Memorial Stones

Well, thank you for that introduction.

Pastor Adam.

I didn't know you felt that way with the first uh my first sermon.

It's been a while since I was here sharing.

Well, good morning, church.

Well done for making it this morning.

We are gonna be blessed this morning.

Amen.

At least we yeah in the air con, no mosquitoes.

Why don't you all tired of the mosquitoes this morning?

Uh well I'd like to thank the church, the leadership of the church for allowing me to share the word.

I forgot because it's been a while, and uh I forgot what it takes to do something like this.

You know, I spent hours from last week.

You would get a word, and you quickly want to take it down, and then you prepare, you start reading, and then the Holy Spirit gives you something, and then you want to write it down.

And I remember it was like five in the morning, something just came to me.

And I quickly, I had to wake up, and I just quickly went on my phone and I typed it out.

It made no sense, but I just typed it out and uh I sent it to myself and I saved it because it's like it's a progress of two weeks of preparation.

And I actually enjoyed that preparation, you know, because it drew me closer to God.

I was less on social media because I was set setting time with the Lord.

So I appreciated that.

My son came home and he was like, Daddy, he saw all my papers on the desk and he was it was all over.

And I had like 10 papers with different notes, and he's saying, Daddy, are you sharing from uh from the whole book of Psalms?

So I said, No, it's not the whole book.

It's not the whole book of Psalms, so don't worry.

But a lot has happened since the last time I preached.

A lot has happened.

Uh I think I got more gray hairs.

Pastor Pastor Print was like, I think you got more gray hairs than me.

We uh we became Canadian last year, me and my family.

Amen.

We started a new ministry with the married couples, amen.

It shows that this walk is not boring.

It shows that it's constantly moving.

It's like a river, it's flowing.

And um, you know, I find that God is like a rock.

You know, in the ocean, the waves come, the water is moving, but the rocks are standing still.

And God is constant in our lives.

He's the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Amen.

He does not move.

We are the variables, but he is the constant.

He is constant in our lives.

So change is mandatory for us on this work.

We will experience change, and as you grow in the Lord, you will experience change.

Amen.

So last year I went back home.

Uh yeah, I went in October, went back home for my parents' birthday, and um I found myself uh communicating differently.

You know, in in South Africa, I'll teach you a few words.

In slang, we will say, what kind?

Okay, what kind?

The way you say it, the attitude, how you say it, it's all about the contents of that.

So you're like, what kind?

And then another word is aware.

Can we say aware?

You see somebody you haven't seen for long, you say aware.

And uh the last one is lucka.

Luca.

Can we say lucker?

And lucker is a word that you describe that something's nice.

So you can say, hey, the lighting is luck.

I am dressed lucker.

Okay?

Can we say the word of God is lucker?

So anyway, I'm communicating with some of my friends I haven't seen for so long, and then I'm talking to them, and then I find myself saying, Okay, okay, getting the information what they're saying, and then I say, sounds good.

It's like what?

What is where did that come from?

But that came from being in Canada for nine years.

Sounds good.

Is that the Canadian slang?

Must be, you know, because I find myself, sounds good, even in a text.

Hey, we're going here, we're going there, aware.

Sounds good, sounds good, sounds like a plan.

So then the one friend called me out.

What's this sounds good?

What are you listening to?

Yeah, so it's amazing.

Uh the different meanings of words, and it was so nice to be back home.

Today I want to talk to you about your scars.

Your scars that you have.

What is a scar?

The definition of a scar, it's a mark left on the skin after a wound heals.

It's a lasting emotional pain.

Some of us have scars on our bodies, like a physical scar that we can see, and some of us have an emotional pain.

I remember my first score, because my mother told me the story a hundred times.

She said, Boy, when you were born, we had to do an emergency C-section.

She said, I never see you for three days.

You were in ICU.

Your lung collapsed.

And there's a score on this side, a small little score now.

Now it's very small and it's covered in fat.

A small little score.

And they said they put the way she described it, they put the tube there and it helped you to breathe.

And I still got that score today.

Some of us got physical scars, and we can relate to what we experienced from that score.

And some of us remember what happened.

How did I get this score?

I remember I got a small score here in my eye, and I remember I turned into a window frame.

And we all have scars in our lives.

Some of us have emotional scars, some of us have physical scars.

And it's a mark that's left on our heart, or it's a mark that left that is left on our body.

So in season 22, uh year 2021, sorry, not season.

Year 2021, I look at that year, the latter part of the year, from July.

I look at that year, and I see that that year left a score on my life.

That year left a score on my heart.

And some of y'all know our story, because we just joined Faith Alive at that time.

Some of y'all know what we went through that year.

