Arise & Go Pt.1 Pastor Jono Zantingh

Hi, this is John Ozanting, lead pastor of Evolved Church, and this is the Evolved Church Podcast.

Thanks so much for tuning in.

We hope that you find today's message encouraging and full of hope for wherever you're at.

Yeah, yeah.

How's everyone today?

It is Sunday.

Anyone, I mean, it's a little cooler out, but who's thankful that it's autumn?

Like, who loves the changing of the season?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's sweater weather.

Um, I was sitting in my hot tub the other morning and and the a gust of wind came, and all of a sudden, like there were 14 leaves just like pummeling me in the hot tub.

And I didn't even mind.

I just I mean, I just scooped them out, of course, but uh I didn't even mind.

It's a changing of a season, and that's really what Vision Sunday was all about.

If you missed last week and evolved churches home, uh, we want to just strongly encourage you to have a listen to that podcast and just hear as we share about the mission on us as a church.

If you're in the room today and you've made a decision to live yielded and surrendered to Jesus Christ, there is there is a divine mission, there's a purpose on your life to participate in the Great Commission and the Great Commandment, not just to observe that or to kind of source that out for the professionals, quote unquote, but how will that impact your daily life?

And uh, so if you missed Vision Sunday, have a listen to that.

And the whole theme uh for these next nine weeks is through coming out of the book of Joshua.

We're gonna take nine weeks together in a series that we're calling Arise and Go.

Everybody say go.

So we're gonna dive right in today's message, Arise and Go, um, subtitled Take Courage.

And my prayer, some of you came into this room today, and the cry of your heart in this season is, God, I need more courage.

And you've been hoping that courage is something that God could, like, I don't know, cosmically push off of a cloud and have you know fall into the driver's seat of your car one morning.

Um, but all throughout scripture, and specifically in today's passage, courage is something as Christians that we are meant to take hold of.

And I'm gonna give you four specific ways that we can do that.

Um, and so I want to invite you into Joshua chapter one.

Here's where it starts.

After the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses' assistant, Moses, my servant, is dead.

Now therefore, arise, go.

So it's actually this verse that we were building this series on, and I love how blunt God is with Joshua.

It's like, hey, Joshua, Moses is dead.

Get up and go.

And there's been so many seasons in my life where I've been like questioning God's direction or something that I've sensed the Lord wanting me to do.

And I love that God loves to lead us with clarity, with wisdom.

And he's so direct, it's kind of harsh, actually.

Like if you read it that way.

It's like Moses is dead, get on with it.

And so my first thought from Joshua 1 is this is today, not yesterday.

And that's good news.

Jesus himself teaches that all we have is today.

Like, don't even worry about tomorrow.

Tomorrow will have enough cares of its own, but how are you stewarding today?

And that matters for us as it matters for the people of Israel in Joshua chapter one.

Why?

Because life with Moses saw some pretty spectacular things take place.

Like all the way back into Egypt.

I mean, the staff turning into the serpent, the whole like let my people go thing, and like the plagues, like not so cool for the Egyptians, but amazing for the Israelites, right?

The flaw, the frogs, the locusts, the fire, the hail, and then like the Red Sea parting.

Come on.

Like life with Moses was wild.

I always love the story where Moses, like the people are thirsty, they're whining and complaining.

So much whining, so much complaining from God's people.

And Moses like hits the rock and there's fresh water in the desert.

Like, only God.

Like life with Moses was pretty spectacular.

And like, how about like the all-you-can-eat buffet every day of quail and manna?

Like, even if they got sick, they just came, came, it was right there on the ground every morning.

Life with Moses was pretty wild.

And that's the point.

Moses is dead.

Now, therefore, what's the new thing that God's calling you into?

Listen, this is today.

This is not yesterday, this is today.

And we all feel like a sense of ease and safety in our lives with how things were.

Whatever that means.

Maybe you're in a season that feels like challenging, where the rug's been pulled out from under your feet.

You're experiencing a sense of loss or grief or confusion or doubt.

And you're like, why can't it just be like how it used to be?

Well, God's like, hey, all you have is today.

How will you yield to my authority today?

How will you submit to my provision today?

How will you let me uh take care of you today?

Yesterday's a sure thing.

Yesterday I remembered because I could like taste it, smell it, see it, feel it.

Tomorrow is uncertain.

I don't know.

And that's the point.

This is a life of faith.

Ours is a journey of faith as followers of Jesus, which means that old things have to die to make way for the new.

