God's Thing

The first nine verses of the book of Joshua, Joshua 1, 1-9. After the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses, my servant, is dead. Now, therefore, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land which I am giving to them, to the people of Israel.

Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon, I have given to you, as I promised to Moses. From the wilderness of this Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites to the great sea, toward the going down of the sun, shall be your territory. No man shall be able to stand before 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 of good courage.

For you shall cause this people to inherit the land, which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law, which Moses, my servant, commanded you. Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go.

This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage.

Be not frightened, neither be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Now for 40 years, the people of Israel had been locked in the wilderness. They couldn't go back to Egypt, nor could they go in and take the land, because they blew it through unbelief when they had the chance.

Across the Jordan River was this beautiful country, a land flowing with milk and honey, which was to be their land. But all they could do was wait for God's time. And as they waited, they learned the slow, hard way what it really means to be God's people.

It was God who brought them out of bondage. It would have to be God who would take them into the promised land. They were not their own.

They were wrapped up in something which God was doing. And now they would have to learn to fit in with God's program, and to fit in with God's schedule, and to obey God's word, and trust God's promises, and rely on God's strength, and walk in God's light. Suddenly, after the death of Moses, after that whole generation was wiped out, and only Joshua and Caleb were left of that generation, God spoke to Joshua and said, Now, go over, across the Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I have given you, given them, the people of Israel.

Every place where the sole of your foot will come down, I have given to them. Now, if they had tried to go into the promised land one year before, they would have utterly failed. Even if they had the best weapons in the world, they would have been butchered by the Canaanites.

But now, God's time has come, and God is going to give them the land. Have I not commanded you, be strong and of good courage, don't be afraid, neither be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. And they went in, and they took the land, because they were moving in God's power.

They were going according to His plan. And as long as they fit in with God, God's ways, not their ways, nothing could stand before them. Now, there's a time to wait in the wilderness, and when it's time to wait in the wilderness, don't move.

There's also a time to go in and take the land. And when the time comes to go in and take the land, you better move, for you will no longer be part of Israel. Now, in a similar way, we see the apostles spending three and a half years doing nothing but sticking close to the flesh and blood Jesus.

This was their wilderness time. This was the time when they were really getting to know their God. And if during this time they decided that they knew enough now, and they're going to go out there on their own and preach the kingdom and heal the sick, that they're going to go beyond the cities to which Jesus sent them, they're going to do things their own way, they're going to establish their own program according to the grandiose plan that Satan always loves to give us, even after the resurrection of our Lord, they remain close together, waiting for these marvelous appearances of the resurrected Lord.

And they listen, and they learn. And just at the time where they figured the Lord was going to set up the Messianic kingdom, Jesus turns around and instead sends them across a new Jordan into a new promised land, into a ministry of authority such as they'd never dreamed of, saying, Lord, will you at this time establish the kingdom, restore the kingdom to Israel? And he answered, it's not for you to know the times and the seasons which the Father has fixed by his own authority, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be my witnesses from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth. You're going to conquer the world with the word of God.

And the Spirit came. And then they crossed their Jordan River of authority and power and holiness and love that turned hearts to Jesus everywhere they went. Three years ago, last Palm Sunday, this flock came to a turning point.

And some of you will remember the promises of God that came to us on that day and how those things that he told us then have been fulfilled before our eyes. How God has gathered people and what he began working in a new way in this place during the Spring of Setting was only a tiny fraction of what he was doing across this entire city. And he has been since that time, roughly that time, gathering and sifting, building up and tearing down in the body across the city.

Things have been going on in the city of Detroit that followers of Jesus haven't seen in Detroit since the day it was founded. And yet we know that the things which we have seen and which we have been part of, the changes that have taken place in our own lives during those years up to this moment really belong to that wilderness experience of the Israelites. They're the same kind of miracles that they saw back there.

And we know for a fact that there is a position, a place of authority and of power that we as a body have not yet begun to occupy. We've been standing on the banks of the Jordan looking across and we see the good land and we know that it belongs to us. We know that our dwelling place is not here but there.

And we hear the Lord telling us that he's going to give us his word and that he's going to confirm the words that he gives us to see with signs following which will make clear that the words are not ours but his. And yet we know very well that the ministry that we have been exercising up to this point has not been clothed with that kind of power. We know that for all the marvelous changes that have taken place in this gathering right now that for all that the promised land still lies there under the Canaanites.

The walls of Jericho have not come down and the land is still occupied by giants. Praise God for brothers and sisters that are coming to new birth. Praise God for every single prodigal finding his way home just as the Spirit enabled us to find our way home.

But we know all of us know that we as a body of believers and that includes all the fellowships here haven't begun to make the dent on this city that is to be made and will be made when the people of God cross the Jordan. Now a message comes to us and not only to us but I think you'll find it will be coming to believers across the city no doubt it's coming to them all over the place this day which as much as says go in and take the land arise, go over the Jordan and take the land and every place where the sole of your foot comes down I give to you. And this is something which God does we don't do.

Our time of waiting and of these little reconnaissance missions and these little trial runs is past. God is speaking to his church and all over the place it's the same thing you know the times and the seasons are not ours to know they're in God's power. We don't understand that even the one we're living in right now but when God begins to pour out his spirit upon his people and send them forth to proclaim the word when he says go in and take the land then we know that God's time has come.

You know and it's not something that belongs to us at all it's something that we fit into. All we do is obey. All we do is walk in the light that comes down and obey the word that reaches us.

