Pastor Bill Vecchio, Jr.
Fort Myers Community Church Podcast
Joshua 3:1-17 "Along The Journey"
You are listening to sermon audio from Fort Myers Community Church. For more information about how to get involved in the life of this church family, please visit www.fmcc.life. All right, how's everybody doing? Good. That was kind of lame though. We're in two services now so it's more intimate setting. How are you doing this morning? Good. Hey, I just want to celebrate some of the people that came and served yesterday. I think we had around 10 adults, two kids. We took a trip up to Tampa. One of my close friends, Ken Thompson, is the lead pastor of Bay City's Fellowship, and their story is fairly similar to ours. They're a church plant that happened around nine years ago. They've been mobile for the last nine years, and then a legacy church just donated their building to Bay City's Fellowship about two weeks ago. And so God did amazing things in and through that. But the hurricane did come and flood the whole campus, and so we headed up there and we really gutted all the stuff out of it, and so you could be praying for Bay City's. And that's really why we have this community impact fund for situations like that. And I know we have a pending storm coming in, so we desire to be the type of church that is if we cease to exist, the community would miss us. And so we want to serve our community when Hurricane Irma came through here, and Hurricane Ian-- I'm sorry, Hurricane Ian came through. We were able to give out hundreds and thousands of boxes of food and water. We were able to send crews in the community to cut trees and pull out garbage from people's houses, stuff, belongings that have been ruined out. And so we just want to be the type of church that goes and serves our community. That's what that's for. And so that account is actually running low, and the reason is, is because we are constantly giving that away. And so, Seth, the other day, he was on staff for only about six weeks. He's like, "Man, almost every week since I've been here, we've been giving away stuff to people." He's like between three and five people a week come to the church, whether it's a member, a family member, or someone in the community that needs help with something. And so we are providing that for him by your generosity, by you giving your first fruits to the Lord, we get the opportunity to serve the community for the name of the gospel. And so thank you. Thank you for all you do. Amen? Amen. Amen. So has anybody read one of those choose your own adventure books? You know what I'm talking about? When you were a kid, there were these books that you would read them. And as you were reading them, they would say something like, "Hey, you're going to take a journey, and then you're going to go up either a mountain or a tree." If you choose the mountain, then go to page six. If you choose the tree, then go to page ten. And then you would read the book according to whatever journey you wanted to take. It's called the Choose Your Own Adventure book. And so we're going to do that right now. Sound good? Can you do this with me? All right. So the first picture is going to come on up. So you set out on a journey to find hidden treasure, and you come to a fork in the road. Do you go right or left? Y'all out? Right. Everybody, resounding right. All right. We're going to go right. Here we go. Go right. Next one. Aww. You see an adorable baby bear in a tree. Do you keep moving, or do you stop and take a picture? Yeah. You stop and take a picture. Good job. You stop and take a picture, right? You got to post it. Selfie. Here we go. Here's the next one. Aww. You encounter mama bear. All right. Here's the kicker. Do you run it? You stand your ground. Absolutely. We stand our ground, right? That's your decision? Good. All right. Here we go. In the end. Well done. That was your fault. Not mine. All right. Well, life honestly can often feel like a choose your own adventure book. We're just going through life, making decisions, making choices, hoping that we don't mess it up. So how does this connect with God's Word? Well, this morning, we're going to be in Joshua 3. So if you have a Bible, please open it. This is God's Word. This is what directs our steps today. And the Israelites are going on a journey. They've been wandering the wilderness for 40 years. Anybody ever feel like you're in your life? You're just wandering, right? So they're wandering for 40 years. And now God has set them on a journey to the promised land. So Joshua at this time is the leader of a people group called the Israelites. So if you're just coming in and you're just kind of joining us for this story, there is a man named Joshua. God has called him to be the leader. The people group are the Israelites. And there was something different about the Israelites than all the other people groups in that area is that the Israelites served and worshiped the God Yahweh. Yahweh was a God who did mighty, powerful things. And so all the other people groups would have worshipped other gods. They were worshiping the God of the sun and the God of the moon and the God of the harvest and the God of the sea. But those gods didn't really do anything. It was kind of a wish upon a prayer, a kind of thing. It was just like, oh, I hope it rains today and then they'd pray and then hopefully the gods would find favor on them. But not Yahweh. When the people, the Israelites prayed to Yahweh, he did mighty things. And so they're in captivity as slaves and then he sends plagues to free them out of Egypt. And then they're crossing and they have their backs against the sea. And so what does Yahweh do? He parts the sea. This is their God, this people group. They part the sea and they walk through the sea on dry ground. There are armies that come against them and God defeats them for them. They're hungry in the wilderness, so God provides food falling from the sky and water that flows out of a rock. And the people all around, all the nations all around were hearing