GOD'S THING

Be strong and of good courage; be not frightened, neither be dismayed; for the LORD your God is with you wherever you

Joshua 1

For forty years the people of Israel were locked in the wilderness.

- They couldn't go back to Egypt.

- They couldn't go n and take the Promised Land because they blew their chance through unbelief.

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

It was God who brought them out of bondage.

I t was God who would have to bring them in to the land of promise.

They were not their own. They were wrapped up in a thing that God was doing. They would have to fit in with God's plan, not theirs - fit in with God's schedule, not theirs.

- Trust God's promises.

- Obey God's word.

- Rely on God's 'strength.

- Follow God's light.

Suddenly, after the death of Moses, after that whole generation had been wiped out, except Joshua and Caleb, God spoke to Joshua.

"Now, go over the Jordan, you and all this people, into the land which I am giving to them, to the people of Israel. Everyplace that the sole of your foot will tread upon, I have given to you."

A year before it would have been impossible. Even with the best weapons on earth to take the land of Canaan. They would have been butchered. But now God's time has come. God is going to give them the Promised Land.

"Have 1 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."

And they went in and took the land, because they were moving in God's power, they were fitting in with God's program. And so long as they fit in with God, (not their ways, God's ways), nothing could stand before them.

There's a time to sit in the wilderness and wait, and there's a time to go in and take the land. When the time comes to take the land, you have to move or cease to be part- of Israel.

!n a similar way, the apostles spent three-and-a-half years doing nothing but sticking close to the flesh-and-blood Jesus. This was their wilderness where they really got to know their God.

- Had they tried to go off on their own, apart from Jesus, and preach the Kingdom and heal the sick,

- Had they gone beyond those cities to which Jesus sent them,

- Had they become carried away with their own “vision”,

- they would have perished.

Even after the resurrection they stayed together, waiting for those visits of their risen Lord. Then, at the very moment when they hoped that Jesus would set up the Messianic Kingdom, Jesus instead sent them across a new Jordan into a .new Promised Land, into a ministry of authority such as they'd never dreamed of.

"Lord, will you at this time restore the Kingdom to Israel?"

"The times and seasons are not for you to know. They belong to God. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And you shall be my wit-, nesses from Jerusalem to the end of the earth. You're going to conquer the world with the Word of God."

The Spirit came and they crossed their Jordan. And they went in and took their promised land. They entered a life of authority and power and holiness and love that turned hearts to Jesus Christ everywhere they went.

There has been a gathering and a sifting, a building up and a tearing down of things in the Body of Christ all, over the earth. . Things have been happening in the Body that followers of Christ that begin to match its earliest days, days when they had no New Testament, days when the lives of men and women were walking New Testaments.

And yet, all the things we have seen so far, and have been part of, and all the changes we've experienced in our own lives, are like the miracles that were seen by the people of Israel in the wilderness. They belong to the other side of the Jordan.

There is a place of authority, a place of power, which, as followers of Jesus, , we have not yet occupied. We've been standing on the banks of the Jordan looking across,

- seeing the good land,

- knowing that it belongs to us,

- knowing that our dwelling place is not here, but over there.

We hear our Lord tel1ing us that we are to be His witnesses, that He will give us a word of authority which none of the enemies of the Kingdom will be able to gainsay, that He will confirm the word He puts on our lips with signs that will make clear that it is His word and not ours.

But so far, the ministry that we are exercising as believers is not clothed in that kind of authority. For all the crowds, and for all the joyful things going on in our fellowships these days, the walls of Jericho are still standing. The land of promise is still occupied by giants.

- We praise God for the sons and daughters we see coming to birth.

- We thank God for every single prodigal finding his way home, even as the Spirit enabled us to find our way home.

But we know that we haven't begun to make the dent on in the hardness of this troubled world that God's people are meant to make, are going to make, when they've come over Jordan.

And now a message comes to us - and not only to us - but to every body of believers across the earth. The message of the Spirit of God to the followers of Jesus is this:

"Arise, go over Jordan and take the land..... Everyplace that the sole of your foot will tread upon, I have given to you."

The time of waiting, and trial runs, and reconnaissance missions, is over.

It's not for us to know the times and seasons which the Father has fixed by His own authority. But when the lord pours out His Spirit upon us and. sends us forth to be His witnesses, when the word, of the Lord to us is, "Cross over Jordan and take the land," then we know that God's time has come. It isn't our thing at all - it's God's thing.

All we do is fit in.

All we do is obey.

We're not talking about next week or next month. We're talking about today.

Today, when you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.

Four things are becoming clear:

First, that the Holy Spirit is giving us power to speak of Jesus as never before.

- You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.

- You shall be my witnesses.

We notice in the life of the apostolic church, every time the Spirit visited them, they received boldness, power to speak without fear.

I look for all of us who are at all serious about following the Lord, to be far less inhibited in speaking of Him than we have ever been in-the past.

I look for all of 'us to experience a boldness to proclaim the word of the Lord that will be almost frightening.

And this will be God's doing, not ours. We don't make it happen, God does.

There is only one exhortation for us in this matter:

Today when you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.

- Open them.

- Yield.

- Trust that voice.

- Obey what it says.

Second, we must understand that when we speak about Jesus, our gospel will create war, not peace.

Don't get the idea that every time you talk about Jesus, people will get tears in their eyes and fall. to their knees and repent. Praise God that will happen from time-to-time. But much of the time there will be anger and rage.

"Who do you think you are?"

"Don't come around here-with-that-nonsense!"

"Get out of here. I have my own religion."

The Israelites were engaged in war from the time they crossed the Jordan until the land was theirs. It was one battle after another. They didn't conquer the land by winning popularity contests.

Likewise, when the apostles went forth to proclaim the gospel, they weren't received as high echelon men in the religious world. They were despised!

- If you want to win friends and influence people, take a Dale Carnegie course.

- If you want to get the reputation of being a spiritual heavy talk about heavy things and stay off the subject of the cross of Jesus.

But, if you want to take the Promised Land with the Word of God, brace yourself for war, get used to people insulting you and giving you a hard time. The disciple is not above his Lord. If they did i t to the Master, they'll do it to you.

Thirdly, if there's ever been a time when we've needed to live a disciplined life, it's 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.

If there's ever been a time when we've needed to seek the face of God daily in the Word and prayer, it's now!

No one survives the battle who isn't in shape, and no one stays in shape without discipline.

Finally, don't be afraid of men.

The Lord is with us ---wherever we go: Indeed, the hotter the persecution gets, the more clearly we'll know His presence.

"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."

He was with us in the wilderness. Yea He was even with us in Egypt before He brought us out of bondage. But He is with us in a new way as we enter the land and engage in the battle.

We've talked about persecution, perhaps we've even tasted a little. Now it's going to be persecution, and threats, and opposition, on a scale we've never tasted.

But, as the battle thickens we will experience Jesus walking at our side strengthening us, refreshing us, encouraging us. And with Jesus at our side, how can we lose? This is not a time to be afraid, but to rejoice and sing praises to our God.

"Have 1 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."