282~ TAKING THE LAND ~ PART 1

We welcome you to the Via Zion Sermon podcast.

We are a church based out of Chennai, India.

We are thrilled that you're tuned in today and hope that you

will be refreshed, revived, and energized by what you hear.

Our desire is that you will live life with a renewed sense of

purpose that stems from a vibrant faith in Jesus.

The year 2025 is 1 where we will be positioned by God to possess

our promise. We are believing that God is

bringing us into our place of promise.

It is now time to take the land and to do so we need to get our

spiritual posture in place and stop looking back so that we can

face forward with courage and faith.

Let's get going and possess our promise.

Amen. We are taking the land.

This whole year, 2025 was being positioned to possess the

promise. That was what our team was.

And we believe that as we've completed the month of

September, we're entering the month of October.

We are entering it strong, knowing that God has now

positioned us and now it is time to take the land.

And I believe that God is calling us into this place.

Of really, you know, claiming that which is ours in the

Kingdom. Many times when we look at

claiming, we look at land and we look at the things that

sometimes seem to really catch our fancy, which could be, you

know, claiming a property, claiming an inheritance,

something like that on a physical realm.

But I believe that, you know, on a spiritual realm, the things

that we have access to, the things that we that are meant to

be ours and sometimes just out of reach because the enemy is

probably sitting on it. Probably it got removed

generations before God wants to restore.

It could be peace in your marriage.

It could be restoration of joy that you lost over the past

years. Could be the health that you

lost because of an ailment, because of a set back.

It could be the. The sense of oneness you had

with your family that has been lost.

But I believe there's a season when God is going to recompense.

He's going to restore it, and that is what it looks like to

take the land. And we're going to be looking at

the book of Joshua. It's personally one of my

favorite books. I remember 7 years back when I

was going to walk into surgery, I was meditating on the book of

Joshua then. And little did I know, seven

years later, God would bring my attention back to this book.

And as Geshav and I have been studying this book, it has

brought back fresh insight into the plans of God.

You know, because all of us have been through wilderness seasons.

All of us have gone through those barren, fruitless seasons,

but still, things were happening.

Life was happening. We kept doing the things we had

to. But then God indicated that that

season is over and spring has come and you know, God is doing

a new thing. And as we look at the book of

Joshua, we're looking today at Joshua chapter 1, where, you

Joshua 1 · chapter mention

know, there's the season which has ended.

Moses has just died. And Moses before he died, gave

this long sermon which is recorded in the book of

Deuteronomy, where he blesses the people.

He reminds them of God's word. He reminds them of all that God

has done for them, reminds them of their trespasses, the times

they messed up and said, hey, listen, you're going to enter

the land now. This is what is expected of you.

And he prepared them for what laid ahead.

He told them about this land with which was flowing with milk

and honey. But he also said there's a

propensity for you to sin. There's a propensity for you to

wander off. So keep your eyes on God, love

him with all your heart. Serve Him alone.

He kept reiterating that. And then Moses is taken up by

God. You know he.

Goes up to this mountain, he dies, no one finds his body.

And then God meets with Joshua, God talks to him.

And then we're going to read the whole chapter, just about 18

verses, but I want us to read it to understand what this actually

is going to look like. What is taking the land look

like? Here was Joshua.

He had always been in the shadow of Moses.

Moses was one of the greatest leaders Israel had had up until

then. He was a prophet, He was a

leader, He was a judge, and he was also a military leader.

He led them into a couple of conquests.

And yet this season was going to look different.

Moses had died. They were on the cusp of the

Promised Land, this land that they had heard about for 40

years. An entire generation was wiped

out from entering the land and prevented because they were

unbelieving, because they were doubtful of God.

They had seen God's hand at the Red Sea.

They had. Seen God, God's hands in the 10

plagues, and yet they feared when they saw Kanan and its

giants and they backed off. And so 40 years of wandering to

their entire generation was wiped out.

And then a fresh generation rises up and Joshua is leading

them. Joshua's from the old guard, but

he's called into this leadership position and he's being told

what's coming up. And there's a repetitive verse

that God keeps that he keeps speaking over him, which is do

not be afraid. Do not be discouraged.

And the thing about this is the new season, many times when we

look at new, we think it's good and it's just it's, you know,

trouble free. But I want to encourage you to

remember this. A new season has new challenges.

It has new opportunities, yes, but he'll have new burdens.

It'll have new struggles, but it'll have a special grace.

It'll have a special anointing. And so I want to encourage you

that as we're talking about the season of possessing that which

is ours, of stepping into the promises that God has spoken

over us, you need to be prepared for fresh opposition.

You need to be prepared for certain giants because it's

going to be inevitable. But the beauty of what we're

going to be looking at today specifically is Joshua one where

he's saying there's this land which has been given to you,

meaning it was assigned to you for generations already.

When Abraham received the word, God was telling him, hey, you're

going to get this land. He even gave him a time when the

sin of the Amorites will reach such a level, when I will bring

my people, I will drive these guys out and your people occupy.

This was a land that was promised and yet it required

that they go in and take possession of it.

It just wouldn't come automatically to them.

It was not deeded to them and given over for eternity.

No, they had to fight for what was theirs.

And I want to remind you that some of you, you may be already

feeling like you're on the land of promise.

