Joshua Chapter 17:1-6

Every time something happens, every time there's a little bit of opposition, they're willing to go back to Egypt.

They're wanting to moan and complain and whine and talk about the past, talk about where they used to be, the things they used to have. Welcome to Cross the Bridge with David McGee. David is the senior pastor of the bridge in Kernersville, North Carolina. If we do any of these things, crumble, grumble, or mumble, we are in danger of becoming a borderline believer. Pastor David discusses the solutions to this as he continues in the book of Joshua chapter 17. But before we join Pastor David, when you're in trouble, where do you turn most often?

Do you look to yourself or the advice of your friends, or do you go straight to God? We want to help you experience the hope that comes from looking to the Lord when your life turns upside down by sending you Pastor David McGee's CD series titled Lessons from the Wilderness. In this encouraging resource, Pastor David looks at one of the most difficult periods of King David's life to show you how you can wait confidently on God, no matter what you're facing. Lessons from the Wilderness is our thank you for your gift this month to share the hope of Christ with others. So please visit crossthebridge.com for your copy of Lessons from the Wilderness.

Now here's David McGee with part two of his teaching, Occupy the Land that You Have Been Given. We're going to be in the book of Joshua chapter 17, verse one says, there was also a lot for the tribe of Manasseh, for he was the firstborn of Joseph, namely for Mayshur, the firstborn of Manasseh, the father of Gilead, because he was a man of war, therefore he was given Gilead and Bashan. And there was a lot for the rest of the children of Manasseh according to their families, for the children of Aba's are the children of Helak, the children of Asriel, the children of Shechem, the children of Hafer, the children of Shemitah. These were the male children of Manasseh, the son of Joseph according to their family. You know what's interesting, it talks about Ephraim first before Manasseh. Ephraim was not the firstborn son, Manasseh was. That's just kind of interesting because we kind of attribute a lot to the oldest born, but you know, God doesn't always do that. You understand Moses was the younger brother of Aaron?

And there's other places you get into that Esau thing and that whole thing, but anyway, it's just kind of interesting. Verse 3, now Zelophehad, the son of Hafer, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, had no sons but only daughters. And these are the names of his daughters, Melah, Noah, Hoggla, Milcah, and Terzah. Verse 4, and they came near before Eliezer the priest, before Joshua, the son of Nun.

I know it looks like nun, but it's actually pronounced Nun. And before the rulers saying, the Lord commanded Moses to give us an inheritance among our brothers. Therefore, according to the commandment of the Lord, he gave them an inheritance among their father's brothers. Ten shears fell to Manasseh besides the land of Gilead and Bashan, which were on the other side of the Jordan, because the daughters of Manasseh received an inheritance among his sons, and the rest of Manasseh's sons had the land of Gilead. Some of you have maps in the back of your Bible.

You may want to flip back there and see if you do have maps. If you look at where the tribes are divided, Ephraim was on the west side of the Jordan. Manasseh, half of them were on the east side, and half of them were on the west side with Gad and Reuben. So there was two and a half tribes that were on the east side of Jordan. There were nine and a half tribes that were on the west side of Jordan. The west side was where God had told them to resign. So there was two and a half tribes that are really, for all intents and purposes, they're on the wrong side. They're on the wrong side. And this is interesting to me, because what we see modeled here is that when they got to this place, two and a half tribes didn't go in. They didn't go in. Nine and a half tribes went in. Those that stayed out had a lot of trouble.

And you know what I refer to them as? Borderline believers. Because here's what happened, and we can see that in the children of Israel as they went through the desert. Because as they went through the desert, there was two groups to the children of Israel. There was one group that was convinced that God had spoken, and they were hearing from God, and they were going into this promised land. There was a group that believed that. There was another group that every time something happened, every time there's a little bit of opposition, they were willing to go back to Egypt.

They were wanting to moan and complain and whine and talk about the past, talk about where they used to be, the things they used to have. I used to, as a young Christian and reading about the children of Israel, I used to get so mad at them and think, my goodness, God did this and God did that and God showed you all these things and delivered you out of these plagues and did all this and look at you whining and moaning and crying and complaining. The older I've gotten in the Lord, now every time I read it, I get convicted. And I think, you know what? Man, that's me sometimes. That is me getting set free out of Egypt, being promised a beautiful land and whining about it as I'm walking there.

Now, I know none of you struggle in any of those areas, but just sympathize with me for a moment if you will. That's convicting to me. And because what happened eventually is they went to Kadesh Barnea, and you probably remember the story, we talked about it before, they sent the 12 spies in. Two of them came back out and said, oh, it's a great land, got big grapes, we're, man, we're, God is awesome, we'll go in, we'll take them. Ten of them said, they're so big and they're scary. And they were probably were talking like that too, you know?

