Next Level Loading | Pastor Earl McClellan

Before God takes you into something new, He often asks you to make a choice. In this message, we look at the life of Joshua and discover that compromise is often the greatest threat to God's calling. As we learn to stand strong against the enemy's schemes, we'll be challenged to deal with what's holding us back and fully commit to Christ, His Church, and His mission. Share this message with someone who God is taking to the next level! 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Okay, we at all of our locations, we just read through a chunk of scriptures from uh Joshua chapter 24, and we went all the way through uh from verse number one to verse number 15. And I love this passage of scripture, it is rich, but for this summer strong, we are reading for the month of June. We're reading a chapter of Joshua every day. Now, if you're not, you're like, No, we're not, because I'm not doing it. I want you to start doing it. You can listen to the Bible if you need to do that, but I want you to listen or I want you to read. And I want all of us as a church being very, very intentional here. I want to talk to husbands and wives. Maybe you can do this together. Maybe you don't have any time where you're connecting spiritually together. This can be the thing that the two of you do together. Maybe you're dating someone right now and you want to find out if they're ratchet or not. Start reading the Bible together. The Lord will open up your heart and open up their heart and open up your, you know, it'll produce conversations that you might not normally have. Uh so invite this roommates, you can do this here because I want us growing and developing spiritually, not just kind of attending church. I'm gonna talk about that in a little bit. That's not the ultimate dream for our life, is not to attend church. There is a savior that we have been called to follow. And I want us doing this day in and day out together. So at the end of the book, Joshua 24, he's you know giving this last address, if you will. Last week, uh Christine Kane, uh, who was here and tore it up, uh, had us in the first chapter. So today we're gonna talk about kind of what's in between. You remember a couple weeks ago, I talked about how our campus pastor here in uh in Dallas, uh Eric Sewing, gave me a Chick-fil-A biscuit with no meat. On purpose. It wasn't a mistake, like he actually said, no meat, and just handed me a biscuit, but I didn't know it was just a biscuit. So all I had was the bread, but nothing on the in the middle. Today, we're gonna talk about what's in the middle of chapter 24 and chapter number one. And we're gonna see if we can make sense of all of this, and all of us come to an even deeper faith in Jesus. This is what I know about you. I know you're awesome, I know that. I know you're loved by God, I definitely know that. But I also know that you don't want to be the same because there's no one that's coming to church on this particular weekend just because you want to stay in neutral. You have a hunger in your heart to mature and to grow. And since you have that hunger and desire, I'm believing that God's going to meet you at your level of expectation today. And if you're saying, God, I want to be different, God, I don't want to look at the world the same. I don't want I don't want to look at my life the same. I don't even want to look at you the same. I want to grow, I want to mature. If you'll stay if you'll stay leaned in right there, I think God is going to meet you. And today we're gonna leave here better than we came in. The title of today, if you like to take notes, is Next Level Loading. Next level loading. I uh I'm reading through this book of Joshua, and it is filled with so many powerful stories. Um but there are some themes that jumped out at me that I felt like God wanted us to talk through. Here they are. The first one is calling, next one is crossing, next one is conquering, and the next one is compromise. Calling, then we've got what's the next, what did I say what the next one was? Crossing, that's right. Then I said the next one was what? Conquering, and then it's what? Compromise. Here are some major themes that I see throughout this entire book, from chapter one all the way through chapter 24. Here's some of the meat of the book. Now, now, all of those don't connect with every single piece that is in the book of Joshua. This is just an overarching theme, and I like this overarching theme that dropped into my heart for us because I see a very real parallel to you and I becoming who God has called us to be. I see this calling, this crossing, this conquering, and this compromise. I see it connected to how you and I live our faith in Christ. So let's begin to break this down. Now, first, there is a very literal and historical context to the book of Joshua. We're not gonna get into that today. I don't have time. I am not speaking allegorically, but more uh trying just to connect the dots for us that the story that we're reading here in Joshua is also kind of our story. And I don't want us to be disconnected from the scriptures, I want us to enter into it today, and I'm praying that our eyes will open, our ears will be open, and our hearts will be set on fire, and we'll move forward in our walk with God. Let's begin with this calling piece. He calls Joshua and he says, Joshua, you're the one. You're the one that's gonna lead these people. You're gonna lead all of these people. And then Esther he calls Joshua, then Joshua leads them to cross the Jordan River, and they don't have they don't cross the Jordan River when it's really low, they