Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdik.
Speaker 2: I'm the pastor of Elevation Church, and this is our
Speaker 2: podcast and I wanted to thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 2: Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope
Speaker 2: it gives your perspective to see God is moving.
Speaker 1: In your life.
Speaker 3: Enjoy the message I want to share with you from
Speaker 3: a scripture that really demonstrates something that I think is
Speaker 3: difficult to do in our lives but will be so
Speaker 3: helpful to us.
Speaker 2: We're in a season called Game Changer, and so our
Speaker 2: y're in series.
Speaker 1: We're taking a moment to.
Speaker 2: Pause, reflect and respond to God's goodness in our lives.
Speaker 2: And so from the scriptural foundation today, I want to
Speaker 2: help you see something that I think will help you
Speaker 2: to carry forward with you into the next season of
Speaker 2: your life. Momentum for what God has already done is
Speaker 2: something significant, and what He.
Speaker 1: Wants to do is even greater.
Speaker 2: And I believe that, believe that with all of my
Speaker 2: heart for myself and my family, and you and your family,
Speaker 2: and for our church. And so with that spirit of faith,
Speaker 2: today let's go to the Word of God Joshua, chapter four, verses.
Speaker 1: One through nine.
Speaker 2: And as I read this story to you over the
Speaker 2: next few moments. I want you pay attention to the
Speaker 2: details of it, okay, because on the surface, the story
Speaker 2: is really very simple. The people of Israel are crossing
Speaker 2: into the Promised Land. They haven't fought any battles yet,
Speaker 2: but it's already theirs because God has promised to give
Speaker 2: it to them. So they're coming to realize what God
Speaker 2: has already revealed, and he showed it to them for
Speaker 2: many generations. But now they're coming into that moment where
Speaker 2: they're having to actually believe that what God spoke in
Speaker 2: their lives, and what God spoke that they haven't seen
Speaker 2: come to pass yet is about to happen. And so
Speaker 2: I think this is an appropriate scripture for where we
Speaker 2: are as a church, and maybe for where you are
Speaker 2: as well.
Speaker 1: And I pray that God will help me deliver it today.
Speaker 1: Are you excited. I'll be honest, it's not very convince him,
Speaker 1: but I am. I'm excited enough for all of us,
Speaker 1: so we'll do it anyway. Joshua Chapter four, verse one.
Speaker 2: When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the
Speaker 2: Lord said to Joshua, choose twelve.
Speaker 1: Men from among the people.
Speaker 2: One from each tribe, and tell them to take up
Speaker 2: twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, from right
Speaker 2: where the priests are standing, and carry them over with
Speaker 2: you and put them down at the place where you
Speaker 2: stay tonight. So joshuall call the twelve men he had
Speaker 2: appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, and said
Speaker 2: to them, go for the ark of the Lord your
Speaker 2: got into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you
Speaker 2: is to take up a stone on his shoulder according
Speaker 2: to the number of tribes of the Israelites, to serve
Speaker 2: as a sign among you in the future.
Speaker 1: When your children ask.
Speaker 4: You what do these stones mean, tell them that the
Speaker 4: flow of the Jordan was cut off off before the
Speaker 4: Ark of the Covenant of the Lord.
Speaker 2: When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan
Speaker 2: were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial
Speaker 2: to the people of Israel forever. So Israelites did as
Speaker 2: Joshua commanded them. They took twelve stones in the middle
Speaker 2: of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes
Speaker 2: of the Israelites, as the Lord had told Joshua, and
Speaker 2: they carried them over with them to the camp, where
Speaker 2: they put them.
Speaker 1: Down Joshua set up the twelve.
Speaker 2: Stones that had been in the middle of the Jordan
Speaker 2: at the spot where the priests who had carried the
Speaker 2: Ark of the Covenant had stood, and they are there
Speaker 2: to this day. Would you look at the person next
Speaker 2: to you and give them my sermon title, tell them
Speaker 2: it's mine to manage. Look at your other neighbor. I
Speaker 2: know they were your second choice, but they're important to
Speaker 2: the Lord as well, And tell them it's mine to manage.
Speaker 1: It's mine to man. And how many of you have children?
Speaker 2: How many of you have children who have a phone
Speaker 2: or an electronic device with a data plan. It's a
Speaker 2: big debate around my house. When will our children be
Speaker 2: old enough to be entrusted with data? Real first world problems.
Speaker 2: I get it, But you know, parenting is challenging. It's
Speaker 2: a great privilege, but I find it to be challenging,
Speaker 2: and I find it to be exhilarating, and I find.
Speaker 1: It to be exhausting.
Speaker 2: And one woman wrote me on YouTube and said, I
Speaker 2: think you had kids too soon. You're always complaining about them,
Speaker 2: And I prayed for her in tongues. But you know,
Speaker 2: the more of a privilege you see something to be
Speaker 2: the more of a responsibility you feel toward it.
Speaker 1: So complaining isn't always a sign that you don't care.
Speaker 1: You're not grateful, you'd have an attitude of gratitude. Gratitude
Speaker 1: is not an attitude. Gratitude is an action. And then
Speaker 1: the action of being.
Speaker 2: Grateful leads to a feeling of gratitude. But God would
Speaker 2: not command you to be grateful if gratitude was a feeling,
Speaker 2: because you can't command a feeling. Doesn't work that way.
Speaker 2: God instead instructs you to praise him. One Psalma said
Speaker 2: it this way. He said, Ah, this is the day
Speaker 2: that the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be
Speaker 2: glad in it. This is the day that the Lord
Speaker 2: has made.
Speaker 5: I will rejoice and be glad in it. Oh, this
Speaker 5: is the day. This is the day that the Lord
Speaker 5: has made. Hey, this is the day. This is the
Speaker 5: day that the Lord has made. Now who made it?
