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Remember the Impossible | Joshua 4 · Saint City Chapel

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It is good to be with you guys if I don't know you, my name is
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Brandon de Lodge. I get to service, which just
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means every single Sunday I get to open up God's word for you
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and share with you what God has done for the sake of the world
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and get to carefree throughout the week and pray for you.
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It is an honor and a delight to be the pastor of Saint City
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Chapel and so grateful you'd gather with us today.
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Turn your Bibles to Joshua chapter 4.
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We're going to be on page 180 of the Bibles in the seats in front
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of you. If you don't have one, should be
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on the screen as well. But while you're turning there,
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let me tell you a quick story because frankly, some stories
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are just worth telling. This past week, I was doing a
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premarital counseling with somebody and they're asking me
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about the story of how Maddie and my my wife and I, we met
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each other. And I was telling us, telling
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them the story about how we grew up in the same church, we're in
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the same young adult ministry. And they asked the questions
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like, when did you know Maddie was your wife?
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And this story is just worth telling.
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So we're at a summer camp and she's already like burying her
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face in shape. But this is a good story.
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I got permission to share it. We were at a summer camp with
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over 300 students at UP in West Michigan in 2016, so over about
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10 1/2 years ago now. And that day it was raining all
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day. And when you're at summer camp,
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well, you kind of need the outdoors.
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It's kind of a helpful piece of having summer chemistry for kids
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who've been staying up all night eating copious amounts of
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airhead extremes and Mountain Dew.
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Arnold Palmer's like they have sugared up.
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So we had to find a way to get all this energy out for all
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these middle schoolers. That's going to be important in
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a second because as the rain came, me and the other youth
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pastors there, we're trying to think to ourselves, OK, how can
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we burn as much energy as possible?
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How can we keep this many people as entertained as possible for
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as long as possible? And so we came up with a very
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simple idea, musical chairs, except we weren't a range chair,
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typical circle. We made it like Figure 8 isn't
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even really accurately depicting the combinate.
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It would just basically put the chairs and face them any
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direction we want and make sure there's one chair.
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Then students are playing the game, but we let leaders play
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the game. Maddie was one of those leaders.
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And what happened was is when the music would stop in musical
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chairs, something crazy would happen very regularly.
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Kid leaders, everyone would be just running a million of it's a
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chair spotted on the now. This room was in a basement with
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pillars supporting the floor above.
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And Maddie, my wife, is the most competitive person I know.
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You might see where this story is going.
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Maddie does not like to lose. So Maddie, my then girlfriend,
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spies the chair that is available.
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It's her and this little 30 LB seventh grader.
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I don't know how much she weighed, but not much.
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And Maddie sprints for the chair, the other girl not seeing
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Maddie because the it's right near the pillar and they
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converge. And I'm on top of a pool table
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narrating this game, me and the other youth pastor and we see my
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wife run full speed in this poor precious little 30 pounder.
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Did not see it coming. I mean, my wife buried her.
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I mean absolute truck stick. I, I don't even know what doing
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this to this day. We couldn't even find her after
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the game. We don't know if she's OK.
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No, I'm sure she's fine, but I remember standing there on the
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pool table that day like I love this woman.
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I love her so much that she cares so much about winning.
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Musical chair is what my favorite part about that story
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is. Maddie Trucksticks.
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Her doesn't even look back. Just keep going for the chair.
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I was like, I love this girl. I want to marry her soon, soon
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later, I put a ring on her finger.
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We got married nine months later.
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You know that's the story, right?
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What's funny is in that moment, I knew I didn't want to forget
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that story, but it's fascinating how quick a memory can be
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forgotten like that. In fact, this picture, I want to
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show you my little, like, artifact of this memory.
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Maybe, maybe not. Oh, we do.
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OK. So whenever I see this picture,
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yeah, you're like, Brandon, you look like, like not even the
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same person. And Maddie looks just the same.
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Aging. That's how it works, apparently
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for me. Whenever I see this picture,
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though, my mind goes back to that summer camp and with all
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that God did and the summer camp that I learned that this woman
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was going to be my wife. And it would never cross that
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version of Brandon's mind to know that I could forget that.
