shall stand in one heap.”
You know the people have said Okay we are going to follow God, We are going to prepare ourselves for God to move and really the last thing that God tells them to do is to go and stand in the water.
And like I mentioned the Jordan river was scary. It was big and the water could wash you away.
And you can imagine the people going God what are you asking us to do?
We can’t do that! We will die.
But what I love about this passage is that in order to for God to get them past this place they have been stuck they had to take a step of faith and sometimes the things God calls us to do require a small step of faith,
but their are other times that God is calling us to take a step where we do not just dip our foot in, but we stand in the middle of the Jordan
Can I just ask you this morning, what is your Jordan?
Chances are you already know.
There is something that has been holding you back from living the life God is asking of you.
And can I just ask you what would happen if today you said God I am going to take a step of faith
As scary as that is.
But whats amazing if you look at verse 16 as soon as they do that the water got caught up where the river dried up which would have been almost impossible
and look at the result in verse 17
Joshua 3:17 (ESV)
17 Now the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firmly on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan, and all Israel was passing over on dry ground until all the nation finished passing over the Jordan.
Because their devotion to God and their faith they crossed the Jordan.
and not just that but it says the Arc of the covenant. The thing that represented God was in the middle the whole time.
This is how I want to close, because like I mentioned I do not know what your Jordan is, but I know that regardless how awful, scary, or impossible it seems
God is the one that goes ahead, He is in the middle and truthfully He is waiting for you on the other side.
God will not abandon you in the Jordan
Will you pray with me?