You have a cushy job. You have the money income that

you've longed for. You have the house, you have all

the the stuff in the house, which is great.

You're living your best life. But I want to ask you, have you

got complacent about the new frontiers that God is calling

you to? Some of you have been so

discouraged with the lack of anything happening, you found it

so unfruitful. The last few years that you're

saying God, I really don't believe this is the time.

I thought every year this was the time and didn't come.

But I want to encourage you that you would, you know, be

expectant for what God is going to do because this is the thing

in Jesus, Joshua and his people lived in the old covenant.

They are a good model for us to model how we take the land.

But here God is not calling us to wipe out a people group.

God is not calling us to put people under our feet.

He's calling us to fight the enemy and take back the the

inheritance of the enemies stole from us.

The enemy is not a person. The enemy is not a people group.

The enemy is not someone we don't like.

The enemy is the Devourer. He's the enemy of us, so he's

the accuser of the brethren. He is the one who's under our

feet and in our lives in. All our lives the enemy has

taken certain things and literally shown us that he's put

it under lock and chain. It could be your health, it

could be your prosperity, it could be that that one addiction

that you have been unable to beat.

It could be the generational curse you have inherited and you

don't know how to get rid of. But I want to encourage you.

This is a season when God is saying those things that the

enemy has marked off and said is his is actually yours.

You can ask back for it. God is saying I want to give you

abundance of soul. God is saying that it is for

Christ. It is for freedom that Christ

set you free. Freedom is yours.

He says you, I am your peace that has broken down every wall

you've been lacking. God is saying that is your

inheritance, don't give it up. Maybe you've been saying I don't

have joy. I don't laugh as much.

I don't, I don't relish every moment when God is calling you

back into a place of tremendous joy, tremendous joy.

You have felt like prayers have not been answered.

When God is saying, when you ask according to my will, everything

you ask for I will do according to my perfect will.

This is what our inheritance is. We have been making it so small

by saying, God, if you give me that house back, if you give me

that money, I lost back. Lord, if you.

Would only get me married Lord, if you only would give me

children. But God is saying no ask me, ask

me for the bigger things. Ask this huge prayer Lord, let

your will be done. Let heaven come down to earth.

Lord, give me the nations as my inheritance.

Lord, let the the nation's gates be opened.

Lord, I pray. That you will enlarge my

territories or that we would start praying those prayers that

delight God and put them into action on another level.

What is it that you and I have lost?

What is it that you and I have been craving for deep down?

That we maybe you've been craving, craving significance.

But you have significance in your identity in Christ.

And God wants you to get rid of that tract of land of orphanness

and says come in and occupy the the space of sonship.

You see what I'm saying? The inheritance is so big

because when you start living like a son over a slave, when

you start living like, like a child of God, the way you live

is different. The way you look is different,

the way you act is different. Everything changes.

For some of you, this land of promise could be God bringing

you into a family. God giving you a spouse could be

giving you God giving you children.

For some of you, God could be giving you a career that you

have felt called to. It may not pay you much, but God

is calling you into a new career.

For some of you, God is opening a space for you to serve the

Kingdom better. He could be giving you a Kingdom

idea for your business. For some of you, God is bringing

healing and restoration in your body because you've been

struggling with the sickness for a long time.

He's going to give you victory. He's going to give you

restoration of a mental health issue, whatever it is He is

taking you and maybe into a place of wholeness.

Where you will. Overcome addictions and walk in

freedom. For some of you, the promised

land could be God induced friendships, Kingdom friendships

that help you grow into the likeness of Christ.

It is going to be amazing. But The thing is this, it's our

time to possess. But are you in a posture of

possessing, or are you in a posture of complacency?

Are you in a posture of discouragement?

Are you saying I don't even read the word because I've waited for

so long? I have used to claim the word.

I used to pray the Scriptures, I used to meditate, but now

nothing's happened. So I'm deciding to rest.

Too many people have quit just before their miracle.

Too many people gave up just before the situation turned a

corner. Would you be one of those

people? Or will you push through till

you see the land on which you are meant to put your feet?

Imagine that you were just before it turned the corner and

the promised land was at the doorstep and you just gave up

then. What a tragedy, What a tragedy.

I think it's about time that we set about claiming.

What is rightfully ours? What promise did God give you?

Maybe it's a dream that you had 10 years back to start something

to pioneer something. This could be your time.

This could be your time. As we look into the book of

Joshua, Joshua chapter 1 reading from verse one on, I want you to

Joshua 1 · chapter mention

ask the Lord to stir up within you.

What it is he's calling you to possess?

Ask him, Lord, what is the old? What is the new?

Show me the partition here. In the story, the River Jordan

marked the boundary. As they crossed the Jordan, the

old was gone. The new had come.

They were in the Promised Land, but there's a preparation that

happened to Joshua before he stepped in, and that's what

we're going to be reading about. After the death of Moses, the

servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua, son of Nun,

Moses is aid. Moses, my servant is dead.

Now then you and all these people get ready to cross the

Jordan River into the land. I'm about to give them to their

Israelites. I will give you every place

where you set your foot. As I promised Moses.

Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon and from

the great river, the Euphrates, all the Hittite country to the

Mediterranean Sea in the West. No one will be able to stand

against you all the days of your life.

