When it has but hasn't but has
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June 9, 2013 - Pastor Dale Lloyd
Scripture Reading: Joshua 3
The series theme is: Closures & New Beginnings.
I cannot go back each Sunday and recap the series; I would suggest that you get
copies of the messages or go to the church website to read the manuscripts.
Today I want to deal with a critical point in this crossing
over journey from the old to the new. I will do so by looking at the Joshua
experience.
My theme will appear a bit awkward but hopefully will make sense
in the end: “When it Has but Hasn’t but Has.”
Let me begin with this: the prophesying cannot go on forever; the
stating, declaring and articulating of the promises cannot go on forever; the
repeated confirmation and affirmation cannot go on forever. That entire
season was only a season and was never meant to be eternal. It was designed to
move the leadership and community along to a very specific moment and
experience. At some point the leadership has got to step into the Jordan and get their feet
wet. Failure to do so indicates that we never actually believed the prophetic promises we merely enjoyed the emotional
excitement of them.
The Joshua experience tells us something about that moment:
Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. (Josh.3:15) God
could have had them cross that river at any other season; in fact there are
seasons when the river is reduced to little more than a good stream. So why
now; why this season when the river is at flood stage?
This is not about God playing some kind of a cruel game with us.
It’s about the core lessons we are to learn and live out of. First
when your personal Jordan is violently riled, in a rage and at flood stage it is a
prophetic indication that God is about to do something
miraculous. Second we need to note that the
Jordan was at flood stage during the
season of harvest. Let us conclude that when the
flood stage arrives, it means the harvest is ready;
it’s harvest time regardless of the intimidation of the river. Third
(and this it seems to me is the great lesson here), God desires us to know that faith is neither determined by
nor dependent upon the appearance of things in the physical
realm. Faith has nothing to do with the state
of the Jordan. It transcends the “Jordan conditions.” Fourth engaging the
Jordan in flood stage teaches us that whatever is about to happen is not
happening by our might and our power, but by the Spirit of the Lord of Hosts.
The result of this is that we will not touch the
glory but give all the glory to this sovereign almighty God.
For these reasons God leads us into the Jordan at flood stage;
the time that makes the least sense to our sense realm. Our future is not about the state of the Jordan; it’s about
the state of our faith, but we need to properly interpret God’s purpose in the Jordan’s flood
stage.
Before the priests ever got their feet wet God made a couple of things very clear to
Joshua. He was meticulous in telling Joshua what was going to happen and the timing of that
happening. Here is what would happen: “…the waters of the Jordan will be cut off, and the waters which are flowing
down from above will stand in one heap.” (Josh.3:13)
This was about cutting off the old flow. If we intend to enter into a
new flow we must first cut off and break through the old
flow. Whatever else the Jordan River did it served as a boundary and defined the
limitation of present experience. In front of Joshua was a new
flow – expressed by God in the words, “A land flowing with milk and honey.” Behind him was the old
flow – the wilderness with all its losses and gains. Between the old and the
new was a hostile river at flood stage. The whole scene begs the question:
How much do you really want to enter into God’s new flow, or do you want to stick
with the old flow?
But here is some wonderful news: Only God can work the miracle required to cut off the old
flow. You can’t build a dam, you can’t redirect this old flow by your efforts; God alone
has to do this. If all of that sounds romantic here is where the romance ends:
“It shall come about when the soles of the feet of the priests who carry the ark of
the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, rest in the waters of the Jordan…” God will not manifest
the miracle until the leadership He has appointed steps into the Jordan.
This is a difficult and critical moment. You
cannot merely stand on the bank and preach about what has to change with that
old flow. Someone has to step into the old flow. When that happens, the questions begin: Why
are you messing with the present flow of things? Look, the old flow is stronger
than it’s ever been and is overflowing in abundance; why can’t we be satisfied
with that? As long as there is current and movement and things are flowing why can’t we accept
things as they are?
I want us now to consider the timing of the miracle and the timing of the manifestation of the miracle.
And in many respects this is exactly where KCF is corporately.
According to the promise in verse 13 God made it emphatically clear that the precise moment the feet of the
priest came to a place of rest in the waters the miracle would occur and the old
flow would be cut off. Many of the various translations read – ‘and as soon as...’ In
other words there was no time gap, no pause, no transition of time between when
the priests stepped into the water and the occurrence of the miracle. It was
immediate; it was instantaneous.
However, at verse 16 we read this: ‘…the
waters which were flowing down from above stood and
rose up in one heap, a great distance away at Adam, the city that
is beside Zarethan…’ The place where the
miracle occurred was about 20 miles upstream from where the priests got wet
feet. How long does it take for a particular volume of water to pass a
stationary point 20 miles away?
