Lord to do something. Joshua chapter number three. Joshua chapter number three. The title of my message is Taking a Step of Faith, but we're going to read the first 17 verses, the whole chapter here of Joshua chapter number three. And this is the preparation of the children of Israel to cross the Jordan River. It says in verse number one, And Joshua rose early in the morning, and they removed from Shittim and came to Jordan. he and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they passed over. And it came to pass, after three days, that the officers went through the host, and they commanded the people, saying, When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the priests and the Levites bearing it, Then you shall remove from your place and go after it. Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about 2,000 cubits by measure. Come not near unto it, that you may know the way by which you must go, for ye have not passed this way heretofore. And Joshua said unto the people, Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you. And Joshua spake unto the priests, saying, Take up the ark of the covenant, and pass over before the people. And they took up the ark of the covenant, and went before the people. And the Lord said unto Joshua, This day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee. And thou shalt command the priests that bear the ark of the covenant, saying, When ye are come to the brink of the water of Jordan, ye shall stand still in Jordan. And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, Come hither, and hear the words of the Lord your God. And Joshua said, Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you, and that ye will without fail, drive out from before you the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Hivites, and the Perizzites, and the Gergesites, and the Amorites, and the Jebusites. Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth passeth over before you into Jordan. Now therefore, take you twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, out of every tribe a man, and it shall come to pass, as soon as the souls of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth shall rest in the water of Jordan. that the waters of Jordan shall be cut off from the waters that come down from above, and they shall stand upon a heap. And it came to pass, when the people were moved from their tents to pass over Jordan, and the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people, and as they that bear the ark were come unto Jordan. And the feet to the priests that bear the ark were dipped in the brim of the water, for Jordan overfloweth all its banks all the time of harvest, that the waters which came down from above stood and rose up upon the heap very far from the city Adam that is beside Zareton. And those that came down toward the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, failed and were cut off. And the people passed over right against Jericho. And the priests that bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan. And all the Israelites passed over on dry ground until all the people were passed clean over Jordan." Let's pray. Dear Lord, we thank you for this day. Thank you for this time. We're able to come to your house here once again. and look at your word together. I pray that you just fill me with your spirit and power, Lord, tonight, and that you'd speak to hearts, and, oh, Lord, that we'd be attentive to your word and have open ears and open hearts to hear and receive your word, Lord, and allow you to work on us. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. So we see a story, a story that we come to Joshua chapter 3, and we've seen, if you read the Bible from Genesis up to this point, you start with Abraham, Abraham being chosen to be the father of the Israelite nation, and God telling him, hey, I will make a great nation. He's chosen people. This is after the patriarchs. Abraham's gone, Isaac's gone, Jacob's gone, and Moses is even gone, their great leader that they that they had. And they come and they're at the brink. They come and they've camped one last time before it's time to cross into that promised land that they've waited so long for. And many of these, just about all of them except for Joshua are all new. They've spent This is after the 40 years in the wilderness, allowing a generation to pass away. So those who are standing at the Jordan River are that next generation that were kids, that heard the story of the crossing of the Red Sea, that heard the story of the plagues, and the pillar of cloud, and the pillar of fire. And now they're here at the Jordan River, and it's time to take a step. into that water. All of us at some point in our lives will come to a point, a time where we are called to make critical decisions. Decisions that can sometimes be life changing. We have to make a decision as to which way we will go. We've all gone there. You know, you think back when you're a young person. Who you were going to marry. It's a big decision. It's an important decision. You can think back, and each one of us can think back to the decisions that were presented to us in our life. And maybe some of those we had to take a step of faith in. Here in our text, the Israelites are at a crossroads, they're at a time, a point of decision in their lives where they have to make a life-changing decision. And we're going to look at that and we're going to put into context where they are and what could be going through