Cross This Jordan | Jack Hibbs Special

Cross This Jordan | Jack Hibbs Special

Okay church, let’s stand if you would something different tonight different, seemingly the same same type study format, but we’re gonna end um differently tonight by design.
And so this is where I’m at, this is our, as I mentioned, this is our last Wednesday of the year.
And um by the time you and I get back together again, it’s gonna be a new year.
And you might, you might say, well what’s the big deal? It’s just nothing.
It’s just another, it’s just a year. I understand that, but to God, it’s a big deal.
There’s things about it, which is why we have years. That’s why we have seasons.
He’s big on this stuff to us.
You know, we get out of the bed the same way the New Year’s Eve as we do New Year’s Day.
But God has set for us times and seasons that we are too meter or monitor our progress and we need to be careful about that.

So tonight has everything to do with that.
We’re looking at a message this evening regarding this topic and that is cross this Jordan’s Cross this Jordan.
You see, what do you mean by that?
I’m gonna ask you tonight to consider this week as we approach sunday New Year’s Day that you had adopted in your mind and in your spirit as though you’re crossing the jordans, the Jordan river, not the Jordan river, but the Jordan of our time and we’ll see why that’s important.
But as we read this or get ready to read this.
I I I’m with you on the fact that we’re living in this last week.
And thoughts will arise in your mind about the year end and the year back and what am I gonna do and next year and what does it hold and all of these things and many things come to our minds when we consider that.
Usually for most people, it’s a time of some sense of renewed ambitions or commitments.
Um, lisa I just bought a treadmill Why?
Because we’re gonna get in shape in 2023 and it’s there the company came, they set it up and they said this is how you press start.
Maybe I’m gonna put a lamp on it or something. I don’t know.
But there’s a sense of yeah, change for the better.
And so there’s the infamous New Year’s resolutions.
I’m just happy to report as you well know that God is not into that as much as real awesome radical change.
And so Joshua, chapter one tonight, I’ll read the odd number verse if you’ll read it out loud.
The even numbered verse Joshua one verses one through nine after the death of moses. The servant of the Lord.
It came to pass that the Lord spoke to Joshua the son of noon moses assistant saying every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon.
I have given to you. I want all of you to hear this As I said to moses friends guys by the way is massive.
That is the promised land and it’s yet to be inhabited someday it will when christ returns.
No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life as I was with moses.
So I will be with you. This is God speaking to Joshua. I will not leave you nor forsake you.
Oh yeah, only be strong and very courageous that you may observe to do according to all the law which moses my servant commanded.
You do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left.
That you may prosper wherever you go.
Given all of that.

Have I not commanded you be strong and of good courage.
Do not be afraid nor be dismayed for the Lord. Your God is with you wherever you go and all.
God’s people said Amen. You may be seated. What an encouraging passage that is.
That’s God speaking to Joshua over and over again. You heard him say it be strong, don’t be afraid.
Be of good courage. And I’ve I’ve told you often before.
The reason why God said that to Joshua is because he was not a man.
Apparently that was prone to be encouraged.
And uh quite frankly he must have suffered from fear and anxiety or else God wouldn’t have wasted his words noticed that when God speaks to you, he never waste a word.
Everything he says. Now as we get into this, we know a little background and I’m gonna be doing some sort of devotional type teaching as we look at this regarding the year that’s ahead of us.
Number one, understand this, Joshua’s name is the same meaning as jesus’s name, same exact meaning Joshua.
It’s not a stretch to see that.
There’s a reason why many scholars throughout antiquity have shown us how Joshua is a, an example or a type of jesus.
The commitment is made, Joshua leads them, they cross over the Jordan river into the promised land, but the promised land is full of warfare.
It’s full of bad people, it’s full of difficulty.
It’s full of victories as long as you obey God and defeats when you disobey God. Many songs right?
This way that crossing over Jordan’s is going to heaven, oh when I cross over and be in Emmanuel’s land that listen, going over to Jordan’s or crossing the, Jordan is not going to heaven, It’s a depiction of the believer’s life on one side, the Children of Israel were under one covenant.
Are you with me? When they crossed over the Jordan river, they entered into an entirely different relationship with God.
