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[0:00] Well, Pastor Trent asked me to introduce our preacher. And tonight we have Pastor Doug Levesque. He is the pastor emeritus of Emmanuel Baptist Church, one of my favorite churches I preached in.

[0:11] And a heart like our church. And this is where Jason George is, if you recall, the Mexican who can't speak English, who's been here to our church before. So anyway, Brother Levesque, we love you, and I'm glad you're here.

[0:23] I'd like to introduce you to the wonderful people of Vision Baptist Church. Thank you, preacher. All right. Thank you. That was good. Joshua chapter 4.

[0:35] And I appreciate you taking on my son Joshua for support. I understand that he and your new pastor look quite a bit the same and a little bit confused.

[0:47] And praise the Lord, Josh and Katie bought a house in Dearborn, sight unseen. The real estate market is as crazy there as it is here, I'm sure. And it's working out.

[0:57] And, of course, the week after they bought it, Dearborn and Detroit were underwater. And fortunately, unknown to him, his neighborhood was the high spot.

[1:08] And so just subdivision north, subdivision south, underwater. And he was high and dry. I'm grateful for that because I've got grandkids in the game now. And so praise the Lord.

[1:20] They've distributed 20,000 John and Romans and had lots of inquiries, lots of conversations. And they don't really start services until September. But Josh has just got all of his money raised.

[1:31] So he's made a believer out of his dad, let me tell you. Because I told him, hey, if it doesn't all happen, it's okay. Just go for it anyways. And wouldn't you know it? He's got more money than me. So praise the Lord.

[1:42] This is my wife, Amy, down here. Amy and I have been in the ministry. I've been married almost 30 years in the ministry. That long, we were able to plant a church planting church in Corona, Michigan, Emanuel Baptist Church.

[1:53] And Josh has been here. Our pastor has been here. Our youth group has been here. Everybody has been here but me. This is my first time. And I don't believe that you do everything in 15,000 square feet. I don't believe that.

[2:04] There's got to be some hidden space somewhere that you're doing all this in. But providentially, I'm here at a unique time. I don't think we all knew that the transition was going to take place this week.

[2:16] And so I get to be the first guy post-installation to preach. And so I had a message that I bring with me with the Bible Nation Society. I have a website, BibleNation.org, and we have some books out back.

[2:29] And my ministry now is to travel and show the culture what the Bible has to say about culture in an independent, fundamental Baptist way. And so I'm blessed.

[2:40] We have a new podcast, and we've just been doing it about a month. I think we're into episode six. I think there's two more to come out, and we'll keep doing that. So check that out if you would. Pray for us as we travel.

[2:50] But I just was led of the Lord to go to Joshua chapter 4 tonight and minister all to you wonderful folks. You know, on a Thursday night at a church like Vision, we don't need a whole lot of convincing of anything.

[3:05] Amen? I appreciate your enthusiasm. I've learned things from Pastor Gardner that I didn't know I didn't know. And so now I'm going to give him a couple things that he didn't know he didn't know.

[3:18] So he's getting liberal, though, now that he's not pastor. He's not wearing socks tonight, so I want you folks to say something to him about that. Joshua chapter 4.

[3:33] I'm going to read all 24 verses. I know we're limited on time, but the sermon will be brief. But I want to read this wonderful passage to you. I think it's called A Time to Stack Stones.

[3:43] We're in that time. We're in that time. And it came to pass, when all the people were clean, passed over Jordan, that the Lord spake unto Joshua, saying, Take ye twelve men out of the people, and out of every tribe a man.

[3:56] And command ye them, saying, Take ye hence out of the midst of Jordan, out of the place where the priests' feet stood firm, twelve stones. And ye shall carry them over with you, and leave them in the lodging place where ye shall lodge this night.

[4:09] Then Joshua called the twelve men, whom he had prepared of the children of Israel, out of every tribe a man. And Joshua said unto them, Pass over before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of Jordan, 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.

[4:25] That they may be a sign among you, that when your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean ye by these stones? That 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.

[4:40] The waters of Jordan were cut off. And these stones shall be for memorial unto the children of Israel forever. And the children of Israel did so as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones out of the midst of Jordan.