I'll just expound a little bit on that.

So in July, my wife loses her best friend after 18 years to COVID.

She was our maid of honor.

She came to visit us in 2018 here in Canada.

And then her mother passes away a week later.

A week later after that, my wife's sister, that's here in Canada, she was diagnosed with stomach cancer.

And they're giving her three months to live.

September comes, I get laid off from work.

First time in Canada, been laid off from work.

I haven't experienced this.

End of September, my wife loses her nephew, three months old, in a car accident.

She goes back to South Africa.

A week later, after the funeral, or two days after the funeral, she comes back.

She sees her sister one last time, and then her sister goes.

After the funeral, a week after the funeral, my wife, she's been in with the online company.

They layer off after seven years in that.

We were in a season of loss.

That 2021 left a mark on my life, left a mark on my family's life.

It was a scar.

I kept on asking God, what is going on here?

Why did everything come up in this short space of time?

We applied for EI.

They said they could not give it to us, give it to me, because I was on a closed work permit and they're investigating.

That's what they said.

Our credit cards expired.

Our permanent residence application was already in.

We were waiting, but there was a backlog because of COVID.

People, we had to pay rent, we had to eat, my kids had to function normal, go to school.

That was the reality of the situation.

There's a reality of a situation, but there's also a promise of God.

And sometimes the situation or that mountain is so big we forget the promise of God.

Coming back to our finances.

So I weren't collecting EI, we were both laid off.

We're dealing with the loss.

We didn't even have a chance to deal with my wife's best friend because we were just taken up with the family.

We're dealing with this, and we got no work.

I know a few times Faith the Life helps us.

Some people came over and blessed us with the meal.

But I found in that season, and I confirmed it with my wife, that that season we dropped the kids off in the morning, and we'd come home, it was just the two of us, and we would pray.

We would have worship on whole day and we would just pray and pray.

We didn't understand what was this, but we just prayed and prayed and drew closer.

There's a song by Elevation that says, Why complain when you can pray?

Why complain when you can pray?

And in that season, we didn't know what was taking place.

I remember phoning the member of parliament behind Saskatoon, and I'm saying, Do you know where's my application sitting at?

And you would say, Dane, you're so close.

I just spoke to somebody.

Y'all are so close.

Hang in there.

Hang in there.

Christmas is coming.

We have to pay rent from July or right through.

I'm waiting for EI.

Credit cards have expired because our work permits expired.

I go to the banker, ask for a new credit credit card, they say no.

They say no because you're waiting for your permanent residence.

If I go home, I won't be able to come back into Canada.

I was stuck.

I was stuck in this place.

It was a season where I haven't experienced before.

That's why I say, yeah, 2021 left a mark on my life.

It left a scar where I was like, God, what is going on here?

Church, we all have a scar.

We all have a scar.

Some of us have emotional pain.

Some of us have a physical scar.

Some of us were in an accident, and we can show the proof, hey, I was in the accidents.

God spared my life.

Or do we look at our scar and complain and say, oh, well, now my hand is messed up.

Oh, this is messed up.

Or do we say, Yo, God, you spared my life.

Thank you.

My mother told me, she never saw me for three days.

I had that scar there.

She said, every time I would see your father and be like, How's Dane?

She said, My father would say, Oh, he's fine.

He's looking so good.

He's healthy.

And I asked him, like, you didn't see the tubes, you didn't see that.

He said, I was just happy that you were born.

So people can interpret a score differently.

You can interpret a score as you angry what God has done in your life, or you can interpret a score and say, God, thank you for saving me.

Thank you for healing me.

How do you interpret the score?

How do you we all go through seasons?

All of us that are sitting here, we're going through a different season.

Some of us are flourishing, some of us are suffering.

But who's constant in our lives, church?

Who's constant?

Who is the rock?

Amen?

Let's move on.

This morning I want to share from you.

I want to share with you from Joshua.

And I titled my message Memorial's Stones.

The Memorial Stones.

And it's found in Joshua 3 into 4.

So y'all can turn with me or take out the smartphones or we can have it up.

I'm reading from the New King James.

So just to give y'all a little bit of background, Joshua 1, it speaks about so Moses just died in the end of Deuteronomy.

He doesn't see the promised land.

So Joshua 1, God is raising uh Joshua up.

And the whole of uh the whole book, uh whole chapter of Joshua 1 is basically encouraging Joshua.

Be bold, be courageous.

We all know that scripture, Joshua 1, verse 8.

Joshua 1:8

Be bold, be courageous, do not be afraid.

I'm with you, I'll exalt you, I will stand with you.

So whatever Joshua may be feeling, maybe there was fear, I don't know.

