Hi, this is Dave Olson. I'm the senior leader of
Heartland Church located in Ankeny, IA.
I hope the following message challenges and courages and
ultimately changes you. Thanks for joining us.
Well, today I I get to continue in a a little bit of a vein of
teaching that I started in my first sermon here at Heartland
Church couple weeks ago and I I talked a few weeks ago about
camping before crossing over. And today I want to talk to you
a little bit more about crossing over.
But maybe you see up here on the platform this morning, you see,
I have some things stuffed under here that are tennis shoes.
And the title of my message today is called New Shoes.
Everybody say New Shoes. Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word this morning.
Father, there is none like you. And so right now we open our
hearts. We open our minds to the
teaching of the word of God and Lord.
I ask that you help me to bring the supply of the Spirit.
This morning we give you full permission to do what you want
to do in this place, in Jesus name.
Amen. So in this message today, I
really want to empower you to cross over into a new size with
God. A new dimension with God and a
new territory. A new size and a new territory
with God. I want to get you ready as an
individual and as a church, for what is coming at our doorstep.
Pastor Dave has been ministering for several weeks about taking
the region and taking it by faith in the Spirit first.
And I want to continue in that same vein of the Spirit and talk
to you about crossing over with some new shoes.
We're going to go to the scriptures today, Joshua,
Chapter 3. I'm going to read this to you
this morning. I'm reading out the New Living
translation this morning. We'll put it up on the screen
starting in verse two. It says this three days later.
The Israelite officers went through the camp giving these
instructions to the people. When you see the Levitical
priests carrying the arc of the covenant of the Lord your God,
move out from your positions and follow them.
Since you've never traveled this way before, they will guide you.
Stay about 1/2 mile behind them. Keeping a clear distance between
you and the Ark. Make sure you don't come any
closer then, Joshua told the people.
Purify yourselves for tomorrow. The Lord will do great wonders
among you. I have three simple points for
my message today. Get ready.
Prepare your heart. It's time for some new shoes.
Let's look at this section of scripture again, he says.
Three days later, the Israelite officers went through the camp
giving these instructions to the people.
When you see, when you see, when you see the Levitical priest
carrying the arc of the covenant of the Lord your God, you see
back in those days. The presence of God was housed
in this in and around this wooden box known as the Arc of
the Covenant. It was a wooden box covered with
gold. It was placed inside of a tent
known as a Tabernacle, and when they placed it inside of the
Tabernacle, God's presence would come and abide on the top area
of that arc known as the Mercy Seat.
And so God had told his people, I'm going to bring you out of
Egypt, and I'm going to bring you into a promised land.
And they were traveling with God.
They had left Egypt, that slavery, that old form of life.
They were in Egypt for 400 years, learning to think like a
slave, learning to function like a slave.
Learning to process life like a slave.
Getting their bats backs beaten like a slave.
Learning what it is to be enslaved.
But God brought them out. Amen.
And he brought them through this wilderness season of life where
they were growing their character, and they were
learning to hear God again, to hear the real one true God.
To differentiate His voice from the voice of the idols and false
gods of Egypt. And they were learning to hear
his voice, to obey his voice, to believe His voice.
To trust God Almighty. And God had brought them through
this wilderness season and right up to the edge of a promise of
the Promised Land. When they came out of Egypt, God
parted the Red Sea. And they came over, and when
they came up to the promised land, God was about to part
another set of waters, the Jordan River, and bring them
into the promise. And we find the people of God
camped right before they're about to enter in, and God in
his grace and in his love. Recognizes that the people of
God are about to go through a big change, and in his grace he
comes to them through Joshua and the elders.
And he says get ready. Change is on the horizon.
Prepare your hearts to receive what I'm about to do.
It's going to be time for some new shoes.
Get ready. Everybody say get ready, he
said. When you see, when you see, when
you see God on the move. God at that time was with them
through the arc of the covenant. We don't have the arc of the
covenant today as believers. We have the Spirit of God on the
inside of us, and we have the Spirit of God among us as a
congregation of His people. And yet, God is still on the
move. And I want to tell you today,
God is on the move. When you see God on the move,
you better recognize it. You better prioritize it and you
better mobilize with it when you see.
