#3 Crossing Over

You know, Paul spends three whole chapters of Romans extolling the greatness of our salvation, using words like redemption and justification and reconciliation and propitiation, those great theological words. And he ends it all in chapter five. It's almost as though he steps back and pauses for a moment. And then he says this at the end of chapter five, where sin abounded grace did much more abound. No matter where you've come from or what you've done in your life, no matter how great or deep your sin may be, God's grace is greater. And he can save you, he can cleanse you and wash you by his grace. What a great song and a great story that is. Last Tuesday evening, West Virginia University Mountain Ears played Baylor down in Waco, Texas. I was able to catch part of that game. And it was great game. I was glad that West Virginia won. But even more than that, something really peaked my interest. And that was a story that was briefly highlighted of one of the players on Baylor's team, player by the name of Noony O'Mot. And after hearing a little bit of a story, I decided to do a little bit more research and find out exactly what had happened. Noony O'Mot is a 23 year old player at Baylor who came from Kenya. But his family's story starts back in Ethiopia. In the early 1990s, there was a prolonged civil war raging in Ethiopia. And in order to escape the violence, O'Mot's mother, father and older brother decided to try to escape from Ethiopia. They walked and rides under the cover of darkness for more than 400 miles. I mean, that's like walking and hitching rides from here to Atlanta. Seeking to get to Kenya. Once they reached the Kenyan border where they thought they would find safety, they were arrested. They had been able to find food and shelter along the way, traveling mostly at night to escape soldiers being, they didn't want to be killed. Obviously, they were arrested. But once they got to the Kenyan border, they were arrested there by police. Who were ordered to prevent anyone from leaving Ethiopia. So the family was imprisoned for a week before being sent into a refugee camp because the intervention of the United Nations officials, a refugee camp in Kenya. Well, the O'Mot family had relatives in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and they hoped to be able to receive travel documents quickly to be clear to come to the United States. But it turned into a three year wait. It turned into a three year wait in a refugee camp. And it was in that refugee camp during that three year wait that Noony was born in 1994. Crowded hot conditions, very little food, not knowing where the next meal would come from. Finally, in 1996, his mother, he and his brother, were cleared to travel to the United States. And they received financial support from a couple of Christian agencies. But his father had to stay behind because he couldn't pass the medical testing. Had some medical difficulties and he had to stay in the refugee camp. It wasn't until 20 years later that he was able to get to the states. He hadn't seen his family in 20 years. And last Sunday in Waco, Texas, he met his son again, whom he hadn't seen since he was three years old. And now Noony is six foot nine, a huge man playing basketball on a collegiate level. And Tuesday night in the West Virginia game, he saw his son play basketball for the first time. What an amazing new beginning after an amazing journey in life. And when I heard that story, I thought you let's exactly what we're looking at in the book of Joshua. We're looking at an amazing new beginning at the end of an amazing journey. Here is a nation of almost two million people that have had an amazing journey across the wilderness after coming out of Egypt, escaping bondage in Egypt, looking for a new land, a new home, a new beginning. And because of their own disobedience, they wonder in the wilderness for 40 years. But now they are on the edge of that new land, that new beginning, that new home. After an incredible journey, they are ready to cross over into that new land. It's an exciting time, but it is also an intimidating time, a terrifying, fearful time. If you have your Bible, please open to Joshua chapter three, where we find the story picking up of them crossing over into their new land. And notice at the beginning of chapter three, now in chapter one we saw that Joshua has taken leadership because Moses is now off the scene. In chapter two they send spies over into the land to spy out the first fortified city, the city of Jericho, to see what they're up against. And now in chapter three, look at verse one. Earlier in the morning, Joshua and all the Israelites set out from Shateem and went to the Jordan where they camped before crossing over. Interesting word is used here. The word, a significant word, crossing over two words in our English versions, one word in Hebrew. And that word, that Hebrew word is used 21 times in chapters three and four into chapter five, verse one. So it's significant. It's being stressed for a purpose. It's not always translated crossing over in our English versions. But the Hebrew word is found 21 times, so there's an emphasis on a decisive moment in Israel's history. There are other words that could be used for inter or journey or walking into other Hebrew words could have been chosen. But this word has chosen over and over and over again because it stresses that something epic is happening. Something truly historic is happening. This is a new beginning for the nation. This is crossing over into a new territory, a new home, a new land. This is not the word that was used of coming out of Egypt as historic as that