Reserved And Ready To Possess | 2026 - The Year Of New Things 5 | Pastor John Greiner

Scriptures, Revelation 21, 5, and also Joshua chapter 3, and we'll uh give you what God's put in my heart today.

Joshua 3 · chapter mention

Revelation 21.5.

And he that sat upon the throne said, We've been singing to him.

We've been worshiping him, haven't we?

He that sat on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.

And he said unto me, Write, for these words are true and faithful.

So God spoke it so that John could write it.

John wrote it so we could speak it.

We need to be speaking over our year that God's making all things new this year for me.

And it's true and faithful to say that.

Then over in Joshua chapter 3, children of Israel are about to cross over.

Joshua 3 · chapter mention

The great crossover is another message I preach on this subject.

But verse 1, Joshua rode early in the morning and they removed from Shetem and came to Jordan, he and all the children of Israel and lodged there before they passed over.

It came to pass after three days that the officers went through the host and they commanded the people, saying, When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the priests, the Levites bearing it, then you shall remove from your place and go after it.

Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure, about a half a mile.

Come not near unto it that you may know the way by which you must go, for you have not passed this way heretofore.

And so we've been speaking about these things, the fifth week on 2026, the year of new things, building your faith to discover and possess the new things God has for you individually and for us collectively.

And, you know, last week we emphasized that we've been created to overcome.

I mean, that's, you know, the Holy Ghost is not just hitchhiking.

He's down on the inside.

Greater is he that's in us than he that's in the world.

We need him to overcome.

We can't overcome in our flesh.

We can't overcome because of our education.

We can't overcome just because, just because.

We overcome because he is in there helping.

He's our helper.

And uh so I wanted to read to you a verse that I came across this week that just uh is so apropos to this subject.

It's Proverbs 29, 18.

In the uh King James it says, where there is no vision, the people perish, but he that speaketh that keepeth the law, happy is he.

But let's look at it from the uh passion.

I like the passion.

When there is no clear prophetic vision.

When there is no clear prophetic vision, people quickly wander astray.

But when you follow the revelation of the word, heaven's bliss fills your soul.

Well, I could stand some heaven's bliss.

How about that?

And then, but really, I my favorite of this is really the message.

And I think this gets it over so well.

It says if people can't see what God is doing, they stumble all over themselves.

But when they attend to what he reveals, they are most blessed.

Well, what has he revealed?

He's revealed that he's about to do new things.

We have a prophetic vision of this year, and the more tightly you hold on to it, see, it's got to get out of here, your brain tissue, and it's got to drop down into your spirit.

Everything happens in your spirit.

That's where your faith is, that's where your power is to accomplish this.

And uh, and so, you know, it's not enough to just mentally agree with it and say, oh, that's gonna be nice.

Thank you.

No, you've got to spend some time getting it down in your heart.

So um this week, let's look at Joshua chapter 7.

Joshua 7 · chapter mention

I've got some things, you know, just to bring you up to date.

They've defeated Jericho, the greatest known fortress city of the world at that time.

And then they're riding high.

I mean, they're they're really enthused.

I mean, you know, they're and some of them were really impressed with themselves.

And so we see this in chapter 7, in verse uh 3.

Uh let me just set you up.

The next city is Ai, that they're gonna attack.

And so Joshua in his wisdom, he sent some spies, like he's done before.

He sent spies to Jericho, he sent spies to Ai.

Go check it out, come back with a report.

So the spies went, yeah, yeah.

And they come back to Joshua with a report, verse 3.

They returned to Joshua and said unto him, let all not all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and smite Ai.

Make not all the people to labor there, for they are they're just few.

We we've got this.

Have you ever said that?

I got this, I got this.

See, no, you ain't gotten squat without him.

Because let me tell you something, without without the greater one in there, there is no mundane anything that you can accomplish in the flesh.

I mean, you might accomplish it, but it's not worth anything.

No, God always gives us things that we cannot accomplish without him.

And so they made that error.

So they went up there to Ai with about 3,000 men and they fled before the men of Ai.

They ran.

That few chased the 3,000.

And the men of Ai smote them and killed 36 Jewish men.

They chased him and smote them.

