Welcome to the Lansdale Life Church podcast.
If you're seeking a closer relationship with Jesus Christ, this podcast is for you.
Thank you for joining us today.
All right. Now we can start. Right. Okay. Don't, don't sit back there. Come on forward.
All right. Okay. All right. Does that have your name on it?
In memory of, right? Yes. Yes. Monuments and remembrances. Well, Lord, we thank you for your
goodness to us. We thank you that we can gather in your name, various walks of life, persuasions,
activities, life situations, but father, there's one thing that we have in common
and that is that we're all purchased with your blood. So we thank you tonight that we can claim
that as victory and we can walk in that, not walking by ourselves and thinking by ourselves
and hoping by ourselves, but Lord, because of what you have done, what you're doing
and for your return, we pray. And everyone said, amen. Amen. Amen. All right.
The book of Joshua is very different now. We're finally out of the law giving stage
and we're into some of the excursions that as people of God, they are now transitioning
into the promised land. And that's exciting because all the theory that was and all the
building of the nation and all that was to be done as God formed in them, who they are supposed
to be is for all intent purposes, pretty well finished. Now it's abiding in those laws and
precepts and going into the land and doing physical battle and conquering the land. And
if you look at the story, by and large, that story is like our life. Our life in Christ,
he has given us riches. He has given us gifts that are given to us individually.
He has given us a victory and it's for ours to do what? To claim, to walk in and to thank the Lord
for, to do battle for those things and move forward in his name. So let's talk a little
bit about memorials that are for remembrance and a testimony. Now think about this. God uses even
the smallest details for remembrance and I want you to think about the details of your own life.
These Israelites that are presently now gathering and moving over into the promised land
had no remembrances like being delivered from the plagues, like being delivered from Egypt,
like seeing the miraculous activity such as Chris was talking about and I always picture
the Heston standing on the rock and all the things that went through that movie
as a magnificent portrayal of God's might and power. And yet these people did not have that
opportunity. They were born in the desert. All they knew was camping and doing and working around
and now it was time for them to enter into a new phase of life. And so what God wants to do,
he wants to indulibly come to them and have remembrances so they can build upon and how
many of us have remembrances of things in our life. It doesn't have to be spiritual.
It's that things have happened and things that have been doing,
I've been influencing rather that we now have as a memory of those things and we're going to talk
about that in a little bit. So in a review of chapter four, the first set of stones was a
memorial of God's faithfulness. You know, they were 12 men, they had to pick up a stone
and so forth two different times and so the first memorial was very public.
It was an idea of being faithful to their God. They arranged the stones at Gilgal as a sacred
memorial marking the spot where the nation had entered the promised land. So that's a place
marker or a placeholder that they could look at. And it wasn't by their own strength and it was
only by the hand of the Lord that brought them to this point. So we have that as a memorial.
God made a way where there was no way and he kept his promises and he led us,
meaning the Israelites, through to this point in time. So here we are embarking on a whole new
threshold. And then it says in the scripture that when children would ask what do these
stones mean, they would simply tell them of God's power. So it's a reminder.
Now the second set of stones, it was a hidden testimony and anybody has read or remembered
where those stones were placed? In the Jordan. They weren't even for public use, it was private.
It was a hidden testimony. These hidden stones, stack of stones, were not visible but private
to Joshua. They marked the exact place where the presence of God stood showing the authority of
Joshua after they followed Joshua's orders. See, Joshua was new. They knew him but he wasn't the
one. Okay, well what about this Joshua? You know, is he going to be anointed like Moses was?
And we find out that they then accepted and followed him after this remarkable dividing
of the Red Sea, of the Jordan. And we're also asked to remember his works and pass these stories
to the next generation. So they're stories that we tell our children and our grandchildren
about the goodness of God, how he saved us and what we have gone through. And again,
the witnesses are those who testify to the truth of an event or fact confirming that something
really happened. No guess. I can show you the stones. This is where God was. He visited us.
The priest came down in the river. They held up the Jordan at flood tide. All the people
passed through. And if you look at the sequence of things and all the infantry, all the families
passed through, those priests held that arc for a very long time as a million and a half,
two million people passed through there. And it was a testimony as to what they did.
All right. So now let's change and let's take a focus. We're talking about memorials. We're
talking about remembrances. So here's a question and a quiz for you. What's that memorial?
The Arlington Cemetery. Right. So that's something we know. Okay. Here's another one.
The Arc de Triomphe. Okay. Here's another one. Yeah. The five soldiers holding the flag,
winning the war. So we all know those. We have those things in our mind. Well, how about this
on a more personal note? How about family pictures? Things that mean something.
Here's a picture. It doesn't mean anything to you, but it's my three boys in front of one of my
finished cars. Well, it's meaningful because I had three boys that we liked the same sport.
