First, Take Off Your Sandals | David Lindell

[Music] i want to spend just a few moments in our time together tonight looking back at a portion of what we listened to my dad preach on sunday wasn't that a fantastic i mean over the top such a word for for us as a church such a timely word and uh you know just i i was i was honestly just blown away uh by his strength and uh excited to hear him preach on sunday again as we continue in the new normal series but looking at the life of joshua learning lessons that are positioning every single one of us not to simply visit the land of god's blessing but to live there to live there i don't want to i don't know about you but i don't want to just visit i don't want to brush up against god's blessing i want to live in the flow of all that he has for me you want to live in the flow of all that he has for you and so that's what we're learning in this series and and on sunday we looked at this conversation as they're standing at the precipice of this battle with the city of jericho this garrison city that stands on the border of the promised land and joshua is looking at it and sizing it up and it's a massive massive undertaking that is really an impossibility for the israelites on their own and he has this conversation with this with this person who is identified as the commander of the lord's army and as i was thinking about what we looked at on sunday i just i just couldn't get away from this conversation the beginning of this conversation between joshua and the commander of the lord's army and here's what i love about god's word god's word is so rich and god's word is so deep that it's like if you were standing near a well and you took a pebble and you threw it into the well you would never hear it hit the bottom because that and the writer of scripture says how unsearchable are your riches you can't you know what who has known the mind of the lord who has been his counselor there is no end to the wisdom of god and he because he's good and he loves you has put his wisdom into a book namely the bible and so anytime we come to a passage there's always more it's like you've got a diamond and you hold it up to the sun and as you turn that stone against the light of the sun every angle refracts different parts of the stone's beauty and so i want to take that stone that is joshua chapter 5 and verse 15 and i want to hold it up to the light to the illumination of the holy spirit and see a little bit more of the riches in it and so joshua chapter 5 joshua's having this conversation with the commander of the army of the lord and in the middle of this conversation joshua fell down and worshiped and as he falls down he asks a question and joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him what does my lord say to his servant and i want to zero in on the response that we get from the commander of the lord's armies that we saw on sunday is the pre-incarnate christ this is joshua having a conversation with the pre-incarnate jesus jesus and joshua having a conversation and he it's the response to joshua in verse 15 that now i want to turn to verse 15. and the commander of the lord's army said to joshua take off your sandals from your feet for the place where you are standing is holy and joshua did so just a few verses earlier joshua has a has a question and he says are you for us or are you for our enemies are you for us are you for them and there's this really mysterious enigmatic answer that's given by the commander of the armies of the lord aka the pre-incarnate christ jesus and it's mysterious but essentially we get the drift that he's definitely not against them but that's also not his primary concern he's definitely for them but you could wonder why he doesn't just come out and say it as you recall he joshua says are you for us are you for them and he says no and the reason he says no if you're wondering okay why doesn't he just come out and answer the question i believe it's in part because he wants joshua to learn a bigger lesson we saw part of this on sunday but the lessons that he wants joshua to learn here are to be able to recognize when god's presence is present that's the first lesson we're going to see this and not only to recognize god's presence but also when to trust him how to trust him so there are two questions we really need to answer as we look at this verse the first is this how do you recognize god's presence how do you recognize god's presence and before we answer that question directly there's a sub question we need to answer and namely where else have we seen what we see when joshua hears from the commander of the lord's armies take off your sandals for the place where you're standing is holy there's one other place somebody said it somebody online i believe like 10 people online are saying it only three people here at the south campus said it but online you guys got it like in texas boom um moses this is said to moses he's standing in front of the burning bush in exodus chapter 3 in verse 5 and out of the burning bush the lord speaks and he says take off your sandals for the place where you're standing is holy it's holy this question only shows up in this particular form other people in scripture are told to take off their sandals but not like this take off your sandals for the place where you're standing is holy and joshua he he knew that here's the thing joshua knew that moses walked with god the people of israel knew that moses walked with god that was very clear to them moses radiated for parts of his tenure as israel's leader he his face glowed so much of the glory of god that they had to put a veil over his face he was scaring people with how close he walked with god there was a power on his life the presence of the lord was on his life he walked with god as a man walks with his friend moses had this proximity in his relationship to god and even though the israelites had seen god do great things even though joshua had seen god go before them i mean they just walk through the jordan on dry land because god parted the waters it seems their lingering thought as they enter the promised land is but moses isn't here we don't have moses i think joshua's even thinking that i mean moses moses is the guy moses is his face radiates his they're just there's this power to him there's this power to his life the presence of the lord is on his life moses isn't here they associated the presence of god with a person they associated you know and on the one hand that's a wonderful thing isn't it when when you know a person and they've got this close walk with the lord and you think of them and you think wow there's just a presence of the lord on their life there's a presence of the lord on that ministry there's a presence of the lord on their teaching or whatever you that's a that's a wonderful thing praise god for moses praise