Now I'm not talking about July and August I'm not talking about a heavy summer beginning with June 21st I'm talking about today June 17th 1973 Today when you hear his voice don't harden your heart! There are four things that are being conveyed to us and I believe to believers all over the city at this hour. The first is this that God is going to give us the power to proclaim Jesus as we have never been able to before. When God pours out his spirit on us and sends us forth even as it was with the apostolic church when God poured out his spirit on those people they began to find themselves able to proclaim the word with a boldness that was never there before and I look for all of us to be able to speak with a liberty that we never had in the past you know that we'll have less inhibitions about speaking of our Lord than we've ever known and we'll begin to experience a boldness coming on us that is not natural to us that will almost frighten us in the days to come.

And I'm saying that this is something which God does we don't do but there is an exhortation that comes along with this and the exhortation is today right now when you hear God speaking to you don't harden your heart yield to this give in to it go along with it obey it secondly we need to understand that when we start to proclaim Jesus with that kind of boldness that is unafraid that this will produce not peace but war you must understand that people aren't going to be suddenly shedding tears and falling on their knees and repenting when we speak about Jesus praise God for the poor people who asked the Lord into their lives yesterday praise God for a man who came here looking for I-75 last night and an hour later was on his knees before the Lord in that room in there but that's rare praise God for that but you'll never see that happen if you're not willing to go out and get rebut the normal thing is who do you think you are don't come around here with that nonsense get out of here I have my own religion get used to that when the Israelites crossed the Jordan River they crossed into a land where it was going to be war until they occupied it fully it was one battle after another they did not conquer the land by winning popularity contests nor did the apostles go out there and find themselves just ingratiating everybody just welcoming them with open arms as if they were celebrities in the kingdom of God they were despised men we get the wrong perspective we read the New Testament and we get the idea sometimes and it's never told us in here anyway as soon as Paul hit part they had a parade we got to Thessalonica they brought out the band and had a picnic that's not the way it was these guys were looked upon as fools they were looked upon as the off-scouring of the world as far as the public eye was concerned they were nothing now if you want to win friends and influence people then take a Dale Carnegie course and if you want to be looked upon as a spiritual heavy fine then talk about heavy things and forget about talking about Jesus or living in Jesus but if you want to occupy the promised land by the power of the word of God then get used to the idea that you are going to be disliked and people are going to give you a hard time and you are going to be slandered and people are going to get uptight with you as we've said many times now if they get uptight with me because I'm obnoxious or phony or a hypocrite or dishonest or lazy then that's not persecution that's my hypocrisy and my laziness but if they get uptight with me because the name of Jesus is on my lips and in my heart and in my life praise God for that you know the disciple is not above his Lord if they did it to your Lord they are going to do it to you and if you are not willing to pay that price then forget about the whole thing a third thing that needs to be said is that if there was ever a time when the sons and daughters of the king needed to exercise discipline have disciplined lives that time is now this book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth but you shall meditate on it day and night that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it and clearly a call for discipline if we have ever needed to learn to bring our lives down to the place where without fail daily we seek the face of our God through the word and in prayer in a serious manner that time is now nobody survives the battle who is not in shape and nobody remains in shape without discipline I only pray when I feel like it because if I don't feel like it it's not going to be very good prayer pray anyway I just have no desire to get into the word so I'm reading spiritual books don't fall into that trap spiritual books are lovely but when you start reading so called spiritual books as a chewed up digested bible you're in trouble and you're going to read all the stuff that the evil one wants you to see start with this and stay with this and if you want to read some spiritual books or relish fine but your meat and potatoes including even your dessert are here and that's everybody everybody don't say I believe in Jesus only I don't do it you don't believe in Jesus unless you do it and I'm going to tell you something you may have all kinds of wisdom and all kinds of insight but my friend if there is no discipline in your life holding you steady to this everyday you're not serious and it's highly likely that the thing that drives you is not faith in God but ego one of the ways the Lord just strips off you know the people who are on the ego trip by throwing hard times at them letting them get the hard times and the only ones who make it through the hard times are the ones who have a discipline you know whose hearts are you know their satisfaction is God not human acclaim the final thing that needs to be said is that you know even though we will be persecuted and we will be given hard times we have nothing to fear because our God is with us have I not commanded you be strong and of good courage be not afraid neither be dismayed for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go the hotter the battle gets the more conscious you will become of the nearness of your Lord now he was with us in the wilderness well he was even with us back in Egypt before he ever took us out of bondage but he is with us in a new way when we cross over the Jordan and go in and start to conquer and take the land many of us for a long time have talked about persecution and some of us have had little tastes of it I dare say there are probably none here who've known too much but we're moving into a time when we will know much of it don't ever think you're gonna have power without suffering don't ever think that you're gonna do mighty works in the name of Jesus and never be bashed in the head or insulted or slandered the two go together you don't wanna be you wanna be God's man for the hour you know learn to be and expect to be God's fool in the eyes of men we're gonna experience opposition hard times hatred bitterness anger wrath directed against us and the thicker the battle gets the more we will know that Jesus is walking at our side strengthening us refreshing us encouraging us and with Jesus at our side how can we lose? Oh God that by your grace our ears will be tuned to hear your voice not man's voice your voice and whatever of what has just been said is from you confirm it to everyone who seeks deal with those things in our hearts oh God right now that are getting in the way and come down on us Lord where we're trying to play it on the fence and you know be half-baked about this thing and go both ways deal with those things where we're holding back and we wanna take the world with us and cut us free and help us now to move out and get over the Jordan and get in and do the job that we're called to do we ask it in Jesus name