Heard On Sunday - Planting Seeds of Faith: When God Asks Us to Cast Our Nets Copy

There's something profoundly stirring about threshold moments—those times when everything that has been is about to give way to everything that will be. The Israelites experienced such a moment when they stood at the edge of the Jordan River, forty years of wilderness wandering behind them, the Promised Land stretching out before them.

Today, many churches find themselves at similar crossroads. The landscape of faith in America is shifting. Urban centers are changing. People are moving. And in the midst of all this movement, a critical question emerges: Will the church move with courage into the harvest fields that surround us, or will we remain comfortable spectators in our own spiritual journey?

The Pattern of Displacement

History reveals a troubling pattern. From AD 500 to 1518, the church didn't actually grow—it merely exchanged real estate, trading Africa for Europe with roughly the same number of believers occupying the same amount of territory. Today, we may be repeating this pattern, swapping inner-city influence for suburban comfort, leaving behind communities desperately in need of gospel transformation.

But God's call has never been to retreat. It's always been to advance.

The Joshua Moment

The book of Joshua opens with a divine mandate that echoes across the centuries: "After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' assistant, 'Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them'" (Joshua 1:1-2).

This wasn't merely a geographical relocation. It was a spiritual crossing—a movement from preparation to possession, from promise to fulfillment, from waiting to claiming what God had already declared was theirs.

Notice what God says next: "Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you" (Joshua 1:3). The land was already theirs by divine decree, but they still had to walk into it. They had to put feet to faith.

Three Times: Be Strong and Courageous

Three times in this passage, God commands Joshua to be strong and courageous. In Hebrew grammar, repetition signals emphasis, and triple repetition demands attention. Courage isn't the absence of fear—it's doing what needs to be done despite the fear.

Why does courage matter so much? Because the work of kingdom advancement has never been for the timid. It requires:


But here's the beautiful promise woven throughout this passage: "Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you" (Joshua 1:5). And again: "Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go" (Joshua 1:9).

Courage isn't manufactured from within ourselves. It flows from the presence of God.

Every Believer Has a Role

One of the most significant truths in the Joshua narrative is that taking the Promised Land wasn't just the leader's job—it required the entire community. Every tribe had a role. Every family had a responsibility. Every person contributed their unique gifts and abilities to the collective mission.

The same is true today. The body of Christ functions effectively only when every part is working as designed. Romans 12 reminds us that we all have different gifts according to the grace given to us. Some are gifted in teaching, others in serving, still others in encouraging, giving, or leading.

The tragedy occurs when believers become spectators rather than participants—when we consume spiritual content without contributing to spiritual work, when we critique from the sidelines rather than engage on the field.

The Munus Triplex: Three Spheres of Influence

Reformation theology speaks of the munus triplex—the three ordained offices through which God works in the world:

1. The Prophetic Function (the Church) - speaking truth and providing spiritual guidance
2. The Priestly Function (the Family) - nurturing, discipling, and forming character
3. The Kingly Function (Government) - establishing justice and order

All three spheres are broken and in desperate need of gospel transformation. The church has compromised in many places. Families are fragmenting at alarming rates. Government has lost its moral compass.

But here's the vision: What if the church became the forge where these three spheres are welded back together? What if we stopped merely criticizing broken systems and started becoming the means of their transformation? What if we loved our communities so tangibly that people couldn't help but encounter the aroma of Christ?

From Inward to Outward

Too many churches operate with an inward focus—programs designed primarily to serve existing members, budgets spent mainly on internal comfort, energy devoted to maintaining what is rather than pursuing what could be.

The call of Joshua demands an outward orientation. God didn't bring His people to the Promised Land to huddle together in self-protection. He brought them there to be a light to the nations, to demonstrate what life under God's rule looks like, to be the means by which others encounter the one true God.

This requires more than good intentions. It demands:


The Harvest Is Ready

Jesus said, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few" (Matthew 9:37). That statement remains true. Communities all around us are ripe for gospel transformation. People are searching for identity, meaning, and hope in all the wrong places—in political movements, sexual expression, career success, or material accumulation.

They're playing God, trying to define themselves rather than discovering who God created them to be. And they're miserable.

The church has the answer. We know where true identity is found—in Christ alone. We know where lasting hope resides—in the resurrection. We know what transforms communities—the gospel lived out in word and deed.

But knowing isn't enough. We must cross our own Jordan Rivers and enter the land God has given us.

The Promise That Empowers

Here's the comfort for those who feel inadequate to the task: everything God commands, He empowers us to do. We don't move forward in our own strength. We advance in the confidence that "if God is for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31).

The same God who brought Israel through the Red Sea, sustained them in the wilderness, and brought them to the Jordan's edge goes with us into every challenge. He doesn't send us alone. He goes before us, walks beside us, and works through us.

This isn't about building our own kingdoms. It's about participating in His. It's about seeing His kingdom come and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven. It's about communities transformed by the gospel, thriving for generations because God's people had the courage to cross over.

The Jordan awaits. The Promised Land stretches before us. The harvest is ready.

Will we have the strength and courage to arise and go?