cross it at flood stage, so it's not really perfect circumstances for them to cross, but they end up putting their foot in the water while the water's at flood stage. So do not be surprised when God asks you to do something that does not make a ton of sense because this is what God has done time and time and time again. He asks his people to take steps of faith, he asks his people to do things that are uncomfortable, he asks his people to do things that are not easy, and we believe the lie that easy means it's God's will, and hard means it's the enemy. Not true. As a matter of fact, some of the hardest things you might ever do in your life will not be coming from the devil, it will come from God. You want to forgive somebody that's hurt you, that's God asking you to do that. You want to go ahead and take a step of faith and start a business when you're like, I don't even have all the resources around me. God could be the very one asking you to do that time and time and time again. You know what one of the hardest things people have to do, and one of the hardest things people have to do is be willing to break out of the cycle of isolation that is in our world today and say, I'll actually be in community because the world is trying to tell you to go and hide and stay alone, and it's just you and God, and that's all you need. And I'm telling you that you grow when you're in community together. You grow when you got some other people challenging you, you grow when you got people saying, Hey, I believe in you. I see God's hand on your life. You gotta sit in some circles, not just sit shoulder to shoulder, but you gotta sit in some circles where somebody can look in your eyes and go, hmm, you don't look right. And you go, I know, I'm smoking weed. And I don't need, I don't want to, I don't want to do it anymore. It's been a thorn in my side for years and years and years. I don't even know why weed came to me. I looked at one of y'all and I thought weed. The rover on this side. Wait, shoot, now this side too. Okay, so kidding, kidding. You're like, you're smelling yourself. You gotta have some people in your life that can look at you and go, hey, you good? Are you are you good? Man, we went to dinner, we went on that double date. And you and your wife, are you good? You're gonna have somebody in your life, and God is asking you sometime to do those those hard things, but then you got the conquering. Okay, let me jump into this because uh this is this is uh some good stuff. Um so the the calling piece, I want to connect this now to our walk with Jesus now. The calling of Joshua from the very jump, you have to realize that the name Joshua and the name Jesus are connected. Okay? You can put it on the screen for me. The Greek form and the Hebrew, the Greek name Jesus and the Hebrew name Joshua, they're basically the same name in two different languages. Why does this matter? Now it takes the book of Joshua for me beyond just the historical context of what was happening in that day, and it says, Let me connect you in your day and age to the Savior of the world. That this story is actually even a bigger story, pointing to the ultimate story that Jesus is the one that has been called to be the leader of us as a people, and Jesus is taking us from wandering into the promised land. So I want you to see that from the very jump, Jesus is at the center. Now, since Jesus is at the center, now we're trying to follow Jesus, where Jesus is trying to take us. And where is Jesus trying to take us? He's trying to call us to himself into the promised land, and it requires us to cross into another land when you were lost, when you did not understand that by grace you have been saved through faith. When you were in your sin, and I was in mine, separated from God. There was a call to say you have to follow him. And as you followed him, and there was a day, some of y'all can remember this because it can bring tears to your eyes when you remember the day that Jesus Christ captured your heart. You remember the day that you were you were at the bottom of the barrel. You remember the day that you were like, I don't know which way is up, and God captured your heart. You remember the day that you raised your hand and said, Jesus, you can have all of me. You remember the day that you came forward to an altar and got down on your knees. You remember the day that you're just maybe in your shower at your house, and you're like, oh my God, I don't want to stay why I am anymore. God save me. God take my life. God, I don't want to be going down this path anymore. You remember the day. Maybe you were seven, maybe you were 17, maybe you were 27, maybe you were 57. I don't know when the day was for you, but you remember the day that you said, I'm not following my own way anymore. I'm now following after Jesus. And when that day happened, everything changed for you. It's the reason you're at church today, is because Jesus found you in your loss and in your brokenness and in your wandering. He found you there. And if you don't have that story, maybe that's why some of us are so casual in us following Jesus. Because we kind of just added him on to a life and didn't step into a transformed life. Like if you don't think Jesus saves you from anything, then I can just kind of take or leave Jesus. So this is why we're following Jesus. He's calling us to cross over. And some of us, okay, I don't, I don't, I'm I'm I'm not being mean here, okay? But we're gonna talk real for a second, okay? Talk real. Some of us we're saying, yeah, I've crossed over, I'm now a Christian. But there's nothing different about our lives from