of these stories. They were hearing of this God Yahweh that was doing these things. Now Joshua was called by God to lead his people into what was called the Promised Land. This was a land flowing with milk and honey. So this is their journey. We're entering into their journey. But here's the problem. There were many obstacles in their way. There were a ton of obstacles in their way. There were seas, rivers, famine, war, wilderness. And here's where this story connects to our story, because we are given an invitation to be a part of the same people group that the Israelites were, God's children, God's family, Yahweh's people. We are called, we are invited to be grafted into that and to serve the one true living God. And he invites us, like he invited the Israelites, to make his name great. The same mission falls on every child of God to love him above all else, to love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength, to love others, to love one another and then to make disciples, to go therefore and tell other people of his goodness and how he loves us and how he has saved us. And so we have been invited to join the people of Israel, Yahweh's people as children, as fellow heirs, to fulfill God's mission, to make his name great, to glorify God, to be Jesus-centered, to be spirit-led, to love God, to love others, to make disciples and keep our eyes fixed and focused on eternity, the ultimate promised land, where maybe I'm hoping there will be some milk and honey, but also that there's going to be no more crying and no more tears, no more pain, no more hurt, no more obstacles, no more circumstances that are going to hinder us, that we are going to live in perfection with our God for all of eternity. So that's what we're called to fix and focus our eyes on. And so even though we have a similar mission to make God's name great and a similar mission to love God, to make disciples, our journeys look different. Your journey, my journey, they all look different, even the Israelites, right? They're called to cross the Jordan River to enter into the promised land, but their journeys weren't all the same. I mean, in the camp, if you're thinking of the Israelites, there's a west side of the camp and an east side of the camp and a north side and a south side, and I'm sure on the east side, there was a young family that had a bunch of little kids and they're having to pack up all the kids' toys, all the kids' stuff, and their journey's looking different. And then you've got this retired couple on the other side of camp and they're just packing up their stuff and then you've got some single people in the front of camp and then you've got some other people in the back, right? So all of those journeys are going to look very different, but they're all going to the same place. They're on the same mission. So whether you're a single mom or a retired couple, whether you're a newlywed or having your first kid or your fourth kid, whether you're single or divorced, we're on a journey. And so we're going to see through this story, through the Israelites story, that we have the same mission and even though our journeys may look different, there are some similarities. There are some similarities that all of us are going to experience as we journey to be with Jesus for all of eternity. So our journeys can seem like a choose your own adventure book, but for the children of God, we stand firm on him and who he is and what he has done for us. So can I pray for us? And then just have us just jump right into what God has for us in Joshua 3. Father, I thank you for how much you do love us, how you give us stories like this that happen to a real group of people that you showed your power and your might and your glory and your provision and your love and your mercy and your grace to them so that we may see it. And when we enter into the same or similar or different circumstances that we will know that you are our God and you are with us wherever we go. God, I want to lift up those amots right now, baby wells, that's in the NICU right now. I just want to lift him up and that you would allow his heart rate to maintain so that they can take him home. God, I want to pray for all the people and the churches that have been affected by the last hurricane. I pray you would protect us from the pending one that's coming in, Lord. With your power, with your might, Lord, I pray that you would remove that storm, that you would dissipate it. But Lord, even if it does hit, Lord, I pray that we would keep our solid foundation on you and you alone. So God, we lift up his time. I pray you illuminate in our hearts who you are and what you have done for us. We love you. It's in your name we pray, amen. So Joshua 3, their journey to enter into the Promised Land. Last week Trent Griffith, one of my good buddies, came down from Orlando and he started this series in verses 1 through 7 to talk about what it looks like to have an onward orientation. So what he teed us up with is the posture in which we should have when we're joining God on mission to glorify his name and when we're setting out and living our lives, that we should have a posture that has an onward orientation towards the things of God moving forward. He used the example of driving a car and he said that you can't continue to move forward if you're constantly looking in your rear view mirror. And often I think in life we're constantly looking at the past and letting the past affect us when really God has called us to have an onward orientation. And so in order to accomplish the mission, the people, the Israelis have to get up and move, but there's a raging river in their way. And so God gives them these instructions to navigate their journey. So here are the similarities that we see in this passage that connect with our story. Here's the first one in verses 9 through 13. The journey is not always easy, amen? The journey is not always easy. Now let's look at verses 9 through 13 for a second. Here's what God invites him to do. He says in Joshua said