Arise and Possess the Land

Father, thank you for the great report from Matt and Lindsay. The wonderful things that You're doing overseas, not just in Germany, but with all our missionaries in Belize, the Philippines, Minsk, and all over the world, are truly remarkable. You're sending us great reports of the wonderful things that You're accomplishing.

Lord, I ask that we would be able to send greater reports out as well. From here at this church, may we see Your fire fall. May we see Your body built up and equipped. I pray that we would see more people go out from here to share news from other places as well. God, I know You want to speak to us tonight. I know You have a word for us, Father. I ask that You would speak to me and to each of us, helping us to receive from You.

As some of us come here after a long week with a lot going on, I pray that You would calm our hearts. For those who have been kicked back this week and need You to speak, Lord, I pray that You would bring peace. I ask that You would quicken our hearts and minister to each of us tonight. Speak to us in a powerful way by Your Spirit. I thank You and praise You for the opportunity You've given me here on Saturday nights. I ask that You would bless the time we have together and bless my brothers and sisters here.

Now, Lord, help us to worship You as we open Your Word, for we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.

You can be seated and open your Bibles to Joshua, Chapter 1. Last week, I started getting a cold on Saturday, and I was a little concerned. I figured, well, I've got a week to get better. The Lord has healed me very well, but I still have a bit of a sniffly nose. If you hear me sniffling every now and then, I'm very sorry, but I hope you understand.

As we open to the book of Joshua and the Old Testament, it truly is one of my favorite passages of Scripture. I remember when I was younger, I tended to stand off from the Old Testament. Maybe some of you are like that as well. As I thought about it over the last couple of weeks, I wondered why I didn't want to open to the Old Testament during my reading or devotions when I was younger. Perhaps it was because it has big names for books, like Habakkuk and Zephaniah, which can be intimidating.

But there's a great deal of people, I believe, in the church who find it easier to read the New Testament and sometimes skip over things in the Old Testament. However, there are great truths and promises that God wants to speak to us in His Word in the Old Testament. I've been told for years, since I started coming to this church when I was a young guy in the fifth grade, that you can find Jesus on every page of the Bible. He's there in every sentence and in every paragraph. If that's the case, then I want to see Him throughout the Old Testament, and I believe that you would as well.

As we open up this passage here in the book of Joshua, there are a few things that I want to go over quickly before we delve deeper into the Scripture. The first thing is that there are great principles in the New Testament that are pictured in the Old Testament. I don't know about you, but I learn very well from seeing things done or from pictures. How many of you, when you go to buy a book in the bookstore, flip through it and look for pictures? I do, because I learn easier through visuals.

I remember when I was about 16 years old, my dad, who is sitting over here, took me and taught me how to drive a stick shift, a manual transmission. As we were driving to a parking lot to practice, he explained to me how the clutch works and all this stuff about the flywheel, but I don't remember any of it. It was all just words—the ins and outs of how the clutch works. Then he proceeded to show me how to do it. Today, it's been a few years, but I can still drive it fairly well. I stall every now and then. In fact, I was driving my younger brother, Danny, to work today, and as I was pulling out of the house, I stalled my truck. He said, "Now I won't feel bad if I drive with you and stall." So I said, "Oh, okay."

We learn a lot better by seeing things done or by looking at pictures. In the New Testament, we have many ins and outs of the faith, a lot of principles about how to walk and how we are to live our lives as Christians. In the Old Testament, those things are pictured for us. They are shown to us and played out before us. Even Paul knew of this. In the book of 1 Corinthians, if you turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 10, we'll see that Paul, speaking to the church at Corinth, said this very thing. In 1 Corinthians chapter 10, starting at verse 1, Paul says, "Moreover, brethren, I would not that you should be ignorant."

How that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They did all eat the same spiritual meat and did all drink the same spiritual drink, for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them; that rock was Christ. But with many of them, God was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

Now these things were our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters, as some of them were. As it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer.

Now all of these things happened unto them for examples, and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. It has been taught here for a long time that we are living in the last times, in the last days. As we see all the different things going on in our nation and in the world, it really does fit the pattern of Matthew chapter 24 and other prophetic scriptures.

As we look at these things, we know that we are living in those times that the end has come upon the world. All of the things of the Old Testament that Paul quoted happened to them and for them, the children of Israel, as examples for us. They were written for our admonition or for our training. We should be instructed, and we should learn from the things that we see in the scripture.

