Salt and Light Church
Welcome to the Salt and Light Church podcast. Salt and Light Church is a Foursquare Christian church in University Place, WA, serving Tacoma, Fircrest, Lakewood, and the South Sound. Each week, you’ll hear biblical teaching, sermons, and pastoral messages to help you encounter Jesus, grow in faith, live in community, and become salt and light in the world. Whether you are part of our church family, looking for a church in University Place, or simply seeking encouragement from Scripture, we’re glad you’re here. Join us Sundays at 10am and learn more at saltandlightup.com.
Salt and Light Church
Crossing The Jordan
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Pastor John goes over Joshua 3 about crossing the Jordan
But one of the things is that I've experienced God's presence in many different places. I've experienced God's presence in this room. I've experienced him outside in the desert. I've experienced him in my car. Something that I love about God is that he's not waiting for stained glass or waiting for perfect lighting or waiting for perfect sound. Right? It's not like, well, I was gonna show up, but you know what? You have the soundboard on this side of the room, and I think it's better for you to actually put it on the other side of the room, right? You know, you have six signs, but you probably need seven signs. So I'm gonna wait just a week until like God is not limited by any of that stuff. We're limited by that kind of stuff, but God isn't. And that for me brings me peace. It brings me courage, knowing that we follow after where the Lord is going. Not because every question is answered, but because God is present. God's people don't move because the future is clear, they move because God is present. So we get into our passage as we continue to go. So when the people broke camp across the Jordan, the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant went ahead of them. Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water's edge, the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarthen, while the water flowing down to the sea of Arbath, that is the Dead Sea, was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho. The priest who carried the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord stopped in the middle of the Jordan and stood on dry ground while all Israel passed by till the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground. This is the favorite, my favorite part of this passage here. As they're ready to cross, we find out some key information. We find out that the Jordan River is at flood stage. The Jordan River is a fairly large river generally. This isn't just a tiny creek. You're talking about a river full on flood stage. I know sometimes we'll go uh in Puallop, you know, the Puallop River. And there are times where that river, when it looks like hitting over that road, you're like, this is a flood stage, and that does not look normal. Those trailers on that side of the thing don't look like they're uncomfortable right now, right? There are those times where rivers you just are roaring, and we're at this time. We're not talking about a minor inconvenience for this river. We're not just talking about, hey, let's just cross up to our knees or up to our waists, or let's just kind of go around. This is a seemingly insurmountable obstacle that God is asking them to do in this flood stage. And then the text says that the priests, right, they carried the ark, they reached the water, it touched their feet, and in that moment, upstream, the water stopped flowing. Sometimes the water doesn't stop until you step in. And I don't like that. You know what I mean? This harkens, this is true. This harkens back to another miracle when 40 years earlier, when God's people they crossed the Red Sea, and that was a very different set of circumstances. You actually saw that the Red Sea parted and then they went. That's kind of how I feel. That we're gonna in two weeks' time show up at a different location, feet soaking wet, and just saying, All right, God, do a miracle. You know what I mean? How many times in life in your own transition, in those times in life, there are some times that God makes it very clear and very easy for us, and there are some times he says, I want you to step out and do it now, and then I'll show up. And those are always the scarier times. I want certainty and guarantees. I want, I love having every single question answered. I want to know exactly how it's all gonna work before I take a step. This right here, this idea, is something that the Lord spoke very clear to me on. Uh about a couple of months ago, we had a district conference. It was in federal way, and I was just having some time when we were talking with some pastors and spending some time in prayer and worship, and I just felt that God was telling me that I have been playing things a little too safe. That I has just been, it's kind of like poker. I love playing poker. There with poker, you could either like call, just means like if someone bets a dollar, you can bet a dollar. You if someone bets a dollar, you can fold, or you can raise. And it seemed like most of my life, or not most of my life, but in the season, most of my life in the season was me just kind of calling. And really, I just felt like God was telling me, this is how he speaks to me through poker, because it's whatever else. But the spiritual, the spiritual concept is the same. It's like, you need to start raising a bit, you need to start getting a little risky, and believe that when you step into that water, that I'm gonna do the miracle that I've promised you. This was doubled down in our last sermon series. I preached on Deborah and Barack. And I actually mentioned it at the time that you had this Deborah, who is this, you know, the one good judge in all of the book of Judges, Deborah, incredibly wise woman who goes to this warrior named Barack and says, God has delivered these people into your hands, go and fight. And Barack says, I'll go, but only if you go with me. That this idea of God going with him wasn't enough. He needed that extra assurance. He wasn't willing to step into that water while it was still there yet. And I even shared this. If you go back, I listen. I said, I feel like I'm in a Barack season right now. And this is what I was talking about, this idea of us moving and changing. And to be honest, like fear, like what happens if I go to the school and everyone hates it? What happens if we go here with this setup and teardown? And it just doesn't sound very good or doesn't look very good or smells like tater tots. Smells like intermediate school kids. I you know, I don't know.
