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Some people dismiss the idea of faith. They live by facts and logic.
Well, Pastor Greg Laurie says, consider this. We apply faith each and every day. You board a 747 weighing 900,000 pounds in trust that that giant heap of metal that's going to get up off the ground, take you to your destination. That's faith. But we are to have faith.
And here's the key. It's faith in God. That's what empowers. Day when the lost are found. This is the day for a new beginning.
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound. But can you hear all the angels are singing? This is the day, the day when I begin. When we go to a restaurant we've never been to before. Do we test the chair before we sit down?
Do we send the main course for chemical analysis before we take a bite? When we give our credit card to pay, do we follow the server to the register to make sure it's not charged inappropriately? We exercise a certain amount of faith every day. And coming up on a new beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie helps us exercise our faith in the God of the universe. the one who loves us and only has plans for good and not to harm us.
Every day, the day when life begins. We're going through the book of Joshua, subtitled A Book of Promises, and we're in Joshua chapter 3.
So I want you to turn there with me today. Joshua chapter 3, and the title of my message is Get Your Feet Wet. That'll make more sense in a few moments. Get your feet wet. Let's pray now.
Lord, bless this time as we open your word. Help us, after we hear this message, to have a desire in our hearts to take bold steps of faith. And to trust you, even when we're facing great obstacles and difficulties, help us to see how this applies to us, and we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.
So let's read now Joshua chapter 3 as the Israelites come to the point of entry of the promised land and they face the Jordan River. I'm reading from the New Living Translation. When you see the Levitical priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord your God, move out from your positions and follow them, for you've never passed this way before. You might underline that phrase. I'm going to come back to it.
You have never passed this way before. They will guide you. Stay about a half mile behind them. Keep a clear distance between you and the ark. Make sure you don't come any closer.
Then Joshua said to the people. Purify yourselves, or tomorrow the Lord will do great wonders among you. In the morning, Joshua said to the priest, Lift up the Ark of the Covenant and lead the people across the river. And they started out and went ahead of the people. The Lord told Joshua, Today I begin to make you a great leader in the eyes of the Israelites.
They'll know that I'm with you, just as I was with Moses. Give this command to the priests who carry the Ark of the Covenant. When you reach the banks of the Jordan River, take a few steps into the river and stop there. And here's point number one. If you want to enter the land of promises, you must be bold and strong.
Let me say it again. If you want to enter this land of promises, you must be bold and strong. Look at verse 4. They had never passed this way before. They were making history.
The problem with the people in the book of Joshua is they had never read the book of Joshua. They didn't know what happened next. They just saw this incredible obstacle before them. But they were experiencing this all real time. And by the way, this is a whole new generation because you might say, well, wait, didn't they see the parting of the Red Sea?
Actually, they did it. And that would those were their parents that saw it. And that generation was gone. They died in the wilderness. The only survivors of that first generation were Joshua and Caleb.
They heard about it. but they didn't see it for themselves.
Now they need to see their own miracle, reminding us that every generation needs to have their own encounter with God. You know, the job of my generation and the generation before me, and the generation before them. is to pass these truths on, right? Pass these truths on to the next generation. And then they need to have their own encounter with God.
Habakkuk 3:2 says, Lord, I've heard of your fame. I stand in awe of your deeds. Lord, repeat them in our day, in our time, make them known. And in judgment, remember mercy. That should be the prayer of you who are younger.
Lord, we've heard about what you've done in the past, and it's awesome. But we want to have our own Spiritual awakening. We've heard about the Jesus movement, but we want our own Jesus revolution. That's a prayer that you should all be praying. Point number two, if you want to live in the land of promises, Keep your eyes on God.
Keep your eyes on God. The key for the Israelites was the Ark of the Covenant. Look at verse 4. They had to keep their eyes on the priests and the ark leading the way. Verse 4: It says, When you see the Levitical priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord your God, move out from your positions and follow them.
