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