Jesus in John 12 says this, Truly, truly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone.

But if it dies, it bears much fruit.

And I read that and I'm like, yeah, but what if?

Like, what if I really liked that grain of wheat?

I don't want that grain of wheat to die.

What if I never get another grain of wheat quite like it, Pastor?

What if I need that grain of wheat to feed my own family?

I can't just see it die and give life to something that's going to help care for other people?

The voice of the Father says, take courage when it comes to how we're believing God and trusting Him with this sense of today, not yesterday.

The question is, is what comfort, what safety of how it used to be has to die in us so that we might answer God's call to arise and go, to step into the new thing, to kill the old, to make it.

Moses is dead, bury it, and if you don't, it remains alone and can't bear much fruit.

The prophet Isaiah says, Behold, I'm doing a new thing.

Now it springs forth.

Do you not perceive it?

I'll make a way in the wilderness, I'll make rivers in the desert.

This is the heart of the Father, if we'll trust him today.

This is today, not yesterday.

Then our passage, Joshua 1, continues, verse 5.

Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.

I will not leave you or forsake you.

Verse 6, be strong and courageous.

Verse 7, only be strong and courageous.

Verse 9, have I not commanded you, be strong and courageous.

Don't be frightened, don't be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

And then verse 18, the chapter ends with a fourth.

Only be strong and courageous.

Do you hear it?

I hope you're not missing it.

This is my second thought.

Our God is faithful, so let's also be faithful.

I marvel at Israel's faith in God.

To trust God meant to arise, go, cross over the Jordan River, begin walking through an unknown land that's already occupied by other people, but we want you to walk through the lens as though it's already yours.

We want you to behave in such a way that you already have it.

We want you to think in such a way that it's already, we want you to fight, we want you to provide, we want you to bring your families along with faith.

God had promised it.

It wasn't though God said, I might give you a promised land.

One day, he said, Cross over, go into the land I have prepared, I have given to you.

Verse 3 of Joshua 1.

Every place that the sole of your feet will tread upon, I have given to you.

Have given.

It's theirs, even though they haven't walked it yet.

And I love the voice of the Father.

I actually love the gentle, like father heart of God.

Just as I was with Moses, I'm gonna be with you.

Don't be discouraged.

Don't be afraid.

Don't just just as I was faithful then, I'm gonna be faithful now.

I will not leave you.

Come on, church.

I will not forsake you.

I know you can't see what I've provided for you.

I know you can't see what I'm leading you into, but I'm faithful.

You can trust me.

What's required is you need to take courage.

And not once, not twice, not even three times, but four times God says, be strong and courageous.

Be it.

Don't don't hope for it.

Don't hope somebody else's courage rubs off on you.

You be strong.

You be courageous.

Only be strong and courageous.

Have I not commanded you, be strong and courageous.

Don't be frightened, don't be dismayed.

The Lord your God is with you.

Be strong, be courageous.

I love what it says in Hebrews 13.

Keep your life free from the love of money.

Be content with what you have.

There's a there's a hey, all we have is today.

Can you see that?

Be content with what you have.

For God has said, I will never leave you or forsake you.

So we can confidently say, the Lord is my helper, I will not fear.

What can man do to me?

So the truth is God is faithful.

And the invitation for us today is, will we also remain faithful?

God's trustworthiness and faithfulness isn't in question and never will be.

We can walk fully in the truth that He is with us wherever we go, but it means we have to stay out of fear.

See, fear and faith work very much the same way.

Faith says I trust God to go even though I can't see.

Faith says, in my heart, in my imagination, God's leading me to take this step.

I trust him.

He's good, he's for me, and so I'm gonna boldly go into this thing that I I can't yet touch, taste, smell, or feel, but I trust God's leadership.

That's faith.

Faith is the evidence of what we can't see, the substance of what we hope for.

But fear does the exact same thing.

Fear says, Oh my goodness, what if?

And in our hearts and in our imagination, in our heads, we're like, well, what if I don't have enough?

Or what if this doesn't work out, or what if somebody lets me down, or what if God isn't as good as Jesus says He is?

Faith and fear work the same way.

So I might as well stay in faith.

I might as well stay in the pocket of trust and surrender to who my God is.

The fear of lack, the fear of being enough, the fear of what might happen to me one day, the fear of other people.

My goodness.

I love this from Warren Wearsby.

God's people live on promises, not on explanations.

Dang it.