We liked the same hobby and it's meaningful. So it's a memorial to our friendship, fathers and sons,
what I did for a hobby. So it was meaningful to me in light of looking. And this thing is on a shelf
with a lot of my little trinkets in my bedroom. And every once in a while I look at it and I say,
okay, well, that's a good remembrance. We have all those things. We have two suitcases under
our bed. And since we live in a retirement community, there's not a lot of room and they
are filled with photos. I don't know half the people in the photo. But every once in a while,
Joni says, well, what about this? So I go rooting through these things and, you know, my word,
sometimes I feel like I throw them all out, but I don't do that to be kind to her. And I guess to
me and myself too. So we have those things. And when you see the picture, it reminds you
of the circumstances and of the events that were meaningful to you, or maybe not so much.
You know, who knows? What about this trophies, maybe ceramics that represent accomplishments,
our first Bible or our life verse, our salvation, our baptism dates,
trinkets representing our past. Here's a trinket of my past.
It's a bomb. It won't go off. Honest. But it was something that I found as a
diver in Bermuda when I lived there during the service. And it's a memorial to, yes, I was there
because in the World War II, they used to use lead shot like this to practice their bombing raids.
And this I found on the bottom of the ocean. It doesn't mean much to you. It's heavy. It's
clunky. But it's something that sits on that shelf. Every time I go to bed, I think about
that, I look at it. So my question to you is, in a secular sense,
what memorials do you have? What comes to your mind when I think of that?
And I gave you two of mine. What comes to your mind as something that you remember?
Diplomas. Okay. Do you still have your diploma?
Yes. All right. How often do you take it out and look at it?
Not very often. Okay. But you have something. It's a memorial, an accomplishment, right?
Yes, right. Good for you. Anything else? Anybody else?
Oh, everybody's quiet tonight. You want to say something?
I don't know. I have a little shelf at home in my family room of my TV with all my little
memorials. I have little things like I have a cup that I got from the last day of Shea
Stadium when they closed. And I have a hockey puck because I'm a big Boston Bruin fan.
And I had a friend that lived in Boston, and I would go up there sometimes,
and we'd go to the Bruin games, and I got a puck. So I have that up there. Things like that.
Oh, yeah. Let's see. Oh, Jill, what was your memorial?
When our kids were little, we kept a box of remembrances of all the things. I'll leave them
there. That's okay. And we have in there pictures of things that, miracles, you know, of remembrances
of what God has done. Another thing that I do have is a cup from a friend of mine
that was made out of, I don't even know what, maybe wood or something like that.
But she was moving from Wek Ministries to another country, and it reminds me to pray for her.
Oh, yeah. I have some t-shirts from missions trips, and some of them with all the students that
were on the missions trip that all signed it. And, yeah, so we have them with Nicaragua with
foam, you know, McRoberts, we have a bunch of missions trip t-shirts. That's cool. Yeah,
it's good. Yeah, exactly. Let me moth-eaten by that, right.
Anyone else? They thought, yeah, Ginny.
I have a memorial on my wrist from where I was last weekend with the community I'm also involved in,
and it says on this bracelet, Unafraid. Yes. Hey, very good. Very good. She had a nice hiatus
and weekend. Oh. I have shoes that I did my personal record.
All right. Okay. I mean, nobody can beat that. I just remembered something. When I put up
the Christmas tree every year, you put the ornaments on it as almost every ornament on
my tree is a monument, because they all remind me. Very good. I have things like my kids' first
Christmas, and I have one with me and my wife our first wedding, and I have one for each one
of my pets that I had in my life. Oh, my gosh. Yeah, so I have all kinds of monuments on there.
You're active. You know, since we moved all that, we don't do a tree anymore, so all that's in a
box. I look through it every Christmas, but I don't even open it up anymore. Yeah, no, that's
good. Okay. So we've established that monuments are important to us, and you know, you wonder why
God was so interested in providing these monuments. It really wasn't for His sake. It's for our sake.
The very testimonies that you talked about, the things that are meaningful, are the fact that
you remember them, and it means something to you, and you drift back in consciousness to those
things like your children's memories when they were young and so forth. It brings to remembrance
those activities and experiences. Okay. So we accomplish that question. What are some of your
memorials or remembrances? So God commits His people to remember what He has done in Deuteronomy
8.2, and it says, you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you.
In other words, not just some of it, the whole way that He's led you.
Remembering the acts of God somehow eases the pain of present circumstances. How many found that
true? You're into situations whereby you don't have an out, you don't have an answer, and all
of a sudden some things from the past, God pulls up or you remember and you begin to think about
these wonderful promises that He has either fulfilled, things that He's going to do in
your life in the future, and it somehow begins to bring ease to the situation.