[4:53] As the Lord spake unto Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, and carried them over with them unto the place where they lodged, and laid them down there. And Joshua set up twelve 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.

[5:10] For the priests which bear the ark stood in the midst of Jordan, until everything was finished, that the Lord commanded Joshua to speak unto the people, according to all that Moses commanded Joshua.

[5:22] And the people hasted and passed over. And it came to pass, when all the people were clean, passed over. I think these were Georgians, because they were plumb, clean, passed over. That's not a Michigan phrase.

[5:32] That the ark of the Lord passed over, and the priests in the presence of the people. The children of Reuben, and the children of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, passed over armed before the children of Israel, as Moses spake unto them.

[5:44] About forty thousand, 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.

[5:57] And they feared him as they feared Moses all the days of his life. And the Lord spake unto Joshua, saying, Command the priests that bear the ark of the testimony, that they come up out of Jordan.

[6:10] Joshua therefore commanded the priests, saying, Come ye up out of Jordan. And it came to pass, when the priests that bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord were come up out of the midst of Jordan, and the souls of the priests were lifted up unto the dry land, that the waters of Jordan returned unto their place, and flowed over all his banks, as they did before.

[6:25] And the people came up out of Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, encamped in Gilgal, on the east border of Jericho. And those twelve stones which they took out of Jordan did Joshua pitch in Gilgal.

[6:37] 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? Then ye shall let your children know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land.

[6:50] And the Lord your God dried up the waters of Jordan from 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.

[7:01] That all the people of earth might know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty. That ye might fear the Lord your God forever. It's time to stack stones.

[7:12] Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you so much for this dear church, and their kindness and opportunity to preach tonight. I pray that you'd bless the congregation, the pastors. Lord, bless the students that have come to work.

[7:25] Bless the missionaries. Look forward to ministering tomorrow. I pray, Father, that you'd be able to use me for that as well. But I pray for this new pastor, and for the former pastor.

[7:38] Lord, as they love each other, and their hearts are knit together, that, God, this transition would be smooth as silk, and that, Father, it would be evident to everyone in the days to come what a mighty plan you have for everybody involved, that it's a win-win situation.

[7:54] And, God, we pray that your hand would be evident, and we see you work in a mighty, mighty way. We love you, and we praise you, and we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. The last six years, I've got to travel in 30 states and provinces and be in 300 churches.

[8:09] And the first year I was traveling, after I transitioned out of the pastorate onto the road, I was very discouraged because the churches that I was in were not as excited as I was about anything.

[8:27] It seemed as though there was a great discouragement among pastors that I didn't recognize, that I didn't realize. Some of you traveling, you're trying to raise money for missions, but ultimately you're being a cheerleader for churches.

[8:39] And so I wrote the book, The Confident Shepherd, that's out on the table out there. And then I realized that a lot of churches don't have the same vision for themselves as we have for ourselves in our church.

[8:51] And I had to learn to not hold other pastors or churches in contempt for that. And so I wrote a book called The Courageous Church, and that churches are not supposed to be sheepish, they're supposed to be ramish.

[9:04] Amen. And so we've been traveling and ministering to churches. But one thing I've noticed, there's a problem, and I don't think it's a new problem, I think it's a standard problem, and that is churches aren't transitioning well.

[9:20] They don't, really, there's not this handbook on church transition that we learn in Bible college and that we hand down from our alma mater as we wear the button, you know, from the place.

[9:30] And so more often than not, you have a crash and burn situation where somebody is altogether discombobulated and removed and the church is running people off and it's just kind of a crash and burn situation.

[9:43] Or you have a rust out and die situation where the pastor really did not do due diligence to bring someone up that was ready to succeed him.

[9:53] And you've heard the old adage, you're no success without a successor. So when you folks get on the mission field, you start thinking that right away. Amen. And those goals, but one of the things is God's going to raise up somebody here.

[10:04] And that's just part of the missions mantra, isn't it? That should happen, but it's for real. And so therefore, we don't have these smooth transitions. The devil's in the transition.

[10:15] Churches die. Churches go left, go liberal in transitions. We first started doing mailings. We had a magazine, Bible Nation magazine, and we were mailing to 16,000 independent fundamental Baptist churches.