As I've been praying for the last several months about what the Lord would have me speak about and teach here on Saturday nights, the Lord impressed upon my heart the book of Joshua. I spent several weeks figuring maybe the Lord wants me to teach Esther or maybe Nehemiah or something in the New Testament. I prayed and thought, and for some reason, I totally forgot about the book of Joshua.

One day, I was just walking around here at the church, and all of a sudden, I thought, well, I've never taught through the book of Joshua. I went into my office and sat down, and as I began to read, the Lord impressed upon my heart that this is exactly what we here on Saturday nights need to hear. The word of the Lord for the church at Escondido is here, I believe, in these chapters, the 24 chapters of Joshua. God wants to speak to every single one of us.

I believe He wants to speak clearly to us tonight. Paul continued in the book of Romans, chapter 15. Just one book over to the left of Romans, Paul says, "For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we, through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope." Do any of you in this room ever need hope? I know I do. Paul says all of these things, the whole Scriptures, as he told Timothy, are God-breathed and are given for our instruction. He tells the Romans that they were written so we could learn from them and that we, through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope.

As we dig into the Old Testament and the New, as we look into the things that God has written for us, we would know Him more. In that, we would have hope. Hope, as Romans chapter 5, as Pastor Pat has been teaching, states, does not disappoint. What a wonderful promise that is from the Lord. God has given you and me great and precious promises throughout Scripture. In the New Testament and in the Old, it has been said that over 6,000 promises from God to man are written in the Scriptures, and they are all for you and me—a great promised land that God has given to us.

In Ephesians chapter 1, Paul says that we are blessed by God. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ," chapter 1, verse 3, "who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places." God has blessed you and me as believers, as Christians, with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places.

Now, spiritual blessings are not like those blessings that we often pray for. Maybe you, like me, have prayed before, "Lord, would You please give me a new car?" Or, "Father, I really would like some more money," or "I would really like this or that," or "those shoes," or whatever it may be. Our prayers oftentimes focus on physical blessings. Yet the Lord says, "I have given to you all spiritual blessings in heavenly places."

You see, we quickly and often forget about the spiritual blessings. In fact, it's often a heathen or a pagan, or someone who doesn't even know God, who points out the spiritual blessings in our lives. When they come up to you and say, "How come you have so much joy?" you might respond, "Well, I didn't even realize I did."

And yet the Lord says, "This is from me." Someone may come to you in the midst of a trial or something you're going through. This week, we've lost a couple of different people from our body, and people are grieving. Yet, in the midst of the storm and in the midst of the fire, they can have peace. People will come up and ask, "How come, with all that you're going through, you have peace in the midst of this?" Oftentimes, it's not a Christian who says that.

You see, it's the people in the world who notice the spiritual giftings and blessings in our lives a lot more than we do. God uses people in the world to show them to us. Those things were put in our lives to bring them to jealousy, just like the book of Romans says that we are to bring the children of Israel to jealousy. When they see the great and awesome gifts that God has bestowed upon us, when they see the relationship that we have with Him, it stirs something within them.

Chuck Butler is going to be singing at the coffee shop next Saturday night. He came and spoke to the staff a few weeks ago during a staff meeting. He was talking about grief counseling and mentioned that he is a chaplain at a hospital over in Encinitas. He shared an experience he had with a Jewish family who had a family member on life support. They had taken the person off life support, and this individual was going to die. He asked them, "Would you like me to call your rabbi?" They replied, "No, why don't you just stay with us and pray with us?"

He prayed with them, and they were blown away by the fact that he could talk to God as if they were friends. It brought them to tears because they don't have that kind of relationship that you and I have been given by grace to come before God and to pray before Him. These spiritual blessings that God has given to us are meant to cause the world to look at us and say, "I don't have that."

The sad thing is that so often we forget about these blessings and look so much for physical ones. We might say, "Oh Lord, I need this or I need that." But the Lord says, "I've given you all spiritual blessings. Walk in that." The joy, the peace, the kindness—these are things that we cannot manufacture on our own. In the world, you will never be able to find peace. It's a peace that passes understanding. But with God, we receive a peace that surpasses all understanding. The things that God has given to us can only come from Him.

They can't come from the world. Joy will never be found in the world. True love will never be found apart from God, as 1 John says. And yet, these are the things that God has abundantly poured out upon us. These are the great and precious promises that God has given to us.

