This Is Your Moment | Easter at 901 Church | 2026

Luke 24 opens the day of resurrection with the discovery that the tomb stands empty and the promise of new life proves true. The narrative links Israel’s long journey into the promised land with the gospel: God makes real promises, but the path to fulfillment often runs through wilderness seasons meant to humble and prepare. Obstacles that kept Israel from immediate entry—conflicting voices, unhealed pain, and repetitive patterns of complaint and unbelief—still derail faith today. Those forces distort memory, romanticize bondage, and produce a habit of “almost” that stops people short of God’s yes.

The text insists that divine movement often waits on human obedience: the Jordan does not part until feet step into the water. Movement, not passive longing, opens the way for miracle and inheritance. The ark—the visible presence of God—leads the people across, and the crossing becomes a memorial: twelve stones to remind future generations that God keeps promises and makes a way where there seems none.

That redemptive pattern culminates in the person of Jesus. Humanity could not reach the holy by moral striving; God reached down. The resurrection demonstrates that God not only saves but transforms the pattern of failure into new beginnings. The gospel reframes the promise as relational rather than geographical: satisfaction and belonging come through a resurrected person, not merely a better place or circumstance.

The call is immediate and practical: leave the comfortable camp, step toward obedience, and accept the way God provides. When fear or regret silences movement, the promise remains true but unrealized. The resurrection guarantees a new season—power to break addictions, to repair relationships, and to remove shame—when people exchange hesitation for a decisive step of faith. The passage concludes with a communal response: confession, reception of forgiveness, and a public beginning marked by testimonies and memorials that teach future generations that God keeps his word.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Resurrection proves God keeps promises The empty tomb confirms that God fulfills what he declares; promises do not expire in the grave. Trusting the resurrection reframes doubt as an invitation to remember past faithfulness and to expect God’s future action. This reality calls for a sustained faith that waits on God’s timing rather than on human certainty. [00:48]
• 2. Voices and wounds derail faith Loud opinions and unhealed hurts distort reality, making bondage seem preferable to unfamiliar freedom. When external criticisms and internal scars go unaddressed, they produce a habit of fear, complaint, and retreat that defeats promise. Healing and wise discernment must precede full entry into God’s call. [18:12]
• 3. Miracles follow willing first steps Divine response often comes after human initiative—God waits for feet to step before parting waters. Movement in faith breaks the paralysis of waiting and invites visible provision; a small obedient step clears the path for larger deliverances. Begin with the next faithful action rather than another proof. [24:51]
• 4. The promise centers on a Person The inheritance God offers hinges on relationship with Jesus, not merely reaching a better place or circumstance. Moral effort cannot bridge the gap; God provides access by sending a Redeemer who obeys, dies, and rises. Embracing that person opens a new identity and power to live differently. [31:52]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [00:48] - Empty Tomb, Living Hope
• [01:17] - Early Morning Expectation
• [02:39] - Promises Series Finale
• [03:31] - God Will Do Amazing Things
• [06:37] - Loving Promises, Hating Process
• [09:38] - The People Problem
• [12:54] - Pain, Memory, and Bondage
• [19:10] - Patterns That Keep Us Stuck
• [23:01] - Step Into the Jordan
• [31:35] - God Made A Way In Christ
• [41:38] - Stones as Memorials
• [46:19] - Invitation and Prayer
• [49:44] - New Beginnings and Celebration

Bible reading:
Joshua 3:1-4:7 (ESV)
Then Joshua rose early in the morning and they set out from Shittim. And they came to the Jordan, he and all the people of Israel, and lodged there before they passed over. At the end of three days the officers went through the camp and commanded the people, “When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God being carried by the Levitical priests, then you shall set out from your place and follow it. Yet there shall be a distance between you and it, about 2,000 cubits in length. Do not come near it, in order that you may know the way you shall go, for you have not passed this way before.” Then Joshua said to the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you.” And Joshua said to the priests, “Take up the ark of the covenant and pass on before the people.” So they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the people.
The Lord said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. And as for you, command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, ‘When you come to the brink of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan.’” And Joshua said to the people of Israel, “Come here and listen to the words of the Lord your God.” And Joshua said, “Here is how you shall know that the living God is among you and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Hivites, the Perizzites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, and the Jebusites. Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is passing over before you into the Jordan. Now therefore take twelve men from the tribes of Israel, from each tribe a man. And when the soles of the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off from flowing, and the waters coming down from above shall stand in one heap.”
So when the people set out from their tents to pass over the Jordan with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people, and as soon as those bearing the ark had come as far as the Jordan, and the feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the brink of the water (now the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest), the waters coming down from above stood and rose up in a heap very far away, at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan, and those flowing down toward the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, were completely cut off. And the people passed over opposite Jericho. Now the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firmly on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan, and all Israel was passing over on dry ground until all the nation finished passing over the Jordan.
When all the nation had finished passing over the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, “Take twelve men from the people, from each tribe a man, and command them, saying, ‘Take twelve stones from here out of the midst of the Jordan, from the very place where the priests' feet stood firmly, and carry them over with you and lay them down in the place where you lodge tonight.’” Then Joshua called the twelve men from the people of Israel, whom he had appointed, a man from each tribe. And Joshua said to them, “Pass on before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan, and take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel, that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’ then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever.”

Observation questions

1. What specific instructions did God give to Joshua and the priests regarding the crossing of the Jordan River?
2. What was the condition of the Jordan River at the time of the crossing, and what does this detail tell us about the nature of the miracle?
3. What was the purpose of the twelve stones taken from the middle of the Jordan and set up as a memorial?

Interpretation questions

1. Why was it significant that the miracle of the Jordan River parting only happened after the priests' feet touched the water, rather than before? [23:53]
2. The sermon mentioned that "the promise was never about a place" but "always about a person." [31:52] How does the story of Israel crossing into the promised land point forward to a greater fulfillment in Jesus?
3. How do the "voices on the outside and wounds on the inside" [18:12] function to keep someone from stepping into what God has promised, and why are they so powerful?

Application questions

1. What is one "Jordan River" in your life right now—a situation that seems impossible or overwhelming—where you know God is asking you to take a step of faith before you see the way clear? [25:04]
2. The sermon described a "pattern of almost"—being almost committed, almost free from an old habit, almost ready to forgive. [20:58] What is one area where you find yourself stuck in a pattern of "almost" and what would it look like to take a decisive step out of it this week?
3. Unhealed pain was described as something that "distorts our reality" and makes us "crave what God delivered us from." [14:22] What is one past hurt or wound that you have been tempted to return to for comfort, and what is one practical step you can take this week to bring that pain to Jesus for healing instead?
4. The stones from the Jordan were set up as a memorial so that future generations would know God keeps His word. [41:38] What is one specific "stone" or reminder of God's faithfulness in your past that you can share with someone this week to encourage their faith?
5. The resurrection proves that God keeps His promises and has the power to break addictions, repair relationships, and remove shame. [45:16] What is one area of your life that feels like a "dead" promise where you need to actively choose to believe in the power of the resurrection this week?