And that's why we do that. I used to keep on my cell phone answered prayer requests. I have the
list of things that we pray for on the cell phone, and I used to transfer that to an answered list.
The thing got so long under the notes, and one day I accidentally erased it. It was about
85 or 90 things, but I used to periodically go through those things about answer this,
answer that, and had a date on it. And it encouraged me to be able to remember those
things because so often we forget what God has done. We think, okay, well, yeah, and you think about,
jeez, He hasn't done anything lately. Well, He has. It's just that we don't remember it.
Okay. In Psalm 105, it says, remember the wondrous works that He has done, His miracles and the
due process of events that sometimes we go through. Let me give you an example.
Some of you know I had to take a financial hit because of my business, and I had to go bankrupt.
And the Lord brought all that back, and in that bankruptcy, and it was an astronomical
amount of money. But there was two quarters of withholding taxes that as we closed the
corporation down, I suddenly realized my accountant didn't pay. And I had $15,000 over two quarters
on top of the hundreds of thousands of dollars. And I looked, I said, it's just impossible
how I even get through this. So we negotiated to get rid of the overhanging debt, and we paid
that down. But for about two weeks, I was extremely disappointed. And in a quandary,
and I was, Lord, I mean, how much can I take? And miraculously, some group of, and an individual,
came to me and paid those taxes for me. It was a miracle. And we have to remember those things,
because when I was studying this, I think, well, what was the miracle? The miracle was
that that had happened to the tune of $15,000. Now that may not seem a lot to you, but at that
point in time in my life where I was destitute, and I didn't have two nickels to rub together,
God did something. It was a miracle. And then those things are due process. We pray for something,
we begin to believe, we begin to thank God for it, and after a while, we see answers.
How many have long-standing requests before the Lord that go for years sometimes?
You know, I tell people, I don't often pray for people at the top of my head, other than if they
would come to the altar or whatever. But when I do say I will pray for you, that means I'll pray
for you for the rest of my life until answered prayer becomes something that is evident. And so
we have those things that are long-standing. In due process, he will, again, he's always working,
we may not see it, but consequently, we will experience it at some point in time of our life.
So there are those things that are instantaneous and those things that are process. In Psalm 77,
it says, I will remember the deeds of the Lord. I will ponder all your work and meditate
on your mighty deeds. What about meditation?
Meditating on the Lord is far better than meditating on your circumstances. Agreed?
Now, here's the real question. How many do that?
Woe is me! And you know, you can go down that spiral tube. It can be days, it can be hours,
it can be minutes, or it can be immediate as you learn to fortify inside what God is doing
through you in these circumstances so that you don't have to spend days in the quandary,
hours in the quandary. You can come and you can say, Lord, I don't know what this is all about.
I'm giving it to you. And you know what? The Lord lifts that burden from your heart. Now,
you may go back into that. You know, you may be cued on something where, oh my gosh,
bring it to the Lord again quickly. And you'll begin to see that God brings what? Righteousness,
peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. So, we have these things that we are asked to do.
In Joshua 4, 6, and 7, we cover this just a little bit. When your children ask,
you shall tell them so that these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever.
Mama, what are these stones? What do they mean? Well, that means when God was with us,
he brought us into this land, and you can build a whole story on that. It's an opportunity.
You know, it's interesting. As you begin to let your life shine through what I call
relational evangelism, I think I'm going to trip on that box of power yet.
I often just kind of put a sentence in there, and I'm looking for an opportunity. You know,
well, the Lord's good, and you know, he'll take care of you, or blah, blah, blah, or whatever
about my own life. And then sometimes people that are not familiar with the Lord will come back.
Well, what do you mean by that? Just drop a little bit of a hint. Let them be
enough interested in your situation to begin to ask the next set of questions. And then
that opens up a door for another dialogue. Okay, questions that I want to ask you.
If you were to create a place of remembrance today, what moment in your life would that
represent? What would that look like? What might that be?
Don't all jump at once. Think about that. Okay, John.
I think all of us who own a home end up making that a place of remembrance. I mean,
sometimes you live there a very short period of time, but I can remember when my dad had passed
and my mom was starting to fail. My sister, brother and I just got together and said,
you know what? We shouldn't sell this place and split it up. This is a place of great memories.
And I don't know what happens to our property. But anyway, I think,
similarly, I'd imagine that, you know, something like that might happen.
Do you still have the place? Yeah. Okay.
All right. Yeah. Brings back fond memories. Yes. Anybody else? Jenny?
In Pottstown, where I was last weekend, another practitioner like myself, I'm a licensed mental
health worker in Pennsylvania, but he helped me find the runaway shelter in Pottstown,
where I got to know the Lord. Now, I didn't get a chance to go there because it was raining on
Monday, but I am going to take a bus ride back out there and go visit it. Yeah.
