The Pleasance of Presence

Well, good morning.

Welcome to the church in Chelsea, Westover.

Come on, let's stand together and let's worship the Lord today.

How many of you know He's not done with us yet?

Amen.

He has great things planned for us.

He says, I will provide for you.

I will take care of you.

Come on, let's put our hands together like this.

You are not done yet.

Come on, lift your voice.

God of the promise, God of the future, you see beginning and then.

God of the rest, God of the break, how great is your faithfulness.

You're not done yet.

Come on, no eye, no eye is ever seen, no ear is ever heard, no one can ever comprehend.

Your word will be enough.

Your promise we will trust.

The greater things will still ahead.

You're not done yet.

You're not done yet.

God in my seed, God in my dream, you put a song in my soul.

God in the word, God and belief, you do the impossible.

You're not done.

No, no eyes ever seen, no one is ever hurt, no one can be hate.

No one will be always we will trust He's up to something, you're up to something right now, you're doing a new thing right now.

God let your glory come down.

Don't hold back, don't hold back, yes, you're up to something right now.

You're doing a new thing right now.

God let your glory come down.

Don't hold back, don't hold back, yes, you're holding out just right now.

You wanna cheat right now, right now.

God let you hold it, come down, don't hold back, don't hold back, don't you?

Don't you tell her?

We're the thankful, so thankful Come on, the Lord is good, worthy to be praised as the spirit was moving over the water, spirit come move over us, come rest on us, come rest on us, as spirit was moving over the water, spirit come move over us.

Come rest on us, come rest on us, calm down, spirit when you move you make our When you feel the room, you're hearing I know you are moving, I'm here and I know you will feel me calm down.

Spirit when you move you make heart now when you feel the room, you're hearing I know you are moving.

I'm here and I know you will feel big Come on, let's lift it up as a spirit was moving over the water, spirit come move over us, come rest on us, come rest on us, as a spirit was move over the waters, spirit come move over us, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Come rest on us, come back, fire in the wind, come to it again, open up the gates, that heavy morning, come restore us, come restore us, fire in the wind, come to it again, open up the gates that have been all in, come restore us, come rest all us, come down, spirit when you do we make hot down, when you feel the room, you're hearing I told you a movie, I'm hearing I told you will feel me calm down, Spirit when you do be heart down, when you feel the room, you're hearing until you are moving, I'm hearing, I told you will give me a strongness, you're all we want the only one, you're all we want, you're all we want, girl, we don't feel it when you make a hard time when you feel the room, you want to hear it, I know you want to be I know you will feel the count Spirit when you make a heart back, when you feel the room, I hear it, I know you want to move, I hear it, I know you will be calm down, spirit when you make heart down, when you feel the room, you'll hear it, I know you won't come in, I'll hear it, I know you will feel me calm down, spirit when you will be heart now, when you feel the room, you'll hear it, I know you won't move it.

I'll hear it, I know you won't feel good.

Come and feel it, come and feel the same.

You're all we want.

Heavenly Father, we just thank you, God, for being so we just want to say, Oh my life, you have been faithful.

Yes, you have faith.

Oh my life, you have been so so good with every breath that I am made for, so I will speak of the goodness of God You have made me to the fire in the darkest times, I close my no.

I love you as a father, I love you as a faith in the day.

Oh my life you have been faith.

Oh my life you have been so it's running, it's running, it's running.

Oh my life, you have anything.

Yes, you have more, yes, you have more.

Oh my life, you have been so every breath that I can make.

Oh, I will think of the day of my kingdom.

If the Lord's been good to you, if He's been good to you.

Oh, come on, let's pray this today to this holy place.

You're such a good, good, good Father.

You're such a good guy.

You know, I was thinking back this past week after the Lambers shared their testimony, and I'm sure many of you like me have a testimony that we get to share of just how faithful God has been to each of us.

He's such a faithful guy.

And I don't know many of us may be going through different things in this season of life, but guess what?

All the things that I've been through, he's been faithful, every single one of them.

And I was just thinking about yesterday about just his faithfulness.

And I think that's what's going on with something that was.

Come on, let it out today.

Come on, my song, oh, don't you get shy on me, lift up your soul, because you've got a lion inside of those lungs, get a bed.

No, it's not much.

In John chapter six, we see a story of five thousand men, women, and children who are hungry, and there's one little boy there, and all he has is his lunch.

And the little boy gave it all to Jesus.

And the result of that story, Jesus blessed what the boy gave, and he fed all the people, and there were a bunch of leftovers, and there were up to 20,000 people who had one story about that event, and that story was that Jesus fed me when I had nothing to eat.

But there was one little boy who had a different story.

His story was this: I gave Jesus everything I had.

And he fed 20,000 people.

Hey, that little boy didn't have anything that was fit for a king.

He had no way to meet the needs of those people.

All he could do was give Jesus everything he had.

And he did it.

And so the question that we have today is as we're about to start talking about the army of the Lord getting organized, will you give it?

Even if you don't think it's enough, even if you believe you've got nothing to give the Lord, will you give him what you have?

And see what he's capable of doing.

Pastor Rick's got a great message coming with us this morning about Joshua chapter 5.

Joshua 5 · chapter mention

I know he's ready.

There's a remarkable experience in this chapter we're going to get to hear about today.

But before we do that, guest, if it's your first time with us, thank you so much for being here.

We know there's a lot of places you could have been on this Sunday morning.

We are honored that you're here.

If you are a guest, we would love it if you would take CCW guest to 94,000.

And we have a gift for you out of Info Central when the message is over.

Before Pastor Rick comes, if you guys would take about a minute and a half, greet each other, shake hands, hug necks, and tell each other you're glad to be in the house of the Lord.

What would we do?

Moses had led the children of Israel for 40 years.

He had been the ones who had set the original law.

And then all at once, Moses discovered.

It came to pass that the Lord spake unto Joshua.

Now therefore, arise and go over this church, unto the land that I discipline, even to the children of Israel.

Every sleep that the soul of your ship shall put upon, that have I given unto you.

As I said, I will give the name.

There shall not any man be able to stand before thee by the days of thy life.

