Speaker 1: Hey, don't start clicking off. I promise we're going to
Speaker 1: get to the preaching in just a moment. But I'm
Speaker 1: excited about this. This is a very special tradition at Elevation,
Speaker 1: and we want to speak to all of you who
Speaker 1: call our church home, especially our extended family, our EPAM
Speaker 1: around the world, because once a year we have a
Speaker 1: special series. It's really more than a collection of teachings.
Speaker 1: It's a faith experience for all of the people who
Speaker 1: are part of our ministry at Elevation, and this year
Speaker 1: our theme is game Changer. I think one of the
Speaker 1: most exciting things that God is doing in our ministry
Speaker 1: is to open the doors of our ministry beyond our walls.
Speaker 1: What I mean by that is we are amazed at
Speaker 1: the thousands and thousands and thousands of you who are
Speaker 1: letting us know that you're impacted by this ministry in
Speaker 1: another zip code, in another state, in another country, maybe
Speaker 1: eventually on another planet. But what I wanted to mention
Speaker 1: to you is that you can be a part of
Speaker 1: this beyond just consuming. Many of you have been blessed
Speaker 1: by God to be a blessing. Now I wanted to
Speaker 1: ask today, would you be willing during this special time
Speaker 1: of year to make a one time donation to the
Speaker 1: ministry or maybe partner with us on a monthly basis
Speaker 1: through recurring giving. I believe God could use your gift
Speaker 1: to enable this ministry to continue to reach, to continue
Speaker 1: to break paradigms, to continue to lift up Jesus. And
Speaker 1: I wanted to ask you personally to go to Elevationchurch
Speaker 1: dot org and you can see the ways to give there.
Speaker 1: But most importantly, know that we feel a tremendousness of
Speaker 1: responsibility to minister the word of God, not only to you,
Speaker 1: but to challenge you to partner with us in reaching
Speaker 1: people for the Gospel. I believe your gift today could
Speaker 1: be a game changer, so don't put it off right now.
Speaker 1: Elevation Church dot org you can find all of the details.
Speaker 1: I hope you enjoy this message and thank you for
Speaker 1: being a part of the family. I want to share
Speaker 1: with you from a scripture that really demonstrates something that
Speaker 1: I think is difficult to do in our lives will
Speaker 1: be so helpful to us. We're in a season called
Speaker 1: Game Changer, and so year in series, we're taking a
Speaker 1: moment to pause, reflect and respond to God's goodness in
Speaker 1: our lives, and so from the scriptural foundation today, I
Speaker 1: want to help you see something that I think will
Speaker 1: help you to carry forward with you into the next
Speaker 1: season of your life momentum. For what God has already
Speaker 1: done is something significant, and what he wants to do
Speaker 1: is even greater. And I believe that, believe that with
Speaker 1: all of my heart for myself and my family, and
Speaker 1: for you and your family, and for our church. And
Speaker 1: so with that spirit of faith, today let's go to
Speaker 1: the Word of God Joshua, chapter four, verses one through nine.
Speaker 1: And as I read this story to you over the
Speaker 1: next few moments, I want you pay attention to the
Speaker 1: details of it. Okay, because on the surface, the story
Speaker 1: is really very simple. The people of Israel are crossing
Speaker 1: into the Promised Land. They haven't fought any battles yet,
Speaker 1: but it's already theirs because God has promised to give
Speaker 1: it to them. So they're coming to realize what God
Speaker 1: has already revealed, and he showed it to them for
Speaker 1: many generations. But now they're coming into that moment where
Speaker 1: they're having to actually believe that what God spoke in
Speaker 1: their lives, and what God spoke that they haven't seen
Speaker 1: come to pass yet is about to happen. And so
Speaker 1: I think this is an appropriate scripture for where we
Speaker 1: are as a church, and maybe for where you are
Speaker 1: as well. And I pray that God will help me
Speaker 1: deliver it today. Are you excited? I'll be honest, it's
Speaker 1: not very convinced him, but I am. I'm excited enough
Speaker 1: for all of us, So we'll do it anyway. Joshua
Speaker 1: Chapter four, verse one. When the whole nation to finished
Speaker 1: crossing the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, what choose
Speaker 1: twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe,
Speaker 1: and tell them to take up twelve stones from the
Speaker 1: middle of the Jordan, from right where the priests are standing,
Speaker 1: and carry them over with you and put them down
Speaker 1: at the place where you stay. So Joshua call the
Speaker 1: twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from
Speaker 1: each tribe, and said to them, go before the ark
Speaker 1: of the Lord your got into the middle of the Jordan.
Speaker 1: Each of you is to take up a stone on
Speaker 1: his shoulder, according to the number of tribes of the Israelites,
Speaker 1: to serve as a sign among you in the future,
Speaker 1: when your children ask you, what do these stones mean
Speaker 1: tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut
Speaker 1: off before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord.
Speaker 1: When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan
Speaker 1: were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial
Speaker 1: to the people of Israel forever. So Israelites did as
Speaker 1: Joshua commanded them. They took twelve stones in the middle
Speaker 1: of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes
Speaker 1: of the Israelites, as the Lord had told Joshua, and
Speaker 1: they carried them over with them to the camp where
Speaker 1: they put them down. Joshua was set up the twelve
Speaker 1: stones that had been in the middle of the Jordan
Speaker 1: at the spot where the priests who had carried the
Speaker 1: arc of the Covenant had stood, and they are there
Speaker 1: to this day. Would you look at the person next
Speaker 1: to you and give them my sermon title, tell them
Speaker 1: it's mine to manage. Look at your other neighbor. I
Speaker 1: know they were your second choice, but they're important to
Speaker 1: the Lord as well, and tell them it's mine to manage.
