Occupy the Promise

[SPEAKER_01]: Joshua chapter 1, we're going to read verses 1 through 5 and then we're going to jump down and read verses 10 through 11.

Joshua 1 · chapter mention

[SPEAKER_01]: Joshua chapter 1, verse 1, it says, after the death of Moses, the Lord's servant, the Lord spoke to Joshua, son of none who had served Moses.

Joshua 1:1

[SPEAKER_01]: Moses, my servant is dead.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now you and all the people prepare, I might say prepare.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm prepared to cross over the Jordan to the land I am giving the Israelites.

[SPEAKER_01]: I have given you every place where the soul of your foot treads, just as I promise Moses.

[SPEAKER_01]: Your territory will be from the wilderness in Lebanon to the Great Euphrates River all the land of the Hittites and west of the Mediterranean Sea.

[SPEAKER_01]: No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live.

[SPEAKER_01]: I will be with you just as I was with Moses.

[SPEAKER_01]: I will not leave you or forsake you.

[SPEAKER_01]: Jump down to verse 10, we'll read verses 10 through 11.

[SPEAKER_01]: It says that Joshua commanded the officers of the people.

[SPEAKER_01]: Go through the camp and tell the people, get provisions ready for yourselves for within three days.

[SPEAKER_01]: You will be crossing the Jordan to go in and take possession of the land.

[SPEAKER_01]: The Lord your God is giving you to inherit.

[SPEAKER_01]: So if you're taking notes this morning, the title of today's message is Occupy the Promise.

[SPEAKER_01]: Occupy the Promise.

[SPEAKER_01]: Somebody say Occupy the Promise.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I'll talk to the person next to you point right at him.

[SPEAKER_01]: Find somebody and say Occupy the Promise.

[SPEAKER_01]: There you go, occupy the promise.

[SPEAKER_01]: Father, we thank you for your word today.

[SPEAKER_01]: We thank you for the truth of your word, the revelation of your word.

[SPEAKER_01]: We receive your word today, just as Eric said earlier, your word, Father, has so much power to just transform our very lies in our situation.

[SPEAKER_01]: So we thank you that your word is coming alive today for us.

[SPEAKER_01]: And it's being activated on our behalf.

[SPEAKER_01]: Amen.

[SPEAKER_01]: Occupy the promise.

[SPEAKER_01]: So as we spend today and probably next week, you know, talking about preparing for the harvest, we've been talking about preparing the last couple of weeks as we launched this series, talking about shaking us up and really shaking us up is really crying out to the Lord and say, God, prepare us for what you want to do.

[SPEAKER_01]: prepare us for how you're moving and what you want to do in our lives and when it comes to this story in Joshua chapter one there's actually a lot of preparation that's taking place both on behalf of the Lord and on behalf of the leaders of Israel as they're preparing to go into the Promised Land.

[SPEAKER_01]: And let me tell you obtaining the Promised Land does not come without tremendous

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I'm just, you know, I don't just fall into your lap.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, just step into the promise land.

[SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes it takes some preparation.

[SPEAKER_01]: We've been talking the past four Sundays of how the Lord's preparing us.

[SPEAKER_01]: And when we say, shake us up, Lord, what we're really saying is Lord prepare us.

[SPEAKER_01]: Shake us up violently, but Lord prepare us in the shaking.

[SPEAKER_01]: Prepare us in for this next season of harvest like we talked about last week.

[SPEAKER_01]: Prepare us for this next outpouring of your spirit.

[SPEAKER_01]: Prepare us personally as we get prepared corporately for what's to come.

[SPEAKER_01]: If the truth be told, there's probably many times when you feel as though you're absolutely on the cusp of the Promised Land or on the cusp of the Promised from God, but when you get there a wave of opposition and resistance hits you.

[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, is anybody ever been there before?

[SPEAKER_01]: When you feel like you're just right at the brink of it, right at the cusp of it, like you're really about to step into the promise and or you're really about to receive that promise from God and all of a sudden, there are some resistance and there's some opposition that will hit you, that will knock you.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's like a wave that comes.

[SPEAKER_01]: Has anyone ever been there before?

[SPEAKER_01]: Where you're literally about to touch that promise and boom out of nowhere, resistance or an attack hits you.

[SPEAKER_01]: And whatever the promise land is to you, whether that's your marriage getting better or your family getting saved or the relationship that you have being restored or landing that big promotion or whatever that promise may look like to you.

