Real Life Selkirk
**October 25** A Legacy of Alignment (Joshua 3:1-9)

  • Sermon

    Key Passage

    Joshua 1:1–9 NIV
    After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide: “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. I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. No one will be able to stand 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. Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them. “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

    Series Introduction

    We are at an exciting point in our life as a church. It is a very exciting point.
    Over the next month, we will be breaking ground on our new church building as well as celebrating 20 years as a church in this community.
    We wanted to take a few weeks and celebrate what God has done and look ahead to what he has for the future.
    I remember coming up here for the first few weeks of services. For those of you who don’t know the story, my wife and I offered to volunteer to watch children during a video venue service of Real Life Post Falls.
    Within a few months, that turned into me standing in front of everyone giving a welcome and pressing play on the DVD player.
    I didn’t realize that God had led me to this place until I was asked to take this location on as a full-time job.
    In my struggle and battle of trying to decide if I should step out in faith or stay where I was in life I realized the importance of listening for God’s direction in these situations.
    It wasn’t that God was audibly speaking to me, but I definitely believe that God made it evidently clear that He had plans in Newport, and I needed to operate in faith.
    I had to answer the question of allegiance and trust: Was God speaking? Would I obey?
    I quit my job, we sold our house and moved to this place. The risk was high, but we believed that we were following God’s direction and we needed to be obedient.
    It was around that time that I realized how little I knew about church. To me, church had been a place to go and learn about God. It was largely academic.
    Now, I felt I had been entrusted with the Body of Christ and I didn’t know what to do.
    Here is an in-church secret: I still don’t really know what to do.
    But, I began to look at Jesus as a model. What did Jesus say? What did Jesus do?
    The only model we have for church is following Jesus.
    Here is the outcome: We must teach the words of Jesus and follow the model of Jesus.
    We can’t come up with our own truth.
    We can’t come up with our own methods.
    This is His church and we must obey Him and stand on His Gospel.
    I truly believe that the church needs an Almighty, All-knowing, Ever-Present being in charge.
    Too often, we look at that as the pastor or ministry teams.
    It has to be God. That is why His plan is the only plan that matters
    He called us to make disciples. Discipleship is what Jesus used as the vehicle to transfer the truth and methods of Jesus from one generation to the next.
    Discipleship is the Legacy of Jesus and it has been passed to us.
    We must take care to pass that legacy on to the next generation behind us.
    We have entitled this series, “Building a Legacy”
    As we navigate this series I want you to know that we are not simply going to learn. There has to be application throughout this series. It will be a challenge for us all.
    On one regard, this series is highlighting the vision that we chose to carry through our building campaign.
    As we spoke about here over the last two weeks, we know the church is not the building. The church is the “called out ones”. People saved by the grace and mercy of Jesus.
    That is you and that is me.
    But we have a responsibility as a church to unite in movement, not just existence. During this series, we will be talking about our move to the Selkirk Way property in Oldtown.
    But I don’t want you to just think that this is a series designed to fit to our building project.
    This is a series that I am passionate about that will apply to our entire lives with or without a building project.
    We don’t need to grow in the maturity of a building
    We need to grow in maturity in all areas of our life and that is the desired outcome of this series.
    We will be referencing our Building a Legacy building project. However, this is not the space for all of the details of that project.
    I encourage you to go to our website for more details. We have put a bunch of content and videos on the website that hopefully answer your questions.
    The website looks like THIS:
    SHOW WEBSITE
    In this series we will follow the Israelite nation in the book of Joshua as they prepare themselves to move into the promised land.
    The principles of obedience and preparation will be challenging and eye-opening for us.

    Sermon Introduction

    After writing, I feel the sermon has drifted from the word “faith” interject this concept into each point
    As we open the book of Joshua, we find ourselves feeling like we dropped in the middle of a story, and we have.
    I want to preface our passage this week and throughout the series with a brief background to what has happened that led to this place.
    Genesis to Abraham
    Since sin entered the world, there has been a separation between man and God
    He is Holy. He is higher than us.
    We see a God who desires relationship with His people.
    The OT revolves around the nation of Israel and their times of following God and their times of seeking to follow other things.
    God always desired for them to leave the other things and follow Him.
    He calls us to do the same thing today. He called the disciples to leave their nets and follow Him.
    He desires relationship, but we must leave our dependencies in the world to become dependent on Him.
    Here is something that we often get wrong in our current culture
    We are called to put our faith in Jesus.
    We often say that means that we simply have to believe He exists, or believe a series of theological statements.
    Faith is a posture of dependence and surrender. My life is now guided by Him
    Faith=obedience, not my own plan for life.
    So when we put our faith in God, there will be a new calling on my life. It is no longer following my ways, my paths, and my wisdom through life. It is dependent on Him.
    Church is not about a “Called Pastor”. We are all called to follow Jesus and that means we all have a calling to obedience and a calling to discipleship. A calling to using the gifts He has given to us.
    Abraham
    We get to this guy, Abraham. Abraham is known as a man of faith and we can see this as he is introduced in the Bible.
    Genesis 12:1–4 NIV
    The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran.
    Abraham was a man who had faith in God.
    That faith in God meant that his calling was whatever God asked of him.
    Obedience was the natural overflow of faith.
    A few chapters later, we see that God highlights this event and continues to move and challenge Abraham.
    Genesis 15:7 NIV
    He also said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.”
    Genesis 15:12–14 NIV
    As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. Then the Lord said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions.
    In this, God makes a covenant with Abraham.
    In this covenant, he says that the descendants of Abraham will be slaves for 400 years
    During that 400 years, they will be formed into a nation
    In a way, it is a picture of our lives as well.
    As slaves, they were entirely helpless and worthless. They did not have the same value as a regular Egyptian human being. They were a piece of property.
    God took them in their helplessness and hopelessness and formed them into a nation.
    As we step into Joshua 1 we see that this is a continuation of God’s work with His people
    It isn’t a prophecy-fulfillment-end of story.
    There is always a continuation to the story. There is always another step of obedience so He can be seen and glorified in this world.
    Every step along the way is a struggle of obedience.
    Every step is a step of faith.
    Our passage has been read today and I want to navigate a few things that we must know about God if we are to Build a Legacy of Faith.

