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Victory in The Promised Land | Pastor Tim Ingram

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  1. I wonder if you've ever had a day full of, like, a bunch of

  2. hard work, like strenuous or mentally fatiguing that during

  3. the day as you're going through it, or maybe even a season that

  4. you're in, You're daydreaming about the end of the day, right?

  5. You're in the middle of the muck, but you're thinking about

  6. the end of the muck. Anybody.

  7. So, like, you're out in the yard.

  8. It's hot. It's sweaty.

  9. You're working, you're grimy, you're filthy, and you're

  10. thinking about the. Ice cold shower and the even

  11. colder glass of lemonade and some chips and salsa that just

  12. seems right. Like something salty after

  13. you've been sweating a lot, right?

  14. Am I the only one? Am I the only one?

  15. Chips and. Salsa, OK?

  16. Praise God. See you at 2 E's later.

  17. And the best part? Like what I really?

  18. Think about is like cool, clean, crisp sheets at the end of the

  19. night, the fan blowing. Falling asleep.

  20. The right kind of exhausted not. Weary just.

  21. Exhausted. It's like crossing the finish

  22. line while you're in the race. I don't know if you're ever a

  23. runner. I was a runner in high school,

  24. and I was. Terrible at it.

  25. Like, really bad. I need a Hot Pocket go run 800

  26. meters which is only twice around the track.

  27. But after like the first 10 steps, I'm already thinking

  28. about the end. True story, but I'm so glad.

  29. Then I get to the end. I puke out my hot.

  30. That the race is over. Done.

  31. And what we're discussing today is this kind of idea that we've

  32. been daydreaming for the finish line for so long.

  33. Here at Illuminate Church it was. 11 years we've been in

  34. existence. Today's message is called.

  35. Victory in the promised land. It's that feeling at the end.

  36. Of the race when you cross the line.

  37. And what happens there? God wanted at the very beginning

  38. to make His name famous, just like we do.

  39. And when I say that we want to make the.

  40. Name of Jesus Famous. I'm not talking about

  41. popularity. I'm not talking about fame as.

  42. The world knows it. What I mean?

  43. Is that every heart in our region would.

  44. Think of Jesus first kids at night when it be clamoring for a

  45. movie. Or this or that people in their

  46. homes that they're thinking about.

  47. Jesus. It's the lens through which

  48. everything comes. Through it's What gives life and

  49. what gives hope? What gives purpose to every

  50. person and that's how the name. Of Jesus becomes famous, I'm

  51. not. Talking about a popularity

  52. contest, right? God wanted the same at the

  53. beginning, that everybody would know His name, know His power,

  54. know his love, know his. Will for their life.

  55. That they can live in peace with God.

  56. He wanted that to happen. So what did God do?

  57. He has to plan where he. Chose a certain group of people,

  58. and he gave them a certain. Place right?

  59. That people were called the Hebrew people or they eventually

  60. called the Israelites or even today called the Jews right?

  61. This group of people got hand selected on the earth and then

  62. he gave them a place and that place is called the promised

  63. land. Everyone said promised Land,

  64. also known as a Holy Land. Now it's known as.

  65. Israel and we can talk about what the name of Israel means is

  66. amazing, but essentially means God wins.

  67. God perseveres in the end, the journey for the people.

  68. Of God to get to this promised land was.

  69. Arduous. Incredible.

  70. It all started with Abram. I'm going to read out of Genesis

    Genesis 12 chapter mention

  71. chapter 12, but I want you and your Bibles.

  72. To go to Joshua Chapter 5, because we're really going to

    Joshua 5 chapter mention

  73. spend time in Joshua chapter 5, but in Genesis.

    Joshua 5 chapter mention Genesis 12 chapter mention

  74. Chapter 12. The selection of these people

  75. begins with a man named Abram Verse, one the Lord had said to

  76. Abraham, who becomes father. Abraham, who had many sons and

  77. many sons, had. The Lord say to Abraham, go from

  78. your country, go from your people, go from your father's

  79. household to the land I will show you he's.

