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Among His People | Joshua 3 · Saint City Chapel

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It's good to see you guys. Hey, I want to start like this.
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I want you to turn your Bibles to Joshua chapter 3.
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If you don't have a Bible, we have one in the seat nearby in
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front of you. It's just on the ground in front
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of you. It's on page 179.
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I'm going to meet you there in just a moment.
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And while you're turning there, I want you to imagine with me
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this moment. Imagine a man standing next to
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the roaring Rapids of a river. He's sitting there and it the
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calming, soothing sound of the river, it's just the best.
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It's serene. It's nature.
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And as he's standing there, he's looking out into the water and
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he sees a school of tilapia going by.
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And he thinks to himself, man, I wish I brought my fishing pole
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today. Then behind him, he overhears
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the chatter of the people behind him.
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He hears some people gossiping, talking about the weather.
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He's like, oh, man, it's just another day.
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But then he snaps back into the nature scene, and he sees the
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sunrise coming up over the slope.
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And he's like, man, the last time I was here was 40 years
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ago. And it wasn't like this.
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See, 40 years ago, he felt a little bit younger.
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His back hurt a little bit worse, his jaw was a bit
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stronger, his hairline a bit better.
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But he also remembers not just feeling younger and being
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younger. He remembers the fight that
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happened between him and his friends.
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You see, this wasn't the first time he's at this river, but 40
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years ago. He remembers the great argument,
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10 on one side, 2 on the other. And they're debating whether or
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not that they can get across this river and get into this
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place and say, hey, we actually belong here.
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And on one side with the 10, there's panic and hysteria and
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fear. And him and his buddy Caleb, all
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they sense is confidence and peace.
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But on that day, 40 years ago, in that argument, he wasn't
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enough. He wasn't strong enough,
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compelling enough, persuasive enough.
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He felt the haunting memory of not being the leader he wanted
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to be. And if you're there in that
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moment in your mind right now, you're imagining not just a
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story, you're putting yourself in the shoes of Joshua Chapter
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3. That this was a man who's
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stepping into not just a chapter of a story, but he had a real
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life with real decisions, with real stories behind him.
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And as he once again, Joshua the the the title character of the
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book of Joshua, as he steps to the Jordan River once again, you
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can't help but wonder and imagine what it must have felt
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like to be him on that day, to come back to this river that he
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and his people didn't get to cross.
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They had to stay wandering in the desert for 40 years.
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And I bet he'd be asking a question like this.
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How do I know? How do I actually know God is
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with us this time on this? If God is truly among us, what
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is that going to look like? That's a question Joshua must
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have been asking himself. It's a question the text is
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going to answer, but I think it's also a question that many
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of us find ourselves asking as a church family, as people in a
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city. Hey, if God is really here
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amongst Saints City, if he's really actually with us, what's
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that going to look like? What's that going to feel like
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and sound like? What does it look like for God
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to not just be with us in presence, but for us in power?
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That God is behind us, He's the one carrying us forward.
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What does that look like? Because like Joshua, I'm sure
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many of us are concerned with our life.
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Like what does it look like for God to be behind me and my
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family? How do we know His hand is upon
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us? He's blessing us.
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Another word for it would be favor toward us.
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What do we know? When do we know, excuse me, that
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God is with us? I think Joshua chapter 3 is
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going to show us. But before we get into Joshua
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three, I just want to take a moment as a church family.
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I want to pray. I want to bring our eyes and our
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hearts before the Lord and say, God, would you speak to us?
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Would you move? So would you join me as I pray
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right now, Lord, we believe that you are actually among your
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people. You're a living God.
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You didn't stay dead, but you rose three days later and you
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are alive, ruling and reigning right now.
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And you want to speak to your people.
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You want to build your Kingdom. And so, God, we are crying out
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to you as your people to speak to us through your words, that
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we would know what it looks like to have the living God, the holy
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God with us and for us, and we'd have that confidence in Jesus
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name, Amen. Amen.
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Before I read the text, I just want to give you one quick Bible
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study tip. If you are reading your Bible,
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you're going through your devotional plan and you're like,
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hey, how do I like get into the Old Testament?
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How do I read a book like this so that I understand what to do
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with it for my life? I'm going to give you a quick
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little acronym. It's called speak FPEAK, and
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it's this. When you're reading the Bible,
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you're trying to apply it to your life.
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The first one is speak, which is mean.
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Hey, is there a sin to confess in this chapter that I'm getting
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out of the text? Sin to confess.
