Men, this morning I'm preaching on the subject of the parting of the Jordan
River, the parting of the Jordan River. This is the less known miracle because
we more often think about the parting of the Red Sea and that's as it should be
because the parting of the Red Sea is the bigger miracle that's brought up
more often in Scripture. But today we're going to talk about the parting of the
Jordan River. Now first of all let me point out some of the differences
between the parting of the Red Sea and the parting of the Jordan River. When the
Red Sea was parted, if you think about it, the children of Israel are fleeing from
Pharaoh's army. They've left Egypt after the ten plagues. They've left Egypt and
Pharaoh changes his mind and sends his army to pursue after the children of
Israel and to destroy them. So the children of Israel get to a point where
they're up against the Red Sea and they have nowhere to escape. The wilderness
has hemmed them in and they are literally just with their back against
the sea, enemy coming toward them, facing certain doom and God parted the Red Sea
providing them with a way of escape, a way of salvation, you know, a way of not
being killed. And so God of course parts the Red Sea, they cross the Red Sea and
then when the Egyptians follow them they end up being in the middle of the
sea when God brings the waters back down and drowns Pharaoh and his host. Now the
difference with the parting of the Jordan River is that the enemy is not
pursuing them when they cross the Jordan River. In fact their enemy is on the
other side of the road. They're actually going to the enemy. They're going on the
offense. They're crossing the Jordan River to go into the promised land. So
one way that you could think about this is that the Red Sea represents salvation
because of the fact that they're saved from their physical enemies but you can
tie it in with a spiritual salvation of being saved. Of course we're saved through
the blood of Christ and the Red Sea, obviously the color red is significant
in the Bible. It is often picturing the blood of Jesus Christ that saves us. And
so if you think about it, it makes sense that the Red Sea is the bigger miracle
because getting saved is the bigger miracle. I mean you want to talk about
something that's truly impossible. It's people like us getting into heaven.
That's impossible because we have so much sin. We've sinned so much there's
none righteous, no not one, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
And the Bible says if thou Lord shouldest mark iniquities, oh Lord who
shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared. If
you think about it, when faced with the Red Sea there is absolutely no way that
they're getting across that Red Sea without a miracle. Not happening, totally
impossible, just as it is completely impossible for us to be saved without a
miracle. It has to be a divine act. It has to be the blood of Jesus Christ, his
death, burial, and supernatural resurrection that saves us. That's the
only way we can be saved. If you think about the Jordan River, you could think
of maybe other ways that they could have gone around or even just swim across
because even when the Jordan River is overflowing all of its banks, it's not
the Mississippi, it's not the Amazon, okay? God still performed an amazing miracle
and he got them across on dry ground. But again the Red Sea is the much bigger
more tremendous miracle because it represents the bigger more tremendous
thing which is being saved. So we never want to de-emphasize the gospel or
de-emphasize salvation because that is truly the main thing. You know our job
here on this earth even after we're saved is to go and preach the gospel to
every creature. So even after we've already got salvation taken care of in
our own lives, we're supposed to spend the rest of our lives taking care of
that for other people and pointing them to the Savior and getting them across
that Red Sea as it were, getting them saved by the blood of Jesus. Now crossing
the Jordan River on the other hand represents the victorious Christian life,
actually being in the will of God. That's what the promised land represents
because if you remember the children of Israel even after they left Egypt, even
after they've been saved from Pharaoh and his host and they're out in the
wilderness, they're not necessarily happy in the wilderness. They don't want to
stay in the wilderness and in fact because of their disobedience they have
to stay in the wilderness longer as a punishment. So leaving the wilderness and
going into the promised land is living a blessed Christian life, living a
Christian life in the will of God, the victorious Christian life because the
promised land is a land flowing with milk and honey. It's a land where the
grapes of Eshkol grow whereas the wilderness was a place where they're
just kind of getting by, just kind of surviving. So you can see what these two
different things represent. Now obviously most of us here are already saved and so
therefore this is important to us, that crossing of the Jordan River in the
sense of living the victorious Christian life, being blessed by God, being in the
will of God. That's what we want so we want to cross that Jordan River. So let's
look at some things about this miracle and actually before we look down at
Joshua 3, let me just point out this as well. Later, centuries later, Elijah is
going to part the Jordan River and then Elisha will also part the Jordan River.
