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[0:00] But we're going to turn to our Bibles now and read again from the book of Joshua. Paul Brennan will be preaching for us later on Joshua chapters three and four. We're going to read from verse one of chapter three through to verse one of chapter five.

[0:16] Feel free to get up and grab a Bible just now. There are some at the sides and the front and the back and we're reading on page 179 if you've got one of those church Bibles. So Joshua chapter three.

[0:31] Then Joshua rose early in the morning and they set out from Shittim and they came to the Jordan he and all the people of Israel and lodged there before they passed over.

[0:50] At the end of three days the officers went through the camp and commanded the people. As soon as you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God being carried by the Levitical priests then you shall set out from your place and follow it.

[1:07] Yet there shall be a distance between you and it about two thousand cubits in length. Do not come near it in order that you may know the way you shall go for you have not passed this way before.

[1:22] Then Joshua said to the people consecrate yourselves for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you. And Joshua said to the priests take up the ark of the covenant and pass on before the people.

[1:37] So they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the people. The Lord said to Joshua today I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel that they may know that as I was with Moses so I will be with you.

[1:56] And as for you command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant. When you come to the brink of the waters of the Jordan you shall stand still in the Jordan.

[2:06] And Joshua said to the people of Israel come here and listen to the words of the Lord your God. And Joshua said here is how you shall know that the living God is among you and that he will without fail drive out from before you.

[2:24] The Canaanites the Hittites the Hittites the Perizzites the Gergashites the Amorites and the Jebusites. Behold the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is passing over before you into the Jordan.

[2:39] Now therefore take twelve men from the tribes of Israel from each tribe a man and when the soles of the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the Lord the Lord of all the earth shall rest in the waters of the Jordan.

[2:53] The waters of the Jordan shall be cut off from flowing and the waters coming down from above shall stand in one heap. So when the people set out from their tents to pass over the Jordan with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people.

[3:09] And as soon as those bearing the ark had come as far as the Jordan and the feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the brink of the water. Now the Jordan overflows all its bank throughout the time of harvest.

[3:20] The waters coming down from above stood and rose up in a heap very far away at Adam the city that is beside Zarethan. And those flowing down toward the sea of the Arabah the salt sea were completely cut off.

[3:38] And the people passed over opposite Jericho. Now the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firmly on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan.

[3:49] And all Israel was passed was passing over on dry ground until all the nation finished passing over the Jordan. When all the nation had finished passing over the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, take 12 men from the people from each tribe a man and command them saying, take 12 stones from here out of the midst of the Jordan from the very place where the priest's feet stood firmly and bring them over with you and lay them down in the place where you lodged tonight.

[4:20] Then Joshua called the 12 men from the people of Israel whom he had appointed, a man from each tribe. And Joshua said to them, pass on before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan and take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel that this may be a sign among you.

[4:41] When your children ask in time to come, what do those stones mean to you? Then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord.

[4:52] When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever. And the people of Israel did just as Joshua commanded and took up 12 stones out of the midst of the Jordan according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel, just as the Lord told Joshua.

[5:13] And they carried them over with them to the place where they lodged and laid them down there. And Joshua set up 12 stones in the midst of the Jordan in the place where the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the covenant had stood.

[5:26] And they are there to this day. For the priests bearing the ark stood in the midst of the Jordan until everything was finished that the Lord commanded Joshua to tell the people according to all that Moses had commanded Joshua.

[5:41] The people passed over in haste. And when all the people had finished passing over, the ark of the Lord and the priests passed over before the people. The sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh passed over armed before the people of Israel as Moses had told them.

[5:59] About 40,000 ready for war passed 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 stood in awe of him just as they had stood in awe of Moses all the days of his life.

[6:17] And the Lord said to Joshua, Command the priests bearing the ark of the testimony to come up out of the Jordan. So Joshua commanded the priests, come up out of the Jordan.

[6:30] And when the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of the Lord came up from the midst of the Jordan and the soles of the priests' feet were lifted up on dry ground, the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and overflowed all its banks as before.

[6:44] The people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month and they encamped at Gilgal on the east border of Jericho. And those twelve stones which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up at Gilgal.

[7:00] And he said to the people of Israel, When your children ask their fathers in time to come, what do these stones mean? Then you shall let your children know, Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground.

