Arise Now!

Hello and welcome to the Arise Church Podcast.

We are so glad you're here and want to thank you for joining us

today for the audio version of our Sunday morning message.

We want to invite you to join us in person at our Sunday morning

celebration every Sunday at 10 AM.

We are located on Old Jenks Rd. in Apex, NC.

Thank you, Lord. Well, as I was saying that, I

feel like this is prophetic. And when God is speaking, you do

have to have ears to hear because the natural mind only

knows natural things. In other words, the thoughts

that you have, they're only going to know what you could

have known without God. But to know things that only God

knows, you have to hear God. And for that you need spiritual

ears. You need spiritual eyes, and

most people on this planet as of today do not have ears to hear

or eyes to see. And I don't assume ever when we

come into church that everybody even in this room today has ears

to hear and eyes to see. It's why the same people, you

can be sitting next to somebody who hears God and is deeply

impacted by a service or by a message and the next person is

just thinking about what's for lunch.

Why? Because ears you have you have

two different ways of hearing. And so I'm imploring you this

morning here God, because this message to arise now, I think

it's urgent, it's urgent, it's urgent.

I mean, even what April was sharing, the tectonic plates of

this earth are shaking. And the Bible says that there is

a time where everything that will be or that can be shaken

will be shaken so that those things that cannot be shaken

will remain. We're there.

Everything that can be shaken will be shaken so that

everything that cannot be shaken will remain.

So we're there right now. And so to hear this from a place

of urgency, I think is important because that's why it's in our

mission statement is as we were praying and sensing Lord, what

are you saying the assignment on this house is this church is is

it was urgent. It wasn't lazy to tell you the

truth. It wasn't it wasn't generic.

You know, I don't even want to name ones that I've heard

because I don't want to blast anybody else's mission

statement, but wasn't generic. It wasn't one that we just

googled and find found out what would really attract people.

What would it make what, what would really make people feel

good about what we're doing. It was a prayerful Lord, we, we

know a bit of what you've assigned us to, but help us zero

in on it so that we can remember and and repeat it.

And this particular portion was one where it was like, once we

landed on it, it was like, that's it To arise now,

discipling generations to arise. Now, when I think of this, I

remember that from one week to the next, life can drastically

change for any person in this room.

There have been moments where this reality comes full, full

face, whether it's a family goes to a crisis or maybe someone

passes away or just whatever the reason may be.

The call to arise now is probably more urgent than you

think. It's more time sensitive than

you realize. I was at a conference this last

week and every year the same kind of group of people get

together and it's people that we've known for several years.

And this particular year was very sobering because there were

a couple families that weren't with us anymore.

And it's not because they passed away, it's because they had,

they had character things that took them out of the ministry,

some of them leaving their families all together in, in our

friend group, people that I love, people that I know, you

know. And so there's a sobriety that

comes when you start to realize not everybody's here that used

to be here. There's a reality that sets in

on you that that's not just to mourn or to grieve or to be

like, I can't believe they did those things.

That's that's a bit unhelpful. Part of what it does to me is it

impresses upon me the urgency that I have in my ministry for

today in in in me ministering and me giving the the prophetic

life, giving word of God, not just in a public setting like

this, but in private conversations and meeting with

people. I realize the eternity is in the

balance. Families are in the balance,

assignments and callings and futures and people groups.

I mean, all the things are right there in the balance.

And so I'm coming at today's teaching with a, a, a point of

may the Lord help you understand why he has placed you in this

place in this time, and may you fulfill your assignment.

May you fulfill your assignment on this earth.

It reminds me when Lilia and JJ and several other women were in

Israel and they were there. If you weren't with us at that

time, this was just a couple months ago.

They were there when the war started, when the United States

and Israel started to attack Iran.

And I remember not having fear, but I was very intentional with

my words with Lilia to tell her, make sure you fulfill your

assignment. God has you there for a reason.

We prayed before you went. We believe that the Lord sent

you there. Make sure you fulfill.

Why did He send you there? And most of that was for prayer.

And a lot of it, though, was how she's been impacted.

My wife is not the same lady who went to Israel.

Then when she came back, she's got a grit and an iron in her

diet that when directed at the things of the Lord is fire.

It's very powerful. But there wasn't there was a a

timing to that. There was an urgency to that.

There was a an awareness of God has an assignment for you and it

it's not something that can just wait for some future year, some

future time. It's for now.

And so I want to start with Joshua chapter 1 and I'm going

Joshua 1 · chapter mention

to hopscotch a bit through Joshua because Joshua found

himself in a very important moment, not only in his life,

but in the the life of the children of Israel, the the plan

that God had for his chosen people, these covenant people.

And I'm going to start in Joshua chapter one, verse one, after

the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass

that the Lord spoke to Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses's

assistant, saying no notice that God spoke to him and he heard

God spoke to him and he heard first step to arise is hear God.

You must hear God. If you say, well, I haven't,

I've never heard the Lord before.

Well, may you hear him for the first time today.

May you hear his voice. The Lord spoke to Joshua the son

of Nun Moses assistant, saying, Moses, my servant is dead.

Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this

people, to the land which I am giving to them, the children of

Israel. Every place that the sole of

your foot will tread upon, I have given you.