God on the move, he said. Here, when you see the priest,
the Levitical priests with the arc of the covenant starting to
move, see it. We could say when we see our
spiritual leaders, those that got us placed in our lives, as
our spiritual leaders stand before us and give us fresh
direction, be ready. To move, recognize it,
prioritize it, and mobilize with it.
Get ready, he says. Right here, he says.
Move out from your positions and follow them.
Follow them. Follow them.
Get ready. To follow, you know, God
wouldn't say this if we weren't going to be tempted not to.
God wouldn't say hey when you see them if there is a
possibility that you wouldn't, God wouldn't say.
Keep your distance. Keep a healthy distance if it
wasn't possible. For you to run out ahead of God
and miss his direction for your life.
So don't When this occurs and it's coming, don't run ahead of
God thinking you have it all figured out.
Think about who he's talking to here.
He's talking to the Israelites who've been walking in the ways
of God for 40 years. There might be a tendency for
someone who's been walking with God for 40 years to think they
have how God works all figured out.
I think it's good among us to know those who are elders in the
faith. In fact, if you're here this
morning and you've been walking with God for 40 years, would you
raise your hand? Let's give them a hand.
Look at them, guys. That doesn't happen by accident.
If you're looking for some advice in your life, you think
about those people who just had their hand raised.
They've been through a thing or two.
So he's saying here, get ready, keep watching.
God is about to do something miraculous.
Keep a healthy distance. Watch God.
Have your leaders backs, but don't overtake them.
God's about to do something new and you want to be ready.
In the book of Genesis, it begins within the beginning and
it talks about how God by his spirit was hovering over the
waters. And here at a heartland church,
the Spirit of God is hovering over the waters.
Do you hear him today? Have you been in a season of
your life where you're coming up to a Jordan River moment?
Is God hovering over your life, over your waters today?
I need you to get ready. Those waters are about to part,
and your miracle is in the following.
In the following, that was point number one.
Get ready #2. Prepare your heart.
If you're distracted, you're going to miss it.
If you're disenfranchised with God because of the pain of the
past, because of the pain of the church, you're going to miss it.
The church is real people. Jesus is perfect, people are
not. And if you're stuck
disenfranchised because of the pain of people, you're going to
miss moving into your promised land if you're too distant from
God. You're going to miss it.
If you're in denial that God is moving you through a change,
you're going to miss it. But Scripture tells us in Hebrew
and James Chapter 4, if you draw near to God, he will draw near
to you. You may feel totally distant
today, but if you'll make a decision in your heart today
that you're ready to move with God.
And you'll draw near to God. He will draw near to you, and he
will minister to you where you're hurting.
He will minister to you where you're disenfranchised.
He will minister to you where you feel distant.
He will show himself strong once again, Romans 8 says.
All, all those who are led by the Spirit of God.
They are the sons of God, all those who are led by the spirit
of God. They are the daughters of God.
You know, in our life, we're tempted to look at the
circumstances around us and question God, God.
Are you even real God? It doesn't feel like you're here
with me today when my teenagers are arguing.
It doesn't feel like your presence is with me.
When I have to go to school for another school year that I don't
want to go to, it doesn't feel like you're with me.
When the boss yells at me every day of the week, it doesn't feel
like you're with me, but God is saying today that you're about.
To cross over. Don't miss it, don't give up on
it. Don't judge the circumstance by
your surroundings. Recognize where you're at by the
spirit today. Prioritize his will for your
life today and be ready to mobilize.
When he moves you, you know it's possible.
To be standing in the midst of the presence of God and miss him
completely. Isn't this what happened with
Jesus, the very Son of God, came in the flesh, born of a virgin,
and the people in his own hometown said who is this?
But Peter, by revelation said you are the Christ, the Messiah.
The Son of God. And if we're not careful, we can
miss Jesus sitting right next to us in the room.
Everybody turn to your neighbor, say, are you Jesus?
Now we know. We know.
We live with these people. We know they're not Jesus.
But they got some Jesus in them. Amen.
We're all on a Jesus journey and each day we don't give up.
We look more and more and more like him.
You know it's possible to be stubborn.
Don't look at your neighbor now. It's possible to be bald headed.
Come on, it's possible to be fearful.