    Sermon

    Joshua 1:1–2 NIV
    After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide: “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.
    1. God’s Ways are Higher than Our Ways
    Biblical Understanding
    We tend to think of God’s work as beginning and ending with us.
    Obedience must directly impact us or we have to wiggle and worm our definitions of God’s actions into something of a defense of Him.
    God made a promise to Abraham. But that promise was not for Abraham. Nor, was it about Abraham.
    God’s promise was about Him and for Him.
    It involved Abraham, but it was not about Abraham’s glory.
    If it was for Abraham and about Abraham, we might think that God let Abraham down.
    But God didn’t.
    If God’s promises were for Moses and about Moses, then God is too slow in keeping his promises.
    We have to look at all of this from a much higher view.
    Abraham had to sacrifice and trust God.
    Moses had to sacrifice and trust God.
    But neither of these guys had the promises fulfilled in their lifetime.
    God’s work was not for them. It was for Him.
    It was not in their lifetime, but they still had faith and lived out that faithfulness so God could be glorified in His way.
    This is what it means to follow God.
    We want all of the good results and all of the glory in our time.
    But God is bigger than that. He is here just as much for the last generation as He is for us. And He is here as much for us as He is in the next generation.
    We must realize that when God works, it is on a much bigger timeline than we are familiar with.
    God is a God of legacy, not of a generation.
    The servant, Moses, died, but the promise didn’t.
    Opposition
    This is a great point in theory, but can you imagine if this part of history was being played out in our time?
    If I don’t see the finish line, then I don’t need to participate.
    I want to see action, or I’m going to take my ball and go home.
    Our world screams at us to be all about us.
    What do I get out of this?
    Jesus said “Your kingdom come, your will be done”
    Also, Jesus had two names for the Kingdom:
    Kingdom of God
    Kingdom of Heaven
    Neither say, “Kingdom of me”
    Real Life Today
    As we step forward as a church, we know that the results of our obedience may never be seen in our time.
    Are we ok with that?
    We have to understand that our next steps as a church are not for us, nor are they about us.
    A few weeks ago, I went to the funeral of Bill Putman.
    Some of you may know who Bill was, but many of you do not.
    Bill was a guy with a vision and a very short attention span.
    He was at church in Post Falls and saw people from Newport coming to church in Post Falls and said, “We need to do something.”
    So Bill created the plan, built a team and came to Newport to build this campus.
    I was a part of that team.
    Bill died last month. He never saw our 20th anniversary
    He never lived to see our building
    In fact, because of his health, he never even got to visit our church over the last 10-12 years.
    But Bill didn’t do what he did so that he could say, “Look! I planted another church.”
    Bill had the vision and came up here for you.
    He never knew you. He never met you. He never even saw you.
    But he prayed for you. He gave his money for you.
    He loved you.
    We celebrate 20 years as a church in a few weeks and Bill wrote us a letter that I am going to read at that celebration.
    I use this to make the point that we are not on our own timeline.
    Our obedience is not for us. It is for the Kingdom of God and God’s work in our world
    If the Kingdom is that important, am I willing to obey for the Kingdom, not for me?
    Joshua 1:3–4 NIV
    I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Mediterranean Sea in the west.
    1. God’s Ways are Higher than Our Ways
    2. God Keeps His Promises
    Not only does God see things on a different timeline that we do. God is always faithful in keeping His promises.
    God’s promise doesn’t change with a new leader. “As I promised Moses...”
    God isn’t giving Joshua a new promise. Joshua is stepping into God’s promise
    It doesn’t start with him. It won’t finish with him. It isn’t about him.
    He gets to be a part of something much bigger than himself.
    God is saying, “You are walking into a promise that is being fulfilled. You will do the walking into the land I promised someone else.”
    Joshua didn’t decide the promise. God decided the promise and Joshua trusted that promise.
    Our world today
    God’s promises are not ours to invent.
    There is a version of Christianity that is running around out there that is trying to discover some specific promise of God for every circumstance in their lives.
    God promised me this job
    God promised me a relationship
    God promised a financial outcome
    God promised me that this outcome is going to work
    There are times that God does direct us in our specific circumstances, but we need to be very careful about putting words in God’s mouth that He didn’t say.
    Biblical faith is not about deciding what God should do for us, then believing with a deep intensity that He will do it.
    Biblical faith is discovering what God has already said and actually trusting Him to be who He says He is.
    God’s promises are for His glory and our good. We don’t need to create promises for God to fulfill
    God promised Abraham and kept the promise
    God promised Moses and kept the promise
    God promised David that through his line would come the Messiah and kept the promise
    Did you also notice one of God’s promises that we talked through earlier was about 400 years of slavery?
    God promised the Israelites that they would be slaves for 400 years!
    Do you think the Israelites stood on that promise and claimed it for themselves?
    Jesus promised, “In this world you will have trouble, but take heart I have overcome the world.”
    Who has trouble? We all do
    That part of the promise is fulfilled
    But he has overcome the world!
    This is a promise that we can hold on to.
    Example (Try it on)
    God, which job do you want me to take?
    God says, “You don’t read your Bible, you don’t pray, you look lustfully at women, you are impatient with your wife and kids, and that is why you go golfing on the weekends. It doesn’t matter which job you get.”
    The question isn’t the job, the question is the person taking the job.
    God says, “I want to expand my kingdom and in the Spiritual world, you are a little two year old with no armor and a bubble blower against an enemy with tanks and infantry. We’ve got to do some work on you before you can expand my Kingdom. When you decide to mature and grow as a disciple, then I’ll put you somewhere where you can expand my Kingdom.”
    Sometimes we are far more concerned about the specifics of our temporary world thinking that it is the foundation for our eternal lives.
    The opposite is true. The eternal things lay the foundation for our temporary problems and decisions.
    Opposition
    I don’t want you to swing the pendulum to a non compassionate view of life.
    Our circumstances are real. Our pain is real. Our fear is real.
    It is hard for us and it is hard for the people around us.
    We can buy into the belief that because we feel it, it is the most important thing in the world.
    But we can never let our circumstances dictate our destination in life.
    Satan will tell us:
    If God were with you, this wouldn’t be happening
    If God loved you, you wouldn’t hurt
    If God heard you, your prayer would be answered
    If God were leading, it would be easy.
    Scripture doesn’t teach this. In fact, Scripture teaches the opposite.
    World: Good circumstances means things are going well. Bad circumstances means things are going bad.
    Bible: Regardless of your circumstances, God’s character remains the same.
    Matthew 28:19–20 NIV
    Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
    here is a promise we know:
    In this passage, Jesus makes a promise to us. What is the promise?
    He will be with us always, even to the end of the age.
    When we feel like we know what He is doing? He is with us
    When we feel like God hears our prayers? He is with us
    When we feel like the Bible is jumping off of the page? He is with us
    When we feel alone and like God is a million miles away? He is with us
    When we are so confused we cannot take a step? He is with us
    When we trip up our lives so badly, we lose the faint glimmer of hope we carry? He is with us
    We often try to be so specific to our circumstances about God and what He wants to do with the temporary things in our lives.
    “God wants me to have this job...”
    Sometimes I think God doesn’t care what job you have. He cares about who you are regardless of where you get a paycheck.
    Becoming mature is hard.
    But when we strive to be His church, we will see His promises fulfilled.
    In spite of all of these hardships that we are promised, it isn’t always bad.
    He also promises that He will be with us always.
    We are going to read in the next passage, “As I was with Moses, so I will be with you.” It is the same promise. I will be with you always.