As I said to Moses, this is very powerful because Joshua signed

up for this assignment 40 years before he heard God say this and

all these other folks kept him out of it.

For 40 years he was faithful. Caleb had been faithful.

His friend. These were the only 240 years

ago who said God is able, He will give it to us.

And for 40 years they had to wait on all these other fools to

get in line. This true, but yet there came a

moment when the God was like, it's time to fulfill that

promise that I spoke. And so Joshua had ears to hear.

Even 40 years after waiting, nobody's hearing me this

morning. Do you understand what I'm

saying? For 40 years, Can you imagine?

Day in, day out, day in, day out, Mana in the morning.

Mana disappears at night. I mean day in, day out, day in,

day out. And they're being led by the

pillar of fire and the cloud. By day, I mean a day in, day

out. They're just in the monotony of

day in, day out, day in, day out.

And then Moses dies. And then there's this shift of

something has changed. Our leader is gone, and then

Joshua still has ears to hear God.

Disappointment didn't care keep him from hearing God.

Frustration with an offense didn't keep him from hearing

God. He still had ears to hear God.

What did God say to him? I'm still going to fulfill what

I told Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

I'm still going to fulfill the assignment that I gave to Moses.

And now it's your assignment. It's kind of like a race.

When the baton is being passed, it's like now it's in your hand

to run with. And each of us have an

assignment from God where he's saying now therefore arise, go

take what I told you I was going to give to you.

And I had a band teacher, Melanie Gonzalez, she's a band

teacher in Durham. And I told her my, my band

teacher taught me this. He would say excuses are lies,

excuses are lies. And you know, I don't know if

that's true in every, every situation, but I think of that

today when I'm thinking about God's push on us again, I just

sense I'm pushing it to say it's time.

It's time. And if you're not careful,

you'll let excuses, which are lies.

Mr. Sparks was his name SE Guilford High School.

If you're not careful, those lies will cause you to believe

we're not able. I'm not able.

It's not my time. I'm more comfortable over and

all of this, by the way, is in the story of the children of

Israel. All those excuses were there and

everybody who made those excuses died in the wilderness.

That's reality and I don't I for me and my house.

Oh no, we're going to enter in. We're going to take everything

that God has put in our hand, to take every place that the sole

of your foot will tread upon. I have given you every place,

every place, every place, every place.

You know, Jesus taught like this.

Fascinating since he's part of the Godhead.

Because when God speaks so many times, it's so it, it's so

comprehensive. The fact that he said every, he

didn't say some of the places. He didn't say, well, parts of

it, you know, it's a lot of times gone on.

You know, some of those people groups 40 years ago, they've

kind of grown over time. They've gotten bigger, they're

more in number, you know, they multiplied.

And so, you know, maybe, maybe we'll give you about 1/4 of what

I originally told you to do. Notice he didn't say that.

He said every place, every place.

And I feel like somebody needs to hear that this morning.

Time has passed and the circumstances probably seem

harder now than they would have if you if it would have been

fulfilled all those times ago, years ago.

And yet God is still saying all of it still belongs to you.

This is this is what bumps up against worldly wisdom and

worldly ways of thinking of things.

I'm going to, I'm going to use a practical example for you just

so it can be plain. You'll hear it said especially

about buying property, we'll say, or buying a house.

The best time to buy a house was like 10 years ago, right?

Because 10 years ago it was a lot less than it is now.

But if you're not careful, you'll start to say out of your

own mouth that we just didn't time it right.

And so we, we got elbowed out or squeezed out of the market.

And I don't know how we're going to be able to buy a house.

I don't know how we're going to be able to, to have that.

That's that's a worldly way of looking at it.

Come on, that's just a worldly way.

It's a normal way that everybody else looks at it.

But what if God said, but I still have it for you?

What if he said I still have lands and houses for you?

Well, Lord, we don't have any equity in our house.

We've only rented. We only have XYZ and you start

to give God all the reasons lies.

I got to say it's real country when I say it lies when you,

when you you're trying to convince God that what he said

isn't possible anymore. Come on.

I'm breaking it down because many people talk like this and I

hear it sometimes in our own church.

Reasons why it's probably not going to happen for me and yet

Joshua facing amazing obstacles to take what God told him was

his still was hearing God say every place that you put your

feet on it's yours every place, every place, every place, every

place for me when I think about ministry assignments, I have to

anchor in my my soul and my faith and stay committed that

every place he's promised to me I will step into and when I step

on it, he'll give it to me. It's not for me.

It's not because I've got some sort of king and like my own

Kingdom that's trying to be built, but it's so much easier

to make excuses and just back off and no one would know

everyone would just celebrate the level of fruit that we have

now and you know the consistency and the faithfulness that we

have now. No one would know that somewhere

along the line I stopped believing God that every place

that I put my feet on, he'll give it to me.

And so when you hear God, it confronts apathy, it confronts

places where you've settled. Can I keep going?

Are we good? Joshua Silver chapter 1, let's

bump down to verse 10, verse 10. And then it says then Joshua

commanded the officers of the people saying pass through the

camp and command the people saying prepare provisions for

yourselves for within three days you will crossover this Jordan

to go in to possess the land which the Lord your God is

giving you to possess. Notice that it's been 40 years

and Joshua was putting a timeline on.

It says 3 days, we're going over.