It’s amazing. It’s awesome. By the way.
Side note Jordan’s an it’s two words jordans or Yordan, the name, Jordan means judgment or descending judgment or or a dividing line.
That judgment separates the two and so on one side you have, as it were an old, an old covenant and on the other side you have a new covenant Led by this one, Joshua Joshua.
And um he leads us into battle, he leads us into warfare, you say, I don’t know, wait what if you’re a christian, you ought to know something about warfare spiritually speaking.
And that’s your reality.
In fact, I think the more you walk with jesus in this day and age, the more of that you’re gonna experience.
But a little bit of the, of the background I was reading about the Canaanites today and it’s remarkable you gotta remember where God is sending uh Joshua and the Children of Israel, they’re going into Canaanite land, pagans are there?
You see? No Jack, I have a problem with that because isn’t it the promised land? Yes it is.
But weren’t there people there before Israel wasn’t it the first come right, first serve, so to speak.
Uh yeah that’s true. Whoever there’s first unless it’s displaced by war or something. Yeah, there were people there first.

Well then how can it be Israel’s land because God promised to abraham, he said I have a problem with that.
Yeah, I know. So does the United Nations, there were people there first. That’s not the point.
The point is God says, oh I have a promised land for you, my Children and you’re gonna inherit it and I’m gonna lead the way, it’s a land that is promised by God to the people of Israel and the world doesn’t understand that they’re not supposed to understand it, they can’t, we’re talking two different languages here.
But you do relate to it this way before you were a christian. What were you answer?
Non christian, you were of the world.
The bible says we’re learning in romans that you were uncircumcised in your heart, right?
But when you became a follower of christ, your heart was circumcised uh and the flesh was removed of your heart so that you now have a life of the spirit.
Okay, now watch this. The promised land had to be occupied by the flesh first because the promised land has to be circumcised of the flesh before the Children of Promise can live in it.
It’s a picture, it’s a mirror, it’s not poetic, this really happened, it’s a type, but it’s a reality.
And so when you walk into the new life with christ, you walk into a life that is circumcised of the carnality of the flesh and you walk in the spirit and from this moment on when they cross over everything that they do is a success.
If they do it by the spirit of God, if they don’t, if they if they offend God like akin did at the battle of Ai he wanted to keep a little bit of the clothing and a little bit of the gold and silver for himself and the jewelry, he took the boot from the battle it said and he buried it in the bottom of his tent and then Israeli soldiers started dying in the heat of battle and Joshua said, what the world’s going on?
Isn’t that amazing to be so close to God that when you start seeing your men die, you know immediately, okay, something’s wrong, God is not protecting us, what’s up retreat and they retreated only to find out because josh remember he threw himself on the ground, he was crying and God said stand up, you can almost hear God say it, stop crying, get up and Joshua stands there, can you imagine this general and he’s standing there and God says there’s sin in the camp, Somebody in the ranks of the army have sinned against me, that’s why people are dying.
God had told them to go in and to take the land.
So here’s some really amazing stuff. Let’s put this up on the screen. It’s kinda it’s just absolutely epic.
Um you see that tablet to the right, this tablet that isn’t, that’s not a that’s not, that’s not a knock off.
This is one of the oldest artifacts on earth.
It’s a cannon night tablet and it was decipher in red and I don’t have the time to get into the background but phony shin language, Canaanite and hebrew language is all wrapped up in this early discovery.
Let me read to you what it’s about discovered in 18 28 in what is today Northern Syria.
This rare collection of stone documents record the pagan worship practices of the Canaanite religion a dominant element.
Listen up everybody of Canaanite worship was the practice of various forms of child and or human sacrifice.
We know that from reading our bibles, don’t we?
Ritualistic prostitution among both sexes as well as pedophilia were a common occurrence even among those of the youngest age is so brutal, violent and barbaric were the practices of Canaanite worship that populations were often decimated by various forms of sexually transmitted diseases.
You said, How do they know that?
Because in fragments of pottery and even fossilized bones, uh, they found those diseases for these evils.
God commanded the Israelites to exterminate the inhabitants of the land.