Speaker 5: Who made it?
Speaker 1: Now? I will rejoice.
Speaker 5: I will rejoice and be glad in it. So God
Speaker 5: made it, But I get to manage it. Touch somebody
Speaker 5: say it's mine to manage.
Speaker 1: And what I do with this day is up to me.
Speaker 2: So when I gave my oldest kid his phone, I said.
Speaker 1: I wrapped it. It was his birthday, and I rapped it.
Speaker 2: And I said, this phone has data, and this phone
Speaker 2: is yours, not really.
Speaker 1: For your birthday.
Speaker 2: I am giving you my phone to use, which means
Speaker 2: that this phone, the contents thereof, and the communications that
Speaker 2: shall be initiated thereby are under my jurisdiction. One good
Speaker 2: parent clapped when I said that. And I dare you
Speaker 2: to put a pass code on that phone that I
Speaker 2: don't know. I dare you to put a pass code
Speaker 2: on that phone. You change your past, and I will
Speaker 2: change your destiny. But it was a principle in the
Speaker 2: modern age of stewardship that is really the same principle.
Speaker 2: You know that God has been trying to teach us
Speaker 2: all along that it's his to give and it's ours
Speaker 2: to manage. And the moment you begin to understand that
Speaker 2: about your life, your money.
Speaker 1: Y'all don't like this sermon already. This is the motivational part.
Speaker 2: It takes some of the pressure off to realize that
Speaker 2: it's his to give, it's mine to manage. Say it
Speaker 2: out loud, it's his to give mine to manage. So
Speaker 2: I didn't make the day, but I will rejoice in it.
Speaker 2: So he gave me the day, and now it's mine
Speaker 2: to manage. That's a really powerful distinction to know that
Speaker 2: there are certain things that God has given you under
Speaker 2: your jurisdiction. One of those things is your joy. I
Speaker 2: will rejoice and be glad in it. And so this
Speaker 2: is the day that the Lord has made. I rejoice
Speaker 2: and be glad in it, regardless of if the traffic
Speaker 2: is congested.
Speaker 1: I don't manage the.
Speaker 2: Traffic, but I am I am A I like it
Speaker 2: this way.
Speaker 1: My joy is my job.
Speaker 2: No matter what happens when I get to my job.
Speaker 2: No one can steal my joy because my joy is
Speaker 2: not under anyone else else's jurisdiction.
Speaker 1: See what I'm saying, It's mine to manage.
Speaker 2: And one time I made the mistake of saying that
Speaker 2: somebody stole my joy, and the spear of the Lord
Speaker 2: really corrected me on that, like they stole your joy there,
Speaker 2: your joy is not their job. And if they sold it,
Speaker 2: you should have done a better job locking the door
Speaker 2: so they couldn't.
Speaker 1: Get to it. You need a better security system. If
Speaker 1: someone else can steal.
Speaker 2: Your joy, then you've got your joy hiding out there
Speaker 2: in the open where anybody can see it and snatch it.
Speaker 1: And so this principle emerges in the Book of Joshua.
Speaker 2: Can I tell you a little bit about this historic incident.
Speaker 2: I'm so thankful for the gift of your attention today.
Speaker 2: I find it a great privilege that you would lean
Speaker 2: into the word of God and allow these words to
Speaker 2: be spoken. I think it's amazing. I want to make
Speaker 2: it worth your while. I want to tell a little bit about.
Speaker 1: This passage of scripture is really amazing.
Speaker 2: What God is doing for his people here, because the
Speaker 2: nation of Israel is under new management, under new management.
Speaker 6: And this.
Speaker 2: Promise that God began making generations ago is now about
Speaker 2: to come to pass. This land that they are going
Speaker 2: to possess is going to become theirs, but it's really God's,
Speaker 2: but it's theirs. It's theirs to possess, but it's God's
Speaker 2: to give. So it's Gods and it's theirs. And Joshua
Speaker 2: is the person God is using to bring it to pass.
Speaker 1: Now, Moses was the leader that brought the people out of.
Speaker 2: Egypt, where they spent several centuries enslave to the systems
Speaker 2: of that nation, and now they're no longer just wandering
Speaker 2: around in the wilderness like they did under Moses for
Speaker 2: over forty years. But they're coming into their own land.
Speaker 2: They're coming into their own spacious place. They're coming into
Speaker 2: their own homes, and they're coming into their own community
Speaker 2: that God has been in the process of forming. But
Speaker 2: it's going to require a different mindset because up until
Speaker 2: this point in their life, they have existed on the
Speaker 2: miracles that God provided, Like God gave them manna when
Speaker 2: they were in the wilderness because they didn't have quail
Speaker 2: like they had in Egypt that their masters would give
Speaker 2: them to feed them. But now they're coming into their
Speaker 2: own and the mana that used to fall from the sky,
Speaker 2: it was miraculous how it came down. They would just
Speaker 2: walk out their front door and there it would be
Speaker 2: Amazon Prime on the doorstep. The drone would drop it
Speaker 2: off and they would have enough for the day.
Speaker 1: But the thing that's about.
Speaker 2: To happen to them in just a moment is that
Speaker 2: they're going to cross over into this land where the
Speaker 2: mana is going to stop coming, and they are going
Speaker 2: to have to learn to manage in a different way.
Speaker 2: So they're going to have to mature in their mindset,
Speaker 2: And I guess one way that you could say this,
Speaker 2: they're having to learn how to manage their miracle.
Speaker 1: And this is something you don't hear.
