Joshua 4 Stricken

Thank you. church, and when my nearest to my

age friends were in children's church, we would

always sing This is the Day almost every single

Sunday. And we had this really cool thing we

did where we would sit down and we'd stand up

and then we'd sit down and we'd stand up. And

then we'd sit down and we'd stand up. So what

we're going to do, we're going to break the room

in kind of half. So Ricky, Ricky, you are the

middle of the room. Today, if you want to say.

You are on that side. And you are going to be,

so this side, the right side of the room, you're

going to be the lead part. That's what it's called.

And you're going to follow Alicia and Nikki and

Tim. And then this side over here, we're the

echo. And you're going to follow Amalia and me

and Joshua. So, on the stage, people, not playing

an instrument, get your squad. Alright, so...

Thank you. We got this. That would be fantastic.

So, first, I haven't been here since our Chilli

Dog Sauce Competition, so I would like to say,

once again, congratulations to our winner. In

first place, Miss June Brister. you donate, your

name will be entered into this bucket, and then

on the 21st after service, you will draw a name

for this book from this bucket, and then the

lucky winner will be putting a pot in Deacon

Tony's face. is the God's Kids Corn Maze Outing.

See Miss Jenny for details. And then on the 21st,

is that correct? The 21st, that is the Gate Crasher

Corn Maze Outing. See Miss Sherry for more details.

All right, so I have one more thing for you this

morning. Something kind of new, something kind

of crazy, but that is me. So this is our new

verse for the month of Joshua 5 .12. So with

that being said, on the board, in the hallway,

in a pink sequins pencil bag, there are verse

cards such as the one Pastor Dan is holding up.

So what your challenge is is to grab a verse

card, memorize the verse, send a verse to a team

leader or Pastor Dan or Mr. Tony, and then they'll

sign the card, you'll write your name on the

card, and then you will give that card back to

me or my mom because I have to work every day.

And then we will enter those products into a

drawing at the end of the month and there will

be a prize. What will that prize be? I don't

know. What more do you need than memorizing God's

word? That's right. That was a prize for yourself,

but we'll have a little something something for

you. So, without further ado, do we have any

prayer requests? Melissa? I have a report on

the 16th for full legal custody of Dalton. Absolutely.

I work with two pregnant ladies. One of them

has been pregnant only for a couple months now.

The other one is ready to pop at any moment.

And then you also keep my manager in prayer.

He lost his dad on Thursday. So he's going to,

for him and his family, the Connelly family.

And all I have right now, so, again, Miss Nikki,

we open this up. Oh, I can't speak. Open us up

in prayer, please. Thank you, Jesus. Father God,

we just thank you for bringing us together on

this glorious, even though it is cloudy, Lord,

it's still the day that you made it, Lord. We

just thank you for bringing us together. Lord,

we ask that. out, Lord, you know what they need,

Lord, so we just pray that your will be done,

Lord, whatever it may be. Lord, we just ask that

you continue to bless us as we go about our day

today and as we go about this week, Lord. And

we pray that, Lord, we just ask you to help our

pastor today as we bring forth that word. We

just thank you and we just bless your name in

Jesus' name. Amen. Alright, ladies and gentlemen,

if you are willing and able, I don't want to

step on toes, will you join us in singing Strong

Tower? Shelter. They call it a sacrament. In

England, they call it a ritual. But really, to

us, it is a command. It's something that God

gave us to do. And the reason he gave us to do

it is so we would not forget the great sacrifice

of Jesus. The bread that we eat represents the

body of Jesus. The blood that we drink represents

the blood of Jesus. And these things were broken

and poured out for us to pay for sin so that

we might have salvation. So we might have heaven

one day and his presence with us here now and

on the earth. At the same time, realize that

it is in contrast. It is in stark contrast to

the way the rest of the world works. I want to

read a couple of verses to you from my spot here.

A couple of verses to you from the book of Proverbs.

Thank you very much. So in the book of Proverbs,

it's talking about wisdom, it's talking about

the teachings of God, talking about the word

of God and telling us we should live by them

and so on. And then it says this about, quote

unquote, the others. And so Proverbs divides

the world into sort of two groups, if you will.

And it says this, it says, for they cannot sleep

unless they do evil. So they have a plan every

day. They're working to pursue what they want,

and they don't mind hurting people along the

way. It doesn't mean hurting people physically,

but it can be psychologically, emotionally. It

can be pursuing money. It can be whatever. And

it says, and they are robbed of sleep unless

they make someone else stumble. And in verse

17 it says, for they eat the bread of wickedness,

and they drink the wine of violence. And so the

rest of the world. The non -God people. I'm not

naming them. I'm not saying that I know who they

are. But the people who are not in love with

God, the people who do not follow God, they have

their bread and their wine as well. That's what

Proverbs just said. And the wine and the bread

that they eat of has both a description and an

effect in those verses that I just read. They

eat the bread of wickedness. And they drink the

wine of violence. And so the description is wickedness

and violence. So they are sustained. They feel

healthy. They feel strong when they eat the bread

of wickedness. So they go after what the world

wants. They go after the things that their eyes

see that they like, that they desire, that they

want to pursue, that they taste, that feels good

to them, that their body feels energized by,

etc. And those things are things that do not

honor God. And they want them, and so they go

after them. And then they drink the wine of violence.

Violence is not what you think it is here. It's

not the punching somebody in the face if they

want to punch somebody in the face. That is a

kind of violence. But this kind of violence,

what it's talking about, is emotive energy, doing

things out of your feelings. And so you get somebody

makes you mad, and you punch them. We call that

violence. Right? That's not good. Somebody makes

you afraid, you may run, right? Because that's

out of the energy that you're feeling of your

fear or your anger, you act. So this is saying

they act largely out of their emotions. So that

also is not good. I can't tell you the number

of times someone has said to me that they don't

feel. I don't feel like he likes me, or my feelings

are hurt because she said something I didn't

like, or I feel angry at them, right? And then

their actions come out of those feelings, and

that is not what it means to be a follower of

God. Our actions do not arise out of our feelings.

That would be drinking the wine of violence based

on what this verse says. Our actions arise out

of what we know to be true. I was dealing with

a rheologist a day before yesterday, in fact,

and she said, I feel like this. And she said,

I think it was candy, actually. I'm pretty sure

it was over candy. Now, I'm not picking on the

candy thing because, you know, candy is cool,

right? But the point is, she said, I feel like

I should be allowed to have a piece of candy.

And I said, it doesn't matter what you feel.

What really matters is what's true. And I said,

what's true? What's the rule? She said, well,

I can't have candy until I achieve it. Sort of

shortened it until later, but it's until after

dinner or lunch. So we have a dessert, one dessert

a day after dinner or lunch. And so she knew

she couldn't, but she wanted it and she felt

it. And then when she realized that she was just

feeling it, but it wasn't really right, she dismissed

it and she didn't get any more trouble. And she's

four. Why is it that 40, 50, 60 -year -olds can't

realize that sometimes you feel something, but

that's not the truth, right? Have you ever been

talking to somebody and they say something and

then you go, oh, I think they did that to hurt

me. Right? I think they did that just to hurt

me. That was spiteful. And that's what you feel.

But you don't really know it's true, even if

it seems like it was true. You don't really know

that. You go to the person and talk to them and

they say, yeah, you know, I meant to hurt you

or I'm angry at you or they cuss you out or something.

Well, now you know. Right? A lot of times people

are out of their feelings. Okay? So, that's the

bread of those who do not know God. Then, Jesus

gave us this. This is actually from the writings

of Paul, talking about what Jesus did on the

night before his arrest. Paul says, I received

from the Lord that which I also delivered to

you. that the Lord Jesus, in the night in which

he was betrayed, took bread. And when he had

given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my

body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance

of me. Notice that herein there is a description

and also an action plan, if you will, or the

outcome. There is the bread, which represents

his body, and the outcome or the action plan

is thanks. So we recognize that Jesus paid with

his body to pay for our sins, so we thank him.

How is that different from the action plan that

was in Proverbs? They eat of the bread, they

drink of the wine. The bread is evil or wickedness,

and the wine is violence or acting out of your

emotions. And they can't sleep. They can't rest

unless they have had that to eat or drink. So

we rest and sleep. And know that we are okay

and give thanks because of the bread that we

eat, which is the body of Jesus Christ or symbolic

of the body of Jesus Christ, knowing that Jesus

paid for us. So if you go to bed tonight and

you lay your head down on the pillow and you

don't know that Jesus died for you, then you

might want to give some thought to that. On the

other hand, there will be those who lay their

head down tonight and they can't rest. They don't

know Jesus, but they've worked throughout the

day to live by their emotions, to do what they

felt was right, to do what they wanted, to go

after their desires, and so they can rest. But

if you know God, you need to know Jesus. Jesus

said, this is my body, which was broken for you.

Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way,

he took the cup. Also, after supper, saying,

this cup is the new covenant in my blood. And

we kind of tend to leave that out, but that's

the phrase that Jesus used. And a covenant is

a promise. It's a deal. Your part, my part. That's

a covenant. And he was making a covenant with

us. The new covenant is my blood. Do this as

often as you drink it in remembrance of me. And

he was reminding us that his blood was poured

out for his sin, but he was also reminding us

that that seals the deal. Your sins are washed

away. Your need to respond out of your emotions,

that's washed away. That's dealt with now. Your

need to eat of wickedness, to feel like you're

getting ahead in the world, that you're getting

what you want, that's dealt with now. Okay? And

he said, that's the new covenant. Sins are washed

away by the breaking of Jesus' body and by the

pouring out of his blood, and that's paid for

what we did wrong. Now, if you're here today

and you're about to take the Lord's Supper, and

all of us are, at least all of us that want to

and are willing to do so, There's a couple things

out of that that I need you to see. Number one

thing is, this is about Jesus. Which means, if

you don't believe in Jesus, if you have nothing

to do with Jesus, there's kind of two things.

