WEBVTT - Getting Ready For What’s Next (The Basin) 0:00:00.440 --> 0:00:05.480 Pure primetime in the basin today. One thing only that 0:00:05.519 --> 0:00:09.760 we're focused on with the teaching today, and that's priming 0:00:09.800 --> 0:00:14.360 the pump, cleaning out the pipes for the word that 0:00:14.400 --> 0:00:16.880 God wants to bring on Sunday. It's been an amazing 0:00:16.920 --> 0:00:20.360 flow in my life this week, and I thank God 0:00:20.440 --> 0:00:24.479 for it. Things that He has spoken to me and 0:00:24.600 --> 0:00:27.320 shown me and enabled me the experience, and I'm full 0:00:27.360 --> 0:00:31.639 of gratitude about it, and also the things that I 0:00:31.680 --> 0:00:36.159 believe He's, you know, getting ready to speak through me. 0:00:37.880 --> 0:00:44.840 There's so much that I want to share, and trying 0:00:44.840 --> 0:00:48.440 to get it all in would be ridiculous. But let 0:00:48.440 --> 0:00:51.960 me go to Joshua three sixteen, because I'm pretty sure 0:00:52.680 --> 0:00:55.680 that this week I'm going to work from the text 0:00:55.720 --> 0:00:59.040 that I shared weeks ago when I was kind of 0:00:59.080 --> 0:01:03.520 getting this teaching bit by bit, chapter by chapter, reading 0:01:03.560 --> 0:01:06.920 through the Bible. And I'll go visit that and study 0:01:06.920 --> 0:01:11.840 it out as the weekend progresses. But particularly verse sixteen. 0:01:11.880 --> 0:01:14.440 The water from upstream stopped flowing pot up in a 0:01:14.480 --> 0:01:17.600 heap a great distance away the town called Adam in 0:01:17.640 --> 0:01:21.039 the vicinity of Zarathan, where the water flowing down to 0:01:21.120 --> 0:01:23.360 the sea of the Araba, that is the dead Sea 0:01:23.440 --> 0:01:28.000 was completely cut off, so the people crossed over opposite 0:01:28.280 --> 0:01:34.920 Jericho and starting the teaching here for you and kind 0:01:34.920 --> 0:01:38.360 of continuing what I taught Sunday in the pulpit was 0:01:38.400 --> 0:01:44.559 this phrase, do the thing that you would do. Now. 0:01:44.800 --> 0:01:47.760 Taking that phrase at a surface value, it's kind of 0:01:47.760 --> 0:01:52.360 like an incomplete sentence, feels a little yoda. Do the 0:01:52.440 --> 0:02:00.120 thing that you would do. What tell me what to do? 0:02:00.120 --> 0:02:03.400 Do the thing that you would do. I saw the 0:02:03.440 --> 0:02:09.239 phrase in a double meaning. I saw the phrase as 0:02:09.360 --> 0:02:13.000 being a strategy to break out of lethargy. I saw 0:02:13.040 --> 0:02:18.560 the phrase as a focus in times where we feel conflicted. 0:02:18.680 --> 0:02:22.520 I saw the phrase as a challenge to come up higher. 0:02:22.560 --> 0:02:24.840 And I saw the phrase as a summons to faith. 0:02:24.919 --> 0:02:28.240 I saw all those things in that phrase. Do the 0:02:28.320 --> 0:02:33.760 thing that you would do. Now, Joshua is leading the 0:02:33.800 --> 0:02:39.200 people to cross the Jordan River. That's not something that 0:02:40.120 --> 0:02:42.960 they would do if they didn't believe God was with them. 0:02:43.360 --> 0:02:45.560 So it takes faith. And one of the things that 0:02:45.600 --> 0:02:48.880 I want to speak about on Sunday and today is 0:02:48.919 --> 0:02:53.640 the nature of faith. Faith has a very peculiar nature. 0:02:54.760 --> 0:02:58.640 In the Westminster Confession, where they met in Westminster Abbey 0:02:59.480 --> 0:03:03.200 during the Civil War in England in the sixteen hundreds, 0:03:03.880 --> 0:03:06.360 and they gathered the theologians to write out the doctrine 0:03:06.400 --> 0:03:12.240 of faith. They came away with a document that was 0:03:12.320 --> 0:03:15.800 referred back to by a lot of different denominations, especially 0:03:15.800 --> 0:03:20.920 in the Reform theological tradition, as a basis for what 0:03:21.000 --> 0:03:24.520 they believed. You know, we say faith these days. It 0:03:24.520 --> 0:03:27.040 can mean anything like it's going to turn out okay, 0:03:27.080 --> 0:03:29.880 I