unknownIt smells like tater tots, we're gonna make it smell like blue.
SPEAKER_00There you go. Yeah, it's true. Like, filled with this, like, well, I guess I'll just kind of go along. But I was really challenged by the Lord. It's like, no, I have called us as salt and light to go and to be there and to make that impact. So we're gonna show up. Is it gonna work? I think it's 100% gonna work. Are we gonna show up and find out thinking that we needed two extension cords and we needed four extension cords? Yeah. Are we gonna show up thinking we've got all the things, you know, all the little pieces, everything else? It's it's going to be, it's gonna be hard, but sometimes the water doesn't stop until you're already there. You also have this process, right, where they stopped and it says the water began to pile away a large distance away, the city called Adam. So you have this thing where sometimes the miracle happens immediately, like the parting of the Red Sea, and sometimes you step in it and you're like, I think the water's going down. Do you think the water's going down a little bit? I think the water's going down a little bit. It used to be up to like my mid-shin, and now I'm like like two quarters. You have this idea, like it's slowly kind of trickling down until definitely, like, okay, definitely the water's coming down. Definitely it's dry land. You it's this process by which they go, and then finally the water stops, they go in the middle on dry land, and everyone crosses. Sometimes God happens, his miracles are immediate and are in your face. And sometimes you're like, God, I think you're doing something, but I believe you're doing something, but I'm not quite sure yet. And then as you go, as you go, as you go, you're like, God, yes. And then we all love the benefit of hindsight to say, God, you were moving in such a powerful, incredible way. In seasons of transitions, that's often how it is. Sometimes when we transition, sometimes when we move, sometimes we are called to where we are, to where we're going. It is immediate, on your face, Holy Spirit, tears, and everything else. And sometimes it's just taking that next step and that next step saying, God, I think you're going. And all of a sudden you don't realize how far you've come until you look back and like, wow, I used to be there. That's pretty amazing. The miracle happens with the step of faith. They step and the water stops. So this next season, we know that there'll be things we have to learn, things we have to adjust. You know, during COVID, that was such a weird time uh years ago, and we had this saying that we're probably gonna bring back, uh, which is version one is better than version none. Right? There is truth to that. That like version one is like, hey, we're gonna try this and we're gonna do that, and if that doesn't work, like we're gonna do something else. But here's the beautiful part of all of this stuff is as we move forward as a church, we're doing this together. I I love the interconnectedness that we have as a church, and I love every single person that I know in here and heard your stories. It's not just a couple of us, it's all of us. We're gonna figure it out, and we're gonna get there and be some of us are gonna show up next week, be like, this is where I think the coffee should be. And some of us are like, nah, the coffee shouldn't be there, it should be over here. You know? People always complain about the coffee. This morning I had somebody just railing on me about where the coffee was in the lobby. It's true. Mostly tongue in cheek, right, Kai? Mostly tongue in cheek?
unknownCall him out.