was, as amazing as that was, because the emphasis there was on what they were leaving behind. Bondage, slavery. The emphasis now is on a whole new life in a new land, a new territory, entering a new phase of their nation's existence. So that's exciting. The future is ahead of them. And so this epic term crossing over is used over and over and over again to stress how significant this moment is in Israel's history. It is a transition time into something entirely new for them. A new life in a new land with the focus on what's ahead. And we find ourselves there. We find ourselves there as a church in a transition looking ahead to a new territory, a new time, a new phase of our church's history. And so we have a lot to learn here. But you know what? There's not only excitement and energy in this transition. There's also a bit of intimidation and fear and anxiety as the people of Israel think about going into the land. After all, they've got right in front of them, the Jordan River, which is in flood stage now and is raging by. That's a significant obstacle to getting to this new land. And then think about it. Once they get into the new land, they've got walled cities heavily fortified cities that they're going to come up against. They've got a rag tag army. They will find armies with iron chariots in the land. They don't have any implements of warfare like that. They're going to find some canonite nations that have men of great stature called in the Bible Giants. They don't have any giants. So there's some intimidation factor here. There's a little bit of fear factor involved in this new challenge, whether it be as a church or for all of us individually, we can identify with those crisis moments. Maybe you today stand on the brink of a new phase of your life, a new experience that although it may be full of excitement, may also be full of intimidation, anxiety, maybe even fear. And sometimes those new phases of life carry more feared intimidation than they do excitement. Maybe you're headed off to college next fall. It's exciting, isn't it? It's also a bit intimidating, isn't it? A little bit of anxiety about what lies ahead in that new phase of your life. Maybe you've just taken your first job or you've just gotten a new job and you're excited about that, but you're a little nervous as well, a little intimidated by the challenge ahead of you. Maybe you're getting married this summer. Maybe you're facing a financial failure in your life or a divorce. Or you've just heard news of possibly a life threatening illness or disease or maybe the death of a spouse. And that new life that's in front of you is full of uncertainty, full of new challenges, fears, worries, concerns. Well, you're right where the Israelites were. What can we learn from their journey into this new land? What can we learn from their crossing over into this new phase of their nation's history? Here's the question we need to ask ourselves, how do we cross over into new territory with God's blessing? How do we do that? How do we move forward without being paralyzed by fear or being defeated by self-doubt? How do we move into this new phase of life trusting God in the midst of fear and anxiety and worry about what we could hear or what could happen? How do we do that? How do we move forward? How do we cross over with God's blessing? I think the story of the Israelites crossing the Jordan River in chapter 3 is a beautiful model for us of how we cross over into new territory. Therefore things God told them to do. Clear steps. God told them to take. And those four steps He told them to take, serve for us as a guidepost, a road map, as to how to cross over into that new phase of your life with God's blessing. We're in our church. A new phase of our church's history with God's blessing. The first thing we have to do that God told Israel to do is to face the challenge. Now if that sounds familiar, it's because we saw it in chapter 1 with Joshua. God did the same thing with Joshua. God told him you got to face the challenge in front of you. Remember, he reminded him, by the way, Joshua remember Moses is dead. This is your job now. You got to take the people into the land of Israel. And he says it's time to do it. Now come on. Be strong and courageous. Trust my promises. You can do this in my grace and strength. And so he has caused Joshua to face the challenge in front of him. And he does the very same thing with the people of Israel here. Notice again, verse 1 says they set out from where they were camped and went to the Jordan where they camped before crossing over verse 2. Verse 2 says after three days the officers went throughout the camp. Now think about that. They'd only moved a mile or two toward the Jordan River. Why uproot nearly two million people and tell them to break camp only to camp again before you cross the Jordan with insight of the Jordan? Why do that logistically, militarily? It just doesn't seem to make sense. Unless God wants them staring at the Jordan River for three days. And facing that challenge. The only reason I can think of the alternative to facing the challenge is to stay where they were. But God causes them to move to a position where they must look the raging flood ravaged Jordan River for three days. Face that challenge. Now the alternative to facing the challenge for us is often this. When we face something that looks threatening, we make excuses for staying where we are. We don't want to move forward. We don't want any change. We don't want to move into that new phase, that transition stage because we're comfortable where we are. And so we make excuses for staying where we are. Or we may try to