Stones of Testimony

Type: Sunday Morning Service

Sermon: Stones of Testimony

🗣️ Speaker: Pastor Daniel Hahn

God invites His people to remember His faithfulness on purpose, especially at moments of transition and uncertainty. By setting up intentional reminders, we anchor future courage in past deliverance and build confidence grounded in gratitude. Remembering together strengthens individuals, encourages the weary, and passes faith to the next generation.

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Additional Info

The info below was generated by an AI from the audio recording of the sermon.

Remembering on Purpose at the Threshold of a New Season

Life is filled with transitions, and the moments between what has been and what will be often shape us the most. At these thresholds, intentional remembering becomes essential, not optional. Memory is not merely sentimental; it is formative, shaping how we face what lies ahead.

Crossing into Promise

After years of wandering, the people of Israel stood at the edge of the Jordan River facing a future they could not conquer on their own. God did not rush them forward but instead guided them step by step, reminding them that obedience and trust must come before progress. The crossing itself became a declaration that God was present, powerful, and faithful.

Why Memory Matters

Human nature forgets easily, especially when momentum builds. Without intentional remembrance, gratitude fades and fear grows. Remembering God’s past faithfulness anchors hope and steadies faith when challenges arise.

Strength for What Comes Next

The memorial stones were set up before any battles were fought. This shows that remembrance is not about clinging to the past but preparing for the future. Courage is fueled by memory, and confidence grows when gratitude is practiced.

Passing Faith Forward

Remembering is meant to be shared, not hidden. Stories of God’s work strengthen those who are weary and teach the next generation how to trust Him. Faith grows when testimony is told again and again.

• Discussion Guide

  Use the questions listed below as a launching point to discuss the sermon points together as a family. These are great for dinner table discussions and small groups.

  • Discuss a moment when remembering God’s faithfulness helped you face something difficult.

  • Why do you think intentional remembrance is necessary rather than automatic?

  • How can shared testimonies strengthen a church community?

  Action Step
  This week, write down one specific way you saw God’s faithfulness and share it with someone.

• Historical Context

  Joshua chapters 3 and 4 occur at a critical transition in Israel’s history. Moses has died, and Joshua now leads the people as they prepare to enter the land promised generations earlier. The Jordan River crossing echoes the earlier Red Sea crossing, reinforcing continuity in God’s leadership and power.

  The Jordan River, especially during harvest season, was dangerous and impassable by normal means. God’s intervention confirmed His presence with Joshua and assured the people that the same God who delivered them from Egypt was still guiding them. The memorial stones at Gilgal served as a tangible reminder of covenant faithfulness, ensuring future generations would know what God had done.

• Kids Lesson

  Introduction: Talk about souvenirs and why we keep them.

  Scripture: Joshua 4:1–7.

  Craft: Decorate a paper “stone” and write or draw something God has helped you with.

  Game: Obstacle crossing relay to remember the Jordan River crossing.

  Discussion questions: Why did God ask the people to collect stones? How can we remember what God has done?

  Wrap-up prayer: Thank God for helping us and ask Him to help us remember His goodness.