  80. Picking the people and the place, I will make you into a

  81. great nation. I, the Lord God, will bless you.

  82. I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.

  83. I will bless those who bless you and whoever.

  84. Curses you I will curse, and all peoples on the earth will be

  85. blessed through you. God pick a people to bless so

  86. that they could then bless the nations.

  87. How Letting the nations. Know about the Holy One.

  88. About the Lord our God, the King.

  89. This is the plan. God's picking the people to make

  90. himself known to all peoples, and he blessed the.

  91. People that he chose. But as the story goes and and

  92. listen, I'm going to fly through a lot of things and the.

  93. Details aren't what necessarily matters here this morning.

  94. I mean, we can. Talk details after service if

  95. you want to. We can have a little.

  96. Hang out and talk about them. Really, what I want you to

  97. experience if we can. This morning is the long

  98. journey. Of these people as they got to.

  99. The Promised land. All right.

  100. It starts with a man named Abram.

  101. I got this little. Do we have the little family

  102. tree thing here? Yeah.

  103. Abrams up there, He has a son named Isaac, and Isaac has a son

  104. named Jacob. And Jacob has. 12 Sons who

  105. become the. 12 tribes of Israel. And while all this is going on,

  106. the people have kind of moved and checking out the promised

  107. land, it's called. Canaan at the time and while

  108. they're there there's a massive famine and the.

  109. Lord has already provided this is one of the details I just

  110. don't have time to dive into. Today, but God saves them and

  111. brings them down to. Egypt through one of the twelve

  112. sons named Joseph. He's son 11 there and they get

  113. to Egypt and they're saved from the famine and then they are in

  114. Egypt. For quite a while I from from

  115. the time of Abram to the time of Joseph saving his people in

  116. Egypt is 220. Years, right, 220.

  117. Years have passed. Just anybody want to take a

  118. guess how many years the United States has been a nation?

  119. Let me just do the math. 247. So roughly, the entire existence

  120. of the United States of America has transpired between Abram

  121. coming down and finally they end up in Egypt by God's saving hand

  122. through one of. The sons of Egypt, our sons of.

  123. Israel Joseph here, right? Jacobs, by the way, he's.

  124. He's the one who gets his name changed to Israel when he

  125. wrestles with God. And there's a bunch of details

  126. I'm just. Flying through here.

  127. So then they get to Israel, I'm, excuse me, Egypt.

  128. And in Egypt they begin to multiply.

  129. They become so numerous that Pharaoh puts them into slavery.

  130. They are in. Egypt for 430.

  131. Years. It's we say this number all the.

  132. Time, But we don't really think about the meaning of 430.

  133. Years nearly double the time of our nation.

  134. They're there all combined so far.

  135. It's been 650 years since Abrams been told I'm going to.

  136. Bless you. And you're going to have a home,

  137. the promised land. We've been waiting 11 years as a

  138. church. Just so we're all together and

  139. some of you that were in the church that was previous to.

  140. This one have been waiting maybe. 20 I don't know, 600 and

  141. 50 years. And then if you know the story,

  142. God sends Moses, Moses let my people go and Farrah lets them

  143. go. There's a whole Passover thing.

  144. Again, details. Incredible.

  145. Details Amazing parts of the story.

  146. They walk through the Red Sea. They get to the Jordan River.

  147. When they're at the Jordan River, they have a faith crisis

  148. and after 650 years they get turned around.

  149. None shall enter. They wander around in the desert

  150. for 40 more. Years 40, that's four times.

  151. Roughly the length of. Our church's history they.

  152. Wandered in the wilderness waiting to enter into the

  153. Promised Land and. Then finally, 690 years after

  154. Genesis chapter 12, verse one, the people of God enter the

    Genesis 12 chapter mention

  155. promised land under Joshua's command.