have faith. I don't really think that's faith. That's 0:03:29.880 --> 0:03:33.360 just optimism or maybe delusion. When we say faith it 0:03:33.360 --> 0:03:36.560 can mean anything, you know, like I have faith in you, 0:03:37.400 --> 0:03:40.440 and that means that I have confidence in you as 0:03:40.480 --> 0:03:42.880 a person. But faith in God is different. Now we're 0:03:42.920 --> 0:03:46.640 not going to get into some deep dark theological hole here, 0:03:46.680 --> 0:03:52.080 don't worry. But it says that by imputing the obedience 0:03:52.120 --> 0:03:55.760 and satisfaction of Christ to you, God saves you in 0:03:55.800 --> 0:04:01.080 the Westminster Confession, and it talks about our heart in 0:04:01.200 --> 0:04:05.000 being saved and our part in having a right relationship 0:04:05.000 --> 0:04:08.160 with God. It's not that our faith is so great, 0:04:08.280 --> 0:04:12.400 it's that God is so great and that Jesus is 0:04:12.440 --> 0:04:17.080 so faithful, and that the faith of Jesus is living 0:04:17.120 --> 0:04:21.280 in us. Look at this it says they receiving and 0:04:21.360 --> 0:04:26.440 resting in Him by faith and His righteousness, which faith 0:04:26.480 --> 0:04:30.800 they have, not of themselves. It is the gift of God. 0:04:31.920 --> 0:04:35.480 So I love that distinction that faith isn't something that 0:04:35.520 --> 0:04:38.840 I have to work up. Faith isn't something that I 0:04:38.839 --> 0:04:42.839 have to manufacture. Faith isn't something that I have to formulate. 0:04:42.960 --> 0:04:45.479 Yes I have to stay in faith, and yes I 0:04:45.520 --> 0:04:48.080 have to walk in faith, and yes I have to 0:04:48.160 --> 0:04:51.720 grow in my faith, and yes I have to nurture 0:04:52.160 --> 0:04:55.480 my faith. Because I thought last week faith is a focus. 0:04:56.040 --> 0:04:59.719 But the nature of faith is that it was given 0:05:00.360 --> 0:05:04.800 from someone else, that's someone being God. That my faith 0:05:04.960 --> 0:05:09.400 is in what already happened because of Jesus' death for me, 0:05:09.560 --> 0:05:15.120 his resurrection, and his presence in my life. All of 0:05:15.320 --> 0:05:20.520 that is something that has happened for me, is something 0:05:20.520 --> 0:05:23.560 that God is doing in me, and it results in 0:05:23.640 --> 0:05:27.960 what God is doing through me. That's the nature of faith. 0:05:29.400 --> 0:05:33.839 And the nature of faith in a physical sense is 0:05:33.880 --> 0:05:40.320 seen in Joshua three. Amazing the nature of faith because 0:05:40.760 --> 0:05:45.640 the waters were cut off, remember in Adam, twenty miles 0:05:45.680 --> 0:05:50.240 away from where they crossed. So the nature of faith 0:05:50.400 --> 0:05:54.440 is illustrated here by the Jordan River. Not a big river, 0:05:54.760 --> 0:06:00.320 not impressive river, not a mighty river, but a significant river, 0:06:00.440 --> 0:06:04.680 is very significant in scripture. So get this in your heart. 0:06:05.480 --> 0:06:08.640 As Joshua is leading the generation that will inherit the 0:06:08.680 --> 0:06:13.000 land to cross the Jordan River, Jesus is gonna be 0:06:13.040 --> 0:06:16.880 baptized in that Jordan River by John the Baptist in 0:06:16.920 --> 0:06:19.920 the future. But that's not yet. That's not yet. That's 0:06:19.960 --> 0:06:22.360 not yet. That's still to come. That's still to come. 0:06:23.040 --> 0:06:27.600 And as they're going across, the Bible says that the 0:06:27.640 --> 0:06:33.040 waters that were flowing upstream from upstream were cut off 0:06:33.040 --> 0:06:35.200 in a great heat. And that's the part that drew 0:06:35.240 --> 0:06:39.520 me to this text. And I have been holding myself back, 0:06:39.640 --> 0:06:43.320 especially when I first saw it, from preaching this for 0:06:43.360 --> 0:06:46.440 a couple of weeks now and saving it so I 0:06:46.440 --> 0:06:48.039 could move through the journey the way that I felt 0:06:48.080 --> 0:06:50.960 like God wanted me to. And so now I'm just 0:06:51.040 --> 0:06:53.400 days away from being able to preach it. God is 0:06:53.600 --> 0:07:00.839 up to something upstream. God's up to something up say that, Lord, 0:07:01.040 --> 0:07:08.400 God's up to something upstream. Uh. I can barely contain 0:07:08.480 --> 0:07:11.880 myself as I think about it. How that God did 0:07:11.960 --> 0:07:18.920 something in Jesus that now flows to me that God 0:07:19.880 --> 0:07:28.120 put his wrath anger on Jesus and satisfied the justice 0:07:29.760 --> 0:07:36.240 of his holiness when Jesus died for me. And his 0:07:36.720 --> 0:07:40.880 faith is now the basis by which I relate to God. 0:07:41.200 --> 0:07:45.560 Not my faith. My faith is kind of fickle. I 0:07:45.600 --> 0:07:47.600 wish it was, I wish it weren't. I wish it weren't. 0:07:48.280 --> 0:07:52.880 But it's not always firm. But Jesus' faith is firm. 0:07:53.160 --> 0:07:56.720 So I lean on him, I build on him, I 0:07:56.880 --> 0:08:00.120 rest on him. I come to God through him. And 0:08:00.120 --> 0:08:05.000 now see how this works. So upstream to downstream it 0:08:05.240 --> 0:08:11.080 flows the nature of faith. It flows from Jesus to 0:08:11.280 --> 0:08:14.920 me through me. Doesn't come from me. It's the gift. 0:08:15.000 --> 0:08:19.720 It flows from him to me. The grace of God, 0:08:19.760 --> 0:08:24.400 the gifts of God flow to me from Jesus and 0:08:24.440 --> 0:08:27.040 then flow into my life. And then I walk in 0:08:27.120 --> 0:08:31.600 it and I move in it. And that is the 0:08:31.720 --> 0:08:37.360 nature of faith. In Jesus Christ, biblical faith, and in 0:08:37.400 --> 0:08:40.480 the Book of Joshua. Of course we have a picture 0:08:40.720 --> 0:08:46.600 of how Jesus is our leader. But Joshua, being an 0:08:46.640 --> 0:08:52.360 imperfect leader, has to really believe what God spoke to 0:08:52.480 --> 0:08:54.640 him that nobody else could see that I'm going to 0:08:54.679 --> 0:08:58.640 bring you across as Jordan. And yeah, the people knew 0:08:58.640 --> 0:09:00.560 that God was bringing them into the price, I mused, land, 0:09:00.960 --> 0:09:03.920 but Joshua had to believe that and lead the people 0:09:04.720 --> 0:09:09.560 watch this to cross over something that God had not 0:09:10.400 --> 0:09:14.600 changed yet. And here they are standing at the Jordan River. 0:09:14.640 --> 0:09:17.000 And I probably even break this down because if I 0:09:17.080 --> 0:09:20.839 go too fast, it will be confusing and it won't 0:09:20.840 --> 0:09:23.240 have the full meaning. And I really want to bring 0:09:23.280 --> 0:09:30.360 it across. How it says that the people had to 0:09:30.480 --> 0:09:33.320 follow the arc of the Covenant and go across the Jordan, 0:09:35.320 --> 0:09:41.480 and the water from upstream stopped flowing, piling up in 0:09:41.520 --> 0:09:47.400 a heap a great distance away at a town called Adam. 0:09:48.240 --> 0:09:51.760 I already mentioned it, but that town is twenty miles away. 0:09:51.760 --> 0:09:57.160 I'll probably saved that little detail. Maybe I'll just mention it, 0:09:57.440 --> 0:10:00.719 but and then come back to it. Because is significant 0:10:01.960 --> 0:10:09.040 is that what God was doing twenty miles away was 0:10:09.080 --> 0:10:14.080 not visible to these realized. In other words, they couldn't see, Hey, 0:10:14.559 --> 0:10:18.439 the water is stopping in a dump, so we can 0:10:18.520 --> 0:10:24.120 cross now. Because the water's stopping up here, They saw 0:10:24.200 --> 0:10:28.240 no visible proof that God was going to do it 0:10:30.000 --> 0:10:33.199 until the moment their feet touched the water. Now the 0:10:33.240 --> 0:10:35.960 moment think about the timing of God. The moment that 0:10:36.000 --> 0:10:41.920 their feet touched the water, the waters stopped flowing where 0:10:41.960 --> 0:10:51.040 they were. But but in order for that water to 0:10:51.080 --> 0:10:55.559 stop flowing where they were, it had to be cut 0:10:55.600 --> 0:11:03.360 off upstream hours before they got there, and