Arise & Go Pt. 3 | - 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.

Hey, grab your Bible, grab your notebook.

We're in part three of a series called Arise and Go.

And in this season of great faith, this season of trusting that God's leading us from here to there, we're looking at the whole book of Joshua over nine weeks.

We're going through chapters at a time, and we're saying, God, how do you want us to receive your word as we're in this season of pioneering and taking new territory?

Last week in Joshua 3 was all about the Israelites crossing over into the Promised Land.

And if you haven't been here for week one or week two, you can always go back on our podcast or YouTube channel, have a listen.

But turn in your Bibles to Joshua chapter 5, where we're going to hang out today.

Joshua 5 · chapter mention

We've also created an incredible scripture study guide to coincide with this series, a SOAP guide.

If you're unfamiliar with the acronym SOAP, it's how we read the Bible together.

It stands for Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer.

That's how we read the Bible.

We read a text, we ask the Lord to help us observe what He wants us to see, help us to observe Jesus as we're reading, help us to apply it to our lives, and then we pray, we seal that in prayer.

We've got a beautiful soap guide.

As I was soaping through Joshua 5 this week, I'm gonna be honest with you.

You know, we've committed to teaching the Bible.

I assigned myself Joshua chapter 5 today, and as I was studying, I instantly regretted that decision.

Joshua 5 · chapter mention

I should have given today's chapter to my wife.

That would have been way more fun.

Because sometimes the Bible can be tricky.

Today is no exception.

And here's why.

You're all adults in the room.

I'm gonna use words like circumcision and foreskin today.

Be grown-ups about it, all right?

It's from the Bible.

But here's here's what I want you to know.

As I was studying and praying, I sensed that the Lord gave me a word in season for our church.

And I pray that you receive it as we take notes and study scripture.

We're invited by the Holy Spirit into the living word of God.

And I pray that you would see Jesus a little more clearly today.

Joshua 5, starting in verse 1.

As soon as all the kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan to the west, and all the kings of the Canaanites who were by the sea, as soon as they heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan for the people of Israel until they crossed over, their hearts melted, and there was no longer any spirit in them because of the people of Israel.

I want to begin by saying this.

The scripture reports that their hearts melted.

I don't even know what that feels like, but I want to ask as we start today, where in your life right now is the enemy of your soul, Satan, the deceiver, where is he trying to rise up against you and yours in this season?

Where is the enemy pushing at your heart, pushing at your identity in Christ, pushing against your marriage, pushing against a single season, pushing against you because you've experienced loss or grief or pain or confusion?

I want you to remember today that the enemy knows that his time is short and that he's a defeated foe because of Jesus, because Jesus conquered the power of sin and death at the cross.

And so as we begin this chapter, I just want you to know clearly, because of your new life in Christ Jesus, you don't have to be afraid of the enemy.

And that's my first prayer over our hearts and lives today as we read through Joshua 5.

Father, would the perfect love that only you bring remove all fear today?

Even right now, where the enemy's whispering to somebody's heart, you don't belong here.

If these people really knew your story, you wouldn't be accepted here.

I just rebuke the lies of the deceiver pushing at the hearts of the church today.

Because of Jesus, you don't have to be afraid of the enemy.

Then verse 2.

At that time the Lord said to Joshua, Make flint knives and circumcise the sons of Israel a second time.

At this time in our service, we're gonna ask the ushers to pull out the flint knives that I gave them.

We're gonna lock all the doors.

And uh, could I have all the men stand up, please?

I'm kidding.

Somebody's like, Whoo! Aren't you glad you came to church today?

Circumcision was a sign of God's covenant with his people.

We first read about it in Genesis 17, where God says, You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between you and me.

Now I love this.

Here's why.

From the dawn of creation, from the Genesis account until today, it's always been the heart of the Father to be in a covenant relationship with his kids.

That's who he is.

And that that will never change.

That is good news for those who are lost and hurting today.

The God of the universe longs to be in a covenant relationship with you.

Warren Wearsby writes, though it was a physical operation, it had spiritual significance.

The trouble was that the Jewish people depended on the physical and not the spiritual.

A mere physical operation could never convey spiritual grace.

