Waiting with Expectation

Joshua 3:1-17 (The Message)

Joshua 3:1–17 (The Message)

Joshua was up early and on his way from Shittim with all the People of Israel with him. He arrived at the Jordan and camped before crossing over. After three days, leaders went through the camp and gave out orders to the people: “When you see the Covenant-Chest of God, your God, carried by the Levitical priests, start moving. Follow it. Make sure you keep a proper distance between you and it, about half a mile—be sure now to keep your distance!—and you’ll see clearly the route to take. You’ve never been on this road before.”

Then Joshua addressed the people: “Sanctify yourselves. Tomorrow God will work miracle-wonders among you.”

Joshua instructed the priests, “Take up the Chest of the Covenant and step out before the people.” So they took it up and processed before the people.

God said to Joshua, “This very day I will begin to make you great in the eyes of all Israel. They’ll see for themselves that I’m with you in the same way that I was with Moses. You will command the priests who are carrying the Chest of the Covenant: ‘When you come to the edge of the Jordan’s waters, stand there on the river bank.’ ”

Then Joshua addressed the People of Israel: “Attention! Listen to what God, your God, has to say. This is how you’ll know that God is alive among you—he will completely dispossess before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites. Look at what’s before you: the Chest of the Covenant. Think of it—the Master of the entire earth is crossing the Jordan as you watch. Now take twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one man from each tribe. When the soles of the feet of the priests carrying the Chest of God, Master of all the earth, touch the Jordan’s water, the flow of water will be stopped—the water coming from upstream will pile up in a heap.”

And that’s what happened. The people left their tents to cross the Jordan, led by the priests carrying the Chest of the Covenant. When the priests got to the Jordan and their feet touched the water at the edge (the Jordan overflows its banks throughout the harvest), the flow of water stopped. It piled up in a heap—a long way off—at Adam, which is near Zarethan. The river went dry all the way down to the Arabah Sea (the Salt Sea). And the people crossed, facing Jericho.

And there they stood; those priests carrying the Chest of the Covenant stood firmly planted on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan while all Israel crossed on dry ground. Finally the whole nation was across the Jordan, and not one wet foot.

Have you ever been waiting for something to come and you were just so excited that you did not know what to do with yourself until it arrived. Like when you were or a kid and let’s be honest even as an adult having great expectation for Christmas to arrive or your birthday because you just knew you were get the best present ever and maybe the one you specifially asked for? You waited in expectation but kept doing what you do on a daily basis right? Let me tell you about this man who was waithing with expectation for something to happen. Now he did not know what that something was he just knew something big was about to happen and he had to wait and see what God had in store. Well during this time his money was funny and the bank account looked really bleek. He asked the Lord what does he need to do, I am working hard on my main job but that is just not enough to get me through. So the Lord placed a friend in his path by way of a phone call the next week. They were talking and the man brought up his situation and the friend said how about you do a delivery service and you will get paid within two to three days from your deliveries you made. The man said well that sounds good and all but I don’t know and his friend said I will send the link and if you decide to do it you already have all you need. So a few days went by, now remember he was waiting on God with expectation to do something to change is situation around. So he finally filled out the paperwork online and it took him at least three days before he got up the courage to start the delivery service.

Now I have a question, how many of you check your mailbox every single day expecting something to be in there like some money? Go ahead you can be honest no one is going to think you are crazy for checking it every single day, looking out the window waiting fo that mail truck to drive up in the neighborhood and open that box. Your are right on the heels before he or she can even close the box right. That is because you are waiting with expectation for God to bless you with some money, go ahea I know you have been there. Well let’s get back to the story of the man with the new second job but keep what I just said in mind. This particular day after doing a few days of deliveries decided to check his mail box after about 3 days which is around the time he was talking to his friend. He was headed out to run some errands and stopped at the mailbox before leaving. There was the typical junk mail and an envelope from a company he had dealt with some months ago and forgot all about them. So he put the mail in the passenger seat and proceeded to the the bank because he need some cash out of his savings to get the items he needed from the store. The story goes that as he was driving the Holy Spirit kept speaking in his ear to open the envelope and he was like it is just going to be a bill from these folks and I just can’t do it today, not today Lord. The Spirit kept talking as he waited to turn into the bank parking lot for the atm. When he pulld into the parking lot the Spirit said pull over and open the evelope. So the man being obedient pulled over and opend it up and the first thing he saw was a ledger with numbers on it and was like see Lord I knew this was not good news. I am expecting a mircle to happen, I have heard stories about people going to the mail box and a check is there and all I have is ledger probably telling me how much I owe them. The Spirit say shhh and open the letter. So he opens the letter but there was something stopping it from opening all the way. A staple was in it and something attached. So he tore off the staple and looked at the part that was attached. The man started to shout and say thank you God, praise the Lord it is a check!! He opened the check and it was the full refund amount he had spent with the company about six months ago. In his waiting with expectation and getting up and doing something he had never done before while in the wait, God provided for him through the mail. Now, get this part if he would have went to the mail daily he would have seen this envelope sooner write, but because that has never happened before he did not check it for three days. Now hold on to that peice right there the three day becasue this is going to be inportant later. Three days prior he was speaking to his friend and three day later he has a check in the mail in a way God had never done before. I mean he said he has received checks in the mail but he knew they were coming like a tax return check and stuff like that. So he put the money in his account praising God all the way to the atm trying not to jump out the car and shout. He was waiting with expectation for God to do something and when he least expected it God said my child you have been obident to my word and directions given through a change agent and here is your answer, here is your provision. Now isn’t that just like God to take care of each and every detail right down to the amount of the check to bring it out of the whole and have some still left as an overflow.