convince ourselves that this is really not a problem. Or we may push it from our minds by keeping busy in other ways. And Sam, just not going to think about this. Put off dealing with it. Stick our head in the sand. Ignore it. It'll go away. Sometimes God brings us right up next to our Jordan Rivers where we can't escape. Can't ignore what's right in front of us. The obstacle that is right in our path that looms large to large for us to be able to take. And that, that indeed is the purpose, the purpose for facing the challenge. The purpose for facing the challenge is this. God wants them to recognize they are totally unable to cross the Jordan River. They cannot do it. Now the Jordan River is not a significant river normally. When we think of the songs that we're saying, the mighty Jordan, we think of it like the Mississippi or the Ohio. The Jordan River is not like that. The Jordan River, even at its widest right here before it empties into the Dead Sea, is only about about 10 feet deep at its deepest. And maybe 30 yards across, 90 feet or so across. It's not that significant a river. And some people, maybe most people could manage to cross it in its normal flow. But that's not the case here. It is in flood stage. It is March or April, much of the snow and the mountains in the north where the Jordan has its headwaters has melted and the Jordan is rushing with all that water, all the tributaries that come in through the Watties, the, the, the, the Hollers. Yeah, I mean, what's for the, I say Hollers along the Jordan River are flooding this river and the river is in flood stage. So it is spread out into the valley on either side. And it is like what we think of when we see flooded rivers. It is raging in a torrent of flooding water. And they've got babies, they've got older, informed people, they've got possessions, they've got animals. How are they going to cross this? Absolutely impossible. And so God basically is saying, stay here for three days and watch that. Look at that river. Just watch it. I want you to see that you are absolutely incapable on your own of facing that obstacle. And that's the reason God wants us to face the challenge. So that we recognize our inability to meet that challenge in our own strength. I remember years ago I saw a commercial, I don't even remember now what they were selling, whether it was insurance or what it was, I think it was insurance, but I don't remember. But there was a line in that commercial that caught my attention and it was this. The idea that we can conquer any obstacle is uniquely American. And that does kind of describe the American spirit, right? The can do, pull yourself up by your own bootstraps, show me the frontier and I'll take it kind of mentality. Well, that mentality may be uniquely American, but it is also uniquely unbiblical. There are times when God wants to bring us face to face with a challenge for the express purpose of drilling into us. You cannot do this. You cannot do this. You cannot do it. You do not have the energy, the creativity, the strength, the wisdom to do this. You cannot do this on your own. God brings us to that point where we see he must do this or else we'll drown in the Jordan. We can't make it across on our own when Paul was in prison, unable to have the freedom to minister anymore, wondering where the provisions for his life would come from. He said this to a group of Philippian believers that had supported him more than once. He said, I can do all this. Does he stop there? I can do this. I can manage this. I'll just book up, I'll raise my chin, I'll die. I'll do it, man. I can do it. He says, I can do all this through him who gives me strength. And that's why God brings us face to face with our challenges. It calls us to see that they're bigger than us, but they're never bigger than him. Never bigger than him. That leads directly to the next step, the next command God gives Israel and the next step in our journeying through transition into new phases of our life or challenges, whatever, whatever lies before us. We have to face the challenge, but the second step is this. Now that you face the challenge, now focus on the Lord. Focus on the Lord. Look at verse three. Giving orders to the people, say, verse two after three days, the officers go throughout the camp, verse three, giving orders to the people. When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord, your God and the Levitical priests carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it. Then you will know which way to go since you have never been this way before, but keep a distance of about 2000 cubits between you and the ark, do not go near it. You say, I don't see anything about focusing on the Lord in those verses. Well, hang on a second. Let me stress for you first the importance of focusing on the Lord by what God tells the Israelites to do here. He tells them to take the ark of the covenant. So what is that? What's a piece of furniture that went in the tabernacle and the temple would later go in the temple? The ark of the covenant has fascinated people for centuries. If you remember the Indiana Jones movies, the first one, Raiders of the O'Lost Ark, the ark of the covenant was the lost ark that was being sought after and the Germans in World War II in that movie. Take the ark of the covenant and it's filled with all this mysterious mystical power on its own and has graphic consequences when the lid is opened in that movie. Well, that's not at all what the ark of the covenant was about. The ark of the covenant was special, not because of any inherent destructive mysterious power inside, but because it represented the presence