One, you could just not take that. You don't

have to take the bread. You don't have to take

the juice. If you're searching, trying to figure

out, is Jesus real? You don't have to take it.

You can take it or not, really. And it's just

bread, it's just juice, if you do want to take

it. So if you're here today and you don't know

Jesus, and you know you don't know Jesus, but

you don't want to stand out like you don't know

Jesus, then feel free to take a little piece

of bread and a little drink of juice, and it's

not going to bother anybody. On the other hand,

if you're here and you know you don't know Jesus,

then I'm asking you, what's keeping you back?

The free gift of salvation offered by God. God

is offering you a free gift. Will you accept

Jesus? That's it. And if you're old enough to

understand that question and to say, I want to

live for God, then you're old enough to accept

Jesus. And you say, okay, I believe. I'm willing.

I'll let God lead me. Whether you're 6 or 7 and

can understand or 40 or 50 and can understand.

If you can understand, you say, I'll accept Jesus.

I will let Jesus lead me. I will live for Jesus

the best I can from now on. And you do that right

now. There's not going to be a song of invitation.

There's not going to be an opportunity for you

to walk forward and say, I'm living for Jesus,

which would be a great thing to do. I highly

recommend you do that. If you're a kid, and right

now as I'm talking, you're accepting Jesus, and

you say, I believe in Jesus for the first time,

then when you go to class, you tell your Sunday

school teacher that you accepted Jesus today,

and you're going to let Jesus lead you from now

on and let them talk you through it. But you

don't have to wait until then. If you're accepting

right now, then you take the Lord's Supper. Remember

that it's his body and his blood. If you're an

adult in the room today, or youth, and you're

in here during the sermon today, then we get

time for the invitation. That's your opportunity

to publicly proclaim and say, I am accepting

Jesus. But you could be doing it right now. You

don't have to wait until the sermon. Right now,

in your mind, in your heart, say, I am truly

accepting Jesus. I'm willing to live for God

from now on. The best I know how. The best God

teaches me how. Right? The second thing, I said

they were true. The second thing is, if you do

know Jesus, this needs to be, this moment in

time is really the only moment that you have.

You don't have tomorrow. You don't have an hour

from now. You don't have 10 days from now. Those

don't belong to you. They belong to God. You

don't have an hour ago or 10 years ago, even

though that's your history and only you were

there and only you know everything that happened

other than God and you've probably forgotten

a lot more than he has. You only have right now.

And in this moment, we are going to take the

bread, which represents the crushed body of Jesus,

and we are going to take the wine, which represents

the poured out blood of Jesus. This is huge.

It's bigger than the sermon that will come in

15, 20 minutes from now, because this moment

you have. So ask yourself right now, have you

been living for God? Have you been making your

decisions in line with the way God would want

you to? And there's no fixing it because you

only have this moment. You can't go back and

fix yesterday. But what you can do is turn to

God right now and say, I want to take this, the

Lord's Supper, as my bread and my wine, the body

of my Savior, the blood of my Lord. It's a very

serious matter for those of you who believe to

remember that the ultimate sacrifice was paid.

Not by a man, although he was a man. but by God,

because he was also God. We're going to pray

together briefly at this time, then I'll ask

the Deacon Yoke fellows to come, and we'll proceed

with the Lord's Supper. Let's pray. Father in

heaven, if there be amongst us those who came

in the room today not knowing you in earnest,

not desiring to live for you for real, but they've

been thinking as I've been speaking about whether

they want to live for you, whether they want

to know you personally, whether they want to

invite you in as a friend. And I ask you, Lord,

to do that in them right now. To show them that

you love them, that you want to be a part of

their life, and that you want them to be a part

of everything that you're doing. If there is

someone who came in the room today already believing,

and they've not been living for you the way that

they should, Lord, give them right now the strength.

I know that evil spirits are probably wandering

their mind and saying things and distracting

and tempting. And diligence and faithfulness

is hard when you haven't been doing that. And

Lord, just help them come back to you right now

in this moment and just let it all be about you.

If we can only get 60 seconds right, God, then

let us get this 60 seconds right as we honor

you remembering what you did. And Lord, if there's

somebody in the room today who came in here and

not a Christian, maybe they've been lying about

it. Maybe they didn't know anything about it.

And they don't feel entirely comfortable right

now turning their life over you because that's

a big decision. The Lord, as the Lord's Supper

comes around, as the bread comes around, the

juice comes around, just speak to their hearts.

Comfort them. Let them know they can take it

or not take it. As long as they commit themselves

to continue to ask, are you God? Are you there?

Am I supposed to be following you? And you'll

be okay. Lord, help us. We draw closer to you

today through this. Some would say ritual. Some

would say sacrament. But we know it's a command.

It's an ordinance. It's a rule that we must remember.

We must remember what we've done and live accordingly.

Please help us do that. In Jesus' name, amen.

The Deacon Yofels will come forward, and then

I'll ask Ms. June and Ms. Sherry, would you prepare

the table? I think Brother Ron may have gotten

a call. Is that true? He's on call this weekend.

Okay. So as the bread comes around, I'll ask

you to take it, but don't eat it until we all

eat it together. And at this time, I'll ask Brother

Tony, would you ask a blessing upon the bread?

And then we'll distribute it. We thank you for

this time to bring us together. As our pastor

explained, we remember your sacrifice for us.

That you gave him your body. You gave him your

blood. You gave your life for us. Lord, we remember

as we do this. Help us, Lord, to also remember

who we are. that we're not only partakers of

this, because we believe what you did, but we're

your children, we're your followers, we're your

disciples. Because not only did you give your

body and die for us, but you also rose again

to give us hope, you defeated Satan, and we can

do the same through your power, through your

strength. for claiming your name, for being your

children. We thank you for that. So Lord, just

be with us as we remember and as we take this.

I do it. On that evening, and then as Paul preached

it all throughout the Middle East, and then in

churches all over the world, in churches, dozens,

maybe hundreds of them, this morning, this bread,

Jesus spoke up. He said, this is my body, which

is broken for you. Take and eat. Ask Brother

Tim to ask a blessing upon the Jews. Father,

thank you for your sacrifice. Thank you so much.

You deserve so little. It's hard to imagine.

It's not difficult understanding the price you

actually paid for it. Jesus comes around, just

take one, hold it, we'll all drink it together.

As we prepare to take the juice, I want you to

think for a moment about those who actually stood

at the foot of the cross. As Jesus was bleeding

out multiple wounds in his body, as the Roman

soldier thrust his spear in and blood flowed,

to those who were there who believed in Jesus,

when they heard the words, this is my blood which

is poured out to you, over and over again as

they continued to worship God, as they lived

out the rest of their lives, It really meant

something. They saw the blood of Jesus flow.

And I know you and I are not there. You and I

were not there when he died. At the same time,

you have an imagination. And you have seen people

suffer. And you know what a great price can look

like. So as we remember the words of Jesus, this

is my blood that I pour out for you. And not

just us. But the kingdom, Christians all over

the world, as we remember that, I want you to

use your imagination today. I want you to think

about the great Christ that was made to wash

away the sins and provide the bread and the juice

of the righteous. And Jesus said, this is my

blood which was poured out for you. Take and

drink. And it is a joyous occasion to be in the

Lord, to know that God has paid the ultimate

price, the price that we could not pay for ourselves,

that the bills are paid, and one day the mansion

shall be truly ours. And so I ask you today,

if you're pleased with the sacrifice of Jesus,

would you say with me, I love you, Lord. One,

two, three. I love you, Lord. Go collect your

plastic cups. We have just a little more worship.

I would ask you today to worship the Lord. In

that worship, we will also give our tithes and

offerings, which is an act of worship. I would

ask you today to honor God with all that you

are for the remainder of your time when we are

gathered together and we praise you. Lord, bless

these praises, these offerings, and these tithes

in Jesus' name. Some of you might not know, but

you soon will know, we are working through the

book of Joshua. All of the sermons back to the

beginning of the book of Joshua up through this

point are online. If you want to listen to them

online, you can do that, except for the one I

preached last week, which will hopefully get

there this week. So we'll be all caught up. If

you want to go back and listen to them, you can.

If you want to remember things, you can. But

I'm going to give you a quick few highlights

to remember where we're at. We began with the

idea, the notion, the book of Joshua, that it

is about the story of the man Joshua. and his

life as it speaks of God and the Israelites coming

into the promised land and God unfolding his

promise and carrying out his promise to bring

them into the land. Bless you. Joshua was a man

who was actually born Hosea, son of Nun, and

was renamed by Moses, Joshua, and we learned,

and I've mentioned a few times along the way,

and I think it's hugely important, that the name

Joshua brought through the Greek would then be

Jesus. Obviously this is not Jesus, but the name

means God saves or Yahweh saves or God saved

me as expressed by a command. And so Joshua is

leading the Israelites as an example for us,

if you will. And now we come to a select moment

in time where the Israelites, we've read this

text, actually I read it last week, but I mentioned

to you that we would be in it this coming week.

have crossed, are crossing the Jordan River into

the Promised Land. A couple of details. The tribes

from the eastern side of the Jordan have led

them across in battle array, in case they might

be attacked while crossing, perhaps, or at least

ready. All the men who've made a commitment,

they're keeping their lands on the east side

of the Jordan. Their women and children are left

at home, but they are leading the Israelites

across the river. And Joshua is leading them

and telling them exactly how this will be accomplished.