So, let’s get to the scripture we read earlier and I am going to get out of the way when God is done talking. Here in the the book of Joshua we find that Moses is now dead and a new leader has been chosen by God to lead the Isrealites to the land of promise. From chapter one of the book the servent of the Lord gave direction for Joshua to follow and every place they put their feet he would give to them just like he did with Moses. He assured Joshua that he would be with him just as he was with Moses and to be strong and courages and as he told him in Joshua 1:7 “Give it everything you have, heart and soul. Make sure you carry out The Revelation that Moses commanded you, every bit of it. Don’t get off track, either left or right, so as to make sure you get to where you’re going.”

Joshua had to be obident and let nothing turn him from the way of the Lord no matter what the people or sitation looked like. He was waiting with expectation just like the rest of them but wanted to make sure he was hearing from the Lord. Sometimes you have to block out the noise of people and situations and keep the expection you have been waiting on right in from of you. You may end of in the wilderness for a while and that just may be your season, you may be in a seaon of a holding pattern but when God is ready to bring you out and give you what he has promised the wait will be worth it. I hurts right now but I am a witness to God that if you just wait with expectiation and continue to do what God is calling you to do He will blow your mind every single time. Just when you think noone is paying any attetion to you and your just rocking and rolling in your own buisness God will show up with what you wanted and even more because you were expecting him to do something great. Something outside of your control that you couldn’t do by yourself even if you tried.

When we wait with expectation what we beleive God to do shoud not be small in our mind. You see if were small minded then what are we saying about our God who does big things to show his goodness to his children. If the expectation you are waiting on does not put a little uneasiness in ou spirit then it is not beig enough becase that means you can do it all by yourself. But when God has shown you in your spirit what he wants to do with you, you have got to ready and obident to every instruction he gives to you. This is when waiting with expectation gets real and sometimes you want to jump the gun, but hold your horses and pull back on the reigns my sisters and brothers. God said I got this so step aside before you mess up my glory.

So as we move on to chapter 3 we find Joshua up early in the morning and led the Israelites to the Jordan from the city of Shittim where the two spies when out to examine the land they were about to take over, here they camped for three days before crossing it. On the third day the leaders of the tribes told the people that when you see the Ark of the Covenant move you be ready to move and follow it whereever it goes. (how may of you remember the song by Ludacris, when I move you move just like that)? Oh some of you might not be smiling casue you remember but I hear you in my spirit singing the catch phrase of that song and doing your moves. Ok now come on back, come on back. But what God was telling Joshua and the Isrealites that it is now time to move and claim what you have been waiting for, traveling for, looking for all this time the land that I have promised you since the days of Moses. The instructions given were to follow the priest and the Ark for you have never been this way before. I like this part here becasue you know we get excited when what we have been waiting for all this time is finnaly revealed and we want to get ahead of God. Well when you get to where he is leading you what are you going to do if you get there before him. You just may mess up the whole plan that God put together because you were so anxious. The Bible tells us in Philippians 4:6-7 “Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.” So since you have not been this way before stay behind the Lord and let him continue to guide you to your destiny that has already been promised becasue he will fulfill it. Now here is where the Lord said Joshua now is your time you have been expecting this and wonder if the people are going to except you for you and what I have called you to, your wait is over. Now watch God move. He appointed Joshua for such a time to lead the peope across the Jordan which is not a smooth river to cross. Sometimes when you are waiting with expectation it will be a rough travel but if you keep your eyes on the Lord, he will give and get you to where you need to be vicotoriously. Psalm 121 “I look up to the mountains; does my strength come from mountains? No, my strength comes from God, who made heaven, and earth, and mountains. He won’t let you stumble, your Guardian God won’t fall asleep. Not on your life! Israel’s Guardian will never doze or sleep. God’s your Guardian, right at your side to protect you— Shielding you from sunstroke, sheltering you from moonstroke. God guards you from every evil, he guards your very life. He guards you when you leave and when you return, he guards you now, he guards you always.”

