Turn to Joshua 3, I want to talk to you about adventurous living, having an adventurous life. Joshua 3: Early in the morning Joshua and all the Israelites set out from Shittim and went to the Jordan, where they camped before crossing over. After three days the officers went throughout the camp giving orders to the people, "When you see the ark of the covenant..." What does the ark of the covenant represent? It represents the presence of God, When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the priests, who are Levites, carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it." In other words, when you find the presence of God, follow the presence of God. Do not leave the presence of God. "Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before. But keep a distance of about a thousand yards between you and the ark, do not go near it." Don’t become so familiar to the things of God that you take them lightly, don’t lose your respect for the presence of God.
My main text today is from verse 4 where it said, You have not been this way before.
The laws of the physical universe says that objects that are at rest tend to remain at rest. This is also true when it comes to the Spiritual Universe. Souls at rest tend to remain at rest. I am not talking in the term of soul rest or spirit rest, I am talking about those you see dozing in the Kingdom. I believe there is a great element in the church that has dug in their heels, grabbed ahold of the pillars of the temple, and their favorite song is, "I shall not be moved," when they should be saying, "Lead on, King, eternal God."
This lust for sameness is not that which contributes to that which is exciting, but it contributes to the dullness of life and dullness of spirit. I believe it is so contrary to the character of an adventurous God that we cannot really move on with God as long as we fail to grasp an understanding of Christian adventure. Now this has to do with our view of life, the view of what we really believe to be true about the adventure of serving God.
What is your view of the adventure of serving God? Some think it is dull, some think it is hum drum, some think it is boring.
There is an adventure that is a foolish adventure, that people will risk all for the potential of gain, but it is a foolish risk, and this is not the type of adventure I am speaking of tonight.
A true Christian adventure is the vehicle by which God expands who I am, and increases my usefulness of heaven. A Christian adventure is not simply something that is daring, it is not something that is just thrilling, it is not a high risk, high gain financial whiz of a person. It is the means by which God expands who I am, and increases my usefulness to the Kingdom of God and to heaven itself. This is the adventure I am speaking of tonight. The true Christian adventure allows me to break from my natural desires to that which does not appeal only to my flesh, but to overcome the desire to remain at rest. It stretches me, it calls me out, it uses me for a higher and wider level. It calls me to something that is bigger than me, bigger than I can think, bigger than I can dream. God is abundantly above all I can ask or dream or think.
I want to give you the example of 3 people’s experiences when they have broken their leg, the three world views of a broken leg. The first one becomes bitter and resentful. "This even is without redemption," They say. There is no explanation why this happened, so they enclose their lives determined to never do anything again that will demand a risk of them. They limit their activity, every opinion, anything that might endanger their physical being. Thus they become smaller and smaller, more bitter resentful people who are not willing to run the normal risk that it takes to operate in life.
The second person experiences a broken leg by their own device, he breaks his own leg like Clyde Beatty did in prison when he asked one of the prisoners to put his leg over another prisoner’s leg and jump up and down until it was broken so he would not have to go to work. This person is self indulgent, a pathological person who is willing to immerse themselves in self-centered pain in order to avoid the adventure of work.
Then there is the third person who experiences a broken leg. This person says, "Yes, it is painful. No, it is not an experience that I would have chosen myself. But despite the pain, I see that God is at work even in this and I will use this example for the glory of God. I will use my broken experience to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ." This person embraces the experience, he learns from the experience, he is broadened from the experience, he gains from the ability to empathize and sympathize with others who have had broken legs or broken lives. Therefore they are transformed spiritually, and their life is enriched and this painful experience that they would not have chosen becomes an experience where they can glorify God, and literally glorify themselves in making them a better person.
There are several life views that are obstructions to having a true adventurous life. There is the one who sees life as an ongoing war, "What I have I will keep," they say, "What I am, I want to remain just as I am." They say, "I know all that I will ever know, and I determined not to know any more." Life to that person becomes a fight to minimize intrusion into their life. Therefore any change they have in their life is an enemy, all enlightenment is an enemy.
They refuse to hear unhappy truth, they are little blasé Christians that have to be blessed with good news all the time. They cannot bear bad news, they grow in their isolation, they grow in their aloneness. The circle of their acquaintances begin to shrink. They refuse to hear greater and righter truths, and do you know why? Because it may challenge the littleness of their lives, their minds are made up, new is out. To them, life is going to war, they have to fight off all intrusions into their lives.
