Tell the Story | Jean Rebecca

[applause]

LET'S BLESS THE LORD. SOMEBODY MAKE SOME

NOISE FOR JESUS.

YES. YES. YES. And yes.

Woo.

>> We are children of the living God.

>> Amen. You guys just received a powerful

message. I don't know what I'm doing up

here. You know what I'm saying? So, um I

I I'll do my best, you know, to rush the

time and you know, but um that was

extremely um powerful. What a what a um

>> miracle. The Lord is good. I have a

message for you before I pray.

I want to go ahead and read some

scripture. It's um a good bit of

scripture. So you guys um be patient

with me um as I set the foundation for

our assignment on today.

And it reads from Psalm 78.

Oh my people, hear my teaching.

Listen to the word of my mouth. I will

open my mouth in parables. I will other

hidden things from of old. what we have

heard and known, what we what our

fathers have told us. We will not hide

them from their children. We will tell

the next generation the praiseworthy

deeds of the Lord,

his power, and the wonders

he has done.

And then we're going to turn to Joshua

Joshua 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4

and we're going to read starting at

verse 4.

So Joshua called together the 12 men

he had appointed from the Israelites,

one from each tribe. And he said to

them, "Go over,

go over before the ark of the Lord your

God, into the middle of the Jordan. Each

of you is to take up a stone on his

shoulder according to the number of the

tribes of the Israelites to serve as a

sign among you. In the future, when your

children ask you what does these signs

mean or stones mean, tell them that the

flow of the Jordan was cut off before

the ark of the covenant of the Lord.

The title of this message is

storybearer tell the story. Storybearer

tell the story. Let's enter into his

presence. Father,

we recognize that you don't grow weary

or weak.

You not slumber. You don't sleep. You

are always at the peak of your power.

You watch over us day and night.

You provide us mana from heaven.

Oh bread of life,

we gather together to hear of your word

that we would may meditate on it day and

night. We gather together that you would

feed us, supercharge us so we can go to

battle. Father, thank you for all that

you do and what you're doing in our life

and be with your messenger.

We pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. again, locked

and loaded, ready to go. You chill out

and I keep standing. Amen.

So, um, got a story for you.

When I was in Haiti, spent my first six

years in Haiti of my life.

And I remember, of course, there's no

air conditioning, there's no AC, there's

no none of that. There's just straight

heat. heat in the morning, heat at

night, and every once in a while you'll

get a cool breeze under the um mango

trees or coconut trees and whatnot. And

if you was really cool, you can climb

those trees and just help yourself of

some good fruit. All right. So, so what

I used to

just take to heart and cherish was the

fact that the older adults in our in and

and back in those days would um gather

together whether it was late at night

outside or whether it was in the

mornings or under again um a a a nice

shade. They would gather together and

tell stories.

And I valued the stories.

We didn't have no TV. We didn't have no

telephones. We didn't have technology.

We didn't have none of that. We didn't

even have the the basic forms of

entertainment that we that that we would

have today. But what we had was stories.

And um my grandparents passed before I

can connect with them. My grandparents

from my dad's side died when he was um

12 and 13. My mom's dad passed away when

she was about uh seven or nine years

old. And my um mom's mom passed when I

came to the states in 1985.

I was about six years old. And we would

um she would write on re I mean she

would record cassette tapes and couldn't

wait to for us to reconnect and and all

that good stuff. And I was anticipating

hearing grandma's stories and I had so

much questions to ask, but I got the

news that she passed before I could ever

step feet back in Haiti. And so, so I

live for stories. I I don't have I don't

have um um too much memories of my of my

baby days and goooo gaga days because I

don't have any pictures or no

recollections. So I hold on to my

memories. Um any opportunity today I get

a chance to meet with my my mom either

call on the phone or a visit um or

sometimes even my dad. I annoy them and

I bother them with stories. I am taking

mental notes. I am writing things down

every now and then. I am recording them.

And my mom's like,

she's like, "Little boy, why you keep

digging in me like that?" Ah. And in my

mind, there is a sense of urgency as if

I'm running out of time and I need

everything within you that has been

stored in your heart. So if I got to

grab a spiritual shovel and keep

digging, I will dig. I will dig

>> until I can get it out of you. Amen.

