This
week, we started a new series called “Crossing Over.” It picked up where we
left off in the previous series. We are now crossing over from the wilderness
into the Promised Land in our spiritual journey. In this first part, we did a
general overview of some of the concepts related to Promised Land living. Just as there were lessons to learn in the
wilderness to prepare us for successful Promised Land living, there will be
more to learn and enemies to defeat in order to thrive in Canaan (the Promised
Land).
One
of the most profound differences in this phase is that we transition from
operating from a defensive posture to an offensive one. In the wilderness, we
relied on God to help defend us against enemies. But in Canaan
we rely upon Him to lead us to victory in seizing territory from its current
occupants. Another drastic difference is
that instead of everything being provided for us, we are now expected to follow
His direction in supporting ourselves. The moment the Israelites crossed the Jordan River , the daily manna stopped. They were
transitioning from being nomadic herders to being farmers who sow and reap and
trust God to protect their crops. In the
wilderness, they lived in law with limited resources, and in the promised land
we have unlimited potential by grace.
The
crossing over the Jordan river in Joshua 3 was
also a test of whether they learned one of those important wilderness lessons –
to have faith in God. The river was at flood stage, and God instructed Joshua
to have the priests carry the Ark of the Covenant to the river and, AS they
stepped in the river, it would back up in a heap and they would cross on dry
land. God’s people passed the test and
crossed over. Joshua then had each tribe take a large stone from the dry river
bottom and bring it to the west side and place them there as a memorial – or
reminder of what God had done. He knew that in days would come, it would be
easy to forget what God had done in the face of a new challenge. They would
need this reminder.
This
is an important picture for us. Jordan means “destroyer,” and it begins at a
place called Adam (where our sin began) and ends in the Dead
Sea (all sin leads to death).
Sin backed all the way up to Adam when they crossed and kept it from getting
to the Dead Sea (sin no longer leads to
death). Jesus was also supposedly
baptized very near this place. The
priests walked on dry ground (no sin still there) when they crossed. The power of sin was dead and gone.
It
was also important to remember for them, as well as us, that the Ark
As
we ended we went over some attributes of Promised Land dwellers:
1)
Spirit of God is on your life
2)
Prepare for and go to battle (we know we win if we don’t
give up)
3)
Actively sow and reap (in all areas of our lives, not
just financial)
4)
With blessing, it’s easy to become selfish and fall
into the me, me, me trap
5)
Exercise perseverance and self-control, even when they’ve
been defeated
6)
Things could turn to thorns and thistles because it
turns into work (another trap to watch out for)
7)
Loves the thrill of the fight because we know we’ll win
To
listen to the entire sermon go to http://ahwatukeechurch.com/media.php. To learn more about Living Word Ahwatukee,
visit http://ahwatukeechurch.com/.