when we were wandering to now when we're saying we're being found. Maybe the only thing that might be different is I go to church. I go to church. I go to church. I go. Oh boy. Do you think Jesus just died? Do you go to church? This beautiful glorious Savior did not give up his life. So you and I could have a little behavior modification. So I have something to do on Sunday. Oh no, friends. There is something that Jesus is wanting to do deep within your soul. I'll just kinda be a good person. I'll become a church, I won't make a bunch of noise, and I'll just kinda one day go to heaven. I'm concerned that some of the theology of our day, some that's in the water, is saying, yeah, that's actually a good life. That's actually the standard for you. But when you're seeing Joshua, and they start following Joshua, Joshua takes them places that requires them to change and to think differently, and to operate differently, and to believe differently, and to walk differently. And this is what Jesus is calling all of us to. Now, there's a scripture, uh I don't think I have it on the screen. Oh, but Luke chapter nine, I think it might be. Let me see if I got this right. I could be wrong. Luke 9. I'm I'm guessing here. Let me read. Oh shoot, I can't find it. Well, I'm not making it up. It's in here somewhere. I think maybe it was Luke chapter 10. But but anyway, uh Jesus says, uh, see, yeah, here it is. Luke chapter 9. Uh-uh. I was like, Luke chapter 9, verse number 23. Then he said to them all, whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. Okay, so this is what these are Jesus' words. Let's talk for a second. Um who has uh Instagram? Who has Instagram at all of our locations? Okay. I'm guessing most of us, you know, do. Um I I have an Instagram account. I'm actually not on it all that much, in all honesty. I'll post and do a video and then I'll send it to, you know, Olu was the one to kind of post it for me. Because I just I don't have time to keep scrolling and scrolling and scrolling and scrolling. Uh so I I'm not I'm not on it a ton. But I decided, okay, I'm gonna start being on this a little bit more because there's a lot of voices out there telling y'all how to live. And I've realized if I don't get my voice out there, you're gonna be listening, letting other people past to you. So I gotta make sure I get my voice out there to kind of help us go the direction that God is wanting us to go. So that's just a little personal conviction I'm now beginning to have, which I don't really want to have, but I want to listen to what the Lord is telling me to do. All that being said, follower is now a different term today than what Jesus said. Here's the problem Jesus says, take up your cross daily and follow me. Well, now we take the word cross, we read it through our language of today, and we take the word follow, and we read it through our language of today. And the only problem with that is cross and follow do not mean to Jesus what they mean to us. Cross to us is ooh, what looks good, a cool moment, something like uh, like I kind of had an emotional response that I can maybe get tattooed, probably on my forearm, maybe I got it on my chest, oh maybe on my thigh. And I get or maybe it's real small behind my ear, and I get the cross, so now I got cross down. Yeah. Now follow. Well, follow to us means I press a screen, and after I press a screen, that means I'm now following. There's no transformation, there is no allegiance to something different, it just means I like that. It does not mean my life has changed. How many people do you follow that you actually just kind of like? How many people do you follow that you don't really like, but they followed you? So you feel like the pressure to follow them back. Although when people come up to me, they ask, hey here, I followed you. Like, oh, okay, you hit me that. I don't even, but that that's the pressure. Now, when I follow you back, or you follow me, that means we'll see if you pop up in my algorithm, I'll look at you for a couple of seconds, but I can scroll past you, or maybe I'll look at your whole feed and I'll go down to the bottom to kind of see what you were doing years ago, but then I can just scroll and get to something else. So now cross and follow can now mean I get a tattoo, I put your screen, and there is no change to my life whatsoever. But Jesus says, I want you to take up your cross daily and follow me. But the cross in Jesus' day, when the person went to it, they died. They took no prisoners. Every time someone went to the cross, they died there. Their life ended there, and so did Jesus'. His life died, he ended on that cross, but he did not stay there. But now you and I want resurrection life, and we're trying to avoid the cross, but Jesus is like the only way you get resurrection life is you have to go through the cross. But if you're willing to go through it, I have something for you on the other side. I think so many of us as followers of Jesus might not be living the abundant life you've been called to live. It's because we're trying to avoid and skip over the cross, but you can't skip the cross and get the life of God. I'll tell you this, I'll tell you this. Uh I I love God's blessings. Oh my goodness, I'm married to a blessing. I got three kids that are blessings, not always, but most times. No, I love them all so much. Uh uh this church, blessing. There's so many blessings, blessings, blessings in my life. But you want to know what what you and I probably need sometimes, even more than a blessing, is a testing. It's a testing. You're like, no, I don't, Earl. You want to know what your faith grows the most?

