Introduction
I remember in the beginning of March coming together and having church in the church house. And then here we are in the middle of April having church in our parking lot. We journeyed from the church house to the parking lot. It was not a long journey, but it was a journey.
As I thought about that; isn’t that a rather good description of what life is all about? A journey from here to there. Think about it. A teenager journeys to adulthood. A college graduate journeys to the workforce. A senior employee journeys from the job to retirement.
And the Bible is full of journeys. God called Abram to a land that He would show Him. God instructed the Israelites to cross the Jordan and enter the Promise Land. And for each Christian, isn’t our life a journey from this temporary dwelling place called earth to our heavenly home?
So, if life is a journey, and it is then we need to unpack an understanding about this journey. So, if you have your Bibles turn with me to two Scriptures this evening.
Acts 7:2-4 (NKJV)
2 And he said, "Brethren and fathers, listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran,
3 and said to him, 'Get out of your country and from your relatives, and come to a land that I will show you.'
4 Then he came out of the land of the Chaldeans and dwelt in Haran. And from there, when his father was dead, He moved him to this land in which you now dwell.
Joshua 1:1-3 (NKJV)
1 After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, it came to pass that the LORD spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' assistant, saying:
2 "Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them--the children of Israel.
3 Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses.
Point #1
1. IF IT IS A GOD INITIATED JOURNEY FROM HERE TO THERE, WE WILL FIGHT IT UNTIL THERE IS NO OTHER OPTION BUT TO ACCEPT.
In Acts 7, Stephen says that God called Abram when he was in Mesopotamia and told him to get out of the country and leave your relatives and come to a place, I will show you. Instead, he traveled with his relatives and settled in Haran until his father died. Then with no other option, He journey with God.
You say the Israelites in Joshua 1 did not fight God about going into the Promise Land. We got to back to Numbers 13 and 14 and the spies went into the Promise Land, and ten of the 12 spies came back into the Promised Land and so the people said we do not want to go. And they ended traveling the desert for 40 years. They knew in Joshua 1, this time around, when God said we are entering the Promise Land that there was no other option.
Jonah knew from the belly of a great fish that there was no other option, but to go to Nineveh. Moses at the burning bush came up with excuse after excuse until he knew that there was no other option. Story after story in the Bible, God initiated a journey and the people rejected it.
Think about your own personal journey God has called you to take from here to there. When God called me to the ministry, I fought it to there was no other option to accept. When God was calling me to Mississippi, the first church that called me to come and preach and possibly become them pastor, I turned down because I did not want to go to MS. Then when Bala Chitto called a couple of weeks later, I accepted their invitation, because God had worked on me in the interim and I felt I had no other option.
Do you know what is so interesting? If God initiates the journey; if it is His idea, I am going to fight it. If I initiated the journey, if it is my idea, I am going to proceed strongly without any resistance. And sometimes that ends up nothing but a big mess in my life.
Point #2
2. IF IT IS A GOD INITIATED JOURNEY FROM HERE TO THERE, WE WILL KNOW IN OUR HEARTS THAT IT IS GOD LEADING THE WAY; IF IT IS ME ACTING ON MY OWN BEHALF TO MOVE FROM HERE TO THERE, GOD WILL BE SILENT.
Abram knew that he heard the voice of God telling Abram to follow God to a land that He will show Abram. Joshua knew that he heard the voice of God when God told him to gather the people because you are crossing the Jordan. And there was no doubt in Moses’ heart that he heart from God at the burning bush. And we should hear from God if it is a God initiated journey from here to there because His Word promises us such.
Psalm 119:105 (NIV)
105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.
Psalm 27:11 (NKJV)
11 Teach me Your way, O LORD, and lead me in a smooth path…
Now what is interesting, let us look at Abram and Moses when they were acting on their own behalf in planning a Journey from here to there. A journey that was not God initiated.
First, Abram in Acts 12 went down to Egypt to live there for a while with his wife, Sarai because there was a famine in the land. No where in the Scriptures does it say that God initiated this journey from here to there. This was an Abram acting on his own behalf journey from here to there. And the result could have been disastrous.
In Exodus 2, one day Moses went out to see his own people and how hard they worked. Nowhere in the Scriptures does God tell Moses that it is time to set My people free. But when he traveled there, he saw an Egyptian mistreat a Hebrew slave, Moses killed the Egyptian when he thought no one was looking. That journey from the Palace to the slave camp was self-initiated and it turned out disastrous as Moses spent 40 years on the back side of the desert.
Listen people, those important journeys in our life- do I move from here to there; do I take this new job or stay where I am; is this the person that I am to marry and move from being single to married- you better hear from God. It better not be a self-initiated journey, or the result might be disastrous.
Point #3
3. WHETHER IT IS A GOD INITIATED JOURNEY OR A SELF-INITIATED JOURNEY THERE WILL BE OBSTACLES OR HINDERANCES TO THE JOURNEY. THE DIFFERENCE IS IN A GOD-INITIATED JOURNEY, GOD WILL MAKE A WAY AROUND OR THROUGH THAT OBSTACLES WHEREAS IN A SELF-INITIATED JOURNEY, WHEN I RUN INTO AN OBSTACLE, I AM JUST STUCK.
We like to think that clear sailing from here to there let us know that it is a God-initiated journey. But I got some bad news for you, that does not determine if a journey is God-initiated or self-initiated. I have seen many a friend have clear sailing from here to there only to be moving further away from God.
The criteria is when you encounter an obstacle along the journey does it stop you or does God make a way through it. If God wants you to go from here to there, He will make a way through it.
God made a way through it in the case of Abram. His journey was to take him to be a father of a great nation and his children will number as great as the sand along the seashore. But, Sarai, his wife was barren. But God, made a way. In her old age God allowed her to conceive and have a child, Isaac- the beginning of the Jewish nation.
God told Moses to lead the people out of Egypt and as he led them by way of the Red Sea, the Egyptian army pursed. Trapped between the army marching toward them and The Red Sea, God made a way by parting the Red Sea and the Israelites walked on dry ground across the Red Sea.
And Joshua has the Jordan River in front of Him as God tells him to go take the Promise Land. And once again, God did the incredible, he parted the waters of the Jordan and the Israelites walked on dry land into their Promised Land.
Think about your self-initiated journeys when you came to an obstacle, you were either stuck or you made the situation worse by trying to work around it.
Conclusion
Listen people, we need to be God initiated movers and not self-initiated movers. Look at your life, does God initiate the moves in your life or do you?
Let us pray