So fearful in our life that our heart is not prepared for the
moment of crossing over. And God, in his great love for
us, will send us back into the wilderness 40 more years.
For some more character development until we'll come to
the point that we're humble enough to say I tried it my way,
I can't do it all on my own. You are God and I am not.
You are good and I have to trust you and I do.
God and his great love will be patient.
With your stubborn self. But then sometimes he sends
somebody by your path who's trying to warn in trying to say
to you, God wants to bring you over as a people, God wants to
bring you over. Individually, God wants to bring
you over and your family. And God wants to bring you over
as a church family into a promised land.
Some of you take pride. Oh, Lord, you're taking me here.
All right. Delore is funny.
Some of you guys take pride in your stubbornness.
Oh, somebody. I'm feeling some of my
Pentecostal roots coming out right now.
Some of you guys, some of you gals.
You blame it on your ethnic heritage?
Hey, I'm German. Germans aren't known for being
flexible. They designed the BMW.
Everything's. Exact in its order, some of you
you know you came up in a family.
You learned the only way to survive was to be as bullheaded
as the leader of your family, and somewhere along the way
instead of. Standing up for your personal
boundaries, which is good and healthy, you know, you took that
as a sense of self, that you're not just strong willed, you're
not just a person of resolve. You're a person who just doesn't
like change, and you're not going to change.
Some of you have had the same chair in your living room for 20
years. The Lord, really?
This is not in my notes. And your your your spouse says
to you it's time to. Don't you think it's time to get
a new chair? And you say, are you kidding?
This thing's just getting broke in.
You old stubborn one, or you young, stubborn one, wanting to
have it your way, but always having to have it your way can
get in the way of having it God's way.
And so I'm just here in a loving way, to prepare your hearts.
Get ready. Prepare your heart for change.
Going back to the scriptures, it's a little hot in the room
right now. Then Joshua told the people,
purify yourselves for tomorrow, for tomorrow.
The Lord will do great wonders among you.
And I'm here to say this morning that tomorrow is coming.
There's going to be a moment when our leader, Pastor Dave,
stands up before us with some fresh direction and we're going
to have to decide, are we moving with God or am I going back to
my worn in easy chair? There's a moment coming in your
life today. I don't know who you are, but I
have a feeling you're all around the room this morning, even
online and in our balcony. God's saying, there's fresh.
There's a fresh season of promise coming tomorrow, but
you've got to be ready and have your heart prepared for what
he's about to do. And my last point today is it's
time for some new shoes. It's time somebody clapped
because they like shoes. Oh, I guess there's a lot of
people like shoes in here today. What do I mean?
It's time for some new shoes. Think about this for a moment.
Joshua sent the officers into the camp to tell them that
tomorrow, God's going to work a miracle.
They didn't know exactly what that miracle was going to be at
the time, but they knew that they're going to move out with
the presence of the Lord. And just like we found out by
reading the scriptures that just like he parted the Red Sea and
brought them into the wilderness, he, He can part any
river he wants. He can part any situation he
wants. He can part any background he
wants. He can part any limitation that
you have for him that he wants. What you think is in the way is
child's play to him. You're talking about the
creator, the inventor, the one who holds every situation
together, every circumstance of life together.
He's over it, all in it all through it all.
He can get in it and part it at any moments.
Do you believe him? That's who we're talking about
today, and Joshua's coming to them.
He's saying change is on the horizon.
Get ready. Prepare your heart when you see
God starting to move. When you hear God starting to
move. When you hear the tramp, tramp,
tramp of the feet of the leaders of God and you start to hear
them going with the with the spirit of God and the angels of
God, and you start to see them moving, I need you to be ready.
I need you to recognize it. I need you to prioritize it.
I need you to mobilize with the movement of God.
And you're going to need in this new season, you're going to need
some new shoes. You say, well, where do you get
that Pastor Adam? From that passage we understand
that Moses led them through the wilderness, handed it over to
Joshua, and Joshua has given them this direction.
But when you look in Deuteronomy 29, it summarizes the wilderness
season like this. In verse five it says for 40
years I led you through the wilderness.
Yet your clothes and your sandals did not wear out.
Wait a minute. What that means is they're
getting ready to leave the wilderness and go into a
promise. So these shoes that got them
through this season are going to wear out.