And God has said to Joshua that in this day,

as he brings the Israelites across the river,

that he would exalt Joshua so that people would

know that God is with him the way God was with

Moses. And we talked about last week how God

is a witness for us, that God speaks about us

as much as we speak about God. And we hope that

God says positive things about us. That's kind

of the goal, and that is his desire, is to say

positive things about us, but that is not always

the case, I'm afraid. Then Joshua, on the other

hand, does not tell the people, on this day you

will see that God will exalt me and lift me up

and make me greater. He doesn't do that. He rather

says, on this day God will begin to keep his

promise that he made for you, and he exalts God.

And so as God lifts us up, we are to be lifting

God up, and that's what Jesus did. Jesus even

said, my father now exalts me that I may exalt

him, and of course I paraphrase that. So we come

to that moment in time where he is bringing them

across the river. And so we've talked about when

we were on the river on their side, I preach

a sermon, basically it says life on the side

of the river. And as they were on the side of

the river waiting to come across in the promised

land, they were there by faith. The tribes from

the east side of the Jordan gathered there, keeping

their promise to Moses, which was really keeping

their promise to God, because God had said Joshua

would be their commander. the commander of all

of Israel. And Joshua said, now you've got to

keep your promise. You've got to come. So they

were there believing in faith that God was going

to do what God said he was going to do. And they

didn't want to be dismissed by God. The people

of the other tribes were there believing in faith

that God could do something. Mind you, they were

on the side of an over swollen river. And there

was no bridge. There was no ford. There was no

way across. They were believing that God was

going to make a way for them to go into the promised

land. And then they would face, they knew they

would face giants of men. wealthy and strong

with great weaponry and skill and tactics. And

they knew that Jericho would have to be defeated

and Jericho was a huge city and it was in command

essentially of all the land with a huge wall.

And they knew that all that would have to happen.

And so as they gathered on the side of the river

before they ever crossed the river, they were

responding in faith. We talked about how life

on that side of the river, preparing for God

to do something, prepares us. for when God actually

does it. Remember, it was God who made the promises,

and God was going to do it. It was not them.

Even though he would require them to go into

battle, he's the one who said that he would win

the victories. And we know historically that

is what happens, that one Israelite soldier is

as good as 20 on the other side of the line.

So now we come to that moment in time where they're

actually crossing the river, and I was struggling

with what... as I was preparing this lesson,

the truth is I had all the text typed out, I

basically had the points, and I was trying to

see what was the one thing that God wanted us

to see, and I'm suggesting to you now that it

is a bookend. There is life on the other side

of the river, that was a life of faith, it was

a life of looking forward to how God was going

to bring them across the river into the promised

land and keep his promises, but now they have

crossed the river into the promised land, and

so they now live in a place where What seemed

to them to be, at that time, the greatest barrier

has already been dealt with by God. And that's

like that for us. If you've accepted Jesus Christ

as your Lord and Savior, you have to realize

that your sin, the things that you were doing

that was wrong, that your sinful nature that

led you to have the tendency of doing things

that were wrong, your tendency to act out of

your emotions, your tendency to desire what your

flesh desired, to go after things that you saw,

the things that you desired, had passion for.

That all of that was dealt with in your salvation.

And now you are free. However, you still have

to live, right? You still have to deal with those

things. We all still have the same things of

temptation. There is no temptation except that

which is common to man. And we have the lust

of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride

of life, which lead us to things that we ought

to know better than to consume them or take them

as part of our being. But we have to make that

actual decision. Now, you're free to make the

right decision, but... We sometimes make the

wrong decisions. So we are living in the same

place essentially now. And I said some of us

were living in that place. We're looking at a

river or a thing that God wants to take us across,

a thing that God wants to take us through. Some

of us were living on the side of the river over

there. And now I want to say to you that if you

have response to the Lord's salvation, you also

see that this side of the river for them should

speak heartily to us as well because we have

crossed salvation. Now, if you have not crossed

salvation, you're sitting on that side of the

river. Again, let me encourage you, the only

thing that's stopping you is your faith, you

have to believe that God has provided this for

you, and then by grace, he does all the work,

he provides the salvation, he washes away the

sin, all of that, if you just are willing, if

you just accept it, if you're willing to do that,

believe and accept, and then commit yourself

to follow him for the rest of your days, okay?

So, then you're across the river, so I hope,

this is going to be largely for those who are

across that river, and if you're not there, I'm

sorry, but I would ask you to kind of, Suck it

in and take it in so that when you do cross the

river, you're ready. Okay? So this is about what

it's like now, having come across the river,

but looking at and facing what to them will be,

in their minds anyway, the greatest challenges

they will ever face. When they were on the other

side of the river, it looked like the river was

the greatest challenge. There's no way across

that river. You can't swim across it. We're going

to have to wait until everything dies down, you

know, after the floods are gone, whatever. And

then even then, probably now, we're going to

have to march 100 miles or whatever. or at least

20, because I think the nearest forward was 20

miles away downstream, whatever. But anyway,

the point is, they were there, now they're here.

They were on the other side of the river, now

they're on this side of the river. But don't

think that just because the river was parted,

just as it is for you and I, don't think just

because we were saved, that everything that now

comes is just going to be, oh, it's just going

to be a piece of cake. Everything is going to

be easy. Everything's going to be simple. There's

never going to be major opposition. No, they

are faced with a land to conquer. Armies larger

than they are in size, not in number of people,

but in size. And that means huge potential losses.

That means their entire society could lose a

half of every adult male, even though half of

all the adult males could die in this battle

and take the promised land. That's what they're

faced with. They know what Jericho looks like.

They do not have the technology. to take down

or break into Jericho. They can siege it, but

even that will be extremely difficult. They know

what they're faced with, but they've just crossed

the river. And this is where we live our lives.

Having come over, now what? Grab your Bibles

if you would. Now we tend to hoot, holler, say

amen, say yes, something, give me a breath at

least, as we turn to Joshua chapter 4. Thank

Joshua 4 · chapter mention

you very much. So that is a subtle reminder to

put everything else out of your head, if you

will, and just let the word of the Lord speak

to you. Joshua chapter 4, beginning in verse

Joshua 4 · chapter mention

1. Now when all the nation had finished crossing

the Jordan, that sets the day, that's where we

are. The Lord spoke to Joshua, saying, Take for

yourselves twelve men from the people, one man

from each tribe, and command them, saying, Take

up for yourselves twelve stones from here out

of the middle of the Jordan, from the place where

the priests' feet are standing firm, and carry

them over with you, and lay them down in a lodging

place where you will lodge tonight. So Joshua

called the twelve men whom he had appointed from

the sons of Israel, one man from each tribe,

and Joshua said to them, Cross again to the ark

of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan,

and each of you take up a stone on his shoulder,

according to the number of the tribes of the

sons of Israel. Let this be a sign among you,

so that when your children ask later, saying,

What do these stones mean to you? And I put the

emphasis on the to you there, but it's not there

in the original language. Realize there's no

emphasis in Hebrew. There's not even any vowels

or any punctuation. So what the emphasis would

have been in this case is varied. It could be,

I'm going to read it a couple different ways.

What do these stones mean to you? What do these

stones mean to you? What do these stones mean?

To you. See it? Okay. Then you shall say to them,

because the waters of the Jordan were cut off

before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, when

it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan

were cut off, so these stones shall become a

memorial to the sons of Israel forever. Notice

that it seems like God was saying, because the

water was cut off, the stones will become a memorial

to Israel forever. At first glance, that's what

it looks like. But let me read it again. Because

the waters of the Jordan were cut off before

the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, when it

crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan

were cut off. Notice, for us, that's in quotations

marks. That's what they would say to their kids.

You follow? So when they say that to their kids,

then he says, so these stones shall become a

memorial to the sons of Israel forever. So it's

not that the stones will become a memorial because

God did the great work. But the stones will become

a memorial because they said to the kids, the

waters of the Jordan were cut off because of

what they said. The stones will become a great

memorial for Israel forever. Thus the sons of

Israel did as Joshua commanded, took up 12 stones

from the middle of the Jordan. Just as the Lord

spoke to Joshua, according to the number of the

tribes of the sons of Israel, they carried them

over with them to the lodging place and put them

down there. Then Joshua set up 12 stones in the

middle of the Jordan at the place where the feet

of the priests who carried the Ark of the Covenant

were standing, and they are there to this day,

meaning under the River Jordan. For the priests

who carried the Ark were standing in the middle

of the Jordan until everything was completed

that the Lord had commanded Joshua to speak to

the people according to all that Moses had commanded

Joshua, and the people hurried and crossed. And

when all the people had finished crossing the

Ark of the Lord and the priests crossed before

the people, the son of Reuben, And the sons of

Gad and the half -tribe of Manasseh crossed over

in battle array before the sons of Israel, just

as Moses had spoken to them. About 40 ,000, equipped

for war, crossed for battle before the Lord to

the desert plains of Jericho. On that day the

Lord exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel,

so that they revered him, that means they held

him as holy or a representative of God, just

as they had revered Moses all the days of his

life. Now the Lord said to Joshua, Command the

priests who carry the Ark of the Testimony that

they come up from the Jordan. So Joshua commanded

the priests saying, come up from the Jordan.