The children of Israel were promised a promised land, the land of Canaan. God had promised it to them early on to Abraham in Genesis chapter 12. When He called Abraham there in Genesis chapter 12, He called him away from his family and away from where he was living. God called him to this new place, Canaan. He said, "I'm going to make your name great, and I'm going to bless you. I'm going to bless those who bless you. I'm going to curse him who curses you. And in you, all of the nations shall be blessed." So, Abraham followed the Lord.

As the Lord brought Abraham into this land of Canaan, later on in chapter 12, God said, "This land is going to be yours. You're going to receive it as an inheritance." As Abraham dwelt in the land, God gave him a son, Isaac, and God continued the promise through Isaac. Isaac had two sons, Esau and Jacob, and God continued the promise to Jacob, the younger, who, of course, had twelve sons. I'm not going to name all of them because most of the time I forget them. But one of the key figures was Joseph.

God took Joseph down into Egypt, where he was a prisoner and a slave for thirteen years. His father thought he was dead, and his brothers had sold him into slavery because they were jealous of him. Then, in one day, the Lord turned it around, and Joseph became the prime minister of all of Egypt. He was over the whole area of Egypt at that time. God gave him a prophetic word that there were seven years of plenty coming, followed by seven years of famine. Pharaoh appointed him as the key figure in Egypt, and he gathered in all kinds of food for the coming famine.

When the famine came and the world was without food, Joseph's family came to him. His father was restored to him, and he to his father. It's a beautiful picture as he tells his father, "Why don't you bring the rest of the family down here?" So, all of Jacob, who is now named Israel, brought his entire family, numbering seventy people at that time, down into Egypt. Over the course of four hundred plus years, they went from seventy people and multiplied to well over two million people. They were fruitful.

They were multiplying just as God had commanded and just as Matt and Lindsay are fulfilling. The Lord had put them in this position to feed them during this time of famine. However, a new Pharaoh arose who did not know Jacob or Joseph. As he observed this great nation of people living among his own, he began to feel worried. He thought that if this large nation decided to turn against them, they could easily overthrow him because they were more powerful. Consequently, he began to appoint taskmasters over them, and they served Pharaoh in Egypt as slaves.

But the Lord heard the cry of His people, as He always does. Know that for sure: when you feel oppressed, when you feel under the heavy hand of Egypt—Egypt in Scripture is a picture of the world—know that the Lord is listening to your cry and that He hears you. The Lord raised up a deliverer, Moses.

Moses was a man who, if he were to stand in this room before us tonight, every lady would think, "That is the most handsome guy I've ever seen." The Bible says he was very comely in appearance. Every man would say, "Gosh, I'd like to be like Moses," because he was trained in all the arts of Egypt and possessed a wealth of knowledge. He was a strong man; we see in Exodus that he was able to overpower an Egyptian soldier. All the men in this room would admire Moses, and all the ladies would think he was cute. He would probably be the guy featured in soap operas or romance novels. Instead of Fabio, it would be Moses.

The Lord had it that this Hebrew man would be raised in the house of Pharaoh. When he turned 40 years old, he realized that he was a Hebrew and that his people were under oppression. He sought to free them, believing that God had placed him in this position with all his talents and abilities to lead his people out of Egypt. It was God's desire for this to happen, but Moses wasn't ready. He tried to do it in his own strength, and as I mentioned earlier, he ended up killing an Egyptian soldier.

To try and lose his people, Pharaoh was after Moses. Moses ran away, and he ran far away to the backside of the desert, to Midian. There he was for 40 years. As God stripped this man of all that he was and all that he thought he was, He brought him to the point where God would speak to him through the burning bush at the ripe old age of 80 years old. If you're 80 years old or getting there, know for sure that God has a plan for you too, and He wants to use you.

In fact, when we get to Joshua, in Joshua chapter 1, we see that he is about that age too. God called Moses, and when God called Moses out of the midst of the burning bush, Moses did not say, "Lord, I'm ready to go." Instead, he said, "Lord, I can't do this. I can't speak. They're not going to listen to me." He tried every excuse that he could muster, yet the Lord said, "No, come. I'm going to take you down there. You're going to deliver My people."

After they went back and forth a little bit, and after Moses finally said, "All right, I'll go," the Lord wrestled with him and even tried to kill him. Eventually, Moses came to the point where he said, "I'll go." He went and told Pharaoh, "Let My people go." After plagues and plagues and plagues—many of you have seen "The Prince of Egypt" or "The Ten Commandments"—you know the story. Finally, Pharaoh reluctantly let the people go.

