(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.) Hey man, Joshua chapter 4. So we're going to look at the crossing of the Jordan. We've been kind of getting into the Jordan River and some things happen here. Now we're going to get out of the Jordan River in Joshua chapter 4 and there's a couple significant events. I'm going to preach through verse by verse real quickly just explaining what's happening and then I want to kind of go back and show you the significant events and show you what, we kind of see some methods of the Lord here in Joshua chapter 4 and some philosophies that God has in this chapter as far as His relationship with us and how it applies to us. I'll show you that after we get through Joshua chapter 4. But first let's go through and explain what's happening here. So we're getting into the Jordan River. We know who Joshua is. We know who the children of Israel are. They got to the Jordan River. The waters have been parted and now they are moving across the river. Look down at verse number 1 where the Bible says, and it came to pass where all the people were clean, passed over Jordan that the Lord spake unto Joshua saying, take you 12 men out of the people and out of every tribe of man and command them saying, take you hence out of the midst of Jordan out of the place where the priests feet stood firm 12 stones and you shall carry them over with you and leave them in the lodging place where you shall lodge this night. So of course all the people at this point are over. The priests are still in the river. Now when it says the midst of the Jordan, that means the middle of the river. So the priests are out and they're standing in the middle of the river and the Lord says to Joshua, tell these guys to take 12 stones out of the river. Then Joshua verse 4 called the 12 men whom he had prepared of the children of Israel out of every tribe of man. So of course 12 stones, 12 tribes of Israel. So there's the significance there. And Joshua said unto them, pass over before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of Jordan into the middle of the river and take you up every man of you a stone upon his shoulder according unto the number of the tribes of the children of Israel that this may be a sign among you that when your children ask their fathers in time to come saying what mean ye by these stones. So the idea is that someone would come along and they would see these stones and it would be something out of place, something noticeably different and it would spark or it would spur a question is the idea here. We'll go back to that idea in a little bit but look at verse number 7. Look at verse number 7. The Bible continues. Then ye shall answer them that the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord when it passed over Jordan. The waters of the Jordan were cut off and these stones shall be for memorial unto the children of Israel forever. And the children of Israel did so Joshua commanded and took up 12 stones out of the midst of Jordan as the Lord spake unto Joshua according to the number of tribes of the children of Israel and carried them over unto the place where they lodged and laid them down there. Now it's interesting, verse number 9, the Bible says and Joshua set up 12 stones in the midst of Jordan in the place where the feet of the priests which bear the ark of the covenant stood and they are there unto this day. So that's the second monument there. So there's two monuments that happen here. So you have the guys, just to explain where we're at so far, you have the 12 men have taken a stone and they've carried it off. They've taken a stone out of the midst of the river and carried it off to where they lodged and I'll show you where that ends up in a few minutes. But then Joshua himself takes 12 stones and sets them up in the middle of the river. Now I don't know how big these stones were that Joshua took. Obviously the stones that the guys took were carried on their shoulder. I don't know if Joshua took bigger stones but it's my opinion that these stones either stuck out of the water when the river came back down or, you know, there was some sort of, you know, you could tell that these stones were there when the river was back flowing. Okay, because they put these stones in the middle of the river. Okay, so there's two monuments or two memorials the Bible says here. So this, I mean, I think this one was probably visible when the river was flowing, otherwise, you know, what would be the point of it? Look at verse number 10. But I just want to point out that there's two, okay? For the priests which bear the ark stood in the midst of Jordan. So everybody else is across the river, the priests are still there, okay? Until everything was finished that the Lord commanded Joshua to speak unto the people, which is basically all this movement of these stones, okay? According to all that Moses commanded Joshua and the people hasted and passed over. And it came to pass when all the people were clean passed over that the ark of the Lord passed over and the priests in the presence of the people. And the children of Reuben, the children of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh passed over armed before the children of Israel as Moses spake unto them. Remember, these are the three tribes that they're not even going to inherit any land, but they promised that they would go help fight. They would leave their families over on the east side and they would go and they would fight on the west side for the remaining tribes. Verse 13, about 40,000 prepared for war passed over before the Lord unto battle to the plains of Jericho. On that day, the Lord magnified Joshua in the sight of all Israel and