Glory Days: Living Your Promised Land Life Now

I cannot overestimate or overstate the love that I have for this congregation.

I love your pastor.

I love everything that Gateway is about.

I love the strategic place that God has placed this congregation and the way you minister all over the world.

It's just stunning to me.

And every opportunity I have to come your way, I snag it.

I say, Pastor, you don't have to ask me twice.

I keep getting online, seeing if there's a job that I can apply for here.

And I'm not qualified yet, but I'm working on it.

I'm hoping to improve that.

And it's just such a great honor.

A few things have happened since I've been here.

I think I was here last year, so I've uh I've turned 60 since I was last here, which gives me permission to tell my favorite growing old jokes.

Um, this couple were celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary.

He was 60 years old, she was 60 years old.

Have you heard this?

And um and and and the Lord was so proud of them that he sent a message to him and said, Whatever you, whatever prayer you pray today, that prayer will be answered.

And she said, Oh Lord, I've always wanted to go on a Caribbean cruise.

Poof, just like that, two tickets appeared in her hand.

And the guy said, Well now, this is for real.

And he said, Oh Lord, I've always wanted to be married to someone who's 30 years younger than I am.

Poof, he was 90 years old.

Just like that.

I've noticed that the ladies like that joke.

And then these three guys realized that they all celebrated their birthdays on the very same day.

So when they turned 40, they said, you know, we ought to celebrate together.

Let's go down to that restaurant on the river because they have really good steaks, and so they did.

When they turned 50, they said, Hey, let's go down to that restaurant on the river because they have the best wine, and so they did.

When they turned 60, they said, let's go down to that restaurant on the river because they've installed big screen TVs, and so they did.

When they turned 70, they said, let's go down to that restaurant on the river because they have a new wheelchair ramp, and so they did.

When they turned 80, they said, let's go down to that restaurant on the river because we've never been there before.

I wonder if you'd let me pray for you before we begin our message.

We bless you now, Lord, in the name of Jesus Christ.

We bless you.

We bless you, we worship you.

Holy is your name.

Holy, holy.

Holy is your name.

Unsearchable are your ways.

Every word you have spoken is true.

Every decision you have made is right.

Every declaration, every promise you have made, you have kept.

There are no falling words.

Your plan is perfect, your kingdom is coming, your saints are forgiven.

Your sacrifice is sufficient.

Your way is true, your love is unstoppable, your grace is matchless, your throne is eternal, your ways are unrivaled, your heart is spotless.

You are the best part of this universe.

Here is nothing like you.

Nowhere, nowhere, nowhere, Hollywood will never produce, no author will ever write, no creator will ever imagine, no sculptor will ever create, no poet will ever capture your beauty.

We just fall short, Lord.

And if we could just have one glimpse of you, just tonight, just let there be one glimpse of you, Father.

Would you receive the healing of Jesus now for a few moments?

Let the touch of the King go deep into your heart.

Lord Jesus, let there you can speak the word, Lord, and there will be healing.

Speak the word.

Speak the word.

The cancer will be gone.

Speak the word and depression will lift.

Speak the word, and there will be strength in those weak legs.

There will be straightening of that back, and that lung will fill with air again.

Speak the word.

Speak the word.

I sense Jesus wanting to speak words of restoration over us today.

So Lord, speak words of restoration over marriages, please.

Where there are enemies, even in this room, hostility or attention.

Let there be healing.

Healing.

Anger from teenager to parent, parent to child.

I pray for your grace to come.

That marriage Lord that's been dangling by a thread now for decades.

New strength, new resolve.

Just let Jesus talk to us if there's something you need to confess to him.

You're not in charge.

Thank you.

And all the church said.

Two concentric circles of stone rising a total of 40 feet above the ground.

They were impenetrable.

And here's what you need to know about Jericho's inhabitants.

They were ferocious and barbaric.

They withstood all sieges and repelled all invaders.

They were guilty of child sacrifice.

They were a Bronze Age version of the Gestapo, ruthless tyrants on the plains of Canaan.

Until the day that Joshua showed up.

Until the day that his army marched in.

Until the day that the bricks cracked.

Until the day that the boulders broke, until the day that everything shook.

The knees of the king, the molars of the soldiers, and that untoppable force met the unstoppable force.

And mighty Jericho crumbled.

But here's what you need to know about Joshua.

He didn't bring those walls down.

I know the song we sing, Joshua fought the battle of Jehovah.

He didn't.

God did.

Joshua never swung a hammer.

Joshua never dislodged a brick.

Joshua never scaled a wall.

God did that for Joshua, and God will do that for you.

Your Jericho is your fear.