    God keeps His promises
    His character is more reliable than our circumstances
    Joshua 1:5–6 NIV
    No one will be able to stand 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. Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.
    1. God’s Ways are Higher than Our Ways
    2. God Keeps His Promises
    3. God Will Be With Us Always
    Biblical Understanding
    I’ll tell you, I love that phrase, “Be strong and courageous.” Entire books have been written about this phrase.
    But I want you to see that God doesn’t lead with that.
    He leads with His presence.
    His presence is the promise behind the courage.
    God says, “No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life”
    I love this. Does it say that no one will stand against them? No.
    It says no one will be able to stand against them.
    God will take out the giants
    God will take out the walled cities
    This isn’t a promise that God will do whatever we want. This isn’t even a promise that God is going to win every battle.
    Joshua went to Ai and was beaten.
    But the big picture here is that “Nothing will stand in the way of God doing what God wants to have done”
    This is His promise, His power and His activity in this world.
    The presence of God is our source for courage
    Not courage because of our strength, but courage because we know the presence of God is with us.
    Here is my problem with being strong and courageous.
    I want to know the “how” not the “who”
    God, I know you are with me, but I’m going to worry until you give me the “how”.
    If we feel that we have to have a plan for God’s part
    Opposition
    I want to walk this out like Joshua was me.
    I want you to know that this is not a theoretical struggle. This is my life.
    If I’m Joshua, I would have fear.
    God, You haven’t given me a burning bush or a Nile river full of blood.
    I’m not that guy.
    I’ve felt this before.
    I haven’t been to seminary,
    I’ve only taken one college class on public speaking...and I got a C...minus.
    If God were going to be dependent on me, then God would be in trouble.
    But God is with us. We are not with God.
    One provides supernatural outcomes
    The other is a mess.
    Uncertainty produces paralysis. Paralysis is the greatest weapon the enemy can yield.
    Think about a military unit that will not advance because they are afraid.
    They will never win the war.
    The enemy cannot change God’s faithfulness. So the enemy will try to change our confidence in God’s faithfulness.
    The presence of God gives us the ability to be Strong and Courageous.
    This is a pivotal time for us as a church.
    We are at this crossroads. It is meaningful to look back and see the people, the work, and the faithfulness of God. It builds a confidence in our trust of who He is and that He will walk through the next steps with us for His Kingdom.
    This church building is not for us. It isn’t. It is for His Kingdom. He will rule, He will use it, and He will expand His Kingdom.
    He isn’t on a throne somewhere a million miles away saying, “You’d better get it right.”
    He is here with us right now saying, “Watch what I can do through a group of people surrendered to my authority and presence.”
    Joshua 1:7–8 NIV
    “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.
    1. God’s Ways are Higher than Our Ways
    2. God Keeps His Promises
    3. God Will Be With Us Always
    4. God Will Give Direction
    I want you to see where God points Joshua.
    Not to a battle plan. Not to a military strategy. Not to a training regimen.
    He points Joshua to the Word:
    Be careful to obey
    Do not turn from it
    Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips
    Meditate on it day and night
    Be careful to do everything written in it.
    God’s direction for Joshua is much deeper than what Joshua should do.
    God’s direction for Joshua is about who he is and how he is to be used in God’s Kingdom
    It is like sometimes we see our problem and we start hollering for God to help with our problem.
    God what do you want me to do?
    Then you go to church and hear a sermon about forgiveness.
    Or loving your enemy
    Or making disciples
    Or speaking the truth IN LOVE
    or walking with integrity
    or loving your spouse
    or raising Godly children
    or serving
    or giving generously
    or prayer and fasting
    or the pursuit of holiness.
    And we are saying, “God, I need direction!”
    God’s saying,
    I wrote a book!
    Your life is more about your heart than your circumstances.
    And as we surrender our heart in the things that don’t seem to matter, we start to find that they do matter.
    We often want God’s whole roadmap. God often gives us the next step and asks to trust Him.
    We must remain dependent on Him.
    For many of us, if we were to see the whole roadmap, we might say, “Well, I don’t want to go that way, I want to go this way.”
    Or we memorize the map and start to brag about how well I can follow the map.
    Jesus said, “Follow Me”
    He doesn’t give us the destination. He gives us the pilot car.
    You don’t get to determine your destination, or your speed, or your lane. You just have to follow the pilot car.
    We will often find that God will guide us, but our part is less about where we go and what we choose.
    It is more about who we are. When our eyes are focused on who we are before Him, He has a way of guiding us through these steps in life.
    We don’t need a new mission.
    There are all sorts of decisions on the table every week. Building decisions. Planning decisions. What tilt the parking lot should have to move the water to a big pipe decisions.
    Guys, those are important, but we are here to prepare ourselves for the opportunity of how God is going to use our future.
    We are here to make disciples. Simple.
    We will disciple our way to the volunteers we need
    We will disciple our way to the leaders we need
    We will disciple our way into our house payment
    We will disciple our way into every possible future for the church God has given us.
    Keep first things first.
    Joshua 1:9 NIV
    Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”
    1. God’s Ways are Higher than Our Ways
    2. God Keeps His Promises
    3. God Will Be With Us Always
    4. God Will Give Direction
    5. God Will Give His Strength
    This is why it is so important to be who God calls us to be.
    It is Him who conquers the Giants
    It is Him who opens the Jordan River
    Not us.
    When we place our faith in Him and strive for obedience in His direction, He is glorified, not us.
    When this happens, we become living examples of His power in this world.
    During Paul’s lifetime, he said that the whole known world had heard of Jesus.
    That is without phones, internet or even a postal service.
    It was purely because to the early church, faith was more than just believing in something.
    It was belief, it was obedience, and it was entrusting that obedience to the hands of God.
    God was glorified through it all.
    We cannot fulfill the mission God has for His church or even our church in our own strength.
    The church needs a God and it isn’t us.
    Right now, I feel a lot like I did when I quit my job and sold my house.
    This next step from God is so big. So scary. So uncertain.
    But I also know God is eliminating the options around us and giving us only two paths: Rebellion or obedience. And the crossroads are becoming more and more clear.
    I want you to know I am preaching this message to myself just as much as I am preaching it to you.
    This reminds me of the truth that every step we take in trusting God will always be a scary step.
    It is always scary when we only see a little bit down the road.
    It is always scary when we see the cost of failure
    It is always scary when it seems too big for us.
    I am preaching this not just for a building.
    It certainly applies there, but I am hoping that we don’t sit and talk about the legacy of faith that was handed to us, but never take that step of faith in our time.
    This is the case for every one of us.
    I hope and I pray that some of us are challenged in a way that you step out in faith of what God is pushing you toward right now.
    This is the church, not just a church project.
    If we are not growing in our trust in God, then we are not growing.
    We can talk about growing, but somewhere down the line, we need to do it.
    We are responsible for the quality of obedience we give.
    God is responsible for growing the church.
    God is responsible for the results. We are responsible to be obedient.
    Am I walking in a way that it can only be God?
    Three times in this passage, God says, “Be strong and courageous.” Why did He have to do that?
    They were scared to death.
    This is no different than us today.
    God will bring you to a place where God says, “Do you still trust me?”
    1. God’s Ways are Higher than Our Ways
    2. God Keeps His Promises
    3. God Will Be With Us Always
    4. God Will Give Direction
    5. God Will Give His Strength