Speaker 2: Taught enough in settings like these, because we often tell
Speaker 2: you to expect a miracle and to believe for a miracle,
Speaker 2: and to receive for a miracle. But how many know
Speaker 2: that you are responsible to manage your miracles.
Speaker 1: I'll prove it to you from the.
Speaker 2: Text, because you're acting kind of suspicious, and I don't
Speaker 2: blame you. It sounds weird because a miracle is something
Speaker 2: that God does.
Speaker 1: It's something that God gives.
Speaker 2: But the cooperation between Heaven and humanity has always been this.
Speaker 2: It's God's to give, but it's mine to manage. It's
Speaker 2: my father's to give, but it's mine to manage. And
Speaker 2: so God is bringing his people through the Jordan River.
Speaker 2: How many of you have something God has brought you
Speaker 2: through this year? Did God bring you through it? I'm
Speaker 2: gonna give you twelve seconds to praise Him for something
Speaker 2: that he brought you through. We all have a Jordan
Speaker 2: that we came through. And the interesting thing about the
Speaker 2: Jordan River is it's mentioned a lot in scripture, but
Speaker 2: not because it's a big body of water.
Speaker 1: It's only like fifteen.
Speaker 2: Yards wide at its widest points, and it's not the
Speaker 2: deepest body of water.
Speaker 1: That's not what makes it significant.
Speaker 2: What it symbolizes gives its biblical significance in that the
Speaker 2: people of God saw the Jordan River as representing transitions
Speaker 2: and new beginnings. You see it a lot in the
Speaker 2: prophetic record, like Elisha God Elijah's mantle in the Old Testament,
Speaker 2: and he crossed the Jordan River. It's not a big river,
Speaker 2: but it's symbolic. It's significant not because of its size,
Speaker 2: not because of its scope physically, not because of its
Speaker 2: geographical implications, but because.
Speaker 1: Of what God did there.
Speaker 2: Now they're standing at this place, this body of water,
Speaker 2: and God does something amazing and does it in a
Speaker 2: very particular way.
Speaker 1: He tells the priest to stand in the middle of.
Speaker 2: The Jordan with the arc of the Covenant. That's where
Speaker 2: they kept the Ten Commandments. It represented the presence of God.
Speaker 1: And when the priest put their foot in.
Speaker 2: The water, the water stopped flowing to provide passageway for
Speaker 2: the people to cross through. God did not carry his
Speaker 2: people across the Jordan. He enabled his people to cross over.
Speaker 2: This is how a lot of us live, our lives
Speaker 2: waiting for God to carry us over something when He
Speaker 2: is waiting for us to cross. You see me def
Speaker 2: lepparn It is true. My kids one time, when they
Speaker 2: were real little, we were at a public restroom and
Speaker 2: they were washing their hands and they had their hands
Speaker 2: out like this, and nothing was happening because I realized
Speaker 2: they were used to the fuscet being automatic.
Speaker 1: And it wasn't an automatic faucet.
Speaker 2: And I watched and I stood back to see how
Speaker 2: long they would stand there with their hands under the
Speaker 2: faucet waiting for something to happen without turning the foss
Speaker 2: in on. And finally, in compassion, I told, I told
Speaker 2: my oldest child, I said, this is not an automatic faucet.
Speaker 2: I know that you're used to the water just coming
Speaker 2: on like this. See when you've had Man'm falling out
Speaker 2: of the sky for so many years, you're used to
Speaker 2: just something falling down out of the just because you
Speaker 2: put your hand there. But it is going to require
Speaker 2: an action. It's going to require So the water didn't
Speaker 2: stop flowing til the people start walking, And when they
Speaker 2: start walking, the water stuff flowing, and the people passed
Speaker 2: through and the priests stood in the middle of the Jordan,
Speaker 2: which must have taken faith for them to stand in
Speaker 2: the middle of the Jordan, not knowing if it was
Speaker 2: going to continue to pile up in a heat or
Speaker 2: if it was going to flood over them. But the
Speaker 2: leaders had the faith to stand in the middle of
Speaker 2: the Jordan. Isn't that significant that it said it was
Speaker 2: in the middle of the Jordan. Isn't that the hardest
Speaker 2: thing in life to do is to manage the middle?
Speaker 2: Because I understand that God has made me promises and
Speaker 2: that he knows the end from the beginning, but I don't.
Speaker 2: I don't know the end from the beginning. I know
Speaker 2: the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans
Speaker 2: to pross for you and not to harm you.
Speaker 1: Plans to give you hope and a future.
Speaker 2: Well, I'm glad that God knows the plans he have
Speaker 2: for me, but I don't know the plans he has
Speaker 2: for me.
Speaker 1: And so the.
Speaker 2: Challenge isn't believing that he knows how this is going
Speaker 2: to end.
Speaker 1: My challenge is yah standing in the middle.
Speaker 2: And believing that what he spoke is indeed significant. It's
Speaker 2: different when you're in the middle, it's a lot different
Speaker 2: it was.
Speaker 1: It was weird.
Speaker 2: A few weeks ago, they had a baptism testimony on
Speaker 2: the on the screens, and I love the baptism stories.
Speaker 2: Do you love those stories that they tell?
Speaker 1: If it was your child, you might love it, you.
Speaker 2: Know what I'm saying, Like if it was somebody that
Speaker 2: you knew and loved. I try to always picture like
Speaker 2: I always picture if.
Speaker 1: That was my brother or if that was my sister.
Speaker 2: And when I hear somebody share a testimony, I always
Speaker 2: listen for the details. And one thing that I noticed
Speaker 2: that they normally share in their story, they'll share a sermon.
Speaker 1: That where God spoke to them.