Your Jericho is your anxiety.

Your Jericho is your insecurity.

Your Jericho is your resentment and your anger.

Your Jericho is your proclivity to overanalyze or criticize or compartmentalize.

Your Jericho is any attitude or mindset that keeps you from moving into your promised land.

And in order for you to move forward, your Jericho must come down.

Such was the case for Joshua.

Remember the context, 1400 BC.

Joshua heard God speak, received God's promise, and he led the children of Israel into the promised land.

The children of Israel had spent 400 years in Egypt, Egypt, much of that in Egyptian captivity.

They spent 40 years in the wilderness because when God made this offer 40 years before, they refused it.

But this time, Joshua believed, the people believed, and the Jordan River opened, and the Jericho walls came down, and the sun stood still, and 31 kings were forced into early retirement.

These were the glory days of Israel.

Seven years.

On the timeline of your Bible, seven years, in which the children of Israel, for all practical purposes, went unbeaten.

They moved from victory to victory, from conquest to conquest.

They were Bedouins in the Badland one year.

They were victors in the promised land within a few short years.

These were the glory days of Israel.

And I'm wondering if you could use some glory days in your life.

Had lunch with a friend recently who said that my life is best described in the phrase, midlife misery.

He said, I've been a Christian for 20 years.

And I can't remember the last time I had an answered prayer.

He said, I'm still struggling with the same temptations with which I was struggling when I became a Christian 20 years ago.

He used words like disengaged, discouraged, disheartened.

He didn't say this, but I could sense the sentiment.

I thought the Christian life was more than this.

My friends, not alone in the wilderness.

Some studies done by the Reveal Research Institute disclosed that 89% of Christians feel like the Christian life is less than what they think it could be.

When asked, do you really feel like you're loving the Lord your God with all of your heart and loving your neighbor increasingly?

89% said no.

Only 11% would describe their life as a season of glory days.

Glory days.

I'm wondering if you might find yourself in the wilderness.

The heart of the Hebrew history is best captured in those three geographical locations: Egypt, the wilderness, and the promised land.

For Christians, our Egypt is before we knew Christ.

But when our Christ came and led us through the Red Sea, he delivered us not from Pharaoh, but he delivered us from sin and death.

And we were set free, permanently released.

The invitation then is for us to enter into the promised land.

The promised land is a land where victory is more a matter of course than it is an exception.

Where there is grace for every guilt, where there is strength for every struggle, where there is hope for every despair.

Promised land is not the same as Disneyland.

There is no promise that there will be no struggle, but there is promise that there will be adequate strength for every struggle.

Where we're literally moving from glory to glory, from one degree of glory to the next.

Many of us, however, get stuck in the middle, in the land of in-between, the wilderness, in which we're walking in circles, just like the children of Israel were walking in circles, in which we're appreciative for the manna and the quail, but it gets kind of old after a few decades.

And we feel like there's something more, something that needs to happen.

The book of Joshua is in the Bible to show us how God can lead people out of the dry land into the promised land, out of the fat land, flat land, fat land, out of the flat land into the land of promise.

And if I'm talking to anyone who would like to move out of the dryness into a season of fertile, explosive, exciting, adventuresome growth, then the book of Joshua is for you.

And the best story in the book of Joshua is the story of the Jericho walls coming down.

And if you don't know any story in the story of Joshua, this is the one.

Chapter 6 in verse 2 tells us or begins the story of the Jericho walls.

And the Lord said to Joshua, see, I have given Jericho into your hand, its king, and the mighty men of valor.

Already we're sensing something different.

God did not say, Joshua, now go and take the city.

God said, Joshua, I have taken the city.

Now receive it.

Joshua did not go forth hoping to win.

He went forth knowing that God had already won.

Joshua did not fight for victory.

Joshua fought from victory.

Joshua knew he had won because God told him, I have given you the city.

The word that's most important in the book of Joshua is the word inheritance.

It appears around 60 times in a variety of fashions.

The big idea, the big theme in the book of Joshua is Joshua and the people of Israel received their inheritance.

They did not conquer the land.

They received their inheritance.

They chose to live out of their inheritance and not live out of their circumstance.

They moved forward knowing that God had already given them the land.

They did not assume there would be no struggle.

They did assume that there would be victory over every struggle.

And so they press forward, knowing that as they marched forward in faith, they could expect a victory at any point.

God has said the same to you.

God does not say, Bob, I want you to break all your bad habits.

God says to you, Bob, I have broken all your bad habits.

Now move forward into victory.

God has not said, Max, I want you to solve all your problems.

God has said, Max, I have provided for you a solution for every single problem of your life.