So this is a miracle that actually takes place on more than one occasion but look
down at your Bible there in Joshua chapter 3 verse 1 it says in Joshua rose
early in the morning and they were moved from Shittim and came to Jordan. He and
all the children of Israel and he lodged there before they passed over and it
came to pass after three days that the officers went through the host and they
commanded the people saying when you see the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord your
God and the priests the Levites bearing it then shall you remove from your place
and go after it. Now what is the Ark of the Covenant? It's basically a box or a
chest that was created from wood and covered with gold and it has these two
staves coming out the sides of it and it was carried on the shoulders by the
priests. It's obviously very heavy. Now it's not solid gold or it would be
impossible to carry but it's made out of wood and it well you know Joseph Smith
could have carried it you know but anyway because he could carry he could
carry gold plates that weigh several tons but anyway so they're carrying this
thing on their shoulders. It's obviously hard work and they carry the Ark of the
Covenant. What's in the Ark of the Covenant? Well the main thing that's in
there is the tablets of stone the Ten Commandments right and and so it
represents the Word of God okay because of the fact that's why it's called the
Ark of the Covenant. What's a covenant? You know covenant is an agreement made
between two people and the covenant between God and Israel known as the Old
Covenant. This is the Ark of the Covenant so it represents the Old Testament of
the Old Covenant so it represents the Word of God. God's Word is his covenant
that he made with the children of Israel that's why we call the two halves of the
Bible we call it the Old Covenant and the New Covenant Old Testament New
Testament because covenant and testament mean the same thing you could call it
the Ark of the Testament the Ark of the Covenant the same thing. So when he says
when you see the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord your God and the priests the
Levites bearing it then ye shall remove from your place and go after it. The
first thing that we want to see here because want to apply this to ourselves
in 2021 living in the New Testament if the Ark of the Covenant represents the
Word of God the Bible is saying that we need to follow the Word of God right so
when we see the Ark of the Covenant move forward then we need to remove from our
place and follow it. See God's Word calls us to a change a change in our
geography a change in our position you know we're sitting in one position and
when the Ark moves we need to move and so we might have certain beliefs or
certain practices in our life where we sit spiritually God is calling us to
change to move to follow the Word of God not to just stay still in our place well
well it's just what I've always believed well this is it you know it's
just how I've always lived my life God says no you need to move your backside
because the Ark is going that way you better go that way so God is calling us
here to follow his word and when we see the priests bearing the Ark we think of
people that are lifting up the Word of God holding up the Word of God exalting
the Word of God this is what every Christian is supposed to be doing
because the priest in the Old Testament was only a certain group of people among
the Israelites but in the New Testament every single believer is a priest yes
you heard me right every single believer is a priest you know sometimes I've been
asked like oh are you a priest by people that aren't familiar with being a
Baptist you know they're thinking Catholic or whatever and so they ask are
you a priest I always say yes I am but the difference is that it's not just me
that's a priest because I'm a pastor every church member is a priest if
they're saved and that could be male female old young you know we have a
street right down the street here that's called priests drive and so he's like
oh that's so Catholic I'm like no this is my street you know this is all about
us as believers we're the priests because we as Baptist believe in the
priesthood of the believer God has made us into a nation of priests and he has
made each of us into kings and priests unto God and his father and we shall
reign forever and ever and so the priests lifting up the Word of God you
know that that's Christians lifting up and exalting the Word of God so that
other people can see it and follow it you know if the ark's moving we need to
be able to see it moving so that we can know which way it's going right and so
that's why I have to lift it up high part of the reason why they're supposed
to carry it on their shoulders it's a little bit higher so that people can
actually see it that they might follow it and so we want to lift up the Word of
God so that other people will be able to follow it we want to let that light shine
so the Bible says in verse number four yet there shall be a space between you
and it about 2,000 cubits by measure 2,000 cubits is approximately 3,000 feet
or a thousand yards okay so we're talking about approximately a kilometer
speak American right so you know about two it's like two-thirds of a mile okay
but anyway the point is that you know this is they're saying don't get too
close to it right when you see the Ark of the Covenant it says in verse 4 there
shall be a space between you and it about 2,000 cubits by measure so
supposed to stay like think about it a little more than a half mile away from
this thing come not near unto it that you may know the way by which you must
go for you've not passed this way heretofore now why is he saying to keep
this distance he says keep the distance so that you'll know which way it's
going the idea here is that if you were following right up real close to the Ark
and the thing turns or moves you know you might not catch that right away and
you might start getting off on the wrong path right so you know if you're farther
away from the thing he says you'll be able to see and know which way you must
go because you see the the Ark moving and you can kind of get the big picture
of where the Ark's going as opposed to being right up on the Ark and it moves
and and you don't catch the turn in time you miss the switchback as it were now
what does this represent well he says you've not passed this way heretofore
he's saying you're going into uncharted territory you're going somewhere you've
