Dr. Tony Evans is the founder and senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, founder and president of The Urban Alternative and author of over 100 books, booklets and Bible studies. The first African American to earn a doctorate of theology from Dallas Theological Seminary, he has been named one of the 12 Most Effective Preachers in the English-Speaking World by Baylor University. Dr. Evans holds the honor of writing and publishing the first full-Bible commentary and study Bible by an African American. His radio broadcast, The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, can be heard on over 1,400 radio outlets daily and in more than 130 countries. Dr. Evans’ sermons are also streamed and downloaded over 20,000,000 times annually.
[Music]
welcome as we continue our journey
through kingdom men rising as we come to
this
last segment of our time together i hope
you’ve been encouraged
challenged and inspired to be different
and to make a difference
as i think about the stones behind me
i’m
reminded of the stones of remembrance
that
god gave his people as they crossed over
into the promised land
there were actually two sets of stones
one was the reminder for that generation
of what god had done
for them and how far he had brought them
the second set of stones was for the
next generation to be reminded
he wanted to do the same for them the
second generation could reflect back on
the first
set of stones and say yes god did it for
them
but that second set said we need him and
want him to do it
for us you know discipleship
is not just about what you do
and how you walk with god but it has a
transfer
principle we like to have our own
trophies in our own trophy cases
and there’s a place for that we need to
encourage the next generation to get
their own
trophies because of their relationship
with god and not just piggyback
on what he’s done for us
this generation needs discipleship
so that they can move forward with god
and be reminded that what he has done
for us
he is more than willing to do for them
because only as we disciple the next
generation
can we fix a broken culture
[Music]
the number 40 is major in scripture
40 is a time of transition in the bible
jesus is in the wilderness 40 days as he
transitions
into his public ministry
there was 40 years in the wilderness of
preparation
before israel was ready to go into the
promised land
a generation in the bible is spoken of
in terms of 40 years
you enter another generation once you
hit 40
and the next generation then is coming
along
so 40 is a number in scripture in
biblical numerology
of transition god is typically moving
you from one state
to another state from one place to
another place
in the normal use of the number 40 in
scripture
israel had been in the wilderness for 40
years
40 years for them to learn faith 40
years
for their habits to be corrected 40
years
for them to be humbled 40 years for them
to be trained
and now it was time to cross over at the
end of the 40th year
and what a miracle crossover it was
i mean it was something to behold
because we’re told when they crossed
over the jordan
they crossed over the jordan in flood
season
now if there’s any time you don’t want
to cross the jordan it’s in flood season
that’s the most dangerous time that’s
the time
when you’re most likely to run into a
problem or
to drown it was the time when the human
capacity
would be at its lowest but i just want
you to know
god does some of his best work in flood
season
when the waters are too high the
problems are too great
the needs are too daunting
in other words where it’s beyond you
where god makes it hard in order for you
to see there’s
only one god and you and i we are not he
and so it was in flood season that god
would perform this miracle it was no
different than
when the children of israel cross the
red sea they got pharaoh coming on one
end
they got the red sea on the other end
they’re in a catch-22 they’re in a
conundrum
they can go neither way and find a
solution
that unless god shows up and does
something supernatural
so by way of application if you happen
today to be in flood season
being overwhelmed by life’s realities in
life
circumstance you may not be in as bad
position as it looks
because it may be the impeccable season
for the almighty god to demonstrate how
exactly
almighty he is so god told them
in flood season to tell the priests to
take the ark of the covenant which
contained the ten commandments
the word of god and to tell the priests
to put their foot
in the bank of the jordan why because
before you can ever see what god does in
flood season he wants to see you walking
by faith
he doesn’t want to see you talking by
faith or feeling by faith
he wants to see you moving by faith so
he says let the priests
put their foot on the back i got to see
that they’re going to trust me
and so he gets these representatives the
principle of representation
so the representatives on behalf of the
nation put their foot in the jordan
and a couple of miracles took place
during flood season
god blocked the water from flowing down