God was 0:11:03.480 --> 0:11:08.200 up to something in a place they couldn't see. You know, 0:11:08.280 --> 0:11:13.000 we like to think that God is going to give 0:11:13.080 --> 0:11:15.959 us a good feeling and then we can obey him. 0:11:15.960 --> 0:11:17.680 We like to think that God is going to show 0:11:17.800 --> 0:11:20.400 us on paper how everything's going to work out, and 0:11:20.440 --> 0:11:22.880 then we can trust him. We like to think sometimes 0:11:23.440 --> 0:11:25.920 that God is going to take a certain desire away 0:11:25.920 --> 0:11:29.360 from us and then we will walk in freedom. But 0:11:29.559 --> 0:11:32.640 the nature of faith is the ability to believe that 0:11:32.720 --> 0:11:36.720 God is up to something upstream where I can't see. 0:11:37.920 --> 0:11:41.920 And the key for me to experience that is to 0:11:42.080 --> 0:11:46.960 walk toward the thing that stands between me and what 0:11:47.000 --> 0:11:49.320 God has called me to. Now, this could be anything. 0:11:49.520 --> 0:11:57.160 This could be walking toward freedom, recovery, service, purpose, discipline. 0:11:57.320 --> 0:11:59.200 We could name a lot of things that God is 0:11:59.240 --> 0:12:02.480 calling you to, a lot of things that God is 0:12:02.520 --> 0:12:05.360 calling you to do today. Last week I said, what 0:12:05.920 --> 0:12:08.920 do I know God spoke that I can obey today. 0:12:08.960 --> 0:12:12.720 What has God said? What did God say that I 0:12:12.760 --> 0:12:17.960 can obey today? And do the thing? One thing that 0:12:18.040 --> 0:12:21.560 you would do if you knew God was with you, 0:12:22.760 --> 0:12:26.040 in it, with me, working through me, fighting for me. 0:12:26.360 --> 0:12:29.079 If you believe that, what thing would you do? Now? 0:12:29.120 --> 0:12:31.600 The double play on the phrase do the thing that 0:12:31.720 --> 0:12:35.680 you would do is when I talk about that you 0:12:35.720 --> 0:12:40.440 do the thing that you would do, I'm saying that 0:12:40.520 --> 0:12:43.680 there are at least two yous in scripture. There's the 0:12:43.880 --> 0:12:46.280 old you, which is programmed by the patterns of sin. 0:12:46.640 --> 0:12:49.680 There is the new you, which is created to be 0:12:50.000 --> 0:12:53.680 like God in true righteousness and holiness. Remember, that's the 0:12:53.760 --> 0:12:57.640 true you. That's the one that flows from upstream. That's 0:12:57.720 --> 0:13:00.200 the youth that was spoken by the mouth of God 0:13:00.240 --> 0:13:05.120 before you were formed. He knew you that you. So 0:13:06.040 --> 0:13:08.880 when you're caught between the two, like, this is what 0:13:08.920 --> 0:13:12.000 my selfish desires want, This is what the part of 0:13:12.040 --> 0:13:15.840 me that knows God and hear's from God wants do 0:13:16.160 --> 0:13:20.040 the thing that you which one the new one, the 0:13:20.040 --> 0:13:21.800 one that God is speaking to, the one that God 0:13:21.880 --> 0:13:24.240 is flowing through, the one that's in harmony with him, 0:13:24.280 --> 0:13:26.760 the one that is kept the one that is sustained, 0:13:27.400 --> 0:13:29.600 the one that is full of the faith of Jesus Christ. 0:13:30.040 --> 0:13:35.040 Do the thing that you would do, and you got 0:13:35.040 --> 0:13:37.880 to sometimes do it when you don't feel it, when 0:13:37.920 --> 0:13:39.920 you don't see it, when you don't understand it, when 0:13:39.960 --> 0:13:43.600 you can't explain it, but you gotta do it. You 0:13:43.679 --> 0:13:49.160 got to walk toward the Jordan believing that God's presence, 0:13:49.280 --> 0:13:51.120 like the Ark of the Covenant, was with them in 0:13:51.160 --> 0:13:54.800 the middle of the Jordan. God's presence is with you, 0:13:55.840 --> 0:13:59.120 guiding you. But I'm not certain how it's going to 0:13:59.160 --> 0:14:01.440 turn out. We'll do that thing that you would do 0:14:01.480 --> 0:14:04.719 if you were certain that God was with you. Are 0:14:04.760 --> 0:14:06.680 you saying I could just start anything