never been and so you need the Ark to guide you you don't know which way the
Ark's gonna go so stand back far enough to where you can kind of see a big
picture of what the Ark's doing so that you can follow it and go to the right
destination well I was thinking about this in regard to the future you know
the future for us as Christian because this all has a spiritual application the
future is unknown it's somewhere that we've never been we don't know the Bible
says what a day is gonna bring forth we have no idea and so therefore we need
the Word of God to guide us in our lives and to show us where to head now what
does this represent this distance that we're supposed to have because you know
you think to yourself well shouldn't I want to be as close to the Word of God
as I could possibly be shouldn't I want to be as close to the presence of God
and and and follow hard after God and just be right there well sure you know
that's other symbolism somewhere else but this symbolism means something too
what does this represent I'll tell you what I believe it represents I believe
it represents the idea of getting the big picture of the Word of God and not
getting so close to it that you can't see the forest for the trees what am I
talking about I'm talking about churches where literally they'll spend several
months studying one chapter and then they're leaving 99% of the Bible
unpreached okay and and here this is the biggest mistake people make in their
Bible study I believe is that they don't read the whole Bible cover to cover so
they don't get the big picture you know and I'm so thankful that when I was a
young person my pastor gave me this advice he said read the Bible five times
cover to cover before you even think about studying the Bible and today
everybody wants to study the Bible they all want to do the deep dive and study
and and get into all this deep stuff they want to talk to you about the Greek
and the Hebrew they haven't even read the thing in English and they're talking
about Greek and Hebrew and and they're talking about all this deep stuff it's
like hold on a second have you even read the Bible once and so what they're
trying to do they're getting right up against the Ark of the Covenant looking
at it with a magnifying glass but they don't even see which direction is going
they don't even see the big picture the forest for the trees they're just so
focused on the minutiae and I'm telling you when I was in liberal churches this
is what they do I'd go to these liberal Bible studies and you would literally
spend months or even years in a chapter and they're just going over it like
word by word you could spend a whole sermon on one verse with these people
it's like I remember I remember going to a 13 week series on Psalm 23 each week
was half a verse and we talked you know because there's there's six verses so
one verse was kind of an over one week was like an overview or intro and then
you literally had each week being a half a verse next week you get the next half
of the verse so it took 13 weeks to study Psalm 23 but and you say well
that's so great you know to go so deep but people are missing vital nutrients
that they need elsewhere in Scripture because you're literally leaving 99% of
the Bible and preach while you just go so deep in this one passage in this one
thing and and this is what people often do in their Bible study and this is why
I recommend that the best kind of Bible for you to own is a Bible that's just
the text of Scripture without a bunch of notes and helps in it because I'll tell
you this when I was a kid I would read my Bible and it was filled with notes it
was a Scofield reference Bible and so it's filled with all these notes and let
me tell you something I read every single note I read every single note
because what happens is you read along and you're constantly being sent to
these notes and then the notes send you on this rabbit trail and I talked to so
many people that said like oh you know I can never get through the Bible because
you know I I read I get like two verses in and then I have a question then I
Google something and then I'm looking up this you know next thing you know it's
2 a.m. and you're on some you know Hebrew Israelite website or something
you're listening to some rabbi at 2 a.m. or something and I'm telling and it's
funny some people have even said this to me like it was a good thing like oh man
I never get very far in my Bible reading because you know it's just there's so
much cool stuff to chase it's like whoa there tiger because if you don't see the
big picture how are you gonna put things in context you've got to get the big
picture and I think that's one of the things that helped me the most as a
young person to get the right doctrine was just reading the whole Bible so I
took my pastor's advice he said read it five times I said that's what I'm gonna
do so I door I was just finishing up my first time so I was like okay next year
I'm gonna read it four times covered ever I got to the end of the fifth time
and you know what I said at the end of the fifth time I did not say all right
now let's study you know I was like I need to read it five more times before
studying because it's you know it shows you how much you don't know and how much
you don't realize the more you know the more you realize that you don't know
that's why some of the most prideful arrogant people are the most ignorant
people because the more you learn the more you realize how much there is to
learn and how the subject is so big and our lives are so short and we've got to
learn all this material you know it's just like whoa it humbles you and so I
highly recommend you to read the Bible cover to cover and if you're one that's
easily prone to distraction man get yourself a Bible that's just the text of
Scripture so it's just you and the Holy Spirit and and no no outsiders now look
I'm all for Bible teaching I mean here you are right now on Sunday morning
sitting and listening to some Bible teaching and I hope that this is helpful
to you I hope that it edifies you and builds you up but here's the thing you
need some time in your life with you and the Word of God without Pastor Anderson
okay I'm glad you're here with me I'm glad we're all together we're all
looking at this together but you know what there needs to be some times where
we are by ourselves with the Word of God and not with the internet not with any
pastor not with any notes or anything just you and the Word of God reading I
didn't say studying I said reading and look even me to this day you know I
