It's time to Cross Your Jordan

​Do you have circumstances in your way that keep you from moving forward or getting ahead in the Lord?  This message from Joshua chapter three mirrors the parable of Matthew 21:21. The power of Jesus helps us to move mountains and overcome any obstacles in life, and Matthew 11:28 – 30 shows how these are overcome with the power of Jesus, and not by our own power either.  So many times we forget that we have him in our heart and his power working through us.
Join me in this message from the book of Joshua. We will study from chapter 3:4 & 3:14 -17.  But we are going to start in vs 14 then I am going to go back to verse 3:4 and at the end of this message I’ll explain why.
This is about having faith in Jesus so you can cross over your Jordan.  I started in verse 14 on purpose.  This beginning verse is very important.

Joshua 3:14
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; 
I want you to notice the bold and underlined statement here and read it again. This is telling us to pack your stuff, we’re getting out of our comfort zone, we are moving on.  This meant no more stop signs or walking into dead ends with problems.  You see, if you keep camping in the same spot too long you will never get passed your problems. 
You have to get yourself up and start finding a way out of that situation. You have to face your problems and push through.  It’s like this, if you lose something, are you going to keep looking until you find it?  I know - how do we push through?  This is very important.  If Jesus is King of Kings, Lord of Lords, and is our High Priest, this makes him the one carrying the ark for us.  That is why I colored the word priests from the first verse I have given you. 
Look at the rest of that verse and start going into the next verse after that.

Joshua 3:15
And as they that bare the ark were come unto Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brim of the water, for Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest
Notice the bold and underlined words here.  This says to me, we are carrying the ark spiritually if Jesus is in our hearts and he is representing the ark he is before us to clear our path.  That makes us priest with him in our situations.  This means we can put our feet in the brim of the water and he will begin to show us how to cross over our Jordan. 
Why did we need to understand this?  Finish the verse out.  The Jordan was out of its bank, it was like a flood that had come through.  When we see flooding rivers, they are moving very fast.  This usually causes an alarm to not cross that river. It is going to take you down and has a strong possibility of taking you out.
This is where we come to our stop signs or dead end places. The truth is we need to finish what needs to be done for our lives to receive the promises of God.  The next verse will show how having Jesus in our heart and going before us gives us the power to conquer, to overcome, and be victorious in getting our promises of God.

Joshua 3:16 
That the waters which came down from above stood and rose up upon an heap very far from the city Adam, 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. 
The same thing here happened with Moses and the people crossing the Red Sea.  This means the Lord will clear a path for us. What I want you to see is that the Jordan is the same as the mountain in Matthew 21:21.  You notice in that verse he said be thou removed and cast down.  When we trust Jesus he begins to remove our problems and by casting down, we are actually putting his foot down on our problems.
Finally, our last verse is here.  Now we can cross our Jordan. This verse really excites me.

Joshua 3:17
And the priests that bare 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.
Yes, the bold and underlined words again.  Here’s where we see the parallels of Matthew 11:28 -30.  Jesus said that basically his way is light and his path is easy.  When we hand the problem over to Jesus he makes the problem become light so we can get through.  We could have taken the path on ourselves and tried everything to make it across our Jordan’s and it would have been the difficult way.  Our way usually wears us down.  We would have been tired, weak, probably given up and brought our selves down to where the enemy could finish us off.  That is why our yoke is always heavy and His is light. 
The ground had to be dry to be easy; if the ground would have still been wet it would have been much harder to cross.  Think about when you step into something really muddy; you begin to sink and start slipping.  That would have made it hard which is something we probably would have done.  Think about crossing over that muddy ground with a real true heavy yoke around our neck. This would have made it harder than just walking on the wet muddy ground on its own.  What gets me excited is that when we depend on him, it becomes so easy and we no longer have to work so hard at fixing our problems.  He will show you and guide you through your problems if you stop and listen to him.
 
This is the reason I saved Joshua 3:4 for the last.  Here’s what it says in Joshua 3:4 
Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure: come not near unto it, that ye may know the way by which ye must go: for ye have not passed this way heretofore.
 
Why do I think this is important?  Sometimes we try to walk too fast and not listen.  We find ourselves getting ahead of God.  This means we give ourselves no time for him to prepare the way.  This is like going so fast and touching the Ark of the Covenant ourselves, which in the OT meant death.  We got foolish and did it our way.  So let’s take time to hear from him through his word to show us the way.

In His Service
​Jason

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