They're going to need new shoes again.
In fact, God took care of them with manna in the wilderness.
But once they cross over, no mana, no more.
God took care of them in a new way in the promised land,
through sea time and harvest. I got some things with me today
I want to show you. Here's my old shoes.
OK. Oh, look at this.
I got a box right here. Here's some new shoes.
If you like new shoes in the room, get new shoes.
Would you give me a shout this morning?
How many guys have some shoes that you love?
You just won't. Don't want to throw them away.
You just got them. Oh, God's got your number this
morning. OK.
Look at these old shoes right here.
OK, you know, old shoes, They represent something.
Old shoes represent where you've been.
Old shoes. They get wore out, don't they?
They represent God's faithfulness.
He got you through some things. They represent your trials and
your tests. These things are all worn out.
Look at that. It's no more tread there.
Oh man, look at that. I stepped on something taking
the dog out for a walk. I must have stepped on
something. And isn't that a picture of our
lives? We walk in these old shoes and
sometimes we step in a little something and maybe you step on
a nail and you got a puncture. Maybe you kick something and got
a mark. You have a blemish, You got
stains on this old shoe. But this old shoes gotten you
through a lot. Really.
This old shoe represents old methods, old ways of life, old
processes. These were my this is the old
way I used to work out. It represents my former season.
He even represents my former foot size.
I don't know, maybe that's something when you get older,
your feet expand. I don't know what.
I'm learning so much now that I'm aging.
And then over here we have something called new shoes.
You guys like new shoes. New shoes represent something
else. They represent where you're
going. They represent trust in God's
faithfulness for the future. You can look back on where
you've been and you can say, well, I like some things about
the fit of that old season, but man, that old seasons wore out.
I feel like God's got something new for me.
New shoes. New shoes represent new paths,
new methods, new ways of life. You get new shoes for a new
season. New shoes represent your current
and future size. How many of you guys around the
room are at the place where you don't buy shoes for your future
size anymore? And how many of you around the
room you're still buying shoes for growth into a new size?
Yeah, yeah, new shoes for a new season.
You know, it's interesting. How do you know when your
current shoes are about ready for a change?
Well, I say things get gloriously uncomfortable.
The shoes go from worn out. From worn in to worn out.
Yeah, at one point you're like, yeah, they're nice and then like
2 weeks later they're like hitting you in places that they
shouldn't, right? They've gone from worn in mature
shoes to worn out shoes. They're not going to carry you
into your new season. How else do you know when it's
time to change shoes? When the size of the footprint
on the inside is bigger than the restrictions on the outside?
How else do you know it's time for new shoes when the seasons
change? Now I'm a man, so I I've had to
learn a lot about shoes. But as far as I understand, a
lot of ladies wear certain shoes in certain seasons.
Is this right, ladies? OK, so.
So I think what happens is they go into their closet and they
go, those shoes are no longer for this season.
These shoes are. And if they don't have those,
they go on to the Internet or to the stores and they go, yeah,
it's a new season. I need some new shoes for my new
season. Am I right now?
Now, I'm not saying that guys don't like shoes.
How many guys do like shoes? Yeah, I like shoes.
Yeah, I just don't know all the intricacies of seasons for
shoes. How do we know when it's time
for new shoes with God? How do we know when it's time?
Like, I really like those. I don't want everything to
change. I'm not stubborn, stiff, necked
person. I I don't need them to change.
They're good. I'll put up with the fact that
they don't look good anymore. To everybody else, I'll.
I'll put up with that. And that's how it is when we
walk with God sometimes, like, we know it's not working, but we
do it anyways. And everybody around us that
loves us is trying to give us clues.
Like, hey, it's snowy out and you're wearing sandals.
That's like another believer coming up to you and say, hey, I
think God's trying to get you to make a change, but you're being
stubborn. Now often times we don't speak
like that to one another, but we should, we should be able to
handle that. We've kind of watered down our
ability to communicate truth in love to one another without
getting hurt all the time. But today, really, what I'm
trying to say to you is, Are you ready to recognize God on the
move? Are you ready to prioritize what
he's set to do? Are you, Are you ready to
mobilize? Get active to to put on some new
shoes for a new season. Now, I'm not here telling you
that Heartland Church is changing its DNA.
