NEW ROUTE NEVER TRAVELED BEFORE…..
Joshua 3:1 Then Joshua rose early in the morning; and he and all the sons of Israel set out from Shittim and came to the Jordan, and they lodged there before they crossed.
2 At the end of three days the officers went through the midst of the camp;
3 and they commanded the people, saying, "When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God with the Levitical priests carrying it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it.
4 "However, there shall be between you and it a distance of about 2,000 cubits by measure. Do not come near it, that you may know the way by which you shall go, for you have not passed this way before."
I have written this sermon under the following 5 headings, so that you understand it properly:
NEW DANGEROUS ROUTE
JOSHUA THE LEADER WHO STOOD TALL AND BRAVE
NEW ROUTE REQUIRES YOU TO BE ALERT AND CAUTIOUS
CONSECRATE YOURSELF
SET YOUR EYES ON THE ARK
NEW DANGEROUS ROUTE: While looking for an address, ‘Send me the location’ is the cool language we hear today about finding a route on Google maps; however, even Google maps can fail you and not help you sometimes. Today we are going to read about Joshua who had to take the Israelites through a ‘NEW DANGEROUS ROUTE’ that they had not crossed before…new route takes new courage, new commitment, new determination and new leap of faith…
I write this article on April 24, 2021, when India is facing the treacherous second wave of Corona virus when the country is filled with stench of dead bodies, ambulances and dire need for oxygen. Tears, fear, anxiety, pain, agony are written all over the faces of our people, in certain cities ‘curfew’ has been ordered. During this time of CRISIS, I write this sermon, a new dangerous route that we had never ever crossed before……
The World Health Organization declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on 30 January 2020, and a pandemic on 11 March 2020. While an epidemic remains limited to one city, region, or country, a pandemic spreads beyond national borders and worldwide.
How do we cross this dangerous path with the atmosphere thick with the invisible virus……? Read on…….Don’t you ever exclude God from this, He is omnipresent at this time of crisis that has enveloped the whole world. I heard one particular church pray like this on an online morning service today: “Lord, let your wrath be removed from our country, forgive our sins, Lord forgive the people who burnt and destroyed churches in India, who mocked and killed the pastors, have mercy on them Lord.” This is the right kind of prayer at a time we are crossing a new dangerous route; however, there are others rebuking corona…….without any particular knowledge as to how to deal with a current situation.
JOSHUA THE LEADER WHO STOOD TALL AND BRAVE: I am just overwhelmed as I begin to type this sermon on my laptop on a day of fasting and prayer, I’ve been in prayer from early morning 4 and still stuck in His presence. Now let us delve deep into the above subject.
“You have not passed this way before” said Joshua, the great warrior and leader who bravely stepped into the shoes of Moses. Even Moses tried to duck his calling by saying, “ I stutter Lord”, but Joshua obeyed God, brushed aside his fears and listened to the voice of God encouraging him: Joshua 3: 9"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go." 10 Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people…Wow, this is powerful, Joshua starts his job with command! Phew! That’s the spirit of a true leader! Submitting and accepting God’s call with courage without wondering ‘what if I goof up’ attitude. Hey friend, when you have your name endorsed on your article, statement or work it’s not about lifting your shirt color and owning the product but it also calls for onus and responsibility. Something goes wrong, you will be pulled up for it, anybody listening?
Not many would come forward to take up leadership at a time when the team of Israelites had already wandered the wilderness for 40 years, exhausted, depleted, added to this was the pain of having lost Moses, their other elders and fathers who disobeyed God and besides this, they did not have a road map to reach the promised land, all they had to do was trust God and their leader Joshua.
Few days back, while I was cooking for our outreach ministry to feed the students on an occasion, I asked one of my helpers to taste the food, she bluntly refused to do so with a sheepish smile. She feared, ‘what if something went wrong then they would blame me for tasting and endorsing the food,’ However, I have another Math teacher working for us, she is an ‘all-rounder’, without me asking her, she would run and come to me, ‘taste and also give me bold suggestions for improvising whatever I might be doing.’ That is leadership! If only churches have such leaders then we would not be stagnant, there is severe dearth for such volunteers and leaders today! Arise Young people, come and serve God with boldness!
God is looking for bold leaders who would clearly explain that conviction of sins, repentance and change of life is what God is looking for today, that would change our pandemic situation and nothing else. Period.
NEW ROUTE REQUIRES YOU TO BE ALERT AND CAUTIOUS :
DILIGENT ! I like the word diligent….Proverbs 21:5”The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty.”
It was half yearly examination in our Abide school, (free school that we run for the poor) the English question paper was issued and I sat in the class for supervision. I found a senior boy sharp his pencil and write with a pencil, while he was supposed to write with pen, I looked at him sharply and asked why he was writing with the pencil, with a serious yet a scared look, he replied, ‘I’m worried if I would make mistakes in the examination paper and thereby dirty the paper if I write with pen, hence I am using pencil.’ His reasoning had good intention! Having heard me instruct million times about being clean and neat, he wanted to be careful before messing up! He wanted his answer paper to be clean and neat! Are you listening? There are a handful of students who have this attitude of being careful, clean, tidy, neat, committed, cautious and hard working. Invariably these are the students who study well and progress, the boy whom I have mentioned above is a topper in the class as well as school. The most important thing about him is that he belongs to a tribal community and his parents are road laborers; still, he has meticulously followed my teachings and has put them into vogue as well. As I corrected his papers, I was filled with joy for investing my life into the lives of these lovely kids.