They marched out of Egypt and into the wilderness, crossing the Red Sea, which is a picture of baptism in Scripture. They came into the wilderness on their way to the Promised Land, which was supposed to be only an 11-day journey but actually took them 40 years. In the wilderness, they murmured against the Lord and complained against Him, as we read in 1 Corinthians chapter 10.

All of these things that happened to them while they were in the wilderness and as they came into the Promised Land happened to the children of Israel as examples for us to learn from. You and I have also been brought out of Egypt. We've been taken out of the world. We've crossed through the Red Sea. If you've been baptized with Christ, Romans chapter 6 and 1 Corinthians chapter 15 say that this was baptism, just as they went down into the Red Sea. They left Egypt behind, and you've left the world behind.

However, after you come out of Egypt, before you can come to the Promised Land, you must always pass through the wilderness.

Because that's what's between the world and the Promised Land: the wilderness. Some people stay in the wilderness for 40 years, wandering about until they die. However, some people, who have patience and the comfort of the Scriptures, as we saw in Romans chapter 15, come into the Promised Land, even if it takes them 40 years of wandering with the rest. As we see, only two made it through: Joshua and Caleb. Caleb, whose name means "faithful," and Joshua, whose name means "the Lord is our salvation."

The Lord was bringing His people, the children of Israel, to the Promised Land, a land that they had by ownership. They owned it; God had given it to them by inheritance. They owned it, but yet they did not have possession of it. Many of you have heard the phrase "possession is nine-tenths of the law," right? This land was theirs by ownership, but they didn't possess it. It wasn't theirs physically.

God has given to you and me spiritual blessings—spiritual blessings that He has poured out upon us in abundance. We have them by ownership. God has given us all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. But do we possess the possession that God has given to us? Do we actually walk in it, living in the promises that He has given to us? Do we really lay hold of that possession? The children of Israel never fully did. God had promised them this great land, over 300,000 square miles. Do you know how much they possessed? Only 30,000 square miles—one-tenth. One-tenth of what God had for them they took and held, while the rest they made tribute with the enemy. They put them under their work.

It came about in the later years, in the book of Genesis and Judges, which maybe someday we'll get to. I don't know. But it came about that those whom they put under tribute ended up becoming thorns in their sides, as God had promised. They never fully took the possession.

There's a story that I heard about an Englishman who came to America years ago to try and find fortune. He quickly dropped out of sight, and it wasn't long...

After he dropped out of sight in America, he was found. One of his uncles died and left him an estate valued at over five million dollars. Scotland Yard in England was sent to try and find this man and inform him that he had this great inheritance. However, they never found him until years later when he turned up in Chicago, dead in the entryway of a hotel. He had frozen to death because he couldn't afford to pay for the hotel room. Yet back in England, he owned five million dollars' worth of an estate. He never possessed the inheritance that God had given to him; he never really took hold of it.

You and I are going to inherit eternal life. When we die, we will be with the Lord for eternity. The Bible tells us in John chapter 17 that eternal life begins now. Eternal life starts the day that you begin to follow the Lord. John 10:10 states that Jesus came to give us life and that more abundantly, in its fullness. This possession that He has promised to us, these spiritual blessings He has given to us, and the promises throughout Scripture are ours by ownership. But do we possess them? If not, how do we possess them?

That is why we are going to study through the book of Joshua. I believe it is here in the book of Joshua that the Lord shows us how we can possess what He has given to us. As Paul said in Philippians chapter 3, verse 12, we should lay hold of that for which He has laid hold of us. God has called us to eternal life, and He wants us to lay hold of that here and now—not when we die, but today. We should take what He has given to us and walk in the fullness of the power of God.

You may think, "Well, how does that happen?" There have been those who thought that if they just sit and wait, then that fullness will happen. Yet, if you look in your Bibles, turn to 1 Timothy chapter 6, and we see a different story in the Scriptures. The inheritance is ours. J. Vernon McGee said that oftentimes we live as spiritually bankrupt when, in reality, we have a checkbook full of innumerable promises. A checkbook takes faith. If I hand you a million dollars in cash, you know how much money you have in your hand. But if I hand you...

A checkbook is a tool that requires faith to use. When you write a check, you are essentially putting down money to pay for something, even if you cannot see the funds in front of you. This is similar to what God has given us—a spiritual checkbook. It takes faith to begin to write checks on that checkbook, which is full of spiritual blessings. While we cannot physically see these blessings, they are laid out before us in Scripture.

