NYE Thrive in 2025

They crossed on dry land because there was no trace of where they come from. So then they go to the Jordan, the edge of the Jordan. And they're about to cross now in the promise. And once again, they cross on dry land. Why?

To leave no trace of where they come from.

And so what were they doing in their preparation? In Joshua chapter three, you'll realize that. That. That. That Joshua gathers everybody and their time of preparation.

This is what they did. They strategized. They got organized. They cleansed themselves of any unrighteousness. They strengthened their faith in God, and they readied themselves for battle and for the Lord's instructions.

Beloved, can I just. Can I just pull my whip up into your driveway real quick and have a moment with you? You see, what the children of Israel did in preparation for their promise is what you did this year. You prayed at the beginning of the year, and you fasted, cleansing yourself of all unrighteousness. You fought some battles.

You had to strengthen your faith. How many of you, your faith was tested this year? Come on, you can raise your hand. I'm going to raise mine. And if I could, I would raise my feet.

My faith was definitely tested. But do you realize that testing was a part of the preparation? Because right now, beloved, you are standing at the shore of the Jordan river. Right now, on December 31, 2024, you are standing on the edge of the Jordan river because what you've done is prepared for this moment where God is going to have you watch this cross over the Jordan Cross over into this new year and not leave a trace of where you came from. All of your tests, all of your trials, there will not be a trace of that.

All of your hurt, all of your pain, there will not be a trace of that. All of your grief, all of your mourning, there will not be a trace of that. Why? Because you spent watch this last year, this year preparing for what God has prepared for you.

The children of Israel, not once, but twice crossed over. Can I. Can I. Can I tell y'all the epiphany now why God told me to share this. The Bible says.

Watch this. That they crossed over. I might get any Pentecostals in here because I want to make room for y'all. Because y'all might run. Because here it is.

Watch this. Here it is. The Bible says this Sade that the day they crossed the Jordan into the land of promise. Zoe, guess what? It was the first.

It was the 10th day of the first month of their year. Okay, maybe my Pentecostals ain't here. What are you saying, Pastor B? This message is for you because it's. Watch this.

Tomorrow will be the first month of the year for you. It's a perfect time for you to get ready to cross into your promise. This is why God said, I want you to save this message. I. I didn't know that right away, Taylor.

I. I had to exegete the text. I had to understand the Hebrew calendar for it to make sense. Now, we don't operate with the Hebrew calendar. We operate with a Roman calendar.

But regardless of the calendar, the day they stepped into their promise was on the first month. The day we step into our promise will be tomorrow. The first month of a brand new year. They stepped into their promise in a new season. Reverend Kevin.

They stepped into their promise in a new season. Riley. They stepped into their promise in a new year the same way we're doing it. And that's why God said, share this with the people. Now, you may be looking at me like, okay, that's good, but there were some other things you started off with.

Pastor B. So are you telling me we need to walk around Mosaic Church seven times, and then on the seventh day. No, I'm not saying that. And we need to get seven. Now we got seven pastors, believe it or not.

We got enough pastors to pull this thing off if we want to do it. We got enough pastors and deacons to pull this thing off. That's not what I'm saying. I'm about to tell you why that's important in just a minute here, because that's a crazy strategy. Can you imagine God telling me now, for the record, we have done something similar in the past.

If you've been with Mosaic Church long enough, we have circled schools. Rhonda. I'm looking at Rhonda because I know Rhonda remembers. I'm looking at my wife. She's smiling.

We have circled Sade. We've circled schools where we were meeting at in prayer before. We literally have walked around the entire place praying. We've done that. Right.

I'm a part of this group called the Mableton Pastors Collective, and we have literally, on Mableton Day, the pastors that are part of that, we gather at the place where we hold the Mableton Day event, and we walk the entire ground in circles praying over it. It's not an uncommon practice, but can you imagine if I said, hey, God has promised a building to us, and here's what he wants us to do, Iva. He wants us to gather around that building for seven days straight and walk around it seven times, and then on the seventh time, and guess what? They just gonna give us the deed.

The way y'all laughing and looking at me now, y'all be like, that's funny, right? God. What? He's not that. That's not what he's going to have us do.

So here Joshua is a new leader, having to tell these people to do something crazy. He got 40,000 soldiers, and he's saying, 40,000 soldiers. We're going to go in the territory of the Moabites, who are evil, who are strong, who are tough, and you want us to walk around a city that is fortified, that has not been penetrated, and they have people on top of the wall with bow and arrows and weapons. You want us to just walk around Pastor B, risk our lives, and the wall is just going to fall? They just going to give us the deed?