do way more reading than studying way more reading than studying even at this
late date in my Christian life I do a lot more reading than studying because
I'd rather get the big picture and read things in context and get what God's
saying rather than just start looking at one you know verse with a microscope for
weeks and weeks and weeks and lose the big picture I mean think about how many
things in life have you ever seen these games or puzzles where they show you a
picture of something super duper up close and you have to guess what the
object is does anybody know what I'm talking about at all you know what I mean
it's like it like super duper up close like what is this and it's it's like a
basketball or something but when you zoom in on it it looks nothing like a
basketball it's just like these weird bumps or something or they'll you know
it'll be the cells of an organism or something and you got to guess what this
is you know it's pretty hard to understand what things are when you're
you know I mean though it's like the way it's the it's like the way sometimes the
Jews read the Bible right they really yeah they hold it too close to their
face all right you know you got to put a little space there all right see the big
picture but I'm telling you you know that's an important Bible study tip and
I believe that's part of what's being signified here you know get get far
enough away from the ark to where you can actually see which direction it's
going so that you know where to go I would say you know get far enough away
from the Bible to where you actually see the whole page we actually see the whole
book we actually see the whole Bible and get the big picture because here's
the thing you can take verses here and there out of context to teach a work
salvation but guess what when you read the whole New Testament you're not gonna
walk away thinking salvations by works no way because it just it's so many
times the message is being hammered that it's all through faith in Christ that we
cannot be saved by our deeds and so forth so you know you got to put a
little space there and get the big picture read the entire Word of God
everybody's excited about studying the Bible for the same reason why a kid
might want to go to a basketball practice and he wants to learn how to
dunk right away he goes to a martial arts class and he wants to learn a
spinning back fist he hasn't even learned the left jab and the right cross
but he wants to do some kind of a spinning jump kick but you know what
that is it's childish it's immature mature people understand that everything
works off the left jab amen and so that you know that's what a mature person
understands and so therefore we know that when you're reading the Bible you
know we need to get the basics the big picture and not just be a child that's
bored we're bored by the by the Bible but it's like oh you know the Nephilim
or you know we get all excited about some internet subject you know or some
deep dive into one thing that's you know yeah Ezekiel chapter 1 you know is
it is it UFOs and get you know doing a deep dive on the the UFOs of Ezekiel
chapter 1 or doing a deep dive any and look hey I'm for you doing a deep dive
but come talk to me when you've actually read the Bible five times cover to
cover I mean come on you've got to get the big picture at some point you got to
see the forest for the trees before you start you know going through all of your
numerology and and and Gemetria and all this crazy stuff and you know you'll
you'll end up realizing that a lot of that stuff doesn't pan out anyway so
let's keep going here in the story it says and Joshua said in the people verse
5 sanctify yourselves for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you now again
sanctify what does sanctify mean it means make yourselves holy sanctify
yourself sanctify means make holy all these place names in California that
have San or Santa in them right Santa Barbara San Diego you know what that
means is st. Barbara or st. Diego right so Santa Biblia in Spanish is the holy
Bible right so a saint is a person who's holy so sanctify means to make something
holy so he says sanctify yourselves for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among
you you know if we want to see God do wonders in our lives we've got to be
holy if we are living an unholy unclean unwholesome life is God gonna do wonders
among us no the prerequisite for God doing wonders among you is that you
sanctify yourself okay so follow the Word of God and sanctify yourself is
what we've seen so far in this passage and follow the Word of God from a
distance meaning get the big picture see the actual trajectory of the Ark what
you know what's the whole book of Joshua even about what is the New Testament
about rather than just hey we're okay week 17 on the Good Samaritan parable
alright so here we go it says in verse 6 and Joshua spake unto the priest saying
take up the Ark of the Covenant and pass over before the people and they took up
the Ark of the Covenant and went before the people and the Lord said unto Joshua
this day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel that they may
know thee that as I was with Moses so I will be with thee so so God says to
Joshua today I'm going to begin to magnify you in the sight of all the
people now after God miraculously parts the Jordan River and they cross on dry
land look what the Bible says in chapter 5 or sorry chapter 4 flip over
to chapter 4 chapter number 4 the Bible says in verse 14 this is after the fact
it says on that day the Lord magnified Joshua and the sight of all Israel and
they feared him as they feared Moses all the days of his life and the Lord spake
unto Joshua saying command the priests that bear the Ark of the testimony that they
may come up out of Jordan and so forth and then jump down if you would let's
see is that that you know what that is the verse I was looking for so the Lord
magnified Joshua in the sight of all Israel and they feared him as they
feared Moses all the days of his life okay now here's what's so interesting
about this idea of Joshua being magnified in chapter 3 and then again
in chapter 4 retrospectively God magnified Joshua in the eyes of all the
people and as a result of this event of crossing the Jordan River on dry land
they feared Joshua for the rest of their lives just as much as they feared Moses
they feared Joshua what's interesting about this is that Joshua didn't really
do anything here in this story because if you think about it when you know