A great place to remember where you came to the Lord. Yeah. Anybody remember the day that
you came to the Lord, the hour? You saw my hand go up.
You saw my hand go up. Oh, dear. Yes. I believe it was in my kitchen.
Okay. Yeah. I was in my kitchen, and I was reading through the scripture of John 14.
And yeah, it was just a miraculous thing because I had just had like a vision of
Jesus with all the disciples sitting around, and he said to him, you know, it's important that I go,
but I'm not going to leave you like an orphan. I'm going to come to you in another form.
I'm going to send the Holy Spirit. And that's when it hit me, the Holy Spirit. I went out.
Yeah, I went out. Haven't been the same since. Oh, that's good. Yeah. Anybody else?
I don't know. I was 17 and I was at that Christian camp. All right. And I remember
that I cannot stand up like I'm right in there. I met the Lord.
That's good. Anything else? Anybody else? Yes. Hey, what are you doing back there? You usually go
to the front, man. Good to see you. Good to see you too. I would say for me personally,
like I was, I thought what the Bible talks about, you know, forgiveness, and I forgave somebody I was
holding a grudge against. And I just felt like so much peace and joy. And I can understand why
Jesus tells us to forgive. It releases that bitterness and that poison that's within you.
So that's something that I will carry with me, you know, for the rest of my life. Just
always forgive. And, you know, when we don't forgive, that begins to eat at us and it brings
concentration on that one element. And we go round and round and round on that. But to forgive
is to, again, forget. All right. So that's answer. What has God done for you
that you never want to forget? So I think we answered that. For me it was, again, I think
this salvation that I experienced. Every summer I would go to one of my uncles. They were farmers,
chicken farmers, cattlemen, and so forth. And we used to go to church. And my parents were not
following the Lord. And I got saved at one of those meetings, came home in the fall,
and business as usual. And I asked, I think when I was 10 years old, I asked my mother and father,
why don't we go to church? Well, that put such a guilt trip on them, that they just started
to go to church and they rededicated their life to the Lord. And hence we have lived a Christian
life. But it was the idea that when we testify of the goodness, things can begin to change.
Another question. Were there trials that you went through that God used to shape you?
In other words, like the forming of a gemstone, the pressure. Can you explain that? What trial
is significant in your life? That looking back on it now, it made you a better person.
You, again, I just share from my own testimony, that bankruptcy situation that I have referred
to with you, a lot of you know the story. I wouldn't trade it for the world because I've
learned so much in that desperation, in that experience. I had to dig deep and find out who
God was. Anyone, any trial, or we don't want to admit those things, but we all have trials.
Yes, Jenny. When my first husband left me with a one-year-old, a three-year-old and a four-year-old,
and a dollar. And that was a time in my life where I was angry at God at first for not
keeping my family together and saving my marriage. But I saw the Lord provide for us over the
years, and I became a much stronger woman. That's wonderful. Looking back, would you have
traded that? I got rid of them, so no. Okay, all right. Moving on. Well, listen,
there's nothing like being honest. That's good. Anyone else? Any thoughts? Yes, please.
I think it was 2022. I had a bad reaction to medication, and I always lose focus when I'm
on the spot. Give me one second. So I was in a coma, and I had to learn to walk again.
And at first, the insurance company denied me going to a rehab after the hospital. They sent
me right home. But then I had to appeal it because I couldn't take care of myself. And
being the caretaker for the family, it was the first time that I really and truly could not
take care of myself. And it was hard. But to know that I have to take care of myself first,
like really, really, really take care of myself first, so that then I can be well enough to take
care of the family. And that was like a real life lesson for me. You know, being a caretaker
myself, I run a caregivers group in Meadowood. And the very thing that we talk about continually
is you have to take care of yourself or you'll burn yourself out. So consequently, you know,
you were in a situation. Did that illness drive you there because of the responsibilities of a
caretaker or not? You know, I fell and I had been reaction to this in the retreat.
Okay. Well, good. You're on the mend now, right? Very good. Okay.
Another question. Did you or do you ever struggle to feel like you belong in God's kingdom?
Like, have you ever struggled to feel that you belong in the God's kingdom?
Okay. No answers on that one. So all right. Okay. What were your struggle if you would share it?
Go ahead. My mom raised us in the Christian church. We went to church a lot a little bit
when I was younger. But as we grew, we kind of all fell from God. And especially with me,
my personal experience is I was as a teen and a young adult, like straight out of me in high
school and then going into college, I was far from God. Like I didn't pray. I didn't even
really believe in God. Like I was, yeah, I was the complete opposite from where I am now.