If you ever pause right there, have you ever read your bible when God says now Israel, this particular city that you’re gonna attack, um, I want you to take them and displace them and bring them into captivity and they can become your slaves, but they cannot continue to be in the promised land and they did that.
And then another city, The next battle.
God says, okay, now, this city, I want you to go in there and I want you to kill everybody including the animals and burn it all.
You say, why would God do such a thing for those of you in the medical world?
You know that when you need to kill viruses.
Germs and diseases, you’ve got to autoclave those things, which means burned them at extreme heats to kill or to stop the plague.
When you read that in your bible. Remember that friends?
So God says for these evils, God commanded the Israelites to exterminate the inhabitants of the land.
However, Israel disobeyed the command as the Canaanite religions were tolerated.
Here’s where it comes to our culture today, tolerated and frequently absorbed into the worship of the one true god among the Israelites Over the years that followed proved to be the genesis of the spiritual decline fall and ultimate dispersion of the nation of Israel.
All of this stuff is written in these in these tablets, not the dispersion of Israel but their practices another way.
It’s written in stone where they’re very acts of horrific religious sanctioned sexual immorality in other words.
In a nutshell, sex became the religion of the Canaanites until it completely destroyed them. Sound familiar.
We’re living in an age where that very thing is happening today.
So this is what I want to run through tonight.
Mark this down tonight is gonna be a night for us to determine to be a changed or a different people to be a people separate from this world in it.
Yes. Loving those that are in this world. Yes, but not loving the world.
So number one cross this Jordan God is saying to us in this year as it comes to an end, it’s this way cross this Jordan.
What we now know is important to us. What we now know is this.
We now know his faithfulness is certain friends listen, here’s the devotional Portia into our message. You know.
Now look at you, you’re here tonight.
After all the things that you and I have gone through these last several years.
You’ve come to the end of this year.
And one thing is certain you are certain more now than ever before regarding the faithfulness of God.
God has been faithful. Nobody can deny it. You’ve hung in there and he has shown you his faithfulness.
He’s been faithful to you. Did faiths turn out the way that you expected? No. None of us expect.
None of us could have written this now.
This is what kind of awesome about these trying times is that clearly were not in control, but he’s faithful.
He is so faithful. Consider the pain, the events, the perils, the issues, troubles trials that God has brought you and I through these last 12 months and God has been faithful.
He has been faithful ministries have folded up and closed their doors and vanished.
But God was faithful to his word. Churches that have kept the bible open and their doors open have flourished.
What are we to do next with the onslaught? Now somebody just told me right before service.
That there’s many places now in the county of L. A.
Which they need to learn how to vote in L. A.
All of a sudden there’s all the covid concern in L. A.
County and you see people masking up again, masking up like a mask can stop a virus.
But in the world is going on. Here’s the amazing thing.
I don’t know what man is gonna do next. I don’t even know what I’m gonna do next.
But I know God’s gonna be faithful next. He’s gonna be faithful to you.
He’s not gonna let you down proverbs 18 verse 10 says the name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous run into it and are safe.
This is God’s word. And listen, christian, you want to see God do radical things.
Take him at his word. Don’t walk up to God’s bible. All timid and all terrified about it.
I wonder, I don’t know. Don’t walk. Listen.
In fact, if you walk up to it doubtful and fearful, just don’t walk up to it at all decide that now that I’m gonna get I’m gonna pick it up and I’m gonna find God’s faithfulness in this book and he’ll be there.
Also this we now know that we have grown deeper.
You’ve grown deeper Many of you are new many of you who have been with us for a long time.
You’re deeper now than you were a year or two ago, these last 12 months. You’ve grown deeper. I’ve watched.
I’ve listened to your conversations change your whole view and the value that you’ve placed on things have changed God has come through for you.
That has caused you to grow deeper. God’s word? I guess I’m saying has come alive to you.
Like never before, you can say now that what you couldn’t say a year or two ago and that is man, I have such a respect for the bible now, it it is truly alive.
God bless you for pursuing him. Did you grow in this year?
You wanna ask yourself that question? Did you grow?
I told somebody the other day, you see if he’s here, he always sits in the same spot, he’s not here right now.
He was telling me about something, he was lamenting about something and I said, yeah, well, you know what, I don’t have to worry about that.
