Live Free with Josh Howerton - Stepping Into the Promises of God • Christine Caine | Ep. 271 | Monday, February 19, 2024

Episode Date: February 19, 2024

In Joshua 5, we see the people of Israel finally make it to the Promised Land after 40 days of wandering in the wilderness. The old generation who had been circumcised died, so before they could go any further, God commanded Joshua to circumcise the new generation. In a different way, God may be asking you to cut away something in your life so that you can move into what He has next for you. For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.comit.com slash daily drive. In this week's episodes, we will be hearing from our special guest. Christine Kane. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Hey Lake Point Church, my name is Christine Kane, and I'm so excited to be joining you this week on the Daily Drive with Lake Point Church podcast. Okay, you're not going to want to miss one episode

this week. I'm going to build each day on the next day, and today we're going to start from the Book of Joshua chapter 5. I'm going to begin as soon as all the kings of the Amarites who are beyond the Jordan to the west. And all the kings of the Canaan and who were by the sea, heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan for the people of Israel until they had crossed over, their hearts melted, and there was no longer any spirit in them because of the people of Israel. At that time, the Lord said to Joshua, make flint knives, and circumcise the sons of Israel a second time. So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the sons of Israel at Gibbiath Harloth. And this is the reason why Joshua circumcised them. All the males of the people

who came out of Egypt, all the men of war, had died in the wilderness on the way after they had come out of Egypt. Though all the people who came out had been circumcised, yet all the people who were born in the way in the wilderness after they had come out of Egypt had not been circumcised. Okay, I know. This is the first day. We're talking about a lot of circumcision. That's a lot first thing in the morning if you're listening to this. But let me just give you a little bit of context. Right here, the children of Israel actually had crossed the river Jordan. Just imagine they had been in slavery and bondage and captivity in Egypt for 430 years, 430 years crying out to God to be set free. The Lord miraculously showed up via Moses and, you know, the story, the Red Sea parted.

The children of Israel came out of bondage, out of slavery. they had been in the wilderness. Now, it was only supposed to be an 11-day journey. It was supposed to be 11 days out of bondage into freedom. But no, no, because they murmured, they grumbled and they complained, they ended up dying in a place after being there for 40 years that they should have only been passing through for 11 days. Now, that'll teach you.

Don't murmur, grumble and complain. Just do what the Lord says. It's really a lot more helpful. But anyway, so they end up, that generation dies in the wilderness. So the Lord raises up another generation because God is faithful to keep his covenant. God is faithful to take them into the promised land. If he said it, he's going to do it. So he does another set of miracles.

The River Jordan gets pushbacks and now here they are. They are actually in the promised land, but they're not totally in. They're on the edge there of Canaan about to go into the promised land. And so just before they go in to possess the fullness of the promise that God, has given them, the Lord is now saying, okay, now as you go in, there are certain things you want to do. So this is why you don't want to miss the next five days, because I'm going to give you one thing every day for you and I, as we step up and into the purpose and the promise of God for our life, as we step into our spiritual promised land.

Of course, when New Covenant Christians, our promised land is the spiritual inheritance that we have in Christ. As we step into that, there are certain things that you have to do at every level to step up and into the promise of God. Now here, you're saying, okay, well, why is the first thing that the Lord is talking about is circumcision and cutting? So here is the deal. Every time we go up to possess the next phase of the promise that God has for us, there is a certain cutting that is required. You see, the children of Israel, one generation that had come out of bondage, they had come out of slavery, they had had their own cutting away. They had had their own circumcision. Then another

generation arose in the wilderness, but they had not been circumcised. They had not had had a cutting away. So what does this mean for you and me? It means that a generation had come out of bondage and slavery. They had paid a price. Now, another generation was going to go in and possess their promised land, but they could not get in based on the price that was paid by the generation before them because every generation has to pay its own price. Every generation has to have its own cutting away. Now, if we jump to the New Testament in the book of Hebrews, the writers of the Hebrew says, therefore then, in Hebrews 12, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside what, the weight and the sin that so easily ensnars us.

So at every stage, we're laying aside, we're having a cutting away of weights and sins. And the fact that the writer to the Hebrews uses two different words, weight and sin, suggests to me there's a difference between a weight and a sin. And so for some of us, why we're not moving forward and into the purpose of God in the next phase of our life is because we're carrying weights, things that were good to get us here, but they're holding us back from going there. They could be good things. The fact that it's not a sin, it could be the people that you're hanging out with.

You know what? They could be great people, heaven-bound, believers. But the truth is you get into a faith environment like Lake Point. You're ready to go charge the hill. Let's go for Jesus. And you take 10 steps forward. But the minute you get back into this circle, you've suddenly taken 10 steps back. Because they're just full of fear and doubt and negativity and a lack of faith.

You know what? That thing was a good thing to get you here, but it's now become a weight. It could be a way of thinking, a way of thinking that's brought to you. you this far. It's good, but now it's a weight you've got to renew your mind to go to a new level for what God has for you. I mean, you could do this in any realm of light. Or maybe, maybe it's a sin. Maybe it's something that you've carried this far. And in order to step into the next phase of the promise, it's time to cut off that thing that is hindering you from stepping up and into the fullness of the purpose of God for your life. So here is the deal. The fact is that for you and I

to step into our spiritual promise land. We've got to cut out the weights and the sins that are holding us back so that we can run unhindered and press on toward the goal that is ours in Christ Jesus. Every one of us wants to run our race and we want to finish our course. So the first thing we have to do to step into our spiritual promise land is we've got to have a cutting away. What do you need to cut away today? Thanks for tuning in today.

For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays at 5 p.m. and Sundays at 9.30 and 11 a.m. Central Standard Time. For more information, visit lakepoint.com. Church slash daily drive.