But now he's the new leader, and God wants him to rise up and lead the people of Israel.

Joshua chapter 2, he sends out two spies, they go, and that's when they meet Rahab.

Joshua 2 · chapter mention

Many of you know the story, and Rahab makes uh like uh agreements with them that they will not kill her and her family.

Now we're in Joshua 3, the crossing of the Jordan, in Joshua 3.

And in Joshua 3, basically, um, in the beginning of Joshua 3, Joshua meets, he calls all the Israelites, the children of uh Israel, and then he gathers, he says, okay, this is the plan, this is the word of God, this is what it tells us we should do.

He instructs the people to have a distance from the Ark of the Covenants.

He's just giving instructions, he's laying out what the Lord told him to do.

I want us to start in Joshua 3, verse 12.

Joshua 3:12

Joshua 3, verse 12.

Joshua 3:12

We're gonna read there.

Now, therefore, take for yourselves 12 men from the tribes of Israel, one man from each tribe, and it shall come to pass as soon as the soles of the feet of the priest who bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be cut off, the waters that come down from upstream, and they shall stand as a heap.

So basically, he says, The priest will go, they will enter the river first, and as they enter the river, he says, The water will be cut off, the water flowing from the upstream will be cut off.

Verse 14.

So it was when the people set out from their camp to cross over the Jordan, with the priest bearing the ark of the covenant before the people, and as those who bore the ark came to the Jordan, and the feet of the priest who bore the ark dipped in the edge of the water.

For the Jordan overflows all its banks during the whole time of harvest.

My Bible, yeah, it's in brackets.

So I just uh I just researched a little bit more, and it says there that the Jordan River at this time, the river was flooded.

It was harvest time, the river was full, it was 10 feet deep and it was a hundred feet wide.

So it's not like God opened the river Jordan and the waters at our ankles.

It's 10 feet deep.

It says in the Bible that it was all the banks were covered by this water.

Okay, let's move on.

Verse 16 that the waters which came down from upstream stood still and rose in a heap very far away at Adam, the city that is beside Cessi.

The city that is beside Zaratan.

I'm just seeing if you'll caught that one.

So the waters that went down into the sea of the Erabah, the Salt Sea, failed and were cut off, and the people crossed over opposite Jericho.

God cut the waters 10 feet high.

The peace go down first, and now it's your turn, and you see 10 feet of water, it's just cut, it's just cut.

God can cut things out of our life just like that, can just cut.

Moving on.

Then the priest who bore the ark of the covenants of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan, and all Israel crossed over on dry ground until all the people crossed completely over the Jordan.

The miracle has taken place, he's done it again.

This miracle lies parallel to the parting of the Red Sea.

He did that when they exited Egypt, and now he's doing it again to go into the promised land.

This is not an accident.

This is designed by God.

God gave Joshua the instruction: this is what I want you to do, this is what I want the peace to do, this is what is gonna happen, and I want you to cross over.

The seas, the waters stopped.

God cuts it off.

Imagine you're walking on dry, dry ground, so much water.

That song reminded me of that.

It may look like we're surrounded, but I'm surrounded by you.

They were surrounded by water hundred feet wide, ten feet deep.

They were surrounded.

Chapter four.

We're gonna flow into chapter four, the memorial stones.

And it came to pass, chapter four, verse one, and it came to pass when all the people had completely crossed over the Jordan, that the Lord spoke to Joshua, saying, Take for yourselves twelve men from the people, one man from every tribe, and command him, saying, Take for yourself yourself twelve stones from where out the midst of the Jordan, from the place where the priest's feet stood firm.

You shall carry them over with you.

And leave them in the lodging place where you lodge tonight.

Then Jesus, then Joshua called the twelve men whom he had appointed from the children of Israel, one man from every tribe.

And Joshua said to them, Cross over before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan, and each one of you take up a stone on his shoulder according to the number of tribes of the children of Israel, that this may be a sign among you when your children ask in time.

Come saying, What do these stones mean to you?

So just recap here.

So they come now, the Israelites are here.

Joshua gives the instruction.

He got the instruction from the Lord.

Joshua gives the instruction.

He tells the priests that are carrying the Ark of the Covenant.

He says, Go to the river first.

And as their feet touch the water, the waters start to, he cuts the waters off.

They're flowing from upstream.

He cuts the waters off.

The priests go in the sense of the river.

Just imagine this.

The priests go in the sense of the river.

It's like we watch these Marvel movies.

Like we should marvel at our God.

Like these people are copying our God.

Serious.

We get excited.

Oh, Iron Man's here, Spider-Man's in town.

Look what God is doing.

Anyway, we they the priest is carrying the Ark of the Covenant, and they're in the middle, and they cross over.

