These are notes on the sermon, Step Out and Possess the Land, preached by Pastor Joseph Prince on Sunday, September 15, 2024, at The Star Performing Arts Centre, Singapore. We hope these sermon notes will be an encouragement to you!
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Today, we know that the profound mysteries hidden in the Old Testament are unveiled in the New Testament. And as we new covenant believers continue to seek out these mysteries, the truths that will enable us to live the abundant, overcoming life that Christ came to give us will be revealed to us.
For example, under the old covenant, the pattern was to work first and then rest, reflected in the cycle of labor followed by the Sabbath. However, in the new covenant, we are called to live differently—we rest before we work. Our Lord Jesus rose on a Sunday, marking it as the first day of the week (Matt. 28:1, Luke 24:1, John 20:1). This symbolizes that we are to enter into His rest first, and from that place of divine rest, we are then empowered to work. This shift from work-then-rest to rest-then-work embodies the grace and finished work of our Savior, inviting us to live from a place of rest, peace, and assurance in Him.
Psalm 92 vividly illustrates the blessings we can expect as new covenant believers when we begin our week with rest by going to church on Sunday. First, it calls us to give thanks for the Lord's hesed—His grace that abounds in our lives. As we gather, we are reminded of the promise, “I have been anointed with fresh oil” (Ps. 92:10). This fresh oil, likened to the purest extra virgin olive oil in the original Hebrew text, symbolizes the renewal and new anointing we receive each time we come into His presence.
The psalm also declares, “The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree,” elaborating further that those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall indeed flourish in the courts of our God. Hence, our ability to thrive and prosper in the world is directly impacted by how rooted we are in His house.
Moreover, even in old age, we are promised that we will still bring forth fruit, remaining vibrant and full of life. The imagery of being “fat” and full of sap underscores a life brimming with vitality, sustained by our continual dependence on Him.
Despite knowing this, many of us often find ourselves not fully possessing all the blessings that our heavenly Father has prepared for us here on earth. There is always more that He desires to bless us with!
In the hustle and bustle of our lives, and amidst all the noise and discordant voices around us, we are often distracted from seeing just how much our Lord Jesus wants to lavish His blessings upon us. And even if we know His heart for us, we are sometimes unable to grasp the extent to which He wishes to bless us; that He desires to give us more than enough, to the point of overflowing, so that we can be a blessing to those around us.
Grace gives abundantly, and faith is the hand that takes.
Every time the disciples failed to receive from the Lord, He would gently chide them, saying, “Oh, you of little faith.” It was never about their works—prayer, fasting, or Bible reading—but about their understanding of the Lord’s heart for them and the measure of their faith in His goodness.
Consider the account in Luke 5:5–8, where Peter and his fellow fishermen had toiled all night yet caught nothing. When Jesus instructed them to let down their nets, Peter, in his limited faith, let down only one net. The result was an overwhelming catch that caused the net to break. The Lord’s supply was far greater than the need or what Peter was ready to receive.
Do you find yourself being like Peter? Today, the Lord is saying to us: “I have so much to give. Why do you take so little from Me?”
Matthew 9:29 says, “According to your faith let it be to you.” So let’s enlarge our capacity to receive the abundant blessings our heavenly Father has for us. The more we believe in His goodness, the more we can receive from Him.
To begin, we must be mindful to first receive His grace, and then to act upon it. For example, instead of striving to love people out of your own effort, learn to receive your Father’s love for you first. When you are filled with His love, you will be more able to love those around you out of the overflow of His love for you.
As children of God, we can choose to lead a life that is constantly dependent on and receiving from Him. You don’t have to worry that God will stop His supply or that there won’t be enough. Our heavenly Father is the creator and possessor of all the universe (Col. 1:16, Gen 14:19), and He is constantly giving and supplying to us.
Galatians 3:5 KJV says “He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?” In the original Greek, the word “ministereth” is in the present continuous tense. This means that the Lord who ministers the Spirit to you does so continuously. He is constantly supplying His Spirit to you, never ceasing in His generosity and love.