of God. You see, the ark of the covenant was the one piece of furniture in the most sacred part of the tabernacle and the temple back in the back room, if you will, the inner sanctum, the holy of holies, the only piece of furniture in there. And it wasn't impressive necessarily to look at by size. It was only about two feet high and about two feet in depth, about three and a half feet long, but it was covered with gold, made of a case you would covered with gold, and there were gold angels crafted on top of it. And it was not just about placing each other toward the middle with their heads bowed and their wings touching, but it was at that point in the tabernacle that every year the high priest would go in, only one time a year, only one man, the high priest would go in taking the blood of sacrifices and would represent the people before God. And it was not just about his presence known in that location and meet with them and accept the blood as a sacrifice for the people's sins and cover their sins for another year. This was the significant place where God met his people. And so when Joshua is told to command the priest to take the Ark of the Covenant and move out six tenths of a mile in front of the people of Israel, far enough out where the whole nation lined up along the Jordan River could see the priests out there with the Ark of the Covenant. And they are to now look at it. He says, when you see it, you'll know which way to go. So in order to know which way to go, they got to keep their eyes on the Ark of the Covenant. So you see what's happening here? He's saying, first of all, face your challenge. Look at the Jordan River. Take a good look at it for three days. So until you are fully convinced, you cannot cross it on your own. And then get your eyes off of the Jordan River. Get your eyes off of your inability and focus on the Lord. Get your eyes on him. Throughout scripture, the Bible tells us that there is a place for looking at the enemy, for looking at the challenge, for looking at the obstacle in front of us so that we understand our inability to handle it on our own. But there must come a point where we take our eyes off of that and off of ourselves and put our eyes on the Lord. I'm reminded of another story in the Old Testament, King Jaha Shafat, who was one of the godly kings of the nation of Judah. One time, second Chronicles 20 tells the story of him being invaded by the Edomites with a huge army much larger than his own army. And this is what he cries out to God when he realizes the Edomites are coming. You see it on the screen, verse 12, our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. That's looking at the challenge and recognizing we can't do this, but notice the next statement. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you. I love that verse. You face a challenge right now and you're thinking it's too big for me. I can't do this on my own. That's okay. That's good. You're saying, I can't fight this battle. This army is too big. I don't know what to do. Then do what Jaha Shafat did. Pray. Lord, my eyes are on you. At the end of Hebrews 11, after telling the story of Old Testament believe or after believe or after believe and how by faith they went through such incredible obstacles to live for the Lord and serve him. And Hebrews 12, he begins the chapter with this challenge to us. He says we're to run our race with endurance in verse 1 and verse 2. He says fixing our eyes on Jesus. The pioneer and perfector of faith. As we run our race, as we look at the obstacles and difficulties and move into new territory in our own lives, there comes a point where we've got to fix our eyes on Jesus. We've got to focus on the Lord. I know we can use those words flippantly. The words just trust the Lord. We can say that so flippantly and not even really mean it ourselves. Could I mind that a little more and dig a little deeper and see what it really means to focus on the Lord? I think we have a picture for us in Israel looking at that piece of furniture from the tabernacle, the arc of the covenant. I think we have a picture of what actually it means to fix our eyes on the Lord. Because the Israelites being much more familiar with that piece of furniture than maybe we are would know exactly what that meant. And if you were in a stooped Israelite who'd kept up with what your parents taught you, you knew at least four things would come to your mind when you looked at the arc of the covenant. Looking to the Lord means first of all that you remember his pardon. Looking to the Lord means to think about his pardon. Every Israelite would know that gold covered chest represents the place where the blood is sprinkled. Our sins are pardoned and forgiven. God meets with us to cleanse us and we're saved because of the blood on the mercy seat on the arc of the covenant. Every Israelite would know that. And so I believe when we say look to the Lord what we ought to be first of all thinking is look to the one who has already sent his son to shed his blood for your sins on the cross. Who has already given you the greatest gift imaginable the life of his own son to die for you so that you might be pardoned and forgiven of your sin. Do you believe that the one who has given you such a gracious gift of his pardon through Christ our Savior would hold back from you in your time of need? Paul says it this way in Romans 8 or just happened to think of this verse this morning so it's not on the screen but he says in Romans 8 verse 32 he who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all. How will he not also along with him graciously give us all things and the all things there is