Speaker 2: And a few weeks ago, the young lady sharing the
Speaker 2: sermon that she shared shared a sermon that I remember
Speaker 2: preaching and thinking that it was the worst sermon that
Speaker 2: I ever preached, because it's different when you're doing it.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: It was a year later and she was talking about
Speaker 2: that story, that sermon, and in her story she referenced
Speaker 2: that's as a turning point in her relationship with God.
Speaker 2: And here's what I remember. I remember how I felt
Speaker 2: while I was doing it, and I realized that even
Speaker 2: though I felt nothing while I was preaching it. She
Speaker 2: was sitting somewhere in that room, maybe not even in
Speaker 2: the room where I was preaching it, and she was
Speaker 2: having a completely different experience hearing it than I was
Speaker 2: preaching it.
Speaker 1: But it's different when you're in the middle of it, huh.
Speaker 2: Is different when you're raising your kids believing that they're
Speaker 2: receiving the values that you're trying to impart to them,
Speaker 2: because when you are teaching your kid's responsibility, they do
Speaker 2: not thank you and recognize you for being a voice
Speaker 2: of wisdom and an encouraging force of good.
Speaker 1: In their lives. Is different when you're in the middle
Speaker 1: of it.
Speaker 2: And see, the reason that we can sometimes look at
Speaker 2: the biblic miracles and experience them and celebrate them is
Speaker 2: because we know how they end. But it's different when
Speaker 2: you're in the middle of it. It's different when you're
Speaker 2: in the middle of it, when you were having to
Speaker 2: stand in the middle of something and say, no, God,
Speaker 2: I know that you're faithful, and I know that you're good,
Speaker 2: but I don't feel that you're faithful, and I don't feel.
Speaker 1: That you're good right now.
Speaker 2: That's called a sacrifice of praise. That's where you have
Speaker 2: to dig somewhere deeper than your feelings or your knowledge,
Speaker 2: or your certainty, or your circumstance or your bank account.
Speaker 2: God show me how to manage the middle. I have
Speaker 2: a hard time with that. I don't have a hard
Speaker 2: time being excited about the beginning, and I don't have
Speaker 2: a hard time celebrating the end.
Speaker 1: But this middle.
Speaker 2: Teach me how demand the middle? Ooh ooh. One of
Speaker 2: my best friends pastors of big church, and they had
Speaker 2: three years where they didn't grow. In fact, they went backward.
Speaker 2: I said, what was the problem in those three years
Speaker 2: when you didn't grow? He said, middle management. We got
Speaker 2: so large, the organization got so big that there was
Speaker 2: a layer of people in the middle who started to
Speaker 2: block the values that were a part of the organization
Speaker 2: in the early days.
Speaker 1: And it was middle management.
Speaker 2: It wasn't the people that were executing the job.
Speaker 1: It wasn't the vision had changed.
Speaker 2: It was what happened in the middle that almost cost
Speaker 2: us the momentum.
Speaker 1: Of what God was doing. I wonder, is that how
Speaker 1: it happens in our lives.
Speaker 2: I wonder if sometimes the reason that Joyce stops flowing,
Speaker 2: the reason that fate stops growing, the reason that sometimes
Speaker 2: we lose our sense perspective about who God is. Is
Speaker 2: is not the end, it's not the beginning. It's middle management.
Speaker 2: We don't know how to manage the middle. We don't
Speaker 2: know how to deal with Monday. So we shout good
Speaker 2: on Sunday. But I need a sermon. I need an
Speaker 2: mma sermon. I need some Monday morning application.
Speaker 1: I need something to help me manage.
Speaker 2: This middle because I'm not fighting the devil on Sunday morning.
Speaker 2: I'm fighting him on Tuesday at three thirty seven. So
Speaker 2: the key to this, Joshua says, take twelve stones. Twelve
Speaker 2: stones January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December,
Speaker 2: twelve months, twelve stones, twelve tribes, twelve disciples, twelve everybody
Speaker 2: say twelve, take twelve, Pile them up, and in the future,
Speaker 2: when your children ask you, what's up with these stones,
Speaker 2: or like my kids ask me, what's up with these
Speaker 2: cassette tapes.
Speaker 1: I still got some. When your children ask you, tell
Speaker 1: them what the Lord did.
Speaker 6: Tell them, tell them, take them to the shum the stones,
Speaker 6: and tell them we didn't know if we were going
Speaker 6: to make it.
Speaker 1: Through.
Speaker 2: But God did something only he could do, and we
Speaker 2: made it. Somebody shot, I made it. Tell the person
Speaker 2: next to you, you have no idea what I've been through.
Speaker 2: Look at him right in the eye and say, and
Speaker 2: God brought me over.
Speaker 1: And look at him one more time and say, how
Speaker 1: about you ask him?
Speaker 2: Have you been through anything? Imagine this? Imagine this. They
Speaker 2: come through the Jordan. Let's play the story out for
Speaker 2: a moment. They come through the Jordan. God brings them through.
Speaker 2: They set up the stones. God does a great miracle.
Speaker 2: They go on to fight battles, but they set up
Speaker 2: the stones to remember what God did in that moment.
Speaker 2: It's very beautiful. And then they go forward into the
Speaker 2: land and they fight. They fight many battles, and God
Speaker 2: gives them any victories. But every once in a while,
Speaker 2: maybe they come back with their kids and they show
Speaker 2: them the stones, because they left the stones in Gilgal
Speaker 2: and then they moved on to conquer Canaan. And you
Speaker 2: know how it is when when somebody is reflecting on
Speaker 2: something and they get nostalgic, and maybe maybe the parents
Speaker 2: start telling the children. We didn't know if we were
Speaker 2: going to make it. Joshua was our new leader. And
Speaker 2: we had never we'd never been this way before. And
Speaker 2: he told us. He told us that if the priests
Speaker 2: would stand in the middle, the waters would stand at
Speaker 2: attention until the people passed through.