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The P stands for promise to believe.
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That's like Joshua chapter one that be strong and courageous
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for I am with you. That's Joshua one.
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It's a promise to believe 3, which is what we're in today.
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An example to follow. We're going to follow the
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example of the Israelite people and of Joshua A stands for
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actions to obey. That's like in the New Testament
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when it's saying, hey, go love your neighbor.
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That's like go do that. You don't have to follow an
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example. You just go do the action that
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the Bible said to do. And finally a knowledge to grow
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in. That's like Colossians 115.
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He is the image of the invisible God.
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You're learning something about God and you need to grow in
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knowledge of God so you can love Him and people more.
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So that's a way to read your Bible.
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I just want to give you that. Start here before we get into
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Joshua one, and then we're going to get into this big idea that
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the living God is among his people.
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I get that from verse 10, which we'll get to in a moment.
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But if you're taking notes and you'd like to take notes, jot
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that down. That's this story, chapter 3.
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It's what God wants us to know is that the living God is among
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his people. And here's what the text says.
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Joshua chapter 3, verse one. Then Joshua, the leader of
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Israel, he rose early in the morning and they set out from
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shitham and they came to the Jordan and he and all the people
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of Israel and lodged there before they passed over.
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At the end of the three days, the officers went through the
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camp and commanded the people. As soon as you see the Ark of
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the covenant, go ahead and underline that.
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We're going to talk about that in a moment.
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As soon as you see the ark of the Covenant of the Lord your
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God being carried by the Levitical priest, then you shall
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set out from your place and follow it.
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Yet there shall be a distance between you and it, about 2000
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cubits in length. Do not come near it in order
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that you may know the way you shall go, for you have not
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passed this way before. 1st 5 Then Joshua said to the people,
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consecrate yourselves for tomorrow.
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The Lord will do wonders among you.
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Stop there. 4 signs that I want to give you this morning If
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you're asking yourself the question if God is truly among
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us, what will it look like? I want to give you 4 signs today
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that you can be sure, you can be certain that God is with us as a
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people at Saint City and you personally for your life.
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The 1st is this 4 signs that God is with us is set apart lives
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you can know, you can trust, you can believe.
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God is with you. God is with us when one of the
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signs, one of the markers of the people is that their lives are
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set apart for God. They're consecrated before him.
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In fact, if you're taking notes, write that word now and
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consecrate, because that's where it's getting the point.
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Consecrated just means dedicating your life to a sacred
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purpose. And the Israelites are commanded
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by Joshua here to do that, to set their part their lives apart
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for him, to dedicate their lives to, for a sacred purpose of
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knowing and loving God. And so Joshua, they're about to
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cross the river, and the first thing he does to prepare his
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people is he says, hey, stop for a second before we do anything
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else and let's consecrate ourselves before God because
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Joshua's lived through something pretty hard already.
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You see, it only took him about 40 days to get out of Egypt,
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where he was enslaved, but it took 40 years to get Egypt out
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of the Israelite people. Joshua has lived through the
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reality of people who will not give their lives set apart for
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God, who don't listen to him, who don't take him at his word.
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Joshua knows what that's like and he's now leading a
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generation of people to once again at the Jordan River, say,
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hey, God, we're setting apart our lives.
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We're setting apart this land for you.
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And what I think is interesting about this is this generation of
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Israel, they've heard about the parting of the Red Sea.
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Now they did not watch the Prince of Egypt like we did to
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experience it. That, you know, 2000 nineties
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classic, great soundtrack. By the way, that's an excellent
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movie. You should watch that.
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Not exactly accurate. Sorry, I digress, but these
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Israelites, those were their parents and their grandparents
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who lived through that moment of the parting of the Red Sea.
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And instead of like a vicarious, hey, I'm going to hear the story
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about God being able to part water like this.
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God's about to do basically the exact same thing for this
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generation, basically the greatest miracle they'd ever
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heard of, they're about to experience for themselves.
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I think that's interesting. It's one thing to hear about
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God's working power. It's another see it with your
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own two eyes. When I was a kid, I grew up in
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Chicagoland in the 90s. I was born in 93, which means I
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missed peak Michael Jordan era. That's what it means I missed.
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It means I was too young to fully appreciate the greatest of
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all time. If you're a LeBron fan, the
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doors right over there. No, I'm kidding.
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But it was one thing to hear my dad, to hear my uncles talk
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about Michael Jordan and his greatness.
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It was another when I got old and I began to be able to watch
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highlights of just how fantastic of a basketball player he was.
