Joshua told the people, “Consecrate yourselves, because the Lord will do wonders among you tomorrow.” – Joshua 3:5
Each year at FRBC Pastor Andy shares with us the theme of the year that God has laid on his heart. For 2020 that theme is “Consecration.”
To be consecrated is to be “set apart” and “fully committed” as a vessel for God. As Pastor Andy shared with us in the first message of 2020, this means that we will:
Follow God where He is at work.
In Joshua 3:1-4, God had His people do three things before crossing the Jordan into the Promised Land. He had them PAUSE to prepare themselves. In that time He told them to WATCH for the Priests to take up the Ark of the Covenant and set out. And He told them to FOLLOW at a distance out of reverence and so that they could see where He was leading. That will be at the heart of everything we do this year at FRBC.
Consecrate ourselves for God’s Work in us and through us.
In Joshua 3:5, God tells them to prepare through consecration. That meant that they were to ready themselves in purity and reverence to see God’s work in their midst. We are committed to walking in purity and holiness before the Lord this year. In consecration, we will GIVE the LORD our very best and not our left-overs. We will also fully commit ourselves to Him through LOVE, REVERENCE, FAITH, and SUBMISSION.
GO when & where He leads.
When the children of Israel saw the Priests carrying the Ark head toward the river it must have been a shock because Joshua 3:15 tells us that the river Jordan was out of its banks because this was the harvest season. But they followed in obedience anyway. As the people followed and the Priests stepped into the Jordan, God did just as He said and He stopped the water and every one of them crossed on dry ground. God made a way. We believe God will continue to call us beyond our comfort zone and we want to follow whenever and wherever He leads. We believe that God is still doing “wondrous” things!