Moses parts the Red Sea you know he holds up the rod and then the Red Sea
parts whoa you know God parted the Red Sea Moses held up the rod if you think
about Elijah he smites the Jordan River and it parts you know Elisha takes the
mantle of Elijah and smites the river and says where's the Lord God Elijah and
it parts and when people saw that with Elijah when they saw that with Elisha
when they saw that with Moses they had great respect for these men of God
because they wow look at this amazing miracle that God used them to perform
what's interesting here with Joshua is that he doesn't actually do anything the
way that this miracle actually takes place is that the priests are carrying
the ark on their shoulders and remember the ark is the leader they're supposed
to stay back from the ark you know about a thousand yards or whatever we
calculated approximately stay back a thousand yards from it and the way this
miracle actually took place is that the priests carrying the ark on their
shoulders they walked into the Jordan River they had to take a step of faith
as well because when they stepped into the river it hadn't been parted yet and
the Bible says the moment that the soles of their feet touched the river boom
that's when it parted away from them so they stepped out in faith carrying the
ark the water parts and then the Ark of the Covenant is carried halfway into the
river and they stop with the ark okay because basically the water is parting
for the ark and so as long as the ark is in the river the water remains parted as
soon as they take the ark out the water comes back so basically the priests they
carry the ark into the river on their shoulders they get halfway across the
river and they stop and then everyone else passes by them you know everybody
else walks by while they stand firm in the middle holding the ark everybody's
flooding by them on both sides until all the people get across and once the
entire nation is across I mean it's probably took many many hours of
standing there and holding this thing as everybody crosses and then once they get
across then the Levites themselves leave with the ark and as soon as the ark
leaves the water comes back okay so that's how this miracle took place but
what's interesting is that Joshua doesn't have any dramatic role to play
here you know he's not the one that actually puts his foot in the water it's
not like Joshua you know walked on water or something or Joshua put his
foot down and then it parted it's actually someone else it was the priests
that went into the river so how does this magnify Joshua in the side of all
the people well here's why because of the fact that Joshua is the new leader
Moses is the old leader he died and now they've got new leadership Joshua and
it's just simply the fact that God performed this great miracle while
Joshua's in charge even though he's not the one actually doing it just the fact
that he's their new leader and he's giving orders and then this happens it's
sort of like God putting his stamp of approval on Joshua showing just as I
was with Moses I'm gonna be with Joshua and that's what we saw in chapter 1 of
Joshua I preached about it a few weeks ago about how you know Joshua was told
I'm gonna be with you just like I was with Moses and that's what the people
said they said look we want to follow you just like we followed Moses but just
be courageous and so Joshua is magnified in the side of the people simply by the
miracle that takes place on his watch even though he's not really the one who
does it and the thing that I would take from this is that when it comes to
godly leadership the person who is the leader or the personality isn't really
the most important thing he's not the focus right so you know I'm the leader
of this church in the sense that I'm the pastor of the church I'm the overseer
I'm the bishop as the Bible will call it and so I'm the pastor of the church but
here's the thing this church is not about Stephen Anderson okay and the
greatest works that are done in the church may not necessarily even be done
by Stephen Anderson right there could be other great works that are being done by
other members of the church by other members of staff by laypeople they might
take trips and do great exploits for the Lord and and day in and day out all of
us are doing works for the Lord everybody's got a role to play it's not
the Stephen Anderson show okay it's about the Lord it's about the Word of
God it's about the Ark of the Covenant and really anyone who's lifting up the
Word of God has a key role to play so it's not about Joshua's personality his
charisma he doesn't have to say anything cool and and slap the water with a with
a rod or a mantle or hold something up or do something big because it's not
about the man but that being said we must have godly leadership so Joshua is
important I don't want to downplay Joshua here he's important but he's not
important because of his personality or because he's Joshua or whatever because
here's the thing Joshua can be replaced just like Moses could be replaced Moses
is replaced with Joshua same God same mission same Ark of the Covenant so the
point is that leadership is vital to the work of God we must have godly
leadership but we don't want all of the emphasis to be on that godly leader we
just need to have that godly leader follow that godly leader but don't make
it about him and this story is not about Joshua but still people walk away with
the right attitude toward Joshua saying hey this is our godly leader that he
gave us we know Joshua is legit things are happening according to God's promise
and so Joshua has the stamp of God's approval but it doesn't mean that it's
all about him personally it's more about the position that he's in or about the
role that he's in it's sort of like the Apostle Paul said these words I magnify
my office notice he didn't say I magnify myself you magnify himself he's
magnifying the Lord but he magnified his office you know he understood that the
position that he filled was important it was critical and he needed to take it
seriously and do a good job and look today my friend we need to understand
that godly leadership is essential because today we live in a world and in
a nation where people are rebellious today they have just a rebellious
attitude books and movies are constantly teaching them to be rebellious and
therefore people are rebellious when they go to their job they're rebellious
when they go to school and guess what they're rebellious at church too because