• Full Transcript

  Happy New Year, everybody. Merry Christmas and all of that. Can you believe that? 2025 is wrapping up. This is the last Sunday of the year. So when we wrap up, I'm going to say see you next year. Of course. And I won't mention the fact that because it's the last Sunday of the year that you're down to your fifth string preacher. That's right. All right. Well, good morning, everybody. For those of you who don't know me, my name is Daniel. I'm the online campus pastor. I get the privilege of sharing God's Word with you today. And I do want to remind everybody before I jump into the sermon that this Wednesday is New Year's Eve. And so we want you guys to be safe and be happy and stay home because we won't be having services or classes that night. So y'all enjoy the evening. Be safe. Stay off the roads as best you can because you know craziness happens on New Year's Eve. But enjoy that. And we're looking forward to getting started 2026 next year. Amen. Would you turn with me to Joshua chapter 3? Joshua chapter 3. We're going to look at chapters 3 and 4 this morning. While you're turning, I want to tell you, I think I've mentioned before that I have a problem with offloading my entire brain to my phone. I have put everything I know onto this phone so I don't have to remember anything anymore. because I can't remember anything. She has to remind me of everything. So I've offloaded my brain to my phone. We use it for a lot of different purposes these days. And I have a lot of pictures on my phone. I'm up to more than 40,000 pictures on my phone in my library. Now for some of you that may seem like a whole lot. For some of you, you may think that I'm just an amateur. I don't know which side of that you're on. But between pictures and videos, I've got 10 plus years of family and faith moments on my phone and a lot of video announcement recordings as well on my phone. There's a lot there. And I use my phone just to back up my whole life just because I can't remember anything. But so social media networks like Instagram and Facebook, they're all about sharing photos, sharing moments. People naturally want to mark meaningful moments. in their life. We take pictures. We keep souvenirs. One of our family things is when we go on vacation, when we travel, we try to get a souvenir, a Christmas ornament so that we can add it to our tree. So our tree no longer has pretty Christmas ornaments on it. We have travel Christmas ornaments and things that my kids have made over the years on our tree. That's what we generally have. We keep souvenirs. We save cards. How many of you still have your Christmas cards hanging up around your door frames and on your cabinets? Okay. We save these things because we want to hold on to objects that remind us of something important, right? We do this because we don't want to forget what mattered, what shaped us, what carries us through. So because it's the end of the year, a lot of the online services are offering year-in-review type things. So like on Instagram, it's showing me pictures from a year ago, eight years ago, ten years ago. Or some of them are just showing me about my year because like Spotify, I don't know if you If you use Spotify, it'll tell you statistics about your year. You know, some of the songs that you listen to the most, some of the playlists that you've had, how many hours you listen to it. I tend to, you know, while I'm working, I tend to listen to some music. And it tells me my top song of the year, which was Sweet Home Alabama. So, as this year comes to an end, many of us are reflecting, doing our own year in review. We're looking back on our year, and some people are grateful for the victories and the growth and the answered prayers. And others are just relieved that we made it through this year. We made it through. But in our scripture text today, God shows us that remembering is not accidental. It's intentional. Remembering is not accidental. It's intentional. Right after a miracle, right after a moment of transition, God tells his people to stop and remember. this opportunity that I have to share this message today. I pray, Lord, that you would let your anointing rest on me. Your word says that the anointing breaks the yoke. So I pray, Lord, that the anointing would rest on me today because it's your words, not mine. I don't really have anything interesting to say, but God, you do. And so, Lord, I pray that it would be powerful and effective. In the name of Jesus, I ask. And everybody says, Amen. All right. So in Joshua chapter 3, let's set the scene a little bit. This is a threshold moment for God's people. Did you know that there There are two stories in the Bible where God helps Israel cross a body of water. Two stories. A lot of people didn't know this. I didn't know this until I was in Bible school. They taught me in Bible school. I grew up my whole life in church and never heard this other story. Most of us know the first main story, how Moses led the children of Israel across the Red Sea, right? We've all heard that. This is a second story about how the next leader after Moses, Joshua, leads the children of Israel across across another body of water. So we're going to read, we're going to start in verse 1. We're going to read the whole chapter. I'm not going to put the words on the screen for this one. I just want you to listen. You can follow along in your Bible if you want, but I just want you to listen and kind of soak in this story. So Joshua chapter 3 starting in verse 1 says, to the people. When you see the Levitical priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord your God, move out from your positions and follow them. Since you have never traveled this way before, they will guide you. Stay