It came about when the priests who carry the

Ark of the Covenant of the Lord had come up from

the middle of the Jordan and the soles of the

priests' feet were lifted up to the dry ground

that the waters of the Jordan returned to their

place and went over all its banks as before.

Now let me be clear about one thing here. It

says when their soles of their feet When they

first entered way back when, if you remember

from last week, if you don't, I'm going to tell

you anyway in a minute, so don't be too worried

about it. When they first touched the overflowing

water of the Jordan, which presumably means with

their toe, right? So as they walked up to the

overflowing waters, not the Jordan River inside

its banks, but the overflowing waters, the flood.

They touched the water with their toe, and it

was in that instant that the waters parted. A

huge swath, and they crossed over how? On dry

land. Right? This says that when they reached

a spot and stepped their soul onto dry land,

but wait a minute, they crossed over on dry land,

right? So they've been walking on dry land, toe

and heel on dry land. See the symbols? Toe and

heel on dry land. Toe and heel. When I got up

this morning, Ariana was complaining that her

bedroom was cold. she said where is that cool

air coming from and i noticed that we have a

heater in her room because that room doesn't

get as much furnace heat so just in case and

the heater had been turned down and so i reached

over to the heater and i put my toe because i

don't want to you know this morning i don't bend

over too early in the morning you know i'm saying

so i reached out and i put my toe on the button

and turn the heater up we reach with our toe

Try to reach the button with your heel. You can,

it's possible, but you have to completely turn

your facing and set your body up just so, and

then you can reach with your heel. We reach with

our toe. Now, when you are taken aback, someone

surprises you, you rock back on your heels. It's

called being back on your heels. You're caught,

surprised, you're firm. Because why? Because

you are firm on your heels. Your weight over

top of your heels suspended over top your leg

your ankle holds it nicely and you stand firm

Now if you walk around on your tiptoes for a

while That's not nearly as stable If you really

walk in your tiptoes you better be in the ballet

or a ballerina or you're not gonna be able to

do it for any length of time at all most people

can't do it at all the way ballerinas can do

it and they wear special shoes even to help them

do it and the better they get the weaker the

shoe that's the rule and for ballerinas by the

way They need the shoe less and less. They still

wear it, but they need it less and less when

they get really good. And so we can't technically

do that. So you reach with your toe, you're firm

with your heel. Now the heel comes up onto dry

land, which basically to us, you need to understand,

it means that they left the Jordan. They also

left the area that the Jordan would overflow,

which is significant because when the water comes

rushing back in, which it does, when the water

comes rushing back in, it's probably going to

flood an even larger area than it had previously

flooded. You follow? Briefly, at least, it's

going to come and flood that whole area, the

Jordan body, the main part of the river, the

flooded area of the river, and I submit to you

even further at first, because of the resistance

of what lies before it, it's going to run down

the channel, it's going to run down the flood

zone, and the flood zone is temporarily going

to be even larger, and they step not where the

river ends, not where the flood ends, but now

where the flood of the flood ends. Their sole

of their foot. Not their toe, not reaching, but

the sole of their foot. Okay. I'm going to go

a little further with the rest of the chapter.

We'll start at 18 again. It came about when the

priests who carried the Ark of the Covenant of

the Lord had come up from the middle of the Jordan,

and the sole of the priests' feet were lifted

up to the dry ground, that the waters of the

Jordan returned to their place and went over

all its banks as before. Now the people came

up from the Jordan on the tenth of the first

month. and camped at Gilgal on the eastern edge

of Jericho, which was that huge looming city

that they knew was before them. They could not

take the land unless they take Jericho. So they

see now clearly the opposition. Having crossed

the river, they see clearly the opposition. Those

12 stones which they had taken from the Jordan,

Joshua set up at Gilgal. He said to the sons

of Israel, when your children ask their fathers

in times to come, saying, what are these stones?

Then you shall inform your children, saying,

Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground. For

the Lord your God dried up the waters of the

Jordan before you until you had crossed, just

as the Lord your God had done to the Red Sea,

which he dried up before us until we had crossed.

Notice the difference? Slightly different pronoun

usage there. That all the peoples of the earth

may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty,

so you may fear the Lord your God forever. There's

a couple things I want you to see here before

we get into a few distinct points. In the Hebrew,

in the language, in what we're talking about

here, there's sort of a give and take going on.

There's the audience and the reason why. Notice

that all the earth would see the glory of the

Lord. That's really the audience for God's glory.

That's who they would proclaim what God had done

to. So all the people... of the earth may know

that God's hand is mighty. God can do. There

are those who do not believe that God needs to

forgive sins. There are those that believe that

they're basically okay. They've done more good

than they've done bad. That's what they think.

And they think that that should be a standard.

If God is righteous and just, that should be

a standard by which God will let people in if

they've done more good than bad. However, if

you went to elementary school, you know that

you may have done all of your homework, but when

you pulled the chair out from underneath the

child in front of you or pulled that girl's ponytails

or stuck your finger in that boy's eye because

he didn't like your dad's favorite football team,

none of the homework that you had done kept you

from the punishment for what you had done. So

no amount of good surmounts the amount of evil

that we do even if we've only done one evil.

There still must be punishment for that one evil.

All have sinned and fall short of the glory of

God. Therefore, the wages of sin is death. That's

part of the Romans wrote, essentially. The people

of the world may not recognize that they need

to be forgiven. That's one problem. But if the

people of the world recognize they need to be

forgiven, and I submit to you that many do, then

there is a question as to whom they, or does

God have the ability and the power to forgive

them? So should they go to God for that forgiveness?

And the message that is delivered to all the

world is that God's hand is mighty. He is even

able to forgive sin. And the next group of people

that's an audience in here is the next generation,

the next generation of Israelites. The message

to them was not that God's hand is mighty, for

they just saw him break open the river Jordan.

The message was that God has done mighty things

and that those mighty things should not go unnoticed.

Now that's a different kind of a message. It's

not, can God do mighty things? Well, we know

God can do mighty things. I saw the river part,

right? Or we know that God has... created all

of this. So people who believe in God look at

the tree and they say, God created that tree.

I mean, he didn't literally necessarily create

that particular tree, but he created trees, right?

He created the stars and we give God the glory

for what God has done. And by that, you should

know that God can do mighty things. But because

of the temptations of the world, the cares and

distractions of the world, the things that are

going on, the opposition that lies before us

and lied before them, Even up to the heyday of

the kingdom under David and Solomon where they

get as close as they ever get to actually setting

the boundaries where God said they would be,

but they still don't because of continuing acts

of unfaithfulness. They never quite get there,

always facing the opposition. In the face of

that opposition, temptation, and distraction,

God is trying to say, look, my mighty works must

not go unnoticed. And then there are a couple

of things that are assumed in the text here.

The first one is that the next generation will

see the signs and care enough to ask. There are

people in the world who do not care enough to

ask, why do you go to church every Sunday? What

does the Bible say about Jesus? Et cetera. There

are people in the world who just don't, they're

ignorant. They maybe have heard it. I heard it

when I was 12. And I heard it again when I was

maybe 14. And both times I was able to walk away

from those encounters without significantly having

changed. I believed in God. I believed that we

would answer to God one day. But I didn't really

know anything about Jesus, even though two people

had told me, plain as day, you need to accept

Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. That he needs

to be Lord of your life and you do what he tells

you to do. And he needs to be the one who paid

for your sins. Even though that had been explained

to me twice over, right? Aaron, are you following

this? Alright. We got this. Christian, are you

following this? Are we okay? Alright. So... The

something assumed here is that the current generation

will be bold enough or willing to answer honestly

and live accordingly. And I submit to you that

when they live accordingly, somebody might say,

hey, why? Somebody who wouldn't have otherwise

done so might be led to do so. So we've got people

in the generation who need to know, and we've

got people in the generation who need to explain

or proclaim the great acts of God. And when the

two come together, guess what happens? Salvation.

But the problem is that there are those who will

not ask, and you can encourage them to ask. You

can bring up the name of Jesus. You can even

turn the conversation to Jesus. You can talk

about spiritual matters and get them thinking

about Jesus and then explain what they need to

do to be saved. And that's called evangelism,

bringing the good news of Jesus. Or you can be

a witness. Every opportunity that comes up, you

mention Jesus, you talk about God's things, you

talk about what God has done for you. We have

people in this room that God has literally saved

their physical life more than once. And they

know it. They can nail down the circumstances.

This is when I was almost dead and now I'm alive.

This is when I could do nothing and now I can

do all these things. The people in the room who

have that circumstance in their life, and they

should be telling literally everyone who will

listen about that. Because that is an example.

And that's being a witness. And we are called

to be witnesses. Not everybody is called to be

an evangelist. In other words, to break through

and get somebody thinking about it. Not everybody

is called to be that. Only certain people kind

of are good at that. That God gives it as a gift

and gives them as a gift to the church. But everybody

is called to be a witness. Okay? And so those

are things that are kind of assumed in this text.