So get ready. See when God starts to say it's

time to arise, it's time to move.

There are preparations, especially last minute

preparations that are necessary, but unbelief won't prepare.

Unbelief will sit back and say, well, we'll see.

Or I've heard that before or I've heard this message before

and all you know, I've heard Joshua chapter 1 to talk all

Joshua 1 · chapter mention

kinds of ways. OK, well you can sit in

unbelief, but I'm moving and anybody want that wants to come

along, we're going together. Amen.

But that means on today I need to make preparations.

And so faith, when you hear God, you start to move, you start to

make preparations. You start to believe that in

three days God really is going to show up and in three days we

really are going to crossover into the things that God has

called us to crossover into. Prepare provisions for

yourselves. Prepare provisions.

Prepare provisions. There are practical steps that

God will tell you what to do. Some of us, God's told us where

to go. He's told us what provisions to

take or what provisions to make. And because we didn't do it, we

weren't in faith. When God started to move, we

weren't ready. We missed it.

We missed the boat. Bummer.

But you know God doesn't want anybody to miss out.

He wants you to be ready. He wants you to have what you

need. He wants you, your tank, your

spiritual tank, your soul filled.

Why? Because there's going to be

energy necessary for what's next.

So we have the luxury of knowing as soon as they cross over the

Jordan, they're going to hit Jericho.

And after Jericho, they're going to suffer some defeat at a city

named AI. And then they're going to go

city by city by city by city, allowing God to use them to

fight his battles, to take out the enemies that were occupying

their land. See, we know all of that on this

side, but at this point, they were needing to get ready.

Gear up. And unfortunately so many

people, they just live like like a gas tank on 1/4 tank.

And so, you know, you go 1/4 tank, especially nowadays,

that's not going to get you very far.

So they had three days to fill up the tank, to get provisions

ready, to make sure their faith was strong, make sure their soul

was good, make sure that for them it was just practical

provisions. But in my heart, I feel like the

Lord saying there's things in front of you that you need to

make sure you're full, that your faith, that you're full of the

word of God, that you're full of the power of God, that you're

full of the Spirit of God. Because if you go up on this

fight on 1/4 tank, you will lose.

You will lose. And then you'll wonder what

happened. Why did I burn out?

Because you weren't full. God is gracious to us to give us

a heads up to say there are preparations to make right now.

Because I see some things coming up ahead and you're going to

need to have gas in your tank to fight that battle.

See, there are many times in my own walk with the Lord.

Well, I want what I can see up ahead.

There are things that He's calling me into.

There's assignments that He has. Right now is the time to make

provisions. So if I blow past the past days

of rest, or I blow past Sabbath, or if I don't honor some of

those rhythms, I will pay for it later on.

And then it'll be like, well, why am I so tired?

Why am I so burned out? Why, why, why do I feel so

stretched or why am I emotion emotions the way they are?

Why am I cranky at home or whatever?

It's because three months ago when God said make preparations,

you ignored them. It's OK that I've been talking

like this. Some of it is going to identify

and you, oh, I have made that mistake before.

No problem. Just don't make it again.

And as the as here pastor, I'm telling you, especially some of

our leaders make preparations right now because the pace we're

moving at, we're not even trotting yet.

Trotting, TROTTING, we're not trotting like we're not running

yet. So if this pace is wearing you

out, make preparations, get spiritually full, get your

rhythms nailed down, make sure you're finding ways to fill up

on a hurry. You know that.

Have you ever rented an electric car?

It's the worst. It's the worst.

You know why? Because in a gas, it's sorry if

you're if you're, if you're whatever, you know, if this is,

I don't even know what to say. I'd let me just say what I want

to say. So.

A gas car I can fill up in 3 minutes on the go in a hurry.

An electric car, if you don't get the right tank or the right,

it's not even a tank, the right battery charger, It could take

you 45 minutes just to get your car to a place where it'll get

you to the next stop where you got to spend another 45 minutes.

That's so dumb. That is so dumb.

And you know what the pace we're about to move at is you need

quick fill, you need a rhythm where, you know, I, I just, I

know how to get refreshed by the Lord quickly, quickly.

Like, and, and they're just this week I met with a couple of

young adult guys for Bible study.

Nathan was there and Mason and Ben and we, we just before young

adults, we had Bible study out in the lobby and we just opened

up the word. We're talking about, you know,

some things that we wanted to cover these weekly get

togethers. And I said, well, let's go over

to Ephesians. So we went to Ephesians chapter

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

2. We were first read the first 10

verses and then we started talking and we were only able to

talk through 2 verses in an hour and 15 minutes. 2 verses were so

full of life for each of us and I left that hour and 15 minute

Bible study filled. That was a quick fill.

It didn't take me all night. I didn't need a big old prayer

worship meeting where everybody, you know had all their stuff

together. It was just like fill me up,

look, look, look, look and I just ate of the word and I left

feeling so different that it can be that quick.

It can be just like that. Prepare provisions for

yourselves for within three days you will cross over this Jordan

to go in to possess the land which the Lord your God is

giving you. So what is their provisions for,

for possession. So think through what has God

put right in front of you to to lay hold of, to possess, to step

into, make provisions for that, make provisions for that, make

provisions for that. In other words, it's going to be

unique to you and if you make the wrong provisions, you won't

be prepared for the thing that God called you to.