These are tiny, tiny, little people and God forbid that this church will ever become that way as churches have become, Acts 2:4 and no more. Who draw itty bitty circles and they have excluded so many people outside of their circle of love. They have excluded any new thing that God wants to do, any new music, any new methods. Their favorite phrase is, "We have never done it that way before." Their favorite way out is, "We cannot afford it."
A second view which obstructs the spirit of Christian adventure is the person who says "Like is not like a war, but life is unimportant." These people are blasé, lethargic, boring. There is no life, there is no zest, there is no zeal within them. They feel life is not even important enough to have an adventure. Their whole life shrinks to the size of a television screen. They don’t even think any creative thoughts, they just observe what goes by them. They live like King Artaxerxes in the Bible with his scepter of all mighty power. Anyone that came into his presence, if he would stretch forth his scepter they would be accepted, but if he didn’t they would be killed. That scepter that we live with today is called the remote control device. The court jester, the hired gladiators, are shrunk down to the size of the television screen. They are absolutely in control of their lives with that little control scepter. They search through life, searching channel to channel, hour to hour, seeking for a court jester that will make them laugh, seeking a gladiator that will give one more thrill.
There are others who say life is important because they spend their lives in useless ventures. I am not taking about adventures, I am talking about useless ventures because they feel their life is unimportant. So they turn to drugs, they turn to sexual ventures. They see life as not worth protecting. Life is worthless, so why protect it? It is easy to kill a child because life is worthless, life is not worth being careful with. And because life is not important, sex is no important. Because sex is not important, it doesn’t matter who you have relationships with. because sex is not more than shaking hands to these people, therefore they are not concerned with diseases brought on by impure living. They are not concerned with drug addiction that will kill them. They are not concerned about gang violence that could kill them. Life is unimportant, and they see themselves of such little significance that they are not bold, they are not daring. There is no adventures in life. They simply do not care about life.
There is a third group that sees life as being fragile. These are people born with cosmic glass jaws, they just cannot endure life. It will certainly destroy them. They can’t have a meaningful relationship because what if that person jilted them, what if they got a Dear John letter. They cannot get into the marketplace because competition destroys them. They dare not get involved in any kind of ministry because what if they started and that ministry failed. If they fail, it would destroy them, they have lost their faith in the Scripture that says, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." They are faithless, and the Bible said without faith it is impossible to please God. The Bible says that without faith it is sin. Church, the only way to get anything in life is through faith. Faith is the key that opens the cupboard of all God’s possessions. Faith will make you sing in the dungeons, faith will make you shout when there is no food in the house, faith will keep you going when people turn against you. Faith is the key to an adventurous life.
Are there risks in life. You bet. Is there brokenness? Of course. Is there failure? I have failed thousands of times. What then shall we say to these things? The first is this, life is not one dimensional. Life is a complicated recipe of mental, emotional, intellectual, spiritual, relational experiences. All of these parts touch one another. A spiritual journey may bite into our physical life. Let me explain. You may decide to enter into a weekend fast for a spiritual journey to change your life. It will profoundly inconvenience your physical life. You won’t be able to exercise and feel as good as you did before. On the other hand, a physical adventure may hinder your intellectual life because you spend so much time getting your body in shape while the mind is no longer fed.
What does this all mean? It means that I am a whole person. I am not just one dimensional. I am a person that has potential. I am a person who has ability. I am a person that can experience many things and many moods, I am a man of all seasons. I am talking about God giving you a full view of yourself, to find the value of yourself, the fullness of an experience so you can work for God.
The Bible clearly tells us that those who sow in tears will reap in joy. There is something about us that we don’t want the adventure of sorrow. But before you know joy, you really have to know sorrow. Before you know how to shout, you have to know how to weep. Before you know joy unspeakable, jumping up in joy, running in joy, you have to know going through the valley of the shadow of death. And when we win the small skirmishes, God leads us into bigger and bigger ones, it is an adventure.
I want a church that is full of energy. I want a church that knows how to shout. I want a church that knows how to listen and learn something. I want a church that knows how to come and hoot, and who knows how to love the Word of God, who studies the Word of God, who comes to Bible studies to dissect the Word of God. Say Amen.
There is a man in the Bible, in the Book of Revelation, the Bible said this man was a beast that had 4 faces. Just imagine, a face here, a face here, a face here and a face here. One was a lion, the other an ox, the other an eagle, and the other a man. Let me analyze these faces.
The lion represents bravery, no afraid, conqueror, daring, no fear. God needs lions in the church. God said, I want my church to have the face of a lion.