And he tells them, Joshua instructs now the 12 men from each tribe.

He says, Okay, put a stone, like say something like this: put a stone on your shoulder and cross over.

Cross over.

So they take it to a place where they're lodging.

Now they're in the promised land.

They crossed over.

Where they're sleeping tonight?

And he says, put the stones there.

Verse 6 says, that this may be a sign among you when your children ask in time to come, saying, What do these stones mean to you?

What do these stones mean to you?

I looked up the definition of a sign.

It says a marked object or a gesture that gives information shows that something is true.

It shows that something is true.

Let's read verse 7.

It says, Then you shall answer them.

So now verse 6, it says that this may be a sign among you when your children ask you in time to come, saying, What do these stones mean to you?

Verse 7 says, Then you shall answer them, saying that the waters of the Jordan were cut.

Cut off before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord.

When it crossed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off.

And these stones shall be a memorial to the children of Israel forever.

Forever.

The definition of a memorial: a memorial is an object, a place, or an event that keeps the memory of a person or a past event alive.

God does not want this event to be forgotten, church.

This could be over 4,000 years ago.

He does not want this event to be forgotten.

Those stones are memorials.

Those stones are memorials.

It even says those stones will be left there.

So when your children come to that place, they're gonna say, What do those stones mean?

Daddy, what those what does those stones mean?

And you get to explain.

Well, this is when the Israelites crossed over the Jordan.

That was the miracle that they received.

The definition of a memorial, it says it's an object, a place, or an event that keeps the memory of a person or a past event alive.

And it made me think, God, you want us to keep this miracle alive.

We have experienced a touch from God.

We all have scars, we all have emotional pain.

Those are our memorials.

God does not want us to forget these things.

He doesn't want us to forget his works.

That was his miracle.

And he's saying, when the children ask, I want you all to tell them that this will be a memorial place for all of the children of Israel forever.

And it made me think I have memorials in my life.

I have miracles in my life.

I remember the day I got saved.

I remember the day I got baptized.

Those are memorials.

I can share those stories with my children.

I can share it.

Those are mine, those are my miracles.

And God doesn't want us to forget that.

We have memorials in this church.

When I came to faith alive, there were so many healing miracles.

That's also for us church.

Because we come to the church.

That's for the congregation.

We might know a family member that have memorials or miracles that God did in their lives.

Oh, that's our family.

We will remember that.

That's a memorial.

Why are we throwing away the miracles?

Why are we throwing away the memorials in our life?

We're forgetting what God has done.

God says in the word of God, I'm not making this up.

He says, This will be for the children of Israel forever.

He's saying this.

He doesn't want their children to forget this message must get passed down.

Our children should know our memorials in our life.

The scores that we're facing, our children should know that.

Why do we forget this?

God does not want his works forgotten.

God does not want your story to be forgotten among the generations.

God's people often forget that memorials are necessary because we often forget what God has done in our lives.

I was speaking to one guy, and he's saying, the way they're hiring new people, he's like, the overtime will be depleted.

We're gonna be hungry, we're gonna be starving.

What are they doing?

I don't know what we're gonna do.

And I just forgot what God has done.

I was like, yeah, you're right.

And I started agreeing with them.

I went to the washroom, I'm washing my hands, and I look in the mirror and I was like, did you forget?

A thought came to me, did you forget what I've done, how I provided for you?

Instantly I felt something.

I make mistakes.

Not that I'm on the stage here, I'm not making mistakes.

I I forgot what God done.

I'm showing you all how easy it is to forget the miracles that have taken place.

We forget.

Sometimes we think, oh, God used, God moved mightily in the 80s and the 90s.

There was revival here in Canada.

There was this yeah in South Africa.

Oh, so God stopped?

Is God tired?

Is God tired?

He's not tired.

There can also be a revival.

There can be what he did then, he can do now, because he is the constant in our lives.

The truth of God's hands and spirit does not lessen, but our memory of it can.

The truth of God's hands and spirit does not lessen, but our memory of it can.

Memorials preserve the truth and recall its impact.

That's what it does.

It preserves the truth and it recalls its impact.

These stones that were set up was for the lasting testimony of God's work.

He didn't want us to forget.

And the children of Israel did so, just as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones from the midst of the Jordan, as the Lord had spoken to Joshua, according to the number of tribes of the children of Israel, and carried them over with them to the place where they lodged and laid them down there.

So basically, same thing, what we've said.

They take the 12 stones while the Jordan is dry.

They take the 12 stones, 12 men from each different uh from each tribe, and they go over into the promised land and they put up the stones there.

And God says, This will be a memorial place for your children's children.

Okay.