about a half mile behind them, keeping a clear distance between you and the Ark. Make sure you don't come any closer. Then Joshua told the people, verse 5, Purify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do great wonders among you. In the morning, Joshua said to the priests, And so they started out and went ahead of the people. Verse 7. The Lord told Joshua, So Joshua told the Israelites, Come and listen to what the Lord your God says. Today you will know that the living God is among you. He will surely drive out the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Gergashites, Amorites, Termites, and Jebusites ahead of you. It's a lot of ites. Verse 11. Look, the Ark of the Covenant, which belongs to the Lord of the whole earth, will lead you across the Jordan River. The priests will carry the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth. As soon as their feet touch the water, the flow of water will be cut off upstream and the river will stand up like a wall. Some translations say that they stacked up, piled up, as if they'd raked leaves into a pile. Where was I? Verse 14. So the people left their camp to cross the Jordan and the priests who were carrying the ark of the covenant went ahead of them. It was the harvest season and the Jordan was over That's the entire chapter. Israel has just crossed the Jordan River on dry ground. This is one of the defining moments in their history. The wilderness is behind them and the promised land, which God had been talking to them about for years, the promised land is now before them. As soon as they crossed the Jordan River, they're now standing in the promised land and that's what's ahead of them. This moment comes during a season of Leadership Transition. Moses, who had led them for many years, had now passed and it was time for a new leader. Joshua had taken over and he's going to lead the people forward. Did you hear how God told Joshua that he was going to show the people that as he was with Moses, he is also with Joshua after the leadership transition. The people are stepping into something new without losing what God had already done. Before God allows them to move any further, he pauses them. Not because they're doing something wrong, but because remembering will be essential for what comes next. So let's talk for just a moment about what comes next. First of all, main point number one, God calls his people to remember on purpose. We're his people, just as a reminder, quick reminder there. God causes his people to remember on purpose. I'm going to read a little more scripture. Joshua chapter 4, starting in verse 1. When all the people had crossed the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, Now choose twelve men and one from each tribe. Tell them take twelve stones from the very place where the priests are standing in the middle of the Jordan. Carry them out and pile them up at the place where you will camp tonight. So Joshua called together the twelve men he had chosen one from each of the tribes of Israel. He told them go into the middle of the Jordan in front of the ark of the Lord your God. Each of you must pick up one stone and carry it out on your shoulder twelve stones in all one for each of the twelve tribes of Israel. We will use these stones to build a memorial. In the future, your children will ask you, what do these stones mean? And you can tell them. They remind us that the Jordan River stopped flowing when the Ark of the Lord's Covenant went across. These stones will stand as a memorial among the people of Israel forever. God commands one person, one man from each tribe, to take a stone from the middle of the river. Now, these stones aren't just random or decorative stones. They are intentional reminders of God's faithfulness. You see, God understands something about human nature. If we do not remember on purpose, we will forget by default. We will forget by default if we don't remember on purpose. God understands that because of human nature, momentum can cause us to move forward without gratitude. I told this in the first service. When I'm coming to church, We're coming up the hill in in Oxford coming up to the light that's right here by the church and sometimes my wife will say hey don't forget we've got to go by Walmart before we go to the church. I come to the church every day. This is where I work so my car's just kind of on autopilot. So she'll remind me as we're coming up the hill right before the red light don't forget to turn. Well guess what? I get to the red light and I forget to turn because I'm just going on autopilot. As soon as she said it I think Yeah, you're right. I gotta do that. And now I'm looking at the trees. I'm listening to the music. I'm paying attention. My kids in the back, gone. I forget to turn. Happened a million times. If we do not remember on purpose, we will forget by default. Remembering is not an emotional exercise. It's a spiritual discipline. One I'm still working on, as you can tell. It's a spiritual discipline. God wants his people to anchor their future in his past faithfulness. That's good right there. God wants us to anchor our future in his past faithfulness. This is important. We've got to get this. God is faithful. Amen. God is faithful always. We often miss this because of our own limited vision and the busyness of life. And certainly because of the pain of this sinful world that it inflicts on us every day. We tend to forget that. That's why this is so important. Our future is not dependent on our own ability. but God's ability. Thank the Lord for that. It's not dependent on us. It's dependent on God. Point number two. Flying through this quick. Y'all, we're going to get out early. Remembering is not about living in the past, but about