And often in the Old Testament, God warned his people to turn from their sins and experience a spiritual circumcision of the heart.

People, you, I, we make the same mistake today when we depend on some religious ritual to save us.

Baptism or communion, like we shared in together today.

It is not necessary for the believer to submit to circumcision because he's already experienced a spiritual circumcision through his identification with Jesus Christ.

This cutting of the body was a symbol of a covenantal relationship with God the Father.

And on this Thanksgiving weekend, I'm particularly grateful it's no longer a physical requirement for us.

But this is the lesson, and this is our challenge today, if we hear it.

What physical things are we depending on in place of something deeper?

What physical things have you trumpeted as the most important in your life right now, as opposed to something inner, something deeper, something spiritual?

For us as a local church, as a family on mission, practically in this season of crossing over into something new, taking new territory, investing in a building and land for the future generation of Jesus' kingdom, our temptation will be to weigh and to measure and to examine physical things in place of an inward transformation, an inner surrender.

Even when I think about our shared sacrifice as we take up this year's vision offering on November 22nd, this will be our fight of faith.

Will we depend on something physical, or will we invite the Lord of the universe to cut away something on the inside of us so that we can walk in freedom?

Faith to take hold of something new is gonna require every single one of us to pay close attention to our inner lives.

This is the work of the Lord.

Will I choose some outward posture or outward pressure or outward ritual or outward image to dumb down my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ?

Or will I fully surrender to a complete inner work of the heart?

This is what Colossians 2 talks about.

In Jesus, in him also, you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ.

Having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God who raised Jesus from the dead.

And you, who were dead in your trespasses in the circumcision, uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with Jesus, having forgiven us all of our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands.

This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

This is what's true.

Through the finished work of Calvary's cross, your heart has been circumcised.

Your inner life, something has been cut away to make room for the new.

When Jesus Christ died and rose again, he won a complete and final victory over sin.

He not only died for our sins, salvation, but he also died unto sin, sanctification.

There is a process by which we are being transformed into the image of Christ.

What the law couldn't do, Jesus Christ accomplished for us.

The old nature, the body of the sins of the flesh, was put off, cut off, rendered inoperative, so that we need no longer be enslaved to the desires of sin.

The old sinful nature, however, is not eradicated.

You and I, we can still sin.

But the power of sin's been broken as we yield to Christ and as we walk in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Can I ask you a question?

Will you yield to Christ today?

Will you yield to the power of the Holy Spirit going before you, making a way where you can't see one, empowering you for a life set apart, made holy, cleansed by the washing of the word to walk righteous as a child of God?

What physical things are you depending on right now in place of something deeper?

Something profoundly spiritual, a work that God wants to do from the inside out?

Where have you allowed pride and ego to get in the way of your surrender to Jesus?

Where have you allowed a sinful desire of your heart or your motive or your flesh or your intentions to Lord over your life?

See, the power of sin has been broken as you and I choose to surrender fully to the Lord Jesus Christ and then choose every new day to walk fully empowered by the Holy Spirit.

This isn't something that we can ever let off of, okay?

This is a daily dealing and a daily dying.

Don't take your foot off the gas of your life in Christ, being made whole and being made new.

And here's why.

Here's why.

Joshua 5, verse 3.

Joshua 5:3

So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the sons of Israel at Gibeath Heroloth.

And this is the reason why Joshua circumcised them.

All the males of the people who came out of Egypt, all the men of war, had died in the wilderness on the way after they'd come up out of Egypt.

Though all of the people who came out had been circumcised, listen to this, yet all the people who were born on the way after they came out of Egypt had not been circumcised.

For the people of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness until all the nation, the men of war who came out, until they perished, because they did not obey the voice of the Lord.

The Lord swore to them they wouldn't, that he would not let them see the new land that he had sworn to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey.

So it was their children, whom he raised up in their place, that Joshua circumcised, for they were uncircumcised because they hadn't been circumcised on the way.

So I was reading this, I'm like, Lord, A, that's a lot of the word circumcised in a few verses.

Thanks.

Great.

But what do you want us to see here?

I began to wonder, why not?