And so I feel like I kind of met Jesus kind of later in life and on my own,
like I knew of him, but I hadn't had a real relationship with him until like two years
ago when I was like 21. And at first it was really hard being the complete opposite from
like what you would think a Christian is or living in God is. And you did, I did feel like
imposter syndrome for a while because pretty much completely changed my life and turned my life
around. And it's something that I struggled with a lot even when I was, and when I am strong in
faith, sometimes I feel like it's normal to feel like, Oh, I'm not like this idea that you're not
the perfect Christian or stuff like that. Like the idea that you're not perfect because you
fall to sin, but I feel like that's part of learning and getting closer to Christ.
But it's something that I did experience a lot, especially in the beginning of my walk with Christ,
because I was so far from him before. So coming to him and being like, I don't know what this
is a totally different life. Like this is not the life I'm used to living. So I feel like that
was a really difficult time in the beginning of my walk with Christ.
That's wonderful. Very good. I'm glad that you came back.
You know, there's always a, an obvious when you raising kids, when they're little,
they have little problems. When they get bigger, the problems ingrow. And then when they're big
and they're going from teenage to adulthood. And more than likely there are problems with
girls and boys. I've had three boys, but now I have two granddaughters.
So I've experienced in some of their dilemmas. But the biggest thing that we pray for is as
they make that transition from their parents experience in the Lord to their experience.
And that can be a very hollow and dangerous thing with regard to saying, okay,
I'm going to do it my way. And I did the same thing. I mean,
I can remember seeing visions of the Lord when I was young at the altar, always went to church
four times a week, you know, live in the life. And at some point in time at 19,
I came home one day and I told my mother, I said, I'm going in the service.
I don't want to live this life. Don't want to follow God. And that was Wednesday and Friday.
I went to Texas and was in the service. So I rejected all that. And I understand that for guys,
it sometimes takes longer or slower to get the educational curve of Christianity. Maybe you
didn't. I don't know what the age that was. But so there is an experience that all of us have,
whether it's firsthand or whether it's our children, that when we go through here,
those struggles can work for us or against us. And what does the image of your name,
written in the book of life, stir you about your place in the kingdom? And so I think we've
answered that. And I think we have given that enough thought. So let's take a look at some
of the more core remembrances that we should all consider. Well, number one is the cross of Jesus
Christ. And that's what brings us together here tonight. Because of the cross, we come from
different lives, different situations, but yet it draws us. There is salvation and then
there is forgiveness, continual forgiveness. It says in Luke 22 and 1 Corinthians 11,
do this in remembrance of me. And we're talking about the Lord's supper.
So that remembrance is something that we always should bring to us. It should bring to us an
understanding of what it really means. It's a past experience and it has a future to it also,
what he's going to do and what he did. So that's a remembrance. The Lord's supper
is the central Christian act of remembrance. It's the basis of which we gather together,
live our life. We remember Christ's sacrifice that was freely given on our behalf. Our forgiveness,
and thank the Lord for forgiveness because of his sacrifice. And the new covenant because of
the shed blood, the covenant that he has, it'll never be broken. It's interesting to know
that Abraham, when God made a covenant with him, God never turned back. He never relinquished.
It's like us. If we don't have fulfillment in our life, it's because we have walked away. The
question that I ask then is, what does the cross mean to a believer today?
What does that mean in your life when you think of the cross of Jesus?
Well, I'll answer it first for me. It humbles me to think that God did that for me.
And you think about that multiplied out by millions and millions of people.
And it's really a wonderful thing to think about how blessed that experience is. You had maybe a
different experience, but we all had to come to the cross and know what that is. And that could be
different for 25 or 35 of us. And by the way, Chris, look at all the people in here tonight.
We got a crowd tonight. Boy, I'm telling you, thank you all for coming.
And so we acknowledge that God is at work in our life. And for all of you that are experiencing
the depth of trials and tribulations, I encourage you that God is always at work,
always at work, always at work on our behalf. Sometimes the point of reference,
because of the cross, it will take longer than what we think. Have any one of you ever prayed,
Lord, I need the answer now. Yeah, okay. We've had that. That's for sure. So that's one remembrance.
The next remembrance is the resurrection. And you know, I always go back and forth with a friend
of mine. We debate these things. Is it more important to think about and to experience what
God did in coming to birth, what Christmas means and the birth of Jesus, or is it the
resurrection? And I always say it's the resurrection in my perspective. It was wonderful that he did
what he did, but the resurrection seals it in the fact that it's a real experience that nobody can
take away from us, that he was dead and now he's alive three days later. Thank the Lord for that.
The scripture says in Luke 24, he is not here, he is risen. So therefore the tomb is empty.