We're too scared. And what happened is the people believed the 10 spies. Keep in mind, the trip from Egypt to Israel was not that long.

What do you think? Well, okay, took them 40 years. It didn't take them 40 years because the length of the time, it took them 40 years.

Well, it's like this. In a matter of months, God was able to get the children of Israel out of Egypt. In a matter of months, God was able to get the children of Israel out of Egypt. But it took them about 40 years to get Egypt out of the children of Israel. And that's what was going on as they wandered around the desert.

They were being purified. And remember, in Joshua, when they got back to this point, they were reminded, hey guys, remember, we've been here before. And we messed up last time. This time, let's do it right. You know, one of the cool things about God is He almost always gives you another chance. He almost always brings you back to that same place and says, okay, let's try this again. Let's try this again.

That's encouraging, isn't it? Why? Because every one of us blows it sometimes. Every one of us has been to a Kadesh Barnea and said, there's no way. Can't do it. They're too big.

Giants. Every one of us has one of those moments in our life. And you know what? That can be, even in your failure, can be a defining moment. Because when God brings you back around to that Kadesh Barnea again, you say, you know what? Last time I didn't believe God and I wandered the stinking desert for 40 years. This time I'm going to believe God.

I'm going in. And God will do that. He'll bring you back to that place. One of the most defining moments for me as a Christian was an utter failure on my part. I got saved in a Christian drug rehab. And after I got out of that rehab, everybody was really interested in why... I mean, I was kind of a...

I was definitely the problem child kind of thing. So everybody was, what happened? What happened?

We heard you got saved. And I was like... So I was explaining to people.

I went back into my high school and was talking to people. And one of the guys was... We were talking about music and this and that and the other. And I was really... I wanted to win the argument.

I was going to put it in other really spiritual sounding terms. I wanted to teach them the truth. No, I really... I just... I wanted to win the argument is really what it came down to.

And as I was talking to him, I looked across the foyer and my eyes met a guy who was standing there. And a lot of times... Let me share this. We think God wants to produce spiritual fruit, not religious nuts.

Okay? The Holy Spirit wants to do a work in our life where we are empowered, according to Acts 1.8, empowered to share our faith with others, to be witnesses. And so often, God will do something like you'll see somebody and you'll think, man, I'll talk to them.

If you're looking for some bolt of lightning or something like that, you can miss the fact that the Holy Spirit is prompting you to speak to that person. Can you deny that and walk away from it? You bet you.

You can do that. I did it that day. As I looked across and I met the eyes of the person, I thought, man, I need to go talk to him after I win this argument is what I said.

I'm going to win this argument first. So I sat there. I talked to the guy. I ended up... I didn't win the argument.

We just agreed to disagree and that was the end of it. When I turned back around, the guy was gone. Two weeks later, that guy died in a car crash. His name was Mark Snyder. I'll never forget his name because I know God told me to tell him.

I didn't do it. Hopefully, God sent somebody else after my failure to tell him. But you better believe after that moment in time when God prompted me to talk to somebody, man, I listened.

I listened with a lot better ears. You know why? Because I failed. And God, many times...

I didn't get another chance to talk to Mark. But God has given me chances to talk to other people. He's brought me back to Kadesh Barnea. And you know what? I don't want to make that same mistake again. And a lot of times what happens as believers is we end up not learning the same lessons. So we go back through them again and again and again and again. God brings us back to the Kadesh Barnea and we lack the faith. We don't believe God and we end up not going in again.

We come back to Kadesh Barnea. We lack faith. Remember, and I'm not saying in some twisted way, beat yourself up, remember your failures. But I am suggesting that we learn from them.

Because that's something that we all have, like it or not. I know it's tough, but we all fail from time to time. And we either let that beat us down, as the enemy would love to do, or we learn from those things. Because, see, even as there was two groups of people in the desert and they died in the desert, now they get to the promised land and guess what?

There's two groups of people again. There's the people that go into the land that go, yes, man, God's promises are awesome. And then there's these borderline believers. You're listening to Pastor David McGee on Cross the Bridge. He'll be back with more powerful insight from God's Word in just a moment. But first, no matter how wise you are, listening to your own advice when you should be trusting God is dangerous. That's why we want to send you Pastor David McGee's CD series called Lessons from the Wilderness. Journey through one of the darkest times in King David's life and discover how you can wait confidently on God no matter what struggles you're facing, because his plans are perfect and he always comes through for you. Lessons from the Wilderness is our thank you for your gift this month to share the hope of Christ with others. So please visit crossthebridge.com for your copy of Lessons from the Wilderness.

Now back to today's message. The Bible's filled with borderline believers. The Bible's filled with people who wanted to look back. Of course, the children of Israel are one example, but there's lots of others. You can probably think of some. Lot's wife obviously was one.