Speaker 1: It's mine to manage. How many of you have children,
Speaker 1: How many of you have children who have a phone
Speaker 1: or an electronic device with a data plan. It's a
Speaker 1: big debate around my house, when will our children be
Speaker 1: old enough to be entrusted with data real first world problems.
Speaker 1: I get it, but you know, parenting is challenging. It's
Speaker 1: a great privilege, but I find it to be challenging,
Speaker 1: and I find it to be exhilarating, and I find
Speaker 1: it to be exhausting. And one woman rod me on
Speaker 1: YouTube and said, I think you had kids too soon.
Speaker 1: You're always complaining about them, And I prayed for her
Speaker 1: in tongues. But you know, the more of a privilege
Speaker 1: you see something to be, the more of a responsibility
Speaker 1: you feel toward it. So complaining isn't always a sign
Speaker 1: that you don't care, you're not grateful, you'd have an
Speaker 1: attitude of gratitude. Gratitude is not an attitude. Gratitude is
Speaker 1: an action. And then the action of being grateful leads
Speaker 1: to a feeling of gratitude. But God would not command
Speaker 1: you to be grateful if gratitude was a feeling, because
Speaker 1: you can't command a feeling. Doesn't work that way. God
Speaker 1: instead instructs you to praise him. Once ps Alma said
Speaker 1: it this way. He said, Ah, this is the day
Speaker 1: that the Lord has made I will rejoice and be
Speaker 1: glad in it. This is the day that the Lord
Speaker 1: has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it. Oh,
Speaker 1: this is the day. This is the day that the
Speaker 1: Lord has made. Hey, this is the day. This is
Speaker 1: the day that the Lord has made. Now who made it?
Speaker 1: Who made it? Now? I will rejoice. I will rejoice
Speaker 1: and be glad in it. So God made it, But
Speaker 1: I get to manage it. Touch somebody say it's mine
Speaker 1: to manage. And what I do with this day is
Speaker 1: up to me. So when I gave my oldest kid
Speaker 1: his phone, I said, I wrapped it. It was his birthday,
Speaker 1: and I rapped it, and I said, this phone has data,
Speaker 1: and this phone is is yours? Not really for your birthday.
Speaker 1: I am giving you my to use, which means that
Speaker 1: this phone, the contents thereof, and the communications that shall
Speaker 1: be initiated thereby, are under my jurisdiction. One good parent
Speaker 1: clapped when I said that, And I dare you to
Speaker 1: put a pass code on that phone that I don't know.
Speaker 1: I dare you to put a pass code on that phone.
Speaker 1: You change your passcode, and I will change your destiny.
Speaker 1: But it was a principle in the modern age of stewardship.
Speaker 1: That is really the same principle. You know that God
Speaker 1: has been trying to teach us all along that it's
Speaker 1: his to give and it's ours to manage. And the
Speaker 1: moment you begin to understand that about your life, your money,
Speaker 1: y'all don't like this sermon already. This is a motivational part.
Speaker 1: It takes some of the pressure off to realize that
Speaker 1: it's his to give, it's mine to manage. Say it
Speaker 1: out loud, it's his to give, mine to manage. So
Speaker 1: I didn't make the day, but I will rejoice in it.
Speaker 1: So he gave me the day, and now it's mine
Speaker 1: to manage. That's a really powerful distinction to know that
Speaker 1: there are certain things that God has given you under
Speaker 1: your jurisdiction. One of those things is your joy. I
Speaker 1: will rejoice and be glad in it. And so this
Speaker 1: is the day that the Lord has made, I will
Speaker 1: rejoice and be glad in it, regardless of if the
Speaker 1: traffic is congested. I don't manage the traffic, but am
Speaker 1: i am. I like it this way. My joy is
Speaker 1: my job. No matter what happens when I get to
Speaker 1: my job, no one can steal my joy because my
Speaker 1: joy is not under anyone else's jurisdiction. See what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: It's mine to manage. And one time I made the
Speaker 1: mistake of saying that somebody stole my joy, and the
Speaker 1: spear of the Lord really corrected me on that, like
Speaker 1: they stole your joy, your joy is not their job.
Speaker 1: And if they stole it, you should have done a
Speaker 1: better job locking the door so they couldn't get to it.
Speaker 1: You need a better security system. If someone else can
Speaker 1: steal your joy, then you've got your joy hiding out
Speaker 1: there in the open where anybody can see it and
Speaker 1: snatch it. And so this principle emerges in the Book
Speaker 1: of Joshua. Can I tell you a little bit about
Speaker 1: this historic incident. I'm so thankful for the gift of
Speaker 1: your attention today. I find it a great privilege that
Speaker 1: you would lean into the word of God and allow
Speaker 1: these words to be spoken. I think it's amazing. I
Speaker 1: want to make it worth your why I want to
Speaker 1: tell a little bit about this passage of scripture is
Speaker 1: really amazing. What God is doing for his people here
Speaker 1: because the nation of Israel is under new management, under
Speaker 1: new management, and this promise that God began making generations ago,
Speaker 1: is now about to come to pass. This land that
Speaker 1: they are going to possess is going to become theirs,
Speaker 1: but it's really God's, but it's theirs. It's theirs to possess,
Speaker 1: but it's God's to give. So it's Gods and it's theirs,
Speaker 1: and Joshua is the person God is using to bring
Speaker 1: it to pass. Now. Moses was the leader that brought
Speaker 1: the people out of Egypt, where they spent several centuries
Speaker 1: en slave to the systems of that nation. And now
Speaker 1: they're no longer just wandering around in the wilderness like
Speaker 1: they did under Moses for over forty years. But they're
Speaker 1: coming into their own land. They're coming into their own
Speaker 1: spacious place. They're coming into their own homes, and they're
Speaker 1: coming into their own community that God has been in
Speaker 1: the process of forming. But it's going to require a
Speaker 1: different mindset because up until this point in their life,
Speaker 1: they have existed on the miracles that God provided, Like
Speaker 1: God gave them mana when they were in the wilderness
Speaker 1: because they didn't have quail like they had in Egypt,
Speaker 1: that their masters would give them to feed them. But
Speaker 1: now they're coming into their own and the mana that
Speaker 1: used to fall from the sky. It was miraculous how
Speaker 1: it came down. They would just walk out their front
Speaker 1: door and there it would be Amazon Prime on the doorstep.