[SPEAKER_01]: Then the enemy came in and he tried to rob what God had for you and listened, I want you to know something this morning.

[SPEAKER_01]: You are not crazy.

[SPEAKER_01]: You are not less spiritual.

[SPEAKER_01]: And there isn't anything wrong with you just because you are on the edge of the promise and resistance met you and opposition hits you, doesn't mean that there's something wrong

[SPEAKER_01]: As often times, I believe we would believe the lie of the enemy and believe the deception and the deception would be that when I'm on the break of stepping into my promise land and resistance hits me, I must have been doing something wrong.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's actually far from the truth.

[SPEAKER_01]: As a matter of fact, the fact that the enemy would try to barge in on your promise, try to barge in on your promise land and create some sort of resistance is actually an indication that that promise really does belong to you.

[SPEAKER_01]: Resistance in opposition is not a sign that it's not yours, but rather it's the enemy trying to catch you off guard to rob you and to take away that promise and to rob you of that blessing.

[SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes when you get resistance in life and the enemy is on really full-scale operation

[SPEAKER_01]: What I've noticed more times than not, unfortunately, is that we tend to just kind of pack our bags and just decide, you know, maybe it's not for me, maybe this, maybe this season is not my opportune season, maybe this is not the promise that I was expecting for the promise land that I was believing in.

[SPEAKER_01]: Expecting there to be no enemy, when in reality the enemy is certainly there You got to make up your mind that no matter what comes your way and no matter how much opposition and resistance to enemies throws at you You will obtain your promise

[SPEAKER_01]: Can you just make up your mind with that this morning?

[SPEAKER_01]: That no matter what comes my way and no matter how much the enemy bucks up against me and how much resistance and opposition meets me no matter what, I will obtain the promise.

[SPEAKER_01]: Because if God spoke it, it's gonna happen.

[SPEAKER_01]: Hallelujah.

[SPEAKER_01]: So in Joshua 1, if you grew up in church, it always seemed like the promise land was really heaven itself.

[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, we're going into the, the Israelites, they're going into the promised land.

[SPEAKER_01]: The land that's flowing with milk and honey, the Bible says, and you can just imagine this beautiful place with no issues, no problems.

[SPEAKER_01]: milk and honey is just flowing.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know what that means.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't even know what that looks like.

[SPEAKER_01]: It just kind of makes me think a willy walk in the chocolate factory.

[SPEAKER_01]: When they go into the factory and there's a river of chocolate, come on somebody.

[SPEAKER_01]: And no matter what you touch no matter what you see, it's like everything is candy and it's chocolate.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's all edible and it's this this luscious amazing experience and I think that many times I don't know about you but for me when I was growing up hearing the story about the Israelites going into the land The promised land the land flowing with milk and honey.

[SPEAKER_01]: I thought man.

[SPEAKER_01]: That must be heaven itself But it certainly was not because that's like I got older.

[SPEAKER_01]: I realized that yes, it was a land of plenty

[SPEAKER_01]: But it also was a land that had giants occupying it.

[SPEAKER_01]: And heaven wouldn't be that way.

[SPEAKER_01]: So in Joshua 1, it's not a picture of us coming out of Egypt and then into heaven.

[SPEAKER_01]: But rather it's a picture of us coming out of sin and us coming out of the world and into a life of supernatural freedom.

[SPEAKER_01]: So in order for us to obtain the promised land church, it's important to know that there are some responsibilities that we have got to meet.

[SPEAKER_01]: Or there's some preparation, if you will, that must be done on our behalf.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, God promised you something.

[SPEAKER_01]: But now it's up to you and it's up to me to fulfill the responsibility that's necessary for us to obtain the promise land.

[SPEAKER_01]: And that comes in the form of preparation because you and I are called to occupy.

[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, do you believe that this morning?

[SPEAKER_01]: You and I are called to occupy.

[SPEAKER_01]: And listen, if you're fed up with what's happening in our education system, for example, then you need to quit sitting around and complaining about it.

[SPEAKER_01]: But maybe you need to get up, go back to school, get a degree, become a teacher, and reverse the curse.

[SPEAKER_01]: Well, that's preparation.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I'm just sitting back complaining about a thing.

[SPEAKER_01]: You actually do a thing, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: And you get sick and tired of what you're seeing in the entertainment world and movie theaters with all the junk that's out there.

[SPEAKER_01]: And if you're so sick and tired of all of that, well then simply become a film director and make a movie and bring glory to God out of it.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now these things sound really big and unachievable, but my point is is that you are called to occupy

[SPEAKER_01]: and occupying a land occupying a territory, occupying the promised land comes with preparation.