Shouldn't have looked back, but she did. The borderline believers aren't necessarily who you'd think they would be. They're not the people who just failed because you know what? There's everybody in here fails except Jesus. Jesus and two people, but I'm sure they failed too. Joseph and Daniel, the Scriptures record, they don't record any time that those two men sin. We know they sinned because they were men, but the Bible doesn't record that they sinned.

And it's kind of interesting because they are pictures of Jesus. Now I don't want to go off on that tangent, but that's part of the reason I believe Scripture doesn't record their sin. But everybody else, the people that you think of really godly, powerful people, I mean, who do you think, call out loud, who's a really godly, powerful person in the book? Paul? Well, look how Paul started out. Paul started out killing Christians. And then he had the little thing with Mark that didn't go so well. He kind of fired Mark, I guess, is really the way it kind of worked out. But he came full circle, and at the end of the beautiful thing, he said, when he's in the Roman prison, he says, send Mark to me because he's useful in the ministry.

He came back to Kadesh Barnea. The heroes, David. Did David ever struggle?

Yeah. I mean, he had a lot of problems. But he was called a man after God's own heart. Peter? Peter denied Jesus. And on and on the list goes, these are people that hit the resistance and went through.

They came to their Kadesh Barnea across the border. But see, Scripture also records people that didn't press through. And we can think of a lot of them, too. Obviously, you know, early on, Cain would be an example. I mentioned Esau, the children of Israel, certainly Korah in that group, the brothers of Joseph, these tribes that settled on the wrong side of the Jordan. You can think of King Saul, think of Absalom, probably the greatest borderline believer of them all, Judas.

Here's the thing, though, guys. When we're looking at their lives, the names I just mentioned, they had some form of a relationship with the Lord. They had some form of relationship with the Lord. They were exposed to the teachings that everybody else was exposed to.

But what happened? What happened is, well, there's no way to really say it without saying it, they focused on their selves. They were selfish. They were selfish, and they focused on themselves rather than what was going on around them.

They got to the fork in the road, and they chose their own way. Now, again, we can't sit up here pie in the sky and say, oh, well, I've never done that. Yes, you have. You've done that.

You probably did it today. But you can be forgiven. You can come back around to that and be forgiven and be successful in the very place you failed before. God will be faithful to bring you back to that place. And in that moment, no longer be a borderline believer. Christianity is filled with borderline believers. I don't want to be a borderline believer.

Let me say it a little stronger. I don't want to be that easily satisfied. I don't want to be satisfied with the things that the world has to offer.

I don't want to settle for so much less than God has intended for me. And I hope and I pray that you guys aren't either. Now, a good indicator is that you're here on a Thursday night. You're given of a weeknight to come here to worship God, to hear the teaching of the Word of God. That's a good indicator that you know what? You're hungry for God. And congratulations in that. Congratulations in that. And maybe some of you are really beat up because you think back of a place at Kadesh Barnea where you blew it.

Welcome to the human race. But take heart, friend. Because you know what? Chances are really good.

You're going to get another shot at Kadesh Barnea. Maybe you've blown it witnessing to somebody. Maybe you missed the opportunity to witness to somebody. God will bring that back around more than likely. But what happened is these people met with a little bit of opposition, these two and a half tribes, and they stopped.

What happens in your life when you hit resistance? I know that I'm not necessarily preaching or teaching. I'm meddling.

I've realized that I'm doing that. And you better believe that even before the service, I prayed, God, you know what? These need to be your words, not mine. And if I'm about to say anything that's of me, please shut my mouth. And of course, the worship team was like, oh, it's going to be an interesting message tonight.

But what happens when you hit resistance? See, what sometimes happens is you run. Sometimes somebody can come to a church and they come face to face with what's wrong in their lives. And instead of going, you know what, I'm going to work through this and I'm so glad God has pointed this out, they bail. I'm going to go to another church. There's something wrong with this church. I'm going to go to another one. The problem is, guess what they're taking with them to that other church?

Same set of problems they didn't deal with here. There are legitimate reasons to leave a church. If they're not teaching the Word of God, or they're teaching heresy, or they're teaching blasphemy, man, get out of there.

And again, if somebody is starving to death because you're not being taught the Word of God, get out of there. But if it's because you hit a little bit of resistance, don't bail from that, friend. Because God is instructing you in a situation.

So when you hit that resistance, what happens? Do you crumble? Oh, everybody's against me. Then God wants to give you an inner strength like you've never had before. Do you crumble? Well then, God wants to put in you the way that you can be victorious in that situation.

Do you mumble? Well then, God wants to work in you a way that you can endure it and not say anything. He wants to do those things. He wants to be glorified in that situation that's challenging you.

