NAVIGATING THE NEW YEAR
Anchors Aweigh
Today we’re going to begin a 4 part series of messages that I’ve titled "Navigating the New Year."
I’m going to ask you to join me in the book of Joshua, chapter 4. Before we read our text, let me bring you up to date as to the history of Joshua and the Israelites prior to this point in time.
Moses had died, and Joshua now stands as the leader of God’s chosen people. Joshua’s instructions from the Lord were to "arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel."
God instructed Joshua further and said, "Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you..."
There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee."
So Joshua started out his journey toward the land of Canaan with God’s promise of protection and preservation.
As chapter 3 opens, we find the Israelites camped out on the bank of the Jordan. After three days, being led by the priests and the ark of the covenant, the Jews miraculously crossed the swelling Jordan on dry ground.
This brings us to our text in Joshua 4:19.
Today, we find ourselves having "crossed over" so to speak into a new year. Like the children of Israel, we find ourselves venturing into unchartered territory. Never before have we been where we are today in terms of time. Like many who followed Joshua into Canaan, we’re not sure what lies ahead for us in the year 2001.
Let me share a story with you and then we’ll get into the message.
The story is about a man by the name of Larry Walters, a 33-year-old man who decided he wanted to see his neighborhood from a new perspective. So, he went down to the local army surplus store and bought forty-five used weather balloons.
That afternoon he strapped himself into a lawn chair, to which several of his friends tied the now helium-filled used weather balloons. He took with him, something to drink, a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich, and a BB gun, figuring he could shoot the balloons one at a time when he was ready to land.
Walters, who assumed the balloons would lift him about 100 feet in the air, was caught off guard when the chair soared more than 11,000 feet into the sky--smack into the middle of the air traffic pattern at Los Angeles International Airport. Because he was too frightened to shoot any of the balloons, he stayed airborne for more than two hours, and forced the airport to shut down its runways for much of the afternoon.
Soon after he was safely grounded and cited by the police, reporters asked him three questions:
"Were you scared? "Yes."
"Would you do it again? "No.
"Why did you do it?" "Because you can’t just sit there."
When it comes to the year 2001, we can’t just sit there. A new year means a new journey. It means new opportunities, new possibilities, new adventures.
Having never passed this way before, the newest inhabitants of Canaan were not sure what to expect, but they too knew that they couldn’t just sit there. As I see it, there are three things which occur in Joshua 5 that need to occur in each of our lives if we are to Navigate the New Year successfully.
I. PUT AWAY THE CURSE
A. Joshua 5:2-3, 8-9
B. Look again at the Lord’s words in verse 9, "...This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you..."
C. What was the "reproach of Egypt?"
D. Exodus 32:12
E. The "reproach of Egypt" had to do with the Israelites failure to inherit the Promised Land. Because of their rebellion against God, the Lord made them wonder around in the wilderness for forty years, and all the while, the Egyptians mocked them and ridiculed them.
F. But by crossing the Jordan and renewing the rite of circumcision, the Israelites were showing to their enemies that indeed God was back in the camp and they were back on track.
G. I don’t know what resolutions you made at the beginning of last year, but no doubt many of you made plans, and did so sincerely, to do some things differently in the year 2000.
H. Perhaps you set out with a new resolve to do some great things for God and to claim all that God had for you, only to be disappointed and defeated.
I. Now, here you are 7 days into the year 2001, and in your heart you want to start again, in your heart you want this year to be different than the last, but like the Egyptians, the devil has come along and he’s mocked you and ridiculed you and convinced you that it’s no use.
J. Just because we’ve failed in the past doesn’t mean that there’s no hope for the future. FAILURE IS NOT FALLING DOWN; IT’S NOT GETTING UP!
ILLUSTRATION: Somebody asked Winston Churchill one time what most prepared him to lead Great Britain through World War II?
This was Churchill’s response: "It was the time I repeated a class in grade school."
The questioner said, "You mean you flunked a grade?"
Churchill said, "I never flunked in my life. I was given a second opportunity to get it right."
In a similar story...
ILLUSTRATION: Jonas Salk attempted 200 unsuccessful vaccines for polio before he came up with one that worked. Somebody asked him one time, "How did it feel to fail 200 times trying to invent a vaccine for polio?"
This was his response: "I never failed 200 times at anything in my life. My family taught me never to use that word. I simply discovered 200 ways how not to make a vaccine for polio."
K. With the dawn of 2001, God has given you and I a second chance to get it right. No doubt we now know more ways NOT TO live life than we did a year ago. We don’t have to make the same mistakes again. This year DOES NOT have to be a repeat of last year.
L. One more thing about putting away the curse and we’ll go on. Notice verse 3 again.
1. The "hill of the foreskins" was where the circumcision took place, and where they buried the flesh.
2. Do you think the Israelites ever went back and dug up those nasty things? NO! Do you think that at some point they got this overwhelming feeling to uncover that which had been cut away and disposed of? ABSOLUTELY NOT!
3. Then why in the world would we want to go back into the archives of the year past and relive moments in time that have been long since forgotten by God?
4. "As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us", the Psalmist says.
5. If confessed, our sins have been FORGIVEN, FORGOTTEN, FOREVER!!
II. PREPARE FOR CHANGE
A. Joshua 5:10-12
B. We see from these verses that God doesn’t always do things the same way. There was a period of time when He miraculously fed the children of Israel with manna from heaven, but now things were going to change. They were going to have to grow their own food.
C. I’m sure that some of them had a hard time adjusting to the change, but then again, change is always hard.
ILLUSTRATION: Here’s an interesting bit of trivia for you.