I will not fail thee, and therefore he obeys to our people, he shall be a victory for the Lord thy God is with thee wherever you go.

Amen.

Glad to be here this morning.

You know, last week I shared some things going on in culture that raised some big red flags.

And uh I asked for prayer over that, and it is tragic.

But God is on the throne, and this week, all in culture, all in news, there's been something really exciting that we should be posting and reposting and sharing and liking and sharing with others about.

And so I'm gonna have some photos that are coming up, but 11 days ago, I'm reading from an excerpt, February 8th, at Asbury Chapel in Wilmore, Kentucky, several students in a regular chapel service were called to respond to a message of confession.

It was said that over dozens responded to that, and a remnant stuck around after chapel, and they began to praise their God in spontaneous worship.

Soon professors came into the chapel, local church leaders began to arrive, seminary students, all of them praying, worshiping, praising, confessing, repenting, God together.

Uh, one wrote about this that voices are ringing out, people are bowing at the altar, arms are stretched wide.

A pair of friends cling to each other in a hug, one with tears.

A group crowd the piano and flawlessly switch from song to song.

No one wants to leave.

Later on in the week, I saw uh where a post was put out from Lee University.

One of uh their presidents said, What's happening at Asbury is not and will not remain confined.

It will and already is awakening the deep wells of revival on campuses across the nation.

Soon after Lee University president wrote that they had a chapel service that has not ended, it's continued on and on and burst into new life.

I got an email from the director of ministries at Samford University this week, and I was told that the same thing happened at a chapel service there.

Over 25 college campuses in our nation are experiences chapel service that have not ended.

Confession, repentance, worship, prayer, and more important than anything, the presence of an Almighty God.

Over a week ago, I got a frantic call from one of the staff members that said, Pastor, there's a fire in the field.

I said, What?

What are we talking about?

There's a fire in the field.

I've gotten called from our mom's day out.

There is a fire taken off.

So I stepped out of my office, the fire truck came blaring by.

I'm like, is this for real?

And I look up and there's smoke in the air, and there's ashes in the air, and I go out, I make my way around here, and I see for sure there is a fire that has taken off.

And I've never seen nothing like that.

I've never been that close to a fire that was happening in the moment.

Well, it got a hold of part of the woods.

You can go back here and see it's blackened to a crisp in places, and it took off, and a little bit of wind, you guys that work with fire, is amazing to see.

I mean, it just took off and it went down and it went behind the storage place over here, and then it took off down near the water utilities.

And I'm watching all that, and I kind of catch with my eye up around our mom's day outbuilding.

And so I make my way over there.

Somebody evidently had already plugged in a hose, didn't, I guess, plan on using it.

And this is what I didn't want in my church.

I didn't want anyone in my church to think that their pastor would not fight fire.

I'm here to fight fire, folks.

And so I went around there.

The hose was already there, and it was creeping down the back side of the building.

Now it wasn't building because there wasn't trees, it was dead grass.

But an inch high, that fire was coming.

And let me tell you, I grabbed a hold of that hose.

Look, I didn't have guys, y'all fire me, I didn't have any protective equipment.

It was just me against the elements.

And that wind was coming.

And we do have a uh a tank behind our building.

It was getting closer and closer.

You can go there now and eyewitness where I stopped the fire.

Okay, you can see it for yourself.

Don't let me know.

But I got thinking about that wildfire.

A little bit of wind caught that fire, and man, did it work fast.

It touched every available source of fire energy.

Fire needs a source, and let me tell you, if it has a source, it will move forward.

I got thinking about this movement, and I got a question for you.

The Holy Spirit, yes, has touched down at Asbury, yes, at Sanford and Lee University, but I want you to understand something this morning.

The Holy Spirit is not confined.

We have a God who is omnipresent, and he can be in any place, but he needs a fire source to continue moving.

And I can tell you this a cup of cold water on the fire source can extinguish things.

And so I want you to understand will you today be a part of the movement?

Weeks ago, God put forth this idea.

Burn the boats.

Are you all in?

For Israel, the promised land is one step away.

And today we're gonna see they have this one step left to prepare before they enter that land.

Are you prepared?

Father, we love you and we praise you, we thank you.

God, we understand that you are at work.

And God, that you would even see fit in the wickedness that's gone on all around us to touch down.

God, we don't even want to miss this moment.

Like last week, we celebrate, God, the moment.

God, you are at work and doing something right now.

We're not looking to what could be, we're looking at what is, and we're saying, thank you.

God, I know that you're saving and changing lives, but we ask, God, that at CCW, we right here would be a part of that move of God.

We're asking God that we would be a source for your fire to continue.

God burning us, that we can see you move.

We love you in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Look at Joshua chapter 5.

Joshua 5 · chapter mention

First thing we're gonna see this morning is the preparation for that promise.

Look down at verses 2 through 5, and then we'll read verse 8.

It says this.

At that time the Lord said to Joshua, make flint knives for yourself, and circumcise the sons of Israel again the second time.

So Joshua made flint knives for himself, circumcised the son of Israel at the hill of the four skins.

And this is the reason why Joshua circumcised them, all the people who came out of Egypt who were males, all the men of war who had died in the wilderness on the way after they had come out of Egypt.

For all the people who had come out had been circumcised, but all the people born in the wilderness, those forty years, on the way as they came out of Egypt, had not been circumcised.

Verse 8.

So it was when they had finished circumcising all the people that they stayed in their places in the camp until they were healed.

So we see in preparation for the promise, letter A is circumcision was a step of resignation.

Circumcision, you say, Pastor, this is a strange text to be starting off with.

I want you to see what we're getting at here.

Circumcision was first handed down as a physical sign to identify all male descendants of Abraham.

All men born in Egypt previous to the wilderness years had been circumcised according to the covenant.

The men born during the 40 years in the wilderness had not been circumcised.

So Israel was asked to remove flesh as a resignation.

Hear me.

It's a sign, a physical surgery with a spiritual implication.

Everyone that has this physical sign is a part of my people.

They're marked as my people.

A physical surgery with a spiritual sign.

We uh often hear sing a song, and it's called Run to the Father, and I love this phrase in it.

