“Greater things are yet to come!”
Joshua 1:1-9; 3:5
Hallelujah, we are here! After two years of planning and working, we are in our new building! This is a time of mixed emotions. Many of you are thrilled, and others may be feeling a little sad because we are leaving a sanctuary which holds so many great memories.
We have built a bigger room, so more people can come and worship and learn about the same Jesus we know and love. Our job is just beginning. I can assure you, just because we are in this new building, we aren’t finished! This is not the end, it’s just the beginning.
It’s going to take several weeks for us to feel “at home” in this room. Like everything new in life, there will be an adjustment period. Right now, I feel like I’m the guest preacher at some church in another city, except I see all my friends in the congregation. Let’s give it time to become our new worship home. And don’t be surprised or upset if you hear someone say, “I miss the old building.” That’s human nature. Frankly, I would feel much more comfortable right now standing over there where I have preached for the past 6 years. It’s going to take me a little while to get used to this pulpit, too. I’ve preached more years in our old building and in that pulpit than any other church I’ve ever served. I’m ready to start making some new memories! For our church, it’s more than just a new building, it’s a new challenge.
On the first Sunday most congregations move into a new building, the pastor usually recognizes all those who have had a part in making a new facility possible. And we will be doing that at the end of the service. But on this first Sunday, I want to recognize and honor only one individual: God the Father because without Him this day wouldn’t be possible.
This morning, we are going to look at a group of people that faced a new challenge just like we are as Crossroads Baptist Church. In the Old Testament book of Joshua, we discover a group of people who survived forty years of desert wandering. They were standing on the border of the Promise Land. They were getting ready to move into a new land and a new adventure. Crossroads is at a similar place, because 2 years after planning and 14 months of building it is finally time to move into our new building. We’ve made it and there is no doubt in my mind that it’s going to be a new but great adventure. (Joshua 1:1-9) Today, I want us to learn three things from this group. First, consider:
I. THE MISTAKE WE MUST AVOID
Let’s put this event in its proper historical context. If you’ve read the book of Exodus, you know the story. For 400 years, the Jews were slaves in Egypt. Moses was called by God to lead the children of Israel out of bondage. After the deadly Passover experience, Pharaoh allowed the Jews to leave and then he chased them into the desert. The Red Sea parted and the Israelites passed through safely to the other side. When Pharaoh followed, the sea crashed down on them and the enemies of Israel were destroyed. But that’s only half the story, because Moses’ job was not only to lead them out of bondage, but to also lead them into the Promised Land. Everything was going great–until they came to a place called Kadesh Barnea. Here’s the problem described in Deuteronomy 1:2-3.
Kadesh Barnea was the staging area to enter into the Promise Land. It should have only taken 11 days from Mt. Horeb to enter the Promise Land, but did you notice it said, “In the fortieth year?” What happened? You can read about it in Numbers 33. Now, I suspect the Jews were really Baptists, because the first thing they did was to elect a committee to scout out the Promised Land. This twelve-member Committee was the first CSI, Canaan Scene Investigators. They slipped into Canaan and got their evidence and then slipped out of Canaan without being noticed.
When they returned, ten committee members said, “Yes, it’s a lush land, but we can’t do it–too many obstacles. It’s going to cost us too much!” Only two of the committee members, Joshua and Caleb said, “Yes, there are obstacles but God can overcome all the obstacles–Let’s go!” So, like any good Baptist church they held a vote. Moses said, “All in favor of going in now say ‘Aye.’” Only Joshua and Caleb responded, “Aye!” Then Moses said, “All opposed to going in say, ‘Nay.’” Hundreds of thousands of voices answer back “NAY!!!!”
Sadly, the only voice that really mattered was not considered. Do you know what God said when these people gave in to fear? In Deuteronomy 1:34: When the Lord heard what you said, he was angry and solemnly swore, “Not a man of this evil generation will see the good land I swore to give to your forefathers, except Caleb ... your assistant Joshua, son of Nun will enter it. And the little ones that you said would be taken captive, your children who do not yet know good from bad—they will enter the land. I will give it to them and they will take possession of it. But as for you, turn around and set toward the desert along the route to the Red Sea.”
Therefore, since the children of Israel were not willing to trust God and go forward and claim God’s promise, He basically said, “Take another lap around Mt. Sinai—and another and another.” For forty years that’s what happened. That’s the mistake we must avoid! So here stands Joshua, forty years later, facing the same challenge.
God told Joshua the same thing He is telling us:
1. We must be strong and courageous to claim this opportunity
For us, Kadesh Barnea is a place where we stand with an opportunity before us. This challenge can only be claimed by faith. At Kadesh Barnea, the Israelites failed to seize the moment and claim God’s promise; as a result they wandered aimlessly for 40 long years.