the jordan river
so that now god walled them off dammed
them up
so that the water would stop flowing
that was one miracle in and of itself
but then the bible says they crossed
over on dry land
not wetland dry land it had to be land
where they could walk over and their
feet not get muddy
where they could roll wheel barrels of
of their goods and not get stuck in the
mud where horses
could still try to cross walk across and
run across
and not get stuck in waters that for
years and centuries and decades
had been wet but the bible says god not
only damned the water he
hardened the soil so that when they
walked over they walked over on enjoyed
land you
you need to understand who we’re dealing
with here and it all happened in flood
season
it was in this context of the
supernatural
intervention of god uh that god tells
joshua
to get a representative again the
principle of representative
where the leaders would represent the 12
tribes of israel
to go back into the dry jordan and pick
up a boulder a stone
now this wasn’t a pebble this is a major
stone because he had to carry it it says
each one
on his shoulder so it was a major rock
and he says what i want you to do with
this rock is i want you to build
a memorial
i want you to build stones of
remembrance
i want you to build something so you’ll
never forget
what was done here and who did it
i want you never to forget
that the only way you got to where you
are from where you came from
is because god brought you in flood
season
from where you were to where you are i
don’t want you to get the big head
i don’t want you to think that it is by
your power
or your might that you are in this place
40 years later
i want you to have a perpetual reminder
that the only reason you are where you
are today
versus where you were 40 years ago is
because i
supernaturally intervened into your
situation
now why does god want to build tell
joshua to build a memorial because god
knows we are subject to forget
some of us have raised children who have
forgotten
they’ve forgotten that they didn’t
clothe themselves
feed themselves uh house themselves
you get children who forget the fact
that if it wasn’t for mom and dad
not only would they not be here but they
would not have the life that they have
now
if it weren’t for your investment in
fact we have a
generation of children who’ve forgotten
or who neglect
their mothers and fathers and forget the
overtime forget
the hard work forget the effort god
knows we’re prone to forget
and while you may forget a lot of things
in life
god is not the one you want to forget
i want to show you a few other
scriptures that drives this home
in deuteronomy he says it over and over
and over again
i’m going to start with deuteronomy
chapter 4.
in deuteronomy chapter 4 verse 9
we’re told these words only give heed to
yourself
give heed to yourself and keep your soul
diligent
so that you do not forget the things
which your eyes have seen
and that they do not depart from your
heart all the days of your life
but make them known to your sons and
your grandsons
in chapter 6 verse 10
then it shall come about when the lord
your god brings you into the land which
he swore to your fathers
abraham isaac and jacob to give you
great and splendid cities which you did
not build
and houses full of all good things which
you did not fill
and hugh cisterns which you did not dig
vineyards and olive trees which you did
not plant
and you eat and are satisfied then watch
yourself
that you do not forget the lord who
brought you
from the land of egypt out of the house
of slavery
look at chapter 8 verse 11
beware that you do not forget
the lord your god by not keeping his
commandments
his ordinances and his statutes which i
am commanding
you today verse 14 then your heart will
become
proud and you will forget the lord your
god
who brought you out of the land of egypt
out of the house of slavery
verse 18 but you shall remember the lord
your god
for it is he who is giving you power to
make wealth
that he may confirm his covenant which
he swore to your fathers as it is this
day
it shall come about if you ever forget
the lord your god and go after other
gods
and serve them and worship them i surely
against you today will testify
and you shall surely perish like the
nations that the lord makes
to perish before you do you get the
message
you better not forget i like that phrase
in chapter six
you better watch yourself because it’s
easy to forget
it’s easy to think you’re your own
source
it’s easy to think it’s all on you about
you
from you to you through you and because
of you
it’s easy when you’ve gone from nothing
to something
to forget how you got there it’s easy to
forget
what it was like when you only had a
bike
you couldn’t even get a car then you
graduated from a bike to a car
then you went from a car to two cars
then you went from an apartment to a
house
then you went from a smaller house to a
bigger house
when you went from rags to riches
when you went from a few dollars an hour
to a full
salary it’s easy to forget that if god
hadn’t opened the door