Now you press forward into victory, and you will see solutions come your way.

This is the difference between living out of your circumstance and living out of your inheritance.

Did you know that when you gave your heart to Christ, he returned the favor and he placed his heart within you.

And he declared you as one of his children.

As one of his children.

Behold what love the Father has lavished upon us, that we should be called employees of God, students of God, teammates of God, no, children of God.

Children of God.

The Apostle Paul says we're not only heirs of God, but we are co-heirs with Christ.

That is to say that whatever power is available to Christ is available to us.

Whatever blessings are available to Christ are available to us.

Whatever strength is available to Christ is available to you.

Got yourself in a slump?

That's okay.

Christ knows how to get out of a slump, and you're a co-heir with him.

Can't forgive that jerk of a husband?

That's okay.

Christ can, and he has taken up residence within you.

You're concerned about the future?

That's okay.

Christ is not.

And you're a co-heir with him, and when you gave your heart to him, he gave his heart to you, and he placed himself deep within you.

Many people think that when you become a Christian, it's kind of like driving an old jalopi through a car wash.

It goes in a dirty jalopy, it comes out a clean jalopy, but it's still a jalopy.

What you need to understand is that yes, the cleansing is unspeakably essential.

But there's something else that happens.

And that is when you're in the car wash, that old cruddy V6, cracked, high mileage engine is removed.

And a roaring Ferrari of an engine from the Holy Spirit is placed deep within you.

And greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world.

Promised land people get this.

Promised land people get this.

They aren't under any illusion that life is going to have no challenge, but you catch Promised Land people saying things like, It is no longer I who live, but it's Christ who lives in me.

Can you imagine getting to the point that you look in the mirror and you say, I don't think that's me anymore?

That's Christ speaking through me, talking.

I used to not have power like this.

I used to not have hope like this.

I used to be cranky every day, but now look at me.

Because Christ has taken up residence within me.

Promised land people begin to think this way.

They change their mindset.

Things are different in Canaan.

Today's problem is not necessarily tomorrow's problem.

So don't incarcerate yourself by saying that it is.

You stop it.

Stop it.

Such words create an alliance with the devil and grant him access to your spirit.

You do not agree with the father of lies.

Those are lies from him.

Promised land people don't talk that way.

They're assuming that though they have a struggle today, that struggle will not last forever.

And they're pressing into that victory, pressing into that victory, not tapping into some positive mental attitude, but into the presence of the Holy Spirit who has taken up residence within their life, who is growing within them, changing them every day from one degree of glory to the next, transforming them into the very image of Jesus Christ.

And he who has begun a good work in you is faithful.

He is faithful to bring it to completion.

So you don't talk like someone who's out in the wilderness.

You talk like someone who's expecting that there's going to be a Jericho come down any moment.

Look what happened next.

Joshua looked at his men, gathered them together, and he outlined the most unlikely of attacks for Jericho.

Verse 6.

He said, Take up the Ark of the Covenant and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of ram's horns before the Ark of the Lord.

I would imagine that the soldiers looked at him like he was crazy.

No swords, no spears, no battering rams.

But take up the Ark of the Covenant, let the priest carry it, let him blast ram's horns and walk around the city.

What kind of warfare is this?

This is spiritual warfare.

This is spiritual warfare.

We know, right?

That at its root, every battle we fight is a spiritual battle.

That our war and our battle is not against flesh and blood.

It's not against our in laws, not against our government, not against our boss, not against our neighbors.

Our war is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities and the powers and the rulers of this very present spiritual darkness in which we live.

Is a devil.

He is a real force.

His time is short.

His power is limited.

He's on a short leash.

And he has one intent, and that is to take your joy, to take your effectiveness.

I am of the conviction that he cannot take your salvation.

But I think he can take the skip out of your step and the sleep out of your night, and he can take the joy out of your day.

He can suck it out if you let him.

But you're not going to let him.

Because you're going to press in and you're going to realize and press forward, knowing that every battle is a spiritual battle.

And that just as Joshua, in order to enter into the promised land, had to see the Jericho wall come down in order for us to move into our promised land of victory, our glory days, these Jericho walls need to come down.

Joshua shows us how, by modeling the spiritual warfare.

The Apostle Paul talks about this.

Now he doesn't call our challenge Jericho, he calls our challenges strongholds.

In 2 Corinthians chapter 10.

2 Corinthians 10 · chapter mention

So just as Jericho was a stronghold, in Canaan, we have strongholds in our lives.

Strongholds are mindsets, they're attitudes.

The Apostle Paul says, the weapons of our warfare are mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.

So a stronghold is any argument, any philosophy, any premise, any attitude, any bias, any precept?

