Overcoming the Insurmountable: God Has a Plan

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Go to harvest.org forward slash virtue. God's strategy for our deliverance is beyond our comprehension. Take your plans and your aspirations and your dreams and all the things you aspire to and commit them to the Lord and you will find His plan for your life. This is the day, the day when life begins. Someone has said if God was small enough for our minds to comprehend, He wouldn't be big enough to handle our problems. Thankfully, God has never encountered a challenge He found challenging. And today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie brings us to a moment in the Old Testament when the Israelites faced a problem they couldn't handle, but God had a plan, an unusual plan that brought about the sure deliverance of His chosen people. And today we'll see what He can do for us.

This is the day, the day when life begins. Well our series is called World Changers and we're looking at Hebrews 11 which is a collection of the great heroes of the faith, men and women that distinguish themselves because they put their faith into action. And we learned there that world changers don't quit. World changers keep marching forward and now in Hebrews 11 we're introduced to two very distinct world changers and very different from one another, Joshua and Rahab. One was a godly man, the other an immoral woman. One was a general in the Israeli army, the other a prostitute. One was a Hebrew, the other an enemy of the Hebrews, a Canaanite.

But we use that expression often. Well we need to get on the same page on this. Well literally Joshua and Rahab are on the same page in the Bible here in Hebrews chapter 11. In Hebrews 11 verse 30 says, By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days. By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe when she received the spies with peace. So there they are put together in the heroes hall of faith. And that's what sets a world changer apart from a non world changer. A world changer uses their faith. They go from the realm of theory to reality.

They don't just talk blue sky. They go out and do things for God. They take risks.

They're willing to put their faith on the line. So let's go back historically now. The Israelites have been delivered from Egypt and they came in short order to the point of entry of the land of Canaan, the promised land, which would ultimately become the nation Israel. And the point of entry was a spot called Kadesh Barnea. So instead of marching in they said, Well let's check this out. Let's send some spies in.

So 12 spies went in. Two of them we know by name. Jason Bourne and James Bond.

No. Wrong names. Actually Joshua and Caleb. Joshua and Caleb went in along with 10 other spies. And when they came back there was a majority report and there was a minority report.

Ten said, There is no way we should go in there. The people are really big. In fact we were like grasshoppers in their site. Joshua and Caleb came back and said, Yeah things are big in the new land. But check out this cluster of grapes we brought out. These grapes are so big it took two of us to get them out of the place.

Let's go for it. But the people of Israel said, No. They were filled with unbelief.

They said, We do not want to go in. The problem is they had a small god. Thus they had big problems.

And that unbelief cost them 40 years of needless wilderness wanderings. So now their numbers shrunk. And they are no longer the great multitude they were. In fact that older generation is gone. Now we have a whole new generation.

They are young people. They didn't go through the Red Sea. They just heard the stories. These are the people now that are going to go into the promised land. God was going to lead them in. But they needed their own encounter with the Lord.

And you know what. Every generation needs their own encounter with the Lord. Over 40 years ago we had the Jesus movement. And a whole generation was impacted.

But we are all grandparents now. If we were there for that. And we are praying for another Jesus movement for our young people today. That they can encounter God in their own way and see the Lord work.

That is what we should be praying for. And now there is a big barrier keeping this new generation ready to enter into the promised land from getting in. And it was called the Jordan River. Now granted it wasn't as big as the Red Sea.

But hey it was still big enough. Enough to keep them out. I have seen the Jordan River. It is a powerful rushing river. So they come to the bank of it and they look at it.

There is no way they can get over it. So the Lord does a special miracle just for them. And the waters part. Sort of like a mini Red Sea. And they went in and got their feet wet. What is interesting about the Jordan River is the Lord said walk in and it was still moving.

And it didn't open up until they got into the water. And sometimes the Lord will say take this little step of faith. And you have to first get your feet wet. And it doesn't happen right in front of you.

You have to be willing to take that risk. And that is what they did. So the Jordan River opens up. They walk through it now.

And now they are facing what appears to be an insurmountable obstacle. The first city that they are to conquer in the promised land. The city of Jericho. Joshua chapter 6. Now I am going to read verses 1 to 5.