The song goes, Run to the Father, fall into grace.

I'm done with the hiding, no reason to wait.

My heart needs a surgeon.

My soul needs a friend, so I'll run to the Father again and again and again.

But it's saying my soul there needs a surgeon.

Colossians 3:1 tells us to mortify your members as instruments unto God.

Colossians 3:1

And so the question I have for you today is there a need for any spiritual surgery in your life?

A resignation.

Preparing for the promise he said you have to resign over.

Resignation means to give over, to lay down.

In your life today, there are things that probably need giving over.

Flesh things.

There's something that's just a little bit still involved in your life that's keeping you from being able to say, My boats have been burned and I am all in.

1 Corinthians 6.12, Paul says it this way.

All things are lawful for me.

It is legal for me to do anything I really want to do.

All things are lawful, but not everything is expedient.

Romans 13 14 says it this way, church, make no provision for the flesh.

You see, your humanity, your flesh will cause you to slip up.

I'm not saying you can't make a mistake, but he's saying don't make a provision for the flesh.

Well, in not making a provision for the flesh, we have to in turn make a provision for the Holy Spirit.

We're talking about catching the fire of God.

In order to do that, I gotta make room and space and I gotta get out the flesh.

He says, make no provision.

You're able, Paul said, to take part in anything you want.

But not all of it is good.

Let me give you an example.

A teenager years ago said to me, Pastor Rick, smoking weed is okay.

It's all natural.

After all, it's just a plant.

And when I smoke it, I feel in one with myself and nature.

And it's okay.

When I get high, that's okay, right?

It's it's it's all natural.

Right?

Poison ivy is a plant also.

And you can roll it up and smoke it, but I wouldn't advise that.

All things are legal.

It's okay.

You can do what you want to do, but not everything is good for you.

Give me a break.

Paul said you can do things, but it doesn't mean it's smart.

The Bible refers to our flesh in two ways.

One way is humans, animals, those things that are living.

The other way that it talks about our flesh is our propensity towards sin.

Our propensity towards doing the wrong thing.

Let me give you an idea.

Eating is good.

Amen?

Darren sends me a picture of something cooking on the grill every week.

Eating is good.

The lust for food, for my flesh, the Bible calls that gluttony.

Preachers don't preach a lot about gluttony.

I've been working out three years, so I can preach about it a little bit.

Okay?

It's wrong.

Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, so you should maintain it.

You should take care of it.

You should rest it.

Okay?

That's biblical.

You don't hear a lot of people preach on that.

But it's the truth.

You can lust after something and it not be a right thing.

That's a flesh thing.

Okay?

Married people, sexual desires are natural.

And let me tell you, you know, husbands like me for this today.

It's encouraged in this book.

Within marriage.

Within y'all, within marriage.

Okay?

It is encouraged.

But Galatians 5, 19 says the works of the flesh are evident.

Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, and lewdness.

We can take what God gives and twist it with just a little bit of flesh and make it wrong.

So he says, make no provision.

You want to catch the fire, God, make no provision.

There's people in here, you're idolizing things in your life.

You're making provisions.

And the lust part is perversions.

So what is the marker of your separation of your flesh?

Paul said, I'm crucified with Christ.

Crucify the flesh and the desires thereof.

And Jesus said it this way that you are for me or against me.

There's a line in the sand.

You don't get to sit on the fence over here and say, I'm all in except this part of my flesh that idolizes things, that has this desire.

I'm all in and I'm just hanging.

I'm right here on the fence.

There's no fence.

He says, You're for me or you're against me.

If you're riding the fence today, the Bible calls that in Revelations, a lukewarm Christian.

He says, I spew you out of my mouth.

Riding the fence is the enemy.

You're for me or against me.

Burning the boats, listen to me today, church.

You need flesh removal.

There needs to be a memorial stone where you resign things of the flesh.

Look down at verse 8.

He said again that they stayed in their places in the camp until they were healed.

Then the Lord said to Joshua, This day I've rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.

Therefore, the name of the place is called Gilgal to this day.

Now the children of Israel camped in Gilgal and kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight on the plains of Jericho.

And they ate the produce of the land on the day after the Passover, unleavened bread and parched grain on the very same day.

Then the manna ceased on the day after they had eaten the produce of the land, and the children of Israel no longer had manna, but they ate the food of the land of Canaan that year.

Letter B is this cleansing was a step of restitution, cleansing.

So we see three days according to Genesis 24, it would take post-circumcision.

Okay?

Now, I want y'all to think about something.

If your commander says to you, we're about to go into this land, we're about to go into battle, one minor detail, before we do, everybody's gonna be circumcised.

You're like, commander, I can think of a better way to start a fight.

What are your thoughts?

Understand, though, how much unity has to take place for every man to adhere to this.

It was a unified church burning of the boats.

We have to get to that land.

Not one man here after this causes a revolt.

Not one man.

Remember, 10, there was 12 of them.

Ten over here said, we can't do it.

And Joshua says, God has said, we're going to do the surgery and then fight.

Not too many people are signing up for a surgery and then I'm gonna go box.

And so he says, this, and it was unified.

Not one guy is over here in the corner trying to make a subplot, subplan.

Here's what I think the secret of this is.

Look at Joshua back at Joshua chapter 4.

Joshua 4 · chapter mention

Look at verse 14.

How could they listen to this commander with these ridiculous plans?

Oh, remember, they crossed over the Jordan.

Verse 14 of Joshua chapter 4.

Joshua 4 · chapter mention

On that day the Lord God exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel, and they feared him as they had feared Moses all the days of his life.

And so they seen this miracle, and God, and I don't know how it sounded, what it looked like, but they knew this is our commander whom God has exalted.

And thousands, if not millions, of people heard him say, This is our plan to go in, and not one person was disunified.

They were all in unity.

When God spake, Joshua listened.

They didn't fight.

You go all in.

And understand, John 10, 27 says this about us as we're unified in his purpose.

My sheep hear my voice.

They know me, and what do they do?

They follow me.

Everyone who's his sheep knows his voice.

And so when the presence of God comes into a place, we go, I know that.