and assume that 0:14:06.720 --> 0:14:08.400 God is with me. No, I'm not saying that at all. 0:14:08.400 --> 0:14:10.600 I'm saying you have to be guided by His presence 0:14:11.760 --> 0:14:14.280 and you have to do the thing that you would 0:14:14.320 --> 0:14:22.040 do that you would do in spite of the fact 0:14:22.040 --> 0:14:24.960 that you can't see the waters cut off twenty miles away. 0:14:26.760 --> 0:14:32.080 When Jesus baptized or was baptized by John the Baptist 0:14:32.120 --> 0:14:38.000 in the Jordan, John never could have imagined, never could 0:14:38.000 --> 0:14:44.000 have seen, never could have dreamed that he would end 0:14:44.040 --> 0:14:47.600 up in prison. John would John ended up in prison. Jesus, 0:14:47.680 --> 0:14:50.000 of course, gave his life for our sin. But John 0:14:50.080 --> 0:14:53.200 was in prison hearing about the great things that Jesus 0:14:53.280 --> 0:14:57.320 had done, and he sends the messengers to ask Jesus, 0:14:57.640 --> 0:15:01.120 is it true that you're the one should we expect another? 0:15:02.720 --> 0:15:05.320 Because he heard about all the great things Jesus was doing, 0:15:06.760 --> 0:15:09.560 but he himself was in prison. And really the kingdom 0:15:09.600 --> 0:15:12.240 that Jesus was preaching was a little bit different than 0:15:12.320 --> 0:15:15.880 the one that John had expected, because, hey, the healing 0:15:15.960 --> 0:15:20.280 blind eyes is great. But He's like, man, you know, 0:15:20.360 --> 0:15:22.400 you got to separate the wheat from the chaff. I'm 0:15:22.440 --> 0:15:24.960 in here because of a wicked king, and you know, 0:15:25.040 --> 0:15:28.720 the judgment of God has got to come. And Jesus said, 0:15:28.760 --> 0:15:30.760 go back and tell John what you see the blind here, 0:15:31.560 --> 0:15:33.960 or the blind here, the blind seed, the death here. 0:15:37.480 --> 0:15:39.160 The Kingdom of God is come, and blessed us he 0:15:39.200 --> 0:15:42.600 who doesn't fall away on account of me. He was 0:15:42.600 --> 0:15:47.120 telling John, you got to believe in what I'm doing upstream. 0:15:48.480 --> 0:15:54.040 You got to believe. In business, the term upstream means 0:15:54.040 --> 0:15:58.720 something different than what it means in nature. In business, 0:16:01.200 --> 0:16:06.040 if you talk about marketing upstream refers to the activities 0:16:06.080 --> 0:16:09.720 and strategies associated with creating and developing a product, while 0:16:09.800 --> 0:16:15.640 downstream refers to activities and strategies associated with promoting and 0:16:15.840 --> 0:16:20.480 selling a product. You see the difference the upstream stuff 0:16:21.080 --> 0:16:25.240 in marketing. I mean, you want to market a shoe, well, 0:16:26.240 --> 0:16:30.760 the activities and strategies associated with creating and developing it 0:16:31.760 --> 0:16:36.760 that's upstream. Downstream is promoting and selling. I think we 0:16:36.840 --> 0:16:42.520 live in a culture where we're all doing downstream things 0:16:42.560 --> 0:16:46.040 to try to market and protect and promote ourselves, rather 0:16:46.120 --> 0:16:51.640 than focusing on the upstream stuff, which is being like God, 0:16:52.840 --> 0:16:58.520 developing character so God can work on us. We're so 0:16:58.640 --> 0:17:01.120 busy trying to am I is he trying to market 0:17:01.200 --> 0:17:05.680 myself that I'm not spending time with my maker. That's 0:17:05.680 --> 0:17:11.240 a downstream distraction, you see, that's a downstream distraction. But 0:17:11.320 --> 0:17:15.520 I got an upstream god. I got a God who 0:17:15.920 --> 0:17:23.280 sent his son Jesus, who sent his son Jesus not 0:17:23.359 --> 0:17:28.760 from twenty miles away, but he sent his son Jesus 0:17:28.800 --> 0:17:33.280 from eternity, and he spended the distance between his holiness 0:17:33.320 --> 0:17:36.080 and my sin. I got a God who is an 0:17:36.160 --> 0:17:43.880 upstream god. And Jesus was born in a town called Bethlehem, 0:17:43.920 --> 0:17:47.040 and raised in a town called Nazareth. But he didn't 0:17:47.040 --> 0:17:51.320 stay in Nazareth. He didn't stay in Nazareth because he 0:17:51.359 --> 0:17:53.879 had to go to Galilee so he could begin to 0:17:54.119 --> 0:17:59.320 preach and teach. Now, listen what it said in Matthew 0:17:59.400 --> 0:18:02.560 chapter four, verse twelve. When Jesus heard that John had 0:18:02.560 --> 0:18:05.720 been put in prison, he withdrew to Galilee, leaving Nazareth. 