And Joshua had to say this to the people. It took great faith to do that. It took great courage. And this is why God said to him, in the very first book of Joshua, he says, joshua, Moses is dead. Be strong and courageous.

He repeated it three times. In fact, one time he said, don't just be strong and courageous. Be strong and very courageous. Because what I'm going to be asking you to do is not going to make sense. But I need you to be strong in your emotions.

I need you to be strong in your mind, and I need you to be brave enough to trust me and do what I tell you to do and say what I tell you to say and go where I tell you to go. Trust me. What I love about Joshua's story is that he never doubted God. He literally went to the people and said, hey, here's the deal. Levites, priests, y'all gonna do this.

Everybody else, y'all gonna follow. Y'all gonna carry this heavy arc and follow him. Horn players, I need y'all to just blow that thing like you never blew it before. And I believe that the wall will just crumble. A wall that has never crumbled.

Why am I saying that? Because as we go into this year. Whoo. There's been some walls that you've been trying to get over. There's been some opportunities you've been trying to possess.

There's been some things you've been. There's been some doors you've been trying to break through that you have not been able. And I'm telling you right now, in the name of Jesus, I'm going to give you a strategy in Just a minute. So that when you get to those walls in 2025, they will fall. Not because you work so hard, but because you believe so hard.

Catch this. I didn't even say not because you prayed so hard. See, that's the problem with us. Me and my neighbor had a conversation about this. The problem with us Christians.

We pray hard, but we don't believe enough.

We pray hard. We pray hard. We pray with everything in us. We lay on our bellies crying out to God. And God is like, I hear your prayer, but will you just believe me?

Now we go in 2025, you know how we thrive? We start believing and just stop praying. We don't stop praying. We start believing what we're praying for. Come on, somebody.

We pray hard, but we don't believe hard enough. And that's why that wall fell. Joshua and those who were with him believe that if we do exactly what God says, it seems crazy, it seems impossible. But I believe that if God says it, we believe it. That settles it.

Amen.

So here's what happened. Joshua, chapter six, verse 12 through 20. And then I'm going to give you four. Four keys to a strategy to strive in 2025 to thrive. Not strive to thrive in 2025.

Okay, let me read Joshua, chapter six, verse 12 Through 20. Watch this. This is so good. Joshua got up early the next morning after he had talked to God. And the next morning he and the priests again carried the Ark of the Lord.

The seven priests with the rams horns marched in front of the Ark of the Lord blowing their horns. Again the armed men marched both in front of the priests with the horns and behind the Ark of the Lord. All this time the priests were blowing their horns. On the second day, they again marched around the town once and returned to the camp. They followed this pattern for six days.

On the seventh day, the Israelites got up at dawn and marched around the town as they had done before. Oh, but this time they went around the town seven times. The seventh time around, as the priest sounded the long blast on their horns, Joshua commanded the people shouted, for the Lord has given you the town. Shout, shout praise. Praise is what he's saying.

Praise God with everything in you. Praise him. Jericho and everything in it must be completely destroyed. An offering must be completely destroyed as an offering to the Lord. Only Rahab the prostitute and the others in her house will be spared for she protected our spies.

Do not take anything, any of the things set apart for destruction or for yourselves. You will be completely destroyed and you will bring trouble on the camp of Israel. Everything made from silver, gold, bronze or iron is sacred to the Lord and must be brought into his treasury. When the people heard the sound of the rams horns, they shouted as loud as they could. In other words, they praised.

Not prayed, they praised. Can I say this really quick? Do you know what praise is? It's a byproduct of your belief. You start praising when you believe what you actually been praying for is going to happen.

Praise is the result of your belief. Now, some of y'all are really good at faking praise. How do I know? Because when the song stop playing, you stop praising. You cry, you clap, the song is over, you sit down.

Amen. Lights.

But authentic and real praise is a result of authentic and real belief. They've prayed already. They've listened to God's instruction, and now here it is. He says, pray with everything and watch what happened suddenly with all of that praise, because they believe so well, the walls of Jericho collapsed and the Israelites charged straight into the town and captured it. May I give you four steps?

Four. A strategy that has four steps for you to thrive in 2025. This is good. Y'all ready? Here it is.

It won't be on the screen. You just got to pay attention. Get your little notepad out, get your phone out. Record me if you must. I'm going to run through it.

