Sunday, 28th February 2021
Ps Jason Wang
1. Believe God Will Do Wonders (Joshua 3:14-17)
Two million people at the side of Jordan River, which is around 1km wide. How can Joshua and his army cross it? There must had been a lot of rumours and questions. At the time, the pillars of fire and clouds disappeared when Moses passed away, so the people followed the Ark of the Lord, but the people cannot stay too close to or too far away from the Ark, around 1km away from it. God commanded the Israelites to follow the Ark of the Lord and asked them to consecrate themselves because God will be among them.
And Joshua said to the people, “Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.” (Joshua 3:5)
Even Joshua did not know what to do, but he knew God will do amazing things the next day. We need to believe our God is Almighty, even though we don’t know what are going to happen, but He will definitely do it, as long as we keep on following Him!
2. God Uphold His Chosen Leaders (Joshua 4:15-24)
Joshua said to the priest to take the Ark of God. Again, God reaffirmed the promise for Joshua. From the day God asked them to prepare food, He didn’t speak another word, until verse 7, God spoke again. Joshua was very excited and again he declared the promise of God. However, God did not say how they were going to cross the river, He only said, “just stand” but Joshua said to the Israelites that the river will stand as a heap.
But when the priests stood in the river, nothing happened in the first hour. Finally, the river stood up and the land appeared. From calculations, they need at least three hours for all the Israelites and the priests to cross the River of Jordan. Even though God did not instruct how they will cross the river, but Joshua said it and God supported it. When God chose a leader, He will support him all the way.
How should we follow God? He is powerful, what He said will be done and what His chosen leader said will be done.
God spoke to Joshua again in verse 15. At this time the priests were standing in the river and the water was still standing up in the heap. There was a huge amount of water being held up for at least three hours, then God called the priests to cross the river. Just when the feet of the priests set on dry ground, the water returned to its place. It was a dangerous situation, but everyone was protected; God is all powerful and He can protect all of us. He has the power to do amazing things! Just to hold the water up for so many hours seem impossible, but God did it to protect and support His chosen people.
In the same way, we are safe and being taken care of. God protects us and our whole team. We may make many mistakes along the way of following God, because we have never walked this path before, but God will protect us throughout the way.
Verse 23, the Israelites were reminded that in the time of Moses, God could split the Red Sea, in the time of Joshua, God split the Jordan River. In every generation, God can still do amazing things! We might not know what to do but God does amazing things, His all-powerful hands would support us.
God is with us, even though a lot of things we don’t really understand, but God is among us and He protects us. In faith we can move forward and testify the amazing things God will do for us.
Conclusion
Rev Daniel Xi An Poon
We are safe and we are protected. During this time of 21-Day Fast and Pray, there are a lot of uncertain things, but though today’s message, we know that the almighty God is protecting us and our family. We must believe that it’s not what we can do but what our God can do for us. It’s time for us to stand in the gap, this is a wake-up call from God, this time the new cases are in Papatoetoe, where our church is. God wants us to intercede for this land, to pray and to repent. Ask God to forgive the sins of this land and to bring healing from Heaven to Earth.
Prayer & Respond
Lord, we come before You, humble ourselves and repent for all the things we have done against You and against our neighbours. We did not control our mouths, we accused others, spoke gossips about others, we complained… but Lord, this morning we repent, we were wrong, we relied on people and this world to try to solve our problems, we did not think we need You. But this morning Lord, we need You to protect us! We need You in our health, our safety, our relationship, our marriage, our family, our job, our ministry, and everything in our lives. We invite You to come in our lives to rule and reign. By faith we return to You, touch our hearts oh Lord, so our lives will change, our fait will change and our relationship with You will change.
Lord, we hunger to align with You. We need this miracle! Thank You Lord, bless us during this period of lockdown, may Your peace be with us!