As I was with Moses, so I will be with you.

I will never leave you nor forsake you.

Be strong and courageous because you will lead these people to

inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.

Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law

my servant Moses gave you. Do not turn from it to the right

or the left, that you may be successful.

Wherever you go. Keep this book of the Law always

on your lips. Meditate on it day and night, so

that you may be careful to do everything written in it.

Then you will be prosperous and successful.

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous, do not

be afraid, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your

God will be with you wherever you go.

So Joshua ordered the officers of the people go through the

camp, tell the people, get your provisions ready. 3 days from

now you will cross the Jordan here to go in and take

possession of the land the Lord your God is giving you for your

own. But to the.

Reubenites, Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh.

Joshua said. Remember the command that Moses,

the servant of the Lord, gave you after he said the Lord your

God. God will give you rest by giving

you this land. Your wives, your children and

your livestock may stay in the land that Moses gave you east of

the Jordan, but all your fighting men?

Ready for battle must crossover ahead of your fellow Israelites.

You are to help them until the Lord gives them rest, as He has

done for you, and until they too have taken possession of the

land the Lord your God is giving them.

After that you may go back and occupy your own land, which

Moses assumed of the Lord gave you, east of the Jordan toward

the sunrise. Then they answered, Joshua.

Whatever you commanded us we will do, and wherever you send

us, we will go. Just as we fully obeyed Moses,

so we will obey you only. May the Lord your God be with

you as he was with Moses. Whoever rebels against your word

and does not obey it, whatever you may command them, will be

put to death. Only be strong and courageous.

I love this passage. Joshua 19 is something that has

just stayed with me all these years.

But wherever I go, whatever season I step into, it's like

God reminds me, Be strong and courageous.

I am with you. I will be with you wherever you

go. If someone is watching this

right now and you have been feeling so insecure, God, I'm

going to a new country, I'm moving to a new city.

I'm doing something totally out of my depth.

I want to encourage you, Joshua 19 is for you.

He is with you wherever you go, whatever you do, He is with you.

And you can be bold and courageous, right?

And when we look at this whole chapter, God speaking directly

to Joshua, possibly the way, you know, we when we sit with the

word, we hear God speak to us. And it's probably that.

But what I love at the end of the chapter is God confirms his

word to Joshua through the lips of leaders who are going to

surround him for the rest of his life.

These are people who have already got their land.

They've already got their inheritance.

And I want to speak specifically to those of you who feel like

you're already in the promised land, Praise God.

But would you still inconvenience yourself just

about a little so that you could pray with those who haven't yet

made it? Would you pray for those who are

waiting for that destiny moment? Will you pray for those who are

waiting for those things that God has promised them, rather

than being complacent in where you're at, happy with what

you've got? What if you were to say, Lord, I

want to stand with them? What if I will stand shoulder to

shoulder and contend with them for their medical, contend with

them for their breakthrough, contend with them for their

inheritance? What if we were to do that?

What if you and I could do that? Coming back to this entire

passage, there are three things that I want to leave with you in

order to actually take the land. There are three important things

you and I need to do. It's actually 3 verbs, almost

three things that we must do right.

A lot of times, like I said, at the end of a wilderness season,

we're sometimes so exhausted and weary.

Yeah, we're so, you know, just discouraged.

We're practically lying on this couch, and we're just like, God,

do whatever. I'm here for it.

But the posture must change for taking the land.

We cannot be in the posture we wear in the previous season like

we looked at the season of the harvest.

The harvest was when God did a mighty work in US more than

anything we were doing. It was us exposing ourselves to

Him and Him reaping the harvest in our lives.

Him taking what was sown in generations and and seasons

before and bringing the harvest. It was Him who was doing the

winnowing and the threshing. But now?

But now it's coming to a place where we need to do something to

take the land. And I want to encourage you

before we go any further that taking the land is God's work.

Actually giving back things to us that we lost over years or

generations is God's job. Even fighting those enemies and

pulling them down is God's job. But there is a part you when I

play in it and our posture matters how what we do in the in

the interim matters. And I believe that I'm just

going to leave it as ABC with you today so that it sticks in

your mind throughout the season. That comes because you are

called to take the land. But the first thing you need to

do is arise in the NKJV. It says this.

This is what God says. Moses, my servant is dead.

Now, Therefore, arise. Go over this, Jordan, you and

all this people to the land which I am giving them.

Arise. It's possible that Joshua was

discouraged, possible that Josh was afraid.

Think about it. Here's a guy who always LED

behind Moses. When Moses left the Tabernacle,

he lingered. He caught the glory cloud on

Moses. He he interacted with Moses.

He fought when Moses told him the battle strategy.

He fought in that valley of Gibeon and Moses heard and Aaron

stood on the top and they mediated for victory.

Joshua had seen Moses at very close quarters.

He had seen the leadership ability, and yet he saw the

apostasy of the people. He saw the disobedience and

rebellion of the people. And now Moses has died and

Joshua has to handle these people.

Can you imagine the magnitude of the task that was on?

It must have been so daunting. And he knew that the Promised

Land was just there. He knew it was his job.

But here was God reaffirming and say go, arise.

Get up. Go.

And I love this verse from Isaiah 60, which I believe is

very pertinent to the season where in Isaiah 60 verse one in

the amplified classic, it says arise from the depression and

prostration in which circumstances have kept you.