Verse 9 it says, Then Joshua set up 12 stones in the midst of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priest who bore the ark of the covenant stood.

And they are there to this day.

I'll say that again.

Then Joshua set up 12 stones in the midst of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priest who bore the Ark of the Covenant stood, and they are there to this day.

Joshua set up his own 12 stones in the middle of the Jordan.

So he told 12 men, go over to the promised land, make that a memorial place.

And he set up his own 12 stones in the midst of the Jordan.

And it made me think, why would he do that?

I studied it.

I went further into that scripture.

One of the reasons it says, perhaps those stones will be seen when it's their drought season.

Because remember, it's the harvest season, it's ten feet deep and a hundred feet wide.

Joshua comes and he puts up his own stones in the midst of the Jordan.

But you won't be able to see it.

You will only see it in a season of drought.

It made me think.

Joshua put those stones in the midst of the Jordan.

For when there's a season of doubt, so the Israelites can come on the bank and look in their season of crisis and doubt.

And imagine a child asking your father, Daddy, what those stones mean there in the middle of the Jordan?

Boy, that was the day that God provided a way.

In your season of crisis, in your season of doubt, when you don't know where's God?

Do you have memorials in your hearts?

Are you remembering the miracles that He's done for you?

Or are we surrounded by this water?

And it's like, what are we gonna do?

The situation is so big, your reality is so big that you forget that there's the promised land.

My situation, I still had to pay rent, my family still had to eat.

But there's the promised land.

God, where's the promised land?

I'm not experiencing this, experiencing it.

I'm phoning members of parliaments, I'm phoning my dad, I'm telling him, I remember having a conversation with him.

I'm saying, Dad, I'm giving up.

Five years in this place, I'm giving up.

I cannot provide for my family, I can't work anywhere else.

I'm waiting for my paperwork.

He said, Boy, hang on.

Member of Parliament says, You're so close.

That was my moment to look at my memorials in my life and say, God, this is what you did for those people.

This is what you're gonna do for me.

Because he doesn't want us to forget the miracle that has taken place.

We we forget so easily, church.

We forget what he's done in our lives, especially when a season of crisis comes our way.

You just forget the promise of God, like what I did.

I just forgot that God is my source.

So when this guy's at work telling me we're in trouble, I forget that God is my source.

Imagine the Israelites' fate when they crossed over after experiencing their walks over on dry ground.

Imagine their points of fate when they're in the promised land.

I can imagine that fate must have been so high.

Their levels of faith must be so high because they just experienced this miracle, and then over time, memory loss, it's not memory loss, it's still there.

God still did it, it's still truth.

We just forget, we forget.

God wants each miracle that's taken place in our lives to make it a memorial.

You treasure that thing, you treasure it.

So in a season of crisis, that's how you're praying.

You're saying, God, I remember this.

I remember what you've done for me.

Or we just forgetting.

We need memorials to work, to the work of God in our lives, in our families, and in our congregation.

We need those memorials, church.

Those memorials are important.

I'm blessed with um I forget his name.

I think it's please forgive me.

I think it's Dave.

He sometimes plays the guitar with long hair.

Dave?

I'm blessed with his his his his testimonies because so many times God spared his life.

And you know, when I spoke to him when I first came into church and I heard, and he told me I nearly died three, four times.

And every time he says, God spared my life.

God did this, God did that.

He didn't look at his score and he's like, Dane, I nearly die.

I'm gonna die now.

He didn't say that.

There was a praise on his lips.

There was a praise, God spared my life.

I was blessed by that.

What are you gonna say about your scar?

What are you gonna say?

Are you gonna be the victim and say, oh, this is what happened?

You want us to feel sorry for you, or are you gonna say, This is what God did?

I could have lost my life, but he saved me.

He spared my life.

How do you interpret your story?

How do you interpret your miracle?

Are you a victim or you're victorious?

How?

We have a choice.

God is watching us, he's listening to us.

When does the story take a turn?

You know, when you put a comma and you say, but God, but God, this happened to me, that happened to me, that happened to me, but God, we all have that but God moment.

Some of us don't want to say it, some of us put a period at the sentence.

Oh, I broke my leg, done.

But God, He saved me.

I could have died, but God.

Do y'all not see that innocent people are dying?

We can't explain how this person died.

Do you all not see, hey, God saved my life?

I could have also died, but he saved my life.

I'm with my children today.

How are we interpreting our situation?

How do we see our season of drought, church?

Do we see it?

We're on the river bank and we see those stone sets up there, and do we see it and we say, God provided for me in that season.

He provided for those people.

We say, God, you the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Church, we serve a God that can cut off waters 10 feet deep.

Church, think about that.

Think about that.

