As For Me | Ps Melanie Politanski

Hey, welcome to the City Point Church podcast.

Thanks for joining us. Every day is an opportunity to

take hold of. So we hope this message inspires

you and build your faith that it helps you have more of a God

perspective for your day. Enjoy.

Share. This amazing testimony from a

young lady, There are so many significant ones, it's hard to

pick one. But I want to share this

testimony because do you know that the mantle, the Joshua

generation mantle, is like Pastor Nicole said, it is not

limited for the young people, but the young people are going

to do something with it. And they're going to lead the

nations of this world to an acknowledgement of Jesus Christ

again. And we are going to walk into a

time in history in this next season where it's going to be

undeniable that Jesus Christ is Lord all over the world.

Did you know right now in the UK, one in eight Gen.

Zetas are heading to church? One in eight.

Did you know in the US, one in six are streaming Christian

content to learn about who Jesus is and to gain insight into a

spiritual transformation and reformation through platforms

because they have had an absence of it in their homes.

Because of this, there has been a response by a number of the

streaming platforms in particularly Prime, who has

gone. If our business is going to

succeed, we actually need to keep up with the content that

this next generation is craving, and that is about Jesus Christ.

And so because of it, a number of the streaming platforms have

decided to remove content that carries witchcraft and cult and

things that worship idols and begin to flood their content

with things that are actually building young people's faith in

Jesus Christ. That is why a line in your prime

account now, if you have Prime now says religious, religious

documentaries. And it's got an amazing what

it's like content for you to grow in your faith.

I think it's like faith growing religious content or something

like that right beside which is so bizarre in other platforms

that is like Halloween things. Has anybody noticed that their

streaming platforms are full of a line right at the time

Halloween go into prime, see something different, see

something different because of it, which of course I am not

surprised about at all. Tim was talking about this

before because of this shift in this particular streaming

platform I've been tracking, they are right now in the world

the number one, they were like right down the bottom in how

successful their business was. In actual fact, the shift came

when they put something up that was carried a whole lot of

witchcraft. They put it on their platform

and and within 24 hours they had reduced the amount of

subscribers so significantly, the company went into OverDrive

wondering if they would still be around within a month.

And then somebody said, I've actually heard about this

producer or director who's building a series about David in

the Bible. And I think that as a streaming

platform, we should get behind it, fund it and air it.

Do you know that the House of David shifted Prime?

And then they began to get other content, including the chosen

and put it on this platform. And that content is the most

streamed content on their platform, and it has turned

their business around. So if you really want an amazing

afternoon of encouragement, go and see what the director of

Prime is now saying about this kind of content.

He's awesome, so cool. Why?

Because the Joshua generation is going to lead us not just to a

move of the Holy Spirit, but they're going to see the nations

of the world come and God get on their knees and say Jesus is

Lord again. Now that really did not warrant

that kind of level. Thank you, Mary, for agreeing

with me on that. Maybe you didn't hear that this

morning. Do you know why we don't often

get excited about this? There are very few of us sitting

in this auditorium today who have lived in a time where our

nations were God fearing. So we don't believe it, but do

you know that there have been generations that the nations of

the world have feared? Lord, when the dark gets dark,

really dark, the light gets brighter.

And right now this next generation are running into the

arms of Jesus. And I'm not talking limited to

City point church all around the planet as we proclaim these

amazing testimonies of beaches all over the world full of

people being baptized. Did you know it's this

generation and you know it's come from this cry in their

heart, a Joshua cry that says a declaration that says As for me

in my house, we will serve the Lord.

I want to unpack this to us as a church this morning.

About maybe six weeks ago or so, Pastor Ryan and Nicole gave me

the incredible honor of coming into our youth ministry as a

part of the lead up to camp and bringing a word around this

particular theme. Now, because of this, I had to

go and study it. Now, Joshua is one of my

favorite people in the Bible. This is a personal thing for me.

When I was a child, my parents gave each of us children a

prophetic word and a scripture that has been our scripture for

our whole life. Mine comes from Joshua 18, And

so I love Joshua. I had studied Joshua, but I'd

studied Joshua as a young person.