He was why I go, because you have grown so much since I first met you, I met you like two years ago and you’re not even the same person.
And he goes, really? It was so cute. He goes, really?
I go, I’m telling you right now, this is our conversation in the foyer, this last sunday.
So I’m telling you right now, you’re not the same person, You don’t look the same, you don’t act the same.
You don’t talk the same when I met you, you were a ball of nerves, stressed out now, you’re telling me things like, well whatever God’s will is, I’m good with that, you’re not even the same person, that’s growing deeper.
Friends, difficulties will do that, coupled with the bible is beautiful, we’ve grown deeper.
We want so listen, three basic questions did I grow this year? How did I grow this year?
And why did I grow this year?
You can answer those questions, but I’ll tell you what you’ve grown and what Joshua is going to teach us is that throughout the book of Joshua, as you know, your old testament is the setting up of memorials, the setting up of markers, right?
There’s oak trees. Abraham was fond of building an altar made out of either wood or stone.
Are making a covenant with God or a promise with God under an oak tree.
I don’t know where you live, but I live in Chino hills and thank God our hills are covered with oak trees and we’ve got some amazing amazing oak trees and I’m not gonna bore you with the length of the story of how lisa and I made a covenant with God underneath the biggest oak tree, which is the city logo, that’s on the city, it’s it’s massive and it’s incredible and it’s a couple 100 years old at least.
But we went to that tree and we cried out to God and I listen, I want to suggest you that we get back to doing stuff like that this year to come this new year.
I want you to start setting up memorials. I don’t know where, how we got away from this.
We got too busy or something like that, But we need to do it.
We need to just start doing it. Mark it down in your notes this year.
I’m gonna establish places of memorial. I say memorial.
I mean that in the biblical sense when we say memorial, oh what, what’s going on? Oh fred died.
Oh we have to go to his memorial.
Let’s go to his memorial and you drive by and you go to memorial gardens.
It sounds so depressing. Not in the bible. A memorial in the bible is a big deal.
It’s awesome you said. Yeah, but we’re talking about death.
Listen, they celebrated when somebody went to the B went to be with the Lord Memorials.
We got to get back to them.
We need to set up markers, Call them milestones, hallmarks, places, historic sites, placeholders if you want.
Deuteronomy 27 verse one says now moses with the elders of Israel check this out, commanded the people saying keep all the commandments which I command you today and it shall be on the day when you cross over the Jordan to the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
That. You shall set up for yourselves large stones and whitewash them with lime.
I love that whitewash them with lime.
Make the altar stand out, make it bright so everybody can see it.
You shall write on them all the words of this law.
Then when you have crossed over that, you may enter the land which the Lord your God is giving.
You quote a land flowing with milk and honey. Just as the Lord God of your fathers promised you.
Absolutely awesome. Making memorials this year ahead. I want you to get a journal. So I don’t journal.
I don’t journal either. I don’t, I don’t, I should, I don’t, but I gotta tell you something my life.
If I were to die today, people would go through books that I own and bibles that I own.
I have memorials. They are things that people gave me or pictures that kids mostly it’s pictures that kids or my grandkids have given me and I’ve dated them laminated them and made them into book markers.
I’ve got thousands of book markers over the years that are my memorials and I date them and all that kind of stuff.
But that’s not only that. There’s places going down coast highway. PCH at Orange Street.
I take I’ve taken my grandkids and my kids already know right over here at these volleyball nets out here at the beach is where I met your mom right here and they know that and we talk about that stuff.
But we need to set up memorials and I don’t know if you know this or not.
But I want to show you um something about the state of California. We need some good news in California.
Right, well listen, all other states do not have what we have okay on the east coast of America.
During this time there was a raging Revolutionary war on the west coast of the United States.
The gospel was being presented to the native indians. And you see those stops along the way.
Look at the top, right hand el camino real.
That’s the King’s Highway showing locations of the 21 famous California missions. There’s 21 missions. Okay, But here’s the deal.
And when I say ancient times in 1769, if you were gonna go from San Diego to San Francisco back then, um What Road did you take?
The 5? The 101. The one No, you took el camino real. The King’s highway.
There was only one. You took the King’s Highway.