this. But imagine spending your entire life dreaming about just one thing you wanted to do your entire life. That's where these children of Israel are. Something your parents and grandparents often told you about. Imagine your whole family, church, city, state, and country having that same dream. This dream is your only dream. It is what you live for. It's your number one desire. That's where the Israelites are. God has promised it, and He renewed His promise, reminded them of it, Moses reminded them of it. Moses led them through the wilderness and ultimately led them up to this point. And we know that shortly before this time here at the Jordan River that Moses was taken up to Mount Nebo. The closest he got to crossing the Jordan River, he was brought up to that mountain by God. And God showed him, hey, look across the Jordan. Look at that land flowing with milk and honey. The promised land. The great blessing that I had in store for you. He told Moses, but because of your unbelief, because you doubted me, because you didn't obey me, because you didn't stay faithful to me, You don't get to cross the Jordan with the rest of the Israelites. And here, on the top of Mount Nebo, I will take you home. So Moses, we come here to Joshua chapter 3. Moses has died and Joshua is the new chosen leader. I'm sure you can imagine that the children of Israel are discouraged at this time when Moses died. Moses was their hero. He was their savior. He was the one who had brought them out of slavery. He was their leader. And there was a point, you can go and jump ahead, I want to connect it, you find, I believe it's the book of Jude, we find Michael the archangel fighting with Satan over the body of Moses. Why would they need to fight over the body of Moses? Who's going to have the body of Moses? Because Moses By some, and you can read secular history, the writings of the Jewish rabbis, that Moses was even at the point where they worshipped Moses. He was a god unto them. And God knew, or Satan knew, that if he could raise Moses up to be a god to them and draw people away. from the one true God. And we see Michael the archangel fighting for that body. But they are encouraged in Joshua 1, and we know, and he tells them, hey, be strong and be courageous. He said, hey, remember the blessing. Moses is gone, but God is still with us. And now they stand at the Jordan River as a completely different nation than the one that was saved from slavery. It is now time to cross the river. The Jordan marks the line of separation between the old life in Egypt and the new life in the promised land. A line between the world and God's will. A line between the past and the future that God had for them. A line between the path of man, their own path, and the path of God. But I want to look at this cross, and I want to look at Israel, this story here we find in Joshua chapter 3, and I want to apply it to our lives here today. First, we see their position. And we see their position in verses 6-8 and verse number 13. We see they're standing and they're at the river. They're told to take the ark and go before the people to lead them and stand still in the river. And the people come to the edge of the river to hear more detailed instructions. And God gave that instructions that Joshua gave to the priests and said, hey, this is what we're going to do. Well, the children of Israel, this shouldn't be a shock. This shouldn't be something that's hard to believe. Well, this crossing of the Jordan River is a different crossing than the crossing of the Red Sea. And not to downplay the crossing of the Red Sea, but at the crossing of the Red Sea, they watched Moses raise his staff, and they watched that water part. Then they stepped in, after the miracle had taken place, and walked across. This, they're looking, and the Bible tells us in verse number 15, where it says, for Jordan overfloweth all its banks all the time of harvest. This is their springtime. You know, I lived in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. Every spring, as the snow would melt in Minnesota and northern Wisconsin, and come down the Mississippi River and the Wisconsin River, and the Kickapoo River that would all meet there, join together in Prairie du Chien, that river would overflow, would flood. And our house that we lived in our last two years there was basically right on the line of the flood. I think right out our front door was the line of the floodplain. We were right outside that line. And so we always watched. We were there for seven years. We'd always watch the water go up and come down. And we'd go down and see it. They have an island down there. The island would always be underwater. And there's no houses down there, just, you know, one of their historical houses down there. And, you know, we watch, and we lived in the house in our last summer. Well, not our, was it our last spring? I think our last spring there, they had Minnesota. This was, I guess, two years ago, a little over two years ago. Minnesota and northern Wisconsin had gotten a lot of snow, and the river was coming up, and they were calling for record-breaking flooding. And we watched it, and my kids loved it, and my dog loved it. They could walk right out the door, and the river was flowing right across the street from our house. And all the debris would come with it. You'd see people's stuff from their houses, and across the street, houses were were underwater another block away. People were boating to their houses, but