  156. We made it. Hallelujah.

  157. Let's open some. Let's open some barrels of wine.

  158. Let's eat figs, make tents and villages, and be a family.

  159. I don't know if you read your Bible.

  160. The first five books of the Bible.

  161. Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Due toronomy called the tour of the

  162. Penituke, right? Then you get Joshua.

  163. They enter the promised. Land and the first.

  164. Thing. They have to do.

  165. In the promised land is fight. Like for real, God, 690 years we

  166. thought we're going to cross the finish line, kick back in a

  167. hammock and be like. Peace out, homies.

  168. But that's not what happened. You better know this truth.

  169. Write it down. Enemies still lurk in a promised

  170. land. Where we're headed as a church.

  171. In just a few months, it's not a season to kick.

  172. Back our. Heels and take it easy and say,

  173. hey, we made it. It's been 11 years, right?

  174. Look at 11. It's time to fight as soon as we

  175. get to the promised land. Enemies lurking isn't just the

  176. curveball of all curveballs. Like they cross.

  177. Over the Jordan, and there in front of them is the oldest city

  178. in civilization. Jericho May excuse me.

  179. March of. 2025 come with me to Israel and you can see it for

  180. yourself. It's right there.

  181. Like, wait, this is it? Yeah, that's it.

  182. We'll have lunch together. In Jericho, you just want to be.

  183. There, okay. Just start saving your pennies.

  184. That's all I'm telling you now. So you finally get to what you

  185. think is the finish line you're. Ready to receive your reward,

  186. And the Lord says Nope. You got to get back on the the

  187. starting line and let's go again.

  188. I don't know if you've ever felt this like, hey, once I get

  189. there, then I'll be. Able to rest like if I just get

  190. married all my problems are going to go.

  191. Away if I just get divorced. All my problems.

  192. Will go away. If I just get that new job, then

  193. whoo. If I just get that raise, then

  194. yeah. I just get that spiritual

  195. breakthrough, then Whoo, go on that vacation.

  196. Just got back from one enemy still lurking.

  197. Just saying what you think is the promised land with the

  198. promised land still has enemies. So while we're talking about the

  199. ancient church and while we're talking about our today.

  200. You can also use this in your. Own mind and heart.

  201. There may be a season that you're wandering through and

  202. you're want to get to the finish line, but just.

  203. Be aware, beware. When you get to the finish line,

  204. there's an enemy lurking there until we get to heaven.

  205. Lord, may that come. In Jesus name.

  206. I'm ready. Let's just go.

  207. So I want. You to take.

  208. A quick journey with me I'm going to look through.

  209. The book of Joshua. Super quick.

  210. Again, it's not the details that matter as much as the.

  211. Journey Joshua Chapter One. The Lord gives the command of

  212. the Israelite. People to Joshua, and he gives

  213. him the confidence to command, he says to him in Joshua chapter

  214. one. Not once, not twice, not three

  215. times, but four times. Be strong and courageous one

  216. time even saying be. Strong and very courageous.

  217. Why would God tell Joshua to be strong and courageous unless

  218. there was an enemy to fight? If you don't need courage, then

  219. there's no enemy to fight. But God knew.

  220. What he was about to face, so he says.

  221. Listen to me Joshua 12244 times. Be strong and courageous.

  222. Let God's word be true to us today to where we are headed.

  223. What he wants from this? Church in this region, we need

  224. to be strong. And very courageous.

  225. Look at your neighbors. You sounded like you're talking

  226. them up for a Checkers match. Say be strong be.

  227. We're going to spiritual. Battle with the enemy, say.

  228. Be strong. Be courageous.

  229. You're going to. Need it.

  230. The Lord knows Joshua chapter two, we get the story of Rahab,

  231. this prostitute who's included in the.