Rise to a new life, shine, be radiant with the glory of the

Lord, for your light has come. The glory of the Lord has risen

upon you. When we looked at the season of

the harvest, we looked at. How the glory of God is what is

the weight on us, So that in the winnowing, what keeps us going

is the glory of God which is in US and on us.

That is what is evident to people.

When people are observing you in a work situation, at home, in

your neighborhood, when they see you behave different, it's God's

glory which is shining through you, right?

And the beautiful thing is that God is calling you and me to

rise up. Whether we rise up or not is on

us. But the call on all of us is to

raise. Too many of us have been

slumbering when we need to stand on that watch post for our

families, for our marriages, for our churches and and pray and

stand in the gap. Too many of us have been

sleeping when we needed to stand at the end of it.

Then we say, Oh well, it's too bad my marriage ended.

Oh well, my child has gone astray.

What were you doing? Where you on that watchtower

calling out to God night and day?

Where you in a position of standing ready with your

weaponry, the armor in place, ready to take back what the

enemy stole today, No matter what kind of slumbering you've

done. Maybe you've been slumbering out

of it for a couple of years. Maybe you just started getting

exhausted. Maybe it's been a couple of

months. You're just so tired.

You're like not 10th month and nothing has happened.

Still, what's going on? Am I praying to a living God?

I want to encourage you that now's the time for you to rise

up, arise from that depression, that prostration because of what

life has thrown you because God is doing a new thing around the

globe. God is doing a new thing.

You hear the stories of people encountering Jesus in every

situation, walk of life, It's amazing.

God's glory is evident. God's glory is evident.

What are the new things God is calling you to step into?

Unless you rise up and get in, you can't really do it.

You know, with COVID, so many jobs moved online.

And recently, recently talking to a friend of ours is in a high

position in a company, and he was just telling us how

difficult it is to convince people to come back into work.

They're so comfortable sitting with a shirt and just, you know,

they're jockey shots or briefs in meetings and then log off and

do their own thing. He said it's harder to get

people to get up and come into work.

And I wonder whether that apathy has also, you know, kind of

seeped into our spiritual life when you know about God.

I'm sure that you're not speaking to me directly to the

Bible. So I'll just, you know, listen

to a podcast and maybe some word there will resonate with me or

maybe I'll just go to, you know, a place where you know other

believers are and let the vibe kind of rub off onto me.

Have we gotten too complacent? Has your weariness got you to

sleep when you needed to be awake and alert?

The The apostle Peter writes about needing to be alert

because our enemy is like a. Roaring lion waiting to pounce

on someone. And while we don't want to give

him too much credence, I want to be.

Alert to what God is doing. I want to be alert to what God

is doing in the earth, what he's doing in my world, what he's

doing in my family. I want to be alert and awake.

You need to get up. It's time to get up.

You cannot do the things in the new season if you're on your

back. You need to get up.

You need to be alert, you need to be praying, you need to be

standing. So the first thing is arise,

arise. Second thing is be bold a arise

BB bold, be bold. Why?

Because God is with you. You have to understand the other

nations who had heard that Israel had was crossing the

Jordan to come to them. We're afraid, Rehab tells them.

Our hearts melted in fear when we heard of what God had done

for you. They were not afraid of the

Israelites, Percy. They were afraid of the God who

was with them. You can be bold because of the

one who is with you, The one who is in you.

Greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world.

Why should I be afraid? Why do I live in such anxiety?

I'm asking myself this. When the one who is with me is

almighty, the one who is for me is a mighty man of war.

This is the God I serve. And yet sometimes we're just so

afraid. We're so afraid.

And The thing is this, you have to understand, like I said, the

new land is going to have new challenges.

It's going to have new burdens, it's going to have new

obstacles, it's going to have giants.

And therefore there's a need for you to be bold.

I when I read Joshua 19, as much as it's encouraging, it always

kind of scared me because it felt like God was prepping

Joshua by saying be brave, be bold, be courageous because

there's going to be a ton of reasons for you to be scared.

And that is the truth of our lives as believers, as we

mature, as we grow into the likeness of Christ, as he gives

us more in our hands to do, as he entrusts more of the Kingdom

to us, as he gives people to us to to shepherd and serve, the

responsibility increases, The mantle gets heavier.

I need more of him. I'm going to have many reasons

to be afraid. I'm going to have many reasons

to tremble. I'm going to be discouraged many

times. But he's saying be bold.

Be strong, don't be discouraged, don't be dismayed.

Why? Because I am with you.

The book of Proverbs, Proverbs 28 was one.

It says the wicked flee when no one pursues them, but the

righteous are as bold as a lion. Both the wicked and the

righteous have people chase after them, have enemies pursue

them. The wicked run even though no

one's pursuing, but the righteous are as bold as a lion.

If you watch Nat Geo videos of lions and lionesses with their

Cubs, even baby lions know who they are.

Even a cub is fearless. They don't tremble in the face

of opposition. And the thing that the lion does

is it stands bold and strong in the face of all enemies.

It knows its strength. It knows its power.

You and I are children of the Lion of Judah.

By definition, we are lion Cubs. Why are we trembling when we

need to be standing bold? Why do we stand trembling?

