And in the 1 year that we have been here I believe we have
been faithful to that. We have been
tested and tried but I believe we have been obedient to what God has asked us
to do. We certainly aren’t perfect but
we have certainly matured as a church in the past year. We have been tested in ways that many older
churches have yet to. When I tell people
outside this church about how Satan has attacked in so many ways, internally,
externally, physically, financially, morally and more, they tell me that their
church has never had to really go through some of those things.
We see The Rock Church doing so well in the building we used
to be in in Runaway Bay and we know that they are where they are supposed to be. And we know that we are where we are supposed
to be and it’s just exciting to see God at work in Wise County. We have seen lives changed, marriages
restored, families healed, people healed and forgiven and I tell people all the
time that it is just fun to be a member here because of all the ways God is
using and is going to use this church.
I am more optimistic about this church than I ever have
been. I sense a closeness among the
members and a passion for the community that is exciting and I can’t wait to
see how God is going to use and bless this bunch of Jesus-followers. I have a vision of our church being the
catalyst for revival in Wise County. I
can look forward to a time when this church will have sister churches that we
have started all over the world and every year a group from this church will go
on a mission trip to one of those churches or to start a new one.
I honestly don’t have a vision of this church becoming
another mega-church with a building program and having to add additional rooms
and other buildings on this property but my vision does include growing the
Kingdom of God in Lake Bridgeport, Wise County, all over Texas and the world
just like the Great Commission tells us at the end of Matthew. And there is no reason all of that can’t
happen. And there is only one reason why
it won’t. That reason is sin.
Sin is the only reason we can’t or won’t do amazing things
for the Kingdom. If we are obedient, God
will do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that
is at work within us, according to Ephesians
3:20. Because, as that verse tells
us, it is His power that is at work within us that will accomplish those
things. We don’t have the power within
ourselves to do all that but can and will do it through us if we abide in Him;
if we are obedient to Him. But our sin
as individuals and as a church will hinder the work of God and will stop us
from reaching our potential.
I know it’s true because we see it in God’s Word. Grab your Bible. There should be one right in front of you if
you didn’t bring one. And turn to the
Old Testament book of Joshua. It is
between Deuteronomy and Judges and it is full of boring old history. There are lots of lists and impossible to
pronounce names and it can get pretty dry at times…until you see the reason
that God placed those things there and then it becomes the living Word that is
powerful and sharp as a two-edged sword and will not come back void and
inspired by the same Holy Spirit that lives in us as Christians today.
Joshua chapter 17,
verses 12-18. Joshua has been a book
that I have gone to so many times over the past year. It tells of the Hebrew people’s start in the
new land that God had provided for them and we can relate as a church so much
to what happened to them. God took them
out of the wilderness and in chapter 3,
verse 5, Joshua tells the people to “Consecrate
yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do amazing things among you." Some of you remember me preaching about
that. And we saw it happen to us as well. God has done amazing things among us.
In chapter 4 the whole nation of 3-4 million people crossed
the flooded Jordan River on dry ground and went into the Promised Land. And when they were all across they went and
got 12 stones out of the river bed and stacked them up as a remembrance of what
God did for them. We did the same with
12 pebbles out of the parking lot of the old church building when The Rock
started leasing it from us, for the same reason; so that we can tell people
about how God provided a miracle for us to put us where we are supposed to be.
We have fought with the enemies, we have seen the fall of
our Jericho and we have seen God protect and provide for us, His people, in
this new land of Lake Bridgeport. Today
I want to look at chapter 17 where we see that it is time for Joshua to divide
up the land among all the tribes or families and so, under the guidance of the
Holy Spirit, Joshua does so. There are
still some people living in the land and they have built cities and farms but
God has given all of that to the Hebrew people.
All they have to do is spread out and go get it.
So, let’s read about that in Joshua 17:12-18.
“Yet the Manassites were not able
to occupy these towns, for the Canaanites were determined to live in that
region. 13 However,
when the Israelites grew stronger, they subjected the Canaanites to forced
labor but did not drive them out completely. 14 The people of
Joseph said to Joshua, “Why have you given us only one allotment and one
portion for an inheritance? We are a numerous people, and the Lord has blessed us abundantly.” 15 “If you are so
numerous,” Joshua answered, “and if the hill country of Ephraim is too small
for you, go up into the forest and clear land for yourselves there in the land
of the Perizzites and Rephaites.” 16 The people of Joseph
replied, “The hill country is not enough for us, and all the Canaanites who
live in the plain have chariots fitted with iron, both those in Beth Shan and
its settlements and those in the Valley of Jezreel.” 17 But
Joshua said to the tribes of Joseph—to Ephraim and Manasseh—“You are numerous
and very powerful. You will have not only one allotment 18 but the forested hill country as well. Clear it,
and its farthest limits will be yours; though the Canaanites have chariots
fitted with iron and though they are strong, you can drive them out.”