  232. Story of Jesus. Just think about that for a

  233. minute. The chief of all sinners

  234. included in the saving. Story of Jesus if Rahab can be

  235. included. Then we certainly can be

  236. included. A beautiful, wonderful,

  237. incredible story. We ain't got time for that

  238. today. Joshua Chapter 3 The Crossing of

    Joshua 3 chapter mention

  239. the Jordan. While it's at flood stage, the

  240. Elders put their toe in the water.

  241. The water splits. They walk across Joshua.

  242. Chapter four. I told you we're going fast.

  243. The Lord says Hey. You're going to forget this

  244. moment. So before the rivers close back

  245. up, go in and pick 12 Stones stack.

  246. Them up on this side so that when your children.

  247. See them, you'll say. Yeah, this is when the.

  248. Lord brought us out of the. This is a testimony, You know,

  249. I've said it. Before we are fearful because we

  250. are forgetful, but we're going to be faithful because we

  251. remember. The good works of God.

  252. In our life a little bit later and this fall we're going to

  253. celebrate our time here at the high school.

  254. We have a time of remembrance testifying.

  255. To all that. God has done not forgetting the

  256. season and what God is doing. That's going to happen a little

  257. bit later on in the fall and then we.

  258. Get to Joshua Chapter 5 and Joshua Chapter 6.

    Joshua 5 chapter mention Joshua 6 chapter mention

  259. It's in Joshua chapter six we find a pattern that you can

  260. find. All throughout Scripture, I'm

  261. going to show it to you just a little.

  262. Bit today, but if you look through the Old Testament and

  263. then the New Testament, you'll see this pattern over and over

  264. and over again. We.

  265. See it right here in Joshua, chapter Five and six as they

  266. enter the promised land. So let's learn it.

  267. For as we enter our promised land.

  268. We can do the same here. It is consecration, provision,

  269. obedience. Victory.

  270. Consecration, Provision, Obedience, Victory.

  271. You say it consecration y'all still sound like you're.

  272. At a checkers match or maybe like on the 7th.

  273. Hole on a Thursday of a golf tournament we're talking about

  274. taking out. The bully of the souls of the.

  275. People in our region bringing him to his knees at the name of

  276. Jesus. Something in you has.

  277. Got to rise up with gumption. Like it did for Abram.

  278. Like it did for Joshua. Like it did for the apostles.

  279. Like it did for Jesus. Not on my watch, they all said.

  280. And now the world. Looks at us as it says in

  281. Hamilton. History has its eyes.

  282. On you, on us, Joshua, Chapter five and six, Consecration,

  283. Provision, obedience, victory, consecration, Comes in, Joshua.

    Joshua 5 chapter mention

  284. Chapter 5 Verse two At that time the Lord.

  285. Said to Joshua, make Flint knives and circumcise the

  286. Israelites again. Not again, right?

  287. Once there's enough, see what happened.

  288. Is that the people who had been circumcised?

  289. I'm going so fast. Let me back.

  290. Circumcision was a sign of consecration.

  291. Consecrating meaning to be. Separated out to the Lord.

  292. I'm separating out. I've been a part of the world.

  293. I've been touched. By The world of the world's gunk

  294. is on me, but I'm stepping out of the muck.

  295. And being set apart. To the Lord.

  296. The Lord did that with the. Israelites through circumcision,

  297. Those that have been. Circumcised died in the

  298. wilderness those 40 years, and so those that entered into the

  299. promised land had not been circumcised and the Lord said

  300. it's time for consecration. Circumcised the Israelites

  301. again. And so they.

  302. Did that chop chop we all that fun provision?

  303. Joshua Chapter 5 Versus 11:50. Watch this on the evening of the

    Joshua 5 chapter mention

  304. 14th day of the month. While camped at Gilgall on the

  305. plains of. Jericho So they've crossed over

  306. the Jordan River. They're on the.

  307. Jericho's there, right? The Israelites celebrated the

  308. Passover. Again, a great detail.

  309. I'm just flying. The day after the Passover, that

  310. very day, they ate some of the produce of the land, unleavened

  311. bread, and roasted grain, the manna.

  312. The day after they ate this food from the land, there was no

  313. longer any manna for the Israelites.