The reason we stand trembling? When I was looking at the word

for bold, the righteous are as bold as a lion, I was studying

the word bold. And the bold.

Word bold actually means to trust and to be confident.

And by, you know, association, it also means to take refuge in.

So what does that mean? I would be bold when I trust or

rely or I'm confident or take refuge in a very strong person.

The reason many times I'm not bold is because my confidence is

in myself. My trust is in someone.

My refuge is nowhere. I think that I can handle it,

and I stand there completely defenseless, wondering what to

do. But The thing is, it shifts.

The righteous are as bold as a lion.

You and I are clothed in the righteousness of Christ.

We're hidden in Christ if he is my refuge.

If he is my refuge, I don't have to fear a thing.

I don't have to fear a thing. If you've ever seen these,

these, you know, funny videos of, you know, large dog and a

small dog. So if there's a really tiny dog

and the big dog is barking at something, the little dog stands

and it's sure, you know, shadow and it kind of just mooches off

it's power. Too many of us have taken refuge

in the wrong things. We're not actually trusting or

having confidence in the right person.

What if you and I were to get like Psalm 91 says, get into the

shadow of the Almighty? If my refuge is Christ, I have

every reason to be bold. I have every.

Reason to be courageous. Joshua was had already faced 2

big kings Org and King Sihan of the Amorite org of Bastion.

He had fought people. Moses had LED that charge.

But Joshua was on the battlefield fighting.

He had faced these two guys. He had wiped them out but they

were long battles. But what was coming was he was

going to be fighting 33 kings to take over their territories.

These were the Canaanite kings. These guys were strong, they

were vicious, they were powerful, they had iron

Chariots. These guys were ruthless and God

was saying this land belong to you.

Now I'm giving it, you go take it.

This is very interesting thing. It says over there, this is the

land that I'm giving you. The Lord your God is giving you

this land right in verse. Where does that come?

Yeah. Verse 2, he says I am the land

which I'm giving to them. Verse 3, every place that the

sole of your foot will tread upon, I have given you past

tense. So one is I am giving you

present continuous, but I've already given it to you.

What is he saying? He's saying this is a victory

that is already won, but you have to enforce the victory, and

for that you need to be bold. What is my boldness today?

My boldness is that God is with me.

My boldness is that in Christ I have the victory.

We are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus, that wherever He

takes me, we're walking in victory.

I carry the aroma of Christ. That is the reason for my

boldness. Without boldness, their hearts

would have melted in fear. You and I in the new season need

to infuse this boldness consistently into us.

We need to know who we are in Christ.

We need to know who Christ is, Reveal in that, dwell in that.

And from that place comes a boldness saying, Lord, anything

that happens, I know you're with me.

I know that all things work together for good, that for them

that love the Lord. I trust you.

Your timing is perfect God, your timing is perfect.

When I was reading this one verse in Exodus, it says he

brought them out 430 years later from, you know, Egypt.

He brings them out in the Exodus to the very day that God had

promised Abraham. And when I read that, I realized

why am I worried about time or a lot of times running out?

Why am I worried? This is a God who is in the

detail. This is a God who does things to

the very minute of his plan. So if you have been saying God,

I, I'm so scared. I don't know when you're going

to do what you're promised to do I'm I'm, I'm feeling like, you

know, you're, you're, you know, kind of gone back on your word.

He's not a man. He doesn't lie.

If he said it, he will do it. His arm is not too short.

It will save you. But the season will require that

you keep choosing courage. You keep staying bold, you keep

trusting, you keep taking refuge in me.

I was reading this verse this week which encouraged me so

much, which was I think from Isaiah 57.

It says they that take refuge in me will inherit the land and

possess my holy mountain. It is only when you and I take

refuge in Him. Trust Him.

The righteous are as bold as a lion.

They trust in Him. You will inherit that which is

yours. Who is your refuge?

Who is your refuge today? The reason we need to be bold is

so that you will possess what is rightfully yours.

You will not run when you need to go and stand and possess.

It is so that you will obey God to the fullest.

If you're fearful, if you're melting in fear, you cannot obey

God because everything God is saying will sound like no way.

God is definitely not asking me to do that.

And you will turn tail and run. The reason you need to be bold

is to prosper and be successful. Look at this in verses six to

seven. He says be strong and courageous

because you will lead these people to inherit the land.

Without boldness, no inheritance.

Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law

that Moses gave you. Without boldness, you will not

choose not to obey. You will take the ones that you

want to obey and you'll discard the rest.

He says, obey all of it, right? And then He also says over

there, then keep this book of the law.

Meditate on it so that you will be prosperous and successful.

Obedience to God's Word will directly create a season of

success and prosperity because you are in His Word, you are in

His will. Too many of us want the

prosperity and the success without the obedience, without

the boldness. How?

Courageous are you to stand up for Jesus in your office?

The time is coming when we need to stand and be bold and say,

hey, I'm a Jesus follower. I cannot come to this event.

I follow Jesus. I, I kind of live a set apart

life. It may not work for you.

So I'm going to step out of this.

When will you live with courage? When will you live with

boldness? Because if not now I don't know

when. The righteous are as bold as a

lion. Courage of conviction, courage

of who you stand for, the courage for of what you stand

for. God is calling us into a season

of courage. The third thing A was arise.

