The sermon, titled 'A Monument to God’s Goodness and Greatness,' focuses on the biblical account from Joshua 4, where God instructs the Israelites to set up twelve stones as a memorial after crossing the Jordan River on dry land. These stones serve as a tangible reminder of God's intervention, goodness, and greatness. The sermon emphasizes the human tendencies of forgetfulness and self-centeredness, urging believers to create memorials to remember God's faithfulness. The speaker draws parallels between the monument in Joshua and other biblical memorials like the Passover and the Lord's Supper, highlighting the importance of passing faith to the next generation. The sermon concludes by encouraging simple obedience to God and recognizing His acts of kindness in believers' lives.

Sermon text this morning is Joshua 4, 1 through 9 to set the stage. We will read the whole chapter. Joshua chapter 4, please follow along. And it came to pass when all the people had completely crossed over the Jordan that the Lord spoke to Joshua saying, take for yourselves 12 men from the people, one man from every tribe, and command them saying, take for yourselves 12 stones from here out of the midst of the Jordan from the place where the priests feet stood firm. You shall carry them over with you and leave them in the lodging place where you lodge tonight." Then Joshua called the twelve men whom he had appointed from the children of Israel, one man from every tribe.

And Joshua said to them, Cross over before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan, and each one of you take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come saying what do these stones mean to you then you shall answer them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord when it crossed over the Jordan the waters of the Jordan were cut off and these stones shall be for a memorial to the children of Israel forever and the children of Israel did so, just as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones from the midst of the Jordan, as the Lord had spoken to Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, and carried them over with them to the place where they lodged and laid them down there. Then Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of the Jordan and in the place where the feet of the priests who bore the ark of the covenant stood, and they are there to this day.

So the priests who bore the ark of the covenant stood, and they are there to this day. So the priests who bore the ark stood in the midst of the Jordan until everything was finished that the Lord had commanded Joshua to speak to the people, according to all that Moses had commanded Joshua, and the people hurried and crossed over. Then it came to pass when all the people had completely crossed over that the Ark of the Lord and the priests crossed over in the presence of the people. And the men of Reuben, the men of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh crossed over, armed, before the children of Israel, as Moses had spoken to them. About forty thousand prepared for war crossed over before the Lord for battle to the plains of Jericho.

On that day, the Lord exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel, and they feared him as they had feared Moses all the days of his life. Then the Lord spoke to Joshua, saying, Command the priests who bear the ark of the testimony to come up from the Jordan. Then Joshua therefore commanded the priest, saying, Come up from the Jordan. And it came to pass when the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord had come from the midst of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests' feet touched the dry land, that the waters of the Jordan returned to their place, and overflowed the banks as before. Now the people came up from the Jordan on the 10th day of the first month, and they camped in Gilgal at the east border of Jericho.

And those 12 stones which they took up out of the Jordan, Joshua set up in Gilgal. Then he spoke to the children of Israel, saying, When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What are these stones? Then you shall let your children know, saying, Israel crossed over this land on dry land, over this Jordan on dry land. For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea which he dried up before us until we had crossed over that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever. Oh Father, open our ears, soften our hearts, prepare us for the message that you have prepared for us today.

We commit this time to you in the name of Jesus who is Christ. Amen. The title of the sermon this morning is A Monument to God's Goodness and Greatness. I think that's a reasonable summary of the text. God is calling on His people to build this corporate witness to the miracle that He's giving them to bring them across the Jordan River on dry land.

God is a good God in a very real and practical and concrete way. Meaning that we don't just read that he's good on the page, but he actually shows up in life to show himself to be good to you in concrete ways that you can look back on and see his goodness to you. God is a great God in very real, practical, concrete ways. He proves His greatness in events in our lives. God is a faithful God in very real, concrete, practical ways.

And people are naturally very self-centered and very forgetful. What's The conclusion that we draw from these two great facts that God is both good and great and faithful in practical ways, but people are self-centered and forgetful. The conclusion is we need things to help us remember and get focused on God. And God gives the children of Israel that kind of help in today's text. So this is really what the text is about.

