Certainly appreciate being here and covet your prayers. God has been working in our life just this week actually and just, you know, pray for myself and my family and we're certainly praying for you all and Praying for those that have graduated or are getting ready to graduate and those going to transition to an internship or some new phase in life, some new adventure that they're about to embark upon and just pray God's blessings upon each and every one of you. Appreciate the devotion this morning that Garrison brought. Kind of go along with what we are going to talk about this morning. If you have your Bibles, turn to Joshua chapter 3. Joshua chapter 3, and we'll begin reading in verse number 1. Joshua rose early in the morning and they were moved from Shittim and came to Jordan. He and all the children of Israel lodged there before they passed over. It came to pass after three days that the officers went through the hosts. They commanded the people saying, when you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God and the priests, the Levites bearing it, then you shall remove from your place and go after it. There shall be a space between you and it, about 2,000 cubits by measure. Come not near unto it, that ye may know the way by which ye must go, for ye have not passed this way heretofore. Joshua said unto the people, sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you. Joshua spake unto the priests, saying, take up the ark of the covenant, pass over before the people. And they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the people. 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 he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Hevites, and the Perizzites, and the Gragashites, and the Amorites, and the Jebusites. The whole dark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth passeth over before you into Jordan. Now, therefore, take you 12 men out of the tribes of Israel, out of every tribe a man, And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters 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 Passover 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 of the priests that bear the ark were dipped in the brim of the water, for Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest, that the waters which came down from above stood and rose up upon a heap very far from the city Adam, that is, beside Zeritan. And those that came down toward the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, failed and were cut off. And the people passed right over 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 bow our heads in prayer. Our Heavenly Father, we're so thankful to be in your house today. We're thankful for the goodness of your grace and mercy, and for the unspeakable gift of salvation. We're thankful for the songs we were able to sing, thankful for the Sunday school lessons that were brought today, and thank you for the teachers of those classes. We pray for the young folks here. It's always a blessing to hear them sing, and lift your name up in praise. We pray or bless your words this morning as it's brought. Open our hearts, ears, and minds to be receptive to it. Help us to help it to save lost souls. Use it to save lost souls. Use it to draw us closer to you and to love you more and to serve you better. For it's in Jesus' name we pray, amen. Can you imagine the Lord leading you to a river, a river as we read this particular passage? There in verse 15, for Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest. During flood season here, have it cut off and stacked up and you could walk through on dry ground just sounds very similar to the Red Sea and how Israel was able to cross that on dry ground. It wasn't just that the Lord opened the pathway for him, but he dried the way and made it safe for them to be able to pass. Well, the same God that performed this here in Joshua, and remember Joshua, Moses has died, and as we read this passage, God is reaffirming Joshua that they're gonna see you, they're gonna see my hand upon you, and we're gonna have them know that I am with you just as I was with Moses, and raise you up to lead them. And this is all new for Joshua. This is all new for Israel. This is a new path they're about to embark upon. And we see here in verse number four, here at the very latter part of it, we see, for ye have not passed this way heretofore. In other words, you have not gone this way before. So Joshua, having assumed the leadership role of Israel, Moses, again, having led them for 40 years through the wilderness and wandering. They're on the border of their country. They're about to enter in. It was a land described as a land flowing with milk and honey. They've wandered for these 40 years. They face trials and dangers. And Joshua affirms, you've just not gone this way before. I've been thinking about this and pondering this for quite some time actually. It just felt appropriate to bring it today because there's a lot of changes happening in this church with individuals, people graduating high school, going off to college and