[7:15] For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up for us until we passed over, so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever.

[7:36] As soon as all the kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan to the west and all the kings of the Canaanites who were by the sea heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan for the people of Israel until they had crossed over, their hearts melted, and there was no longer any spirit in them because of the people of Israel.

[8:00] Amen. And thanks be to God for the reading of his word. Well, apologies for my voice. I woke up sounding like Barry White this morning.

[8:15] It's one of the lesser-talked side effects of Ozempic, but there we go. I'm joking, obviously. Well, it could be. I don't know.

[8:26] But please have Joshua 3 and 4 open in front of you, please, and spend a few moments thinking about this together. And hopefully my voice lasts for the next few minutes.

[8:41] Now, we are, I think, quite prone to forget things, not just the small things. Where do I leave the car keys? Where's the TV remote? But we forget significant things as well, don't we?

[8:56] We forget the good qualities of those that we love most. We find ourselves fixating on the annoying habits, forgetting a lifetime of shared memories and service for each other, the joys, the sorrows, the laughter, the tears.

[9:12] We forget that because they've annoyed us. And when it comes to the Lord, our God, we are prone to wonder, aren't we? To forget. To forget his great grace, to forget his mercy, his great acts of salvation in history.

[9:29] We forget, don't we? And we need reminding. And this is a passage all about the almighty God of heaven, the great God of all creation, performing wonders for his people as they stood on the brink of the land.

[9:47] And he did it not only to get them across the Jordan into the land. He promised to do that. It's not just that, but he did it so that they and all the world might know something of who their God is.

[10:02] That his people wouldn't forget who he is or what he's done. Now, it's quite easy to read a passage like this and really feel the distance. This astonishing account of the River Jordan standing up in a heap, suddenly drying up, stopping flowing, that sort of thing, that's the kind of thing you see on movies and you read in books.

[10:25] It didn't really happen, did it? We feel very distant from it. It's a long way away, a long time ago. We can distance ourselves from this miraculous event.

[10:36] It defies belief. But this is part of our history, isn't it? As the seed of Abraham, as the true people of God, this is part of our history.

[10:50] And if we struggle with this, if we struggle with Joshua 3 and 4, how much more will we struggle to get our heads around the most astonishing event in all of history? Not just the stopping of a river, but the undoing of death itself with the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.

[11:06] You see, our God really is the God of the seemingly impossible. He really has done wonders, not just stopping a river, but raising the dead.

[11:19] God really did this for our ancestors all those millennia ago. And He acted in this way, not just to get them over the obstacle of the river, but also to reveal certain things about who He is, what kind of a God He is.

[11:37] He wanted His people, the whole world, to know certain things about Him. You get that little verb scattered throughout this whole account. But the word know, verse 4, verse 7, verse 10, verse 22, verse 24, and so on.

[11:54] It's all over the chapters. So what were God's people to know about their God? What are we to know about the Lord through these two chapters in Joshua?

[12:06] Well, two key points, and then one implication flowing from it. So here's the first thing. We are to know. We are to know the presence of God with us.

[12:20] We're to know the presence of God with us. It's clear through this whole account that it's God who does this astonishing miracle. But more specifically, it's God's presence with His people that is at the very heart of all that happens.

[12:32] It's He who leads them into the land of promise. It is impossible to miss the centrality of one object, in particular, through this account.

[12:46] Do you notice? The Ark of the Covenant. If this was a movie scene, there would be a few key things that really get attention and focus on. The Ark of the Covenant, the camera keeps coming back to.

[13:00] Look down with me. You see the Ark front and center. Verse 3. Again in verse 4. Verse 6. Verse 11. And so on.

[13:11] I think there's at least 17 references to the Ark of the Covenant in this chapter. Great prominence is given to the Ark because it is unmistakably the Ark that is giving the lead.

[13:22] It is the Ark that the people are to follow across the river into the land. Look at verse 3 and 4. As soon as you see the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord your God being carried by the Levitical priests, then you shall set out from your place and follow it.

[13:42] They are to follow the Ark. But what is the significance of that? We know the Ark is important for Israel, but why such centrality?

[13:56] What does the Ark actually mean? Well, the Ark of the Covenant was not just some symbol of the presence of the Lord.

[14:06] It was the reality of the presence of the Lord with His people. Mediated through His Word. It contained literally the ten words of the Covenant.

