. . . Cross the River of Impossibility?

Dr. Michael Youssef: Whenever you face a river of impossibility in your life, you must be able to hear the voice of God saying to you, "Don't be afraid, because I'm going ahead of you. Don't be terrified, for I will make a way for you. Don't fret, for I will be way in front of you. Be strong, be courageous, and just follow me."
Guest (Male): In the third chapter of Joshua, God commands the people of Israel to step into the raging Jordan River and faithfully cross into the long-promised land. The rushing waters are a fearful sight, but God promised to go ahead of them. What will they do? Welcome to Leading the Way with author and international Bible teacher, Dr. Michael Youssef. Has God called you into a place of decisive obedience, but the raging waters of uncertainty or impossibility have created kind of a standoff between you and God? Today, Dr. Youssef encourages you to cross the river of impossibility. Listen along as he begins today's Leading the Way.
Dr. Michael Youssef: I'm wondering how many of us would testify to the fact that at some point in your life, in the past, you have faced an impossible situation. You looked at that situation and you said, "It's impossible. There is no way out of this." Then you look back a little while later, and by God's grace and His power and His strength, you have crossed that river of impossibility. Then you look back and you say, "God did it." How many of you will remember that exam that you thought you'd never pass, or that loss that you thought you could never get over? Or that illness that you thought you'll never be able to overcome, or that betrayal from which you thought you will never be able to recover? Or that deep anguish that you thought is going to undo you, or that family crisis that you thought is going to crush you and crush everything that is near and dear to you? Or the swirling water of the river of false criticism and false accusations that you thought were about to drown you and destroy you, but then God came into your life and supernaturally got you across the swirling waters? The rivers of impossibilities in our lives can do one of two things. They can either destroy us, or they can strengthen us. Some people break under the strain, but then there are others who would say, "This is God's opportunity to manifest His power in my life." Some people drown in these rivers of impossibilities, but others see them as means by which they can swim upstream. Some people cave to these rivers of impossibilities, but then others say, "What a great opportunity for me to witness to the power of God working in my life. What a great opportunity to tell my coworkers and my neighbors and my friends and my schoolmates about the power of God working in me." It is often said that the difference between a live wire and a dead one is the connection. Those who see the rivers of impossibilities as God's opportunity to do great and mighty things are the very people whom God is pleased to use mightily in their lives. But there's something else I want to tell you about these rivers of impossibilities: they often are used by Satan as an opportunity to silence us, to silence our witness, silence us from testifying to the forgiveness of God and the grace of God and the power of God that is working in our lives. Satan can use these rivers of impossibilities to turn us inward instead of anticipating the power of God that is going to work in us. God wants you to cross these rivers so that you can testify to everyone who would listen to the power of God, to your fellow students and to the coworkers, about the work of God in your life. Now, there are three very important things that you're going to notice here in the book of Joshua, chapter three. Please turn to it in your Bibles and follow with me. Three things that you must understand and three principles that you must follow. First, you see there is a commissioning, verses one to four. Secondly, there is the consecration, verses five to 13. And thirdly, there is the completion, verses 14 to 17. As soon as Joshua heard from those two guys who went behind enemy's camp into the enemy's territory, as soon as he heard that the people are terrified, he immediately commissioned the people to cross over into the river of impossibility. The reason I'm calling it the river of impossibility is the time in which God chose to let His people cross over. This was the month of Nisan, which is the March-April period of time. For if it was any other time, the cynics would have said, "They could have just swum across." But at this time of the year, it was the time when all the snow was melting over on top of Mount Hermon and the river is the most treacherous of all 12 months of the year. This was the most difficult time to even dream of crossing the River Jordan, because not only it is treacherous, but the current would move so fast that it would sweep anybody who would attempt to cross it at that period of time, and people avoided going anywhere near the river at that time. I can only imagine some of these folks looking at this river of impossibility and they would say, "You want us to do what? Are you crazy? Why couldn't you wait till summer? Why couldn't we not wait for some other time? Why couldn't we just wait for a time when the circumstances are easier?" When you are facing your river of impossibility, your biggest temptation is to forget your commissioning by God to be His missionary in your workplace, God's commissioning of you to be His apostle in your school, God's commissioning of you to be His minister in your neighborhood, in your environment, wherever you may be. You're tempted to say, "I've got my fair share of problems. This is not a very good time. I can't witness for God right now. The circumstances are not convenient right now, the circumstances are not conducive right now. I need to wait for a little bit." God anticipated the Israelites' fear, He anticipated their doubt, He anticipated their dread. He anticipated all of that, just as He anticipates your fear and your doubt