I remember when I was in elementary school there was a game that some
of the kids played on the playground at recess. It usually started with a
couple of boys who would lock arms and start walking around the playground
chanting, “Nothing can stop us” over and over again. Pretty soon a few
more boys would join in and they would just walk over anybody in their
way. They would trample the kids as they played their other games or sat
reading or whatever and they were right. Nothing could stop them.
Some kids would try to break through the chain but they usually couldn’t and
the group of boys would just keep marching, trampling and chanting, “Nothing
can stop us. Nothing can stop us.”
But there was one thing that could stop them and eventually it
always did. Do you know what it was? A teacher. Finally some
teacher would have enough or somebody would get hurt and then the teacher would
walk out there and holler at them to stop and they would all scatter.
It’s sort of like that for us as a church. When we lock arms
together and let God guide us there is nothing that can stop us from doing
amazing things through the power of God. We are a force to be reckoned
with, stamping out unrighteousness; trampling on the forces of evil and
marching in step with the Spirit. It’s a beautiful thing but there is
something that can stop us. There is one thing that will keep us from
being who we are supposed to be and doing what we are supposed to do as a
church and as individuals. And that thing is sin.
We see here in Joshua three things that threatened to stop the
children of Israel from being what God wanted them to be. There is the
problem of possession, the problem of pride and the problem of priorities.
Look at verses 12 and 13
again. We see the problem of possession. When I talk about
possession I am not talking about possessions or stuff although I will be
talking about that some in the next couple of weeks. I mean they failed
to possess what God had given them. They failed to inhabit the land that
God had declared was theirs because the Canaanites were living there.
God had told them to completely dispossess the Canaanites from the
land. Drive them out. Kill them. Get rid of them. They
have no claim to that land. But not only did they not dispossess them
they even made them slaves thinking that was good enough. But what always
happens? The enemy would get stronger and stronger and pretty soon they
would take over again.
Do you know what God wanted for them? It is the same thing
He wants for Christ Fellowship. He wanted them to have complete victory. He
didn’t bring them to the Promised Land so they could huddle in fear or be
overtaken by the enemy. 1 Corinthians 15:57 says, “But thanks
be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Douglas
MacArthur said, “In war, there is no substitute for victory.”
And we are in a battle. We are in a battle for Lake
Bridgeport. Our battle is not against flesh and blood. It is a
battle against Satan for the souls of this community. And we will lose
that battle if we do not possess what God has given us. Like the
Manassites, we too often fail to win the battle because we have not completely
driven out the sin that is in our lives. We play around with it. We
leave a little bit here and there and we think we have pretty good control over
it but we always leave a foothold for it.
We are not here to coddle our fleshly nature; our old man; the
sinful nature that we have. We don’t coddle it. We crucify
it. We drive it out completely. You know that sin that you struggle
with over and over again? You know that thing you do or don’t do that you
have to repent of 12 times a day and it pains you to do it but you still do
it? You know what I’m talking about. Think about how that starts in
your life. What brings it to mind? Is it a place? A song?
A person or a habit?
Those things may or may not be bad in and of themselves but if it
is a foothold for that sin in your life then drive it out. Get rid of
it. Like the Manassites, we sometimes think we don’t have to do away with
it completely. We can handle it. We will keep this little bit over
here and we can control it but it always gets stronger and eventually we are
not in possession of what God has given us anymore.
Not only are we not able to battle for the souls of our community
but we have also lost the other things that God has given us to possess.
Do you know that God promises to give us wisdom? He says we can have the
Fruit of the Spirit; love, joy, peace, patience, etc. But we either think
it is too hard or we think we can control it and either way we start to say,
“Oh I have no peace, no joy. I just don’t have patience. I can’t do
it.” And Satan just giggles his nasty head off thinking how foolish we
are not to possess what we already own; the things God Himself has given us.
So, we see here and in our own lives the problem of possession.
But we also see in verse 14 the problem of pride. “The
people of Joseph said to Joshua, “Why have you given us only one allotment and
one portion for an inheritance? We are a numerous people, and the Lord has blessed us abundantly.”
These same people who are unable to drive out the Canaanites,
these same people who were unable to possess the lot that God had already given
them, were now asking for more. They hadn’t even possessed what they had, but
they were saying, “Hey, we’re kind of a big deal around here. God
thinks pretty highly of us. So, why don’t we get more than what we have?”
