Follow the Ark: A Journey of Faith

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Greetings, friends and new listeners, and welcome to The Sound of Faith. I’m Sharon Otts, thanking you for joining us today because we know faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Today’s message is a good word of encouragement and direction. Follow the Ark. When you’ve been in the wilderness and God is leading you out into a large place of fulfilled promises, it can be both exciting and uncertain. because there may be a raging Jordan River between you and your promised land. It’s then you must be of good courage and follow the ark. He said, you’ve got to open your mouth because God’s word is like a sharp two-edged sword. I need somebody now who knows the message to help me preach. Now the first edge of that sword is created when? When God speaks that word to you. In the Greek, it’s rhema, R-H-E-M-A. I’m speaking now of Hebrews 4.12. The word, the sword in the Greek is rhema. Rhema simply means a spoken word. any word you speak it’s rhema out and in contrast to a red word amen the first edge of that sword is created when the holy spirit highlights in your spirit a scripture you know that scripture since forever but for some reason today you know it in a different way It’s very personal. It’s very customized. It’s very specified. It is right there hitting the nail on the head of what you need to do for where you are at that moment. And when God speaks that word to your spirit, it creates the first edge. But in order for the second edge to be created, you’ve got to open up your mouth and you’ve got to speak the word of God. And then the second edge is created. Amen. So he said, you’ve got to let this word be in your mouth and you cannot let it depart. And if you will do this, we read it all. You’re not going to have a problem with fear. You won’t have a problem with dismay and you’re going to prosper and have good success. and I’m going to be with you wherever you go. And so this was the word of God to Joshua. Amen. And so now Joshua has this promise. He’s able to rise up and, as it were, step into Moses’ shoes and not be afraid, as Moses is dead, and he’s not coming back. Amen. So now, Joshua, you better get a move on, because you not only got to walk for yourself, you’ve got these, what, two to three million people looking up to you. Amen. Now, we’re going to kind of paraphrase a little bit here in the second chapter. So what does Joshua do? He sends in two spies to spy out the land. Now, I find this very interesting because, of course, you know he was one of the original 12 spies 40 years ago, remember? And 10 came back with such a terrible report. They made the people begin to moan and cry and lament and give up on God. And they wanted to go back to Egypt. And only he and Caleb had a good report. Amen? So now Joshua, 40 years later, I’m sure, being quite much the wiser, said, you know what? Maybe God told Moses to send 12 in, but I’m only sending in two. Because the more people you got, the more opinions you got. Amen. The more people you got to get on the same page. So he sent in two, two spies. And we know what happened. They went there and we know that they found the harlot Rahab’s house up on the wall of the city of Jericho. And she hid them there. And we know they figured if they went there, they would not be so conspicuous because they were strangers and they would look like strangers. But the fact that they went into the harlot’s house, everybody thought, well, you know, they’re going in there and we won’t bother them. But the Lord had set it up so that he could use Rahab to protect them. But here’s what I want you to hear, and let’s look in 2nd chapter, verse 9. This is Rahab speaking. And she said unto the men, I know that the Lord hath given you the land. How did she know? She’s not an Israelite. She’s a heathen. I know the Lord has given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you. For we have heard… how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what he did unto the two kings of the Amorites that were on the other side of Jordan, Sion and Og, whom you utterly destroyed, and Sion and Og were giants. And then she went on, she said, and as soon as we heard these things, our hearts did melt, and neither did there remain any more courage in any man because of you, for the Lord your God, he is God in heaven above and in earth beneath. my goodness this always amazes me that 40 years later 40 years later she still could remember it like it was yesterday my oh my our hearts were melting with fear we fainted when we heard that you were on your way across the wilderness desert and you were coming in this direction We all just about died of fear because we heard what God did for you when he brought you out of Egypt. We heard how he delivered you from Pharaoh. We heard how he delivered you from those two kings that were mighty. And we thought, wow, our number is next. But what happened? They didn’t come. A year went by and they weren’t any closer, and two years, and 10 years, and 14 years, and 20 years, and they weren’t any closer. And now it’s been 40 years, 40 years, and two of them show up at her door. But she still remembered. Let me tell you something. What God did in bringing the children of Israel out of Egypt and opening up that Red Sea, what he did was so spectacular, so colossal, so phenomenal. Somebody help me. So fantastic. What is it? Come on. I don’t know. There’s no words to describe. Awesome. To the superlative degree. that these people could never forget it. Amen? And in 40 years, they had never totally relaxed. They had not totally relaxed because they knew one day they