And how do you know if you were on the King’s highway? Next slide, this is how you knew.
You see that bell all along the route.
These bells were set up marking the route up and down the state.
Have you seen this when you’ve been driving anybody? That’s pretty pathetic.
You need to stop looking at the traffic in front of you and get out and explore.
Will you look at that as you’re going down the highway? Look around And you’ll see these.
In fact there’s areas even on the 99 not the 99.
Sorry the 101 where you’ll see these still along certain parts where they’ve been able to keep them or relocate them.
That Bell announced that you’re on the mission trail. And it’s the king’s highway.
Not the king of England, the king of the bible.
Next slide, that’s the one I have in my back yard by the way, there’s another way of a close up of it too.
1769. El Camino Real. Yeah. That made. No you can get them.
I can’t tell you how I have to kill you.
But anyway, this is hello, this is California. We’re talking about California was dedicated to God.
It’s the only state in the United States, only state in the United States that the entire listen san Francisco did you know that’s a religious statement.
Santa barbara, you ever heard of that place? What about Santana san Diego all that.
Listen, santa Maria think about it. What are, what’s the name of our capital of our state?
Sacra sacrament dedicated to God. What are we, what are we saying?
We’re saying this that until the Lord takes us home you and I have a heritage and God is good and God once did a great work in this place.
He may be done. Maybe he’s not done.
I’ll be hanging around with you until he does whatever he does with this.
But could you imagine what if God wants to do something?
He’s done something in the past which leads us to this. We now know our foundation is stronger.
Our foundation as believers at the end of this year is stronger. My foundation stronger, yours is stronger.
God has done things in your life and continues.
I tell you what, I am so happy to report to you, that I get to find out what this church is doing all the time, by people who are serving here and things that are going on.
You see pastor, don’t you know everything that’s going on around here?
No, I do not. It’s too much, which is wonderful.
I wind up going someplace. What’s going on? Oh, that’s the call sharing christ in that neighborhood.
Oh wow, that’s amazing. What’s going on over there? Oh, this is a homeless outreach in pomona.
Well, who’s doing that? What are you joking? There’s people from your church.
I love that surprise, I love the fact that what you’re doing, you’re doing it under jesus, and you don’t need any man’s permission to do it.
Keep it up, keep going. This church built an amazing facility with the federal government.
It was just completed this year and housed people with no income families.
And in a matter of weeks we’re gonna be now, Lord willing, we’re gonna be doing bus runs inviting those who live there now to come to church.
It’s in L. A. County, but it’s close enough to drive them and it worked out.
Listen, the federal government, it worked out so well that now the city of pomona is asking, will you do it again, will you build something else in our area to help people tell me listen that’s the hand of God when the US government gets together with a church and says can you guys help it’s it’s too much for us.
I had a chance to sit and Ben Carson’s office when he was Secretary of Housing and Development and announce and to show him what God was doing through you now it’s out.
That’s what you you didn’t know that but you’ve been doing that for like three years. Building that that place.
How where does that come from? Foundations built upon God, your faith. It’s awesome.
It’s awesome foundations. Our foundations are stronger.
I was reminded in some of the reading I was doing that, the greater the storms, the deeper the roots of a tree go and the stronger the tree where it’s windy and stormy and rough trees, roots go deep foundations.
All the stuff you’ve gone through this year, God had a tailor made for you so that your roots would go deeper.
You said. Yeah but it hurt. I understand it hurts, it hurts.
But you know what, you can get blessed by becoming used to the hurt you said?
I don’t know, I don’t like that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
You do you know when you go work out, do you work out when you how do you know you worked out because you’re sore the next day and and let’s be honest, you hate it while you’re doing it.
But once once you once you do, it’s like I did it.
That that comes around.
Listen, that that pain happens because something good has gone on Christian.
You don’t want a rose strewn path of Christianity, you’ll never grow, you’ll be a veneer of a believer.
I shudder when I meet Christians that have been a Christian for 20 years and they have no spiritual depth.
It’s a skiver, it’s tough.
It makes you wonder, you know, So I wrote these things down here which are, these are true, it’s not that I just wrote them down.
These are some true things here regard creation teaches us that there’s a beauty on the other side of difficulty.