unknown 21:09

Yeah. That's real.

SPEAKER_00 21:11

You want to know, you want to know when you actually begin to get some depth. You want to know when you when you move beyond Skittles in your Christianity? And you actually gotta have some broccoli, some kale, some asparagus. You you want to know when you and I actually begin to get some roots that go deep into the ground. Do you know that most plants, when it's raining a bunch, their roots aren't that deep because they don't have to work for any of the nutrients? You wanna know when they really begin to grow, it's when there's a drought because they have to dig down so deep into the ground and find some life deep down there. Do you know that you and I we actually begin to grow when we're in we're being fought against, being hit against, we're being Pressured and we're like, God, I got I'm trying to trust you, I'm trying to follow you, I'm trying to believe in you, but I can only do it through tears right now. You want to know when you become a mighty man or a woman of God, it is not skimming on the top of the water, and everything is wonderful. It's when I've been sinking down to the bottom, and I thought I was going to drown, and everything around me seemed like it was losing, I was losing it, and God reached down his hand and found me. So when we say follow, we're not talking how the world says follow. We're talking how Jesus says follow. The Hebrew uh idea behind this is walk after me. You walk after me. So I'm seeing where Jesus is going. I'm walking after him, I'm walking after him. If he goes right, I'm going right. He goes left, I'm going left. If he stops, I'm stopping. I'm walking after him. I'm walking after him. I'm asking myself, I'm asking you, I'm asking Frisco and Oakland Bishop Art. I'm asking San Antonio. I'm asking our online team. I'm asking Dallas. I'm asking every single one of us. When it comes to following, do you feel like you just pushed the button and means you like Jesus? Or have you rearranged your life around the person who saved you and made you new and took you out of the pit of hell and from the direction of hell and said, God, I give you my everything. In the book of Joshua, you're gonna see they had to cross over, they had to cross over, they had to cross over. And the beautiful thing is, man, God's arms are open. Why? He's not saying you're gonna earn your Christianity. You don't have to earn it. This is by grace, you're saved through faith. This is all the free-finished work of God. This is a God gave them a promise that they walked into. A promise that was given to another generation. That's what they walked into in Joshua. They didn't even do anything to earn it. God made it available to them. Now, when they crossed over, when they whether I'm gonna follow Jesus, yes, I'm gonna actually follow. I'm gonna cross over. Some theologians back in the day would use the idea of them crossing the Jordan River with the idea of us being baptized. It's like I'm going public with my faith, but they they've crossed through the Jordan River. Now they got to conquer. Because once you say I'm start following Jesus, that does not mean now you don't have to fight. Um, where's my gi? Where's my gi? Throw that to me, please, sir. Thank you. I got King Jim Jiu-Jitsu right here representing Eddie and Christina. Love them so very much. This is a gi, okay? Um, so I'm not gonna put this on. Smells good. But jujitsu is uh a fighting sport, right? Um I went to Kingdom Jiu-Jitsu. Uh I went once. Uh and loved it. Loved it. Mr. Eddie, who's the owner of Kingdom Jiu-Jitsu, um, kicked my butt. Okay. Uh we wrestled. We we rolled. They call it rolling. We rolled. And uh not rolling like some of y'all might be thinking, like we talked about earlier. Uh I don't know why at all keeps going back to that. Uh we rolled. Now I weigh more than Eddie. I don't know how much more I weigh than him. Um I'm kind of a big back, so I think a lot more than uh than Eddie. And uh so if we were wrestling, we would not be in the same weight class. But I'm at the gym and he's on his back. He literally is on his back, and he's like, okay, come get me. So I go in there, I'm like, alright. I'm gonna beat this man in his own house. And I get on top of him and I'm holding the ghee, I'm holding this thing, but he's holding mine. And um, I'm sweating, and he's not. He's just kind of pulling me and pulling me, and before I know it, I don't know, he's got his legs around my neck, and you know, I'm I'm tapping out. It didn't get that dramatic. But but I do remember like, what is going on here? This guy just kicked my butt. But the wrestling that we were doing, it was up close. It was like it was face to face. Go with me to Ephesians chapter 6, uh, real