Speaker 1: The drone would drop it off and they would have
Speaker 1: enough for the day. But the thing that's about to
Speaker 1: happen to them in just a moment is that they're
Speaker 1: going to cross over into this land where the mana
Speaker 1: is going to stop coming, and they are going to
Speaker 1: have to learn to manage in a different way. So
Speaker 1: they're going to have to mature in their mindset. And
Speaker 1: I guess one way that you could say it is
Speaker 1: they're having to learn how to manage their miracle. And
Speaker 1: this is something you don't hear taught enough in settings
Speaker 1: like these, because we often tell you to expect a
Speaker 1: miracle and to believe for a miracle, and to receive
Speaker 1: for a miracle. But how many know that you are
Speaker 1: responsible to manage your miracles. I'll prove it to you
Speaker 1: from the text, because you're acting kind of suspicious, and
Speaker 1: I don't blame you. It sounds weird because a miracle
Speaker 1: is something that God does. It's something that God gives.
Speaker 1: But the cooperation between Heaven and humanity has always been this.
Speaker 1: It's God's to give, but it's mine to manage. It's
Speaker 1: my father's to give, but it's mine to manage. And
Speaker 1: so God is bringing his people through the Jordan River.
Speaker 1: How many of you have something God has brought you
Speaker 1: through this year? Did God bring you through it? I'm
Speaker 1: gonna give you twelve seconds to praise Him for something
Speaker 1: that he brought you through. We all have a Jordan
Speaker 1: that we came through. And the interesting thing about the
Speaker 1: Jordan River is it's mentioned a lot in scripture, but
Speaker 1: not because it's a big body of water. It's only
Speaker 1: like fifteen yards wide at its widest points, and it's
Speaker 1: not the deepest body of water. That's not what makes
Speaker 1: it significant. What it symbolizes gives its biblical significance in
Speaker 1: that the people of God saw the Jordan River as
Speaker 1: representing transitions and new beginnings. You see it a lot
Speaker 1: in the prophetic record, like Elisha God Elijah's mantle in
Speaker 1: the Old Testament, and he crossed the Jordan River. It's
Speaker 1: not a big river, but it's symbolic. It's significant not
Speaker 1: because of its size, not because of its scope physically,
Speaker 1: and not because of its geographical implications. But because of
Speaker 1: what God did there. Now they're standing at this place,
Speaker 1: this body of water, and God does something amazing and
Speaker 1: does it in a very particular way. He tells the
Speaker 1: priest to stand in the middle of the Jordan with
Speaker 1: the arc of the Covenant. That's where they kept the
Speaker 1: Ten Commandments. It represented the presence of God. And when
Speaker 1: the priest put their foot in the water, the water
Speaker 1: stopped flowing to provide passageway for the people to cross through.
Speaker 1: God did not carry his people across the Jordan. He
Speaker 1: enabled his people to cross over. This is how a
Speaker 1: lot of us live, our lives waiting for God to
Speaker 1: carry us over something when He is waiting for us
Speaker 1: to cross you see me, def Leppard, It is true.
Speaker 1: My kids one time, when they were real little, we
Speaker 1: were at a public restroom and they were washing their
Speaker 1: hands and they had their hands out like this, and
Speaker 1: nothing was happening, because I realized they were used to
Speaker 1: the fawcet being automatic, and it wasn't an automatic faucet.
Speaker 1: And I watched, and I stood back to see how
Speaker 1: long they would stand there with their hands under the faucet,
Speaker 1: waiting for something to happen without turning the fascet on
Speaker 1: and finally, in compassion, I told I told my oldest child,
Speaker 1: I said, this is not an automatic faucet. I know
Speaker 1: that you're used to the water just coming on like this,
Speaker 1: seeing when you've had Man'm falling out of the sky
Speaker 1: for so many years, You're used to just something falling
Speaker 1: down out of the just because you put your hand there.
Speaker 1: But it is going to require an action. It's gonna
Speaker 1: require So the water didn't stuff flow until people start walking,
Speaker 1: And when they start walking, the water stuff flowing. And
Speaker 1: the people passed through, and the priests stood in the
Speaker 1: middle of the Jordan, which must have taken faith for
Speaker 1: them to stand in the middle of the Jordan, not
Speaker 1: knowing if it was going to continue to pile up
Speaker 1: in a heap or if it was going to flood
Speaker 1: over them. But the leaders had the faith to stand
Speaker 1: in the middle of the Jordan. In't that significant that
Speaker 1: it said it was in the middle of the Jordan.
Speaker 1: Isn't that the hardest thing in life to do is
Speaker 1: to manage the middle? Because I understand that God has
Speaker 1: made me promises and that he knows the end from
Speaker 1: the beginning, But I don't I don't know the end
Speaker 1: from the beginning. I know the plans I have for you,
Speaker 1: declares the Lord plans to pross for you and not
Speaker 1: to harm you, plans to give you hope and future. Well,
Speaker 1: I'm glad that God knows the plans he had for me,
Speaker 1: but I don't know the plans He has for me.