Are you hearing what I'm saying today?

There are unique things that God will speak to you that I there's

no way I could go around the room and call out each person's

provisions that you need to make.

You need to make provisions for you.

We're talking about food. Some of y'all are gluten free,

so you need gluten free provisions.

Some of it, some people are vegetarians.

You got to make vegetarian options.

Others you're, you're, you're on the, the, the, the meat diet or

whatever the carnivore diet. Praise the Lord, I want, I'm

like, every time I hear that diet, I'm like, I'm joining that

one. That's one, that one sounds real

good. But you know, everybody has

unique provisions. Well, make provisions for that.

You know, when I'm going into a season of territory, taking

Joshua, Chapter 1 is a place I go to get my gas in the tank.

Joshua 1 · chapter mention

Why? Because I'm going to go

specifically to a place where I know that's speaking to where

I'm at. It's not when I'm going to Song

of Solomon, no offense. I love Song of Solomon and you

know what there's wonderful verses in there like, but love

that's for the winter has passed.

The spring has come like love all of those and those are

wonderful and they serve their place.

But when I'm in war, Joshua's talking my love language.

Come on, I hope you know your Bible.

All right, let's go to verse 12. So he God keeps, or the Joshua

keeps speaking, he says, into the Reubenites, the Gadites, and

the half the tribe of Manasseh. Joshua spoke, saying, Remember

the word which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you,

saying, The Lord your God is giving you rest, and is giving

you this land. Your wives, your little ones,

and your livestock shall remain in the land which Moses gave to

you on the right side of the Jordan or on the side of the

Jordan. But you shall pass before your

brethren armed all your mighty men of valor, and help them.

Until then, the Lord has given your brethren rest as He gave

you, and they also, and they also have taken possession of

the land which the Lord your God is giving them.

Then you shall return to the land of your possession and

enjoy it, which the Moses, the servant of the Lord gave you on

the right on this side of the Jordan toward the sunrise.

I put this in this teaching because it's not all about you.

Arise now is not just for you to get yours.

And we live in a super individualistic culture, and we

all have to fight against this. I've been very open that I grew

up an only child and so I have to buck against selfishness.

My wife really helps with that, and my children help even more.

And then now I live with my parents, so that helps with even

more. So there's all kinds of bumping

up against the fact that we don't do this just for us.

So when you get yours, help others.

Help your brothers, help your sisters in the Lord, get theirs.

Fight with them. Help fight their battles,

strengthen their hands, strengthen their arms, help make

sure they get what God promised them to.

This isn't just about you. When I think about a Rice

church, it's not just about us. Part of our impact fund is we're

going to sell to another ministry where the, the, the,

the couple, they used to be youth pastors here and they have

a church in Kings Mountain, NC and they have still have a

mortgage on their church, about $16,000 left on their mortgage.

And I will want us to give a gift towards the balance of

their mortgage because I'm not OK biblically.

I'm not. I, I don't want us, I should

say, to sit over here celebrating a paid off mortgage

and not help our friends who also have mortgages still not be

able to at least help with the paying off of theirs.

Why? Because they have land that God

promised them. They have ministry that God

promised them. There are missionaries that

regularly come through our church.

We'll have another couple here next week.

And guess what? Every time they come, we sew

into their ministry. Whenever they come, we sow into

their ministry. Why?

Because God has land for them. I'm committed to helping them.

Hello. So we do this on multiple

levels. We do it spiritually.

Yes, we do it practically. Yes, we do it intentionally.

We make sure we know what's the state of the people that are

around us so that when they're fighting their battles to take

the land God called them to take the promises of God for their

life, We can help fight for them.

This is right here in scripture. Are y'all reading this?

This isn't here so that you can have a history lesson of what

happened with the children of Israel.

It's written there so that you and I know how to relate to one

another and this current covenant that we have with God.

And I just, I just feel a strong I don't maybe correction is is

too much, but I guess more of a of an encouragement.

Do not let yourself become a selfish Christian.

Part of the part of the, the shadow side of preaching about

faith and encouraging people to take the promises of God is if

it, if you don't check that flesh side of you, it'll cause

you to become selfish. And you will, you will hear

everything through the lens of me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me.

That's the worst choir ever. Me, me, me, me, me, me, me.

Like this, not the, that's not the song we want to sing, OK?

Like there's this, this is a, this is the body of Christ.

If I win, you win. If you win, I win.

If you lose, we're losing. And so I want to come alongside

of you and help you until you start winning again.

This is important. This is a part of us arising

right now. I was at a again at a conference

this week and the amount of people that came and

congratulated us for our church paying off the mortgage was

amazing. How all these people found out

about it, I don't know. I think social media tells a lot

of our business and you know what I was thankful for is

because many of them came and said that when they read or they

watch the testimony video, they wept because they're believing

God for things. So watching that was a part of

them receiving courage for them to do what God called them to

do. Well, what if we delayed for a

year or two? What if we just kicked that can

down the the down the road? What if any step along the way

of paying off our mortgage? Someone didn't obey, someone

didn't step out of faith. Well, then this chain of events

would not have happened. Well, that's true on so many 1

so many of us for the life that God has called us to.