And Joshua rent his clothes, fell on his face, and oh my God, he's so embarrassed.

He's so embarrassed that they've suffered this loss.

He feels like such a failure.

And God, you know, you need to read this for yourself, but I'm just gonna keep time, time that we need to do what we need to do today.

I'm just gonna say what happened.

I mean, God said, get up.

There's sin in the camp.

You've sinned.

Someone is stolen from the devoted city.

The city was accursed or devoted.

It was God's city, all the stuff, the silver, the gold, the valuables, all belonged in the Lord's treasury, treasure of the house of the Lord, which really is a type and shadow of the tithe.

In Malachi 3, you've robbed God.

How have we robbed you?

Well, you've robbed me in tithes and offerings.

You what was belonged to me, you're spending on yourself.

You're cursed with a curse.

Well, that pastor, that's Old Testament.

No, that's Bible.

We still have that today.

You can be cursed as a Christian, even though Jesus redeemed you from it.

Things don't go right.

You it's like you're you're you're putting money in a bag full of holes and it's just leaking out.

You know, you check, check, make sure you're tithing, make sure you're honoring God with the first tent.

Make sure you're honoring with tithes over and above the.

So, so this is a type and shadow.

So if Joshua had just simply prayed for God's plan before he sent the two or three thousand, then he would have been alerted.

No, you can't stand before your enemy.

You've got sin in the camp.

And God told him what happened.

He somebody stole the devoted things.

So then it's up to Joshua to find out who.

And so they had a process.

They found out the family, Achan and his family.

Oh, my Achan back.

Achan, A-C-H-A-N.

But anyway, he he and his wife decided they they needed the gold and the silver and the Babylonian garments more than they wanted to obey God.

I mean, there's always people that think they're the wisest people in the world.

They don't have to go along with the leadership.

They know better than the pastor, they know better than the leadership.

Don't tell me I know, I know.

Well, they didn't, they found out.

What was the punishment?

Stoning.

And all of Israel had to do that.

I think I'm gonna just depart.

I think a lot of the problems we have in society is we've we've given up on capital punishment.

Capital punishment was God's idea, and it should be public.

It should be public because everyone that's a citizen of a country where somebody has done wrong bad enough to be sentenced to death, they ought to be able to participate by watching it.

The fear of God is gone in this country because you've got these Nambi pamby liberals that won't don't want to execute people for these heinous crimes.

I saw where one judge let this guy go, he'd had a drunken crash and killed a family of four people, and he got this the case is dismissed.

He just got free, he didn't serve any time, no time at all.

I mean, that's not right.

I'm not saying he should be sentenced to death, I'm saying he should be going to prison for a while and dry out and learn how to drive without drinking, killing people.

But anyway, I'd regress.

So, my pastor, this is so harsh.

Well, no, God is don't talk, don't talk to God about being harsh.

God is trying and wanting to execute justice and judgment.

That's the that's that's the you've got to have that with a covenant.

And they did not execute it, and of course, when they did, so they did.

You know, Joshua found out it was Achan, he had a process he went through, and they stoned them, and they burned their all their bodies after they're dead.

They burned their bodies, burned their stuff, and eliminated any any uh evidence that they ever existed.

And once that happened, then it was time to go to Ai.

And so uh chapter 8, verse 1.

Now you might think God would be mad and say, well, all right, Joshua, you're fired.

You fouled up.

You should have prayed before.

Don't you learn?

Didn't you learn anything?

You don't, you don't send the army out there without my strategy and without my, you know, I'm the one that's fighting you.

You know, remember, are you for us or against us?

And the Lord of the armies of head and said, No.

I'm not for you.

I'm you're for me.

You're on my side.

I'm not on your side.

You've got to stay on my side.

How can you stay on God's side if you don't pray and have a word life and a prayer life?

You can't stay on God's side.

You're always asking God to get on your side.

Well, he can never get on your side.

We have to be on his side.

So that's what, so what you would you would have expected.

I I would have thought God would have fired Joshua and raised up another leader.

No, he said, Lord said unto Joshua, Fear not, neither be dismayed.

Take all the people of war with you, not just three thousand.

Take them all.

And arise and go up to Ai.