Speaker 1: And so the challenge isn't believing that he knows how
Speaker 1: this is going to end. My challenge is standing in
Speaker 1: the middle and believing that what he spoke is indeed significant.
Speaker 1: It's different when you're in the middle. It's a lot different.
Speaker 1: It was. It was weird. A few weeks ago, they
Speaker 1: had a baptism testimony on the on the screens, and
Speaker 1: I love the baptism stories. Do you love those stories
Speaker 1: that they tell? If it was your child, you might
Speaker 1: love it, you know what I'm saying, Like if it
Speaker 1: was somebody that you knew and loved. I try to
Speaker 1: always picture like I always picture if that was my
Speaker 1: brother or if that was my sister. And when I
Speaker 1: hear somebody share his testimony, I always listen for the details.
Speaker 1: And one thing that I noticed that they normally share
Speaker 1: in their story. They'll share a sermon that where God
Speaker 1: spoke to them, and a few weeks ago, the young
Speaker 1: lady sharing the sermon that she shared shared a sermon
Speaker 1: that I remember preaching and thinking that it was the
Speaker 1: worst sermon that I ever preached, because it's different when
Speaker 1: you're doing it. Now, it was a year later and
Speaker 1: she was talking about that story, that sermon, and in
Speaker 1: her story she referenced that sermon as a turning point
Speaker 1: in her relationship with God. And here's what I remember.
Speaker 1: I remember how I felt while I was doing it,
Speaker 1: and I realized that even though I felt nothing while
Speaker 1: I was preaching it, she was sitting somewhere in that room,
Speaker 1: maybe not even in the room where I was preaching it,
Speaker 1: and she was having a completely different experience hearing it
Speaker 1: than I was preaching it. But it's different when you're
Speaker 1: in the middle of it, Huh. It's different when you're
Speaker 1: raising your kids believing that they're receiving the values that
Speaker 1: you're trying to impart to them. Because when you are
Speaker 1: teaching your kids' responsibility, they do not thank you and
Speaker 1: recognize you for being a voice of wisdom and an
Speaker 1: encouraging force of good in their lives. Is different when
Speaker 1: you're in the middle of it and see. The reason
Speaker 1: that we can sometimes look at the biblical miracles and
Speaker 1: experience them and celebrate them is because we know how
Speaker 1: they end. But it's different when you're in the middle
Speaker 1: of it. It's different when you're in the middle of it,
Speaker 1: when you are having to stand in the middle of
Speaker 1: something and say, no, God, I know that you're faithful,
Speaker 1: and I know that you're good, but I don't feel
Speaker 1: that you're faithful, and I don't feel that you're good
Speaker 1: right now. That's called a sacrifice of praise. That's where
Speaker 1: you have to dig somewhere deeper than your feelings or
Speaker 1: your knowledge, or your certainty, or your circumstance or your
Speaker 1: bank account. God, show me how to manage the middle.
Speaker 1: I have a hard time with that. I don't have
Speaker 1: a hard time being excited about the beginning, and I
Speaker 1: don't have a hard time celebrating the end. But this middle.
Speaker 1: Teach me how to manage the middle. Ooh, ooh. One
Speaker 1: of my best friends pastors of big church, and they
Speaker 1: had three years where they didn't grow. In fact, they
Speaker 1: went backward. I said, what was the problem in those
Speaker 1: three years when you didn't grow? He said, middle management.
Speaker 1: We got so large the organization got so big that
Speaker 1: there was a layer of people in the middle who
Speaker 1: started to block the values that were a part of
Speaker 1: the organization in the early days. And it was middle management.
Speaker 1: It wasn't the people that were executing the job. It
Speaker 1: wasn't the vision had changed. It was what happened in
Speaker 1: the middle that almost cost us the momentum of what
Speaker 1: God was doing. I wonder is that how it happens
Speaker 1: in our lives. I wonder if sometimes the reason that
Speaker 1: joy stops flowing, the reason that faith stops growing, the
Speaker 1: reason that sometimes we lose our sense of perspective about
Speaker 1: who God is, is not the end. It's not the beginning.
Speaker 1: It's middle management. We don't know how to manage the middle.
Speaker 1: We don't know how to deal with Monday. So we
Speaker 1: shout good on Sunday. But I need a sermon. I
Speaker 1: need an mma sermon. I need some Monday morning application.
Speaker 1: I need something to help me manage this middle because
Speaker 1: I'm not fighting the devil on Sunday morning. I'm fighting
Speaker 1: him on Tuesday at three point thirty seventh. So the
Speaker 1: key to this, Joshua says, take twelve stones. Twelve stones.
Speaker 1: January February March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December,
Speaker 1: twelve months, twelve stones, twelve tribes, twelve disciples, twelve everybody
Speaker 1: say twelve, take twelve, Pile them up. And in the future,
Speaker 1: when your children ask you, what's up with these stones?
Speaker 1: Or like my kids ask me, what's up with these
Speaker 1: cassette tapes? I still got some. When your children ask you,
Speaker 1: tell them what the Lord did. Tell them, tell them,
Speaker 1: take them to the show the stones and tell them,
Speaker 1: we didn't know if we were going to make it through.
Speaker 1: But God did something only he could do. He made it.
Speaker 1: Somebody shot, I made it. Tell the person next to
Speaker 1: you you have no idea what I've been through. Look
Speaker 1: at them right in the eye and say, and God
Speaker 1: brought me over. And look at them one more time
Speaker 1: and say, how about you ask them, have you been
Speaker 1: through anything? Imagine this? Imagine this. They come through the Jordan.