I won't repeat it. Maybe I will. We'll see. Ready? The first thing you need to do in 2025 in order to.

In order to thrive. Here it is. When you hit a wall, praise till it falls. When you. When you hit a wall, praise till it falls.

When you hit a wall, praise till it fall. Catch what? I said, pray till it falls. Praise till it falls. God.

Right now I'm having a hard time at work, but, God, I thank you in advance because I know this too shall pass. God, the things ain't working out according to my plan, but I'm going to praise you until something shifts in my life. God. Right now I've submitted proposals and all I've heard is no. But I'm going to praise you because I know a yes is on the horizon.

Somebody knows what I'm talking about. You listen. When you hit a wall in 2025, you praise until the wall falls. Praise until it falls. Not pray.

We prayed. Listen, you know what we did in 2024? We prayed. And we're going to keep praying. We said, you know, we still going to join Monday through Friday.

We're going to still do that, but we will have more praise because we're going to have way more belief this year. We just. We're going to praise more than we as much as we prayed. Amen. That's number.

That's the first step in this strategy. The second step in this strategy. Watch this. Cling tight to what is sacred. Release what is not.

Cling tight to what is sacred. Release what is not. I gotta say that so it makes sense. Cling tight to what is sacred. What is sacred?

What do you mean by that, Pastor B? Like, what really is important to you? Cling tight to that and release what is not. You know what's going on with a lot of us this year? We gave people our time that didn't earn it or deserve it.

Okay, maybe you didn't give people. So let me really get some of the young people. This going to get you all upset. You know why we didn't thrive in 2024. We gave stuff our time more than we gave God our time.

Right, Right. Time where we should have been spending with God. We was on social media. Huh? How do I know?

Just the thing about your phone. It tells you how much screen time you had. And I'm going to tell you that will correct you real quick when you. When you look. Come on.

Felicia said. Pastor Felicia said real quick when you look at that and it says your screen time was five, your average is five hours a day. Five hours a day. That's a job. And you ain't getting paid for it.

If I. I'm telling you, don't you dare post that. You was just that. You binge watch a series. I'm going to tell you each episode is about an hour, all right?

And on average, there's about eight to 10 episodes. And you ain't get paid to watch it. They ain't paying you for your review, boo. You just sat there and watched it just to have something to say and ain't get paid for it. What could you have done that could put money in your pocket?

What could you have done with those hours that could impact somebody's life? Mm. I got a few amens. I ain't hear nothing from the young people. That's all right.

Cling tight to what is sacred. Can I tell you, everybody, under the sound of my voice, do you know what is sacred? Your time. Not your money. Let me tell you why.

Because I can. Listen, if I lose all my money, Mrs. Mitchell, guess what? And as long as the government keeps printing some, I can get some more. But what I can't get back, my brother who's with Taylor is the time?

You walking with me, Tim? I can't get my time back. Huh? Because guess what? The government ain't printing more hours.

God ain't giving more hours. Huh? Takisha, you. You and I got the same 24 hours. What makes a difference is.

Watch this. Your success and my success. What makes a difference is how we use our 24 hours.

I can't get my money back. I mean, I can't. I can get my money back, but I can't get my time back. So I'm gonna cling tight to what is sacred. Everybody, I'm gonna tell you right now, I mean it, y'all ain't gonna like me, but I'm gonna love you anyway.

Everybody ain't getting my time because I'm trying to thrive in 2025. Can you say that with me? I'm trying to thrive in 2025. And if I'm giving you my time and you wasting it, that's worse than wasting my money.

Cling tight to what is sacred, release what is not. And sometimes, here it is. Forgive me, y'all. Some people ain't sacred. Release them.

Your side hustle ain't sacred. Release it. I'm just being real. There are some things you need to release in order to hold on to what is sacred. Joshua, chapter 6, verse 18 through 19.

He gives the instruction, do not take any of the things set apart for destruction, or you yourselves will be completely destroyed. When you try to hold on to what is not sacred, guess what? You yourself is going to be destroyed. You'll look up and be like, oh, I wish I had more time. And God is like, I gave you the same amount of time that I gave that billionaire.

But the difference between you and them is that they used it to do something to earn more. You wasted yours on people who just really used you and didn't give nothing back. By the way, if you got friends like that, where. Like, if you got a circle of friends and you're the only one contributing and you ain't getting nothing from it, then you need new friends.

