Joshua 3:11-3:17
The children of Israel are standing in a familiar place (40 years prior, their parents had stood in this same place) On the brink of a breakthrough they had a breakdown.
They had a Faith Failure
They forfeited their promise, they were still Gods people, He cared for them and sustained them for 40 more years in the wilderness till all the doubters died off.
(But they died destiny poor).
One of the greatest tragedies in life is to live and never discover your destiny, but worse than that is to discover your destiny and forfeit it.
I want to talk for a minute to some people unlike this first generation, I want to talk to some people who know they have a destiny over their lives, who know there is a reason and a purpose for their existence.
I want to talk to the ones who want everything God has ordained for your life and you refuse to let go, give in or give up.
I want to talk to some people that have a fight in your spirit; the Kind of fight like Caleb had who at 85 years old said (give me my mountain) the kind of fight that won’t be denied.
Is there anybody who wants what God has promised you?
Is there anybody who refuses to settle for less than what God said you can have?
Is there anybody who has their mind made up that whatever it costs you’re going to get what God has promised you?
I wish somebody would just shout it out 3 times and make God glad and the devil mad
(Give me my Mountain).
Now it you’re satisfied where you’re at, with what you’ve got, seeing what you’re seeing, and doing what you’re doing and experiencing what you’re experiencing, (then this message is probably not for you.
But if you happen to be one of those rare breeds called dreamers, and if something inside of you is kicking, and if your spirit is divinely dissatisfied, and if you know God has destined you for more ( then you’re the one I’m talking to).
First of all I would be doing you a disservice of I didn’t tell you that every promise comes with a price.
There is no victory without a fight, and there is no testimony without a test.
There’s no crown without a cross and there’s no resurrection without a crucifixion.
There’s no healing without a sickness
There’s no deliverance without a fire
There is something you will have to go through to get your promise, before Joseph went to the Palace he went to the pit and the prison.
Before the three Hebrew boys were promoted they went through the fiery furnace.
And between the children of Israel and their Inheritance (their promise land) there was a river called Jordan (Jordan means, descender or the one that takes you down) that’s what Jordan intends to do is take you down, kill your dreams, drown your faith.
Even in most of our songs Jordan river is used to describe death.
There is a Jordan for every one of us.
Your Jordan may be different from mine, but what is the same is the fact that it stands between my promise and me and between you and your promise.
And the only way you or I can get through it is by faith.
You can’t float over on feelings, feelings won’t get you across, and you cant run over on past experiences, and you can’t get through on second hand knowledge.
Religion won’ t get you through it.
The only thing that can conquer Jordan is a living faith in a living God.
As the children of Israel stood at the edge of a raging Jordan river at flood stage, The captain Joshua give the Priest that carried the ark of the covenant, a strange order.
He says (start walking) (Step into the water) Start moving in the direction of your promise.
You can’t go by what you’re seeing or what your hearing or what you’re feeling or what other people are saying.
You can’t go by what your mind is saying or the economy is saying
(You have to move because God says Move)
You can’t wait until you can see a break in the waves, you can’t wait until it makes sense or it feels good to your emotions.
You can’t wait until you see the waters open up in front of you.
Maybe the first time God did it that way for you, when you were just starting out, but you’ve got some history with God now and he is requiring more faith from you now.
God says it time to take the training wheels off.
It’s time to get rid of the pacifier.
It’s time to get rid of the crutches
It’s time to move from sight to faith
It’s time to move from I hope so to I know so.
It’s time to move from the milk to the meat.
In other words: This time you have to get your feet wet.
You have got to have enough vision and enough faith in God to get you off your blessed assurance and Step in.
Tell your neighbor: I’m stepping in
I know it sounds crazy, I know it don’t make sense I know this Jordan is at flood stage and I know that people are saying it won’t work.
And I know that the circumstances are against me and the odds are against me (But it really doesn’t matter as long as God is for me) Cause if God be for me, who can be against me?
You see (I’ve Got a Word)
That’s all you need is a Word
When you’ve got a Word from God you can sleep like a baby in a den of lions, you can walk through a fiery furnace.
you can do the impossible.
You can bring down goliath with a piece of leather and a rock, you can have your meal barrel full and your cruse of oil full in the middle of famine.
All it takes is a Word
Peter Had a Word: Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a draught.
(Lord we’ve toiled, worked hard all night long and haven’t caught anything)
We haven’t caught anything: Not even a blessed minnow
I just want to stop right here and ask you, how long are you going to keep doing what doesn’t work? How long are you going to keep trying to make something happen before you turn it over to God, and do it’s Gods way?
Finally Peter Says: Nevertheless at Thy Word we will let down the net.
And when Peter obeyed the word of the Lord he went into overflow.
One word from God changed Peter’s circumstances.
He went from nothing to too much in one step
from emptiness to overflow in one step
from broke busted and disgusted, to blessed happy and wealthy in one step.
He had such an abundance of fish it almost sank his boat; he had to call others to come and help bring in the blessings.