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But every time the picture comes up, that's when I remember the
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story. This chapter of God's word we're
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going to be in today serves for the people of Israel.
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It serves for you and I as a way to remember who God is.
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So we would not forget that. We would be able to tell the
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story and retell the story so he would not forget who God is and
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what he can do. Because this week in Joshua
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chapter 3, God can do the impossible.
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He is capable of it. In fact, we closed our service
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praying for God to do impossible things in US and among us this
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year. That's what we're begging God
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for. But jot this big idea down.
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God's people must remember that their impossible rescue was
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entirely his work. It was entirely God's work.
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It wasn't our might, our strength, our good deeds, our
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achievements. No, rather, it was God's work
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that saved us and our impossible rescue.
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We're on the brink of death, needing him to rescue us,
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needing him to save us, needing someone to come and deliver us.
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And He did. He did it for the Israelites
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then. He's doing it for people now.
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And we have to be a people who remember, but if God has done
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the impossible in our life, how do we keep from forgetting?
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And I want to show you that in God's Word today we're in Joshua
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chapter 4. I'm going to read for you a few
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verses to start Joshua chapter 4 verse one, when you're there,
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say I'm there. When all the names had finished
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passing over the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, Take 12 men
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from the people from each tribe, a man command them, saying, Take
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12 Stones from here on out of the midst of the Jordan, from
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the very place where the priests feet stood firmly, and bring
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them over with you, and lay down them down in the place where you
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lodge tonight. Then Joshua called the 12 men
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from the people of Israel whom he had appointed a man from each
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tribe. And Joshua said to them, Pass on
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before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the
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Jordan, and take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder,
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according to the number of tribes of the people of Israel,
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that this may be a sign among you.
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And when your children ask in time to come, What do these
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stones mean to you, then you shall tell them that the waters
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of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant
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of the Lord, and when it passed over the Jordan, the waters of
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the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the
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people of Israel a memorial forever.
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I want to help you understand what these mean for your life.
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These aren't just God's words for the people of Israel.
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They're God's words for you. So what does it mean for your
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life? Let's do it like this.
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The rest can remember the impossible first like this
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through spiritual memorials. How are you to remember the
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impossible in your life? How are you to remember God's
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work in your life? If God's going to answer that
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prayer that you prayed last week for impossible things, the
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prayer that you're going to begin praying because you're
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with us today for him to do the impossible, How are you going to
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remember? How are you not going to forget?
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Well, first you need to build spiritual memorials in your
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life. There's two memorials that
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happen here in the text I think are fascinating.
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The first, it's a National Memorial.
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That's the one that we're, we just read about where there's 12
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Stones for 12 men signaling the 12 tribes of Israel that each
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son of Joseph, excuse me, each son of the people of Israel,
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they each had a stone representing their family, their
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line, their tribe. And each man would go and he
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would take his stone and he would place it in the middle of
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the river. And if you noticed it said upon
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his shoulder, think about how big a boulder it has to be for
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some of these men. I'm sure they didn't pick small
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men. Two laga boulder, a stone on
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their shoulder. It's not a Little Rock, it's a
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stone the size of this. And each man had to.
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He had to grab the stone and put it on his shoulder and walk it
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back into the river. About 50 yards back into the
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middle of the river, he's lugging a stone, putting in the
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work to remember what God did. They just walked a river part A
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river stopped flowing. And their ability to remember
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God knows is so small that He commands them to build a
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memorial. You might think you have a
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really great memory. Maybe you're the kind of person
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in your friend group who's great at trivia, quick recall on
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facts, details. You will forget God's work in
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your life if you don't build memorials to Him.
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You need to remember the impossible things that God has
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done. Your heart will be faster to
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forget it than you can even imagine.
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You would think the Israelites wouldn't need a memorial to
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remember a river stopping, but they did, and so do you.
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It's not just a National Memorial, it's a personal
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memorial. Jump down with me to verse 9.
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Joshua set up 12 Stones in the midst of the Jordan in the place
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where the feet of the priest bearing the Ark of the Covenant
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had stood. And they are there to this day.
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So you have the 12 men of Israel setting up a National Memorial
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and Joshua's doing something personal for himself.