See, I have given unto thy hand the king of Ai and his people and his city and his land, and you shall do to Ai and her king as you did unto Jericho and her king, only the spoil thereof.

And the cattle thereof.

This time you're going to give it to me again, because you didn't give me the first.

No, he didn't say that.

He said the spoil thereof will be a prayer to yourselves.

In other words, you get to keep all the goods.

You get to keep the gold and the silver and the good stuff in Ai.

And lay thee in the ambush for the city behind it.

So he gave him strategy on how to attack.

Don't go frontal, don't go front end, go, you know, split up.

And that's that battle plan came from the Lord.

So see, the covenant is there for us because God remembers that we're flesh.

God remembers that we sometimes miss it.

And so it's not time to give up when you make a mistake.

How many of you never made a mistake?

Let me cast the left devil out of you.

No, we've all made mistakes.

I've made mistakes, but you know, God, when I own it, when I say, Yeah, Lord, I missed it on that one.

He forgives you.

Get it under the blood.

Don't run from God, run to God.

Get it under the blood, and everything just kicks right back up.

God's working for you, not against you.

See, flesh wanted to take credit.

You know, Joshua listened to those men, and I'm sure they meant well, but they said they said, in effect, we got this, man.

Chill.

You don't need to send the whole army.

Just we'll go over there and mop up.

See, they were, they forgot that it was God's hand that would deliver the enemy into their hand.

They forgot it.

So the leader has got to keep that in front of the people on a constant basis, and Joshua failed on that too.

And they lost 36 lives.

I mean, that's kind of tough too.

What do you say to the widow?

It's kind of hard being a leader.

Sometimes people get hurt.

Sometimes people, you know, you make a mistake and the sheep pay for it.

I've had that happen.

It hurts.

But I don't quit.

I keep on keeping on.

Why?

Because I'm in the covenant with God.

He's going to make it all turn out.

So he dealt with that until they won over Ai.

Now, if you keep reading, you'll find out later now that the men of Gibeon were afraid.

Gibeon is the next big city.

It's a mighty city with mighty warriors.

But they're seeing what that God is helping Israel.

And they are so afraid after Jericho and Ai that they said, man, we've got to figure out a way to escape because they're going to come to us next and they're going to annihilate us.

So they came up with this concocted plan.

They all deserve an Academy Award.

They got some old, moldy, you know, ragged clothes.

And they got some old moldy bread, and they acted like they were from a far, far country, and they come ambling through the camp of the Israelites and says, Oh, we've heard what your God has done, and we're just here to get bread.

And look at our bread, it's all moldy.

We're starving over here in our land far away.

Please help us.

Don't hurt us.

We're cut the covenant with us.

We don't want to do you harm.

We're for you.

And so again, mistake number two: Joshua didn't pray because God would have told him they're lying to you.

They've been lying then and they keep lying today.

They're lying today all the time.

Amen.

And so they lied, and so Joshua was gullible, and he cut the covenant with the Gibeonites and found out it's Gibeon.

Oh my God.

Oh got an egg on his face a second time.

Surely God's going to fire him.

Surely God's going to say, forget about it.

You're a doofus.

This is mistake number two.

See, look, they're going into a place that's new.

They've never been there before.

You know there's going to be some mistakes.

You might make some mistakes this coming year, but don't quit.

You've got a covenant.

He'll wash away your sin.

He'll wash away your mistake.

And so his men wanted to go, and when they found out they'd been duped, let's go.

Let's wipe them out.

No, we can't do that.

We cut the covenant with them.

We've got to honor that covenant even though they lied.

We've got to honor our words.

You've got to be a person of your word even when things don't work out in your favor.

Well, if I'd have known this, I wouldn't have, I wouldn't know.

No, you didn't know it, but you did it.

You said yes to it, and so you're gonna have to, you're gonna have to own that.

You've got to be a person of your word.

My dad taught me my word is my bond.

When he shook hands, that was it.

He didn't depend on his signature.

The signature is really to take the place of the handshake, and the handshake is the exchange of blood between covenants.

See, we've lost that in our Western society.

We've lost the meaning of what it means to make your word your bond, but Joshua knew that much.