[10:28] And pre-COVID, that was down under 10,000 in about 15 years. That many churches had dissipated or were gone. And a lot of that happened through transition or the lack thereof.

[10:42] Your pastor has prayerfully, sacrifitionally, with great pain, gone through the process of listening to God about what he needs to do, what needs to happen at the church.

[10:55] Your pastor, your new pastor, has also, with a shaking hand, said, Lord, I'll take this fight.

[11:07] I'll take this fight. And nobody feels ready for that, really. But you feel obedient to that transition. And so I thought I would preach this message about it's time.

[11:19] It's time to cross over. Amen? Not think about it, not talk about it, not just sing about the promises, but it's time to cross over and to do great things for God.

[11:31] And really, that's lost in transition. My father was a naval officer. And you know, Navy ships, they don't transition captains through crash and burn.

[11:42] That's not what they want to do. They don't crash into the dock. They don't rust out at sea. Usually a ship will pull up and get in ship shape.

[11:57] And the captain will leave to the band's fanfare. And the next captain will come on. And the whistle will blow. Woo! All hands! And the crew will salute the old pastor.

[12:09] And then they will salute the new pastor. And the pastors will salute each other. The pastors. The captains will salute each other. And they will shake hands. And they will go off. And that ship will go on and set sail again.

[12:22] And you know, independent fundamental Baptist churches need to have that vision as we're starting churches. Taking churches. That someday, maybe it'll be five years, maybe it'll be 50 years, as God leads, we're going to do this thing to where we can hand it off with confidence that it's going to go on and end the battle.

[12:38] Amen. I mean, this is a fun ship, but it ain't a cruise ship. Amen. It's a fun battleship. Amen. Pastor knows where all the ports are. We're to have fun, you know.

[12:49] But it's a battleship and it's meant for that. And so my proposition to you tonight is that everyone has their part to play in a crossover. First of all, Joshua. Joshua, you're a son in the ministry.

[13:02] You have a father in the ministry. You've watched him walk and talk with God. You've watched him broken and hurt. You've watched him when he's been on the edge. You've learned what you want to do, what you hope you can do, and maybe what you don't think you should do.

[13:15] Amen. I've told every preacher boy that I've ever raised up, man, if you see something wrong, don't do it. Amen. I ain't raising Levekites, right? We want the Holy Ghost to lead you and guide you.

[13:28] By the way, Brother Joel, I've known Brother Joel for years. Worthy man of God. Wonderful sister of God. That was the best English I've ever heard you speak. You've been holding out on me.

[13:41] Amen. No speaking English. Here's $5,000. Amen. This whole thing is repeated in chapter three.

[13:54] God had already met with Joshua and prepared him. Can you imagine? Moses is dead. Amen. Now I know, Pastor, this might not, you've got cancer again, and we probably shouldn't talk about Moses being dead.

[14:10] But let's just laugh in the face of that, shall we? Amen. You know, the people that beat cancer are the people that don't care, that lean forward into it, take it on the chin, and fight it back.

[14:22] I'm not worried about Pastor. Amen. I'm scared at those that are in his way right now over the next 20 years. But God has just told Joshua to do all these things.

[14:33] And verse 14, on that day, the Lord magnified Joshua in the sight of all Israel. My pastor, Pastor Georgis, is magnified in the sight of the congregation today as much as I ever was magnified in the sight of the congregation.

[14:53] He's not intimidated that they love me. He's not intimidated that they call me pastor. Until recently, he's insisted that I have an office at the church, which I just moved into my home.

[15:06] Hallelujah. Amen. Being Pastor Emeritus, that's Latin, and it's in the Bible somewhere. I'm not sure where. But it means, go to work at 10 and leave at 11. That's what it means.

[15:17] That's what it means. We're not intimidated when the man of God is loved, when he succeeds, when God gives him a vision, when God fills his wings and does amazing things that we're not sure that God did with us.

[15:35] We look forward to that happening with our Joshua. And beloved, you should pray for your Joshua as such. One of the hardest things for me in transition through the years was not even so much that people might not love me like they did as pastor, but the fact that they might think that I don't love them as I love them as pastor.