Speaker 1: Let's play the story out for a moment. They come
Speaker 1: through the Jordan. God brings them through. They set up
Speaker 1: the stones. God does a great miracle. They go on
Speaker 1: to fight battles, but they set up the stones to
Speaker 1: remember what God did in that moment. It's very beautiful.
Speaker 1: And then they go forward into the land and they fight.
Speaker 1: They fight many battles, and God gives them any victories.
Speaker 1: But every once in a while, maybe they come back
Speaker 1: with their kids and they show them the stones, because
Speaker 1: they left the stones in Gilgal, and then they moved
Speaker 1: on to conqurecate it. And you know how it is
Speaker 1: when somebody is reflecting on something and they get nostalgic.
Speaker 1: Maybe the parents start telling the children. We didn't know
Speaker 1: if we were going to make it. Joshua was our
Speaker 1: new leader, and we had never we'd never been this
Speaker 1: way before. And he told us. He told us that
Speaker 1: if the priest would stand in the middle, the waters
Speaker 1: would stand at attention until the people passed through. So
Speaker 1: we hurried through as fast as we could. We ran through.
Speaker 1: The Bible says in Joshua, chapter four, verse twenty one.
Speaker 1: They hurried through. They didn't have a whole lot of faith,
Speaker 1: just enough to get through it. They were dancing through
Speaker 1: the middle. They were running through the middle. Let me
Speaker 1: tell you something, when you got the devil chasing you,
Speaker 1: sometimes all you can do is get through it. You
Speaker 1: don't look flashy, you're not shooting, you're not flossing. You're
Speaker 1: not doing nothing but running for your life. So they
Speaker 1: got through it, but they say, God got us through it.
Speaker 1: That was amazing, amazing because we didn't know. It was
Speaker 1: amazing and the arc was there and it represented the
Speaker 1: presence of God. Oh I wish you could have been
Speaker 1: their son. It was just so amazing and we didn't
Speaker 1: know if we were going to be able to do it,
Speaker 1: but we did. God did it. God it wasn't us.
Speaker 1: Say God did it, okay, and they and they say that.
Speaker 1: And then so maybe a few years go by, maybe
Speaker 1: they go back to the place again and they look
Speaker 1: at the stones, but you know, maybe maybe the stones
Speaker 1: are they're still there, they haven't gone anywhere. But the
Speaker 1: story starts to get lost a little bit, and maybe
Speaker 1: a few years later they're telling their children. They're like, oh, yes,
Speaker 1: it's pretty cool. I mean we got through it. I
Speaker 1: mean God did it, but we were the ones who
Speaker 1: had to walk because you know, like God didn't. God
Speaker 1: didn't carry us through. But but we got through it.
Speaker 1: And then a few more years passed and maybe they're
Speaker 1: telling their kids again, making another trip and they're telling them, yeah,
Speaker 1: those stones they're they're cool. Joshua made us get'm out
Speaker 1: the middle of the Jordan. It was weird. We were
Speaker 1: ready to move on. But Joshua, let me tell you
Speaker 1: how I know that the story stopped being told because
Speaker 1: when you get to the end of Joshua's life, you
Speaker 1: read in Judges chapter to verse ten, just as verse,
Speaker 1: just as verse. I want to show you, and I
Speaker 1: want you to think about the space between when Joshua
Speaker 1: led the people through the Jordan and when the next
Speaker 1: generation arose. Says it. After that whole generation, Joshua's generation
Speaker 1: had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up
Speaker 1: who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done
Speaker 1: for Israel. Joshua's generation set up the stones. The next
Speaker 1: generation didn't even know the story. What happened. Somewhere along
Speaker 1: the way between Joshua Chapter four and Judges chapter two,
Speaker 1: they stopped telling the story. Something changed about the story
Speaker 1: somewhere in that space. And God, if I'm just preaching
Speaker 1: this for one person, help me to do it now,
Speaker 1: because they have been telling themselves the wrong story, and
Speaker 1: now their faith is feeling feeble, and now their worship
Speaker 1: has been weakened, and they are in a cycle of
Speaker 1: dependence on false gods because they stopped telling the story.
Speaker 1: The story of salvation is this. I was lost and
Speaker 1: dead in my sin. I had no hope in myself.
Speaker 1: I could not save myself. I could not help myself.
Speaker 1: I could not lift myself. I would not have made
Speaker 1: it if He had not reached down and with a
Speaker 1: mighty hand and an outstretched arm, he died for me.
Speaker 1: He came into my life, intersected me at the point
Speaker 1: of my sin, and while I was still a sinner,
Speaker 1: Christ died for me. Why are you screaming? Because I've
Speaker 1: got a story that didn't start with me. It started
Speaker 1: with the mercy of God. And the enemy doesn't want
Speaker 1: you to tell this story. See he wants He wants
Speaker 1: you to lose your testimony. They kept the stones, the
Speaker 1: stones are still there to this day, but they stopped
Speaker 1: telling the story. You know, you can have all of
Speaker 1: of the the monuments of religion but lose your relationship
Speaker 1: with God. You can have all the stones in the world.
Speaker 1: You can come to church, you can you can still
Speaker 1: live a a live this between the lines. But if
Speaker 1: the truth we're told today some of us have stopped
Speaker 1: telling the story, We've lost our testimony. You have a testimony.
Speaker 1: There are things that God has done for you that
Speaker 1: only He could do, and nobody else can tell it
Speaker 1: for you, and nobody else can tell it like you.
Speaker 1: It can happen. It can happen in your own heart.
Speaker 1: It can happen in a generation. It can happen within
Speaker 1: a lifetime. It could happen within three years. You can
Speaker 1: actually have God do something amazing for you and have
Speaker 1: the stones to prove it. Some of you are sitting
Speaker 1: next to the woman that you ask God to give you,
Speaker 1: but now you want out of your marriage. The problem
Speaker 1: is in your marriage. It's your management. I'll go back
Speaker 1: here because I'm not scared to say this stuff. We
Speaker 1: need to manage our miracles. God has been good to us.