new jobs and people getting ready to move. You call it a new pastor. I've never pastored before, and there's a lot of new things taking place here today. And we've not gone this way before, haven't we? This is all new territory for each and every one of us. I'm excited. I can't wait to see what God has in store. I look forward to it. My family looks forward to it. But the only way this is going to work is God leading the way. You're going to have to be patient with me as I navigate this. I've sat under a great many wonderful pastors in my time. I've been blessed in my lifetime to sit under some wonderful pastors and known many great preachers and pastors. I appreciate your prayers and your love and your concern for me and my family. And God is certainly working in our lives today. Maybe you're getting ready to start a new school. Maybe you're starting a new career. Who knows? Maybe you're buying a house. Maybe someone's about ready to retire. Maybe you're just getting older and facing some physical problems you've never had to deal with before. Maybe you're dealing with an illness you've never had to deal with before. You've just not been this way before. But I'm thankful we don't have to go at it alone. I'm thankful we don't have to figure it out on our own. I'm thankful we have God's Word, we have God's Holy Spirit that we can rely upon, that we can turn to. You know, there's many times we're in a place where we just don't know where to go, how to respond, what to do. We've just not been this way before. Unusual events may take place. Obstacles come our way that we've just never had to deal with before. Israel was facing a path that would present them new tests. Not just this swelling flood of Jordan River, but Jericho's intimidating walls on the other side they were about to face. There were giants in the land that they were going to have to fight, cities to conquer, and it was only by faith that they were able to overcome all of these obstacles. And God led the way, raised up Joshua to lead the charge, and led the way. We have the absolute assurance of God's presence, and we do not need to fear. He can part the sea, He can dry the ground, He can lead the way step by step. His presence will furnish us with the strength required to fulfill the task he's called us to fulfill. I'm thankful we have this divine provision, just as Israel had. The God who parted this sea is the God in charge of our lives today. The God who dried the ground, the God who led the way, the God who provided each step of the way for Israel is the same God that leads, guides, protects, and provides for us today. Isaiah 30, we'll read verse 21. Nine ears shall hear a word behind thee saying, this is the way. So it's not enough to know the way, we're shown the way. We have God's word that shows us the way. They had this, you'll hear this, You shall hear a word behind me saying, this is the way. Well, what are you going to do with that information? Walk ye in it. It's not enough to just know the way, but we have to walk in it when you turn to the right hand and when you turn to the left. So God promises guidance for His people. I'm glad God offered guidance to the Israelites. I'm glad He offers guidance for us who are transitioning to different phases of life, different periods, different circumstances that we are about to embark upon. But we are guided by the Holy Spirit. I don't know what the world does. They just wander around aimlessly. But we are guided by the Holy Spirit who convicts, He directs, He leads. We just have to walk with him. We know the way, but we have to do it. We have to walk with him. Over in John chapter 16. John chapter 16. Verse 13, how be it when he, The spirit of truth, I like that. Notice the spirits capitalizes, talking about the Holy Spirit. The spirit of truth has come. He will guide you into all truth. You want the truth? The only way to be guided into the truth is through the Holy Spirit. For he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, That shall he speak, and he will show you things to come. Guidance is not just for information. Here's the information you need. Guidance is for obedience. Here's the information. Take it and apply it and use it. This verse implies that God's guidance is meant to be followed. It's not a bag of checks mix that you just get to pick and choose the things that you like. His word says to do it, we're to do it holy. When we stray from the path, I'm thankful the Holy Spirit will lead us back to it. Might have a rough go of it, but the Holy Spirit will lead us back to it. But obedience to God's word and the Holy Spirit is just absolutely critical and central to the Christian life. You have to trust God's path. Was Israel nervous? Yeah, they had sent spies over. They knew what they were about to be faced with. I'd be nervous too. I am nervous. I'm glad I have the God on my side. God has been opening door after door after door my whole entire life. We just have to be faithful and walk through those doors, right? God, you're showing me the way, I need to walk in it. He can open the