Jesus Is Still In The Jordan

would you lift your hands and love the Lord with me right now praise God thank you Jesus thank you Jesus praise God reading to you from Joshua chapter 4 verse 21 while you're turning there I want to express my appreciation to brother Anthony Mangan Mangan senior or in this committee for their invitation to be here today I love them appreciate their contribution to my life personally and to the United Pentecostal church in the world or the Pentecostal impact that they have made I looked around this place today and last night and I I saw so many who are icons of my heritage so many here that are heroes to me if I could say it that way and what a tremendous honor it is to be a part of not only the body of Christ but this great United Pentecostal church and new wonderful people I have a strong desire to do what I can to help keep this fellowship wonderful strong powerful I appreciate every one of you I thank the Lord for you to the leaders that are here of our fellowship appreciate you and respect you and pray that we can go on and attain the vision that God has placed into the leadership the Ministry of the United Pentecostal church I was born into this thing I believe it from the top of my head to the sole of my feet but I thank God for the motivation that I feel that is being given to us to move out of the walls our sanctuaries and try to take our world for the Lord Joshua chapter 4 and verse 21 I've already received enough this week to make this trip worthwhile for the Mangan your ministry last night what's powerful the ministries that we have heard today been wonderful stirring and I pray that I feel a confirmation in the spirit everybody that's been up here has jumped all over some of the things that I would like to try to say today Joshua chapter 4 verse 21 he spake unto the children of Israel saying when your children shall ask their fathers in time to come saying what mean these stones then ye shall let your children know saying Israel came over this Jordan on dry land I'd like to talk to you for a few moments today on the subject Jesus is still in the Jordan Jesus is still in the Jordan if you believe that shout unto the Lord right now with a voice of triumph hallelujah thank you Jesus praise God Oh hallelujah thank you Lord for your presence praise God you may be seated shake somebody's hand and say forget about me right now it wasn't as if Joshua didn't have enough to do it was the leader of three million people on a 40-year

camping trip crossing the flooding unnavigable Jordan River to Canaan but this day amidst all the excitement one of the great concerns on Joshua's mind was a pile of rocks being erected on the Canaan side of Jordan make sure it's sturdy son don't you forget to place that flag right on top so everybody can notice who level out that ground over there we want it to be just perfect and on and on he was building a memorial something that possibly would connect the future with the past Joshua understood that if Israel was going to have a glorious and perpetual future that it would be inspired by a clear memory of the past yes son in spite of all of the odds that Israel had God made a passage through this Jordan on dry land as we ponder our futures today tomorrow I feel this morning that there's something that we may draw from Joshua's experiences and that is that we may need to go back at times to yesteryear in order to see glory tomorrow please don't misunderstand me and all due respect I'm not talking about going back to buggy whips horse-drawn carriages ten-mile walks to Sunday service neither am i referring to going back to sitting in the blazing heat beneath brush arbors or becoming more primitive or ineffectual in doing the work of the Lord my feet are firmly planted in the day in which I live and I understand that we're living in the dawning of the Age of Aquarius the area of era of the microchip virtual reality gender blending cosmic consciousness and comfort but to go back except for the purpose of inspiration is not my desire I'm content standing in the threshold of the 21st century but there are priceless principles and great sacrifices from the past that will afford all of us the impetus to perpetuate a glorious future when we stand on the Kanan side of the banks of our Jordan like Joshua there are certain things that I personally believe that we all can see as a memorial for our faith to inspire our future I can see Joshua looking into Canaan I can see the passion glowing from his face as he dreams of finally after 40 years of wandering getting back to where God wanted Israel to be and there were some things that were going through his mind first of all possibly as a memorial when he looked at that pile of rocks and he remembered his own heritage he remembered the damaging stories forty years earlier as he stood among the twelve and he saw Moses fidgeting and trying to make a decision whether to move on into Canaan or whether to stay and wait for another time and it was there that Joshua lived through the negative and the diabolical decision and witnessed the lack of faith that came from the 10 who were sent to bring back but that brought back the negative report he felt the pain he felt the listlessness he felt the wandering spirit as it enshrouded him like a yoke of bondage and now 40 years later God had spoken to Joshua who had been promoted to the leader of this great nation and God had just previously said