Let's skip over to Joshua chapter 3, Joshua chapter 3, and

Joshua 3 · chapter mention Joshua 3 · chapter mention

I'm going to read a few verses here starting verse 5.

And Joshua said to the people, sanctify yourselves for

tomorrow. The Lord will do wonders among

you. So remember, it was 3 days, now

it's tomorrow. Tomorrow, sanctify yourselves

for tomorrow. The Lord will do wonders among

you. Then Joshua spoke to the priest

saying take up the Ark of the Covenant and crossover before

the people. So they took up the Ark of the

Covenant and went before the people.

I want you to know something. The priests, of course, are a

type of a pastoral ministry leadership role.

I can tell you that for the last four years, the ministry leaders

and the pastoral team of this church has been going before the

congregation. In other words, we've been

taking steps behind the scenes so we can be where we are now,

but that process won't Start Stop.

We're going to continue to go out in front and all the things

we're preaching to you about, we're doing ourselves.

And so I would just encourage anybody who's on the ministry

team or you're, you're whatever our pastors here.

Don't forget, if we don't go, we're stopping what God wants to

do. And so we have to be obedient

ourselves. We have to sanctify ourselves.

We have to do all that God's told us to do.

Why? So that the people can get what

God's called them to get. If the priest hadn't obeyed and

done this by faith, carried the ark and stood there in the in,

in, in the water and believe God he was going to stop up the

river so that everyone could drive across a walk across dry

land, then they would have been stuck in the wilderness.

So these things take leadership, but that's not just for

ministry. That's at home too.

That's at home too. That's particularly for men.

Now, I know that there are shared responsibilities.

There are shared leadership in homes that have a a husband and

a life. But if you're in a home where

there's a husband and a wife, as a man, we have a leadership role

that our wives cannot fill. And there are responsibilities

that our wives have that men should not fill.

I'm going to step on some toes today.

That's OK. You know why?

Because again, culture has seeped in and culture has tried

to blend responsibilities, blend genders, blend all these things

and the Bible doesn't do that. The Bible has clear expectations

among these different roles. And men, you have a

responsibility and it and really an honor.

It's an honor to lead the honor of leading your family.

And so when you go out first, the rest of your family can

follow. And it's beautiful if you're in

a home where you're, you're, you're single and whether you're

been widowed or you're, you're, you haven't been married yet,

you're the leader of your home. And if you have children, you

lead out. If it's you, praise the Lord,

you lead you. And you also will have your

friends and other distant relatives.

They'll follow your lead sometimes too.

But all of us have a responsibility.

Does this make sense? So when you're hearing these

things from the Lord today, don't just make it church stuff.

Apply it into your life. Go first, sanctify yourself

first. Very, very important, very, very

important. And I encourage you, you know,

and I again, I know I'm, I'm stepping on some toes, but I'm,

I really love everyone. But I would just say with men,

make sure that your wife's not the one that's always initiating

spiritual conversations. There are times where you should

initiate it there. There are Sundays where you

should be the first one in the car to say, hey, this is what I

heard today from God. This is what I feel like our

family should be doing from what we heard today.

I'm not saying it. I have to be dogmatic.

You don't have to be religious about it or and the wives

nagging is not going to help him.

So let's just put that to the side, OK, I'm just messing.

I'm messing in marriages today. Praise the Lord Wives thought

they were safe for a minute. And I'm like, Nope, don't nag

and I won't help you either. But in all honesty, you know, it

doesn't have to be dogmatic where it's always that.

And you know what, again, if you're single, call up a friend,

call somebody and and, or, or go to lunch with somebody and you

initiate. Everybody can be a part of this.

No one has to be left out. I take this as a responsibility

very seriously for our church that there there's a there's a

responsibility that even comes on me that that I don't want to

limit God here because I'm not willing to go into all the

places God has called me to go into.

What rivers is he asking me to step into?

And so I have to be, I have to hold that with real respect and

real fear of the Lord. Really.

So they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the

people. Verse 9 So Joshua said to the

children of Israel, Come here and hear the words of the Lord

your God. And Joshua said, by this you

shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will

without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites and

the Hittites, and the Hivites, and the parasites of the

Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Jebusites and the

Termites. No.

And behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the

earth is crossing over before you into the Jordan.

The ark of the covenant really is the presence of the Lord.

And so he's saying to them, he's saying get ready and you're

going to know that God is is going to without fail drive out

all of the inhabitants. So they're literal people groups

in many parts of this land, this country that God was calling

them into. And he's saying God's going to

do it, and he's going to do it by his presence.

He's going to do it by his presence.

His presence is going to go before you, and his presence is

going to drive out all enemies. Now this is how it works for us

today. We may not have physical

enemies, though there are there are people who are not for you.

There are people who hate Christians.

All of that still true, but the primary way I relate this and

and you see it related in the New Testament and for the New

Testament believer is there are spiritual squatters in the

places that God has called you to and the presence of the Lord

is the thing that'll drive them out.

If you strive and toil and scheme and try to do it in the

natural, you will lose. You want to be taken advantage

of. You will take unnecessary

casualties. You'll you'll experience

unnecessary harm. Why?

Because you tried to do things in the flesh that only the

presence of God will drive out. This is making sense.

