Rising To The Next Level

Rising To The Next Level---At Bridge City Church.

Joshua 6:15-7:1 1 Timothy 6:6-10 Text Read Joshua 6:1-5

What if I told you that a baby by the name Jaleth in Lowand, which is an island off the coast of Norway in the Norwegian Sea, started talking two days after he was born, was walking at the age of three months , and by the time he was three years old, he was playing the piano marvelously, how many of you would say “wow, that’s incredible?

“ How many of you would say, that’s a bunch of nonsense? Well those of you who think it’s nonsense are absolutely correct. I never heard of Jaleth until this sermon. The problem with the story is that Jaleth, is rising from one level to another much too fast.

Life comes to us in steps. We often do not move to one level, until we have finished a previous one. Sometimes it takes longer to move from one level to another than we imagine.

Most of us have been participating in a 21 day fast here at Bridge City. The purpose of the fast has been for us to rise up to a new level in our families, in our church, and in our community.

Rising up involves us drawing closer to God. When we think of rising to a higher level in our relationship toGod, there are three things taken as a whole that we should consider.

First there is the fear of God. Whatever we do, we should want to do it in the way that God tells us to do it. We’re not free to change the rules. Second, there is our love for God. We should be so grateful for what Jesus Christ has done for us, that we should be willing to do whatever we can to bring joy and honor to God.

Third there is the promise or rewards of God. God’s rewards are far greater than what the world or sin has to offer us. We can’t afford to forget this.

We are constantly lied to about how quickly we can rise from one level to another. Wear this belt and it will melt away calories while you sleep. Take these pills two times a day, and you can eat whatever you want and lose weight. Download this app for $2.99 and watch your battery life improve 300%.

Then there are those times in our lives when we want God to move us from one level to another by prayer rather than by work. One Sunday during the time of prayer, a youth asked me to pray, that he would have a really good report card.

I said, “well did you do all your homework, pay attention in class, and study for your tests. He said, “well no, not quite.” I said, “well let’s pray that you card can be the best it can be under the circumstances.”

God wants to move us all to another level in our lives. The purpose of each level is to help us grow and to become more that God intends for us to be. The thing is, there is always going to be something that will seek to encourage us to try and take a short cut. Have you ever taken a short cut to get something, and then regretted it.

Let’s go back into time and meet someone who wanted to take a short cut on how to get rich in a hurry. Has anyone here thought about looking into that short cut once or twice in life. Being eager to move to the next level financially brings it’s own kind of temptations.

God has led his people out of the land of Egypt and is now ready to start giving them the land He has promised to them. God’s people have been wondering in the desert for 40 years. He’s ready to take them into the promise land. His people are ready to graduate or to rise from the level of living in tents to living in permanent homes. They will have to fight to take over the land that God is giving to them.

Moses has recently died and the mantle of leadership has fallen on Joshua, who has been Moses’s right hand man.

The first big test is for them to take the city of Jericho. Now Jericho is a city with massive walls all around it. The walls are thick enough for chariots to ride across the top. There are no planes to fly over and drop bombs. There are no tanks or missles to blow holes in the walls. The only way in is to go through the gates of the city. To do this, you will have to fight off, plenty of arrows being shot at you from the archers on the wall.