they feared him as they feared Moses all the days of his life. Turn back to Joshua chapter 3 in verse number 7. Verse number 7. So this is God fulfilling a promise that he made to Joshua before he parted the waters in verse number 7 of Joshua 3. The Bible says, and the Lord said unto Joshua, this day I will begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that as I was with Moses, so will I be with thee. So that was one of the reasons that God did this, is to magnify Joshua to the people, to lift up Joshua as the new leader, to show the people that Joshua has God at his back just as Moses had God at his back. Because now God has parted the sea, he parted the waters for Moses at the Red Sea, now he's parted the water for Joshua at the Jordan River. Look down at verse number 15. And the Lord spake unto Joshua saying, command the priests that bear the ark of the testimony that they come up out of Jordan. Joshua therefore commanded the priests saying, come ye out of Jordan. And it came to pass when the priests that bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord will come out of the midst of Jordan and the souls of the priests feet were lifted up onto dry land, that the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and flowed over its banks as they did before. So now this was the trigger for the water to come back in when the priests and the ark stepped out of the banks and the people came out of Jordan on the tenth day of the first month and encamped in Gilgal in the east border of Jericho. So here they are in this town called Gilgal and now here's what, why you say why Gilgal. So here's a town, it's right before Jericho, it's right before the first battle. Now there's something interesting that also happened in Gilgal and I won't usually jump ahead but we're going to jump ahead to Joshua chapter 5 real quickly because it goes to the point I want to make this evening. Look at Joshua chapter 5 and verse number 7. Before they went to their first battle, you know, they did these things. They set up these memorials and then in Joshua chapter 5 verse 7 in Gilgal, the Bible says this, it says, and their children whom he raised up in their stead, them Joshua circumcised, for they were uncircumcised because they had not circumcised them by the way. So when they were in the wilderness, the children were not circumcised and it came to pass when they had done circumcising all the people, they abode in their places in the camp till they were whole, till they were healed. And the Lord said unto Joshua, this day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from Ophiu, wherefore the name of the place is called Gilgal unto this day. So Gilgal was used as a place of, you know, of this circumcising of these children who had been in the wilderness who were now adults and now they were circumcised in Gilgal right before they went into the promised land to fight against all these heathen people. So Gilgal, the point I'm trying to make is Gilgal was a place that was used to set these people apart. God made sure that he set these people apart before they went into this land with all of these people, or marking them so to speak. And maybe that would be the title of my sermon this evening would be called Markers, if it did have a title. Look at verse number 20. And here's what else happened in Gilgal. Look at verse number 20 of Joshua chapter 4. And those twelve stones. So what about the twelve stones that the guys carried off on their shoulders, which they took out of the midst of Jordan, which they took out of Jordan, did Joshua pitch in Gilgal. And he spake unto the children of Israel, saying when your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying what mean these stones. Now look, turn to Deuteronomy chapter 27. So they set up the stones in Gilgal. They set up this memorial in Gilgal. The same place that God used to set the people apart by circumcision in Gilgal. And look, this was always the plan, first of all. And this was always the plan. And this is kind of a modus operandi that God has for his people. And I'll prove it to you. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 27 and verse number 1. This is back with Moses. And Moses, with the elders of Israel, commanded the people, saying keep all the commandments which I command you this day. They haven't been, they're in the wilderness. They're not across the Jordan. This is back in the time of Moses. Verse 2. And it shall be on the day when ye pass over Jordan unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, that thou shall set up thee great stones and plaster them with plaster. So look, Moses isn't even going to live to see this. And he's prophesying it now. He's telling them that it's going to happen now. And thou shalt write upon them all the words of this law when thou art passed over and now may its go into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, a land that forth with milk and honey as the Lord thy God of thy fathers hath promised thee. So look, I don't know if these were the same stones. I don't know if this was, you know, they wrote this on the same monument. But the point is, is that, you know, God's into marking these things. He's into marking the law for these people. He's into setting up memorials so they won't forget what happened here on this day. Look at verse 22. This is the way God operates. And he has been doing it ever since. Look at verse 22. Then ye shall let your children know. So I mean, the children said, you know, I mean, what mean ye these stones is what the Bible says that the children are going to say in verse 21. We'll also look at that in a few minutes. But then your children, your children, let your children