[15:54] And so, don't ever think that your pastor does not absolutely love and ache and have a heart for you. Amen? He might be able now these next 20 years to raise more money for missions than any one of you can do for yourselves.

[16:09] Amen? He's good at it. He's scary. He's intimidating. And people give him money. They give him money not to show up. That works too.

[16:19] Brother Austin's coming. Okay, let's give him some money. But Joshua listened to the Lord. He listened to the Lord.

[16:31] So, beloved, the key is always in abiding. Not just in the chore-ish doing what you're supposed to do and checking your box and spending time, but in doing it until you hear the voice of God.

[16:43] This is the voice of God. It's there for you if you go to it, if you expect it. It becomes easy. It's a conversation, an ongoing conversation with Him. And you'll be all the man of God if not more than Brother Gardner would ever be if you just listen to God.

[16:58] Listen to God. Listen to God. It's easy to listen to man. Men will tell you what you can and can't do. But you have to listen to God. God magnified Joshua in the sight of all Israel and they feared Him.

[17:13] They respected Him. Hallelujah. I always hoped people had respected me and I always wanted to carry myself in a respectable way, but I found in listening to God and obeying and stepping out of this place that was a respectable place and going to a place that I wasn't sure if it was going to be a respectable place, that God has given me even more magnification and more respect and more love and more influence, even with less effort.

[17:38] And I talked to Pastor about that. It's not something you can plan. It doesn't even make sense. It just happens and I'm excited for what's in front of Brother Gardner, but I pray for you if you'll listen to God, then the people will listen to God through you.

[17:57] It's not really you that they love anyways. It's not you that they want to love, that you want, you know, them to love you. But it also says, and they feared Him as they feared Moses all the days of His life.

[18:11] Some may have feared Moses for the right reasons. Some may have feared Moses for the wrong reasons, but they feared and respected Moses. And God told Joshua, I'm going to be with you the same way that I was with Moses.

[18:24] Same God. Go to bed with a vision, you'll wake up with the same passion. Amen? I think you guys feel that. It's seamless. You're 99.9% the same, but you're .01% not the same.

[18:37] And that's okay. Hallelujah? That's okay. It'll work. Basically, because most of you is just flesh anyways. It's been Jesus doing it all anyways.

[18:48] So if God makes that transition, we'll take it. So you have a part to play and it's just to listen now. I know you've got plans. They're probably good plans. And maybe even changes.

[18:59] And they're probably good changes. But you just listen to God. Amen? And run it by Moses. Amen? Moses, you know, some of the times Jason comes and says something to me and I go, that's exactly what I would have done if I would have stayed.

[19:10] That's exactly the change I wanted to make. That's exactly the forward motion that I wanted to go in. I'm amazed that I had a vision and as that vision moved and went to the pastor that he's got the same God with the same vision.

[19:22] Amen? I'd like to say, yeah, I did that in him. I taught him that. But I'm telling you, if I've experienced, it's beyond that. It's more than what I taught him. It's more than anything we had in the same.

[19:34] It's more than our love for each other. It's that when God has a vision, it's God's vision. And you know that of all people. And so preacher, listen to the Lord and obey.

[19:47] That's a difficult thing. Folks, I know Moses didn't take you over there, but now I'm going to take you over there. What? That's a scary thing. But in chapter 3, God told Joshua to do just that. I like that in chapter 1 where it says, if you stay in the book, you'll have good success.

[20:02] Only time success is found in the Bible. Do you know that? Everybody's crazy about success today. They want success in numbers or success in money or success in this or success in that. But the only success found in the Bible is staying in the book, listening to the Lord.

[20:14] That's it. Preacher, what's your secret to 30 years in the ministry? Well, listening to my wife. That's true. Did you know that Adam couldn't obey God altogether on his own, so God said, I'm going to give you help me.

[20:30] Amen? And so ladies, that's your purpose. That is your purpose to help your man serve God. Did you know that? That's your purpose. He can't do it on his own. And he needs you, but he needs you to not listen to the devil.

[20:45] Amen? And man, your wife needs you to tell her what God has to say, what you've heard from him. Sometimes it's intimidating for a man. Your wife knows all your sins.