I'm not here telling you that Jesus is changing.
He's the same yesterday, today and forever.
But I am here to prepare you today to ready your heart today
that God is about to move. There is a tomorrow coming, and
it's really close. New shoes.
Oh, look at this heartland church.
It's like, look at these shiny new shoes.
See, these shoes are kind of wore out.
These shoes, they're ready to get worn in.
I remember when I was a little kid, I'd get new shoes, I
thought. And at that time they were
called Fastbacks. It's a long time ago, but I
remember I get my new shoes and I always felt like I could run
faster. And my parents, you know, I
would, I'd be in the store. And my parents, I could see them
having silent conversations. Like you think we can afford
that? Yeah, we can afford that.
Okay. And then my dad would say, hey,
why don't you try those shoes out?
Why don't you run across the room?
I look back at him. I can run here inside.
That's like us saying at church. I can dance here.
I can jump up and down here. I can worship God like this
here. I can run in the Holy Ghost
here. What?
Yeah, whatever God says to do in order we can do in our new
shoes. But something happens sometimes.
We get these new shoes. We're ready for the new shoes.
We're the old. Rejoice it over the new shoes.
And we don't get rid of the old shoes.
Oh, would you think with me for a minute about your own closet?
How many old shoes do you have in your closet?
You've been walking through the wilderness for 40 years, and
you've got some old shoes in your life.
You've got some old habits, you've got some old thoughts,
you got some old processes. And it even shows up in the
natural You got some old shoes in your closet.
You don't even wear them out anymore.
But the thought of being able to go back and wear them out,
you're just happy about that. Some of you guys have shoes from
the 1990s, and then of course you have shoes that are out of
season, but they're out of like this Earth season.
Like you're never going to go back to those shoes.
Just admit it. You've got to learn.
We've got to let go. And what happens sometimes is we
had such good moments in our old shoes, coming through the
wilderness of our spiritual life.
I mean, remember those victories we had?
Remember those great moments we had with God?
Remember those miracles that he worked in our finances?
Remember those miracles He worked as he He gave us
children, or He did this or that.
Or he gave us a a career move or a promotion.
Oh, man. And that's all tied to that old
shoe. That's all tied right here.
And I don't want to get rid of that.
I might lose it, but the problem is not the shoes.
The same God who's been faithful in the journey is going to be
faithful over here in the Promised Land.
And sometimes what happens is we hoard so much of our old ways
and our old processes up in our lives that we have no room to
embrace what is new. I walked into my closet one day
and I look around and my wife and I share a closet, and all
over the closet we just got all these shoes.
We got all these shoes. And it's it's as much my fault
as it is hers. I mean, we've got a lot of there
was a lot of shoes. I couldn't even work through all
the stuff to find the shoes that I wanted that day because I had
so much baggage from the past, and I'll take ownership for
that. I also say this my wife's the
type of person that when she hears God, she gets ready and I
come home another week and God had spoken to us.
We were about to go through change and she had went into
that closet and she had pulled out all kinds of stuff.
And there was this just this big pile of stuff saying that's the
old season, I'm ready for God to do something new.
And in our lives, I think it's time for us to admit to
ourselves. We've walked through a good
wilderness time. We've walked through some things
with God. We've learned some great
lessons. He's built our character.
He's gifted us. He's brought us to this moment.
He's brought us to the edge of the promised land, and tomorrow
he's bringing us into something new.
I'm going to have to get some new shoes, So what am I going to
do with the old ones? I need to recognize what God's
doing. I need to prioritize what God's
doing, and I need to get ready to mobilize into what God's
doing. I need to look through my old
shoes and take account of what I'm not bringing with me.
I'll bring my memories of God's faithfulness, but I'm not going
to bring the parts of it that stunk.
Are you hearing me this morning? Where you at this morning?
With God? Have you been running in your
own shoes? Running in your own works?
Running in your own ability to get things done, working really
hard in your life to try to prove something to someone.
There is only one there is only one that really matters, and
that is God Almighty. And no amount of work in your
own strength is going to gain you peace with God.