not a power money necessarily it's the all things there are all the things he's been talking about in that chapter. All the spiritual blessings we need to have the security to move forward in life against the enemies that we face that's the all things when you fix your eyes on Jesus when you say Lord my eyes are upon you when you focus on the Lord think first of all he is the one who's given you the greatest love gift of all the pardon of your sins through his son Christ will he not with you with him. Give you everything else you need think about your pardon second thing is relates would think of when they saw that chest in front of them that arc of the covenant would be his provision. There were three objects that were actually placed in the arc of the covenant and the first of those three objects was a pop full of the mana that they gathered from the wilderness journey. So every is right knowing that the the arc of the covenant contained that pot of mana would be reminded of God's provision for them they would be reminded to think back about how God had taken care of them for 40 years and you know when you fix your eyes on Jesus when you focus on the Lord do that this way not by just remembering your your pardon and thinking for that but also remembering times in your past when he's provided for you. How he's taken care of you review the history of your walk with God and think of answered prayers and times he is provided for you in your time of need and it will be a great encouragement for you as you move forward into this unknown part of your life think of his provision thirdly think of his power. The second object that was actually inside that arc was errands rod that but it you can read about this in the in the first five books Exodus the biggest numbers do to run him if exactly where it is I think it's in numbers 12 where there's a challenge to errands leadership by some of the Israelites saying why should he be the only priest aren't we all priests why do we need him and Moses God tells Moses you you challenge the people to this. Have these leaders of this rebellion lay down their staffs here in the fifth meeting overnight and have errand lay down his staff and we'll come in the next morning and see what God says well what God said was this they came in errands staff had had had now this is a wooden dead piece of wood staff that you carry around like a shepherd's crook it had but it blossomed and was already producing almonds. Amazing miracle and they were then to take that and place it in the arc of the covenant because it was such a vivid reminder of God's power. So when we say look to the Lord or focus on the Lord or trust the Lord maybe it would do us well to go a step beyond that and say what that means for me is to look at his power to remember who he is that he is al shadai God Almighty that he is Lord of the Lord. The hosts the Lord of Heavens armies he is God powerful he can do whatever he wants to do he has the power to see me through this time in my life so remember his pardon his provision his power but then forthly looking to the Lord means you remember his promises. The third article that was in the arc of the covenant was the two tablets of stone that contained the ten commandments in other words the word of God God's covenant with his people God's promise to be their God contained in those ten statements God's word. So when you think of looking to the Lord in your time of need think about his promises go back to his word open up his word read his promises claim them memorize them commit them to your heart and mind so that they fill your soul with hope and joy as you move into the unknown of that new territory as you cross over into whatever God's leading you to do. So looking to the Lord is not just some glib expression that has no meaning behind it packet with some punch the next time you say look to the Lord think about his pardon his provision his power his promises think through those things about our great God and you will indeed have your eyes focused on him you'll be looking under Jesus the author and finisher of your faith. So God tells Israel and he tells us face the challenge then focus on the Lord and then he gives him a third instruction look at it in verse five it's this prepare your heart for God to work verse five Joshua told the people consecrate yourselves for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you. How do we prepare our hearts what is he talking about here so word consecrate mean consecrate means to set apart as holy for the Lord to set apart something that is uniquely dedicated to the Lord so he says in order for you to prepare for what God's going to do tomorrow you need to focus on setting yourself apart. Dedicating yourself to the Lord isn't it interesting that he does not say to them now sharpen your swords check your shields get ready for battle because you're going to go across the Jordan River into the land and start fighting. I mean that might be important there's a there's a place for that but that's not what he tells them because more important and military preparation is heart preparation. And for whatever Jordan's you are crossing for whatever new horizons lie before you whatever new territory lies out there with its hope and excitement but maybe with its fear and intimidation to whatever lies before you the most important thing for you to do is not make all your plans and get everything down on paper make sure every. He is crossed and I thought it and everything's done just right that there's a place for that but the most important thing for you to do is quiet your heart before God and prepare your heart before God