In 1 Timothy chapter 6, verse 12, Paul instructs us to "fight the good fight of faith and lay hold of eternal life, whereunto thou art also called and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses." God, through Paul, tells us that we have been called to eternal life and to an abundantly rich life. He urges us to fight the good fight and lay hold of it. This may seem like a contradiction, but it is not.

Consider the people who lived in the land of Canaan, the promised land that belonged to the children of Israel. They were not going to simply vacate the land and say, "Hey Israel, come on in! We've just been getting it ready for you. We built all these cities and planted all this stuff. You got it; just come in, and we'll take off." No, they were going to fight to hold on to their land. The children of Israel needed to come in and take it.

The Lord promised that He would fight for His people, but He called them to walk in faith toward the land He had given them. The inhabitants of that land—the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, and all the other "ites"—were not going to simply welcome them. They needed to fight the good fight and lay hold of it.

God has called you and me to a life of victory and a life of rest. Have you experienced that life of rest that God has given you, or are you frantically wandering in the wilderness, saying, "Gosh, I don't have water, I don't have food, and what am I going to do?" Or have you entered into that life of rest that God has promised us?

In Romans chapter 7, verse 18, Paul describes a life in the wilderness. Throughout the book of Romans, particularly in chapter 7, he illustrates the struggles faced by believers. I remember when I was in Bible college, and we studied Romans during the first semester. The students at the Bible college were a diverse group, and they made up more than half of the class.

Of the students there, when we got to the book of Romans, chapter 7, it was like there was just this thick oppression on all the people at the Bible college. Everybody was walking around like, "Oh, wretched man that I am," and it was just a sad, sad time. How great it was when we came to Romans, chapter 8!

Romans, chapter 7, verse 18 says, "For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwells no good thing. For to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good, I find not." Where's the victory in that? Where's the rest? Paul says he just can't find that victory, and that was the life of the wilderness. God would have that you and I would come into the life of rest, and that is the life of the Spirit. That is the life where you and I come in identification with Christ. We lay down ourselves and are crucified with Christ, as Paul said in Galatians, chapter 2, verse 20.

We enter into the promised land of His rest, and we begin to walk in Romans, chapter 8. Look at Romans, chapter 8, verse 4. The very last part says, "Who walked not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Notice it comes after Romans, chapter 7, where Paul laments, "Oh, wretched man! Who's going to deliver me from this body of death?" Then Paul begins to talk about this walk of the Spirit.

Down in verse 6, it says, "For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace." If you look at that word "peace" in the original language, it can also be translated as "rest." You see, the life in the Spirit—the life where the Christian has laid down the flesh and has begun to walk with the Lord, putting on the new man as described throughout the whole New Testament—that is the life of peace. That is the life of rest, and that is the life of victory that God has called us to.

But many Christians today wander in the wilderness, wondering if life is ever going to get any better. Oswald Chambers, the writer of one of the greatest devotionals, many of you probably have the devotional "My Utmost for His Highest," is probably the most sold devotional in America. There came a point in time in his life where he was a Christian wandering in the wilderness. He came to that point where, in a group setting one night, he said, "If this is what Christianity is all about, then it's a farce. It's foolishness. I feel like I'm going to die. I'm just in the wilderness." It was there that the Lord began.

To pour out upon his life with the Holy Spirit, it was after that point in time that he wrote that devotional. When the Lord came upon him, he experienced the life of rest, the life of peace, and the life of victory in the Spirit. Oh, that we'd no longer wander in the wilderness! That's exactly what God's desire is for us. As Paul said, "I've been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives within me." The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

In Galatians chapter 5, verse 24, Paul says, "And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts." If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. The life of victory and the life of rest is the story of the book of Joshua, but it's a rest that they would have to lay hold of. It's not a rest where you lounge around; you don't see someone lying in a hammock while someone fans them with a palm frond and they sip sweet tea. That's not the kind of rest that he's talking about.

It's a rest wherein, in the middle of victory, you can say, "I no longer have to strive; I no longer have to fight because I have the victory." You see, the children of Israel had to lay hold of the promised land, and they had to dispossess the inhabitants of the land before they could possess the land itself. We need to take hold of that land as well, the spiritual blessings that God has promised to us. Hebrews chapter 4, verse 11 says, "Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief."

