Forget Not His Benefits

So here we go and I want you to speak it out loud. In fact, I’d like you all to stand. Can we all stand? And we’re going to read this Psalm together and so yours is in the yellow, okay? So bless the Lord, oh my soul and all that is within me bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and forget not all his benefits. Don’t forget his blessings, benefits, blessings, same thing. Who forgives all your iniquities, let me point out to you, bless the Lord, oh my soul, bless him and don’t forget his benefits, and then when we go on to the next verse we’re going to be rehearsing all those blessings and those benefits. 

So the next verse says who forgives your iniquities, that’s a benefit, that’s a blessing and he heals your diseases. Who redeemeth thy life from destruction, who crowneth thee with my been kindness and tender mercies, who satisfies your mouth with good things so that thy youth is renewed like eagles. The Lord executed righteousness and judgment for all who are oppressed.

He made his ways known to Moses but his acts unto the children of Israel. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and covers us in mercy. And he will not always try, neither will he keep his anger forever. He hath not dealt with us after our sins nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father, pityeth his children so the Lord pityeth them that fear him.

For he knoweth our frame he remembereth that we are dust. As for man, his days are his grass as a flower of the field he flourishes. For the wind passeth over it and it is gone and the place thereof shall know it no more. But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him and his righteousness unto children’s children. Yes. To such. Sorry.

To such as keep his covenant and to those that remember his commandments to do them. The Lord has prepared his throne in the heavens and his kingdom ruleeth over all. This is all my fault. Go ahead. Bless the Lord his angels that excel in strength that do his commandments, harkening unto the voice of his word. Bless the Lord all you host, you ministers of his that do his pleasure. Bless the Lord for all his works in all places of his dominion.

Bless the Lord. Oh, my soul. May the Lord add his richest blessing to the reading of his word and God’s people said … please be comfortably seated. Forget not his benefits. Don’t forget what God has done for you. If you were to go on a tour of Israel even today, there would be certain landmarks that your guide would take you to and they would indicate to you that right here was the place

where such and such a thing took place. And most of those marks have been destroyed. They have been removed. And yet the archeologists continue to search and dig around those very locations and devour to find things. And the exciting thing is Brittany, every day they find more archeological proof that the children of Israel did this and this is where it happened. They’re actually finding old altars that were built back in the day.

It’s really an exciting thing. And so Israel had this thing about not forgetting what the Lord had done. And that’s a good thing. They didn’t have the Internet like we have. Neither did they have the publishing possibilities as we have with the Word of God, with the Bible. So they had to find some ways to remember things. This is something that I learned upfront and personal when I was over in Africa, especially,

that those people were not literate for a very, very long time. And yet they knew their history in a wonderful way. And I discovered that the way that they maintained their history was through the telling of stories. And so they would gather, many families would gather at times, maybe in the daytime or even in the evening, and they would rehearse for their children the stories of their tribe, of their family. That’s how they maintained their historical remnants. However, Israel had their way. They also told stories and built altars. They did unique things to remember what the Lord had done. So in particular, I’m focused this morning on something that they did in the book of Joshua chapter four. And I’m going to work my way through this passage and make some comments as I do. Joshua four. So we begin to read chapter three. Joshua was up early and on his way from a certain place with all the people of Israel with him. He arrived at the Jordan and camp before crossing over. After three days, leaders through the camp and gave out orders to the people. And here were the orders that Joshua gave to the people. When you see the covenant chest or the arc of the covenant, when you see it, carried by the little vidical priests, start moving. Follow it. Make sure you keep a proper distance between you and it about half a mile.

Be sure not to close in on that distance. You’ll clearly see the route to take. You’ve never been on this road before. What occurred to me is I’ve been studying this particular passage and really trying to get into it deeply. I discovered something just for myself and I wanted to pass it on to you. It’s not some golden nugget, but I’m going to throw it your way because I never heard anybody reference this before.

You know that when Israel, the people of Israel, the Jewish people, you know that when they got their freedom from Egypt, the Lord caused a cloud in the daytime to shelter them from the sun because they’re out there in the wilderness in the desert. And at nighttime, the Lord caused a pillar of fire like a mass of furnace to keep them warm. This is the unique thing that people on our side of the world don’t always recognize in that side of the world, in the daytime, it can be blistering hot. You can fry an egg on top of a rock and at night, you could die of the cold.