cleanse your heart before God so get into his word. Spend some time with him in prayer let him speak to you talk with him meditate on who he is think through those things we just talked about as pardon his provision his powers promises think about those things meditate on them prepare your heart for God to work as we go through this transition time in our church it's important that we do the right things and make the right decisions and choices. Take the right actions to make sure we're doing what needs to be done but more than that more important than that it is important for us to concentrate our hearts to prepare our hearts for God to work so I would ask myself as Dan and I work together and I would ask us as a church as we move toward crossing into the promised land as we move to the world. What are we doing spiritually are we are we praying are we seeking God that's more important than all the plans we can make as a church are we really praying seeking God committing ourselves to him making sure our hearts are clean so that we can be prepared for him to work and there is a need for fresh cleansing on this I would remind you there's a need for this every day because in verse four he has said the right things and I would ask you to do that. The reason for this consecrating your heart he says you'll know which way to go since you've never been this way before this is totally new territory for you you've never crossed the Jordan now there was an older generation that had crossed come through the Red Sea that generation died in the wilderness this is a new experience for these people and a few older people like Joshua and Caleb are among them but for the nation as a whole they've never come this they've never done this before this is a new experience and you know in real life. In reality every day is like that for us you and I have never lived February 25th 2018 before this is a new way for us we don't really know what this day is going to hold for any of us do we we have plans and responsibilities and scheduled events and certainly we want to approach those as we go through the day but none of us knows what this day will bring forth for us we've never been this way before. So every day there is a need for the cleansing and dedication of our hearts preparing our hearts for God to work let me move on step number four that he gives them command number four is this step out on faith in verses eight through 17 we have this great story of how they actually start moving toward the Jordan River and go through it and we can read all those verses but let me just pick out three that really summarized the story. First of all verse eight says tell the priests who carry the Ark of the covenant when you reach the edge of Jordan's waters go and stand in the river. So God then promises them that when you do this you will cross over into the land you'll defeat all the enemies in the land and then in verse 13 he says and as soon as the priests who carry the Ark of the Lord the Lord of all the earth set foot in the Jordan. Its waters flowing downstream will be cut off and stand up in a heap and then he describes how they start moving in verses 14 to 16 they break camp they start toward the Jordan were reminded that hey it's at floods stage this is a significant issue but notice verse 17 the priests who carried the Ark of the covenant of the Lord stopped in the middle of the Jordan stood on dry ground while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the Christ. I wanted to see first of all the faith of Israel what God was expecting of them this command to the priests you're in front of the people six tenths of a mile out in front of them you'll get to the Jordan River first and so you're to march toward the Jordan River carrying the Ark of the covenant. And you're to keep marching toward the Jordan River when your feet step in the water the Jordan River that's at flood stage that's raging past you when your feet hit the water then the water will start rolling back. That's exactly what happened. Now whenever I read a Bible story like this I like to try to immerse myself into the situation and I put myself I close my eyes and I think I'm one of those priests and I've gotten one of the polls across my shoulder and the Ark of the covenant between us here and I'm carrying that thing and I'm walking towards the Jordan River I'm a hundred yards away is still rolling and and raging in flood stage. And so you know kind of bite my lip and swallow hard and I keep walking and now I'm ten yards away and nothing's happened it's still rolling it's getting bigger and I'm starting to feel the spray from it now it's intimidating it's fearful. But I got to keep walking. So the Lord told me to do and so I walk with my fellow priests and I put my foot into the edge of the water wondering I hope trusting what's going to happen and when I do that obedience to God the water starts rolling back and I am absolutely incredulous has to the power of God. Here's the lesson for us the Lord leads one step at a time. I don't know about you but I found out to be true so often in my life and ministry the Lord leads a step at a time. All he's asking you to do is take the next step. You know what I probably let me say you know what my problem is maybe it's yours to you know what my problem is I pray Lord stop the Jordan while I'm still six tenths of a mile away I want to see it before I start out that way. I don't want to start walking that direction and make a fool of myself you know I want to see you stop it first so while I'm standing here waiting stop the Jordan. Lord I would love to trust you for victories in the land but we