In this evening message at Fairview Union Church in Whitwell, Tennessee, Pastor Jesse Lockhart preaches on the beginning—the essential starting point of salvation and the believer’s journey into the “Canaan land” of spiritual growth and victory. Drawing from Joshua 4, he explains how God prepared Canaan as a place of blessing, maturity, and overcoming, but emphasizes that no one enters without first crossing the Jordan through the way God provides. Pastor Lockhart warns that many churchgoers today have no true beginning—no moment they can point to where God saved them and brought them out of the wilderness of sin. Using Israel’s memorial stones at Gilgal, he illustrates the importance of having a place and time where the Lord made a way, stopped the floodwaters, and brought a soul safely over. The sermon urges listeners to stop trying to save themselves, stop attempting to “cross the river” by good works or self‑effort, and instead wait for the moment when God opens the door and calls them to step over by faith.