What example of unbelief? The example of those who were in the wilderness during the time of Joshua. They had unbelief when they said, "Well, I just don't think we can go into the promised land because there are giants in the land." Joshua stood there, and Caleb next to him, along with Moses, probably in tears, saying, "But God has given us the land! Those giants will fall; they're going to go if we would just walk into it." Because of their unbelief, they said no, and they wandered in the wilderness.

For another 38 years, every single one of the people in that generation died. I often wonder if Caleb and Joshua would sit around every now and then and think, "Gosh, I wish that guy would kick the bucket so we could go into the land." This guy just seems like he's going to keep going for a long time. They're looking at Moses, and he looks like he's 40, saying, "Yeah, let's go!" But he's actually 80 years old, and he just keeps going. Then he's 100 years old, and he keeps going. Joshua and Caleb are thinking, "My goodness, Lord, alright."

They faithfully followed the Lord when the rest of their people and the rest of their generation said, "No, we can't do it." But God is speaking to us. Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest. You might ask, "What do you mean, labor to enter into rest? I thought rest was just hanging around and being fanned." But no, it's a struggle. Any of you who have walked with the Lord for any amount of time and have seen Romans chapter 7 take place in your life know that the life of Christ is not an easy life. It's a life that must be laid hold of; it must be apprehended. God desires that you and I would lay hold of that because that's what He has laid hold of us for.

Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest. In Joshua chapter 1, verse 1, it says, "Now after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spoke unto Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses' minister." So here we are now, after the death of Moses. Moses could not bring the children of Israel into the promised land. In Scripture, Moses is a picture of the law, and the law will never bring you or me into that promised possession that God has given to us.

However, who led the children of Israel to the promised land? Moses, by direction of God. Moses, the law, led them to that land. In Galatians, Paul says to the church at Galatia that the law is our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ and that promised possession that we desire so much. Ephesians has said that this possession is in Christ. So it is the law; it is Moses that brings us.

To there, to the edge of the land, there to Jesus Christ, so that we can experience the rest that He can give, and only He can give. Yet, Moses could not go into the promised land. Why? Because he was not perfect; he had failed in the law. The Lord had said to speak to the rock, there in the Book of Numbers, to bring forth water. Moses was a little upset that day, and he struck the rock. He had transgressed the law and could no longer come into the promised land.

This serves as a picture for you and me: the law cannot bring us into that rest, but it will bring us to the very edge of it. It is there that we have to put faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ to bring us fully into that which God has given to us. David said, "Lord, Your law is a delight to me," and it's not a bad thing. The law is not a heavy thing if you realize that it can't save you. If you try to take the law and say, "Well, Lord, by living this way, then I'm going to inherit what You've given to me," you'll never make it.

However, if you realize what the law really is, you will see that every single day the law has power in our lives to bring us to Christ more and more. It shows us how wicked and sinful we are, leading us to fall upon the Lord Jesus Christ and say, "Lord, I cannot do this. But Father, please strengthen me by Your Spirit." Amen. Oh, I delight to do Thy will, oh Lord! That's what David said: "Lord, Your law is a delight to me." Why? Because it brings me to that place where I throw everything upon You and say, "Lord, I can't do it in my own strength. I need Your strength."

After the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spoke unto Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses' minister. Joshua was Moses' assistant; he was kind of like Pastor Mark. He was there constantly. When Moses went on Mount Sinai to hear from the Lord and to receive the covenant, the commandments, there was Joshua. When Moses went to the tabernacle, there was Joshua. In fact, the Bible tells us in Exodus that Joshua would not leave the tabernacle when Moses would go to speak to the people. Joshua was still there. He was a man who just loved the presence of God, and he knew that the presence of God was upon this man Moses. So, he wanted to be wherever Moses was, and he followed him.

He stuck right next to him; he was his minister and his assistant. Matthew Henry once said that those are fittest to rule who have learned to obey. The one who is most fit to rule, the one who is most fit to lead the Kingdom of God and to lead God's people, is the one who has learned to obey. Joshua was a man who had learned to obey. He was a man who had followed the Lord, a man who stuck by God's man and sought the Lord.

Now, after the death of Moses, the Lord spoke unto Joshua, Moses' minister, and said, "Moses, my servant, is dead." I love the way the Lord reiterates things for us so that we figure it out. Yes, Moses is dead. "Now therefore arise." I believe God wants to speak to our hearts this evening from that one word: arise.