[SPEAKER_01]: And the only way that you're going to occupy is if you prepare.

[SPEAKER_01]: And we are called to occupy and here's the deal.

[SPEAKER_01]: Most of what we're dealing with today is stuff that could have been prevented.

[SPEAKER_01]: Had we got off of the pill in occupied land that was greater than the land that we were in.

[SPEAKER_01]: Well, everybody just kind of scoop forward on the edge of your seat for a second, everybody all over the room.

[SPEAKER_01]: Scoop forward to the edge of your seat.

[SPEAKER_01]: Kind of make a little bit of a turn, and I want you to put your hand on the back of your chair.

[SPEAKER_01]: Won't you to feel that?

[SPEAKER_01]: Feel that little bit of body heat on your chair?

[SPEAKER_01]: It's there, because your body's producing heat, I'm telling you it's there.

[SPEAKER_01]: But don't let that be the only thing you feel in church.

[SPEAKER_01]: If all you ever feel is a warmed up church chair, you're not preparing to occupy the land.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you can leave here today and you can say, I warmed up a chair in my seat fell real good.

[SPEAKER_01]: And that's all that you can leave here with today.

[SPEAKER_01]: You are not occupying the land that God has promised you.

[SPEAKER_01]: And you are not doing what God has called you to do in an act of preparation to achieve something that is far greater and far bigger than you could ever do.

[SPEAKER_01]: Anybody can warm a chair, but can you go and save a soul?

[SPEAKER_01]: Anybody can warm a chair.

[SPEAKER_01]: Anybody can.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I believe God is raising up a people who are greater than those that just carry the spirit of the world.

[SPEAKER_01]: And that are about to shake things up.

[SPEAKER_01]: Not just in Bedford, Texas, and at church of the city and nearby surrounding areas, but I believe that God is raising up a people in the earth right now today that's going to shake Washington, DC.

[SPEAKER_01]: that that's going to shake all of Hollywood, that's going to shake the market place, that's going to shake the places that we work at, that it's so on and so forth because I believe that God is serious in this hour and he is looking for people who are not interested in warming the chair but people who are interested in winning souls and

[SPEAKER_01]: and going after the things of God and in reaching the community and seeing the law saved and seeing families restored and embodies healed once again.

[SPEAKER_01]: I believe that's what God is interested in.

[SPEAKER_01]: And if you want to occupy that promise, if you want to take over that land, if you want to take that territory for the kingdom of God, then it comes with preparation.

[SPEAKER_01]: So this morning, if you're

[SPEAKER_01]: three steps to occupy the promise and number one is this is that you have got to get full of the promises of God.

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, get full of them.

[SPEAKER_01]: Get full of the promises of God.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know about you.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm sure this is true.

[SPEAKER_01]: But if I go like eat barbecue or something,

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, they called the meat sweats, oh, that's like, man, you just, you can get so full of food that you're miserable.

[SPEAKER_01]: Why don't anybody ever been there before?

[SPEAKER_01]: Thanks, given, Christmas, family gathering.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, the banana pudding, glory to God.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, you ate so much and you don't need that pudding, but it's looking right at you sitting there and it's like, come on, I'm here, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: And you're like, I can't, but then you do.

[SPEAKER_01]: And you get so full of food that it makes you want to do something.

[SPEAKER_01]: Either makes you want to just crash and take a nap, come on where the real people at, or it makes you come to the conclusion, I should not do that again.

[SPEAKER_01]: What am I doing?

[SPEAKER_01]: Why did I eat that much?

[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, we're here to eat that much, hudda.

[SPEAKER_01]: All right, I got something that's a little bit better.

[SPEAKER_01]: I went into it saying I'm not gonna eat that much, and now look at me.

[SPEAKER_01]: Oh.

[SPEAKER_01]: But let me tell you, when it comes to the promises of God, that's exactly how we got to be.

[SPEAKER_01]: We got to get so full that we are just bursting.

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean bursting with the goodness of God, the faithfulness of God, the victory that's in Christ Jesus, we get so full of the promise that, let me tell you, the only thing that can come out of us is the promise.

[SPEAKER_01]: We're so full of the promise that we don't even

[SPEAKER_01]: We don't even complain in, in gripe, any longer, but all of a sudden, the only thing that's coming out of our mouth is the thing that God said about me, and the thing that God promised me, and the thing that God said he was gonna lead me into, because I'm so full of the promise of God.

