42nd Generation – our life message (Pt. 4)

Last week I began a series on Andrew Shearman’s signature teaching: The 42nd Generation. It’s about a generation that comes into its greatness by leaving its wilderness-thinking behind. Here’s the continuation:

Heaven is a blessing to all Christians, but it is not the destination we should run after while on earth. How many of us live in those 41 wilderness cities? You’ll bleach your bones disinherited as long as you live in these places. We need to get to the Feast of the Tabernacles.

We need to let our past go and decide, “I am not going to live in this nonsense any longer. I am wasting my life. I am not going to resist getting my feet wet to cross the river Jordan.” 1 Corinthians 9:26-27 says, “Therefore do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.” We must be validated by the Christ formed in us.

Joshua circumcised the entire nation. He gives them the mark of God. They were miracle babies because they had enjoyed all the blessings, but they had not been circumcised. They were happy living in the wilderness with daily miracles. Circumcision was a sign of the covenant of God’s people that they would get the benefits of a child of God. It was usually done on the 8^th day after a male baby was born.

You will not get into the Promised Land looking like an Egyptian. God wants to circumcise our hearts so that we can get healed. Through circumcising our heart, God wants to take us from a place where we are content with Jesus simply as our savior to start making us become productive for the kingdom of God.

It is interesting to note that the day after the Israelites ate food from the land, the manna stopped. We need to know what it means to survive in the Promised Land, with all its demands, if nobody gives us any help. We need to know how to get our own stuff, to know how to study the Bible on our own, to know how to let God teach us himself. We should not just be getting our own stuff, but have enough that we can teach others. It’s a mature attitude to come to church with that and say, “I’m here to give, not to take.” It is a heart that has met with God before you come to church so that you can truly worship God whether everyone else there is worshiping Him or not, whether you are alone or in a crowd, the worship comes from your heart, not from your surroundings.

God will give us our inheritance when we can self-feed, and success will not spoil us. It is then that God will trust us with a lot. If you are negotiating and blame-shifting, you are not ready to repent. We must admit and accept responsibility for our sins. We cannot blame our sins on our friends, our parents, our race, our education or anything else.

Generally speaking, most people let life pass them by while they are waiting for life to begin. What you have now is life. This is it! It isn’t going to suddenly get good one day. You will never get there; this is it. Enjoying the journey is the “destination.” If you chose not to enjoy the journey and stay focused on yourself, then you will die in the wilderness. Self-preservation, trying to promote ourselves and not God keeps us staggering around in the wilderness, never getting to the river Jordan. God is humbling us and testing us so that we are ready and can get the inheritance.

Do you believe in an ever-increasing kingdom? Is what we are going through an end or a beginning? Are we at hanging on and making it through another year? That’s wilderness-thinking. It’s time for us to risk coming out of obscurity. We need to get out of the wilderness survivalistic mindset where there is not too much risk and not too much pain and get to maturity and inheritance. We need to stop talking and start walking. The 42^nd generation is the one that is prepared to leave the past behind and move into inheritance.