[20:57] Right? She knows all your sins. She knows all your wordy dirds. Right? She knows them. She knows them. She knows your hypocrisy. And so, when you want to go to her and say, listen, listen to what God told me.

[21:11] That's intimidating sometimes. But that's what you've got to do. Lady, you know, I don't ask my wife's permission to pray with her. I just put my arm on her and say, Lord, and I ain't praying to her. I'm praying, we're praying to him.

[21:24] And she just succumbs to that. And she comes and gets behind me, puts her hands on my shoulder and says, Lord, I know I'm doing something wrong. But you've got to listen to the Lord so other people can hear from the Lord.

[21:37] People are going to hear from the Lord through you. People are going to hear from the Lord through you. That's just a fact. That's a scary fact. I'm not sure I'm wanting that.

[21:49] I'm not sure I'm wanting to be the fire hose connected and everything God's going to say to people coming through me. I ain't sure I'm wanting that. Amen? But that's what you got. So listen to the Lord.

[22:01] Obey the Lord. And you'll lead them to that place. You know what? These people and other people, they want to do great things for God. They want to do great things for God. They want you to lead them to great things for God.

[22:13] And they're ready for that. They know you. They know what you are and they know what you aren't. Just like the people of Israel knew what Joshua was and what Joshua wasn't. But they were ready to follow him.

[22:25] Well, the people have a part to play. You have a part to play in this as well. Verse 8. The children of Israel did so as Joshua commanded. Now, I can understand that the first time the pastor gets up and says, Church, here's what we're going to do.

[22:43] Now, the devil's going to whisper back here and say, well, he don't know what he's talking about. What does Pastor Garner think about that? Right? The devil deceives the nations and he does so by deceiving the missionaries to the nations.

[23:00] Woo! This is a big responsibility here, people. Missionaries to do as Joshua commanded. And they took up 12 stones out of the midst of Jordan.

[23:11] I love this. Those of you that have been to our church know that we have eight acres. We have about 30,000 square feet of building. Great parking lot.

[23:23] Fields for our school. Paid for. Hallelujah. By the way, I didn't finish the paying for. The new guy finished the paying for. Hallelujah. So buy something, let him finish the paying for.

[23:39] This last Sunday, we just met with the leadership team. And by the way, you know, I'm not a deacon. But, but pastor is wise enough and proactive enough and respectful enough that he said, Pastor Doug, would you come in?

[23:51] And he got some of the older deacons as well. And he brought us in and we're not part of the decision making crew, but he brought us into a big decision and said, we can buy the 10 acres behind the church for 100 grand if we jump. He didn't need to include us in on that, but he included us in on that.

[24:05] We got the joy of being able to help be part of the encouragement of making that decision. I don't know how much land is here. It looks like it's on different levels. You guys have a 3D soccer field where you put the defense over here and offense over there and play three-dimensional chess, you know, with that.

[24:23] But he's going to say, hey, let's do this. He's going to do this. You've got to trust that he's listened to God. You've got to trust that he's already been proactive and respectful and working through leadership and all those other things.

[24:36] People, you have to obey and you have to abide. If you go to chapter 5 and you look at verse 12, what happens as soon as they're crossing over into Jericho?

[24:48] Verse 12, read it with me. And the manna ceased. You're comfortable with how the spirit flows with Brother Gardner.

[25:00] And all of a sudden, you're going to meet the next first obstacle that's coming. It might be COVID. It might be COVID Delta. Right? I don't know what it is, but the next big thing is coming.

[25:13] The devil will make sure of that. Amen? And it'll feel like manna's the manna there. Can you imagine the people how unnerved they were when all of a sudden, they, okay, we're obedient and Moses isn't here but we're crossing over and God creates a miracle and they cross over and then what?

[25:30] Hey, Dolores, did you get your manna this morning? Can I borrow some? I didn't get any. It's gone. We don't have any of that. What does God have?

[25:41] Hey, I've got, I've got corn for you guys. You just got to get with the program, right? I got something for you. It's as miraculous as manna but it's different. And so, beloved, that's going to happen in front of you.

[25:53] It's going to happen in front of you. We did the transition and bing, bang, boom, COVID came and our governor said, hey, no people of God can meet.