The U.S. standard railroad gauge (distance between rails) is four feet, eight-and-one-half inches.
Why such an odd number? Because that’s the way they built them in England, and American railroads were built by British expatriates.
Why did the English adopt that particular gauge? Because the people who built the pre-railroad tramways used that gauge.
They in turn were locked into that gauge because the people who built tramways used the same standards and tools they had used for building wagons, which were set on a gauge of four feet, eight-and-one-half inches.
Why were wagons built to that scale? Because with any other size, the wheels did not match the old wheel ruts on the roads.
So who built these old rutted roads?
The first long-distance highways in Europe were built by Imperial Rome for the benefit of their legions. The roads have been in use ever since. The ruts were first made by Roman war chariots. Four feet, eight-and-one-half inches was the width a chariot needed to be to accommodate the rear ends of two war horses.
Maybe "that’s the way it’s always been" isn’t the great excuse for not changing that some people believe it to be.
D. The truth is, change is a part of life. There are some changes that take place in our life that we like and some we don’t like.
E. If you’re going to successfully navigate the new year, you need to be ready for change. There may very well be some dramatic changes in your life in any number of areas in the year 2001.
1. Physically
2. Financially
3. Vocationally
F. And what is true of our life personally is also true when it comes to the life of our church.
1. We should not expect FBC to be the same church this year as it was last year.
2. I don’t know about you, but I’m expecting the Lord to lead us into some fresh, creative ways of doing ministry.
3. I’m hoping that He will change the way we relate to one another and to our community.
4. I trust that in this coming year that we will learn to live closer to the Lord, and in greater dependence on Him and in less dependence on the pattern that we’ve gotten used to.
G. Let me give you three things that I think to be true when it comes to change as it relates to church life.
1. Change can be Destructive
a. There are those today who take the same approach to ministry change that The Duke of Cambridge took in the late 1800’s. He said, and I quote, "Any change, at any time, for any reason, is to be deplored."
b. While I could not disagree more, I will say that some change can be destructive.
c. I think that too much change too fast can be detrimental to a ministry.
2. Change can be Conducive
a. Not all change is bad. Many times, what seems to be a negative change can, in time, become something very positive.
ILLUSTRATION: When the railroads were first introduced to the U.S., some folks feared that they’d
be the downfall of the nation! Here’s an excerpt from a letter to then President Jackson dated January 31, 1829:
As you may know, Mr. President, ‘railroad’ carriages are pulled at the enormous speed of 15 miles per hour by ‘engines’ which, in addition to endangering life and limb of passengers, roar and snort their way through the countryside, setting fire to crops, scaring the livestock and frightening women and children. The Almighty certainly never intended that people should travel at such breakneck speed.
The letter was signed by Martin Van Buren Governor of New York.
b. Whenever change is introduced in ministry there are always those who’s immediate response is "Oh great! There’s goes the church!" But in time, many of those same people come to you and say something like, "You know Pastor, when we first went to projecting songs and announcements and sermons on the screen I didn’t like it. But now I ask myself ‘why didn’t we do it sooner?’"
c. Even though some change may challenge traditional thinking or contradict our personal preferences, as long as it complies with Biblical principles, it should not be considered something evil or villainous or from the pits of hell.
d. Let me tell you a little truth that I’m having to learn. If I limit the change that takes place in FBC to include only those things that I’m comfortable with, this is going to be a very small place. FBC is bigger than Bill Prater and his comfort zone.
3. Change can become Addictive
a. Pastors and churches need to guard against becoming addicted to change. That is, making change just for the sake of change.
b. It’s a sad day when a pastor has to change something just to keep the people "fired up." Churches like that are very shallow, emotion driven churches and they’re destined for extinction if they don’t do something.
III. PRESENT OURSELVES BEFORE THE CAPTAIN
Joshua 5:13-15
As we prepare to navigate the new year, we must:
A. Assure ourselves of the Lord’s Presence
1. It’s not a question of whether or not God’s on our side. The question is, "Are we on God’s side?"
2. As long as we’re on God’s side, we have the promise of His presence.
3. If there’s anyone I want at the helm of my ship this year, it’s the Lord.
B. Avail ourselves of the Lord’s Power
1. I love the Lord’s answer to Joshua’s question. He said, "...Nay; but as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come..."
2. The "host" that the Lord was referring to here was not the host of Israeli soldiers that had just crossed the Jordan. The host referred to here is the unseen army of the Lord that stands ready, at His command, to go to war against the enemies that oppose us.
3. You and I have available to us right now, the power to conquer every enemy that may confront us in the year 2001 or in any year as far as that goes.
4. As Paul said, "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)"
5. If we’re going to make it safely through the New Year without sinking, we had better learn to avail ourselves of the Lord’s Power.
C. Abase ourselves as the Lord’s People
1. The moment Joshua realized who it was he was speaking to, he fell down in humble submission before Him.
2. If we think we can make it through the storms of this year on our own, we are in for a BIG surprise.
3. Let me tell you where we better begin our New Year’s voyage. We had better start right down here at the altar in humble submission before the Lord, pleading for His presence and His power.
D. Align ourselves with the Lord’s Plans
1. When Joshua was told what to do, he did it.
2. The Lord has some very definite plans for each of our lives this year. They may not line up exactly with what we had planned, but rather than trying to convince God to change His plans, we had better make the needed adjustments in our life so that what we do lines up with what He wants us to do.
CLOSING: So here we are, seven days into the New Year. Seven, the number of divine perfection. I wonder if the Lord is not telling us that today is the PERFECT day to make some decisions concerning the New Year?
1. Salvation
2. Church Membership
3. Full committal of our life to the Lord