We remember that Jesus defeated death and this anchors us in many different ways,
but it could anchor us in our hope, our future resurrection if we die and again,
our resurrected and our courage in suffering. It's an interesting thing. We always think about the
victories in our life. And if I live long enough, maybe I'll begin to write some things down about
some of the sufferings in our life because that's where we really learn. The mountain tops are great,
aren't they? Oh my gosh. But where do we learn? In the valleys, in the desperation and circumstances
and things. 2 Corinthians 1.4, God comforts us in our tribulation. And I have to say that again and
again to people. He comforts us. He looks after us. He didn't change. He's there.
And the question that I ask then, why is the resurrection essential to the Christian faith
and not just the cross? Why is that? Well, for one, Jesus' victory over death. Two,
it validates the cross really works and it gives us power to live our life in newness of life.
Any other thoughts about what the resurrection means to you?
Okay. We'll leave it go at that. All right. Another core remembrance. Remember, God did these
things for us, not himself, for us. God's work in history. Now, think about this.
And history usually for most experienced Christians start at salvation and what it means
in the resurrection we've talked about, what it means at birth. But just like the Israelites
remembered Exodus and the Jordan Crossing, we are to remember what? About creation.
I, in my retirement now, have time to smell the daisies. And we have this cathedral room
or vault sun room at the end of our, our part of our house. And it's just, and it faces south.
And there's a great big window up top and the sun is there. And I just have to go in there and I,
every time I go in there and the birds are now starting to come back and they're singing.
And I just get lost in the Lord. His creation is so beautiful. Now, mind you, a couple of weeks
ago, I was looking at two feet of snow. But again, here we are, grass is getting green.
And it's just the idea that you can just enjoy his creation for what he did. He made it for us.
He, it was an exemplary activity of what his goodness is. The creative elements of his,
the expression of his love for us. So that's number two. God becoming man. That's another
appreciation that we have. How can God become man? How can he fit that all in and be born
of a virgin? The cross and the blood shed. We talked about that. The resurrection,
defying death. And again, Pentecost. What's so interesting about that? He gave us the Holy
Spirit. That's another element to remember to thank the Lord for. He would have forgiven our
sins, but when he brought the Holy Spirit, he gave us what? Through the Holy Spirit,
the power to live the life. The dunamos, the Holy Spirit. And that's important.
I often think, and we have gone through Exodus, and we've gone through Deuteronomy, and we,
those of us that share on Wednesday night, we often say to each other
directly or indirectly, think about if we had to live that life. And the only way we know
that we sinned is whether we went and we went before the priest with an offering,
and he spoke on behalf of our sins, and then what else was there?
You yourself are trying to follow God. There's no internal Holy Spirit to be able to strengthen
you to do the righteous acts that he asks. Yet he is asked, and that's because the law
fell short, and he's given us that Holy Spirit. All right, how about this?
What other important element is missing out of that list that should be mentioned here?
And you're part of that.
The church, he's given us the church so that we don't have to live the life by ourself.
No, I can do it myself. Yeah, right, that doesn't work very well.
It says in the Bible, do not, what? I just lost my thought.
Do not forsake your assembling of yourself together. Okay, thank you Francine.
And what happens when we do that, when we forsake the assembling of ourself together?
We become opinionated. We become thought processes on ourself. We're right, they're wrong.
But the equalizer is, and the value is, that you see Christ in one another.
That's hard to think about. He's the equalizer for all of us here, these different points of life,
but it's the church. Now think about the church. You know, God can work miraculously.
He can bring salvation to people, singularly. But what's he ask us to do? Pray for those
that are in need. He can miraculously do things sovereignly as he will.
But if you look in scripture, he has looked for a partnership with us. We are to pray. Well,
do you think that God doesn't know the prayers that we're asking? Sure he does.
And he's not caught short on the things that we think, oh gosh, it has to happen now.
But he wants us to partner, to bring about his kingdom through the lives of the church.
That's the reality, because people do not see God unless they have a vision.
And a lot of Muslims now have visions and dreams, and that's wonderful.
But unless somebody articulates that and begins to frame up what God is about, they may not know
how many of us have ever talked with somebody in a near-death experience.
Then, you know, it's meaningful at that point in time. I had one individual that talked with
some longer time ago. He was going to do it his way. It was my daughter-in-law's stepfather.
He was a Jewish person, and he listened, and then he stopped. And both my son
tried to talk with him. I talked with him. Meghan, my daughter-in-law, talked with him.
And he died of cancer. And Meghan called, and she said, Dad, you think I should go? I said,
look, you have nothing to lose. Go there. She wanted to tell him one last time.
He said, no, I'm not going to listen. And you know where he landed up. I don't know that he
didn't have an instantaneous experience, but for all sake purposes, he went to his reward.