The young people said, oh, no, I'm very serious. If you're the. Here it is. Here it is. If people only call you when they need something.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Release. It's not you, it's me. I mean, you know, I've got things to do. I'm trying to thrive in 2025.

Because if you don't do that, guess what? They're going to destroy you. That's what it says here. Do not take any of the things set apart for destruction, or you yourselves will be completely destroyed and you will bring trouble on the camp of Israel. Guess what?

That's what he's talking about. Like when you. When you give time to something, I'll say it this way. You've heard it, said it before. If.

When you say yes to something, you're saying no to something else, and what you're saying no to could be more important than what you're saying yes to. You've got to measure that. Everything made from silver, gold, bronze, or iron is sacred to the Lord and must be brought into his treasury. Know what that means? Gold, bronze, or iron.

The first thought for us, many of us is, oh, man, that's valuable. No, Gold, bronze, or iron. You can't. You could. Here's the thing about it.

Can I say it this way? Ready, Pastor Felicia? Gold, bronze, or iron. If I add fire to it, it makes it better.

If I add fire to paper, it's going to burn, and all I got is ashes. So what he's saying here is, hold on to stuff. That if I add fire to it, it only improves its value. It doesn't lessen it. Some relationships.

Watch this. You add fire to it, it makes you better. Come on. Certain things in your life, when you add fire to it, it fortifies it. It makes it better.

What is the fire? The fire is prayer. The fire is praise. The fire is worship. And when you add these things to certain things in your life, it just gets better.

It doesn't become ashes. Okay, let me give you the third step in this strategy. Whoo. This is so good. I might get a couple amens.

If not, I'm gonna let the rocks cry out.

Number three. Don't forget who didn't forget you.

I feel like I'm preaching. Pastor Jason. Don't forget who didn't forget you. Whoo. This year.

Come on. If I asked you for five minutes, just think. Who were the people who called and just said, hey, why are you doing. Who are the people? Said, hey, I saw you post something.

How did that job interview go? Who are the people that literally didn't forget you? Who are the people that, like, before midnight struck? They were like, I wanted to be the first to wish you a happy birthday. Come on.

Who are the people that were there rooting you on? Hey, listen, I know right now things don't look good, but I'm here. I got your back. What do you need? Who are those people?

And y'all are sitting here thinking about it, right now, right? You're thinking about it right now. Those are the people that deserve the best of your time.

Don't forget those who didn't forget you. Watch this. Joshua, chapter 6, 23 and 25. The men who had been spies went in and brought out Rahab, her father, her mother, brothers, and all of the other relatives who were with her. They moved her whole family.

Where? To a safe place near the camp of Israel. Verse 25. So Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute and her relatives who were with her in the house, because why? She had hidden the spies Joshua sent to Jericho.

And she lives among the Israelites to this day. She didn't forget them. She protected them. In fact, in case you didn't know, that Rahab is a direct ancestor of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

Don't forget those who didn't forget you.

And I'm not talking about just the people who, you know, celebrated your wins. Everybody gonna celebrate your wins. Girl, look what we did. Yeah, we got the promotion. Girl, look what we did.

You ain't done nothing. I'm talking about those people like, yeah, I got the promotion, but, yo, they just. They just fired me.

Yo, my cousin passed, my uncle passed. Who was there? I'm not. I'm not talking about who was there at the funeral. I'm talking about who was there three months after, still checking on you.

Who was there two months after still saying, hey, you good? Can I bring something by for you to eat? Have you eaten today? Who was there months after your crises? Yeah, those people, they didn't forget you.

Don't forget them. All right, final step in this strategy. Are y'all getting this? Am I helping you this evening? Is this helping?

A little bit? Because I want y'all to thrive in 2025. And I'm telling you, this strategy works. It's gonna work for me for sure. This is really good.

My last and final step in this strategy. This is the hardest one, though. Ready? Burn anything from your past that has the potential to burn anything in your future.

I've got to teach a little bit right here, Tim. I hope it's okay. Burn anything from your past that has the potential to burn anything in your Future. Joshua, chapter 6, verse 24. Watch this.

Then the Israelites burned the town and everything in it. Only the things made from silver, gold, bronze, or iron were kept from the treasury. Were kept for the treasury of the Lord's house. So let me answer a question that I believe a few of you are thinking, right? Trey is looking at me like, okay, explain that to me, Pastor B.

I got you, bro. Here it is. What was in the child? Why would God instruct them? Catch what I'm about to say right here.