The thing about the Manassites is that the portion that they were given was
actually as big or bigger than most of the other tribes. If your Bible
has maps in the back there is probably one that shows that their territory was
huge but evidently it wasn’t big enough to hold their big heads.
1 Peter 5:5 says, “God
opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” Do you want to know
what will stop this church dead in its tracks quicker than anything? It
is the attitude of pride that says, “Look what we have done!” It’s
especially difficult for pastors to see the church grow and prosper and it’s
one reason it is not my vision for this church to be a mega-church. I’ll
be honest with you. I have seen it too many times. The Lord blesses
a church and pretty soon the pastor’s thumbs go under his arms and his head
tilts back as he surveys the big building with all the cars in the parking lot
and some part of him says, “Hmmm…I must be doing something right. I
must be getting pretty good at this.”
I bet God wants to throw up. And that is why He says in 2
Chronicles 7:14, “if my people, who are called by my name, will humble
themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I
will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
He is not telling Lake Bridgeport to humble themselves. He is telling His
people. He says, “Hey Christ Fellowship, humble yourself. Hey
Pastor Todd, I am especially talking to you. This has never had anything
to do with you and it never will. All you have to do is be obedient and I
will build my church. I will provide the people. I will provide the
program, the budget, the plan and when I do, the gates of Hell will not prevail
against it and there will be no stopping this church.”
But we are a prideful people. We have a problem with
possession, with pride and with our priorities. Look again at verse
17 and the condescension that just drips off the tongue of Joshua here. “But
Joshua said to the tribes of Joseph—to Ephraim and Manasseh—“You are numerous
and very powerful. You will have not only one allotment but the forested hill
country as well. Clear it, and its farthest limits will be yours; though the
Canaanites have chariots fitted with iron and though they are strong, you can
drive them out.”
He is telling them that if they want more territory then they
already have it. All they have to do is get to work and clear some of the
trees out of the way and there will be plenty of land for them.
A group of friends went deer hunting
and paired off in twos for the day. That night one of the hunters returned
alone, staggering under an eight-point buck. "Where's Harry?"
he was asked. "Harry had a stroke of some kind. He's a couple of
miles back up the trail." "You left Harry laying there, and
carried the deer back?" "Well," said the hunter, "I
figured no one was going to steal Harry."
We can easily have a problem with our priorities just like that
hunter and that will absolutely stop us from being and doing and going as God
wants us to. We say we want to win souls in Lake Bridgeport . We
say we want to make a difference. We say we want to lead people to have a
life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ. And I believe we really do
but the proof is not in the pudding. It is in the priority.
You say, “Oh, I wish I understood the Bible better. Hey,
look. Gunsmoke is coming on!”
“Oh, I hope those people down the street find somebody to bring
them to church.”
“I hope the church meets its budget this year and as soon as I
start making some good money, I’m gonna help.”
“You know, somebody ought to start … (fill in the blank).”
How bad do you want it? How bad do you want to be
obedient? How bad do you want to see God’s blessings? Do you know I
wish I was skinny? I do. I really do wish it. But do you know
how bad I wish I was skinny? This bad. (Hands on belly) I
evidently don’t want it bad enough. I try to watch what I eat. I
even ate some vegetables…some time ago. But I have proved that I don’t
want it bad enough. I have not made it a priority.
If we are going to be all that God wants for us as a church and as
individuals then we have to make it a priority. And if we don’t, do you
know what the consequences are? The consequences of me being fat are very
serious. The consequences of us not making a priority of being obedient
are eternal! And not just for us. We as Christians have our
eternities set. We may miss out on blessings if we don’t do what we are
supposed to do but for the person across the street and right behind us the
consequences of our apathy will be eternal.
I’ve told you before what the atheist magician Penn Jillette said
about proselytizing. He is an atheist but he said if that is really how
you believe that Jesus is the Son of God and died for our sins then how bad do
you have to hate a person not to tell them about it? He is so
right. Even an atheist knows you have to have your priorities in order to
make a difference in this nasty old world.
So, how bad do you want to make a difference? How bad do you
want to be holy and different? How bad do want Christ Fellowship to be a
force to be reckoned with? Do you want it bad enough to drive out the sin
in your life? Do you want it bad enough to let go of the monster of
pride? Do you want it bad enough to make it a priority in your life?
If we do that, nothing will be able to stop us.
Invitation
Family Of God – bulletin
Thanks to Adrian Rogers for part of the outline.
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