10 feet deep, he stops it, he makes his children walk on dry ground.

We will come out the situation smelling like a rose.

The enemy thinks he got us.

He thought he had the people of Israel.

They were surrounded by water, they came out dry.

It doesn't say yeah, they were wet, they came out dry.

This is the God that we serve.

Some of us come out of accidents with not a scratch.

When you look at the vehicle, you're like, how did this happen?

Do we see God in that?

Or are we upset the vehicle smashed?

Because we can always interpret something negative or positive.

Let me tell you something, church.

God sees our pain.

Doesn't mean because we believe in him, we're not gonna go through pain.

We go through pain, and God sees our pain.

But he wants our praise.

That's what he wants.

He wants our praise.

And what is he doing?

He's saying, I've given you a memorial, I've given you a testimony, I've given you a miracle.

Use that as a tool to praise me in the season of crisis.

Your memorial is not by accidents.

What has happened to you is not by accident.

We, I don't have all the answers why certain people died, but it's not by accident that these things happen to you.

It's not, but God wants you to use that and give him praise in that season.

That's what he wants.

He's saying that this place, this memorial place, will be there forever for the children of Israel.

He says, forever.

In verse 9, it says, Yeah, after Joshua, after Joshua put the stones there, it ends off.

It says, the stones are still laid there till this day.

That's what it says.

The stones are still there till this day.

Imagine a constant reminder.

It made me think, man, I need to write down my miracles.

I need to create memorials on my heart.

Because when I pray and when I go through a season of crisis, I'm gonna use those things.

If I need to write it on my wall, I'm gonna say, God, in 2021, I could not provide for my family, and yet we ate every day.

God, you were there in my worst season when I was still grieving and uh experienced great loss.

It was a great loss.

Do we interpret our pain in you want the people to feel sorry for you?

I was speaking to um somebody, I won't mention their names, and they were asking, How do y'all do it?

Somebody asked them, How do y'all do it?

Experience the loss of a child.

And they said to me, they said to that person, but God.

It's painful.

Every day it's painful, but God.

You see, sometimes in a season of crisis, some people will grow in the Lord, and some people will resist the Lord because they're angry.

Some people are angry what is taking place.

There's no comma, there's no but God.

The more mature you are with this with the Lord, you will say, but God, the pain is there, but God.

He refreshes me, he renews my strength, he is my refuge, he is my rock, he keeps me going every single day.

But God, you think God hasn't experienced loss?

His son was perfect, and he watched his son die.

He watched it.

And the the best part about it is he could have done something.

He parted the Red Sea it didn't.

That was Jesus' assignment.

Done.

You will go to the cross and you will die.

So he has experienced loss.

God knows our pain.

He's watching us.

Some of us are in pain right now.

I don't know where you're at.

Some people are in pain in their season.

And like I said, some people are blessed, they're flourishing, they just got good news.

So you're watching this pain, but God wants our praise.

It doesn't mean because we Christians, we will not have pain, we will have pain.

We will experience pain.

We will go through a season of drought.

But what is implanted on our hearts, it's those rocks, it's those stones in the midst of the Jordan.

It's those stones, it's those memorials, it's those miracles.

It's those miracles.

I just want to go back to the definition of a memorial.

It's an object, a place, or an event that keeps the memory of a person or a past event alive.

It keeps it alive.

What are the memorials in your life?

You need to keep it alive.

You need to keep experiencing it.

Your children must hear about it.

This passage is Joshua.

There's Joshua.

Witness Moses leading them, and all of a sudden the next day, God says, It's you.

Come.

And I always think, like, imagine Joshua.

I don't even know how old he was.

Maybe if I dig deeper.

Now he has to lead.

He has to lead his people.

What if he said, No, God?

I'm scared.

Joshua 1, God's encouraging Joshua all the time.

Be bold, be courageous.

I'm with you.

I'm your God.

Be bold.

He said it like three, four times in Joshua 1.

He's just encouraging him, he's stirring him up.

I looked at the obedience of Joshua.

He could have said no.

He could have said, I'm afraid.

But it was obedience.

And I realized our obedience, your obedience lies parallel with your miracle.

When God is asking you to lead people, what if you have to lead people at work?

That awkward feeling, or you're shy, or you don't know what to say.

Joshua trusted God and he led the Israelites.

Imagine Joshua's level of faith.

Maybe caught in the Red Sea, Joshua was built up.

He witnessed that.

I don't know.

But his level of faith must have been so high.

So when God came calling, he said, yes.

It was obedience.

God was downloading to him and he's giving the people instructions.

He's giving him people instructions.

Okay, this is what we're gonna do.

The priests are gonna carry the ark of the covenants.