[SPEAKER_01]: The Bible says, Occupy and Luke, he says, Occupy until I return.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's time to occupy the promises of God in your life.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I'm to occupy the Promised Land, the thing that God has promised you, I want you to hit your neighbor and tell him it's time to occupy.

[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, tell him it's time to occupy.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's all right, maybe you'll remember that later then.

[SPEAKER_01]: Well, you don't feel like occupying.

[SPEAKER_01]: And remember that little man, they got me good.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's time to occupy.

[SPEAKER_01]: And what I love about the Lord,

[SPEAKER_01]: Is that the Lord always has a way of raising up a Joshua after a Moses?

[SPEAKER_01]: In other words, okay, Moses is dead now.

[SPEAKER_01]: We get it.

[SPEAKER_01]: Joshua chapter one.

[SPEAKER_01]: Moses has died.

[SPEAKER_01]: Moses didn't get the promise, but I'll just give it to Joshua.

[SPEAKER_01]: You see, church, the promise never goes away.

[SPEAKER_01]: We think sometimes we've missed it, or that we blew it, or that God forgot about us, no?

[SPEAKER_01]: Hear me, I call forth the Joshua inside of you.

[SPEAKER_01]: The Joshua inside of you.

[SPEAKER_01]: Come on now.

[SPEAKER_01]: The Moses in you may have not seen the promise.

[SPEAKER_01]: The Moses in you may have not stepped on the promise land.

[SPEAKER_01]: But I declare in Jesus' name that the Joshua, that's inside of you shall experience the promise, shall receive the promise, and shall walk in the promise, amen?

[SPEAKER_01]: You hear it all the time, this is a Joshua generation.

[SPEAKER_01]: You're either going to be or you're not.

[SPEAKER_01]: But I'm not going to let another generation pass me by where they say, well, Joshua's dead and now so and so is going to have the promise.

[SPEAKER_01]: No, Moses is dead and now Joshua will have the promise.

[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, I believe that in our lives, personally today, that the Joshua inside of you is going to obtain everything that God promised you, amen.

[SPEAKER_01]: Because listen, it's the minority, not the majority that moves God.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's the minority, not the majority that moves God.

[SPEAKER_01]: God will never allow the fear of the multitude to drown out the faith of the minority.

[SPEAKER_01]: Say one more time, God will never allow the fear of the multitude to drown out the faith of the minority.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_01]: It may just be two or three, but my Bible says we're two or three are gathered, there he is in the midst.

[SPEAKER_01]: It may just be two or three, and you may feel like it's the minority, how can we obtain this promise?

[SPEAKER_01]: How can we walk in this promise and God is moved by the faith of the minority?

[SPEAKER_01]: Have you ever felt like you were one of very few?

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm one of very few that believes this way, that lives this way, that acts this way, that once this bad, I must just be one of very few.

[SPEAKER_01]: You see, the enemy wants to lie to you and make you believe that the multitude is gonna drown you out.

[SPEAKER_01]: But hear me loud and clear church,

[SPEAKER_01]: God is patient with those who have faith.

[SPEAKER_01]: God is patient with those who have faith.

[SPEAKER_01]: He may not have a lot of faith for the promise, but you may have some.

[SPEAKER_01]: And God is so majestic and so amazing in the sense that he will bless us for the little bit of faith that we do have.

[SPEAKER_01]: The Lord will allow you to outlive everyone else, just so He can fulfill the promise of God.

[SPEAKER_01]: Remember, I've preached this story before, but remember, 40 years before this point, all of the spies went into the land, and they all ended up dying throughout this whole process, but God kept Joshua, so that He could lead the people of God into the land flowing with milk and honey.

[SPEAKER_01]: So there are going to be people in your life that can't go to the promised land with you.

[SPEAKER_01]: Because they might not have the faith that you have to believe like you do.

[SPEAKER_01]: You're still believing in the promise of God that he has spoken to you, even though you haven't seen anything change.

[SPEAKER_01]: You still believe in the promise of God that he's spoken to, even though things seem like they aren't any better.

[SPEAKER_01]: You still believe in the promise of God that he has spoken to you, even though the resistance in the opposition keeps coming your way.

[SPEAKER_01]: Where others said, you know what?

[SPEAKER_01]: I just quit.

[SPEAKER_01]: I give up.

[SPEAKER_01]: You have remained faithful.

[SPEAKER_01]: You said, I've got a promise.