God helping us out of our self-centeredness to be focused on God and His goodness and greatness towards us and to help us not be forgetful. Let's ask the Lord to help us. God, so many of us have tasted of your kindness in real practical concrete ways. We have read it on the pages, but We've also seen so many times you show up in life, in our lives at just the right moment, with just the help we need. So I thank you that you have proven yourself in circumstances to be both good and great to your people.

And now I use this text to help us not to be so self-centered, but to focus on you and your goodness to us and not to be so forgetful but to be careful to remember all these times that you showed up just when we needed you. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen. We're going to begin with a brief explanation of the text. It will be brief because the text means just exactly what the text says. There's not a lot of mystery in the text, so I think the explanation will be brief.

For the sake of repetition, I'd like to back up one verse into chapter 3 and just read that last verse leading into chapter 4 and then read through verse 9. So I know it was just read but I want to just fix us on this subsection of chapter 4 and draw our attention exclusively to 1 through 9. So back up to the very end of chapter 3, chapter 3 verse 17, and then I'll read through verse 9, follow along. Then the priests who bore the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan. All Israel crossed over on dry ground until all the people had crossed completely over the Jordan.

And it came to pass when all the people had completely crossed over the Jordan, the Lord spoke to Joshua saying, take for yourselves twelve men from the people, one man from every tribe, and command them saying, take for yourselves twelve stones from here out of the midst of the Jordan from the place where the priests feet stood firm. You shall carry them over with you and leave them in the lodging place where you lodge tonight." And Joshua called the twelve men whom he had appointed from the children of Israel, one man from every tribe. And Joshua said to them, Cross over before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan, and each of you take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, this may be a sign among you when your children ask you in time to come, saying, What do these stones mean to you? Then you shall answer them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed over the Jordan, The waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord.

When it crossed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones shall be for a memorial to the children of Israel forever. The children of Israel did so just as Joshua commanded. He took up twelve stones from the midst of the Jordan as the Lord had spoken to Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, and carried them over with them to the place where they lodged and laid them down there. Then Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests who bore the ark of the covenant stood.

And there they are to this day. In chapter 3 verse 12 we read this, now therefore take for yourselves 12 men from the tribes of Israel, one from every tribe. It's right in the middle of chapter 3 and it's just sort of left there. They're to pick out a man from every tribe that they're never given anything to do. But here in chapter four, we find out really what that was about and what these 12 representatives of the tribe are to do.

The sense is that this is a corporate monument. It's a monument made by all of the tribes who have been given this great gift by God to cross over the Jordan on dry ground. On dry ground. Each of the twelve tribes are there. Members of each of the twelve tribes cross over on dry ground.

They all benefit, so each tribe must be represented. That's why the representative from each tribe, that's why 12 stones, to make the monument, because it is a corporate monument to the goodness and the greatness of God. So each of these 12 men get a stone from where the priests have been standing with the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord. The Ark of the Covenant is the visible symbol of God's presence. In the last sermon on Joshua, James made the point that up until this point, they've been following the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night.

But you're not going to see the pillar of cloud or the pillar of fire by night anymore. The Ark of the Covenant of the Lord is going to be the symbol of God's presence with the people. So there are stones around where the priests have been standing, and these 12 representatives of the tribes are to go where the priests were standing, and these stones around them, and to get a stone, a stone of the size that you would carry on your shoulder. So a sizable stone, not a pebble or something that you would carry in your hands, but something that you need to support on your shoulder. So these are 12 sizable stones.

Verse 6 tells us exactly what the purpose is for the corporate monument. Look again at verse 6. That this may be a sign among you. There's the purpose that this may be a sign among you. There's the purpose that this may be a sign among you.

When your children ask in time to come saying, what do these stones mean to you? So It's designed to be a sign, something that points to something greater. What is the greater thing? God's work of goodness and greatness in cutting off the Jordan River so they could cross over on dry ground. It's intended to stimulate a question.

What's with the rocks? The children are going to see this configuration of 12 sizable rocks, a rock that you would carry on your shoulder, and it's going to make them ask, what is that? What does this mean? And so it's bringing you into a time of instruction with your children. In Psalm 66 verse 16 the psalmist says this, come and hear all you who fear God and I will declare what he has done for my soul.

