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Welcome to Life Series, a podcast from King Golden Bay Baptist Church, where we gather together to experience God's love, grow in God's love, and give that love back to each other.

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Joshua chapter 4, verses 1 to 16. We could read together, or you can read as I read, whichever one could follow along. When all the nation had finished passing over the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, Take 12 men for the people from each tribe of men, and command them, saying, Take twelve stones from here out of the midst of the Jordan, for the very place where the priest's feet stood firmly, and bring them over with you and lay them down in the place where you lodge tonight. Then Joshua called the twelve men from the people of Israel, whom he had appointed, a man from each tribe. And Joshua said to them, Pass on before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan. Take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder. So these weren't small stones, these are hefsi stones on their shoulder, according to the number of tribes of people of Israel. And this may be the sign among you when your children ask. Your neighbor says, When your children ask, in a time to come, what do these stones mean when you shall tell them the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord? And when it passed over the Jordan, the waters were cut off. So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever. And the Lord and the people of Israel did just as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones of the midst of the Jordan according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel, just as the Lord told Joshua, and they carried them over with them to a place where they lodged and laid them down there. And Joshua set up the twelve stones in the midst, look at Nabi said, in the midst of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the covenant had stood, and they are there to this day. For the priests bearing the ark stood in the midst of the Jordan until every one was finished, and the Lord God commanded Joshua to tell them, according to all that Moses had commanded Joshua, the people passed over in haste. And when all the people, say all the people, had finished passing over the ark of the Lord, and the priests passed over the peak before the people, the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and half the tribe of Mansah passed over, armed before the people of Israel. And Moses had told them, About 40,000 people, ready for war, passed over before the Lord of the battle to the plains of Jericho. And that the Lord exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel, and they stood in awe of him, just as they stood off. And the Lord said to Joshua, Command the priests bearing the ark of the testimony, come out of Jordan. And so Joshua commanded the priests to come out of Jordan. And when the priest bearing the ark, we had to reach there to pray. This is our last point. You might not see it yet, but we had to read all of this to get to this. And when the priest bearing the ark of the covenant of the Lord came out of the midst of the Jordan, the souls of the priests of the feet were lifted up on dry ground. The waters of the Jordan returned to their place and overflowed all those banks as it did before. Look at your neighbor and says, Rocks. Never forget. Lord, I pray, Lord, that what we're about to experience, we are grateful for who you are. God, I pray, Lord, that right now that the strength of your spirit strengthens all of us. The things that are happening in our lives, God, don't let them bind up the spirit of freedom and the things that you're cultivating on the inside. Because you're facing attacks now is an indication that you are exactly where God wants you to be. Don't be wary, don't forget that God has done this before in your life. It may seem different, but this is why God placed these rocks in the middle of the Jordan to let you know that you will pass over. God, give us the faith to go over to the other side. In your name we pray. Amen. You will pass over. You will pass over. I wanted you as we go forward this morning. I want to thank everyone for being here. Um, I'm grateful to have this opportunity to share with you. Uh, we've come off the heels of so many things that have been happening in the last two weeks. Uh, in the last two weeks, we have celebrated our emancipation. Uh, we celebrate our emancipation. Everybody should should be this should be a high point. We we celebrate our emancipation. Uh we've celebrated uh to having a good time, and and and we're we're grateful uh for what God has been doing and what God has has been allowing us to be free uh for the bondage of slavery. Uh, but before we delve into this scripture, I want you uh to put your attentive minds on. I want you to listen very closely. I want you to pay attention for these next half an hour, give or take. I remember this, as we said from last week, this is our in and out services, meaning that you're gonna get in and then you're gonna get what? Uh, because we don't want to be here