we had all kinds of debris floating in the street in front of us, flowing through. Many streets were shut down, businesses were shut down because they were underwater. That's where the Jordan River is. The Jordan River, you look at a very small, a small river, but at this time it would overflow its banks and would flood, and it would be rushing at a greater rate. The flow rate of the river would be up. It was a dangerous river. I'm sure there was all kinds of things that were floating through this river at this time. And I'm sure as they stand there at the river, they're looking at this river going, hey, we can't cross this. Look at this. We can't step in here. Our children, they're going to walk into this river and that current's going to take them right up. I'm sure there's some fear as they look at that. Remember the crossing of the Red Sea, God used the east wind. The Bible tells us that the east wind blew and drove those waters up to walls on either side and dried up the sea. But here God uses no natural, it doesn't say it used the east wind, it doesn't say that a tree fell over and dammed it. It says nothing like that. As soon as the soles of the priest's feet touched the water, it stopped flowing and dried up on one side. At any other time, they wouldn't need such a miracle, since the Jordan was such a small river. We're talking about it's overflowing at this time that they're at it. And God brought them to the Jordan River at this time for a reason. But at any other time, they probably could have just dropped a tree, or built a little bridge, or even waded across the river, because it wouldn't have been very deep. But God has them here at the harvest time when it overflows. the banks, a time when they would need a miracle to cross. This was the springtime and the river had flooded the area, making it impossible to cross on their own. God sometimes uses hard and scary times to really test our faith. God sometimes will put an uncertain future in front of us as individuals, as families, as a church, and say, hey, we don't know what will happen when we take this step. We don't know what will happen when we make this decision. We don't know what will happen if, hey, we look at that river and we see, hey, it's overflowing. If I step into that, I don't know what's going to happen. Hey, I don't know what's on the the other side of the river, and I know I'm jumping ahead a little bit, but we also know, as it says, when they finally crossed, well where did they cross to? We all know what was on the other side of that river, a very famous battle, a very famous city, there was a very famous battle there, the city of Jericho. Now the river was not big, I believe where they were encamped, I believe that they could see the city of Jericho. These were tall walls, They were thick walls. This was a huge city. It was up on a hill. These walls were huge. Chariots could ride on the top of these walls. I'm sure they're looking. So they see the river. They see, hey, it's overflowing. This river's scary. They're looking across the river to see this great... Jericho. They already know that the spies, the ten spies, or twelve spies, sorry, have already gone in. They've already given the report. Hey, there's giants in the land. There's this, there's that. We're like grasshoppers in their sight. Now they're here. Joshua's led them up to the Jordan River, and they're looking and say, hey, well, the river's terrible. We can't walk in this. This is scary. We can't make that step, Joshua. In Joshua 1, he's telling them, hey, be courageous. Be strong. God is with us. Hey, if you follow God, He will take care of us. And God reminds them that in Joshua 1. In verse 9, he says, Have I not commanded thee? Be strong and of good courage. Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed. For the Lord thy God is with thee, withersoever thou goest. Verse number eight, he says, this book of law shall not depart of thy mouth. He says, hey, if you don't let this book depart of your mouth, you follow, he says, then you will be prosperous. I will bless you. He told the children of Israel, hey, I will take care of every obstacle in your way. I'll take care of the Jordan River, I'll take care of Jericho, I'll take care of Ai, and go down the list of every battle that we can read about in the conquest of the promised land that Joshua led them through those battles in that time of conquest. But it took some faith in God to make this happen. I can imagine there's some fear. Hey, what's going to happen? They know the promise. They know God has given them this land. They know it's theirs for the taking. It's there. God's promised it. They've just been reminded just before this time. that God's going to be with them. Hey, if we follow God, God says, cross the Jordan River. In their minds, they're saying, hey, yeah, OK, we follow God. We take this step across the Jordan River. We go across the Jordan River. We head towards Jericho. God's going to take care of us. But then they're looking. Maybe that's what they're thinking in their heart or in their mind and how they feel in their heart. But then they're looking at that Jordan River and they're going, we can't cross this. They're looking at Jericho and it's like, okay, now they're at the point where it says, hey, now we have to put our faith into action. If this truly is our God, if that's truly the promise of blessing that He has in front of us, Now they're at a point, hey, we, it's time to make the decision. Are we