    Conclusion

    John 15:5 NIV
    “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
    Real Life in Action
    Is God calling you to obedience in some area of your life?
    Is there an area of your life that you have not surrendered? I think most of us have that spot of our lives.
    Spend time in prayer. Align this with the Word of God.
    If you have faith in God, then His direction is the calling on your life.
    Count the cost and take up your cross.
    Obedience will always be at the expense of something in our lives. We have to reject something here to grow in Him.
    Understand that there will be a struggle, but know that God will never leave you.
    Trust Him and take action today.
    Will we fail? Yes. Abraham did. Moses did. Even Joshua did. But faithfulness
    Read and re-read Joshua 1-6

    Conclusion

    There is a danger in a sermon like this.
    We can walk away thinking, “Okay. I need to be stronger. I need to be more courageous. I need to have more faith. I need to obey more. I need to do something bigger for God.”
    And if that is what you hear today, then we have missed the point.
    Because this was never about how strong Joshua was.
    It was about the God who was with Joshua.
    It wasn't Joshua who made the promise.
    It wasn't Joshua who parted the Jordan.
    It wasn't Joshua who brought down the walls of Jericho.
    It wasn't Joshua who guaranteed the outcome.
    Joshua's responsibility was to trust God, remain faithful to His Word, and obey.
    And ours is the same.
    Jesus puts it this way in John 15:5:
    “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
    Apart from Him, we can do nothing.
    We can build a building without Him.
    We can raise money without Him.
    We can create programs without Him.
    We can fill a calendar without Him.
    We might even be able to fill a room without Him.
    But we cannot produce the fruit of the Kingdom without Him.
    We cannot build a legacy of faith apart from Jesus.
    And that is why the most important thing about the next chapter of Real Life isn't the building we are going to construct.
    It is the people we are becoming while we build it.
    Are we remaining in Jesus?
    Are we listening to His Word?
    Are we surrendering our lives?
    Are we making disciples?
    Are we trusting Him enough to obey when obedience costs us something?
    Because twenty years from now, I don't simply want someone to stand here and say, “Look at what those people built.”
    I want them to be able to look back and say:
    “Look at what God did through people who trusted Him.”
    That's legacy.
    Abraham had his part.
    Moses had his part.
    Joshua had his part.
    People before us had their part.
    And now, for this moment, we have ours.
    God's ways are higher than our ways.
    God keeps His promises.
    God will be with us always.
    God will give direction.
    God will give His strength.
    Our responsibility is not to control the outcome.
    Our responsibility is to remain in Him and obey.
    So here is the question I want us to sit with:

    Where is God asking me to depend on Him?

    Don't answer that for somebody else.
    Don't just answer it for our church.
    Ask it about you.
    Maybe there is something you already know God has told you to do, and you have been waiting for more information.
    Maybe fear has kept you from taking the next step.
    Maybe there is an area you have protected from His authority.
    Maybe you have been trying to accomplish in your own strength what can only happen through dependence on Jesus.
    Bring it to Him.
    Open His Word.
    Pray.
    Count the cost.
    And when He makes the next step clear, take it.
    Not because you know everything that comes next.
    Not because you are strong enough.
    Not because you can guarantee the outcome.
    But because He is faithful. He is with you. And apart from Him, we can do nothing.
    So we remain in Him.
    We trust Him.
    And then, we take the next step of obedience.