And we're going to do a little object lesson

here for a second. And then we'll go into the

points. All right? So I need somebody with not

too big hands to be my object lesson person.

Aaron, you come up here. Come on. So these are

manacles. These manacles were given to me by

my wife before service today. I was kidding.

Actually, I went and had to get them out of the

van for me, so that's really kind of... So you're

manacled. The rules are you cannot use your hands

at all until they are free. Okay? Understand

the rules of the game? You cannot use your hands

at all until they are free. So I'm going to...

Take this one off. Okay, so notice he had two

manacles on, and I took one off, and without

saying anything, I didn't say anything at all.

I didn't say, as soon as one is free, take the

other one off, whatever. As soon as I took one

off, he naturally assumed the next action was

to remove the second one. Right? Okay, you can

have a seat. Thank you very much. There we go.

Okay. So now take that little bit of insight

with you to the text. All right. The first one,

first point that is glaringly obvious in the

text is that you must not, I must not, we must

not miss the mighty things that God has done.

This is problematic because I mentioned in my

sermon last week as I think it was the second

or third point that God can remove barriers from

us. that we don't even know exist. That his power

to remove things out of your way is so substantial

that he will remove things out of your way and

you won't even notice that they are gone. I'm

guessing, I'm just guessing because I know the

heart of God, that all of us have had our physical

lives saved multiple times by miraculous intervention.

And only a few of us know of the miraculous intervention

that saved our lives. So if we've all had that

and only three or four of us know of it, then

only the three or four of us are supposed to

know and proclaim that that's true? That's a

problem, isn't it? God is doing so much that

we don't know. I used to work in a restaurant

years ago. We had a customer complaint line.

And we would occasionally have a customer call

and complain. Praise God, there but for the grace

of God go I. We had very few complaints on the

complaint line. We'd get one or two in two or

three months. And so we were blessed. Not because

I was a good manager. God was just taking care

of it. Whatever. I don't know why. But a lot

of restaurants would get a lot of complaints

on the complaint line. And every quarter we would

go to the... quarter meeting for the managers,

and we would talk about the complaints on the

complaint line. And the tagline was this. If

there's one person that complained, can somebody

finish it? There's 10 or we used to say 12 that

didn't, right? So whatever that number is, depending

on your industry, if there's one person that

complained about your pizza wasn't warm when

they got it, there's 10 or 12 that didn't complain,

but their pizza was, and they were not satisfied.

They were discontented, but they just didn't

complain. And then the natural extension of that

is that there's, of those, a bunch of them won't

come back, right? And we're burning customers,

and that's a phrase we used to use. So if you've

got one customer that complained that your driver

was rude, you can safely assume that in the same

week that he worked 40 hours, he was rude to

that one customer, he was rude to another 10

customers, and they just didn't complain. So

what we did was, what naturally follows... We

honed in on the complaints. We made the complaints

a very big and important thing. If I had a driver

who was complained about for rudeness, I would

pull that driver aside and I would work very

hard with them to make sure that they were not

seeming rude, sounding rude, or being rude. Because

I could only assume that there were many things

that that driver had done that were rude other

than just the one person who picked up the phone

and called. Now, if you're the driver and you

know you were only rude that one time, that's

unfair, right? But that's not really all that

often the case is what's true. Because we are

who we are. You say, well, I just had one bad

day ever and I was rude to the customer. And

he just said something. But then if you really

be honest with yourself, you go, well, I had

a bad day about a week ago too. And I had a bad

day about a month ago too. And I had a bad day

about three months ago. And before you know it,

you realize that in the last year you've been

rude a dozen times. And one person just got around

to calling. Okay? And so, if God is doing mighty

things, and we know of the mighty things, if

God has done one mighty thing that you know of,

then you can reasonably expect that God has done

a dozen that you don't know of. So, what do you

do? What's the solution? Drill down on the mighty

thing that God has done. Know it in its completeness.

Examine it. Celebrate it. Live it. For those

of you in the room whose God has physically saved

your life, the life that you now have was a gift

from God. What are you going to do with it? Don't

miss the mighty things that God has done because

the one that you see represents many that you

don't. Don't miss the mighty things that God

has done because the one that you see and proclaim

may be sufficient for many people. I can't tell

you the number of times that I have heard a preacher

stand up and their whole sermon is essentially

their testimony. And they've preached a very

good sermon. They know their testimony better

than anybody, how they were saved, how God brought

them across the river of salvation. In fact,

we did a... Years ago, we did a Bible study material

called The Net, and that's what it was. Basically,

you were just talking to a point at which you

could share the story in which God does the mightiest

thing that he ever did in your life, and you

know it the best. And it's something that you

know in such detail that you can share it with

great realism, with great even passion, and when

they hear it, they then know everything they

need to know to be saved. And then of course

I've heard preachers get up and preach sermons

that were very good based on a certain text,

and it was clear that they had not themselves

dealt with the problem. Teach a sermon on adultery,

for example, or a sermon on drugs, and they just

have no idea what it's really like to be in that

circumstance. But they take a scripture, a certain

scripture, and they twist it a certain way, and

they make it apply to that certain situation.

Now which sermon do you think I was more blessed

by? Which sermon do you think called me to change

my life, to recognize the mighty things that

God has done? The testimony. Your testimony.

The sermon that the church preaches is way more

powerful, way more imbued with God's being than

the sermon that the pastor preaches. We do this

because this is something that God has called

us to do. You sit there and listen to me because

this is what God has organized us to do. And

by the way, when you do that, you're really not

supposed to be listening to me. You're also not

supposed to be tuning me out. But taking cues

from what I am saying, you're really supposed

to be listening to God. That's what this is all

about. And God can add this morning to your story

another mighty work. And when he does, don't

miss it. And when he does, proclaim it to everyone

who will listen. This is the problem to a degree

that I have with people who go out and throughout

the week they don't talk about what happened

during the sermon time with their friends and

their family members and so on. If God called

you to be here and to hear from his word and

your soul was changed, that is a mighty work

of God that ought be proclaimed. It is one of

a dozen. I get that. We save double money back

on a coupon and tell everybody. God transforms

us on Sunday morning and we tell nobody. Don't

miss the mighty works, the mighty things that

God has done. God has erected all around us monuments

to His greatness. This building, these chairs,

these are the physical monuments to His greatness.

These Bibles, which we have, and people will

argue that there are mistakes, but there are

none. People will argue that there are differences

between this and the original text, and the fact

is, there aren't any. In 1948, when they discovered

the Dead Sea Scrolls, which had been lost for

whatever hundreds of years, is that? probably

1900 years, and they took the pieces of those

scrolls and compared them to the present day

Bibles that we have, mind you, in the language

that they were written, guess how many differences

there were? None substantive. The only differences

that they could find were tiny, minor differences

in the way a letter was made, or the way spacing

was done, or things like that. They couldn't

find a single substantive difference that changed

the message. After the same text had been buried

for 1900 years, and they could take up to the...

to the King James Bible and the Hebrew Bible

that made up the Old Testament, that made up

the King James Bible, and it was the same. It's

not been changed. This is a monument to God's

power, and we ought to proclaim. We talk about

the Bible. This is a monument that he has erected

to himself. All creation testifies in the tsunami.

In the hurricane, in the earthquake, testifying

how creation groans for when Jesus will renew

everything. In the gentle breeze that cools you

on a hot day. In the good taste of healthy food.

In the waking up in the morning rested. All creation

testifies. Your body testifies to God's order

in His creation and His power in creation. The

stars themselves testify to His multivariate

personality and they are basically just all the

same. to the naked eye until you look closely

look for his artistic nature and his creation

and the differences and the variances realize

that some of the things you're looking at are

stars aren't even stars they're planets in our

very own solar system and if you pull out a telescope

and look you could see their rough surfaces or

the gas clouds rolling in their atmosphere our

god is amazing and he has erected monuments all

around us to proclaim the nature of His mighty

work. Amongst us then, there are times that men

have decided to stay the course, and God has

completely transformed their lives, providing

everything that they need. There are times that

men have decided not to stay the course, and

we can actually tell the stories. We hate these

stories. They're sad stories, but of how they

have paid dearly for not being faithful to God.

Sadly, there are people in this room who will

pay dearly for not having stayed the course with

God. Some of us are paying dearly today for not

having stayed the course with God. Repent and

turn back to the Lord is the message that that

proclaims. There are instances in which we have

elected ourselves to not stay the course, and

the memory of the cost that we paid back then

is an erected testimony and a powerful work to

the Lord. And we're free now! Saved now! turned

completely to the Lord now, cleansed now, forgiven

now, and still paying a little bit of the price.

And that is a monument to the Lord. James said

it this way. He said, therefore, James 1, verse

James 1:21

21, therefore, putting aside all filthiness and

all that remains of wickedness, in humility,

receive the word, let me say there, the word

of God, implanted. which is able to save souls.

