Six years ago, on our first anniversary as a church, I started the message with these words. Happy anniversary Christ Fellowship! We have made it to our 1-year anniversary. Honeymoon’s over now, right? I’m gonna start making some rules around here! No, no. I’m not. We don’t have any rules around here and we like it that way. The closest thing we have to a rule is our credo or mission statement that we will do whatever it takes to lead people to have a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ.
And in the one 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.
Some things have changed since then and some things haven’t. The Rock Church has moved from there…and then from there…and then from there. Another church was there for a while but now a man has bought that building and turned into his house. That’s good for him. I’m glad. We have seen a lot of new faces come in our church. Some crazy people are even bringing in their kids and teenagers. I don’t know why. But that changes everything.
But some things haven’t changed. We still don’t have any rules. Satan continues to attack us. We still aren’t perfect. But we continue to be faithful to what God has called us to do and I still tell people that it is fun to be a member here.
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 still 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 He 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 seven years. 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, and again when the other church started leasing from us and 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 as having stuff. 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 proven 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; if 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.
Today, our seventh anniversary, would be a perfect day to renew your relationship with God. If you don’t have that relationship then today is the perfect day for that too. Just repent of your sins and ask God to forgive those sins and allow Him to come into your life and change you. Allow Him to make you more like Him. Do that right now as the music plays.
*Thanks to Adrian Rogers for part of the outline. *
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