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To hear reports of somebody's greatness is not the same as
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seeing it in person. In fact, Job the author of a
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book in the Bible, he says my ears had heard reports of you,
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but now my eyes have seen your glory.
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There is something different on being a visual learner about God
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and these Israelites are about to experience first hand just
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how powerful and mighty God is. That's why the second-half of
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verse 5 says consecrate yourselves for tomorrow.
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The Lord will do wonders among you.
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That word wonder in the Old Testament, it's just how we
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would say miracle there. Whenever they're saying wonders,
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it just equals miracles. In the Old Testament they're
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saying, hey, when God does awesome miraculous things, that
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is a wonder. That is crazy.
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That's astonishing. And God's about to part A river
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before their eyes. But before he does that, Joshua
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leads the people to consecrate themselves, to purify
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themselves, because guess what? God himself is holy and pure,
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therefore His people ought to be as well.
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One of the signs of God being with us is that we set apart our
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lives for Him, because guess what?
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That's what God is. He is set apart from everything
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else and all creation. And God will not be with us if
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we do not have the reverence for His Holiness and His purity like
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the Israelites did here. He will not be with us St.
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City if we do not care about the holiness of God.
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And I think I can hear some of you even objecting in in your
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heart and your mind right now, if that like hey Brandon, are
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you saying that God is not with me if I'm not living dedicated
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to him if I'm not consecrated to him?
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Not necessarily. Here's what I would say at that.
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I would say that the sense of God being with you is what you
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would feel. That God is not with you, not
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that he's not actually with you, but your sense of whether or not
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God is with you changes whether or not you are living dedicated
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to him. That if you are drawing away
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from God, it's not God who moved, it's you.
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That as you draw near to God, he draws near to you.
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And you might sense that God is far away, that he's distant,
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that he is not with you, he is not among you.
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If you are a Christian, you might get that sense, but it's
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because you have not had a value for purity and holiness.
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It's not because God changed or moved away from you.
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It's because you moved away from Him.
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We call that wandering in the Christian faith.
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We call that wandering because you are moving from the
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trajectory in the direction God has set for you, and you're
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going the wrong direction for your life.
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But there's good news for the wanderer here today.
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If you find yourself wandering, if you find yourself lost, guess
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what, today you can do this very verse 5, you can consecrate
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yourself, you can set apart your life to God and he is right
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there with a hug saying welcome home, welcome into relationship
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with me. This is God.
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He is a loving father who welcomes home every person who
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has not lived their life fully to God.
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He's saying, hey, guess what, You can live your life fully to
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me now. It's OK.
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You can turn from that and you can turn towards me.
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You can no longer be a wanderer. You can be a worshipper, and
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maybe you find yourself here today.
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You're not actually wandering, but you're a worshipper of God.
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This verse ought to give you gratitude.
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Thank God that I know this God, that I love this God, that I can
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walk with this God, that I can worship this God.
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That's what it pulls out of you Every time you read a story like
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this, you're like, wait a second.
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I'm among the people who've heard the good news about Jesus.
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I'm among the people who God is among.
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How can that be? That's a miracle in of itself.
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That's a wonder in and of itself.
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It would you never lose the childlike wonder of what it is
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to be adopted into God's family, worshipper of Jesus, the reality
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that you are a son or daughter of God.
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He looked into the spiritual orphan and he said I want that
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one. And he called you by name,
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consecrating yourself, setting your life apart from God.
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Apart for God. Excuse me?
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It's just a natural response of the grateful heart.
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So we don't have to wander. We can worship because hey, we
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want to see God with us. And we as God's people will live
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lives set apart for him. That's the first thing.
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That's the first sign. There'll be people everywhere
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set apart for Him. The second one to look for is
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spirit LED leadership. Spirit LED leadership.
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God is the ultimate leader of his people and he is now setting
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the plan for Joshua. In verse 3.
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He's setting the plan for how 1,000,000 people are going to
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cross the river by foot. I don't know if you've ever been
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a crowd of 1,000,000 on foot before.
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Crowds like that don't move well, they don't move fast.
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They don't move organized. Every single time I see a parade
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like that, you know, a victory parade for like the Seahawks, by
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chance, shout out, Bo. Bo, where are you?
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I don't know. I'll see you.
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He's probably serving somewhere, always in the back.
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Thank you, Bo. Seattle Seahawks fan,
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congratulations. But there's a victory parade
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when you're walking in that parade, guess what?
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Those people don't move. Well, every time I'm at a parade
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like that or see it, I just say man, they need a leader.
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They need somebody to help them get through this.
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These people need to move somewhere.
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God saying, hey, I got you covered, Joshua, here's what I
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want you to do. I want you to do 2 things before
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we cross the river. First, I want the Ark of the
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Covenant to go 1st and I want you Joshua, to know that I'm
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with you. Both of them are important.
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The first, the Ark of the covenant, verse three, look back
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at your Bible with me. He commanded the people.
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As soon as you see the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord your
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God being carried by the Levitical priest, then you shall
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set out for your place and follow it.
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Now if you're new to following Jesus, you might be reading the
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Ark of the Covenant as Noah's Ark.
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Not the same thing. You're like, wait a second, were
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they carrying that boat? No, they were not.
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They were not carrying the ark that is in Noah's story.
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This is a different ark. This ark is only about four feet
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long and about 2.75 wide and tall.
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So this is much more manageable than a floating zoo.
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OK, much more manageable. And they're carrying this ark.
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It is made of pure gold and what it represents and what the
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Israelites actually believed was it was the actual throne where
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God lived and dwelled among them, that this ark of the
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covenant was a sign that their God was keeping his promise to
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their forefather, Abram, Abraham, His name, it means the
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father of many nations. And so they would carry this
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with them and where they went as a symbol that we are God's
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people and He is with us. He dwells among us.
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He is alive. He is not dead.
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He is not silent. He is here at this Ark of the
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Covenant. So what that meant was the
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people of Israel would look at this thing.
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I mean, like how Indiana Jones looked at it, right?
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I mean, just like, do not touch that.
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That's dangerous. That's holy, that is set apart.
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The Ark of the Covenant was the greatest artifact of the
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Israelite people. It was their holy.
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It went into the Holy of Holies. When the temple gets built, it
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is their most precious, precious piece of worship.
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And God says, hey, I want that to go first into the Jordan,
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carried by the worship leaders of God's people, the Levites.
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They're going to go first, symbolizing you're not just
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following Joshua, you're following me into this river
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spirit LED leadership. The Ark of the covenant actually
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gets outdated in the New Testament.
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Here's why. Because we have a better ark of
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the covenant now that Jesus has come.
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The reason that's not around anymore, the reason why we don't
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need it is because Jesus Christ came to earth.
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He died on a Roman cross. He rose again and by grace
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alone, through faith alone in Christ alone, guess what?
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God can live in you, that God the Father sent God the Son, so
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God the Holy Spirit couldn't dwell.
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Humans, normal, regular human beings, not just the priest, not
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the leader of the people, Joshua, normal, regular,
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ordinary people like you and I God can live inside of.
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He can dwell among us. Isn't that mind blowing?
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God lives in you. The same spirit that raised
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Christ and the dead lives in you and is at work in you right here
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right now. That is the promise of God.
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And now God the spirit isn't just on a leader or on a people.
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He is inside of him. He indwells people.
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The spirit LED leader is the spirit filled leader.
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Keep going in the text you'll see Joshua in verse 6, Joshua
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says the priest take up the ark of the covenant pass on before
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the people. So the priest take the ark.
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They go in front of the people before them.
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In verse 7, the Lord said to Joshua, today I will begin to
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exalt you. I'll begin to lift you up, to
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elevate you in the sight of all Israel that they may know, that
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the people may know what that as God was with Moses, so I will be
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with you. And As for you command the
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priests who bear the ark, when you come to the brink of the
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waters of Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan.
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See, Joshua's leading the people now, and the Spirit of God is on
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him, that just as God is with Moses now, he is with Joshua.
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And the Spirit is not only leading through the ark of the
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covenant, He's leading through a leader in the people's life.
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And the Spirit LED leader that you need in your life, the
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Spirit LED leadership you need in your life is no different.
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You need a Spirit LED leader, not a self LED leader in your
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life. Self LED leaders, Here's the
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Bible's word wording for it. They follow their flesh.
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That just means they go at what they feel is best or what they
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want most or what they're driven by where their instincts may go.
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Sometimes that lines up with God teaches in His word.
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Most the time it doesn't win. Some lose most with that kind of
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category, right? The problem is with being a
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spirit. Having spirit, excuse me, having
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self LED leadership in your life is that inevitably that will
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point you in the wrong direction.
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For example, you're wrestling through a job offer and if you
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were to get a self LED leader in your life telling you why or why
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not you should take that job, you might be wondering to
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yourself, hey, what are they going to say?
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How they're going to advise me? And they might be considering
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things that the Bible doesn't actually care about.
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They might be worried way more about how it affects your
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budget. They might be worried way more
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about how it affects your status at work.
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They might be consumed with, hey, guess what?
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That makes you get to here so you can get to there.
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The strategy of it, the Spirit LED leader in your life is going
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to go, hey, how's that going to affect your marriage in your
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home? Is that going to affect your
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ability to be a father and a husband?
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How is that going to affect your ability to be generous to the
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Kingdom? How is that going to affect your
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ability to be connected to a local church?
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That's what a spirit LED leader considers because the spirit LED
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leader considers what God has said matters most.
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We all need spirit LED leadership in our life, myself
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included. Every single one of us is in
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desperate need of real, influential, powerful spiritual
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leadership in our hearts because we make decisions every day
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about how we're going to parent the kids, how we're going to
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love our spouse, how we're going to navigate our dating lives,
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our careers. We need spirit LED leadership.
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Let me ask you this question, Is the leadership in your life
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spirit LED or self LED? Is the advice you're getting for
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the decisions you're making week in and week out?
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Is it coming from God and His words that coming from somebody
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who's just telling you what they think you want to hear?
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There's a difference and it can be grave in consequence.
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Don't take advice. Don't take spiritual advice from
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self LED leaders. Is God with your marriage?
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Is God with your parents? Is God with your most trusted
24:05
advisor? These are people you get counsel
24:07
from, but just because they have a role doesn't mean they should
24:10
have a voice. The advice that you're getting
24:16
spiritually has to come from people who are grounded and who
24:19
are rooted in God's Word. And that's, you know God is with
24:22
you because God is with you if you're receiving His words and
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applying them to your life through His people.
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In fact, that leads us to our Third Point.
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One of the best ways to know that they're a spirit filled
24:33
person is our God's words with them.
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Do they have what I'll call a scripture fed vocabulary?
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They're not just a spirit LED leader, they are a scripture fed
24:44
talker. Their vocabulary, they're slang,
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they're jargon. Is it biblical?
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Does it come from the Bible? Is it scriptural?
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Like do they feed their reality based on what God has said?
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Look at the Bible with me in verse 9.
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And Joshua said to the people of Israel, come here and listen to
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the words of your living God. And Joshua said, here is how you
25:06
shall know that the living God is among you.
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He's making it clear. Here's how you know.
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He's putting a flashing light and saying, hey guys, tune into
25:15
verse 10. Here's how you know God is going
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to be with you and that He will without fail drive out from you
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a bunch of Ites, Canaanites, Hittites, Hittites, Perizzites,
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Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites.
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That seven types of people that the rest of the book of Joshua
25:31
they're going to conquer. Here's how you'll know before
25:37
you beat all these people. Behold verse 11.
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The ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is passing
25:44
over before you into the Jordan. God's presence is gone 1st and
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you are now listening to his words, and you are trusting his
25:52
words and acting upon it. You listen to God.
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Verse then verse 12 and 13, you're going to take 12 men and
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appoint them for each tribe. Verse 13 And when the soles of
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the feet of the priest bearing the ark of the Lord, Lord of all
26:05
the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters
26:08
of the Jordan are going to stop flowing.
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He is going to part a river that is a football field wide and say
26:16
just walk across it on dry ground and they the waters
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coming down from above shall stand in one heap.
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God loves to keep His word. He is built different when it
26:35
comes to keeping His word. The sun doesn't get tired of
26:38
shining. A fountain doesn't get sick of
26:42
flowing. God doesn't get exhausted by
26:47
keeping His word. In fact, in Jeremiah it says
26:51
that He is watching over His word just so that He can perform
26:54
it. You might not be a good keeper
26:59
of your word. You might struggle to say
27:02
something over promise and undelivered.
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Never God. Every promise He has made He
27:07
will fulfill. He will keep.
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He is the promise keeping God. And so when our lives are built
27:16
around God's words, guess what? We have God with us because His
27:21
words stick with us wherever we go.
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It's like He's with us because His words are with us.
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That's how powerful His words are.
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They never return empty or void. They always have an effect on
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the situation. Every single time someone's
27:37
words sticking with you like that, it is a unique and fun
27:40
experience. I remember the power of
27:43
somebody's words. When I was a kid, I was the
27:44
oldest of four and at times I would go into the basement
27:48
because my brothers were playing NCAA Football 2008 and I wanted
27:52
a turn. And so I had my mom keeping a
27:54
clock and being the older brother, I had to listen to what
27:56
mom said. But it it was a fun moment being
27:58
the older brother when he went downstairs and you said, hey,
28:01
it's my turn. And what's the question every
28:04
sibling asks who said that? Right?