It's the same word that saved your soul that

you now receive when God proclaims His mighty

works. When you read in the Bible, when you read

the word Lagos, it's talking about the word of

God. It's talking about the creating power of

God. It's the power of God to do things. It's

the power of God to change us. It's the power

of God to move us to the next place that He's

trying to take us. It was the word of God, essentially,

that split the river. The Word of God. What is

the Ark of the Covenant called, by the way? In

that text that we read last week, it was called

the Ark of the Testimony. Why? Because the power

of God to create is expressed so often in His

Word. And we ought to receive that indwelt. So

when you're blessed, and you run quickly on to

the next blessing, you're missing it. When you're

blessed and you quickly turn that blessing over

to do something new, something different, when

that check comes in the mail and you already

know what it's going to be spent on, you're missing

something. The second thing I want you to see

in here is that we ought not to fail to proclaim

when the monuments get the attention of the next

generation. And by the way, that doesn't just

mean your children or your children's children,

grandchildren, whatever. The next generation

of believers as well. So it's your friend who

doesn't know Christ who recognizes that something

is different about you. Or your friend who doesn't

know Christ who wonders why they're in a bad

spot. I had a young man call me on the phone

and say, we think our child is possessed of an

evil spirit and explains circumstances that were

pretty dark. And I said, you know, I can only

tell you that that actually may be true. From

what you're describing, it may be true. And he

said, we want you to come and pray over our child.

And this was a professing believer, but they

weren't following the Lord, but it was a professing

believer. By their own profession, they admitted

they were not following the Lord. And I said,

well, I could do that, but the truth is, as the

child's father and as a believer in the Lord,

this is something that you can do and should

do yourself. And if I come and I do that, and

chase away the evil spirits, and then I leave,

and you don't have the power to protect your

children, because you're not living for the Lord,

you don't have the power of faith, you don't

have God in you, then there's nothing to keep

the evil spirit from coming back and affecting

the child again. And actually what scripture

says is this is only going to get worse each

time. Now at the end of that conversation, that

man repented, turned back to the Lord, went and

prayed over his own child, the evil spirit went

away, and for a while he remembered the powerful

thing that God had done. He erected a monument,

but I can only say he probably erected it out

of a paper mache because about six months later,

he was back in the same place that he had been

before he made that call. What I'm saying to

you is that I proclaim to him, we cannot fail

to proclaim when the monuments that God has erected,

the things that God wants us to see, get the

attention of those who need to hear, whoever

they are. Your children are your responsibility.

Your wife, your husband, that's your responsibility.

That's a God -given command that you are required

to lead them closer to God. If you are not doing

that, you will answer to God probably in a more

extreme way than any other thing that you can

imagine that you've been commanded to do that

you're not doing. Because that's your solemn

responsibility before the Lord. It is who you

are, part of your being. And you're not being

who you're supposed to be. And anytime we don't

do that, we pay a very dear price. That being

said, There are others who need to hear. And

when anybody shows some signs, whoever it might

be, you have to be ready to proclaim the monuments.

You have to be ready to proclaim what God has

done. If they will open their eyes and take notice,

you must be prepared to give an answer. I took

a class at Liberty University in the theological

seminary there. It was a week -long intensive.

And we were there about eight hours a day except

on Friday. And if I could say it was on revivals.

And you know churches have revivals. They get

people together and they'll have like five days

of music and they pray and they sing and they

invite people and stuff. They call it a revival.

We're having revival this week. And, you know,

sometimes it grows the church and positive things

come out of it. God has done miracles involved

in those things and so on. But this class that

I took, he summed up revivals. This is how revivals

happen. If you want to have a revival in the

spirit, this is how it happens. If you want people

to be revived, this is how it happens. He said,

when God's people do exactly what it is that

God's people are supposed to do, and they continue

to do that, then God does something, whether

it be scary or positive or whatever. You get

an earthquake. You remember 9 -11? After 9 -11,

the attendance in churches that Sunday and the

following month was up by like 40 % nationwide,

which also meant across religions. So some people

were going where there was no message of hope.

And a lot of pastors missed the opportunity to

proclaim because they already had a plan on what

they were going to talk about. And they didn't

talk about 9 -11. They didn't talk about what

God was doing. They didn't talk about the nature

of a nation that desperately needed the Lord.

They talked about whatever it was they... And

some of them probably preached the gospel plain

and simple. They may have shared their testimony.

And I'm not saying lots of people didn't get

saved. But what I am saying is there was an opportunity.

And if God's people had been found doing what

God's people were supposed to be doing the world

over, then we wouldn't have gone back to a month

later the original attendance numbers. Out of

that 40 % increase, we'd have netted 4 % or 10

% or 15 % growth. And it's just not that. It's

all the time. And let's dumb it down to one particular

circumstance where one guy in your life, one

gal in your life, says, hey, I've been wondering

about, thinking about whatever. And the truth

is, you believe in Jesus. You believe he saved

you. You believe that he brought you across the

river of salvation. But you're so busy looking

at the big things that are coming, the struggles

that you still have, the bills you have to pay,

the problems you have with so -and -so who won't

do what you think they should do, and so on.

Those problems, this person walks up to you and

says, you know, I've really been giving some

thought to... Something that cues in on faith.

God, faith, the problems I'm having, evil spirits,

demons, angels, Bible, what the Bible says, John

3, anything they say, it's a clue that they want

to talk about that. And you're busy, busy, busy.

And they don't get what they need. And who do

you think is going to get the blame for that?

If God has erected the monuments and brought

your attention to them sufficiently that you

know that you have crossed the river, But now

your eyes are on Jericho, or whatever Jericho

is for you, instead of on living out what God

has already done in your life, who do you think

is going to get the blame for that? The God who

did all the powerful works? The God who is completely

capable of forgiving sins and does all the mighty

works in us? The God who brought you to where

you are? The God who erected the monument so

that you can remember? Gave you the command to

remember and proclaim? That God? Or is it going

to be the God who brought them to the moment

of decision? Brought them to one of the people

who proclaims to be his children? So that they

could talk for a while? No, it's not going to

be God's fault. I submit to you, it's not going

to be their fault. Because they did what they

were supposed to do. They recognized the monument

and began to ask the questions. It's going to

be your fault. Because as they gave you enough

time to bring it up, you didn't. The problem

based on this text then is, that's what happens

with the Israelites over the coming years. That's

what happened the first time. Remember, God parted

for us the Red Sea, parted for you the Jordan

River. You're supposed to remember. Proclaim

to your children the monument is supposed to

get them asking and then you're supposed to proclaim.

And I submit to you that the principle is they

should be erecting additional monuments. Right?

They'll be in the room in a minute. Don't fail

to proclaim when the monuments get the attention

of the next generation. Peter said it this way.

Peter chapter 1 verse 13. Therefore, prepare

your minds for action. Keep sober in spirit.

Fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought

to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Not

the hope that you'll overcome the next problem

or that God will act mighty again. We're all

begging God to do something mighty in our situation.

And it'll be great if he does, and he does often

answer prayers. And if you ask in faith and believe

that you have what you ask for, according to

what Jesus said, you ask it in his name, you'll

have it. We're so busy asking for the next thing

that we're forgetting the previous thing. Jesus

said the resources are in the harvest. You know

why churches are poor? Because churches aren't

winning people to Jesus. The resources are in

the harvest, and the harvest is winning people

to Jesus. 1 Peter 3 .15 says this. Let me get

13 one more time. Therefore, prepare your minds

for action. Keep sober in spirit. Fix your hope

completely on the grace to be brought to you

at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 3

.15, just a little further down, says, but sanctify

Christ as Lord in your hearts. That means set

him apart, recognize he is holy, right? So like,

recognize the monument that God has constructed,

recognize the great work that God has done. Sanctify

Christ as Lord in your heart, always being ready

to make a defense to everyone who asks you to

give an account for the hope that is in you,

yet with gentleness and reverence. And then that

leads us to the third point in the text. Don't

you ever, I added that you ever in there just

now, but don't you live as if you never crossed

the river. Don't you do it. Don't you get out

of bed not one day. Don't you eat one meal or

take one nap. Don't you take one sip of one cup

of one drink ever as if you had not crossed the

river. And that's more packed with meaning than

you realize. Which makes sense because God has

done mighty things and the monument has been

erected and we noticed and we asked and someone

told us and now we've accepted Jesus Christ as

Lord and Savior and now we too have crossed the

river of salvation, using that metaphor, and

we ought not to live as if we have not. Hebrews

6 says this, Therefore, leaving the elementary

teaching about the Christ, let us press on to

maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance

from dead works and faith toward God, of instruction

about washing and laying on of hands and the

resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment.

In other words, the basic teachings of Christianity

should be settled, he says. And this we will

do if God permits. Leave behind the elementary

teaching. For in the case of those who have once

been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly

gift, and have been made partakers of the Holy

Spirit. Now, if you crossed the river of salvation

and received all that, if you have tasted the

word of God and the powers of the age to come,

and then have fallen away, it is impossible to

renew them again to repentance, since they again

crucified to themselves the Son of God and put

him to open shame. For ground that drinks the

rain, which often falls on it, and brings forth

vegetation useful to those for whose sake it

is also tilled, receive a blessing from God.

The ground that does its work receives a blessing

from God. But if it yields thorns and thistles,

it's worthless and close to being cursed and

it ends up being burned. But beloved, we are

convinced of better things concerning you and

things that accompany salvation, though we are

speaking in this way. For God is not unjust so

as to forget your work and the love which you

have shown toward his name in having ministered

and in still ministering to the saints. And we

desire that each one of you show the same diligence,

work hard, Train yourself, that's diligence,

so as to realize the full assurance of hope until

the end, so that you will not be sluggish, stop

being lazy, or I would say distracted, so you

will not be sluggish, but imitators of those

who through faith and patience inherit the promises,

the monuments that God has erected in people,

be imitators of that. For when God made the promise

to Abraham, since he could swear by no greater,

he swore by himself. saying, I surely will bless

you and I will surely multiply you. And so, having

patiently waited, he, that's Abraham, obtained

the promise. For men swear by one greater than

themselves, and with them an oath given as confirmation

is an end of every dispute. So when you're arguing

with people, back in the day anyway, if you made

an oath, I swear it's true, on God or on my mother

who died, who was a holy woman or whatever, then

they would accept that. In the same way, God

desiring even more to show to the heirs of the

promise, that's us, the unchangeableness of his

purpose, interposed with an oath, so that by

two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible

for God to lie, God will take you through. That's

what he promised. We who have taken refuge would

have strong encouragement to take hold of the

hope set before us. This hope we have is an anchor

of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast,

and one which enters within the veil. Where Jesus

has entered as a forerunner for us, the veil

was the holy of holies that we were previously

not allowed to go. That's the place that ripped

open when Jesus died. When Jesus has entered

as a forerunner for us, having become a high

priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

Philippians 4 says it more simply. It says this,

Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever

is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is

pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good

repute, if there is any excellence and if anything

worthy of praise, Dwell on these things. That's

your focus. The things you have learned and received

and heard and seen in me. Practice these things

and the God of peace will be with you. But there

is a special way of falling away that the Bible

describes. The first way, a special way the Bible

describes is under trial when things get difficulty.

The parable of the four soils says that there

were those who were sown amongst thorns and the

cares and troubles of this world choked them

out. James says it this way. Blessed is a man

who perseveres under trial, for once he has been

approved, he will receive the crown of life,

which the Lord has promised to those who love

him. Hear me now. Do you claim the name of Jesus?

Christian, do you claim the name of Jesus? According

to that right there, what I just read, I'll read

it again for you because I look like you were

distracted for a second. Blessed is a man who

perseveres under trial, for once he has been

approved, in other words, tested, once he has

been tested, he will receive the crown of life

which the Lord has promised to those who love

him. When will you receive your crown of life?

After you've been tested. There is a very special

way of falling away. It's looking at the trials

and difficulties that we face or having cares

for what the world cares about. I'm worried about

money. I'm worried about fine things. I'm worried

about what's on TV or what's on the news or what's

happening. I'm very concerned about all of these

other things that the world's happening. And

our hope is not on Jesus. And so we are distracted.

It's a trial. And we say, well, you know, it's

only, it's only, he was going through a lot.

No, God says he was going through a lot, he should

have stood the test of time, and I would have

given him the crown of life. I think you're playing,

some of us are playing games with God. We say,

oh, it's been so difficult for me lately, so

I'm not going to do what God wanted me to do.

Or I was really, I know he came up and he said

to me, you know, I've been thinking a lot about

the Bible and I missed that opportunity to talk

to him about that. But the truth is, I was going

through a really rough time. I was down because

this bad thing happened to me. Or I was rushing

to get the groceries home so the ice cream didn't

melt. Or, you know what, let the stinking ice

cream melt. It's a soul. Let the bills go unpaid.

It's a soul. Let the appointments go unkept.

It's a soul. Stop. Making excuses for why you

are not proclaiming the greatness of God and

what He has done and actually proclaim the greatness

of God and what He has done to everyone. Trim

your mouth so you're not talking about the junk

that the world is talking about. So you're not

talking like the world. You don't sound like

an unsaved person. Get yourself under control

and live for Jesus the way you said you would.

And when you do, This is the great blessing.

People will take notice and they'll go, hey,

what's that all about? And you'll be able to

say, I am a monument. I have been erected in

the Lord God. I have crossed over the river.

This is the great thing that God has done in

me. And yes, I'm a work in progress. And yes,

I'm bound to make mistakes. Don't hang your hopes

on me. Hang them on Jesus who died on the cross

for your sins. And then, don't forget to include

in the gospel this truth. Jericho is coming.

There's still trouble and difficulty on the horizon.

I get that. When you lead that 20 -year -old

person to Christ, realize they have to live another

60 or 100 years for Jesus. And make sure that

you explain to them that Revelation 3, the same

chapter that people like to say, behold, I stand

at your heart's door and knock, and Jesus is

talking about coming in and suffering with me,

which was really written to the church, but it

was written to everybody in the church. That

same chapter says, for the one who perseveres,

for the one who continues to the end, I will

let him sit on my throne with me as my father

let me sit on his throne with him. That's Jesus

talking. But it's very easy to assume that you

are the only person under trial. And if I must

burst your bubble now in this moment, let me

tell you. that you are under no trial that is

any greater than anyone else's trial. You say,

but I'm struggling psychologically because of

this horrible event that I experienced, or no

one else in this room knows that I don't have

the money to pay for what I need to buy. Yeah,

they may not know that you are in the place that

you are in, but they know that they are in the

place that they are in. And what place is that,

by the way? I hope it's the place that you saw

God bring you across the river, and you're looking

at the opposition. But that's not your hope.

Your hope is not that God will take out the opposition.

Your hope is not that you will be able to use

the blessings of God so you can use prayer like

a sudden weapon that you can all of a sudden

go, oh God help me, I need to pass this test.

Oh God help me, I need to get through this situation.

Oh God help me, I need the words to say. God

has already taught you to go to Him every moment

of every day with prayer. And I'm not meaning

to step on anybody's toes when I say this. I

know there's some prayers in the house. I'm going

to say that that way. There's some prayer warriors

in the house. You ought to be a prayer warrior

every moment of every day. And you can be transforming

the world every moment of every day. Instead

of going, oh, here's a monument. Suddenly I have

to resurrect something. I have to go, all of

a sudden, here's a moment. Because of trials,

we justify ourselves not doing what we're supposed

to be doing. But the Bible says, Just the opposite.

There is another way that we mustn't miss to

go astray that's in these texts, and that is

looking down on those yet to come or who are

in the midst of struggles that we do not understand.

You don't know people's struggles. You don't

know out of their struggles how they're going

to behave. You don't know what temptation they're

going to yield to. You don't know what distraction

or difficulty is going to drive them crazy, and

the next thing you know, they're not acting like

Jesus, they're acting like Satan. And so we don't

judge people based on their actions. Instead,

we do what we were supposed to be doing all along.

We point to the monuments. Think about how awesome

God is. Even though we're going through this

horrible struggle now, Think about the amazing

thing that God can do out of this. We talk about

how if we survive this, God will be able to erect

another monument in that we survived that horrible

time. People go up and say, I feel for you, or

I'm sympathetic, or I know what you're going

through. You don't. Even if you, let's say that

the challenge was the loss of a job. And you

say, well, I've lost a job three times and I

know exactly what it felt like. No, you don't.

Because you never were in that person's skin.

Ever. You don't know that that job triggers things

that happened when they were eight or that their

dad did or their mom did or the accident they

were in. You don't know what they feel like.

You just don't know from inside. And so you cannot.

look down on those who are in their struggles.

You cannot look down. We talk about people who

don't come to church or don't worship God, and

we shake our heads and go, oh, that's just crazy.

God is so awesome, and I love worshiping God.

Or that don't serve. Now, I'm not saying you

should make excuses for a person to live in wickedness,

but what I am saying is to realize that they

are simply, until they are saved, they are simply

a product of their experiences. They're not free.

No one ever cursed a slave for doing what his

master told him to do, even if the action was

wrong. Because the slave could be killed, or

his family could be killed, or his children could

be beaten in front of him if he didn't do what

it was. If the head slave didn't beat the other

slaves when the master told him to, then the

head slave's family would be beaten. They're

just doing what they're mastered by. Pray that

they be set free. Be prepared to proclaim the

monuments that God has set up? Yes. But don't

let yourself come into a place where you are

looking down on someone else for what they are

doing. Because that is not focusing on holiness.

That is not whatever is true, whatever is honorable,

whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever

is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there

is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise,

dwelling on those things. While you're looking

at somebody else's nastiness, you're not dwelling

on those things. You can watch your TV and you

see a sex scene and you say, oh, they shouldn't

put that stuff on TV. Well, you're watching it.

And you're dwelling on how they shouldn't put

that stuff on TV. They shouldn't talk like that.

But then when you get upset, you talk like that.

Paul wrote it this way in 1 Corinthians. He says,

For who regards you as superior? What do you

have that you did not receive? And if you did

receive it, if God brought you across the river,

why do you boast as if you did not receive it?

He said, Joshua, I'm going to exalt you today

amongst the people and everybody's going to revere

you. And Joshua didn't go to the people and say,

I am Joshua. I am mighty. Hear me roar. as God

parts the river. No, he said, God is going to

do today what God told you he was going to do

today. He spoke of the monument that God had

erected. Quoting the word, in fact. They don't

need you to tell them how awesome you are or

how saved you are. They don't need you to tell

them about your spiritual gifts. If your salvation

story goes something like this. I was in a horrible

place. I did all these wrong things. Then one

day I realized that I was unsaved and I needed

Jesus. And then I prayed to Jesus and said, Jesus,

come in and save me. And then Jesus saved me,

after which I knew I was right. And I've been

telling everybody ever since, you're not proclaiming

the monument of God. You're proclaiming your

own greatness. You received everything you have.

Everything. And if you received everything you

have, then you ought to be giving glory to the

one who received it. But what do we do instead?