Joshua knew that he had to protect and not go after and kill the Gibeonites.

He just leave them alone.

They're in covenant with us.

We'll deal with it later.

So then, after that, Joshua chapter 10, verse 5.

Joshua 10:5

Five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jaramuth, the king of Lachish, the king of Eglon, gathered themselves together and went up, they and all their hosts, and encamped before Gibeon and made war with it.

Since Gibeon made a covenant with Israel, their idea was let's destroy them and let's get the goods and the and the strength from them so that we can face Israel.

They didn't count on Israel coming to the Gibeonites' aid.

They didn't count on that.

But God did.

God did.

God had something to say about that.

And so in verse 8, the Lord said unto Joshua about these five kings that are going to attack Gibeon.

They're not even attacking Israel, they're attacking Gibeon.

Well, why Gibeon?

Because they're in covenant with Israel.

And even though they lied, and even though it wasn't right what they did, but still there's a covenant.

See, the covenant is, the covenant's the covenant.

The blood has been shed.

You don't go back on it.

If man can't keep his covenant, why would God keep his covenant?

But God will keep his covenant.

And the Lord said, verse 8, the Lord said unto Joshua, Fear them not, for I have delivered them into thine hand.

There shall not a man of them stand before thee.

Praise him.

He didn't chew him out.

He didn't say, Oh, you idiot, what did you do that for?

Look at look what we've got now.

No, he just said, No, they're not, I've given them into your hand.

Joshua therefore came unto them suddenly and went up from Gilgal all night, and the Lord discomforted them before Israel and slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, and chased them along the way that goeth up to Bethoran, and smote them to Azekah and unto Melkeda.

And it came to pass as they fled from before Israel and were in the going down to Bethoran, that the Lord cast down great stones from heaven upon them unto Ezekiel, and they died.

And uh they were more than which died with hailstones than they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword.

I mean, God got involved in the battle.

You've got to keep in mind, Israel, everyone they everyone they faced, every single one they faced was greater and mightier than they.

Every one they faced was greater and mightier than they.

So God wasn't embarrassed.

I mean, this is the captain of the host now.

I mean, he's he's raining hailstones down and killing them.

More died from hailstones than the sword of Israel.

And so you keep going there.

Uh and verse 12.

Then spoke Joshua to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel and said in the sight of Israel, Son, stand thou still upon Gibeon, and thou moon in the valley of Agilot.

That's why I'm wearing this jacket.

Son, stand still.

Sunlight.

Son, stand still.

I mean, he held up his hand and God backed him up.

See, he's he said, All right, God, since you're forest, I need more daylight.

We're running out of daylight, and we need to kill all the rest of these people that came out against us.

There's five nations against us.

We need more time.

Sun stand still in the moon in the valley of Agilon.

Keep reading.

Is not this written in the book of Jasher?

And so the sun stood still in the midst of heaven and hasted not to go down about a whole day.

Think about time stood still for a whole day.

Let's just call it 12 hours.

I mean, how does that work?

How how does the planetary system, how to, I mean, the earth is rotating around the sun, and how how does it just stop rotating?

How does it stand still?

Why didn't everything just fly apart?

Why didn't gravity just go haywire?

Why didn't why didn't the oceans overflow?

I mean, you think about what it took for the day to stand still.

Time stood still at the voice of a man.

And that's old covenant.

Do you think there's some things we need to learn about our covenant?

Because we've got a better covenant than Joshua did.

Are y'all with me now?

Let's not sell God short.

Let's not sell our covenant short.

I mean, you may have some things facing you, and I'm talking about new things, and everything you're facing is just, man, it's hard.

Well, let's listen, you're not on, you're not in it alone.

Verse 14, and there was no day like that before it or after it.

That the Lord hearkened unto the voice of a man, for the Lord fought for Israel.

I'll tell you right now, He'll fight for you.

He'll fight for me.

He will fight for us.

When things look so bad and bleak and terrible, it looks like there's no way of escape.

Don't ever let yourself stay in that place.

I mean, start leaning on the one on the inside.

Start leaning on the greater one.

He's there to put you over.

Come on right now.

Come on, lift your hands.

Glory to God.

Woo! God is faithful to watch over his word to perform it.

