Sheryl Brady - It's Time for a Change

Let’s go into the Word for a few moments today. I don’t want to hold you long because I know you have a lot of things going on. But today we’ve set aside this time; we’ve set aside this moment. We said, «This is my church time; this is my service time. It’s when I go into the Word of the Lord.» So today we’re going to go into the Book of Joshua. Joshua is where we’re going to go, the very first chapter, and I’m going to begin reading around the first verse. I might skip around a little bit, but the very first verse says, «Now after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spake unto Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses' minister, saying, 'Moses, my servant is dead. Now therefore arise and go over this Jordan, thou and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel. And every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses.'» So if you want it, He’s saying here, «Walk on it. If you want it, you’ve got to walk on it.» Down in verse 5, the Lord tells him, «There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life. For as I was with Moses, so shall I be with thee. I will not fail thee; I will not forsake thee. Be strong and of good courage, for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land which I swear unto their fathers to give them.» Verse 7: «Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law which Moses, my servant, commanded thee. Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest.» This Book of the Law, this Word right here, shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein. And then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. «Have I not commanded thee? Do you hear that right there? Have I not commanded thee? Be strong, be strong and of good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed. For the Lord, here we are again, the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.» Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, «Pass through the host and command the people, saying, 'Prepare you victuals, for within three days.'» Oh, y’all know something happens; that number three is big with God. «For within three days, ye shall pass over this Jordan to go in to possess the land which the Lord your God giveth you to possess. Prepare your victuals because within three days, three days, I’m telling you, within three days, something is getting ready to change.» May the Lord add the blessing to the reading of His Word.

Today, I want to take the next few moments and just minister from the subject, «It is time for a change.» It is time for a change. How many of you agree? It is time for something to change in my life. Spirit of God, we thank You because we understand that You are the God that changes times, and You are the God that changes seasons. As we prepare now to feast at Your table, may the Word, Lord, that has been written ages ago become alive in our hearts today. Encourage every man, woman, boy, and girl. Speak to us; make it a Rhema in our spirit, God. Wherever they’re watching from, South Africa or anywhere around the world, where people might be watching us today, I pray that this Word becomes alive in them. Lord, encourage Your people; we thank You in advance for a change. It’s time for things to change. In Jesus' name, Amen and Amen. You may be seated. Listen to me; you may be seated wherever you are. Y’all sit on down; take a load off. If you were standing, sit down. You know it’s funny, but I have received word that some of y’all stand for the reading of the Word. I love y’all for that; I love you for that. I have— you know I love to preach about people in the Scripture. I love to pull up characters and preach about them, and Joshua really is a man for whom I have great appreciation. I grew up; I didn’t know a whole lot about him, but I did grow up singing, «Joshua fought the Battle of Jericho.» If you were in a white church, we would sing, «Joshua fought the battle,» and if you were in an African-American church, we’d say, «Joshua fit the Battle of Jericho.» But I grew up singing about Joshua and how the walls came tumbling down. I knew the song before I knew much about the man, but as I grew older, I began to look into the life of Joshua. The closer I looked, the more I learned about him, and the more I learned about him, the more I began to respect him as a leader. Joshua did not establish the free nation of Israel; Moses was the one who did. But Joshua respectfully succeeded Moses in this task. He finished the work that Moses began, and he…