5. BELIEVING YOU CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST

5. BELIEVING YOU CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST

Introduction:

Joshua 1:1-9 – In your Promised Land there can be some deserts. How awe-inspiring it must have been for Moses to be dead, and the mantle for taking the people into the Promised Land has now fallen to Joshua. We live inside ourselves so we know our own insecurities. God wants people in process.

1. A staleness comes from the fact that we have attempted to take the faith out of our faith. God is doing something huge in church today and we don’t want to miss it. It is not all bad news. God is not working according to our programs and we are furious about it. Because it is not happening the way man thinks it should, we think nothing is happening in the Body of Christ.

2. God will appoint whoever He wants. No one denomination is going to lead us in revival. We are called where we are called to go. It will not be about a certain spiritual gift.

Ephesians 6:16-18

a. The Shield of Faith. Our unbelief is the number one obstacle.

b. The Sword of the Spirit. God is at work in the greatest discipleship movement of the Holy Spirit since the birth of the New Testament church. People are beginning to hunger and thirst after the Word of God. It is God working His plan toward the latter days on His Kingdom Calendar, equipping the church with the Sword of the Spirit. Joshua 1:8; 6:21 – We take our Jericho’s with the sword of the Spirit (Word of God). People want the Word! God desires to give us depth before He can give us breadth.

c. Communication with the Commander. Prayer will make you mighty in Jesus. The eyes of God are looking to and fro throughout the whole earth for hearts; for people that just have a heart for prayer. God knows His church.

- A little bit of faith – a mustard seed.

- A willingness to learn how to wield the Sword of the Spirit.

- Have some kind of prayer life.

3. We will have huge promises fulfilled when we see Christ in glory, but just like the children of Israel had a Promised Land experience on the sod of earth, so do we. The New Testament tells us that before the end of times, the church will be several things. This is when we will be in our Promised Land.

a. The church will be purified (Revelation 19:14). We will have the pursuit of purity. The church will know hard times (persecution).

b. The church will be unified. A true warrior of Christ is humble. We are to have encouragement to one another. We were not called to uniformity; we were called to unity (John 17). When we pray in Jesus name, we are signing His name, not our own. There is life outside of the church walls.

c. The church will be fortified. This is done through learning how to draw the Sword of the Spirit.

d. The church will be anointed to prophesy. Acts 2:17-18 – This happened in an immediate sense, but will be ultimately fulfilled. Proclaim the revealed words of God. This is the number one characterization of the Holy Spirit being poured out toward the end of days in an increasing amount; that we will be able to proclaim the Word and the words of Christ.

4. Fear and discouragement – Joshua 1:9. When we encourage one another we are infusing one another with courage – Hebrews 10:24-25. The true purified, unified, fortified, anointed church is going to rise up. So often we are afraid of what people are going to think; half the people that we are afraid of are miserable.

Shattered – we have got so much counterfeit brokenness in the church today. Biblical brokenness is not being in emotional shambles, and being unable to even operate. True brokenness brings us to a place where God can use us like we have never been used before; not where we cannot get out of bed. He can use that kind of brokenness to get our attention; to bring us to true brokenness where we are more enabled to function in the Spirit and Word of Christ. God does not assign you depression and despair.

Demoralization – This occurs when Satan figures out who you and I fear most that we are, and he sets about to confirm it. All he has to do is watch our behavior. He is looking for something that we got to buy.  He sets about to confirm it over and over again. God makes the rules.

5. God will never fail us. He is holding on. God will never relax His grip on us.

6. Our responsibility is to be strong and courageous. Be strong and grab on to God with everything you have got. You make your hand (spiritually speaking), bound so hard around His arm, so that nothing can come between you and Him. This is the prescription for success.

Our greatest encouragement of all is knowing we are citizens of a better country; a Promised Land to come. There is a day coming when there will be no more walls between us.

Revelation 7:9 – This is the Bride of Christ, unified, beautified, and fortified.

Until then, we walk by faith, and not by sight.