And so

this is where

I come to

marrying my wife. But before we marry,

we was together since 16 years old, 15,

16. And um our introduction was she

would create these um scrapbooks

um these um books of pictures and and

she would decor them and make them look

really nice. and and each sheet had its

own life to it. Each sheet at the time I

thought it was kind of corny and um I I

I was like a waste of time and and I was

like what what are we doing? And we fast

forward 25 30 years now. They are life

to me.

every page. I can spend hours on every

page reliving those experiences

and it's doing something on the inside

of me. It's the same thing with Facebook

memories, right? Um out of nowhere, it

just there's a clip uh of something that

happened last year, some type of

experience, some type of video, some

type of moment that you wasn't even

thinking about, and all of a sudden it

just flashed before you. And you go back

in time and relive those experiences and

you wish that you even was more in the

moment. But but even still you are

creating new moments while you are

experienc something that probably

happened about 10 years ago.

Time time and this is where I realize

stories preserve what time tries to take

away.

The stories became my memory. And the

first point I want to bring out is God

created us to remember.

Memories isn't just about the past.

Memories determines what we carry into

the future. The brain love stories.

But not just any stories. The brains

love stories that can uh because the

brain holds memories. The brain loves

stories that's memorable. [snorts]

That's lasting. You imagine, think about

it. We spend every we spend seconds in

life. Things are happening. We we we

spend seconds, hours, days,

weeks, months, years. So much happens

within the time frame of our life. But

we only remember those things that are

significant

or those things that are attached to a

story.

those things that are attached to a

question that leaves a knowledge gap

that you can't you can't sleep until you

figure out what their answer is.

God was setting us up and we didn't even

know it. Um, think about the Bible. The

Bible is filled of um

it it's it's filled with doctrine,

filled with theology, filled with

principles, filled with theories, filled

with [clears throat] commands, filled

with don't do this, don't do that. All

these important things that we have to

follow to live life. But God doesn't

just give us a list of doctrines. He

packs that stuff in a story. [laughter]

He packs that stuff in the nuances of

the day. He uses the the the the birds

of the air and the the the skies

changing. He uses his creation that he

created and to tell the story of life.

And in those stories, he packs his

principles.

In those stories, he puts his ways. In

those stories, he puts how he wants us

to live. So, he doesn't just tell us to

do. He just doesn't tell us to don't do

this or he just doesn't give us

commandments, but he tells us a story to

attach with it because he knows that

with a story, the right story

can pack the principle that he wants us

to live out. Amen.

>> Jesus speaks

in stories and our God speaks in

stories. There's says that there's 40 to

45% of the Bible is narration, is

storytelling.

But there's a problem. The problem is we

are being fed stories constantly. If you

look at your fe um Tik Tok, if you look

at um social media, if you look at

Instagram, if you look at the TV, if you

look at the news, there are stories

everywhere. We're being fed stories upon

stories upon stories. And the problem is

the dilemma is that when there is so

much stories and opposition of God's

story, sometimes there's confusion at

bay. More information does not

automatically produce more wisdom.

Here's the statistics for you. 90% of

Americans say they encounter news that

they believe is inaccurate, at least

sometimes.

51% say it's generally difficult to

determine what is true and what isn't

when gathering news. Nearly 40% of US

high school students reported persistent

sadness or hopelessness.

More than 75%

of high school students reported

frequent social media use. So the

problem isn't that our generation is

being fed. We're being fed constantly.

The question is what are we feeding the

mind and what are we allowing to become

memorable? Every generation is being

discipled by a story. But whose story is

discipling them? There is a mandate

believer believers to make sure that

you're producing the right story for the

kingdom.

God's answer is to tell the story.

We have in Psalm 78 there is um a

worship leader um a worship um leader

over leaders like the Deborah's and the

um Rice in our ministry where these guys

aren't only just producing songs for us

but they're are producing songs and

they're having to oversee a group a

group of Levvis and this particular um

gentleman's name is Asaf and Asaf is

writing a song in song is called a

mascll. Um this a mascll is when when

there is a song but the song has a story

and inside the story there is

instructions inside the story there is

um there is dos and don'ts inside of

stories inside of this particular song

that holds this story there is this this

beware and warning. So every now and

then there God creates a moment and in

this story this song has so much that is

giving you a a tidbit of how to live

Christlike.