The next one was the face of an ox. An ox is a beast of burden, they do the work, they pull the old yoke, they plow the fields. We need some oxen in the church.
The other is the face of an eagle. An eagle has long vision, they can see farther than anybody else. We need eagles in the church, people who can look ahead, they see things that are not yet there, but could be. Visionaries.
The last face was the face of man. Man is the only living creature that can have fellowship with God. God wants man to have the heart of a lion, the work habits of an ox, and the vision of an eagle, someone he can communicate with and love.
What am I trying to say tonight? I am simply saying that God is an adventurous God. He was the only one in all the universe and He said, "I think I will just make man." What an adventure. He said, "To make it more adventurous, I am going to let him loose and let him have the power to choose as he wants to choose." Man chose and went astray, but God said, "I am not giving up on this adventure." He said, "I am going to send my Son for them to try and to save them."
They took His Son and they beat Him and they crucified Him, and they nailed Him to a tree. They spit on His face, they mocked Him. God said to Joshua in our text, "I am going to take you on an adventure. I am going to take you on a journey, I am going to take you where you have never been before." That is a journey.
God is going to take some of you on a journey that you have never been on before. He is going to take you in areas you have never experienced before. There may be steep gorges and dangerous trails. You may go through the valley of the shadow of death. Who knows what is going to come. But the Lord knows the way through the wilderness, that is why he said, Stay close to the presence of God. Not so familiar that you don’t revere Him, stay that distance, but don’t lose the presence of God, don’t leave the presence of God. Life is an adventure with a great God. He is the greatest adventurer who ever lived.
Paul knew about the adventurous life. They beat him, but it was an adventure. They threw him out of the city and left him half dead. They stoned him. They spat upon him. He was shipwrecked, he went to an island, and serpents fastened themselves to him and he shook them off into the fire, that was the original shake and bake. That was an adventure.
David Livingston knew what it was to take an adventure. He went into the Belgian Congo and spent his life curing people with diseases. Mark Buntain knew the adventurous life. He built the Mission of Mercy hospital in Calcutta, India.
Let me tell you something, you talk about an adventure, going down scuba diving beneath the ocean is nothing. Going into space is pansy work. There are no more maps to be drawn in this country. There are no more new frontiers, they are all gone. But there is a frontier that has never been discovered. The Spiritual has never been touched. There is a realm out there that we need to explore. There is a realm out there about how to touch the heart of God and have revival, revival that cannot be brought on by preaching, revival that cannot be manipulated by man, revival that is supernatural, brought on by prayer and fasting. There is a world out there.
Mother Teresa is dead, somebody has got to take her place. Mark Buntain died, somebody has got to take his place. Billy Graham is old, he has Parkinson’s Disease, he had pneumonia this year and it almost took his life, he falls quite frequently, and unless God prolongs his life, Billy Graham is not going to be with us much longer, somebody has got to take his place. Oral Roberts had a heart attack a few years ago and basically kind of retired from the ministry. There needs to be a new Livingston, pastors are dying off in America. God needs to raise up some new people, God is looking for people who have the heart of adventure.
There are many ways that fathers show their love to their children. One way is working hard and providing. They feel that by working hard and providing, their children will interpret that as love. It doesn’t always work that way, but that is the fathers thinking. Another way they show their love is by spending time with their children, quality time. The kids will interpret that as love, some do and some don’t. There is a third way that fathers often provide for their children, that is by showing their love by providing exciting adventures.
Church, I want to tell you something, people are looking for an adventure. Our Father who loves very much wants to make you happy and will show you His love to you by giving you an exciting adventure. You might be afraid of adventure, but if it comes from God, you need not fear. God has an adventure for you. You need to run it through the test. How am I sure it is God’s adventure, 1. Will it glorify God? Will this adventure bring glory to God? 2. You need to ask yourself, will it alleviate human suffering? Will it fit a need in some body’s life? Will it help people?
I am getting ready to close so stick with me. God has an adventure for you. Sometimes what we call the bad adventures, or the mis-adventures, turn out to be the ones that we learn the most from. I want you to take God with you. I want you between now and next week to spend some time in prayer, perhaps get away alone to a lake or mountain, get down on your knees and ask yourself, "What have I always wanted to do? Will this glorify God? Get a dream, begin to plan and work. Think about it in your mind, get excited about it. Think about what this dream would do for the glory of God, think about the Spiritual dream, dreams for your family, dreams for your future. It is time to dream again for the future of this church. God has an adventure for you.
Close your eyes and bow your head...
