What Side Of The Jordan Are You On?

Joshua 1:10-18 Which Side Of The Jordan Are You On?:

Good morning and welcome to Grace Point. It is so nice to see everyone today. Did you all have a good time at the cookout yesterday? I hope so – I know I did. It is always a pleasure and a blessing to be able to fellowship together – especially when we have the added blessing of celebrating the birth of one of our own.

As we were celebrating and enjoying each other’s company in fellowship yesterday – I was just struck by how far we have come and yet how far we still have to go – not unlike the Israelites in the days of Joshua that we are studying – they had come so far – and could see the end goal – but still had so much yet to go through – so much yet to surrender to God before they were able to rest in the victory that God laid before them. The Book of Joshua is all about getting to that point where we realize we need to (and - more importantly - mature enough to actually do) surrender completely to God!

Years ago I heard the story of a Pastor who was preaching and casting the vision for the future of his congregation. He told them, "With God's help we can see the day when this church will go from crawling to walking." And the people responded, "Let the church walk, Pastor, let the church walk."

He continued, "And when the church begins to walk, next the church can begin to run." And the people shouted, "Let the church run, Pastor, let the church run!"

Fired up, he continued, "And finally the church can move from running to flying. Oh, this church can fly high for God!" The people were getting as wound up as the preacher and cried out, "Let the church fly, Pastor, let the church fly."

Then the preacher said, "And friends, in order for this church to fly, it's going to take lots of money – lot’s of sacrifice - we're going to have to dig deep and give greatly of all we are and all we have – surrendering it all to God for Him to use as He sees fit."

The congregation grew quiet, and from the back, someone mumbled, "Let the church crawl, Pastor, let the church crawl."

That’s not an uncommon thought and it was very similar to what was going through many of the Israelites as they looked forward to what God was calling them to do.

Open your Bibles if you would please to the Book of Joshua and turn to Chapter 1 and follow along as I read aloud verses 10-18 our study verses for today:

Joshua 1:10-18 (New King James Version)

Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, 11 “Pass through the camp and command the people, saying, ‘Prepare provisions for yourselves, for within three days you will cross over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land which the LORD your God is giving you to possess.’” 12 And to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh Joshua spoke, saying, 13 “Remember the word which Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, saying, ‘The LORD your God is giving you rest and is giving you this land.’ 14 Your wives, your little ones, and your livestock shall remain in the land which Moses gave you on this side of the Jordan. But you shall pass before your brethren armed, all your mighty men of valor, and help them, 15 until the LORD has given your brethren rest, as He gave you, and they also have taken possession of the land which the LORD your God is giving them. Then you shall return to the land of your possession and enjoy it, which Moses the LORD’s servant gave you on this side of the Jordan toward the sunrise.” 16 So they answered Joshua, saying, “All that you command us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. 17 Just as we heeded Moses in all things, so we will heed you. Only the LORD your God be with you, as He was with Moses. 18 Whoever rebels against your command and does not heed your words, in all that you command him, shall be put to death. Only be strong and of good courage.”

There is a lot going on in these verses and if all you did was read these verses you would miss a lot of the key points of what is transpiring. Remember – this is a actually historical series of events that are being played out for our edification – they are pointing towards what is yet to come and to get the full context of what God is sharing with us – we need to be diligent and do the study work pulled from these verses – the study that reaches out and gets the supporting verses of scripture that fill in the blanks of what is going on. So that is what we are going to try and do today – you can keep you finger in Joshua but have your pen and paper ready because I will be giving you some supporting verses to study at home – because it would just take too long to read them all here today.