The Ark of the Covenant. What was in the ark were the commandments of God, the ten commandments were in the ark. Aaron's rod. In a jar of manna. It was a visible symbol of the presence of God.
So the priest would pick it up. They would carry it on their shoulders. They were not to put it on a cart. They were to carry it by hand. And that visible symbol of God's presence was to be at the forefront of what they are doing.
So the people of Israel are told: keep your eyes on the ark and keep your eyes on the priests who are leading the way. And the same is true for us. When you're going through life following Jesus, keep your eyes on the Lord. Don't put your eyes on people because people are gonna let you down. People are going to disappoint you.
Guess what? You're going to disappoint someone. Right? And so keep your eyes on the Lord, as the author of Hebrews 12 says. Looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith.
Lay aside the weight and the sin that so easily besets you. He says before that, and keep your eyes on the Lord. I don't want to go anywhere if God isn't going there first.
So we need to keep our eyes. Focused on the Lord and be looking to Him as we're going through our challenges. Point number three. If you want to live in the land of promises, you need to take risks. Here was their challenge.
You have to cross the Jordan River. This is flood season. This river moves at about 10 miles per hour. There's no way you want to cross this river with your little kids and your livestock and your belongings. It's not possible.
So they're standing in front of this rushing river. There were no bridges. It reminds me of a story of three men. who came to a powerful rushing river. And they needed to get across.
So their first one prayed, God, give me the strength to cross this river. Suddenly, poof, he had. bulging biceps. And he got into the river and started to swim. Oh, he almost drowned two times, but after about three hours, he made it to the other side.
So the other man, one of the other men saw him do that and he prayed, Lord, give me the strength and the tools to cross the river. Boom, he too had bulging biceps. And a massive chest, but he had a boat. And he got in his boat and he began to make his way across. He capsized two times, but he did get to the other side.
The third guy watching this said, Lord, Give me the strength. and the tools and the intelligence to cross the river. Poof! He became a woman. She walked about 30 feet up and walked over the bridge to the other side.
But there were no bridges here for the Israelites to cross. There was just an impassable river, as I said, in flood season, but they yet began to walk. Bringing me to point number four. If you're called to lead, You must go first and set the pace. If you're called to lead, you need to go first and set the pace.
God made a promise to Joshua in Joshua 3:7. He said, Today I'll begin to make you a great leader in the eyes of the Israelites, and they'll know I am with you just as I was with Moses. Wow. I'm going to make you a great leader in their eyes. King James says, I'm going to magnify you.
But it's interesting that Joshua doesn't go and say that to the people. He didn't say, hey, by the way, God just spoke to me and said he's going to magnify me and make me a great leader. He says something different. He says to them instead, in verse 10, you'll know now that the living God is among you. No pride or arrogance about it.
You know, sometimes it's best to keep your dreams to yourself. Let me explain. God revealed to Joseph that he was going to be the second most powerful man in all of Egypt. He had this dream, this vision of his future. And he went and told his brothers, and it did not play well in Peoria.
They were angry, they were jealous, they were resentful. And you know that story, how they betrayed him and sold him into slavery and all the rest, and then ultimately. Joseph's dream came true, and he was exalted to be this man of influence and power. But sometimes the Lord might reveal something to you, but that doesn't mean you need to tell everybody else. Just wait on the Lord and trust in the Lord and be humble before the Lord.
And if it is meant to be, it will be, and it will happen. And so Joshua is humble about this. And I think if you want to be used by God, you need to be humble.
Now you can act like you're humble. You know, when you're not humble at all. You know, you can talk so much about how humble you are. You know, I'm just. I'm just so Humble.
You're so humble you drop the H. I'm just so humble.
Now you're British too. You're cockney actually. But You know, you're not really humble. You can talk so much about being humble, it becomes prideful. It just Do your job.
And do what God has called you to do. And the Lord will guide and the Lord will direct. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. Hey everyone, I want you to know about our app called Harvest Plus. Think of it as a harvest version of Netflix.