Speaker 1: So we hurried through as fast as we could. We
Speaker 1: ran through. The Bible says in Joshua, chapter four, verse
Speaker 1: twenty one.
Speaker 2: They hurried through. They didn't have a whole lot of faith,
Speaker 2: just enough to get through it. They were dancing through
Speaker 2: the middle. They were running through the middle. Let me
Speaker 2: tell you something, when you got the devil chasing you,
Speaker 2: sometimes all you can do is get through it. You
Speaker 2: don't look flashy, you're not shooting, you're not flossing, you're
Speaker 2: not doing nothing but running for your life. So they
Speaker 2: got through it. But they said God got us through it.
Speaker 2: That was amazing, amazing because we didn't know. It was
Speaker 2: amazing and the arc was there and it represented the
Speaker 2: presence of God. Oh I wish you could have been
Speaker 2: their son. It was just so amazing. And we didn't
Speaker 2: know if we were going to be able to do it,
Speaker 2: but we did. God did it. God.
Speaker 1: It wasn't I say, God did.
Speaker 2: It, Okay, And they say that, And then so maybe
Speaker 2: a few years go by maybe they go back to
Speaker 2: the place again and they look at the stones, but
Speaker 2: you know, maybe the stones.
Speaker 1: Are they're still there, they haven't gone any where.
Speaker 2: But the story starts to get lost a little bit,
Speaker 2: and maybe a few years later they're telling their children,
Speaker 2: they're like, oh, yeah, it's pretty cool. I mean we
Speaker 2: got through it. I mean God did it, but we
Speaker 2: were the ones who had to walk because you know,
Speaker 2: like God didn't. God didn't carry us through. But but
Speaker 2: we got through it. And then a few more years
Speaker 2: passed and maybe they're telling their kids again, making another trip,
Speaker 2: and they're telling them, yeah, those stones they're they're cool.
Speaker 2: Joshua made us get them out the middle of the
Speaker 2: Jordan news.
Speaker 1: It was weird. We were ready to move on. But Joshua.
Speaker 2: Let me tell you how I know that the story
Speaker 2: stopped being told because when you get to the end
Speaker 2: of Joshua's life, you read in Judges chapter two, verse ten,
Speaker 2: just a verse just as verse. I want to show
Speaker 2: you and I want you to think about the space
Speaker 2: between when Joshua led the people through the Jordan and
Speaker 2: when the next generation arose. It says it after that
Speaker 2: whole generation, Joshua's generation had gathered to their ancestors. Another
Speaker 2: generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what
Speaker 2: he had done for Israel. Joshua's generation set up the stones.
Speaker 1: The next generation didn't even know the story. What happened.
Speaker 1: Somewhere along the way between.
Speaker 2: Joshua chapter four and Judges chapter two, they.
Speaker 1: Stopped telling the story.
Speaker 2: Something changed about the story somewhere in that space. And God,
Speaker 2: if I'm just preaching this for one person, help me
Speaker 2: to do it now, because they have been telling themselves
Speaker 2: the wrong story, and now their faith is feeling feeble,
Speaker 2: and now their worship has been weakened, and they are
Speaker 2: in a cycle of dependence on false gods because they
Speaker 2: stopped telling the story.
Speaker 1: The storyory of salvation is this. I was lost and
Speaker 1: dead in my sin. I had no hope in myself.
Speaker 2: I could not save myself. I could not help myself.
Speaker 2: I could not lift myself. I would not have made
Speaker 2: it if He had not reached down, and with a
Speaker 2: mighty hand and an outstretched arm, he died for me.
Speaker 1: He came into my life.
Speaker 2: He intersected me at the point of my sin, and
Speaker 2: while I was still.
Speaker 1: A sinner, Christ died for me.
Speaker 2: Why are you screaming because I've got a story that
Speaker 2: didn't start with me, is started with the mercy of God.
Speaker 2: And the enemy doesn't want you to tell this story.
Speaker 2: See he wants He wants you to lose your testimony.
Speaker 1: They kept the stones.
Speaker 2: The stones are still there to this day, but they
Speaker 2: stop telling the story. You know, you can have all
Speaker 2: of the monuments of religion but lose your relationship with God.
Speaker 2: You can have all the stones in the world, You
Speaker 2: can come to church, you can.
Speaker 1: Still live a lifeness between the lives.
Speaker 2: But if the truth we're told today some of us
Speaker 2: have stopped telling the story, We've lost our testimony.
Speaker 1: You have a testimony.
Speaker 2: There are things that God has done for you that
Speaker 2: only He could do, and nobody else can tell it
Speaker 2: for you, and nobody else can tell it like you.
Speaker 2: It can happen. It can happen in your own heart.
Speaker 2: It can happen in a generation. It can happen within
Speaker 2: a lifetime. It could happen within three years. You can
Speaker 2: actually have God do something amazing for you and have
Speaker 2: the stones to prove it. Some of you are sitting
Speaker 2: next to the woman that you ask God to give you,
Speaker 2: but now you want out of your marriage. The problem
Speaker 2: is in your marriage. It's your management. I'll go back
Speaker 2: here because.
Speaker 1: I'm not scared to say this stuff. We need to
Speaker 1: manage our miracles. God has been good to us. God
Speaker 1: has been more than enough.
Speaker 2: He is a provider, He is Jehovah Tyra.
Speaker 1: He did bring you through.
Speaker 7: He did bless you, he did make a way.
Speaker 1: He is more than enough. He is el Shadai. He
Speaker 1: is a great king. He is a good father.
Speaker 2: Touch somebody say, manage your miracle.