quick. Ephesians chapter 6. Um start in verse number 10. Ephesians chapter 6 and verse number 10. When you're turning there, some of us have read this before, finally be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle, and some of your Bibles might say for our wrestle, for our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. So now you and I are told by the Apostle Paul in this text that you're in a fight. Now, what's interesting, going back to Joshua, is they're they're called to go conquer land that God has already given them. So they're supposed to go, God says, I've already given you the land. So just because it's yours doesn't mean you don't have to fight for it. Okay? Just because it's yours doesn't mean you don't have to fight for it. If God says, I've got a great marriage for you, it doesn't mean you don't have to fight for it. If God says, I've got an opportunity for you, I've got an open door for you, it doesn't mean you don't have to fight for it. If God says I have a promise for you, it does not mean you don't have to fight for it. But I used to want to break it down the conquering piece. I want to I want to talk about the demons that are trying to mess with so many of us and keep us bound in all types of addictions and pains and lies and trying to keep us in. Sometimes that that lie is you're gonna be anxious for the rest of your life. Sometimes the lie is forever and ever, you're going to be the person that is known by that shortcoming, that thing that happened in your family, that thing that happened in your marriage, that thing that happened to you, that thing that you did, that's gonna be you for the rest of your life. That is now your identity. Your life keeps moving on, but it kind of stopped right there. And once you have some of these things in your life where you think my life stopped there, I'm still alive, but I'm not living anymore. I'm still breathing, but I'm not living anymore. And you know that God has something more for you because Jesus says, I came to give you life, and I came to give you life to the fullest. That does not mean our lives are perfect, but it does mean you have been called to walk in victory and not walk in victimhood. So now, if you have something in your life, and I've got some things in my life that I want to stop at, I want to say I cannot move past that. Now, in order to get past it, this is where you and I have to go to some you did to. You have to roll sometimes with these things that are trying to hold you back. And if you're not willing to fight, then you're telling me you're not willing to be free. But if you're willing to fight, I'm telling you the grace of Almighty God will show up in ways that you never thought possible. And it might not be somebody laid hands on you and now you're all better. It might be day after day after day after day after day, worshiping when you don't feel like it, praying when you don't feel like it, opening your Bible when you don't feel like it, serving when you don't feel like it, giving when you don't feel like it, doing all these things through tears, and the grace of God will be there in ways you never even thought possible. But are you willing to roll? You gotta be willing to fight. It's yours, but you gotta be willing to fight. I gotta do one more of these here, which is compromise. Because he gets to the end. He gets to the end of the book, and he says, Who are you gonna serve? Who are you gonna serve? When you begin to walk through this book, you're gonna see that the the conquering, there was some dividing of the land, some beautiful things happened, but you're gonna see that that by the time you get to the book of Judges, Joshua, then comes judges, you'll discover that some of the people were not driven out of the land. This there's some compromise that was happening, and whenever you and I begin to make some small compromises, we might think that the devil will take the pressure off because we compromise. But the devil does not take the pressure off because we compromise. What actually happens is that the evil digs deeper with the compromise. The evil tries to take a deeper root in your life with the compromise. Okay, I won't look at porn except on the weekends. Okay, I'll I'll just I'll just kind of flirt with these other girls or these other guys that aren't my spouse, but I'm not actually gonna, I'm actually not gonna go all in. I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna actually like try to get with them. Okay, I'm gonna I'm gonna compromise just because there's so much in my head, there's so much going on in my heart. I don't have the time to keep on fighting and fighting and fighting. So let me make a small compromise. And if I make a compromise, then maybe the