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Not only is the National Memorial going to be think he
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wants a personal memorial of what God is doing through his
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leadership. So what does Joshua do?
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Joshua does this by himself. That means he takes and grabs a
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maybe 2 if he's in bulking season and he's walking, placing
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them in river. Joshua had to do that at least
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six times, maybe 12, all so that he would remember the impossible
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thing that God has done. I think of myself doing yard
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work back in Midwest, carrying fertilizer and mulch and those
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bags on my shoulder in the hot, humid summer of Illinois.
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And I say that out loud right now and I recognize I'm in
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Arizona. We're hot summer are definitely
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more difficult here to bear. My point is, is Joshua made a
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moment more than just a moment. He made it a memory for himself
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of what God has done. He did not want to forget God's
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work, not just through him, but in him.
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He took a moment to set up a personal spiritual memorial.
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I think there's a difference between generic memorials and
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spiritual memorials in our society.
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Generic memorials, this is what you'll see at a museum, right?
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They recall just history, general events that happened
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across. And you just, you learn the
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history and they're, they're fascinating.
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You can learn all about parts of our country's founding and
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growth. Maybe if we go to the Hockey
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Hall of Fame in a few years, you'd find out that we won the
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gold medal today and, you know, and we get to recall that.
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And that's a funny historical event.
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But the difference is between the generic memorial and the
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spiritual memorial. Is this a spiritual memorial?
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Helps you rehearse God's faithfulness?
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It's one thing for me to pull up a picture of my wife and
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remember a general history of our dating life.
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It's another thing altogether for me to look at that picture
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and go, wow, God has been faithful to me.
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He has given me a woman who loves him above all else, who
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loves His Word, who loves our kids, who loves the church.
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That's a different way to look at that.
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It's a different way to interpret the impossible.
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It's how God can speak to you and even just the most ordinary
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of moments in your life that you can have a spiritual memento, a
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memorial of what God has done. Look down to verse 20 and 22,
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these 12 Stones which they took out of the Jordan Joshua set up
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at Gilgal, He said to the people of Israel, when your children
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ask the fathers, their fathers in times to come, what do these
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stones mean, then you shall let your children know.
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Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground, just like their
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forefathers had left captivity of the Egyptian people and
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walked through the Red Sea on dry ground.
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This generation of Israelites got to put their feet where no
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foot had gone before, in the middle of the Jordan River.
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Israel passed over on dry ground.
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The detail of that is staggering to me.
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God could have left like an inch of water, right?
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And they could have passed through.
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But our God is so strong, so mighty, that when He does the
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impossible, He leaves no detail unchecked.
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He wants everyone to know who did it.
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And we need to remember the act of God, the work of God in our
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life. We have to remember our
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impossible. Rescue was entirely His work.
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It was not our doing, it was His.
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And what a joy it is to experience the glory and wonder
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of knowing God and what He can do in our lives that He can do
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the impossible and still does. And I think you have spiritual
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memories. You have moments in your life
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where you've seen God do work, where you've seen him move,
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where you've seen him change, where you've seen him do things
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in your life that you're like, Oh my gosh, how is this
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possible? So I want to ask you this, what
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spiritual memorial have you set up to remember God's work in
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your life? Do you have any?
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A journal, a photo album maybe? My pastor growing up, he had
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literal rocks in his office where he would write and
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Sharpie, hey, this is what God has done because he wouldn't
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want to forget. It's shocking how quick you'd be
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to forget what God can do. But having those as a keepsake
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where you can come back to again and again to remind you of God's
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faithfulness. Oh, what a needed point of
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walking with Jesus. We all need it.
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So have one for your life, for your family, even this church.
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We're going to have some right now.
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We're at Moseley Middle School, and I guarantee you one day
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we're going to have some level of memorial stone as a part of
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our moment here at this school. Maybe it's a T-shirt.
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I don't know if it'll be a T-shirt.
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I don't know what it's going to be, but I know that one day in
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the life of our church, we're going to remember these days.
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We're not going to despise the day of small beginnings.
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We're going to rejoice in the moment, in the work that God has
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done here. We're going to memorialize God's
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work among us at Moseley Middle School because He is working and
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He is moving. It's a way you can visit and
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recall his work and his wonders. A way that you can just simply
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say to God, thank you. Just say thank you.