B was B bold. C is chew, chew on God's word.

It's another word for meditation, you know, and with

all the Eastern, Far East meditative techniques, this got

such a bad rap. But meditating on God's Word is

everything. Look at what He says.

He says. Keep this book of the Law always

on your lips. Meditate on it day and night so

that you may be careful to do everything written in it.

This may be the key to even the New Testament portion which

talks about how the Word is now written on your heart.

How is it? Written on your heart when it's

on your mouth, when it's in your brain bouncing around, when you

have consumed it so much that it becomes one with you.

And The funny thing is, what you meditate on is what you live

out. If you're meditating on the

stuff that you're constantly consuming from all kinds of

platforms, from constant non-stop entertainment, your

life is kind of driven by that. I remember growing up, 2000 was

when Friends came out, you know the sitcom.

And I remember that all of us in that season, we were all 1617

year olds, a whole bunch of our friends circle started dating.

A whole bunch of us were hungry to go to a coffee shop.

We didn't have money on us, but we wanted to go to a coffee

shop. And that's when coffee Day

began. We were so driven by what we

were being, what we were consuming.

What we meditated on became a mantra.

It became the lifestyle choice, the way we dressed.

We wanted haircuts like the actors.

It was because of what we were consuming.

What are you and I consuming today?

Are we meditating and chewing on God's word?

You look at cows, they chew the cud.

They're chewing and chewing and chewing.

It's constantly in their mouth. And I believe God is calling us,

he says so that you may be careful to do some of us live in

this worry of I know God's word. We're not actually living it

out. Maybe the, the, you know, the

gap is that we are not sitting with the word.

We're not meditating on it. In Revelation 320, you know,

Jesus says, behold, I stand at the door and knock.

If anyone hears and listens and heeds my voice and opens the

door, I will come into him. We'll eat with him and he will

eat with me. Jesus is calling me to a

veritable feast in his presence when I open the word of God

every morning. What I'm technically doing is.

I am entering the the banquet hall and sitting down where

Jesus is already waiting for me. He's sitting there, he's waiting

as I read the Word, as I sit with it, as I allow it to soak

in, as I chew on this one or two scriptures I train myself to

hear from. He says this very clearly.

If anyone hears and listens. The problem is, we find

ourselves at a buffet of God's Word.

I take what I like, I leave what I don't.

And I walk. Away God is calling me to a

banquet where he serves me. He says I know you need this, I

know you like this, but now I want to give you all that is my

treasure trove. And that's what a banquet looks

like. And he's saying he wants to sit

and eat with us. He wants to meet with us.

You need the word to be explained to you by the word.

Jesus is the living Word. Without Him sitting with us and

explaining this, this will just be words.

This could be misconstrued to fit my political understanding.

This could be misconstrued to just stick in my fancy.

But to understand it in the context for which it was

written. For such a time as this, I need

the living Word to explain the written word to me.

When you chew on God's word. He explains things.

To you, He teaches you how to live.

He teaches you how to appropriate it, how to live it

out. I was watching this beautiful

video of a little boy. He in this is somewhere in this

in Central America, and a mission organization is working

there with this tribe, which has so many people, little children

who are born deaf. And so this little child is

finally in this organization. They're fitting him with a

hearing aid and they fit. I think he's just about two or

three years old. He has never heard people's

voices clearly. In fact, when they put him in

play school, he was shunned by other kids.

Teachers had called him restless and you know, they had.

They call them all kinds of things and say, you know what we

can't handle and we can't do anything.

And he'd grown. Then when he first came to the

place, he was just about 3 or 4, two or three.

But then as he grew and they started fitting him for the

hearing aid, around 5 or 6, they fitted him with this hearing aid

and the joy on his face when he could hear the doctor and his

parents voices. And not just that, the doctor

would had actually forged a bond.

And she had heard the struggle he was having at school.

She had heard how he had been bullied.

She had heard how teachers had written him off, called him

stupid, called him dumb. And the first thing she said to

him was this, which was very interesting.

She said you are loved by God, you are intelligent, you are a

good boy. Three things that she says to

him. First words that he hears

clearly, tears running down his face.

He hugs this teacher, hugs his parents, goes back to school.

She meets him a couple of months on and years later sees a steady

increase in his ability, social interaction.

All because he could hear again. All because he was able to

concentrate on what was being said.

Too many of us have been listening to the negative voices

of the muffled hearing we have. We've gotten used to it.

I, I, I hear God's word, but my childhood voices are louder.

The rejection sounds louder, the orphanness sounds louder, the

abuse sounds louder, the trauma sounds louder.

And so the voice of God is still so dim and diminished, but God

is saying, Hey, I want you to better hear my voice.

And for that you need to chew on my word issue, on his word,

dwell in it so that your hearing is tuned to the voice of God.

This new season is going to require us to listen to the

audible voice of God. God is going to speak to you.

He's going to speak to you about your marriage.

He's going to speak to you about your health.

He's going to speak to you about your children.

He's going to speak to you about your future.

He's going to speak to you about your job.

He's going to speak to you about those things that you have

dreamt of pioneering and yet haven't seen the light of day.

He's going to dream. He's going to talk to you about

dreams that you've had. What if you miss it because you

don't know how to identify his voice?