to the people of Israel, come here and listen to the words of the Lord your God. And Joshua said, here is how you shall know that the living God is among you and that he will without fail drive out from before you. And then he goes on to list seven armies. These are just seven of them, by the way, because there's going to be more battles that they're going to have to face along the way. Let's pick up in verse 12. Therefore, he says, take 12 men from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe, a man. And when the souls of the feet of the priest bearing the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off from flowing, and then the waters coming down from above shall stand in one deep. If it were me, if I was listening to this, if I was standing there in the Israelite crowd listening to Joshua say this, you know what my response would be? I'd be like, hold up. You want us to do what? Like, you want 12 men who are priests, by the way. These aren't like the top dogs and like strong guys, right? I mean, priests usually are pretty scrawny people. Good. No laughter. I appreciate that. You want 12 of those men to pick up the ark of the Lord? Like, this is the symbol of that God is with us. You want those 12 guys to pick up that ark, like let's get the big army warrior guys to pick up that thing. No, no, 12 priests. And then you want them to go into the water? Like at this point in time, the water is raging. The water is actually overflowing because it's harvest time. And you want them to actually step into the water? But God, I mean, what about, what about, no way, this is a suicide mission. If we lose the ark, they fall over, I mean, we lose God. What about the enemy army's waiting? I mean, we're going to have to try to get across this river and then like, we're going to be in a very vulnerable spot coming out of this river. I mean, they're just going to take us out when we get to the other side. I mean, this truly is mission impossible. But God did not promise that this journey was going to be easy. And God does not promise you that your journey is going to be easy. So what is your river? What are you facing today? What have you faced? What circumstance? What raging river death trap stands between you and the life that God has for you? I mean, for some, it's sin. There is sin in your life that is stopping you from experiencing all that God has for you. Maybe it's addiction. Maybe it's an affair. Maybe for you, people have wronged you and you've been abused. Maybe you've just wasted your life wandering in the wilderness and you look back and you regret. We live with these regrets. Maybe that's your raging river. Maybe there's bitterness and resentment that has built up over years and years and years of being hurt. So what is your raging river? The journey may not look easy. But here's the second thing we see in verses 7 through 13. The journey may not make sense. God invites us to join his people. And then when we're experiencing life, it doesn't always make sense. So the task is pick 12 men, pick up this massive arc, step into the river, go to war. And the response could truly be, but why God? I mean, we're truly comfortable here. Like we're really, I mean, we've got this river front property right now. I mean, it's really nice. Like why don't we just settle some roots here? We already have our tent set up. Just let us chill and hang out. Like why do we need to like pick up our stuff and gather it? Go across the river. I mean, there's armies over there that want to take us out. And so what ends up happening is we ask these questions, why, but God? And why are we so quick to question God? Why God? Why? Hey God, I've got a better idea. You ever pull that one? When we can't wrap our mind around what God is calling us to, what we end up doing is we whining complain. Oh, not you, just me, okay. I'm the only one in the room that tends to question, say, but God, why? No, I think we all do it. I mean, even a prophet of the Lord Jonah, if you don't know the story, there is this prophet Jonah that has been given the power of God to go share with people that they need to repent and turn from their sin and then be forgiven by God and he's called to go to the Ninevites. So what does he do? He doesn't go to where God calls him to. He actually runs away, kicking his screen, whining and complaining the whole time. And then God saves his life, spares his life, brings him to where God knows that his purpose will be fulfilled and what does he do? He winds and complains and winds and complains. So in these moments, when God is calling us to something to give up something, to stop something, to go towards something, we have to remember Isaiah 55. 8 and 9. By the way, Isaiah was a prophet that God told him to go tell his people, go tell the people of God to repent, turn from their evil ways, repent and go back to God. And part of God's instruction was that the people weren't going to listen to him. You know what Isaiah did for 60 years? Exactly what God called him to do. Told the people to turn, repent from their evil ways and nobody listened to him. You would consider that the world's worst evangelist, but man, he fulfilled what God called him to do faithfully, Isaiah 55, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts." God had a plan for the Israelites and God has a plan for you. When God sets a journey, it may not make sense. Maybe it's a job relocation or a relationship breakup or a school change or a career change or maybe your house is flooded or you lost a loved one, whatever the journey is that God has placed before you, whatever he has allowed to happen, he has a purpose for it. There's always a bigger picture, but our view often is limited. It's not always easy. It doesn't make sense, but here's what we know, and this is the third thing. The journey is preparing something. The journey is preparing something. Now, I want to tell you what the why is. When we ask a question, "Why God? Why are you doing this? Why are you allowing this to happen? Why