It's a mindset that sets itself up against the knowledge of God.

It seeks to interfere with truth.

I'm wondering, does a stronghold have a stronghold on you?

God could never forgive me.

That's a stronghold.

That's a stronghold of guilt.

I could never forgive that person.

That's a stronghold.

Yes, you could.

That's a lie.

And it comes from the devil, who is the father of lies who has never spoken a word of truth.

And he seeks to distribute lies into your mindset.

That's a stronghold.

It's a stronghold of resentment.

Bad things always happen to me.

No, they don't.

That's a stronghold.

That's a philosophy.

That's a belief system.

That's a concept.

Now, in order for you to move into your promised land, that Jericho has to come down.

That's a stronghold of self-pity.

I have to be in charge for anything to happen or to do or to go right.

No, you don't.

But that's a stronghold.

That's a stronghold of pride.

I don't deserve to be loved.

That's a stronghold of rejection.

I must be good or God will reject me.

That's a lie.

That's a stronghold of performance.

I'm only as good as I look.

That's a stronghold of appearance.

My value equals my possession.

There's a big one right there.

I'm as good as what I own, drive, or where I live.

That's a lie.

That's a stronghold of materialism.

There is a real devil, and this devil is a liar, and he has never spoken a word of truth.

He is the father of all lies.

He is the originator of all lies, and he distributes falsehood like a meth dealer distributes drugs.

He's cooking it up and he's sending it out.

And he wants nothing more than to infiltrate your faith with these strongholds, these Jericho strongholds.

They attempt to eclipse our discovery of God.

They set themselves up against, the apostle said, set themselves up against our knowledge of God.

But they're not going to eclipse your knowledge of God.

Why?

Because you are learning right here from 2 Corinthians 10 4 that God has divine power to demolish strongholds.

Demolish strongholds.

You're going to be looking in your rearview mirror very soon and say, whoa my, look at all those strongholds, been reduced to rubble.

They're not there anymore.

So how do we do this?

Well, we do what Joshua did.

We keep God in the center.

He put the Ark of the Covenant right in the center.

He put the priest in the front, the priest behind, soldiers in the front, and soldiers behind.

He put God right in the center.

Remember, the Ark of the Covenant was that rectangular box ordained by Moses that carried the most precious relics of the deliverance, but most of all was the dwelling place of God.

So he put God right in the center.

Do the same.

Put God right in the center of your finances, right in the center of your marriage, right in the center of your sex life, right in the center of your health, right in the center of your decisions.

Put him right in the center.

Everything is consulted, presented to God for his consultation.

Everything is filtered through God for his blessing.

You do nothing without first presenting it to God.

Strongholds begin to come down as we continue to bring things into the presence of God.

I was presenting this very message last week on the West Coast, and a lady came up to me afterwards and she said, I've been doing what you're saying.

She said, I have a 90-minute commute to work.

Ooh, 90 minutes.

And I groaned and she said, Oh no.

She said, It's the best part of my day.

She said, I have turned my car into my sanctuary.

She said, I put on the praise music and I praise and I worship and I have some sermons I listen to and some favorite preachers.

I didn't ask her if I was one of them, but she said, I have some verses that I'm memorizing, and for 90 minutes, she said, I saturate my mind in hope, in truth, in love, and in life.

She saturates her mind.

She marinates her mind in hope.

You can do this.

You can do this.

Put God right in the center.

And then what do you do?

You blast the ram's horns.

You blast the ram's horns.

The ram's horn was one of two instruments used in ancient Israel.

Silver trumpets were used to call people to gather for meetings.

The ram's horn was used to declare God's provision and victory.

It first appeared when Abraham was willing to offer Isaac as a sacrifice, and God interrupted the sacrifice, and there appeared in the thicket a what?

A ram.

And so from then on, a ram's horn began to symbolize the provision of God, the victory of God.

And so here the children of Israel are marching around the city of Jericho.

And they're blasting the ram's horns.

Don't you know that ticked off the devil?

Because the ram's horn was a declaration of God's victory.

And the victory, from the devil's perspective, had yet to happen.

And yet the people were marching, declaring with God in the center, that God has won, God will provide.

God has won.

God will provide.

God has won.

God will provide.

God has won.

God will provide.

Over and over and over.

Now, where do you get these ram's horns?

At Costco?

No?

Your Ram's horn is in this book.

Your Ram's horn is in this book.

The sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.

And whenever you sense that stronghold, when you find yourself in the shadow of your stronghold, rather than give in to it, what you're going to do is begin to blast your ram's horn.

Pull a scripture out of this book and you declare it.

Here's how it works your stronghold is anxiety.