[14:17] Those words were inscribed on those stone tablets contained within the Ark. And it was the Ark that the people were to follow. They were told to keep a good distance from it in order that they might see the way to go.

[14:32] And so they might truly know that it is God who is doing this for them. He really is with them. Don't end with me at verse 10. Here is how you shall know that the living God is among you.

[14:47] Verse 11, Behold, the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of all the earth is passing over before you into the Jordan. And so when the priests carried the Ark of God into the Jordan, the Lord Himself parted the waters.

[15:05] He made it possible for the people to cross over into their inheritance. He did it. The presence of God was amongst His people. The Ark was literally the footstool of the Lord.

[15:17] It was where He dwelt among His people. Now we no longer have a literal Ark of the Covenant, but we do have the eternal word of His Covenant.

[15:29] We possess both what the Ark contained and what it represented. We have His unchanging gospel of grace written down for us in the Scriptures.

[15:42] The Scriptures point us to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, the one in whom we find salvation. Jesus is the one we follow. So we have His Word, but we also have His presence within us by His Spirit.

[15:55] It's great promises in the Lord as He ascended to heaven. He sent His Spirit. And we are led by the Lord Jesus and His gospel word alone.

[16:08] And so having it central, having Him central, dictating our priorities, our planning, that is the only way we are going to be able to be led as we seek to fulfill what Christ has called us to do, which is to proclaim His gospel to the nations.

[16:27] And so as we go about that task, as we go about what the Lord has called us to do, we can know with certainty that the Lord is with us. He has promised to be with us.

[16:39] And we know that far more really than even these folk did. Seeing that Jordan parted, we have something greater. That's the first thing we see in this chapter.

[16:52] The great presence of the Lord with His people. He's there in the midst. He's the one leading them over into the new land. That's the first thing. The second thing we must know looking at these chapters is the tremendous power of God.

[17:07] God is mighty in astounding and supernatural ways. He works supernaturally. As this account makes very clear to us, this is no run-of-the-mill event, is it?

[17:19] This is not an ordinary everyday thing. This is astonishing. It's unique. The writer makes it very clear to us, doesn't he? He draws our attention to the time of year that it was, that this happened at.

[17:32] This is no small stream they're going to be walking over. Now look at verse 15. The Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest.

[17:42] This is the point where the river is at its widest and deepest. It's estimated that the point where they cross the Jordan would have been between 8 and 12 feet deep and up to a mile wide.

[17:58] So that's a significant river isn't it? The river had burst its banks it was a big river. Now the town I grew up in down in the south it had a floodplain and rather unusually it hadn't been built upon it was left.

[18:16] The floodplain every few years a lot of rainfall and the floodplain would do its job. The river would burst its banks and the river was allowed to flood and it was maybe half a mile wide but there's no way I was getting across that unless I had a boat.

[18:31] Imagine doubling that this mile wide expanse 12 feet deep for an army of several thousands tens of thousands of people plus women and children and all the provisions of the animals and so forth.

[18:47] It's an utter impossibility that they could just wade across. No, no it's clear as we read this that it's the work of the Lord alone. The Lord is demonstrating who He is and all His power by stopping the river by piling up the water in a heap.

[19:08] And the people of Israel surely knew that as they approached the Jordan that they were not going to cross it under their own steam. There was no chance. It had to be the Lord who was going to get them across.

[19:19] And with the promises of chapter 1 ringing in their ears they've heard it just a few days before. Those great promises that the Lord was with them. He was going to give them the land surely. They had those promises and they had the events of chapter 2 fresh in their minds.

[19:33] Remember what the spies came back with after Jericho? People are scared. They're melting in fear. So they've got these promises, these reassurances, but there's still the literal river in front of them.

[19:53] There's no way they were going to get across unless the Lord did something wonderful. And they could only step forward trusting absolutely that He was going to do it for them.

[20:08] And perhaps the Lord sometimes brings us to that point where we just know it's impossible on our own and we simply have to depend on Him. And God sometimes humbles us, doesn't He, to the point of absolute dependence.

[20:23] There's no way I can do this unless you help me, Lord. And so it is here. Israel knew on their own they had no chance. But the Lord's purpose wasn't just simply to get the army across the river and into the promised land.