Read along with me. I am reading from the New Living Translation. Now the gates of Jericho were tightly shut because the people were afraid of the Israelites.

No one was allowed to go in or out. But the Lord said to Joshua, I have given you Jericho, its king and its mighty warriors. Your entire army is to march around the city once a day for six days. Seven priests will walk ahead of the ark, each carrying a ram's horn. And on the seventh day you march around the city seven times with the priests blowing your horns. And when you hear the priests give one loud blast on the horns all the people should shout.

Then the walls of the city will collapse and the people can charge straight into the city. Do you ever feel like God is just messing with your mind a little bit? I mean what kind of a crazy battle plan is this? You know when you stop and think about it in so many ways what God wants to do in our life seems upside down from the way you would think you would do it logically. But God tells us in Isaiah 55, my thoughts are completely different than your thoughts. And my ways are beyond anything that you could imagine. For instance you want success. By the way there is nothing wrong with wanting success.

It beats failure every time. But you want success in ministry? You want success in business? You want success in marriage? You want success in whatever you are doing? Well here is what God says you should do.

Matthew 6 33, seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. I know people that have been chasing success for their whole life and they have never found it. They are always looking for that shortcut. The get rich quick scheme.

The angle that is going to propel them to the top. And they never achieve what they want. And I know other people who never sought it but just followed the Lord and lived a godly life and an honest life. And worked hard with integrity. And God has blessed them in so many ways.

Because they put God first. Put God first in your career. Put God first in your marriage. Put God first in your ministry.

Seek Him first and these things will be given to you. Hey you want to be happy? Learn to be sad.

What? Yes Jesus said, happy are those that mourn for they shall be comforted. Or another way to translate it, happy are the unhappy.

I don't know what that means. It means that if you want to find true and lasting happiness there must first be sadness. And that sadness comes from a recognition that you are a sinner separated from God.

But if you will ask God to forgive you of that sin and mourn over that sin and turn from that sin then you will find the real happiness you have always wanted. Hey you want to be great? You want to be numero uno? You want to be the top dog or the head hog at the trough? And learn to be a servant. Jesus said in Mark 9 35, if you want to be the first then take last place and be the servant of everyone else.

So in God's economy up is down. The way to be happy is to be sad. And the way to find life is through death.

Now I have no idea what that means. Jesus said, if you want to find your life you need to lose your life. And take up the cross daily and follow me.

What does that mean? It means put God first. And take your plans and your aspirations and your dreams and all the things you aspire to and commit them to the Lord. And you will find His plan for your life. Today's message from Pastor Greg is called Overcoming the Insurmountable. And he'll pass along some practical advice for how we can overcome the insurmountable in just a moment. We hear from so many people who find Christ through these studies. Some in tough times. We're so happy that these daily studies are touching and changing lives.

And if your life has been changed, would you tell us your story? Call 1-866-871-1144. That's 866-871-1144. Well Pastor Greg has been pointing out that God sometimes chooses ways and means that are beyond our understanding. And we're about to see that demonstrated in today's message, Overcoming the Insurmountable. Ok, so now the day of reckoning has come for Jericho. A word about the inhabitants of this city. They were very wicked people and they deserved judgment. These Canaanites used their children as prostitutes for false gods, history tells us. They even sacrificed their children on pagan altars.

They were into every kind of idolatry, perversion, and sin. And by the way, they had plenty of time to repent because they knew the Israelites were coming. And they had been hearing about this and this evil had gone on for years and years and years. And God patiently endured the evil of the Canaanites from the time of Abraham to Moses, a period of 400 years.

And then as Israel is making their way toward the new land, that was another 40 years. And they knew all about it because, by the way, when the spies meet Rahab in Joshua 2.10, she says, We have heard how the Lord your God made a path for you to the Red Sea when you left Egypt. And our hearts have melted in fear.

No one has the courage to fight you after hearing such things. We know that your God is the supreme God of the heavens and the earth below. See, all the people of Jericho had been following Israel on social media. And they tweeted every day, making our way through the Red Sea. Hashtag God is awesome. Manna for breakfast.