And so as I began to prepare this message for youth a couple

of weeks ago that I'm going to bring to you again today, for

those of you who have heard it from our youth program, you can

get behind it and you can go. Amen.

And at the end of this, I'm actually going to Commission you

to pass something on. Is that OK, Young people?

As I began to study it out as a 44 year old, there is revelation

in it I'd never understood before.

That has marked me because this statement that Joshua says, As

for me and my house, we will serve the Lord is not made as a

young person. In actual fact, it's made as an

old person. If you are over 70 in this

place, give me a wave. It was made by somebody over

that age. It was made by somebody who had

fought many battles, who had wandered.

He'd actually been born in a desert, wandered a desert and

gone through significant things. And he makes a declaration and

says, As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Before I jump into this message, I want to quickly share this

testimony because this testimony carries a generational blessing

that I think you and I need to catch.

Because God is moving not for the sake of the next generation,

but for all generations. God is moving so that the next

generation helps lead us up out of our chairs, up out of

comfortable spaces, and gets us on the move again, doing what

God has called us to do in the Western world.

We have chased for nearly 20 years, comfort booking our

holidays on our our next holidays, on our current

holidays. We're looking at our next rest

as as opposed to looking at our next purpose.

But God is calling us in this generation in the last days of

this earth to bear witness for him to be about his work, to be

about seeing this community come to Jesus.

And this will not happen if this generation alone are doing that.

It will happen if we all stand up and declare and decide that

As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Listen to this testimony so good.

It's from a beautiful young lady in our youth ministry.

And I cannot see that font. Not at all, all Right, says

walking into youth camp. I was expecting God to move in

wondrous ways, just as he'd done before.

And he did. He moved in me and my sister and

in hundreds of other youth from all around Australia, and I

didn't know it, but he also moved in my dad while he was at

home and we were at camp. My testimony started at the

Miracle Service this year when I was set free from a spirit of

rejection from unforgiveness and anxiety and had a ton of pain

taken off my off my life. I felt the peace of the Lord and

I felt the peace of the Lord and experienced God's love and peace

created in. This created an expectation for

me for youth camp this year. I can profoundly say that youth

camp was so powerful. Walking into youth camp, a main

prayer of mine was for my sister to receive salvation and to

experience God. She didn't even want to go to

camp at one point, but something changed.

The night before camp night 2, she experienced God.

This is what I love after this. But that's her testimony to

tell. All I can say is that my prayer

was answered. Walking into camp.

I wasn't planning on being baptized but the day the

baptisms were happening I was told about it and it definitely

had me thinking, is this my next step?

I had a feeling like I should do it and ended up saying yes.

I like this young lady a lot. She's she's born to preach.

Listen to some of these words. Ready.

I realized that sometimes all it takes is a yes to God and things

happen before my baptism. This is powerful.

Before my baptism, I felt nervous and excited until I was

talking with Pastor Nicole and she told me somebody needs to

receive this. This morning she told me that

nerves and excitement are exactly the same thing, except

you only feel what you say it is.

Somebody needs to receive that. This morning you only feel and

receive what you claim it is. I was so emotional the whole

time before it all happened, all the way until I got in the

water. Being baptized made me feel so

renewed and refreshed. Once I was baptized and I got

out, I walked over to the tent but I was still crying, but I

found I was laughing as well. Some girls came to congratulate

me, but all I could do was cry and laugh at the same time.

I was just so overwhelmed by joy and a feeling of God working in

me. I felt loved, I felt happy, and

I'm so grateful for the rest of the day.

I just could not stop laughing and smiling and I realized that

I felt the joy of the Lord for the first time.

Ever since then, I've realized that the joy of the Lord is

everywhere. I feel like I am seeing things

in a different and a new perspective.

I am I am so incredibly grateful for youth camp because many

prayers were answered and encountering God.

I was encountering God constantly at services that were

so powerful. When I got back from youth camp,

my sister and I were sharing our testimony with our parents and I

found out that my dad, when my dad got the messages from me

asking for permission to be baptized, he actually prayed in

our living room by himself asking God to give him a sign.