[20:38] It was more than that. The crossing of the Jordan happened so that Israel and all the world might come to know something about who their God is. This astonishing miracle was above all other things an act of revelation.

[20:55] God did it so that Israel would know. Look at chapter 3, verse 10. He did it so they would know that the living God was among them. He did it so that all the peoples of the earth may know.

[21:08] Look at the end of chapter 4. Chapter 4, verse 24. So that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty and that you may fear the Lord your God forever.

[21:25] Just imagine you're there witnessing this event. You're part of that great people of the Lord stood on the east bank of the Jordan.

[21:38] You see the Jordan flowing, this great torrent, huge river. You see the priests carrying the ark, stepping into the river and you're wondering is it going to happen?

[21:52] And as they all step in, sure enough, the water slows to a trickle and then nothing at all. And you can see right in the distance the water piled up in a heap.

[22:07] Stop wishing. Seeing that with your own eyes, you have been no doubt whatsoever that this was a wondrous act by the Lord God of heaven. you would have been in no doubt whatsoever that the living God really was amongst us.

[22:23] Seeing this happen in front of your eyes, you would have had no doubt that the Lord truly was the Lord of heaven and earth.

[22:35] And actually this is not a big deal for him. The God who created the entire universe, what's stopping a river to him, that's nothing. What's passing the Red Sea, that's nothing. He can do it.

[22:48] It could not have been clearer that this was an amazing work of the Lord. They contributed nothing to it whatsoever. All they did was carry the ark and walk into the river.

[23:01] That's all they did. But just seeing that, seeing that happen in front of their eyes, what steel that would have put in their spines because of what they faced.

[23:13] their task was now to go into the land and take it to fight battles, to take cities, to take Jericho, the walled city. But they knew that the God of all heaven and earth was with them.

[23:27] He just a part of the river for them. How certain and how confident could they be that he would without fail drive them out before them, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites.

[23:40] He was going to do it for sure. The Lord who brought them into the land in this astonishing way, there was nothing that was going to stop him from giving them the land. His promises, they were a sure thing.

[23:56] He really does live among us. Even when the seemingly impossible was to be faced, they could depend on him because he was a God who could do wondrous things.

[24:07] That was greatly confidence building for them back then, don't you think? They witnessed this, but how much more so for our generation now?

[24:19] Not only do we look back on these events, this is our God, he really did this, but he's unchanging. We look back on even greater events than even this.

[24:32] We look back on the greatest, most momentous event in all of human history. The resurrection of the Lord Jesus, that is the central moment in all of human history.

[24:47] And because he rose Christ from the dead, we know that the Lord truly is sovereign over the whole world. He's sovereign over death itself. He has won the ultimate victory. And that is a victory that you and I contribute nothing to.

[25:03] It's clear that the Lord does it. He alone does it. And truly, he dwells among us today by his Spirit. He promises never to leave or forsake us.

[25:17] In his letter to the Ephesian church, Paul prays for his readers. And he prays that they might know what is the immeasurable greatness of his power towards us who believe, according to the work of his great might, that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead.

[25:35] That same power is at work in you and me as we follow the Lord Jesus. That same power that rose Christ from the dead. What comfort, what assurance that brings to you and I.

[25:51] Not just in an ultimate sense, we really do have hope through death. But also in our daily battles, our daily troubles, the things that you'll be thinking about tonight as you try to get to sleep, those things that seem impossible for us to solve, the problems that we struggle with.

[26:13] We can trust the Lord even in those things. If he's done that great work of salvation, which is surely a reminder that we are to depend on him for everything, the great gift of salvation is from him alone, then how much more must we learn to depend on him when we face the day-to-day problems that all of us face?

[26:36] Perhaps you're going through a time like that right now. You can't seem to see beyond the current crisis. It seems to you like an impossible river to cross.

[26:51] Maybe a recent bereavement or pressures on you from every angle. Everything seems to be falling apart. You can't seem to catch a break. Well, the God who stopped the Jordan, the God who raised Jesus from the dead, he is your Lord and he promises you that he will never leave.

[27:13] He will never forsake you. That same power is at work in you. What a great comfort that is to us in all our creatureliness, our limits, our frailties, our hardships.

[27:30] Our God is the living God. He is among his people. And this passage is a reminder of the tremendous power, his supernatural power.