god for his life praise god for his leadership but that association can also be detrimental how so well we can all fall prey to associating the presence of god so strongly with a particular thing that then we equate so when we're answering the question how do you know when you're in the presence of god or how do you recognize god's presence because we associate the presence of god with a song oh when they sing that song that's just a man that's so good like that song like that's how god's presence really showed up but if they hadn't sing the song you wouldn't be so sure or it's you know it's that worship leader when they women when they there's just and there you associate them and it's a good thing on the one hand praise god there's a power to their leadership and there's a grace of the lord on their leadership that's wonderful but if we're not careful we can begin associating the presence of god singularly or predominantly with a thing or with a person that song this routine that teaching or that teacher or that leader we associate it with a style even that style i just really sense the presence of god not so much over here but really you know that is really where it's at so we're not careful we build a we build this kind of philosophy spiritually speaking where we can be drawn and we feel like we're we can we can really get into the presence of god if that thing is present and honestly israel and joshua had this same thing going on with moses that because moses was gone now joshua is sitting and he's staring down jericho and he's thinking but moses isn't here god i know that you've said you're going to take us into the promised land i know you've said there are great things in front of us but moses isn't here we don't have the leader that we used to have and god wants joshua to move beyond recognizing his presence simply by association he can i just tell you let's stop he doesn't want joshua just to do that he wants all of us to do that that we would move beyond recognizing god's presence merely by association and begin to recognize it through relationship with him that it's the proximity with which you walk with him it's the intimacy of your walk with god that is what makes you sensitive in any moment any setting any style any song to god's presence he wants to sensitize joshua to his presence god wants joshua to recognize his presence through relationship with him and this continues into the new testament by the way what does james say in james chapter 4 verse 8 he says draw near to god in other words proximity intimacy draw near to god and he will draw near to you the key is relationship the key is getting close to him the key is a hunger to be near him draw near to god and he will draw near to you so now second aspect of this whole verse that's so interesting why is this place called holy so joshua is standing uh he's he's standing he's looking perhaps at jericho or he sees it off in the distance or he's even he's looking at that direct in that direction and the angel of the army of the lord the pre-incarnate christ shows up and says take off your sandals because the place you're standing is holy why is this place holy the reason this place is holy is this is the place where god is meeting him wherever god meets you wherever whatever season whatever time of day whatever moment wherever he meets you he can turn any place into the place he can meet you he can create a holy moment on ground that you didn't think was holy at all why because he's there and he's holy he says take off your sandals the place where you're standing is holy because he is meeting joshua in a moment he's meeting joshua in a place when joshua was thinking about moses and what moses did god shows up and says joshua stop looking at that person and stop looking for that thing and start looking for me recognize my presence by recognizing me recognize my presence by making me your focus that's what we all have to do how we recognize god's presence is through relationship and intimacy with him second question though that we're led to in this passage is how are we ready or how ready are you to trust god because this is all bound up together it's not simply that god is teaching joshua a lesson about sensitivity to his presence although that's an important lesson this is bound up with joshua's concern and anxiety about the battle in front of them joshua is staring out of the horizon and he's thinking about jericho and we know he's thinking about it because when the angel of the com the commander of the armies of the lord shows up joshua's question is are you for us are you for them that's a guy who's thinking about the battle he's thinking about allegiances he's thinking about sides he's thinking about the fight he's thinking about jericho he's thinking about the heights of the walls he's thinking about the size of their army he's thinking about the battle but that shouldn't have been the issue why it shouldn't have been the issue because of what god had already established joshua chapter 1 verse 5 no man this is god speaking to joshua no man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life how comprehensive is that promise joshua this isn't just for the conquest this is for every moment of every day for the rest of your life no man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life just as i was with moses so i will be with you i will not leave you or forsake you see that joshua's asking a question that he's already been told the answer to i think in our spiritual lives in our walks with god too often when we're facing jericho when we're facing an impossibility we end up asking god questions that we already know the answer to god where are you i'm right here god will you help me yes i will god why don't i feel your presence i'm next to you like i'm i i already answered that question it reminds me of my four-year-old becky loves questions um calvin is sweet sweet sweet but when we're gonna go on a trip we just recently got to go to to disney it was super fun i was speaking down in florida and so it was kind of like a great opportunity for us to just load them up and go with us and we stayed and we went to disney world and we told all three of the older kids but we didn't tell calvin you know why because he has no concept of time [Music] and so it was a week away but that week could turn into an eternity of a four-year-old nose that's just what happens so if you told him we're going to disney world what would he say right now no not right now buddy tonight no not tonight neck day neck day not neck day neck day so every so you just don't tell him you try to quietly package things you save it till the last possible moment because he's going to ask you questions you've already told them the answer to and as i was reading this passage it occurred to me that often in our walk with god we're a lot like