[26:09] You know? And our pastor said, you don't give us our rights. God gives us our rights. We're going to worship. Come do your best.

[26:19] Amen? And so, we just kept worshiping. We made some adjustments. We started broadcasting. We started doing all different kinds of things but we just kept being responsible but we just kept worshiping.

[26:31] I was telling the guys at dinner tonight, you know, I would have handled that entirely different. I would have set the Capitol building on fire. You know, I would have, I'd have handled that totally different. Pastor George was wise.

[26:41] He had the Holy Spirit. He had unction. He had grace. He had poise. And he handled this wonderful situation. And in fact, because of how he's handled it, our church has grown financially, numerically, with decisions for salvation in missions.

[26:55] Hallelujah. We met Brendan and Brendan mugged us. Brendan is, it needs a business card that says mugger.

[27:07] Amen? Brendan says, you know, everybody has a pocket that they give to missions out of and then he hits you and takes the money out of it. That's how we met Vision Baptist was getting mugged by Brendan.

[27:19] Joshua has a part to play and it can be so good and so sweet. You have a part to play as well. Understood?

[27:30] You had a high percentage of people that love you and one person that does not love you. That's okay. You'll fish them out and destroy them utterly.

[27:44] I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. You don't have to leave but you might want to. But you have to abide as well.

[27:55] You have to pray and have expectation for God. I'll tell you something. Brother Gardner, as much as he's challenged you, has made it easy for you and made you comfortable and it's time for you not to be comfortable.

[28:12] It's time for you to pull out your faith, quake a little bit and pray for this preacher. It's time for you to do your part in obedience and abiding as well. And God's going to do some things.

[28:23] But lastly, Brother Gardner, there's Moses and there's his part in this. You say, well, he's dead. He's not there. But the Bible says that the people feared him all the days of his life and you're not dead yet.

[28:38] Amen? You're going to beat this thing and you're going to go on and this might be the most magnificent chapter. Amen? The most magnificent 20, 30 years. We won't give you 40, but we'll say 20 or 30.

[28:50] And I love the fact that even though the devil and Michael fought over the body of Moses, I'd like to see that reenacted.

[29:05] And I want to know, well, why? Well, why? You know, why? Because God's got a plan for the translation of your body. God's got a plan for your own resurrection.

[29:18] And when you go to Matthew chapter 17 and verses 1 through 3, all of a sudden we see that Moses is alive. Amen?

[29:28] Moses is alive. I think the devil wanted the body of Moses because the possibilities were a little bit scary that something like what happens in Matthew chapter 17 was going to happen.

[29:40] Verse 1, and after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother and bringeth them up unto a high mountain apart and was transfigured before them and his face did shine as the sun and his raiment was white as the light and behold there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him.

[30:04] You see, Moses had a James and a Peter and a John to influence. Those guys were going to have to march to their death now. Those guys were going to have to march to the four corners of the earth.

[30:18] Those guys were going to have to see Jesus to the cross, through the cross, at the resurrection. They were going to have to see the birth of churches. They were going to have to experience Pentecost. They were going to have to go through that.

[30:30] And God said, Moses, I got a job for you. Hallelujah. I like when John the Revelator is in heaven and he faces whatever creature is giving him the revelation, whatever person.

[30:45] John falls down his death. And that person says, hey, get up, don't worship me. I'm just a man like you. The person that gave the revelation to John was a man, not Jesus, because he didn't take worship.

[31:03] He said, I'm just a man like you. I'm just a servant like you. You know what that means? That means we already have our inheritance. We don't have to wait until we're dead to have resurrection life. We have it now. We're kind of like Lazarus.

[31:15] Amen? And so we're not afraid. And we're walking in victory. And God's got a purpose for us now. And when we cross over and translate into the by and by, God will have a purpose for us then.

[31:29] And God had a purpose. It was seamless. Yeah, Moses died, but in eternity, we're not subject to time, are we? It wasn't like Moses was twiddling his thumbs and playing on his harp or anything like that.

[31:42] Who knows that he didn't die and then this immediately happens. Brother Gardner, this is magnificent. Moses showing up with Elijah, the A-team, amen, talking to Jesus.