they just have this nobody's gonna tell me what to do kind of attitude and let
me tell you something it's not biblical rebellion is as a sin of witchcraft and
stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry you have people that are rebellious
against their parents because they don't like being told what to do you
know mom I don't need you to tell me what you know what you need to respect
your mom and dad and not talk back to your parents about you don't need them
to tell you this and you don't need them yes you do and you know what we all need
leadership in our lives and our country today is starving for leadership
spiritually you know there's so many just weak leaders and weak pastors and
nobody knows where to go nobody knows what to do because they're getting an
uncertain message from the trumpet they don't go to battle they don't know which
way to head because everything's so vague and unclear we need strong
leadership in the homes of America we need men who will stand up and lead
their family spiritually and inspire them to want to serve God we need
pastors that will lead the church and inspire the church to want to serve God
we need men who will stand up and be a Joshua that would lead people into the
Promised Land and lead people into the victorious Christian life and today
people say like oh you know I'm getting away from churchianity you're an idiot
if you use that word you're complete idiot because God is the one who
ordained the local church and purchased it with his own blood so here's God
purchasing the church with his own blood and your churchianity it's blasphemy to
mock God's institution because you want to be at home eating chips off your
chest watching a live stream doing a deep dive on UFOs and Ezekiel chapter 1
instead of actually joining the local church and doing some real work for God
hey we need to be serving God in God's institution the local church Christ
purchased the local church and you say well church church in the building I
know church in the building it's us and church is an assembly the word church
it's so easy to prove this all day long church means congregation church means
assembly guess what is an assembly a building no is a congregation a building
no but is a congregation us when we're all separate by ourselves no so when
people are like well we're the church that could be misunderstood right now
are we assembled right now so are we the church right now yeah we're the church
right I mean here we are we're congregated where the church not the
building it's us but here's the thing if I'm out at the lake next week and I'm
not here I can't just be out on the lake with my fishing pole like well you know
hey this is church right here man I'm in the church right here churches the
people man I mean I knock on people's doors out soul-willing and I invite them
to church like well we're in church right now man because we're talking
about Jesus wrong nowhere will you find that definition of church in Scripture
people talking about Jesus at a doorstep is not church you say well what are two
or three are gathered together okay please show me the verse in the Bible
that says where two or three are gathered together it's church is that
what it says no it says where two or three are gathered together there am I
in the midst of them does that make it church though hey you know what Jesus
was with Shadrach Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace was that church no
that wasn't church was it that's quite that's some red-hot preaching that's a
church that church is on fire for God that's not church Christ is in my heart
that's still not Church Church is assembly and let me say this if the
assembly doesn't matter then why did God have two whole chapters in the New
Testament talking about qualifications for pastors and deacons if church is
just a couple of guys hanging out and talking about the Bible and I see these
dumb memes on on Facebook it's not even worthy to be called a meme it's not even
a meme it's just a dumb picture on Facebook it shows like a picture of like
seven adults sitting around in chairs in a circle and then it shows a picture of
like something like this what we have going right here and it shows a picture
of what we have here like a congregation with hundreds of people and it says this
is not church and then it shows that the people in a circle it says this is
church so you know I saw somebody who's one of our type of people made a
response to it they showed a picture where it was flipped around it said
this is an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting and this is church okay and they'd
flipped it around and I'm thinking myself it's so accurate because it's so
dumb I mean they literally people post those pictures they've got like seven
adults around in a circle or like it'll be like six dudes in a living room and
I'm thinking like where are the women where are the children where are the
families how is this church just six dudes sitting around the coffee table
hey look I'm all for people getting together and studying the Bible amen you
know hey you want to get together with your buddies and study the Bible hey it
sure beats going to the bar and getting drunk every night go study the Bible as
much as you want and get together and study the Bible with other people as
much as you want but don't say that that's church or that that's a
substitute for church because it's not in the local church you've got
leadership right God spent all this time telling you about the bishop and the
deacon well so that we could not have one it doesn't even make sense okay we
gather together as an assembly and we are greater than the sum of our parts
because all of us would be doing less for God if we were not a part of this
church if I were out on my own I would be doing less for God if you were out on
your own you'd be doing less for being in church makes us do more we are
greater than the sum of our parts by coming together in God's institutional
local church leadership matters I just realized there's no clock on the wall so
I better pay attention here I could I could just get carried away you know I
could just keep going but but the point is that godly leadership is critical
especially in the day we're living 2021 I mean we've got to have leaders we need
some strong leadership but in 2021 America the spirit that prevails is one
of rebellion it's one of rebellion it's just I'm gonna do my own thing nobody's
gonna tell me what to do I'm my own man and and this is permeated into
