CROSSING JORDAN
Now after the death of Moses the servant of the LORD it came to pass, that the LORD spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ minister, saying, Moses my servant is dead; now therefore 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.
Johnstonian Principle #101
MOSES WAS GOD’S SERVANT
MOSES WAS MY SERVANT
MOSES WAS SUMMONED BY GOD
Summoned by God in the midst of a fiery bush
And commissioned by God to leave his refuge in the dessert to go back home
MOSES WAS ANOINTED
To confront the new king with an announcement
That after 430 years it was time for God’s people to GO!
THE PEOPLE NEEDED A SAVIOUR
God sent him at a time when His people needed a saviour
And Moses was able to show them the way out
And you must realize that they would NEVER have reached their destiny stuck in Egypt
MOSES WAS A RELUCTANT MESSENGER
Moses was anointed
But in spite of this he could only get them to the BRINK of their destiny
KADESH-BARNEA
From the time of their first arrival at Kadesh-barnea, in the autumn of the 2nd year, to the day that the Hebrews crossed the brook Zered in Moab on their final march, is said to have been a period of 38 years. (Dt 2:14)
During this period the first generation died out, and a strong race of desert warriors succeeded it.
For 38 years Israel lived in the nomadic state, changing camp according to the season …visiting the higher pastures in summer, and wintering in the lower lands
And from here they journeyed from here to the last leg of their journey. And in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, they arrived at the plains of Moab – in the Jordan Valley, in the wilderness east of the Jordan River
MOAB
Deutoronomy 34:1-8
5So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD. 6And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Bethpeor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day. 7And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated. 8And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days: so the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended.
Johnstonian Principle #102
The land they were going to was a PROMISE
CAN I TAKE MY TIME?
A FOURFOLD BLESSING
Gen 22:17: that in blessing I will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply your seed like the stars of the heavens, and as the sand which is upon the seashore. And your Seed shall possess the gate of His enemies
I will BLESS YOU
I will PROSPER YOU
I will GIVE YOUR SEED THE GATES OF THEIR ENEMIES
And I will BLESS ALL NATIONS THROUGH YOUR SEED
This is a PROMISE that God repeated
To Isaac – To Jacob – To Moses – To all of Israel
And now Watch this:
Exodus 33
The Command to Leave Sinai
1 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Depart and go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, "To your descendants I will give it.’ 2And I will send My Angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanite and the Amorite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. 3Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in your midst, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people." (New King James Version)
Deuteronomy 31
7Then Moses called for Joshua, and as all Israel watched he said to him, "Be strong and courageous! For you will lead these people into the land that the LORD swore to give their ancestors. You are the one who will deliver it to them as their inheritance. 8Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD is the one who goes before you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor forsake you." (New Living Translation)
Johnstonian Principle #103
THIS WAS NOT ABOUT EGYPT
This was bigger than Pharoah
And bigger than plagues and bugs and locusts and
THIS WAS ABOUT GOD DOING WHAT HE PROMISED He would do
From the time God made this promise to Abraham until the time of our text was
ALMOST FIVE HUNDRED YEARS!
AND YET HERE THEY STOOD ON THE SHORES OF THEIR DESTINY
WITH GOD REMINDING THEM
I mention this
’cause someone in this room has been WAITING on a PROMISE from God
For SO LONG that you’ve started to think that He never said what you thought He said
’Cause somebody needs to hear that
GOD HAS NOT FORGOTTEN YOU
And YES HE DID indeed say what you thought you heard Him say!
You need to understand some things about yourself
’Cause you’ve been walking around with your head down for so long
That you’ve forgotten some of the very basic principles of the Kingdom:
That thing you’ve been waiting for
And wondering about
And worrying about
You don’ have to wait, nor wonder, nor worry any more
It’s yours because it’s your HERITAGE!!!!
Don’t you remember? Let me refresh your memory:
YOU ARE:
a chosen generation,
a royal priesthood,
an holy nation,
a peculiar people;
that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy
For ye received not the spirit of bondage again unto fear; but ye received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
The Spirit himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are children of God:
and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him , that we may be also glorified with him .
Johnstonian #104
MOSES HAD TO DIE!
(Can I teach for a minute?)
Deutoronomy 34:5-8
Vs. 5-6 So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD. And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Bethpeor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day.
MOAB
Moab was a reminder of how long they’d been stuck – going nowhere!