to him tomorrow I'm going to show you wonders and it was as they crossed over to Canaan that Joshua learned that what God wanted to do then he still wanted to do well I want to say to this congregation today I agree with my comrades splittin speaking here today and last night and last year we believe all of us that this is a great time we are standing on the brink of a great era we are motivated however by some things of the past and one of the things that comes into all of our minds is that God is not through with his church in 1997 what he wanted to do 40 years ago he still wants to do now not only what God wanted to do then he wants to do now but what I was able to do then he is still able to do now not only did he seek God's continuing purposes aw Todd's amazing methods God has a way of blowing our mind every once in a while I don't understand him I can't figure it out but I enjoy experiencing what God has in store from time to time as we come across our impossibilities one of the things that blows my mind about the Lord is that he is willing to take his awesome omnipotence omniscience and omnipresence and bundle it up and put it into the hands of flesh and let man interact and have a relationship with him it was in Joshua chapter 3 that the Lord spoke to Joshua and gave him the plan for crossing Jordan he said when you see the Ark of the Covenant of your God tell you people to follow it wherever it goes you follow it I want you to take the Ark of the Covenant put it on the shoulders of the min take the priests and put the ark on the priests shoulders and I want your priests to walk before the people and I want the people to step into Jordan you see they were crossing in a very precarious and perilous time the Bible says in Joshua chapter 3 that the banks of Jordan always overflowed at harvest time and it was at harvest time that God spoke to Joshua and said I'm going to take you to Canaan land and you're going to do my will and you're going to experience my power and it was at harvest time that they walked into the Jordan it was at harvest time that God allowed them to experience a powerful miracle Joshua spake to the priest then he said take up the Ark of the Covenant Passover before the people they took up the Ark of the Covenant they went before the people and then he said when you get to the water I want you to walk on into the water and when your feet hit bet water God is going to intervene and there is going to be a passage I think it's interesting if you look in your commentaries that you'll find that this happened at a place called Bethabara it means house of passage it was at Bethabara at harvest time that God spoke to Joshua and said I'm gonna fulfill a dream in your heart I'm going to make it a reality and you're going to do it by doing exactly when I say to do tell your priesthood march with the spirit and walk into the Jordan and when you feet hit the Tartan I'm gonna cause the water to pile up on each side in a heap I'm going to cut the waters off from the north I'm gonna cut it off from the east it's not gonna come down and there's gonna be a passage and your people are gonna walk through on dry ground if you can get that picture what Joshua saw the ark with the mercy seat the blood the rod that budded on the inside the manna the table of the law the ark being carried on the shoulders of men of the priests God put his presence and his power in the hands of men and now these

men were standing in the middle of the Jordan River oh man the Jordan River what a place for God to choose to put his people at harvest time because the Jordan River meant to descend the very name means a descender it was a river that has never been navigable flowing into a sea that has never known a port there's never been a high road to more hospitable coasts this never possessed a fishery it's never boasted of a single town of eminence upon its banks it winds through scenery remarkable rather for sameness and tainless rather than for bold outline its course is not much over 200 miles from first to last about one fifteenth of that of the Nile from the roots of anta lebanon where it bursts forth from its various sources and all of its purity to the head of the Dead Sea where it loses itself in all of its tributaries in this unfathomable brine this is the River of the Great Plain not only does it tributaries run through the Middle East but it runs into generations into the future in fact the descender is running through our generation tonight it has no post it has no part it has no people that can survive but the Jordan that leads to nowhere in this world into the dead seas and the stomping and the dumping grounds of our generation is the border that this church has to walk into today the people of God were standing on the wilderness side they had to cross Jordan to get to Canaan the wilderness another place another place a wide-open space without actual pasture the country of nomads distinguished because of its symbolism for faithlessness it symbolizes lives without purpose its signals symbolizes circles it symbolizes going nowhere and there were the people of God in the land that does know we're partnered by a Chardon that empties into the Dead Sea where nothing is alive but the chance God and to become a passage into a land that flows with milk and honey and God said I'll send you through it so that's what Joshua saw standing in the middle of the Jordan were the priests and as their feet hit the water the water began to part and the priest walked to the midst of Jordan and there they stood be are on the shoulders the wind of God rolling through that river that flooding unnavigable River become a path from from wilderness to Canaan and as long as those men stood in that Jordan the people of God that wanted to fulfill the promise that was given in their heritage was able to pass into the Canaan land God uses amazing methods as aware as Joshua was however he probably didn't see what was really in that Jordan even though the water was standing at attention at the feet of faith the ark symbolizing the power and the presence of God commanding them he didn't see Jesus in the Jordan that day he probably didn't see what that Ark represented as it related to Jesus Christ in the church all he saw from his side was God and man working together opening up a