You're gonna go down to the river.

The Israelit must be looking and saying, Is this guy crazy?

Like, can't you see these waters?

We're surrounded by it.

10 feet deep, 100 feet wide.

And there's this guy just giving instructions.

And God kept on saying, I will exalt you today.

It says that.

I will exalt you today amongst all the Israelites.

They will know that you the leader.

They will know.

And there's Joshua, he's giving instructions, receiving from the Lord and giving instructions.

He was obedience.

After obedience comes the miracle.

Because the Jordan was the miracle.

They crossed over.

Our miracle lies parallel to our obedience.

The children of Israel also obeyed Joshua because they did what he said.

Imagine maybe there was some Israelites saying, No, Joshua, I'm scared, and the water is rising.

And some of them don't want to go and cross.

It made me think, Dan, how do you respond to leadership?

How do you respond to God's messenger?

Do we charge the messenger or do we receive from the man and we obey what he's saying?

How do y'all receive from leadership church?

Can your boss testify today that you receive from them?

Or do we lose our testimony in that area because we question everything?

Imagine in the midst of a miracle and you questioning if the waters are gonna come down.

You look like that crazy person because everyone's crossing on dry ground and you still there.

Doubting, asking, what's going on here?

Are we obedient to God's authority?

Joshua 4, verse 10 says, and the people hurried and crossed over.

Joshua 4:10

They were eager to obey God's command.

They hurried over, they were eager.

When there's a movement of God, and when God is doing something, what is our attitude?

Are we eager or are we questioning it?

Why are they going on so long?

Why are they doing this?

What is our attitude?

Are we going with what God is doing?

I'll call the band up now.

What if we believed like Joshua Church?

What if we had faith like Joshua?

What if we trusted God like Joshua?

What if we planted memorials in our lives like Joshua?

In our dry season, what if we remember our memorials, our miracles?

That song, this is how I fight my battles.

He gave us the tools.

He gave us the tools to fight these battles.

Because tough times, we'll all go through that.

But we have the tool.

How will we interpret our score?

How will we explain our story?

How will our children hear about the memorials?

But God.

I knew we were supposed to come to Canada.

But in 2021, I didn't understand what was going on.

Why was I stuck?

2022.

I saw the promise.

Today I'm Canadian nine years later.

I saw that promise.

Do y'all have a butt god in your story?

Or do y'all have a full stop?

That's it.

Or do y'all have a butt god?

This is what he done for me.

I got this pain, but God.

I remember his goodness, his faithfulness.

Or is it too long ago?

Or that miracle is too long ago.

2021 was too long ago.

I can't remember that.

I need something recent.

I need to see God's goodness now.

So you forgetting what took place?

The day you were saved, the day you got baptized, all those are memorials in your life.

Hang on to that.

Tell your children about that.

When you're a season of drought and crisis, you have those memorial stones to look at.

What are we looking at when we explain our story and our score?

How are we explaining it?

God sees our pain, church, but he wants our praise.

He doesn't want us to forget his works.

He doesn't want that.

He wants us to tell our children.

And Joshua 4, verse 21, he says, Then he spoke to the children of Israel, saying, When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What are those, what are these stones?

Joshua 4:21

So God's already predicting the children are going to ask the Israelites, what are these stones?

That's what he's predicting.

That's why he commanded Joshua to tell those guys to put those stones on that place and make it a memorial place.

Do not forget his miracles, church.

Verse 22 says, Then you shall let your children know.

You shall let your children know.

Israel crossed over this Jordan on dry land.

I will let my children know what took place in 2021 when I was in my season of dry land.

I'll say, boy, this is how God provided for me.

We ate every day.

And then in 2022, when I saw the promise, he restored everything.

He restored everything.

Verse 23, for the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up before us until we had crossed over.

Verse 24, that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever.

Forever.

It's forever.

Your memorial, your miracle is forever.

You're taking that to your grave.

You get to choose whether you speak about it or you keep quiet.

You get to see God in your miracle or whether you're angry with God.

You get to choose.

How do we see God in our crisis?

Are we questioning where he is?

Are we questioning that?

Are we saying, God, I don't know what's going on, but I trust you, God.

God, you were this person those years, and you're the same person today, Father.

You parted the Red Sea, you parted the Jordan, you can do this for me.

You can make a way, you can provide a way for me.

When I can't see a way, that's what you do because you're the same yesterday, today, and forever.

He does not change.

He is the constant, that constant rock in our lives.

Whatever situation, church, y'all are feeling right now.

I do not know what you're feeling.

Some of y'all are hearts, some of y'all have scars, some of y'all can't forget the pain of a scar or a pain that's in your heart.

God is the rock, He hasn't changed.