Enjoying it but hoping for something new soon. Getting close to the new land. Ready to conquer Jericho. These people knew it was coming. These people knew about the miracles that God did for Israel. And yet they continued in the hardness of heart. And so now here come the Israelites.

And they are marching around the city for six days. So those Canaanites could have said, Oh man. Judgment Day is here. We repent. Come into our city. We want to serve your God.

Oh no. They probably laughed at them. They probably dumped garbage on them. They thought this was all a joke as Israel marched around the city day after day after day. And then finally the last day came and they gave their shout and they blew their trumpets.

And of course the walls collapsed. Listen. You can overcome the insurmountable.

Just do what God tells you to do and trust Him. Let's think about your Jericho. How many of you would say today, I am facing a Jericho.

Raise your hand. Kind of a big thing. It is a big thing. Ok.

Think about your Jericho for a minute. And I don't know what it is of course. But it is an illness that you see no resolution for. No way you can be healed of it. Or you have some problem.

Whatever it is. Just know this. There is no illness he can't heal. There is no need he can't meet. There is no problem he can't resolve. And there is no person he can't save. Just know that.

It is true. To make that point let's wrap up with our second world changer Rahab the harlot. Rahab the harlot. The prostitute. The hooker. The call girl.

Fill in blank here. And it is interesting how many times in the Bible she is referred to as such so we get the memo this was an immoral woman. She had everything going against her.

The cards were stacked against Rahab. Even her name Rahab she is named after an Egyptian deity. And then to make it even worse she is an immoral woman.

But what is she? She is the perfect candidate for the grace of God. Reminding us that the gospel is for everyone everywhere.

And there are no exceptions to that. No one is beyond the reach of God. And it seems as though Jesus goes out of His way to reach people like this. Of course we see Him there with this appointment with the woman at the well drawing water in the heat of the day because she was ostracized by the village and was living with a guy and had been married and divorced five times. And Jesus reaches out to her. And she ends up believing that particular day. Or the woman caught in the act of adultery.

How Jesus would reach out to her and others like her. So here come the spies. They come into the city. They are checking it out. Jason born James Bond. No this is later. This is a second set of spies.

They are checking out Jericho. And so she says, I am going to hide you here on my roof from the other Canaanites. And she said, and the reason is because she believed in the Lord their God. She said, you served the real God.

You served the true God. So she had in effect already become a believer. Joshua 2.11 says, But saying something is not enough it has to be followed by actions.

The Bible says faith without works is dead. And Rahab showed her faith by her actions. James 2.25 says, Rahab the prostitute was shown to be right with God by her actions when she hid those messengers and sent them safely away by a different road. She showed evidence for her faith. And then another indication she was a real believer is she cared about her family. She believed judgment was coming.

And in Joshua chapter 2 she said to the two spies, Promise me by God. I showed you mercy and I will show my family mercy and get me some tangible proof, a guarantee of life for my father and mother, my brothers and my sisters. Everyone connected with my family. Save our souls from death. Don't let my family die. A true mark of conversion is when you want to go and reach your family with the gospel.

And let me ask you this. Have you reached your family? Does your family know that you believe? That is a mark of conversion.

You want to tell someone. My daughter-in-law Brittany who is married to my son Jonathan they go up to the Fred Jordan Mission once a month on Saturdays and they go out and give bottled water out to people living on the streets there in Skid Row. And they invite them to a meeting where they give them a meal at the Fred Jordan Mission run by my Aunt Willie Jordan. And then they share the gospel with these people. So as they were on the bus of folks from our church on the way up to Skid Row Brittany says she was amazed to find that everyone on the bus that was going up to spend a Saturday afternoon helping people was a relatively new believer. She said most of the people on the bus had been believers for a year or less. I find that interesting. I read that 70 to 80 percent of those that have the gospel shared with them have it shared by someone who has been a Christian for less than two years.

Does this make sense? In other words new believers, God bless them, are doing a great job of sharing their faith. But my question is where are the older believers? Why is it that people who have known the Lord for ten years or more are not sharing their faith as aggressively as those who have known the Lord for two years or less?

See if you really know the Lord you will want to share this message with others. And that is what Rahab did as well. Well here is the one final thing I would like to say about her. After the spies left Jericho they said, Okay now when we come back with the army it is not going to be pretty so we want you to hang a red rope from your window so we will know where you live and we will get you out of there. So sure enough here comes the Israeli army marching in after the walls have collapsed and when they see the window with the red rope they go in and take Rahab out and she is protected from all of these things. And now if this wasn't enough that she was pardoned and she was not judged and she was forgiven God even took it a step further and this shows the grace of God.

Guess what? She made it into the most exclusive genealogy in all of human history. Rahab the harlot made it into the messianic line of Jesus Christ. That is amazing to me. Because later she marries a Jewish guy named Salmon.

And I think that was a fishy thing. She marries Salmon. And then she enters into the messianic line.

So when you read the genealogy of Christ and the Gospel of Matthew whose name is in there? Rahab the harlot. God can take your life. I don't know what you are known for now and so turn you around.

People will not believe it. That is the power of God. To change a life.

There are no exceptions. Let's pray. Father thank You for Your power to transform. Thank You for Your love and Your desire to change us. And I pray for any person here now who does not yet know You.

Who does not have that relationship with You. And they are looking at what seems like an insurmountable obstacle. And they don't see how they could ever change.

Lord we know You can change them. We know the Gospel can change them. And Lord we pray for them now.

That if they don't know You yet they will come to believe in You. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Pastor Greg Laurie with an important word of prayer. And if you know you need to make a change today in your relationship with the Lord. Pastor Greg will come back to help you do that in just a moment. Before today's edition of A New Beginning concludes.

To get a replay of today's insight or to play it for someone else. Just go online to harvest.org and look for the title overcoming the insurmountable. You can also listen again by way of our Harvest mobile app. To order a permanent copy on CD call 1-800-821-3300. And we are here to take your call 24-7.

Again dial 1-800-821-3300. Well we're so happy to be making available an outstanding resource for kids for the holiday season. It's the Jesus Storybook Bible.

A Christmas collection by Sally Lloyd-Jones. You know I think there's a book that's called something like Comedy is Serious Business. And along those same lines I think you could say writing for children isn't child's play. You know it takes a certain amount of talent and understanding of where a child's coming from. To be able to communicate effectively on their level. And Sally is such a gifted children's author. Sally you know how to speak to them in a way that really resonates. Let me ask you what can you tell us about the dynamics of sharing spiritual truth with kids?

Well I think someone said this to me that the difference between. If there's complexity in this you know Bible stories they're very complex aren't they. And to understand them enough to make them simple enough for a child. You have to go through complexity out the other side to simplicity.

If you don't do the work and you stay this side of complexity then you dumb it down. So I just think whoever we are we have to make sure that we in our own hearts have really responded to the truth of what the Bible is saying. First that's the most important thing and we need to know God loves us. So that we can tell a child God loves them. And I think the best thing is just to be very honest with a child. Not try and have some perfect facade on because I think that makes a child freak out.

They may not say anything but they won't trust us unless we tell them the truth. So I think the most important thing is to do the work. So that you can understand it well enough to make it simple for a child. I love how Sally you begin oftentimes in telling your story. You bring in the adult and the child into a place of wonder and amazement and seeing with childlike eyes. Because we're not to be childish but we're to be childlike. And I love how often you refer to the Bible and refer to the Bible stories as a love story or the story of an adventure story about a young hero that comes from a far country to redeem his lost treasure. Those are things that not only speak to a child's heart but to an adult's heart as well because deep inside we're all longing for that to be true. And then you turn around and say, but this isn't just a story. This is real.

This happened. And it impacts our lives to this day. And I just love how you come at it with that because a child will relate to a fairy tale, relate to an adventure story or a love story. And it's all there in the scripture. And the readings that you have for Advent beginning on December 1st will take us through these incredible stories that you have selected from the Jesus Storybook Bible and package them up for us.

You do the handpicking for us so it's easy for us to get into that story during the Advent season. And I think if I was to really sum up how you take very big concepts, you made me remember really it all comes down to story. And we make the mistake with children where we think we've got to summarize and we've got to have points and we're going to say to some, we might read a story and then we say to a child, well, what that story means is. And whatever we put on the other side of means is, is basically going to limit what God might want to say to that child. And I think the best thing you can do is tell a story because a story is powerful and it will be like a seed that's planted and you may not see what it's doing, but it's working. And it might be between God and the child.