  • Sermon

    Key Passage

    Joshua 3:1–7 NIV
    Early in the morning Joshua and all the Israelites set out from Shittim and went to the Jordan, where they camped before crossing over. After three days the officers went throughout the camp, giving orders to the people: “When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the Levitical priests carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it. Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before. But keep a distance of about two thousand cubits between you and the ark; do not go near it.” Joshua told the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you.” Joshua said to the priests, “Take up the ark of the covenant and pass on ahead of the people.” So they took it up and went ahead of them. And the Lord said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to exalt you in the eyes of all Israel, so they may know that I am with you as I was with Moses.

    Series Introduction

    We are in Week 2 of our Building a Legacy campaign
    During this series, it is our hope that you will understand the vision of our church and how we want to move forward.
    We have a piece of land and the process of putting up a building is a massive challenge.
    We can look at this as an organization making a move and by doing so, all of us are one step removed from the process.
    But the church is not some local organization
    It is the Body of Christ in our world.
    During this series I hope that you
    Understand the vision of our move within the theme of “Legacy”
    Challenge yourself as we align the vision of the church with our own lives
    Have the necessary information for the building campaign.
    We will build to a giving commitment Sunday. It is our hope that every person who calls this church their home chooses to participate in some way to help us as we move to our new home.
    WEBSITE/INFORMATION
    There is also a table in the lobby with more information about our move.
    We have the right people doing the right things to make this happen. God has blessed this church with tremendously skilled people and we want to utilize them to the max.
    However, we still have the mandate to build the church, as well as the building, so this is why we are talking about legacy within the church.
    This is not simply a case of “We need money”. We tend to drift toward, “This is what we need money for.” God doesn’t think this way. He wants to be seen and glorified through hearts that are submitted to Him.
    Part of our maturity is learning that we are stewards of everything, He has given.
    We trust God with our money. a heart that is surrendered to Jesus will make a bigger impact than saying where money will land.
    We must be trustworthy in the use of the money we receive, that is why we have open books.
    But i don’t want this to be compelled. I want this to be from our hearts.

    Sermon Introduction

    A legacy is something that we work toward, but ultimately is not for us.
    I remember a funeral service I did for Lisa’s grandmother. She had a Bible that was very well used.
    She had marks, notes, underlines, highlights and bookmarks all through her Bible.
    It was evident that she had spent countless hours in the Bible
    However, that is just a memory or a quality of her.
    It becomes a legacy when her children and grandchildren have Bibles that look like that.
    We want to be people of good quality.
    But we cannot stop at being good people. There must be something that we intentionally pass on to others.
    Jesus developed a legacy of discipleship
    His message plus His Methods= His outcomes in this world.
    “Teach them to Obey”
    Not teach to know. Teach to obey.
    Last week, we looked at what it means to build a legacy of faith.
    A legacy that understands that when God calls us, we know:
    God’s ways are higher than our ways
    God keeps His promises
    God will be with us always
    God will give direction
    God will give His strength
    Knowing these truths, we can be confident in our faith, and stand up even when we experience fear.
    Today, we are looking at a legacy of alignment.
    You might think this means that we are going to have some sermon about church unity and all of that jazz. You might be surprised in the direction this sermon goes, so that should be the cliffhanger for you to pay attention.
    Recap Israelites journey through the wilderness.
    We can relate to this story. We’ve experienced God’s faithfulness, sometimes in spite of ourselves.
    We began this journey as a group of people and a leader who had no idea how to do any of this.
    We have become a church that has a conviction about the Word of God, discipleship and still a leader who has no idea what he is doing, but has learned to trust Jesus in the matters of His church.
    Began in the 7th Day Adventist bldg
    Moved to NHS
    Bought land
    Sold land
    Bought better land
    Had a plan
    Had to change the plan
    Made a new plan
    Now we are here
    This kind of story is where we see God clearly working, because our plans haven’t exactly been in a straight line.

    Topic

    Joshua 3:1 NIV
    Early in the morning Joshua and all the Israelites set out from Shittim and went to the Jordan, where they camped before crossing over.
    Again, I want to set the stage for our text today.
    Rather than going back to creation, I am going to go back to Genesis 12 where God calls Abraham
    God spoke to a great man of faith named Abraham and told him to go to a place he would show him
    God promised that he would make his descendants into a great nation and that the whole world would be blessed through him.
    Abraham believed God and later in the Bible, we see that it was credited to him as righteousness
    He was righteous in the eyes of God because of his faith.
    God later promised him that his descendants would be slaves for 400 years, but that God would deliver them and lead them to the promised land.
    Moses led the Israelites out of 400 years of slavery.
    They went directly to the promised land (8 days +/- and send a few spies into the land.
    10 of the spies said that the land couldn’t be conquered because the walls of the cities were massive and there were giants.
    2 of the spies said, “Let’s go!”
    The people became discouraged, and complained to God.
    God then told them that they were going to wander around the wilderness. This changed their minds, so they went back to the promised land and tried to attack it without following God’s plan.
    They were thrashed.
    God then led them for 40 years in the wilderness, where He formed them into a nation.
    Finally, the time came for them to re-enter the promised land.
    Moses died and Joshua was given leadership by God.
    They sent spies into Jericho and the spies were protected by God, but also, they discovered that God was going ahead of them and the city could be conquered.
    Which leads us to our passage today.
    They had to cross the Jordan river before entering the promised land.
    They left where they had been camping and came to the banks of the Jordan river and set up camp.
    I’ve been ready to pick up a shovel and start this process for quite a while
    They finally got to the river that separated them from the land that God had promised to them.
    They could see the land, and God says, “You need to stop. Set up camp”
    Can you imagine being on vacation heading to somewhere awesome, like the Minnesota Vikings stadium, and instead of going to buy your tickets, you get a hotel outside of town for a little while.
    We’ve traveled a long time to get to this place. Let’s Go!!!
    But God knew what they needed.
    When I coached basketball, our first game was always a test. We would get to the first game and everyone would forget the game plan we had worked on. They thought they knew the purpose of the game. They thought the game would be won if they were ball hogs and put up half court shots.
    That won’t win the game.
    So when that would happen, i would have to call a time out and re-align the guys. Remind them of the game plan we had worked on.
    God is calling a timeout reminding them of a few things.
    When God calls a timeout in your life, and you think something needs to be done right now, maybe take your eyes off of the big “thing”.
    Ask God, “What are you wanting to align in my heart before we cross the river to the big “thing”?
    Joshua 3:2–4 NIV
    After three days the officers went throughout the camp, giving orders to the people: “When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the Levitical priests carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it. Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before. But keep a distance of about two thousand cubits between you and the ark; do not go near it.”