Please understand what this experience must have been like.
These priests have believed. They have obeyed. They are carrying the weight of
the Divine Presence upon their shoulders. They are wet and cold. They are
standing right in the flow, feeling the pressure of the current and being bumped
by everything being swept along in that old flow.
It is all well and good that, 20 miles away God has kept His
word and performed His promised miracle. But in the place where those priests
stood – within the realm of their personal experience
there was absolutely no evidence that anything was happening much less something
miraculous.
This is the experience I referenced in my awkwardly worded
theme: “When It Has but Hasn’t but Has.” The miracle has taken place. The full evidence of it has not yet
manifested in our personal experience. But our refusal to abandon our position
of standing in the Jordan is the ongoing expression of our faith that the
miracle has occurred.
Where is our story in this Joshua story? Where do we find
ourselves? I do not want to cut the lines too thin, but in a few broad strokes
of the brush let me suggest where I feel we are.
Unlike Joshua we have actually witnessed the miracle in some
measure. But not unlike Joshua we are still waiting for the full manifestation
of what God has promised.
The significant part of our miracle was coming from the little
white church to this present building and doing so debt free. I don’t care how
you cut it this whole experience has been supernatural, miraculous and a
demonstration of the power of God. I shall always see it as such and describe it
as such and give God all the glory, all the honour, all the praise, all the
majesty and all the worship.
But the promise attached to the miracle is not about buildings
and budgets and program structures. The miracle
was and is about people – the souls of men and women from our city to the
nations of the world. The promise attached to the
miracle is the expansion of the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of God is a
kingdom of the transformed hearts of those who come to faith in Christ. That is
the part of the promise we are not yet fully experiencing.
This is not about my ego. This is not about pride of
denomination/local church. But here is where I have to continue to stand in my
faith: God intends to fill this building
(including the overflow) with people who are truly hungry for and committed to
Himself. And through this enlarged body God intends to touch the nations as we
release the new flow of His outpoured Spirit and sovereign
purpose.
So “When It Has but Hasn’t but Has” we must not
abandon our present position of faith. Having done all to stand, continue to
stand. In the absence of the evidence of the miracle we must insist upon
remaining in our present posture of faith.
Scripture Reading: Joshua 3
The series theme is: Closures & New Beginnings.
I cannot go back each Sunday and recap the series; I would suggest that you get
copies of the messages or go to the church website to read the manuscripts.
Today I want to deal with a critical point in this crossing
over journey from the old to the new. I will do so by looking at the Joshua
experience.
My theme will appear a bit awkward but hopefully will make sense
in the end: “When it Has but Hasn’t but Has.”
Let me begin with this: the prophesying cannot go on forever; the
stating, declaring and articulating of the promises cannot go on forever; the
repeated confirmation and affirmation cannot go on forever. That entire
season was only a season and was never meant to be eternal. It was designed to
move the leadership and community along to a very specific moment and
experience. At some point the leadership has got to step into the Jordan and get their feet
wet. Failure to do so indicates that we never actually believed the prophetic promises we merely enjoyed the emotional
excitement of them.
The Joshua experience tells us something about that moment:
Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. (Josh.3:15) God
could have had them cross that river at any other season; in fact there are
seasons when the river is reduced to little more than a good stream. So why
now; why this season when the river is at flood stage?
This is not about God playing some kind of a cruel game with us.
It’s about the core lessons we are to learn and live out of. First
when your personal Jordan is violently riled, in a rage and at flood stage it is a
prophetic indication that God is about to do something
miraculous. Second we need to note that the
Jordan was at flood stage during the
season of harvest. Let us conclude that when the
flood stage arrives, it means the harvest is ready;
it’s harvest time regardless of the intimidation of the river. Third
(and this it seems to me is the great lesson here), God desires us to know that faith is neither determined by
nor dependent upon the appearance of things in the physical
realm. Faith has nothing to do with the state
of the Jordan. It transcends the “Jordan conditions.” Fourth engaging the
Jordan in flood stage teaches us that whatever is about to happen is not
happening by our might and our power, but by the Spirit of the Lord of Hosts.
The result of this is that we will not touch the
glory but give all the glory to this sovereign almighty God.
For these reasons God leads us into the Jordan at flood stage;
the time that makes the least sense to our sense realm. Our future is not about the state of the Jordan; it’s about
the state of our faith, but we need to properly interpret God’s purpose in the Jordan’s flood
stage.