all summer. Uh, however, but there is an important word from the Lord. Uh, if you want to make sure we get in and out, I want you to make sure that you're participative in this experience. That, as you know, in preaching, uh, it's not just a one-way street. Preaching, in especially in our cultural tradition, is a call and answer. I'm gonna keep saying this until we don't have to say it no more, and you just talk back. Say, say, preaching is a conversation. So I talk, you talk. Um, before we delve into the scripture, we have to understand uh that this whole scripture has a significant historical context, and it carries tremendous historical weight in the past and in the present for mankind and humankind, no matter where you go. Wherever people have passed over, whenever there's a people who have gone through something, uh, there's something that reminds you that you need some kind of remembrance or symbol of what has happened. Uh, we have here in the Virgin Islands the Sunday morning well. The Sunday morning well has erected on it a plaque that says on August 1st, 1834, that the declaration of proclamation of our freedom was read from here and many sites. Uh, we go past that and it's there to remind us of where we've gone over. There's several other sites throughout that remind us of our past. If you go on the western, eastern side of King Garden Bay towards Cannon Point, you will see literal cannons that are erected that remind us that this was a protected area because they wanted to protect the sugar that was being cultivated. If you go to my left down to call a distillery, you will realize that there's a distillery there that is over 400 years that reminds us as a memory of where we are. And if you don't go out your house, uh, but you just want a taste of sugar and not too much because diabetes is killing us black folk, and we need to get it together. All that sugar in your rice, in your pea soup, in your Kool-Aid, in everything ain't gonna be. I want you here, old and decrepit, and walking into church dribbling. I don't want you dead. Ah, because if you remind that we remember that sugar is also a reminder of the things that we've gone over. Uh, for Africans and African diaspora, however, uh, is indeed that we endured oppression, displacement, suffering, and struggle, and the memorials matter. Look at neighbor says traditions matter, culture matters uh because there must be something that tells the next generation of what we have passed over. This is where we come from, uh, this is what we've gone through, and this is how we got over. Uh, it's not just where we come from, what we've been through, but how we got over. We are now in the midst and the ending of our emancipation celebration. Uh, this year represents 192 years since we've been liberated from slavery, and now 72 years since we've started celebrating festival in 1954. We have memories of where we have come from. But sometimes I wonder, look at your neighbor said, sometimes I wonder whether in the middle of celebration we are losing sight of what we are celebrating. Uh, somebody told me, um, unfortunately, I perused Facebook for the last two weeks. My God, I don't know how you all do it. Uh, I perused Facebook uh for a few moments and and it reminded me why I don't go on Facebook. I reminded me why I delete the app off my phone. And I want to encourage you to minimize the negativity in your life, delete social media because you're spending so much time there, you don't know if God or the comments are speaking to you. Uh, if you're not careful, the negativity will flood your mind, and you could believe in what is most important is the questions around emancipation and how much somebody's how much things should cost, or how much you, how much people have showed up, which concert had the most was Barris of Popcorn Field? Is it really about that? Who cares how much people were there? Were you there? Who performed, who didn't perform, who organized what? Who should have done this? What should look differently? Who should show up? All these things. But brothers and sisters, emancipation is bigger than that. Festival is bigger than that, culture is bigger than that, tradition is bigger than that. We also have to be careful that believing that one group or generation are somehow gatekeepers of culture. As though one generation gets to determine for every other generation what culture should look like. Ah, don't worry, I'm not gonna get in trouble. Culture evolves, tradition evolves. The expression may change from generation to generation, but the meaning must remain the same. And Joshua helps us with this. Joshua understood that after everything, and after everything you crossed over, he listened to God, and there must be a rememorial. So God tells Joshua, Go send 12 men back to the Georgia, one representing each tribe of the children of Israel. And each man should take up a stone, and that stone was so big that they put it on their shoulders. And Joshua 4 records that these 12 stones itself were placed at the feet of the priest. And these 12 stones have been associated with so many things over time. But it is important for us to understand that we may not have