Having walked with Moses and witnessing the disasters of disobedience, Joshua was circumspect in his walk with God. When God spoke to Joshua and told him, “there shall be a distance between you and it, about 2,000 cubits in length. Do not come near it, in order that you may know the way you shall go, for you have not passed this way before," (Joshua 3:4) Joshua obeyed the Lord 100 percent!
CONSECRATE YOURSELF:
Joshua 3:5 Then Joshua said to the people, "Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you."
Consecration is not about washing and bathing but we need to be cleansed from head to toe with the Word and His blood before we receive revival in our life. If we want a move of God, ego hassles, anger, quarrels, fights should take a walk from your life! Read Ephesians 4:
• 29 Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.
• 30 Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
• 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.
CLEAN OUT THE LEAVEN: 1 Corinthians 5:7”Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump….”
We scream and cry, ‘churches are closed…..churches are closed’ , did you pause to think why? Did you know adulterous relationships exist in the pulpit, Sunday school, youth meeting and Bible study? Did you know Church leaders are subtly glued to porn? Did you know the House of God is being used as entertainment club? You might be squirming and wriggling in your chair uncomfortably as you read this portion, well, it is true. A village pastor invites the two wives of a Christian member to prophesy in his church, pastor gives water baptism to the second wife of a church member who happens to be his sister in law, when I questioned them and advised them, ‘they stopped calling me to their church.
HIDDEN SINS - Lizard in my cabin
When I felt a strange kind of smell from my office cabin in my school, I felt it may because of shabby cleaning; however, even after all the thorough cleaning the stench remained. We were aggressively hunting the reasons for the bad odor in my room never realizing that a ‘dead lizard’ had cozily taken lodge in the upper shelf of my room. You cannot ignore or dismiss the stink that emits from a dead lizard, can you? However, we were able to find the dead lizard on the shelf only after a week, I had to suffer all the days before I got relief.
Some of our churches, homes, businesses, marriages and life have ‘dead lizards’ and we are tolerating the stink and living with it. Anybody listening? Many churches that I visited about ten years back and preached some ‘thunder and hot fire’ messages are now reeling with serious scandals, people wondered back then why I was preaching such strong sermons, God warns us while the sins are buried and hidden. The false preachers that the church elders had tolerated, evil, sly relationships that later bloomed into adulterous affairs, small-level disobedience that later boomeranged into wickedness have all caused the fall of the church. God expects His bride the church to be spotless and super-clean, anybody listening? Leaders! Wake up for this trumpet call and throw away the dead lizards! UNHOLINESS: 1 Thessalonians 4:7 “For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification.” Did you read that?
UNRIGHTEOUSNESS: Read Job 22:23”If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored; If you remove unrighteousness far from your tent..” The fake salary details in your ration card, fake technical qualifications in your certificates, fabricated experience details, false address and much more are all dead lizards in your life. If your land purchases and properties acquired have not been made honestly the ‘dead lizards’ would certainly show up – sometimes even after decades in the form of curses. This message is certainly going to disturb you; however, we have been living comfortably with dead lizards in our life for long………….it’s high time someone exposes it….
SET YOUR EYES ON THE ARK:
Joshua 3:11 "Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is crossing over ahead of you into the Jordan.
There was a firm instruction from Joshua that they had to fix their eyes on the Ark that was carried by the priests and move accordingly. Did you hear me? Not moved by whims and fancies but moved by the guidance of God.
Today too often hear the words ‘led by the Holy Spirit’ among the Christian circle, so much so people have lost faith in those words: I was led by the Holy Spirit to wear this dress, to take this bus, to cook this food and to buy this mobile and so on… people do some weird things and attribute it to the work of the Holy Spirit.
PILLAR OF CLOUD AND PILLAR OF FIRE :
Exodus 13:20 “Then they set out from Succoth and camped in Etham on the edge of the wilderness.
21 The LORD was going before them in a pillar of cloud by day to lead them on the way, and in a pillar of fire by night to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night.
22 He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.
God did not take away the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night, He was guiding them continually –no break. Nevertheless, there is a niggle or concern here, ‘ the Israelites cannot afford to get distracted, they need to fix their eyes on the Clouds. Likewise, we got to fix our eyes on Jesus for our next move and obey His instructions.
Friend, when you know you are in the right path and walking right, with God by your side, you need not have the road map with you, trust Him wholeheartedly to take you through. It might be eerie when you attempt to do it the first time, but as you trust and walk with Him, you know He would never ever fail. Amen. With no team or proper help around, with no proper auditorium and many other infrastructure to conduct a three days training camp for ‘Soldiers-in-Christ’; yet, we obeyed His voice and conducted the camp in the new city Hyderabad that we relocated 11 years back. God was God and helped us.
Friend, during this time of crisis, just cling on to God and follow the Ark of God diligently. I wrap this whole thing up by saying: En route to our destination, there are million times that we are tempted to give up on our mission and there are many out there who had not completed the race. An avalanche of problems come down on you, to totally bury you under the rubble. But look what Psalm 66:12 says, “You have caused men to ride over our heads; We went through fire and through water; But You brought us out to rich fulfillment.” I like the words ‘rich fulfillment’! Surely one needs grit and determination to reach the place of fulfillment! But observe, it is He who eventually brings us to the place of fulfillment! Praise the Lord!