And it was such an abundance that it almost sank their boat too.
Though weeping may endure for the night, Joy cometh in the morning
Peter went from a night season of wearied and toilsome, fruitless endeavor, to a morning season of overflow and joy and blessings in one step.
Let me prophesy to somebody who has the faith to reach out and grab it: Somebody is One step away from your miracle, one step away from your breakthrough.
One step away from a too much blessing.
You’ve put in your time of toiling, and trying and praying and confessing, and waiting and watching.
And I just came to tell you (Your one step away from what you’ve been believing for).
Nu 23:19 God is not a man that he should lie, neither the son of man that he should repent, if he said it he will do it, if he hath spoken it he will make it good.
When they stepped in the waters, as soon as the priests feet touched the waters (they rolled back).
As they walked the water fled from before them.
Ps 114:5 (David was meditating on this miracle one day and he said)
What ailed thee O thou sea, that thou fleddest? Thou Jordan that thou wast driven back?
The Message Bible says it like this:
What’s wrong with you sea, that you ran away and you river Jordan that you turned and ran off.
I want to prophesy to someone right now: There are some things that have been chasing you, in fact threatening to drown you and take you under.
It may be debt, it may be sickness, it may be fear, it may be a bad relationship.
I don’t know what it is that’s chasing you, but there’s a turn around in the atmosphere and God is getting ready to flip the script and that which has been running after you, nipping at your heels is going to be running from you.
But you have to stop where you’re at, turn around and face it and step toward it in faith.
And when you do you are going to initiate a Miracle.
Sometime ago my wife broke her ankle; we had just crawled our way out of over $5,000.00 worth of debt.
We thought we were finally getting on solid ground (Then pow we were hit with over 6,000 dollars worth of medical debt, then our income tax came due about $1,500.00 dollars.
Then to top it all off, our income tax preparer didn’t prepare our income tax and cost us a big penalty.
Wow, it felt like the Jordan River was at flood stage and was chasing us trying to drown us in a sea of debt.
But several years ago God gave us a word that he was going to cause an abundance to fill our lives. In fact he said: more than enough, as a matter of fact the word of the Lord even said (enough to give it away) Praise God
So we stood on that word, we fought with that word, we fought fear and discouragement and worry and doubt.
We stood on that word and confessed that word through disappointment, through confusion, through fear and through tears.
I even preached that word, when everything in our natural circumstances contradicted it.
We said many times: Lord we don’t know how youïre going to do it, but you said it and you cannot lie.
We said: we believe your word.
Then one day in the middle of our trial, God gave us a directive, (Pay your tithes first) We heard the man of God present the revelation that by paying your tithes first the blessing of God comes on everything that follows.
Well we had always been faithful to pay our tithes but it was not first, it was usually a check we would write on the day that we went to church and paid our tithes.
But this revelation struck home, I told my wife from now on as soon as we deposit our paycheck we will write our tithe check.
It seemed like such a small thing since we had always been faithful to do it anyway, even though it was fifth or sixth place somewhere down the line.
But we obeyed the directive: It was kind of like Gods command to Joshua, it didn’t make any sense, but God said step into the water.
As we obeyed the directive, we noticed almost immediately a change, a shift, something started happening.
Our money began to stretch, it was like a miracle, we didn’t have any more money it just seemed to go farther.
Then God gave us a side job, we immediately sensed God working in this and began to sow the income from that job as a seed.
Then God gave us another side job, we recognized that God was working with us now and that we had tapped into something.
So we began to use that job also as a seed.
It didn’t make much sense in the natural simply to change the time we wrote the tithe check, but it definitely meant something in the spiritual realm, and it didn’t make a lot of sense to sow everything extra that we had coming in because we could have used it to pay on a bill, or get cable TV. Or high speed internet or go shopping.
But we obeyed God and now Jordan is running from us: We have debt on the run, not only have we learned how to conquer debt for ourselves, now we are helping others step into their blessings.
Our weekly seed went from 5, dollars, to 10, to 20, to 30, to 50, to 100,.
Then God began to move and give us directions as to how to deal with our finances, and in one months time he erased over 15,000 dollars from our lives.
And it all started when like Joshua; we took the first step and started writing our tithe check first.
One step is moving us from borrowers to lenders.
From barely making it to more than enough
From weeping to rejoicing
From hoping somebody would give us a Pentecostal handshake with a 10 or a 20 dollar bill in it, to being the one to give the Pentecostal handshakes.
I love walking into a church and looking around to see (who am I going to bless today?) who’s life am I going to sow into today.
I’m trying to tell you, One step can turn your situation around and put you in charge.
I don’t know what Jordan you may be facing today. Your Jordan may be completely different from what I described to you from my own life.
And I don’t know what that One step is that you need to take, but if you will obey God and take that step (Jordan is gonna run from you).
Poverty and lack are going to run from you
Sickness and disease are going to run from you
Hopelessness and discouragement are going to run from you.