Like, somehow, and the Bible isn't clear on why, but somehow Moses neglected to ensure that an entire next generation knew about a covenant with their God.

Somehow they wandered for 40 years, and we can speculate, maybe you know, it would have been inconvenient in the desert.

Maybe it was too hot, maybe it was too dusty, maybe Moses just plain forgot.

But 40 years later, here in Joshua 5, the generation who would inherit the promised land received a covenant that their parents' generation neglected to pass on to them.

Why does it matter that you deal with your heart?

Why does it matter that we deal with and surrender our inner lives so that we don't miss a generation?

That's why.

And that's what we're about at Evolve.

Come on, let's do our part in making sure that the next generation is crystal clear on the that they have an invitation to taste and see that the Lord is God and that the Lord is good.

And that nothing can shake that.

This is why we've said yes to planting a church on campus at the University of Alberta.

This is why we've responded to God's call to arise and go, to proclaim his word boldly to the next generation.

This is why we've launched an accredited post-secondary evolved school of ministry.

Because we believe in seeding the hopeful future of Jesus' kingdom and the church, not only here in our city, but across the earth with the future generation who are trained and equipped to boldly proclaim the gospel.

This is why we're taking steps to buy a new building and land.

Why?

We need to establish a training ground and launch pad for future generations.

This is our set apart, this is our consecration.

Joshua 5, 3, again, Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the sons of Israel at Gibeeth Heraloth.

And then verse 8, when the circumcising of the whole nation was finished, they remained in their places in the camp until they were healed.

And verse 9, the Lord said to Joshua, Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.

You're no longer slaves.

And so the name of that place is called Gilgal to this day.

Gibeath Heriloth versus Gilgal.

Which is it?

Could the Bible be wrong?

How could one camp be called two different things?

Well, I did some studying.

Do you want to know what Gibeoth Heroloth means?

Fact check me.

I dare you.

Joshua and the people camped at this hill of foreskins.

And then God comes along and says, actually, I want you right here at Gilgal, which means circle of stones.

Now, why is that interesting?

Well, because one name serves as a reminder of what's been cut away, but the other name serves as a reminder of the power and the provision and the faithfulness of our God.

Which name will you call yourself?

See, the enemy always wants to call you by what's been cut away from your life.

Some of you walked into the room here today under the guise of deception and the enemy calling you addicted.

Well, Jesus cut that addiction away.

Let him.

Alone?

You have to choose.

What does the enemy call you?

What sin name do you answer to?

Or will you be called by the name that God invites you into?

Will you be called by the sin that Jesus cut away from your life?

Or will you be called an altar of remembrance?

A circle of stones.

See in Joshua 4, just the chapter before, the Israelites gathered 12 stones, which they took out of the Jordan.

And Joshua set them up at Gilgal, circle of stones.

And he said to the people, When your children ask their fathers in time to come, what do these stones mean?

Then you shall let your children know Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground.

God's people walked through miraculously on a miracle that only God could do.

For the Lord your God dried up the waters for you until you passed over.

Circle of stones.

What has the power of the cross cut away from your life?

What does the power of the cross want to cut away from your life today?

What threat of sin has been made powerless because of Jesus' victory over sin?

Sin's not our name.

We are not who or what we've done in our past.

We are in Christ Jesus.

We're children of God.

We have a new nature.

What will you be called?

Gibbeath Herloth or Gilgal?

You're gonna have to decide.

A man I know used to do incredible work in seniors care homes.

And one time he was gathered with a large group of men and women in a later season of life.

70s, 80s, 90s.

And he asked them this question Who here can remember a time when God wasn't faithful?

And not one of them could.

Not one of them could remember a time when God wasn't faithful.

Hindsight will do that for you.

Hindsight led these seniors to confidently declare how faithful God is, despite the very real pressures and worries and pain that they face throughout their life.

You see, our circumstances don't have enough power to change the nature and character of our God.

So let me ask, at what point in your life will you and I be able to share in that truth?

I can't remember a time where God was not faithful.

You know, when Jesus' disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, part of that prayer was, Lord, as you lead me to the test, don't let the test become a temptation, but deliver me from the wiles of the evil one.