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What a great way to worship God this week is to go back in your
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photo album and go, man, God was in that.
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God was working through that. It's a great way to remember the
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impossible is through spiritual memorials.
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The second thing I want to talk to you about today is this, that
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the rescued remember the impossible by telling
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supernatural stories, telling supernatural stories.
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Let's go back to verse six and seven.
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Joshua was saying to the people, hey, we're going to Passover and
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that this may be a sign among you when your children ask in
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time to come, what do these stones mean to you?
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You got to have an answer. You got to have an answer for
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what the memorial is there for. You got to be able to tell your
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kids about it, your friends about it.
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You've got to be able to tell a supernatural story.
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This is how memorials live on in the world.
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It can't just be a thing that you keep to yourself.
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But by telling supernatural stories, you're helping people
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see that it was God's work entirely.
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You're helping them see God in the midst of it.
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For God's people to remember God's work, they must not keep
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it to themselves because God's stories are always meant to be
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shared. We have to tell supernatural
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stories. Every friend group's got the
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storyteller in it, every family's got the storyteller in
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it. And those are great people to
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have in your circle. By the way, if your friend group
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doesn't have one, you should just, you know, go find yourself
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a storyteller and maybe that's your interview for the friend
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application, like, or what? In my family, the storyteller is
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my brother Cole. Cole loves to tell stories.
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He's very funny. If he's listening to this at any
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point, you're not that funny brother moment.
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But what Cole will do is he gets so passionate, so excited, and
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when Cole's telling a story I've already pulled in, everybody's
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engaged, and he's telling stories of maybe even the most
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stupid thing, like how he afforded his lifestyle in
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college. It could be literally nothing.
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But what I found about great storytellers is that when they
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pull you in, the best story ends.
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And here's what I mean by that. Our world today, people are
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telling stories of all kinds, and our country and our culture,
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they're telling narratives of how to live and who you should
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live for. And if you are raising Christian
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children, if your goal is to have a family, you need to know
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this, that the best story will win.
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If you are living a lifestyle that doesn't depict the reality
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that God is real, that he does the impossible, that takes
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faith. And guess what?
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That you can see a living God among you.
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They will reject the story of God.
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Better story we must tell our children.
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What do these stones mean to you?
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You need to have rhythms in your family of sharing with them.
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Hey, here's what God did, here's who he is.
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Here's how he moved. You have to be a supernatural
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storyteller. And I can already hear some of
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you go, but Brandon, I'm not that friend in the friend group.
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I'm not the storyteller. I don't like to talk.
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I like to listen. Praise God for you.
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But here's what you have. You have a book full of stories
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to tell. If you don't have a starting
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spot now in your life, may I just encourage you?
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You have story after story after story after story after story
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after story after story after story of who God is.
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And you can share that with anyone in your life.
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God can use your voice. He is with your lips.
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He is with your mouth. As you share, would you step out
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in faith and have the courage to tell of the supernatural stories
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of what God has done, but then also start living a life of
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faith, a life that says, hey, what happened in the past week
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that God has done that I want to talk about where's God moving in
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my life this week that I can share, that I can brag about him
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that I can boast in him about. Are you even interpreting your
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life through that grid? Like are you seeing your life as
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man? I just, I just want to see God
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in the details of that conversation.
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I want him in the detail promotion that meeting that lab
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partner in class. Am I looking at it and going,
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God, what are you doing in this? Because Jesus only saw it, did
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what he saw the Father doing. And if you can look at your life
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and go God, well, I'm here right here right now by your sovereign
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plan. Why do you have me here?
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And what story are you trying to write?
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I think you will see. You'll see the living God among
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you. You'll see stones that mean
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something to you. So here's what I want to
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encourage you guys to do this week as a result of telling
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supernatural stories. I want you to grab something
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from coffee this week, maybe from your small, your community
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group, maybe from your serve team, maybe from the office.
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And I just want you to do something we do in our salt
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company regularly. Your you want to hear their
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story and listen to them. You want to share, You want to
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hear their story, Then you want to tell them your story.
