The God who exposed Baal as a fugazi by drying up his own river at flood stage is the same one standing with you when you want to run — and if He's real, you can stand.
Central Image
A Nerf dart gun next to a high-carbon steel sword: we don't fear fakes and we don't trust fakes, which makes the question of whether God is actually real the only question that matters.
The Turn
The Jordan crossing wasn't a travel miracle for Israel's benefit — it was God making a calculated strike at the theological foundation of Canaanite religion, choosing Baal's river at its most powerful moment to settle, in the real world, who was the fugazi.
Outline
The Word "Fugazi"
Toby opened with a slang word he learned from an unwanted movie — fugazi means fake. A Nerf gun looks like a gun. A real sword looks like a real sword. We don't fear the Nerf gun once we know what it is. We don't trust it either. The whole sermon is organized around one question: which one is God?
Setting the Scene: Joshua 3
April, 1406 BC. The Jordan is at flood stage — fed by snowmelt from Mount Hermon, dropping nine feet per mile, nothing like the shallow stream you'd find on Google. Israel is camped on the east bank, possibly millions of people. God tells Joshua to put them a thousand yards back — not because of holiness rules; the text says exactly why: He wants them in a stadium, uphill, out of the mud zone, so they can watch. The ark — God's throne — goes first.
Joshua Calls His Shot
Before the priests move, Joshua stands up in front of the whole nation and describes what is about to happen in exact sequence: the priests carry the ark to the bank, feet hit the water, the Jordan stops. He named the pocket. If it doesn't happen, he's finished as a leader. His detractors are in the crowd and they are paying close attention.
The Miracle
The priests step into the bank and the water stops — not at their feet, but fifteen miles upstream at Adam. Sixty-five miles of river dries out. The whole nation crosses on dry ground without even getting muddy. From inside Jericho's walls, four miles away, you could look out and watch it happen. The detractors in the crowd were, as Toby put it, both amazed and a little disappointed.
The Stones
God tells them to take twelve rocks from the middle of the river and stack them on the bank at Gilgal. When children ask what the stones mean, the answer is the story. The memorial keeps the event in the physical world, in stone you can point to, so it doesn't drift into abstraction.
What the Canaanites Knew
This is where the sermon moved. Baal became king of the Canaanite gods by defeating Prince Yam — the sea — and Judge River — the river. That was his mythology, his claim to authority. When Israel crossed the Red Sea, Canaanites could rationalize: regional gods, Egypt's god was just stronger in Egypt. But now Yahweh shows up at the Jordan — Baal's river — in the spring, when it's fullest, when Baal's power is supposedly at its peak, and dries it up before the ark has even stopped moving. The Canaanite kings who heard about it didn't need an explanation. They understood their own theology. Their hearts melted.
The Application
"You know who your god is by who and what you're afraid of." Life on cruise control doesn't reveal anything. But life doesn't stay on cruise control. When it breaks down, you find out — because you react. You run toward something or you stand on something. The escape routes differ: addiction, a relationship, isolation, golf. What you run to is who your god is.
The Landing
If the waters actually parted — if that God is real and He is with you — there is nothing in your life that calls for running. Put your foot forward and stand. Find out what He does.
Questions to Think About
- Toby opened with the word "fugazi" — slang for a fake that looks real. Think of something you once trusted that turned out to be exactly that. How did you figure out it wasn't the real thing?
- God kept Israel a thousand yards back from the ark — not because of holiness rules, but so everyone had a stadium view. Joshua then stood up and told the whole nation exactly what was about to happen before it happened. Why did God need the shot called out loud like that?
- Baal's claim to be king of the Canaanite gods rested on one thing: he supposedly defeated the sea and the river. What was God specifically saying to the Canaanites when He dried up the Jordan at flood stage, in the spring, at the height of its power?
- Toby said, "You know who your god is by who and what you're afraid of." Where does that land for you — not in general, but in the last six months of your actual life?
- He named a few escape routes — addiction, a relationship, going to play golf and staying away from everyone. What does the thing you run toward when things get hard tell you about what you actually trust?
- Toby said God may not part the waters for you the way He did for Joshua. What do you do with that? How does "He is with you" hold up when you stood, you trusted, and things still didn't change?
- The Canaanite kings heard what happened at the Jordan and their hearts melted — they knew exactly what it meant about whose God was real. What would it look like for the people around this church to see something like that in us?
- Name one thing you are actually running from right now. Before next Sunday, tell one person from this group what it is. Not a plan — just say it out loud to somebody.