Much a huge difference in the temperature. And so this is what the Lord did for them. And here’s what the people understood that God had said to Moses, tell the people this, follow the cloud. So when the cloud moved, that’s when they would move on. The children of Israel used to get a little fritsy. They wanted to get got. Moses, when can we get going?

Let’s get going. And his reminder to them was, we don’t move to the cloud moves. If you move before the cloud moves, you’re moving out of the will of God. So we’re not moving until the cloud. It just occurred to me as I was studying this recently, that Joshua chapter three, Joshua chapter four, this is a monumental moment for the people. The arc of the covenant was always with them. There would be times when they would stop, stay for a long time, months at a time, I guess.

They would erect the tabernacle. You know about that, made of the skins and special weavings. And it was really a work of art. It’s quite a study just to know about the tabernacle. And then when the cloud started to move, and Moses would know it was going to move, take down the Tabernacle, and away they’d go. They followed the cloud. But now you see the cloud and the pillar of fire at night was God’s design, God’s plan to lead the people, stay with the cloud because you’re heading for the promised land. But when you get to the third chapter of Joshua, they’re about to conclude the wilderness journey. Something different is about to happen. When they cross over the Jordan, and that’s what’s about to happen here, when they cross over the Jordan, they’re no longer in the wilderness. They’re now embarking into the land where the Lord said, you’ll see it’ll flow with milk and honey. So the moment they crossed over the Jordan, the cloud disappeared.

No need for the cloud. You’ve arrived in the promised land, but they were so accustomed to the cloud and the Lord had caused them to be dependent upon it. But now I just read for you what the Lord said to Joshua and he said to the people, when you see the ark being born in the Bible, the Levitical priests, get moving. You have to now follow the ark. Follow the significance of the ark. The Word of God says that he’s as close as the mention of his name.

It doesn’t say that, but the songwriters like to say that. Right now he’s as close as the air in your nostrils. Jesus said, I’ll never leave you, I’ll never forsake you. The Lord, the Word of God, clearly indicates is omnipresent. He’s absolutely everywhere. We all know so. But the challenge is that there are times when God wants to reveal to us his ultimate presence.

In other words, he’s everywhere at all times, but in a service and you know what this is like, in a service, the spirit of God will start to move and the people will sense. He’s here. He’s here. You feel, you feel your sense. You uniquely acknowledge the presence of God. That’s what the ark was all about. Yes, the Lord is with us.

They always do. He’s with us. But if you want to get close to him, and when he indeed wants to get closer to you, when he wants to draw you to himself, they were to move close to the ark. Now the ark wasn’t always with them. I don’t think I have to go through all the descriptions for you, the ark. It was very special. The way it had been designed and inside.

There was the almond branch that had butted and there was the commandments and there was a little bit of the bread that was on the ground in the morning, the manna. So that’s what was in the ark. And the presence of the Lord would rest upon the ark. So the concept was we’ve got to regard the ark. We’ve got to stay close to it. We need to follow the ark. Although God is everywhere at all times, he has chosen to meet us, his divine presence, specifically he would choose to meet us near the ark. And so here’s Joshua now schooling the people. When you see the ark being born on the shoulders of the priest, you know it’s time to move along. It’s a unique story. When you see the covenant chest, that’s just another rendition, another translation, the covenant chest, it’s the ark of the covenant. When you see it, keep your distance.

Don’t get too close. There was a time in Israel’s history. It was in David’s time when the priesthood got a little carried away and they reached out and they touched it because they were afraid it was going to hit the ground. And it would hit the ground because they were mishandling the ark in the first place. This is such a unique story. They got into a fight with the Philistines. The Philistines overcame them. They became so fearful. They fell outnumbered. They felt. And so they said, we need the Lord. We need the Lord. Bring the ark of the covenant. Put the ark of the covenant right out in front of us and that will scare the Philistines up. The unique thing is this. So large presence is there for you. But when you walk outside of his precepts, when you wander away from the path of God, you can have anything near you and it’s not going to help you. So you see, they were now in that day when the Philistines were overwhelming them, outnumbering them, they tried to use the ark of the covenant like a rabbit’s foot. How many rabbits have you seen, wandering the ground in your yard, missing one foot?