physical stones, but there are things in our Virgin Islands culture, in our Caribbean culture, that we must still preserve as stones. Instead of asking what stone should mean, we might sometimes fight against and what who carries the stone. What I realized in these recent debates is not really the stones of our emancipation that we're worried about or fussing about. We're worried about who's carrying the stone. One generation says, Well, we carried our stone fully clothed, and your generation is clarity stones with one yard of clothes from cricket. And here's the thing that I've realized. We fought, our ancestors fought for freedom. Y'all gonna let y'all maybe argue with me. Our ancestors fought for freedom. Our culture represents our freedom. You have to understand for us to preserve culture, we have to make sure it is intentional. So maybe what is happening is that we're seeing that one generation didn't do a good job teaching the next generation. And so now we have a generation that doesn't know why they're celebrating. And so that's why you see all things happening because maybe you didn't do a good job teaching. Now you think about it, you might be saying, Dr. Mike, oh you you picking, I'm not picking aside. You wonder how people are acting the way they act, how children go out and act the way they act when they go out, like they don't have no broad up seat. It's because they weren't taught it at home. Oh, I know you're gonna get quiet. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you. Uh uh, but but but if you think about it, you can't not know what you're not taught. So we're not teaching the importance of how we protect ourselves and what is we we have lost, we have dropped the stones. And all of us are responsible. All of us, and what are things that we have to understand? You know what I realize? Part of our culture, this was not even one of my points. You know, part of our culture in the BVI in the Virgin Islands is that our culture is filled with complaining. We know how to complain. Don't look at nobody to your left or your right, uh, because they're complaining right now. Uh, they they they right now, they ready to complain. Uh, it's our culture. We talk, we gather, as see here, Pastor Merritt says, we fellowship around information. It is a cultural thing. If you think about it, why we like to gossip and talk and talk about topics, it is part of our culture. Now, you might be saying, Dr. Mike, you're stretching. Think about it. Years ago in 1960, we didn't we got power in the BVI in the 1960s. Think about it. In the 1960s, we got electricity. Phones didn't come off for another 10 couple years when cable and wireless came to the island. Now we had all these things. Think about it. Think about it. We had no phones in the 1960s, 70s, and this and another. There weren't no phones. How information spread was people telling one person another person told another person, another person told another person. They got whether it was good or whether it was bad. Part of our cultural tradition is being able to share information, whether it's true. I'm gonna look over here. Whether it's true or whether it's false. Nobody owns freedom, and no single generation owns culture. Every generation has a responsibility to receive the stones, understand what they mean, and make sure the next generation knows their story. You may celebrate differently from me. Your music may be different for me, your clothing may be different for me, your expression may be different, but your festival experience may be different. But you need to understand why we're celebrating. There must be a reason for the stones. We cannot forget the stones because whatever your celebration looks like, it must somehow point back to the meaning. It must remind us that we had people who were brought here and were enslaved. It must remind us that the people that suffered, it must remind us that people that were resisted, it must remind us that people sacrificed and there was a cost to our freedom. There must remind us that something important happened on August 1st in 1834. It must point back to those things. Joshua understood this. Joshua knew that one generation would be born who never understood what Egyptian captivity looked like. And now we're living in it. We have a generation that doesn't understand what it means to have and go to sleep and wake up with no electricity. If you think about it, in 1954, when festival celebrations started, there was no electricity throughout the entire Virgin Islands. It was in pockets. Somebody now doesn't understand what that means. So you try and tell your kids, well, we used to walk 10 miles to go to school and we had to go feed the goats in the morning. They're looking at you like you're crazy. What goats do we have to feed? We don't even have a dog or a cat. We had a fish and it died because of neglect. We don't understand, and the kids are looking, so you can't just talk down to the next generation because who wants to be talked down to when they're being taught? It needs to be a coming together where we are able to share our information mutually respective of each other. If we don't see the other generation