Crossing Over

Crossing Over (New Years)

Introduction

A. Good morning, Church! I do not want to break tradition today, so if you are watching, have your Bibles, and you are where you can stand, I would like to ask each of you to raise your Bibles and repeat after me:

This is my Bible. It is God’s Holy Word. It is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path, and I will hide its words within my heart, that I might not sin against God! Amen!

If you have your Bibles and you are following along, I would like to ask you to be finding the book of Joshua Ch. 3.

I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am to be here today to preach the Word of God. I absolutely love the Word of God and I love what it means to me. I am excited for the message today, as we will be speaking on the idea of “Crossing Over” into a new year.

Listen, I know that dates are somewhat irrelevant to our situations. In other words, just because we are starting a new year on the calendar, does not mean that we are somehow leaving all of our worries and problems behind and just get to start over. With that being said, starting a new year is a great time to make a decision to do a few things different. It is a great time for a reset, to set goals and objectives, or simply determine to be better.

B. Read Joshua 3.

1. James 5:10 (KJV) 10 Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.

2. Some of you may be asking yourselves this morning, how this text applies to us in this place, on this day, at this moment, in our particular circumstance, but I want to remind you that everything in the O.T. scriptures happened for examples to us. In other words, what God has done in the past, is a picture of what God can and will do in our lives today and in the future.

3. The big idea of this passage of scripture is the word “Ark”. It is used 10 times in this chapter, and therefore becomes the central theme of it. Let me first give you an illustration of what it is and then I will explain the significance of why it matters. The “Ark of the Covenant” was about 4 ft. long, 2 ft. tall, and 2 ft. wide. It was overlaid with gold and carried by two wooden staves that ran through the side of it by the Levitical priests of the day. This ark was very special to God and Israel, because wherever the ark went, so went God. His presence followed the ark. Because this ark speaks of the presence of God, it is therefore what we call in the theological realm, a Christophany. That means that it is a picture of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the O.T. scriptures. Do you remember what the angel told Mary what they would call Jesus? Emmanuel, which being interpreted means “God With Us”. This ark was to be ever inside the Israelite camp and in the holy of holies inside the temple. This ark was a picture of Christ.

Another thing that makes it an adamantly clear picture of Christ is the contents of the ark. There were only three things inside of the ark of the covenant: the tablets of stone that the ten commandments were written on, Aaron’s rod/staff, and a golden vessel full of manna that God had rained down from heaven for the children of Israel. The ten commandments speak of Jesus’ righteousness. Aaron’s rod speaks of Jesus’ resurrection. The golden vessel of manna speaks of Jesus unlimited resources.

The children of Israel have traveled through the desert for forty years and they are now about to cross over into the promised land, but there is one thing lying in their path, the river of Jordan. This river of difficulty is in between them and their promise, their long-awaited land that is flowing with milk and honey, grapes and pomegranates, hills and water falls, etc. All of God’s blessings are waiting on the other side, and though they can see them, they can’t get to them. Suddenly, those priests come walking by with the ark of the covenant in their hands and stand in the middle of that river and the waters just dry up. All of Israel walk across on dry ground and the priests come up out of the water and the water begins to flow again. This ark allowed them to cross their river of difficulty so that they could reach their promised land.

I do not know what difficulties we already have here in this church or the ones that we might face as move forward together, but I can assure you that there will be difficulties. Every church that is following Jesus, or the ark, is going to have troubles. There is a certain someone named Lucifer that does not want you to succeed and will do whatever it takes to see you fail. Believe me when I tell you that there will most definitely be difficulties in our path, but if we follow Jesus, we can make it to the other side. We can experience the blessing of God upon this church and this community, but only when Jesus is out front.

It cannot be stressed enough, that Jesus is, or should be the head of this church. I know that all of you are, or have seemed to be, excited that we are now a part of this family, and I also know that you are looking to me for leadership and guidance and direction as the new pastor of this church. Let me be the first to tell you, that though I may be the pastor of this church and called by God to be the leader of this church, I too have a leader and His name is Christ. This is not my church, the deacons church, a certain families church, or anyone else’s church. This church is under the leadership of Jesus Christ, and as long as we keep it that way, we can cross any river of difficulty that may lie in our paths.

Christ Must Be Pursued (Vs. 3)

A. Anticipation

B. Imitation

Christ Must Be Perceived (Vs. 3-4)

A. With Dependence

B. With Distance

Christ Must Be Preferred (Vs. 5)

A. Preparation

B. Expectation

Conclusion

A. Jordan – “The descender” (1000 ft. above sea level to 1300 ft. below sea level in 200 miles). The river of Jordan is literally the river of Judgment, and its end is at the dead sea. All judgment ends up in death, but when Jesus stepped in, the waters stopped all the way back to the city of Adam.

B. Picture of our baptism and its representation and then Jesus was baptized in same spot as the ark was in the water!!!