0:18:05.760 --> 0:18:09.080 He went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake, 0:18:09.720 --> 0:18:13.320 in the area of Zebulen and Naftali. To fulfill what 0:18:13.720 --> 0:18:16.359 was said through the Prophet Isaiah, land of Zebulen and 0:18:16.480 --> 0:18:19.119 land of Naptali, the way of the sea beyond the 0:18:19.240 --> 0:18:25.120 Jordan Galilee of the Gentiles. The people living in darkness 0:18:25.800 --> 0:18:28.280 have seen a great light. On those living in the 0:18:28.400 --> 0:18:32.280 land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned, 0:18:32.320 --> 0:18:35.719 and from that time on Jesus began to preach repent, 0:18:36.320 --> 0:18:40.159 for the Kingdom of Heaven has come near. God is 0:18:40.280 --> 0:18:46.000 up to something upstream. He left Nazareth verse thirteen, lived 0:18:46.000 --> 0:18:50.720 in Capernaum, which was in the area of Zebulun by 0:18:50.760 --> 0:18:54.840 the lake, to fulfill what was spoke by the prophet. 0:18:55.800 --> 0:19:00.800 Think about this, Think about this you may not know this. 0:19:01.000 --> 0:19:02.440 I didn't know this. I had to look it up. 0:19:03.840 --> 0:19:10.840 That Nazareth is about twenty miles away from Capernaum. Copernaum 0:19:11.480 --> 0:19:16.040 is where Jesus did most of his ministry. It was 0:19:16.080 --> 0:19:19.719 his base. You know. He healed a lot of people 0:19:19.840 --> 0:19:26.320 in Capernaum. By the Sea of Galilee, he opened blind eyes. 0:19:26.480 --> 0:19:29.880 I wonder did the blind people whose eyes he opened 0:19:30.000 --> 0:19:35.400 in Galilee have any clue that twenty miles away, ten 0:19:35.560 --> 0:19:42.000 years earlier, God was up to something upstream. While Jesus 0:19:42.119 --> 0:19:48.720 was sawing logs into bedside tables for lamps alongside his father, 0:19:48.880 --> 0:19:54.560 the carpenter, God was up to something upstream twenty miles away, 0:19:55.560 --> 0:20:00.960 getting Jesus ready for Galilee, getting him ready for Galilee, 0:20:01.000 --> 0:20:03.840 getting him ready for miracles, getting him ready for signs 0:20:03.840 --> 0:20:08.040 and wonders, getting him ready. God is getting you ready 0:20:08.520 --> 0:20:12.760 twenty miles away. Do you have the faith to trust 0:20:12.800 --> 0:20:18.199 him that he's up to something twenty miles away? I 0:20:18.240 --> 0:20:22.080 wrote a song with the guy this week whoa so 0:20:22.119 --> 0:20:25.840 excited about the song, and his name is Brandon Lake. 0:20:26.400 --> 0:20:29.679 Y'all know Brandon, y'all know Brandon, y'all love Brandon. He 0:20:29.800 --> 0:20:33.960 told me a story that I never heard before, because 0:20:34.000 --> 0:20:37.480 he grew up near Charleston, South Carolina, and went to 0:20:37.520 --> 0:20:41.040 a church called Seacoast. Oh my god, I'm just getting 0:20:41.040 --> 0:20:43.879 this revelation, he said, I never told you this before, Pastor. 0:20:43.960 --> 0:20:45.560 We just wrote a song. We written a lot of 0:20:45.640 --> 0:20:48.840 songs together, me and Chris and Brandon and also with 0:20:48.960 --> 0:20:51.359 other people, but we wrote a song this week. I 0:20:51.400 --> 0:20:53.960 can't wait for y'all to hear it. Oh man. We 0:20:54.000 --> 0:20:55.560 wrote three songs this week. I can't wait for y'all 0:20:55.560 --> 0:20:58.040 to hear all of them. But it's amazing because he 0:20:58.080 --> 0:20:59.919 said to me, I never told you this story before. 