door, but we got to walk through it. We have to be faithful enough to follow Him through those doors and follow what the Holy Spirit is telling us to do. Obedience, trusting God's path, People often look for guidance in their own strength or from whatever other means that they come across, worldly wisdom. And it always amazes me that people fork over good money to go and see psychics and things like that to try to get their fortunes told. And it is a thing. People do it. There's a lot of charlatans making a lot of money off this kind of stuff, lying and fooling folks. When boy, you just, we have the truth right here. We have the truth right here. Don't look to other means. Waste your time and energy and effort and money. Trust in God and His path. As we read there in Isaiah 30 verse 21, calls for believers to trust God's way and His timing. Not your own understanding, but trust in God's guidance. Why? Because it's perfect and trustworthy. Israel was only successful when they continued in the will of God. When they murmured and complained and otherwise, they wandered. When they were focused, they continued forward. But you gotta trust in his provision. God's will for us is always connected with the provision to accomplish it. When God says go, we must be understanding that he will provide and bless us and help us in going. When God says do, there's always ample provision for those that go and do and have faith to obey. John chapter 10. John 10 in verse 4. When he putteth forth his own sheep and goeth before them, the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. So we look to the Lord to lead us, to guide us, as he is the shepherd and we are the sheep. And I think it's appropriate one day we'll preach a sermon more than likely about Us being sheep and how we are prone to wander, if we just keep our eye on the Lord, if we just follow Him, where He leads, I will follow, it's so much better. God blesses those that follow Him. It's not out of the realm of possibility for God to raise up a giant fish to get you where He wants you to go. That's just a fact. It's always best to be faithful and to obey. The shepherd goes before the sheep. In Joshua chapter 3, back in Joshua 3, in our text, after we Have the, in verse four, for ye have not passed this way heretofore. We get to verse five. And Joshua said unto the people, sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you. I don't know about you, but I kind of want the Lord to do wonders among me. I want the Lord to do wonders here at Emmanuel Missionary Baptist Church. This should be our desire each and every day. We can't perform the wonders. It's beyond me to be able to perform any wonders. It's a wonder I can get up at all. God's the one that gets me up. Anything worthwhile, anything we accomplish, it's of the Lord's doing. I want the Lord to do wonders here among us, especially when I'm heading into an area that I've not been before. especially when I don't know what I'm doing or where I'm going. But remember, again, imagine this. The God of the universe who spoke all that we see all around us into existence, who created everything, finely tuned every aspect of everything all around us, He is the one that wants to do wonders in our life. If anybody is able to perform these wonders, it's Almighty God Himself. And I get it. I understand it. I fully comprehend that life is full of uncertainties. Life in itself is uncertain. So many people rely, just for example, on wealth. But what I found out is that wealth is uncertain. You don't have to go back too far, but it was what, around 2008 when the recession hit? A lot of people lost their retirement, had to go back to work. The housing market bottomed out. There were foreclosures all over the place. A lot of people were hurting. Go back to the Great Depression. It wasn't all that long ago either, in the grand scheme of things. People didn't see that coming either and they suffered and had a hard time with it. Wealth is uncertain. Money is here one day and gone the next. The value of a dollar fluctuates. Inflation happens. Jobs come and go. My dad worked on the coal dock for years and years and they shut that down. He worked at a foundry and then they closed that plant and then off and on at the brickyard until they finally kept him and he was able to retire. I mean you just can't rely on this world and the wealth of the world. In Proverbs chapter 23, Proverbs 23 verse 5 wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not for riches and certainly make themselves wings. They fly away as an eagle toward heaven. How many lottery winners have you heard that have won tens of millions of dollars? Some of them have won hundreds of millions of dollars and just in a matter of a few years it's gone. They spent it all. If I remember correctly, just in the last couple of weeks, two or three weeks, there was a lottery winner in Kentucky who won like 70-something millions of dollars and got arrested the next day. Had you all heard that? Yeah, that was a thing. He went down to Florida to buy a condo down in Florida because he won