Follow the Ark: Crossing Into The Promised Land

SPEAKER 01 : 0:05

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. 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. And so this is exactly what was happening to them. And gravity was going against them. Amen? But I want you to tell you that they had to obey God. God was not going to open up the Jordan River until they obeyed him. He demanded faith. He demanded action. Amen. Let me tell you something. Even the presence of the living God does not move on its own. It had to be carried by the Levites. And God’s presence is not just going to move on its own. We’ve got to open up our hearts and let the Spirit of God move us and carry us. God’s spirit is not stagnant. It’s not just going to the window open up and it fall on us. We’ve got to be moving. We’ve got to be going with God. We’ve got to be acting on the word. We’ve got to rise up. We’ve got to step out. We’ve got to put our foot in the water. Amen? They had to obey. It wasn’t until all of the priests were in the middle of that river, and then when they were firmly there, God rolled back the water and rolled it back to the city of Adam. And what I could find in looking in my research, and there’s not a whole lot about the city of Adam, but the best that I could find is it was about 20 to 30 miles away. I want you to understand something. He rolled it north. Against gravity. Amen? God rolled the water back. We’re talking about it steadily going down to the lowest point on earth, to the Dead Sea, and God rolled it back 20 to 30 miles. Because he had 2 to 3 million people he had to get over. And how long do you think that those Levites could stand there? Because they couldn’t leave and they couldn’t move and they couldn’t go anywhere until the last person, the last donkey, the last sheep, the last house cat, had crossed over they had to stand there holding that ark the whole time and the people had to pass by it you understand what that means now we remember now it was wide a big entrance but they had to pass by and here was the ark in the middle and when those people passed by they couldn’t get too close we saw how many cubits they had to go you know Couldn’t get too close. Oh, my God. But he was saying, I said I would go with you. I said I would be with you. I told you don’t be afraid. I will be with you. And as long as they saw those priests standing there, it was saying, the Lord God, I am with you. Amen. Go forward. Follow the ark. Follow the presence of God. Amen? Let’s look at chapter 4 and just look at verse 10. For the priest which bared the ark stood in the midst of the Jordan until everything was finished that the Lord commanded Joshua to speak unto the people according to all that Moses commanded Joshua. And the people hasted and passed over. Verse 18. And it came to pass when the priests that bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord were come up out of the midst of Jordan and the soles of the priest’s feet were lifted up under the dry land that the waters of Jordan returned unto their place and flowed over all his banks as they did before. God gave this generation their own supernatural Red Sea experience. They had to know when they walked into that land they were going to be facing giants and and opposition, and a lot of frightening things, amen? But just, they would have this great, awesome entrance and miracle that sometimes when maybe their faith was lagging or they were discouraged, they were afraid, they could remember. And I don’t have time to go into it, but God, he actually chose 12 men, one from each tribe, and he made them go back in the water and pick up a big rock. And he made them pile that rock up 12 rocks high to like a monument. And so why? So that people could say, because obviously they know that nature didn’t do that. Someone did it. And when they would say, why are those 12 rocks up in that big column or statue? Why? They would say, oh, let me tell you about the day. that God rolled back the Jordan River and brought the children of Israel over on dry land. Let me tell you about the day when God said, I will show myself amongst you and my presence will go before you. Amen? So when they had grandchildren and they had their children, that they could bring them to that place and say, this is where we came over. Amen? There’s a place up in New York in the harbor. It’s called Ellis Island. and literally hundreds and hundreds of thousands of immigrants poured through its gates in the early 1900s of this nation from all around the world from ireland and and all over europe and and and even eastern europe they came through those gates Amen? And they entered into America, and they saw that Statue of Liberty that says, come, give me your poor, give me your disenfranchised, give me your ones that have hopelessness, basically. I don’t remember the poem by heart, it’s beautiful. But he said, bring them here. Because I lift my golden lamp before the open door. You’re welcome here. You’re welcome here. Come on in. Amen. And this is what God is saying. He told them, build that monument so that they will know that I, the Lord thy God, I am he that brought thee over. I brought you out of the wilderness. I kept you in the wilderness, but I brought you out of the wilderness. You’re not going to be in the wilderness forever. God is going to bring you out. Amen. Amen. but you’ve got to know that you’re going to have to rise up. You’re going to have to believe God and rise up. Some people are waiting on God and he’s waiting on