Cross It! (Joshua 1.1-6)
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After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, saying,
“My servant Moses is dead. Now proceed to cross the Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the Israelites.
Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, as I promised to Moses.
From the wilderness and the Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, to the Great Sea in the west shall be your territory.
No one shall be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you.
Be strong and courageous; for you shall put this people in possession of the land that I swore to their ancestors to give them.
Intro:
Freedom,
There are some things that may be standing between where we are and where we are going.........
........but just because there may be some things standing between us and where we are going
......does not mean that these barriers or boundaries are unconquerable or uncrossable
(pause)
It may not make sense to most.......
.......but I don’t believe that we should automatically assume that boundaries and barriers are standing in our way.
Now.....
A barrier prevents movement
A boundary is a line that marks the limits of an area
(pause)
And sometimes.....
......i think we see the lines that mark limits
......and just assume them to be there to prevent our movement
(pause)
But.......
.........what if we served a God that had enough power to overcome both boundaries and barriers......
………..and then there are some cases where God uses boundaries to grow us to another level in our lives!
And sometimes I think…..
We think more highly of boundaries and barriers than we do of the God who creates capacity!
(pause and expound)
But today I want to share with you something extraordinary in this opening chapter of Joshua....
Look at it......
After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, saying,
“My servant Moses is dead. Now proceed to cross the Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the Israelites.
Verse one and two explains the transition of leadership from Moses to Joshua......
Moses dies at age 120 and Joshua succeeds Moses at age 90
The bible calls Joshua, Moses’s assistant.
......when I thought about that I believe it shows us that whatever is expected to succeed us should be something or someone who supports us.
Because......
......at the end of the day we cannot achieve success without a helper.
(pause)
The text says,
After Moses dies.....
..........The Lord speaks directly to Joshua and says,
“Now Proceed!.........
........to Cross the Jordan”
(pause)
The key significance here is that......
.....God gives us objectives.
.....and here God gives Joshua an objective.
In other words......
God is positioning Joshua where he doesn’t have to wonder about what he is supposed to be doing.
(slight pause)
God has laid it all out for him......
.......and our lives are no different.
.....God has laid out our objectives that match the instructions to CROSS our Jordan.
(pause)
And today I believe this scripture is encouraging you and I that we have permission to proceed.
.....to begin or continue a cause of action.
(pause)
And......
Most of us are phenomenal at stopping.......
.....but we are pathetic when it comes to proceeding!
(pause)
When something dies in our life we stop.......
......but here in the text God tells Joshua,
.....that death does not mean to stop.
.....death means to proceed.
(pause)
Watch this.....
.......Have the funeral over what we lost, and then get ready to move forward with confidence!
(pause)
And.....here’s what God does to increase our Confidence.....
God breaks God’s silence.
God brings or carries encouragement towards us.
God gives a strong exhortation to us. (emphatic urging)
And....
.......when God speaks to Joshua to elevate his confidence, this is exactly what God does as it concerns Joshua.
(pause)
Now here’s what we need to know about Joshua......
......because Joshua has a journey
Joshua was.......
A Slave in Egypt
A Servant in the desert
A Spy in Cannaan
And these phases of his journey is called his preparation....
(pause and optional expound)
But when we discover Joshua in this opening chapter.....
.......to begin his next level we see him as,
A Warrior
And this last phase we see him in as warrior is called the beginning of his leadership!
(pause)
God assures Joshua that the plan to conquer Canaan has not been altered because Moses has died....
And in my spiritual imagination I hear God saying to someone today.....
......whatever happened to you didn’t change God’s plans regarding your victory!
(pause and expound optional)
Look at it now....
......the second part of God’s words to Joshua are extremely specific...
Because after the text says,
“Now proceed”
it says,
“Into the land that I am giving to them!”
(pause)
In my spiritual imagination I hear God saying....
“I don’t want you to be confused concerning where you’re going as you proceed.”
Let me be clear about where you’re walking.....
(slight pause)
You are walking into a PROMISE.....