passage into a promised land and as long as that Artemis priest stood there that passage was open from wilderness to Canaan but God who knows no time who sees no no boundaries from space but God my friend saw more than just priests and an ark in that River it could be argued that it was the same spot as God saw those priests standing in the midst of that Jordan at the same spot a place called Bethabara that God saw another man it was seemed like just a fleeting moment and there he was a man whom John called the Lamb he was also walking down a road and he crosses over the shoulder of the road and he walks into a river by the name of Jordan and he calls to a man by the name of John and he says John baptize me it is necessary to fulfill all righteousness I submit to this congregation today that the feet resting on the Jordan River bed that day was the feet of the Messiah the true ark the true mercy seat whose own blood would be an atonement the bread of heaven he was the resurrection he was the life the man in whom embodied the law of God it was at that baptism as I was in the middle of that river Jordan in a place called Bethabara that God allowed it to be happy to be said that when Jesus stood in that River something else began to happen another passage begin to open up not on the earth but in the heavens the Bible says that the heavens opened and the Spirit descended upon him like a dove and a voice came out of the heavens and said this is my son that baptism I submit to you represented another passage from the south life to the Spirit led life from the wilderness of unbelief to a land of the supernatural there is one mediator between God and man the man Christ Jesus and he's standing in the Jordan to open up passages for our generation I wonder when Jesus stood in that Jordan if he as God may have took a trip in his mind to his creation you see God has a thing about being alone he don't like to be alone he was standing in the Jordan alone he remembers a time possibly as God when he was standing in a diagonal own Bible says God created because he was alone a man Adam and Eve when you read in the scriptures you'll find that Adam first Corinthians 15 Romans 5 was a type of Christ Romans 5 teaches us that Adam was a figure of the man which was to come Adam or shadow'd Jesus all that God

ladies and gentlemen purposed in Adam was to be achieved in Jesus the man but God not only created Adam he created Eve Genesis 2 tells you about it in fact that creation god building himself some partners it's carefully regarded god's desire to have fellowship to have people that will carry out his desires God's creation of man was carefully written because he wanted the world to know that he has needs he wanted man to know how to satisfy his heart what made him feel good Genesis 2 says God created Adam and out of Adam Eve Ephesians 5 teaches us that Eve was a type of the church I would like to submit to this congregation today and I'm so glad that I didn't have to preach last year because this year is where this fits God's plan is not only achieved in Jesus His plan was never meant to stop with Adam but he had more in his mind he was up tomorrow God's plan not only as achieved in Christ but his plan is achieved also in the church in order to understand the purpose of the church on this earth you got to look at Eve I want you to look just for a moment at the position that the church occupies in relation to that work in Genesis chapter 2 verses 18 through 24 the word woman is mentioned in Ephesians chapter 5 verses 22 through 32 a woman is again mentioned I submit to you that the first woman is a sign typifying the church the second is the reality of the first the first woman was planned by God before the foundation of the world and appeared before the fall the second woman was also planned before the foundation of the world but was revealed after the fall the one that appeared before the fall and the one that appeared after the fall to God there is no difference the church is the eve of Genesis chapter 2 doc created Adam and it to provide Christ and God created Eve and it did behind the church God's purpose is not only to be accomplished by Jesus but also God needs the church in Genesis chapter 2 verse 18 God said it this way it isn't good for man to be

Oh when you think about that Adam was created in the image and the likeness of Todd when Doc created Adam he was not only thinking of Adam but he saw himself wrapped in flesh when God said it's not good for man to be alone God was saying to us I don't want to be alone I want a helpmeet hear me right now Christ alone is not good enough it's only one-half of the mind of God for this world Christ alone is great but it is not enough we got to do more than sing about what Christ has done for us we've got to do more than talk about how glad we are to be redeemed there is something that is close to the heart of God that is for the church to be in its proper relationship with Jesus who hallelu put your hands together and let's clap our hands to the Lord right now hallelujah Genesis to 19 and 20 says and begins to tell us how God decided to meet the need that he had I don't want to be alone I created this man but it's not good that he's alone and so God set out to make him help me the scripture says that out of the ground God formed every beast of the field bird of the heavens brought them to man to see what he would call them he gave them names but listen to this but for man there was not a helpmeet found for him can you picture God and Adam looking as all the animals paraded by you know God says you got to have company it's not good that you're alone so the giraffe Swagger's bye and God said what you think Adam six I don't feel too good about that I mean you're the boss but I don't feel real good about that in the old orangutan numbers by God looks at him since what do you think better you getting closer you see God don't want to be alone then I could see the arm of God as it waves over that fresh creation and he slips into a divine coma and lays there and God reaches out of the heavens into his side and the flesh opens and God grabs a rib and breaks it off and begins to farm a helpmeet for Adam what was God really dude I think he was smiling because he made it in just a little while there would be another man that was put to sleep the scripture calls him the second Adam the last Adam oh yeah laid in his likeness he was going to put him to sleep God don't like to be alone but you see ladies and gentlemen nothing from the earth can be a helpmeet to God nothing