One is, for example, the violent upheaval upheavals is what creates mountains.
So we’ve been spoiled right as we Look at these massive mountains that we have right by us.
Look, we can go to the ocean tonight or we can go to the mountains tonight, which what isn’t amazing.
How did that happen, massive up people 10,000 ft. We got three peaks next to us that exceed 10,000 ft.
How does that happen? Tremendous violence of upheaval, create awesome beauty.
You and I see the beauty and wonder it just popped that way.
No, it didn’t over the years, your life with christ will become sweeter, more beautiful, more awesome.
And the suffering paul sums it up by saying I revel in it, I revel in it because that’s when you grow and that’s when foundations are there.
And listen, it’s torrential floods that create Grand Canyons and your love of Grand Canyon.
Oh it’s so beautiful. Well it was a pretty violent event.
Did you know that thunderous lightning strikes purifies the air we breathe without lightning.
There’d be polluted air. Did you know that one lightning strike?
I forget the number but it’s in, it’s like 10 to the 28th power of molecules space.
Where a lightning strike purifies the most filthy polluted air in a nanosecond. Isn’t that amazing?
God does that? I know that freaks out some people the the planet needs us.
Number two. What what we leave behind? What we leave behind?
Number two we listen. What we leave behind is important.
Our old battles, we need to leave behind in this year 2022 are old battles.
We need to leave them behind.
Listen, second timothy chapter two verse one says you, therefore my son be strong in the grace that is in christ, jesus.
And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.
You therefore must endure hardships as a good soldier of jesus christ. Listen, I love this so practical.
No one engaged in warfare entangles himself in the affairs of this life that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier and when the soldiers going off the battle, he does not have an Xbox, a basketball and a tennis racket ain’t gonna happen.
He’s not only not interested in that stuff anymore. It plays no role old battles.
Why do I say this? Because let’s leave them to this year.
The battles that you and I have gone through, we leave them in the history books of God.
Whatever those battles might be mental, physical relational, financial doesn’t matter. We leave it with him.
Number two, we leave behind our old victories, our old wins.
What do you mean by that Galatians?
Chapter 69 and Second Thessalonians 3 13 say and let us not grow weary while doing good for in due season.
We shall reap if we do not lose heart.
But as for you brethren do not grow weary in doing good.
You guys, I have to hold this back a little bit.
You guys have not only done good in some areas, you’ve done so good, so good.
That what you’ve done in the influence of community and beyond has been so precious that I know that in eternity you’re gonna hear about it.
You have to you will, you will, you don’t know what you’re you have no idea what you’re doing right now in performing surgeries and setting bones and getting blood transfusions to people in other parts of the world.
But you are, there’s things going on where you’ve been so effective at changing or affecting your culture, that what you’ve been doing, others have been asking, can you come and do it here.
But with all of that, you know what you don’t want to do.
You don’t want to settle in on your victories or on your wins.
You don’t want to do that as a christian.
Listen, christians, we need to be lean, mean praying machines, God help us.
If we say remember that year, it was about maybe a few years ago when God was moving, that was something, wait a minute.
If if I, if I hear that I’m gonna be the first one to leave this place.
I don’t want to talk about what God did.
Only in the context of, let’s tell our kids and our grandkids what God did.
But if we look back and we see more glorious days and we settled back and put our heads behind her back and say, wow, that was great, no, no, no, no, no, no.
I’m not interested in that. Let’s push all the way through.
Because God who did something then is a God who’s doing something now.
And if he did it then and if he does it now, then he’s gonna be doing it in the future.
And that’s where you’re gonna wanna be.
We want to leave behind our old losses to you guys, we need to refuse to let defeat and emotion capture us, anybody remember john wooden five, Yeah, five of us do, john wooden said, failure isn’t fatal.
But failure to change might be. I love that. That’s so great.
Anybody ever read the book who moved my cheese?
Yeah, it’s not a christian book, but it’s brilliant.
You ought to read it. Who moved my cheese?
People can’t function if if there’s been a change weight, it’s all about these mice and cheese is gone.
So like three might sit there and starve to death. And one mouse says, you guys are crazy.