going to take a step of faith? Are we going to step out into that water? Are we going to trust God when He says, when the soles of the feet of the priests touch that water, it will dry up? Are we going to believe God when He says, hey, Jericho, Ai, all those different, the Canaanites, the Hittites, and they went through the list here, all of those, He says, I will drive them out. I will do it all. Now they have to take that step of faith. Maybe they could have thought, hey, let's turn back. Hey, let's just stay on this side of Jordan. Hey, let's wait. Let's look for a different spot to cross at. Somewhere where it's easier. Maybe the water's not as deep. Maybe it's not flowing as fast. Hey, Joshua, can we wait? Can we wait a little longer? Can we say, hey, the harvest, can we wait till after springtime, after the harvest? Can we wait till the waters go down and we can walk across without needing to have faith in God to stop the water and make America? I can tell you, if they would have looked for a different spot, if they would have waited, for that water to go down, they would have missed out on God's blessing. They would have missed out on the promise that God had for them. Just like he told Moses, hey, because of your unbelief, you're missing out on the promise. Here it is. He wouldn't even have to take them up to a mountain. They're here at the Jordan River. Hey, there's your promise. And you've said no to it because you won't take a step of faith. They would have been out of God's will and would have missed out on the blessings to follow. They had to trust God to take care of them as He promised He would. And we saw their position, where they are, not just physically where they're camping, but where they are in their hearts and in their minds and the position that they're in in their lives and the point in their lives where, hey, it's time to take a step of faith. Joshua comes to them and, hey, be strong and be courageous. This is what God has for us. He's going to do great things for us. Look across the Jordan River. The promise that we've waited for is right there. A land flowing with milk and honey. It was the best land in the whole area that they could have gone to. The most fertile land was there in Israel. That promised land. We see their positioning, but I also want to look at their pursuing. God had to go first. They had to put God first. They had to follow God's instructions, God's timeline, and God's timing, but also His way that He was going to do it. It says the ark had to go before them. He said, in verse number three, When ye see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the priests and the Levites bearing it, then ye shall remove from your place and go after it. He said, hey, when you see the priests carrying the ark and heading towards the river, then you know, that's your sign from God. Hey, it's time to cross the river. He said, follow it. Go after it. The Ark of the Covenant is a picture of God. It's a picture of God's presence in the midst of the camp of the Israelites. That's what it is. And he said, hey, when you see God going, you see God working, When you see God moving in the direction He wants you to go, when you see that, so then you know, get up from your place, pack up your tent, and don't worry about anything. Don't worry, oh, what are we going to do with this? What's going to happen if we go? What's going to happen when we cross the river? What's going to happen when we get to the other side? He said, hey, no, just pack it up and go. Trust God. You say you have faith in God. You say you believe in God. You say He's your God. You say He's almighty. You say He's all-powerful. You say He's the God of the impossible. He said, well, hey, now it's time to put faith, put a step to your faith. This microphone's messed up. He said, now it is time to put a step with your faith. You say you believe this. Well, hey, let's put that faith into action. How big or how much do you truly believe in God? How much faith do you really have in God? Are you willing to step and follow as that ark goes? Are you willing to believe that when the soles of the feet of those priests carrying the ark step into that water, that that water will stop? Are you ready to take that step and follow after those priests, follow after the presence of God? Are you ready to cross that Jordan River no matter how dangerous it looks, no matter how scary, no matter how uncertain you are of the future? Or what will happen after you take that step? Are you ready to rely on God, depend on God, and put full faith in God? The ark is what leads them across the river, the presence of God. So they stay, it tells us the distance. They're given instructions to how far away, about 2,000 cubits. By measure, this is roughly about 3 quarters of a mile away from the ark. that they were commanded to be. Now normally the ark was in the midst of the camp, and we can look and we can see how they would camp. The tabernacle and the ark would be in the center, and they would have some tribes camped on the north, some tribes on the west, and tribes on the east, and some tribes on the south. You can look at that picture of that, the presence of God in the center, and you look at how they camp, that's a picture of a cross. a picture of Jesus Christ with God at the center. But normally the ark would be in the midst of the camp. possibly so they would not, you know, we could say maybe they weren't to be near the ark so they wouldn't be near the piled up water