The Power of Remembering

[SPEAKER_01]: I got a different kind of message today, and I believe that God is gonna do something.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think it's a good day for miracles, amen.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's a good day to see God move, amen.

[SPEAKER_01]: So we're gonna be reading, I'll let you start to turn to it.

[SPEAKER_01]: We're gonna be reading from Joshua, chapter three, starting in verse nine, Joshua three nine.

[SPEAKER_01]: And this is a different kind of message, but I'm excited for what God's gonna do today.

[SPEAKER_01]: A lot of Christians, before we read, a lot of Christians have some of the spiritual disciplines down.

[SPEAKER_01]: I know that you know how to pray, okay, just a nod, like yes, okay, there we go.

[SPEAKER_01]: I know that you know how to pray, I know that you know how to read your Bible, you might even be used to fasting, you might even be used to witnessing, okay, but there's a spiritual discipline that I think is so incredibly important that people neglect.

[SPEAKER_01]: And that is the power of remembering, even meditating on the things that God has already done in your life.

[SPEAKER_01]: Because all throughout the Bible, we see examples of people meditating on the faithfulness, literally thinking about and praising God for his faithfulness and what he already did.

[SPEAKER_01]: Are you with me?

[SPEAKER_01]: So this morning, I want to talk about the power of remembering.

[SPEAKER_01]: Tell your neighbor, the power of remembering.

[SPEAKER_01]: a power of remembering, all right?

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know how many of you can say.

[SPEAKER_01]: I can say that God has been good to me in the past.

[SPEAKER_01]: God has been faithful to me many times.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so I want to talk about the significance of thinking about, I think you said it when you stood up.

[SPEAKER_01]: One of the things he said was that we need to think about the things that God has already done for us and how impacting it is just to remember his goodness in our life already to this point.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm here because God was faithful to me.

[SPEAKER_01]: You're here today because God has already been faithful to you.

[SPEAKER_01]: Even if it's the first time that you show up in church today, you're here because God has taken care of you and been faithful to you.

[SPEAKER_01]: Amen.

[SPEAKER_01]: So there's three things that I want to show you today.

[SPEAKER_01]: Three things that we need in our life.

[SPEAKER_01]: Number one, that's going to be a private marker, a private marker of God's faithfulness and a counter with God in our life, a private marker.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you're taking notes, send me all our taking notes to get you on.

[SPEAKER_01]: A private marker, number two, a public monument, a public monument of God's faithfulness in our life.

[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to get a number and number three, I want to talk about the power of remembering.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now I want to give a little context before we read and we're going to be reading about the Israelites.

[SPEAKER_01]: The Israelites in this passage, the children of Israel are about to cross over.

[SPEAKER_01]: the Jordan River into the promise land that God promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, so they have been wandering in the wilderness for how many years?

[SPEAKER_01]: 40 years, and that's where we pick up.

[SPEAKER_01]: All right, we skip that part.

[SPEAKER_01]: They've been wandering, and the wilderness for 40 years already.

[SPEAKER_01]: And they're about to step over, cross the Jordan River, and step into the promised land and begin to take the land from the people that are living there.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now, I don't know why, sometimes that's preachers.

[SPEAKER_01]: We don't know why we have a specific message, but I can only assume that somebody is about to step into a new season in the church.

[SPEAKER_01]: I can only imagine that somebody is at that moment that they're coming to the end of one season and they're stepping into the next one because that's where we pick up today.

[SPEAKER_01]: They're about to cross the threshold into a new season, into the promise that God had already given them.

[SPEAKER_01]: All right?

[SPEAKER_01]: And so Moses led them out of Egypt.

[SPEAKER_01]: They've been in the wilderness all this time.

[SPEAKER_01]: And this actually is an entire new generation.

[SPEAKER_01]: Don't forget, or I'll fill it in if you did forget.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is an entire new generation.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is not the same people.

[SPEAKER_01]: It is still the Israelites, but it's not the same people that left Egypt because of their disobedience, the whole generation died.

[SPEAKER_01]: And God said, you won't see the promise in the only ones that are still the same, are Joshua and Caleb.

[SPEAKER_01]: The only ones that lasted that were there from the beginning that went out from Egypt and get the privilege to see God's promise fulfilled in the Promised Land is Joshua and Caleb, all these other people are new.