I think Christians who have walked with the Lord have experienced God's goodness and God's greatness in their lives over a period of time have this impulse of the psalmist, a desire to Gather anyone who will listen around to hear you speak of what God has done for your soul. This monument is to provide an outlet for that impulse in the hearts of the people who were there and who saw the river cut off with their own eyes and dry up and walk across on dry land. It's going to make the children ask, and it's going to make the parents glad that the children gave them this outlet to say what God did in His goodness and His greatness for them on that day. They'll remember that day. And if you were a father or a mother who wanted an outlet for that impulse to say what God had done for your soul, you could take your family on a trip to visit this monument.

Now it's not just nowhere in the text. There are going to be Israelites who live close to the monument and walk by it on a daily basis, most of the tribes will be far from the monument. And so if you had that impulse, that desire in you to just speak of the goodness of God and what He had done for your soul, you might take your family on a trip. We have the Washington Monument. We have the Great Rock with the four presidents, Mount Rushmore.

And I've never been there, but I've never been to Mount Rushmore. But me and all my children know about Mount Rushmore. The rocks and what's carved into it there. This would be like that for the children of Israel. You might never have been there, but you might take a trip there.

Many people do. And you would definitely make your children aware there's a monument there to the goodness and to the greatness of God. God did this. God cut off the waters. And it means children, It means that God can do that.

And it means just when we need help from God, we can depend on God. There is only one God, and He's a God that can do this, and that does do this for His people. Acts of goodness and acts of greatness on behalf of those who are His. Children, we must trust this God. We must walk with this God.

We must obey this God. So God gave instructions, and Joshua faithfully related the instructions. And the 12 representatives faithfully carried out the instructions and the text credits that obedience to all the people as if like this two million people at all kind of got a little bit of your hand on the rock to move the rock that's actually when it gets down to the description of it in verse 8 that's how it reads so if you just took eight in isolation you you might think that look at verse 8 And the children of Israel did so, just as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones from the midst of the Jordan, as the Lord had spoken to Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, and carried them over with them to the place where they lodged, and laid them down there. So their representatives did it, but in verse 8 it actually gets credited that the people obeyed. The people did, as Joshua said, When designated representatives are faithful to their charge, it's a blessing to the people they're representing.

The obedience of the representatives is on behalf of the people that they're representing. So that's why verse 8 says it that way. And actually that principle worked in reverse 40 years earlier. When the spies were sent out, one from each tribe, just like this, a representative from each tribe, and it was not their charge to go and come back and say whether they thought God could deliver their enemies into their hands or not. That was not the purpose of that mission.

That was not their charge. But that's what they did. And then so their unfaithfulness was actually a curse to the people 40 years earlier. But now these 12 representatives are faithful to their charge and it's a blessing to the people. It is obedience on behalf of the people.

Finally we have verse 9 which is actually quite controversial among the commentators. Follow along as I reread verse 9. Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of the Jordan in the place where the feet of the priests who bore the Ark of the Covenant stood, and they are there to this day." About half of the commentators, and it really is about 50-50, About half of the commentators say this is a different set of stones and Joshua did it to mark where the priest stood. Then they begin to say things that are outside of the text like when the water levels were low, maybe you could see exactly where the priest had stood with the Ark of the Covenant. That may be true.

About half the commentators say, no this is the same set of stones and it should be translated from the midst of the Jordan. These were the stones that were taken up from the midst of the Jordan, instead of in the midst of the Jordan. So, I'm not sure. Normally, in a controversy like this, commentators in this tradition think this, and commentators from another tradition think that. There's no semblance of that here.

There's no telling. It's no predicting who's going to think what. I don't believe the text is particularly harmed or helped either way. In either case, the stones which were set up where they camped, which were taken out of the Jordan on the shoulders of the twelve representatives to the place that they would camp that night. That's what was commanded by God.

And it's possible that Joshua led people to also set up twelve different stones in the middle of the Jordan, I'm not sure. I don't think the text is particularly harmed or helped either way. Some implications and applications for God's people. I'm going to give you five. So, implications from the things that are obvious in the text.

They're not right in the text, but as we accept the text as true, they're the things that follow from those truths, implications. And then applications. What should we do with these truths that are in the text? Surely God wanted us to do something with them. So implications and applications, let me give you five.