Last weekend, we had a death in our body here; Ashley went to be with the Lord. This week, we have another death in our body as Julie has gone to be with the Lord. It blesses me very much that, Steve, you are here this evening and that you have heard the call of the Lord to arise and come to hear from Him.

You see, when we experience a death, when we experience someone moving on—maybe they haven't even died; they've just moved on—someone we look up to, one of our friends, often we get bummed out and we don't go forward. The word of the Lord would be to us: arise, stand up. You may think, "Well, I can't stand up; I've gone through a terrible hard thing, Lord." But see, when God commands us to do something, He gives us the ability to stand up. He enables us to do that thing that He has called us to do.

Turn in your Bibles to the book of Mark, chapter 5. In Mark chapter 5, many of you know the story. There was a man who came to Jesus; his name was Jairus. In chapter 5, verse 22 of Mark, it says, "And behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue named Jairus." Notice this guy was a ruler of a synagogue; he was a Jew, and yet he came to Jesus, this man whom the Pharisees were beginning to turn their backs upon.

He came to Jesus, and when he saw Him, he fell at His feet and besought Him greatly, saying, "My little daughter lieth at the point of death. I pray thee, come and lay hands on her, that she may be healed, and she shall live." Jesus went with him, and much of the people followed Him and thronged Him.

A certain woman, which had an issue of blood for twelve years, had suffered many things. Many physicians had spent all that she had, and it was nothing better, but rather grew worse. When she had heard that Jesus came, she came in the press behind and touched His garments. She said, "If I may touch but His clothes, I shall be whole." Straightway, the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague.

It's an awesome thing when you feel in your body that you've been healed of the plague, whether it's the plague of sin or maybe even a physical healing. I have a good friend of mine, his name is Roger Moyer. He's a pastor over in Carlsbad at Calvary Chapel, Carlsbad. I heard through a friend that he had been diagnosed with leukemia back in September. I called him back around October, but he never called me back, and I was a little concerned.

I was coming back from San Diego yesterday, and he was put on my heart, so I called him up. He wasn't home, so I left a message. He called me about an hour later and said, "Miles, I was diagnosed with leukemia and prostate cancer in September. I was at the point where my liver was completely shutting down. My eyes had glazed over yellow; I couldn't see, I couldn't do anything. I was laying in bed, and the whole church was praying for me, and I was praying. About two weeks later, I started to feel better."

He went to the doctor, and she asked, "Do you believe in prayer?" He's a pastor, so of course he believes in prayer. She said, "Absolutely. Your leukemia is gone." He was just blown away. She said, "I need to run some more tests to see if your liver is better." After running more tests, his liver was fine.

Then just two days ago, this week, he went to the doctor again because he was feeling better. On Christmas Eve, he was feeling even better—though that's not really good grammar. He went to the doctor, and she said, "Your prostate cancer is gone." I just couldn't believe it.

I was sitting on the phone, and I told him, "We have no problem praying to the Lord, 'God, heal my headache.' But man, when you have leukemia or you have prostate cancer and you pray, and God just instantly heals, it's amazing."

This lady felt her body and realized that she was healed of that plague. Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that virtue had gone out of Him, turned around in the crowd and said, "Who touched my clothes?" I like that His disciples were confused. They said unto Him, "Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and thou sayest, 'Who touched me?'" They were essentially saying, "You have all these people around you, and you're wondering who touched you? Everybody's touching you."

But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what she had done or what had been done in her, came and fell down before Him and told Him all the truth. He said unto her, "Daughter, thy faith hath made thee well. Go in peace and be whole of thy plague."

While He yet spoke, there came from the ruler of the synagogue's house a certain man who said, "Thy daughter is dead. Why trouble the Master any further?" As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, He said unto the ruler of the synagogue, "Be not afraid; only believe."

So He went to this little girl's house, Jairus' house, and everybody had heard that she was dead. Down in verse 41, it says that He came and took the damsel by the hand and said unto her, "Talitha Kumai," which is being interpreted, "Damsel, or young girl, I say unto thee, arise."

The word in Hebrew for "arise" in Joshua chapter 1 is the word "kum." The word here in Aramaic is "kumai." It's the same word in two different languages. You see, in the midst of that place where we feel like we just can't go on any further, we don't know what to do, the Lord would come to you and to me and say, "Arise."