[SPEAKER_01]: So they only know, in a way, they only know some of the things their parents have told them about each of they weren't there.

[SPEAKER_01]: All right, just trying to fill in the context.

[SPEAKER_01]: Are you with me this morning?

[SPEAKER_01]: So it's a new generation and yet they've heard all these years, this is what God did, this is what God brought us from, this is, this is where we're going, they don't know, they weren't there but they've been hearing it all along, this is where we're headed and now we're about to see them cross over.

[SPEAKER_01]: Are you with me this morning?

[SPEAKER_01]: I want to mention this too, that they're at the Jordan River, I don't know how many, I don't know how much you know about rivers, okay?

[SPEAKER_01]: We don't have a lot of rivers here in the city but,

[SPEAKER_01]: It says in the Bible that it's actually harvest season and the river is like flooded.

[SPEAKER_01]: The river is as high as it can be, it's spread out as higher than ever.

[SPEAKER_01]: That means there's a fast current.

[SPEAKER_01]: So it's even bigger than normal so that we understand the scene that we're looking at.

[SPEAKER_01]: And we're going to read Josh with three, nine.

[SPEAKER_01]: We have it on the screens if you don't have your Bible with you this morning.

[SPEAKER_01]: So Josh, what tells the people, Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow that Lord is going to do great things.

[SPEAKER_01]: Look what it says, Joshua 39.

[SPEAKER_01]: So Joshua said to the children of Israel, come here and hear the words of the Lord your God.

[SPEAKER_01]: Verse 10 in Joshua said, by this, you shall know that the living God is among you and that he will without fail drive out from before you, the Cainanites and the Hittites, the Hivites and the Parasites and the Gurgasites and the Amrites and the Jibisites.

[SPEAKER_01]: Are you with me?

[SPEAKER_01]: Verse 11, behold, the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord,

[SPEAKER_01]: of all the earth is crossing over before you into the Jordan.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now therefore, pay attention.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now therefore, take for yourselves 12 men from the 12 tribes of Israel.

[SPEAKER_01]: One man from every tribe, and it shall come to pass.

[SPEAKER_01]: As soon as the souls of the fee of the priests who bear the arc of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan that the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off.

[SPEAKER_01]: the waters that come down from upstream, and they shall stand as a heap, all right?

[SPEAKER_01]: So he's saying, listen, as soon as the feet, as soon as the toes, I guess.

[SPEAKER_01]: As soon as the feet of the priest carrying the ark of the covenant, touch the water, the water is going to be cut off upstream.

[SPEAKER_01]: cut off in a heap upstream and it happened just as the Lord said okay so they'd go they're carrying the arc of the covenant they'd go before the priest go before anyone else their feet touch the water and the water is cut up cut off upstream I don't know if that sounds like it would that would catch her my attention I don't know about you so it says that the Israelites crossed the Jordan on dry land

[SPEAKER_01]: And even if you look historically, there seems to have been some sort of event.

[SPEAKER_01]: We don't need a reason, but I'm telling you for extra, okay?

[SPEAKER_01]: There seems to have been some sort of significant event like an earthquake or a mudside that happened way upstream, that caused that to happen, because God took him to any way he wants, amen.

[SPEAKER_01]: So the waters are held off upstream.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now look at a verse one of chapter four.

[SPEAKER_01]: Joshua four one.

[SPEAKER_01]: We've got to read a little bit of Bible today, okay?

[SPEAKER_01]: I always tell my church we're going to read a little bit extra in case you're not reading at home.

[SPEAKER_01]: Just in case, okay.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I got you covered for your Bible reading for today.

[SPEAKER_01]: For one, this is what it says, and it came to pass when all the people had completely crossed over the Jordan that the Lord spoke to Joshua, saying, take for yourselves, 12 men from the people, one man from every tribe and command them, saying, take for yourselves, 12 stones from here, out of the midst of the Jordan.

[SPEAKER_01]: from the place where the priest's feet stood firm.

[SPEAKER_01]: You shall carry them with you and leave them in the lodging place where you lodged tonight.

[SPEAKER_01]: Then Joshua called the 12th man who he had appointed from the Children of Israel one man from every tribe and Joshua said to them, cross over before the ark of the Lord your God in the midst of the Jordan, each one of you take a stone up on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes that children of Israel verse six.