And one of the things that it mentions

there is a um Hebrew framework on this

uh uh with this with this um verse and

chapter. One of the first words I want

you to um know in Hebrew is zakar. Zakar

means to remember.

Remember. But this is not the type of

remember. Uh oh. Um remember you got to

eat today. Uh remember I have a meeting

today or remember that something

happens. Zakar takes it to another

level. Zakar says that you take what was

done in the past, you bring it in the

present to affect your now.

It it's not only something that I'm

telling you so that you can remember.

I'm telling you that you can walk it

out. So then that way your life becomes

remembrance.

You you begin to walk in the pro process

of God. Walking in remembrance. Zakar.

Bring what God has done into the present

and let it shape your actions. Number

two is safar. Safar is to tell. It is to

declare something. So first you have to

remember and then you have to tell the

story. You have to tell the history of

God. The history of your life. the

history of what God's doing in your

life. Next, then you have to move it

from um safar to um dole. Dole door is

from generation

to generation.

The kingdom

Jesus help me here.

When I got into the faith, excuse me for

my um frankness,

Jesus was all about me.

I got into the faith and I was living

Jesus out and all I saw was me and

Jesus. Jesus, we can ride and die

together. What do you want to do? Let's

make it happen.

And then all of a sudden, as I begin to

walk and walk and have some history with

Jesus, Jesus like was showing me that,

hey, it's not all about us.

>> It's all about us.

I wasn't getting it, ladies and

gentlemen. So, after I figured out, hey,

maybe it's just all about me, then I

realized, okay, it's all about me and my

wife and Jesus. Me and my wife and my

family. We going to do this thing,

Bonnie and Claudet. We going to take

everybody out and just go.

AND THEN AFTER A WHILE AND WALKING in

this thing, the Lord showed me, hey,

it's not about just you and your family.

But I it's about you,

your family, and those that are

connected to you,

and about this generation said, "I got

it, God. We going, we're going to work.

We're going I got it. I got it. We're

going to do some work. I'm going to be a

missionary for you. I'm I'm going to go

hard in the P. We going to do it, God.

Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it.

Let's do it. And then all of a sudden,

God said, "Hold up.

I know it was me and you. I know it was

me and the YOU AND THE FAMILY. YOU'RE

DOING A GOOD JOB. KEEP IT UP. BUT UM UH

I I KNOW IT'S YOU AND THIS GENERATION,

BUT UM PAUSE AND PUMP YOUR BRAKES A

LITTLE BIT. BUT IT'S NOT ABOUT JUST YOU.

IT'S NOT ABOUT JUST YOU AND YOUR FAMILY.

It's not about you and your church. IT'S

NOT ABOUT YOU AND THIS GENERATION. BUT I

WANT YOU TO LOOK AHEAD. LOOK OVER YONDER

AND SEE THE GENERATION OUTSIDE OF YOU

AND MAKE PLANS. MAKE SURE WHAT YOU'RE

DOING TODAY AFFECTS WHAT YOU'RE DOING

TOMORROW AND AFFECTS THEIR LIFE TOO. AH,

[applause]

the Christian life is just not about

what you see with your naked eyes. We're

not living just for today. We're not

living JUST FOR TOMORROW. WE'RE NOT

LIVING JUST for our children, but we're

living for our children. Children, the

scripture says, "Leave an inheritance

for your children." children.

>> But the inheritance is not just what you

leave physically.

It's not what you pass physically over

where whether it's a physical land,

whether it's a physical home or building

of some sort or where there is monetary

gain. The inheritance IS DID I LIVE a

life of God's story in my heart? lived

it until it where my life is telling the

story even when my words is not TELLING

THE STORY. DID I LIVE IT IN SUCH A WAY

THAT MY ACTION IS PRODUCING A MESSAGE

NOT only for that is behind me or or

that is before me but those who's coming

behind them.

The Lord is up to something. So he says

zakar remember safar tell the story

declare it and then and then from

generation to generation meaning if I do

my work my generation the generation

before me is going to continue to tell

the story even after we're gone.