I wanted to share this little insight.

There are certain things reserved for you individually and reserved for me and the church collectively.

Back in 2018, I think I've said, you know, I had open heart surgery.

I was home recovering, going to physical therapy, trying to feel better, trying to get over the pain, trying to get over the weakness.

My legs, man, I just, it was just an effort to walk 50 feet, you know, and just it I had to go work, you know, and just get stronger and stronger.

So in March, I was praying in my study, and God said, I've reset your clock.

And uh, and that encouraged me, you know.

He said, Your clock had run out.

I mean, I could have died on the table.

They had complications for the surgery, and I could have died, should have died, but God saved me and reset my clock, gave me more time.

And so uh in May of that year, I was back in the pulpit in Easter time.

It's the first time I'd preached in a while, since December of 2017.

So by Easter I was back in the pulpit for Easter Sunday, and I'm still just, you know, taking my time, just getting back in in uh physical condition.

And right now I'm in better condition than I ever was, I think, in my whole since I was a young man.

Better, better condition.

God, God really reset my clock.

In May, I was praying in the Holy Ghost for almost an hour, and I and I was looking at this pasture and at the far end of this green pasture with this big wall about ten foot tall, real, you know, covered over with brambles and briars, and I kept looking at that wall, wondering what that, what is that, what is that, what does it mean in my head, but I kept praying in tongues.

And five the Holy Ghost uh spoke to me uh in a prophetic word.

He said, You know, that wall that you've been looking at while you've been praying in tongues, and and and as I began to speak, that a door out of that wall opened.

And the door was like 12 inches, 14 inches thick.

And it opened toward me, and I could see beyond in the next area behind that wall, in the next pasture over.

He said, I am about to open unto you the door into the regions beyond.

Into the regions beyond.

He said it twice.

He said, I have reserved this door for you.

No one has walked through it.

I don't think I've told that part of it, but God reminded me to speak that.

I mean, we're in places we've never been before.

We're in places where we've never and so I started, you know, and and he said, you know, behind that end of those regions, people are bound with religion and tradition, but you're gonna bring a word that will deliver them.

And so I start thinking, what does that look like?

What does that mean?

What do you mean I'm gonna start a church over there somewhere?

I'm gonna travel again.

I mean, I wasn't really jazzed about traveling anywhere, you know.

And uh it's a lot worse traveling now than it was then.

You know, before COVID.

Now, after COVID and after all this crazy stuff that's going on, it's not easy to travel on an airplane.

And so um, I remember uh just praying, where what region?

Where, you know, South Texas?

Where what region?

Where where am I going?

Well, you know, guess what?

Uh those regions were were in Austin, those regions were in Baton Rouge, those regions were in Oklahoma City, those regions were in Missouri, and in Michigan, they were in Idaho.

I mean, there might even be in Alaska.

I mean, God is opening these regions beyond now.

It's been a while.

He said, I'm about to.

He said he didn't do it right then.

He said, I'm about to.

He said, at the at the at the uh at the appropriate time, he said.

And so here, that's what we're living in right now, that God spoke to me in 2018.

Are y'all with me now?

I tell you, this is an important day.

So um, today we're gonna have the laying on of hands, and I just want to go over to some of you are newer.

Most of you know what laying on of hands is, but I wanted to back it up with the word so that you'll have faith to receive when we do it.

In Hebrews 6, uh verse 1, he's talking to the Hebrews, and they were carnal Christians.

He said, you know, you you when for the time you ought to be teaching, you have one that has to you have to become such that some has to uh talk to you again of the first principles.

You're using milk and not meat.

And so, chapter six.

Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, the principles of the teaching of Christ.

Let us go on unto perfection.

What's perfection?

Perfection is getting your bone broken bone set, your dislocated shoulder put back into joint.

That's part of what perfection means.

Perfection means getting lined up with God.

You know, people get out of line, they lose their vision, they lose, they don't know, they don't have a clear prophetic vision of where they're going.

They're working on old something that God did way back then, and they're just on this line, and God's already changed course.

God's already got a vector that you should have turned and you've missed a turn.

Anybody ever miss a turn?

I mean, you know, you go down that freeway out there and you miss your exit.