However, the challenge is to make the distinction between engaging in an activity with our own self-effort and by depending on the Lord’s grace. Oftentimes, believers tend to lean toward not engaging in the activity because they do not want to stumble into self-effort, and this has led to the misperception that resting in the Lord’s grace means, or could end up looking like, laziness or inactivity. But there is a world of difference. When we rest in Christ, we are not inactive but engaged in Spirit-directed activity. There is no laziness in grace.
Pastor Prince shared how he heard an American businessman, a Christian himself, say he hesitates to hire Christians because they take advantage by relying on “grace.” That is not what grace is! At our workplaces, we can and ought to be a good testimony of God’s grace. As believers in God’s grace, we must have a posture of faith that enables us to possess God’s blessings and yet excel in all that we do!
Beloved, the provision for all your needs, for every area of your life, has been paid for by Jesus. Today, we can freely receive all the blessings that our heavenly Father has for us! Though our Lord was rich, He became poor so that through His poverty, we might become rich (2 Cor. 8:9). This richness isn’t just about material wealth but encompasses the fullness of life that He came to give us.
The power of the cross even extends to handling rejection or insults. When people reject or insult us, remember that Jesus took all those reproaches upon Himself on the cross. As it is written, “The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me” (Rom. 15:3 KJV). And if you’re trusting the Lord for a life partner, He has also secured that gift for you on the cross (Ps. 88:18)!
Because of the Lord’s finished work, God is also constantly supplying us with His divine wisdom. Now, our heavenly Father’s wisdom is different from mere intelligence. Being smart or intelligent doesn’t provide the abundant life that Jesus died to give us. It is having our Father’s divine wisdom that will lead us to divine success.
Consider Joseph, who, though a slave, was described in the Bible as a prosperous man because the Lord was with him (Gen. 39:2–3). This was so apparent that even Potiphar, his master, observed that the Lord was with Joseph and everything Joseph touched prospered. Joseph excelled in every task or responsibility given to him, and as he continued to trust and receive from the Lord, he was even promoted to the highest office in Egypt, second only to Pharaoh himself!
Joseph’s journey from slavery to a position of great leadership shows us how the divine wisdom the Lord wants us to receive from Him can bring about success and promotion that are beyond what you can think of. And the Lord provides wisdom for every area of our lives, not just for our workplaces. He equips parents with the wisdom needed to nurture their children. As your children grow and face various changes, His Spirit is within you, teaching and guiding you on how to help them develop into men and women who know the Lord and are secure in Him.
Another gift that the Lord is constantly supplying us with is His divine favor. While our accomplishments can play a part, it is His favor that “seals the deal.” When God blesses you with His favor, it transcends human efforts and achievements! You don’t need to seek the approval of others because His favor paves the way for you. This divine favor is like a shield that surrounds you, opening doors that no one can shut and granting you opportunities that might seem impossible by human standards.
The power of His divine favor can be seen in the life of Esther. When the king was searching for a new queen, all the beautiful women were brought into the palace. Esther did not rely on her own efforts or physical beauty but trusted in the Lord’s unmerited favor upon her. Despite being an orphan and a foreigner, Esther found favor in the eyes of the king and was chosen to be queen.
When it comes to the eternal blessings of God, we cannot wait till we see it to believe it. The reality is that what we can see is transient and what we can’t see is eternal. However, we tend to mistakenly regard the visible as the ultimate reality. And because we depend so much on what we can see, we often take the blessings that we don’t see for granted.
The things that are not seen, such as God’s peace, His favor and wisdom, our spirits, and the angels around us, these are as real as reality itself and they are forever.
And our God is always protecting, giving, and providing. Pastor Prince shared about a car accident that he was recently involved in and how as the accident unfolded, he felt as if he was kept in a cocoon of peace. He recounted that there was just such a supernatural peace and calm in the situation, so much so that his son who was in the car with him did not realize that the accident had happened!
Our heavenly Father does more than we realize, and we often fail to give Him praise for the unseen. Yet, He continues to bless us, even when we don’t acknowledge Him. There are times when He stops things from happening, and other times He allows them to happen but ensures we are delivered from them. Sometimes He calms the storm, and other times He allows the storm to happen but brings us safely to the other side, just as He did with the apostle Paul (Acts 27:27–44).