Don't run from that. See, because it may be the very way that God is designed to pull an enemy out of your life. Now, we love it. I love it when God deals with my enemies when they're out there. When I'm justified.

When, you know, perhaps somebody that's, you know, been saying this or doing this and then, you know, it's like the truth is discovered and it comes out like, yeah, thank you God. But when God starts to deal with the real enemy of my Christian faith, I don't get as happy. And we tend to think of my problems are with somebody else. We tend to think, well, you know, the problem with my marriage is my wife.

Problem with my marriage is my husband. But God often brings us in that position to ask ourselves, God, what is it you want from me? Where have I messed up?

Where have I messed up? The first life lesson in this is if you do any of these things, crumble, grumble, or mumble, you're in danger of becoming a borderline believer. Look for those three things, crumble, grumble, or mumble. If you're doing those things, you're in danger. Or perhaps, perhaps you're already a borderline believer.

If you find yourself in that position, what do you do? Well, realize, first of all, God knows right where you are. You're not lost from God. You may be on the other side of Jordan, but God knows right where you are. He's not going, oh my goodness, where'd it go?

I can't find him. No, he knows right where you are. He knows right what you're going through. And he hasn't dropped down the gate to say, that's it, I don't want them ever crossing the Jordan.

He's not done that to you, friend. As a matter of fact, he's reminding you that you don't have to live like that. You don't have to live like a borderline believer. You understand, when I'm talking about borderline believers, it's kind of like a foot on each side, one foot in the world, one foot in the promised land.

You know what? I've tried to live like that. I don't think I've ever been more miserable in my life. I think I was more miserable as a borderline believer than I ever was when I didn't know the truth. That's no way to live.

That's certainly not what God has intended you to do. So when you hit a snag, when you hit something, and I don't know what that looks like for each person. I can tell you a couple of ways that it happens in resistance. Either number one, either somebody confronts you in an area. Our first tendency is to do what? It's to bolt.

It's to defend ourselves. That's not just you. Maybe you thought, well, gee, I don't respond to criticism well. That's human nature.

When somebody says, well, you did this. Human nature is to step up and to begin to justify why we did that. And yet, do you understand where the rub comes in? Because in this book, do you understand that we're told that we're supposed to confront one another in love? That we're supposed to speak the truth to one another? So here, you have a scriptural mandate to do something that causes part of us to want to blast, to leave.

That's not just you. Part of every one of us wants to do that when that situation occurs. But part of us has to say, you know what? I want to be more like Jesus. And this person just pointed out something in me that's not like Jesus.

So you know what I need to do? I got to let go of that. I got to get over that. And with God's power, I will get over that and I'll be more like Jesus. God will bring those situations and occur in our life. And something that goes kind of hand in hand with that is getting offended.

That happens in church a lot too. I'm offended. You know what? It's rare. It's rare that somebody will be offended for the right reasons. When I say rare, I'm talking about like 0.000001%. The six digit thing, you know?

The six zero. It's that rare that somebody gets offended for the right reasons. On that rare occasion, somebody may go, I'm offended because such and so was treated like this and I really have a problem with that. Every now and again, every rare now and again, that will happen.

But you know what it usually is? I'm offended because somebody did this to me. Somebody did this, said this to me.

Somebody looked at me real. And those are two reasons that keep people borderline believers. I want more for you than that.

I want more for me than that. I don't want to be a borderline believer. Not when God has so much more for me. Friend, do you know for sure that your sins have been forgiven?

You can know right now. I want to lead you in a short simple prayer, simply telling God you're sorry and asking Him to help you to live for Him. Now God wants you to pray this prayer so much that He died to give you the opportunity and the ability to ask Him to forgive you.

Please pray this prayer with me out loud, right now. Dear Jesus, I believe you died for me, that I could be forgiven. And I believe you were raised from the dead, that I could have a new life. And I've done wrong things. I have sinned.

And I'm sorry. Please forgive me of all those things. Please give me the power to live for you, all of my days. In Jesus' name.

Amen. Friend, if you prayed that prayer, according to the Bible, you've been forgiven. You've been born again. Jesus said He would not turn anybody away who comes to Him.

And He came for those people who knew they needed forgiveness, those who were sick, not the righteous. So congratulations, friend. You just made the greatest decision that you will ever make. God bless you. If you prayed that prayer with David for the first time, we'd love to hear from you. You can call us toll free at 877-458-5508 to receive our First Steps package with helpful resources to help you begin your walk with Christ.

So many people look to their friends or within their own thoughts when faced with a problem. Even King David struggled with listening to his heart and not trusting in God's promises. Pastor David McGee wants to encourage you to wait confidently on God through whatever trial you're facing by sending you his CD series, Lessons from the Wilderness. Lessons from the Wilderness is our thank you for your gift this month. To share the hope of Christ in your life,