Speaker 1: It's constangin. What is yours to ma?
Speaker 2: I told Elijah, if you cracked the screen, I'm not
Speaker 2: replacing it.
Speaker 1: It's yours to manage if you crack the screen, or
Speaker 1: if you here's here's what happens to me. Let me
Speaker 1: tell you something. Now, let's talk.
Speaker 2: I sometimes I I stopped telling myself the testimony because
Speaker 2: to me sometimes it seems it seems small.
Speaker 8: Right.
Speaker 2: You know, something happened between when they crossed the Jordan.
Speaker 1: I don't know exactly what it is.
Speaker 2: I think there's evidence to support this hypothesis. They fought
Speaker 2: a lot of battles between Joshua before and judges too,
Speaker 2: and I wonder if the battles became bigger in their
Speaker 2: minds than the blessings. And I wonder if they started
Speaker 2: telling themselves the stories that centered around their struggles rather
Speaker 2: than God's sovereign hand that saw them through the struggles.
Speaker 2: I wonder if they got in survival mode to the
Speaker 2: point that they stopped telling the story. And I wonder
Speaker 2: if when they saw God do all these other things.
Speaker 2: I wonder, I wonder if they just didn't go back
Speaker 2: to the stones they were placed on the bank of
Speaker 2: the Jordan, back where they started. And sometimes when you
Speaker 2: don't go back where you started and remember what God
Speaker 2: did where you started, you lose perspective when you get
Speaker 2: where you're going. Oh man, I feel so guilty preaching
Speaker 2: this point. It's so easy for me to get caught
Speaker 2: up and consumed in my own convenience, my own drama,
Speaker 2: my own insecurities, my own dysfunction, and a lot of times,
Speaker 2: I'll be honest with you, I don't share what God
Speaker 2: is doing in my life because it doesn't seem big,
Speaker 2: because I can compare it to something.
Speaker 1: Else and it seems small. It seems small, like these stones.
Speaker 2: You know, at one point in your life you're really
Speaker 2: grateful for it, but then at some point it can
Speaker 2: lose its significance. I was asking somebody the other day
Speaker 2: if I could 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.
Speaker 2: And they were like, well when I was twelve and
Speaker 2: they were fifty three, I was like.
Speaker 1: Not that testimony.
Speaker 2: You can't fight today's devils if you don't have today's testimony.
Speaker 2: There needs to be a current work that God is
Speaker 2: doing in your life. Yes, he saved me, and I
Speaker 2: want to talk about that, but what is He doing
Speaker 2: in my life today? Another generation that knew not the
Speaker 2: Lord nor what he had done for Israel.
Speaker 1: This is your testimony. You know, it can be a
Speaker 1: tiny testimony. It doesn't have to be a big rock.
Speaker 1: You can fight the devil with a little rock.
Speaker 2: Ask David, you can fight a big giant with a little.
Speaker 1: Rock if you know how to throw it.
Speaker 2: I said, you can fight depression with a little rock
Speaker 2: if you know how.
Speaker 1: To throw it. You can fight discouragement with a.
Speaker 2: Lid, a tiny.
Speaker 1: Lit a tiny testimony. I don't have a big testimony.
Speaker 1: Pretty much on my life. I've been serving the Lord.
Speaker 1: I have never was owned drugs and women and running
Speaker 1: around pretty much grew.
Speaker 2: Up in Come on, man, you don't have to have
Speaker 2: a met lab in your garage to have a testimony.
Speaker 2: You don't have to be fresh off death row to
Speaker 2: have a testimony. You don't have to have fourteen children
Speaker 2: by fourteen women to have a testimony.
Speaker 1: A testimony, it can be the smallest thing. Like a
Speaker 1: few weeks ago, I's getting ready come out and preach.
Speaker 2: I don't want to tell you this because because Joshua said,
Speaker 2: tell them, tell them what God did for you, tell them,
Speaker 2: tell them about it.
Speaker 1: Preach it, teach it.
Speaker 2: You overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the
Speaker 2: word of your testimony. There is power in your personal testimony.
Speaker 2: So a few weeks ago, I was getting ready to preach,
Speaker 2: I didn't feel like preaching.
Speaker 1: Wo I love the Lord.
Speaker 2: I believe his word, and I believe he's coming again.
Speaker 1: I just didn't feel like preaching. On that Saturday night,
Speaker 1: weather was nasty. I didn't feel like preaching. So I
Speaker 1: was having a little pity party.
Speaker 2: I hate to tell you this, but I was. I
Speaker 2: was being so childish. But then I had this moment.
Speaker 2: I was like, FaceTime one of your friends and get
Speaker 2: him to pray for you, because the service was about
Speaker 2: to start, so the staff was out doing staff stuff,
Speaker 2: so they couldn't come pray for me. So I was
Speaker 2: going to face one of my friends who didn't have
Speaker 2: a Saturday night service, and he didn't answer. Apparently Judah
Speaker 2: Smith had better things to do than pray for his friend.
Speaker 2: Pray that the Carolina Panthers will wreak havoc upon the
Speaker 2: Seattle Seahawks today to punish him for not being there
Speaker 2: in my time of FaceTime need you don't want to
Speaker 2: FaceTime ferdict, I hope you go down today royally. Then
Speaker 2: I called Craig Groschel, that's my pastor, that's my guy,
Speaker 2: and he didn't answer, and he always answers. He didn't answer,
Speaker 2: and I was running out of time because I needed
Speaker 2: to get out there and preach. So I said this little.
Speaker 1: Pitiful prayer, you know, not the kind I pray in
Speaker 1: front of people.
Speaker 8: I was like, oh Lord, since nobody wants to pray
Speaker 8: for me, I'm always praying for everybody else.