[SPEAKER_01]: that this may be a sign among you when your children ask in the time to come saying, what do these stones mean to you?

[SPEAKER_01]: Verse seven, then you shall answer them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord.

[SPEAKER_01]: When it crossed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off and these stones shall be a memorial to the children of Israel forever.

[SPEAKER_01]: I hope you're paying attention.

[SPEAKER_01]: Verse eight, we're almost done reading, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: Verse eight, and the children of Israel did so, just as Joshua commanded, and took up 12 stones from the midst of the Jordan, as the Lord had spoken to Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, carried them to the place where they lodged and laid them down there.

[SPEAKER_01]: Look at verse nine, then Joshua set up 12 stones in the midst of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priest who bore the Ark of the Covenant stood, and there they are to this day.

[SPEAKER_01]: Are you with me?

[SPEAKER_01]: All right, take a deep breath.

[SPEAKER_01]: It was a lot, I know, it was a lot of, it was a lot of Bible.

[SPEAKER_01]: OK, so I want you to understand.

[SPEAKER_01]: So the priest stood in the middle.

[SPEAKER_01]: Everything happened exactly the way that God said it would.

[SPEAKER_01]: And it wasn't until all the people had crossed and the priest leave the riverbed so to speak that the water returns.

[SPEAKER_01]: OK, the first thing that I want to show you.

[SPEAKER_01]: First of all, how crazy is this miracle, actually?

[SPEAKER_01]: Because we read the Bible and we just sort of like gloss over it sometimes.

[SPEAKER_01]: like we just read it like oh that's nice that's nice but we don't stop the thing about the fact that this is crazy this is crazy I don't know about you but I would be shook shook it okay if this happened to me if this happened to me and I was there imagine the magnitude of a miracle like this and we we just read through it like oh yeah yeah I've seen this I read this before

[SPEAKER_01]: stop and think about how incredible this is that an entire nation crossed on dry ground where there was supposed to be a river in its flood stage.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know like this is something significant and only what's crazy to me also is that I imagine that like I said they weren't there when they left Egypt these are like the kids and the grandkids but they must have heard that God did that in the Red Sea.

[SPEAKER_01]: They must have heard, man, my mom told me, my dad told me, my grandfather told me that when they left Egypt that God split the Red Sea, so they had some idea, but they didn't live through that.

[SPEAKER_01]: They're seeing this miracle for themselves.

[SPEAKER_01]: They heard about what happened for their family, but now they're seeing something significant for themselves, like, all right, they know that God's provided for them and the wilderness, but they're seeing, I love that it kind of parallels that, that's what happened when they brought him out of Egypt, when God brought them out of Egypt.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know about you, but this wouldn't, this would capture my attention.

[SPEAKER_01]: So the first thing I want to show you, this is so cool to me, it's really neat, is that we all need private markers in our life of God's faithfulness.

[SPEAKER_01]: One of the most important, okay, one of the most important things that you can do in your life is build private markers of your encounters with God that nobody else knows about.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, I don't know if you noticed, but not only did 12 men take the stones out of the river, it also says that Joshua took 12 stones and put them in the river, like where it's dry right now, but in the middle of the river.

[SPEAKER_01]: It says in verse 9 that Joshua set up 12 stones in the midst of the joining, in the place where the feet of the priests were that held the ark of the covenant.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now,

[SPEAKER_01]: Nobody is going to see that.

[SPEAKER_01]: He decided, no, one thing was the instruction for the 12 man, okay?

[SPEAKER_01]: Take 12 stones out, take it to where you're going to last night and they did that, but Joshua of his own accord.

[SPEAKER_01]: It doesn't say that the Lord told him to.

[SPEAKER_01]: It does say that the Lord told him for the others, but it doesn't say that the Lord told Joshua to this of his own accord, Joshua says, I'm going to take stones and he sets him up in the middle of the river and you know what, when the water comes back,

[SPEAKER_01]: When the water comes back, those are going to be completely covered over and essentially invisible.

[SPEAKER_01]: Listen, I don't know.

[SPEAKER_01]: Let me ask you a question.

[SPEAKER_01]: How many of y'all grew up in a small town, okay?

[SPEAKER_01]: Like, but really small, okay?