am I walking through this?" The answer is in this text. Look at verse 10 with me. Now, for some of you, this may not be sufficient, but I want to tell you, this is the answer to the why. Verse 10, and Joshua said, by the way, he gives the answer before he gives him the instructions. I just want to point that out, but verse 10, and Joshua said, "Here is how you shall know that the living God is among you." That's the answer to the why. God allows circumstances and situations and hardship and pain to happen so that you may know that God is with you. Now I know for some of you you're like, "Yeah, but I want more answers. I want more clarity." But God allows, we see this in the book of James. We see this in Paul's writings, that God allows things to happen in our lives so that God will show us that he is with us and he is for us and he is carrying us through these things. That's what we're seeing in this text. God wants them to know that when you pick up your camp and when the priest step into the water and when I stop the waters and you go across and I protect you from these armies, I want you to know that I am with you and how often when we're dealing with the circumstance, we place the circumstance in front of our God and we make our God, our God, the circumstance not the living God. It's kind of like when you cover up the moon with your thumb. Which is bigger? Your thumb or the moon? But when you go like this and you cover up the moon with your thumb, that's what we do with our problems. We take our services and our problems and we say, "God, look how big this is." And God's like, "Look how big I am. I am with you wherever you go." And in my life, I mean, I've experienced all sorts of stuff that I never would have wanted to happen. I mean, early on, I was 10 years old, my cousin was one of my best friends, was 11 and he passed away. I didn't want that to happen. My parents got a divorce. I mean, Lauren, we get married. Our first year of marriage wasn't great, it wasn't easy, it was difficult. We had a lot of stuff to work through. And then we get pregnant, or we struggle to get pregnant and then we get pregnant and then we have a miscarriage, then we get pregnant again and have a miscarriage. And I'm not saying in all those things, we're like skipping through going, "Oh, this is great. God's got a plan." No, those situations are hard. And whatever you're going through, I'm sure, is difficult and hard. I remember, after our second miscarriage, sitting on our couch, being just broken and angry and bitter and shaking my fist at God, and one of my best friends sends us a text with some Bible verses and a song. And Lauren's like, "Hey, babe, can we listen to the song?" It's like, "No, no, don't put that on." I was failing in that moment to remember that God was with me, that although this life will be hard, although it may not make sense that the journey is preparing something for us in that so that we will know that the living God is with us. And I can promise you, I've never been in a situation where God didn't prove himself that he was present and he was near, he was with me and he was carrying me. And here's the last thing we see, that the journey requires faith and action. The journey requires faith and action. Look at verses 14 through 17 with me. So when the people set out from their tents to pass over the Jordan with the priests bearing the Ark of the Covenant before the Lord, and as soon as those bearing the Ark had come as far as the Jordan and the feet of the priest bearing the Ark were dipped in the brink of the water. Now the Jordan overflows all of its banks through the time of harvest. The waters coming down stood and rose up and a heap very far away at Adam. So the waters did exactly what God said they were going to do and he didn't make those priests wait all the way into the water. When their foot touched the brink of the water, he parted that water and caused it to stop. And it says, now the priest for 17, now the priest bearing the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord stood firmly on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan and all Israel was passing over on dry ground until all the nation finished passing over the Jordan. The Israelites had to break camp. They had to break down their camp and pack up. They had to pick up the Ark. They had to move toward the river, they had to put their feet on the water's edge and all the people had to cross. There was an action that came so that they could put their faith in action. This required both faith and action. Now I want to be clear here because our salvation happens by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. That's how we are saved. We are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. Jesus paid the penalty for our sin on the cross, rose again, defeated death hell on the grave for us. So our faith in him is what saves us. But that faith then leads us to something, to do something, to act in a certain way. It's faith in action that God calls us to join him on mission and to take this journey. Now you can't say I believe and trust God and then not pick up your camp across the river. That doesn't work, but we live. We, I'm including you in this, live with butts and what-ifs. That's how we live our lives and what they do is they cripple us. God can save me from eternal damnation, but he cannot remove my current addiction or save my broken marriage or help me pass this season of grieving. Do you see that? Like we're trusting in the Lord to save us for all of eternity, but not in our current circumstance. And so we throw out, but God can't. Or maybe it's the, well, what if when I'm crossing the river, God? What if it gives way? Like I know that Mark Stocklin and his family, they were missionaries in Haiti. I'm sure God's going to stop the river for them, but look at all the stuff that I've done in my past. Like I'm sure when I start stepping foot into that river, like that thing is just going to wipe me out, right? God's going to release the floods on