TITLE: A POST DATED PRAISE
SCRIPTURE: JOSHUA 6:1-5
I am excited for my parents as they have entered the final stage of moving into their new home. They have picked out the flooring and lighting fixtures. The storm shelter I believe is now in place. There have been some bumps along the way, but that is normal. I remember hearing Dad say early on in the process that he had given an initial check to the builder and was told that they would hold the check for a few weeks until everything had been approved and ready for closing. Well, two days later the check had been cashed.
Have you ever paid on a bill or given a check that was post dated? That basically means that you write a check and date it for some time in the future and it is supposed to be understood that the check is not cashed until that particular date. The problem with that is the laws of our land stipulate that the bank does not have to honor the date that is established on the check. The bank can cash the check on the date that it is presented, even if prior to date written on check.
In essence, a Post Dated Check implies that you have an assurance that on a future date you can take the check to the bank and it will be honored.
• You have an assurance in your hand for a future date
• You can cash that check on the established date
• I may not have the money now, but I will have it then
• On a future, agreed upon date, the deal is closed
We find there are times in our lives where money may be short. We need to get some things done, but our Money is short. We need to pay some bills but more month than money. We find ourselves facing hurdles and circumstances that have caused our finances to be short, but we still need to take care of business. We find there are some burdens of life that we are trying to bare, that bring us to the point where we write a Posted Dated Check.
As we consider our text this morning we find the Israelites in the same position we find or have found ourselves at some point in our life. There they are standing, on the edge of the promise land.
• Finally, after their years of bondage
• Finally after facing the Red Sea
• Finally after wondering in the wilderness for 40 years and after losing their dynamic leader, Moses
Generations after the promise had been spoken to ABRAHAM – ISAAC - JACOB. After their period of Trial – Tribulation - Travail - Now they are standing with the promise land in their vision.
• But there is a catch here
• A bit of a snag in the process
• You see even though they have caught a glimpse of the Promised Land
• In spite of the fact that their place of victory is just around the bend
• They still can’t touch it yet
We all know what the Israelites were faced with. We have faced the same issues in our lives as some point or another. THE ISSUE OF A WALL.
• A wall that is separating them from the fulfillment of the promise
• A wall that is hindering them from moving from where they are right now and the place that God has called them to be
• We know what God has promised us - but there is a Wall in Front of us
• We know that there are Blessings for us - but right now there is a Wall
• We can literally see our Blessing - but it is behind the Wall
• We know that God promised our Children would be blessed but there is a Wall
• We know God said our marriage would improve but, A Wall
Joshua and the children of Israel were on a conquest to gain the Promised Land. A land promised to them and in order for them to get there they had to overcome and conquer the obstacles in their way. I wonder saints, how many of us have found ourselves in a similar situation, at every turn we find more obstacles.
• We recognize that God has spoken his promises over us but yet we find ourselves faced with obstacles
• We find ourselves facing something
• A gap that needs to be bridged
• Some growth that needs to take place
• A stronghold that needs to be broken
• A wall that needs to be removed that keeps us from receiving the God ordained place of victory on the other side
So the question becomes:
• How do we remove the walls
• How do we overcome the obstacles?
• How do we position ourselves to receive all that God desires for us to have and be?
The scripture tells us in VS. 2 that the Lord said unto Joshua - SEE, I HAVE GIVEN INTO THINE HAND JERICHO. The word SEE is an interesting word, which brings me to our first point this morning. And that point is that -- WE MUST DEVELOP OUR SPIRIUTAL EYE. Understand that when God begins this conversation with Joshua God wants him to SEE THIS SITUATION WITH HIS SPIRITUAL EYES. Isn’t that what FAITH is all about? That’s why HEBREWS 11:6 “BUT WITHOUT FAITH IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO PLEASE GOD…”
• He is not asking him to see the situation through his physical eyes
• He is not asking Him to evaluate the situation based on what he can touch or upon that which is tangible
• He is not even asking him to evaluate it based on what seems reasonable
• He is telling Joshua to look with his Spiritual Eye
It is through the spiritual eyes that even while we are in the crucible of pressure, even when it looks like all hope is gone that we can look to the hills from whence cometh our help for our help cometh from the Lord. So here Joshua stands overlooking the city of Jericho.
• Jericho, the city that he and Caleb along with ten other spies had looked upon 40 years earlier
• The same Jericho that the children of Israel had decided they would be unable to conquer
• Jericho which had two walls that encompassed the city
• Jericho this fortified impregnable city and now God is saying - See, I have given unto thy hand Jericho
God is saying, now Look Joshua, I have given the Hebrews A POST DATED CHECK. It is time to take it to the bank. It is time to make good on it. God is asking Joshua to have faith. He is saying to Joshua that I have spoken a promise to the people of Israel and in this moment I am about to make good on my word.
Here is what I have learned about A Posted Dated Check. The date on the check may have finally arrived, but it is still of no value until you take it to the bank. You have to do something with it. That brings us to Point Two - You have got to be willing to put action with your faith.
Now when you look at the scripture, one would suspect that when God gives an order like that - an order to simply march around the wall day after day - that there would be some objections and that somebody would balk at that command. But the interesting thing here is that the Israelites were not afraid to trust God to do a new thing. I have to question the saints and ask?