from the earth can satisfy God so he had to take him he had that take that help me out of Adam whoo ha la boca shunga llama Taha God put the man to sleep and out of him he created e as he filled a man hanging uncaring with an open wound and blood and water flowing out and he smiled with anticipation because he knew that the church was not going to be of the earth but the church was going to come out of Christ Wow hahaha so Adams helpmeet was a figure of the church what does that mean it means that since he ladies and gentlemen was a constituent of Adam part of him in fact it was said she is bone of my bone in flesh of my flesh that's who he was Eve formed from his rib II was a constituent of Eve was Adam in another food the church comes out of Christ who are you this afternoon I am convinced that just as John became somewhat confused at the end of his ministry at the dawning of a new era so there is a spirit of confusion going through our generation and Satan stands at the door of every Pentecostal Church every poem Bible believing Church every child of God and says if you're the Son of God tries to cause us to doubt our identity you know what will happen if we doubt who we are we lose our faith and when we don't have any faith we don't have any power and when we don't have any power we don't have any results and it's people that don't have results that wonder in the wilderness for 40 years there's people that don't have any faith that wonder in the wilderness for 40 years it's important that we know who we are Saints have God I submit to this conference today that we are more than just a bunch of believers who gathered together we are more than just a bunch of apostolic if Eve was bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh then you who have come out of his side touched by blood filled with the spirit also Christ in

another farm no wonder oh it's dawning on me why he put his name on us it's dawning on me why he's given us his authority you can't have a body with no authority come on everybody come on we're more than the United Pentecostal church we're more than an organization with more than just a bunch of believers we are the body of Christ the flesh of God in this generation remain standing that explains it to me why we all feel these compelling urges to run to the nearest crisis bottle of oil and head home Bible study charred underarm looking over the booze bottles and sifting through the smoke it's dawned on me why my daddy used to wake me up three in the mornings they tell you wanna go with me and we'd ride down to some other part of town one particular night with a big old strong tall burly scary-looking guy come to the door dad look daddy was hidden what's matter Gary look like I need God I remember as a little boy 3:00 in the morning as I heard them pray in the other room and I saw that 350 pound man in that kitchen with the bread on one side of the table in the jelly and the butter but tears streaming down his face you know what we found out that Jordan ran right through his house but he wanted to do more than just look across and dream and so God did what he had done many times before he walked into that Jordan in flesh through his help me the church can he opened up a pass to come I don't think you know that dismay us because we stand looking where we want to go and there's a jardin between I don't think you're not upset us because there's impossible situations between between us and Canaan I think we understand that Jesus has stood in them he's studying them and he's still in them that is if we understand that if Jordans are going to be crossed in 97 and God is going to stand in them that we will have to do more sit around and talk about how glad we are to be saved I say that with all due respect that is not a rebuke but Jesus did not fulfill the desire of the heart of God redemption takes care of man's problem it restores man it takes care of me but

what about God's needs what about the original commandment when God looked at Adam and said take Dominion take Dominion it's time that we like Jesus who stood in the temple in Luke 4 and said the Spirit of the Lord is upon me and he read Isaiah chapter 61 and then he closed the book and he said this day this scripture is fulfilled in your ears and he went out and he began to take dominion it's not enough for us to just stand around and talk about who we think we are if God is going to be satisfied by his church I am convinced that he smiles when we open up passages and we take authority over the obstacles and we take them it took a while before it happened to be but I remember my daddy telling me oh it's a wonderful thing what God will different people he hadn't been in Kansas City three months 1955 brother Simeon God gave him a dream said Winfred there's an apartment building across town and in the dream he saw a big apartment building and in the dream there were 13 people and the Lord said they're ready here's the address and he woke up and said a lean God showed me an apartment there's 13 people that need the Lord and the Lord said they're going to come and so he found the street and sure enough there was the apartment Bock and he went to the front door knocked on the door and understand sister Arnold came to the door big ole rough looking lady and daddy looked at and said I'm starting to turn caring town thought you might want to come and be a part of it she looked at him and said get out of my face preacher and slam the door he didn't know it he just thought he was going to another apartment I went around to the back door the same apartment knocked on the door knocked on the door and sister Arnold came to the door what do you want he said are you related to that lien old lady in the front she said are you really a preacher he said yeah they got to talking and before the month was out thirteen people in that building the only reason I tell you that is because I am saying to you today that Joshua built a monument and that monument said what God wanted to do then he still wants to do now I wonder how many people in your towns are standing on the other side of Jordan and it's flooded it's unnavigable and they've lost precious things into it trying to get across but Jesus is saying man I'm going

to go stand in that Jordan and that's the urge you're feeling and make a passage and then God smiles