Christianity like well I don't follow anyone I just follow God I only follow
Christ you know what that's a foolish and immature attitude because the
Apostle Paul said follow me as I follow Christ he said be followers of me he and
then he tells one church in Thessalonica he says ye became followers of the
churches of God which in Judea are in Christ Jesus you know the church in
Thessalonica are following the churches in Judea so one church is following
another church's example you know they're following their lead one man
following another man's lead Titus is following Paul and Timothy's following
Paul that's good we need leader and look oh and again if you actually read the
whole Bible cover to cover you'd know this because what do you see when you
read the Old Testament leaders it's a story about leader leadership Lee I mean
you got leaders like Abraham leaders like Jacob you've got leaders like Moses
leaders like Joshua and then what's the book of Judges about might as well be
called the book leaders somebody you know every time there's a good leader
things are going good bad leader things go bad that's what the book of Judges
is about and then what happened what happens when you get into first second
Kings for a second Samuel those type of books now we're talking about leaders
Kings different kind of leader and then we get into the prophets and here's what
I noticed about the books of the prophets are all named after somebody
Isaiah Jeremiah Ezekiel Daniel oh you're putting too much emphasis on man
quit falling bill Hosea Joel Amos church the entity a you're
falling pastors a fallen man Jonah Micah Nahum Habakkuk these are the names of
the books of the Bible what Bible are you reading God uses leadership now we
don't want to make it about the leader we don't want to worship the leader we
don't want to lift up the leader want to lift up the Word of God but the leader
plays a part in our lives leaders have a role and you know what a humble person
has no issue following someone else's example or following a leader following
their parents and you know it shows how mature you are when you can actually
start listening to and obeying your parents you think you're showing how
mature you are when you start calling your parents by their first name and
doing what you want and telling them that you don't have to listen to them
no you're showing the opposite mmm you're showing how immature you are
you're showing how insecure you are you have to prove some point you know I'm
all grown up you know it's funny I'm 39 years old so I don't go around saying
I'm a grown-up dang it you know I know it's I'm not little is now that's what
kids say don't they isn't that what kids say say I'm not little I'm not a baby
I'm not a child right so I'm 39 I'm just like I'm not little I'm not a baby I'm
not a child and you know what's funny is that you know little kids they enjoy
little kid stuff and then when they get a little older they're kind of too cool
for that stuff you know but then like once you're an adult you can kind of
enjoy that little kid stuff again because you don't really care what
people think so you know you'll take your kids and you take them to like the
little fun the little part of Legoland that's for little kids yeah you're
having fun you're playing with the little kids and stuff and you're not
just kind of like oh I mean I'm just doing this for them you know you're
secure enough to say like hey I enjoyed that I was fun I like that because you
don't have anything to prove and here's the thing it's it's immature spiritually
when you have this attitude of I don't need to listen anybody I don't need five
I'm just following Jesus you know that's it no you're not because Jesus gave you
pastors teachers evangelists you know the Bible says God gave those gifts to
the church those are gifts from Jesus to help edify you so you don't have to
always prove how independent you are people are constantly proving how
independent they are it's probably because they're not independent you know
the these pastors are oh we're independent now worried about so
independent we gotta be independent you know what let me just tell you something
it's because they're not independent it's because they're depending on
someone else and they don't like the fact that they're depending on someone
else they don't like the fact that they're reliant upon someone else so
then they have to make some big deal about how independent they are whenever
people just walk up to you out of the blue and tell you what they're not doing
unsolicited it'd be like if I walked into my house and one of my kids said I
didn't need any cookies you know what I mean it says people that are insecure
they have to make this big deal and and and make a big show about how
independent they are folks let's just be mature let's let's be secure and
understand that godly leadership has a role in our lives and it we don't want
to go too far in either direction we don't want to lift up the leader we
don't want to worship the leader we don't want to exalt the personality or
the person himself but we do want to understand the importance of having a
leader and that's what I think we get from the chapter because of the fact
that Joshua isn't the star of the chapter he doesn't really do anything he
doesn't really participate firsthand in the miracle but yet the miracle happens
and people acknowledge we should follow Joshua because following Joshua got us
to this point where we could see this great miracle even though it wasn't
Joshua doing it we got here let's keep following him so I think that's a great
thing to learn from this passage so God magnifies Joshua on the side of all the
people so that people would know at the end of verse 7 there in chapter 3 that
they may know that as I was with Moses so I will be with thee we don't even
really know that much about Joshua's personality I mean we got a book called
Joshua but how much do we really know about Joshua's personality not not much
we know a lot more about Moses right because we we get to see a lot more
intimate things with Moses you know praying and and it's just a much longer
story Joshua we don't I mean we know we know some things about him but it's not
really that important what his personality was it's it's more just the
pattern of following the Lord following God's Word having courage that's what we
need to do we don't need to wear our hair like Joshua or eat the foods that
Joshua enjoys but what we need to do is just have the faith and the the
spiritual components that Joshua had so let's let's finish this up here quickly