And it's very sobering to think that those that don't know the Lord,
there is no hope, as the Bible says. And again, the last one, God's faithfulness
is establishing the church as the tool to usher in his kingdom. That's important to remember. That's
just as important as the other things. That's the culmination. You are the expression of his love
to the world. All right, another core experience here that we look at. How about our own testimony?
The grace and the transformation in each heart. And I will tell you that if we have 30 people
here, there's 30 different experiences of a testimony that God has brought to bear.
Never the same, no carbon copy. It's unique how God speaks to us and draws us.
And we have our own testimony. 1 Corinthians 6, 11 says, remember what you were,
but you were washed. You are changed. You are bought. You are his.
There's no free ticket anymore. You know, just, okay, I'll, and I live with some people in this
retirement community. How should I say this kindly? They've accepted the Lord and that's
all they do. It's all they did. There's no manifestation of activity in their life that
can be spoken of. And I grieve for them because they don't know the reward. How many find a reward
in ministering to other people, the love of God? Yeah, I mean, there's no greater reward than that.
No greater reward than giving yourself. Fine is finances, time, treasure, whatever the case may be,
to those that are in need. Another one, Ephesians 2, 11, 13, you were far from God. We all were.
And we could maybe have a bet on who was the fatherist. We don't want to go there, but we
were all far away at one degree or another, but his blood brought you near God, the blood of
Jesus. Now, remember this, where God found you, think about that, the degradation of your
circumstances. And, you know, for one, that when I was 10 years old, I didn't have degradation,
but I didn't know the Lord, but I was still lost. What He rescued you from? Well, I will tell you
that when I rebelled and decided to go my own way and go into service, I did bad things.
And I can remember the very night I was going to come home, discharged from McGuire Air Force Base
one night, come home one day, say goodbye to my parents, and move to Florida. Had a job lined up,
everything. And my mother, of course, she was praying, a praying mother. How many are praying
mothers here for our kids? Yes. Okay. And she said, well, would you go to church with us tomorrow? I
said, no. I said, I'm not going to go to church. So they got up Sunday morning. She said, would
you go? I said, well, okay. I went. And that was a turning point in my life because there was a
minister there that ministered to me specifically on my need. And I cried my eyes out and never
did go to Florida. Okay. And you know, it was instantaneous. It was something I, he rescued
me from myself and circumstances, how he changed you and is changing you. It's not just you came
to salvation X number of years ago, but what is, what is he doing in your life now? You cannot be
a Christian that is earnestly following him and not see change and experience and trust and all
the things that you're building because he's building a strong person, a strong man, so to
speak, quote unquote, in your life and woman. Excuse me. Question. What does your testimony look
like or what do you live out in your life as a testimony to Christ? Anybody want to take that?
What are your expressions of your, of your experience in the Lord?
Anybody? Okay. We got to jail. I've been quiet till now.
So I actually became a Christian when I was a child. It was either five or nine. I don't even
remember specifically, but so my whole life has been just a journey of growing in Christ. Thank you.
But the most, the most important part in my life didn't come till I was about 50 years old
because, oh, for heaven's sake.
There. I was, I was, I have, I've had three husbands and it's not
because of the way that Samaritan woman was. It just happened that way.
But my first two husbands, I more or less picked them out myself, much to my dismay later.
But the, my third husband, God put him in my life. And so I remember complaining at God one
day. I'm like, okay, God, you're the one that put him in my life. So why isn't he perfect?
What audacity. But anyway, God said to me very specifically right then,
Gail, when are you going to learn it's not about you? And I was in shock. I'm like,
how could it not be about me? It's my life. But he said to me right then, Gail, until you
give yourself, abandon yourself to me, surrender yourself completely, not by little pieces,
not this, I'll give him this and I'll give him that. I want your whole life. And until,
and unless you do that, you're never, never going to be at peace or have the joy you're looking for.
And for six months I struggled with him over that. But that was the big pivotal turning point in my
life. And it, everybody has to come to that point to really grow in Christ and to change
because you have to die to yourself. And when you were talking about the cross, I'm thinking,
yeah, the cross is important to me because it means my death as well as his.
Absolutely.
Okay. I think what does manifest in my life now is I've been pure for the last 16 years.
And I had a coworker a few weeks ago who was like, well, don't you smoke? And I said,
nah, I don't smoke. And she goes, well, what do you do when you're drinking then? I said,
I don't drink. I have no desire for that stuff.
And the answer was, oh, you live a boring life. And I say, yes, amen to that.
No, it's not. Not at all. You know, when you are on this side of the cross, it's a whole different
understanding. I mean, a secular person does not understand the life that we live. I mean,
it's impossible. Okay. So another core value, God's instructions and wisdom to us
and obedience and direction is what we have to end up with in 2 Timothy 2.8. It says,
remember Jesus Christ risen from the dead in Psalm 119, remember your word to your servant.