(pause)
These are not casual steps......
........these are not cavalier actions that don’t lead anywhere
And Freedom I believe that.....
God needs us to walk into something great....
.....and walk into it knowing that it’s already ours!
(pause)
Watch verse 3.....
Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, as I promised to Moses.
Listen......
The Lord declares to Joshua,
I have already given every place to you within the territory where you have enough faith to walk in.
(pause)
And in my spiritual imagination I hear God saying,
.....Put your entire foot into some places where you have been tip toeing around.......
.......because your faith walk positions promised territories!
(pause and expound)
Listen.........
......the gift is proportional to the level of faith, that the Israelites excercised when they marched through the land.
(pause)
Freedom......
....we can’t be walking around here with a weak faith walk.
But instead.....
.......we have to MARCH through our cities
......March through our homes
(pause)
And watch this.....
......because God rewards courageous faith!
The Roman officer (Summarize scriptures below)
When he entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, appealing to him
and saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, in terrible distress.”
And he said to him, “I will come and cure him.”
The centurion answered, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only speak the word, and my servant will be healed.
For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and the slave does it.”
When Jesus heard him, he was amazed and said to those who followed him, “Truly I tell you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith.
I tell you, many will come from east and west and will eat with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven,
while the heirs of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
And to the centurion Jesus said, “Go; let it be done for you according to your faith.” And the servant was healed in that hour.
(pause and expound on summary)
Look at it now.....
From the wilderness and the Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, to the Great Sea in the west shall be your territory.
According to the text.....
God artistically describes the territory intended for Israel......
God maps it all out and says......
From the wilderness.......
to the Lebanon Mountains.....
to the Euphrates river.....
to the Hittite land.....which is the land Israel already occupy
to the Meditteranean Sea......
God says.........
ALL of this will be your TERRITORY.......
(pause)
Now don’t miss this.......
....because some of this land is an area that they already occupied.
(pause)
But God was saying.....
.......there’s way more that I intend for you
.....I just need you to start walking towards what I intend for you with your faith!
(pause and expound)
Look at it........
No one shall be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you.
The text says......
Joshua,
even though resistance may be experienced by Israel....
…NO ONE will be able to defend the land against them.
(pause)
And to assure Josua that God was with them....
God repeated Deuteronomy 31.8 to Joshua and when verse 5 say...
“You can count on the same Divine assistance Moses received”
As I was with Moses.....
......I will also be with you.
(pause)
Freedom watch this....
Joshua had seen how God intervened for Moses in crisis moments....
....and so he knew exactly who God had been in tough times and unbelievable experiences.
.....Joshua saw it with his own eyes first hand!
(pause)
And God told me to ask somebody....
What have you witnessed God do for others in their crisis?
Because.......
......those were your opportunities to see first hand what God will do for you too!
(pause)
Look at it now....
Be strong and courageous; for you shall put this people in possession of the land that I swore to their ancestors to give them.
Freedom......
.....when I read this verse 6
.....the Holy Spirit pulled it all together and revealed something to me
(pause)
And in my spiritual imagination.....
I see a BRIDGE..........
and I hear God saying,
...........build a way
.......so you can CROSS IT!
(pause)
And this BRIDGE that the Lord showed me....
......actually breaks down into an acronym based on scripture
....watch this because in verse 5 God says,
“Be strong and courageous”
B. - “to BE strong and courageos”
........and when something is “BEing” it is growing or creating
…and I hear God saying,
Don’t look at the limitation of where you can’t get across,
.......or go any further and assume that this is a stopping point.
(slight pause)
But instead......
Be STRONG........and COURAGEOUS
......because the place where you see a barrier is the place where we need to build a BRIDGE!
(pause)
Barrel:
I was watching an old interview of Kobe Bryant after he had retired from the NBA and he said,
In his cartoon studios he doesn’t want his thinkers and creators to accept the animations that they know they are able to create...
....but he said
he wants them to go after the ones that makes them say,
“Oh, I don’t know if I can do that!”