I cannot explain why he does certain things.

But are we gonna complain or are we gonna pray and say, God, there's my praise in my pain?

What are we gonna do this morning, church?

Stand with me this morning.

How do we respond in our crisis, church?

I know that there are people here trusting God for something, waiting for God for something.

What if you're so close and he's watching y'all?

He's watching you.

And you're angry because you're you're you're impatient, you're calling.

And God wants y'all to go further and further.

Like what Pastor Cecy said this morning, she was going, keep going.

And the Holy Spirit said, keep going.

That member of parliament said, Hang in there, Dane.

You're so close.

When I spoke to my dad, he said, Boy, just hang in there.

Just keep going, church.

Keep going.

Maybe you're waiting for healing.

Maybe you're waiting for something or provision.

I don't know.

But just keep going.

Keep going.

But as you go, say thank you, God.

Thank you.

I do not understand what I'm going through right now, but I thank you that you see my pain.

I thank you, Lord, that you see my pain.

You are so real in my life that I will still praise you.

I don't understand why I'm going through this.

Why is it so long?

Why did my application have to take so long?

That's what I kept on asking.

People said, Oh, my application took a year, a year and a half.

For us, it was over two years.

I could have been stuck in struggling with that.

Why my family?

Why do I have to go through this?

We don't have these answers.

But we have something that's in common to us, and that is God.

He is the rock, he does not change.

He's the same yesterday, today, and forever.

And I want to remind you if you're trusting God for something, remember God's miracles.

Because everyone that's here has a miracle.

Don't think it's small.

Don't think it's small.

The Israelites, they were wondered.

They were amazed what took place.

Your miracle is significant.

It's your story.

That place, it's your story.

I remember after after reading this, and what's a memorial?

It's a place or an event that God wants us to keep alive.

And I always think of my time in Prince Albert.

And some people have their own opinions about that place.

But for me, it's a memorial on my heart because that place I grew the most.

I was sitting in Bible school and I was growing in that place.

God is everywhere.

God is everywhere in every situation, in every place, in every heart.

We all got our own story and our own journey.

This morning, I want to encourage you to come to the front.

If you feel this word challenged you, if you feel you've been viewing your scars and your pain in the wrong way, if you feel you want to see God in your problems or you want to see God in your season of crisis, I encourage you to come.

Father, we thank you.

We thank you for what you're doing today, oh God.

We thank you for what you're still gonna do, mighty God.

Father, we thank you for every single person that heard this word today, Father.

Father, I thank you, Lord, even for the people listening online.

I thank you for them, oh God.

I thank you, Jesus, that you will leave a memorial on people's hearts.

People will remember the first day you touch them, oh God.

People will remember their story, they will they will put up memorials in their hearts to fight their battles, Father.

What are we remembering about our story?

How do we interpret our story?

Some of us need to say, God, forgive us, forgive me, God, for I've just been complaining and I haven't seen your glory, and your glory should not be forgotten.

Father, forgive me this morning.

Do we need to ask God for forgiveness?

Prayer warriors can come.

Thank you, Jesus.

Thank you, Jesus, that we may never forget.

Faith alive, never forget what God has done in this place.

Never forget the congregation's testimonies.

Never forget those are memorials.

Those are your testimonies.

Those testimonies belong to us.

We can say, I know a guy that goes to faith alive, and he nearly died, but he's alive today.

Do not forget what the Lord has done.

Tell it to your children.

For those of you that want prayer, we'll open the floor.

Anybody at home or listening online or even here in this place, and if you don't know Jesus today, and if you want a closer relationship with Jesus today, I don't want to pass this opportunity, I don't want to miss this opportunity.

I want to invite Jesus in your heart.

Because he is the rock, he's the person, he's the reason how we overcome these battles.

And some of you that are sitting here that don't know Jesus, that want to know Jesus, I'll ask you to repeat this prayer after me.

Dear Lord Jesus, I come to you today, just as I am.

Jesus, you know my heart, you know my thoughts.

Come into my life, change me, wash me with your blood.

I accept that you are the Son of God, and you are seated at the right hand of the Father.

Forgive me, Father, and wash me with your blood.

Amen.

Thank you, Father, for every person that said that prayer today, Father.

Thank you, thank you, Lord, for every heart.

Thank you, Father, for every heart.

Thank you, Lord, for every miracle that you performed in our lives.

Father, I do not want to forget what you've done in my life, Father.

I don't want to forget, Father.

Let those be memorial stones on my heart forever.

May I never forget what you've done for me in 2021, Father.

Father, I thank you for this word.

I thank you for every person that received this word, Father.

I thank you that you will remind them about your goodness.

In Jesus' name.