Sade, he says, I want you to pray over this city. Walk around it seven times. On the seventh day, walk around it seven times. Pray. Shout a shout of praise, let the walls come down.

You go in to this town that I've had you pray over, because I'm giving you the city only for you to burn it down.

Why would God have them do that? Well, here's why. Do you know who the inhabitants or the occupants of this city of Jericho were? These are people known as the Moabites. And the Moabites are from the tribe of Moab.

Now, in case you don't know who Moab is, Moab is the son of Lot. Now, why is that significant, Pastor B? Well, Moab was born from an ancestral relationship. In other words, Lot was his grandfather and father.

So what happened at. Look at Sade trying to figure it out. Yeah. Yeah. So his grandfather was also his father.

Not because he was adopted, because he fathered him. Him with his own daughter. That's weird, Sidney. I know that's what happened. It was an ancestral relationship.

But guess what? That breeded. Ready for this, Mom? That breeded the tribe of Moab in this city. It breeded all kind of immoral sexual acts.

Incest was very common practice within this group of people in that city. Bestiality was a part of some of their practices. And watch this. It was a form of worship for them, and they worshiped false gods like BAAL and Molech. And so.

And so God is like, kill everything. The animals that they've been using to sacrifice, kill them, too. Kill all the people. Why? Because the only way I can purify this land that I promised you, I.

I've got to kill everything in it. Why? Because some of that stuff will bleed over into the people that are pure, that just purify themselves. I've got to get rid of all of their idols. I've got to get rid of all their principles.

I've got to get rid of all of their stupid thoughts. I've got to get rid of all of their practices and customs and burn it down. I don't want to see a remnant of it. How does that apply to you? You see, some of y'all have just been surviving off of strategies of your mama and your daddy.

Now, my grandmama did it this way, so I'm gonna do it this way. And you got lucky. You made it this far, but you haven't been thriving. You've been striving. In fact, some of you all have just been surviving.

And for some of you, that's good enough. But good. But God is not a God of good enough. God is a God of abundance.

And the only way you get abundance is through thriving. And how do you get to thriving? You've got to burn stuff from your past. Maybe that worked for that generation, but it's not going to work for your generation. Maybe that worked for your neighbor, but that's not going to work for you.

Because what God has for you is greater than what he had for them. That worked for them, but it's not going to work for you. So you've got to burn practices that don't help you thrive, that have only allowed you to survive. Anybody tired of just surviving? I'm a listen.

I just got to do this.

I got to put my feet and my hands up on that. I'm tired of surviving. I'm tired of having just enough. My God is a God of more than enough.

And the only way we do that is that we've got to watch this. We've got to burn things. Maybe that got you this far, but it's not going to get you far farther in life. Burn any of those things. Your dependency.

Watch this. Some of us, we depended more on money than we depended on God. Some of us depended more on his creation than we depended on the Creator. Not this season, not this year. We're going to do better than that.

We go put our hope and trust in everything. In God. God and in God alone. Some of y'all, here it is. Watch this.

I'm going to just pull up in your driveway. Get mad at me if you want. Some of y'all are mad with this president that's coming in here. I don't give a dog on he will serve a term. But I serve the king who serves eternally.

I'm not worried because my hope is dealing on things eternal, not things here on the earth.

He can't hurt me. I don't care what policies you put in place. Get rid of dei brother. It don't matter to me. I'm a child of the living king.

I'm just being real. It trips me out to see people in a panic right now. Chill, Bill. I just had to throw that in there. My rhyming.

I still got a little bit of that leftover. It's just a little bit left. Rhonda, I'm sorry. I'm getting trying to get rid of it, Riley. It's just there.

It's there, it's there. It's just trying. It'll go away, Leslie, in a minute.

But real talk, you gotta burn that. You gotta burn that. I mean, I'm not telling you how you should feel about the man. What I'm saying is that shouldn't upset you because that tells me you have more faith in politics then you deem piety.

And that's not our future. Build your hope on things eternal. Is that that the song? Build your hope on things eternal, not temporary.

Look, look, y'all about to sing. We're not going to do that. To thrive in 2025, you must make ashes of any remnant of anything or anyone you put your trust in other than God. To thrive in 2025, I'll say that slow. You have got to make ashes out of any remnant of anything or anyone you put your trust in other than God.

End with this quote from Mother Teresa. This is what she said. Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We only have today.

So let us begin. Amen.