[31:56] I know what they were saying. I know what they were saying. Moses said, all right, Lord, this is it. You're about to go to the cross, man. We've been cheering for you up here.

[32:08] This Peter, James, and John, Yahoo guys, don't worry about them. We've got them covered. We're going to help them. Because this was right about to happen before crucifixion week and resurrection week.

[32:20] And so Moses had the plan and Moses was executing the plan. And it's hard to walk away from the pastorate that you love. And even though you've given it to men that you love and trust completely, and you're stepping away, sometimes there's your own faith issue to work through about what am I going to do.

[32:42] And, Pastor, you know that my pastor is going to support you already. It's already happened. It's already happened. I don't know how much. Amen. I'll make sure he gets you socks for the journey.

[33:01] Notice verse 19, and the people came out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month. Those of you that know about the feast days, this is right in preparation for Passover. You know, the Jews today always say, next year in Jerusalem, next year in Jerusalem, here they are crossed over into the promised land.

[33:17] And not only is this a picture of the Passover, they say that because he says, God puts you over on dry land the same way he did for us in Egypt.

[33:29] Beloved, Vision Baptist is a miracle. Buying land, building a church, growing up a congregation, starting missionaries, training missionaries, doing everything that this church does.

[33:40] That's absolutely miraculous. miraculous. You've crossed the Red Sea on dry land. But can I tell you something? There's a new crossover right in front of you.

[33:52] The miracle of old is the miracle of new. It's going to happen as he listens to God and as God gives him that vision and the Lord will put you together on that and the biggest cheerleader will be Brother Gardner in doing that.

[34:07] So you don't get to breathe. Amen? We were talking about people saying it might take you a few years to make the church your own, but that doesn't mean you sit and don't do anything for those years.

[34:19] Amen? You're not just spinning old bottles. Amen? You're blowing new glass and spinning new bottles. Everybody has to play a part. The pastor has to play a part.

[34:32] Moses, the former pastor, has to play a part. You have to play a part. They said, Mom and Dad, what are these stones here? What are these stones for? And Mom and Dad said, you know, God took the old folks through the sea on dry land.

[34:49] We got to experience that too. And so you are at a stacking stones time. Amen? We're in faith. You all get the same vision together and you all unify together with the same code of conduct and the same esprit de corps for whatever is next.

[35:07] Now part of that is sending off pastor properly. Sending off a pastor properly. You know, most independent Baptist churches don't have a good retirement plan. Did you know that? Amen?

[35:20] People think Amy and I are rich and we are, but we don't have any money. But we're rich in a million other ways. But you know, when I stepped off, I didn't ask for anything. I didn't prepare anything.

[35:31] And nobody's asked me to say this, but I just want you to know, there's a brand new Chevy Silverado sitting on the parking lot. And either the church wanted me gone on the road or they loved me.

[35:44] I'm not sure which one, but either way, they threw me two sets of keys. They said, out in the parking lot, there's a red truck and a blue truck. Which one do you want? I had held all my sentimentality and all my tears and all my fears and all my emotional rollercoaster.

[35:58] I thought I dealt with that. I didn't want to have any of that in the transition. But I'll tell you, I started crying. That was my love language. Chevy Silverado.

[36:09] I always drove a minivan. And I drive that minivan and I pull up to some guy at this red light and he'd pull up in a Chevy Silverado. And I just look and I just think, I wouldn't covet because you're not supposed to covet.

[36:25] But I would say, Lord, I praise God because I think that man's happy. And I must have given that illustration one too many times to the church because they took it to heart.

[36:44] Beloved, they give me an office, they pay me a salary. I'm rich. my fruit is as much if not more than before.

[36:58] It's not just because I want it, it's because they wanted it. And I hope you want that for Pastor Gardner. I hope you find that niche where you can take care of your Moses and take your part.

[37:12] But tonight, in your mind, in your heart, will you stack some stones? We went to the back of that property about four years ago, Pastor Georgius and I. We were just bushwhacking through mosquitoes.

[37:25] You know how Michigan can be. And we got to the back, we found some stones and we stacked them and we said, Lord, we're going to need some space here pretty soon. God was giving him a vision, not even him a vision.