paved the way and set it in place
if god was not your source
it’s easy to forget he says i don’t want
you to forget
he goes on in chapter 6 of deuteronomy
that i read to you he says
not only did i take you from where you
were
to where you are but i let the sinners
get it ready for you
they built cities that you did not build
they planted
gardens that you did not plant they
planted trees that you did not plant
they dug wells that you’re going to
drink from that you did not drink from
so i use
sinners to set it up for you so that
when you got there
it was ready for you so don’t think
that you did this all by yourself
don’t forget that god is your
source don’t forget
that where you are now compared to where
you were
when you met me is not the same place
because i walk with you even in your
rebellion even in your disobedience even
in your disregard he says i fed you in
the wilderness i clothed you in the
wilderness
i preserved you even when you were out
of fellowship with me
so he says in fact if the truth were
told
if we many of us would have got what we
deserved we wouldn’t even be here today
if god didn’t protect us in that
situation
deliver us out of that situation we
wouldn’t even be here today
but because god oversaw us and didn’t
let what could have happened
happened and he preserved us and walked
us through it he says
don’t you forget and so he tells them
i want you to build the stone a memorial
he says
do not forget the goodness of god
that he alone is your
source he alone
is your source he can use any kind of
resource see
you know the beauty of that the beauty
of of god being your only source is
nobody can own you
[Applause]
nobody can own you because nobody is
your source
and when we align ourselves to god like
he wants us
to align ourselves to him he says you
will see
me even in flood season
demonstrate your glory so he sends them
he sends them to get the stones
and so gather the stones
gather the stones and when you gather
these stones
there’s going to be a question
and the question is what do these stones
mean
he says i want you to build a memorial
to remember
to cause my people to remember that i am
the right
now god based on the past
so he told israel circumcise your sons
and every generation after that
he said remember the passover and then
in the new testament jesus says around
communion
remember me why because of what i do
right now
based on what i have already done and so
he says i want you to build this
memorial
and then he throws a zinger
he says
when your children ask you
what do these stones mean
then you will say because of the waters
of jordan were cut off
before the covenant of the lord it
crossed the jordan the waters of the
jordan were cut off
so these stones shall become a memorial
to
the sons of israel forever
our theme is
psalm 145 verse 4 you shall teach one
generation after
another a generation is 40 years
we are supposed to have a transferable
faith
it’s supposed to be transferred from one
generation
to the next generation you know why
we’re in the chaos we in today
because there has been a transfer
problem
we have a generation of young people
who have not had their faith transferred
by their mothers
or fathers and so there is a massive
transfer
problem and what happens
when the faith is not memorialized
what happens when you don’t give young
people enough to even ask the question
what do these stones mean
what do these pictures mean what do
these stories mean
what do these trophies mean what happens
when
that occurs he tells us in judges
chapter 2 verse 10
he says all that generation also were
gathered to their fathers
and there arose another generation after
them
who did not know the lord nor yet the
work which he had done for israel
then the sons of israel did evil in the
sight of the lord
and serve the baals because there was no
transfer it says the next generation
grew up without the lord
and because the next generation grew up
without the lord
it says society disintegrated the reason
why america is disintegrating
our cities are falling apart there’s
racial chaos cultural chaos class chaos
political chaos is we have a generation
of young people who don’t have the faith
of their parents
because they were never given the faith
of their parents
and the success of our church is do we
transfer
a living faith about a living god
to the next generation
he says you build a memorial
so that the next generation understands
that when you do not transfer the faith
and you have a generation of young
people who do not know the lord
they says the culture disintegrated
because they went to idolatry because
you will worship something
it may be money it may be power it may
be prestige it may be education
you will worship something but if it’s
not the lord
and the lord backs away from you i don’t
care what your title is how much money
you have
what your degrees are the size of your
house the size of your car
what good is the big house when nobody
wants to go live there
you can’t buy happiness you can’t buy
peace you can’t buy meaning
you can’t buy comfort you can’t buy