The only way you're going to experience peace with God in the
season that He's bringing you into today is by letting go of
your old shoes, your old self, and accepting Jesus Christ as
your personal Lord and Savior. All around the room today,
there's people on a journey, Different places on the journey.
And some in this room today have accepted Jesus Christ.
And you've been walking with him for years.
If that's you, would you raise your hand?
And then there's some around the room today and you've accepted
Jesus as your Lord and Savior, but you're you'd say I'm pretty
new. Like I've been walking with him
for maybe less than three years, but I'm really, I'm growing and
I'm liking it. If that's you, would you raise
your hand? Yeah.
And then there's some in the room today who've come into this
room by an invitation, and you're going, I'm ready to
accept Jesus into my life and to walk with him.
I'm going to lead the whole congregation in a prayer today
to receive Jesus Christ as the Lord.
And I would encourage you in your seat right where you're at
or online, to pray this prayer with the congregation.
And then when we're done, we're going to have an altar ministry
team up front. I ask that you make your way
down to the front and let them know that you prayed this prayer
to receive Jesus as your savior with every eye up and everybody
looking around. Let's all pray.
Oh, I got you out of your religion at that moment.
Jesus said if you confess me before men, I'll confess you
before the Father. He didn't save you.
Bow your head. But it's okay to bow your head.
So just say this with me. Say God in heaven.
I believe in Jesus. He died for my sins and rose
from the dead. And today I make Jesus the Lord
of my life. Thank you for saving me.
Amen. Amen.
Someone around the room prayed that for the first time today,
let's give him a hand. Someone else in the room, You've
been walking with God for a while.
You have your your things all in motion, and God is upsetting
your apple cart here a little bit this morning saying that
change is on the way and you need some extra help with that.
You'd like someone to pray with you about your current season.
As we dismissed today. Our altar ministry team will be
upfront and I want you to make your way upfront and just tell
them that's me, I I'm that stubborn one or I'm I'm.
I can recognize God speaking to me that change is coming.
I just need someone to walk with me and let them pray with you.
Jesus said that my house is to be a House of prayer, so we
should always be able to get prayer in our local church.
Finally, new shoes for a new season.
I have a unique and creative challenge for this congregation.
I have this wonderful opportunity of doing like this
miniseries of two messages in a row on new shoes.
If you can't handle it, don't come back for two weeks.
I want you to do a prophetic act with me to prepare your life
individually, your family and this House of worship to cross
over into the promised land. We're going to have a little bit
of fun, but this is something that happens between weeks.
I want you to go home. I want you to walk into your
closet. Yeah, I want you to look at your
shoes, and I want you to look at which ones represent the old
you, the old season, the old way of life.
Let the Holy Spirit speak to you and I want you to bring them
back to church with you next week.
We are going to have a powerful moment in our service next week
where you let go of your old shoes to say unto God I'm ready
to cross over. Oh, man.
Don't be surprised at the emotion that comes up when
you're in your closet. Somehow we get tied to physical
things. And God is saying to you this
morning, are you willing? Will you be ready?
Will you see me? I'm right in your midst.
I'm. I'm right here.
I'm right in the room. Are you ready?
Is your heart prepared? Are you willing?
Sometimes that's a process you got to get willing.
You need to talk some things out with God.
You need to let go. So as we finish today I'm going
to ask our altar ministry team if if you're approved for alter
ministry team, if you'd come up several of you, I'd appreciate
it. We're going to end in a spirit
of consecration this morning. If you made Jesus the Lord of
your life this morning, when we end, come on up and see one of
these people and just tell them. If you're in this place this
morning and you just like someone to believe God with you,
to let go and to move in, then you come up and ask for prayer.
And maybe you're here this morning and you're like, I don't
need someone to pray with me, but I just need some time in the
presence of God. This sanctuary this morning is
now a place where you can just come into the presence of God
when we dismiss. Just come on up, get on your
knees, lift your hands if you want or just stand.
The worship team is going to worship as we end this morning
because this is a two-part series we're we're just entering
in this morning and we'll culminate it next week.
Heavenly Father, we recognize what you're doing and we
prioritize this move. We see that you're about to
bring us into a fresh miracle season, and we want to be a
part. Show us the old shoes of our
lives. Make us ready for the new in
Jesus name. Amen.
Thanks for listening to our podcast.
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