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Then you want to tell them God's story, which is the story of the
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gospel, especially if they don't know Jesus.
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This is such a helpful way to get in the rhythm of sharing and
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telling stories what God is doing in your life that you
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could tell them the story of your salvation.
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You could tell them the story of how you came to know Jesus, the
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impossible rescue you experienced by the grace of God.
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Tell them that story. Listen to their story.
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Listen to their story and see where they or God might help
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them overcome addiction, where you might sustain them through
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infertility, where you might save their prodigal kid, where
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you might carry them through infidelity, where God might heal
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them of a life threatening diagnosis.
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Would you point them to the reality of the supernatural that
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God still does impossible things?
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Oh, would you have the faith to believe it?
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And would you encourage people by getting around them and
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pointing them to the storytelling God, who is writing
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story after story after story after story of his work in the
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world still impossibly rescuing people?
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The Israelites felt their impossible rescue at the Jordan
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River that day. They sensed it.
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There they were, passing from captivity into the Promised
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Land, and they didn't want to forget it.
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So they had memorial and they had stories to tell.
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And God's story is ultimately his great rescue of us.
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And that's the third thing that we get from the text.
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We not only see that we're telling supernatural stories or
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spiritual memorials. The rescued remember the
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impossible. Finally, why?
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To sing of God's strength and might.
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Why? Why is Joshua 4 in our Bible?
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Why is it preserved for us? Why did the Holy Spirit keep us,
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keep this text for us to know? What do we lose if we don't have
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this chapter in the Bible? Simply, simply this.
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We don't learn how to interpret the impossible and the way to
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interpret the impossible is this.
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It's to sing of God's strength and might.
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That's why we remember the impossible.
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Look at verse 23 and 24 for the Lord your God dried up the
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waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over as the
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Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up for us
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until we passed over. Why?
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Verse 24 is a so that statement. When you see that in your Bible,
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it's saying why, why, why, why, why, why so that all the peoples
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of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, it
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is strong, and that you may fear the Lord your God forever.
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There's two reasons right there in the text why God does
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miracles like this. Why does God do the impossible?
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2 reasons so that the peoples of earth may know that God's hand
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is mighty, and so that the people of God may always fear
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him forever. That's why he does miracles,
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that's why he does wonders among us, and so that his hand could
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be known as strong and mighty to the peoples of earth.
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God's hand is mighty, it is strong, it is sure.
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His mighty hand saved Israel on this day.
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And people of earth need to know that God can still do that.
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They need to know who God is. Most people don't know who God
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is. They think they do because
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they've heard maybe caricatures of a version of who God is, but
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they don't actually know who God is.
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God is mighty. He is strong.
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It is worth repeating a million times over in your brain that I
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serve a mighty God. He's a mighty God.
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And we're quick to maybe doubt that.
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Like if he was so mighty, why wouldn't he eradicate all
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injustice in the world? If he was so mighty, why would
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he not fix this thing I want him to fix?
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If he is as mighty as you say he is, why why why Why does a
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mighty God at times not display his might?
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I think we just got our answer in the text.
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God shows His hand so that people may know that the hand of
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the Lord is strong and mighty. So if it wouldn't display his
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might, he wouldn't do it. Or if he wants to wait for it.
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God's answer to our prayers are either yes, no, or I got
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something better in mind. Yes, I will answer that prayer
27:13
request for my mic and he's going to and show off just how
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mighty is immediately in the moment.
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Yes or he's like no, because you're asking for something that
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doesn't actually display his or I've got something better in
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mind. Meaning you're asking for a
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thing. You're begging God for his might
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to be on display through your prayers for him to give you the
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house, for him to give you the promotion, for you to have that
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friend come to know Jesus, for that diagnosis to be reversed.
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All those things are good things to pray, but He might be saying
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I've got something better in mind for you because I don't
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just want to show my mind. He wants you to His name
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forever. He wants you of a reverent awe
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that He is not and you are not. He's not some cosmic vending
27:59
machine that you select what you want and He does it.
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He wants you to sing of His strength and His might, and
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though you might have seen His might in others, though you
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might want His might in your life, I promise you, God's
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mighty hand is among you. You just might not have seen it
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yet. In fact, I think we've missed so
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many of God's mighty moments in our life because we just glazed
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past some of the crazy, awesome, strong things He's done.