I know that voice.

I know that feeling.

I know that whisper.

That's my God.

But what else did it say in those scriptures happen?

One really important uh moment there that you would just miss if you're reading it says, He rolled back the reproach of Egypt.

What is that talking about?

I want you to go back to Numbers chapter 14.

Numbers 14 · chapter mention

Couple of books back.

Numbers chapter 14.

Numbers 14 · chapter mention

We're gonna look at verses 11 through 14.

It says, Then the Lord said to Moses, How long will these people reject me?

And how long will they not believe me with all the signs which I've performed among them?

I'll strike them with pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than thee.

And Moses said to the Lord, Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for by your might you brought these people up from among them, and they will tell it into the inhabitants of the land.

And so we see this is a point here where they get out of slavery and they're moving into Egypt, or they're moving into the promised land towards it, and the Israelites begin to complain and murmur against the work of the Lord and his signs, and God is ready to bring judgment on them again.

And Moses pleads on their behalf.

Other commentators believe the reproach of Egypt could go back to Exodus 32 when Moses came down from the mountain, and Aaron and the whole group of Israelites have burnt the jewelry down and made a golden image of a calf and begin to just a little bit of idolatry.

A little bit of Egypt had gotten into them, and that little bit held on, and that was enough idolatry.

And I want you to think about this.

Are there areas in your life where there's just a little bit?

It says that God, on that day through Joshua, rolled back the reproach.

Interesting, the name of the town here is called Gilgal.

Gilgal means rolling.

God rolled back the reproach of Israel that day.

They had to get clean as a part of their restitution from their previous sinful ways.

They had to clean up.

My previous pastor offered me$100 to clean a filthy house.

Now he'd never offered me money before that was outside of my pay.

And so I thought, awesome, a hundred bucks.

I definitely need it.

I went in there, and as soon as I opened the door, the smell would knock you to your knees.

I'm telling you, we had we had six or seven rental properties.

Okay, churches don't need rental property, I'm just gonna tell you.

It was crazy.

So we were like landlords, and it was no good.

Anyway, we get to this place, and he's I I open, I'm like, I'm supposed to clean this?

It was filthy.

I don't I want to save you from having a sickness today at lunch.

But it was disgusting.

And I spent hours cleaning this place, and this is what I afterwards I got home and I'm like, we were Heather and I were gonna go have some lunch.

I couldn't eat.

You can't be in all that and and and and then go enjoy food.

I'm like, it's in me.

The filth is in me.

And I just I got the clothes off as quick as I could.

I took a shower.

The other guy that was with me burnt his clothes.

Okay, I didn't go that far, but I'm like, look, Pastor, I think you owe us both$40 for a new pair of clothes.

Had to shower.

I couldn't move forward with that filth on me.

But yet, church, we want the presence of God so close.

And let me tell you, sin separates us from a holy God.

And he wants you to come to him cleansed, no provisions for your flesh.

Second Corinthians 5 17 says, if any man comes to Christ, he's a new creation.

Old things are passed away.

Behold, all things are become new, and we're cleansed and we're new, and that's what God wants of us.

But some reason there are things that are holding you on to this other side.

Oh, it's lawful, but it's not expedient, it's not helping you spiritually.

Today you can spend a life settling for okay and miss out on great.

The wilderness was okay.

I mean, they were getting by, but it wasn't great.

Your glory for your life is okay, but it's not great.

You can have a bank account.

I mean, stacked, and that's okay.

But it's not great.

Listen to me.

You can have the pleasure, the power, the possessions all this earth gives you, and it's okay.

But it's not great.

Let me tell you what is great.

The majestic presence of a holy God is great.

Don't settle for okay when great is available.

They remove their reproach.

What's the next step?

Verse 10.

I love this.

Verse 10, much like last week, we had the memorial stone, we walked through and they celebrated God.

Verse 10, it says that they kept the Passover.

It was vital that they take this moment.

Three days or whatever it is, as they're recuperating from their surgery, and they keep the Passover.

They celebrated their exit from slavery, their exit from that flesh land, their exit from that old place.

From Egypt, from the whole, listen to you, for you and me, from the hold of this world.

How often do you celebrate what God's done?

Does it just become elevator music?

One day I'm going to heaven.

I'm a Christian.

I mean, we have this opportunity daily to be celebrating.

And so they celebrate the Passover, this memorial stone.

They reflected and they fasted from certain foods and worship and they celebrated God's work in sparing the firstborn of Israel.

Which you might just pass over that, but for some of them, this is their grandfathers and great-grandfathers and great-grandfathers that were spared as the Passover happened and their life could be.

So they're celebrating this life that might not have been their life.

Interesting, just of note, Exodus chapter 12, verse 48 says it was unlawful for uncircumcised people to participate in the Passover.

Exodus 12:48

So there you go.

God already had that planned.

So they've been circumcised.

They celebrate their own existence that God allowed through their grandfathers, great-grandfathers, and they're reflecting on all the good that God has done.

Well, there's one more major sign here in this cleansing, these days post-surgery.

And that is this that the manna ceased.

Did you see that?

It says that the manna ceased.

I wonder what the feelings were about this.

For 40 years God provided manna and quail.

He told them that I will send you food like rain.

And one commentator said it this way it must have furnished a testimony to think about all of God's goodness.

Forty years God had provided.

Scripture, if you like sweets, scripture says it was like a honey wafer.

That's what manna was like.

And so have you ever had them strawberry wafers or vanilla wafers?

It was like a honey wafer that came from heaven.

But don't miss the miracle, okay?

The count of Israelite men was 600,000 men that came out of Egypt.

With women and children, an estimated two million people walked out of Egypt.

And God was feeding two million people, manna, for 40 years.

40 years, he's dropping it down, he says, like rain.

Imagine that.

Every day you saw this miracle.

And then, no manna rain.

Don't you think you would reflect and think about what had happened all of those years of your life?

What about this?

I thought, it's a God thing.

Uh, Pastor Dave and I don't uh give notes back and forth.

But I was thinking this week, when Jesus fed the 5,000, and they all watched in amazement that this lad and his little lunch fed these 5,000.