When you trust God's promises and step out by faith, you can be sure that the Lord will give you the directions you need when you need them.

So be strong.

Take courage, even without all of the explanations, even without all of the answers, you take a step.

Man, the emphasis right now is who are you believing God for?

You know, to believe God for someone else to experience and know the power of Jesus Christ takes this kind of faith.

It takes your heart saying, I care so much about that person's eternal destiny.

I care so much about the mission and the message of Christ Jesus.

I will actively participate in the Great Commission.

That's why we have this prayer wall set up in the front lobby.

We've got these vision cards with a spot for you to just write a person's name.

And I want to tell you, I can tell this story because we're not live streaming this service.

This past Wednesday, I was at the gym working out.

Pastor's getting fit.

All right, let's go.

Right?

I'm half the man I used to be, but I'm not done yet.

And since I started working out of this gym, since May, almost every time I'm there, I have a visit with this guy named Frankie.

And Frankie is just like when you picture somebody that works out, I know you don't picture me, but you picture Frankie.

And on Wednesday, I was leaving the gym, rushing to get Caleb to school.

Frankie's like, hey, John, oh by the way, what do you do for work?

I was like, I pastor a church.

He's like, get out.

You're a pastor.

I was like, I know, right?

No.

And um I said, well, what do you do for work?

And he's and he tells me he's in um insurance restoration.

I was like, get out.

I was like, my dad was in insurance restoration for years.

And I was like, Do you use Xactimate?

Which is like the software that these guys use.

He goes, You know about Xactimate?

It's like my dad used to travel all across the he would train Belfour, their whole staff on how to use that software.

And Frankie's like nerding out.

And um and so we're just have a we have a moment.

Are you spirit-led interruptible?

Do you create margin to see people?

And Frankie goes, Hey, can anybody come to your church?

I've actually been thinking about finding a church.

I'm like, Yeah, man, would you come on Sunday?

You want to know who was in the first service this morning?

Like this matters.

And if we stay silent, we lack faith.

If we don't take courageous steps to see other people, we lack faith.

And it's always fear that holds us back from engaging those who are far from Christ Jesus.

Put a name on the wall, let that be your first step to having a courageous conversation.

Why?

Because you need to take courage.

It's not something anybody else can give to you.

The Lord is your helper.

Take the step of faith that God has promised.

Arise, go, cross over in Jesus' name.

All right, verse 11.

God says, Command the people, prepare your provisions.

For within three days you're to pass over this Jordan to go and take possession of the land that the Lord your God is given to you to possess.

The Lord is spilling bars here.

He's like, there's so many prepare provisions, pass, possession, possess.

There's just a like a lot of alliteration here.

And so I had to make point number three preparing provisions equals possessing promise.

Is that good?

All right.

Yeah, that's that's uh all right.

In other words, take courage, you're gonna have to prepare.

If you want to believe God for something impossible, if we as a family on mission want to cross over and to take new territory, we're gonna have to prepare.

We're gonna have to prepare provisions to possess the promise.

Take courage, count the cost.

Take courage, map out the provision for the possession.

We talked kind of really practically last week about the four D's of how we can all do this together.

We learn the spiritual practice of first fruits or tithing, and then we're always praying as people of faith, God, how can we learn to live off of less so that we can give away more?

And the thing we love to give to first is the mission and the message of Christ Jesus being boldly proclaimed, while we have breath in our lungs, there's no greater investment we could make here on planet earth because the last I checked, my money doesn't have a U-Haul.

It can't come with me to the other side.

And so, how do we do that?

We decrease.

Maybe you can like cut a subscription or stop eating out for a while.

Like, how's your lifestyle?

Maybe you can delay a major purchase, a new vehicle, or a dream vacation.

I'm not saying don't do these things, but maybe in a season of preparing provisions for God's promise, we choose to decrease or delay or do more or donate.

We we unpacked all four of those last week, so I'm not going to go into it again.

But the point is this how can we all prepare to provide for possessing the promise?

If God is leading us well as a board of directors and as your pastors with faith, after months of studying and learning and exploring, we've taken a step of faith.

Now we've made an offer to purchase on a building, but it's not ours yet.

There's still some miracles that we're believing God for.

The research park has to bless Evolved Church, leaving this building to go to another building in the research park.

Now I know God's able, or else we wouldn't be sitting in this room today.

Six years ago he did it.

For 40 years, no churches were ever allowed in the research park, but we're here.

And so can God do it again?