strength for the future. It's not about living in the past, but strength for the future. Joshua 4, 19 through 20 says this. The people crossed the Jordan, and on the tenth day of the first month, then they camped at Gilgal, just east of Jericho. It was there at Gilgal that Joshua piled up the 12 stones taken from the Jordan River. Israel sets up the stones at Gilgal before any battles are fought. Now remember what comes next. They're about to go up against the city of Jericho. One of the most fortified cities in all of the ancient world. And this group of people who had been wandering around the desert for 40 years, they're literally just wanderers. They're not warriors yet. They're just wanderers and they're about to come up into the promised land, the land that God had promised. He said, you're going to have all this land, but it's not empty. They have to take the land. They have to take the promises that God has given them, but they have to do it God's way because they're not able to do it on their own. Challenges, uncertainty, all of that is still ahead of us, but obedience is still required for what's next. It's incredibly important to remember what God has done before before we go up against that next battle. We've got to remember. Because if you're not going through a battle right now, you probably just finished a battle. Or you're about to go into a battle. At some point, very soon, you're going to be going through a battle. That's life. But before we go into that battle, we need to remember God's faithfulness. Because when we're standing in the storm, it's going to be difficult to remember. We need to remember God's faithfulness. So before you go into the battles, make sure you remember. Remember. Because as we've already said, human memories are short. God wants Israel to remember before they face what's next. Because memory fuels courage and gratitude builds confidence. Memory fuels courage and gratitude builds confidence. When you're facing your toughest battles, memory fuels your courage and gratitude will build your confidence as you face the next one. This kind of remembering is especially important during seasons of change. The same God who carried them through the river, or let me back up, the same God who helped them first cross the Red Sea, and who carried them through the Jordan River, will carry them forward into the land. God's faithfulness does not change because the seasons change. Some of y'all need to remember that. Some of y'all need to hear that and get it into your brain. is just around the corner. God's faithfulness doesn't change when the seasons change. Now, I need to acknowledge for a moment what could be the elephant in the room for some people. Because there's some people who've had a very difficult year. Not everyone comes to the end of this year feeling strong or victorious. Some have experienced loss, disappointment, and unanswered prayers. It's been a challenging year, maybe a challenging decade. For some, this This holiday season's been heavy rather than joyful. If this is you this morning, this moment is not meant to pressure you. This moment that God is bringing us to here at the end of 2025, the remembering moment is not meant to pressure you. Remembering God's faithfulness does not mean ignoring pain because this life has pain. Sometimes the testimony stone you carry is simply that you're still here. that you're hearing this message today. That you've got a church family here that will pray with you and pray for you. One of the reasons God calls his people to remember together as a church community is so that no one has to carry their stone alone. Thank you, Lord. You don't have to carry your stone alone. Testimonies of God's work in others can strengthen faith when our own feels fragile. If you've had a tough year, I'd like to encourage you, take the time to go listen to last week's service or even this past Christmas Eve service. The trio, Rich and Mitzi and Kristen sang a beautiful song called Wonderful. I'm responsible for putting the words in the computer for the screens, and I hadn't heard that song when I was putting the words in, and I'm putting the words in, hit me right in the chest. What a powerful song. I encourage you to go take a listen to that song. It was an encouragement to you, to me and I think it will be to you. Go listen to that song. If this has been a tough year, remember, God is faithful. Point number three. Testimony is meant to be shared and passed on. Testimony is meant to be shared and passed on. And this is not just for those who are struggling with their faith right now in the present, but for the next generation of believers. Because you can bet they're going to struggle too. They're going to struggle too. Verse 21. God says the stones are for future generations. When your children ask, when your children ask, this story is meant to be told again and again and again. Why do you think during the Christmas season we tell the Christmas story over and over again? We read the scriptures, we read Luke 2 and the Christmas story over and over again. We sing the hymns over and over again. The radio stations play the songs over and over again. We repeat it on purpose because we need to remember the story. Why do you think preachers stand up and church leaders go on and on about God's faithfulness? Because we need to remember He is faithful. Because memory fuels your courage and gratitude builds your confidence. And this can be passed to the next generation. Let me rephrase that. This must be passed to the next generation. What's the old saying? A church is only one generation away from death. If the next generation doesn't get it, the church will be gone. We have to pass it on to our children. That's why our