as being worthy of taking the stones, then our culture will die. Not because they carry the stone at a different position than you means that they're any less. But Joshua understood this. So God says, I want you to make sure you set up a memorial. When your children ask you in times to come, what do these stones mean? You should tell them the stones mean tradition, that is culture, that is history, it's generational teaching that we have to understand these stones mean something. I want to be able to say this, and as we have some doctors in here on culture and culture bearers, I want you to understand what it is that we're leaving behind. I want to ask you now that you need to look at yourself and ask you, what are you leaving behind for the next generation? I was thinking about what we could define culture as, and what we know as culture to be, and I went to my little uh Tesaurus and dictionary and I pulled it up, and it simply says, culture is who we are and how we live. Look at your neighbor says, culture is who we are and how we live. Tradition is what we intentionally pass down to remind a generation of who we are. Tradition now becomes an action word. What is it that you're passing down now in your homes? What tradition of faith are you passing down? What tradition of taking care of your husband, your wife, and taking care of your family? What traditions are you passing on? And may I say it, for those of you who think that you just get on Facebook and talk about people and criticize people, that's not tradition. You're not really helping no one, you're part of the problem. Tradition needs to intentionally teach with the goal of making sure that it's passed on to the next generation and they're better than what we have without forgetting who we are. But now you have to understand why we're talking about rocks. We're talking about rocks because rocks are important. I don't know anybody in here as a kid used to collect rocks. Uh okay, only me. I used to look at rocks. I liked rocks. They they they are oh, we have one. All right, it's you and I. You and I. People used to collect rocks. Okay, it's only me. I used to like to look at the rocks, especially the rocks here in King Garden B. They used to walk, and no matter what rock you see, all of them had different shapes and colors. And now that there's shapes and colors, that these rocks used to go through a metamorphosis. Now I want to just I I uh you know I'm a nerd, everyone knows that. I want to just help you, and it's gonna make sense for you in a second. As you know, there are different types of rocks. Everybody knows that different types of rocks, yes or no? They're different types of rocks. As you know, rocks come from what? No one knows. You all been out of school, school needs to start back right now. Rocks the principal in the back, don't even know. The principal in the back, she's like, Don't look at me. Uh, rocks, teacher. You remember? Rocks come from magma. Magma comes from where? Lava. Let's do that again. Rocks come from what? Magma. My God. Rocks come from magma. That's where it comes from the core of the earth and it's formed. Now, here's the process. You're not gonna remember this, but don't worry about it. Magma, cooling, indigenous rock. Now, and it goes to that weathering, and then there's sediment. After sediment, there comes compaction, and then you have sedentary rock. And after that, you have heat and pressure that you mix metaphorphic rock. I like metamorphic rock. That's the granite rock, that's the rock quartz. That's the rock that you like to buy. That's a fancy rock, that's that's a special rock, that's like the diamond rocks. All these these minerals and gems, these are things that go through a process. And then there's melting, and then it goes back to magma. It's a cycle. Wherever it starts, it finishes. And rocks have a history. If you look at the rocks all over the BVI, they have a They've been here and watched it all. Imagine if rocks have an ability to talk. As I was growing up in school, I learned a very great lesson that rocks don't have eyes. I threw them anyway. Because there were people who were bothering my spirit. And the best way to correct the enemy is to throw a rock. Don't guys, that is not biblical. That was a joke. And you have to understand that rocks have meaning. But before Joshua ever picked up a stone, each one of these rocks already had a story. Every rock had a history. Before Joshua's stone became a memorial, this survived the process. And all rocks that we go through have survived the process. But what I want to be able to tell you is first, never forget that these 12 stones that we have represent something. And as we go along, we're going to develop them. But I hope that you could think about them now. I've thought and I said, God, what do you think that He wanted these 12 rocks to remember? The first thing that I said he wanted to say is that this first rock represented disobedience. Look at your neighbor said, disobedience. Think about it. God had to tell them one of these rocks had to remember disobedience because how did they get there in the first place? It's because of their disobedience. Now I don't