them. God says, you’ve never passed this way before. But that’s all right. Keep your eyes on me. Keep your eyes on my word, and I will bring you through. Turn to Isaiah, the 43rd chapter, one of my favorite verses. This has helped me through many, and many, and many a hard place. And I think it dovetails nicely with this, what we have read about the children of Israel coming through the Jordan, 43 and 1. But now, thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, fear not. For I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name. and thou art mine. The devil is a liar. I said the devil is a liar. God knows every person here. He knows you. He knew you when you were in your mother’s womb. He knew you before that. He knew you from the foundation of the world. And He chose you then. And you know when you were in your father’s loins, He selected you. And then when you were in your mother’s womb, He separated you. And then now that you have answered His call, He said, I have redeemed you and you are mine. He knows every hair on your head. Amen? He knows everything about you. He’s called you by name. The devil is a liar. People are born into this world in different circumstances. Some come into families that they’re planned to come in. Some come in they weren’t planned to come in. Some come into rich people’s houses. Some come into poor. There’s some that they don’t know who their parents are. They know probably who their mom is, but they may not know who their father is. God says, don’t worry about all that. You’re mine. You’re mine. You belong to me. You’re my child. You’re my daughter. You’re my son. I know you and I’ve chosen you and I have redeemed you. Verse 2, when thou passest through the waters, notice he said through, when thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee. And through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the fire. Ever been there? Thou shall not be burned. Neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. Verse 4. Since thou was precious in my sight. Oh my goodness. Precious in my sight. Thou has been honorable and I have loved thee. Therefore I will give men for thee and people for thy life. Now God’s speaking here to the nation of Israel. But let’s make this personal to us. He said, because I have loved thee, I have given my only begotten son to pay the ransom for you and for me. He said that that’s the ransom, amen? Because every sinner has to be redeemed. Every sinner’s got to be redeemed. The ransom has to be paid, amen? And there was only one ransom that would suffice. How much does God love you? How much does he love you? How valuable are you to God? He said, you’re precious. I tell you how valuable you are. A thing we put the price or the value of something of what someone is willing to pay for it. Some painting by Van Gogh might go for a million dollars. Actually, if you gave it to me, I wouldn’t hang it in my house. I have no interest in Van Gogh paintings. He was kind of a lunatic in a way. And his paintings look like a lunatic painted them. Honestly. I think he has one where he had his ear cut off or something, some bizarre thing. The man had mental problems. It showed up, hey. But there are some people that they would willingly pay a million dollars for that piece of art. Let me tell you something. The value of something is what a person is willing to pay for it. And I tell you the value that God was willing to pay for you and to pay for me was the blood, the precious blood of his only begotten son. That’s how valuable, that’s how precious you are to God. The devil is a liar. And he didn’t do it because we were so good and righteous, but God commended his love toward us that while we were yet sinners. Christ died for us. For a good man, maybe somebody will die. For a righteous man, peradventure, someone would lay down his life. But he loved us while we were yet in our sins. That’s how valuable we are to him. Amen? And one last verse, Psalm 18 and 16. He sent from above. He took me. He drew me out of many waters. He delivered me from my strong enemy and from them which hated me, for they were too strong for me. They prevented me in the day of my calamity, or they went before me. But the Lord was my stay. Verse 19. He brought me forth also into a large place. He delivered me. Because he delighted in me. God delights in his people. And just like he brought them out of wilderness and he took them through the Jordan and he brought them into a large place, into that land flowing with milk and honey, and he said, it’s yours, I’ve given it to you, but you’ve got to go put your foot on it. And you’re going to have to drive the giants out. God could have just did this and killed all the giants and let them just go in and take over. But he didn’t do that. He said, you’ve got to drive them out. Amen? And we’re going to face giants in our life. We’re going to face things in our life that’s going to hit us that we don’t understand. And we may say it’s not fair. I read something the other day that really made an impact on me. In Hebrew, the people that speak Hebrew in Israel, they say a saying, zelofar. Z-E-H, low L-O, fair, just like our English, F-A-I-R, zelofair. What does it mean? It means it isn’t fair. It’s not fair. How many times do we hear it’s not fair? Now, why did they use Hebrew for the first two words, it is not, and they used English for fair? Why don’t they just say the whole thing in Hebrew? You know why? Because there’s no such word, no such concept, no such idea in Hebrew as it’s not fair. There’s no such thought in Hebrew. And when you realize that the Word of God is saying to us, what does that mean? Because, of course, these people were the people of the Bible, the people of the book. There’s no such thing as it’s not fair. We’re in this world, and we will have tribulation. And we’re going to have things happen to us. It’s not a matter whether it’s fair or not. It’s what it is. Amen? It’s what it is. We live in a fallen world and bad things happen. And things come against us. And we don’t like it and we don’t understand it. But I’m telling you that God will not leave you in the lurch. He will not let you drown. He will not let you burn. He will not let your enemy rejoice over you. And next is Psalm 18 and 16, where it says, He sent from above and He drew me out of many waters. I have written in my Bible, my main Bible at home, I have written 06, 08, 04, so that I can never forget 06, 08, 04. What does that mean to me? because I had one of the most dramatic dreams I’ve ever had. And it was during a time when I was in my, one of my really tough attacks that the enemy was taking. You know, I have been on, I’ve been this journey that I first injured my back 20 years ago, coming up on 21 years actually, 21 years soon. And I had times when I did good, and then I had times when I had severe setbacks. And there have been a couple years that have been really grueling. And this was one of those times when I was really… And you know, when you have chronic pain and chronic sickness and chronic weakness, it begins to grind on you and wear your body down. And when your body gets worn down, then your soul starts getting worn down. And if that goes on, then your spirit gets worn down. We are spirit, soul, and body. That’s why it is extremely important if you’re going through chronic illness, chronic pain, you’ve got to keep your spirit strong. Because he said, I would that you be in health and prosper as your soul does prosper. In order for your soul, your emotions to prosper, your spirit’s got to prosper. Because if your spirit is strong, even though you’re going through a horrible, terrible place, your spirit will preach to your soul. And preach to your soul. And preach to your soul. And when your soul starts looking up and getting positive, your body starts reacting. And it starts feeling better and stronger. And you don’t feel as much pain. But if you’re in pain and you focus on the pain and lay there and focus on it, I tell you the pain will get much worse. I’ve been in places where I have felt waves of pain just sweep over me. And with every wave, it just got worse. And I mean, it’s terrible when you’re in a place like that. And I was in a place like that, and the Lord gave me this dream. And in my dream, I was outside in, I don’t know whose house it was. It wasn’t mine, or I didn’t recognize it. That’s beside the point. But I was in this place. big above-ground pool in the back of a house. It was a round pool. And I was in the pool, and it had one of those canopies that you can put up. And I was doing my water exercises, because I’ve told you before that I, through the years, I’ve gone for water therapy, because it’s very helpful. And so in the dream, I was doing all my water exercises in this pool. And it was a very beautiful day. And all of a sudden, it began to rain just real lightly, just a little lightly. And I thought to myself, I’m almost done, my little routine, my little protocol. I can hurry up and finish this up before the rain really starts. But boom, just like somebody hit a switch, it began to just, torrents of water began to come down. And very quickly, that canopy just filled up with water. And it was like an inverted umbrella. And it was filled with water. And I looked up and saw it was really sagging and sagging. And I thought, oh my goodness. And I was trying to hurry up and get away from it and get off the side of the pool to get out of it. And it gave way. And when it gave way, it just smacked me down face first into the pool, and it just continued to hit my back. I’m face down in the water, and the water’s hitting my back. The more I tried to raise myself up, the water’s just hitting me in the back and pushing me down. I had my eyes open. I’m looking down. I’m seeing the bottom of the pool, and I’m completely underwater. And it’s coming down, and I thought, you know, I’m going to die. I mean, obviously I’m going to die. I can’t get myself up. I can’t get out. I can’t breathe. But I felt peaceful about it. I thought, you know, okay, I didn’t think I’d die like this, but I guess I’m going to die. And I was like, okay, I’m ready for whenever it happens. And about that time, when our eyes were looking, I saw come across the bottom of that floor of that pool. It’s like the wake behind a fast-speeding boat. You see the wake behind it of the water churning up. I saw it come, I’m looking down, and it came like from behind me, came straight, and I’m like, what is that? And it came, came, came, and all of a sudden it rose up and boom! It hit me right here, right here, and when it did, it catapulted me straight up in the air. And here I am like this, and here’s this water fountain holding me up. Straight up in the air like that. It was so much power. It raised me up. And then I’m up in the air. The water went down, but I didn’t go down. I’m now soaring and floating through the air. And I tell you, it was wonderful. It felt beautiful. And I was amazed. And now the skies were pretty and sunny and I’m just floating along thinking, wow, this is really something. And then I’m flying towards the house now. And I’m getting up to the house and I’m like, oh, I just went straight through the wall. And, you know, I was fine. And inside the house, I’m going through the house. It’s a big house. And I go through the walls inside the house until I’m in a bedroom. And I’m up here, and here’s the bed. And all of a sudden, whatever it was, the Spirit of God dropped me, just dropped me, and I was like a feather. I just gently, gently fell down and gently hit the bed. And I was amazed. I sat up in that bed and I thought, oh my goodness, I’ve got to tell somebody what happened. I’ve got to tell somebody what happened. And I got up and I’m going down the hall and here’s all these rooms. And every room I’m looking in, they’re empty. Nobody there. Nobody there. I’m looking and I’m thinking, oh, I’ve got to tell somebody. They’ll never believe it. I’ve got to tell them. Finally, I came to a room and there was a woman lying on the bed crying. And she was lying flat like this, and her arms were outstretched, and she was looking up at the ceiling. Now her legs and feet were on the ground because she was sitting on the edge of the bed, but she had laid back. And she was crying and crying so hard. And I thought, oh, my goodness. And I went over to tell her, it’s all right, don’t cry. And when I looked at her, it was me. It was me. And I said, oh, my goodness. I said, don’t cry. It’s going to be all right. It’s going to be all right. Don’t cry. And she sat up. I sat up. It’s me looking at me. And she sat up, and she’s looking at me. And I go on to tell her what had just happened, how that I had been miraculously delivered, and, you know, I didn’t drown, and how that, you know, the Spirit of God. And I was trying to encourage her, and I was really trying to preach to me. i was preaching to me and i was trying so hard to convince me and i’m sitting there like trying like but you don’t know what i’m going through but you don’t know how i feel but you don’t know what’s happening you just don’t know and i’m like yes i do know i’m trying to tell you i do know it’s going to be all right it’s going to be all right and i woke up And I thought, my God, here I am. I’m under all of this. My body is under all of this suffering and pain. My soul is under so much angst and anxiety. I’m so, everything’s happening to me. But somewhere in me, the spirit of God lives. That part of Sharon that in a deep calls unto deep, that part of me that believes was saying, it’s going to be all right. I know it doesn’t look like it right now, but it’s going to be all right. And you know what? It got all right. It is all right. Amen. And you’ve got to tell yourself. You’ve got to preach to yourself. God is speaking to you this morning. I don’t care how bad it looks, how you feel. You’ve got to tell yourself it’s going to be all right. It’s going to be all right. Amen. My God said, though you pass through the water, I’ll be with you. And through the river, it won’t overflow you. And though you go through the fiery trial of faith. the flame is not going to burn you. Amen. And my God is no respecter of persons. He doesn’t do for Sharon what he won’t do for you. Amen. He’ll do it for you and for you and for you. And every time I have a place where the enemy attacks me and I think, oh my, here we go in this bad place again. And I don’t want to go there, but I make up my mind I’m not going to stay there. I’m not going to let my faith go down to the floor where it’s so hard to pull it back up again. I’m going to meditate on the Word of God. I’m not going to let it go out of my mouth. I’m going to rise up. I’m not going to mourn and have a pity party and cry and say, woe is me. I’m going to trust in my God and know that it’s going to be all right. And young people, this generation, you’ve got to have your own Red Sea experience. You’ve got to have your own Jordan River experience. God wants to prove to you. You know that wonderful, wonderful song that God inspired Andre Crafts to write. If I never had a problem, how would I know that God could solve them? You can’t go by what God did for mama and daddy all your life. You’ve got to know him for yourself. And you’re not going to know what a mighty God he is until he puts your feet in the Jordan River. And there you’re standing there, you’re scared to death, but all of a sudden it rolls back. It rolls back! It rolls back! What you got to do is keep your eyes on the ark. Keep your eyes on God. Keep your eyes on the presence of God and move when God says move and stand when God says stand. Because he told them, priest, you got to stand until the last person’s on the other side. Amen. God wants to deliver today. And if you have got your back up against the wall, what are you going to do? There’s no escape. How are you going to get out? David said, by my God, I leaped over the wall. I ran through the troop. By my God. Your God will deliver you. Amen? So if you’re somebody who’s really in a tight spot of any kind, I want you to come up and stand across the front. We’re going to agree in prayer. I mean, if you’re in… You know, we all have trials and tribulations all the time, but I’m talking about you’re in a Jordan River spot. You’re in a Red Sea spot. You’re in a like my dream kind of spot. Amen? The saints are going to agree. Because remember that little scripture I read to you out of Isaiah 41, 6? And the brothers said one to another, be encouraged. Be encouraged. Amen? Amen. 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.