SPEAKER_00He was raising his hand in case you didn't know, so I didn't completely call him out. So I'm gonna ask you for something. I how many of you like asking for things? Yeah, I didn't see okay. One, Henry, there you go. Henry and Lee. I don't like asking for things. Um, but I'm gonna ask for something. I'm gonna ask that over this next season for our church that you could muster a little bit of grace for us as leaders, but also us as other church members. Um it may feel weird, it may feel hard, it it feelings get hurt every single time. You know what I mean? Kai got bent out of shape because the coffee moved three feet down the down the way in the lobby. It's not true, but he he's well, it is true. That's fine. Let's be honest. It is true. Um feelings will get hurt, uh things will happen. You know what I mean? It's gonna, it's going to go, but we're gonna need the grace for each other. Uh, I don't want to pastor a church where it's people don't have grace for other people in the church. Man, it just you you have people like that, like neighbors like that, or co-works like that, just have no grace for people. They're not great to be around. Like that, it's just it's just as rough, but I want to be a place where it's like, okay, great. Like we may not know all the right things. I may not do all the right things, but I'll tell you what, I'll give you grace. I may not at first and have to come back and apologize. And and we'll may need to do that, but like let's have a church that is just like we have grace for each other. So next week, like we talked about, we're it'll be the last Sunday service that we have here. And we're gonna do, we have a couple of years. We're actually gonna do some things where we're gonna spend some time and um you know, contemplation and reflecting and like a physical act that we're actually going to do, like a ritual that we're going to do in order to remember this place, but also where we're going. And have a potluck, and we're gonna have some time to celebrate what God has done, but also looking forward to the future. Um, I also want to continue to speak to what we've been talking about. This sermon has been very corporate heavy. God's word applies. A lot of the times when we apply God's word, we apply it individually to our lives, which is important to do, but a lot of times we miss out on the corporate application. Word applies to us as a church. Today was very corporate heavy. But I also want to take a moment to think about like, what does transition mean to you or you're at right now in life? Maybe it's just simply going, sleeping in an extra hour and going to a different location on Sunday morning, but I bet a lot of us also have something else that God is asking us to move on from and to go somewhere else. Maybe it's a certain things, habits, ways of life. Maybe it's something big like a job or moving, or maybe it's just whatever that is. What is the thing that God is saying? I want you to move from here to there. Or are you at a spot like I feel like I have been for the past five months where I'm like, I'll go, God, but I want the red seat apart first. And then finally, God is like, just get your feet wet and watch what I will do. What in your life are you sitting and you're facing and you've been waiting, and then God is finally saying, Enough is enough. Go, I am moving. The only person you're hurting now is yourself and not following after me. And it may not be behind what is behind you has been all bad. It may have been very good, very meaningful, a great season, but you just feel that God is moving you to what comfort or old identity, fear, resentment, relationship, version of yourself, whatever that is, that God is calling you somewhere else. What is that place that you have been hesitant to transition to? What wilderness have you started to call home simply because it's familiar? Some of us, the question is that we need to leave, but some of it is also where we need to step. I don't know what it is for you, but I know this. That the God who meets us as a church at that crossing is the same God who will meet you and yours. The same God who meets us in that transitional space, in that space of purgatory. I feel like for me, this season has been, if you've had a job before and you put in your two weeks' notice and you're still working at a job, but you're not quite where you're supposed to go yet, I feel like for me, I've been in that space for a while. I'm we're still here. I feel like where God is leading it somewhere, but I'm not quite there yet. And the application for this is don't go anywhere where God isn't going. The Ark moves first and goes. And you'll follow the Ark because you've never been there before. If God's calling you to someplace new, you've never been there before. Let's go ahead and stand as we end this morning. So, Lord, we find ourselves in this liminal space, this place of transition for everything else. I pray for us individually. I know that there are places in our lives where you are calling us to move somewhere else, to move into the next, whatever that is, the deeper place in life. I know there are some of us who have a connection and love for you that sometimes can just feel so shallow. Help us to move into those deeper places. Help us to go from where we were to where we're going. And forgive us for the times that we have looked at the wilderness and the rocks and the and the other stuff and said, you know what, this is good enough. We don't want to be people who are just in a good enough place. We want to be people in your promised land. Help us to move into that. And I pray for us as a church. Next week, as we celebrate, next week, as we get together and pray and think about what this building has meant to us. I pray, Lord, that you would help us as we go into this new and exciting season. As we embody just this other part of you, this salt and light, that we will be salt to the world, that we will be light, that we will bring so much light to places that are just so dark. Show us and help us. As that water recedes and we continue to step further and further, we know it'll be a continual step as we go, Lord. Thank you for going first. And thank you for moving before any of us move. Whatever this next season brings, thank you for the people that you've placed in our lives around us in this room to weather it together. That we can rely on you and rely on each other as we move forward to what you are calling us to. In your name we pray. Amen. Amen. Well, I leave you with this blessing. So the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord cause his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord turn his face towards you and give you his shalom. Shalom. God bless.