were going to come knocking at their door. And so she did. And so we find out that the two men, they were able to escape because she hid them. And the last verse of chapter 2 says, And they said unto Joshua, Truly the Lord hath delivered into our hands all the land, for even all the inhabitants of the country do faint because of us. It’s marvelous, 40 years later. Okay, so now it’s time to go into the land. You see, now God’s got to get these people ready because as I already said, they had been living on 40-year-old stories. But June, let me tell you something. Every generation has got to have their own Red Sea experience. Amen. You cannot get by on what happened in the generation before you. You can’t get by what God did 20 years ago, 40 years ago. Young people, you’ve got to have your own Red Sea experience. Because if Jesus tarries, your grandma’s not always going to be here to tell you. And your mama and your daddy’s not always going to be here to tell you about it. And one day you’re going to have your own children that you’re going to have to tell something to. And you need to have your own Red Sea experience for yourself. amen so now it’s time chapter three and joshua rose up early in the morning and they removed from shittim and came to jordan this is the river he and all the children of israel and lodged there before they passed over they made camp at the edge of the river And it came to pass after three days that the officers went through the host. Now that would be, you know, there was 12 tribes and every tribe had leaders. And the army was made up of men 20 years and up. That would be the host. And they commanded the people saying, when you see the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord your God and the priest of the Levites bearing it, then you shall remove from your place and go after it. Somebody say go after it. Go after it. Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about 2,000 cubits by measure. Come not near unto it, that you may know the way by which you must go, for you have not passed this way before. Tell somebody, you have not passed this way before. So what are we seeing here? They had come to the Jordan River, and folks, they had gone as far as they could go, just like their parents had gone to the Red Sea and could go no further, and God had to do a miracle. Let me tell you something. This group here, this generation here, this new young generation here, they needed their own miracle. if they were going to get across the Jordan. And so Joshua commanded the leaders to go through and prepare the people. And here’s what he said. When you see the ark carried by the priest, go after it. In other words, go after the presence of God. Because the ark was a symbol of the presence of the living God. That ark was not a coffin. Because we think a pallbearer is carrying a coffin. No, no, no. That ark was the symbol of the presence of the living God. Inside of that ark was the Ten Commandments that God wrote with his own finger. Amen. This represented God’s presence because he said, when you come to the place that I will call by my name and you build the sanctuary that I will have you to build. And then they had the temporary one, the tent that they took with them everywhere they go. We’d call it a church. It was a tent. Just like tent revivalists back in the 50s and 60s go from city to city, putting the tent up, taking it down, putting it up. That’s what they did with the sanctuary of God. And God said behind that veil of the holy place, when you come in with the right sacrifice, he said, my presence will be there. And the glory of God would fill that tent. The cloud of God with his glory would fill that place. And God would speak out of the cloud. Amen. So Joshua said, when you see the ark, go after it. Amen. It’s time for us to go after the presence of God. Amen. So many people want to go after personalities. And they want to go after this great one and that great one. And the one that’s got the most charisma. Amen. But I’m not looking for a person. I’m looking for the presence of God. I’m going after the spirit of God. Hallelujah. I’m going after God’s word. It’s time to go after God. It’s time to come out of shallow, carnal ways. My God, if you’re just going about and you’re living a carnal, shallow Christian life, you’re not enjoying the depths of God’s spirit. God says it’s time. You’ve got to pass over this Jordan. You’re going to have to go after God’s spirit. But if you’re hungry, if you thirst after righteousness, he said you shall be filled. Amen. God’s talking to someone here today. God’s talking to all of us. But God is saying, oh, there is a place I want to take you. There is a place where my spirit flows that will so change and transform you. Every weakness in your life. Every mistake of your life. Everything that has held you back. And the devil comes over and over again and throws it up in your face. But God says, don’t get your eyes on that. Get your eyes on the ark. Get your eyes on my presence. Go after God. Hallelujah. It’s time to go after the presence of God. If you’re in a dead church where all they’ve got is some religiosity and that’s all it is, or they’re honoring this person and honoring that person and on and on and on and all of this stuff that they do, ecclesiastical show is all it is. My God, you need to find a church where the presence of God is real, where the Spirit of God moves. Where God not only makes you shout and makes you dance, but will make you cry, make you repent, make you hit the altar. Amen. Because God doesn’t tell you to do something without telling you how to do it. He said, go after the presence of God. And how are we going to go after the presence of God? Let’s read on. Verse 5, And Joshua said unto the people, What? Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow God will do great wonders before you. Do we want to see miracles? That’s what the word wonder means. Do we want to see the miraculous? Do we want to see God’s awesome power? He has not changed. He’s not impotent. He’s the same yesterday, today, and forever. God wants to make himself real to this generation. Amen. God cares about the young people of today. God cares about those young adults now that are on the threshold of their lives. and they can go either way they can go out here where the devil saying come on out here and he paints a rosy picture but when he gets them out there they find all it is this is corn husks and pig slop God said if you want me you can have me but I’m a holy God So sanctify yourself. Separate yourself. Come out of the world and touch not the unclean thing. And I will receive you, sayeth the Lord. And you will be my sons and you will be my daughters. And I will be your God and your Father. He said sanctify yourself. When God’s presence is among us, we’ll walk holy. Oh yes, we’ll talk holy. We’ll walk in righteousness when God’s presence is in you because when God’s presence is there, it brings a holy conviction. And when you have an honest heart, you want that holy conviction. more than anything in the world. And I love God’s blessings. And I love His joy. And I love when I just feel the Holy Ghost all over me until I almost can’t hold it. But there is something more precious than that. And that is when I’ve fallen short. That is when I have diverted from the things that God desires me to be. And I’m not even talking about backsliding, going out in the world for myself. But I’m still saying, I fall short. And when Holy Ghost conviction comes on me, I read something, I hear something. God just speaks to me in my prayer time. All of a sudden, I wasn’t even thinking about that. It just came up. Now, I’m not going to, on purpose, bring up my mistakes. No. I’m not on purpose going to bring up my shortcomings. Amen? So when they come up, it’s the Holy Ghost. It’s the Spirit of God. And when it does, and I come face to face with that, and then what is my response? Lord, forgive me. Lord, cleanse me. Lord, help me. Amen? And use this as something, a stepping stone in my life. And if it can help somebody else sometime, let me help use it to help somebody else. Amen. And when the Holy Spirit says, that’s the sacrifice I’m looking for, a contrite spirit and a broken heart, I will not despise. That’s what I’m waiting for. Now I’m going to open up the heavens. I’m going to shower my love and my acceptance on you. I don’t love you any more than I loved you before, before you repented. I didn’t love you any less when you were in the middle of that. but I can bless you more. And I can give you more of my personal presence. Because I dwell amongst those who are holy. Amen? Sanctify yourself. You can follow man’s religious program and live any kind of way you want. But you’re not going to follow God’s. He’s not going to dwell in an unholy temple. And we know clearly, don’t turn there, but you know the scriptures in the New Testament clearly tell us, 1 Corinthians 3.16, 1 Corinthians 6.19, 2 Corinthians 6.16, that we are the temple of the living God. Amen. And just quickly let me say this without parking too long. In the Greek, which the New Testament was written in, there are two words for temple. One is Iran and one is Naos. Iran just means the outward building, just like the brick and the mortar and all of these beams. That would be the Iran, the building. The naos would be like behind the altar, the holy place. It’s where the holy of holies was. Which word do you think he used in these three places? Iran or naos? He used naos. In other words, he was saying, not only that you’re my temple, you’re my holy of holies. Holy of Holies and you know only the high priest could go in the Holy of Holies and only once a year with the right sacrifice and we we are the Holy of Holies if you get a revelation of that it will revolutionize your life and your walk with God. When you understand you’ve been bought with a price, you’re not your own. You are the holy of holies. All right, let’s move on. We got to get to this Jordan River and get over it. Okay, verse 7. And the Lord said unto Joshua, This day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all of Israel, that they may know that as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee. As thou shalt command the priest to bear the ark of the covenant, saying, When you are come to the brink of the water of Jordan, You shall stand still in Jordan. And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, Come hither and hear the words of the Lord. And Joshua said, Hereby you shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Hivites, the Perizzites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, and the Jebusites. Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth passeth over before you into Jordan.” So God said to Joshua, he said, this day I’m going to begin to magnify you before the people so that they will understand that as I was with Moses, so now I am with you. And this was very important. First, let me say, no one can magnify or promote a person’s ministry but the Lord. And he does it with his anointing and the gifts that he gives you. Men can put lots of people in lots of offices and positions. But if the Lord does not give them that gift and that calling and that anointing, they can’t sustain it. They cannot sustain it. They’ll be in there for a while, but after a while, they’re going to run out of whatever it is they’re doing. They’re going to start repeating the same three messages. They’re going to start, you know, the same old thing, same old thing. You’re not going to see the anointing to break the yoke. Amen? And I don’t want to stay there too long. But only God can promote a ministry. And it was extremely important. It was necessary that God publicly, publicly before the people, let his anointing and approval be upon Joshua. Because they were getting ready to take on a tremendous undertaking. And there had to be unity. Amen. And in order for there to be unity, there’s got to be someone who has the word of the Lord that tells them this is what we’re going to do. Because if you let it up to the people, all we like sheep have gone astray, everyone to his own way. That’s why we’ve got to have a shepherd. Amen. But our shepherd, our earthly shepherd, our earthly pastor, he’s under our chief shepherd. Amen. And you can tell when the anointing and the calling is on someone’s life. And he had to magnify. I don’t even like that word today, but it had a different idea then. But promote or put the person out there. Why? Don’t you remember way back when they were in the wilderness with their grandparents and their parents were in the wilderness? And you know, when everything went wrong, when they just kept complaining, and they got to the point, you know, the one time they said, let us elect a leader. This is in Numbers, the 14th chapter. This is after the 12 spies came back and the 10 gave the bad report. They said, let us elect a leader to take us back to Egypt. Which, you know, come on, people. How do you think he’s going to get you through that Red Sea? I mean, if they’re going back to Egypt, they’ve got to go back through the Red Sea. Amen? But that goes to show you how the people that come under that murmuring, complaining, and they’re not even thinking about what they’re saying. And so they were ready to get a leader to go back. And God knew that the tendency would be now facing crossing this Jordan. And you might have a faction that rises up and says, I’m not stepping in that Jordan. I don’t think we’re supposed to go that way. I think we need to go another way. I think we need to stay here. And so God knew that he had to put Joshua out there as the man of faith and power. Amen? So that they would not, you know… try to elect somebody else and I won’t go into it but actually before Moses died before he died he actually laid hands on Joshua before all the people and said this is the one that God has chosen to lead you in amen okay so he says to them Joshua now says here’s what I want you to see when you’ve come to the brink of the water of Jordan you shall stand still in Jordan And he told the children of Israel, when you see the ark of the covenant go before you, it’s going to pass before you. You’re going to have to follow it. Let’s drop down to verse 13. And it shall come to pass as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of the Lord. of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be cut off from the waters that come down from above, and they shall stand upon and heap. The waters are going to stand upon and heap. And it came to pass, when the people removed from their tents to pass over Jordan, and the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people, and as they that bear the ark were coming to Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bear the ark were dipped in the brim of the water, for Jordan overfloweth all of his banks.” all the time of harvest, that the waters which came down from above stood and rose up upon a heap very far from the city Adam. There was a city named Adam, okay? That is beside Zaretan. And those that came down toward the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, failed and were cut off. And the people passed over right against Jericho. And the priests that bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on… dry ground in the midst of Jordan and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground until all the people were passed clean over Jordan. So I want you to see that this is their Red Sea experience because every generation has got to know the miracle working power of God for themselves. He said, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priest that bear the ark rest in the bottom of the Jordan River, the waters will be cut off. Not before. When? Now, this generation, as I said, had not seen the parting of the Red Sea. They had not experienced God’s awesome power. Now, I want to tell you, the children of Israel, if you go back and read it, when they walked over and crossed the Red Sea, they walked over on what? Dry ground. But they didn’t have to step on that ground until after… after God had caused the waters to roll back. Do you understand that? Moses went down there and held out his rod, and when he did, the waters separated. A huge, I don’t know, mountain of water here and a mountain of water, and they had a pathway to go through, and they walked over, but nobody but no one stepped their foot there until the waters had separated. But not here. Not here. God said that the priest carrying the ark… Now, the Ark of the Covenant was a box, and it had big rings on the end with poles that went through either side so that the priest could lift it up on the poles and heave it up on their shoulders and carry it like this because they were not to touch the Ark itself. they were not to touch the box itself amen and the priests were holy and sanctified they had to go through their own protocol of sanctification which we won’t even go to but be assured that not any old person did it it