[SPEAKER_01]: And if all I've got is a promise from God that's all I need to occupy when He's provided.

[SPEAKER_01]: You got a promise, and let me tell you, ain't no devil in hell going to steal away that from you.

[SPEAKER_01]: He ain't going to take it from you.

[SPEAKER_01]: So if you ain't full of nothing but a promise, then let me tell you that's all you need.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you're not full of nothing but a promise, that's all you need.

[SPEAKER_01]: Somebody shout out loud, just say, I'm full of the promises of God.

[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, make a declaration.

[SPEAKER_01]: No tell your neighbor, tell yourself, come on, declare it, say, I'm full of the promises of God.

[SPEAKER_01]: Amen, who am I talking to this morning in your own house, some of you growing up, you have people who told you you would never amount to anything.

[SPEAKER_01]: I had that in my life.

[SPEAKER_01]: I even remember, when we went to go start the church, a family member said, it's never going to work, it's going to crash and burn.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's what a family member told me of all

[SPEAKER_01]: People told you you never meant to anything.

[SPEAKER_01]: They said your daddy was a loser, your mama was a loser, your whole family, where it was all messed up.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's something that was on the inside of you that said, I ain't living like the rest of those jokers.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not gonna quit like the rest of them quits.

[SPEAKER_01]: But I'm holding on to what God said about me.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm holding on to the promises of God that are yes and amen.

[SPEAKER_01]: And if he is faithful to do it then, he'll be faithful to do it now.

[SPEAKER_01]: So don't let your past and your family's situations and the way that you grew up and the things that were negatively spoken over you to steer you away

[SPEAKER_01]: Because if God says the thing, He fulfills the thing.

[SPEAKER_01]: And He don't need man to approve it.

[SPEAKER_01]: He don't need no conformations.

[SPEAKER_01]: I've just looked at from my confirmation, God says, I don't need no conformations.

[SPEAKER_01]: If I said it, it's going to happen.

[SPEAKER_01]: So number one, you got to just be full of the promises of God.

[SPEAKER_01]: And number two is you got to continuously speak the promise.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you're full of it, you're going to speak about it anyways, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: But you got to continuously speak the promise.

[SPEAKER_01]: Here we charge you, we know this, but we got to be so careful what we say.

[SPEAKER_01]: We got to be so careful what we allow that comes out of our mouth.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know?

[SPEAKER_01]: You can, man, you can really,

[SPEAKER_01]: mess up a person just by saying something to them, you know?

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean you can really you can really get people's going off on a wrong direction and a wrong course just by something that was said to them.

[SPEAKER_01]: Not even something that was done but something that was said.

[SPEAKER_01]: Oh not to a dog.

[SPEAKER_01]: I know you're talking about my dog but bless my dog.

[SPEAKER_01]: Because sometimes you open the door of the enemy by speaking things you should have never said.

[SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes the enemy will come in like a flood just based on you opening your mouth saying the wrong thing.

[SPEAKER_01]: You say, I don't know what, how is this happening?

[SPEAKER_01]: What's going on?

[SPEAKER_01]: It's because you said a thing that you should have never said, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: And the Bible says that life and death are in the power of the tongue.

[SPEAKER_01]: and watch there are there are people wondering why they can't see the blessing of the Lord and they're wondering why they can't see the promise of God in their lives because they're blessing the Lord on Sunday and they're cursing him on Monday.

[SPEAKER_01]: And maybe it's not directly at the Lord, but maybe you're blessing the Lord lifting your hands on Sunday, but you have nothing good to say about your coworker Monday through Friday.

[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe you're a blessing the Lord on Sunday, but all that comes out of your mouth all week long is complete after complete, after complete.

[SPEAKER_01]: Of all the things that you can come up to complain about, that's happening in your life.

[SPEAKER_01]: And yet you show up to church on Sunday, and you say, God, I want the promise.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm believing for the promise.

[SPEAKER_01]: God, whatever you tell me to do, whatever you tell me to say, God, I'll do it, I'll have it, I'll speak it, God.

[SPEAKER_01]: And then during the week, we're living our lives like we're a bunch of fools that forgot, exactly what we said Sunday morning.

[SPEAKER_01]: People believe it for the promise, their mouth is full of venom.

[SPEAKER_01]: People believe it for the promise, but yet there's toxic thoughts are becoming toxic words, and it's spewing out of their mouth while they're just waiting on the Lord.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's kind of like this.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you can't speak it in faith, you probably shouldn't speak it at all.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you can't speak it in faith, you probably shouldn't speak it at all.