We have all of our resources in one place. We have our movies like Steve McQueen The Salvation of an American Icon, Johnny Cash of Redemption of an American Icon, A Rush of Hope and much more. Then we have our television program, daily devotions, and much more.
So go and download the Harvest Plus app.
Well, Pastor Greg is bringing a powerful message today called Get Your Feet Wet. Let's continue this study now in Joshua chapter 3. Point number five, Joshua and the people of Israel moved in faith. He took faith. to put their feet into the water.
Oswald Chambers said, and I quote, Faith enables the believing soul to treat the future as present and the invisible as seen. That's a great statement. Faith enables the believing soul to see the future as present. and the invisible as seen. Reminds me of a story of a woman who came to a pastor and said, Pastor, My husband is not a believer, and he does not like me coming to your church.
And he said to me, if I come here again, he's going to kill me. The pastor said, now Trust in God. Have faith. You'll be fine. The Lord will protect you.
She came back a couple of days later, pastor. My husband said, If I keep coming to this church, he's going to kill me.
Now, now just trust the Lord. He'll protect you. He'll take care of you. Have faith in God. She came back a couple of days later and said, Pastor, my husband just said, if I keep coming to this church, he's going to kill you.
The pastor said, You know, I heard about a great little church on the other side of town. You might want to start going there. See, it's easy for us to tell someone else to have faith. Have faith. Trust God, then it comes to our doorstep.
And now we have the physical problem, we have the financial crisis, we have problems with the kids, we have whatever it is we're facing, and all of a sudden. Our faith collapses, but we are to have faith. And here's the key: it's not just have faith. I don't have faith in faith. Faith is a power.
Speak things into existence with the power of faith. That's not what faith is. It's faith in God. That's where the power is. My faith is in God.
What is faith? Hebrews 11 says, Faith is the substance of things hoped for. It's the evidence of things not seen. Or, as the New Living Translation puts it, faith is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It's the evidence of things we cannot yet see.
So I put my faith in God.
Now, You say, Well, I don't know. I believe in this scene. I have to see something before I believe it. Oh, shut up. You apply faith in the most random things each and every day.
Right? You board a 747. weighing nine hundred thousand pounds, You know nothing about the rules of aerodynamics, but you trust That that giant heap of metal. It's going to get up off the ground, take you to your destination, and land. And if it's even a bumpy landing, you're upset about it.
But what did you put faith in?
Well, I put faith in the aerodynamics and in the pilots. I hope they're not in drugs or something, you know. And I have, well, see, that's an application of faith. You get into an elevator, you push that button, that's faith. You go to the drugstore and the.
Pharmacist that fills your prescription, and you take those pills, you don't know, you have faith that they did their job. We apply faith each and every day, and then we say it's hard to have faith. You live by faith effectively. And now, what does the Bible say? Have faith in God.
What better place to place your faith than God Himself?
So they needed to have faith in God, and we need to have the same. Here's the thing with faith: faith gets stronger through use. Faith is like a muscle. The more you use it, The stronger it becomes. The less you use it, the weaker it becomes.
If you don't use your faith, it will atrophy. You need to apply it. We treat faith like it's a museum piece or something to talk about and admire, where it's like an egg. Don't drop the egg. Why is it whenever I go to the market, I have three or four bags filled with groceries, have I drop one, it's not the bag with the cans in it.
It's the bag with the eggs in it. And they crack, and that's faith. Oh, we have to be careful. No, faith needs to be used. And the more you use it, the stronger it becomes.
Point number six. If you're called to be a leader, then lead. If you're called to be a leader, then lead. Notice the priest had to take point. And do this first.
Now maybe God is calling some of you to be a leader. You think, well, it's very prideful to say I want to be a leader.
Well, I think it's. It's prideful to not obey God. If He's called you to lead, then lead. I can guarantee this, he's called everyone to do something. We all have certain spiritual gifts that God has placed in our life.
Romans 12, 7 to 8 says, If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you're a teacher, teach well. If your gift is encouraging others, then be encouraging. If your gift is giving, then give generously. If God has given you a leadership ability, take that responsibility seriously.