[37:38] But he included me in that. And we stacked those stones like this Joshua chapter 4 says. And we etched our initials like Davy Crockett and some trees.

[37:50] And we got on our knees and we just prayed, Lord, we don't know, but we're just, we need land. We can't build any more on our land. We need land. And Lord, will you just give us this?

[38:01] And I'll tell you what, we forgot about that, but the stones were stacked. And they were stacked in our favor. And the guy who wouldn't sell us any property, old crusty Michigan farmer, all of a sudden we were going to try to make an offer again in November, maybe try to do the deal in January.

[38:19] And all of a sudden he just called and said, okay, I'll take your offer. I'll take your offer. And hallelujah, it just happened. And see, God was saying, it's me, it's me, I had a plan.

[38:32] I was in your heart, I was in your prayers, I'm the one that was developing the vision. And so here, I didn't lead the church in over doubling its land.

[38:44] I didn't lead the church in paying cash, over $100,000 for new property. The pastor did that. But he included me in that. And when he presented it to church, he said, Pastor Lebeck and I.

[38:58] Now they don't need any of that. The church doesn't need that anymore because I've already thrown everything at him and he's already earned it. But he just keeps the old man happy. Amen.

[39:09] And boy, was I excited to be able to see the church, vote and get land and move that on. So I don't know what's next for you, but God does know what's next for you. And the vision heart is going to continue if you'll stack the stones tonight.

[39:23] Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we love you and praise you. Thank you so much for this dear church and things they and Pastor Gardner have taught me. And I thank you for these wonderful missionaries who've encouraged us. I thank you for their love for my own son and knitting our hearts together even though we're states apart.

[39:39] And Father, I pray that you continue to bless. And especially now we pray that you'd put your hand on Brother Cardner and just Lord, heal his body rapidly. Lord, let this stuff dissipate and go away.

[39:49] Increase his faith through the process. Knit he and his wife's hearts together and Lord, give him fresh oil. Give him fresh vision. Father, launch him into places that he could never launch himself. Lord, we thank you for the Moses of this place.

[40:02] We pray that you'd use him to influence and raise up new Peters and James and John in the future. We pray, Father, that he'd walk with you, your friend, one you could trust with spiritual things.

[40:14] And God, I thank you for this dear pastor, Lord, have you installed at this church. And God, I pray that you'd walk and talk with him as well. And that, Father, he would listen. And that you would calm his fears.

[40:25] And that, Lord, you'd help him to walk in obedience. And as he talks, Lord, I pray that he'd have all the reverence, all the respect, all the love that his predecessors had. And Lord, I pray that as that comes, this church would have the faith to take whatever that next step is.

[40:41] Thank you for the providence of letting me be here tonight in this in-between time, ministering to these, those that don't need to be convinced, they just only need to be informed. Lord, I pray that each of them, and myself included, that we'd stack new stones tonight with expectation, with vision, with big asks.

[41:00] Father, with design and with desire. And Lord, I pray it be your will, not just our will. Lord, if there's someone here today that's not saved, and God, they're in here tonight, and they're hearing about walking in faith, and about you doing big things, I pray Father, that first and foremost, your Holy Spirit would blanket them, and overshadow them with wonderful conviction about their state before you.

[41:24] And Father, I pray that they'd see themselves a great big sinner. Lord, I pray that they would feel that down to their toes. And God, I pray that they would look to you, arms uplifted, the arms of their heart uplifted, and the knees of their will bent, and that, Lord, they'd cry out today, Lord Jesus, have mercy on me, a sinner, and save my soul.

[41:44] And God, I pray you'd do that wonderful and divine work. And there might be some here today that are in the midst of calling. And God, I pray that that heavy hand of love and of burden, Lord, would get behind them, and that, Lord, they could feel that mantle of pressure, of holy unction, and that, God, you would help them to surrender themselves tonight to your will for their life.

[42:06] And Lord, perhaps there's someone in here today that's in despair and bondage to sin. And oh, God, I pray in your way that you would deliver them and help them and lift them up today. And God, we thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ, the word of God, the Holy Spirit, and wonderful, sweet fellowship.

[42:22]  Bless as we fellowship now, in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.