As members of Crossroads, we are standing before a great challenge or opportunity again and we must avoid the attitude of fear and unbelief. Here we are in 2009 standing at our very own Kadesh Barnea just like Joshua’s generation was in their day, and the question is what are we going to do? Be a Joshua and Caleb or a Moses.
Now 6 ½ years ago 35 people saw a God given opportunity of building a church 2 miles North of Beggs on 20 acres of land. And those 35 people called that church Crossroads. For them it was Kadesh Barnea time. Thank God those people were like Joshua and Caleb. They didn’t turn away from the challenge, they moved forward in faith. I thank God our church hasn’t been wandering in the wilderness for 40 years.
Some of us here today including myself were not part of that brave group? If you were a part of that group would you please stand for just a second. There’s a Joshua, there’s a Caleb! Like these people standing here did 6 ½ years ago we are being faced again as Crossroads Baptist Church with a new challenge and opportunity, which is to fill this new building that God has blessed us with. And just like He did then God is telling us to be strong and courageous; we must claim the opportunity!
2. He will give us strength and courage to face the opposition
Why did Moses’ generation refuse to claim God’s promise? The answer is found in Numbers 33:27, 33 “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. But the people who live there are powerful ... All the people we saw are of great size... We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes.”
Instead of seeing the opportunity, they saw the opposition–and they backed away. Instead of saying, “Look how BIG our God is,” they cried, “Look how big those giants are!” They were suffering from a “grasshopper complex.” They weren’t grasshoppers in the eyes of their enemies; they were grasshoppers in their own eyes. When a church gets a “grasshopper complex,” the members look at an opportunity and all they see is the opposition. So they just hop off in the opposite direction. And we will face plenty of opposition in the days to come.
It’s not a time for grasshoppers. If you don’t mind let me be blunt with you all for a second. There have been critics over the past 6 ½ years who have scoffed and mocked us for what we have done and what we are doing. I had someone tell me months ago “Oh you’re the rich church because you do all those events with the inflatable’s for Easter and graduation and you fed all the teachers steak.” My response is we’re not rich we’re just a church that wants to be alive. A church that wants to be the light and salt that God has called us to be. A church that is willing to do what it takes to reach people without compromising God’s Word and if that means spending a little money then we’re going to do it because it’s not our money to begin with it’s God’s and it’s intended to be used to increase His kingdom.
There will be opposition but we must remember our battle is not against flesh and blood: it is spiritual warfare. In the next few months and years, I promise Satan will do everything in his power to try to divide us, distract us, and disrupt our unity. There is going to be opposition but I’m not afraid. Because “Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.” (1 John 4:4) I don’t want us to look at the grasshopper in us; I want us to look at the God who reigns! The God who is bigger than any opposition that we will ever face.
II. THE MISSION WE MUST ACCOMPLISH
Rather than looking at the opposition, let’s look at the opportunity. God has a mission for us. It’s the same mission God had for His people in the Old Testament. We must understand:
1. God’s purpose: Blessed to be a blessing
Thousands of years ago, God promised that Abraham would be the Father of a mighty nation and they would have their own homeland. In Genesis 12:1-3: The Lord said to Abram, “Leave your country... and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing ... and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
God made a promise to Abraham. But Abraham’s descendants forgot the part about being a blessing; they just wanted to receive a blessing. From the start, God intended Israel to be a nation that would be a blessing to those who did not yet know Him. Israel became selfish and exclusive. God’s chosen people became proud and self-centered.
Crossroads, we must remember God did not place us here to be a blessing Hog but rather to be a channel of blessings to others! Just as God wanted to bless the nations of the world through Israel, He wants to bless our community, our state, our nation, and our world through Crossroads. I’ll have more to say about that at the end of this message.
That’s what God wants us to do. Now how does He want us to do it?
2. God’s plan: Obey and share His Word
God’s formula for success hasn’t changed over the past 3,500 years. God says, “Do not let this book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you will be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.” How do you define success? Here’s God’s definition of success: Knowing and doing the Will of God. You find God’s Will in His Word.
Our strategy for being a blessing to those around us is to honor, obey, and proclaim the word of God. God said it must be in our mouths (proclaimed); He says it must be meditated upon (in our minds); and it must be obeyed (in our hearts). God has blessed us through the years because we have been a Bible church. That means that the only doctrine we hold is the teaching of the Bible. We don’t have any creeds or codes or confessions. We have only the Bible as our basis of authority.