[27:42] It's a reminder that he alone is sovereign and that we are to trust him. We are to depend on him, to acknowledge him in all things. It's a reminder, isn't it, of the unstoppability of God's promises, his purposes.

[27:59] He is sovereign and what he has promised he will do. His kingdom has been unstoppable throughout all of history.

[28:11] His goal for the church is to send the gospel to the very ends of the earth to proclaim the Lord Jesus King, to call people to repent and believe.

[28:23] And his church has, in every age, encountered formidable opponents, formidable barriers, lands already occupied by the enemy. And yet, as we look back, the church, it has exploded across the whole earth.

[28:39] It grows even today. The church is growing right now, all across the world. Many have written off the church as irrelevant, pathetic, yesterday's news.

[28:52] And yet, it endures. the church has timeless truths to share, the most urgent news that anyone can hear, a gospel that's powerful to save.

[29:05] We belong to a supernatural God. We can trust him. So, there's two great realities that this passage teaches us about the Lord, his presence, his power.

[29:21] And here's a final implication for us. we need to remember these things. We need to remember who our God is and what he's done, not forget them. And that's the emphasis in chapter 4.

[29:34] God provides a means of remembrance so that his people, the world, and future generations would know who God is.

[29:48] So, he provides a means of remembrance. remembrance. So, this astonishing supernatural parting of the Jordan was not just a moment of revelation for the people who witnessed it. It wasn't just for those who stood on the east bank watching this happen.

[30:02] This was to be an ongoing revelation for the future generations and for the nations. God provides a means of remembrance so that his people wouldn't forget his great and mighty acts of liberation.

[30:15] So, they would instruct future generations in the acts and purposes of God. Because the truth is, you and I are prone to wander away.

[30:29] Prone to leave the God that we love. That's the reality. And even an overwhelming demonstration of God's power like this one, like the crossing of the Jordan in time, that would be forgotten.

[30:47] Now, this sort of miracle wasn't going to be a weekly event. The Red Sea, that was a generation previous, 40 years ago. This was a great moment in the history of God's people, in the story of his great rescue and liberation.

[31:06] It was a day to be remembered. And so, the law provided a means of remembrance with the stones to set up as a memorial forever. Look at verse 7 of chapter 4. This was to be a memorial forever.

[31:20] End of verse 7 there. Those stones that they picked up from the middle of the Jordan, which they took to the west bank and placed them down, those stones were to be a standing witness to God's amazing act of drying up the Jordan.

[31:40] God gave them this visual reminder, presumably because he knows that we are prone to forget, but also so that the current generation would teach the next one.

[31:52] That's the thrust of it, isn't it? Twice you have the refrain, when your children ask in times to come, what do these stones mean? You get that in verse 6. You also get it in verse 21.

[32:04] See, these stones were to be a memorial, a visual reminder, a teaching aid to the future generations in the great rescue acts of God. So, as you went for a ramble with your kids in the countryside, you've gone out from Jericho and you see this pile of 12 stones and little Johnny says, Dad, what's that for?

[32:21] But you can tell them, I was there, son. I saw it when the Lord parted the Jordan. I was there. He did it. And there are three groups of people in particular to whom this stone memorial was to be a very visual teaching aid.

[32:40] the first was the current generation, verse 6. So, although they had seen it, they were not to forget it. The second was their own children, verses 6 and 7 and again in verse 21.

[32:54] But thirdly, it was also for the nations. Look at verse 24. So that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty.

[33:05] Now, these stones wouldn't have looked like much. Just a pile of 12 stones. And remember, they were to be picked up from the Jordan and carried by one man.

[33:20] So, how big a stone can a man carry? Not that big. It would be like that. And you've got a pile of 12 of them. It would be like maybe coming up to here. Not very big, not very impressive.

[33:32] Hardly impressive when you compare it to where they've just come from. A generation ago, they came from Egypt with the great pyramids. Absolutely dwarfed this little pile of pathetic stones, wouldn't it?

[33:46] Why can't we have a morgue like that, Joshua? Why can't we have a pyramid? And yet, let's get some perspective. The Lord, if the Lord wants to look at these pyramids in Egypt, he's got to get his telescope out, hasn't he?

[34:01] It's tiny in his view. But these pile of stones, they loomed far more largely from the perspective of the Lord. This was a greater monument than even the pyramids of Egypt.

[34:12] You see, the Lord values what seems, from the world's perspective, insignificant. That's how he works. The save of the world born, not in a palace, but in a balm, a stable.

[34:25] a pile of stones by the river, an unimpressive looking memorial, but hugely significant. And we have been given our own signs, haven't we?

[34:40] Our own memorials, which seem in many ways very unimpressive, but they stand as witnesses. They proclaim to us today the mighty acts of God, supremely in the life, death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

[34:53] And the Lord in his kindness has given us not just the scriptures, but he's given us two visible signs, hasn't he? Two remembrances by which we are taken to the very heart of our faith.

[35:08] Baptism, communion. They may not seem like much to us. It's just a bit of water, bread, wine, the most basic things.

[35:21] But they are visible signs and seals of the gospel. And we are to make use of them. They help us not only to remember, but to feel sure that the gospel's true.

[35:37] Visible signs that point us and point our children to the grace of God and the gospel. And so we are to treat those visible signs, we are to treat baptism and communion with seriousness and thoughtfulness, not to neglect them, not to be treating them like some empty religious ritual, but as a visible word that brings to life the gospel in solid and real ways.

[36:04] As real as that water is splashing on the head, that's how real Christ's death on the cross is. As real as that bread is as we taste it, the wine as we drink it, as real as those are, as certainly we know the God of the heaven and earth emptied the river Jordan so they could walk over.

[36:22] The Lord Jesus really did die on the cross for our sins and rose again. These really happened. And so are we prepared to receive and make use of these memorials ourselves?

[36:39] And do we teach them to our children? The little ones in church. When they see these things happening they'll say, Dad, why are they doing that? Why are they baptizing?

[36:50] Why are they taking the bread? Kids are naturally inquisitive. Why, Dad? Why? Are we ready to tell them? Are we training the future generations in the truth?

[37:02] So let's not neglect these formal memorials the Lord has given us. But don't neglect the informal ones either. The informal memorials that God gives to us over the years.

[37:14] I'm sure each of us can look back over our own lives and there are key moments, aren't there? Key places. Perhaps there's a particular sermon for you. Maybe key people that were particularly significant for you in helping you in your own journey to faith.

[37:31] Take a moment to remember them. Give thanks for them. Maybe it was a book you read. For me, it was C.S. Lewis's Mere Christianity as well as John Stott's The Cross of Christ.

[37:45] I'm so thankful for those books. Maybe it's someone you got in mind, someone who helped you, explained things to you, cared for you, prayed for you. And it's good, isn't it, to recall these living stones, these moments that we're prone to forget.

[38:00] Don't forget that you were once dead in sin, without hope.

[38:12] Don't forget that the Lord plucked you out of the pit. He's now wonderfully included you in His family. He really has forgiven our sins. Don't forget that. Each one of our stories is a supernatural miracle.

[38:27] God has raised the dead, brought us life, so remember. Remember all the mighty works the Lord has done in your life, in our church's life. Remember. God has acted mightily in history.

[38:41] He has supernaturally rescued His people from death and slavery. He's brought them into His promised rest. And He will see us safely to gain inside. So remember the great things the Lord has done.

[38:56] Remember all that we see in this passage. We've known great things about the Lord from these chapters this evening. We know that we can trust that He is present with us. We know that we can take great confidence in what God has supernaturally and powerfully done in the past for our salvation.

[39:11] We can depend on Him for the future. and so knowing knowing these things knowing the wonders that God has done will we consecrate ourselves for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among us.

[39:28] Will we make great sacrifices for the work of the gospel trusting that the Lord will do wonders wonders of new life wonders of people growing in maturity in Christ amongst our midst wonders of a city a nation again turning to the Lord Jesus God can do wonders He's done it in the past He's done it for His people He dried up the Jordan He sent the Lord Jesus who died on the cross and rose again He saved you He saved me He does wonders Will you trust Him?

[40:02]  Let me pray and then we'll sing Heavenly Father we thank You that we are called to respond to what You have done in history we're not called to put our trust in ideas or concepts but in a God who acts who has acted wonderfully to bring salvation and who promises to bring us safely home in the end so Lord please help us to trust You to remember all that You've done and not to forget please help us for we ask it in Jesus name Amen Amen