Whether this camp was the right decision for me and my sister

because this is all new for our family and hearing our

testimonies, he claimed this was the sign.

I can say that my prayers are being answered and God is

definitely working in my family. I pray that the rest of my

family, here she goes straight into a prayer.

I pray that the rest of my family are able to turn to the

Lord and be able to experience the love and the peace and the

joy of the Lord that I have experienced.

Youth camp and the miracle services.

The best thing that's ever happened to me and getting

baptized was the best decision I've made in my life.

Final statement is her As for me statement, it says I cannot wait

to share this joy and light that is inside me to my friends, to

my family and to anyone I have come into contact with.

What a testimony of what God does if we carry an expectation

that He wants to move in us. Do you have that expectation

this morning that God wants to move in you like that?

Right at the beginning of Joshua, Joshua 18 and 9, Joshua

himself receives A prophetic word, and it says this Joshua

one verse 8. This book of the law shall not

depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and

night, so that you may be careful to do all that is

written in it, for then you will make your way, your life

prosperous, and then you will have good success.

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous?

Do not be afraid, for the Lord your God is with you wherever

you go. This is a word spoken over

Joshua as a younger person, to hold him instead for a life that

ends with the result that it says, As for me and my house.

But this prophetic word, like we say often in the life of this

church, a prophetic word is an invitation by God.

An invitation to come, come, be equipped, come, be formed in

hidden places, come and allow the Spirit of the Lord to

transform you because it's in of those places.

But God is able to outwork significant things in our lives

for the sake of our land, for the sake of this nation.

This is where it began for Joshua.

And so we want to unpack this morning in just a little bit of

time that we've got today. As for me and my house, we will

serve the Lord and what it means for you and I today for it's

significant. So today our passage that I'm

going to share from is from Joshua 24 verse 14 and 15

Joshua 24:14

because every generation must decide whom they will serve.

Every single generation has to have a time that they draw a

line in the sand and they say this is whom I will serve.

Joshua 2414 and 15 says so. Fear the Lord and serve Him

wholeheartedly. Say wholeheartedly.

That is not lukewarm, that is not comfortable, that is

sacrificial. Fear the Lord and serve Him

wholeheartedly. Put away forever the idols of

your ancestors and whom they worshipped.

Serve the Lord alone, and whose today whom you will serve.

And then it finishes with this statement.

But As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Do you know? In this passage, Joshua unpacks

a couple of things that he is saying to the nation of Israel

who are about to crossover into the Promised Land.

He's saying something significant because he's saying

to each and everyone of them, you must fear the Lord that came

out this morning. Pastor Rach in our worship LED

us in a beautiful, sacred moment in worship to come with humility

and to fear the Lord as we brought an offering of worship

this morning. We must fear the Lord, serve Him

wholeheartedly, and put away the idols our ancestors worship.

Joshua chose to make a statement that As for me and my house will

serve the Lord, but it's paired with.

So I'll have to choose not to have God under idols.

Let me unpack what he's saying here for a second.

Joshua drew a line in the sand. No matter what others choose his

life and those who had who he had influence over would serve

the Lord. Can I unpack why it's those who

he had influence over in this passage he says, As for me in my

house, who's heard the scripture before most of us right.

As for me in my house, Did you know that Joshua at this stage

of his life, I'm sure he would have had a family, but unlike

the. Practices of the writings of the

Bible up to this point that actually have very accurate

accounts of this person belongs to this person.

This is the Father, this is the Son, this is the grandson, this

is the great grandson. I don't know if you've ever read

this. It's some of the hard part of

the Bible to read when it goes through the genealogies.

Joshua's isn't there. We know he's the son of Nun,

which has lots of amazing Christian memes attached to it,

but he has no family listed in genealogy in the word of God.

And yet he's the one who makes the statement.

As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Can I unpack this just for a second?

This word house carries so much meaning because this man's

lineage is not listed. You do not know the name of his

sons so you do not know whether he's married or not.

But when you go actually unpack the origins of this word house,

it actually means 2 meanings at the same time.

It is A2 pronged approach. This particular word.