[SPEAKER_01]: In other words, what I'm saying is this, if God has given you the promise and you're full of the promises of God, don't you dare open your mouth and complain about the fact that you haven't seen the promise yet.

[SPEAKER_01]: Don't be griping and complaining to people because, oh well God told me something but I haven't seen it come to pass yet.

[SPEAKER_01]: You gotta be careful what you say.

[SPEAKER_01]: If God spoke it, tell you, you got to stand on the truth of that promise, and that's got to be the only thing that comes out of your mouth.

[SPEAKER_01]: Even if you got away for 40 years, like Joshua did, now I know none of us want to hear that.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's not a clergy pastor.

[SPEAKER_01]: 40 years?

[SPEAKER_01]: I've waited long enough.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't want to wait 40 years either, but Joshua had away 40 extra years.

[SPEAKER_01]: But I wonder, during that 40-year duration of time, did Joshua wake up every morning and say, well, God, are you gonna do it?

[SPEAKER_01]: God are you gonna ever come through for me?

[SPEAKER_01]: God are you gonna ever answer my prayer?

[SPEAKER_01]: See, it sounds a lot like you and I sometimes were, we get frustrated with God's lack of movement.

[SPEAKER_01]: And God is actually doing something, you just don't see it.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's actually working things as the Bible says.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's working all things out for your good.

[SPEAKER_01]: You may not know all of the moving parts and all of the moving pieces, but that's the point.

[SPEAKER_01]: You're not supposed to know.

[SPEAKER_01]: Your spouse just have faith.

[SPEAKER_01]: Faith believing in the promise that he has spoken over you.

[SPEAKER_01]: Faith that says, I will stand no matter what.

[SPEAKER_01]: Faith that says, even no, I don't see it happening and even though the ball's not even moving, it's okay, I'm gonna just speak the promises of God.

[SPEAKER_01]: Why are you saying all this past here?

[SPEAKER_01]: I'll tell you why, because you've got to position your mouth to receive the promise before you can even walk in the promise.

[SPEAKER_01]: You've got to position your mouth to receive the promise before you even walk in the promise.

[SPEAKER_01]: God spoke to Joshua and he says in three days, you will walk into the promise land.

[SPEAKER_01]: Joshua didn't say, well, God, I don't know about that.

[SPEAKER_01]: Well, Lord, it's been 40 years and now you're gonna tell me to wait three more days.

[SPEAKER_01]: Why can't you do it today?

[SPEAKER_01]: He didn't start talking, just for the sake of talking.

[SPEAKER_01]: God said, go tell the people to get prepared because we're crossing over into the Promised Land in three days.

[SPEAKER_01]: The Omedia, yes of Joshua who understood the assignment in that new, I'm gonna occupy the promise.

[SPEAKER_01]: He marched straight into the camp, and the first thing that came out of his mouth is in three days.

[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to be crossing over the Jordan into the promised land so get ready.

[SPEAKER_01]: You can have what you say.

[SPEAKER_01]: You can have what you speak.

[SPEAKER_01]: And if you're, if your mouth is, is not going to speak the promise.

[SPEAKER_01]: Let me tell you, you'll never walk in the promise.

[SPEAKER_01]: You just never will.

[SPEAKER_01]: And listen, church, God ain't gonna bless the mess in your mouth, but he will bless the faithfulness and the steadfastness of your heart.

[SPEAKER_01]: So if he's promised you a thing, and you have nothing good to say about it right now, you need to start changing the way you speak.

[SPEAKER_01]: If it's been some time and you're tired of waiting, quit saying that you're tired of waiting.

[SPEAKER_01]: and just start talking the promise out.

[SPEAKER_01]: Said a saying, well, I don't know if it's ever gonna happen.

[SPEAKER_01]: I've been waiting this long.

[SPEAKER_01]: You instead, you could say, when it does happen, yeah, when I do see the promise, when I do step into the promise land that God has promised me, see, when you start changing the way you speak, let me tell you what happens.

[SPEAKER_01]: Automatically, there's an instant increase of faith in your life.

[SPEAKER_01]: And you go from having hardly little to no faith to believe for a thing to all of a sudden standing in a place of total victory that saying, I know what God has promised me and I'm gonna speak it until it comes to pass.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't care what comes my way in the opposition and the resistance that is coming against me.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm gonna declare a thing until it is rightfully mine and in my position.

