Forward Progress [Part 2]

Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Allen Wright.

The power in Joshua's ministry and the way that the people are going to take the land is through a deepening maturity of knowing who they are, whether they see in that instance evidence of God's presence. That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt, excited for you to hear the teaching today and the series, Forward, as presented at Reynolda Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout our entire program today, I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. It could be yours for your donation this month to Allen Wright Ministries. So as you listen to today's message, go deeper as we send you today's special offer. Contact us at pastorallen.org. That's pastorallen.org.

Or call 877-544-4860, 877-544-4860. More on this later in the program. But right now, let's get started with today's teaching.

Here is Allen Wright. I like to think of it this way, like Jericho was the first city to fall in their military campaign. And then they would face Ai, which initially they had a real defeat and then a victory. And then they would head south. And there were many times where they did not know what their next battle or adventure would even be until they'd taken the first few steps. In other words, if they're 10 steps, you may not even be able to see what 10 looks like until you've taken one and two and three. You may have to walk through a valley and get up to a mountain top before you can even see the next mountain. There is no way to the farther reaches of the promised land except for step right now.

And so they did. I want to say one more thing about this. Well, actually two more things about this verse. The other thing is that when it says every place that you step your foot, it has been given to you. I want you to know in Hebrew, the you is in the plural. This is why we need a southern translation of the Bible, because then it would have appropriately translated every place y'all step y'all's feet is being given to all y'all. Because if you're with Joshua and you're stepping with him, it's for everybody, not just the leader, which means a lot to me since Jesus is our Yeshua and where he goes and we go with him, that spiritual territory is ours.

Wow. We become co-heirs with Christ. And all of this points to a spiritual reality, a principle that God's given me sort of an interesting image to give to you from football. And it is to say that when you move forward, you get your forward progress no matter how hard you're hit or how far you're pushed back.

Let me try to explain this principle to you. So in football, if you're not a football fan, let me just explain this to you. In football, the runner who has the ball, you know, and there's run here, let's say here's the line of scrimmage. Come on up here, Bush. Be my defender.

All right. You're over here. You're the middle linebacker over there. Don't actually hit me though.

That'd be bad. My back's been kind of tender lately, but I've got the ball and I've, I take the handoff and I'm coming through the line and I run. Here's the line of scrimmage right in the middle. And I get about two yards pass it. And then here comes to be mean linebacker. You push me back and you just keep pushing me back to show how we watch them.

Yeah, I know you watch five hours of football yesterday. You getting pushed back, but at the end of the play, the ref picks up the ball. And even though I was tackled and got pushed back about five yards, picks up the ball, comes up and puts it to the point of my furthest progress.

Thank you for not targeting me right there. You, you, you can be playing football and you no matter how many people are tackling you. And sometimes it looks like that where it's like the whole team against one guy and they'll push him so far back. It doesn't matter how many people push you back at the end of the play. They bring the ball up to the point of the farthest progress, Ford progress. They could pick the runner up and carry him back. That's ugly right there.

It doesn't matter. He still gets Ford progress. Doesn't matter how hard you get tackled. I mean, you can get tackled hard. That's not going to be fun landing right there.

And you still get Ford progress. Somebody could throw you up in the air and you hit the ground and it knocks the wind out of you. Anybody ever had that happen before? You got the wind knocked out of you.

Oh my goodness. I played peewee football. Somebody hit you. You come down poop and you lie in there.

You cannot breathe. And though you can't breathe and you're not sure you're going to be able to get up, the ball still goes back to your Ford progress. You can have your helmet come flying off and you could still get the ball back to the Ford progress.

Now here's the other image. Part of this is that if you and football come up, here's the point where you need to make the first first down past this line and you just barely get there. And then I push you back 10 yards. If the ball got over that and you get a first line or that's the first time or what's even really exciting is no matter how much you're getting hit, if just the tip of the nose of the football gets across the end zone line, that goal line, if just the tip of it, it's a touchdown.

Even if the runner is just way knocked back. What happens in the spiritual journey is a lot like that, y'all. It's like life circumstances sometimes just gang up on us.

And I mean, if you're a human being, you've been tackled hard before. And this has been a hard year and a half. And there have been setbacks and sometimes it feels like you've just been pushed back. And other times it feels like a surprising blow that will come out of nowhere and take your breath away. And sometimes you feel like, have I made any progress at all? There is a temptation to think that because I have been hit so hard or because I got pushed back that I might as well give up because I'm not getting anywhere. And I think what God is saying prophetically to the church and to you today is no, you got your forward progress.

You got your forward progress. One of my best buddies I ever had, Andy, who I don't know if I've seen him since college. I'm not, if I have, I can't remember when. And he was one of my best buddies because he was a guy that from the time I was little, I played tennis with almost every day. And we traveled around North Carolina as kids and played in the little junior tournaments together. And then in high school we played tennis together and he became my doubles partner and we fought many, many battles together.