It means both family of origin and all those I am entrusted to

influence at the same time with no divide.

Do you know for some of us who who have said obediently, I'm

going to follow and serve the Lord with my whole life.

Often the wrestle is particularly in our comfortable

era of the Western world, we like to try and find the divide.

We call it balance, the balance between our family of origin

serving this and ministry. And in this one little verse,

Joshua says there's no divide. I am declaring As for me and all

those that have been entrusted in my care, all those that God

has brought to me to be able to influence and lead and disciple

and guide all, all fall in one declaration.

As for me in all with no divide, which means my life is to serve,

yes, the Politensky home, but also all of you and this region

with no divide. As for me in my house, you can

say I'm part of Mel's house. Come on now.

That should make you way happier than that should be.

Like I'm on my house. No, nobody's feeling it.

OK, All right. There's no divide.

But his life and those he had influence over would serve the

Lord. Joshua makes this declaration

with this passage, and he says I will not stand with any idol.

In actual fact, I'm. We must choose today whom we

will serve. And so he stood against the

idols of his day. Can I quickly unpack this?

Very quickly. He stood against the gods of

Egypt, which symbolizes slavery and your past life.

The behaviors, the addictions, the toxic habits that once

consumed and controlled your life before you knew Christ.

He said I'm drawing a line in the sand.

They are not going to enter this place with me.

As for me and my house, they have to go.

I'm going to serve the Lord. The God of their ancestors means

tradition and religion without relationship with God.

So these modern day idols come off as religious practices that

become now gods. Come on, let's be frank.

This is what we are often debating on social media with

other believers about this doctrine or that doctrine.

Black walls or white walls. Communion in every service or

once a month. Crosses on buildings or not on

buildings. This is what he's talking about.

The God of ancestors was tradition and religion and not

relationship focused. Other expressions of this is

living off others faith, others experience parents faith and not

having our own. And the God of the Amorites

which was the other types of idols in this day.

This is a big one. You ready was the cultural

popular gods. These were the gods of

popularity, money, me obsession, and sexual compromise.

This is the gods that Joshua was talking about.

All right, Joshua said. I don't care what culture does.

I've made my choice. The idols we worship today,

church are exactly the ones that the people in Joshua's time

worshipped. Exactly the same popularity and

social media validation, likes, follows subscribers.

Online influence can become an idol.

Many believers measure their worth by how many people react

online instead of how God sees them.

Galatians 110 says, Am I now trying to win the approval of

human beings or of God? Another one Appearance and

image. Obsession with how we look, body

image, fashion trends, filters, the idol of perfectionism,

believing if I look good enough, I'll be valuable.

But one, Samuel, 16, seven says people look at the outward

appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.

He cares far more about the state of your soul than it does

about the size of your lips. He does.

Some of us need to spend a whole lot more time reading God's love

lavished upon us in His Word, then reading what the world is

saying about us through images that are coming up, setting a

bar or an expectation of what we should look like and what we

should be #3 achievement and success.

Grades, sports, career, dreams, talents, giftings.

These are easy, idle traps when they define our identity.

And you know what? Often we can speak to young

people about this because they're often doing these

things. But do you know parents in the

room? And I know our parenting seminar

is going to go here. Do you know often we are the

cause because of a lack of identity in us?

We're pushing our children to be successful, to build ourselves

up. If they are the best at then we

are good, then we are successful and it's putting value on us.

The pursuit of success without God leads to burnout and

emptiness. Matthew 1626 says what good

would it be for someone to gain the whole world yet forfeit

their soul? There are so many more

relationships and romance, pleasure and entertainment,

money and possessions. And then the God of this age,

which has been the God of every age, self, the idol of me,

independence, self-image, and the rise of my truth, my way, my

life. The idol of self is pride,

believing that I am enough without God.

Proverbs 3 verse 5 to 6 encourages us to trust in the

Proverbs 3:5–6

Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own

understanding in all your ways. Acknowledge Him and He will make

your path straight. Every single one of us has to

make our own choice. Will I let culture?

Will I let friends? Will I let precious?

Will I let the modern day idols define who I am?