  314. But that year they ate the produce of.

  315. Canaan for. 40 years they'd eaten this, this miracle.

  316. Bread that showed up on the ground every.

  317. Morning except for Sunday and it would collect it and manage.

  318. Just meant. What's that?

  319. What is that right? Is this sweet?

  320. Kind of like honeycomb bread? And that's.

  321. All they had to eat for 40 years except.

  322. For some quail, occasionally. Right. 40 years of eating this.

  323. They walk into the promised land.

  324. They eat the. Passover meal and that very day.

  325. The produce of the. Promised Land became theirs.

  326. And they ate there full of it. God was providing for them

  327. strength. For what is about to come, he

  328. consecrated them then he provided.

  329. For them. Then he asked them to be.

  330. Obedient Joshua Chapter six Look at this March around the city

  331. once with all the armed men. Do this for six days.

  332. Have 7 priests carry trumpets of Rams horns in front of the ark.

  333. On the 7th day, March around the city 7 times, so they're going

  334. to March 13 times in total with the priests blowing the trumpets

  335. right. When you hear them sound a long

  336. blast on the trumpets, have the whole army give a loud shout,

  337. right? Then the wall of the city will

  338. collapse and the army will go up, everyone straight in.

  339. Josh is like, all right, goes to the people, he said.

  340. All right, we're going to take out the city.

  341. They're like how? Well, we're all going to have to

  342. join the marching band. Y'all been making fun of the

  343. high school marching band for too long.

  344. That ends today. In the name of Jesus.

  345. It's the marching band that gets the victory.

  346. Can I get an Amen? I played the trombone.

  347. Anybody in the marching band? OK, this is our moment of

  348. redemption right here, OK? Just OK, good God, you and I had

  349. this moment. So, like, all right.

  350. That's a that's. A terrible plan like we have.

  351. All these fighting men and you want us to walk around the city?

  352. For six days and on the 7th day, seven times.

  353. And then we're going to blow a trumpet and we're all going to

  354. yell. Boo.

  355. And we're going to. Win and Josh is like, that's

  356. what God said. And if God said it, we do it.

  357. So get in line. And that's what they did.

  358. And look what happens Joshua chapter 6 verse 20 when the

    Joshua 6:20

  359. trumpet sounded. The army shouted, and at the.

  360. Sound of the trumpet. When the men gave a loud shout,

  361. the wall collapsed, so everyone charged straight in and they

  362. took the city. Consecration, provision,

  363. obedience to even something that sounds completely ridiculous but

  364. God said it, and then comes a victory.

  365. Do you see the pattern? Do you see the pattern?

  366. Somebody say. Somebody's talked back to me.

  367. Come on. Are you here?

  368. Yeah. OK, good, good, good.

  369. All right, it happens again. This same pattern you can.

  370. See, with Jesus institutes the new promised land, the new

  371. covenant that He gives us. The consecration comes in the

  372. last. Supper, which signifies his

  373. sacrifice for sins and salvation that separates.

  374. People out who put their faith in.

  375. Jesus and they have. This Last Supper.

  376. Together, then, the provision comes at Pentecost.

  377. Again, another detail, but let me just tell you Acts chapter. 2

  378. The Lord sends the. Holy Spirit to the Church, the

  379. Church has never been the same. The Holy Spirit is lifted up,

  380. then obedience you can find it in the entire.

  381. Book of Acts. You're talking about guys like

  382. Peter and Paul, who are whipped and beaten, Stephen who is

  383. stoned to death, the apostles taking the message of the.

  384. Gospel out to everybody. Who will listen under great

  385. persecution and threat of bodily harm, Yet they obeyed.

  386. And the result is victory. What does Victory look like 2?

  387. 1000 years later, the church is still.

  388. I'm on this platform preaching because of what Peter and Paul

  389. obeyed 2000 years ago, right? This lasted 2000 years yet.