Worry and anxiety are going to run from you
Fear and confusion are going to run from you.
Deut 28:7 The Lord shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee, to be smitten before thy face: They shall come out against thee one way but they shall flee before thee seven ways.
One step of Obedience: The willing and Obedient shall eat the good of the Land
Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.
The miracle is not in the knowing or even the believing, the miracle is in the doing.
In our own circumstances, there was not an overnight miracle, no one walked up to us and handed us 15,000 dollars to pay off our debts.
We didn’t see immediate debt cancellation, (But what we saw was Jordan that was chasing us stopped and turned around and now it’s running from us).
When Ezekiel obeyed the Lord and started prophesying over those bones, things started changing, it was a process that continued until there was a full manifestation.
Tell your neighbor: I’m in process
Now tell your other neighbor: I’m making progress.
The bible says that the priests that were baring the ark kept moving until they were standing in the middle of the Jordan River.
Tell your neighbor: Keep moving, keep praying, keep sowing, keep coming to church and prayer meeting.
Keep on confessing, keep tithing, and keep believing.
Keep praising when you don’t feel like it, and you don’t see anything to praise him for, praise him just because.
Just because he’s God and Just because he’s worthy.
The main thing is: Keep moving, don’t sit down,
Then the bible says: The priest that were baring the ark stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan
There they were (where it was impossible to go, doing what it was impossible to do).
Tell your neighbor: Take a good look at me, cause I’m getting ready to do the impossible, I’m getting ready to go where they said It was impossible to go, and I’m getting ready to do what they said it was impossible to do.
You see I’m just crazy enough to believe God when he said: With God all things are possible, and all things are possible to him that believeth.
Tell your neighbor: My faith is making a way for me.
Now while the priests stood in the midst of the Jordan with the Ark of God raised in the air, somewhere between a half a million to three million people crossed over.
In other words while the priests were lifting God up in the middle of their trial, their Jordan, between a half a million to three million people came through on their praise.
I just want to tell you beloved: Somebody’s coming through on your praise, somebody that wasn’t going to make it, is going to make it because you praised God in the middle of your Jordan.
That’s why it’s so important that you lift him up, and praise him and magnify him even in the prison. Even in the lions den, even in the firey furnace, lift him up somebody’s life depends on it.
Anybody can praise God post Jordan, post the lions den, post the firey furnace, post the prison, (after the fact).
But there’s something about a midway praise, a midnight praise, an in the middle praise, that gets Gods attention and breaks things open.
Joshua erected a pillar of Stones in the midst of the Jordan where the priests feet stood firm on dry ground.
What is this pillar Joshua? What does it mean?
Joshua would say: This is my going through it praise.
I’m going through the worst trial of my life, but I’m going to praise him anyway.
I’m going through hell in my finances, but I’m going to praise him anyway.
I’m going through the valley of the shadow of death, but I’m going to praise him anyway. I’m going through it with my family, or on my job, or they’re trying to destroy my ministry but I’m going to praise him anyway.
This is my testimony that God has been faithful, and somebody else, sometime is going to come this way and in the middle of their firey trial they’re going to see this pillar of praise and it’s going to remind them of the faithfulness of God and it’s going to tell them, that someone else has passed this way before them and they didn’t drown, they didn’t burn up in the fire. The lions didn’t eat them and the prison couldn’t keep them.
And somebody else who wouldn�t have made it, is going to make it because of your praise.
Somebody is coming out of depression because of your praise, somebody is being set free from a spirit of suicide because of your praise.
Somebody is coming off of drugs, and somebody’s marriage is being restored, and somebody’s prodigal son or daughter is coming home because of your praise.
And at Midnight Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto the Lord and the prisoners heard them.
It didn’t say they joined with them, or even that they enjoyed their singing, just that they heard it.
And suddenly there was an earthquake that shook the foundations of the prison and every door flew open and every prisoners bands were loosed.
Tell your neighbor : This praise is for you,
I love this part: And all the Israelites passed over on Dry Ground
This is perhaps the greatest part of the miracle, not just that they made it through, but that there was no evidence, no residue, that they had been through what they had been through, they didn’t even have any mud between their toes.
Just like the three Hebrew children, when they came out of the furnace, their clothes were not burned, their hair was not singed, and there was not even the smell of smoke on them.
I’m prophesying to somebody tonight: God is going to get you out, you’re coming out, and when you get out you’re not going to look like what you been through, when you get out, there’s not even going to be any evidence left of the hell you went through.
And it all started when the priests obeyed the Lord and stepped into the water.
There’s somebody waiting for you to step in, you could be the key to someone else’s miracle.
If you really believed that One step on your neighbors part would release your miracle, how would you talk to them?
Give them a little nudge and tell them, lets get this miracle started.
Grab somebody by the hand and tell them: I’m stepping into my miracle.
Now tell them (I don’t want you to miss your miracle) I want to help you step into your miracle.
Revivalist: Terry Sisney
terrysisneyministries.synthasite.com