I remember when we first came to the church here, there were, how

can I say this? Well, I'll tell you what I said

at the time, I felt like there were literal squatters on this

property. Do you know what a squatter is?

A squatter is people who go and they just set up and somebody's

house or on somebody's property as if they own it, but they

don't and they just squat. They're squatters.

They and, and I remember we came from California.

So squatting was like a real thing.

So like if you had a vacant house, more than likely it was

going to get broken into and you're going to have all kinds

of activity up in that house. And those, those were called

squatters. They didn't have any legal right

to be there. Let me say it again.

They had no legal right to be there.

So when we came here, there was, Lord help me if anybody knows

these people, I hope you don't, but I remember coming and there

was a, there was a, a workout group like, you know, one of

those boot camp type groups, you know, they're like doing their

exercises or they're literally squats.

So they were squatters for sure. They were doing all the things

and they were like up on the parking lot and they would set

up signs and they would chalk out their place and I would ask

around them like, anybody know who they are?

No. Do they have a written agreement

to be here? No.

So does anyone know why they're here?

No, they're squatters. They found they found a vacated,

we'll say leadership vacated place.

And they literally set up a business to Leech off of our

property. I have a problem with that.

Not just as a business way. I have a problem with that

spiritually. Our very first worship night,

very first worship night, when I came here, I remember we were

setting up and you know, it was going to be worship from prayer

night, very first one. And this group comes in and one

of the ladies just starts going like, she's going to the back of

the church. And I said, hi, may I help you?

And she's like, oh, we're here with such and such group.

And I'm like, oh, well, we're not on our calendar.

And you know, by this time, I've been here several months and

I've never heard of this group using our facility before.

So I said, well, you're not on the calendar.

And unfortunately we have an event tonight, but you could.

And she's like, well, didn't you get our money?

I'm all. No, ma'am, we sure didn't.

And by this time, the way she responded, I knew I found

another squatter. No, I did.

I knew I found another squatter in our church.

And so in me, I knew you will never use this facility.

Now I was nicer to her, but inside something just rose up in

me and I said no, that's not happening.

So she, she, she, she was, she was very unkind.

And I just let her know that we had an event and I was so sorry

they wouldn't be able to use the facility tonight.

So she marches outside and she starts to set up her event right

outside those doors on the sidewalk.

Now I thought, OK, I think I'm on candid camera.

Like somebody is literally this is a test as someone's just

wanting to know at what point will I lose my mind?

And so I thought so I just, I remember walking outside and all

I could do is laugh. I'm like, man, like, and I just

like this. I'm like, ma'am, we have an

event you cannot set up right here.

And she's like, well, where do you want us to go?

I'm like, I honestly don't know. I'm like, there's a public park

across the street. You can go across the street.

And eventually they left and I never heard from them again.

Surprise, surprise, right? But never heard from them again.

But inside I knew I have an assignment.

And my assignment is not to allow squatters on this

property. That's not it.

We're here to host the presence of the Lord.

We're here to make. If we're going to make

partnerships, they're going to be legal.

They're going to be intentional. They're going to be aligned with

our mission. I didn't care how much money

they were going to pay. I'm not letting that spirit in

this house. Do you hear me?

We and God has honored us and blessed us because we didn't

prostitute this church or this property to pay bills.

You shouldn't do that either. Don't we don't make partnerships

so that we can appease other people with other motives.

Not going to happen. And so when you come to these

things, you, you, you have to make determinations and you have

to stick to it. Why?

Because if you're not careful, you're going to make agreements,

you're going to allow people to stick around that God wanted to

drive out. And for me, I wasn't mad at the

lady, I wasn't mad at the group. I just knew y'all that had that

spirit that I'm like, that is what's been destroying this

church. It's got to get out.

And we did. It took us a few months, but we

cleaned it all out. We got them finally had the

conversation to the workout group said so sorry, but you

know that we kind of own this property and nobody knows who

you are, so maybe you should go somewhere else.

And so we try to be nice about it, but we had to clean out.

We had to clean out some of you. You need to clean out.

You need to clean out the house. There's just been your own

house. You need to clean out the things

that have been that God really said that should not be there.

And the presence of the Lord through worship, through prayer,

inviting him in, does so much of that work.

It just cleans out the atmosphere.

And what I noticed as well is when I'm in the presence of the

Lord, I see clear. And so when I'm in the presence

of the Lord, something will come to mind.

I'll say I need to address that. I need to address that.

I need to address that what's happening.

He and His presence is helping me drive out what should not be

a part of this ministry or part of my family.

Verse 17 Then the priest who bore the ark of the covenant of

the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the

Jordan, and all Israel crossed over on dry land until all the

people had crossed completely over the Jordan.

This is, this is, This Is Us right there.

We're going to stand and we're going to stand and we're going

to stand until everybody crosses over, until everybody crosses

over, till everybody crosses over.

And I just I feel that strongly for each of you.

I just feel that for your marriages, I feel that for your

children, I feel that for your families that may every person

connected to you crossover with you in Jesus name, Amen.

Thank you, Lord. Well, I'm going to go real quick

through a couple other elements that was really talking about

arise, but I wanted to just talk for a moment about the word Now

Romans chapter 13 verse 11 says and do this knowing the time

Romans 13:11

that now it is high time to awake out of sleep.

For now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.

The night is far spent. The day is at hand.

Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness and let us put

on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the

day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and

lust, not in strife and envy, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ

and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lust.

Romans 13 has for a while been just seared in my spirit as a

call for right now, for this generation, that now it is time

to wake up. Now it is time to put on the

Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to

fulfill its lust. It's time to to to wake up.

It's time to wake up. It's time to wake up.

We have to do it and it's going to be continually that way and

increasing. So until Jesus returns, Amen.

That's that sense of urgency. That's why even with Joshua

verse one where where we just read in chapter 1 where he says

now therefore arise, now, therefore arise.

There was a timeline that had to be activated by Joshua's arising

and beginning to wake up the people.

Abraham did this in Genesis chapter 13 verse 14.

Genesis 13:14

It says, and the Lord said to Abram, after light has separated

from him, lift your eyes now and look from the place where you

are northward, southward, eastward and westward.

For all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants

forever, and I will make your descendants as the dust of the

earth, so that if a man could number the dust of the earth,

then your descendants also could be numbered.

Walk, arise, walk in the land through its length and its

width, for I give it to you. This was important because when

he was standing in that place, God said, OK, now look, now look

in Genesis chapter 12, it was go to the place that I will show

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

you. Well, when he showed up to that

place, he said, now's the time to look up.

Now's the time to see because you're perfectly positioned to

see what I had only told you about all those days before,

before you started your journey. But now you've made the journey

and now you're, you're, you're standing here and you're in the

place for you to look up and you can look around and you can see

this is what I promised to you. There's a timing to these

things. And unfortunately, I've watched

many times with with believers, especially when you're with The

Walking with the Lord for a longer period of time, it's

easier for you to miss timing. When you're a new believer,

everything is so radical and you're just, I mean, you're just

turning. It takes a lot of intentionality

for a long term believer to be have a have an ear to the Lord

to no timing to to still have urgency in your spirit.

It's easy to get tired and worn out or disappointment may do it

to you or whatever the reasons, life just goes on.

And you know what, I've just determined, I never want to be

that kind of Christian. I never want to have that

relationship with the Lord where I just become dull.

Dull in my hearing, dull in the timing, not seeing that he's got

opportunities for me, that if I don't strike right now, I'll

miss that opportunity. I want to have an understanding

that this is important, that that, that, that sometimes I

don't have till next week to get it done.

Some things I got to do today. There are some phone calls I

need to make today. There are some text messages I

need to send today. So easy to just put off, put it

off, not understand. No, right now is the time to get

on it and to do what God has called you to do.

Thank you Lord. Here's 4 things that I want you

to expect when you're arising. 4 things.

Number one, movement. It always requires you to make a

move. Movement proves that you have

faith, and faith will move mountains.

When God's telling you to arise, he, he means physically do

something. It's change your appetite, fast,

pray, spend time in the word, call that person that you have

unforgiveness towards and and get that resolved.

I mean, there's always an action item required.

And when you act, it shows you really believe him #2 what to

expect, Expect to be tested. Yeah, we love to ask.

God is searching what is in your heart.

He is preparing you for the promised land.

God got you out of Egypt, but you have to get Egypt out of

you. Listen, I'll say it again.

He delivered you out of darkness, out of sin, out of the

grip of Satan. You have to, through

discipleship, have to get all of that thinking, all of those

habits, all of those patterns out of you.

That comes through testing and God will look in and He will

see. Have you been doing what I've

asked you to do? If you get thrown a curveball to

all the sudden you back off the promises of God, you will be

tested. The journey of the wilderness

for the children of Israel was a test.

God called it a test. He sent them through the

wilderness that He might test them to know all that is in

their heart. That's the Bible.

Also, what to expect enemies occupying your land where God is

calling you is already occupied, yet God is still giving it to

you. Hello.

Where God is calling you, it's occupied currently, but he's

still calling you into that to drive out whoever's inhabiting

it. And then you take it.

Now this is all spiritual. So please don't get in mind that

you're going to go down to your neighbor's house, that you like

their house better and be like God's driving you out.

You got to go. You just might as well pack up.

That's not what you know, obviously that's not what we're

talking about. But there, there are things that

God has for you. There are things that God has

for you that right now are being occupied by enemy.

Some of you, it's your children, it's relationship with your

children and some this touches very, very sensitively and to

different hearts because you know the enemy is at work, but

you know the promises of God that God spoke over that child.

You know what he has said to you about that child and yet there

are occupants seated in there for whatever reason, they're

there and yet God is saying that child belongs to me also.

What to expect? You can expect breakthrough as

you move, God will move and many miracles will happen.

Thank you Lord. Thank you Lord Tim, if you'll

come, I'm going to land on this last scripture out of First

1 Kings 17 · chapter mention

Kings chapter 17. This is the prophet Elijah.

First Kings chapter 17, Look upon the screen with me in verse

1 Kings 17 · chapter mention

2. Then the word of the Lord came

to him, saying, Get away from here and turn eastward, and hide

by the brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan.

And it will be that you shall drink from the brook, and I have

commanded the Ravens to feed you there.

So he went and did according to the word of the Lord, which went

for. For he went and stayed by the

brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan.

The Ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning.