Now, do you think that little girl could have said, "No, I can't"? When you and I hear the Lord saying, "Arise," and we respond, "Gosh, Lord, I just can't do it. It's too hard," He says, "Just arise. Stand up."

David, in 2 Samuel chapter 12, had lost his son by Bathsheba. Remember, he had sinned with Bathsheba, and she had gotten pregnant. Their first son that was born...

This son was very sick and died. Before the son had died, he was mourning and downcast. After he heard that the son had died and gone to be with the Lord, it says that he arose—same word, "kum," in Hebrew. He arose, washed his face, went to the house of the Lord, and worshipped. Then he came home and ate bread.

If you're in that place where you feel weak and like you've lost all those who are around you, or maybe you've physically lost someone who has moved away or gone to be with the Lord, the Lord would say to you, "Arise, come to the house of the Lord, and eat bread in communion with the saints."

Joshua could have been with the children of Israel in Joshua chapter 1, at the end of Deuteronomy, when Moses died, and just thought, "Oh, we can't go on; we've lost our leader." But praise God, when a leader dies, the movement doesn't die. When God's man dies, it doesn't mean that the work God is doing dies because He does not die. God is not a man that He should lie or relent, the Bible says. So, Moses, My servant is dead, but now you arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, unto the land which I do give them, even to the children of Israel.

We're going to stop there tonight. I feel like Pat; I only made it through two verses. That's pretty amazing. But now, therefore, arise and go over this Jordan, you and all the people. That's exactly what the Lord is speaking to us today at the beginning of this year, 2003. We've had two hard tragedies within our church that, in reality, are tragedies only for us. For them, they're with the Lord; praise God. For us, we miss them.

I never had the opportunity to meet Ashley, but from seeing how this sanctuary was filled today, there are a lot who will miss her. I did, however, have the opportunity to meet Julie. Every time I taught, she and her husband Steve would come up and tell me how much they loved my teaching. I had to fight back pride every single time, but she was such a wonderful person.

An encouragement to me is that I believe the Lord loved her fellowship so much that He said, "Why don't you come up here and be with Me?" Now He says to us, "Arise, it's time to go on. I have a great work for you." Yes, you'll feel the pain of this; you'll feel the pain of the wilderness. You'll remember Egypt, but I have a great work for you.

I was sitting yesterday, writing in my journal, and I was thinking that it's really amazing how God mixes things, often combining bitter and sweet experiences. Moses, My servant, is dead, but go into the Promised Land. You might think, "Oh man, Lord, he's died," but You've given us something new. I believe God wants to do a great work this year, and I'm so excited about what He wants to do.

I went to a meeting on Thursday for the Billy Graham Crusade, and Billy Graham is coming to San Diego. I was blown away by the excitement of the people at this meeting. I know God wants to do a great work through that, but He also wants to do an awesome work through our church. We've had these bitter times early on in the year, but the sweet things are yet to come. God wants to use us, but He first says to us, "Arise and take that step of faith. Go over the Jordan."

"Lord, it's flooding its banks. What do we do?" He says, "Arise, go. I'm going to be with you." That's what God is speaking to us tonight.

Let's stand and let's pray. Father, thank You for Your word to us tonight. I just thank You so much that in the midst of this storm, You're the one who sleeps. Your disciples, us, sometimes get frantic and freaked out. Then You wake up and say, "Oh, calm down. Be still," and the storm is gone.

I just want to say, You're the one who, when everybody's crying and howling, comes in and says, "Don't worry, she's not dead; she's just asleep." Even when all of them laughed at You and scorned You there, You still just walked in and said...

Talitha Kumai, young girl, little maiden, arise. And you say the same to us, your bride: arise and go. God, thank you that you did not leave us orphans, but you've sent us the Comforter, the Holy Spirit. You desire that we would walk in the fullness of the power of the Spirit of God and that we would enter into that promised land, the possession of promises that you've given to us.

God, I pray that this year would be a bold step for this body. That we would lay hold of that for which you have laid hold of us. That we would know you more in the power of your resurrection and in the fellowship of your sufferings, being made conformable unto your death.

God, thank you for your word tonight. I pray that you would continue to minister to us as we go from here. Father, as we fellowship together and as the group comes tomorrow morning, and as Pat teaches, I just pray that you would speak boldly through Pat and that you would anoint his teaching. Bless the body as a whole here at Calvary Escondido.

We're excited to see what you will do in the year 2003. Maybe this is the year that you'll come and take us away. Maranatha, Lord. We thank you, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen.