Taking the Limits Off God, Lesson 3: From Frustration to Occupation

Have you ever felt frustrated? Have you ever been working toward something, only to have things not work out? Joshua Chapter 3 is about resolving frustration. In this chapter we read about a nation who numbered about 2 and a 1/2 million people – they have been frustrated for the last 40 years. For 40 years they have been wandering around in the wilderness. For 40 years they have been homeless – sleeping in tents. These people know if they can just get across the Jordan River, they can reach their Promised Land. But there was a BIG OBSTACLE. The problem was the swollen Jordan River. Normally the Jordan River was easy to cross. But it was the Spring of the year, and the Spring rains and the melting snow from Mount Hermon had created Flood Conditions. If anyone knew failure, it was the Children of Israel. If anyone knew disappointment it was the Children of Israel! if anyone knew what it was to miss blessings of victory – it was the Children of Israel. 40 years earlier their forefathers had stood poised to cross into the Promised Land, but they let problems discourage them and they turned back. Yes, again and again they tempted God, And limited the Holy One of Israel. Psalms 78:41 Hope deferred makes the heart sick, But when the desire comes, it is a tree of life. Proverbs 13:12 God had a strategy to get all 2.5 million people across the flooded river. And God has a strategy to get you into your Promised Land. God has a strategy to get you from where you are to where you need to be. I have a friend who served as an Associate Pastor for over 15 years. His father was the Senior Pastor and my friend served with His dad. His dad became sick and died, and my friend was named the Senior Pastor. My friend told me that 6 months after he became the Senior Pastor, that it seemed that everyone in the congregation began finding fault with him. The board members were constantly getting on his case, and members of the congregation seemed to always be upset with him… One day he called me and said, “I’m miserable, and though I am supposed to be the leader, no one is submitting and yielding to my leadership as the Pastor. When I started serving at this church, I was submitted to the Lord Jesus Christ and acting like a Christian, and I refuse to fight with people and demand they yield to my authority. I am going to resign and see what God does for me. 3 months went by and became the pastor of a congregation that at one time had run over 500 on Sundays, but had gone down hill and were down to about 50 people on Sunday mornings. He and his family moved to the location of that congregation. He told me that within the first year their attendance doubled. Then it doubled a second time and finally doubled a 3rd time. I saw him in March and he told me he was the happiest he had ever been in his life. God knows how to get you to your Promised Land. He knows how to get you to where you need to be! Verse 1 - Then Joshua rose early in the morning; and they set out from Acacia Grove and came to the Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they crossed over. 2 So it was, after three days, that the officers went through the camp; 3 and they commanded the people, saying, “When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the priests, the Levites, bearing it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it. 4 Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure. Do not come near it, that you may know the way by which you must go, for you have not passed this way before.” Joshua 3:1-4 #1. v.3 – You Will Never Enter All That God Has For You – If You Don’t Learn To Listen To and Obey The Word of God and the Inward Voice of the Holy Spirit. A. The people had to decide, am I going to listen to what God is saying through Joshua? Or am I going to ignore what he says? If you are going to move from Frustration to Occupation, you have to listen to and obey what God says to do. “If you continue in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:31 3 and they commanded the people, saying, “When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the priests, the Levites, bearing it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it. Joshua 1:3 6 Then Joshua spoke to the priests, saying, “Take up the ark of the covenant and cross over before the people.” So they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the people. Joshua 1:6 #2. For 40 years the Nation of Israel has been following a pillar-shaped-cloud by day and a pillar-of-fire by night. In the cloud was the very Shekinah presence of God. A. When the cloud moved, the entire nation of Israel moved… When the cloud stopped – 2.5 million people stopped and camped. But now God is teaching a new lesson – He is saying: “I no longer want you to follow the cloud, because My Presence Is No Longer in the Cloud. I want you to learn to follow the Ark, because