It was as close as they’d been to reaching their DESTINY
And yet after 40 years they still hadn’t reached their destiny
It was close enough that God could show Moses the whole territory
From mountain to the sea – literally
But they were still on the other side of the Promise
And so it was time for God to remove the thing
That represented their Wilderness Experience …
So God had to KILL IT
’Cause I’ll tell you
People can follow behind a leader like this so long
That it’s hard for them to change:
Been at this so long
That I’m USED to it
I can FLOW with it
I can UNDERSTAND it
It fits well into my "comfort zone"
So God had to kill him
’Cause If Moses did not die
Israel might have NEVER GONE OVER INTO THE PROMISED LAND
Watch this
Vs. 7 And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated.
MOSES WAS STILL ALIVE AND WELL
So when they got to Mt. Nebo, it was time for him to go:
"Come on up here, Moses
time to go … "
120 years old when he died
· First forty years he lived as a prince in the palace
· For the second forty of those years Moses spent his life in the Wilderness and in the desert
· For the third forty of those years Moses spent his life in the Wilderness and in the desert
So by the time he died he’d been in the Wilderness for 2/3 of his life
In the Wilderness so long that it was all but too late for him to change for the Promised Land
To put it simple: Moses’ anointing was a WILDERNESS ANOINTING!
And another thing
He didn’t just kill Moses
But He had to HIDE THE BODY
’cause if He didn’t HIDE IT
They would have put up a shrine
and been trying to resurrect him!
MOSES’ ANOINTING WAS A Wilderness Anointing
And the time had come for the man with the Wilderness Anointing to move aside
To make way for the man with an anointing for the other side of the Jordan – a man with a PROMISED LAND ANOINTING
---------------
Got to Kadesh 2 years after they left Egypt
STAYED THERE for another 38 years
Listen, baby, it don’t take long to SETTLE IN!
I got back home from K.C. the week before Thanksgiving (2002), and immediately moved into a new house …
When I moved in I had to buy a new refrigerator and a new stove
And a new microwave and a new blender
And I bought a new TV for my bedroom
And had the cable guy come out and hook me up
And I put my books up on the bookshelf
And unpacked my "what-nots" and put them on the mantle
I got out the hammer and nails and hung up my pictures and certificates on the wall
And hooked up my Bose Surround Sound speakers and DVD
By the time Christmas came I was SETTLED
Now if I could get settled in my house in less than forty DAYS
Imagine how settled these peopLe were at the end of FORTY YEARS!
Pictures of the kids on the mantelpiece
Cows and chickens and sheep all nice and cozy in the yard
That old familiar and wonderful smell coming from the kitchen
Heck, I can find my way around this house with my eyes closed!
Now you want me to pack up my things
And GO somewhere?
And it’s like that today
Let’s not TALK about spiritual things, for a minute
Some of us have hang-ups about regular old every day things
DON’T ASK ME TO CHANGE THINGS
THIS LATE IN LIFE
I’M TOO OLD FOR ALL THIS NEW-FANGLED STUFF
Listen, church, we are Standing on the pulse of the millennium
That’s why I say
You can’t do Ministry in the 21st Century – using 19th century methods!
THE APOSTOLIC HOMILY
Now let me try and bring this home with some practical application
What does all of this have to do with me?
Well …
There are some things in the CHURCH that need killin’
There are some things in the CHURCH that have us caught up – and it’s time for God to KILL IT and HIDE IT
We are at a great crossroads in the History of the Church
And if God didn’t kill some things
Some of us would stuck in be the Wilderness
Trying to resurrect them
You know …
Those things that got you through
Those hoary old religious traditions
Things that made you feel good
God had to kill it and hide it
Otherwise you would spend too much time tryin’ to find it and
resurrect it
Or else – even worse – get lulled into a false sense of security
LIKE MOAB
Jeremiah 48:11-12 :: New Living Translation (NLT)
11"From her earliest history, Moab has lived in peace. She is like wine that has been allowed to settle. She has not been poured from flask to flask, and she is now fragrant and smooth. 12But the time is coming soon," says the LORD, "when I will send troublemakers to pour her from her jar. They will pour her out, then shatter the jar!