His voice always sounds in line. With His word.

So if you haven't been meditating on His word, you

could miss it. You could miss it.

And I, for one, don't want to miss His voice.

I don't want to miss the time when He's speaking to me to

catch what he's saying. So as you arise, as you are

bold, as you chew on God's Word, He is going to surround you with

people. If you look at this, this was 2

1/2 tribes that had already got their inheritance.

But Joshua was saying, hey, you guys made a promise to Moses

that you will settle your families, but you will come with

us to reclaim the land on the other side.

And these guys say, we're with you all the way.

God is going to bring you people for the new season who will

rally around you, who will come around you and say we are with

you. We're going to pray you through.

We're going to see you through. God is going to bring those who

will confirm his word to you. I love that.

Everything God said to them, they they said only be strong

and courageous. They were confirming what God

had already spoken. How much it must have cheered

Josh. Joshua's hard to go.

I didn't mishear God. I didn't mishear God.

God is going to bring people who will confirm God's word to you.

They're all He's also going to bring people who are going to

help you. Take the land.

Because let's face it, taking the land was not a solo man's

job. It wasn't Joshua's job alone.

He had an army with him. They did everything together.

The priests were helping the people who are helping artisans.

Everyone. It takes a village is true.

To take the land. You will need your people.

God's going to bring them in. As we close, I just want to read

from Isaiah 43. You know, many times we read the

scripture, Isaiah 43. We're going to read from verse

15, 15 to 20. As we read that, I want to just

give you an indication of what this season is going to look

like. He says I am the Lord, your Holy

One, Israel's Creator, your King.

This is what the Lord says. He who made a way through the

sea, a path through the mighty waters, who drew out the

Chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and

they lay there never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out

like a wig. Forget the former things.

Do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing now.

It springs up. Do you not perceive it?

I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the

wasteland. This is our God.

This is our God. And this is what he's leading us

into. I love in the NLT, it says the

title says the Lord's promise of victory.

And for those of you who are wondering, this new season, is

it going to be a season of defeat?

No, it's going to be a season of victory because you have God

with you. You have Jesus with you.

But here's the thing, he says it's important.

Like forget the former things. Do not dwell on the past.

The way we remember the past matters.

The way we release the past matters so that we can actually

step into the new thing. God is calling when he goes into

the new season. Joshua doesn't have the benefit

of sitting and mulling over the good times with Moses.

He doesn't have time to think, oh wow, what a good leader Moses

was. I miss him.

He didn't have time. He was on mission.

He had to take land, distribute it, and then he would enter his

rest. So for many of us, we're in a

season when we're still living in the past and therefore

stepping into the new fields too much like too much of work.

But the command to us is forget the former things.

In NLT it says forget all that, all that.

It is nothing compared. To what I am going to do, for

I'm about to do something new. See, I have already begun.

Do you not see it? I will make a pathway in the

wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry

wasteland. God is calling you and me to

remember the past. Yes, but how do you and I

remember the past? You know I have a problem when I

look at the past I have. Two hugely different ways of

looking. Either I look at it and look at

all the terrible things that happened and look at it like a

victim. Oh, I was a victim of those

circumstances, those terrible things that happened.

Oh, what a hard season. Or my other extreme is to say I

came out on top. It was amazing the way I had

grit, I had courage, I had, you know, the strength.

Both of these ways of looking at it turns out are not the best

way to look at it. Reason being, if you look at the

NLT, it's very clear I won't reel from NLT.

It says I am the Lord, your holy one.

OK, I am the Lord who opened away.

I called forth the mighty army of Egypt.

I drew them beneath the waves. Who's the focus on?

It's on God. It's on what God did.

It's easy to look back at our past and just look at the

terrible tragedy of things that happened.

Or I can choose to look at the tragedy closer and find God's

hand in it. I can also look at the way I

walked through it with strength, with boldness, and not make it

about me, but about God. God, it was you who extinguish

that enemy. Lord, it was you who made the

the seas part. It wasn't me.

Yes, I walked through on dry ground because you enabled me to

see that day. Our problem is that many times

we make ourselves the victim or the victor.

When God is the hero of our past.

He's the hero of the story and the way we remember it is very

important. Why do I say this?

Why do I say this? I noticed from my life, when

I've looked at the past through the lens of me being a victim, I

feel powerless to look into the future.

When I look at the past as me being the victor, I look at the

future and think, what if I fail in the future?

What if I'm not as strong in the future?

What if I can't withstand it like I did?

Then I can't be the hero of my own story.

Because I'm so frail and so weak, I have not arrived.

But when I look at the past through the lens of Jesus and

say, Oh my God, I went through that traumatic and incident, but

Jesus, how you redeemed it? God, how you walked with me

through that grief. Lord, how you walked with us

during that difficult time when I changed the lens, how it

changes everything. So then I look at the future and

I remember how I didn't collapse in that season because God was

literally holding me up. I didn't give up because God,

you strengthened me with your word.

You strengthened me through your people.

Then will I look at the future? I have so much faith because the

one who led me then will lead me again.

I look at the back at the back story of this and I think, wow,

if He held me up, then He will hold me up again.

How I remember is important, but this is the thing.

You remember it, you release it because now it's going to happen

differently. The way God is going to work

things out is going to look different.

It's not going to be the same as before.