Yeah, but there's gonna be some giants to kill, and there's gonna be some mountains to climb.

How can we prepare to provide for possessing the promise?

How can we choose a greater degree of taking strong courage to ready ourselves for the journey ahead?

See, we all kind of want God to be sovereign.

I grew up in a thought, a theology that was really in the ditch on the sovereignty of God.

They were like, Well, whatever happens is the will of God.

I'm like, so babies being aborted?

They always struggled with that one.

But that was their belief system.

Whatever happens on planet earth is God's will, and God's will is whatever happens.

Well, it's God's will, scripture's clear, that every person comes to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

And I know people today that are going into eternity without knowing Jesus.

So just because something is God's will doesn't mean it's happening, and just because something's happening doesn't mean it's God's will.

So what about preparing to provide?

Is God sovereign?

And yet, yeah, absolutely, but he requires us to respond in faith and action.

Divine sovereignty is not a substitute for human responsibility.

God's sovereign word is an encouragement to God's servants to believe God and to obey his commands.

As Charles Spurgeon put it, Joshua was not to use the promise as a couch upon which his indolence might luxuriate, but rather a girdle wherewith to gird up his loins for future activity.

In short, God's promises are prods, not pillows.

I didn't even plan all these P words, but I love it.

Let faith in the room prod you today, not cushion you for a life of luxury and simplicity, problem-free.

No, in this world you will have trouble.

Take heart, I have overcome.

It takes courage to live wisely.

It takes courage to be a good steward, it takes courage to prepare provision for the promise.

2 Corinthians 10 says, it's God who supplies seed to the sower.

It's God who supplies bread for food.

He will supply and multiply your seed.

And if you read this text in context, it's actually talking about financial generosity.

For sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.

You will be enriched in every way, to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.

Will you say yes to preparing your provisions for the receiving the promise?

Be strong, take courage, trust God.

And then verse 8.

Hello, in between services today.

Pastor Brian Globish was in the first service and he just quietly walked over to the table.

I saw him do it.

And he put one of his uh get your face in the book.

Bracelets on my table.

And here's why.

Joshua 1, verse 8.

Joshua 1:8

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 according to all that is written in it.

For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

And then to the end of the chapter, verse 16, the people answered Joshua, All that you have commanded us, we will do, and wherever you send us, we will go.

Just as we obeyed Moses in all things, so we will obey you.

Only may the Lord your God be with you as he was with Moses.

Whoever rebels, it gets this chapter ends with this kind of harsh.

Whoever rebels against your commandments and disobeys your words, whatever you command him, shall be put to death.

For the Israelites, obedience was a matter of life and death.

And then the chapter ends only be strong and courageous.

My fourth and final thought, let's be careful to obey, to do what he has commanded us to do.

All that's required is our faithful obedience in answering God's call to arise and go.

And that's quite a lot.

I'm not gonna downplay that.

When I say all that's required is our obedience, guess what?

That's gonna cost us something.

And it's meant to.

Our obedience to Christ is meant to be costly.

It's meant to prioritize our lives, to reorder our lives around Jesus and his kingdom come, not me and my kingdom come.

And that changes everything.

It changes how we do married life, how we steward the gift of our three children, how we lead and pastor and shepherd this community of faith, how we engage with our neighbors and our community, how we steward our time, our talents, our resources.

It touches everything.

And it's meant to.

We're meant to prioritize Christ and his kingdom, not us and ours.

Another Warren Wearsby text from this passage in Joshua chapter 1.

Joshua 1 · chapter mention

The people encouraged Joshua by assuring him that their obedience was a matter of life or death.

They took his leadership and their responsibilities seriously.

Later, Achan didn't take Joshua's orders seriously, he was killed.

You can read about that in Acts 7.

And Jesus in Luke 6 teaches, Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do the things which I say?

If God's people today saw obedience to Christ, a matter of life or death, it would make a big difference in our ministry to the lost world.

We obey the Lord's orders if we feel like it, if it's convenient, if we can get something out of it.

But with soldiers like that, Joshua would have never conquered the promised land.

And the heart cry of God's people then, as it is meant to encourage us for our heart cry today to be, as you lead us, Lord, we will follow.

Your word will not depart from our lips.

We will meditate on your revealed word, scripture, day in, day out.

You know, I have my hip replaced in July.

I've talked about it.

And I was thinking, for my post-surgery, I had to do group physiotherapy.