    Alignment in Purpose

    When the nation of Israel came to the promised land the first time, they were a disorganized band of slaves.
    During their 40 years in the wilderness, God had given them structure.
    One of the structures was God’s Law
    Another was the Tabernacle and the priesthood
    As slaves, they had no law, no 10 commandments, no place of worship, nothing like that.
    After the wilderness (which was not easy), they had officers, Levites, a Tabernacle and even an “Ark of the Covenant”.
    God had established the nation
    It was not a democracy.
    It was not a monarchy, even though the nation of Israel were all descendants of Abraham.
    It was a theocracy. It was a nation with God as its king.
    The Ark of the Covenant was knows as the resting place or the seat of God and it would typically rest in the Most Holy place of the Tabernacle.
    This was a sacred box that was representative of the presence of God moving among them.
    We can go a lot deeper into that topic, but we don’t need to at this point.
    Here was the command:
    When you see the ark of the covenant, you are to follow it.
    You don’t know which way to go.
    This might be odd. Didn’t they just send spies into the land? Don’t they see the huge walled city?
    The city of Jericho was not some hidden kingdom. It was out there for everyone to see.
    But God said, “You don’t know where to go, so you need to follow me.”
    Also, God says, “Keep a distance of about 2,000 cubits between you and the ark. DO NOT GO NEAR IT.”
    Don’t go walk alongside the ark. Keep some space back.
    2000 cubits is over 1/2 mile or 10 football fields.
    We must strive for alignment in purpose.
    This was a command for all of the people of God. They had learned in the wilderness the consequences of disobedience.
    Now they were being led to the literal fulfillment of God’s promise to their ancestors and God gave instruction. They followed that instruction.
    I want to step back and talk about this for us.
    How many times do I feel like I know all of the answers?
    Most always, right?
    I think I know what would be best for God in almost every circumstance.
    But when God says, “You’ve never been this way before, you need to follow me” it is a challenge to my pride, my intelligence and my wisdom.
    I’m a guy. When I’m driving, even in a place I have never been, I still feel like I know where I’m going.
    As a church, it is my prayer that we have alignment in purpose.
    I would like to pull a NT reference in to this point to illustrate.
    Matthew 6:9–10 NIV
    “This, then, is how you should pray: “ ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
    Last week, we looked at the holiness of God. He is holy. We are not.
    He is separate from us.
    Jesus also identifies that God has a Kingdom.
    Jesus said that when we pray, we pray, “Your kingdom come”
    What a powerful prayer.
    We live in a day where there are competing kingdoms all over the place.
    We have kingdoms of nations.
    Nations in conflict and war around the world.
    We have battling kingdoms right in our own nation.
    Kingdoms of donkeys and elephants
    Talk about election season.
    Jesus doesn’t say to pray first for the donkeys or elephants.
    He says to pray for “Your kingdom come”
    There is one kingdom that stands above all other Kingdoms and that is the Kingdom of God.
    Now, here is the catch. We as followers of Jesus would all say, “Yes, we agree that we want to see the kingdom of God come.”
    Now we get into the battles of how we are going to do that.
    I want to see the Kingdom of God come in this way or that way.
    In the end, we all know that every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
    His Kingdom will come and He will reign. We know that.
    But between now and then, how do we act for His Kingdom to come?
    The very next lines. We may have all of our plans and ideas about how God’s will is to be done.
    We may want to take up arms, or take up politics, or take up social media, or take up serving the needy.
    But before steps of action are taken in the name of the Kingdom of God, we must remember the next line.
    Your will be done.
    You’ve never been here. You might have a picture of where you think it is going to end.
    But you’ve never lived today before.
    Youve never been married this long before
    You’ve never been this old before
    Your heart has never been where you are, your circumstances may seem the same, but they are different.
    When we think we know what is going on and where we need to go, we need to remember that we have never been down this road before.
    We have to follow behind Jesus. It is His will, not my will, or opinion, or convictions.
    We have to completely surrender to Him in everything.
    We think we know, but the future is His to know and ours to live.
    In this, we must strive for alignment as a church in purpose.
    We must strive for alignment as individuals in purpose.
    We know there is a job that must be done and as much as we think we know, we must humbly wait for God.
    We must realize that He is holy I am not. He is all-knowing, I am not. He knows the future, I do not.
    We must align to His Will to accomplish His purpose within the Kingdom.
    As we step toward a building, we need to understand that we have this moment to pause and re-align.
    What is the purpose of this?
    We have never had a building before. Some of you have been to churches with buildings before. You may have an idea. You may have a plan.
    But this church building is different. This church is different. This time is different. This world is different.
    Rather than stepping forward thinking we know. We must step forward trusting the one who knows.
    And not just by ourselves. We need to step forward trusting God and showing those around us what it looks like to trust Jesus in the step we take, not just for a church building, but for every step we take in life.