Somebody’s up to no good. So but they were using the four-leaf clover or as some misguided Christians would check on their sign of the zodiac and determine, is my life going to be a happy day today or not? That’s a terrible thing to embark on. And so they were using the ark in that situation as a means of protection. Say, put God out in the front, will the Philistines overwhelm them and run off with the cart? When the Philistines got it, they started celebrating and they got drunk, they carried on. And what they did is they regarded the ark almost in a more, in a more, a higher fashion than even the Jews did. They were afraid of the thing because it had occurred to them. The Israel’s God uses that thing and we’ve stolen it and we really hurt them this way and the hearts of the Jews were down heavy. And so they were regarding that thing. But no matter what they did, the fact that they had that precious thing, the Lord had ordered that it would be created in the first place, nothing but trouble came their way, the Philistines. So what they decided to do, we got to get rid of this thing. We got to get rid of this thing. This thing’s toxic. We got to send it back to the Jews. So what they did is they got their artistic guys to build a special cart to carry it on. This thing had, you know, you, some of you men will remember back in the 60s.

Do you remember when we put those special hubcaps on our cars? They were called moons. Do you remember those things? We just, and I remember in my car, I had these big dice. And they were dangling from the mirror. And then we had stuff. I put these little balls that they were on a string. I put them all around the circumference.

My mom and dad thought I was nuts. And when you drove the car, these little things would be kind of bouncing around. I was as cool as Luke himself. Take off the thing, off the gear ship, and put another great big dice up there. So we grabbed a hold of that finger, taking it by the horns. You know, we made it so fancy. This is what the Philistines did. They made this fancy cart.

They wanted to somehow not get out of step with this guy. They were afraid of him. So they weren’t going to mishandle it. The Jews wouldn’t mishandle it, but they were afraid. So they made this fancy cart. And then they attached a cow to it that had just freshened. She had just given birth to a calf. Now anybody knows about the farm.

Don’t you get between a cow and a fresh, boring calf? I did so. And it cost me a great deal. I had a horse when we lived out in Alberta. And the farmers around there, the ranchers would call me and say, get a hole of the reverend. He loves to ride his horse. So I took my great big horse by my horse trailer and I’d go out and I’d go out in the range

with these guys. And we would round up the cattle. It’s time to do it because they’d had a winter out there and they roamed out there. So you had to go and find them. So we’d go up there and round them up using your horse. You know, come around to the side. If you ever watched the dogs, the Bordeaux Collies in Australia chasing the sheep, so you know how you do it. The horse would go this way to get the cows to go that way. And eventually, we’d end up at a barn, at a yard. Get the cows and the calves all inside a big, fenced-off area. Now they asked the reverend to get in there, we want the calves. They played games with me. I was a real cowboy. So they said, hey Dave, we want the calves to go down this trail here and they’ll be going off to the market.

You’ve got to get between the calf and the cow and do it on your horse. So you get trampled. And so here I am riding my horse around in this arena trying to get the cows and get the calves separated. And I’ve got my horse somewhat trained. So when I lean on the range this way, my horse would lurch that way. All the cows are running out. Don’t let them get that far.

Come on buddy. Come on horse. Come over and lurch over that. Now the cows are all excited and they’re starting to relieve themselves on the ground every which way. But we’re jumping around between the cows and the calves and my horse and we’re making an awful mess on the ground. Something I said to my horse, that way buddy.

He jerks and he tossed me right off. And I fell right into the pancake mix on the ground. All I needed was to enter my mysterious down. Oh and the cowboys, did they have a time laughing at me? So I’ve learned you can’t get between the cows and the calves. They will fight forever to stop you from separating. Here’s what the Philistines did. They said let’s take a test. And nobody, this is so wacky. They somehow believed in the God of the Jews to the point where they didn’t trust themselves. They didn’t know how to do this. So they said what if we, what if we make their God really upset? So we’re not going to put a couple of our best soldiers pulling the cart with the ark on them. We built this fancy cart. So they brought a freshened cow.