The hour had come for Joshua to show that God is with him just as He was with Moses. The expectation of conquering the land has now come. They have waited so many years for God to deliver them to the place that was just for them. Joshoua pulled them near and let them know what lied ahead of them on the other side of the Jordan. He let them know that there are those who have oppressed may of people but today is the day they will be over taken with the help of the Lord. (Speak on Afganistan and how the army is starting to rise up with expectation that they can take over the Taliban). Distruction will happen in take overs but you have to be in a postion of expectation to say we are not going back to what we came from and with God on our side we will be vicotrious. for Psalm 27:1-3 “Light, space, zest— that’s God! So, with him on my side I’m fearless, afraid of no one and nothing. When vandal hordes ride down ready to eat me alive, Those bullies and toughs fall flat on their faces. When besieged, I’m calm as a baby. When all hell breaks loose, I’m collected and cool.” Remember in Joshoua chapter 1 he told him to be confident and strong and the only way you can do this is to not be afraid of the enemy by day nor by night. Now look at this imagry with me as I begin to close this message and you will have to go back for youself and read all of 10-18 and see what God reveals to you as well as you are waiting in expectation. Now, this was a time of harvest seaons and the river overflows the banks of the river the whole time. Can you imagine God overflowing your life with living daily as you enter into or are already in your harvest season. Look at this right now it is green seaon on the laturgical calendar right, we have planted and worked hard waiting on God to produce what we need to our next season of life. The harvest is soon to come and He wants to know will you be ready when he places you in that postion you have been asking for, that you have been expectiong to obtain. So watch this now in the scripture. At verse 15 of Joshua 3:15-17 “When the priests got to the Jordan and their feet touched the water at the edge (the Jordan overflows its banks throughout the harvest), the flow of water stopped. It piled up in a heap—a long way off—at Adam, which is near Zarethan. The river went dry all the way down to the Arabah Sea (the Salt Sea). And the people crossed, facing Jericho. And there they stood; those priests carrying the Chest of the Covenant stood firmly planted on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan while all Israel crossed on dry ground. Finally the whole nation was across the Jordan, and not one wet foot.”

(just like Moses and the Red Sea, they came out of a place of oppression and wondering and kept expecting from their Father the promise he made to them with Moses).

Let’s pull this together, you see when you are waiting with expection like the man at the mail box and like Johsua and the Isrealites they did not just sit around waiting on God to work on they behalf. They had to keep moving and keep the faith that their Fater will see them through to victory and in the adversity and all that happens in life once God has met the expection He expects us to give him the Glory and Honor that is due Him because he is the only one that made it possbile. He just used the friend on the phone to tell the man about how to make some extra money. God used Joshua to lead the Isralites accross the Jordan and bring fear to all the kings of the Aomorites on the west side of the Jordan, the kigs of he Canaanites by th-2e sea for they knew the Lord was with them and that they were coming to take was was theirs thus says the Lord. It is time to expect what you have been waiting for women and men of God. You have to put in the work so God will see that you are serious about him and his works he has placed within you. While you are waiting with expectation you need to prepare yourself and get in postion to be ready to move when God says it is time to move or you will get left behind. This pandemic should not have stopped you in your tracks of the destiny God has planned for you. What are your expatations and what are you doing while you are waitig for them to manifested. The church still goes on in a pandemic. We have to encourage one antoher while we wait and do that God has it all in control. Psalm 24:1-2 “God claims Earth and everything in it, God claims World and all who live on it. He built it on Ocean foundations, laid it out on River girders.” So if he dd all of this just for us whom he made in His image in His likeness why would he not give us what we desire. But we must still be doing while we wait in expectation for God to open the windows of heaven and pour you out that blessing you have been waiting for. And when it happens the Bible says to give God the glory for all things he has done. The Bible tells us that the disciples and the followers of Christ waited with expectation when Jesus was crucified. They did not know what to expect but they folllowed the instructions of the Holy Spirit were given to them after Jesus has breathed on them and told them to go to Jeruselum and do not leave. They went not know what to expect but they knew I beliieve they could feel that it was not over yet . As they sat in the room waiting and the expectation happened just like Jesus said it would. He said when I die I will bring you a comfoter to be with you and you will do greater things than I. They waited with expectation in prayer and the promise of Jesus was kept becasue of thier obidience. They waited in expection as Jesus hung there on the cross for all of our sins, they took him to a borrowed tomb and put the stone over it with guards so no one could still him. But little did the guards know that they could not hold him in that tomb. There was an expectation to be meet and Jesus was just waiting for the right time and day for it to happen. And on that third day Jesus got up with all power in his hands as He conqured the grave. The wait was now over, the expectation had been fulfilled as He sits next to his Father advocating for us daily as we wait with expectation to be fullfild.

The song says, To God be the glory, to God be the glory, to God be the glory for the things he has done. By his His blood he has saved me, by His power he has rased me, to God be the glory for the things he has done.

Waiting with Expectation! May God continue to bless you and keep you is my prayer.

The Call

Matthew 7:7-8 ““Don’t bargain with God. Be direct. Ask for what you need. This isn’t a cat-and-mouse, hide-and-seek game we’re in.” In another version it says, Keep asking, and it wil be given to you. Keep searching, adn you will find. Keep Knocking, and the door will be open to you. For everyone who asks received, and he one who seaches finds, and to the one who knocks, te dor will be opened.