Number one, this is what God's people do. Setting up memorials to the goodness of God and the greatness of God. Not just on the written page, but God showing up in your circumstances to give you just what you need just when you need it. This is what God's people do. I want to take us on a tour of two places before this chronologically in the Bible.

One place still in the Old Testament but after this chronologically in the Bible. And then one place in the New Testament to show that God still is doing this in the New Testament age. The first is Exodus chapter 12. Exodus chapter 12 is the Passover text. You can turn there if you want or you can listen as I read some selections from Exodus chapter 12.

It is the day of the Passover. It is the historical account of the Passover as God is bringing His people miraculously out of their slavery in the land of Egypt. Let me read Exodus chapter 12 beginning in verses 12 through 14. God says, for I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast. And against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment.

I am the Lord. Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood I will pass over you and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt." Look at verse 14. So this day shall be to you a memorial and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance." So the Passover feast is actually what this corporate monument of 12 stones is.

It is a sign, it is an everlasting memorial that when the slaves in Egypt needed God to show up and deliver them, He came with just the right thing at just the right time and brought them out of their bondage. And When he was rendering justice on the firstborn of the people in that land, if you had the blood over the door, it was a sign to you that God would pass over and not render to you as you deserved. But He would accept the blood of a substitute. It was a sign of that. It was to be an everlasting memorial to the people.

Then reading further in the chapter, it's still in Exodus chapter 12 verses 25 through 27, we read this. It will come to pass when you come to the land which the Lord your God will give you, just as He promised, that you shall keep this service, the Passover feast. And it shall be when your children say to you, What do you mean by this service? That you shall say, it is the Passover sacrifice of the Lord who passed over the houses of the children in Israel when He struck the Egyptians and delivered our households." So the people bowed their heads and worshiped. So that everlasting memorial, the Passover feast, was for the same purpose.

It was to cause your children to ask, why are we doing this? What is this Passover feast is about? And it draws out of you the account of what God had done for your soul. We were slaves in Egypt, But God brought us out so that he might bring us into the home where we're living now, to this place of rest and abundance. Forty years later, at the end of the wilderness wanderings, In Deuteronomy chapter 5, you can turn there if you want.

I'm going to end up in chapter 6. In Deuteronomy chapter 5, it's the re-giving of the Ten Commandments before the people are brought into the promised land. So you have the Ten Commandments in Deuteronomy chapter 5. Then Deuteronomy chapter 6 is this famous text that teaches believing parents to diligently teach the ways of the Lord to their children and to talk of them when they sit in their house, when they walk by the way, when they lie down, when they rise up, we can quote it. And then we read this in Deuteronomy chapter 6 verses 20 through 25.

When your son asks you in time to come, saying, What is the meaning of the testimonies, the statutes, and the judgments which the Lord your God has commanded you? Then you shall say to your son, We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and the Lord showed signs and wonders before our eyes great and severe against Egypt Pharaoh and all his household then he brought us out from there that he might bring us in to give us the land which he swore to our fathers and the Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes to fear the Lord our God for our good always, that He might preserve us alive as it is this day. Then it will be righteousness for us if we are careful to observe all these commandments before the Lord our God as he has commanded us. So in Deuteronomy chapter 5 and 6 we get the commands and ordinances of the Lord and you're supposed to teach them diligently and after you've been teaching them diligently, a question is anticipated. Why do we do this?

Why do we do all these things? It's an outlet for This impulse in the heart of the believer to say, listen to what God has done for my soul. We were slaves, God brought us out, He might bring us in. Turn to Esther if you'd like, or listen to Esther. In the book of Esther, the people of God have been taken into captivity, into Babylon, because of their backsliding.

The Persians have then conquered the Babylonians, so now they're in part of the Persian Empire, and Esther is made queen of this empire. The favored queen. And Haman, this wicked second in command to the king, has conspired to wipe the people of God off the face of the earth, but God has shown up at just the right moment, with just the right help that they need, and the people of God have been delivered from this threat of complete annihilation across the empire. And then we read this in Esther chapter 9 verses 20 through 28. Esther chapter 9 verses 20 through 28.