me. What if, what if the river gives way on me? What if I listen to God and I lose my job? What if walking through this difficult season and marriage is hard work? How many of you tested your chair before you came in here today? Like before you sat down, how many of you tested your chair? Raise your hands. No one. Why? Because in the course of your life, you have an experience. There are chairs in our world and the chairs that you sit in have held you. And so we don't think about testing the chair before we sit down. We just sit down. That's faith in action. I mean, when you were leaving your house today, you might have checked the weather, but did you look up what the statistics are for car accidents in southwest Florida on a rainy day? Not just to see, just to do the research. No, you got in your car because time and time again, you get in your car, you started it and you drove here. I mean, when you were eating that second and third and fourth brownie, like were you researching heart disease and how that's the number one killer in our world? No, you just had faith that brownie wasn't going to kill you in that moment, at least. Faith in God and action, the journey may not be easy and it may not make sense, but we must trust God and do what he says. Now to what end? To what end do we do this? Well, here's our response. The response truly is that we are called to trust God because he is the creator and the sustainer of the journey. That's what we see here in verses 14 through 17. He is the one who set forth this path in front of them. He is the one who has called them to be his people and their trust is in him and him alone. And here's the best part of this whole thing. If you would just follow me for a few more minutes, here's the best part because when I read the Bible, I often read myself into the text. So I think it would be pretty easy for us in this moment to be like, okay, pastor, I hear what you're saying, trust God, no matter what the circumstance, I get that. So pastor, what you're saying to me is that I'm Joshua and I've got to get the people up and I've got to get them across, no, no, you're not, you're not Joshua. Oh, okay, so I'm one of the priests, I've got to pick up the ark and I've got to step foot in the river and then he's going to part the river for me. No, you're not, you're not one of the priests. The beautiful part about God's word is that it is all shadows of the true living God. You know who's Joshua in the story? It's a foreshadowing of Jesus. You know who's the priest, our great high priest who is Jesus. He is the one who stops the raging seas. He is the one who saves us in the midst of our difficult circumstances. This story is about Jesus and that's why we're here today and that's why we're gathered today so that we can worship and praise His name so we can remember that our God is with us. How do we know? Because He sent His Son down to earth to be with us so that we may know who He is for all of eternity. He comes to us. He is the Joshua. He is the priest in the story and you're called to trust Him. You know the biggest problem you and I will ever face in our entire lives is not this pending storm coming in. It's not the difficulty we have in being single or in our jobs or in our marriages or with our kids. That's not the biggest problem we will ever face. The biggest problem you and I will ever face is our sin and the fact that our sin separates us from a living, holy, perfect God and that separation will last for all of eternity unless the price is paid but you and I cannot pay that price. As Ken and Jesus did for you and for me, do you know the raging river that Jesus holds back from you and I who have professed faith in Jesus as our Lord and Savior? It's actually the wrath of God. The wrath of God is poured out on all sinners and what is absorbed by His presence is God's wrath against an unholy people and He does that for us. Jesus does that for us and so that wrath never hits us. It has hit Him fully when He was on the cross and our faith and our trust is in Him and Him alone for our sin, for our salvation and for all of eternity that we get to spend with Him. Jesus is our high priest. He is the creator and the sustainer of our journey, amen? So your choose your own adventure book of life that you're living right now, it has two options for you. It's trust God or don't trust God. Trust God with your family, trust God with your kids, trust God with your marriage, trust God with your job, trust God with your home no matter what happens or don't. So the question is what are we leaving here today? Are we going to trust God, the creator and the sustainer of all of our journeys or are we going to walk out of this place and say I don't trust Him? Jesus is your proof. God gives us a story like this just as a mere shadow, as a shadow to know that He is real and He is good and He is for us and our God is with us along the journey. Can I pray over us? Father, thank you for your love and your mercy and your grace. Often the river that we need to cross seems so big and so massive and so impossible. But you have given us a Savior, one that stops the raging waters, none of the circumstances that we face, we have faced, we are facing and we will face, none of the circumstances are bigger than Jesus. So God right now through the power of your Holy Spirit, I pray that you would open up our hearts and our minds to know how big you truly are. God for people right now that are doubting your power, I pray Lord that they would believe in your power through the Holy Spirit, that if someone right now is questioning their trust in you, I pray that through your sweet love and mercy and grace that you would help them understand and know that you are with them and that we as your people would surrender our lives and trust you with everything, the sustainer and the creator of all. God, as we leave this place today, I pray that we would remember that you are with us everywhere we go. We love you, we lift this time up in your name, amen. (upbeat music)