and your dread. So, He commands Joshua to send the priests first with the Ark of the Covenant on their shoulders. Remember, God commanded Moses to get that box, and in it there is the Ten Commandments, in it there is the jar full of the manna to remind them of God's provision, in it there was the staff. But above all, the Ark of the Covenant symbolized the presence of God amidst His people. Every time they had the covenant, they had victory. This Ark represented the presence of God. It's as if God is saying to them, "Look, I'm going to go ahead of you. I'm going to prepare the way for you. I'm going to show you what My presence means and what My presence is all about. I'm going to guide your way, I am going to lead your way." What a great God we have. He knew that they were going to unfamiliar territories, He knew that they were going to unknown places, He knew that they were going to enemy-held territories, He knew that they did not know which direction to go, He knew that they were timid and they were hesitant and they were doubting. He said, "I'm going way ahead of you," 3,000 feet to be exact ahead of you. I know some of you have said to me as I began this series of messages, challenging you to be an apostle at your workplace, some of you said, "Problem is we feel inadequate, we feel fearful, we feel apprehensive." Whenever you face a river of impossibility in your life, you must be able to hear the voice of God saying to you, "Don't be afraid, because I'm going ahead of you. Don't be terrified, for I will make a way for you. Don't fret, for I will be way in front of you. Be strong, be courageous, and just follow me." First there was the commissioning, then there's the consecration, verses five to 13 of Joshua, chapter three. When the day of the crossing of the river came, that river of impossibility, Joshua did not say, "Now, boys, I want you to start sharpening your sword or your spears." He did not say that. "Now, boys, I want you to start polishing your shields, you've got to be ready for the battle." He did not say, "Now, boys, I want you to gear yourself up for battle as they used to." He never said, "Now, how many of you can swim?" No. He said, "Consecrate yourself." The battle that is a spiritual battle requires God's supernatural power. It is a battle that is in the human impossibility, and in order to receive victory in the spiritual battle, to receive victory crossing the river of your impossibility, what is required is not strategy, what is required is not techniques, what is required is not clever thinking. What is required is not a 10-year study plan, what is required is not outfoxing your opponent or outfoxing your enemies. No, he said for spiritual victory over the rivers of impossibilities, what is required is consecration. What is required is surrendering to the will of God in your life, being set aside for God, walking blamelessly before God. What is required is the anticipation of what God is going to do or can do for you. It is required, not half-hearted commitment. Often the rivers of impossibilities in your life and in mine are God's opportunity for each of us, for Him to act on our behalf. But they are also supposed to bring us closer in our walk with God. They are supposed to bring us to a closer examination of ourselves and our lives. They are supposed to bring us to the point of giving up sins that have entrenched in our hearts, for which we have rationalized long ago. They are supposed to bring us to the point of trusting God completely with all that He has entrusted us. They are supposed to bring us to the point of removing these idols and these strongholds that long ago have established a beachhead in your life and in mine. I want to issue a challenge for you today, for each one of us. If you have been ineffective for God in your life, if you have been spinning your wheels in your school, if you've been going through the motions of being a Christian and going to this meeting and that meeting, this gathering and that gathering, if you have never been able to lead someone to Christ, ask yourself this question: "Am I consecrated to God? Have I given up idols in my life? Have I surrendered to the will of God in my life?" When you start doing that, watch out. Please watch out, because God is about to use you. You're about to become dangerous for Satan, you're about to deal Satan and his kingdom a blow. Watch out, God is about to use you. There is the commissioning, there is the consecration. But then in verses 14 to 17, there's the completion of the task. I can't even imagine, as I sit there alone with God in preparation, reading the scripture and desiring to take it all into my life and into my heart, and I sometimes try to use my imagination and I try to imagine these poor priests carrying that Ark on their shoulder and walking down the River Jordan. And it's not stopping. This water is still going. And they go in and they get closer and closer and closer to the water, the water still hasn't stopped. I just wonder what went through their mind. Did we hear Joshua right? Did Joshua hear God right? What's going on here? Nothing is happening. We're so close, our feet are wet. And they get their feet wet and they're getting closer and closer and they're terrified. It's funny, God sent the priests first in this case. Later on in the history of Israel, the priests wised up, and in the future battles, you know who they sent first? The singers. They said, "Send the singers first." I just can't imagine them carrying this Ark. It must have been one of the greatest tests of faith. I know how I would have reacted, and you know how you would have reacted too: taking one step and then one back, two forward, two back. You know what most Christians do with the promises of God in the Bible? They underline them. Isn't that nice? Isn't that sweet? They underline them in their Bibles, they may even color code them. But what kind of faith is that? What kind of faith is it that all you do is you name it and then you claim it? Real faith is acting on the promises of God. God promises and