She’s just given birth. They tied up the calf so that the calf couldn’t fall. And then they said to the cow, take the ark back to the Jews. And they said if the cow goes and walks away from her calf, we’ve done something good. And so indeed the cow headed back towards Jerusalem. The cow was smarter than any of them, but it left its calf behind. Well, the Jews got a little excited. All right. All right. All right. And they left the ark in a particular place. They were scared to death themselves. Don’t mess with the Lord. Don’t mess with his divine presence. So they left it at a friend’s house and said look, you make sure it’s all protected there. And it was there for some time.

Nobody knew how to touch it. Nobody knew what to do with it. But David now is the king of Israel. And he knows that the Lord needs to be the center of circumference for the Jewish nation. He said to his leaders, whatever, we’ve got to bring the ark of the covenant up and get of its rightful place on Mount Zion, Jerusalem. And so he said, you guys figure this out. So they looked at the oxen cart that the Philistines had brought.

And they said, well, that’s not kosher. We better make our own cart. So instead of doing, now, I read it to you. Joshua said, when you see the priest pick up the ark and start to bear it, you know that God is present and God is on the move. So that was the pattern. The ark will be born on the shoulders of the Levites, the priests, all through the wilderness. And that wasn’t going to change.

But you see the smart guys, these guys had to be, they had to be people who really were highly red. They didn’t just have one degree from the university. They had meant, they said, we know, we know what to do. We’re going to make an ark that makes the Philistine ark look like a Volkswagen. We’re going to make it fancier. They put the little gold balls around. They put a big dice up on the gear shift.

They put the moon, the moon things on the wheels. They made this thing, bringing bells. And so now the cart is on its way towards Jerusalem. Everybody thinks this is great. David is so proud of himself. But as they went over a threshing floor, there were ridges in the threshing floor and the wheel of the cart lurched. And as I did, the young priests were afraid. It’s going to fall to the ground. If it hits the ground, we’re going to pay dearly. And what they did, they did a natural thing. Natural things are not always always godly things. It appeared to be the right thing. They reached out and grabbed it and steadied it. God struck them dead right then and there. Because they were mishandling these things.

The Jewish people to this day have not forgotten that story. And the unique thing is that as they crossed over the Jordan, they were leaving the cloud behind. The cloud had been God’s way of speaking to them. But now you’re in the promised land. You’re in the place of security. I’ve given you all of this from Egypt up to Lebanon. I’ve given it all to you.

But you’ve got to honor me and I’ll take care of you. God made promises of how he would deal with their enemies. It was a glorious thing. But the Lord was saying, regard me and walk according to my precepts. Joshua’s teaching them when you see the ark move, somebody probably said, but where’s the cloud? You forget about the cloud now. The cloud is the Old Testament.

We’re moving into the New Testament. The cloud is Old. The ark of all that’s been with you. Now the Lord wants you to focus on the ark. Do you know all the Jewish people who have any sense of value for their own historical values? Do you know they’re dying to find the ark? And there are some wacky ideas out there. Do you know that in Ethiopia, the Ethiopians believe they have the original ark? And you can go to that deserted place and you’ll meet, oh you won’t get to meet them. There’s a man inside of an enclosure and it’s his whole life, not his ambition. He’s committed to staying there and guarding the ark until he dies. And when he dies, they’ve got another one, another fellow who will take care of it. You can’t get near this guy to offer him a $5 bill. Can I get in there and have a look at it? He would pay for the same with his life.

He has to guard this thing. The Ethiopians really believe that they have it. And others don’t believe that. Everybody has this sense. If we could find the ark, some believe that the Queen of Sheba ran off with it. Maybe it’s down in Egypt inside a pyramid. Nobody really knows. Here’s the challenge. Here’s the challenge. The ark is not a magic potion. The ark is not a four-leaf clover. It’s not a rabbit’s foot. It’s none of these things. You can’t use the Lord’s presence or anything like to make up and to try and cover your wayward ways in the things of God. The Lord wants us to walk true and straight. Israel does not have the ark to this day. They’re missing the sense of his divine presence. And even the people, so many of them, have lost any sense of hope that God would stir and that God would move among them. So let’s read on. God said to Joshua, this very day, I will begin to make you great in the eyes of all Israel. Why would that matter to him?

Because these people had followed Moses throughout the wilderness. It was Moses who talked to them and led them. It was through Moses. But now Moses died. You know that story. And the Lord says to Joshua, Moses, my servant is dead. Now I am anointing you. You’re going to be the leader. But how did the people really feel about that? Moses’ body is scarcely cold at this point. He’s just passed. And it’s been announced that Joshua has stepped in his place. Well, we don’t know about this. Joshua, we love him. He’s a good guy. But he’s no Moses.