And so I had these six sessions with a group of other people who were all in some degree of recovery from hip replacements.

And one lady was there with a knee replacement.

But I I had had my surgery kind of after all of these other people.

So they there was one guy in particular, he had his hip replaced two months before I did.

And so one day we're there and we're going through all the stations and we're we're balancing and we're we're using tension bands and we're stretching and we're on steps and stepping up and stepping down.

We're doing all this physio.

And he wanders over me and I can see he's frustrated.

He goes, Johnno, I watch you, and it's just not fair.

I said, Larry, what's up?

He's like, Well, I had my surgery two months before you did.

And you come in here, you're doing these exercises, and you're making me look bad.

You're working hard, but you're hardly breaking the sweat, and it looks easy, and I'm struggling.

I can't I can barely walk.

What's the deal?

I said, Hey, can I can I ask you a question?

He says, Yeah.

And here's what I asked I said, be honest.

Are you doing physiotherapy at home every day?

Or just hoping that this group session once a week will be sufficient for you?

And he's like, Whoa, that's so hard.

I don't have time at home.

I said, Well, that's the difference.

I don't either, but I've made time because our healing matters.

And before surgery, they gave me this nifty book.

When you're having a hip replacement.

And I love that they gave me all these exercises, phase one exercises.

Do this to strengthen your quad.

Do this exercise to strengthen your thighs.

Do this to strengthen your buttocks.

And all these exercises, phase one.

And so a couple months before surgery, I was like, I'm I'm taking this seriously, and I'm I'm doing these exercises, and I'm I can feel the difference.

And then after surgery, I keep going with phase one.

And then a few weeks later, I get I graduate to phase two, and there's all brand new exercises that I have to start doing to increase the tension and increase the pressure and increase the load.

And I'm doing it.

I did the work.

I'm not saying that to brag.

I'm just saying, Larry, if you expect that one group session once a week is gonna sustain you, heal you, strengthen you, restore you, you can't complain about the results.

And what's the tie-in for us as believers?

Too many of us are limping around, struggling in our life of faith due to a lack of obedience to the word.

And we think one group session on Sunday mornings is gonna be enough to sustain us.

And I just want to tell you, you're gonna keep limping, you're gonna keep struggling.

Get your face in the book.

Let the book not depart from your mouth.

Meditate on it day and night.

Be careful to do all that is written in there.

Only then will God be with us, only then will his presence sustain us and allow us to prosper as we succeed.

You know, we've created a soap guide for this whole series.

It's available, if you hold your phone over that E, to download a PDF.

And if you're unfamiliar with soap, I'm not talking about bathroom soap.

It's an acronym for how we study the Bible together.

It stands for this scripture, observation, application, prayer, S-O-A-P.

And this soap guide will walk you with us through the whole book of Joshua.

We've included some parallel texts and some other passages that will speak life to you as we study through this book together.

And my high challenge to you today is don't just bank on a group session once a week to sustain you in this life of being careful to obey all that God has commanded us to do.

Psalm 1 says, Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers.

Notice this text here begins with walking and then standing and then sitting.

And the path is we're walking with the counsel of wicked, we're standing with sinners, and we're seated with scoffers.

When we avoid our own relationship with scripture, you will find yourself walking with sinners, standing with sinners, and then eventually just seated with them.

But, verse 2, his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.

Like a tree planted by streams of water that yields fruit in its season.

Its leaf doesn't wither.

In all that he does, he prospers.

Can you see the parallel to Joshua about meditating day and night, trusting God, and seeing all that we do yield fruit.

Our delight in God's word is evidenced by how we choose to meditate on it day and night.

And the direct correlation is that our obedient response in this life bears fruit.

Jesus Himself said, Teach these new disciples to obey all that I have commanded and be sure of this.

I'm with you always, even to the end of the age.

And that's God's promise for us as we say yes to doing our part to taking courage.

How many of you feel like today you could take a little bit of more courage in this life?

That there's something stirred within you in a season of pioneering and believing God for what's on the other side.

And maybe your heart came in here today, broken, deceived, far from Jesus.

Maybe your heart came in here today, disillusioned or disappointed with unmet expectations about Christ and his kingdom.

Take courage.

Hear the whisper of the Holy Spirit, hear the heart of the Father to His church today saying, I will never leave you or forsake you.

Thank you so much for listening to today's message.

If you're ever in the Edmonton area, pop by for a visit.

And if you need any more information, visit EvolveChurch.com.

We hope to see you soon.