Speaker 1: God has been more than enough. He is a provider,
Speaker 1: He is the hope of Tyr. He did bring you through,
Speaker 1: He did bless you, he did make a way. He
Speaker 1: is more than enough. He is else to die. He
Speaker 1: is a great king. He is a good father. Touch somebody, say,
Speaker 1: manage your miracle. It compsta can't put us yours to manage.
Speaker 1: I told Elijah, if you crack the screen, I'm not
Speaker 1: replacing it. It's yours to manage. If you crack the
Speaker 1: screen or if you here's here's what happens to me,
Speaker 1: let me tell you something. Say so that's tall. I
Speaker 1: sometimes I stopped telling myself the testimony because to me
Speaker 1: sometimes it seems small. You know, something happened between when
Speaker 1: they crossed the Jordan. I don't know exactly what it is.
Speaker 1: I think there's evidence to support this hypothesis. They fought
Speaker 1: a lot of battles between Joshua before and judges too.
Speaker 1: And I wonder if the battles became bigger in their
Speaker 1: minds than the blessings. And I wonder if they started
Speaker 1: telling themselves the stories that centered around their struggles rather
Speaker 1: than God's sovereign hand that saw them through the struggles.
Speaker 1: I wonder if they got in survival mode to the
Speaker 1: point that they stopped telling the story. And I wonder
Speaker 1: if when they saw God do all these other things,
Speaker 1: I wonder I wonder if they just didn't go back
Speaker 1: to the stones they were placed on the bank of
Speaker 1: the Jordan, back where they started. And sometimes when you
Speaker 1: don't go back where you started and remember what God
Speaker 1: did where you started, you lose perspective. When you get
Speaker 1: where you're going, Oh, man, I feel so guilty preaching
Speaker 1: this point. It is so easy for me to get
Speaker 1: caught up and consumed in my own convenience, my own drama,
Speaker 1: my own insecurities, my own dysfunction, and a lot of times,
Speaker 1: I'll be honest with you, I don't share what God
Speaker 1: is doing in my life because it doesn't seem big,
Speaker 1: because I can compare it to something else and it
Speaker 1: seems small. It seems small like these stones. You know,
Speaker 1: at one point in your life you're really grateful for it,
Speaker 1: but then at some point it can lose its significants.
Speaker 1: I was asking somebody the other day if I could
Speaker 1: hear their testimony, and it's a church word, right, testimony.
Speaker 1: People don't really talk like that except in courts and church,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. Like it's just a real
Speaker 1: churchy thing to say. And they were like, well when
Speaker 1: I was twelve and they were fifty three, I was like,
Speaker 1: not that testimony. I know, you can't fight today's devils
Speaker 1: if you don't have today's testimony. There needs to be
Speaker 1: a current work that God is doing in your life. Yet, Yes,
Speaker 1: he saved me, and I want to talk about that,
Speaker 1: but what is he doing in my life today, another
Speaker 1: generation that knew not the Lord nor what he had
Speaker 1: done for Israel. This is your testimony. You know, it
Speaker 1: can be a tiny testimony. It doesn't have to be
Speaker 1: a big rock. You can fight the devil with a
Speaker 1: little rock. Ask David, you can fight a big giant
Speaker 1: with a little rock if you know how to throw it.
Speaker 1: I said, you can fight depression with a little rock
Speaker 1: if you know how to throw it. You can fight
Speaker 1: discouragement with a lid, a tiny lid, a tiny testimony.
Speaker 1: I don't have a big testimony. I do pretty much
Speaker 1: on my life. I've been serving the Lord. I never
Speaker 1: was owned the drugs and women and running around pretty
Speaker 1: much grew up and come on, man, you don't have
Speaker 1: to have a met lab in your garage to have
Speaker 1: a testimony. You don't have to be fresh off death
Speaker 1: row to have a testimony. You don't have to have
Speaker 1: fourteen children by fourteen women to have a testimony. A testimony,
Speaker 1: it can be the smallest thing. Like a few weeks ago,
Speaker 1: I's getting ready come out and preach. I don't want
Speaker 1: to tell you this because Joshua said, tell them, tell
Speaker 1: them what God did for you, tell them him tell
Speaker 1: them about it. Preach it, teach it. You overcome by
Speaker 1: the blood of the Lamb and the word of your testimony.
Speaker 1: There is power in your personal testimony. So a few
Speaker 1: weeks ago, I was getting ready to preach. I didn't
Speaker 1: feel like preaching. Wo I love the Lord, I believe
Speaker 1: his word, and I believe he's coming again. I just
Speaker 1: didn't feel like preaching. On that Saturday night weather's nasty.
Speaker 1: I didn't feel like preaching. So I was having a
Speaker 1: little pity party. I hate to tell you this, but
Speaker 1: I was. I was being so childish, and but then
Speaker 1: I had this moment. I was like, FaceTime one of
Speaker 1: your friends and get him to pray for you, because
Speaker 1: the service was about to start, so the staff was
Speaker 1: out doing staff stuff so they couldn't come pray for me.
Speaker 1: So I was gonna facet one of my friends who
Speaker 1: didn't have a Saturday night service, and he didn't answer. Apparently,
Speaker 1: Judas Smith, I had better things to do than pray
Speaker 1: for his friend. Pray that the Carolina Panthers will wreak
Speaker 1: havoc upon the Seattle Seahawks today to punish him for
Speaker 1: not being there. In my time of FaceTime, need you
Speaker 1: don't want to FaceTime forerdict. I hope you go down
Speaker 1: today royally. Then I called Craig Groschell, that's my pastor,
Speaker 1: that's my guy. And he didn't answer, and he always answers.
