The Step of Faith | Pastor James Hoegger | 03.22.26

Just moving our four children across the street was a challenge. I mean, just moving them from from one side of the street to the other side of the street, he he's wanting them to move 2,500,000 people across the Jordan River at a fast moving river at flood stage. Many believers never move from promise to possession, but there's two sides of the same river. On one side of the Jordan, we've reached we've received with humility, manna, miracles, water, quail. On the other side of the Jordan River, we're gonna have to learn to fight, to trust, and we're gonna have to move from family to army before God. [00:51:23] (32 seconds)  #FromPromiseToPossession

you're gonna have to reject these ideas. You're gonna have to reject these statements, and you're gonna have to press on to what I've called you to. We move in obedience before we see. The New Testament passage of this is so clear. Second Corinthians five seven, Paul says, we walk by faith and not by sight. We don't wait for what we can see. We start moving with the next step of obedience towards what God's called us to. Not just sometimes, every time. [01:09:14] (27 seconds)  #ObedienceBeforeSight

the reality is is the longer you serve Jesus, the more in danger you are of getting too familiar with this side of the Jordan. That's just the that's a harsh reality. The longer you serve Jesus, you are in danger of just staying here and staying comfortable. Oh, I've been to camp before. I've been in the presence of God before. Oh, I prayed for that issue before. I've seen God move before. I've seen baptism before. Sometimes it sticks. Sometimes it doesn't. You can get cynical. You can get jaded over here. Oh, you're still in. You're still receiving the blessings of God. He still loves you. You're still his kid, but you haven't moved over here, where God says, I'm looking for warriors. I'm looking for partners. I'm looking for when you see that little thing that wants that cynicism wants to rise up in your heart, that you go to war on that spirit in your own life. And you say, no. No. No. No. No. I'm gonna trust God. I'm gonna believe for more. I'm gonna believe for right expectations. [00:58:37] (54 seconds)  #DontSettleOnComfortSide

and it's not unlike your Christian walk. Right? It's not unlike God how God works in your life. In fact, the Old Testament and how he works with the people of Israel is simply a foreshadow of how he wants to free you and bring you into your destiny. So a lot of us, we live with the promise of hope. We live with the promise that God's got a a a purpose for my life, and we live in the context of God's provision and his blessing and and he how he lavishes and we receive like a child, and he's really inviting us to move into warrior mode and become to be one of those people who can be relied on to fight, that can become a warrior. [00:45:48] (37 seconds)  #CombatCynicismWithFaith

in the people of Israel that God has intended for them. They're gonna move from one side of the Jordan River to the other side of the Jordan River, but there's a ton of implications in that move. There's a ton of things that God is wanting to do in their hearts that look different than where they've come from before, what they've experienced before, from one side of the Jordan River to the other side of the Jordan River, and he has plans for his people. They're gonna move from this posture where I think a lot of believers, we start out our life in God, in a receptive childlike faith posture. Right? How many of know you can't earn the grace that God gives? You all you can do is just receive it. [00:43:01] (34 seconds)  #ChallengesPrepareForAssignment

And we're like, you know what? Sometimes God will introduce challenge into your life for an assignment he has somewhere else. Like, don't push away the challenge, embrace it because God's got a plan in it. He's got something for you. Man, it's so important that we allow God to stretch us in every season of our life. Let's look at Joshua chapter three verse two, and they're getting ready to cross the Jordan. At the end of the three days, the officers went through the camp [00:53:22] (25 seconds)  #MemorializeGodsWork

I don't know. I mean, I just find that fascinating. But when the word of God gets in you and it does something in your life, you need to set up memorials that your children remember. You need to set up memorials that the people around look at, and they say, hey, listen. God did something for us, and it was a big deal. And so when they would conquer a land, when they camp in a different part of Israel, their camp was in the shape of a foot. [01:18:42] (22 seconds)  #BigChurchBigGodMission

We have to just we have to put ourselves in a position of a warrior and say, I'm gonna say no to sin. I'm gonna say no to my flesh. I'm gonna say yes to the purposes of God for my life. I'm gonna wake up every morning, and I'm gonna go to battle for my own destiny. I'm gonna go for battle for my the people in my life that I love, those who are far from God. I'm gonna move from the receiving of God what God has for me to the fighting for and with God. He wants us to move from family to warrior, to army. Right? In fact, you see this with Jesus' transition with disciples. He says, no. Now I no longer call you disciples, [00:47:26] (33 seconds)  #BeStrongAndCourageous