Home > Sermons > February 23rd
Have you ever been in unfamiliar territory, uncertain of where you are or where you are headed, unsure of how to get there or even how to determine when you’ve arrived? I’ve got to be the most directionally impaired individual I have ever met. Last week my husband and I set out for the Tuttle Mall to get our son’s first pictures taken at Sears. I just assumed that he knew how to get there. After all, he always does. After we drove down the interstate for a while I asked, “Do you know how to get there?” He said, “No, but you’ve been there before, I figured you knew how to get there.” Well of course I’ve been there, it’s a mall and I’m a woman, but just because I’ve been there once doesn’t mean I know how to get back. After driving the wrong way for a while longer, we turned around and eventually found the mall but it was no thanks to me. I would have never found it on my own. But of course, I would have stopped to ask for directions, and you can be certain that we didn’t do that. We were in unfamiliar territory. Our problem was that Tony had never been this way before and worse yet he was relying on me to remember how to get somewhere that I had only been once, five years ago. And even though we had a plan, a vision for where we wanted to go, neither of us communicated our reliance on the other to get us there until after we were already lost.
In the movie Alice in Wonderland, Alice is wandering around lost in a fairy tale forest when she happens upon the Cheshire Cat. Their conversation goes like this: “Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?” Alice inquires. “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” answers the cat. “I don’t much care where,” Alice says. To which the cat replies, “Then it doesn’t matter which way you go.” As an afterthought Alice adds, “So long as I get somewhere.” “Oh you’re sure to do that,” says the cat, “if only you walk long enough.”
Alice was in unfamiliar territory, uncertain of where she was, or where she was headed. And even after inquiring of the Cheshire Cat, she was still unsure of how to get where she was going or even how to determine when she had arrived. Alice’s problem was that she’d never been this way before. She didn’t have a plan, a vision for where she wanted to go and she didn’t have anyone with her to give her the guidance and direction she needed.
In today’s Scripture, we get a glimpse of how God intends for us to travel this road called life, and how we are to handle unfamiliar territory. It’s not by relying on the directionally impaired—like me—to chart your course. And it’s not by having an indifferent attitude about where you are headed—like Alice. Instead, I would like to suggest that this Scripture points out four things we need to do when we encounter unfamiliar territory. I’d also like to demonstrate how this paradigm for handling unfamiliar territory can be applied to your life and the youth ministry here at Marysville FUMC.1) Follow God. The first thing I think this passage tells us about how we should handle unfamiliar territory is that we need to follow God. Joshua and the Israelites spent forty years wandering in the desert. And, I’d like to suggest that the Israelites did indeed follow God, but only in the physical sense of the word. They walked behind the representation of God’s presence among them, the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night, moving when it moved and stopping when it stopped. But they did not follow God in the sense that God meant for them to follow Him—to take Him as a model, to imitate Him, to accept His authority, and to obey Him. You see, if they had truly followed God their journey through the desert would have been much shorter.
So after forty years of not truly following God, the Israelites were only days away from their final destination—the Promised Land, the land flowing with milk and honey. And once again the order was made, “When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God—the representation of God’s presence among them—and the priest, who are Levites, carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it.” And this time they were not to just physically follow the box that represented God, but to really follow God—take Him as a model, imitate Him, accept His authority, and obey Him. For they were about to enter unfamiliar territory and if they truly followed God He promised, “Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before.”
As we walk through life, we will encounter much unfamiliar territory, but if we follow God in EVERY sense of the word then He promises that we will KNOW which way to go. Now, I don’t know about you, but God doesn’t appear to me in a pillar of cloud by day or in a pillar of fire by night or even in a box called the ark. But that doesn’t mean that we can’t follow Him in the physical sense. Follow also means to go after with the intent to catch, to chase, to pursue. Tommy Tenney wrote a book called The God Chasers. His definition of a God chaser is a person whose hunger for God exceeds his grasp. God is always just a little farther away than we can reach so we have to be hungry for His presence. We have to keep chasing Him, seeking Him, pursuing Him with the intent of catching Him. Then we can begin to truly follow Him—take Him as a model, imitate Him, accept His authority, and obey Him, for when we do this we will know which way to go.2) Consecrate Ourselves. The second thing I think this passage tells us about how we should handle unfamiliar territory is that we need to consecrate ourselves. Joshua told the people “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you.” Consecrate means to purify, make clean, make holy, set apart, dedicate to God’s use. Outwardly, Joshua was telling the Israelites to clean themselves up—clean their bodies, wash their clothes, and abstain from anything that might make them unclean, which meant refraining from eating certain foods and from touching certain people or things. But consecrating yourself is not complete if you only clean up the outside and leave the inside a mess. Several times throughout the Scriptures God calls us to “Be holy, because I am holy.” God sets the standard for us to strive for. Romans 12:1-2 says, “So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for Him. Don’t become so well adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out.”
God wants to do amazing things among us. He wants to do amazing things in your life and in my life. He wants to give us a fresh start. Do you need a fresh start? Do you want God to do amazing things in your life? Then consecrate yourself. Dedicate your entire life to God. His promise is this: if we consecrate ourselves, if we dedicate ourselves to Him and allow Him to conform us to His image and to use us for His glory, then He will do amazing things among us.
Dream Big. Thirdly, when we encounter unfamiliar territory God wants us to dream big. The very fact that God wants to do amazing things among us should elevate your blood pressure. It should get you fired up! For the One who created the earth and all its contents, and said, it is GOOD, what does God consider AMAZING? I don’t know, but I’d sure like to find out. Unfamiliar territory gives us a chance to do new things. Don’t impose limitations on God. Don’t try to squeeze Him into a box. God has a vision for your life; He has a plan. When you encounter unfamiliar territory, ask God to carry out His plan for your life. Ask Him to enable you to see with His eyes, to give you His vision. And then start dreaming and dream big! You can never dream too big for God. Ephesians 3:20 says, “God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, His Spirit deeply and gently within us.”