want to, I'm not going to elaborate on each one. And then the second one of these rocks represented death. Ah, these rocks represented death because if you understand, nobody in Moses' generation crossed over with Joshua. That whole generation died off before it represented death. Now I know everybody wants to think about the goodness and the mercy, but it represented disobedience and death, possibly. Then the next one represented mercy. Some of you have to understand that the rocks in your life, the things that you need to pass on to your children, is that we didn't make it here just because of me. I made it because of the mercy of God. Then the next one represented forgiveness. The next one represented protection. The next one represented favor. Oh, then it represented God's faithfulness. Number nine, I could imagine that represented God's faithfulness. Oh, then I could imagine that there was a shift. Oh, that the tenth rock would have represented unity. And then the 11th rock represented destiny. And here's what I know the 12th rock in some way, shape, or form represented traditional teaching. Don't worry, I'll send it up for you. I'll say that for those of you taking notes. Disobedience, death, mercy, forgiveness, deliverance, protection, restoration, favor, faithfulness, unity, destiny, and traditional teaching. I wanted to know that you don't allow the things in your life, and God has allowed you to come over some stuff, and I don't want you to forget who you are. I don't want you to forget what God has done in your life. There's some of us that are in different seasons in our life, and we're thinking that God has forgotten about us, but God has not forgotten about you. Look at the rocks in your life. They're not meant for you to stumble, to remember today about God's faithfulness in your life. Ah, and the second thing I want you to know, as you see in the scripture, that there were two memorials. There's some people that that argue in the scripture that there have been three memorials. Ah, but looking at the scripture, there were two memorials. If you look through the scripture in this passage of scripture, it says, Joshua now set up what? A set of memorial and stones at the feast of the priests, and it stayed there in the river of Jordan. Yes? And then if you read further down, that he then took another set of stones that he took to Gilgal and they set it up there. But he left the stones in the Jordan, so no matter who passed over could remember. How many memorials are they? Two. And I would now I want you to read if people who are reading in the Bible who understands that you should have gotten happy. Now I'm gonna say it again, and why this is important, why they had two memorials. There was one memorial where in the where? In the Jordan River. There was one memorial of the Jordan River where they want, crossed over. I'm not I'm gonna make sure you get this because this is so important that when I saw it, I was like, God, thank you for this. You know, he says, one stone, a set of memorials set up where in the Jordan River. Now you have to understand the next memorial set up where? In Gilgal. That means that they left one memorial there and they took an extra set of stones and took them with them. Uh uh, all right. Uh some no no somebody got it. Somebody got it. I think I think the ministers over here, I think you got it. Let me break it down because I don't think they got it yet. There was a one set of memorial in the river of Jordan. They left that there. And then they took another memorial of stones with them, and they set it up at Gilgal. They didn't get happy yet. You you you you guys got your spiritual lenses on? Uh uh uh one more time for these people over here, the people that went to school that night. Uh let me let me just say one more time. Uh, that there was a memorial. Joshua set up a memorial, Deacon Perkins. He set up a memorial in the River of Jordan, and that memorial stayed there. That memorial stayed there. Even when the waters came back, the memorial stayed there because these were big stones. The River of Jordan wasn't a big rushing sea, it was right there. So they set up a memory, and then even when they left, they left the stones. But in case they forgot, Joshua says, No, we're gonna take another set of stones and we set a memorial at Gilgal. I wanna I'm gonna say it again. Some of you may have gotten it, some of you may not have gotten it. Your Jordan is what God allowed you to go through. But God sometimes wants you to put a memorial on what you've crossed over so you never forget. See, some of us need to start to put memorials on the thing that God allowed us to cross over in our life. Put a memorial on the things that you got over, the things that caused you to stumble, the fights that you had. Put a memorial on the things that God has allowed you to cross over. To say, I'm never going back to that place. God, you delivered me from this and I'm leaving it behind. God allowed me to cross over when others died, when others failed. God says, I would not allow anything to come to pass. Now you set up a memorial. So when they ask you, why do you go back to that job that treated you so