Knowing that the Father has already “given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness” (2 Pet. 1:3), we need to actively receive by faith all that He has provided, and not adopt a passive attitude, saying, “If God wants to heal me or bless me, He will.”
Beloved, your heavenly Father is constantly giving, are you constantly taking from Him?
This powerful promise wasn’t just for Joshua alone; it’s for every child of God today. The Lord gave the Israelites all the land, but how much they possessed of it depended on how active they were in claiming it. There is a posture of faith required to possess the land.
The tribe of Asher serves as a cautionary reminder for us today. Despite the Lord’s promises, Asher was one among seven tribes who failed to possess the land that the Lord had given them. Joshua 18:1–3 challenged them: “How long will you neglect to go and possess the land which the LORD God of your fathers has given you?” They were slack and did not take possession of what was rightfully theirs.
Today, much of the territory allotted to Asher lies inside the borders of Lebanon, including their two main cities of Tyre and Sidon. The lesson here is that if we do not step up to possess what God has given us, then the blessing will be picked up by others.
This lesson is reiterated in Judges 4, when the Canaanites under King Jabin and his general, Sisera, again terrorized the Israelites. Under the judgment of the prophetess Deborah, Barak, a warrior of the tribe of Naphtali, was charged with leading the Israelites against the Canaanites. However, Barak insisted that Deborah go with him, showing his lack of trust in God’s ability to give him the victory. In the end, there was no glory for Barak in this battle as the final blow to the Canaanite army, the killing of its general, was given to a woman named Jael (Judg. 4:9).
The same principles of actively taking possession of what is ours, or letting it go to others, applies to us today. We must walk or tread the ground (our inheritance) and possess it by faith. This means that once we know what our portion is, we need to claim it and declare it as ours by faith! We acknowledge that it is the Lord who makes it happen, but our part is to believe and actively possess our possessions.
Just because He has given you wisdom, favor, healing, and redemption, doesn’t mean you will automatically possess them. You have to claim them and declare that you have them by faith, even when you don’t see them. It is as simple as saying, “Because of Jesus’ finished work, ________ (healing, provision, wisdom, favor, or whatever you need) is mine!”
Consider the example of The Star Performing Arts Centre, where our church holds its services every Sunday. Obtaining and building this venue for our church didn’t come without opposition and, in fact, many thought it would be impossible. Yet, when Pastor Prince received the word of the Lord to go ahead with the project, the church stepped out in faith, literally, by walking the ground of the project site, while fully relying on the Lord to make it happen. Not only did the Lord provide every single dollar required to pay for the building project, but He also did it with supernatural ease and acceleration!
Friend, whatever situation or challenge you are in today, no matter how big or small, the Lord wants to supply you with what you need. However, always be wary of relying on your own strength instead of depending on Him, thinking, “I can do this myself,” and taking matters into your own hands, thereby missing out on His divine provision.
Imagine the heart of our heavenly Father, who longs to provide for His children. It pains Him when we don’t receive what He wants to give us. He is waiting for someone who is willing to receive from Him. He is eager to bless abundantly those who come to Him with open hearts. Let’s always be conscious of His heart for us and lean on Him in every area of our lives!
The tribe of Asher received two powerful prophecies, brimming with blessings that they failed to fully possess. For believers today, these are blessings that our Lord Jesus has redeemed for us through the cross and that we are to receive by faith!
Despite these incredible promises, Judges 1:31–32 tells us, “Nor did Asher drive out the inhabitants.” They didn’t bother to possess the land. They allowed the squatters to remain, choosing to dwell with the enemies rather than to fully possess their inheritance. By doing so, they diluted the blessings that were meant to be theirs.
Asher’s land included the region of Tyre and Sidon. This was where the prophet Elijah met with the woman and her son who were about to run out of food and die of hunger during a famine. Such a far cry from the blessed state and richness that had been foretold of the land in the prophecies about Asher! The land that was intended by God to be a source of immense blessing had become barren and desolate, where its people faced scarcity and struggled to survive. And all this because the tribe of Asher did not actively possess the inheritance that God gave them.
Often, we find ourselves in a similar situation. We want the path to be clear before we move forward. But the Lord’s way is for us to take the first step by faith, even when we can’t see a way forward. In the same passage of Scripture where the Lord instructed Joshua to possess the land, He went on to reassure Joshua that “No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you” (Josh. 1:5).