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First and foremost among them, He sent God the Son.
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Is my mic out? He's going in and out.
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We're good. OK?
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It's weird. I'm so sorry, guys.
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I'm distracted by that. The first thing that you have to
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know is this, that God might has been displayed for you in the
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reality that His Son has come to save you from sin.
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You are not strong enough to save you from sin.
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You are not strong enough or good enough or powerful enough
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to look out in the eye and say save me, save.
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I can save myself. I can do it.
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I can muster up enough strength, I can muster up enough goodness,
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I am mighty enough to overcome my sin.
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May I just lovingly tell you no, you are not.
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You are no match for your sin. It runs way too deep, it runs
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way too big, and your debt to God is way too immense for you
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ever to repay Him back. You are not mighty enough or
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good enough or strong enough to save yourself.
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But I have good news today. He who is mightier than you has
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come to save you from your sin. The mighty One has come, the
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mighty God has come to save you. And that is the most mighty
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thing God has ever done is He came for you to die on a bloody
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cross for your sin. He went to a tomb where he
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rested for three days, and it now sits empty in Israel, and he
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sits now on an occupied throne where the grace of God is ruling
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and reigning over your life. And you never have to question
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ever again if God is mighty. Why?
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Because He's mighty enough to overcome your sinfulness and the
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sins of the world. He paid for it with His blood.
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This is the mighty God we serve. This is the good news of the
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gospel. You don't have to be mighty.
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You know the mighty One, and you can sing of His strength and His
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might every single week, even in a hard week or a good week.
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Why? Because that is set.
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It is not changing. It is not moving, it is secure.
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And if Jesus is mighty and his Spirit lives in you, guess what?
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You are mighty as well. That what's true of Jesus is
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true of you. That is the mystery of being
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united with Christ. You are now mighty and you've
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seen God did the most mighty thing in human history so that
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you could have the strength to overcome your sin, so you could
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have life eternal with Him forevermore.
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God the Mighty One did even bigger than the Jordan River for
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us. He saved us from our sin, and
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you might have overlooked that. He might have missed that memo,
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but you can't speed past it. That is the mighty thing God has
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done, but it is not the only mighty thing.
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It's just supreme. You might have missed simple
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things like this that as human beings, every single day, God
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sustains the world, the universe, by the word of His
31:35
power. Think about that for a second.
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He sustains the universe. Most of us can't even sustain a
31:43
calendar, OK? And he sustains the universe.
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That's how mighty God is. Maybe you've experienced the
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wonder inducing moment of an Arizonan sunset.
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God is so mighty that he just went, let's, let's have heavens
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and earth. Let's have a sun, a moon and
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stars. And he just spoke.
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That's how mighty God is. He's mighty in the reality that
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you have His very words recorded for you in your language.
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This started thousands of years ago in a different language, but
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yeah, here we are. You know the very words of God,
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and He's preserved it through opposition and attack.
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Guess what? You can know who God is and you
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can worship Him truly in spirit and in truth.
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Why? Because you have God's words.
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But maybe let's get a little more personal with this, where
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you've experienced His might, many of you have experienced
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God's might like this, that you helped plant this church, that
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one of the mightiest moments of God in your life is actually
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stepping out in faith and saying, you know what?
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I'm going to leave the church that I know and love people I
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care about and have prayed for me and have walked with me.
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I'm going to step out in faith and believe that Mighty 1 is
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going to sustain me through it. Do you need a memorial stone for
33:04
that? Do you need a supernatural story
33:08
to tell for what God's done in you as a result?
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Out in faith, I think every single one of us have moments
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that we just glazed right past, that God's might has been on
33:20
display. Was it a trial you're now
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thankful for looking back on? Is it a friendship that He
33:26
brought into your life that changed the trajectory of your
33:29
eternity? Is His might in a big
33:34
transition, changing from a state to another state?
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I don't know where it is for you.
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What I do know is this, that you need to bring to a maximum your
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perception of how mighty God is. That whatever your view is
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today, let's just make it a little bit bigger.