Moab was a place of NO CHANGE
It was comfortable, because it settled in and got comfortable
No on came along to disturb the peace so everything was O … KAY
And so long as you didn’t bother us …
Time came, when God said:
It’s time to pour you from your jar
So I can stir up the good stuff at the bottom of the pot
The Church has been in a state of STASIS
For about the past five hundred years
We were OKAY
Just as long as nobody bothered us
Great moves of God emerged in the form of the Reformation
To stir up men’s souls
Set men free from the bondage of the old religious traditions
It was necessary for these great movements to come along,
Like a modern Moses in the Wilderness
Otherwise the Church would have remained in bondage
It began in the
16th Century – PROTESTANT REFORMATION
Martin Luther, John Calvin, Ulrich Zwingli, William Tyndale, John Knox
Authority of Scripture (Sola Scriptora)
Justification Salvation by Grace
Priesthood of the Believer
18th century – SANCTIFICATION/Holiness
John Wesley
19th century EVANGELISM
Great missionaries sent forth like William Carey, Joseph Wolff
Great reformers of the Church
Who also went on to establish great institutions and seminaries at
Eton and Cambridge and Oxford and Tübingen
And here in America at Harvard, and Princeton and Yale
And so the way was made paved for the next great moves
But …
Along the way – though – the Church got comfortable
And all the good stuff settled to the bottom of her jar
LIKE MOSES THE CHURCH WAS HEALTHY
SHE WAS STRONG – AND SHE PROVIDED HER CHILDREN WITH Vision
BUT IT WAS A VISION FOR THE WILDERNESS
And so the religious folk at the forefront of these
Movements got to a point where they said
NO FURTHER!
CESSATIONISTS denied the power and the offices of the Holy Spirit
So a time came when the Church was in danger of getting
Stuck right there in the Wilderness of
TRADITIONALISM
C. Peter Wagner [See Illustrations]
Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. Eph. 2:19-22 NKJV
SO THE TIME CAME THE GOD HAD TO TURN OVER THE JAR!!!
God is fiercely reviving the OFFICES and MINISTRIES of the Church that he handed
Down to us through his servants the ancient apostles
Johnstonian Principle #105
IT’S TIME TO GO!
Vs. 8 And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days: so the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended.
God knew if He didn’t give these people some time to mourn
They’d have had ’em a shrine erected
In just a few days
I could just see ’em watching Joshua coming back down that mountain all by himself
OH LAWD MOSES DEAD!!!!!!!!!!
What happened?
Why now?
Why Moses?
Why couldn’t it be me?
LAWD …
What’s next?
Where are we going?
Who gone lead us now?
So caught up in the mourning
That when your Joshua comes along you don’ recognize him
Clinging to stuff that’s been long dead
Things you said you’d come out of
Trying to rescue those old experiences
Stuff that God removed and hid – thinking bout BACK IN DA DAY!
But MOSES IS DEAD now is the time to enter
And you can’t go forward caught up in yesterday’s memories
Look at our text
Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them--the children of Israel.
Moses is dead
What We Gone DO???
GET UP! Baby
We gotta GO!
I’m talking to some people in this room who been dealing with some stuff
See I been preaching for 28 years and in that time I’ve met some folks who’ve been involved with some stuff
And I’ve come by to talk to you
About …
How you’ve been thinking about some stuff
That was part of your past
· How you used to be caught up in some things that were kinda shady
So now you’re ashamed
And you want to sit around and feel sorry for yourself
· How you been reluctant to come to church today
’Cause you thought somebody might recognize you
That they might be looking at you – or talking about you
But God sent me by to tell you it’s time to get up
You been a slave to your past for TOO LONG!
Yeah they might recognize you from down on Prospect Street
Yeah they might remember the things you used to do for a nickel rock
It might be true that the last time they saw you
You were wallowing drunk in the street, in pee-soaked jeans
It may also be true
That they took your kids
… And folk have written you off
Considering how many times you been in and out of prison
But listen, honey boo-boo
Those things were part of your Wilderness experience
It’s time to prepare for a new day
Your destiny is waiting for you, on the other side
I wonder if I could get somebody
Who don’t mind getting their feet wet
Come on baby let’s cross over
Look at your neighbor, and … if they ain’t movin’ tell ’em
Ex-CUSE me
But I gotta go!
And when you cross over …
You can’t go in there just any old way
You need to go in remembering that this is your HERITAGE
This is the place that God promised you, from before the foundation of the world
You need to walk in with ATTITUDE
You need to walk in the mindset that THIS IS MINE!!!