And the Lord says, hey buddy, this very day, I will begin to make you great in the eyes of all Israel. I’ll read on. They all see for themselves that I’m with you. I’m going to work miracles before everybody’s eyes. Can you imagine the people starting to find this out? The Lord’s going to do this. They arrive at the Jordan River and it’s harvest time and the Jordan is overflowing its banks.

Now you can go at different times of the year in Israel and you’ll find that the Jordan is just kind of a muddy creek. But there are times of the year when it literally overflows its banks. We’ll be the kind, of person who step into that water. You’re going to get swept away. You’re going to drown for sure. All of Israel’s at the bank of this creek now on the overflowing river. And you got to figure there was some fear in them because they weren’t present when

Moses stood before the Red Sea and they walked through on dry ground. This is going to be repeated here and now. The excitement among the children. The excitement among the, the excitement among everybody. This is a group of people that have not seen the power in the presence of the Lord. They’ve only heard it from Joshua and good old Caleb. That’s their source of knowledge. They’ve been depending upon them.

Are you sure? Tell us again how the Lord is part of the Red Sea. He did. He sure as God made little green apples we walked through on dry ground. So then they stand at the edge of the river. Now watch this. I think this is so unique and it’s a message for the church. It’s a message for us and it’s a message from David, your pastor. It’s a message for me. They’ll see for themselves that I’m with you in the same way that I was with Moses. You will command the priests who are carrying the Ark of the Covenant. When you come to the edge of the Jordan’s waters, stand there on the bank. So this is the message that Jordan is, that the priests have heard and the people of Israel stay back a good amount of space. We already read that. Keep your distance.

Don’t crowd the Ark. Don’t get ahead of it. Don’t disregard it. This is precious. So when you see the priest stop, you’ll know they’re at the brink of the Jordan. As you look on ahead, you’ll see it’s flooded. Now watch, then Joshua, address the people. Attention. Listen to what the Lord God says. This is how you’ll know that God is alive among you. He will completely dispossess before you all the people that are in the land right now. Look at what’s before you. The Ark of the Covenant. Think of it. The master of the universe is crossing the Jordan as you watch. So here’s the picture.

The Lord is saying, I meet you on the cover of the Ark. Tell the priest, step down into the swollen river, and tell the people, are you worried? Are you wondering, am I the Lord God with you? I’m with you. My presence is hovering over that Ark. Stand and watch as the Lord rests in the bed of the river. Israel watch. God is going to show up in a very unique fashion. And watch the Lord do it. Now take twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe. And when the souls of the feet of the priest carrying the chest of God, master of all the earth. As soon as they touch the water, the flow of water will stop. The water coming from upstream will pile up in the heat. And that’s what happened, the writer says. The people left their tents across the Jordan. They were led by the priests. It’s the responsibility of the priest to lead. This is a sad day when so many pastors in our own country, are they called by the Lord? Are they committed to the Lord? They’re committed to a career. When you’re trying to hire young guys these days to hire them, it’s about the first thing they want to know. What are the perks?

Where’s my office? Do I get a brand-new laptop? Trust me, that’s where they’re at. How are they going to lead the people if they’re not into it? The priests are the first to step into the water. They have to lead the way. They have to lead in prayer. They have to lead by example.

It wasn’t that long ago that somebody in a high place in their own denomination announced that of all the churches in Canada, 64% of them in a given year let this sink in. 64% of our churches from coast to coast. He said, 64% recorded the number of people saved zero. And this person who will remain nameless announced to a large group of people. He said I don’t know what’s gone wrong. I’ve got to get to these churches and what’s happening to our people?

And it was the congregation. The congregation isn’t working hard enough. What’s wrong with these people? Nobody’s getting saved in our churches. 64% never saw one person get saved. I have to fill out a form. It’s going to come to me in the next couple of weeks. I have to report what happened to this church in the last 12 months. They just want to know statistics, kind of like the government, how much TV do you watch per day, what does your wife work out, and do you cut your lawn every Saturday morning with cutoff genes? They want to know all the stuff, right? So they filled it out and 64% said, no, nobody got saved. At the end of the meeting, I waited until everybody left. You got to know I’m a loudmouth. I stopped this high-ranking officer of the PAOC.