[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to have to weed people out if it wasn't really tiny.

[SPEAKER_01]: Really small.

[SPEAKER_01]: You grew up in a small town?

[SPEAKER_01]: How many people in your town?

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, oh, yeah, now it's grown up right anybody else in a tiny town like really tiny How the help big was your town?

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, we're getting there.

[SPEAKER_01]: We're getting there.

[SPEAKER_01]: All right A town just I didn't even make a town is not even on the map right anybody else grow up like in the middle of nowhere

[SPEAKER_01]: You beat me, okay?

[SPEAKER_01]: That's what I wanted to know, okay?

[SPEAKER_01]: That's what I wanted to know.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I grew up in the middle of nowhere, but like nowhere, okay?

[SPEAKER_01]: You'd never hear from it, you could never find it.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not from Texas, I'm from way at the top of the United States, I'm from New Hampshire, like an hour from Canada, and there's nothing there, all right?

[SPEAKER_01]: So it's really cold, yeah.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's beautiful, but when I say like, there's nothing there, there's nothing there.

[SPEAKER_01]: So when I lived there, I'll tell you, when I lived there, there was about 800 people in the whole town.

[SPEAKER_01]: the whole town.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now I think they might have hit a thousand since I left.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know.

[SPEAKER_01]: I've been gone a while now.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think they hit a thousand.

[SPEAKER_01]: My husband always says that there's more cows than people and that's true.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like there was actually more cows than people where I came from.

[SPEAKER_01]: But it's a tiny spot.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's literally nothing around.

[SPEAKER_01]: But when I say like there's nothing around it, we don't have the luxuries that you'll have.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not a city girl steal.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's somehow my perspective is still the middle of nowhere.

[SPEAKER_01]: So for entertainment, there's none.

[SPEAKER_01]: All right, whatever you do here for entertainment, going to the movies or arcades or restaurants, we do not have that.

[SPEAKER_01]: All right, so I just want you to picture with me.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's nothing there.

[SPEAKER_01]: We did get like first McDonald's at one point when I was there.

[SPEAKER_01]: And we just before I left got our first ever Walmart.

[SPEAKER_01]: All right, so I've been here while that gives you an idea that there's really nothing there and so because there's nothing there.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's just nothing to do.

[SPEAKER_01]: We don't have y'all have Bible studies.

[SPEAKER_01]: We don't have that.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.

[SPEAKER_01]: There wasn't even enough people to get together like around the table and have a Bible study.

[SPEAKER_01]: All are blessed first of all.

[SPEAKER_01]: We didn't have that.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's no midweek Bible study.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's no midweek service.

[SPEAKER_01]: I know y'all have worship nice.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's no worship nice.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's none of that.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's literally nothing there.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so because there's nothing to do, I pretty much grew up like outside and outside like alone.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, like in the wild, it sounds weird, but just bear with me.

[SPEAKER_01]: So, because there was nothing around, I learned how to meet with God in basically the middle of nowhere.

[SPEAKER_01]: There was no cute little like Starbucks to go with you.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, there wasn't a panera.

[SPEAKER_01]: There was nowhere to go and meet with God except like the side of a tree.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, there was nowhere to meet with God except the side of a river and our house literally my parents are here so they're they're like nodding along our house was just as the bottom of a mountain in front of river.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's it.

[SPEAKER_01]: There was nothing else there, but I learned to meet with God in the weirdest places.

[SPEAKER_01]: like next to a tree in a forest like that is where I learned to talk to God.

[SPEAKER_01]: Let me tell you, if you learn to meet with God in private, it will change your life.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you learn to connect with God when no one is around you, it will shape who you are.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you learn to have a private moment, a private marker with God when there's no one there, there's no applause, there's no one listening, there's no one watching, it will shape who you are every single one of you, needs to have private markers in your life of God's faithfulness.

[SPEAKER_01]: That moment that you were in the closet and you were crying and only God saw you.

[SPEAKER_01]: That moment that you cried out to God in the car and no one heard you bug God.

[SPEAKER_01]: that moment that you ugly cried, that no one was there, but God, but the presence of God, private markers.

[SPEAKER_01]: Those are the ones that aren't for anyone else.

[SPEAKER_01]: Those are the ones that aren't for other people to hear about, the aren't for other people to know about.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's just you and God.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you have not had those, let me tell you, it will change your life.