This is right after the people had been delivered. And Mordecai wrote these things and sent letters to all the Jews near and far who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus. To establish among them that they should celebrate yearly the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar, as the days on which the Jews had rest from their enemies, as the month which was turned from sorrow to joy for them, and from mourning to a holiday, that they should make them days of feasting, and joy of sending presents to one another and gifts to the poor. So the Jews accepted the custom which they had begun as Mordecai had written to them, because Haman the son of Hamadatha the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to annihilate them, and had cast poor, that is, the lot to consume them and destroy them. But when Esther came before the king, he commanded by letter that this wicked plot, which Haman had devised against the Jews, should return on his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.

So they called these days Purim, after the name Pur. Therefore, because of all the words of this letter, what they had seen concerning this matter, what had happened to them, the Jews established and imposed it upon themselves and their descendants and all who would join them, that without fail they should celebrate these two days every year according to the written instructions and according to the prescribed time, that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, every city, that these days of Purim should not fail to be observed among the Jews and that the memory of them should not perish among their descendants. Practicing Jews, observe it today. Finally, 1 Corinthians 11. So Exodus 12 and Deuteronomy 6 are before our text.

Then we have this corporate monument of 12 stones. Then we have the book of Esther and them establishing that memorial to God's goodness and greatness to them. Now the New Testament in 1 Corinthians 11 verses 23 through 26, it's the Lord's Supper instituted by the Apostle Paul. First Corinthians 11 23 Paul writes, For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, Take, eat, this is my body which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me.

In the same manner, he also took the cup after supper saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. This do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, You proclaim the Lord's death till He comes. It is a corporate monument that we observe when we gather on Sundays. It's designed to take us out of our natural, very natural self-centeredness, and very natural forgetfulness, and to keep it always before our eyes.

We feel very strongly that it's the New Testament pattern to do it every week. Why? Because we're self-centered every week. We're forgetful every week. And if we don't have something that centers us on God's goodness and greatness, and in which we're careful to remember, not just happen to remember, but that we're careful to remember, that we won't remember.

So this is what God's people do. They erect monuments to God's goodness and greatness, often at his explicit command. Exodus 12 was at his explicit command. Deuteronomy 6 was at his explicit command. Joshua chapter 4, our text for today, was at his explicit command.

But not always. Esther 9 was just what Esther and Mordecai had determined that what they ought to do. I'm sure that impulse came from God, but the text doesn't say that it was commanded. This is what God's people do. And the follow on from that, of course, is this is what we should do.

At least we do it in the Lord's Supper, but certainly it shouldn't be restricted to that. Number two, simple forgetfulness is a great threat to our faith. Just simple forgetfulness. Years ago we preached through Deuteronomy. It was actually before Sovereign Redeemer Day.

So some of us were together at Hope Baptist and we preached to Deuteronomy. I think of it as the do not forget book because you never get a stone throw away in Deuteronomy from that theme. Do not forget. Over and over and over and over through Deuteronomy you have these two interlocking companion messages. Do not forget.

Be careful to remember. They go together. Don't forget. Be careful to remember. Because if you're not careful to remember, if you just happen to remember what you happen to remember, you'll forget.

So you have to be careful to remember. What if we did this thought experiment and made a list of all the great threats to our faith? What's likely to overthrow my faith? To leave me hanging on by my fingernails on the cliff's edge. Besetting sins, the sins that I never quite treat ruthlessly, but I hide them, I protect them, I nurture them even when no one knows.

Yes, besetting sins. The influence of the world is always pressing in on us and trying to get us to reverse course and go back to Egypt. Oh man, remember how great it was in Egypt when we were slaves. Our mortal enemy, the devil who prowls as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. He's full of malice and he never sleeps and he's always plotting to overthrow our faith.

Well, all those things belong on the list, but would forgetfulness be on the list? I just want to say from our text, it's on God's list. If it hasn't been on your list, it's on God's list. Forgetfulness, simple forgetfulness is a great threat to our faith. We have to be careful to remember.

Put things in place to remember. Erect monuments to remember. When I needed help, God showed up at just the right moment with just the help that I needed. So that you don't forget. Number three.

Passing along our faith to the next generation is a key priority. That's really at the heart of this monument. Yes, that we would remember that God came in very real, practical, concrete ways, entered into our troubles and gave us just what we needed. But the monument is to stimulate questions from our children that then it brings us into a time of instruction where we say what God has done for our soul. Passing along our faith to the next generation is a key priority.