know saying Israel came over this Jordan on dry land. For the Lord your God dried up the waters of Jordan before you until you were passed over as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up from before us until we were gone over. So there's that that comparison to he did it for Moses. And now he did it for Joshua, that all the people of the earth might know the hand of the Lord that is mighty that ye might fear the Lord your God forever. Okay, now look, this is the theme of this chapter. This is the theme of this chapter is setting up memorials is setting up these markers we see it looking it's a theme throughout the Bible. It's a theme throughout the Bible. Turn to First Samuel chapter seven, I'll show you one other place there's many other places in the Bible, but we've already seen in Deuteronomy chapter 27, God's going to set up a memorial for this same event, except in that case, it's not to remember that God that God was mighty and he was behind them. It's them to remember the law to remember to keep the law. In Joshua chapter four, we see the two memorials look at First Samuel chapter seven, look at verse number 11. And the men of Israel went out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines and smote them until they came under Bethkar. Then Samuel took a stone and set it between Mizpah and Shen and called it the name Ebenezer saying hitherto, the Lord helped us. So here's a memorial that was set up for you know, winning a battle. They set up a memorial. I mean, there's lots of other examples of people setting up memorials. Abraham did it. I mean, just to remember something that the Lord did for them is what these markers, these memorials were for. So when people would see it, when people would see it, they would look back and they would ask questions. Now look, I mean, did it work? Did it work? Well, look at that and at the end, okay, but look, here's the thing. These people, I mean, think about the markers that were set up in Joshua chapter four, whether it be the riverbed itself, or whether it be the stones in Gilgal, something, you know, you know, the children of the parents that were there are walking along and they see these stones stacked and they go and they ask, you know, their parents, their fathers, they say, what's this all about? Because look, something's out of place. They see these twelve stones stacked and they know someone did this, which I mean, you know, just to rabbit trail this, you ever been out hiking and seen a bunch of rocks stacked up? It's a California thing. I've never seen it anywhere else. But you ever been out hiking and you see these little, you know, whatever they are, monuments or whatever of all these, you know, four or five rocks stacked up? Do you know what I'm talking about? And they're all stacked up like that? First of all, here's the dumb thing. You're hiking and no one ever says, no one ever on planet Earth would ever be hiking along and say, oh, you know what, boy, there must have been windy and those rocks got blown up in a stack like that. You know, it's amazing. There must have been a heavy rainstorm or a mudslide and just look at how it's neat how the mudslide stacked up those rocks like that. No one would ever say such a stupid thing. You know what I'm saying? I mean, it's obvious that some person, you know, no one ever says, look at a deer must have done that. You know, I mean, you ever seen a deer stacking rocks? I mean, no one would ever question yet, but people would say the whole universe happened on accident. I mean, what in the world? Four rocks, no one would ever say that four rocks stacked themselves, yet this entire universe and everything in it and all the ecosystems and how this perfect, all these systems work together is just like that was just an accident. I mean, it's the most foolish thing you could ever even think about, you know, but that's not even the point of the sermon. It's just something that, but look, they walked along and they're like, oh, stones stacked up perfectly. It sparks a question. Who did this, dad? Who did this? And then they explained, you know, it's a memorial. Go back to Deuteronomy chapter 26, not 27. So God set up the memorial in Gilgal, but he also, also, he had them circumcised there. Okay? Now look, he did this to set them apart. And you say, oh, you know, separation and that's a New Testament thing. No, it's not. It's a Bible thing. It's a Bible thing. It's always been this way. No matter how many sermons you've heard on separation, it's the entire Bible because it's God that wants it. And this is what he did in Gilgal. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 26 and verse number 18. I'll prove it to you. The Bible says, and the Lord, so this is right before Moses says to write the law on, you know, these stones when you get across the Jordan River. And the Lord had a vouch, a vouch this day to be, this day to be his peculiar people as he had promised thee that thou should keep all his commandments and to make the high above all nations which he had made in praise and in name and in honor that thou mayest be in holy people unto the Lord God as he has spoken. So the Bible says here in the Old Testament that these people are to be a, God's people are to be a peculiar people. Now I know, you know, you've probably heard 1 Peter 2 verse number 9. I'll just read it for you now. You've probably heard sermons on this, maybe even from me, but you're a chosen generation, a royal priesthood and holy nation, a peculiar people that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. So look, this is not, this is the way God has always been. This is not a New Testament thing. Okay? This is, and look, this is the