28:06
Who said, who said you get to have a turn?
28:08
Because if it's on your authority, it doesn't matter if
28:10
it's your words, Brandon, they're irrelevant.
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But when I had that magical phrase behind me, Mom said it.
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Mom said it's my turn. The whole conversation shifted
28:22
because her words, being with me, carried a different
28:25
authority, carried a different power, carried a different
28:28
confidence and comfort for my heart in that moment.
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I think God's promises are intended to be the exact same
28:34
way for us, that there are promises all over this book
28:40
intended to comfort you, to give you confidence that God is
28:43
actually with you, that you have power in your life over sin.
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You can have faith in the midst of fear.
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You can have courage in the midst of hard work.
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You have God with you, Christian.
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His words are with you. So I'm going to give you 5 quick
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promises that should stick with you this week.
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OK, five quick promises. I'm going to give you the
29:06
references for them and read a few of them.
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Isaiah 4110. So do not fear, for I am with
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you. Do not be dismayed, for I am
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your God. I will strengthen you and I will
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help you. I will uphold you with my
29:19
righteous right hand. Do you have that promise on your
29:22
lips? Do you repeat it in your mind on
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the moments where you feel like God has left you?
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I am with you, do not be dismayed, I am your God.
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Isaiah 4110, Second Peter 1/3 and four.
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His divine power has granted to us all the things that pertain
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to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called
29:43
us to His own glory and excellence, by which He has
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granted to us His precious and very great promises, so that
29:52
through them you may become partakers of the divine nature.
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Have escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of
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sinful desire. Second, Peter 1/3 and four, we
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have great and precious promises.
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Deuteronomy 31 eight. It is the Lord God who goes
30:08
before you. Deuteronomy 31 Eight.
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He will be with you. He will not leave you or forsake
30:13
you. Do not fear or be dismayed when
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you're going into that moment, that hard conversation with your
30:20
mom. What are you going to say?
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God is with me. I do not need to be afraid or be
30:24
dismayed. Romans 828 And we know that for
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those who love God, all things work together for good.
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For those who are called according to His purpose, God is
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working out things on your eternal behalf.
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Believer, this is all going somewhere good and planned and
30:42
perfect. Do you have Romans 828 on your
30:46
lips? First Corinthians 10/13?
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No temptation is overtaking you. That is not common to man.
30:53
God is faithful. Listen to His promise, and He
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will not let you be tempted beyond your ability.
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But with the temptation, He will also provide the way of escape
31:05
that you may be able to endure it.
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God is with you in the midst of temptation.
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You're going to need to turn to Him for strength and power, but
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you have a promise right there as a weapon to wield against the
31:19
ways of the world. Do you have a scripture fed
31:21
vocabulary in your life? You need promises to have that.
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You got to talk Bible. You don't have to talk all weird
31:27
about it. You can be a normal person
31:29
talking about the Bible for sure, but are they in your bones
31:35
that when you're bumped is what spills out of you the scripture?
31:40
Finally, undeniable miracles. We have 4 signs today.
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Lives set apart for God. Spirit LED leadership, Scripture
31:50
fed vocabulary. Finally, undeniable miracles.
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Y'all, this is a miracle. And you might have heard this
31:57
story before. You might have glanced over in
31:59
your Bible plan. You might have never heard this
32:01
story. But rivers stopping from
32:03
flowing. I've never seen it.
32:08
Not just like a snap like that. And God spoke and it stopped.
32:16
That is a miracle and undeniable.
32:19
No explanation except there is something bigger, stronger, more
32:23
powerful than me that stopped that too big, too strong, too
32:28
powerful for a river to say no to it.
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And that's God. That's a miracle.
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I mean, this is a football field wide of a river.
32:40
And it stopped, verse 16, towards the end of the chapter,
32:46
the waters coming down from above stood and rose up in a
32:49
heap very far away. Like they're looking down the,
32:54
the, the banks of the river Adam, a city that is besides
32:57
Aerithan. And they're looking downstream
32:59
and like, wow, the river stopped so far that a million people
33:02
could get across it. God did that.
33:05
And now the priest, verse 17, bearing the ark of the covenant,
33:09
stood firmly on dry ground, a place their feet shouldn't have
33:14
touched, a land that they should not possess was given to them
33:17
because God, who gets to decide where people get to go, made it
33:21
happen. They stood on dry ground in the
33:25
midst of the Jordan River, which is still there today.