it says in verse number eight and thou shalt command the priests that bear the
Ark of the Covenant we're in chapter 3 of Joshua saying when you come to the
brink of the water of Jordan you shall stand still in Jordan and Joshua said
unto the children of Israel come hither and hear the words of the Lord your God
and Joshua said hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you and
that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites and the
Hittites and the Hivites and the Perizzites and the Girgashites and the
Amorites and Jebusites behold the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of the of all
the earth passeth over before you into Jordan and so again it's the Ark that's
crossing Jordan and it says in verse number 15 and as they that bear the Ark
were come unto Jordan and the feet of the priests that bear the Ark were dipped
in the brim of the water for Jordan overflow with all his banks all the time
of harvest that the waters which came down from above stood and arose up upon
and heap very far from the city Adam that is beside Zeratim and those that
came down toward the sea and of the plain even the salt sea failed and were
cut off and the people passed over right against Jericho and the priests that
bear the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of
Jordan and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground until all the people
were passed clean over Jordan and so this is the miracle that God does but
the actual actors here are not Joshua but rather the priests that are holding
up the Ark and the Bible says that they stood firm they stood on dry ground they
stood in the midst so that everyone else could pass by and you know what I
guarantee that was hard work to do that because just holding something on your
shoulders that one and and you know I was talking about this earlier and
somebody said well maybe they did it in shifts but even if they did it in shifts
that's still hard work because you still got to do a shift and you know just
standing there and holding something heavy like that and here's the thing
lifting up the Word of God today in 2021 nobody said it was gonna be easy it's
simple it's so what you know what I do what we do as a church here it's not
complicated you know sometimes people have you know asked me like what's the
secret you know it's just like it's not complicated it's just hard you know what
I mean it's it's simple you'd all you got to do is just stand there but you
got a big heavy ark on your shoulders that's the Christian life you know you
got to stand your ground you got to endure you got to keep going but it's
it's really not complex what you have to do and so these priests that are lifting
up the Word of God you know they picture every Christian every man woman boy or
girl who steps out in faith right because the first thing I do is put
their feet in the water we step out in faith we decide we're gonna live the
Christian life we lift up the Word of God and we stand our ground because as
soon as you lift up the Word of God then there's gonna be a challenge there you
know it might a challenge might come from friends it might come from family
but they're gonna be challenges to try to get you to stop you know that you
can think of it as the the cramp or the charlie horse or the you know just just
the fatigue of standing there holding that weight but we as Christians need to
stand our ground endure and lift up the Word of God and why are we lifting up
the Word of God is it for ourselves we're already there man we're already on
the dry ground we lift up the Word of God so that other people can get across
right so you know if I'm if I'm standing in the midst of Jordan holding up the
Ark of the Covenant it's because I want other Christians to live a victorious
Christian life I want other Christians in the Promised Land I want other
Christians being blessed I want other Christians being in that land of milk
and honey not just like well I'm on dry ground see you suckas and we just cross
and just walk across and just you know and just leave everybody else back there
no we want everybody to get across right and so we hold up the Word of God we
endure the pain we endure the toil and the sweat of holding up the Word of God
in 2021 so that other people can be blessed so that other people can grow
that other people can learn the Word of God we need to be like those priests of
God in this chapter lifting up the Word of God and you know what who told them
to go into the river Joshua so what are they doing they're following leadership
you know they're following the commandments here they're following and
and what are they lifting up they're lifting up the Word of God they're
exalting what needs to be exalted God's Word and today and today even Baptists
are sometimes criticized for making too much of the Word of God we're guilty
we're guilty because we do make a big deal about the word you know I just gave
somebody the gospel the other day and and then they literally said to me like
well I just don't think that you know I'm just not gonna base everything I
believe on a book and you know what I said to that I said I am I'm gonna base
what I believe on this book I mean is this all in that book yes it's all in
this book and we're following a box we're following a box on two sticks yes
we are because it's got God's Word in it represents God's Word God's Word is the
authority and look the pastor is not the final authority the Word of God is the
final authority it doesn't mean we don't need pastors it doesn't mean
pastors don't have a role in our lives but at the end of the day this is the
boss and this is the real source of the miracle and even when Elijah did do
something dramatic and smite the water and what this was still the source of
the miracle every single time let's buy it's not what a prayer father we thank
you so much Lord for this great story about parting of the Jordan River Lord
we all have a Jordan River in our lives that's that's keeping us out of the
Promised Land keeping us from that victorious Christian life keeping us
from the blessings that you have for us Lord help us to have the faith to follow
those who are lifting up the Word of God and to step out in faith so that we can
enter that Promised Land by following your word Lord help us to be standing
far enough away to where we can actually see the direction that your word is
pointing us Lord and help us to go that direction and follow people that are
taking us in that direction in Jesus name we pray amen