bad? Because it's my memorial. It didn't kill me. When you go in your life and you look at the family members that don't talk to you anymore, and God has released you from them, you said, God, why do you still why are you still walking past that house? Because it's a memorial of what God delivered me from. You look at the pain and the scars that you have on your physical body, and God said, God, I wish you could remove the scar so I don't have to think back on the past. It's a memorial that what tried to kill you, that God was bigger. God is setting up a memorial for you in the midst of what you had. Now, here's what's further important that memorial was set up even before everybody crossed over. So some of you right now need to start to look at the current situation that is trying to take you over and says, God, right now I'm about to move from this place. So I'm gonna start to pack up and just leave one thing behind. Some of you don't need to stay in a Jordan, it was just a memorial. Some of you right now are in the middle of your Jordan. God is saying, It's time for you to move, it's time for you to move and go to something else. And I want you to know, stop staying over and looking over too long at what God has delivered you from. You imagine God told you to leave the river Jordan, and you're just saying there, God, I'm so grateful that you allowed me to leave Egypt. I'm so grateful what you've done. And God is saying, I know you left Egypt, but I want you to go further. Memorials are not meant to stay, they're meant to remind. Look at your neighbor, no matter what, I won't forget. But then there was one ideal guy. Why? Because some of us quickly forget the Jordan. And when we move from our place of what God delivered us from, we forget when we start to elevate and get the money and get prosperity and get favor in our life. So God says, in case the children of Israel, because you have to understand, their ancestors they forgot God so much that every time God delivered them for something, they turned on God. So God says, you know what? Make sure you have now a walk-in memorial. So they set up a memorial in their new place. Some of you, I'm not telling you to take your Jordan with you. I want you to take a memorial, something that reminds you of the faithfulness of God. I want to ask you now in your house, is there anybody in here in your physical house that has something that reminds you of the faithfulness of God no matter where you go? Now I didn't plan this. When we did the interview a couple months ago with Sister Nicoletta, and at the end of the interview, I asked her, What does this pendant mean? She says, I keep this pendant with me because it reminds me of my brother and sister who have passed. And I always keep it with me no matter where I am. Now I thought about it. Sister Nicoletta told this story of how she came all the way from Romania with $94 in her pocket, not speaking any English, and wondering how God is gonna do it. And she could imagine that she left 2,000 plus miles, she's now been here over 10 years, and she kept a memorial of her past on her chest, no matter where she goes. And I was thinking, isn't that what God was trying to tell the same children of Joshua and Israel? That no matter where you go, you need to walk with something that reminds you of who you are and what God has done for you. Some of you now are in boardrooms and in jobs and in positions that your God has elevated you there, but you're too ashamed to talk about the God who has brought you there. You've lost your faith in place of position. Where's your memorial? Where can we look in your house, in your life, to see the goodness of God and as an example in your life? It can't just be criticism, it has to be more. What's your memorial? I'ma tell you that God has been too good for me. If God has allowed you to escape the Jordan, why wouldn't I be able to walk around with the goodness of God no matter where I go? What's your memorial? Look at your neighbor and say, What's your memorial? What's God trying to get you to remember and take with you? So now the reason why this battle that you're going through seems so confusing is because you don't remember what God has done. Build you a memorial. Every now and again, I go back and I look at pictures at the church after Irma. At least once or twice every two months. I look at pictures and videos of the destruction. I look at the water and the walls and the roof being caved in. I look at the pews being soaked and filled with mold. I look at the pictures of us packed upstairs like sardines have in church. But what it reminds me is that God's faithfulness is here, even in the midst of destruction. I want somebody to know, stop frowning on your past. Stop trying to hide where God has brought you from, because that's a testament of God's faithfulness in your life. Yes, you might be all fancy now, but God is saying, I brought you a mighty long way. I know some people mean here might be acting like you've done it all on your own. I know some people may be acting like you thought it was your intellect, but we need to pass on a tradition and live in a continual culture and sense that if it