Joshua told the Israelites, “tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you.” Do you think they ever guessed that God would part the Jordan River when the priests stepped in so they could cross on dry ground? Do you think they ever dreamed that they would bring down the wall of Jericho by marching around it? Do you think they ever imagined that God would deliver into their hands the great and powerful nations that occupied the Promised Land so that they could inhabit it—that one Israelite would rout a thousand of their enemies because the Lord fought for them? God didn’t accomplish these amazing feats alone—not because He couldn’t have, but because He chose to work through His people to accomplish these and many more amazing things.
God wants to do the same in your life. He wants to do amazing things in your life and in my life by working through us. Henry Ford said, “I’m looking for a lot of men with an infinite capacity for not knowing what can’t be done.” My guess is that God said that first! When we encounter unfamiliar territory, He doesn’t want us to focus on what can’t be done. Instead, He wants us to begin to dream, to dream big. He wants us to begin to see things as He sees them because only then will we step out in faith to see His vision become reality.4) Step Out In Faith. Stepping out in faith is the final thing I think this passage tells us we need to do when we encounter unfamiliar territory. Before the Israelites could see amazing things in their midst, they had to step out in faith. At the edge of the Jordan River, which was at flood stage, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant had to step into the water before the river would part. The Scripture says AS SOON AS their feet touched the water’s edge the water stopped flowing and piled up in a heap a great distance away. Then the Israelites crossed the Jordan River on dry ground. As soon as their feet touched the water’s edge the water stopped flowing. They didn’t have to dive into the deepest part of the river in order for God to do His work. All they had to do was touch the water’s edge and God did the rest. I can almost see them hiking up their robes and dangling their toes out just far enough to barely penetrate the surface of the water. God doesn’t require us to take a huge LEAP of faith in order for Him to work through us, but we must step out in faith knowing that we can trust God to lead us where only He can take us and to do in us and through us what only He can do.
I would like to close by demonstrating how this paradigm for handling unfamiliar territory can be applied to your life and the youth ministry here at Marysville FUMC—since that is where my heart is. Whenever there is new leadership there is always unfamiliar territory and new direction. For some of you that may be exciting and for some it may be frightening. But I want to assure you all that I am committed to 1) following God in every sense of the word. It is my desire to have a youth ministry in which leaders and youth alike pursue God with the intent of catching Him, in which we take God as a model, imitate Him, accept His authority, and obey His commands for then and only then will we know which way to go.
But before we go anywhere, we need to 2) consecrate ourselves for the journey ahead. This is our opportunity to have a fresh start. And God wants us to dedicate ourselves fully and completely to Him so that He can do in us what ONLY He can do and that is to conform us to His image and to use us for His glory. He wants us to prepare ourselves to be blessed and to be a blessing. He wants to do amazing things in us and through us.
God wants us to 3) dream big and to seek Him for His plan, for His vision for this youth ministry. I have been doing that since October when I accepted this position, and I’d like for you to begin to dream big with me. It is my God-given dream, passion, and desire that EVERY young person in Marysville have a passionate, on-fire, sold out relationship with Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and Lord, that they desire holiness and to be transformed into the likeness of Christ that others might see and be drawn to the Christ in them, that they make loving and seeking and knowing God their number one priority, and that they dedicate their lives to bringing honor, glory, and praise to God in all their actions, words, and thoughts.
In seeking to make these dreams a reality, my focus will not just be on numerical growth, even though it is important—after all Numbers IS a book of the Bible. Rather, my focus will be on teaching and equipping our youth with spiritual habits so that they can grow and remain in close relationship with God. I will also focus on helping each youth identify their own God-given spiritual gifts and on putting their gifts to use in ministry for the glory of God. It is my dream that this youth ministry be the strongest and most passionate youth ministry in the conference. Then we will grow numerically.
But none of this will happen if WE don’t 4) step out in faith. Notice I didn’t say I. This ministry must be a team effort and by team I mean church family. In order for God to do amazing things among us, WE must step out in faith. Everyone in this church has a role in the success or the failure of this ministry. First, the youth have to be willing to give it a chance; this ministry cannot touch your life if you never allow it to. Second, the parents have to be willing to invest in this ministry. You must be willing to get involved by at least coming to the parent’s meetings, encouraging your children to attend, and praying for them and this ministry. Third, the church family must be willing to support this ministry in any way you can, whether that be lifting it up continuously in your prayers, giving what you can when you can to contribute to its missions, and perhaps most importantly volunteering your time as part of the ministry team. I challenge each one of you to prayerfully consider WHERE God wants you to plug into this youth ministry. The youth are not just the future of our church they are the present as well. God wants to do amazing things in the lives of our youth, which will in turn do amazing things in the life of this church.
We are at the edge of Jordan River, about to embark on unfamiliar territory. But, unfamiliar territory is not something to fear or shy away from. We all encounter it at different times in life. How we perceive it and what we do with it is what matters. I’d like to suggest that it’s a blessing from God, for it’s an opportunity to have a fresh start and to embark on an incredible journey with God. And when we determine to follow Him, to consecrate ourselves, to dream big, and to step out in faith, even though we’ve never been this way before, we will know which way to go and God will do amazing things among us.
Will you step out in faith with me as we encounter this unfamiliar territory together? Or will you stand back and miss an opportunity for God to do amazing things among us? Remember you don’t have to dive into the deepest part of the river, but you do have to be willing to at least dangle your toes out just far enough to barely penetrate the surface of the water—then God will do the rest.