0:21:00.600 --> 0:21:04.440 But when I was a teenager, I sent an email 0:21:05.359 --> 0:21:08.959 to Elevation saying I would love to come learn, and 0:21:09.040 --> 0:21:12.720 somebody that was responding to the email said, ah, now 0:21:12.760 --> 0:21:14.640 we don't really do that right now. You could come 0:21:14.680 --> 0:21:16.919 move here or whatever. I thought it was so funny, 0:21:17.720 --> 0:21:21.080 and it's so funny how somebody else told him, no, 0:21:21.200 --> 0:21:25.520 you can't do that. And here we are today, working together, 0:21:26.440 --> 0:21:29.040 and God is using you in a great way, and 0:21:29.080 --> 0:21:32.800 we've written some really cool songs together, like Graves into 0:21:32.840 --> 0:21:37.720 Gardens and Rattle and talking to Jesus and lie in 0:21:37.880 --> 0:21:40.240 and the Water is wild and might get Loud and 0:21:40.359 --> 0:21:44.960 million little miracles and oh my God, we've had some 0:21:45.160 --> 0:21:50.640 amazing times together, make away and oh man, all these songs, 0:21:50.680 --> 0:21:54.520 some news, some old we're writing songs together. I never 0:21:54.600 --> 0:22:01.080 knew when I was growing up in Monk's Corner, South Carolina, 0:22:02.600 --> 0:22:06.879 that thirty miles away, it's almost twenty there was a 0:22:06.920 --> 0:22:10.000 boy named Brandon and we would get together and write 0:22:10.160 --> 0:22:15.280 music together. You know, Chris, I had no idea that 0:22:15.320 --> 0:22:19.400 you were in Hampton, South Carolina. God was getting us 0:22:19.480 --> 0:22:22.600 ready to write songs like Oh, come to the altar 0:22:23.520 --> 0:22:27.879 and do it again. God was getting us ready to 0:22:27.920 --> 0:22:30.840 go to arenas all over the world. God is up 0:22:30.920 --> 0:22:36.280 to something upstream. I had never met Brandon. I didn't 0:22:36.359 --> 0:22:39.320 know Chris until I was a teenager. I had no 0:22:39.440 --> 0:22:42.600 idea that God was up to something. And you don't either. 0:22:42.640 --> 0:22:45.080 You don't know what God is up to upstream. That's 0:22:45.119 --> 0:22:48.320 why you can't die downstream. That's why you got to 0:22:48.359 --> 0:22:49.400 cross that, Jordan. 0:22:49.760 --> 0:22:52.480 That's why you got to do the thing that you 0:22:52.960 --> 0:22:58.199 would do if you believed that victory, healing, breakthrough, second 0:22:58.280 --> 0:23:02.919 chances and new beginnings were on the other side. 0:23:03.040 --> 0:23:06.639 I'm telling you, God is up to something upstream. Let 0:23:06.720 --> 0:23:09.200 me go a little deeper with this. When Jesus heard 0:23:09.280 --> 0:23:13.040 that John was in prison. That is the significant event 0:23:13.080 --> 0:23:17.520 that I mentioned where John was doubting downstream in the 0:23:17.600 --> 0:23:22.439 prison what he knew upstream when he baptized Jesus into Jordan. 0:23:22.640 --> 0:23:25.159 We're all gonna come to these moments. We're gonna have 0:23:25.320 --> 0:23:29.119 downstream doubts. I can't see God doing it. I can't 0:23:29.160 --> 0:23:32.000 feel God doing it. I don't even know if He's 0:23:32.080 --> 0:23:34.399 going to do it. There's some thoughts going through my 0:23:34.440 --> 0:23:38.240 mind making me think that maybe I'm crazy for trusting God. Ah, 0:23:38.280 --> 0:23:42.840 but God is up to something twenty miles away. It 0:23:42.960 --> 0:23:44.800 might not happen in the next twenty minutes, it might 0:23:44.800 --> 0:23:46.280 not happen in the next twenty days. I'm not one 0:23:46.320 --> 0:23:48.919 of these weird preachers who thinks I can tell everybody 0:23:48.960 --> 0:23:52.040 the timeframe. That is God's business. But if you can 0:23:52.160 --> 0:23:55.000 obey him and do the thing that you would do, 0:23:55.040 --> 0:23:57.560 if you believe that He was with you, You're gonna 0:23:57.560 --> 0:24:01.560 see it. You're gonna see it. When did they see it? 0:24:02.520 --> 0:24:08.560 When their feet touched the water, when they did the thing, 0:24:08.720 --> 0:24:13.280 Nike said, just do it, just do it. When they 0:24:13.320 --> 0:24:18.200 did the thing. When they did the thing, When they 0:24:18.240 --> 0:24:23.439 did the thing, when they did the thing, Look at 0:24:23.520 --> 0:24:26.240 verse fifteen. As soon as the priest who carried the 0:24:26.320 --> 0:24:28.920 art reached the jordan in their feet touched the water's edge. 0:24:30.040 --> 0:24:34.760 When their feet touched the water's edge, that is when 0:24:35.760 --> 0:24:41.399 they saw what God had already done upstream. I believe 0:24:41.440 --> 0:24:46.040 that there are some things that have you distracted today. Downstream? 