I’m gonna go look for some cheese. And he tries, he looks around and finds out what’s going on next.
Don’t let your losses defeat you.
Well, you don’t know the divorce I went through. You don’t know the surgery I went through.
Don’t let it define you. God knew all along. He got you through it. He’ll get you through it.
Things are different now. Of course. Things are different now. We live in a fallen world.
Just don’t stand there and wait till you die.
You die of old age or the rapture happens or what I’m saying. Yes.
Listen to what thomas Edison, you know.
Edison Young people thomas Edison invented a thing called a light bulb, Thomas Edison said, I have not failed.
I’ve just found found 10,000 ways that won’t work.
No wonder why the guy invented the light bulb. You can’t stop an attitude like that.
Well, the bible answers that in Philippians 3 13. The bible says brethren.
I do not count myself as apprehended.
But one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, I reach forward to those things which are ahead.
I press forward to the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in christ, jesus, okay, don’t settle for anything and don’t be defeated and don’t give up point number three, what we carry over in context of the jordans in a few days, we’re gonna be crossing over the Jordan into a new year.
We carry over. Well, we’ve always had and that’s his presence.
The Lord told Israel on this side of the Jordan, I’m with you and he said cross over, I’ll be with you.
And when you get on the other side, I’m gonna be with you. I love that.
Where can you go where God is not? He’s everywhere. His presence.
You’re gonna be carrying his presence over. He’ll never leave you or forsake you.
That’s what he told Joshua, I can’t wait to talk to him someday you’re gonna meet him.
And so we’re gonna have perfect knowledge.
So we won’t have to be saying, excuse me, if you guys, can you point out Joshua, who, which ones Joshua, you’re gonna know who he is.
The bible says that we will know even as we are known, I’m gonna walk up Joshua, I’m really curious was I right, when I told the church at Chino hills that, that in chapter one, you’re really prone to fear and you didn’t have courage and you were kind of timid about stuff and he’s gonna say totally Jack, God had to tell me that all the time going into battle all the stuff that was going on the enemy, they were nine ft tall.
They were terrifying And on top of it they’re all diseased and man so many times I thought we were gonna die.
We were so outnumbered by the thousands.
I freaked and then God I remember he said Joshua do not turn to the right hand or to the left.
I’m with you don’t be afraid.
And I remember when General Boykin of the U. S.
Delta force us army Delta force was talking to L. A.
County Sheriff’s Department and I had a chance to drive him to that engagement. I’ll never forget it.
He’s talking to all these deputy sheriffs and he’s telling them, fear is how you stay alive.
You need to be fearful. That’s what keeps you safe.
But you also have to advance in the face of fear. That takes courage.
Courage and fear are always present one with another. Did you know that?
I didn’t know that until he said that didn’t dawn on me.
He said there are those who fear and retreat.
There are those who fear and take courage. See what his courage.
He said he said courage is fear under control.
That’s good because all of a sudden that relates to all of us. Right?
That’s awesome. I love that. Now I’m gonna ask you to practice this year.
The presence of God press into him and lean into him more and more.
How about this? I know we’re out of time but Some 23 you all know this?
The Lord, listen, the Lord is my shepherd. These are your marching orders for 2023.
The Lord, your shepherd, you shall not lack anything.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters, he restores my soul.
He leads me in the paths of Righteousness for his name’s sake.
Yea though I walk through the valley of the Shadow of Death. Do you know what that is?
Do you know, do you know what the Shadow of Death is? Do you think?
Listen, I tell you what it’s not.
You know when you breathe your last breath and you die, you don’t you do not go through the valley of the Shadow of Death to get to heaven.
Did you know that? Are you guys awake?
You do not do that when you die.
David is telling you that living in this world, you’re passing through the Valley of the Shadow of Death and leading up to the moment where were released from these bodies.
That’s when we’re set free, you’re done.
Going through the valley, some people have said, you know when I die and then I got to walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death.
Did you got that all cockeyed backwards?
We’re going through the Shadow of Death now all the way to the moment we breathe our last then we’ve made it.
Who I mean, listen on the way out when we’re breathing her last breath, I would hope to have enough strength to say yippee see you because I made it through on the other side.