Speaker 1: He didn't answer, and I was running out of time
Speaker 1: because I needed to get out there and preach. So
Speaker 1: I said this little pitiful prayer, you know, not the
Speaker 1: kind I pray in front of people. I was like,
Speaker 1: oh Lord, since nobody wants to pray for me, I'm
Speaker 1: always praying for everybody else. I guess I'll go out free,
Speaker 1: shall I pray for myself? And I start praying. You know,
Speaker 1: this real mumbly, grumbly, grumpy prayer, A little bad attitude prayer,
Speaker 1: A little like kids going to make up to bed
Speaker 1: fun that kind of prayer. Have you ever had that
Speaker 1: level of faith where it's like, fine, faith, fine God, Fine,
Speaker 1: I pray for myself. So I start praying Father in
Speaker 1: the Images out loud. I say that when I said
Speaker 1: Father in the name of Jesus the moment I got
Speaker 1: it out of my mouth, Father name of my phone
Speaker 1: rang my phone hardly ever, rang rings my phone. I
Speaker 1: mostly communicate my text I don't do a lot talking
Speaker 1: on the phone, and my phone rings and it hardly
Speaker 1: ever rings. It never rings at that time of day.
Speaker 1: And it said no caller id I but I'm not
Speaker 1: making this up. I said, I should answer this. I said, Hello,
Speaker 1: there's deep voice comes on the phone. What are you doing?
Speaker 1: The voice of none other? It could only be Bishop
Speaker 1: TD Jakes. That's like my favorite preacher. Since I'm like
Speaker 1: this big, since I started wanting to be a preacher,
Speaker 1: this was my favorite preacher. And here he is calling me,
Speaker 1: what do you deal with? And I was like, hey,
Speaker 1: mis Jakes knows he is going on the preacher from
Speaker 1: Saturday night service. He said, oh, well, since this is
Speaker 1: a bad time, let me just pray for you before
Speaker 1: you go out there and preach real quick. Father, in
Speaker 1: the name of Jesus, but knowing him with your spirit
Speaker 1: and fill up with your wisdom, give him words to
Speaker 1: say from him. I'm telling you, I'm telling you, I'm
Speaker 1: not waiting until something to me. I need to fight
Speaker 1: the devil. Sometimes with a phone call. There are little
Speaker 1: things that God has done for me. Moments where I
Speaker 1: called his name and there was nobody there to add sir,
Speaker 1: And then all of a sudden something from heaven with
Speaker 1: no caller id and God reached out, and God dried
Speaker 1: my tears, and God strengthened me, and God upheld me
Speaker 1: who in a mighty hand in and out stretched arm.
Speaker 1: You need to tell these stories. You need to tell
Speaker 1: these stories. Stop telling yourself the story that nobody cares
Speaker 1: about you and that you're alone, and that it doesn't
Speaker 1: matter another generation who didn't know what the Lord had
Speaker 1: done for Israel because they stopped telling the story. And
Speaker 1: when you stop preaching the gospel to yourself and reminding
Speaker 1: yourself that the Son of God accepted and chose you,
Speaker 1: and brought you out of Egypt, and brought you out
Speaker 1: of sin, and brought you through the Red Seat, and
Speaker 1: brought you through the Jordan, and brought down the Jericho walls,
Speaker 1: and brought you out of bondage, and brought you out
Speaker 1: of fear. Please hear me. When you stop telling that story,
Speaker 1: you lose your strength. The children of Israel went through
Speaker 1: fifteen cycles of disobedience to God. And not only did
Speaker 1: they go through fifteen cycles of disobedience to God through
Speaker 1: fifteen different judges, but they went through four hundred and
Speaker 1: twenty years of dependence on gods that could not save
Speaker 1: them because they stopped telling the story. What story have
Speaker 1: you been telling yourself? What story have you been telling
Speaker 1: your children? What story? You know? What? I was thinking,
Speaker 1: what story is our church telling in this day? Because
Speaker 1: God has done amazing things for us. But sometimes it
Speaker 1: really rips my heart out when I see a campus
Speaker 1: pastor giving an invitation in our church and people get
Speaker 1: up and start leaving so they can beat traffic out
Speaker 1: the parking lot while somebody's soul is on the line.
Speaker 1: That really hurts my heart because when we started the church,
Speaker 1: we weren't starting the church to have a Christian entertainment
Speaker 1: center where we could give people a little anecdote and
Speaker 1: a little song and a little goosebump and they could
Speaker 1: get to lunch. Is that the story we're telling that
Speaker 1: we gather together when it's convenient and we consume spiritual food,
Speaker 1: but we never contribute. This is why I think it's
Speaker 1: important that we have traditions like our year end offering,
Speaker 1: because God is inviting a new generation to tell the story.
Speaker 1: And it's so vital in this moment that you realize
Speaker 1: that the gospel is God's story, but it's ours to
Speaker 1: manage we are stewards of the story that God is
Speaker 1: telling in the world today. What a privilege it is.
Speaker 1: Come on, can we praise Him for the privilege? Do
Speaker 1: you do? You know the hemn? This is my story,
Speaker 1: This is my song praising my avery, this is my
Speaker 1: sor this is my crazy mis say, stand to your feet.
Speaker 1: I want to pray with you. Now, just give me
Speaker 1: a path. You're in the middle of a story right
Speaker 1: now that God is telling through your life. You're in
Speaker 1: the middle of it. The priests stood in the middle.