the lottery, right? He got into a bar fight and got arrested. Real brilliant, right? Trusting too much in that money. We find here in this verse in Proverbs 23, riches have a tendency to make themselves wings and kind of fly away. Mine tends to mostly go to Amazon. I don't know. My money grows wings and flies to Bezos for some reason. Don't rely on wealth. Then I thought, well, what else can we not rely on? It's often, I find, uncertain. And of course, as I thought of, I've not gone this way before, and I thought of people graduating high school and transitioning to new phases in life, I thought about my friends from high school. I mean, I keep in touch with them on Facebook. I mean, I know what they're doing. But they're not Christians and they've kind of moved away. I moved away, went to Florida for a while. I mean, we're just not as close as we used to be. It's just friendships are uncertain. Sometimes you can be getting along with somebody and something happens and all of a sudden you're just no longer friends anymore. Let's take that a step further. I have relatives that really has nothing to do with any of our family whatsoever. Hardly ever see them. Maybe just in passing, maybe out in public because they work in a public job and you see them, but they don't go out of their way to speak to you. Or really anybody in the family for that matter. It's sad when it gets to that point. But in Hebrews chapter 13, Hebrews 13, verse eight, Jesus Christ the same yesterday and today and forever. Well, that's someone we can rely on. That's someone we can set our watch to. We can wholly depend on Him. He'll never leave us. He'll never forsake us. He's always with us. We have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. We don't go anywhere without the presence of Christ. Money will come and go. Friendships will come and go. Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. That is a certainty. Then I thought about Matthew chapter 16. You know, I have my friends from high school. I mean, I keep up with them. I know how they're doing. But you know one thing, one institution, family, A different kind of family that has been rock solid for me my whole life is church. That is a certainty. Here in Matthew 16 and verse 18, and I say also unto thee that art Peter and upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. God promised to take care of his churches. And here we are. He still has his churches here in Emanuel, there at Bethel, all his churches all across this state, this country, and this world. The gates of hell have not prevailed against Christ's true churches. That is something we Consent our watch to we can have certainty in What's something else we can have certainty in? On 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 we're gonna find heaven is a certainty 2nd Corinthians 5 Verse 1 For we know that if our earthly house is of this tabernacle were dissolved. We have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. We have something to look forward to. Whatever this world throws our way, we have heaven as a certainty. So how do we move from you have not gone this way before to the Lord will do wonders among you? Well, I think there are several steps involved in this that we need to follow. And the first one we'll look at is prayer. Talk to the Lord about it. Go ahead and turn to Matthew 7. You know, all through this process, Joshua and the Lord have been talking. How did Joshua know that the Lord was going to do miracles in their midst? He knew it because he had been talking to the Lord. It amazes me the number of people who want the Lord to work miracles in their life, but then they never ever want to talk to the Lord about it. Often it's, when all else fails, then I'll pray about it. Prayer should be the absolute first thing we turn to, the first thing we do. Before we do anything, we should pray about it. Lord, what do you want in this situation? How do you want to work this out? Not my will, but thine be done. In Matthew 7, we'll begin in verse 7. Ask, and it shall be given you. Seek, and ye shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For everyone that asketh, receiveth, and he that seeketh, findeth, to him that knocketh, it shall be opened. For what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, How much more shall your father, which is in heaven, give good things to them that ask of him? Have you prayed about it? I heard someone say a while back, have you prayed about it as much as you've complained about it? And that just was like a punch in the gut to me. I'm like, oops, well. I've got to start examining myself on this one. Have I prayed about it as much as I've complained about it? Well, prayer is often a last resort to many people when it should be the first thing we do. How do we find miracles if we haven't been this way before? You've got to pray about it. Lord, please lead, guide, direct, show us what you would have us to do. Open the way, clear the waters, dry the ground. Lord, make a way. Pray and talk to God about it. We'll talk and talk and talk to other