It's going to look different. He's going to make pathways for

you that you have not seen possible that you've not

imagined. How you remember the past will

dictate how you look at the future, Jesus says in Revelation

21, Five, He says, the one seated on the throne says, see,

I am making all things new. He is making all things new.

New means better than before. He's restoring it to such a

place. It's going to be better than

before. Your marriage, Should you stay,

should you put the hard yards in, is going to be better than

before. The children you've been waiting

for will come. It's going to be better than you

imagined it might be through a route you didn't picture.

God is going to take you into new frontiers where all dreams

are going to be revived and the way he unfolds it is going to be

so different, so unique to you. Many times our discouragement is

because we plan our miracles, we plan how the breakthrough should

happen, but God is going to demolish those plans and do

something way better. It's going to blow your mind.

No mind has seen, no ear has has heard what God has conceived for

you, what God has planned for you and me.

It's going to be so amazing, but it requires that you arise.

It requires that you be bold. It requires that you chew on

God's Word so that you hear him and take the land.

I'm believing for us that God is taking us into a season of

increase. For some of us, it's going to be

a shedding of old routines and old paradigms and stepping into

new rhythms. Matthew 1128 to 30.

If you read it in the message, he says, I will take you in the

rhythms of grace. You're not going to be running

around like a headless chicken saying you're busy.

You're going to find time to rest and enjoy God.

For many it's going to be a season of increase.

Like I said, Isaiah 54 where he he talks to the woman, he says

barren woman who's not given birth.

Stretch wide, your tense. He's going to stretch wide those

tents. For some it's going to be a

season of surprises. He's going to do things that you

didn't picture. Things are going to get shifted.

You won't have time to even prepare, but it's just going to

happen. In Amos 9 it talks about the

hills flowing with wine. It talks about the ploughman

beating the Reaper beating the planter.

There's going to be things happening.

So far as message version says, your head is going to swim.

God is going to do these things. For many.

It's going to be a season of new wine and new wineskins.

Many times God is doing something new.

But I want to do, you know, hold it in the old wine skin of my

tradition, my methods, what works for me.

God is saying I don't need the old wineskin, I'm doing

something new. New wine needs new wineskins.

You're going to overhaul things. For many, you're going to see

new things in God's Word that you didn't see before, new

treasures amidst the old. Matthew 1352 talks about that,

that the teachers would bring out new treasures amidst the

old, that God would give you the ability to see new things for

many. And I believe this, that we're

going to be the channels of bringing many into the Kingdom

where they will experience a new creation that is in.

Christ. The old is gone, the newest come

second Corinthians 517. God is going to do something

new. But how ready are you?

Are you still lying down on that bed of depression?

Are you lying down in that bed of discouragement and saying I

can't get up, I can't do anything?

I haven't seen God, but I want to encourage you to start

looking at your past. Change the lens.

When you go to an optometrist shop, they first put that

wireframe. You look like a bug eyed person

and then they start fitting in the lens.

And you know what? Sometimes they give you 2

powers. They try it on and they say is

this OK? Or they remove it and they put

another set of lens and is this better?

For many of us, we have the right lens on but we don't know

whether we're looking at good or better.

God wants to give you what's better, but you need to change

the lens. How are you looking at the past?

Is it through the? Victim mentality, of all the

things that you went through, is it at a victim mentality where

you think you were the hero of that story?

Would you pivot and say, Lord, I want to see you in that story.

Show me where you were present in that story.

Once you have remembered, want you to let it go and be ready

for what it's coming. God has a plan that is going to

blow our minds. Can I just pray for you?

Mother, I just thank you so much for what You are doing in our

lives. We are so grateful, Lord, for

all that you've done in the past.

Every story has had purpose. Every barricade and obstacle we

faced had a purpose called. You have redeemed and are

redeeming things. Help us to remember it right so

that we can release it and step into the new.

Father, I pray for those who've been slumbering for too long,

those who have been sleeping on the job, those who have been so

discouraged they haven't been able to lift the head and stand

in guard. I pray right now that they would

arise. They would arise and let their

light shine. Father, I pray for those who

have been cats on the wall for too long.

They haven't been bold about their faith.

They haven't been bold in battle.

God, they have turned away. Father, I pray that today they

would rise up and courage. The righteous are as bold as a

lion. They would be like lions.

Or Father, unwilling to let go of the promise till they see it

fulfilled. Unwilling Lord to stand in

defeat but a step forward in victory.

Father, I pray for those who need help to chew on your word.

I pray for a love for your word to be deposited and those

watching right now. I pray for those in the service

that Lord, a deep love for your Word, a deep love for your

voice. Once we hear it, Lord, there's

no turning back. I pray for.

Those who used to hear your voice but have completely gone

deaf right now spiritually, I pray that you would open deaf

ears so that they would hear your voice and they would be led

by you and you alone. We cover ourselves with your

precious blood. Lead us, guide us and go before

us into this new season. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.

Amen. Just want to wish you an amazing

week ahead, that God would really speak to you from what we

have spoken. That God would show you what it

is that you have to take possession of.

What is the land you must stand on, Stake your claim and say

this is given to me by Jesus, this is mine.

As you go into this week, I want to remind you of this that

whoever finds Jesus. Minds, Life, God bless you.

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