Or will I declare this day As for me and my house, we will

serve the Lord. Can I tell you each and every

person here today, this is super important.

Faith is personal. It is not congregation, it is

personal. Say faith is personal.

My faith is my own, but it carries generational impact.

You can set the tone for your family by having an authentic

faith. You can set the tone for your

friendships by having an incredible faith and you can set

an incredible future for those you've been given influence

over. If you make a declaration that

is for me in my house, we will serve the Lord.

So I want to give you 2 things that we can take from Joshua's

life very quickly this morning before we go that I would love

to encourage each and every one of us to take from Joshua on how

how to do this work in the secret place.

How to do this work behind the scenes so that you can step away

from the idols that want to take over and influence and dictate

the future of your life. I want to give you these two

very quickly this morning because they are things that we

can take from Joshua's life that you and I need to know.

Number one, don't leave the tent.

Say don't leave the tent, you're going to go.

What is this about? In Exodus 33, verses 7 to 11,

Exodus 33:7–11

there is a particular story about in the wilderness when

Moses pitches the tent at the special tent that houses the

presence of God, where his presence would come down like a

cloud. All right, And in that tent God

would speak directly with, as with Moses, the Bible says as a

friend, say as a friend, that's how God wants to know you as a

friend. But there's a detail we can't

miss from Joshua's story that is so significant found in verse

11, Exodus 3, verse 11. It says then Moses would return

Exodus 3:11

to the camp. Now let me give you context.

The Presence of God tent was set up outside of the camp and when

Moses would go to the tent, people would stand outside of

their tents in the camp. Now in context that youth camp,

the tents were a long way from the tent meeting where they

actually came together to worship the Lord and hear the

word of God. This was the same in that time,

there was a distance, but when they would stand outside, Moses

would go into the tent at the cloud.

The presence of God would descend on this tent, and

Joshua, who was not invited to go into the tent like Moses,

would stand at the door. So everybody else stood at the

tent doors of their tents, but Joshua stood at the tent door of

the presence of God. Here's what's amazing.

It says this, when Moses would finish being as a friend with

God in the tent, he would return to the camp.

But his young aide, Joshua did not leave the tent.

Joshua was a warrior. He was a young man who was

Moses's assistant. But most importantly, Joshua was

a present seeker. He sought the presence of God.

He learned the secret of leadership and strength was to

not leave God's presence, but to linger.

Say that word this morning. Linger.

Why? Because the tent was a place of

encounter with God. Joshua stayed when others left.

Why? Because Joshua wasn't content

with second hand faith. He wanted God for himself.

Great men and women of God are formed in lingering moments to

church. Don't leave the tent.

Some of you every single month hear the call out to come and

pray in the House of God on the first weekend of the month and

you're like, it doesn't fit in the calendar.

It's not comfortable. I don't even know if I could

pray that long. Could I Commission you?

Could I encourage you this morning?

Come and be found. Don't leave the tent.

Would you practice lingering in the presence of God?

Because the presence prepares you for your purpose.

Joshua didn't know it yet, but one day he would lead Israel

into the Promised Land. What prepared him was his time

lingering in the presence of God at the tent.

Joshua 19, says God says to him, be strong and courageous for the

Lord. Your God will be with you

wherever your wherever you go. You know your courage for

tomorrow is fueled by your presence with God today.

Linger in the tent. The second thing that Joshua did

that is marks me about this young man that prepares him to

put aside the idols of the day, make a declaration, say As for

me in my house we serve the Lord is that he was OK at being

halfway up, say halfway up. What does this mean?

In Exodus 2413 to 14, he says this So Joshua and his

assistant, sorry, Moses and his assistant Joshua set out and

Moses went up the mountain of God and he said to the elders

means the church leadership wait here for us at the bottom of the

mountain until we return for you.

But Joshua was trusted to go halfway up part way up Mount

Sinai with Moses. He couldn't enter the cloud like

he couldn't enter the tent. There's something found here for

us church. But he waited faithfully at his

post until Moses returned. Now I don't know if you've read

these accounts of Moses in the book of Exodus, but this happens

often that Moses is called into the 10 or is called up the

mountain and he stays for a long time.