I just want to give you a little pushback on what you said today. I don’t know what you’re saying about the growth of our church. I don’t have any doubt about that. But I said you’re berating the congregation. He said, well, I’ll have it. I said, no, no, no, no, no. I said, what you announced today is not that the congregation didn’t fulfill their mandate. I said, 64% of your pastors in all of Canada never led somebody to the Lord in a hospital room, never led somebody to the Lord after a funeral, never said, never led somebody to the Lord in their office. I said, but I tell you what, buddy, check out their golf score. I bet it’s right on a site. I said it. The priests were the first to step into the water. I want you to people go out and evangelize the world. Hey, pastor, how are you doing?

The priests were the first to go. You’ve gone awfully quiet. You’re afraid I’m going to lose my credentials. Don’t worry about that. They’re quite worn out already. This is what happened. The people left their tents when the priests got to the Jordan and their feet touched the water at the edge. It was overflowing its banks. The record is there. The water stopped piled up in the heap all the way from one place to another. The river went dry all the way down to the salt sea and the people crossed facing Jericho. And there they stood. Those priests carrying the chest of the covenant, they are. They stood firmly planted on dry ground. So you see, the ark of the covenant went down into the water, born on the shoulders.

There’s no concern about it tipping over and falling. It’s on their shoulders. You see, God works in your spirit, but He works through our carnality, our fleshly way. You understand that. God works in partnership with people. Carried the ark of the covenant is a strenuous thing. Yes, the Lord could have put butterfly wings on it and flown in anywhere you want. No, He says, I want the people.

I want the leaders of the people to carry the burden. I want them to groan under the stress and the work and the labor of doing it. So as the priests went down into the middle of the river, they’d already been told, when you get to the center, stop. Stop dead in your tracks. The ground dried up and listen to this, all the people crossed over on the dry ground. The whole nation is across. Let’s finish up now.

The whole nation finally across. God spoke to Joshua, choose out 12 people, one from each tribe, and tell them, each one of them to pick up a big boulder out of the river bed. Do you know what goes on these days? He says I believe in miracles. The person says, prove it. I don’t believe in miracles until I see it. Even Thomas said I don’t believe he rose from the dead.

I have to touch him. I have to, I got to poke my fingers in his womb. I got to see it for myself. God knows that we are but dust and He knows that we’re so weak. They’re so God-knowing, knowing that we would say, yeah, are you sure about that? From right here in the middle of the Jordan where the feet of the priest are standing, take 12 stones. Carry them across with you and set them down in the place where you camp tonight.

So Joshua called with the men, crossed the Jordan and they picked up the rocks. They carried them out and as soon as they did, everybody crossed over, and the water flowed back where it belonged. These stones are written in Joshua 4. These stones are a permanent memorial for the people of Israel. The people of Israel did exactly what he commanded. They took the 12 stones over the middle. The whole family got involved, one from every tribe.

They took them and they piled them up as a marker and the writer of Joshua says, and that pile of rocks is still there to this day. The pile is gone. So is the ark and Israel is in big trouble, but they will repent. They’ll get back to God. The priest carrying the chest continued standing in the middle until everything was done according to the Lord and it even lists who they are. I want to find it.

I don’t think I marked it. So the people came out of Jordan at Gilgal. I’ll just tell you what it says. I didn’t mark that verse. Here’s what it says. Why are we going to pile up the rocks? It says here. Because your children, your children, your grandchildren, and generations after this, Grandpa, what’s this pile of rocks doing here? She obviously didn’t all roll there by themselves. You can believe in the theory of evolution if you want. I suppose the Lord, I suppose evolution could create a Rolex watch without anybody even tampering. That’s what they believe. I think that evolution thing is so wacky. It’s just so nuts. It doesn’t make sense.

And a pile of rocks sitting out in the middle of nowhere, it’s kind of nuts too. How did it get there? Oh, evolution, son. One rock just rolled upon another one another. How come there are piles everywhere? Well, this is just, see, this is selection. It just works through the process of natural selection. No, no, no, no. There’s a pile of rocks there. Somebody did it very specifically. And when your children say, Papa, Papa, tell me, what are the pile of rocks about? Son, I’m so glad you’re asking me about that. Have I got a story for you? The Lord God who delivered us out of the hands of the Egyptians was here when we crossed over the Jordan. I’ve got a message for the Lebanese.