I bet Jesus is like, you guys are in amazement at this?

5,000?

Me and the father used to rain down for two million a day for 40 years.

You think 5,000 is a lot?

This ain't nothing.

We got storehouses and storehouses.

Well, we got honey wafers in heaven.

I can't wait to taste one.

The departure of manna must have been an obvious sign.

It must have encouraged him that God was at work when he put a pause to something.

A lot of times we think God's activity is a sign, if God does something, but when God puts a pause on something, it made me think of 2020.

God showed us the fragiless of this world and our society.

And God from heaven pushed the button on the remote and just paused.

Life as we knew it.

And all of a sudden, things began to change, and for some it was a major blessing.

Say, how can you say that, Pastor?

Because for some people with their life paused, they walked and they talked and they did puzzles, and they suddenly started to appreciate the people that were around them that they hadn't seen for months because of the schedule.

And they gardened, oh my goodness, Chelsea Park, the most beautiful it's ever been, March 2020.

The flowers were right, everything.

They had a pause put into their life, and all of a sudden it was like a gift.

Psalms 46, 10 says, Be still and know that I am God.

Do you do that?

I think sometimes we idolize almost boast in the schedule.

I'm so busy.

How are you doing?

Well, I've really been busy.

I mean, everybody that I come across is busy.

Nobody ever says to me, I've been real lazy the past two weeks, pretty much nothing.

Everybody that I talk to, I'm so busy.

And I think we like idolize that.

My clock is planned, my day is planned, and we're like, I don't know, we're like, we're something because we're busy.

And God said, Oh, you love sports more than me?

Guess what?

You don't have to have any for the next six months.

You love live television?

Well, guess what?

I remember ESPN was playing, ESPN was playing rock throwing competitions.

I'm like, what is this?

From like 1990s.

I woke up one morning, I'm like, what am I watching?

Some not in-shape fella throwing rocks.

Everything was put on pause.

He said, Be still and know that I'm God.

And that was spiritual surgery for some.

Maybe today what you need to do is slow down, clean up, and prepare for the presence of God.

He's here, and cleansing is necessary.

The second point is this this morning.

The presence of his presence.

Let me ask you a question.

Do you have people in your life that make you feel confident?

People that when they're around, they make you feel bold and better.

Maybe you have a Christmas gathering and you're waiting for that person to come that you know you're going to enjoy time and things will be better when they show up.

There are many people in my life, when I see them, I feel better.

I know that you felt that because someone was present.

I want you to read verse 13 with me.

Joshua 5.

And it came to pass when Joshua was by Jericho that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, a man stood opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand.

And Joshua went to him and said to him, Are you for us or for our adversaries?

Letter A this morning is this the courage of God's person.

I want you to see first Joshua and his reaction, then we'll talk about the man.

Joshua was told in Joshua chapter 1, three times, to be very, you remember?

Joshua 1 · chapter mention

Courageous, to be courageous, bold.

And remember that word courageous, the Greek is amats, and that is alert, bold.

It was not the absence of fear.

To be courageous today, it does not mean you don't have fears.

It means facing the fear.

In fact, you can't be current courageous without fear present.

And so it means that we face the fear.

And so naturally, Joshua, who's been commanded to do that, there's a man sore drawn, and I love this.

Don't miss it.

Joshua turns and he goes right up to him.

And he says, Are you for us or for against us?

Joshua goes right to him.

365 times in that book it says, Do not be afraid.

Joshua looks up, man, sore drawn.

What a daunting vision, at the least.

I got to think about this.

I spent, Heather and I spent 15 years in youth ministry, and there's, look, this is the manual for teenagers, but there's not a lot in here that talks about teenagers.

So I'm just gonna say this there's no real manual for teenagers, okay?

And so a lot of it is I used to teach parents how to parent teenagers when I had never had a teenager, and I'm like, I wish I could slap that guy that was talking.

Like these people, I had a lot to tell them, but I now I have teenagers, right?

There's no manual for this.

And so just the other Sunday, we're at the Super Bowl party, and Sadaka looks over at a window and he goes, they in the pool.

We're like, what?

Yep, they in there swimming.

It is 40 degrees outside.

Wyatt and Malin and three other teen boys are swimming.

I'm like, what is going on?

What do they think?

There's not a manual.

Okay?

And so I begin to think about that, and often in the youth mystery, we would have groups of boys over.

If Heather went out of town or something, I'd have a big group of them over and just have man night, whatever.

And I would always try to go to sleep.

Okay, wrong answer, most of the time.

Well, one night at 2 a.m., they're up.

And I'm like, I had told them two or three times by this point, so I'm done with it.

Again, there's no manual.

Okay.

I I wish I was more a youth pastor in the 70s or 80s.

We live in such a pansy world now.

If little Billy gets his emotional feelings hurt, you can get in trouble.

And so, but I come down there and I'm done with it, and I'm ready to go to sleep.

So I grab a tube sock and fill it full of socks.

I put my hoodie on, my sweatpants on, and I come down like a hurricane.

I shut out all the lights and I'm flickering them on and I'm swinging this sock and I'm hitting some.

I look over here.

Four have crowded themselves in a closet on the floor.

I would come in, they would scream, ah! I would come back in and hit some.

Some were over there.

We had 20 of them over there, and I'm telling you, I'm I tore into them.

Listen, don't judge me.

This is all a part of their spiritual enrichment.

You gotta understand something.

I grew up outside until dark.

I grew up no cell phone.

I rode my bike for miles.

I got a new bruise every day and a spanking every day, whether I got a new bruise or not.

I drank out of a water hose.

If kids get a scrape or a bruise at a church function, praise the Lord! They were at church.

It's a blessing.

Well, them boys, if I walk into a room, they're grown now, 20s.

If I walk into a room today with a sock full of socks, they will run, they will scream, they will hide today.

Okay, I am a daunting vision, the legend still lives.

At five foot five in all my strength and honor.

Imagine, imagine what the Old Testament calls a theophany or a Christophany, which is the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ.

He had never been born in the flesh until the New Testament, Matthew.

A pre-incarnate Jesus is standing in the flesh, sword in hand.