Speaker 1: The stones came from the middle. Everything good that God
Speaker 1: does in our life comes from our ability to recognize
Speaker 1: it in the middle. And sometimes what happens, I know,
Speaker 1: you feel like you've come to the end. You feel
Speaker 1: like is this for you? You feel like you get
Speaker 1: to the end of something, You get to the end
Speaker 1: of your own strength. You get to the end. And
Speaker 1: sometimes the season shifts in your life, and and something
Speaker 1: is always ending as something else is beginning. The Jordan
Speaker 1: is both it's it's their egg, it is from the wilderness,
Speaker 1: and it's their entrance into Canaan. It's happening all at
Speaker 1: the same time, right, and so you think you're at
Speaker 1: the end of something. Your ability to manage that emotion
Speaker 1: in the middle of it determines what happens next in
Speaker 1: your life. Remember this, Moses died on Mountain Nebo looking
Speaker 1: at the promised land. Joshua led the people into the
Speaker 1: land that God had promised Moses. The difference wasn't what
Speaker 1: God had promised. God promised Moses and Joshua the same result.
Speaker 1: The difference wasn't the promise. The difference was how they
Speaker 1: managed the miracle in the middle of it. God gave
Speaker 1: Moses a miracle, he parted the Red Sea, but Moses
Speaker 1: stayed stuck in what other people said, Moses managed according
Speaker 1: to his fear, not his faith. God gave Joshua the
Speaker 1: same promise, and Joshua said, even in spite of our fear,
Speaker 1: even in spite of our failures, even in spite of
Speaker 1: the fact that they're more out there than there are
Speaker 1: in here, we're going forward in the name of the Lord,
Speaker 1: with his presence as our banner. And we are standing
Speaker 1: in the middle, and we will stand in the middle
Speaker 1: until everything that God has spoken comes to pass. I wonder,
Speaker 1: is there anybody who's willing to get in the middle
Speaker 1: of it and take your stand and declare, I will
Speaker 1: see the goodness of the Lord in my generation, in
Speaker 1: my life. That's what I want to pray for you about.
Speaker 1: And if you lift your hands right now, I'll do
Speaker 1: it because the Lord is in this moment. The Lord
Speaker 1: is very present even in your pain, and I believe
Speaker 1: that God is even present in some of the mistakes
Speaker 1: that you've made. Lord, right now, would you visit the
Speaker 1: heart of each of your sons and daughters with a reminder, maybe,
Speaker 1: like those twelve rocks that the people piled up, give
Speaker 1: us a rock of remembrance today that we can build
Speaker 1: on the firm foundation of your faithfulness. The victory is
Speaker 1: yours to give, but it's mine to manage. God, remind
Speaker 1: me of the responsibility that you have given me, and
Speaker 1: teach me to lean on your grace as I do.
Speaker 1: Give me the faith to stay standing in the middle
Speaker 1: with the waters all around me, and to worship You
Speaker 1: in this moment, with our heads bowed and our eyes closed.
Speaker 1: I wonder if there's somebody here today who needs to
Speaker 1: receive the grace of God for the salvation of your soul,
Speaker 1: the forgiveness of your sin. I wonder if there's some
Speaker 1: one here today who needs to begin a relationship with God,
Speaker 1: or maybe you want to reconnect in that relationship with God.
Speaker 1: You've been feeling for a long time like you're far
Speaker 1: from him, but it's not true. He's near and if
Speaker 1: you call on his name, he is in this moment,
Speaker 1: and he longs to come and live inside of you.
Speaker 1: He longs to allow you to follow him, even when
Speaker 1: you don't know what's next. It's very simple what the
Speaker 1: Bible says about salvation. It is by grace that you
Speaker 1: are saved through faith. It's the gift of God. It's
Speaker 1: not of works, so that no one can boast that.
Speaker 1: If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord,
Speaker 1: and believe in your heart God raised him from the dead,
Speaker 1: you will be saved. As the promise of God doesn't
Speaker 1: require good works. You can't stack enough stones to climb
Speaker 1: your way to heaven and it doesn't work like that.
Speaker 1: God's not watching your behavior to see whether or not
Speaker 1: he will relate to you. He's already done through the
Speaker 1: person of his son Jesus. All that needs to be
Speaker 1: done for you to have a right relationship with Him.
Speaker 1: And right now, in this moment, I want to pray
Speaker 1: with you. At every location. We're going to pray out
Speaker 1: loud as a church family for the benefit of those
Speaker 1: who are coming to God or coming back to God.
Speaker 1: But we'll all pray out loud together. Repeat after me,
Speaker 1: Heavenly Father. I believe in Jesus Christ is the Son
Speaker 1: of God. And today I make Jesus the Lord of
Speaker 1: my life. I believe he die to forgive my sin
Speaker 1: and rose again to give me life. I receive this
Speaker 1: new life. This is my new beginning. On the count
Speaker 1: of three, if you just prayed that prayer, shoot your
Speaker 1: hand up. I want to celebrate with you. One, two, three,
Speaker 1: come on as a testimony. Shut your hand on. That's
Speaker 1: a lot of hands. That's a lot of hands. Let's
Speaker 1: praise God for it. Come on, let's praise God for it.
Speaker 1: I said, let's praise God for it. Today is today
Speaker 1: of salvation. Said, let's praise God for it. Well, I
Speaker 1: hope you enjoyed the podcast today. If you did, there
Speaker 1: are just a couple things I'd love for you to do.
Speaker 1: Number One, subscribe to our show. That way, the most
Speaker 1: recent episode will always be in your feed, waiting for
Speaker 1: you ready when you are. And Secondly, if this ministry
Speaker 1: has impacted you, and you'd like to help us continue
Speaker 1: to reach others. You can click the link in the
Speaker 1: description and you can give now and I'll see you
Speaker 1: next time on the Elevation podcast.