I’ve got a message for the Jordanians and the Egyptians. Don’t mess with God. The Ark of the Covenant is not evident. My God, nobody is there. And you don’t mess with God. It’s so awesome what’s going on over there. Totally surrounded by enemies. And every day there’s another miracle. Hello? It’s just happening. It’s happening. And yes, our hearts are heavy because people are dying like flies. The people in Gaza, but the Jews did not start this war. And those that they’re fighting have declared. You get every one of us. And one of us is left alive.

We’re coming back to get you again. The memorial is missing. It’s missing. And the people are also languishing, languishing. It’s important for us to have our own little pile of rocks. Surely there’s something in your life up to this point. Even the people are the newer people like Katrina and Mike. Hey, Katrina. Do you remember when we splashed down? She was like a. . . She was like a rocket that had gone up from Cape Canaveral. And she splashed down in this water tank. Do you remember that? That was a moment. That was a glorious moment. And then that Sunday when you and Mike came up here and we got that glorious moment at this moment. That was another benchmark in your life. You guys ought to keep some little mementos. So yes, some pictures. So that when somebody says to you and they’re looking through your albums, what’s that story all about?

You can say, oh, those were grand days. The Lord meant me there because you see that kind of story will inspire faith in another generation. Our challenge right now with pastors not preaching the gospel, nobody getting saved. Ten years from now, what will be the story? What will be the story? Sermons made over marshmallows, won’t keep you going. Did you know they’ve just declared that the marshmallow is one of the finest medicines? And you can find it in a supermarket near you? They say it’ll fight the common cold. It’s as good as the thing they put in your arm that’ll save your life. You can swallow marshmallows and it’ll soothe your sore throat. Isn’t it amazing? All these wonderful medicinal miraculous things that are coming up these days. Beloved forget all that stuff and just follow after the Lord. Bless the Lord, O my soul, to remember what the word bless means.

Bless him. We acknowledge him, it means the kneeling process, and the blessing means to adore him. We sing it once a year at Christmas, O come let us adore him. Next week we’re going to have a rock band, the lights are going to be flashing. We got brand new black paint to paint the walls up. The people are going up, their imagination is going to be blown over the water. People are going to love us. Follow the building and the people will come. But when the people come are you feeding them the bread of life? Are you feeding them the bread of life? I worry about the next generation. When the mud hits the wall, will they know this? Well, I tell you we’ve heard some sermons. Five ways to have a happy family, that’s literal. That’s the kind of sermons that are happening from five things that will keep your marriage glued together.

I think those kinds of ideas and concepts ought to be shared. But that’s not the word. It’s not the word, it’s not the word. We use the word to our advantage, but beloved we need to get into the depths of the word because this is the ark of the covenant. That this is it here? Don’t leave it behind. So I’m going to ask you this and last. If you’re missing a pile of rocks in your life, it’s probably because your computer went dead. If you’re missing a pile of rocks in your life, it’s very possible that you’re not into this enough. God speaks through it. God works miracles through His divine manna. And everybody must get into the book daily. And again, it’s not a rabbit’s foot.

You’ll never hear me brag about how many times I’ve read the book through. It’s not how many times you read it through honey. It’s what you get when you’re in there. You’re supposed to eat your meal in a slow fashion and enjoy every bite. I just gave somebody a sting here. There’s somebody that loves to eat their food quite quickly. And there’s nothing wrong with eating your food quickly. But do you enjoy your meal or do you just inhale it? It doesn’t matter. Like people say, how many chapters a day do you read? What are your beeswax? It isn’t how many chapters I read. It’s what I get out of that verse. It’s reading a verse and then praying and saying, Lord, what are you wanting to say to me through this love letter to my heart? And I’m going to promise you this.