[SPEAKER_01]: Just trying to help this morning, I'm not pointing fingers, but I'm saying some of you have got to change the way you talk.

[SPEAKER_01]: I can't change that for you.

[SPEAKER_01]: Your spouse can't change that for you.

[SPEAKER_01]: Your best friend can't change that for you.

[SPEAKER_01]: You just simply got to wake up one morning to side.

[SPEAKER_01]: I am sick and tired of talking the way that I talk about this.

[SPEAKER_01]: And start changing the way you talk.

[SPEAKER_01]: sound like your victorious for crying out loud.

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, Jesus didn't come for, he didn't, he didn't come and he ain't coming back for a messed up broken church.

[SPEAKER_01]: He says, I'm coming back for a spotless bride.

[SPEAKER_01]: I know there's some stuff that we're gonna go through.

[SPEAKER_01]: I know some challenges that we're gonna have to face.

[SPEAKER_01]: I get it.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not discrediting any of that.

[SPEAKER_01]: I understand that there's gonna be times where we don't feel like we have much faith and there's gonna be times when we're facing storms all around us and that resistance is right there.

[SPEAKER_01]: We may not look like we're in the best position.

[SPEAKER_01]: Again, but at the same time, God is looking for something specific.

[SPEAKER_01]: And what if you've been waiting all of this time, just to simply change how you talk?

[SPEAKER_01]: What if God has been waiting to literally hand the blessing over to you until you change the way you speak about it?

[SPEAKER_01]: What if God has been withholding the blessing from you because you still don't know how to honor people in your life?

[SPEAKER_01]: Well, what if what if God has been holding back the blessing because you don't know how to act when you're put in situations that rub you wrong?

[SPEAKER_01]: And what if he's saying until they get their act together, until they start speaking differently, I'm going to hold this same back.

[SPEAKER_01]: He got held back for Moses.

[SPEAKER_01]: Moses.

[SPEAKER_01]: Moses.

[SPEAKER_01]: One of the greatest of all greats, like the goat of the Bible.

[SPEAKER_01]: He got held back from him in his skip generations and landed on Joshua.

[SPEAKER_01]: Listen, God don't play.

[SPEAKER_01]: Says, I don't care how spiritual you think you are.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't care if you can preach a sermon.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't care if you've memorized 20 scriptures in one month.

[SPEAKER_01]: Kudos to you, baby.

[SPEAKER_01]: But I will skip right over and go on to the next.

[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, my help anybody today.

[SPEAKER_01]: Is that help passing?

[SPEAKER_01]: You're just stepping all over our toes.

[SPEAKER_01]: No, I'm not.

[SPEAKER_01]: Step on.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now, maybe step it on your heart.

[SPEAKER_01]: Bless you, Eric.

[SPEAKER_01]: That would actually be on the news.

[SPEAKER_01]: All right, you know, Pastor speaks out and faith a step on toes and then he crushes the foot of a congregant that breaks their foot, has to go the emergency room.

[SPEAKER_01]: My God.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now, now, congregant, once faithful, loyal, dedicated to the house of the Lord, is suing the pastor and the church for all of their money and possession is asking for all of their tie that they ever gave back to them because of their damages.

[SPEAKER_01]: Anyways, stuff like that really does happen.

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, just saying.

[SPEAKER_01]: Number three.

[SPEAKER_01]: Don't stop preparing for the promise.

[SPEAKER_01]: Don't stop preparing for the promise.

[SPEAKER_01]: Don't stop preparing for the promise.

[SPEAKER_01]: Don't stop preparing for the promise.

[SPEAKER_01]: On Jesus.

[SPEAKER_01]: Come on this morning, who are the people that are in here today that can stand to your feet and say, hell or high water, I will possess the land that God has promised me and nothing's going to stop me and nothing is going to hold me back.

[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, who are those people today that can boldly stand upon their feet?

[SPEAKER_01]: And say, I don't care, the resistance, I don't care the opposition.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't care if family members turned me away.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't care if I lose my best friend.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't care if I lose my job.

[SPEAKER_01]: But I will stand firm in the promises of God.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I will occupy the land that he has promised me.

[SPEAKER_01]: Hallelujah.

[SPEAKER_01]: Hallelujah.

[SPEAKER_01]: Let's sit down.

[SPEAKER_01]: Glory to God, taught in here.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now I love Joshua chapter one, verse 10.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now we read for first five verses.

[SPEAKER_01]: We jump down to verse 10 and we read verses 10 through 11.

[SPEAKER_01]: I love Joshua chapter one, verse 10.