One of one of these times is so significantly long that the

people believe Moses to be dead and not returning.

It's a serious way. But Joshua is content at being

halfway up. There's something significant

found here for you and I because you know what?

Many of us in our faith do not like the seasons where we're

called to be alone and God's calling us halfway up.

He's saying, I don't want you down there in the camp.

They're doing things. They're building calves.

They're getting unrest, you know, they're getting uneasy.

They tout I don't want you there, but you're not yet

allowed there. Are you OK at being halfway up?

Do you know halfway up forms things in our lives that cannot

be done in the crowd that we often expect must be done in the

presence on the top of the mountain.

And yet this young man who makes a declaration As for me and my

house, we're going to step away from these idols.

We are going to serve the Lord and leads the nation of Israel

into the promise promise 40 years before is formed,

lingering alone at the tent and halfway up church.

I know, I know prophetically this morning that many of us are

being called into this sacred season right now.

We want to, we want to right now go marching into the promised

land and take the giant town God saying right now I need you to

obediently stay halfway up. I need you to linger at the

tent, for I am forming something in you.

Joshua did not complain about being not allowed to go into the

glory cloud. He'll sit and rush back to camp.

He simply waited. Sometimes our purpose is learned

in waiting, not in the position and not in the activity, but

alone, halfway up. God was training Joshua to be

patient, to honor authority, and to value His presence even more

than being in the thick of it right now.

I wonder if you are sitting in this auditorium, if God is

asking you to come into this season of lingering and halfway

up, maybe it feels like others are experiencing more getting

ahead or being noticed. But like Joshua, you're being

called to be formed in waiting halfway up.

Waiting is not wasted, it's preparation.

So we have to pray in the season that God is inviting us into.

God, help me to trust you in the waiting.

Teach me to stay faithful even when I can't see everything

you're doing, Joshua said. I, I can see Joshua and the way

he processes this. It says halfway up, but all way,

all the way faithful. This is why he's entrusted to go

to the promised land. So this morning, I wonder if

there are those in this auditorium who are not content

for our next generation to be alone in this Joshua generation.

I'm 44 and I will be counted in the Joshua generation.

Are you here this morning and you're 44 and you want to be

counted in the Joshua generation?

That says I'm not going to be swayed by the idols of this day.

In actual fact, I'm not just going to go, I'm I'm not going

to do that quietly or I'm just going to debate about it on

social media. No, I'm just going to draw a

line in the sand and say, As for me and my house, we will serve

the Lord and so obediently. We're going to be OK with

lingering in the presence of God and being formed halfway up.

There's anybody here this morning that says, I know, I

know. I've been set apart to be a part

of this next Joshua generation. Would you stand to your feet

right now in obedience and in faith to that call, in faith to

being marked by God to lead in this next generation, this next

season, and say, I'm going to live out the purpose of God for

my life. I'm not going to conform to the

ways of the world. I'm going to follow his way.

Father, right now you see the people standing.

You see their faith and their expectation.

God, I pray right now for a boldness and a tenacity and a

strength and a courage like you bestowed to Joshua to come on

each and every one of them. Encourage them that you are with

them every step of the way. You are strong and you are

courageous. God is with you wherever you go.

But God, but I thank you for their faith in responding to

being OK to linger in your presence, away from the crowd,

away from the murmurings, away from the culture, but being

formed halfway up. Because I know God, you're going

to entrust this generation with something significant in our

nation, a beautiful nation, a nation rich in multicultural

history, a a nation rich in faith of people from all over

the world, a nation rich in multi generations.

Oh, we know your heart for our nation, God.

And so we stand in faith, saying and declaring this morning, As

for me and my house, would you say it with me this morning As

for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Father, right now, for each person, I pray for the courage

and the clarity in their calling this morning for all that you've

called them. To God, we thank you that you

are pouring your spirit out across the nations of this

world. You're allowed to do what you

want to do in us so that we are prepared to do incredible things

like Joshua did. Go and face giants and not see

them as that, but as territory for the Lords in Jesus mighty

name and all those who believed it said Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen,

Amen.