It’s not my promise. It’s God’s promise. Get into the Word. Follow after Him. And you’ll be taking time to pile up some rocks. I closed with this little personal anecdote. I’ve told it so many times. You’re probably getting weary of it, but you’ll get over it. I can’t tell enough how God raised April off of the deathbed. I’m finished now. It’s OK. But He did. She was hanging onto life by a thread. And I won’t go into all the details. But God raised this little lady, literally off of deathbed. And we’ve got the testimony of some of the finest doctors, on both sides of the border. US doctors and Canadian doctors have declared that is a miracle. What’s this? Some years later, I don’t remember where we were living. It doesn’t matter the time. But April was invited to speak at a church, not very far from here. Wonderful church. And she was invited to speak at the ladies’ meeting. I’ve been preaching all my life, working my heart out.

And April becomes famous. So she went there. And I guess what they said, give us your testimony. I don’t know what she would have said. If they hadn’t said it, we want to hear your testimony. And I can’t imagine that anybody in that church among the ladies’ troops, I can’t imagine anybody knew her story. Okay? And that will make sense to you in just a moment. How can we ask her for her testimony? Well, I think that was the nature of the meeting. Just give us your testimony. She took our youngest daughter, Melanie, along with her. And Melanie sat there almost all the way. And April told the story like nobody else can tell it. She told the story of how she was languished in the hospital.

She was eating her alive and the doctors could do nothing for her by their own admission. He said to me, I’m sorry, David. She’s too far gone. There’s no relief. But Jesus showed up. So she told the story. And I’m assuming that all the ladies loved it and whatever. And here’s how the story goes. The story goes on. The rest of the story. April and little Melanie are heading back home. And Melanie says to her mom, Mom, that really happened to you. Well, of course, Dear. Yeah, I really have. Just like you said. Oh, yeah.

I’m in Belgium right now. I wasn’t there. I’m assuming the conversation went on like this. And little Melanie turns to her mom and says, Mom, how come I heard that story? For the first time tonight, our daughter would have been about 13, or 14 years of age. For 14 years, Ron, I never mentioned it from a pulpit because people say, oh, it’s all about you, isn’t it? And you kind of get like, no, it wasn’t. Oh, yeah, you’re just bragging again. You, no, no, no, no. So I was very intimidated by the congregation, intimidated. I was. And April never told anybody. I’m making up excuses for why we didn’t tell it. But little Melanie said, how come I heard it for the first time? So finishing up this way.

Number one, make sure you’re walking with the Lord and he will show up. And when he does, save something to remind you of. Save something that your daughter, your son, or your grandchild will find it. Leave it in a prominent place. So when they find that thing, maybe it’s a postcard. Maybe it’s a little pebble. Maybe it’s a floor office, some poor dead rat. Leave something out.

Put a picture in your album and make sure you don’t put the album away in a cloth. Make sure that that person finds it. Some people leave things out in their house, not just to teach their grandchildren, but there’s a lady here today who gave her heart in her life to Jesus because as a PSW, she went to this house and every time she went there, she saw things that spoke of that whole of how they regarded the Lord. And that little PSW lady is here today. She came to the Lord through somebody’s testimony.

She came to the Lord because when she came into the house, the Bible was on the dining room table. The Bible living out on a dining room table,  is a testimony. It’s the Ark of the Covenant. It tells a story. It tells your story. We don’t need rocks in our heads, but we need it somewhere where it can be pretty obvious. Would you stand with me?

Heavenly Father, thank you for the privilege of being your servant. Thank you for helping me to deliver my soul today. Lord, I pray that this congregation and others who might be listening by way of the Internet will not come to any conclusion because of what David said. Lord, I pray that it will be the Holy Spirit that will bring the living truth to light in somebody’s heart. I pray, Lord Jesus, that the Word of God, just like the Word says, cast the prawn, cast the bread upon the water. It will come back. He sent His Word and He healed them. Lord, there is so much in the Bible about the power of the Word. I pray that the power of the Word will leave an indelible mark in every one of our lives. And Lord, I pray for rock piles. I pray for rock piles in everybody’s life. And Lord, I trust that everybody in this house will think back. And remember, yes, God met us there.

And Lord God, help us not to hide the story, but to put it out in plain view because our story is the Word of God in the flesh. The fact of my life was healed. That’s the message of divine healing in the flesh. It’s as powerful as rehearsing a verse when we are walking around. We’re living epistles. Our story is God’s story. And our story can make a difference, help us, O Lord, to tell our story in Jesus’ name.

And everybody said, Amen.