Series: Other Speakers

Sunday am 11 November 2012 – Shane Egypt

Gal. 4:1-9; Rom. 8:29 (Msg); Gen. 1:26; Rev. 13:8; Eph. 1:4; Deut. 6:10; Deut. 1:8;
1 Cor. 15:34 (KJV); Josh. 7:6-26; Heb. 12:5; Josh. 14:9; (John 16:33)

The Word comes regularly, but if that Word does not become alive to you, it remains words on a page, it remains the Logos. We ourselves need to engage with the Word and the Word has to come alive to us and take us through difficult times. We are in a transition and sometimes we do not know where we are, but we are pressing towards the mandate that is given to us.

God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him (Rom. 8:29 – Message).

When God created man, his mandate was dominion (Gen. 1:26). The Lamb was slain before the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:8). He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before Him (Eph. 1:4). God never starts something, He ends something first and then He starts something. We need to make this our mentality. When God has a plan, His plan never fails. The plan He has for you and for this house, has already been completed.

We know that the ‘Church in the wilderness’ has transitioned to the Promised Land and God has prepared a kingdom for them. The land of Canaan was given to Abraham and his descendants, and it became their rightful inheritance because of the covenant God made with Abraham. It was not because of what they had done, but what God has done for them.  Then it shall come about when the Lord your God brings you into the land which He swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you, great and splendid cities which you did not build (Deut. 6:10). They dId not establish it; God established it for them. See, I have placed the land before you; go in and possess the land which the Lord swore to give to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to them and their descendants after them (Deut. 1:8). God brought them to the land but they had to possess it. That is the tension. We know what God has completed in our lives, but God says, “You take it.” That is what the people were struggling with. “Awake to your righteousness” (1 Cor. 15:34 – KJV), the Word is clear that you are already righteous; you need to awake to it. You have to believe what is already yours, who you are, how you are perceived in Christ. When difficult times come we lose ground, we do not advance because of the lies of the enemy.

The people of God had a tremendous victory with the taking of Jericho. However, we see a different people in the battle against Ai. Joshua sent out spies and they returned saying that only a few should go up. Then they were defeated (Josh. 7:6-7). It reminds us of the ‘Church’ in the wilderness. They murmured against the man of God, they asked why they were brought out of Egypt to perish in the wilderness. They crossed over; they were in the land of promise. We all need to toil together as a household to take our inheritance and our possession. We cannot leave it to one or two. We cannot leave it to the leaders alone.

God told Joshua to rise up, for there was something wrong in the household; he had to go and look into it (Josh. 7:10-26). Achan took things that did not belong to him. God’s order is very important. He is as serious about you individually as He is about the corporate. God is going to take us through things, but we need to do it together. We are bone of one another’s bone, He has placed us together. The life is in the Body. If God has connected us to that Body, and there is deadness, He comes to prune, but it is still connected. We cannot withdraw. We need to do it corporately; we need each and every one. He has given you a grace to function where you need to function; nobody can do it by themselves. The mentality that 20% carries 80% has to end. The only way it can stop is that we do not withdraw but determine to go up together.

When spies were sent out, Joshua and Caleb were the only ones that came back with a different report. Caleb had a different spirit; he did not faint (Josh. 14:9) and wanted the hill country. God had to remove the whole generation of unbelievers but the sons who were born in the wilderness took the promised land. When they came into the promised land, giants were before them and seven of the tribes did not take hold of their possession even though they were in the land.

If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord (Josh. 24:15). It is a tragic Scripture because they all had the opportunity and the benefit of the land that God had given them. Three tribes, the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half tribe of Manasseh were leaders and went before most of the tribes when it came to possessing. They helped their brethren and then returned to their possession.

We need to have the spirit of Caleb and we need to add and infuse, and give to a generation that is running with us. Each generation has to take from the previous generation. We should not need to start all over again. Line upon line we build. Take courage; we are transitioning, but we are sons with a new mentality. Times of tribulation will come, but be of good courage “I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). We need to be overcomers. Sons need to grow and the only way to grow is when God prunes. He comes year in and year out and looks at the soil because He is the Gardener.

Don’t withdraw; the promised land is there for the taking. Your promised land has been given. God has shown you the end of the victory now He says “Go and run the race.” Sometimes the baton falls but we need to get up and pick up the baton again and run this race together. We are not left as orphans, what belongs to Him belongs to us. We need to become as a child and trust Him because He has completed it from the beginning. We need to build line upon line from the Cornerstone; otherwise the building will not be the way God intended it to be. We need to come to the realisation that we are all sons of God. There is a capacity to take what is rightfully ours. Like Caleb we can overcome.