You think ever there was a daunting vision like this vision?

Jesus, his name Yeshua Hamashiach, son of the living God, the Emmanuel, the lion of the tribe of Judah, is standing.

He's the one, the Lamb of God, sword drawn.

If there had ever been an intimidating moment, hadn't it been this one?

Joshua didn't run, he didn't hide, he didn't cower or look, hey, I need a group.

He was told to take this land, and he, I want you to understand about Joshua, undeniable courage.

But listen to this.

John 14, 21 says, Who has my commands?

He who has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me.

For me and you, listen to this.

He who loves me will be loved by my father, and I will love him and show myself to him.

You obey God's commands and you love him, he'll love you, and it says he'll show himself.

And Joshua, man drawn with sword, he must evidently love God and be obeying his commands.

And we see letter B, the cooperation of God's plan.

Let's read verse 14.

I love, love, love this scripture.

Joshua says, Are you for us or for are for For our adversaries, and look at what he says.

So he said, No.

He says, No.

But as the commander of the army of the Lord, I have now come.

He says, No, Joshua, are you for us or for Gans?

I love this answer.

No.

This ain't about Joshua's plan.

This ain't about Joshua's battle.

This ain't about Joshua conquering Jericho and making the walls fall.

This is not about us burning the boats so that we can get God to join us on our quest.

It's about I am working already for my plan in this world.

And if you will obey me, I'm gonna take you along.

He said, No, I ain't for your adversaries, and I'm not for you.

Two things I want you to see about that.

One, it was not for Joshua to claim God's allegiance in his fight.

Rather, it was Joshua's need to acknowledge it was God's fight.

It was God's people, it was God's land.

Church, too often we act as if it's just us against Satan.

And God, I need your help today.

I need coffee in Jesus to fight Satan.

God is fighting Satan.

Henry Blackaby in his great book, Experiencing God, said that God is at work all over.

You go and join him in his work.

You want to experience God?

Find where he's at work and you go join him.

This thing that's happening in our country, oh, yes, it's glorious.

The plan and process has been in here.

We don't have to go to Asbury to experience God.

We don't have to go to Samford.

The same God lives and breathes within the Christian.

And so, in your circle, in your development, in your house, all of this can happen.

The battle is not yours.

That's what this man drawn sword says.

It's not yours.

Secondly, the reminder to Joshua of this you're gonna go into battle, and God has brought his personal presence for you.

The battle's about to happen, and with God's personal presence comes his provision, the provision of his care.

And we talked about this a few weeks ago.

There's things within heaven's realm that we don't see here on earth.

And so when Jesus shows up and the battle's coming, and you were just told to have surgery so that you can go into battle.

Understand, Jesus shows up, and with Jesus, wherever he is, is a mighty host of heavenly angels.

Might not see them, but guess what?

They can go into battle, and all of a sudden, crazy things happen.

Trumpets go off, and men begin to kill themselves.

And so with his presence comes his infinite supply.

No matter how impossible, church, your thing seems, if you'll get alone with God, God can make the impossible in your life seem possible in a moment.

You can grind away for years trying to get something done, and in a moment, he has within his infinite supply of power the answers.

Humanly, this was impossible for Joshua and his army.

But there was mirads of angelic forces within God's host standing ready to do God's bidding and work, the Bible says, for the saints of God.

And so we don't get to see how the walls came tumbling down, but I'm gonna tell you, if there was a heavenly host and one invisible wrecking ball, I mean it doesn't take much for God and his invisible power to come down.

Well, we see the cooperation, then we see letter C, the consecration of God's presence.

I want you to look at verse 15.

The end of verse 14.

After the commander of the army of the Lord says, I have now come.

Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and he worshiped and said to him, What does my Lord say to his servant?

Then the commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua, Take your sandal off, your foot, for the place where you stand is holy.

And Joshua did so.

The word consecration is the word Melu, and that is the act of dedication or worship before something.

Joshua immediately.

When he figures out what he's saying, he falls to his face.

What else can we do in the presence of God but worship?

He is so worthy.

He falls to his face.

He takes the sandal off.

This is important.

Removing shoes is a sign of respect, acknowledging authority and presence.

Removing his shoes signified a forfeiting of myself, my comfort, my flesh, who I am.

And some today I'm saying there's people here you need to remove that shoe.

In the presence of God, if you want to experience something real, you need a removal.

Don't hold on when this worship is right at your feet.

He was willing to surrender.

His past, present, and future to God.

Scripture says, if you seek me, you'll find me.

So we've seen to burn the boats.

I just want to take a quick recap to burn the boats and move forward.

Joshua chapter 1, he said, You're going to need courage.

Joshua 1 · chapter mention

Then he said, You're going to need to go by the right playbook.

And then we saw after that Rahab.

And Rahab was told, Don't look back.

No man fit for the kingdom has his hand to the plow and looks back.

This isn't about what was behind you anymore.

We obey, and then there was cleansing and the miracle we saw from the Jordan, then we celebrate.

And the whole purpose through all of it moving forward is you have to keep focused on me.

If you want the work of God in your life, you cannot have this thing on the side.

And this thing over here, it has to be all about Jesus so that my job is impacted.

The way I do my job is about focusing on Jesus, and then it impacts people.

And then I have conversations because Jesus has impacted me to do this work.

And my kids are in a sport.

Why?

So they can pin up medals on the wall.

No, so they can do their talent, but then give God glory.

It's all about focusing on Jesus.

And then I invite people in the neighborhood, and all week long I'm trying to get people and I'm focused, and I can move forward and see the fire of God fall.

But if I just live in this world and make my paycheck and get through another week and another week, and the schedule has this and the games have that, and I don't turn it back to him, that ribbon and that trophy isn't about him, then I've done nothing.

The money means nothing.

The time means nothing.

Here's the secret, I believe.

This is awesome.

I want you to turn to Exodus chapter 33.

Exodus 33 · chapter mention

The secret to how Joshua got to this place.

Exodus 33.

I want to look at verses 9 through 11.

So good.

So they had set up camp and they would have a tent where Moses would go in.