had to be the priest of the levites that had the necessary preparation and sanctification now here they are carrying this box on their shoulders And they’re walking down to the brim of the Jordan. And they have, all of them, all the priests have got to get all the way in so all of them are standing now in the Jordan. Now you may be thinking to yourself, well, come on, you know, the Jordan River, it’s not the Red Sea. Let me tell you something. It was springtime. Amen? It was springtime, and we already read here where it says that it overflows at harvest time. Can I tell you what that means in actual facts? The Jordan River during the spring was a torrent of water. The Jordan River begins way up north in the most northern part of Israel, even up to Mount Hermon. And it flows down, okay, and we know gravity pulls you what? Down. It flows down from the north about 200 miles and goes all the way to the Dead Sea. How many know what that means? The Dead Sea is the lowest point on the face of the earth. something like 1,300 and some 80 or something like that miles below sea level. Below sea level, that’s how far down the Dead Sea goes. So the Jordan River is flowing from up north all the way down. Gravity’s pulling it down to the Dead Sea. But now it’s springtime, and all the snow that was up on the mountains and all of the spring rains are now pouring into the Jordan River. And when that happens, every single day, 6 million tons. I don’t even know what that means. 6 million tons? That means 6 million times 2,000. 6 million tons of water empty from the Jordan River into the Dead Sea, the lowest place on earth. The water drops 600 vertical feet on its way down to the Dead Sea. Now normally the Jordan River in some places is only 50 to 100 feet wide. Now that’s not very wide. How wide is this church, Benny? Okay, from the back wall to this wall is 75 feet. So let’s say that that’s about as wide as the river would be that they would have to cross. but not so during the spring season. During that time, the Jordan is so overflowing its banks that it can be a mile wide, a mile wide. Now, I don’t know how far that is, maybe from here down to Washington Boulevard, further than that, a mile. That’s how much it increased during the spring. Not only is it increasing now, we’re not only talking about the size, but come on, folks, the velocity of the water. Now, the current is not some nice little, tiny little, soft, you know, pleasant river. No! This thing is a rushing, gushing torrent of rain and water. We see on the news, our hearts go out to these people that are getting all this flooding. Even down there in Atlanta and all these southern eastern states, they are having delusions because they’re getting in two days what they would get in a whole month as far as rain goes. And the ground is now saturated and the rivers are full. And when these flash floods come up, they come up so fast that people don’t have any time or any warning. And we see them hanging up in trees, hoping a helicopter will come and rescue them. And the sad cases are the ones that they’re in their cars and the cars take them somewhere and they try to get out and the river just takes them and they can’t and they’re gone. This is the type of thing that was happening here. I don’t want you to think that they came to some nice little river that’s up to your waist and anybody could wade over if they don’t mind getting their feet wet. I want you to know that this was a frightening thing. That’s why God said, don’t be dismayed when you get there. Do not be overwhelmed with fear. And sometimes things happen into your life that it will overwhelm you. You feel like you’re hanging on to a tree and the water’s getting higher and higher. And you’re hoping someone will save you. Amen. I hope you were encouraged by today’s motivating message, Follow the Ark. Joshua was a fearless fighter and leader in the troops of Israel, serving faithfully under Moses. But when Moses died, the mantle of leadership fell upon him. Now Moses had led them through the Red Sea. What a spectacular event, eternally etched in the minds of the Israelites. But now it was time to leave the 40-year trek in the wilderness and enter into the promised land. But first, they must cross the Jordan River. By comparison, the Jordan River was nothing like the Red Sea. But while God miraculously divided the Red Sea and they crossed over on dry ground, he instructed Joshua to send them through the waters of the Jordan. And at springtime, it was a raging torrent as the melted snow from the northern mountains overflowed its banks. You see, every generation must have its own Red Sea experience. And these Israelites were born in the wilderness and had not experienced the Red Sea. But God had a different plan. He told Joshua to send the priests bearing the Ark of the Covenant on their shoulders into the raging waters. And he told the people, follow the Ark, follow the presence of God. They had to step out in faith. God said, as soon as the soles of your feet rest in the waters, the Jordan will roll back. So if you’re facing a Jordan River experience in your life, don’t fear. Just follow the ark, the emblem of the presence of God, which contained the words of God. This message, Follow the Ark, can be ordered on CD for a love gift of at least $10 for the radio ministry. Request offer SK173, that’s SK173. Mail to Sound of Faith, P.O. Box 1744, Baltimore, Maryland, 21203. Or go online to soundoffaith at rghardy.org. where you may also order on MP3. That’s rghardy.org. But to order by mail, send a minimum love gift of $10 to P.O. Box 1744, Baltimore, Maryland, 21203. Until next time, this is Sharon Knott saying, Maranatha.