we sent these spies in now give us a report from the spies that they've all fallen over dead and we know we can march in and take their cities. That's what I'd like to see but you know God doesn't normally work that way does he. God says as we're looking at the Jordan and it's flowing by in flood stage and we know there's no way we can handle he says start walking. Start walking just take the next step one step at a time just take the next step. I find myself reminiscing a whole lot these days and thinking just about the last 45 years and how incredibly gracious God has been to me. But I remember a lot of Jordan rivers and a lot of fear and intimidation. I remember when I was 17 years old between my junior and senior years of high school and God is speaking to my heart about going into the ministry. And I was so frightened by that I put all kinds of fleeces all kinds of tests out for God to fulfill in order to really know that this was of the Lord and he graciously answered every one of those. I'll never forget those two weeks at camp at Patrick Springs and being a counselor that week and asking God some very specific things to happen and they all happened. And he graciously did that I wouldn't suggest that as being the way you find God's will but he did that for a 17 year old scared kid. So I pack up and go off to Piedmont when I'm 18 years old to train for the ministry and I don't know what that's like yet. I don't know what that means. I don't know if it's youth pastor or pastor or missionary or what so I had a heart for missions. I was deeply involved in the missions fellowship at school and rose to leadership in that organization and for a couple of years just poured my heart into missions thinking that might be what the Lord was going to do. And I have no idea yet. I'm just going to step at a time and see what the Lord does. And then finally after my third year I get a phone call from a pastor in North Carolina saying would you be willing to consider becoming our youth pastor and I'm thinking well I guess you know what I mean. And I would be good experience and I would pray about it and we took it youth pastor full time youth pastor church in central North Carolina about 200 people and and six months later the past release and takes a church enrichment. And the weekends come to me and say would you be interested in being our pastor and almost laughed at him. And I'm halfway through a five year program of Bible because it stood up two and a half years or a year and a half to go in that program and there's no way I'm going to do I don't have any experience I'm too young I'm 21 years old. I know I can't do that so without even praying about it I said no you talk about taking a step of faith there was no faith at all in my heart at that time. And he said no I can't I knew I couldn't do that. The thoughts of coming up with sermons when I hadn't even had a clash yet on expository preaching I can't do this. And so they asked me what would you be willing to preach until we find someone and I didn't want to tell them no again so I said okay I'll do that thinking they'll find someone pretty quick I'll be off the hook I go back to the youth pastor. And then a few months later they came to me and said would you reconsider and by that time I put my foot in the water and and I got a little taste of what it was to preach and although I still didn't know what the future held I said yes yes I wish you could ask Jeannie about this. I could have seen those Saturday nights in the old Scott house in the old farm there quarter a mile from the church where we stayed on weekends we're still living in Winston Salem. I could hardly sleep on Saturday nights I was petrified to get up in front of people and preach I really was. I'm more like my dad than I am my mom my mom had the outgoing personality and and I just was so afraid and I'd get my stomach and knots every Saturday night. But I had my foot in the water and God rolled back the water and said this is the way I want you to go. And it's been that way for 45 years and there've been lots of times including when I came to this church that I thought there's no way I can follow Jimmy Jones there's no way I can do what's required of a church that size. But I said Lord if it's what you want I'll start moving toward the Jordan and not to say I haven't slipped a few times and made it my share mistakes but the Lord has been so good. It's been my experience all my adult life is just to say okay Lord I'll be willing to take the next step I don't know what this looks like down the road I'm scared of what it looks like I don't think I can do this. I'm scared right now I don't know if you can put up with me all the time at home I'm scared about this next step what that's going to mean. But I think I've learned Lord if you're saying something just go ahead take that step move toward the Jordan even though it's still for hold on and when you hit the Jordan he'll work everything out. What are you facing today? Is it a challenge that excites you that thrills you that's exciting but there's a little bit of nervousness there anxiety maybe intimidation or maybe it's something that really threatens you a diagnosis the financial failure a divorce and you're not sure what tomorrow looks like. You're not even sure if there will be a tomorrow or a next year face the challenge then after you've looked at it hard enough to realize you can't meet the challenge focus on the Lord. Make sure your heart's clean and ready for him to work and then just take the next step that's always asking take the next step it's up to him to roll back the Jordan. And then you can roll back the Jordan.