Stepping Into Your Dreams

LIVING IN GOD’S PROMISES

A Study In The Book Of Joshua

Stepping Into Our Dreams – Joshua 3:1-4:7

So Far…

· Chapter 1 – This is land to take/ this is your potential – “Be Strong”

· Chapter 2 – Getting Past Your Past – Breaking Generational Curses

Consider this:

Walt Disney - was fired by a newspaper editor for lack of ideas. Walt also went bankrupt several times before he built Disneyland.

Leo Tolstoy, author of War and Peace, flunked out of college. He was described as “both unable and unwilling to learn.”

Michael Jordan, perhaps the greatest basketball player of all time, did not make his high school basketball team his sophomore year.

Beethoven’s teacher called him hopeless as a composer.

Winston Churchill failed the sixth grade. He did not become Prime Minister until he was 62. His greatest contributions came when he was a “senior citizen.”

Henry Ford failed and went broke five times before he finally succeeded.

Today… we’re going to talk about reaching for your dreams and the results of persistence.

It must have been an exciting time for the Israelites to finally enter their land of promise.

They had been in the dessert and in the wilderness for forty years.

It was time to move out of the desert – across the Jordan River – and into Canaan.

There had been discouragement and disappointments along the way – but it was now time!

Some of you have had set backs and disappointments along your journey – BUT THE TIME HAS COME FOR YOU TO ENTER INTO YOUR LAND OF PROMISE!

TO REACH FOR YOUR DREAMS…

1. Keep Your Eyes On God – vv. 1-4

Josh 3:1 Then Joshua rose early in the morning; and they set out from Acacia Grove and came to the Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they crossed over.

Josh 3:2 So it was, after three days, that the officers went through the camp;

Josh 3:3 and they commanded the people, saying, "When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the priests, the Levites, bearing it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it.

Notice that they had to wait for three days. They had been waiting for 40 years – three days wouldn’t make a difference.

Keep in mind that Joshua is about 80 years old at this time.

This was an exciting day… This was the beginning of a covenant that had been made to Abraham about 500 years before.

Moses got to the edge of the river and never crossed over. How many of us get to the edge and never cross over?

How many of us can see the promises but never obtain them?

Notice v.3 – “when you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God…”

“The ark” is mentioned seven times in this chapter. There must be some importance to it.

We must keep our eyes on God. When God moved, they were to move-----When God stopped they were to do the same.

In his book… “Experiencing God”----by Henry Blackaby - He states—“we need to see what God is up to around us and then get involved”

This may require us to leave our comfort zone.

Israel was about to follow the Ark through a river that was over 1 mile wide. There were obstacles ahead.

OBSTACLES ARE OFTEN GOD’S WAY OF PRYING US OUT OF OUR RUT.

· The Jordan River forced Joshua out of the rut of being second in command to Moses.

· The river compelled them to get out of the “manna mentality.”

If you ever expect to get past your obstacles and enter your Canaan, you must learn to follow God.

Under Joshua’s leadership – the people now prepare to cross the Jordan. They could see the prize.

The “Jordan River” – is not a wide river. Normally… It was about 40 feet wide at the widest point.

In the springtime – the normally narrow river flooded its banks. In places it could be around 150 feet deep and as much as a mile wide.

The people now walk to the edge of the Jordan and stayed there three days – “waiting for the direction of the Lord.”

Josh 3:4 "Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure. Do not come near it, that you may know the way by which you must go, for you have not passed this way before."

There are two commands given in vv. 3-4…

1- Follow the ark – (keep your eyes on God) – v.3

“then you shall set out from your place and go after it”

They were entering into territory that they had never entered before. They needed direction from God.