Ravens, literal birds. OK, this is not figurative, this

is literal. Literal birds brought him bread

and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening,

and he drank from the brook. And it happened after a while

that the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the

land. Then the word of the Lord came

to him, saying, Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to

Sidon, and dwell there. And see, I've commanded a widow

to provide for you. So he arose and went to

Zarephath, and when he came to the gate of the city, indeed a

widow was there gathering sticks.

I wanted to point this out because of a couple things.

Number 1, he was in desperate need of provision and safety, so

God told him exactly where to go and got it precisely timed the

place. And he exactly, precisely timed

it so that when he got there, there was water still there

because they were in drought. So there was water still in that

brook enough to last him for a little while.

And there was food that got delivered by the mouth of birds.

God will get you what you need, when you need it, where you need

it, regardless of the circumstances.

I don't care what the economist say.

I don't care what your friends say.

I don't care what Google says. I don't care what the

unbelieving believers say. When God assigns you to go to a

place, you go there. And wherever there is, there is

provision there. Are you hearing me this morning?

This will save our life. At times I wonder how many

people didn't make it through tough seasons because they

didn't obey the word of the Lord that told them exactly where to

go, exactly who to talk to so that they could find the

provision that God had for them in that season.

I wonder if many of us have gotten too caught up in a career

mentality and we let the world tell us that you need to stay at

the same place for the same amount of time because that's

what we'll provide for you when your retirement instead of

knowing that that is not what we'll provide for you.

God is your provider and unless He tells you to stay there for

40 years, you better listen to Him along the way.

And if He tells you to flip your career midstream, you better

flip it. I think that Tim Goins, he told

me the story of his career and how he did what everybody else

thought was crazy. And yet as soon as he did it,

where he was turned all the way upside down and he ended up

being perfectly positioned for what his field of business is

doing right now. Only God could have told him

that he found the brook Cherith and that river still running for

them. And you know what?

He still hears God. And if that brook ever dries up,

he'll know where to go, because he didn't buy the lie that you

just do the career moves that everyone else says that you're

to do. So when that brook dried up for

Elijah, the Lord told him to do something crazy.

Go to Zarephath. Go to Zarephath.

And when you go there, there's a widow that I commanded to

provide for you. So what happens?

Timing. As soon as he shows up, there's

a widow gathering sticks. Now, what if God would?

Or what if Elijah would have him and hawed him?

And like God, that is crazy. I'm not asking a widow to

provide for me. We are in famine.

Everyone's struggling. I'm not going to ask for help.

I'm not going to accept help from a widow like I'm the

prophet. I should be the one who's

providing for people. But you know what, if he would

have hem and hawed, he, he may would have missed seeing the

widow gathering sticks. But because he obeyed God

quickly, quickly, quickly listen, he obeyed God quickly.

He showed up right on time and the woman was there gathering

sticks so they could have the conversation.

That ended up saving him and her because God blessed her

obedience blessed her for what she did for the prophet and

everybody got saved. Are you here?

Oh, this is important. This is important, this is

important. And thank God for the widow.

It was to her benefit. She was there gathering sticks.

That's. Right.

So everybody was aligned so that this plan of God could go

forward. You know, Zarephath, it means a

workshop for the refining and smelting of metals.

I think it's fascinating to me that where did God send the

prophet Elijah but to a place where things get refined, where

your faith is zeroed in on where it's refined.

Because there was going to be a time in the near future where

Elijah was going to need greater faith in this greater boldness

than this. He was being refined.

He was being burned, He was being tested.

And you know what? That's the place I find us.

And I think many of us in this room were right there.

We're just right there. And there are some steps of

obedience where God's saying, I need you to make this move and

don't delay because if you don't delay, it'll work out to your

benefit way more than you ever would have realized.

So I'm going to pray for us. Close your eyes right where

you're at, and I pray that the Spirit of God would be speaking

to you. To know how this relates to your

life, Father, I pray that right now, by your spirit, you would

begin to minister to every person here, those watching in

their house church, those watching online, Lord, that you

would begin to buy your spirit. Minister, minister, minister.

Speak, Lord, speak. Lord, pray for direction.

I pray for next steps. I pray for clarity.

And Father, I pray that you would work in us both to will

and to do your good pleasure. I pray that you would help each

of us to understand the urgency to the timing of what is

happening right now. I pray that there would be a

supernatural movement of Your spirit across this church,

supernatural grace to move into the will of God like never

before. I pray specifically for young

adults, Lord, that you would impart strength and boldness to

them to do unusual things for you.

Lord that you would move on many young adult hearts to join the

school of ministry and leadership to be trained and how

to arise and and move in this kind of faith and move in this

kind of anointing. Lord, I pray over men today.

As I mentioned earlier, may the men of Arise Church be the first

to arise, be the first to step out of faith, be the first to

lead spiritually in their homes and even first here in this

congregation. Lord, I pray over everyone

that's the head of their household that you had anoint

them for that leadership that you had caused them to go first

so that the rest of the family could follow in Jesus name.

Glory to God, let's stand to our feet.

We want to thank you again for joining us for the Arise Church

podcast. We hope you were encouraged by

what you heard today. You can find

[email protected] and on Instagram at Arise Church NC.

If you need prayer or support or are interested in learning more

about Arise Church, we encourage you to connect with us online or

in person at our Sunday morning service.

Thank you and God bless.