    Alignment with God

    Joshua 3:5 NIV
    Joshua told the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you.”
    Before moving, before going into the promised land, before ever taking one step of action, God calls them to do something.
    Consecrate themselves.
    Consecrate is a big word that is not likely a word that we will use in any other context of life.
    Consecrate- Quadash (Hebrew)
    To be holy
    Remove from common use
    To devote
    To become clean
    In this word, we will find our second theme of today.
    Alignment in Purpose
    Alignment with God
    The nation was on the banks of the Jordan River. Beyond the Jordan River was the walled city of Jericho.
    If I am in the nation of Israel, I am thinking, “What is the battle plan?” “How are we going to cross the Jordan?”
    Give me some tangible steps that I can take so we know we have a plan!
    Tell me to sharpen my sword or to make sure my armor still fits.
    Can you imagine how everyone felt when Joshua, this new leader, sends the officers around and say, “Consecrate yourselves.”
    A generation earlier, these people had heard a similar command from God
    Exodus 19:10–11 NIV
    And the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. Have them wash their clothes and be ready by the third day, because on that day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.
    God then delivered the law, the 10 commandments from Mt. Sinai.
    The act of consecrating themselves was a purification of themselves
    This was a process of ceremonial cleansing and sacrifice.
    However important it was ceremonially, it was more important to consecrate the heart.
    This is where I want to go to some of the things that were spoken about in the definition.
    To remove from common use.
    There is a common use of our hearts and minds. This is everyday living.
    To consecrate yourself is to set apart your heart and mind for the things of God.
    The purpose for this consecration is very important.
    They were about to experience God in a powerful way. They were devoting themselves to the use and purpose of God.
    The next step was not into the Jordan River
    The next step was not to Jericho
    The next step was entirely placed in the hands of God and they needed to be ready to be used by God for His glory and purpose.
    I want to read something. I don’t normally read something that isn’t in the Bible, but I feel this communicates a very powerful truth.
    When I talk about consecrating ourselves, it sounds like something that we may respond with an extra 5 minutes in prayer.
    This is not what God was asking of these people. And I believe it is not what God is asking of us.
    “How tragic that we in this dark day have had our seeking done for us by our teachers. Everything is made to center upon the initial act of “accepting” Christ (a term, incidentally, which is not found in the Bible) and we are not expected thereafter to crave any further revelation of God to our souls. We have been snared in the coils of a spurious logic which insists that if we have found Him we need no more seek Him.”
    “In the midst of this great chill there are some, I rejoice to acknowledge, who will not be content with shallow logic. They will admit the force of the argument, and then turn away with tears to hunt some lonely place and pray, “O God, show me thy glory.” They want to taste, to touch with their hearts, to see with their inner eyes the wonder that is God.” — A.W. Tozer (The Pursuit of God)
    This is our call to the church.
    It is not additional devotions. It is not a special reading plan.
    I call on all of us to consecrate ourselves. To find alignment of our hearts to God.
    To seek Him.
    Not “Him and...”. Not “Him For...”. Just Him.
    When we stop the prayer requests (not that they are bad)
    When we stop the agendas and say like Paul:
    Philippians 3:10–11 NIV
    I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
    Consecration is not taking time to pray for our church building.
    Consecration is when the church says, “We need to seek God. We need to know God. We need to devote parts of our lives to Him.”
    Devote the time for prayer
    Devote the time for Scripture
    Devote the time for silence before the Almighty God.
    Only when we are a church of people who know God, who are consecrated for His purposes will we be a church that completely brings glory to Him.
    Joshua 3:5 NIV
    Joshua told the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you.”
    Only then will He do amazing things among you.
    We are responsible for our hearts. He is the God of miracles.
    What does Alignment with God look like?
    Think of the word, “Consecrate”
    How much of our lives would you consider “common”?
    Do you have “common” dinner with your family?
    Do you go to work on a “common” day?
    Are your conversations with your friends “common”?
    Common days at work
    Common days at school
    Common days at home
    Common days at church
    We must seek God and set aside the common for the uncommon. The Consecrated.
    Pray and set aside every day at work for God’s glory
    Talk about the Word of God with your family
    Stand firm in the face of rejection at school
    Don’t allow the Spirit of God become common at church.
    What is common in our lives that God is wanting to use for His glory?
    Are we ready to be led and used by God?
    As a church?
    In a building?
    As a disciple?
    We are more ready than we were. We have to get more ready than we are.
    This world needs to see Jesus
    Our vision is clear. We exist to reach the world for Jesus one person at a time. God has given us a ministry of reconciliation.
    We must reconcile the world to Him
    Alignment