[SPEAKER_01]: Everyone needs private markers in their life.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you could look at, okay, if you could look at the timeline of your life and say, wow, God spoke to me here in this closet.

[SPEAKER_01]: Wow, God spoke to me in a parking lot right here.

[SPEAKER_01]: God spoke to me when I was driving home from work right here.

[SPEAKER_01]: The ones that nobody else knows about, okay, private markers that shape who you are, where you encounter, the presence of God so strongly.

[SPEAKER_01]: And you're blessed with a worship team and an incredible church and all the things, but you also need private moments in your life that no one sees, that no one knows about, that you don't share with anyone.

[SPEAKER_01]: Everyone needs to have private markers.

[SPEAKER_01]: I love that he decided to put stones in the middle of the river.

[SPEAKER_01]: No one is gonna see that.

[SPEAKER_01]: Gender stand, no one is gonna see those.

[SPEAKER_01]: I love that he decided to do that.

[SPEAKER_01]: As soon as the water comes back, they're going to be covered, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: But this got me thinking.

[SPEAKER_01]: Right now, it's a flood stage.

[SPEAKER_01]: It says that the Jordan is flooded.

[SPEAKER_01]: But what happens in a drought?

[SPEAKER_01]: What happens if you know anything about rivers they rise?

[SPEAKER_01]: And they fall.

[SPEAKER_01]: The waters go up and the waters go back down eventually.

[SPEAKER_01]: Eventually, the waters are going to go back down.

[SPEAKER_01]: Eventually, there's going to be a moment of drought.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's going to be a moment of need.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's going to be a tough season.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's going to be a moment of desperation where the tip of those rocks start to show again.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's going to be a tough season.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is a people that relied on agriculture that relied on the river, on water just to sustain life.

[SPEAKER_01]: Eventually, in the middle of a difficult season, in the middle of a drought, in the middle of a trial, the tip of those rocks are going to start to show again.

[SPEAKER_01]: And they're going to be reminded of the faithfulness and the goodness of God.

[SPEAKER_01]: They're going to see that is where God moved.

[SPEAKER_01]: That is where God did something.

[SPEAKER_01]: It says he put him where they've stood with the ark.

[SPEAKER_01]: They're going to see, that is where the presence of God was.

[SPEAKER_01]: And they're going to be reminded in the difficult season.

[SPEAKER_01]: Hey, God did something right there.

[SPEAKER_01]: God did God's presence.

[SPEAKER_01]: The ark of the covenant was right there.

[SPEAKER_01]: You see the top of it, I remember that God moved there.

[SPEAKER_01]: And he's been faithful.

[SPEAKER_01]: Are you with me?

[SPEAKER_01]: The next thing that everyone needs, everyone, everyone, okay?

[SPEAKER_01]: You need private markers, you need private encounters, you need marks in your timeline of your life.

[SPEAKER_01]: The next thing is that everyone needs also public monuments do what God has done.

[SPEAKER_01]: Everyone needs to have public monuments to the faithfulness of God and what God's done in your life.

[SPEAKER_01]: The instructions that God gave Joshua to give to the people was 12 men, pick up 12 stones, move them out.

[SPEAKER_01]: Look at the reason why.

[SPEAKER_01]: It says Joshua for 20, I'll let you turn there.

[SPEAKER_01]: Joshua for 20.

[SPEAKER_01]: And those 12 stones, which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up in Gilgall.

[SPEAKER_01]: And then he spoke to the children of Israel saying, when your children, this is the why.

[SPEAKER_01]: When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, what are these stones for?

[SPEAKER_01]: Then you shall let your children know saying, Israel crossed over the Jordan on dry land.

[SPEAKER_01]: For the Lord your God, dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up before us until we had crossed over.

[SPEAKER_01]: that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever.

[SPEAKER_01]: you need public markers in your life to tell other people of the faithfulness of God.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, they're very quiet.

[SPEAKER_01]: You need public monuments in your life to tell other people.

[SPEAKER_01]: The one that Joshua set up in the river may be nobody's going to see it.

[SPEAKER_01]: The one that they set up in Goal, everybody is going to see and it literally tells us the reason is so that you can answer people and say, this is what God did here.

[SPEAKER_01]: Let me tell you about it.