There is a danger of forgetting.

Um [clears throat] Deborah and North

Palm Worship producing produced the

song, Don't Forget the Lord. Don't

forget all that he has done. There is a

danger when you're not sharing the

story.

And the danger is because there is the

devil is evangelizing as well. He has

everybody at bay

from social media and the works to give

not just information but misinformation.

And so while he's giving misinformation

and all all

people are just eating and eating and

eating and eating and eating, if we are

not there to combat the misinformation,

then it's on us because we have a role

to play um and do our story. If our

story is not being told, then the

generation before us don't know what

their history looks like with God. If

our if our story is not being told, then

they don't know about what's going on in

their community. If our story is not

being told, they don't know what

happened yesterday and what how good the

Lord is is done. So not telling the

story end up being even so much

dangerous that the kids is is being

strayed away. not only the kids, the

adults as well. Um, when we forget the

true story, we become vulnerable to

false stories.

Don't allow your children to forget

God's story. More importantly, don't

allow God's children to forget God's

story.

There's a cause and effect structure.

When you remember,

it produce faithfulness. When you

forget, it produced rebellion. It

produced idolatry. It produce a

generation that does not know God. Are

we good, ladies and gentlemen?

>> Jesus is the answer. And we understand

that Jesus has authority. And when he

came on earth, he showed out.

He wasn't afraid of the authorities of

the day, but he stood on power. He told

the storms to be still and the storm was

still. He um he he told demons to to

flee into into abyss. That's what they

did. He went into hell and and and in

and the grave after being crucified and

he took the keys keys of the kingdom. I

mean he embarrassed those boys, ladies

and gentlemen.

He he put them to shame. Jesus showed

out. He embodied and he emodeled what we

should be on earth.

So when we see idolatry and when we see

when we are confronted with those

things,

it's not a duck and hide. When God sets

you free and he that the sun set free is

free indeed. That free indeed means you

don't go on the defense, you go on the

offense. That free indeed says I'm not

only set free but I'm set free so I can

set free.

>> I'm not only delivered but I'm delivered

so I can deliver.

>> We don't want to raise a generation that

is set free and not go in hiding trying

to stay free believing that oh if I stay

away from it if I duck from it OR IF

IT'S COMING OH NO I DON'T WANT TO BE A

PART OF it and that way now I'm running

because I want to stay free. I don't

want that. I don't want that thing to

get back on me to jump back on me. NO.

JESUS SAID, I WANT YOU TO PUNISH IT.

>> I want you to PUT IT ON NOTICE of how

free you are AND THAT THE KINGDOM of

this world belongs to God.

>> So Psalm 78 is a principle.

It is a principle that says share his

story.

recount his story. It is a principle

that says that hey tell it to the

generations to come. It is a principle

that says if you don't tell it and if

it's not shared and reproduced that the

danger is we will create a rebellious

generation.

So he says share the goodness of the

Lord and what he has done and make his

power and authority known. It's a

principle. And then we reach and get

into Joshua chapter 4.

Joshua 4 · chapter mention

we get into a story where we get to see

this principle at play. And in Joshua

Joshua 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4, we have Joshua. Moses is now

dead. And Joshua have all these

Israelites in front of him and they are

now getting ready to cross the Jordan

River. It is in the season of major

flood season. And so, it's not a river

that you can swim in. It's not a river

that you can grab a rope and just rope

it on the other side. It's not a river

that you can grab a boat and go. Nah, if

you if you the currents will take you

out by itself. So now they're at the

they're getting ready to go into the

promise, but in order to go to the get

to the promise, they got to cross to the

river.

And so with all of these eyeballs that's

looking at them and then there's a

there's a bit of fear inside of Joshua.

So God ALREADY TOLD HIM, "HEY JOSHUA,

fear not for I am with you. Take

courage.

Take courage.

Don't be afraid. I'm with you.

And so God began to give him

instructions. I I I I I I I want you to

I want you to get to the the the

riverbed. And when you get to the

riverbed, I need you to take the priest

and get the priest and get get the um

arc a covenant with you. Let them go in

front of you and lead you. Let the

priests lead you. And as the priests are

leading inside of this river, as soon as

they feet

touch the water, the water begins to

split just like it did with the with the

Jordan. And the priest begins to walk.