If you think that maybe God has called you to be a leader, here's a good way to find out: just lead and see if anyone follows. Hey everybody, come on, let's go. If you're by yourself, maybe you're not a leader. You know leaders when you see them. They just have that ability.
They have that gifting. They have that something that makes you want to listen to what they say, follow them where they tell you you ought to go. One definition I heard of leadership is: a leader is someone who takes people where they don't necessarily want to go. But when they get there, they're glad they went. I think that's a good definition.
So you got to get your feet wet. And I would encourage you to get your feet wet. You go, what do you mean get my feet wet?
Well, the Israelites had to put their feet in the water. In the Jordan before it parted.
Okay, so we need to do the same. There are so many opportunities to serve the Lord. You need to find a place where you can use the gifts that God has given you.
Now you say, well, how do I know what God has gifted me to do? Here's the answer. Volunteer for everything. Literally, volunteer for everything. One person agrees.
Thank you. I'm going to call on you later, and I know who you are. Black hat, black shirt. Got you. But thank you.
Bald guy with beard. Bonga, he put his hat back on, okay. Only bald people can call out bald people, okay? I'm just saying. Anyway.
So But here's what I mean by volunteer for everything. It's a process of elimination.
Sometimes they'll find out what I'm good at. I have to find out first what I'm not good at. Pastor Greg Lorry, making a great point about what we can do to serve the Lord. To find out what we're good at, volunteer for everything.
Now, there's more to come from the message called Get Your Feet Wet. And Pastor Greg has a final comment before we go today here on A New Beginning. But before we go any further, Pastor Greg, let's speak to the person who wonders where they fit in to God's plan.
Okay. They're intrigued by the prospect of receiving God's promises, but wonder what they can do to begin a life of faith.
Well, they just need to hear more. They need to hear what the essential gospel message is. And I've got a great resource for you. We've set up a webpage that's called knowgod.org, k-n-o-w-g-o-d.org. You go there, I have a video presentation of how you.
You accept Christ, lead you in a prayer, and then it links to other spiritual resources that will help you grow spiritually.
So just go to knowgod.org. Do it right now. All right. Are you receiving Pastor Greg's daily devotions each day via email? If not, Let's take care of that right now.
You can sign up today, free of charge, at harvest.org, and you'll receive a daily inspirational thought from God's Word each day in your inbox. Again go to harvest.org. And then, thank you for partnering with us to help these daily studies continue. Your investments have eternal benefits. Why not make this a part of your personal ministry to partner in an effort that's making a real difference with the gospel of Jesus Christ?
Thank you for your prayers and for prayerfully considering how God might lead you to help tangibly. Online, you'll find us at harvest.org, and there you'll see the way we'd like to thank you for your donation right now. That's harvest.org. Or write us at a new beginning box 4000, Riverside, California, 92514. Or call us at 1-800-821-3300.
We're here around the clock to take your call, again at 1-800-821-3300. The other thing is that the majority of the Well, next time Pastor Gray comes back to complete this message called Get Your Feet Wet. But he's been talking today about finding out what we're good at by saying yes to the opportunities that come our way. He closes this way Remember back in the early days of the Jesus movement, bands were starting every week, this new Christian band every week. And they'd put them up on the stage and they'd play.
I was at some little Home Bible study and we were singing some song. One guy wrote a song, he was a good songwriter, singer, and another guy played a beautiful flute. And I was sort of keeping beat on a coffee table. And they said, let's form a band. And all of a sudden we had a name.
And we went over to Calvary Chapel. We're a brand new Christian band. We want to play tonight.
Okay, you can play tonight. And next thing I know, I am on a stage with a conga drum. I've never played a conga drum before. But because I kind of kept beat on the tabletop, I was in the band. I did it.
It was one of the worst experiences of my life. And I said, I never want to do this again. I don't have any skill here whatsoever.
sometimes finding out what you're not good at.
So here's what I would encourage you to do. Volunteer for everything. This is the day, the day when life begins.