[SPEAKER_01]: Because God makes it very clear that before you go occupy the land, Joshua, you gotta tell the people to get ready.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now some of your versions of your Bible may say,

[SPEAKER_01]: That's exactly what we're talking about here.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's exactly what we're looking for.

[SPEAKER_01]: Joshua goes to the people and he says, we have got to prepare because in three days we're crossing over.

[SPEAKER_01]: The Lord tells Joshua to tell the people what you've been waiting for for 40 years is about to happen.

[SPEAKER_01]: Wait a second, 40 years in the wilderness.

[SPEAKER_01]: How is that preparation?

[SPEAKER_01]: Like, they struggled and people died.

[SPEAKER_01]: And they had hardly anything to live off of.

[SPEAKER_01]: They were starving, they were all kinds of stuff that they had to endure and go through.

[SPEAKER_01]: And let me just tell you something to help you out this morning.

[SPEAKER_01]: I cannot recall the last time God promised me something and I didn't have to go through some stuff first.

[SPEAKER_01]: We say, oh my God, I got it, I'm going through all this now.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, God's preparing you.

[SPEAKER_01]: More resistance is coming my way, yep, God's preparing you.

[SPEAKER_01]: Another wave of opposition, yep, you got that right.

[SPEAKER_01]: God's preparing you.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so many times we look at that as a sign that we're never going to get there when it's actually should be a sign that God is preparing you for what's to come.

[SPEAKER_01]: You see, there are seasons where you assume you're ready because of all that it took to get to that point, but it's not a matter of time or even what you went through or that you didn't go through.

[SPEAKER_01]: The question remains, are you ready?

[SPEAKER_01]: God is not concerned with all of the good days and all of the bad days and the duration of time that it took to get you to this point.

[SPEAKER_01]: God is not concerned with any of that.

[SPEAKER_01]: The simple question is, are you ready?

[SPEAKER_01]: Because one would guess that after 40 years of waiting when God spoke to Joshua and Joshua spoke to the people that people would have said, we're ready to go right now.

[SPEAKER_01]: One would guess so that they would have already been ready after 40 years.

[SPEAKER_01]: But obviously there were things that they had to work out.

[SPEAKER_01]: There were things that they had to go through for 40 years and they needed three years.

[SPEAKER_01]: Three days excuse me to prepare to cross over.

[SPEAKER_01]: Are you ready?

[SPEAKER_01]: Because some people are really good at waiting, but not good at getting ready.

[SPEAKER_01]: Really good at waiting, but not good at getting ready.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you're like me, you're awake in the morning, but you just don't want to get out of bed.

[SPEAKER_01]: You like waiting around for a little bit.

[SPEAKER_01]: And if you got a loving wife that keeps telling you, get up and get ready.

[SPEAKER_01]: I heard this said plenty of times.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not gonna tell you again, this is your last warning, you better get up.

[SPEAKER_01]: Or else I'm gonna leave you here.

[SPEAKER_01]: You might get up, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: Something about the waiting that we think, man, in this waiting, I'll be rewarded.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, you can be rewarded in the waiting, but there's nothing like getting up.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's nothing like getting ready for what God has called you to.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now in your preparing God will prepare you in many ways.

[SPEAKER_01]: There'll be times when he prepares you by a gentle review or by cutting some things off in your life.

[SPEAKER_01]: But at other times, the preparing will look like joy and celebration.

[SPEAKER_01]: It will look like victory.

[SPEAKER_01]: It will look like something a shout about and dance about and to rejoice about, come on somebody.

[SPEAKER_01]: Where's your team?

[SPEAKER_01]: However, the preparation looks, I want to encourage you this morning.

[SPEAKER_01]: Don't stop preparing.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know how the preparation looks for you.

[SPEAKER_01]: but don't stop preparing.

[SPEAKER_01]: Even in times of frustration, don't stop preparing.

[SPEAKER_01]: Even in times of confusion or lack of confidence, don't stop preparing.

[SPEAKER_01]: I just don't know who needs to hear that this morning, but I believe that with all my heart, that if we can get into a place where we just say, I don't care, I'm just not gonna stop.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't care what they say, I don't care how I feel, I don't care if this is not lined up properly, if things are not right in the right order, I don't care I'm not going to stop preparing.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not going to stop preparing.

[SPEAKER_00]: For more information about Church of the City, head on over to www.cotcdfw.com.

[SPEAKER_00]: And until next time, remember this, the best is yet to come.