He's always trying to get me to think you're not as good as Jesus says you are.

You're gonna have to decide, is God faithful?

Is God good?

Is that who he is?

Even when it's painful, even when you experience loss, even when you walk through the valley of the shadow of death.

I have this old journal from 30 years ago.

I have a number of old journals.

And I remember opening up that journal, as is my habit to do.

I love to read about who I used to be.

You know, there's something about tracing the hand of God throughout decades of your life.

And I have this entry in an old 30-year-old journal called The Angel of Carisdale.

See, when I was 19 years old living in Vancouver, I was in a season of great pain, of great grief.

I was in a season of darkness, I was confused about my future.

I was in a season of suicidal ideation.

I lived in a neighborhood called Carrisdale.

Now, I couldn't afford to live in Carrisdale.

It's it's a pretty affluent neighborhood, west side Vancouver.

But I had some family that owned an apartment building, and they graciously allowed myself and a few friends to rent an apartment below market value.

And I worked three blocks away at a coffee shop called Bean Brothers, which doesn't exist sadly anymore, but it's where my love of coffee was first nourished, if I could say.

But on a particularly dark morning where I'd called out, God, like, do you do you even hear your son?

Do you even know what's going on in my world?

I I started walking to work.

And as I left my apartment in that block, I saw a homeless man lying on the street.

No, it's a carousel.

Caroisdale at that time and to this day doesn't have homeless people lying on the street in this very high-end neighborhood.

And I'd never seen a houseless person, and to this day I haven't seen one since.

But there he was lying on the sidewalk.

And as I walked nearer, he jumped to his feet, approached me, and face to face began to speak to my heart.

This perfect stranger.

He began to speak words of comfort, words of hope, words of purpose, words of direction, words of love and grace and mercy.

It was like he'd been reading my journal, and the voice of God Himself came through the mouth of this perfect stranger.

And I was so caught off guard.

I didn't know what to say, so I stumbled the rest of the way to work.

I sat down and began to journal.

And then I was like, I need to know who this man is.

And so I jumped back and I ran back.

When you know he was gone.

And there was a couple standing nearby.

I said, excuse me, a moment ago there was a homeless man lying here.

Did you see what direction he went?

And they were like, We didn't see a homeless man.

And another family.

I said, excuse me, did you happen to see a homeless man walking like we didn't see anybody?

So I walked back to work, sat down, and journaled.

And I thanked God for leading me with clarity.

To this day, I'm convinced that God sent a supernatural being in the form of a homeless man to remind me that I wasn't alone.

And when I read that journal entry, it serves as an altar of remembrance.

It serves as a circle of stones.

I can trace the hand of God.

I can look back and go, even if I can't hear his voice today, it doesn't change the fact that God loves me, sees me, knows me, and wants to lead me with wisdom and clarity.

One of my core values as I've learned and continue to learn to trust and follow Jesus is this God really loves to communicate to his kids clearly.

And I know through the narrative of Jesus that shepherds love their sheep, and sheep can learn to confidently recognize and know and trust the voice of the shepherd.

And for us here today, that's code.

For God wants you to know, recognize, and trust his voice always at every time.

What's brilliant is I have this whole journal at home that I can look back at and in hindsight say, God was that in my life then, and he never changes.

He's still faithful.

And when it comes to hearing the voice of the Father today, I have greater peace about knowing and trusting his voice when I choose to remember my accumulated life in Christ so far.

And here's the thing about true statements true statements are true for everybody, even if you don't believe that they're true, they're still true.

And I want to give you some truth today.

You aren't called to be like other Christians, you are called to be like Christ.

The word remember appears in the Bible about 160 times, depending on which translation you read.

And here's what it says: remember your past.

Remember when you were a slave, remember the Lord your God, remember the promises, remember the covenant, remember.

So I want to challenge you with Romans 12.

Here's what I want you to do: God helping you take your everyday, ordinary life, your sleeping, eating, going to work, walking around life, and place it before God as an offering, a circle of stones.

Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for Him.

Don't become so well adjusted to your culture that you fit into it even without thinking.

Instead, fix your attention on God.

You'll be changed from the inside out.

Recognize what he wants for you, quickly respond to it.

Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings out the best in you, developing well-formed maturity in you.

We're in Christ Jesus.

We're children of God.

We have a new nature.

Let's be Gilgal, not Gibeoth Herloth.

Let's be stones of remembrance.

We are not our past.

We are not a discarded heap of the sin that Jesus cut away through his sacrifice.

Refuse to be pulled away from a regular practice of gratitude and remembering the faithfulness of God.

As you sit around a table today or tomorrow, and you invite your kids to and your family or your friends to say something they're thankful for.

Please allow the truth that God invites you into a covenant relationship through the sacrifice of his Son Jesus Christ to be the most important thing that you're thankful for.

Choose this day then to allow your life, our shared life together, our experiences in Christian community to be set up as an altar of thankfulness and remembrance.

Stay in the fight, keep trusting God.

He was faithful then, he's faithful now.

While the people of Israel, verse 10, were encamped at Gilgal, they kept the Passover on the 14th day of the month in the evening on the plains of Jericho.

And the day after, on that very day, they ate of the produce of the land.

Unleavened cakes, parched grain.

Verse 12, the manna ceased the day after they ate of the produce of the land.

There was no longer manna for the people of Israel, but they ate of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.

On the day after Passover, the miracle stopped.

The manna ceased, ending a 40-year miracle.

If the Passover reminded the Jews of their redemption from Egypt, the manna reminded them of their desire to go back to Egypt.

God fed his people the bread of heaven, the food of the angels, and yet they still lusted for the food of Egypt.

God easily took his people out of Egypt, but it was difficult for him to take Egypt out of his people.

Too many professed Christians contradict their profession by exhibiting an appetite for what belongs to their past life.

If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of the Father.

Set your mind on things above, not on things of this earth.

And using the imagery from Joshua, this means, hey church, you've crossed the river and now you're in your inheritance.

Don't look back and desire the things of Egypt or the things of the wilderness.

Let God feed you and satisfy you with the harvest of the inheritance.

What a powerful reminder for us today.

Jesus, crucify my sin appetites.

Crucify my longing for what used to be.

I surrender to your new grace and your new mercy for today.

Father, we trust you fully for how you're gonna lead us and feed us and satisfy us with the blessings and the harvest of the season that's yet to come.

As we close, I'll end the chapter, these last three verses.

When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked.

And behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand.

And Joshua went to him and said to him, Are you for us or for our adversaries?

And the man said, No, but I am the commander of the army of the Lord.

Now I have come.

I love Joshua 5.

Because it's not hard to see Jesus.

If you study it, you'll know that this man with a drawn sword is one of the pre-incarnation appearances of Jesus on planet Earth.

The Son of God comes to Joshua and says, Now I have come.

And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped him and said, What does my Lord say to his servant?

And the commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua, Take off your sandals, for the place where you're standing is holy.

You have to remember there's a covenant.

You have to remember that Jesus cut something away from your life so that you could be called by your new name.

You have to remember that your life is meant to be established as an altar of remembrance to the goodness and the faithfulness of God.

And as we end this chapter and close today, it's important to know this man, this picture of this appearance of Jesus Christ comes before the Battle of Jericho, before the work of clearing ground, when God's people are healing, the entire adult fighting population is incapacitated.

They're hopeless.

If an enemy came right at this moment, they would have been wiped out.

And Jesus comes with authority, and Jesus comes with leadership, and Jesus comes with majesty and says to Joshua, Now I have come.

Joshua's reminded that he's not in charge.

And that holds true for you and I here today.

Some of you walked in here today under the weight of feeling like you've got to figure it all out.

Under the powerful lie of the enemy, that you can't trust God with your future.

And here's what holds true for you and I here today: every mom and dad, every father and mother, every son and daughter, every one of us that's faithless and faithful, every single person here today that feels lost or feels found, we are second in command to the Lord Jesus Christ.

We are second in command to our King.

And when we forget this fact, we quickly move towards defeat and failure.

The Lord came to Joshua that day, not just to help Joshua, but to lead Joshua.

Jesus in John 15 says, Without me, you can do nothing.

And that rings true for you and I here today.

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.