A little over a year ago at our ground breaking ceremony, we took a Bible and had the people that were there to sign it and we wrapped it in plastic and then had it placed underneath this stage where this pulpit is. The reason we did it was to symbolically say we want to be a church built on the Word of God. Now the church isn’t a building—it’s people. But we can say the same thing. We desire to be a congregation of people whose lives are built upon the Word of God. There is a mistake we must avoid and that is being a spiritual coward at Kadesh Barnea. There is also a mission we must accomplish and that is God wants us to be a blessing by living and proclaiming His Word. Notice one more way we are like Joshua’s generation.
III. THE MIRACLES WE MUST ANTICIPATE
The key verse for the entire book is found in Joshua 3:5. I want us to memorize it this month. Joshua told the people, “Consecrate
[sanctify, purify] yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you.” There are two parts to that verse: There’s something for us to do, then there’s something God will do.
When we clean up our lives, God will begin to do amazing things among us here at Crossroads Baptist Church. Joshua’s job was to tell God’s people. Get ready! Prepare yourselves, sanctify yourselves and you will see God do amazing things. God made the walls of cities fall and He gave them victory against stronger armies; basically He showed Himself to be strong on their behalf. My job is to tell you the same thing today. Let’s prepare our hearts, let’s sanctify ourselves and we will continue to see God do amazing things among us. Here are some of the miracles I believe we can anticipate:
(a) His awesome presence
God gives this word to Joshua in verse 5, “I will be with you; I will never leave you.” I believe we are going to sense the awesome presence of the Lord in a more powerful way than we ever have before. What’s the difference? It’s the same Lord, and we will be singing the same songs and studying the same Word—none of that will change. But what I believe will change is our ability to magnify the Lord. The word “magnify” means to “make larger.” God won’t get any “bigger,” what will get bigger is our ability to worship Him.
(b) His financial provision
A miracle is when something humanly impossible happens, everyone acknowledges only God could do it. We have already seen several financial miracles over the past 6 ½ years as we have seen the 20 acres of land completely get paid off, a church sign put up and paid for, we have been able to purchase two vans, we have 3 staff members and of course the biggest being paying off the ten year note of the old building in 4 years. And I believe that this building was God’s will and because of that we will continue to be able to make our payment. How do I know? I know because we serve a God that will provide our needs if we are obedient to Him.
Here’s the final miracle, and it gets me most excited:
c. His needy people
I am convinced that over the next months and years, God is going to bring new people in through the doors of our church; in fact He is already doing it. Some are going to come because they are just curious about this new building and that’s great. Hundreds of people followed Jesus out of curiosity and many of them were redeemed as a result. Everyone who comes to our church needs something: forgiveness. It’s our job to be ready to welcome them and to share Jesus with them.
Remember a few minutes ago I spoke about how we are blessed to be a blessing? Now is the time for you to get out your asbestos shield because I need to bare my soul to you and speak plainly. Part of our preparation for facing new challenges is to be ready for the new people God is going to send. For God to bless us, we are going to have to take a new attitude.
Sometimes church members get all hot and bothered about things like music styles, drama or non-traditional approaches to reaching people. I believe that attitude stems from the belief that the church exits to be a blessing to them and anything that doesn’t bless them must be wrong. Pardon me in advance for offending some of you but every ounce of me believes our church exists not for those of us who are already saved but to be a blessing to those who haven’t entered into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ yet. Jesus said He came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. I’ve said it before but our church is not a showcase for saints—we are a hospital for sinners.
People ask me if I’m excited about this new building. My honest answer is this, “I’m not excited about the building itself. I am excited about the hundreds of people who are going to encounter Jesus in our new building.” As these new people come, we must remember every single person in our surrounding community is a person who is deeply cherished and loved by God. Jesus loves each one of them with a passionate, cleansing love and if we are going to call ourselves the Body of Christ, we must welcome them and love them for Jesus’ sake. So, I’m asking some of us hardheaded folks like me to be willing to take a new attitude. Here’s the attitude; it’s a Bible attitude. Paul said, “I have become all things to all men, so that by all possible means, I might save some.” (1 Corinthians 9:22)
Will you repeat this statement after me? WHATEVER IT TAKES TO
REACH PEOPLE; I’M WILLING, LORD! And church when all this is said and done, I don’t want people to say, “Look what those folks at Crossroads did.” I want people to stand in awe and say, “Look what God did and what He still is doing!”
“Greater things are yet to come!”
Joshua 1:1-9; 3:5
I. THE ____________ WE MUST AVOID
II. THE ___________ WE MUST ACCOMPLISH
III. THE __________ WE MUST ANTICIPATE