As soon as we get one hand out, as soon as we

start to feel a little bit of freedom, our first

instinct is to free ourselves the rest of the

way. And now you're responsible for the rest

of your salvation. What do you know about your

Bible? How does that work out? That's what happens.

Because you couldn't earn it. You couldn't get

the first hand free. And now that one hand is

free, no more can you get the second hand free.

What makes you think you can do it? You say,

well, I can do it. I can do all things. But that

is the verse. The verse is, I can do all things

through Christ which strengthens me. Because

he did it. I can do all things. And by the way,

that is written in the context of prayer and

suffering. I can live in suffering because He

makes me able. I can go without because He makes

me able. I can lift up to Him in prayer the things

I know I cannot handle myself because He makes

me able. That's the context of that verse. So

you get out of bed in the morning and say, I

can do whatever I want. Because I mean, Jesus,

you're stripping the verse of its meanings. That's

not the word of God. It's at best the word of

the world. Just real quick, the points and then

the conclusion. The points were this. One, don't

miss the mighty things that God has done. And

I would put the emphasis there on that God has

done. Two, Don't fail to proclaim when the monuments

get the attention of the next generation. We

need to tell anybody who will listen about the

monuments that God has erected in our lives,

in our world. Three, don't live as if you never

crossed the river. Don't spit on the memory of

the amazing thing that Jesus did. That would

be you going back into wickedness. And by the

way, if you do that, according to Hebrews, there's

no further. Payment. And don't look down on those

who are yet to come. And don't make excuses for

yourselves to give into trial. The trials that

are coming. Our vision is not on the next challenge.

And that's a problem for us. Whether you're a

type D personality, so you plan on dominating

the problem, or you're a type I personality,

so you... Plan on figuring out a way to get through.

Or we could go on with that list. The bottom

line is our focus is not on the problem. It's

not supposed to be on the problem. It's supposed

to be on the Lord. Okay, by way of conclusion.

If you're not careful, you just might miss the

awesome things that God wants to do now. Right

now in this moment. I'm going to tell you a joke.

I don't do a lot of jokes, but I'm going to tell

you a joke. This is a joke, so I'm going to get

down to everybody to laugh. Just telling you

in advance. I'm going to do a lot of jokes. So

there was a shepherd who loved the Lord, and

he had a Bible that he always studied when he

was out in the fields. And one day, he forgot

the Bible in the field, came back to where it

was, and it wasn't there. It was his favorite

Bible that he had always used. So he was sad,

but, you know, he could get another Bible. It's

not the end of the world. It must be. God wanted

to give it to somebody who needed it, whatever,

you know, all the excuses that he could make

to give God the glory because he loved the Lord.

Then one day, about two weeks later, a sheep

came walking up to him with the Bible in his

mouth and handed the Bible back to him. And he

said, as he accepted the Bible, he said, whoa,

it's a miracle. And the sheep said, not really,

your name's written in the front. The point is

this. We're not the shepherds who lost his Bible.

We're the sheep. Doing amazing things. Because

we don't know any better. Because it's who we

are. Because it's time to go forward. Stop worrying

about Jericho and nine foot tall guys with great

big spears. Stop it. That's not who we are. We

crossed the river that was split by God on dry

land. Reaching, we reached. Now, settling, we

settle. And when God gives us the next victory,

we will do it again. We will believe in faith

that God is going to do something amazing. We

will reach out for it and grab it and say, maybe

God's going to do this. I'm going to go for it.

And you go for it and God will do something amazing.

And then you now have another monument to God

to proclaim everywhere you go. And Ariana has

brought me around to it. Just lately, Ariana

has decided she likes to hear family stories

more than she likes to be read to, which is a

little bit of a problem because I'm trying to

get her to be able to read, so I want her to

look at the words and stuff, so we'll work on

it. But that being said, so now what we do is

we tell family stories, and we read. We do both.

It started on our camp trip. We lay in bed at

night, all of us in the tent, telling stories

that turns into a person telling a family story.

So she got really fired up. So now she wants

to hear the stories of the family. So then I'm

thinking, and I'm telling her the stories, right?

And most of the stories that I'm telling are,

I mean, they're very simple, not really a big

deal, you know, like how we got our first TV,

how we got our first car, how our car got in

an accident, you know, things like that. But

then I started telling her stories of how God

did this and how God did that. And I started

telling her the stories of how God did these

things, and I began to realize two things. And

I'll close with this. Number one, I began to

realize that the stories are many. There's so

many stories that, like, I realized I have not

told them. They're almost too many. I'll never

run out of a supply because God has done so many

things, amazing things in my life, in the life

of church members, in the life of people I know,

in our family, protecting us. Just amazing, amazing,

amazing things, and so many of them. And so I'm

telling her these stories, and so then she's

like. Tell me another family story. And our family

stories are about God. And she's laying in bed

at night. And I've told her all her stories.

And I've read her her books. And she's drowsy.

And she lays there half asleep. And she says,

Daddy. And I say, yeah. And she says, I love

God. But at the same time. I realized that there

are so many stories that we can tell them forever.

And by the way, a good story about God and what

he's done never gets old. This is actually an

old story. Thousands of years old. It's been

told in the church hundreds of millions of times.

A good story about God never gets old. But that

being said, I didn't realize that. I realized

I needed to repent. Because the whole first section

of the story is a mini story that I told at work.

How God reversed TV. how I got my first job,

where I used to work, all these things. He never

mentioned that. What's there to be telling the

next generation? It's about how God has done

this, how God is mighty, how God can save you

and work in your life just as He did for me.

No, I'm not special. I'm not the only one that

God can do mighty works in their life. I know

it's been true for all of us. By the way, if

you right now are sitting here and you look back,

and you can't think of a mighty work that God

has ever done in your life, then right now, with

your very next breath, you need to turn your

life over to the Lord so that you can be saved,

so that you can be transformed, so that you can

see those mighty works because they're there.

And for some reason, you can't see them. And

then, which was my experience, after I got saved,

I was able to look back at my young life and

say, God did that too? Oh, wow, that's neat.

That never would have happened. I could see miracles.

that happened before I got saved, but I couldn't

see them after I got saved. What about you? What

stories are you telling? What monuments are you

proclaiming? Are you looking for that next generation

so that when they ask the question, you're ready?

Are you in that next generation? Don't make any

excuses. It's not about my trials have drug me

away from God, things got too hard or too good.

That's all. It just means that... You didn't

love God the way you were supposed to. And don't

judge anybody who's made those mistakes. Because

I've made them. You've made them. We've all made

them. We all were without sin. And while we were

without sin, Christ died for us. Or while we

were in sin. We all had sin. And while we were

in sin, Christ died for us. And so we've all

had it. And if you're here today and you've received

salvation, then I'm going to... Say that God

is now telling you to tell people what has happened

to you. Your friends, your family members, the

professionals that you deal with, the people

that you only get 90 seconds out of their day,

but they're bound, required to listen to what

you say because they're paid to do it. And you

tell them. I guarantee you. Oh, by the way, if

you go out to eat tonight, and your server comes

to your table and you tell them about Jesus and

they act rude, there's a 1 -800 number for that.

Right? If you tell them about Jesus and they

act rude, you call the 1 -800 number and say,

my server acted rude to me. But just realize,

if you tell them about Jesus, they may believe.

Let me pray for us. Father in heaven, help us.

We are so blessed to have come across the river.

I would have been... Probably one of those fools

that was tiptoeing on dry land. I was for 25

years of my life. Turning down the offer of salvation

over and over again. Well, here we are. We're

in that moment. That one moment that he promised

us. Should we let this or that, we succeed in

this way or that. For those of us that are saved,

we know that our successes and victories are

attributed to you. For those of us that aren't,

right now, I ask the Lord to work in our hearts.

That we might genuinely accept you and let you

be a leader. Let you be in charge. Just and bright

and just, we want to be in charge of everything

in the world. I'm asking you. just to do what

you promised you'd do and bring us home. I'm

asking you, Lord, to let us, as you have called

us, to take our eyes off the many and varied

concerns that the world would have us be focused

on and to put them on the hope that you have

given us. That we would exhale. And with it would

go all the worry. And all the sorrow. All the

willingness to give to that patient. And then

we're going to breathe in that. With that breath

would come. Your word. Your spirit. Eternal hope.

the river. And though large things lean before

us, we realize that our Jericho, the armies that

we must face, they are nothing. They are small,

huge compared to the might of our God. And they

will allow us to live. That's the praise team

to come forward at this time. We'll have a closing

hymn. This is the last song of our service, and

we'll conclude our services today. But if you're

here today, and you've either accepted Jesus

Christ as Lord and Savior for the first time

ever in earnest, or you came in as a follower

of Jesus, and you've recommitted your life to

the Lord today, then I would ask you to respond

to the invitation as you come forward and tell

us what's on your heart, what's in your mind,

what God has said to you, and that you need to

come back and say to us. And then if you're here

and you need to be baptized, you're here in the

home church, you're here and you know what ministry

God is pointing you towards and you're supposed

to be doing it and you're not doing it, whatever

it might be, you need to repent of a specific

sin, this is your opportunity to respond. So

would you stand with us as we sing this song

and then this be your prayer to God either way.

If you're making the decision, then you come

now. Come and share with me and we'll share with

you. Let me know by raising your hand wherever

you are that you need to say something in a minute.

Okay, anybody? All right, so we have Melissa

and Aaron who have come today. So I'll let you

guys turn around and face them so they can see