people. And then we'll talk where we can't talk anymore, and then we'll just ignore and not pray to God about anything. pray to the one who has the power to actually do something about it. Let's go back to our text in Joshua 3. Look what Joshua told the people to do in Joshua 3 and verse 5. Joshua said unto the people, sanctify yourselves for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you. Sanctify yourselves. The word translated here is the Hebrew word Kaldash. It means to consecrate, sanctify, prepare, dedicate, be hallowed, be holy, be sanctified, be separate. They're told to sanctify themselves, separate themselves, hallow themselves, prepare themselves, consecrate themselves, dedicate themselves to the Lord. You want the Lord to perform wonders among you? You have to separate yourself from all the noise, all the sinfulness, all the distractions, everything this world is throwing at us. We have to pull ourselves away from that, separate ourselves to follow Him. Just as they were commanded here to sanctify themselves as they were preparing to attend to the Ark. For tomorrow, the Lord will do wonders among you. Preparation we must make to realize these wonders so God can show his awesome glory and majesty and might. Sanctify yourself. Stop acting like the world around you, doing all the things that they're doing. You're a child of God, act like it. The people of Israel are now entering into the Holy Land. They must sanctify themselves. God's showing instances of His favor to them. And they must pray and they must sanctify themselves before God. So many times I think we kind of kind of sabotage our walk because we just get caught up in the world. We get tangled in the world. Instead of walking with the Lord, we're walking in the world and doing the things of the flesh. We are lukewarm, we're half-hearted. God doesn't want half-hearted, lukewarm Christians. He doesn't want cold Christians. He wants all of us, all the time. Our whole heart Sometimes I think we want God, but we just kind of want him on our own terms. Yeah, I want God on Sundays. I want God on Wednesday nights. What about Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday? He doesn't want just Sunday visits or Wednesday night visits. He wants a relationship. He wants us to walk in him. Sanctify ourselves. Put ourselves separate from the world and follow him. As it says in Jeremiah 29 13 you shall seek me and find me when you shall search for me with all your heart Don't be a half-hearted Christian We have to wholeheartedly search for God There is so much filth out there and it's so much more easily accessible to us now than ever before I remember being at conferences or hearing preachers preach about the two witnesses and how the whole world's going to see these two witnesses laying dead, right? And you go back a few years before television, people couldn't quite understand, how is everybody in the whole entire world going to be able to see these two guys? Well, then all of a sudden, television came. Even more so now. when the 24-hour news network came about, what, in the 80s and 90s? But even more so now, put television aside, everybody has a phone. Everybody has a phone, and how easy is it to pull it out of your pocket and start doing this? Scroll for hours and hours and hours. And sure, is there good content online? Yeah, yeah, there is. I'm not going to say there isn't. Well, there's a sure a lot more bad there. So you have to be careful of the content in which you are consuming. Seek God with your whole heart. It's easy to get distracted. We have distractions in our pocket all the time now. It used to be you wanted to call somebody, you had to go and stand next to the wall because of the cord on the phone, and now you just have it with you all the time. Constant communication, constant videos, constant streaming, constant social media bombarding with waves of content to distract us. from seeking God and to distract us from sanctifying ourselves. We must make God a priority. One of the things I despised about the pandemic, there are several things I despised about the pandemic, or the plannedemic, whatever you want to call it. One of the things I despised was that, of course, they weren't letting people assemble together. We didn't abide by that for very long down in Florida. A couple weeks and we were right back at it. I saw through that pretty quick. It's hard to sanctify yourself if the government's telling you don't go and assemble, right? Don't assemble together. One of the things I hated, because everybody was supposed to stay at home, right? First of all, we were only supposed to stay home for a couple weeks, flatten the curve. What are people going to do? Netflix. You sit there and you just melt your mind for hours upon end. And it's only a few seconds between episodes. You don't have enough time to even stop it with your remote because it's on to the next one and on to the next one and on to the next one. Bombardment. of filth all the time. Now people just have all these marathons of all this nonsense. Let's continue on. Thirdly, we need to make sure we have no will in the matter. Up to this point, God had been leading the Israelites with a pillar of cloud during the day and a pillar of fire at night. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed in Luke 22, verse 42, it says, saying, Father, if thou be willing, move this cup from me, nevertheless not my will, but thine be done. That should be our prayer. Lord, what do you want done here? Does that mean it's going to be an easy road, an easy trip? No, there's going to be bumps in there. If you're following the Lord in this world, ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. But there is a difference between being a spirit-sealed Christian, which if you're saved, you are, and being a spirit-filled Christian, seeking God, following the Holy Spirit's guidance, doing what he has called us to do. Are you just a saved person or are you an actual disciple sitting at Jesus' feet? listening and obeying. What are you? Are you a Christian or are you a soldier in the kingdom of God? We need soldiers. We need soldiers. Self-centeredness is a problem. Every conflict, every personal spiritual struggle, any church conflict, every kind of conflict, every sin is a self-problem. What's the letter right in the middle of the word sin? It is I. I, right at the center of sin. We live in an age of self. evidenced by slogans and all sorts of things, self-determination, self-knowledge, self-esteem, self-help, do it yourself, have it your way, do it the way that you want to do it, do your own thing, do whatever makes you happy. That's the world in which we live. There's no, nevertheless, not my will but thine be done. Just do whatever makes you happy. There are so many different kind of so-called churches out there that have so many confused doctrines and made-up doctrines and doctrines of devils. It's almost like Burger King believism. You just have it your way, right? Just do whatever you want to do. You don't like what we're teaching? Well, we'll change it. Well, that's not what you're supposed to do. The standard isn't what is sitting in the pew. It's God's Word. You don't get to pick and choose what we believe and practice. This is from 1999, so I don't know how accurate this would be now. This will give you an idea from 1999. 1,000 church attendees were asked a question. Why does the church exist? You thinking of answers in your mind right now? Why does the church exist? 89% said that the church's purpose was to take care of my family and my spiritual needs. Only 11% said that the purpose of the church was to win for the world, preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. Eleven percent. That was almost 30 years ago. I'm starting to feel old. Luke 9. In verse 23 it says, And He said to them all, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me. Does that sound like it's about you? Nah, it's about Christ. Deny yourself, take up His cross, and follow Him. That's what we're to do. Proverbs 16 verse 9 says, a man's heart deviseth his way, but the Lord directeth his steps. That's the way we need to go. Fourthly, we'll have to go through these last ones very quickly. Delight yourself in the Lord. Psalm 37 verse 4 says, delight thyself also in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Many people like to quote that last part, I guess, but they missed the first part. Delighting yourself in the Lord. It's great, he gives you the desires of your heart, yeah, but you need to delight in him, love him, cherish him, thank him, spend time with him in prayer, study and meditation and praise and worship. The fifth thing is to give God the credit. In Joshua 3, 5, again, it says, after it says, Joshua said unto the people, sanctify yourselves for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you. Well, Joshua say, the Lord is the one who's gonna do wonders among you. Joshua didn't say, I'm gonna be the one doing the wonders among you. You're gonna be the ones doing the wonders. He goes, no, God is the one. The Lord is the one who's going to be doing wonders among you. And He certainly did. And He certainly does do wonders, even to this day in our lives. So we must acknowledge the hand of God in wonders. His wondrous works declare that He is Almighty God. In Psalm 75, one unto thee, O God. do we give thanks, and to thee do we give thanks, for thy name is near, thy wondrous works declare." So all his works declare his name and how wondrous he is. Have you experienced the wonders of God? You don't have to look very far. In Psalm 19, it says, the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth forth his handiwork. You don't have to look very far to see his wonders. Praise be to the name of God forever and ever and ever and ever. Wisdom and power are his. May he do wonders in our lives as individuals. May he do wonders in his churches. May he do wonders in our nation. I love our godly heritage. I pray for this country. I pray we get back to it. But if this country expects blessing, we need to sanctify ourselves. We need to pray. O thou who changest not, abide with us. Brother Jared.