I I'm coming back from a long trip to South Texas one time and I missed the exit, the 249 exit on on uh on the tow, on the Beltway 8 towway, and I had to go all the way almost to Green's Point to do a U-turn.

It took it took an extra 20 minutes on the end of my on the end of my trip.

And then I was so tired.

I wanted to be home, and it was 20 minutes.

You missed one exit.

And so he said, Let's go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation.

See, these are foundational doctrines of Christ.

This is what Jesus preached and practiced when he was on earth, and so it lists these foundational uh teachings.

Not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works.

See, that kind of speaks to me about throwing overboard, uh lighting the ship.

Stuff that you're involved with, it might be okay, it might be, it's not a sin, but it's it's not useful now.

He wants you to throw it overboard and take up the thing that he has for you.

Repentance from dead works.

That's a basic.

And a faith toward God.

I mean, the just shall live by their faith.

Faith is a lifestyle, faith is not something we just use for something, faith is how we live.

And faith has got to have a vision, it's gotta have a perspective, God's perspective, a vision.

Of the doctrine of baptism.

We teach this all the time.

There's one more than one baptism.

There's a baptism in water, immersion.

Baptizo means immersion, doesn't mean sprinkle.

Immersion, all the way under.

Why?

Because it shows forth the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.

Raised in newness of life.

That's what it speaks.

It's a it's a water baptism is a sermon all by itself.

It's a message to everybody watching.

That these people are saved, and now they're going to go into newness of life.

And then there's the baptism into the body of Christ.

As soon as you get saved, the Holy Ghost immerses you into the body of Christ.

You become one with Him.

And then there's the baptism of the Holy Ghost.

There's three baptisms.

Those are foundational.

And you there's churches all over the world that throw two of these three out.

Or one of these three out.

Especially baptism of the of the Holy Ghost is not even talked about.

We talk about it, we experience it too.

It's basic.

And uh laying on of hands.

That's what we're going to do today.

It's basic.

It's basic.

Yet there's churches that never do it.

There's churches that never lay hands on anybody for anything.

They don't even lay hands on their volunteers.

They don't even lay hands on their, you know, their deacons.

They don't even lay hands, they don't, they just don't even lay hands.

Well, it's right here, it's the foundation.

It's the way that God imparts the anointing.

He imparts spiritual gifts by the laws of contact and transmission.

What I have in my hands is going to be transmitted to you, and you on your side are going to believe you receive.

See, the woman with the issue of blood, if I can just touch, if I can just touch the hem of his garment, I shall be whole.

He didn't even lay hands on her.

She just touched his garment.

But the concept is the same.

She made a demand on his anointing.

You're going to make a demand on your covenant.

You're going to make a demand on your covenant, and so that when hands are laid on you, that anointing is going to flow into you.

To where when you start to ask, you'll receive.

When you start seeking, you're going to find.

So when you start knocking, it'll be open unto you.

I mean, God is going to obligate Himself.

He is going to be available to you.

You might not be having, you might be feeling a little bit not worried, but you're concerned that you're not going to hear, you're not going to know.

Yes, you will.

He knows how to reach you right where you are.

He knows how to reach you right where you are.

He knows you better than you know yourself.

Everybody say the laying on of hands.

Jesus did it all the time.

They brought into him.

Mark chapter 1, they brought him people.

Mark 1 · chapter mention

You know, after a long day of meeting, they brought him people and he laid hands on every one of them and healed them all, and demons came out of a bunch of them.

He laid hands on everybody.

That's right, amen.

And of the resurrection of the dead and of eternal judgment.

See, these are foundational uh foundational doctrines.

And so today we're going to lay hands on you.

So I want you to have this confession of what you believe is going to happen when hands are laid upon you.

And I want you to raise your hand, your right hand to heaven, and I want you to make this confession with me.

Everybody make this confession.

Today, today, when Pastor Griner lays hands on me, I believe I receive the anointing to receive all the new things in 2026 that God has reserved for me.

My faith in this word for 2026 makes a demand on my covenant.

I believe I receive today, and I shall have the new things that are reserved for me.

Amen.

Come on, let's lift our hands right now.

Father, we thank you in advance.