said, "Bring the tithe to the storehouse and test Me." Christians underline it in their Bible. Isn't that sweet? That's nice of God. "When my ship comes to port, I'll be able to give God." Let me ask you this: if you've never sent any ships out, how are you expecting some ships to come back? God promised to be with you when you speak a word on His behalf, when you testify to the forgiveness of your sins, when you testify to the fact that you have received eternal life because of your coming to Christ. And you know what believers do? They just underline them. This is just another sweet promise of God. Isn't that wonderful how good God is? And they keep their mouths shut. They never risk. I'm not talking about wild risk. They say, "Oh, I just don't have the gift of witnessing." There is no such thing in the Bible. There's no such thing as a gift of witnessing. God calls every single believer to be a witness. If your sins are forgiven, you are a witness, an eyewitness account of what happened. And if God forgave your sins, you're supposed to tell about that. You've received eternal life from His hand, you're supposed to tell about that. That's all you're supposed to do, that's what an eyewitness does. Faith is not taking wild risks. No, that's not the biblical faith. Faith is taking a risk that is firmly anchored and deeply established in the solid rock reliability of what God had promised. That's what faith is all about. Even if you hesitate, God understands. Even if you hesitate, God is willing to strengthen you. Even if you doubt, God is there to strengthen you. Even if you are timid, God is there to strengthen you. As long as you are willing to get your feet wet, as long as you are able to put one foot in front of the other, as long as you keep moving in the right direction, as long as you can look at the river of impossibility in your life and you say, "I'm stepping over you in Jesus' name. I'm going to the enemies in Jesus' name. I am going to cross this river in Jesus' name." Look at verses 15 and 16 of chapter three of Joshua. Those two verses are enough to make you shout. Now the Jordan is at a flood stage during the harvest. By the way, they harvest in the spring in the Middle East, not in the fall like you do here. Now the Jordan is at a flood stage during the harvest. You see, God doesn't need any help. Yet as soon as the priests who were carrying the Ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water, the feet got wet. They didn't stay from a distance and say, "Okay, at a miracle, now we can go. We saw it, we believe it, now we can do it." No, the feet got wet. As soon as their feet touched the water's edge, the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away so the people crossed over. Can I get a witness? There's something else that crossing the River Jordan, the river of impossibility, is going to do to you. When you cross over the river of impossibility in your life—and your river of impossibility may be different from my river of impossibility—when you cross that river of impossibility, it means there is no going back. There is no going back. There is no going back to the life of faithlessness. There is no going back to being silent about your salvation. There is no going back into the spiritual wilderness. There is no going back to mediocrity. There is no going back to fear and timidity. There is no going back to ignoring those who desperately want to hear the gospel message, and you are silent about it. My friend, God is calling you to cross the river of impossibility, whatever it may be in your life, because God intended to go ahead of you. And the reason for that is because God wants you to testify to His power in your life. God wants you to speak of Him. God wants you to love others on His behalf. God wants you to declare His mighty power. And that is why in chapter four, God told Joshua to set up these memorial stones. Why? They're the act of witness, they are the act of testifying to the power of God. Generation after generation are going to come, and those stones will be testifying to the power of Yahweh who dried up the River Jordan in the month of Nisan when it was flood time.
Guest (Male): Our prayer is that you have been encouraged by Dr. Youssef to cross whatever your river of impossibility is by leaning into God's strength. We thank you for making Leading the Way part of your listening day. Could you use some biblical encouragement to help face all that's ahead for you? Maybe a conversation with a Leading the Way pastor or counselor would help. Start that conversation at ltw.org/jesus. The struggles that Joshua faced while he was leading Israel into the promised land are really not unlike what you may be facing today. Maybe the economy wavered in recent years and the skyrocketing day-to-day prices made things unattainable, and you were forced to move into a new job or radically adjust your life. And now you're facing a river of impossibility as you consider what might be next. If so, we encourage you to keep listening to this series. The life of Joshua offers strength and courage and many examples of faith. And you can also find strength in Dr. Youssef's daily e-devotional. It's called My Devotional. My Devotional is a quick, challenging message arriving in your email just about the same time each day, guiding you into a verse or two in the Bible and offering practical life application and a prayer from Dr. Youssef. So, sign up at ltw.org. Now, if a podcast is more your speed, we've got that too. My Devotional is also available in audio podcast format. Just look for it wherever you get your content. Leading the Way is a listener-supported gospel ministry reaching the world with the message of Jesus. Consider being a partner in reaching your neighborhood, reaching the Middle East, reaching remote villages with the truth of the gospel while there's still time. You can learn ways to stand in generosity with Dr. Youssef when you call 866-626-4356 or go to ltw.org. This program is brought to you by Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef.