In Joshua 4:6, the message centers on remember what god has done. Explore Joshua 4 and the power of remembrance, testimony, and spiritual legacy as one generation teaches the next what God has done. Rather than treating the passage as abstract theology, the sermon traces what these truths reveal about God, the gospel, and the way followers of Jesus are called to live.
The sermon follows the biblical text into practical discipleship, connecting doctrine with identity, character, and daily obedience. It challenges listeners to examine the assumptions shaping their lives and to allow the truth of Scripture to renew the way they think and respond. The emphasis is not merely on understanding the passage, but on becoming the kind of people whose lives are formed by it.
Along the way, the message engages themes including Joshua 4:6, remember what god has done, joshua 4 power of remembrance, remember. These ideas help place the primary passage within the larger story of Scripture and show how its theology speaks to real spiritual formation. At its heart, the sermon helps answer questions such as: What does Joshua 4:6 teach about remember what god has done? It also considers how should remember what god has done shape the way Christians live?
For someone studying this passage, exploring the Christian faith, or looking for practical biblical teaching, this sermon offers a clear path from the text to everyday discipleship. The invitation is to hear what Scripture says, receive it with humility, and take the next faithful step in following Jesus.
What does Joshua 4:6 teach about remember what god has done? | How should remember what god has done shape the way Christians live? | How can believers apply Joshua 4:6 in everyday life?
Joshua 4:6, remember what God has done, joshua 4 power of remembrance
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Somebody say, "I'm ready." >> I'm ready. >> Love it. So, we've been in Joshua and uh we've been bouncing around all over Joshua. Last week I was talking about um prophecy and and the prophetic and uh what it what it looked like all throughout Joshua for Joshua to receive a word from God and then to speak it over the people, to speak it over your family, to speak it over yourself. And the And the beauty of the word of God is this is a prophetic tool for us to speak over our lives. This says who you are meant to be. The Bible says who who God created you to be as a son and as a daughter. And so, when we read this text, it's like it's like Simba, you know, looking into the water and seeing Mufasa, you know, it's like you're meant to be king. You're You're meant to be You're meant to remember who you are. And And the word of God does that for us. But this week I want to kind of jump back to right after the the Israelites passed over the Jordan River. Remember they passed over through the Red Sea when they were coming out of Egypt and then they were in the desert for 40 years uh really because of of disobedience and and they all had to die off and now their children have crossed over into the promised land. And they the the God made a way for them. They He parted the water similarly to how He parted the Red Sea. And Joshua does this really cool thing. He takes a moment and says, "We need to remember what God has done." Church, there are seasons in your life where you need to remember and hold fast to what God has done in your life. And so, Joshua tells what says one person from each tribe, "Go and get a stone." There's 12 tribes. We need 12 stones and we're going to create this memorial, this this place of remembrance. So, that every time they go down by that river again, by the Jordan River again, they're going to remember the faithfulness of God. That they can remember the miracles of God. It's It's like you take a You know when you're you're at an event or you're you're doing something cool and you're taking a picture. My dad's here today. He's always got his selfie stick out to try to get all of the memories, right? My kids, they they know how to get into my my iPhone, um which is probably not good. Nikki looks so much like me, the Face ID just opens up my phone every time. Um But we we love to take pictures as a family. And my kids will take my phone and they know how to AirPlay to the TV. And and they know how to like go through and find my photos. And they just love looking back at all of the memories, all of the photos. Like we used to be missionaries in Thailand and so they go back and they they look when they were little toddlers and they're running around and eating fried rice and all these things. Like they they love to remember all of these things. And there's moments that we, as a people of faith, the people of God, we need to hold on to. Like we we we can think and put our put our shoes put put put on the shoes of the Israelites and put ourselves in their place and be like, "Hey, I remember when we were enslaved in Egypt." Do you Do you remember a season in your life when maybe God made a way for you out of addiction? Can you remember the the season when you were in financial crisis and and God came through in that moment? Remember when God made a way through the Red Sea. Remember when it looked like there was no way forward in your life, but God came through. God began to open up a door for you in your life. What Maybe you've been wandering in the desert for years and years. You feel aimless, you feel purposeless, you're not really sure what the future would hold. You're Maybe you're living paycheck to paycheck. You're waiting for bread from heaven. But then God came through. Sickness, snake bites, bad doctor visits, poison water, worshipping idols, distracted in our faith, but God came through. We need to be about building memorials of remembrance, not just for ourselves, but for our children, for our families, for those that we love, and those that we call our friends. Because what they remember about you matters. But what they know about God really matters more. So, in Joshua 4:6, if you have your Bibles, it says, "To serve as a sign among you in the future, when your children ask you, what do these stones mean?" Again, it's important to create spiritual markers for yourself and for your children, so that they don't just remember the trips to Disney. Like, my kids still talk about going to Disney all the time. But will they talk about the moments when God became real? Like, how will anyone know God unless we testify and share what he's done? Share how he's changed your life. Like, God did this. See, you see what just happened? See this door that just opened in my life? God did that. I didn't do that. Like, GOD GOD HEALED ME. GOD CHANGED ME. GOD COMPLETELY TURNED MY LIFE AROUND. YOU YOU SEE WHO I WAS 5 YEARS AGO? I'M NOT THE SAME ANYMORE. That was God. It wasn't me. It wasn't a self-help book that I read. It was It was the Lord. And we need to be about testifying of the glory of God in our lives. And sometimes we think like, "Oh, like, you know, my arm didn't grow out, or I didn't I didn't win the lottery, or it wasn't this like high-tier miracle." You know what I'm talking about? And we try to diminish the small things that God does. But what if we started working on some compound interest? Look at this little thing God did. Look at this little thing God did. Look at this little thing God did. And allow it to build our faith. Allow it to build up the faith of those around us. When the enemy came against my family, did people know that I was trusting God? Did they see it? Did they hear it? Every one of us, we need something to live for besides what this world has to offer. Like the world doesn't satisfy. It doesn't bring lasting significance. And there's a few things that I want to hit on before I hand the microphone over to my wife today because she's going to come and preach in a minute. Come on. But write this down. The first thing is carry a stone. I've got a stone here and this thing is is very, very heavy. Oh my gosh. Why did I pick a heavy rock? We each need to carry a stone. And Joshua 4:5, the verse before we read before us says each of you must pick up one stone. It's got to go on my shoulder because it's just it's way too heavy. Pick up one stone and carry it on your shoulder. Not a pebble. A heavy stone. Something heavy. Something weighty. Something with with a little bit more significance. Something with a little bit more meaning. Carry a calling, church. Carry a message. Carry a testimony. Carry a life that is set apart. Carry some weight on your back. Carrying our family. Our God-given purpose. I went golfing this last week with my brothers. And my bro my my little brother was on my team. We were playing two on two. And he kept saying like, "Nick, is your back hurting? Is your back hurting?" And I was just like, "I don't know. What do you mean? My back's fine." And and he kept saying it all throughout the round. And finally at the end of the round, he's like, "Yeah, I bet your back really hurts cuz you've been carrying me this whole round." Hey. Sorry. But pic pic picture this picture this rock, all right? If my if my hands are full on mission and on purpose, then I can't fill my hands with other things. This thing is like 50, 60 lb. Like it's going to be hard to carry anything else in my life if this is what I'm I'm carrying. If I'm carrying my life with prayer and fasting, reading my word, sharing my testimony, sharing the gospel with my family, stopping random people at Publix and praying for them to be healed. Come on, somebody. If I'm carrying my life, choosing to live worthy of the gospel, choosing to live axios of the call, axios of of the of the gospel, axios of repentance, it's hard to carry anything else. Carrying what God has done in my life. Again, he saved me. He redeemed my past. He's made me new, and I have to tell someone about it. I'm carrying this everywhere I go. And here's the here's the thing. I don't need a theological education to share God's story in my life. Church, like I I've I've walked with some of you, and I know the one of the biggest hurdles of sharing your faith is, "I don't know enough about the Bible." Or I don't have a degree, or I didn't go to the Tennessee School of Ministry, or I I I didn't do any of these things. I read my Bible, I said yes to Jesus, and now I'm just trying to walk it out. What a testimony that is, church. That God saved me and changed me forever. Again, when my mind When my mind is fixed on heaven, I don't have room in my hands to carry the hell of this world. Because when you lay down the stone of significance, when I when I when I drop this from my hands, Sorry. I wanted you to just hear how heavy that thing was. When I set the stone down, now my hands are open to carry other things. Carry what the world has. And it might feel lighter in the moment to carry those things, but really it means nothing. It's it's momentary. It doesn't last. It doesn't build my strength carrying the things of this world. The bottles never going to satisfy, church. The meds are never going to satisfy. The one-night stands are never going to satisfy. The bonuses, the accomplishments, the trophies are never going to be enough in your life. Like some of us, this is fun. Some of us are carrying around participation trophies. I showed up and I got a trophy. We cling to those things. What Look what I did. Look what I accomplished. We want people to know, "Oh, I know all about this." "Oh yeah, I went to school for that." "Oh, I got this this degree or that degree or all this experience and all these things because I want to be recognized for these things that I'm carrying." And again, some of us are carrying just participation trophies. But church, what if I'm sacrificing what the Lord wants to do in my future because I'm so attached to my accomplishments of the past? What if I'm too busy carrying all of these things in my life that I It's it's even blocking my vision to where God wants to to take me? And again, we look back at Joshua. They were they were setting these stones to remember the faithfulness of God that they that they wouldn't forget because the history of the the the Israelites all throughout scripture is them forgetting about God. And then prophets having to come in and say, "Return! RETURN TO HIM! LIVE SET APART! DON'T WORSHIP THESE OTHER GODS AND THESE OTHER THINGS that that give you momentary satisfaction! Serve me. Serve God." Some of us we're not maybe not carrying trophies, but we're carrying distractions. Like how many times or how much time are we spending distracting ourselves with things that have no kingdom value? Like I I really like playing video games. Anybody Anybody else in the room today? Yeah, come on, brother. Come on, somebody. Yeah. I'm all about it. We're going to have a game night soon for all of our students, all right? We're going to We'll do We'll do Mario Kart on the big screen, and I'm going to trash all of you. It's going to be great. I love watching like really good cinematic TV shows and and all all the things. I'm really into fashion and shoes and tattoos and and I didn't do it today, but normally you if you if you know me, you know I usually have like five rings on on five or six rings on my hands. I wear more jewelry than any pastor in Franklin, okay? Like I'm about it. Like I love it. I'm I'm here for it. I want to be a pirate when I grow up. But here's the thing, when I'm so obsessed with image or how people see me or all the distractions, all the doom scrolling, all the things. I know you've heard it a hundred times. Like quit doom scrolling. Okay, but I'm so bored. What do I do? All of these things, they require us to set down the stone of our calling. Cuz I can't hold all these other things in my hands when I'm carrying and remembering all that God has done in my life. And again, I'm not saying that it's sinful of some of these things. But it's just not fulfilling. It's a little empty. It's void. And it's it's honestly dangerous. A dangerous man with idle hands won't do much for the kingdom. People are going to remember what you carried. They're going to More than that, they're going to remember the thing that you carried that was heavy. They're going to remember that you carried that miscarriage. They're going to remember that you carried that death in your family. They're going to remember that you carried that bad doctor's visit. They're going to remember how you walked through those difficult seasons. And they're going to remember, did you complain and wish it all away or were you walking and trusting God? When God calls me to something that has weight to it, I can't spend my entire life trying to do other things. Because with weight comes significance. When I get to the end of my life, I want my friends, my family, and my children to see a life of sacrifice. I want them to see a life of of miracles, a life of signs and wonders, a life of faithfulness to God. G.K. Chesterton said this, "The measure of a man is not what he avoids, but what he is willing to carry for others." Galatians 6:2, "Carry each other's burdens." And in this way, you will fulfill the law of Christ. So, somebody needs to pick up a rock today. Quit kicking rocks and pick up a rock. Carry something today. Number two, build an altar. They said to build them a memorial. It says in Joshua 4:7, these stones are be a memorial. Also, you can also call it an altar to the people of Israel forever. And it's kind of interesting cuz this past week we were at this pastors conference and Rex Crane was there. He came and spoke at our church. He's the other good-looking bald guy that that we we let preach here sometimes. And and he I I love I love this man so much. He's just an incredible prophet and communicator and speaker. And he's just sharing constantly. I feel like half of his message is like the word and the other half is just stirring up people's faith, sharing stories of miracles. And he's just like, "Oh yeah, last week I was with Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook and you know, this dead person raised back to life. Or I was at this event and at this golf place or whatever and this miracle happened here." And he just shares miracle after miracle after miracle. And there's a part of me that can go like, "Dude, why are you bragging?" Like like hush. Quit bragging. But I But I had this this huge check in my spirit this last week where where the Lord was just like, "He's not bragging on himself. He's bragging on the Lord." He's trying to stir up the faith in the room of the people to begin to believe that our God still does miracles. And and and if we can get into that same vein of beginning to share, "Look what God has done in my life." Again, I'm not the same as that I that I used to be. And and for me like I want to get into the habit of bragging on God. I want to get into the habit of of talking more about him than talking about all of my issues. Because when I'm feeling depressed, when I'm feeling like my purpose is waning in life, or I'm feeling bored, or whatever it is, when I feel like an orphan instead of a son of God, what I hold onto are the stories of my life where I encounter God. Some of you know my story and I and I won't go too deeply into this, but there were years ago I I got to a point in my life on the mission field where I was ready to take my life. And what really got me out of that moment was talking with a a a counselor and saying, "Can you point to all of the moments in your life where God was real?" Where he showed up. Where he moved in power. Where a miracle took place. When you heard his voice. When scripture came alive to you and it began to become food to you and sustenance to you to grow you. I remember those moments, and my faith just becomes alive. Your faith is is like a living organism. And we have to feed it with these things constantly to remind you who you are and remind you who our God is. Because you're building something with your life. You're building something with your family in this community in this city. In 1 Peter 2:4-5, it says, "As you come to him, the living stone rejected by humans, but chosen by God and precious to him, you also, like living stones" Somebody say living stones. "are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." Billy Graham said this. He said, "The greatest legacy that one can pass on to one's children and get grandchildren is not money or other materials, but rather a legacy of character and faith." Again, so many people in our culture are feeling like they don't have direction. And what's the government going to do? And that's going to determine how my day is. Feeling like you don't have purpose or meaning because we've filled our hands with things that don't satisfy. We filled our hands with things that aren't strengthening us. Instead, church, we need to be about building an altar of remembrance with weighty sacrifice. An altar was a place to die on. An altar was a place to make sacrifices. And God is calling us to make sacrifices in our life when we walk in this way. These stones that we carry, these testimonies, even the risks that we take in our faith. Church, we take risks. We're not here to play it safe. The miracles and faithfulness of God, the faith that we carry from experiencing God in all these different things, it's weighty. And we need to be about carrying it. Cuz here's here's what I'm talking about. When when you're carrying these things, it begins to stir up other people. It begins to stir up the church to believe for greater things and greater moves of God. I was at this pastor's conference with with Nikki Joe, and this woman walks up to us, and I knew who she was, but she had never met Nikki before. And she like she gets down and and looks at him and was like, "Are you the miracle that I was praying for?" And in the moment I was just like, "What are you talking about?" And Nikki like immediately jumps behind my leg and was like, "Who is this lady?" you know. Stranger danger. But then I remembered years ago, again when we were in Thailand, when Nikki was born, he immediately had to go back into the hospital. And the doctor was not giving us good news. And so we took a picture of him, We posted on Facebook and we said, "Pray." Pray. And then hundreds of people begin to comment and say, "I'm praying for your son." We're praying. We're praying. We're praying. And she was one of those ladies. And she says, "You're the miracle that I was praying for." And because of you, my faith was built. Because of you, you're you're a walking miracle. Don't you ever forget it. This miracle, she said she said it has given me so much faith. And she began to speak to him, "God has such a plan for your life." Church, I'm looking at a room full of miracles. I need a better amen for that, church. I'm looking at a room full of miracles today. Carry it. Let the world know. Build an altar of remembrance. Like my whole life has been full of miracles if I'll actually take a moment to remember. If I actually take a moment to look what the Lord has done. It's not just at church or in camp meetings. It's in coffee shops and supermarkets and and going and praying in my in my room and encountering him in those ways. Like God is real. HE'S NOT A FIGMENT OF YOUR IMAGINATION. JUST TAKE A MOMENT and look. It's the memories of God's faithfulness that inform my faith to believe today. My testimony very well may be the hope that somebody has been looking for. When they don't see a way out, but they hear what God has done in your life, then they begin to believe, What if God moves in my life? Like I look at at so many men and women in this church, when you first started coming here, you're not the same person that you used to be. Look how far God has brought you. Testify of it. Build an altar of memories of God's faithfulness. I'm changed because that's what I'm hearing. So, church, drop the victim act and pick up a stone of victory. Pick up something with a little bit of weight to it and begin to walk in it. What I love about altars in scripture is they often become wells. That's the third thing and then I'm going to hand it over to my wife. Dig a well. This beautiful thing happens in Genesis in Beersheba, the night the Lord appeared to Isaac and said, "I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will bless you and will increase the number of your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham." And then I love this in verse 25. This is so good. Isaac built an altar there and he called on the name of the Lord. Then he pitched his tent and there his servants dug a well. He set up shop at the space where he laid the stones of an altar and they said, "I'm not going anywhere. Let's dig a well." Church, when you can build an altar with the miracles that God has done in your life, the testimonies of him coming through, no matter how small the stones may feel to you, it can become a well that you can go back and draw on again and again. I remember when he was faithful. I remember when he we came through. It can be so refreshing and life-giving when my life is filled with faith because of the testimonies that I'm drawing from. It's like cool, refreshing water. It's like It's like lemonade on a hot day. Yes, I remember what God has done. Church, when living stones place themselves upon the altar of surrender, the altar shifts from a place of sacrifice to a well of revival. To a well of life that stirs me forward. And that's my time. I'm going to hand it off to the new pastor. Give her a hand as she comes to the platform. Brittany Serbin, come on, somebody. I want to see her try to pick up this rock because this thing is This thing is is heavy. Can you Can you do it? Oh, yeah. Hey! Come on. I got I got a little I got a little nervous there. That >> I lift children. >> You lift children all the time. Come on. Come on. >> So, I get to kind of wrap up this series for us and kind of put a close on it because and and I get to echo a lot of the things that Nick has said um because the Bible does that as well. Because the story that he's talking about right after they cross the Jordan River and come into the promised land, the things that happened there end up being echoed later in the end of Joshua. So, at the end of Joshua, we see that many years have passed and Joshua is now an old man. The generation that saw the promises of the Jordan River and Jericho are now older and the younger generation is being brought up in the promises of God. They're being brought up and raised in the midst of the fulfillment of the promise. Their enemies have been given to them on all sides into their hands. They have lived in established cities that they did not have to build themselves. They are reaping harvest from land that they did not have to plant themselves. In essence, they're living the good life. They're living the good life. Uh Joshua knows that his time in leadership and on the earth is coming to an end and someday soon. So, he calls together first the leaders of Israel and brings them to a place of remembrance in chapter 23. And then in chapter 24, he brings the entire Israelite people to a final message and that's to a place of remembrance. So, turn with me if you will to Joshua 24 12 through 15. This is the main text. Says in Joshua 24 12 through 15. You did not do it on your with your own sword and bow. So, I gave you a land on which you did not toil, cities you did not build, and you live in them and eat from the vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant. Now, fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worship beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt and serve the Lord. But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods of your ancestors that were served beyond the Euphrates or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Joshua brings them through remembering what God has done for them, reminding their hearts and their minds of all that they have seen. And he reminds them that God was faithful and has never left them. They have had years at this point of living in the promised land that was given to their ancestors, getting comfortable, reaping the benefits of the promises and the blessings. And we know that with time and comfortability, often comes forgetfulness. It's so easy to settle into the blessings and the provisions of the past, to get comfortable in the midst of our waiting, and forget of all that has happened and how God has carried us thus far. Joshua understood that leading them into the promised land was not leading them to a final destination. It was about leading the people continually in God's purpose and plan for their lives, and it was not done yet. He reminds them that God has been faithful, and then he flips it on the Israelites, and he reminds them to be faithful in following the Lord. He calls them to remember and then to take action out of faithful obedience. We also see that call to consecration again. Yes, I brought the word back, consecration, and I brought it back because it really is the overarching theme of Joshua. He gives them clear instruction to hold fast to the Lord, to serve him, and to throw out all their other gods. They had received the blessings and the richness and the faithfulness of God, but they had also received with that blessing distraction and temptation that can creep in. Over time, they would be tempted by the other nations that were living amongst them in the new lands. They would be tempted with their old ways to go back to what previous generations had taught them and what they had previously relied on. There is no plan and no grid that we can have and we can carry into the new promises on our own. We can't take our old habits, we can't take our old customs, our patterns, our thoughts, our ways, because those things were not meant for the new seasons to come. Those old mindsets and those old things cannot sustain us in the new things. And with each new promise, that call comes again, and with each new promise, there's a new thing that we must carry to bring us into that season. Somewhere along the way, the Israelites made the decision to fall back on what they knew, to fall back into a wilderness mindset, and they listened to the nations around them and tried to guide themselves. They had to be reminded to come back to the Lord, to remember what he had done for them, so that they could not just live in a state of remembrance, but so that they could proclaim what God had done and move forward. Right? Remembering is important. It keeps us focused on what God has done, what he can do, but it's not just for our own hearts. In Psalm 22, 30 and 31, it says, "Our children and their children will get in on this." This is the message version, and I like it cuz it's simple. It says, "Our children and their children will get in on this." As the word is passed along from parent to child, babies not yet conceived will hear the good news that God does what he says. In order for future generations to live in the plans of God for their life, they must hear. And in order for them to hear, someone must tell them. Right? Someone has to be faithful in telling about the faithfulness of God, of all the miracles that he's done, of all of the things that he's done that's brought us thus far. The word of God that has been given and the the prophecies that have been spoken over the family's life that they are going to move into, and to be taught the way and how they should walk to receive that. That means that we have to share, and we have to testify what the Lord has done to us. And I mean, Nick spoke about it, but I'm speaking in a family context more specifically now. That means it's time to share the goodness, the things that God has done, how God has delivered us. Um your story was never meant for you to keep inside and just remember, your story was not meant for you to journal it down and never release it. Your story was not meant for you to even worse forget that it ever happened. Having altars like this stone or the 12 stones earlier in the story are also important to our legacies, to our families' future, to the future of blessings that God has. When it comes to families, these altars, these physical reminders, and the intentional moments that we set within our household will be what carries us and brings us back into alignment and to where we need to be. We remember, we share, and then we move to take on the next piece of ground that God has for us to take. Joshua gives a detailed account in chapter 23 and 24 of all the goodness that God has done, and I encourage you to read it. But then he gives a final charge for the people to make a choice. Joshua gave them a choice which gods they would serve. He didn't just say this is the god you have to serve. He said, "Make a choice. Which god will you serve?" They could fall back on worshipping the gods of the past, the gods of the ancestors. They could fall into worshipping the gods of their neighbors, those that they were living in, and the gods of the present. Or they could choose what Joshua chose. But Joshua said, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." Joshua realizes the weight and the importance of that decision, and he likewise knows the tendencies of the people to forget. He tries to warn them. First, he gives the call, and they come back, and they're like, "Yes, we are going to follow the Lord." But they made the decision based on following the example of their leader. And Joshua knew that wasn't enough. Then he knew that his time of leadership was coming to an end and that would not sustain them. So, he warned them and he offers again for them to make the declaration. And so, they choice was brought about now with the weight of the decision. He reminds them and brings forth the weight of the decision that they are making. And then they again, they did choose to follow the Lord this time knowing the full weight of the decision they were making. And if you read the end of Joshua and even the beginning a little bit of beginning of Judges, you see that they did follow to that. They did keep to that for a time and God did give them more nations and more lands into their hands. They made the decision knowing the weight and made an altar or a way that would hold them accountable. They wrote it down. They used a stone, a physical remembrance, a symbol for all to see. And I'm here to give a charge today to present us with a decision to make. We've been talking about the importance of family. We've reflected inwardly. We've let God do the deep work in our hearts. We've even talked practically about the ways that the Lord can help us strengthen our homes. And now I call each of us to make a clear and dedicated decision as for me and my house. This is not a light-hearted decision. This is not a This is a decision that carries a weight just like that heavy stone. And as it's heavy, I encourage you to sit in it. To experience the weight of it. But if you are serious today and you want to lead your family in this in the ways of the Lord and make a dedicated decision, I ask you to join me today to make the declaration as for me and my house. And let me be clear, church, that following your pastor's example will only take you so far. Following half of what God has told you to do will not bring you all the way through the hard times. It will not bring you all the way through the promises. Rushing ahead of God into the promise without allowing him to lead you through the process will not sustain you and will bring only heartache. There has to come a moment in which you consider the weight and make a life-giving decision for yourself and your family. It's not about perfection. It's about making the decision. You may not know all of the details or the steps that the of the plan that God has for your life. You may not fully understand the steps that he's asking you to take in preparation. He may not know how long it will be that you have to wait before you feed before you see the fulfillment of the promise. But you're not left without guidance or resources. You can hold fast to the decision today in all of our imperfectness because of his word, which is alive and full not of just stories but of examples and instructions for us to follow with the Holy Spirit's