and become afraid when they saw it. You know, we could say that maybe God wanted them that distance. It says the water piled up in a heap there. This water, it overflowed its banks, it's rushing hard. piled up on a heap. And I don't know if it just kept piling up. When I imagine this in my mind, I imagine the water just as it continues to flow, just piling up and piling up. That's different than the crossing of the Red Sea. The Red Sea wasn't a flowing. It was just a big sea. I'm sure there were some ways, but it wasn't flowing water. There was no current. There was nothing to pile up. It just said there was a wall on either side and dry land. But maybe it was so that they wouldn't be afraid when they saw that water piling up. But they had to trust God. They had to be a distance away from the ark of the covenant, follow God's directions, and they had to, again, trust God to take care of them as He had promised He would. But they followed God's way and walked safely across on dry ground. I said, hey, the ark's going to go before you. When you see the priest carrying the ark, when you see it go, that's your sign. Get ready. You're going across the Jordan. It's time to take that step. It's time to follow God. God has a promise today. He has a promise to bless you. Bless you beyond imagination. Bless you more than you can imagine, more than you can even envision. We need to have a big vision. We need to dream big for our lives, for our families, as individuals. We need to have big dreams of what God can do in our lives and in our families. But we need to dream big for our church and have a big vision. God wants that for us. God has a big vision for our church, for our families, for our community, for us as individuals. We must have a vision as well. God's asking the children of Israel, hey, take a step of faith. You can't stay where you're at forever. I've promised to make you a great nation. I've given you a promise. I've promised to number you as the sand of the sea and spread you across the planet. I wonder what would have happened to the children of Israel if they wouldn't have crossed the Jordan River. And you think they easily could have said, no, no, this isn't for us. Hey, we're comfortable right now. We're fine. You know, we're doing all right. We're, I mean, there are millions of people at this point. They say, hey, we're, I don't know how many people, like a few million people, a couple million people here. They've grown, I believe they've grown since they crossed the Red Sea. They say, hey, we're doing fine. Hey, look, there's nothing wrong. We're not in any battles. And they're in a state of discouragement. Hey, Moses has died. It's not worth going on. We can't go on without Moses. That great man that prayed and said, Hey God, if your Spirit's not with us, don't send us any further. Hey, we can't go. Hey Joshua, you're great and all. You're good, you're leading us, but hey, Joshua, you're not Moses. And this is shortly after Joshua's taken over. He's a younger man. He was always second in command. Hey, Joshua, we love you. You're great, but you're not Moses. We can't trust you. Hey, you're not... We can't do this without Moses, and Moses is not here. Hey, we don't think this is actually what God wants us to do. Hey, we think God can bless us right here, or hey, we're just content to stay right where we are and stay just as we are. I can tell you there's many churches around this country that are just in that state. They're content just, hey, just us and no more. Us four are no more. They aren't going out and knocking on doors. They aren't trying to bring people to church. They aren't having big events and trying to get visitors in and preach the gospel to them. They aren't taking the young people out as my family did and hanging invitations on doors and seeing people, seeing God bless. And eventually many of those churches, and we've seen that through the years, that many of those churches end up closing their doors. That's a sad state for a church to be in. Maybe there was a point in those churches where God brought them to the bank of the Jordan River. Or was there some uncertainty ahead of them? Hey, I'm asking you, church, to take a step of faith. I'm asking you, you churchgoer, you Christian, you individual, I'm asking you to take a step of faith. There's some uncertainty. Hey, I have a promise for you. I have a blessing ahead for you. What are you going to do? Oh, it looks scary. I don't know what's going to happen if we take the step of faith. What if this happens after we take that step of faith? What if this happens? What if? What if? And God said, no, trust Me. Hey, when you see Me go, as He told the children of Israel, you see that ark go, that's your sign. Go. Follow Me. Take a step of faith. I have great things in store for you. If you turn ahead to Isaiah chapter number 43, I want to read a couple verses here as we get to our conclusion here, the end of our message. But Isaiah chapter number 43. The first two verses of this chapter, Isaiah 43, 1-2, it said, But now, thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, fear not, for I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name, thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee. And through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame Kindle upon thee, for I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Sheba for thee. Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honorable, and I have loved thee. Therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life. Fear not, for I am with thee. I will bring thy seed from the east and gather thee from the west. I will say to the north, give up, and to the south, keep not back. Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth, even everyone that is called by my name, for I have created him. For my glory, I have formed him. Yea, I have made him. He said, hey. He's calling. He says, O Israel, fear not. I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name. Thou art mine. He says, when thou pass through the waters, and through the rivers, they will not overflow thee. When thou walkest through fire, they will not be burned. Neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. Hey, don't fear that uncertainty. Don't fear that step. Don't fear what might happen. You look and say, oh, that's impossible. God, you look, look, there's nothing for sale in Eagle River for Northern Lakes Baptist Church to move into. God can do something that we can't even see right now. God has something prepared for us on the other side of the Jordan River. And I don't know, maybe today Northern Lakes Baptist Church, we are coming up to the bank of the Jordan River. Maybe that day will come soon, but we must prepare. We must position ourselves to be ready so that we can pursue God and follow God. He said, hey, I'm bringing you to the Jordan River. I'm going to bring you to that bank. Yes, it's overflowing. Yes, it's scary. Yes, you don't think you can do it. Yes, there's some uncertainty. Yes, it looks impossible. Yes, you're looking across and you see the great city of Jericho. The army that's over there. The chariots riding on the top of the wall. The guards in the towers. You see it all. It says, Fear not. I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name. Thou art mine. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. So that you have nothing to fear. You have nothing to worry about. Is there, in your life as an individual today, is there a step of faith that God wants you to take in your life? Are you at a crossroads? Maybe God's dealing with your heart and your finances, your giving to the church, your family, some things in your family that God wants you to do. Maybe He's dealing with your heart to get rid of some sin in your life, or maybe to take a stand against some sin that's in your family or some sin in some other areas. Maybe He's dealing on your heart to getting in all the way and getting fully involved in church and doing something for God. Say, hey, there's some opportunities to serve. There's some opportunities to do some great things. And maybe you're standing at the bank of the Jordan River and you're like, ah, I don't think I want to do that. There's some uncertainty. Hey, if I give to the church, if I give more to the church, how am I going to pay my bills? How am I going to do this? How am I going to do that? How is God going to take care of us? Look at that Jordan River flowing in front of me. Look at the city of Jericho, that great city in front of me. I can't do it. It's impossible. I think just like the children of Israel, we know what to do. I think though that sometimes we're afraid to take the step. We're afraid to take that step, to step into the water. We pray for God's guidance, we pray for what God wants us to do, but we never take that step of faith and follow through with our prayers. And I believe so many Christians miss out on what God has for them, just like Moses. Maybe there'll be a day that God will have to take you up to your Mount Nebo and show you, hey, look at what I had for you. If you would have taken that step of faith, if you would have done what I asked of you, if you would have walked in the path that I had laid out for you, if you would have just lived for me and followed my direction, look, look at what I had. Look at across that Jordan River. Look at what I had for you. Look at what I had for your family. Look at what I had for your church. But you missed out on it. Just as with the Israelites at the crossing into the promised land, God's presence is going before us to show us the way that we don't know. We don't know every step that God's going to lead us to. We may come to the Jordan River, and we may come to the Jordan River again, another crossing. God wants us to take a step of faith. It doesn't mean you're going to take one step of faith and that's it. There may be another one, but God's going to lead us. Hey, I don't know what God has for the future of my life. I don't know what God has for the future of my family. I don't know what God has for the future of Northern Lakes Baptist Church. We cannot see. God has it mapped out. God has it planned every step of the way. He's telling us also to be strong and of good courage and not to be afraid or dismayed. He's reminding us that He is with us wherever we go in His will for us. He has a great promised land ahead of you. He has a great promised land ahead of your family. He has a great promised land ahead in the future of Northern Lakes Baptist Church. And He has told you, or that He has told you of and now is reminding you of, He says, all you have to do is step out in faith. Take that step of faith. We could go to Hebrews chapter 11, known as the Hall of Faith, and look at a bunch of people that are listed there that took a step of faith in their life. God said, go. They watched the presence of God go, and they said, we will follow. We will be strong and courageous. We will trust God.