[SPEAKER_01]: everyone needs public monuments in their life.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now, I'm not a history pro.

[SPEAKER_01]: How many are like history buffs?

[SPEAKER_01]: You just love history.

[SPEAKER_01]: Only one.

[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you.

[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, I don't, I don't want to appreciate his because like when you start to tell me dates it's just my mind kind of goes to another place.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know.

[SPEAKER_01]: But there are some people that are excellent at history, but what I do love, did you know?

[SPEAKER_01]: I learned this recently.

[SPEAKER_01]: Did you know that MDFW alone, there is over 1,000 markers of historical events like, you know, the plaque up of historical events, of things that have happened here in MDFW.

[SPEAKER_01]: So you can go with 1,000

[SPEAKER_01]: to see them all.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not a history buff.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know all the things but I love that I can walk up and learn about it right then.

[SPEAKER_01]: I love that I can walk up and say, okay, this happened here.

[SPEAKER_01]: I love that I can stand in the same spot like I can literally put my feet in the same place that's something so significant happened.

[SPEAKER_01]: You all need public monuments in your life so that you can tell people right here.

[SPEAKER_01]: God did something incredible You need public monuments in your life.

[SPEAKER_01]: You should be doing things in your life that scream that shout that show people boldly This is what God did for me.

[SPEAKER_01]: Listen, and we have enough quiet Christians We need bold Christians that are willing to say God moved in my life.

[SPEAKER_01]: Let me just tell you about it

[SPEAKER_01]: Let me just tell you about it.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's not that complicated.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's not that complicated.

[SPEAKER_01]: You can go to Walmart and say, sorry, excuse me, man.

[SPEAKER_01]: Let me tell you what God did for me.

[SPEAKER_01]: The greatest evangelists are not because they're the most studied.

[SPEAKER_01]: They're not, they're the most trained.

[SPEAKER_01]: They are the ones that are willing to go.

[SPEAKER_01]: Just go and say, let me tell you the miracle that God did in my life.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's very, very simple.

[SPEAKER_01]: Let me tell you what God did in my life.

[SPEAKER_01]: Let me tell you the moment that God moved.

[SPEAKER_01]: Let me just tell you that God healed me.

[SPEAKER_01]: Let you need public monuments in your life that are not for you, but are for the world.

[SPEAKER_01]: For the world is that God did something incredible.

[SPEAKER_01]: God did something powerful.

[SPEAKER_01]: You can go on.

[SPEAKER_01]: We have all the technology in the world.

[SPEAKER_01]: You can start a Facebook live.

[SPEAKER_01]: I know that scary.

[SPEAKER_01]: I know.

[SPEAKER_01]: You can start a Facebook live and just get on and say, let me tell you my testimony.

[SPEAKER_01]: Simple, over a cup of coffee.

[SPEAKER_01]: Let me tell you what God did for me.

[SPEAKER_01]: You can tell your coworkers.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is the miracle that God did in my life when I really needed him.

[SPEAKER_01]: Public.

[SPEAKER_01]: There is, let me tell you, there's no such thing as private Christians that don't ever share their faith.

[SPEAKER_01]: In order to be a follower of Jesus, you have to be public.

[SPEAKER_01]: I know you know that.

[SPEAKER_01]: In order to be a follower of Jesus, you have to be public.

[SPEAKER_01]: Otherwise, you're not following the biblical example.

[SPEAKER_01]: Public monuments that you build in your life, that you cultivate and you create in your life, that show the faithfulness of God in your life, that tell the world, God has been good to me.

[SPEAKER_01]: God has been great to me.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is what he saved me from.

[SPEAKER_01]: I was bound but now I'm free.

[SPEAKER_01]: I was sick but now I'm healed.

[SPEAKER_01]: Public, public examples for you to share.

[SPEAKER_01]: And you need to be telling your children here it says that this is so that you can tell the future generation.

[SPEAKER_01]: of God's goodness.

[SPEAKER_01]: Do you know how many Christians?

[SPEAKER_01]: How many pastors?

[SPEAKER_01]: You have great pastors here.

[SPEAKER_01]: But like statistically, how many pastors lose their children?

[SPEAKER_01]: Like their pastors, okay?

[SPEAKER_01]: They should be supposed to be like the most biblically red.