33:29
And all Israel was passing over on dry ground until all the
33:32
nation finished passing over the Jordan.
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I want you to underline that word nation.
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This is really interesting. I learned this this week in
33:38
study that even earlier in the chapter, if you look back at
33:41
verse 1 and 2, verse one, they came to the Jordan, he and all
33:45
the people of Israel. In verse 2, they're the people
33:48
of Israel and verse 17 to the nation of Israel.
33:51
This is the first time in all the Bible that they're called a
33:55
nation. This is so cool to me and here's
33:58
why. Because in Genesis chapter 12,
34:00
God promised that they would become a nation.
34:02
And up until this point, they've just been a people.
34:04
But the moment that they stepped out in faith, the moment that
34:07
they obeyed God, that they after wandering the desert for forever
34:10
and consecrating their lives, following their leader, actually
34:13
honoring him and obeying the words of God, guess what?
34:16
Now they are a nation. Israel is passing into the
34:22
Jordan, not as a people anymore, but as a fulfillment of God's
34:25
promise to their forefather Abraham.
34:27
They are now a nation, a great nation, a million people big,
34:33
and they're crossing over this river as a nation.
34:36
That is a miracle that we who are not a people are now a
34:42
people of God called a nation, a holy nation.
34:44
First Peter 2 calls the people of God the church.
34:47
Now that is us. We are a chosen race, decided
34:53
and handpicked by God to be the people of God wherever we go.
34:56
A nation waving the flag of Jesus Christ.
35:00
And that's why one of the reasons why we're called St.
35:02
City, or just one little outpost in this nation saying, hey, you
35:06
can come here and you can experience what life in the
35:08
Kingdom of God is like. You can experience what it's
35:11
like to be somebody who was not a person who lived for God.
35:14
And now you are set apart unto him.
35:16
You are a St. that you could Once Upon a time you lived a
35:19
life living for yourself and for the things of this world, self
35:23
LED, self reliant, self dependent, thinking that you
35:25
could get yourself to heaven. But there was a moment in your
35:27
life you realize Jesus Christ crossed the gates of death to
35:31
life for you so you could have eternal life.
35:33
And you now follow the leadership of Jesus Christ and
35:35
you're saying, hey, he's my new ark of the covenant.
35:37
He's the presence in my life that I need and I'm not going to
35:40
lead my life anymore. Jesus Christ is going to lead my
35:43
life. Not only that, you now have a
35:45
vocabulary that has totally changed because you live totally
35:49
different. God Himself has given you words
35:51
that shape your mind and your heart, and you are living for
35:54
Him. This is what it means to be a
35:56
part of the Holy nation. We have a tongue, we have a
35:59
language that we talk, and it comes from the Bible primarily.
36:04
And those are miracles is my point.
36:08
The gospel started in the Middle East and you are here right now
36:12
hearing the good news of Jesus Christ, that He came 2000 years
36:15
ago to die the death you should have died.
36:17
He paid for the death of your sin with His blood, with His
36:20
life, so that you could have eternal life with Him.
36:23
He's the better. Joshua is the whole point of the
36:25
book. That name Joshua, the name Jesus
36:28
comes from the same Hebrew name, Yeshua.
36:31
This is the Bible putting up for you with foreshadowing.
36:35
Hey, a better version of this is coming.
36:37
And his name is Jesus and he is still going to work wonders and
36:42
miracles in the world. St.
36:44
City's evidence of that. We're here today as an evidence
36:48
that God is still a wonder working God.
36:50
This time last year, 37 people were part of Saint City, 37
36:56
people who would just come and get in a coffee shop in the East
36:59
Valley and say, God, would you do more than this?
37:01
Would you meet with more people than us?
37:03
Would you shine your light in the darkness of Tempe and look
37:06
at us today? God is still doing miracles and
37:10
wonders. In fact, just during the meet
37:11
and greet just now, I'm hearing a story of somebody who's been
37:13
coming to our church since September and God has been at
37:16
work in him and changing his life.
37:18
In fact, he said God has changed my life completely.
37:20
God is still doing that. He's not done.
37:24
And if we want to see God continue to work wonders at
37:26
Saint City, guess what? We have to be these kinds of
37:28
people, people who are have lives set apart from him, who
37:31
are led by God's leaders, spirit LED filled leaders, spirit LED
37:35
leaders and who teach the Bible who we ourselves are.
