Keep Sunday Alive

Dear Friends,

The title of todays sermon reminds us that Pastor Chip is a real American… just a startup line.

Hey, those of you who are in C2’s will find this first verse we where told about rather familiar, it from chapter 2 of book 3 in Descipleship. Its on the chapter on prayer.

Philippians 4:6-7 (NIV)
6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Ponder on this verse and pray over i this whole week and if you are not in a C2 friend, you don’t know what you are missing, its like going to a “Christ’s Party” every week.
Its fulfilling,
Its Fun,
Its full of sharing, praise and worship,
Friends, its what you make of it.
Make a step, Join a C2 near you today.

Joshua 3:1-17 (NIV)
Crossing the Jordan
1 Early in the morning Joshua and all the Israelites set out from Shittim and went to the Jordan, where they camped before crossing over. 2 After three days the officers went throughout the camp, 3 giving orders to the people: “When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the priests, who are Levites, carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it. 4 Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before. But keep a distance of about a thousand yards [a] between you and the ark; do not go near it.”
5 Joshua told the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do amazing things among you.”

14 So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant went ahead of them. 15 Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, 16 the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea [b] ) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho. 17 The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground.

The fact is as Chip put it was that one step stopped the flow of the river Jordan.
Yes there are a secuence of events that led to the Israelites reaching the stage where they where to cross the river Jordan to go across to March around the walls of Jericho.

1)
The first step was the release from bondage of the Egyptians.
2)
The second is the command in…

Joshua 1:2-5 (NIV)
2″Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites. 3 I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. 4 Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Great Sea [a] on the west. 5 No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.

3)
The 3rd event was Calculation. Joshua used well thought out calculation to 2 instead of the original 12 spies to go into Jericho and map out strategy.
the 2 came with a positive report.
Note that in this process God also used Rahab the prostitute to give Joshua a positive report on strategy…

Joshua 2:1-4 (NIV)
Rahab and the Spies
1 Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. “Go, look over the land,” he said, “especially Jericho.” So they went and entered the house of a prostitute [a] named Rahab and stayed there.
2 The king of Jericho was told, “Look! Some of the Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land.” 3 So the king of Jericho sent this message to Rahab: “Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, because they have come to spy out the whole land.”

4But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. She said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they had come from. 5 At dusk, when it was time to close the city gate, the men left. I don’t know which way they went. Go after them quickly. You may catch up with them.” 6 (But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax she had laid out on the roof.) 7 So the men set out in pursuit of the spies on the road that leads to the fords of the Jordan, and as soon as the pursuers had gone out, the gate was shut.

4)
Consecretion…

Joshua 3:5 (NIV)
5 Joshua told the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do amazing things among you.”

Joshua told the people to obey God, be positive to Gods vision. It was the time of harvest when teh Jordan was Flooded and this is the time God set out for the Isrealites to cross the Jordan as opposed to when it is mild and the water is low at ankle height.

Like the man in the moon said… “One small step for man, One huge leap fpr mankind”
is the way that we should be prepared to take a step of faith. The circumstances must not be perfect to human standards for us to take a step of faith. Gods idea of being ready is not when you are ready, its when he asks you.

Listen out for the voice of the Lord, He is calling you to serve him, take that step today and it could change your life forever.
That step could seem small but it will be very significant to the Lord God.

Thank you friends and pleas feel free to comment and make any remarks on this.

Jonathan.