calvin that we keep coming back to god and we're asking him questions he's already told us the answer to he's already established that he's with you he's are you for us are you for them oh i'm for you i love you god i just don't i feel like you've abandoned me i will never leave you and i will never forsake you he's already told you he's already told you his first question wasn't the question it's a question a lot of times that we ask but it's his second question that should have been the question his second question was in verse 14 and joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him what does my lord say to his servant [Music] what does my lord say to his servant notice where that question where the right question surfaces joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped where does the question surface where all of a sudden does all of you know anxiety is pushed the unnecessary question to the forefront and that's what anxiety does it causes when we get wrapped up when we get given to worry when we give in to fretting when we give into concern we end up asking questions we already know the answer to [Music] but when joshua stops and falls on his face before the lord and begins to worship all the sudden his question changes all of a sudden his thinking the way he's looking at the problem the way he's looking at what's in front of him is totally reoriented some of you right now tonight some of you watching online you're finding it hard to trust [Music] you're finding it very hard to trust god in the season that you're in you're finding it very very difficult to trust god with the challenge that you're facing you're finding it hard to trust god and you're overwhelmed by your worries and what has to happen is that you have to stop and you have to remember what god has already said what is god what promises has he already given you what do you already know from this book what has he already said because what he's already said will guide you to the question that you really need to be asking what has he already said and he recognized it recognizes it in god's presence as he gets his focus off of his situation and he gets his focus on his god he gets his focus off the horizon off what not only he doesn't know but he can't know god says you don't need joshua you don't need to know the future because you know me and i already told you it's in the future i'm gonna be with you james river he's already told you what's in your future him he's out in front of you he's going before you he's helping you it doesn't matter it doesn't matter what's on the horizon if he told you it would scare you worse than not knowing so what has he told you i will never leave you and i will never forsake you how you trust how you trust as you get in his presence you get your eyes off your situation you get your eyes off the problem you get your eyes off yourself you get your eyes on him that's what gets you ready to trust there are some bible scholars that i read as i was looking at commentaries prepping for tonight and there are a variety of there are great wonderful great commentators and scholars but there are some who have written commentaries and i i don't know if we're reading a different bible i'm not sure um but their comment was it seems like part of this chapter was lost i don't think god lost any of his word i just don't think that happened but it seems like part of this chapter was lost because it ends so abruptly it ends so abruptly it's just like joshua fell on his face and says you know what does your servant want and he says what is your certain want he falls on his face takes the sandals off pulls on his face and that's it it's in the end of the chapter that can't be it oh i think that can be it i think if that's the lesson that christ shows up to teach him and he gets it that's it that's the end of the chapter here's the thing there are some of you and you're walking through a challenge and god is saying look to me focus on me worship me get in my presence and you're saying that's it and he's saying that's it that's it because that's where peace is found and that's where strength is found and that's where wholeness is found and that's where your anxieties are calm and that's where i'm gonna do a work in you that's gonna take you where i want you to go that's where it's found that's it that's it and here's what i love about the way the chapter ends the very last phrase very last phrase verse 15. it says take off your sandals from your feet for the place where you are standing is holy and joshua did so [Music] here's the thing jesus shows up [Music] the commander of the armies of the lord shows up and he says joshua get on your knees before me i know it's i know jericho's in front of you i know you don't know what to do but here's the prescription for your problem my presence and your response your posture in my presence if you'll take on this posture in my presence i'll take care of the jericho i've got the jericho joshua your responsibility is to seek me but joshua still has a choice joshua has a choice he says what do you want me to do god says seek me i think some of us have gotten that far some of us have gotten god what do you want me to do god says take off your sandals the place for your standing is holy i want to meet you right where you are the question is will you do what joshua did in your living room will you do what joshua did because god wants to meet with you but what does james say draw near to god and he will draw near to you right now across this room there are some of you who are facing an impossible situation there are some of you who are facing a jericho there are some of you who do you just don't know what to do or you've not known what to do for a long time and can i just tell you that god's word i believe this is god's word to you in the same way it was to joshua take off your sandals for the place where you're standing is holy i want to meet you right where you are right where you are today i really want to encourage you right now to order new normal on amazon or wherever books are sold you can pick up one for yourself a friend or a family member because god wants you to live in a land that's full of his promise and possibility and we believe this book will help you on your journey to a new normal we also have an amazing study guide available on amazon so you can go through the book with a small group your spouse or even friends at a coffee shop so you can get the most out of this amazing resource as you go throughout your day this is our prayer for you may the lord bless you and protect you may he smile on you and be gracious to you may he show you his favor and give you his peace god bless

Channel: James River Church

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Id: VEA1Ud8-EMk

Length: 26min 58sec (1618 seconds)

Published: Thu May 27 2021