problem. This is the problem with Christians today. It's the, they aren't set apart. It's, it's the problem. And look, I mean, from my perspective, you know, when I look at Christians as a whole, it doesn't seem that they want to be set apart. I mean, I look at Christians, well Christians today, Christians today save people. Okay? That's what I'm talking about when I say Christians. I mean people who are actually saved. Okay? Saved people today, they're chameleons. They're not set apart. They just, they kind of become whoever they're around to fit in. You know, and I guess they're like, I'm saved, who cares? You know, but you know, which is true, you're saved. Nothing's gonna stop you from being saved. But you know, the whole, I'm saved, who cares? Be a chameleon. Look, everybody wants to fit in. Okay? Nobody wants everyone to hate them. Right? I mean, nobody wants, you know, everyone to hate them. Nobody wants to have a group of people that they're around not like them and not fit in with those people. So I think that's probably why Christians are doing that today. Because, you know, they want to be around certain people. They don't want to get away from certain people. And they're just gonna blend in. So the question, the question this evening is, is do you have any markers? Do you have any markers in your life? I mean, what you say you stand for is easy. That's simple. But if you have no markers, and your riverbed looks the same as everybody else's riverbed, then, you know, there's no memorials. And guess what? That will spark no questions. That will spark no questions. I mean, that's why you see some of the numbers of statistical things out there from, you know, fornication to divorce to all this. You know, they're the same amongst Christian people. I mean, that's what, you know, non-Christian people will throw in the face of Christians. Like, you know, your people are doing all the same stuff that everybody else is doing. And in many cases, it's true. Unfortunately, the riverbeds all look the same. You know, it's like, it's all the same as other people. There's no difference. But here's the problem. Okay, here's the problem. God set the people apart at Gilgal. And He made a memorial there. And the memorial was to, well, first of all, first of all, you know, what's a memorial for? First of all, you know, did you know that, you know, a country, we're talking about a country here, are we not? Are we talking about a nation here? I mean, it applies to a nation just as well as it applies to the individual. But look, a nation without memorials will soon forget its past. Maybe you should think about that before we go and rip down every single memorial that we've ever put up in this country. Because a country without memorials will forget its past. And I'm going to show you that that past will happen, it will be forgotten in one generation. One single generation. That's about 30 years. Think about that. But think about this. Here's the problem for you individually, for you individually, if you don't have any memorials, if you don't have any markers in your life, I mean, look, this victorious for most of you in the room this evening, this victorious Christian life that we're all shooting at isn't that what we're all isn't that the target that we're all aiming at is the victorious Christian life. This victorious Christian life just isn't about you. For most of you in this room. Now look, I mean, turn to Second Timothy, chapter four. Look, if you're Paul, if you're Paul, it's a little more simple. Turn to Second Timothy, chapter four, and look at verse number seven. Second Timothy, chapter four, and verse number seven. The Bible says, or Paul says, I've fought a good fight. I've finished my course. I have kept the faith. Henceforth, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but to all them that love his appearing. Turn to First Corinthians, chapter seven. So Paul was able to say, you know what I did, I lived a victorious Christian life. He's like, I fought the fight as hard as I could possibly fight it. And you know, I kept the faith. And I did this. And as a matter of fact, in First Corinthians, chapter seven, Paul even gives his opinion. He gives his opinion that you know what, if possible, it would be better that what Paul was not married, he did not have children. And in First Corinthians, chapter seven, he said, look, you can do more in your spiritual life. And it would be better. You can you can push harder for the Lord. He said, if it's just you, and you don't end up getting married, and you don't have children, he's like, then you can just, it's just about you driving. It's just about your spiritual life, and you going forward and hard charging. There's nobody else around you that you need to bring with you. And in First Corinthians, chapter seven, in verse number seven, he says, for I would that all men were even as myself. But every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that, I say therefore, to the unmarried and widows, it is good for them, if they abide even as I. But then he goes on to say that, look, most people just can't, most people just can't be single. Most people, you know, are going to have the desire, you know, to be married, and they should just get married, is what he says. But he's saying this in the context of just spiritual horsepower, is what he's saying. He's just, you know, as a single person, you just, all you have to do is just drive forward yourself. In verse number nine, he says, but if they cannot contain, let them marry. It's better for them to marry than to burn. It's better for them to get married than to just be in fornication and not have a spiritual life at all, or whatever. Paul, he's