pressure will let off. And the devil will gladly shake your hand, going, oh yes, let's make that compromise. And the whole time he's got his fingers crossed behind his back because the devil only knows how to steal, kill, and destroy. He is a liar, he's not a truth teller, he's trying to come for your family and your purpose and your destiny. So do not think that if you sit back and quit, then all of a sudden the devil's gonna go, I'm not gonna go after you anymore. So here the compromise is family, it's not worth it, it's not worth it, it's not worth it, and there's too many of us compromising when God has a promise for us. There's something so beautiful He has we're like, well, my friends are I'm kind of better than them. So it's good. I wanted to ask you, I want to ask you, every location, I want to ask you, where do you feel you're compromising right now? Where do you feel? As the Bible put it, you gave the enemy a little foothold. Where do you feel you're compromising? And you kind of feel justified in it. Well, I mean, I'm out looking at porn, so I guess I can let my eyes wander. Where are you compromising just a little bit? I mean, I don't talk about them behind my back, but I haven't forgiven them in my heart. Where are you compromising just a little bit? Are you doing that with your spouse, your roommates, your friends? Are you doing that with the church? Where are you compromising? I think the Lord is saying, hey, I want I want to get in there. I want to get in there. I want to get in there. Because Joshua at the end is like, hey, I want you to choose today whom you're gonna serve. Let me end on that. Joshua chapter 24. Joshua 24. This is part of what we read. Joshua chapter 24. Verse number 15. Man, this is beautiful. But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve. Whether the gods your ancestors served, you can do what your parents did, you can do what culture is doing. Go ahead and do that if you want to. Or you can serve um what you used to do back in your back in the day before you knew Jesus. You can go ahead, you can go back to that if you want to. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord. Verse 16. Then the people answered, I love this. Far be it from us to forsake the Lord to serve other gods. It was the Lord God, it was the Lord our God Himself who brought us and our parents up out of Egypt from the land of slavery and performed those great signs before our eyes. He protected us on our entire journey and among all the nations through which we traveled, and the Lord drove up before us all the nations, including the Amorites who lived in the land, we too will serve the Lord because He is our God. I know all that He's done for me. I'm looking at the beauty of the cross, and I'm like, what Jesus has done, if I'm called to follow him, I'm doing it. So we can have my whole life. So today, at every location, what would it look like if we moved from compromise to fully committed, devoted, followers of Jesus, looking in his face, moving closer to him, being enamored by the beauty and the majesty of who he is? What if that captured our hearts? What would your family look like? What would your future look like? What would your present look like with that type of devotion? At every location, I ask you to do me a favor, bow your heads for just a moment. Yep, bow your heads every location. Campus pastors are coming up. As your heads are bowed, if you're under the sound of my voice, and you've never given your heart and your life to Jesus. If you've never made him first, you've never made him number one, but you're under the sound of my voice today, you're saying, I don't want to go my own way anymore, I want to go the way of Jesus. And maybe there was a time you were following Jesus, but you slipped away, you've gone another direction, and today you're saying, I don't want to go my own way anymore. I want to go his way. On the count of three, I want you to do something simple but bold. I just want you to throw your hand in the air and say, Yes, that's me. I want to give my heart and my life to Jesus Christ. Ready? One, two, three. Just throw your hand up, you're saying, Yeah, that's me. That's me. I want to give my heart and my life to Christ. This is beautiful, friends. There's nothing like this moment right here. You're crossing over, responding to the call to follow Jesus. I'm asking everyone to do me a favor, put your hand over your heart if you would not mind. I want everyone to repeat this prayer out loud after me. Say, Dear Jesus, I ask you to forgive me of all my sins. I admit I made mistakes. And today, I give you my heart, I give you my life, give me the power to live for you in Jesus' name. Amen and amen. Can we lift our heads up, clap our hands?