And I love it. I hadn't seen him in so many years and we reconnected and he's coming, coming through town on Tuesday. I'm going to see my old buddy. I might even try to go out there and hit the ball a couple of times on the tennis court. I gave up tennis and started playing golf. And so I had hardly touched a tennis racket in, I don't know, 30 years probably. And so this summer Abby said, let's go hit some tennis a couple of times.

I said, well, all right. I went out and y'all, I can still hit a forehand. I've been set back, knocked down, hadn't played. And yet I didn't lose all that ground. You have in your life made progress in the Spirit.

You might have more patience now than you realize. You still stumble and become impatient, but you've come further than you know. That spiritual battle that you keep facing, you feel like I've just been, there's been one step back after that. No, you, you, you, you, you get your full progress. If you had a ministry gift and it's been lying dormant and then you, you pick it back up so that God continues to use you. You don't have to start 10 yards back. You go back to your point of where you last were ministering. Forward progress. Every place you step your foot is forward progress and you get to keep it.

That's Alan Wright, and we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series. Would you love a better marriage? You don't need more good advice.

You need more good news. Marriages like people aren't changed by human effort or even by applying principles. Marriages are changed by the gospel of grace. In six video sessions, pastor Alan and his wife and lead you and your spouse into a fresh encounter with the God of grace. You'll learn a simple grace-filled process that makes great communication easy. You'll discover the freedom of forgiveness and the power of celebration. You'll also learn how to pray for your spouse and how to bless one another with a faith-filled vision for the future.

To help you grow, when you order the video series, we'll also send you two copies of the accompanying study guide. Whether your marriage is going through some special challenges or your marriage is in a season of health, you'll find powerful transformational truth in good news for your marriage. Make your gift to Alan Wright Ministries today and fill your marriage with the grace of God. The gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support.

When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, pastoralan.org. This teaching now continues.

Here once again is Alan Wright. Let me say one more thing about this chapter, which is really intriguing. Verse five, no man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life, just as I was with Moses, so I'll be with you. He's going to be with Moses. He was with Moses.

He's going to be with Joshua. I will not leave you or forsake you. He wants them to know that and be strong and courageous. That's what's needed, courage. That's what's needed. That's an expression of faith for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous. That's the key. Being careful to do according to all the law that Moses, my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left that you may have good success wherever you go. This is what I'm saying. The book of the law, the word of God shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it.

For then you will make your way prosperous and you will have good success. You ever thought to think how different Moses's call was from Joshua's? That's really intriguing to me. Moses met God in a burning bush. He met God in a place that he saw something glorious, had to take his sandals off in that holy presence and Moses didn't know how to trust God. Moses was hiding in Midian and he just started making excuses why he shouldn't be the one to be the deliverer for the people Israel.

And finally just says, God, he said, how would I think the people would believe me? And God said, what's that in your hand? He says the staff because he was a shepherd.

It's a stick. He said, take it and throw it down. And Moses threw it down. It became a serpent. And the Lord said, pick it up by the tail, the tail.

That's not how you pick up a snake and a bike, pick it up by the tail, picked it up. It became a stick again. He said, take your hand and put it in your cloak. And he put it into his garment and he pulled it out and it was leprous. And the Lord said, put it back in and he pulled it out and it was healed. The Lord from the very beginning started assuring Moses that I'm going to lead you and the people by signs and wonders. And he took the people out of Israel through all these really dramatic plagues. And then there was the destroyer that came through Egypt, destroying firstborns. There was the parting of a red sea. There's miraculous manna on the ground.

There's water that comes from a rock. Moses, his ministry was just full of all these signs and wonders. And Joshua, it's interesting that when the Lord says, you're going to lead the people into the promised land, he doesn't say, throw your staff on the ground, let me show you a miracle. He says, I want you to stay in the word.

Don't stop meditating on the truth about who I am and who you are. There are going to be miracles in the promised land, plenty of them. Jericho is a miracle. There are going to be miracles.

He's going to make the sun stand still one day. But the power in Joshua's ministry and the way that the people are going to take the land is through a deepening maturity of knowing who they are, whether they see in that instance, evidence of God's presence. Because God had had a people who died out in the wilderness that when Moses was up on Mount Sinai for a little longer than they thought he should have been gone, they formed a golden calf and started worshiping it.

Because as soon as they couldn't see something happening or feel God's presence, it's like they didn't believe he was enough anymore. I was thinking about babies, they come into the world and they do not have this thing that psychologists call the skill of object permanence. And what it means is it's at the earliest, the fourth month of life that a baby understands that a thing can exist that they don't see. Which is really interesting if you think about it. If mommy feeds the baby and lays the baby down in the crib and then steps out of the room, as far as the three month old is concerned, mommy doesn't exist anymore. Isn't that something?