like, you know what, I can do it. He's like, I can abstain and just focus on my spiritual life. Look, most men can't do that. So most people need to get married. But look, I mean, it's different, it's different, it was different for Paul. The victorious Christian life was different for Paul. You know, it was just all about his actions in his life. But look, it's not that way if you have a family. Living the victorious Christian life, if you have a family, is a different definition than if you don't. I mean, the definition of victory in that case is completely different. It's a little bit more complex. And that's why, look, it's because you have this whole thing called the next generation to factor in. And that's what God was getting at with all these markers in Joshua chapter 4, Deuteronomy chapter 26, 27, you know, 1 Samuel chapter 7, elsewhere in the Bible. But look, if you just took care of yourself, and the next generation just walked away, is that a victorious Christian life? I mean, I'd like to see the parent that would say yes to that. That, yeah, you know what, I was, I was, you know, doing my thing, and I'm a soul winner and all this and, and just like your children just, they didn't get saved, they walked away from the faith, and they just, or maybe they got saved, but they just didn't serve the Lord one minute in their life. Is that victorious? Is that the victorious Christian life? Look, success is harder for you than it was for Paul. And you're like, oh man, yeah. Trying to get you to see what you're up against, success is harder for you than it was for Paul. It's more complex, it's more difficult. Look, it's what, it's what people in the Bible struggled with. The prophets struggled with this, the next generation. The kings struggled with the next generation. I mean, all these people in, I mean, the Joshua generation, the generation after Joshua struggled with this. So let me ask you again, do you have any memorials? Where are your memorials? Is there anything different about you that people would walk along and say, that's different. Is there anything different that's marking, you know, that will spark questions? Where your kids will ask, why do we do this? Why, why do we do it this way, mom and dad? Everybody else does it like that, why do we do it like this? Why do we go here? Why don't we go here? That's a big marker right there. Why does everybody else go here and we don't go here? That's a memorial right there. That's a marker right there. That's a different, that's a riverbed right there that's got some ripples in the water and people are wondering, why is the water rippling like that? What is that sticking out of the water? That's a marker. Do you have any of those? You know what? You know that even going to church today is a marker? Because nobody else does. It's crazy. You would think at some point, soul winning, you would think, now that it's all been declared over, has it? I don't know, I haven't checked the news yet, but I mean you would think at some point, at some point you would think we're going to find somebody that goes to church. How long has it been since you have found somebody that goes to church? We go soul winning twice a week. What? That riverbed's bare. If you go to church, that's a marker, that's a memorial. Because nobody else does. I mean I never thought, nobody's riverbed has that anymore. I never thought I'd see it. I never even really thought about it happening. It's crazy. But I can't remember the last time I knocked on the door and asked, where do you go to church? And the person said, oh I just went here last Sunday. I can't remember the last time that that happened. Nobody goes to church anymore. And you know what? It's a reason that we're having, you know, that more people aren't coming here. Because people just don't go. It's just become, church has just become a YouTube video. For the people that do go to church, it's a YouTube video. That's what it is. Look, maybe COVID and the whole COVID thing took a weak and spiritually dying country and just backed over it and put it out of its misery. Maybe that's what happened. Sure kind of feels like it. Look, people are still getting saved. Praise God. But as far as church, I mean personally I'm surprised how easily people gave it up. It makes you wonder if people wanted to go in the first place. It makes me wonder that. Or just doing it out of obligation. I suppose if you think that it gets you to heaven, that's a pretty big obligation. I suppose as 99% of the churches out there teach that to be spiritual and to be a good person, you have to just, you know, go into churches. I'm sure it's on the list somewhere. But look, here's the thing. Loyalty to church is loyalty to God. Turn to Ephesians chapter 5. Ephesians chapter 5. Look at verse number 23. We've heard this verse many times before. Ephesians chapter 5. Look at verse 23. Ephesians chapter 5 verse 23. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, and he is the Savior of the body. Look, the head of this church, the person that runs this church is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ runs this church. Loyalty to church is loyalty to Jesus Christ. That's it. Look, a spiritual life in action. A physical spiritual life in action is a marker. I mean, it is a stack of rocks today that will stick out like nothing anybody's ever seen. A spiritual life in action is a marker, and it's one that the next generation will notice, for sure. For sure. I mean, think about this. I mean, this was God's methodology. It wasn't Joshua's idea to put up these memorials. It wasn't Moses' idea or Samuel's idea. Look, this is God's methodology to set the people apart, to set up these memorials, and it was to show the next generation. Let me ask you this. If there's no markers and Christians just go around playing the chameleon and they just become whoever the group that they're in, whether it's at work or social situations or with family or whatever, and they just become this chameleon that just blends in with everybody else, what chance does the next generation have? I mean, they had a hard time with all these memorials and all these markers set up succeeding anyway. Look, it's actually fairly difficult to do, by the way, to try to be two different people, whether three different people, four different people, depending on the group that you're with. Look, if I am with this group, I try not to say this, and when I'm with this group, you know, I mean, you're going to mess up somewhere there. But here's the thing. Here's the thing people are missing, first of all. If you don't separate and just become, you know, peculiar, this would be the game that you would have to play. And you say, but yeah, you know, we're doing what we're supposed to do, you know, we have a spiritual life, it's just that when we get, you know, with certain groups of people, you know, the problem is that there's no markers. That's the problem. And the problem, look, here's the thing, there's no memorials. There's no memorials. And you know what the next generation will do? Turn to Joshua chapter two, and verse number 10. Joshua chapter two, and verse number 10. If you go out, and you're with the people of the land, and then you come back in, and you're with God's people, and you go out, and you're with the, and you're just not going to be peculiar, because you don't want, look, who wants to be peculiar? Some of you are peculiar. I'm just kidding. Who wants to be peculiar, though? Who wants to stick out? Nobody in their flesh, in their human nature, wants to stand out. You want to blend in. Look, that's not what God wants. God does not want you to blend in. Look at Judges chapter two. How did it work out for the next generation? And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord that he did for Israel. And Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died being 110 years old, and they buried him. I'm sorry, I started reading in verse seven. And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timathrenes, in the Mount of Ephraim on the north side of the hill Gash. And also, all that generation that were gathered under their fathers, and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel. And all the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served Balaam. What the problem wasn't the memorials, the problem was they weren't taught about the memorials. Look, they failed. They served. They fought. They were loyal. They didn't teach the next generation the memorials, and they failed. They failed. So what makes you think you will succeed when you do much less than that? That's the question. Look, this is the struggle in the Bible. It's the struggle. And look, on a personal level, on a personal level, I mean, when you go out and you go out with the people of the world, and you become this chameleon, first of all, you know, all you're doing is making a joke to them of your spiritual life. Because people that are not spiritual, they don't like the fact, they don't like that part of you. People that are not spiritual will not like that you are spiritual. They will look at that as judgment upon them. And then you go and you blend in with them, and you're just making a joke of yourself, of your spiritual self, of that spiritual person to them is all you're doing. But the big part, the big problem is in Joshua chapter 4, where it sparked these questions to the children. And that's the struggle that has baffled Christians since the beginning of the world, is how to pass this on to the next generation. And that's what the memorials were for. But it takes more than just the memorials. First of all, you got to have them. If you don't have any, you have no chance. You have to have them. You have to set up the markers that separate you, that set you apart. Then you have to teach the next generation what those markers are all about. Because here's the thing, folks, and I've mentioned this before, but by the time that your kids and the next generation get to be teenagers, they need to know what those memorials are all about. They don't just need to know, yep, there's a pile of rocks there, and we go this way, and we don't go that way. They need to know what that pile of rocks means. They need to know what the Lord did that put that pile, that caused that pile of rocks to be put there. Are you following me here? They need to be in on the memorial. They need to understand the origins of it, and then they'll start walking in the direction that they should be walking in. But if you have no markers at all, what in the world? You have no chance. You have no chance. This is the problem in the Bible. Show up Sunday, and I'm going to show you in detail how to fix it, and how to, I'm going to, I got three sermons that tied directly together to this, and I'm going to show you how we fix this major problem in the Bible that baffled so many people. But first I want to just get across one simple point tonight. If there's, if there's nothing different about you, if there's no markers set up that will spark that difference, they will just go to the people of the land. That's what will happen to the next generation. That's what happened in Joshua's. After everybody that was alive during that river parting died, just like that, it was over, and they had markers, but if you have no markers, there's no chance. Let's bow our heads and have a word.