It is an outlet. It is an outlet for this impulse that God puts in the heart of a believer that God's kindness has been expressed to me and I want it to be known. And above all, I want my children to know what God has done. So here's the question for you. Parents, here's the question for you.

Do your children know the stories in all caps? The stories of your family history. Some of the stories happened before they were ever born. They've happened in your marriage when they were little before they could remember the things that were happening. So here's one.

Here's one. I was working as a production manager. Our clients were getting more sophisticated and the products we were building were getting more sophisticated and I was a physical education major and had no business being a production manager. So Scott came and said you have to upgrade your skills. But honestly I wasn't suited to the work.

I didn't want to do the work. I didn't want to upgrade my skills because I wasn't good at it and I didn't like it. So I didn't want to make that my career. So Scott was honest with me and I was honest with him and he was very gracious and said, I'll help you in any way that I can transition to the next thing. I'll help you.

What do you need? What can I do to help you transition to the next thing? And I had actually interviewed to be a car salesman. Did you know that? I had interviewed to be a car salesman.

Well, I had gone on one interview and I filled out a fistful of app job applications and I had him in my car and I was going to mail them that day and Scott came to me and said our salesperson just quit don't go try sales I never mailed all those job applications. It was just the help at just the right time. It was just what I needed. Anybody hearing that story for the first time? Rebecca, are you hearing that story for the first time?

No. Abby, where's Abby? Ron is. Ron's family. Ron's family.

My children haven't heard it for a long time. They probably haven't heard it in the last decade. Shame on me. That's one of the stories for the Dome. So I am going to give you some homework.

Parents, Tell your kids the stories. Tell your kids the stories when God showed up at just the right time with just the help that you needed. They need to hear what God has done for your soul. They need to hear it. And isn't that impulse in you that you want to tell it?

It is. Give vent to it. Number four. Everyone who has received of the goodness and greatness of God is responsible to tell and remember. To remember and tell.

Everyone who has received of the goodness of God, he was good to you, and of the greatness of God, he did what nobody else could do, is responsible to remember that and to tell it. You are permitted to remain quiet if God has never done anything for your soul. Because you're not a Christian and we don't want to hear it anyway. Every tribe carries a stone. If your tribe was there, you sent a man to get a stone.

1 Peter 3, 15. Listen to 1 Peter 3, 15. But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. What does that mean? Set God apart as ultimate in your heart.

There is nothing that compares to God in my heart. That's what it means to sanctify the Lord God in your heart. And always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you. With meekness and fear. So you're always ready.

If anyone asks you, what does that mean? Why do you do that? You're ready with the defense. Why do you have hope when everyone else is crumbling? Let me tell you what God has done for my soul.

That's number four. Everyone who has received the goodness and greatness of God is responsible to remember and tell. Period. Amen. Number five.

Among all the complexities of our lives, simple obedience is the key. We live in 2022 and we're bombarded with messages and technology and and and. Life has probably always been complex. We have different expressions of it and probably heightened expressions of it. I'll buy that.

Okay, simple obedience is the key. Let me give some advice to myself in your presence. Self, stop trying to over architect outcomes and just walk closely with the Lord and obey Him. Jason, stop trying to over architect outcomes. Just walk closely with the Lord and obey Him.

I'm worried about this thing so I start to architect an outcome. He's going to do this, so then I'll do that, which will cause him to stop it. He's going to say this and I'll be ready to say that. Then he'll...enough, enough. Walk closely with the Lord and obey the Lord.

He can cut off the Jordan. And you won't have to architect the outcome. You'll just walk across on dry land. God, You are so worthy to have a completely trusting people. The expressions of your goodness and your greatness in the lives of the believers who are listening now are so real and practical and concrete that we really feel foolish when we look back on the times when we've been full of fear and doubting.

I pray that you would help us to walk closely with you, obey you, trust you. Thank you that you bring us to these texts. We wouldn't think these thoughts if we weren't in Joshua 4. We wouldn't feel our lack in erecting corporate monuments to your goodness and greatness if you didn't bring us to these stacks. So thank you for the book of Joshua in this chapter.

Pray that you would use it in our lives. In Jesus' name, amen.