And you don't have to sort of wrap everything up in a bow. And if you do, in fact, you might actually kill the story. So I just recommend people trust the story, choose the right story and then trust it and let the story be a story and it will be powerful. We all can point back to stories that have changed us.

Yes. Quite apart from the Bible story, which changed us. But, you know, story is very powerful.

That's right. And if you want to read what Sally has done with the greatest of all stories, the greatest story ever told, the story of the birth of Jesus. But it wasn't just a celebration of Jesus being born because when Christ came to this earth, it wasn't just an arrival.

It was a departure. He left heaven to come to earth, as Isaiah says, for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. So from earth's perspective, a child was born. From heaven's perspective, a son was given. And Sally writes about that in a beautiful, understandable way that you can read to your children or grandchildren in this special resource that we're offering called the Jesus Storybook Bible, a Christmas collection, including stories, songs, and reflections of the Advent season. And we want to rush you a copy of this for the holiday season for your gift of any size.

Yeah, that's right. It's your investments in this daily radio ministry that allow Pastor Greg's insight to keep coming your way here on this station. And if the Lord is putting it on your heart to support us on a regular basis, ask about becoming a Harvest Partner.

They're the close friends who help us reach so much further with the gospel. With your first gift as a Harvest Partner, we'll be glad to send you the Jesus Storybook Bible, a Christmas collection. Just write us at A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514. Or call 1-800-821-3300. You can dial any time, 24 hours a day. And again the number 1-800-821-3300.

Or go online to harvest.org. Well, Pastor Greg, a couple of moments ago you talked about the importance of coming to the Lord to have our sins forgiven. If somebody listening right now wants to do that, could you help them? Yeah, I can do that, Dave.

I'd be happy to. In the book of Isaiah, we read these words. Seek the Lord while He may be found.

Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake their ways, and the unrighteous men their thoughts. Let them return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on them.

And to our God, for He will freely pardon. Listen, that's God's word to you. And let me address this to the person who has never asked Jesus Christ to come into their life.

Why don't you do it now? That verse says, seek the Lord while He may be found. God has touched your heart today, perhaps. And you've thought, I need this relationship with the Lord. One of these days I'm going to make that commitment to Christ. No, don't wait for one of these days. This is the day.

This is your moment. Seek the Lord while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near. Listen, God is near to you.

And He is ready to come into your life. And there's another part of this verse when it says, let us return to the Lord. I want to also extend an invitation to you that have fallen away from your faith. You've fallen away from the Lord.

And you need to make a recommitment. So, if you want Jesus Christ to come into your life. If you want your sin forgiven. If you want to go to heaven when you die.

Or if you've fallen away from the Lord and you want to return to Him. Pray this prayer with me. Lord Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner. But I also know that You are a Savior.

And I need Your help. I need Your forgiveness. Come into my life and forgive me of all of my sins.

I choose to follow You from this moment forward. Be my Savior. Be my Lord.

Be my God and be my friend. Thank you for hearing this prayer. Thank you for answering this prayer. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen. Hey, I want you to know on the authority of Scripture, if you just prayed that prayer and meant it, Christ has heard you and He has forgiven you.

So, God bless you. 1-800-821-3300. We're here 24-7 to take your call.

That's 1-800-821-3300. Or go to harvest.org and click on Know God. Hey everybody, Greg Laurie here inviting you to join me every weekend for what we call Harvest at Home. It's a church service, it's a worship service, it's a Bible study and it's wherever you want it to be.

In your home, in your car, sitting on a beach, walking down the street, watching it on your phone. Wherever you are, you can take it with you and be ministered to every weekend. Join us for Harvest at Home at harvest.org. Well, next time, Pastor Greg brings a message that offers a lot of hope. You can see it in the title, What to Do When the Odds are Stacked Against You. That's next time, here on A New Beginning. This is the day, the day when life begins The preceding message from Greg Laurie was made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God. Sign up for Pastor Greg's free daily email devotions at harvest.org.