26 October 2014 | Rev Bernard Foo
Navigating Life’s Transitions:
Crossing Over (with God)
[Josh 3:1-8, 14-17, 4:23-24]
Every person in his/her lifetime goes through 3-5 major transitions. The
various transitions add up to who we are and become. We must
identify those transitions, especially those major transitions in life.
When we don’t transit well, we often get hurt – we end up ‘stalled’ in
life. Don’t cross over without God! God wants to help us navigate life’s
transitions. We need to transit/cross over with God.
The book of Joshua is about the journey of God’s people, Israel, out of
the wilderness into the Promised Land! Joshua was to bring the people
into Canaan Land. God led the nation of Israel. We never stay in the
same place. You either move or die in the wilderness. It’s about
navigating life’s transitions – crossing over. Some of us are probably
transiting to the next season/level in our lives. God wants to lead us
and we are to journey with Him. This faith journey is on the basis of our
trust relationship with God. God will direct us in the choices we make
and He will provide. We are to follow and obey, trusting in what God
says in His Word.
2 key phrases in Joshua 3 & 4 regarding transitions: “Crossing over” (13
times) & “Ark of the covenant” (16 times).
God told Joshua that He is leading the people to new ground
(Josh 3:3-4 - "... you are to move out from your positions and follow it.
Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this
way before.”). We are the spiritual Israel. There are new grounds, new
levels, new stations. We need to move out of our current position. We
don’t stand still. When we stay in the same place, we slide back into the
old because of the gravity of the flesh. You and I ought to be confident
that we can transit well.
The presence of God must go with and before us. We must feed our zoe
life, our spiritual man. Many of us feed ourselves with many things (our
intellect, our emotions), except the spiritual. We end up carnal. When
we are carnal, we don’t know the leading of God. We can’t just look at
the ark of the covenant without crossing over. We can’t cross over
without looking at the ark of the covenant.
What is “crossing over”? It means moving from what happen in the past
(the old) into the new, moving from one phase of your life to the next,
one chapter to the next.
How do we transit successfully? How do we cross over well? 3
principles to do so in God’s perfect way:
1. Cut off decisively from your past
 It’s a choice you have to make if you want to move to the new season
wholesomely – cut off!
 You have to make a decision to cut off from the past. If not, the past
will pull us back. It is like a broken record replaying over and over
again. The whole point of transition is to move on and don’t look back
or go back.
 Those who always look back will be dwarfed. We cannot go deeper.
 2 major transitions for the children of Israel:
Egypt to wilderness
Wilderness to Promised Land
 Cross Red Sea
 Cross Jordan River
 Deliverance from slavery
 Entrance to victory
 Disobedience
 Opportunity for obedience
 Wandering and purposeless
 Focused and purposeful
 Old order
 New order
 The
way God went about performing the miracle at Jordan River was
different from that at the Red Sea. Do we just assume that God works
in the same way?
 Do we keep looking back? What do you need to cut off?
Unforgiveness? Past relationship? Offences/ hurts?
 It’s time to cross over from the old to the new!
 God gives us another opportunity. We stop wandering
in the
wilderness and there is now fulfilment and purpose.
 Is God telling you that there is a new level for you?
2. Consecrate yourself to the Lord
 “Consecrate” may sound like a familiar word to us as Christians.
 To do so requires us to craft out our time intentionally to be still
before Him. A busy person can never be still and hear God.
 Consecration is not activity. It is a transaction of the heart.
 “Kadesh” is the Hebrew word for consecrate.
 Give time and attention for God. It’s about the posture of our heart.
We can be driven by a lot of things. When we are driven, we cannot
consecrate. Consecrate means to be sanctified, to choose that which is
holy. (Be hallowed, set yourself apart, dedication, sanctify)
 Why? Because God promises us amazing things when we carve out
time to be still before Him. That means He will do beyond what we can
ever imagine (God’s creative act – amazing things, wonders!).
 Consecrating ourselves to the Lord is like washing ourselves. “They
bathe themselves and change their clothes.” It is a symbol of
purification. [In Gen 35:2-3, recognizing the importance of coming
before God to build an altar, Jacob told his household, maids and all,
to consecrate by bringing all the idol and unclean things and change
clothes, as a symbol of heart purification before the Lord, entering
into a new season.]
 God takes us seriously. He prepares us. He has amazing things in store!
As children of God, we have an inheritance!
3. Confront the situation and step out in faith
 Justification: We are declared righteous by what Jesus did for us.
 Sanctification: We are made holy. We participate with God.
 We have to choose how we respond – whether or not to step out.
 Sometimes, faith is spelt “RISK”.
 At this point, the people broke camp (v14) even while the Jordan is
at
flood stage (v15). The priests kept walking into the water. God started
the miracle not at Gilgal, but 20 miles up north without the knowledge
of the priest. Gilgal was the point of crossing.
 At any point, instead of revealing everything, God reveals the things
we need to know. We can be doing yet the miracle has not yet
happened. Don’t give up. Look at the Ark of the Covenant.
 The Ark went in front, middle while they were crossing, and after they
crossed over completely the Ark came up. What is the Ark? It is the
presence of God. Follow/cultivate the presence of God. It comes by
daily spending time in God’s Word.
 The children of Israel were told not to look at the circumstances, or
Joshua, or the priests, etc. They were told to look at the Ark.
 The absence/presence of problem is not the deciding/determining
thing. The main thing that determines our destiny is whether God is
present or absent. We need to be presence-led, not
performance-driven. The purposes of the Ark are to show us the way
and make the way for us.
 Everything you do with your own strength for yourself will come to
nought. The key is the PRESENCE!
Conclusion
In this journey of faith, God wants to lead us to cross over with Him to
our next level. We can transit successfully and cross over well. All we
need to do is to hear what God is speaking and move with Him!
Joshua 4:23-24 – When we transit and cross over with God, we transit
well “so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of
the Lord is powerful and so that you might always fear the Lord your
God.”