had not been for the Lord on our side, I don't know where we would have been. That we've been through a lot, but it's the goodness of God. There have been nights that I didn't feel good, but the goodness of God. There have been nights where I felt like giving up, but the goodness of God, there have been moments where doors have been slammed in my face, but the goodness of God. Some of you need to take the memorials, but laughs. The last thing is a reminder is that God protects. God protects. And it says, it says, and the Lord said to Joshua, command the priests bearing the ark of the testimony to come up to the Jordan. So Joshua commanded the priests to come out, out, out of the Jordan. And when the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of the Lord came up out of the midst of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests of the feet were lifted on dry ground, the waters of the Jordan returned to their place. I'm sorry. I want you to continue to grow spiritually. And I wish sometimes I don't have to exegete the text for you, and you could get happy on your own. But that will take time. I just want one more time. I'm gonna say it says, when the priest's feet reached on dry ground, the waters came back. Glory God, thank you. It says, when the priests bearing the ark of the covenant, which was God's symbol of his presence on earth, and the Lord came out of the midst of the Jordan, and as soon as look at your neighbor, it says, when their souls touched dry ground, then the water came back. I'm gonna say it one more time, because there's somebody right now that you're saying, Pastor, you're preaching this message, but I'm still in the midst of my Jordan. You're talking about freedom and where we're about to go, but I'm still worrying about water coming and crashing on my feet. I wanna let somebody remind somebody that here's my tradition and my culture, what I've understand about God that has been passed down to me from generation to generation, and that we serve a God that fails not. We serve a God that will never leave you nor forsake you. So Joshua now looks at this scripture and says, in the middle of the Jordan, he says that when the priest's feet fell on dry ground, that's when the water came back. This is a reminder to you, you might be in the middle of the Jordan, but God will make sure no water comes back until your feet are safely planted on dry ground. Because we serve a God that sits up high and looks down low. We serve a God that says He will never leave and never forsake me. We serve a God that will make a way when there seems to be no way. We serve a God who says that you're my child, I've anointed you, and no matter what tries to come against you, no devil in hell will find. No, no, no, no. Weapons, they're gonna form and they're gonna take on all types of shapes and forms. But I come to remind you, here's another tradition. They're gonna form, but they're not gonna prosper. And so now you have to understand that when you're getting ready for God to do something great in your life, he's gonna put you in the middle of the Jordan. He's gonna make sure that he protects you all. I feel like preaching. Thank you, God, that when you're in the middle of the Jordan, the waters are not gonna come back to harm you. You might feel a little wet on your feet, you might see others drowning, but God says, as long as I'm with you, no water's gonna come in. So now it says the priest walked out and the water came back, and the priests were safe. Someone has to know that when you are destined and covered by God, that's the same type of protection God puts on you. That He won't allow nothing to come your way until you are on dry ground. Here's my tradition, here's my culture, and I hope we could pass it on to one generation to the other. When you're in church, when you celebrate the goodness of God, if you've been through enough in your life, you have to be able to say, God, I may not be where you want me to be, but I'm so happy I'm not where I used to be. I'm not, thank you, God, that I've been through many dangers, toils, and snares, but I've already come. But it's because of grace and mercy that I'm here. We have to have a tradition of being able to say, For God I live and for God I die. For God I live, for God I die. I will not allow rocks to cry out for me because God has been so good for me. Here's what I like about our celebration, here's what I like about freedom. God says where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty, meaning that you're free to express yourself. So I want to just tell you, King Garden Bay Baptist Church. If you ever get to a place in your life where you forgot what God has done, just look for a memorial that tells you about God's faithfulness, that God's goodness, God's mercy, God's deliverance, God's destiny. So no matter what you go, here's what you should do. When you get to some memorial and you are implanted about all the good things God has done in your life, here's what you do. In our church, we have a tradition that people used to do this. What you do when you get happy is what first what we do, we start off, we clap our hands. See, clapping our hands is