He leaves me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Yea though I walk through the valley of the Shadow of Death, I will fear no evil for you are with me, your rod and your staff.
They comfort me. That is God.
God disciplined you and he comfort you at the same same time in this relationship, you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies, you anoint my head with oil.
My cup runs over surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and here’s the punch.
I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever, forever.
Very quickly, very quickly we carry over his memorial. Beginning now in this coming new year.
As I said earlier, start thinking memorials start thinking territory start thinking advancing.
Start thinking of marking places for God, your neighborhood, You’re there for a reason.
You’re on that street for a purpose.
You’re in that situation cause God’s got you on a mission right now and you need to remember that.
Listen to this first Samuel 7 12.
Then Samuel took a stone and he set it up between Mizpah and Chin and called its name.
Ebenezer saying thus far. That is up until this point. The Lord has helped us. I love that statement.
It’s not like he’s well, God helped us. So he’s helped us get her so far.
I don’t know about the rest of the way. That’s not what he’s saying.
He’s reminding Israel God started out providing he’s provided all the way to this moment. He’s faithful.
You can bank on the rest of the future and then finally this we carry over his promises, immerse yourself this new Year in promises, memorize them with your family.
Give them to your kids.
Have your kids give them to you, saturate yourself in the promises of God.
Watch how powerful they are, Proverbs 3: verse one starts, my son.
Do not forget my law, but let your heart keep my commandments or my commands for length of days and long life and peace.
They will add to you what’s wrong with that?
Let not mercy and truth forsake you, bind them around your neck. Listen to the intentionality of this.
You hear this take these great things and tie them around you wrap yourself in them, bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart and so find favor and high esteem in the sight of God and man verse five.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding in all your ways, acknowledge him and he shall direct your paths.
Verse seven. Do not be wise in your own eyes.
Fear the Lord that is being off of him and depart from evil one more here Nehemiah chapter eight verse five and Ezra opened the book and in the sight of all the people for he was standing above all the people.
That’s what I’m doing. That’s why we get this whole tradition from, I’m standing above you guys, why Ezra did that.
They built a pulpit in a podium and he stood and he read the word of God to the people and all the people said before other people and when he opened it all the people stood up, Okay?
So everybody stand up and Ezra blessed the Lord the Great God.
So I want you to listen everyone, we want you to be real quiet, Stand in silence right now.
I want you to clear your mind the best you can quietly think now, clear your mind.
I want you to ponder what God might be saying to you.
If you need to close your eyes, do that.
Maybe it’s best if it’s possible if you could lift your head toward heaven and no, don’t fall over anything.
I know your eyes are closed.
But if you can lift your head up, I’m gonna ask you now, if you would to lift your hands all of us, I’m gonna ask you to repeat after me, Almighty God, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, our eternal father.
We thank you for giving us your son, jesus christ our Lord and savior.
We thank you Lord for your Holy Spirit who lives and abides in us.
Tonight I dedicate my life to you in spirit.
And in truth I commit myself to you and from this moment forward and to this new year, I choose to worship you with my life by how I live and in all that I say and do yes.
I dedicate my hands to do your work.
I dedicate my eyes to look upon what pleases you.
I dedicate to you my thoughts to think upon what is holy to just and good, so that we might be a pure people undefiled and useful that we might be fit to be used by you.
We determined now to seek you and your guidance.
We trust you to be our source of wisdom.
And with our bodies, we yield um to be at your service.
We’ve out tonight to present ourselves as living sacrifices.
We separate ourselves from this world, to live for your kingdom, to bring you praise.
And so we vow this night to love you with everything.
We are heavenly Father.
I ask you in jesus name, that you’d bless these people, Lord, that you would take this word that we’ve spoken to you Lord and that you’d come upon us with the baptism power of your holy spirit Heavenly father.
I ask you to come upon this church, every aspect of it, Father, including those precious ones that are so far away in other parts of this nation and of this world.
Lord, we pray, I pray Father upon them that you’d bless them and that you’d keep them, that you’d make your face to shine upon them and be gracious unto them, Lord, that you’d lift up your countenance upon them and give them peace.
Father, We pray this together and we end this year with you in jesus name and all God’s people said, Amen God bless you.