37:39
People who are feed our souls with God's words.
37:45
We want God with us, St. City.
37:48
We don't want to be proud because guess what?
37:50
God opposes the proud. It's like playing football.
37:54
Sorry for sports analogy, Phil, you hate it.
37:57
It's literally like lining up against God and you're saying,
38:00
you know what? I can get past you offensive
38:02
lineman God, and I'm a 5 foot 9 nothing burger of an athlete.
38:09
He's going to oppose you. Because if we're proud as a
38:13
people, that's what God does. But he lifts up the humble.
38:17
So we're not going to rely on ourselves.
38:18
What are we going to do? We're going to expect God to be
38:22
God. We're not going to lower
38:24
expectations. We're going to ask God to still
38:26
move mountains, to still part rivers, to let miracles still
38:29
happen, to keep his good and precious promises for us.
38:34
And so I want to close with this for us today as an undeniable
38:37
wonder, undeniable miracle for us is I want to pray for God to
38:42
do 1 impossible thing together as a church.
38:46
In fact, I want you to right now be thinking in your mind, what's
38:49
1 impossible thing I want to see God do in 2026?
38:53
And we as a church are going to pray for that together in a
38:56
moment. What's the one impossible thing
39:00
that you have in your life? The one impossible person that
39:03
you're like, there is no way that person could know and love
39:06
Jesus or one impossible relationship that you're like,
39:09
man, there's never a chance that we could be reconciled that one
39:13
impossible thing because what's impossible with man is possible
39:19
with God. What's the one impossible thing
39:21
you're going to be asking God for in 2026?
39:24
Is it a victory over a sin pattern?
39:28
It's more than likely related to the prayer request.
39:30
You want to pray, by the way, either people or land, because
39:33
that's what's happening here. I'm praying.
39:36
My impossible prayer request for 2026 is that God would give us
39:39
land as a church family. I'm praying that and it's
39:43
impossible. Why?
39:44
Because I actually think it's impossible.
39:47
I actually believe that. But I also believe God is the
39:50
God of the impossible, that if he can give the people of
39:54
Israel, Canaan, he can give us real estate here in this
39:56
incredible city. Do I love this school?
39:58
Yes. Will we be at the school as long
39:59
as God blesses us? Of course.
40:01
But could God give us land? I'm going to pray for it.
40:04
So I want you to. I want you to do it if you can.
40:06
If you can get out of your seats, turn around and face your
40:08
chairs. I always want a moment as a
40:09
church where we pray and ask God for the impossible thing in our
40:12
life. Yeah, we're having a moment as a
40:17
church. Israel had a big moment crossing
40:19
the Jordan River. Thankfully, you don't have to
40:21
cross the river right now. You got to get up out of your
40:24
seat, turn around and pray. I want you to call to mind the
40:31
thing that's impossible this year, the miracle, the wonder
40:36
that you want to see God do in your life among you this year.
40:41
What is the wonder? What is the miracle that you're
40:43
asking Him for delivery? Delivery from a diagnosis.
40:48
Restoration of relationship, Provision of a prayer that
40:55
you've been praying for years but given up on.
41:01
Salvation of a friend. I'll let you sit with God for
41:08
just a moment in silence, and I'm gonna pray for us in just a
41:10
moment. God, here we are once again,
41:51
praying as your people for you to do impossible things.
41:57
You don't owe us anything else, we know that.
42:00
But you delight in doing the impossible, in demonstrating
42:05
just how good you are keeping your word.
42:07
Not even one promise of yours has failed.
42:12
Show us that you're strong. Show us that you're with us.
42:15
Show us that you're for us by answering these prayers.
42:20
God, would you pour out your grace upon this church, that as
42:25
we consecrate ourselves now, will you do wonders among us in
42:29
this next chapter at Saint City, Not just as a church, but as
42:35
individual people. God, we are crying out to you
42:37
with real prayers, real burdens, and for the person Even so beat
42:48
up by not seeing you answer the prayer, would they not lose
42:52
faith in this moment to pray once again for the impossible
42:55
thing? Because God, we can't count on
42:58
one thing, that God, you never fail, you've never missed a
43:03
promise, and you never will. So God, we worship you when we
43:06
ask in faith for you to give us what we're asking for.
43:10
And as the pastor of this church, I ask for the impossible
43:12
thing of land in 2026. God, I believe it.
43:15
Could you do it? Would you do it for your glory
43:19
and our good in Jesus name, Amen.