(pause)
And Freedom,
I believe that God wants us to see the edge......
.....and have enough faith to say,
“I don’t believe a BARRIER is supposed to end my TERRITORY!”
“I don’t believe this thing is supposed to stop me!”
(pause)
Watch this........
....because as we are “Being Strong and Courageous”
the next letters in our BRIDGE are....
R - Release anything that will not allow you to CROSS it
those things that are causing immaturity in your life spiritually and mentally.
a. excuses
b. premature satisfaction with good, when great is waiting
Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.
R - Reach for anything that will assist you to CROSS it
Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil.
For if they fall, one will lift up the other; but woe to one who is alone and falls and does not have another to help.
Freedom,
If we are going to CROSS it.....
......we are going to have to REACH for those things that ASSIST us!
.....and RELEASE those things which are the antonyms to our attempts to CROSS!
......and if we would just be honest
........some of that stuff aint helping you CROSS!
(pause and expound)
Watch this.....
because the next letter in our bridge is,
I - Identify “Faith steps” that land in places that God has already intended for you.
Joshua 1.3 says,
“Every place your foot steps in faith, I have give to you already”
Listen.....
Stop walking beneath the promise......
(pause)
God is saying.....
“Step UP” and walk on what I have promised you with your FAITH!
(pause)
Freedom.....
…the next letter in our BRIDGE is,
D. - Discover direction based on destiny
Joshua 1.4 showed us,
We cannot determine our distance or limitations effectively without first discovering what God intends for us
And somebody in here needs to know that,,
We cheat ourselves out of the fullness of our destiny when we are afraid to DISCOVER on a God level!
(pause)
Watch this now.....
Because I want to show you what DISCOVERING on a God level looks like
(pause)
Discovering on a God level
....means finding God’s words for your life!
(pause)
Listen....
All Joshua had to do was listen to God’s voice
....and when God spoke to him it was exactly what he had already heard.
And so.....
He heard God confirming his destiny in the process of discovering on a God level.
(pause)
And Freedom....
We discover the Divine mapping of our lives when we go to the Word of God.
God will confirm what we are hearing.....
.....by repeating our destiny as we discover it in God’s word!
(pause)
Watch this.....
.....because our next letter is
G. - Grow after every Victory
Listen.....
We should never be decreasing after our victories.
God tells Joshua in Joshua 1.5 says....
“You will never lose a battle”
(slight pause)
And so.....
If we are not supposed to ever lose a battle.....
......it must mean that if we are losing it is because we are giving up victories to things weaker than we are in Christ....
(pause)
Listen......
We’re not losing because we are supposed to be losing.....
But...
We’re losing because we are not GROWING from our last victory.
......we keep showing up for fight 3 the way we looked in fight 1
(slight pause)
But.....
......if we ever get to a point where we grow after each win
.....that’s when we begin to start seeing momentum to CROSS our BRIDGE!
(pause)
Watch this....
VICTORY does not mean throw your hands down....
VICTORY means throw your hands UP!
(pause and expound)
Here it is Freedom......
Let’s finish this BRIDGE!
Last letter is.....
E. Elevate your thinking
The last piece to our bridge is critical....
Because remember we are not building for where we are.
....but we are building to CROSS OVER into our NEXT LEVEL!
(pause)
Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine,
Listen Freedom.....
This BRIDGE does not stop where we think it should!
But instead....
.....this BRIDGE stops on GOD”S POWER!
“According to HIS POWER!
.....that is at work in us!”
(pause)
Freedom....
God wasn’t telling Joshua to BUILD to the level that he could IMAGINE
God was telling Joshua to BUILD to the level that GOD has INTENDED!
(pause)
And I don’t know who this is for.........
But in my spiritual imagination all I hear God saying is.....
“You can’t BUILD this without ME!”
(pause)
But at the same time........
WHEN you BUILD with ME!
There’s NOTHING.......
that we can’t MAKE it OVER together!
NOW proceed...........
in other words.....
CROSS IT!