Before the priests ever got their feet wet God made a couple of things very clear to
Joshua. He was meticulous in telling Joshua what was going to happen and the timing of that
happening. Here is what would happen: “…the waters of the Jordan will be cut off, and the waters which are flowing
down from above will stand in one heap.” (Josh.3:13)
This was about cutting off the old flow. If we intend to enter into a
new flow we must first cut off and break through the old
flow. Whatever else the Jordan River did it served as a boundary and defined the
limitation of present experience. In front of Joshua was a new
flow – expressed by God in the words, “A land flowing with milk and honey.” Behind him was the old
flow – the wilderness with all its losses and gains. Between the old and the
new was a hostile river at flood stage. The whole scene begs the question:
How much do you really want to enter into God’s new flow, or do you want to stick
with the old flow?
But here is some wonderful news: Only God can work the miracle required to cut off the old
flow. You can’t build a dam, you can’t redirect this old flow by your efforts; God alone
has to do this. If all of that sounds romantic here is where the romance ends:
“It shall come about when the soles of the feet of the priests who carry the ark of
the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, rest in the waters of the Jordan…” God will not manifest
the miracle until the leadership He has appointed steps into the Jordan.
This is a difficult and critical moment. You
cannot merely stand on the bank and preach about what has to change with that
old flow. Someone has to step into the old flow. When that happens, the questions begin: Why
are you messing with the present flow of things? Look, the old flow is stronger
than it’s ever been and is overflowing in abundance; why can’t we be satisfied
with that? As long as there is current and movement and things are flowing why can’t we accept
things as they are?
I want us now to consider the timing of the miracle and the timing of the manifestation of the miracle.
And in many respects this is exactly where KCF is corporately.
According to the promise in verse 13 God made it emphatically clear that the precise moment the feet of the
priest came to a place of rest in the waters the miracle would occur and the old
flow would be cut off. Many of the various translations read – ‘and as soon as...’ In
other words there was no time gap, no pause, no transition of time between when
the priests stepped into the water and the occurrence of the miracle. It was
immediate; it was instantaneous.
However, at verse 16 we read this: ‘…the
waters which were flowing down from above stood and
rose up in one heap, a great distance away at Adam, the city that
is beside Zarethan…’ The place where the
miracle occurred was about 20 miles upstream from where the priests got wet
feet. How long does it take for a particular volume of water to pass a
stationary point 20 miles away?
Please understand what this experience must have been like.
These priests have believed. They have obeyed. They are carrying the weight of
the Divine Presence upon their shoulders. They are wet and cold. They are
standing right in the flow, feeling the pressure of the current and being bumped
by everything being swept along in that old flow.
It is all well and good that, 20 miles away God has kept His
word and performed His promised miracle. But in the place where those priests
stood – within the realm of their personal experience
there was absolutely no evidence that anything was happening much less something
miraculous.
This is the experience I referenced in my awkwardly worded
theme: “When It Has but Hasn’t but Has.” The miracle has taken place. The full evidence of it has not yet
manifested in our personal experience. But our refusal to abandon our position
of standing in the Jordan is the ongoing expression of our faith that the
miracle has occurred.
Where is our story in this Joshua story? Where do we find
ourselves? I do not want to cut the lines too thin, but in a few broad strokes
of the brush let me suggest where I feel we are.
Unlike Joshua we have actually witnessed the miracle in some
measure. But not unlike Joshua we are still waiting for the full manifestation
of what God has promised.
The significant part of our miracle was coming from the little
white church to this present building and doing so debt free. I don’t care how
you cut it this whole experience has been supernatural, miraculous and a
demonstration of the power of God. I shall always see it as such and describe it
as such and give God all the glory, all the honour, all the praise, all the
majesty and all the worship.
But the promise attached to the miracle is not about buildings
and budgets and program structures. The miracle
was and is about people – the souls of men and women from our city to the
nations of the world. The promise attached to the
miracle is the expansion of the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of God is a
kingdom of the transformed hearts of those who come to faith in Christ. That is
the part of the promise we are not yet fully experiencing.
This is not about my ego. This is not about pride of
denomination/local church. But here is where I have to continue to stand in my
faith: God intends to fill this building
(including the overflow) with people who are truly hungry for and committed to
Himself. And through this enlarged body God intends to touch the nations as we
release the new flow of His outpoured Spirit and sovereign
purpose.
So “When It Has but Hasn’t but Has” we must not
abandon our present position of faith. Having done all to stand, continue to
stand. In the absence of the evidence of the miracle we must insist upon
remaining in our present posture of faith.