Speaker 2: That's all go out pre schoe. I pray for myself
Speaker 2: and I start praying.
Speaker 8: You know this real mumbly, grumbly, grumpy prayer, a little
Speaker 8: bad attitude prayer, a little like kids going to make
Speaker 8: up the bed.
Speaker 1: Fun that kind of prayer. Have you ever had that
Speaker 1: level of faith where it's like.
Speaker 2: Fine, faith, fine God, Fine.
Speaker 1: I pray for myself.
Speaker 2: So I start praying fathering the images out loud. I
Speaker 2: say that when I said Father, in the name of Jesus,
Speaker 2: the moment I got it out of my mouth, Father namages,
Speaker 2: my phone rang my phone hardly ever, rang rings my phone.
Speaker 2: I mostly communicate my text I don't do a lot
Speaker 2: talking on the phone. And my phone rings and it
Speaker 2: hardly ever and never rings at that time of day.
Speaker 1: And it said no caller. I d but I'm not
Speaker 1: making this up. I said, I should answer this. I
Speaker 1: said hello. His deep voice comes on the phone, what
Speaker 1: are you doing? The voice of none other? It could
Speaker 1: only be Bishop TD Jakes.
Speaker 2: That's like my favorite preacher since I'm like this big,
Speaker 2: since I started wanting to be a preacher, this was
Speaker 2: my favorite preacher.
Speaker 1: Here he is calling me, what do you deal with?
Speaker 1: And I was like, hey, mister Jakes is going out.
Speaker 1: The preacher from Saturday Night service.
Speaker 2: He said, oh, well, since this is a bad time,
Speaker 2: let me just pray for you before you go out
Speaker 2: there and preach real quick father, the name of Jesus,
Speaker 2: knowing him with your spirit and filling with your wisdom,
Speaker 2: give him words to say from him. I'm telling you,
Speaker 2: I'm telling you, I'm.
Speaker 1: Not waiting until something to me.
Speaker 2: I need to fight the devil sometimes with a phone call.
Speaker 2: There are little things that God has done.
Speaker 1: For me, Moments where I.
Speaker 2: Called his name and there was nobody there to answer,
Speaker 2: and then all of a sudden, something from heaven with
Speaker 2: no caller id and God reached down and God dragged
Speaker 2: my tears.
Speaker 1: And God strengthened me, and.
Speaker 7: God upheld me with a mighty hand in and outstretched arm.
Speaker 2: You need to tell these stories. You need to tell
Speaker 2: these stories. Stop telling yourself the story that nobody cares
Speaker 2: about you, that you're alone, and that it doesn't matter
Speaker 2: another generation who didn't know what the Lord had done
Speaker 2: for Israel because they.
Speaker 1: Stopped telling the story.
Speaker 2: And when you stop preaching the gospel to yourself and
Speaker 2: reminding yourself that the Son of God accepted and chose
Speaker 2: you and brought you out of Egypt and brought you
Speaker 2: out of sin, and brought you through the Red Sea,
Speaker 2: and brought you through the Jordan.
Speaker 1: And brought down the Jericho walls.
Speaker 2: And brought you out of bondage, and brought you out
Speaker 2: of fear. Please hear me, When you stop telling that story,
Speaker 2: you lose your strength. The children of Israel went through
Speaker 2: fifteen cycles.
Speaker 1: Of disobedience to God.
Speaker 2: And not only did they go through fifteen psychs of
Speaker 2: disobedience to God through fifteen different judges, but they went
Speaker 2: through four hundred and twenty years of dependence on gods
Speaker 2: that could not save them because they stopped telling the story.
Speaker 2: What story have you been telling yourself? What story have
Speaker 2: you been telling your children? What story?
Speaker 7: You know?
Speaker 2: What I was thinking, what story is our church telling
Speaker 2: in this day? Because you know, God has done amazing
Speaker 2: things for us. But sometimes it really rips my heart
Speaker 2: out when I see a canvas pastor giving an invitation
Speaker 2: in our church and people get up and start leaving
Speaker 2: so they can beat traffic out the parking.
Speaker 1: Lot while somebody's soul is on the line. That really
Speaker 1: hurts my heart because.
Speaker 2: When we started the church, we weren't starting the church
Speaker 2: to have a Christian entertainment center. Where we could give
Speaker 2: people a little anecdote and a little song and a
Speaker 2: little goosebump.
Speaker 1: And they could get to lunch.
Speaker 2: Is that the story we're telling that we gather together
Speaker 2: when it's convenient and we consume spiritual food, but we
Speaker 2: never contribute. This is why I think it's important that
Speaker 2: we have traditions our year end offering, because God is
Speaker 2: inviting a new generation.
Speaker 1: To tell the story. And it's so vital in this moment.
Speaker 2: That you realize that the gospel is God's story, but
Speaker 2: it's ours to manage. We are stewards of the story
Speaker 2: that God is telling in the world today.
Speaker 1: What a privilege it is.
Speaker 2: Come on, can we praise Him for the privilege?
Speaker 9: Do you know the hem? This is my story. This
Speaker 9: is my song, praising my avery, lo, this is my story.
Speaker 1: This is my song, prazy my say, stand to your feet.
Speaker 1: I want to pray with you. Now, just give me
Speaker 1: a path.
Speaker 2: You're in the middle of a story right now that
Speaker 2: God is telling through your life.
Speaker 1: You're in the middle of it.
Speaker 2: The priest stood in the middle of the stones came
Speaker 2: from the Everything good that God does in our life
Speaker 2: comes from our ability to recognize it in the middle
Speaker 2: and sometimes what happens, I know, you feel like you've
Speaker 2: come to the end.
