As we have been covering the last few weeks, the church now stands on the brink of one of the most important advances in history. It is an advance that must take place. If the church continues to wander in the wilderness, it will only wither away. We are called to be sojourners, but not nomads. Sojourners travel to a destination, while nomads just wander. We are coming to the destination that the entire church age has been preparing us for and now we must cross over.

It is true that some of the greatest revivals and spiritual advances in the history of the church have been taking place over the last two decades. In some of these cases, whole regions are being transformed and whole nations are being impacted. Even though these are all a part of a historic beginning, many of these have been more sporadic than systematic. They have accomplished much and given great encouragement to the body of Christ, but are just the forerunners of what is to come. In modern military terms, they have been like the special forces that have been dropped behind enemy lines before the main assault is to begin. It is now time for the main assault.

I wrote in 1987 about a coming spiritual advance which would be so great that many would consider it the harvest that is the end of the age. However, it was not the final harvest, but simply the reaping and preparing of those who would be the laborers for the harvest that truly would be the end of this age. A great wave has come, but an even greater one will follow. It has not yet broken upon the world, but the signs point to it being very near.

When Israel crossed the Jordan River, the first thing they faced was possibly the most powerful, fortified stronghold of all. Jericho seemed impregnable to the entire known world. How would this band of drifters ever conquer Jericho? In every way it was impossible for Israel, but everything since their departure from Egypt had been impossible too. They were now accustomed to doing the impossible. They knew they were dependent on God for the victory, that they had to have a miracle, and so do we. What is coming is far beyond human ingenuity to accomplish.

The conquest of the Promised Land was a combination of the people fighting and the Lord fighting for them. He wanted them to be involved, and they had to have Him involved. It was a partnership, which is the case with every move of God. Those who want God to do everything never accomplish anything, and those who try to do everything themselves always fail. It takes knowledge of the Lord’s ways, wisdom, and understanding to walk the fine line of being yoked with the Lord.

Only the wise and mature will walk this narrow way. Just as Israel drifted from this fine line at times and experienced some defeats, we are foolish and immature if we think we are so wise as not to do the same occasionally. However, like Israel we must resolve to learn from every mistake, keep pressing ahead, and not let the mistakes stop us like they have many revivals, awakenings, renewals, and advances in the past.

Even with the great multitude that the church has now become, what we are facing is still bigger, stronger, and more strongly entrenched than what we can overcome with our numbers or our wisdom. We are facing supernatural strongholds that have had millenniums to sink their roots deeper and deeper into the hearts of men. This is a spiritual battle that will take a remarkable unity and obedience of God’s people just as it did when Israel faced Jericho. It is going to take the supernatural power of God to prevail. It will therefore take great faith in Him to proceed. That is the point.

The crossing of the Jordan River when it was overflowing all of its banks was meant to begin unifying the tribes of Israel in a much greater way than they had ever known before. Their advance began with a great supernatural demonstration from God. They could not have even entered into the land without the Lord. However, He required that they step into the water before He performed the miracle. Our part is, at His directive, to step forward into impossible circumstances.

Likewise, as we have covered, the Jordan River was another emphasis of the baptism to which we are called. Our immersion in the coming re-emphasis of the cross and the crucified life is going to bring an unprecedented unity to the church and dependency on God. After their crossing, two events were required that were intended to seal their unity and commitment to obedience. What were they?

First, Joshua was commanded to have the priests to take twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan River and build a monument that would continually remind all of Israel of their crossing of the Jordan, as we read in Joshua 4:19-24:

This was a crucial deed for Israel. First, it would forever remind them that it was not their wisdom or strength that had enabled them to cross the Jordan, but that the Lord, by His strength, had enabled them to cross over “on dry ground” while the river of death was overflowing all of its banks. Such monuments are important for the generations to come who did not personally witness the things that their forefathers did.