I was laughing about that. I said, that woman carried that baby for nine months, had morning sickness, had to go through some hot summer, carried this baby around, had back aches, and then have 14 hours of labor to bring that baby in. Three months gone by, she hadn't even had a decent night's sleep, fed the baby countless times, already changed a thousand diapers, and she can go in and sing to that baby, rock that baby, feed that baby, and set it down in the crib and walk 10 feet away on the other side of a wall and it's like she doesn't even exist. The child has to mature to even understand that just because mommy is not here right in this minute does not mean that she does not exist. You learn she comes back. She's still just as real when I can't see her as when I can. When I can feel her touch, I know she's real, but when she's in the other room, I know she's real. I know it because I have all the recollections of what it's like to be held by her. I've been fed by her, I've been cared for by her, and I know she's coming back.

I know that she is going to be there for me and there's a word for that, trust. Do not depart from my word to the left or the right, but Joshua, here's the key. I'm going to do miracles. Oh no, I'm going to do miracles, but here's the key.

You stay in the truth because I'm with you and I want you to know it and when you know it, all the people with you are going to know it. Joshua's name originally was Hoshea. It means salvation and Moses changed his name. He added the abbreviated form of the name of the Lord Yahweh and renamed him Yahoshea, which is to say Yahshua, which means the Lord saves, the Lord is salvation. In Greek, the way it's rendered, transliterated, if you look in the Greek Bible, how do you say Yahshua?

It is Iesous, which we bring into English as Jesus. It can't be a clearer foreshadowing of Jesus than Joshua because Jesus's name is Joshua and the image is that he is with you and wants you to know that he's with you and as you take each step with him, Paul says to the Galatians, keeping in step with the spirit, the spiritual life is like a walk, but in many ways it's like a military campaign. It is spiritual battle after spiritual battle that we fight not because we're wondering whether or not we're blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ, but because we know we are and the more confident you are that the land is yours, the more resolutely you fight and the more you know that every place that you have taken your foot and stepped it in accord with God's word and by his leading, that this is part of your spiritual territory and that this is the picture for the body of Christ and how we're to influence the world with the gospel, the more that you know that, the more you stay in that, the more you're going to have strength and courage.

That's the picture. The land is yours, Joshua. So you just have strength and courage and all the people with you will also. So we just walk with Jesus. Every step that he takes, we take it with him and it's given to us.

You might have been knocked down hard. There may be times you've been pushed back and it feels like a setback and it might feel like I was here and now I'm way back over here, but when you get back up in the spirit, you always get your forward progress. You've come farther than you think. So don't stop walking now. You have made more progress than you realize and that's the gospel. Alan Wright, our good news message today, forward progress from the series simply titled Forward. I encourage you to stay with us. Pastor Alan is back with a closing good news thought for the day here in just a moment. Would you love a better marriage? You don't need more good advice.

You need more good news. Marriages like people aren't changed by human effort or even by applying principles. Marriages are changed by the gospel of grace. In six video sessions, Pastor Alan and his wife and lead you and your spouse into a fresh encounter with the God of grace. You'll learn a simple grace filled process that makes great communication easy. You'll discover the freedom of forgiveness and the power of celebration. You'll also learn how to pray for your spouse and how to bless one another with a faith-filled vision for the future.

To help you grow, when you order the video series, we'll also send you two copies of the accompanying study guide. Whether your marriage is going through some special challenges or your marriage is in a season of health, you'll find powerful transformational truth in good news for your marriage. Make your gift to Alan Wright Ministries today and fill your marriage with the grace of God. The gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support. When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries.

Call us at 877-544-4860. That's 877-544-4860 or come to our website, pastoralan.org. Unlock the power of blessing your life. Discover God's grace-filled vision for your life by signing up for Alan Wright's free daily blessing. If you want to fill your heart with grace and encouragement, get Alan Wright's daily blessing. It's free and just a click away at pastoralan.org. So, Pastor Alan, I know it's not about getting stuck, but it's also realizing that even in the moment of maybe this pause that you're in, that you can look around and say you're further along maybe than you realize. I just want this so much maybe for a married couple that's listening right now, and maybe you're going through a really hard time right now, and there's something inside of our sin nature that tends to say, well, all is doomed.

We hadn't made any progress. And I think if you actually will stop and look at it, you maybe have some communication skill now that you once didn't have. That maybe you're talking about some difficult things that you once didn't talk about. You've come farther than you think. Or maybe in your spiritual life, your walk with God, you feel like I still am falling into some of the same temptations.

We all sin. But I think if you look at it and you see it through the eyes of God, what you'll realize is that the journey you've been on is taking you farther down this road than you realize. So, the principle of Promised Land Living is every place where you step your foot because it was promised to you.

It has already been given to you. You're just taking it step by step. And that's the spiritual life. Do not be discouraged by momentary setbacks. Even if, like the football player that feels like they have been hit so hard they can barely breathe, you still get your forward progress.

And that's the way it is in the spiritual life. So, my brothers and sisters, do not give up today. You've come farther than you think. We'll see you next time. We'll see you next time.