  390. Have you done? You're about to.

  391. I really believe it. I really believe it.

  392. Consecration, provision, obedience, victory.

  393. He picked the people. He picked the place.

  394. And he gave them a mission. I want you to.

  395. Know you can do this in your own personal life.

  396. You can consecrate yourself to the Lord.

  397. Set aside a season. Really the rest of your life?

  398. To be holy. I'm not going to dabble with the

  399. world, I. Want to be set apart I.

  400. Want to be sincere in my prayer. I want to be.

  401. Sincere in my devotion and the reading of His Word, Then you

  402. look for provision, and you're most likely going to find that

  403. provision right here in His Word.

  404. This is the Bread of Life. Jesus Christ is the Word.

  405. He is the Bread of Life. This is.

  406. The bread, the provision. For us and then.

  407. Obedience, we believe. Here at illuminate.

  408. Church and Something called here believe, obey, he says it.

  409. We believe. It's him saying it.

  410. And now we just got to do it. Even if it sounds like marching

  411. around the city and shouting, like, really?

  412. Yeah, really do that. Trust God.

  413. And then you will see. The victory, it's kind of a.

  414. Simple but eternal formula that you can apply to your.

  415. Life and as we. Approach the promised land.

  416. It's what we're going to. Do together to.

  417. Ensure that the bully of the souls of all these people who's

  418. out. Here keeping them oppressed and

  419. then sin will finally be broken. Through because my Bible tells

  420. me that the gates of hell cannot prevail against the Church of

  421. Jesus Christ. Amen.

  422. Amen. Amen.

  423. So. Here's what we're going to do.

  424. Consecration. Well, it's going to start today

  425. with communion. In just a few moments in the

  426. middle of the service, we're going to practice holy.

  427. Communion together to consecrate ourselves just as the disciples.

  428. Did way back when. Not only that, but during our

  429. soft launch series. We're going to do.

  430. Some consecration. What's that?

  431. Well, before the building is given to the world, we're just

  432. going. To meet as a family there a few

  433. times. The first time will be what's

  434. called an anointing service. Everyone say anointing.

  435. It'll be the very first service ever at the.

  436. Brand new building. It's going to happen on a

  437. weeknight. You're going to have to miss

  438. work or just move everything, move heaven and earth to make

  439. sure you're there. We're flying people in from all

  440. over who work at churches, that's why.

  441. It's not going to be on a weekend so they can get back to

  442. their churches and I want you to be there for that special night.

  443. As we anoint the building, we give it over to the.

  444. Lord, and we ask for his anointing on everything that's

  445. about to happen in that place. Then we'll have a couple Sundays

  446. of soft launches where it's just us at the church.

  447. Partly doing this whole consecration.

  448. Bit and hearing about how we can launch the church successfully,

  449. but also just to figure things out of the building like hey,

  450. this toilet. Don't flush right or this check

  451. in thing. Don't work right.

  452. Or when we parked, I parked over this nail and we just want the

  453. body. To communicate to us and say hey

  454. this works great, this doesn't work.

  455. Every business does soft launches, right?

  456. You understand this concept? It's going to be wonderful.

  457. We'll have Q R codes everywhere. You just point your phone and

  458. say, hey, this is terrible. Thanks for the new.

  459. Building We love you. We really do want your feedback,

  460. but say it nicely. All right, promise.

  461. OK, good. That'll be the consecration

  462. provision for the campus. Is the provision.

  463. It's a tool that God has given us to reach the region.

  464. The name of the church went up on the building just this last

  465. week. So now.

  466. Everybody driving by knows that's a church obedience.

  467. Will come in the plans that I'm about to reveal to you that God

  468. has given us a strategy, a very clear strategy to saturate.

  469. Our region with the Gospel and then VV looks like.

  470. Finding abundant life in. Jesus, the Baptistry full of

  471. people. Giving their life to God and

  472. then following him. After I.

  473. Believe in the same way that God picked a place and the people

  474. from the very beginning, He's picked you.

  475. From the four corners of the earth.

  476. To be in this place as we take that promised land together and

  477. we're going to see the victory of the Lord like we've never

  478. seen it in this region, never in this region.