[SPEAKER_01]: They're supposed to be the most spiritual, all those things, and they lose their children to the world.

[SPEAKER_01]: Statistically.

[SPEAKER_01]: pastors, kids, everybody knows old pastors, kids, old pastors, kids.

[SPEAKER_01]: Why?

[SPEAKER_01]: There's some breakdown in communication here.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you are a Holy Ghost spirit-filled born again Christian, there should be no breakdown between you and your kids.

[SPEAKER_01]: You shouldn't be, I'm sorry.

[SPEAKER_01]: You shouldn't be losing your kids to the world.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you just got saved today, okay, well, we gotta have patience.

[SPEAKER_01]: Congratulations, you're just starting a journey.

[SPEAKER_01]: But if you've been safe for any amount of time, there should be no breakdown in communication

[SPEAKER_01]: your kids should know your testimony.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, if it's a little rough, you skip that part, okay?

[SPEAKER_01]: You can make it like G-rated or whatever, but your kids shouldn't be questioning God's faithfulness.

[SPEAKER_01]: They should know, oh my mom, God saved her from this.

[SPEAKER_01]: My dad, God sent him free from this.

[SPEAKER_01]: There should be no breakdown.

[SPEAKER_01]: It says, put the stones there so that the children, when they ask in the time to come, what are these?

[SPEAKER_01]: You can say, this is where we crossed over on track ground.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is where God moved, this is where God moved, a public, are you with me, a public monument, so that everyone else can see God's goodness in your life?

[SPEAKER_01]: Are you with me, guys?

[SPEAKER_01]: I feel like, okay, at least like a nod or something.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is also really cool that I just want to tell you.

[SPEAKER_01]: The Jordan River, we hear the Jordan River like hundreds of times, throughout the scriptures, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: The Jordan River, the Jordan River.

[SPEAKER_01]: What's incredible, I looked it up the name, the Jordan River is mentioned so many times, but the word in Hebrew is actually, I'm gonna say it wrong, but it's yet then, which means to descend, that's what the word means.

[SPEAKER_01]: to descend.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now, it has that name because it starts, it's in reference to its geographical setting.

[SPEAKER_01]: It starts very high, like on the snowy mountains on the snowy caps, basically, of Mount Hermann.

[SPEAKER_01]: But it comes down, it starts up high, and it comes down and it flows down to the lowest point on earth, the dead sea.

[SPEAKER_01]: All right, it's taken with me.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's called descend.

[SPEAKER_01]: because it starts up high and it goes low.

[SPEAKER_01]: But this is the moment, this is the moment where something spiritual transformation happens.

[SPEAKER_01]: Not only that, but let's not forget the Jordan River is where Jesus, after he left the highest point, left heaven, comes to earth, literally descends, comes to earth and is baptized where in the Jordan River,

[SPEAKER_01]: baptize very in that same area really right in that same area baptizing the Jordan River leaves heaven descends and is baptized in the Jordan River to become the most the greatest public monument of all time to die on the cross as as as a monument as as a spectacle practically for the world to see not private public

[SPEAKER_01]: So that the whole world can see, this is what God did, that God loved us so much, that He sent Jesus to die on the cross for our sins, started up high, descended to the earth, baptized in the Jordan River and rose as a monument on the cross to say, I love you so much, I die for you.

[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, y'all, you guys aren't awake this morning.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's incredible, all in the Jordan River.

[SPEAKER_01]: So this is the powerful moment.

[SPEAKER_01]: The last thing I want to show you is that, just the power of remembering, okay?

[SPEAKER_01]: I started by saying that we need this spiritual discipline and it is a discipline, the power of remembering.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to turn to first Samuel 1734 for a Samuel 1734.

[SPEAKER_01]: We have so many options,

[SPEAKER_01]: of where men and women of God recall the faithfulness of God in their life.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I chose one, I chose David, but there's plenty of others.

[SPEAKER_01]: You need private markers in your life.

[SPEAKER_01]: You need private encounters.

[SPEAKER_01]: You need public monuments, but you also need to understand the power, the practice of remembering what God has already done.

[SPEAKER_01]: So we pick up here in First Samuel 17, most people if you've been in church for any amount of time, you know David, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: You know David and Goliath.

[SPEAKER_01]: And in this moment, David is still a shepherd.