Many movements have not had the wisdom to build monuments concerning what the Lord had done for them, and they withered away after a generation or two. Others came to trouble because they stayed at the monument and began to worship it. Again, there is a ditch on either side of the path of life that we can fall into. Even so, the building of a monument for the right reason is not only the right thing to do, but an important thing to do. It is righteous to always think of the generations to come and to build bridges for them that will keep leading them to the Lord.

The second reason this was important because it reminded all of Israel that there were twelve stones representing twelve tribes. Regardless of which tribe they were a part, they were all a part of one nation. Just as the high priest had to wear the stones of all of the tribes on his breastplate or on his heart, if we are going to walk in the high calling of God we must keep all of God’s people on our heart, not just our tribe.

This is not to negate the fact that there were tribes, all of which were called to have their own territory and purpose. However, they needed to be continually reminded that they were all a part of one great nation that has a common purpose as well. We in the body of Christ also need this constant reminder. It is great to appreciate our movement or denomination with different visions and purposes, but we must never lose sight of the fact that we are all members of one body with an overall vision and purpose to which we must never lose our devotion.

Before Joshua let the priests leave the Jordan, he made sure that this monument was built. I have found that unity is not something which just happens, but we have to work at it, make it an issue, focus on it, and keep bringing it up. One of the things that we started doing the first year we planted our church in Charlotte was to close down all meetings and services for the month of July and encourage our people to visit other churches in the city. This helped to give them a vision for what God is doing in His whole body, not just our little part. We also told them if they find a place where they fit better than with us, be free to stay, letting the Holy Spirit place them in the body where it pleases Him.

Of course, the first week of August we really do not have any idea who will be coming back, but to date there have always been far more than there were at the end of June. Some leave and find a place that they fit better than with us, and we are happy for this. We will miss them, but we feel this is helping to build the whole body, and by sending them out this way we can have fruit that grows in other fields.

We want to walk in the highest purpose of God that we can, and to do this we must, like the high priest, keep the stones of all of the tribes of God’s people on our hearts. The unity of His people was mainly what the Lord prayed about the last night He was on this earth as a man. If you knew tonight was your last night on this earth, do you think your prayers would be focused on what were truly the deepest matters of your heart? I think this prayer reveals the heart of God more than any other teaching He gave. If we are going to be in unity with Him, we will have this same heart for the unity of His people.

Any part of the body that grows without regard to the rest of the body is a cancer. We do not want to be a cancer, but a blessing to the whole body. What we do each July has now become something of a monument. It has been an astonishing thing to many other pastors, causing some to want to get to know us better. It has been extremely intimidating and threatening to those who are overly possessive and controlling with their people, causing them to make harsh accusations about us. We cannot help that. We are doing what we do out of obedience, and it is unquestionably good for us and others. We have been able to help a number of other congregations grow by sending them some very good people.

We really do believe that we are all one body in Christ, and those who go to another part where they fit better helps to bring us closer to the whole body. We have also found that those who stay although they really do not fit will cause far more problems than if they would have left and found where they fit better. No church can be all things to all people, and those who try will inevitably become so shallow that they become weaker with growth, not stronger.

We do not necessarily recommend to anyone else what we do in July, but it does work for us. It is remarkable how much zeal for the Lord the people seem to come back with each August. This obvious new energy always helps to start a significant spiritual advance for us every autumn. We also know that many of the new people who join us each fall come because they hear of the liberty, but even more important than this is that the Holy Spirit is going to be where there is liberty, as we read in II Corinthians 3:17. “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” Also, the Lord made a remarkable promise for those who come into unity, as we read in Matthew 18:19-20:

The Greek word that is translated “agree” here is sumphoneo, which literally means “to be harmonious” or “in one accord.” It is speaking of unity. The power of unity is if just two of us have unity we can ask “anything” and the Father will do it. That is the kind of power that we are going to need for the battles ahead. That is why it is important for us to take the time to build whatever monuments will continually remind us of our unity in Him.