You find yourself getting sucked further and further down into the pit of anxiety.

Yet rather than give in to anxiety, this time what you're going to do is you're going to stand up and you're going to say, Rejoice in the Lord always.

Again I say, rejoice.

Let your gentleness be made evident to all.

The Lord is near.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication.

And you can just feel yourself begin to lift up.

Let your request be made known to God with thanksgiving in your heart, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus.

You begin to declare these verses of Scripture.

Satan will not stay where truth is declared.

He will not.

He cannot.

He has an allergy to truth.

He's a liar.

He gets nauseated and he leaves when truth is declared.

Maybe your stronghold is guilt.

You find yourself falling and stumbling, and you do again what you promised you wouldn't do, and you beat yourself up, self-condemnation, you find yourself getting lower and lower.

But this time you don't.

You pick yourself up and you say, No, there is now therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, for we are saved by grace through faith, not by work, so that no one could boast.

And you begin to lift yourself up by the power of God's word.

You blast the ram's horn.

And as you blast that ram's horn, as you declare God's truth, then you can sense that some things are beginning to change.

Some time ago, a lady caught me between services at our church in San Antonio and she said, Would you pray for my son?

He's eight years old and he's already battling insomnia and fear.

We went back into the prayer room and he did, he looked very nervous.

Just a timid young boy.

And I told him what I've been telling you.

I told him that every battle is at its root a spiritual battle, and that the real battle is fought by what we think and the thoughts that we allow.

And I said, now remember, just because you have a thought, that doesn't mean you have to think it.

In case you didn't know, just because you have a thought, you don't have to think it.

We take every thought captive and we bring it into the presence of Christ.

And so I said, now, whenever you have those anxious thoughts, here's what you do you reach up and you grab them and you pull them out and you throw them in the trash.

And I had him do that.

I used to do this with my kids.

I said, grab the thought, pull it out, and throw it in the trash.

And now there's an empty spot there, so you've got to fill it with truth.

And so I gave him some verses to memorize.

Like I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.

And I said, just say that.

Replace it.

Replace it and don't let the devil get a foothold.

And then we prayed for him and we anointed him with oil.

And a few days later, his mom sent me this email.

Since last week, the images are gone.

He's no longer seeing them.

He's doing well in school.

He's enjoying reading the book of Genesis.

God gave us Psalm 25, 5.

Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation.

On you I'll wait all the day.

He recites this verse nightly.

This has brought him closer to Christ.

And he uses the strategy of throwing the fearful thoughts away in the trash can.

I asked him, What made the thoughts go away?

He smiled and said, God made them go away.

Eight years old.

And Jericho bit the dust.

The devil will not stay where truth is declared.

The devil will not loiter where God is worshipped.

He will not.

He cannot.

He must leave.

Draw near to the Lord and he will flee.

So the next time you find yourself anxious or guilty or bitter or whatever your stronghold is, you reach over and you grab a scripture, you grab a favorite verse, you reach over and grab a praise song, and you declare it.

This is a spiritual battle.

It's not something that's going to be overcome by carnal weapons, but it's something that you can overcome because God has overcome.

And greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world.

Do you believe that?

Amen.

Amen.

Well, lastly, and so you've been fighting this battle a long time.

You've been walking around this Jericho a long time, and you're wondering why it's never come down.

I wonder if the children of Israel had the same thought.

Did you know that Joshua didn't tell them how many times they were going to have to walk around the city?

God told Joshua, but for some reason Joshua didn't tell the people.

Our Joshua Jesus Christ hasn't told us either.

But he has, through the Apostle Paul, said, be steadfast and immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

You just keep walking, will you?

For all you know, this is going to be the very day that you'll sense the walls begin to crumble and you'll hear the bricks begin to break.

On the seventh day they rose early, about the dawning of the day, and they marched around the city seven times in the same manner.

In the seventh time it appeared, when the priest blew the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, Shout, for the Lord has given you the city.

So the people shouted when the priest blew the trumpets, and it happened when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, and then the people took the city.

And the very walls that had kept them out became stepping stones over which they could climb.

By the way, we're looking forward to our Joshua signaling a trumpet blast as well.

And on that day, every last fortress established by the devil in this universe and on this planet will come down.

And we will inherit a kingdom and indwell a kingdom in the presence of our King Jesus Christ that will be free from him.

Hallelujah.

Hallelujah.

Amen.

And amen.

So, Heavenly Father, we declare you're victor, you're the King, you're the master, you're the ruler over everything.

And we're excited, Father, at the way you're going to bring down Jericho's in our own lives.

We love you, Lord.

We worship you in Jesus' name.

Amen.