Speaker 1: You feel like is this for you? You feel like
Speaker 1: you get to the end of something, You get to
Speaker 1: the end of your own strength, You get to the end.
Speaker 1: And sometimes the.
Speaker 2: Season shifts in your life, and something is always ending
Speaker 2: as something else's beginning. The Jordan is both it's their
Speaker 2: exodus from the wilderness and it's their entrance into Canaan.
Speaker 2: It's happening all at the same time, right, and so
Speaker 2: you think you're at the end of something. Your ability
Speaker 2: to manage that emotion in the middle of it determines
Speaker 2: what happens next in your life.
Speaker 1: Remember this.
Speaker 2: Moses died on Mountain Nebo looking at the promised land.
Speaker 2: Joshua led the people into the land that God had
Speaker 2: promised Moses. The difference was what God had promised. God
Speaker 2: promised Moses and Joshua the same result. The difference wasn't
Speaker 2: the promise. The difference was how they managed the miracle
Speaker 2: in the middle of it. God gave Moses a miracle,
Speaker 2: He parted the Red Sea, but Moses stayed stuck in
Speaker 2: what other people said. Moses managed according to his fear,
Speaker 2: not his faith. God gave Joshua the same promise, and
Speaker 2: Joshua said, even in spite of our fear, even in
Speaker 2: spite of our failures, even in spite of the fact
Speaker 2: that they're more out there than there are in here,
Speaker 2: We're going forward in the name of the Lord, with
Speaker 2: his presence as our banner. And we are standing in
Speaker 2: the middle, and we will stand in the middle until
Speaker 2: everything that God has spoken comes to pass. I wonder,
Speaker 2: is there anybody who's willing to get in the middle
Speaker 2: of it and take your stand and declare, I will
Speaker 2: see the goodness of the Lord in my generation, in
Speaker 2: my life.
Speaker 1: That's what I want to pray for you about.
Speaker 2: And if you lift your hands right now, I'll do
Speaker 2: it because the Lord is in this moment. The Lord
Speaker 2: is very present even in your pain, and I believe
Speaker 2: that God is even present in some of.
Speaker 1: The mistakes that you've made. Lord, right now, would you.
Speaker 2: Visit the heart of each of your sons and daughters
Speaker 2: with a reminder, maybe, like those twelve rocks that the
Speaker 2: people piled up, give us a rock of remembrance today
Speaker 2: that we can build on the firm foundation of your faithfulness.
Speaker 1: The victory is yours to give, but it's mine to manage.
Speaker 2: God, remind me of the responsibility that you have given me,
Speaker 2: and teach me to lean on your grace as I do.
Speaker 1: Give me the faith to stay standing.
Speaker 2: In the middle, with the waters all around me, and
Speaker 2: to worship You in this moment, with our heads bowed
Speaker 2: and our eyes closed. And wonder if there's somebody here
Speaker 2: today who needs to receive the grace of God for
Speaker 2: the salvation of your soul, the forgiveness of your sin.
Speaker 2: I wonder, is there's someone here today who needs to
Speaker 2: begin a relationship.
Speaker 1: With God, or maybe you want to.
Speaker 2: Reconnect in that relationship with God. You've been feeling for
Speaker 2: a long time like you're far from him, but it's
Speaker 2: not true. He's near, and if you call on his name,
Speaker 2: he is in this moment, and he longs to come
Speaker 2: and live inside of you. He longs to allow you
Speaker 2: to follow him, even when you don't know what's next.
Speaker 2: It's very simple what the Bible says about salvation. It
Speaker 2: is by grace that you are saved through faith. It's
Speaker 2: the gift of God. It's not of works. So that
Speaker 2: no one can boast that if you confess with your
Speaker 2: mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart
Speaker 2: God raised him from the dead.
Speaker 1: You will be saved.
Speaker 2: As the promise of God doesn't require good works. You
Speaker 2: can't stack enough stones to climb your way to heaven.
Speaker 2: And it doesn't work like that. God's not watching your
Speaker 2: behavior to see whether or not he will relate to you.
Speaker 2: He's already done through the person of his son Jesus,
Speaker 2: all that needs to be done for you to have
Speaker 2: a right relationship with Him.
Speaker 1: And right now, in this moment, I want to pray
Speaker 1: with you. At every location.
Speaker 2: We're going to pray out loud as a church family
Speaker 2: for the benefit of those who are coming to God
Speaker 2: or come in back to God. But will all pray
Speaker 2: out loud together, repeat after me, Heavenly Father. I believe
Speaker 2: Jesus Christ. It's the son of God. And today I
Speaker 2: make Jesus the Lord of my life. I believe you
Speaker 2: die to forgive my sin and rose again to give
Speaker 2: me life. I receive this new life. This is my
Speaker 2: new beginning. On the count of three, if you just
Speaker 2: pray that prayer, shoot your hand up. I want to
Speaker 2: celebrate with you. One, two, three, come on as a testimony.
Speaker 10: Shoot your hand up. That's a lot of hands. That's
Speaker 10: a lot of hands. Let's praise God for it. Come on,
Speaker 10: let's praise God for it. I said, let's praise God
Speaker 10: for it. Today is the day of salvation. Let's praise
Speaker 10: God for it.
Speaker 1: Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2: Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
Speaker 2: this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible.
Speaker 2: You can click the lincoln the description to give now
Speaker 2: or visit Elevationchurch dot.
Speaker 1: Org slash podcast.
Speaker 2: For more information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you
Speaker 2: can subscribe.
Speaker 1: You can share it with your friends.
Speaker 2: You can click the share button, take a screenshot and
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Speaker 2: Elevation Church.
Speaker 1: Thanks again for listening. God bless you.