0:24:46.080 --> 0:24:48.040 How are you going to get across this? Do the 0:24:48.080 --> 0:24:49.600 thing that you would do if you knew God was 0:24:49.640 --> 0:24:54.040 with you. Do the thing, Do it like you would 0:24:54.040 --> 0:24:56.440 do it. Walk in the room, you know. I was 0:24:56.480 --> 0:24:59.879 telling Graham last night. He said that when he's in 0:24:59.880 --> 0:25:04.000 a crowd and it's awkward, like a event, and he 0:25:04.000 --> 0:25:05.720 doesn't know how to stand or anything, he said, he 0:25:05.720 --> 0:25:08.919 starts jumping up and down like a player, excuse me, 0:25:09.080 --> 0:25:13.920 like a like a character on Madden. Some people use 0:25:13.960 --> 0:25:16.800 the term n PC. I don't like that term the 0:25:16.800 --> 0:25:19.480 way kids use it. A non playable character. I don't 0:25:19.560 --> 0:25:23.119 like that term because I think sometimes I hear it 0:25:23.200 --> 0:25:26.480 used to say that some people are like in PCs 0:25:26.560 --> 0:25:29.080 and like I'm the main character in life. No Jesus 0:25:29.119 --> 0:25:31.800 in the main Jesus is the main character God is 0:25:31.840 --> 0:25:34.200 the main character. The Holy Spirit is the main character. 0:25:35.000 --> 0:25:39.040 And Graham said, sometimes I just start doing like this, 0:25:39.760 --> 0:25:43.000 boom boom boom, jumping up and down. And I think 0:25:43.000 --> 0:25:45.240 that's good to do in church too, when you don't 0:25:45.240 --> 0:25:46.679 know how to stand, when you don't know what to do, 0:25:47.040 --> 0:25:49.600 start doing the thing that you would do if you 0:25:49.640 --> 0:25:52.119 were excited about God's promise. You're not gonna always feel it. 0:25:52.200 --> 0:25:56.919 Do the thing, Move toward the thing that you know 0:25:57.080 --> 0:26:01.959 God spoke that you can obey today, and we'll apply this. 0:26:02.000 --> 0:26:07.320 I'm going to keep this stirring. I got it. I 0:26:07.320 --> 0:26:09.120 think you can feel it. I got it fresh now. 0:26:09.840 --> 0:26:15.240 So God is good. I'm excited to preach it that 0:26:15.320 --> 0:26:17.920 he's up to something upstream. And as I work this 0:26:18.000 --> 0:26:21.560 sermon together, I'm going to be praying, or as God 0:26:22.600 --> 0:26:26.640 works this sermon together in me, to preach it through 0:26:26.680 --> 0:26:35.679 me for others, I'm going to be believing that whatever 0:26:35.720 --> 0:26:41.960 you're walking into today, this season of your life, that 0:26:42.000 --> 0:26:46.200 you would have the accompanying faith to know that far away, 0:26:47.000 --> 0:26:50.480 far far away, long ago, no, not long ago, right now, 0:26:51.720 --> 0:26:56.159 in a place far far away, God is piling up 0:26:56.200 --> 0:27:00.159 the waters. He had to do that hours before they got. 0:27:00.800 --> 0:27:04.359 God does things sometimes years before we get there. We 0:27:04.440 --> 0:27:10.360 don't see it until we step into it. I'll stop now. 0:27:11.160 --> 0:27:14.119 I don't want to stop, but I feel like I should, 0:27:14.200 --> 0:27:21.159 because hey, I go all day. Thank you Jesus for 0:27:21.200 --> 0:27:23.560 the things you're doing upstream. Thank you Jesus for dying 0:27:23.600 --> 0:27:27.160 for me. Thank you that my righteousness comes from upstream. 0:27:27.160 --> 0:27:29.760 It comes from you. It flows from you only you. 0:27:30.520 --> 0:27:35.960 Thank you, Jesus. Say thank you Jesus for blessing me, 0:27:37.240 --> 0:27:40.439