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Because He is bigger. He is mightier than we can even
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imagine or think. I remember when I was in college
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and I remember the story of my rescue, the mighty moment of God
34:09
changing my heart and my eternity.
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Grew up in church. Like many of you, I grew up
34:14
around the things of the church and the gospel.
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I'd heard story after story of God.
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In fact, I could probably tell you even at a young age, the
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whole story of Scripture. But my heart wasn't changed.
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I was still the same person. In fact, I was going after the
34:31
things of the world, trying to live on my own strength, my own
34:35
might. And I reached the limit of that
34:39
when I got cut from the baseball team my senior year.
34:43
And I got really ticked off at God because I couldn't blame
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myself, of course. So I got mad at him, and I went
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to a school in Illinois that valued the things of the world,
34:57
wanting to run as hard and as fast as I could after everything
35:00
but God. But God, though I wanted nothing
35:07
to do with him, though I couldn't see how self reliant
35:11
I'd become on my own obedience, my own knowledge.
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I thought God would like me and love me and let me into heaven
35:21
simply because I was a decent moral person.
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But God rescued me from a false self perception.
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He rescued me from a self-reliance for salvation.
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He delivered me from my sin. He did that.
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And every single one of us who is a Christian has a story just
35:44
like and now the life you live faith in the Son of God.
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You live by faith in the Son of God and he has changed you from
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the inside out. You are not the person you used
35:54
to be. You are not the person you could
35:58
be, but you're not who you were and you have changed.
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Praise God for His story of your his rescue in your life.
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In fact, God has given us in the New Testament, He's given us a
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step to tell the story, to sing God's supernatural strength and
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might as a literal memory stone for us.
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And it's baptism. I just encourage you if you are
36:24
in Christ, if you have been rescued from your sin, I think
36:28
Joshua Ford is helping you step forward and encourage and say,
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you know what, I stay anymore this back.
36:34
I need to obey Jesus Christ. I need to listen to him.
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I need to be a disciple of him, which means I'm going to listen
36:41
to his teaching. I'm an adoptive for my life.
36:44
I'm going to follow what he says in the truth of who he is and
36:47
you want to do. I'm going to give him my
36:49
unconditional yes, and that yes goes first into the waters of
36:54
baptism. And you're saying God.
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I might not be a people person. I might not be good at talking
36:59
in front of people, but you know what the New Testament does not
37:02
know of a Christian who isn't baptized.
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If you are a Christ follower, may I just encourage you that I
37:07
put courage into you today to do the very thing that God's asking
37:11
you to do, which is to step forward and say, I'm going to
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sing of God's strength in my life.
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I'm going to brag about His might, that He saved me from
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addiction. He saved me from my sin.
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He saved me from a life and eternity apart from Him.
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Would you take that step? This is your encouragement from
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your pastor saying please don't. If you hear God's voice today,
37:33
do not harden your heart. Step forward in baptism, Easter
37:40
baptisms here. But in the meantime, we want to
37:44
get to know you. We want to get to know God's
37:45
story of his impossible you in your life.
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And we want to hear about it because you know what else fills
37:51
the church with faith? It's hearing story after story
37:55
after story after story, week after week, month after month,
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life afterlife, doing people like you and I.
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And I think he's going to do it again.
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So if you want to get baptized, come follow.
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Nervous I'll be hanging around. I'd love to talk to you.
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You can follow up with the tent as well.
38:18
But I believe our God is still doing impossible things and he's
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the one worth bragging about that it's his impossible work.
38:28
It's not ours. We didn't do it, He did it.
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Let's pray, Lord, this is all for you and for your glory, Your
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might or glory to be known. And I ask God that you would you
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would heal hearts of despair and brokenness.
38:55
Lord, that people who don't have that they would realize God in
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crisis in their moment of pain that things I pray for every
39:13
person stuck in addiction that they would not lose hope or lose
39:17
faith. I pray that like the Israelites,
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we would set up stones in our life that call us back to who
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you are and what you have done. Who you are is amazing, but what
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you've done, God, we never want to forget, so help us to not
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forget. And would you do it again and
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again and again? Lord, more wonders, more
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miracles, so we can show off who you are in Jesus name, Amen.