    Alignment with one another

    Joshua 3:6–7 NIV
    Joshua said to the priests, “Take up the ark of the covenant and pass on ahead of the people.” So they took it up and went ahead of them. And the Lord said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to exalt you in the eyes of all Israel, so they may know that I am with you as I was with Moses.
    Alignment in purpose
    Alignment with God
    Alignment with one another
    As we follow God, we must find unity with one another.
    Moses had died and there was no question that the people should follow Moses.
    He had been the one that God used to turn the Nile into blood.
    He had spoken to Pharoah on behalf of God.
    He had seen the burning bush
    He had gone up on Sinai and came back with his face glowing from the presence of God.
    There was no question that Moses was the guy to follow.
    But now was Joshua.
    There may have been question about who to follow. Questions about leadership bring division to a nation.
    We see that in our nation.
    God says, “They will see my blessing on you. As a result, the nation will know that I am with you like I was with Moses.”
    This is a massive endorsement!
    After Moses died, it could have been 12 tribes all doing their own thing
    In fact, that is what likely would have
    But this was a validation of Joshua that would bring unity to the people of Israel.
    Before they went into the promised land, God established the framework of unity within their own nation.
    Alignment in Purpose
    Alignment with God
    Alignment with one another
    How do we resolve these issues as a church?
    We can look at these points as very important steps as we take one of the biggest steps we have taken as a church.
    Should we seek God’s direction for every step rather than just picking up a shovel?
    Yes!
    Should we consecrate ourselves and seek God while we have the time before we are asked to move?
    Yes!
    Should we strive for unity and alignment in the body of Christ?
    Yes!
    This can be what we do today, or this can become our legacy.
    We must do them, and continue to do them. We must teach the importance to those we influence.
    The next generation must be trained in this legacy of alignment.
    The disagreements of our generation become the division of the next generation.
    I want to read what Jesus’ plan for His disciples looks like:
    Journey through John 17
    John 17:1 NIV
    After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.
    God is glorifying Jesus and Jesus is glorifying God
    Did Jesus and the Father have ALIGNMENT IN PURPOSE?
    It wasn’t about the Pharisees, it wasn’t about the miracles, it wasn’t even about the teachings.
    It was about the glory of God.
    Then Jesus invited the disciples into the journey Jesus had begun
    John 17:6 NIV
    “I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word.
    If Jesus was here to glorify the Father in everything He said and did, then Jesus revealed the Father to the disciples.
    What do you think the expectation would be for the disciples?
    They were to glorify the Father as well.
    Not follow their own plans or do their own thing
    Rather to surrender everything to the Father and allow His plan to be seen
    Jesus invited them as part of the process of discipleship into relationship with the Father so they could glorify the Father and be with the Father.
    John 17:3 NIV
    Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
    Jesus invited them into alignment with God which is eternal life.
    This is true for us as well.
    We so often chase after alignment with the world to get the things of the world.
    But if we seek after God, we will find alignment with God.
    God will change us and we glorify Him in this world
    John 17:10 NIV
    All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them.
    Do you see the theme of ALIGNMENT WITH GOD?
    So after prayed for Himself, then prayed for His disciples, Jesus prayed for us.
    John 17:20–23 NIV
    “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
    What is Jesus plan for His church?
    Unity. Why?
    So the world will see Jesus and glorify the Father.
    The Israelites had to stop thinking that the Promised Land was about real estate
    It wasn’t about real estate. It was about the glory of God
    That was why the Ark of the Covenant had to lead the way. That is stupid in the eyes of man.
    It is glory to the nature of the Father.
    We have to understand that our church is not going to win by having a building. Our church is going to win by revealing Jesus and the glory of God being seen.
    Our church is not going to win by having a lot of people
    Or by getting a lot of money
    Or by having really big and flashy ministries
    Or by having studio quality music.
    These things aren’t bad, but if we strive for them, we miss why we are here.
    We are here to bring glory to the Father
    We do that by making disciples and introducing them to the Father
    As they are changed, they reflect the Fathers glory in the world
    As we do this, we grow closer to one another in unity.
    A unified church that is aligned with God and our purpose in this world will not just change our community.
    It will change the world.
    God will change the world through a church that is aligned with Him and with one another for His glory.

    Conclusion — Building a Legacy of Alignment

    As we close today, I want us to come back to the banks of the Jordan River.
    The Israelites were standing at the edge of something they had been waiting generations to experience.
    They could see the land God had promised them.
    They were ready to move forward.
    But before they took another step, God called them to stop.
    He reminded them that they needed to follow Him.
    He called them to consecrate themselves.
    And He established unity among His people.
    Why?
    Because what God was about to accomplish was never simply about the land.
    It was about His glory being revealed through His people.
    Church, I believe we need to understand that same truth today.
    We have spent 20 years without a permanent building. Now we're preparing to break ground and take one of the largest steps of faith in the history of our church.
    But if all we accomplish is putting up a building, we've missed the point.
    Our vision is to reach the world for Jesus, one person at a time.
    We do that by making biblical disciples in relational environments.
    And we cannot accomplish that vision simply through better facilities, more money, or greater organizational ability.
    We need to be a people who are aligned with God.
    I want you to remember what Jesus prayed in John 17:23:
    "I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me."
    Do you see that?
    Jesus connects our relationship with Him and our unity with one another to the world coming to know Him.
    Our alignment with God is directly connected to our ability to reveal God to the world.
    That is the legacy we want to build.

    Real Life in Action

    As we finish, I want you to consider three questions.
    1. Am I asking God to follow my plans, or am I willing to follow His?
    We all have plans. We all have expectations about how life ought to work.
    But God told Israel, "You have never been this way before."
    The same is true for us.
    Where in your life are you moving ahead of God rather than humbly seeking His direction?
    2. What part of my life have I kept common that God is asking me to consecrate to Him?
    Maybe it's your time.
    Maybe it's your finances.
    Maybe it's your relationships, your work, or your home.
    Are there areas of your life where you acknowledge Jesus as Lord on Sunday, but live as though those areas belong to you the rest of the week?
    God isn't simply asking for a little more of our time or resources.
    He is calling us to devote our lives to Him.
    3. Am I contributing to the unity of the body of Christ, or am I allowing my own preferences and opinions to get in the way of God's purpose?
    Jesus prayed that we would be one so the world would know Him.
    That's a powerful responsibility.
    Our unity isn't simply about getting along.
    It is part of our testimony to the world.

    Our Response

    So here is what I want to challenge us to do this week.
    Before you spend time praying about what you should give to this building campaign, spend time seeking God Himself.
    Set aside intentional time to pray, read His Word, and be quiet before Him.
    Not simply to ask Him to bless our plans.
    Not even just to ask Him what He wants you to give.
    But to know Him.
    Pray the words Jesus taught us:
    "Your kingdom come, your will be done."
    And ask God to reveal where your heart needs to come into alignment with His.
    Then, as He directs you, respond in obedience.
    As a church, we're going to continue making plans, raising funds, and preparing to build.
    But above all of that, I want us to be a church that is passionately pursuing Jesus.
    Because 20 years from now, I don't want our legacy to simply be a building that we constructed.
    I want our legacy to be people who know Jesus because we faithfully followed Him.
    Families who were changed.
    Children who grew up knowing the Lord.
    Disciples who made disciples.
    A community that experienced the love of Jesus through His church.
    We don't build a legacy by asking God to align Himself with our plans. We build a legacy when we align our lives with His purposes.
    May we be a church that follows God, devotes ourselves to Him, and walks together in unity.
    And may the world see Jesus through us.

      • Joshua 3:1–7ESV

      • Joshua 3:1ESV

      • Joshua 3:2–4ESV

      • Matthew 6:9–10ESV

      • Joshua 3:5ESV

      • Exodus 19:10–11ESV

      • Philippians 3:10–11ESV

      • Joshua 3:5ESV

      • Joshua 3:6–7ESV

      • John 17:1ESV

      • John 17:3ESV

      • John 17:6ESV

      • John 17:10ESV

      • John 17:20–23ESV

Real Life Selkirk
11 members • 2 followers