It was outside the camp, verse 7, and Moses would go and meet with God.

We're going to read here, verse 9 through 11.

And it came to pass when Moses entered the tabernacle that the pillar of cloud descended and stood at the door.

Again, a sign of God's presence was this pillar of cloud.

It would descend at the door of the tabernacle.

And all the people would rise and worshiped.

All of these people, don't miss little details.

Six hundred thousand men, women, children.

Moses would go toward the place of God's presence, and they all would unanimously watch and worship.

Each man in his tent door.

Verse 11, so the Lord spoke to Moses face to face.

As a man speaks to his friend.

Do not miss this.

And then Moses would return to camp.

But his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man at this time, did not depart from the tabernacle.

When Joshua got in there as Moses' aide, and he saw God convening with Moses face to face, Moses would say, I gotta go off.

I've got duties to tend to.

And Joshua said, Can I just stay?

Moses, I just want to stay for a little bit longer.

Can I just be in his presence?

And he saw the glory of God, and it says, Moses would leave, but Joshua would stay.

Moses wanted to be with God.

Now trust me, he had to lead and he had things he had to do.

Verse 18 through 23, we see Moses passionate.

He said, Oh God, let me see your glory.

Let it fall down on me.

Let me just see it for a moment.

And it says, God told him as a friend, I will come, but my presence, my glory would kill you.

He says, You go hide in the cleft of the rock, I'll come by the backside of me.

And it says that Moses beamed because of this moment.

So Moses wanted to see his glory, but Moses would have to leave.

Joshua said, Whoo! And the kids at Asbury right now go, I just don't want to leave.

And the people up here at Sanford are saying, Oh, it's so thick in here, I don't want to leave.

And I'm telling you, that same God is here in your seat.

And if you get a taste of him and get all this other stuff, you know what started it at Asbury?

It said confession.

If you hold on to this flesh stuff and will not and refuse to confess before God, his presence isn't going to have the fullness.

Every person here needs to come to a place of confession.

The great awakenings happen this way in our country.

I told y'all last week that there's been some times in my life where I knew the manifest presence of God was in a place.

And the very first time as I was studying through, I just was asking God, give it, show me again, God.

And it really made me sort of emotional to go back through this, but I was in fifth grade, and we were at a camp called Halawassa, which stood for Hallelujah, What a Savior.

And my teacher that year, fifth grade, Mrs.

Keller, sweet grandmotherly-like lady.

We had no recess that year.

It's just stuff I remember about it, so that we could go on field trips and have a year-ending camp.

So Mrs.

Keller would plan a spiritual retreat.

Now hear me, spiritual retreat for 10 to 11 year olds.

This is a big endeavor if you've been with 10 to 11 year olds.

But she would plan and pray over this and have a group of godly people.

And the retreat started with Bible verse memory on the bus on the ride up.

Okay.

Some of y'all talked to me in the lobby.

I never, you shouldn't be proud of something.

I never was more proud of a trophy that I own.

Okay?

This is from fifth grade, and I memorized 265 Bible verses over that week.

They would give a reference, I could quote back the verse.

Okay?

And so I love, but to start the week, they begin to push us about Bible.

Bible, and they get it in us.

And every time we meet together or have downtime, weren't in an activity, we were with a counselor, and we were quoting off scripture and spitting it out.

And so it started that way.

And last night of this thing, we got in this room in a circle, and I don't know what happened.

We would sing a song, and people would go around the circle, and my friends began to cry, and I really didn't know why.

We'd sing a song, and I felt things that I didn't totally know if I'd felt before, and I found myself weeping, and I really didn't know what was going on.

I'd sing again, and then we started to share testimonies.

Confession fell on a group of 30 fifth graders, and the counselors began to weep.

Mr.

Brown hugged my neck and I weeped to his chest.

And they came around to me once, and I couldn't utter words.

I couldn't speak.

They wanted us to share testimonies.

They were going around, and we sang another song, and it came around to me again, and I'm just broken.

And finally I said, I need you to pray.

My mom and dad are at home, and things are not good in their marriage.

It was all but signed.

We were figuring out what it was gonna look like to be with mom and dad separately.

And Miss Keller hugged me and my friends hugged me and I wept.

And I said, please pray.

I don't understand it.

I don't want them to get a divorce.

First time in my life I understood that I was crying and it was good.

All I can say is people were hugging me, but my savior held me.

And I'm here to tell you, church, fifth grade was 1992 for me.

It's 2023, and my parents are married.

I'm so thankful that they fought through what they had to fight through.

And my mom will tell often, the only reason is you kids, at that time.

Now, today, man, I'm so glad they have each other and love each other.

But they stayed.

And I listen, I don't know.

God was working in all kinds of other ways, but I know this a group of people prayed about something and it happened.

And the presence of God fell in that place and it was real.

And I'm telling you, church, never, ever gotten over his presence.

Never.

I told you last week that we've experienced an outpouring in moments.

And I always tell students this because we come back from a camp, a thousand students, and I say to them, This is not a camp high.

This is not a fire that's lifted, that has to fade.

This is reality.

God showed up in your life this way.

The Bible says he has residency in your heart.

Revival can happen every day at your breakfast table.

It's all here.

What their experience is here.

What these people across our land and their churches, it's here.

And so we have an opportunity today to meet with the presence of an Almighty God.

And if we will confess and take those flesh things aside, prepare that room for him.

He says, if you do that and you love me, I'll meet with you.

I'll meet with you.

Confession, worship, prayer.

The secret to that fire, yes, it's in Wilmore, Kentucky.

Church, it's in you if you'll make room.

Today, if I were you, I'd run to him.

I don't know specifically what you need for his presence.

But there's an altar here this morning.

Won't you clean the things that need cleaning?

Won't you be broken for the things that need broken?

Come to him with your need.

Would you pray?

Would you worship?

Would you experience a God who's real in his place today?

Do anything but leave here and miss him.

Close your eyes this morning.

As we begin this time of invitation, I want to start by saying if you're here this morning, he is for you.

He died on a cross for you.

He loves you.

And he would do anything today and has so that your soul would be saved from a real place called hell.

He wants you to know him.

Not only does he want to save you for an eternity with him, he wants to know you now.

Why would you spend one more day away from that?

He loves you.

And today you can give your heart and life to Jesus Christ.

It doesn't have to be about any of these other things.

You can experience the greatest thing that this life on this earth has to offer.

A real relationship with a Father who loves you dearly.

Would you open that door?

He'll come in and sup with you, he'll dine with you, he'll meet you.

But you've got to open that door this morning.

With heads bowed and eyes closed, you can pray a prayer like this.

Listen, what God's already, the Holy Spirit's doing on your heart.

That's the work of salvation.

This prayer just commemorates it.

But you can say, Father, I believe that Jesus died on a cross, that he was buried and rose again for me.

I'm sorry for my sins.

I'm placing my faith, my trust, my hope in you.

I want a relationship with you.

Heads bowed and eyes closed, there'd be any would raise their hand and say, Pastor, I just prayed that prayer with you.

Raise your hand up right now if that was you.

Amen.

Amen.

I see that.

Amen.

Anybody else?

I just prayed that prayer.

Anybody else?

It's not something to be ashamed of.

Romans 1.16 says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Anyone else?

I prayed that prayer.

Well, I'm gonna ask you to stand to your feet this morning.

And this is what I want you to do.

Worship him in spirit and in truth.

If you have something to confess, would you come and confess?

If you want to come to this altar and lift your hands up high and worship the King of Kings in unity with your church family, would you come worship him?

All I'm asking is that you do as God speaks to you to do.

Would you join us today in this invitation?

For too long on my own.

Come worship it.

Come confess.

Come pray.

Do anything but leave here nothing.

Keep playing through a moment.

I just want, I feel led to ask you to do this.

Would you look at somebody around you?

And we're just gonna take another moment of music.

I don't want to leave missing something.

Would you look at somebody around you and ask them, is there something I can pray with you for?

We're gonna continue worshiping as you pray.

There's one more thing I didn't do last week that I feel like as the Spirit moves in things like this.

I've done it with teenagers.

I said I've never seen a move of God with adults like teens.

Well, maybe you're here this morning and you've got something wrong with someone else here.

I know you say, Pastor, this is a lot.

In the presence of God, he says, go before your brother if you have aught.

Get the thing right.

I tell you what would do it for some.

Maybe just a simple hug.

Maybe you just need to go and hug that person.

Extend a handshake.

Or take a moment.

Maybe you can pray.

Maybe that person is here.

I'm gonna encourage you to please don't leave here.

So much stuff happens in church like that.

Somebody's upset about something, they have no idea, hadn't talked about it.

Would God bring us together in unity?

And if we be unified, Psalms 133, it says, How good and how pleasant when brothers dwell together in unity if we be unified the presence of God in this place.

We're gonna continue to sing, but if that's where you're at, or you still need to pray with somebody, it might be somebody across the road that you recognize.

Take this time because there's something I can pray with you about.

Amen.

Thank you, church.

We give Jesus a clap offering this morning.

We thank you, Lord, for your presence.

Our ushers come down this time.

You can be seated for just a moment.

We prepare to give.

Our covenant members this week, you should have gotten an update from our last quarter of the year, and God is almost soul.

I could have started a service this way.

What a week.

Church, can I tell you?

We anonymously was given a donation to start the week in the name of Valentine's for a hundred thousand dollars.

I don't look much at all that stuff.

I just get told things.

But I'm excited when that kind of thing happens.

So, anyways, um God, we've got a team of people that help make sure all that works.

But praise God for the way that He moves things on people's hearts.

And um this building over here, where we are so shooting to see an Easter opening.

So pray for that.

And we would love to have the kids over there.

And uh God has been good.

They've been heavy at it, though.

So we thank you for the way that you give.

Father, we pray that you bless the offering.

Lord, you know our needs, and God you provide in ways that we have no idea.

Totally unexpected.

But you're so good, and you have shown yourself over and over and over.

This is your church.

You're not for us or for our enemy.

You are for you, and we want to join you in the work of this church, your body.

Thank you, God, in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Thank you, Pastor Rick.

Guys, um, if you want to give online or to text your gift, you can text the amount to 84321.

Also, if you accepted Jesus today, if you would text CCW Connect to 94,000 or see us in the lobby.

If you did that, please find Pastor Rick out there immediately after the service.

He'd love to talk to you about that.

Um, looking forward this week on Friday, the couples and kids are going to a Bulls game.

Sign up online if you want to get a church ticket.

You can get tickets there as well.

Meet us there about 6 45 Friday night.

Upward Soccer Registration is going on.

God is faithful.

I prayed for 52.

Right now we have 55 kids playing soccer.

We need coaches for some of these kids.

And like the little boy with the fish and the loaves.

If you don't think you've got enough, you may have just what we need to help with soccer.

Men's night is a week from tomorrow on February 27th under the pavilion.

Cheeburger, cheeburger is the theme this time.

March 5th is lunch after church.

Um, and there's also a cake auction to raise money for the kids to go to camp this summer.

Next steps class is March 8th and 15th.

It's on a Wednesday night, two Wednesday nights upstairs.

If you'd like to be a member, please sign up for that online.

And you guys hold tight.

They have given me this announcement to read from Pastor Eli.

Starting next week, we are going to change our children's pickup policy where you have to have the white tag with the number on it to get the kids.

Please don't go upstairs.

There'll be somebody stationed at the door by the men's restroom to check your white tag.

They'll walkie-talkie upstairs.

After you're cleared, you can go upstairs and get the kids.

If you're sending someone to get your kid, they have to have the white tag.

If you throw the white tag away or if you lose the white tag, they're going to need your driver's license to go upstairs and get the kid.

As we move towards the new children's building, and as we have 70 or 80 people upstairs, it's just necessary that we do this.

So next week, we're asking if you have children upstairs, line up after the service by the men's restroom.

You'll go up once you get cleared, and you'll come back down the other side by the women's restroom.

Please help us with all of these new procedures as we try to keep the growing number of kids safe.

Also help us with the chairs.

We've got basketball in here until about 9 o'clock tonight.

You're dismissed.