safety
that has to come from the living god
he says don’t you forget me
because i am the lord your god and it is
the job of this church
and every leader and every spiritual
person in this church to remind every
other person
not to forget the lord your god whether
you’re offended or not
they should do it in love but they
should do it clearly because we are
seeking the well-being
of the family of god now why else he
says for the sake of your children and
the next generation
he says another thing will happen in
verse 24 i love this
he says that all the people on the earth
may know
that the hand of the lord is mighty
so that you may fear the lord your god
forever ooh
watch this watch this israel
i’m going to bless you
even though in the promised land you’re
going to be surrounded
by evil they’re going to be as jericho
as a.i
there’s all these evil people the
canaanites hittites amorites they still
in the promised land you
you’re surrounded by evil but in the
middle of the evil that surrounds you
i got you you got evil all around you
but i got you but the reason
i have you is so that the rest of the
world
may know all them fools out there
all the canines indicts amorites i want
them to know
that i am in your midst
because i want them to hear stories
about you
i want them to hear the miracles i’m
doing in your midst
i want them to hear the transformation
of lives the marriages that are saved
the dignity that is rising up the
spirituality that’s taking place
i want to show off so that when they see
out there
what i’m doing in here my name will be
made great out there
because i’m making it great in here
god has given us this promised land on
camp wisdom
but it’s just not for you and me it’s so
that god can keep doing miracles
on camp wisdom so the rest of oak cliff
and dallas and america can say oh god
is shown up at 1800 block of camp wisdom
because he keeps showing up there how
y’all able to do that
how are you able to pay for that how are
you able to change that
how are you able to impact that how you
all have the ability to own that
how do you ability to do that and we can
give and give testimony
it is to the lord our god who met us
in flood season
in your home you may be surrounded by
evil
but god says if you remember the lord
your god
even in your house when you say as for
me and my house
we will serve the lord i don’t care what
the rest of the homes are doing around
me
he says i will make your home great
because you remembered me
even though you’re surrounded by all
kind of evil
so don’t you be ashamed of god don’t you
be ashamed to name his name
don’t you be ashamed to do good works in
his name don’t you be ashamed to praise
him
don’t you be ashamed to glorify him
if you don’t want to hear about my god
if you don’t want to hear about jesus
then you can’t have a long conversation
with me
[Applause]
my job is to make his name great
individually
and our job is to do it collectively and
no matter how big we get
how high we get or what god gives us
remember that when you’re on the top of
a pyramid
you’re only up there because something
else is holding you up
and if if something happens with the
folk underneath you
holding you up you come crashing down
so no matter how high we get it’s god
who’s holding us up
and if god ever walks away from us
we will collapse you will collapse
i will collapse because it’s all about
him
the next time you’re in flood season
next time we’re in flood season we don’t
know how we’re going to do it
how are we going to make it how are we
going to get across
just do me one favor check god’s rap
sheet
look at this history look at his history
and when you see what he has all ready
done
at the red sea of your life at the
jordan river of your life
and then you come to a new situation at
the jericho of your life
at the ai of your life you come to a new
problem
a new thing look back at his rap sheet
and when your kids ask your mama how are
we gonna make it so i got a rap sheet on
god
well you say how we gonna get through it
i got a rap sheet on him
and every time i pull out the rap sheet
he comes through so we gonna trust him
in this new challenge
this new situation and in this new
opportunity
because guess what as we go into the
future god
is always worthy
[Music]
when god told his people to have stones
of remembrance
he wanted them to remember he wanted
them to have
a visual of a reminder of where he had
brought him from
and where he was taking them to he
expects
us as men to put markers down that we
can point
our children to and say guess what
this is what god did for your dad for
your mom
for our family and this is what he wants
to do
with in and through you for your future
for your family give
your family your children things they
can point to
that show footsteps of grace and the
hand of god with you
so that they know what to look forward
to for themselves
so that we don’t lose the passing of the
baton
because we all know when you drop a
baton
you lose the race let’s win the race for
the next generation
by passing on stones of remembrance
[Music]
[Music]
you