And as they walked, they got to the

center of this riverbed. And at the

center, they stopped. And when they

stopped,

the Israelites begin to walk through and

go towards their victory. and their

their enemies are receiving news of this

happening. AS THEIR ENEMIES ARE

RECEIVING NEWS, fear is HITTING THEIR

HEART. SO THERE'S SOME BATTLES YOU DON'T

EVEN HAVE TO FIGHT. WHEN YOU OBEY GOD,

OTHERS WILL TAKE NOTICE. FEAR WILL ENTER

INTO THEIR HEART AND FREEDOM WILL COME.

[applause]

And so they're at this riverbed and the

priests are standing in the middle with

the ark of the covenant. And the

Israelites are walking by each one. And

after each of them cross the other side,

the priests are still there. And in

front of the priests,

our stones, our stones, our stones.

And Joshua, God instructed Joshua to

take 12 leaders representing each tribe

and allow those leaders to go back into

this riverbed and tell them to grab a

stone. and they grabbed the stone and

they they placed the stone on their

shoulders and then they took the stones

these 12 stones into their tent. And

Joshua told them that hey

the purpose of these stones

is when your children

asks you what does these stone mean that

you can tell them about the victory that

God gave you in the Jordan.

[applause]

God placed a question

inside of these kids or inside of the

children that must be asked because the

monument was not just a monument. The

monument of the stone was an opportunity

for a question AND THAT QUESTION STIRRED

AN ACTION.

The stone

created curiosity.

Curiosity

created a question.

A question

created a story. A story created a

memory. A memory created produced

identity.

Identity turned them back to God.

This is

the reason for our calling. This is the

reason FOR OUR EXISTENCE. SO NOW

BELOVED, WE ARE NOT just

monuments.

First Peter chapter 2 VERSE 5 SAYS, "YOU

1 Peter 2:5

are as living stones."

[screaming] You are living stones.

YOU ARE LIVING STONES AND INSIDE OF YOU

IS GOD the resurrected LIFE. WE CANNOT

LIKE HIDE IT. I HEAR THE LORD SAYING,

"ROLL THOSE [screaming] STONES BACK.

ROLL THE STONES BACK [screaming]

>> AND LET MY LIFE BE BURST OUTSIDE OF YOU.

Roll the stones back."

And um

Luke

tells us that

if

if what I've done in you

stays shut up,

stays closed up,

the stones

will cry out.

>> My history will still speak. But how

dare you have living life on the inside

of you and you not be able to release it

to a generation that's crying out for

it.

MY STONES WILL SPEAK, MY HISTORY WILL

SPEAK FOR ITSELF. MY CREATION WILL SPEAK

FOR ITSELF. BUT HOW DARE YOU? I DESIRE

TO USE YOU. THERE'S SO MUCH ON THE

INSIDE OF YOU. THE APOSTLES IN THE BOOK

OF ACTS SAID, they said, uh um I can

only speak what I see and hear from God.

There's a generation. What happens

beloved

when the church stands as the church

and live out the God story and we go and

tell it on the mountain and we tell it

on the valley that Jesus is born that

Jesus is king that Jesus reigns and one

day he will return. What happens when we

tell the story and not allow a

generation to forget? They not only

become empowered

to conquer what's before them, but we

notice in Revelation chapter 11 that the

Revelation 11 · chapter mention

kingdom of this earth becomes the

kingdom of our God.

We notice in Revelation chapter chapter

21 that God himself comes and dwell with

his people. When we tell the story, we

notice

in chapter 21:5

THAT HE MAKES ALL THINGS NEW. Let what

comes out of what God has produced in

you come out of you by the blood of the

lamb. Revelation 12:11, by the blood of

Revelation 12:11

the lamb and the word of our testimony.

Not loving our lives so much to shrink

from DEATH AND NOT COWERING FROM THIS

WORLD. BUT WE ARE RISING TO THE OCCASION

because of what the Lord has done FOR

US. HE SET US FREE.

>> Let us live indeed. Amen.

>> God bless you. God bless you.