[SPEAKER_01]: He hasn't been anointed publicly.

[SPEAKER_01]: Samuel has already anointed him, but he hasn't become public as King.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's just a shepherd boy taking care of his father's flock.

[SPEAKER_01]: He is a musician for Saul, but he's a lowly guy, he's nothing special, right, to the world.

[SPEAKER_01]: And that's where we find him when the Philistine army is taunting and blaspheming, actually mocking that God of the Israelites mocking God.

[SPEAKER_01]: And no one is in the Israelites army is willing to fight only David.

[SPEAKER_01]: But look at what David says.

[SPEAKER_01]: in 1734, when he speaks to Saul, and he's considering finding this giant, look at what David understands, though we need to understand.

[SPEAKER_01]: Verse 34 says, but David said to Saul, your servant used to keep his father's sheep, and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock,

[SPEAKER_01]: I went after it and struck it and delivered the land from its mouth and when it rose against me, I caught it by its beard and struck and killed it, verse 36.

[SPEAKER_01]: Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear, and this uncircum-sized Philistine will be like one of them, seeing that he has defied the armies of the living God.

[SPEAKER_01]: verse 37, moreover David said, listen, the Lord was with me, the Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, he will deliver me from the hands of the Philistines.

[SPEAKER_01]: We used to stand here for you with me this morning.

[SPEAKER_01]: The Lord that was with me with the lion, the Lord that was with me with the bear, will be with me with this giant.

[SPEAKER_01]: The power of remembering God's works in your life is that it gives you, it stores your faith.

[SPEAKER_01]: And it gives you encouragement for the thing that you're facing now.

[SPEAKER_01]: So, I don't know what you're facing today, what kind of situation you came in with, or what kind of burden you came in with, but the power of remembering is that when I was sick before, God healed me, then he will heal me now.

[SPEAKER_01]: When I was bound before God sent me free, he will set me free from this thing too.

[SPEAKER_01]: I've seen God do it over there.

[SPEAKER_01]: I saw God do it in the past, and he will do it again.

[SPEAKER_01]: The power of remembering is that God, you've been faithful to me.

[SPEAKER_01]: telling your soul like David spoke to himself and said I will remember the works of the Lord.

[SPEAKER_01]: I will forget not all his benefits.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's been good.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's been faithful.

[SPEAKER_01]: He did it for me over there and he'll do it again.

[SPEAKER_01]: He did it for me before and he'll do it again.

[SPEAKER_01]: The power of remembering and it's a practice.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's a discipline where you train yourself to think about the times that God has already been good to you.

[SPEAKER_01]: For some reason, we're like the Israelites and we forget.

[SPEAKER_01]: We face a new giant and we're like, oh my gosh, I've never seen anything so big.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is the biggest trial I've ever come against in my life.

[SPEAKER_01]: I've hear it felt like that.

[SPEAKER_01]: Every time I get a new child, it's like, oh, this is I've never seen this before.

[SPEAKER_01]: And we forget to think about the faithfulness of God in our lives that he's already been there for this victory over here.

[SPEAKER_01]: He already gave us victory in this moment.

[SPEAKER_01]: He already in our darkest moments.

[SPEAKER_01]: When you thought you were going to lose everything, God was there.

[SPEAKER_01]: When you couldn't pay the bills, and you didn't have rent, and you had nothing, nothing left.

[SPEAKER_01]: God provided.

[SPEAKER_01]: And yet we face something today like this is brand new.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know what I'll do.

[SPEAKER_01]: But God has been good to you in the past.

[SPEAKER_01]: And the power of remembering is that it stores your faith.

[SPEAKER_01]: God didn't change.

[SPEAKER_01]: You need the reminder.

[SPEAKER_01]: You need the reminder.

[SPEAKER_01]: God was there for me.

[SPEAKER_01]: He surely will be there again.

[SPEAKER_01]: He surely will be there again.

[SPEAKER_01]: God healed me when I wanted to give it all up.

[SPEAKER_01]: I was willing to end my life.

[SPEAKER_01]: And God was there.

[SPEAKER_01]: and he's going to be there again.

[SPEAKER_00]: For more information about Church of the City, head on over to www.cotcdfw.com.

[SPEAKER_00]: And until next time, remember this, the best is yet to come.