As we step out in faith, the Lord promises to be with us, to guide us, and to ensure that no one will stand before us. This doesn’t mean that you will not meet challenges. But even in the face of difficulty, you can be confident, knowing He is with you, just as He was with Joshua.
When the Lord directs us, His guidance comes from within us. Jeremiah 31:33 tells us that the Lord writes His instructions in our hearts. However, if you’re not sure the leading is from the Lord, instead of second-guessing yourself, look to wise counsel who will confirm the word and direction you have received. Proverbs 11:14 says, "Where there is no counsel, the people fall; but in the multitude of counselors there is safety."
Now, counselors here are not just people who have more experience or are experts in the field. Just as we have mentioned in the earlier part of the sermon, the Lord’s divine wisdom is greater than that of man. So we should look for people who are imbued with the wisdom of the Lord.
Remember this promise in Isaiah 48:17, “I am the LORD your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you by the way you should go.” Now, we all want to see profit in whatever we do, whether it is in our businesses, in our careers or ministry, in guiding our children through life, even in our exercising or healthy eating. So if you want to profit, look to the Lord for He will teach you to profit, as well as supply you the profit! There may be a wait for that profit to materialize, but in that time of waiting, continue to exercise your faith by trusting in His guidance and wisdom in all your endeavors.
Going back to the study of the blessings of Asher, Pastor Prince shared two miracles that happened in Asher’s territory to show how God has restored to His new covenant people what has been lost through the tribe’s complacency.
First, in the account of how God, through Elijah, provided abundantly for the widow of Zarephath (which belongs to Sidon) and her son during the famine that ravaged the land, we see how God has restored the blessings of provision. With just “a handful of flour in a bin, and a little oil in a jar,” the widow, her son, and Elijah, through faith in what the Lord had spoken, were able to eat for “many days,” and “the bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry” (1 Kings 17:7–16).
Next is a beautiful story in Matthew 15:21–28 to show us how the Lord has redeemed the lost blessings of healing and wholeness for us new covenant believers.
After the miracle of the loaves and fishes to feed 5,000 and more on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, you would think that Jesus would remain in the place where He was accepted and worshiped. Instead, He left for the region of Tyre and Sidon, which is in the territory of Asher, traveling some 100 miles (more than 160 km) to and fro over hilly terrain. Throughout this journey, the Bible records no miracle or major acts. Thus, it can be said that our Lord made this journey solely to minister to the Canaanite woman whose daughter was severely demon-possessed.
Upon meeting our Lord Jesus, the Canaanite woman cried out, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David!”, but our Lord Jesus did not answer her. This was because His ministry at His first coming was to the house of Israel, and the Canaanite woman was a Gentile, though she pretended to be a Jew by referring to our Lord as “Son of David.” It was only when she acknowledged that she was a Gentile and cried out, “Lord, help me!” that Jesus answered her.
It is important to note from this incident that the Lord will not respond to you if you come to Him under any pretense to qualify for His blessing. It is only when you come just as you are, trusting in His heart of love, grace, and goodness toward you, that you will receive His full attention.
Back to the story, the Lord told the Canaanite woman that “It is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs.” Even though it was not yet time for Him to bless the Gentiles, our Lord responded to her faith and sincerity, and gave her a way out. By using the term “little dogs” or “puppies” in the Greek, He was showing her His tenderness toward her. And the Canaanite woman leaned in to the Lord’s tenderness and received the fullness of His love for her, which included healing for her daughter!
Today, the fullness of the Lord’s love and all His tenderness are available to us. Because of His finished work on the cross, we are all God’s children seated with Christ in the heavenly places. How much of our inheritance we are able to possess is directly impacted by how much we believe and trust in our Lord’s love for us and His goodness toward us. The more we take hold of what is ours by faith, the more the blessings—provision, anointing, favor, wisdom, peace, health, and wholeness—will belong to us!
We hope these sermon notes blessed you! If they did, we encourage you to get the sermon and allow the Lord to speak to you personally as you watch or listen to it.
© Copyright JosephPrince.com 2024
These sermon notes were taken by volunteers during the service. They are not a verbatim representation of the sermon.
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