how we used to celebrate from our ancestors. We clap our hands. And if you know from West African tribes that we will be able to stomp our feet. The stomping of the feet was a cultural tradition. The waving of the hands and the stomping of the feet. And then we used to be able, because there was no radio, there was no cell phone. You had to call loudly to let everybody know that something good was gonna happen. So they will clap their hands, they will stomp their feet, and then they will raise their voice. I want somebody in here that you can't allow people to take over what our freedom is. But let's show them how you need to be able to clap your hands, you'll be able to stomp your feet and be able to say, God, I thank you. I want somebody in here who's known the goodness of God in the land of the living. And if it had not been for the Lord on your side, I don't know where you'll be. So here's my tradition: a tradition of praising God in the middle of my river, praising God, after my river, praising God, making sure no matter if it's day or night, I will lift my voice. I would allow rocks to cry out for me. And when children ask you, why do you shout so much? Why do you pray so much? Tell them it's because of the goodness, the goodness of God. We can't be ashamed of the tradition of giving God all the honor and all the glory. Being able to say, God, I thank you. I might not be where you want me to be, but God, I give you all the honor and all the praise. God, if it had not been for you, God, I say thank you. There have been nights where I felt like giving up. There were nights where I felt alone, but God, you never left me. And you still have a purpose all over my life. No matter what comes, there's still purpose in your life, there's still divinity in your life, there's still a call in your life, and no matter what happens, God says, I want you. I've been looking at you all your life, I protected you all your life. So I just want somebody else who understands that God is not finished with you yet to just say thank you. Because you make them feel inferior. The battles that may be happening are set up, but there has been a memorial preserved for you. Look back at it. Why do I have to be the one called? Why do I have to be in the front? Why do I have to be the one that why me? Why me? Because God knew He prepared you. Don't you ever give up. You're the one to break the cycle in your family. You write it down, put it in a book. So every generation after you could know where you all got over. That's the New Testament. When they wanted to ask, how do some people do and how write it down? Let your pen, your gift be the way that God delivers you for generations after. Write it down. As we have prayer collectively together. Now, I'm not going to elongate it too much. But can you imagine that eyes have not seen, nor ears heard the goodness of what God has for you? Don't you give up. You've been the one. You've always been it. All my life. God has been good to you, even when you haven't been good to yourself.

SPEAKER_03 46:05

All my life you have been so with every breath. And I will say.

SPEAKER_02 47:19

Right now in the house, I feel that some people just feel empty. You just feel cold. You don't feel happy. You don't feel sad. You just feel empty. You're wondering, God, have you left me? And I want to let you know these moments point back to your memorial. Because there's gonna be days where you don't feel like doing nothing. There are gonna be days where you don't feel happy, you don't feel sad, and that's where our foundation of rocks and memories have to come in. Can I tell you? Ain't every day I feel like praising God, but I still connect to Him because I know I need Him. That's the truth. And I want to tell you, I want to tell you, it's not just one person. I want you to receive this. I want you to receive this. Just one second, fellas. I love it. I just do not let anyone qualify, quantify, or put a cost on who you are, who your purpose and God has called you to be, your gifting, and where you're supposed to go. Do not let people discourage you from what God has implanted in you. I know it doesn't make sense, but it makes sense to God. And I want to encourage you, you are in the right place to hear the right word to remind you to keep on going. So, God, for those who receive it, for those who remember what we have passed over.

SPEAKER_01 49:17

God, we say we say thank you. God, we thank you.

SPEAKER_02 49:47

Try to take you out, but God's plans will always trump the enemy's plans every time. So now I want you to reach back into the depths of your mind and remind them of who you have been to them and to our ancestors and for those who've gone. You've always made a way, and you will keep making ways in the name of the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit. If you receive that word, amen.

SPEAKER_00 50:35

Thank you for worshiping with us today. If you'd like to go deeper in your walk with Christ, we invite you to contact us at 284-442-4222. Or email us admin at cgbbc.org. Visit our website at cgbbc.org. Be sure to subscribe and share this podcast so others can be encouraged and blessed as well.