So in remembering God's word to us and infiltrating into our life, we begin to get direction. We begin
to get accomplishments. We begin to see God answer prayer and we are to remember God's word first.
That's how we grow. For those of you that weren't here, just a quick hiatus.
Because when you are Christian and you have these thoughts, that's the carnal nature.
How do you overcome that? It says, if you look at the word conscience in your life,
the Lord comes down. He gives us the word. If you read the word, the word is assimilated into
the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit takes that word and then works through your conscience to direct you
to righteousness and a good life. So you remember the word. It starts with the word. Those of us
that don't read the word, you're not going to have a very successful Christian experience. That's
where it all starts. You want to remember his promises, his warnings, his calling.
Forgetting leads to drift. It's not that you're going to end up just throwing everything out.
Slowly. Oh, you haven't been to church a week. And then it's two weeks. And well, we'll watch it on
live TV. That's nice. You can sit in my living room in the cup of coffee and watch Chris.
That's great. But that doesn't work, ultimately. Remembering leads to faithfulness.
So Christ's return is one last thing. It encourages us to persevere because he's coming
again. We are not so destitute, as Paul says. And we would be if we knew that Christ was not
coming again. But he is. And consequently, we build our faith on that. Every communion points
to what he has done, but also looks forward. And he says this. You proclaim, and then it
tells you about the Lord's Supper until he comes. He's coming again. Isn't that glorious? The fact
that he's going to win this. He's got it. Amen. So we remember what? Christ is always at work,
always at work, never stops working. Justice will be done ultimately. And Christ will make
all things new. Knowing this, then, does this encourage you? And if so, how? Then the depths
of despair. My wife does not like me to say this, but I'll say it because she's not here.
This is our hell. This is the worst it gets. We will be translated to a life that is everlasting.
Ron, don't tell her I said that. Okay? Don't blackmail me. All right?
Yeah. Thanks, Jill. But I mean, this is it. It can get no worse than this.
So thank the Lord that we're transcending to eternity. And think about this. There's going
to be no end to that. I can hardly even get my mind around that thing. I don't know what we're
going to be doing. Maybe building kingdoms. I don't know whatever, but that's good. I love that.
This keeps us hopeful and steady in this broken world. And I guess as we look around,
it's becoming more broken and more broken as things go on. So let's not forget his goodness.
It says in Deuteronomy 8, 11, make sure that you never forget the Lord. And don't
disobey his laws and teachings. That's not going to do you any good.
Abide by them. Do them because you'll be righteous. Judges 8, 24, 34. And the people of Israel did
not remember the Lord their God who had delivered them. And you know, we all have,
I thought I turned this down and I apologize. I'm sorry.
I guess my wife's giving me a rebuke.
All right. Okay. Think about this. They were always stiff-necked and rebellious.
He wanted to get rid of them. Moses interceded. So he brought a new covenant and that's to our
advantage. Psalm 106.13, but they soon forgot his works. They did not wait for his counsel.
How many are impetuous? Lord, I want it now. Wait, wait, wait. Don't do anything without the
administrative head stamping approval or guidance in your life saying, okay,
this is the way you walk in it. It is dangerous not to live that way. And Hebrews 2.1,
therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard lest we drift away from it.
It is slow. It happens. I've seen many people drift away. So it's time. So we won't answer this
question. How do you practically remember his blessings to you? So in closing, let's look at
this. The Bible consistently now calls us to remember what God has done, what he has doing.
So our faith stays anchored, not drifting. You notice something when you are, when you,
I used to do a lot of boating and you come to the shore and you throw an anchor out. Well,
if you don't throw the anchor out on the beach, after a while the tide begins to move your boat
and all of a sudden you come back to where you were and your boat's way out there because you
haven't anchored it. You drift. It's slow. A couple inches, a couple feet. Oh, you know,
boat's all right. We'll worry about it later. And all of a sudden, bingo, the boat's gone.
I have to swim for it. So those things are important to us. And I want you to remember
them because they are memorials to us and remembrances. So Lord, we thank you for tonight.
We thank you for the participation. We thank you that you are working in our life and the
testimonies that were shared tonight. They're so wonderful, how you brought all of us from
different walks of life. Yet here we are together and we thank you for that Lord.
We thank you for the church that is being built and the gates of hell shall not prevail.
And so we ask Lord that as we go our way, we will be strengthened in light of our circumstances,
whether they are mountain top or whether they are valley. We thank you. We would not change this
for the world. We bless you and all of God's people said, amen. God bless you. Thank you
for your participation.
Thanks for joining us at Lansdale Life Church as we praise God and discuss His word. Don't
forget to join us for Worship Lives Sunday mornings at 10 a.m. Eastern on YouTube.
Be blessed and have a great day!