• How many of us are afraid to let God do a new thing in our lives
• Afraid to let God do a new thing in our situations
• Yet, many of us, when God starts speaking
• When God starts trying to do a new thing in our lives
• We get a case of the stiff neck
• We get a case of lead feet because we refuse to move forward on the promises of God
It is as though we believe somehow that:
• The same God that at the beginning of creation was able to speak light into the darkness
• The same God that was able to bring order out of chaos
• The same God that was able to speak to the Red Sea and had it open up so that the Israelites could cross over on dry land
• The same God that loves us so much that He would number even the hairs on our head
• The same God that loved us so much that He sent His only begotten Son Jesus the Christ to die for you and me
• The same God that was able to raise that same Son on the Third day with all power in His hand
• That somehow that same God is suddenly unable to perform the miraculous with the impossible
When I watch the Saints of God it as if sometimes we forget that God is bigger than the situations in our lives. We refuse to move on with what God says as if He is not the ALPHA & OMEGA - BEGINNING AND THE END - AUTHOR AND FINISHER OF OUR FAITH. We allow our fear of the unknown and the uncertainty to paralyze us and limit us from receiving all that God has planned for our lives.
Most of the time we want God to move in our lives and come to our rescue. We understand that there are some situations in our lives that are much bigger than we are. We wait for God to MOVE and DELIVER us and then come to Church and want to TESTIFY and FALL OUT IN THE CHURCH.
• Must learn how to Praise God in Advance
• Don’t wait for the Battle to Be Over
• We must give God A Post Dated Praise
• In order to bring down the Walls we have to give God A Post Dated Praise
Can we run back to the Scriptures and I will prove my point before I take my seat? The Israelites were doing as God commanded and were going around the wall for the seventh time on the seventh day. And as God commanded, on that seventh time the priests let out a blast on the trumpets. Now let me clarify something.
• There is an interesting thing about the trumpets
• The trumpets that these priest were sounding were not the trumpets to announce battle
• These trumpets were the same trumpets that are used in worship
• These trumpets were the same trumpets used to signify that the presence of the Lord was in the place
• These were the trumpets of Jubilee
• These were trumpets of Praise
Now wait a minute. Has someone made a mistake? Have they loaded the wrong Trumpets to go out and do battle?
• I have gone to teach class and open my bag and realize I bought the wrong textbook to class
• Mom and Dad walked through their new home and realized the builder bought all the wrong light fixtures to install
• Did the Israelites make this same type of mistake?
• They were on their way to do battle in Jericho
• They needed to hear the Trumpet Sound to let them know it was time for battle
• Hearing the Trumpet for Battle, you knew there were going to be some Casualties of War
• That’s the sad reality of doing Battle
Please note here that at the time that these TRUMPETS OF JUBILEE began to sound that the WALLS WERE STILL STANDING. The shouts that went up were – A Post Dated Praise - this was a praise Him in advance attitude. The shouts went up not because the victory was already won, but the shouts went up because the Israelites understood that the battle was not theirs but the Lords. See their praising began not because they had fulfilled the promise, but the praise went up in recognition of the fact that God had spoken promise and the word of promise that He had spoken was going to accomplish that thing that it was sent out to do.
Can we be honest this morning? Every now and then with a POSTED DATED CHECK you can’t help but to wonder will it be good when you finally send it through the bank. You worry about it coming back with a NSF – NON SUFFICIENT FUNDS stamp on it. But my Brothers and Sisters, I have learned with - A Post Dated Praise - it will not return to you Void. With the Israelites, the praises went up in recognition of the fact that no matter what things may look like from the outside that God had already ordered their steps and He had shown them without question that all the promises of God in Him are yea and amen.
And as the SHOUTS OF PRAISE WENT UP THE WALLS FELL DOWN FLAT. I don't know who I am preaching to this morning, but somebody in here needs some walls to fall down in their lives –
• You've been making progress by living in the Spirit
• You've been making progress by praying in the Spirit
• You've been believing the Word of God and advancing in spiritual victory
• But now it seems you have come up against a wall
You may feel like you are up against a barrier like something is hindering you or an obstacle that is in your way and preventing you from making progress - as a matter of fact the conditions say you are limited but it's time to send - A Post Dated Praise - until the walls come down.
• The Walls of Unbelief
• The Walls of Fear
• The walls that are hindering you from entering into your promised land
• Your Deliverance is in your Praise
• I dare you to send up APDP
• You don’t need to wait for the Battle to be over
--Why don’t you just give God A Post Dated Praise
--Whatever comes up against you, give God A Post Dated Praise
-- A Post Dated Praise will Praise God for the Victory that has already been won
-- A Post Dated Praise acknowledges that the Battle is not yours but the Lords
-- A Post Dated Praise acknowledges that God Inhabits the Praises of His people
--When we send up A Post Dated Praise we begin to Worry Less
--When we send up A Post Dated Praise we will have fewer Sleepless nights
--Praise is Man’s highest duty and God’s Greatest Joy
--If you really want to make the Lord happy I dare you to send up A Post Dated Praise