church invests so much money and time and effort into ministering to our kids and our teens and the young adults because they are the next generation behind us. I can't say that I'm that generation anymore. I've aged out. Some of y'all have too. Testimony is not about drawing attention to ourselves. It's about pointing to the mighty hand of God. It's not about us. We didn't do it. God did it. It reminds others that God is active, present, and faithful. It's about sharing the strength with our family that's struggling to take the next step. It's about demonstrating to those who have not believed yet that our God is faithful and our eternity is secure. And it's about passing that faith to the next generation. Sharing what God has done builds faith across the generations. It strengthens those who are struggling and it teaches those who are still learning how to trust God. So this morning, I want to give this invitation to you. I want to invite you to name that stone. Name that stone. As we close this year, I want to invite you to name the stone of testimony. It can be big or it can be small. It can be dramatic. or deeply personal, ask yourself, where did I see God's faithfulness this year? How did God sustain me, grow me, or carry me through? If a testimony is meant to teach the next generation and to encourage those that are struggling, it needs to be shared. It needs to be shared. So I want to encourage you, name that stone, name that testimony, and write it down. You need to remember it yourself. Because when you're going through the storm, as I said earlier, you need to be able to flip back in your prayer journal or on the notes app on your phone. Wherever you keep these things, you need to be able to flip back. Oh, yeah, I forgot. God answered that prayer. I forgot. God pulled me through. I don't think I could make it through that. God pulled me through. You need to remember that. Write it down. And I want to invite you to take a step further than that. For those of you that are willing, I want to invite you to share that testimony with me. He's going to put my email address. on the screen. I'm probably going to get a lot of spam from this. He's going to put my email address on the screen. And I want to invite you to, at some point they're going to put the email address on the screen. I want to invite you to send that, send me your testimony. Send me your stone of testimony. Because I want to share it with our church family. I'm going to collect these over the next week or so if you're willing to share it. And I want to send them to all the people in our mailing list. To let them hear the testimonies. The people in our own church family. They need to know what your testimonies are. And it doesn't have to be long. In fact, it should probably be short because we're going to be sharing multiple testimonies. Just probably one sentence. Just tell us what God did in your life. Small, big. I do want to encourage you to use discretion in times when sometimes you should be discreet depending on who you're talking about in the testimony. But I want to share these with the people in our email list. I may make a few social media posts. If we are supposed to pass this to the next generation, They need to hear it. The church family in here, those of us that are struggling to take the next step, they need to hear what God has done for you. They need to be reminded of God's faithfulness. I will share these in the coming days if you'll send them to me. You can send them to me by email or however you can get them to me. I'll just put the email address on the screen. You can write it down. It's simple. Daniel at OxfordAG.org should be easy to remember. Would you bow your heads and close your eyes this morning? God is good. But sometimes we need to be reminded of that fact. So I pray that you would take the time to name your stones. Remember what God has done in the past. Write it down somewhere that you can go back to later when you need some courage and confidence. And let's share it with our church family who needs to hear what God has done and reminded of his faithfulness. Heavenly Father, I thank you for this opportunity that I had to share today. It was simple, but this is what you put on my heart. We're wrapping up 2025 and we're going to be moving into 2026. I thank you for the year that we just had. I thank you for your faithfulness in this year. I thank you where you brought me. I'm closer to you now than I was last year. I thank you for my continued growth and relationship with you. And as I continue to learn, and read your word. I thank you for that. I thank you that my kids are learning God's word and they're hiding your word in their heart. They're growing too. And what you've done in my family. And more than that, I thank you for what you've done in this church family, my extended family. Thank you for where you've brought us. You've been faithful. You've been faithful. Now, Lord, we ask you to help us trust you in the days ahead. Faith is just trust when we have no reason to. And Lord, we ask that you would help us with our our faith. Help us trust you in the coming year. I pray that our faith would be strengthened by what we remember together as a church family. In Jesus' name, amen. Next week, Pastor Tom's going to begin talking about where God may be leading us in the year ahead. 2026 is just around the corner, and we are believing for an amazing and incredible year in 2026. Amen. But vision without memory is just is just ambition. Direction without gratitude is just pressure. Okay, so before we ask where are we going, we need to remember who brought us here. Who brought us here? We must step forward not with fear, but with confidence. Let's step into the new year with confidence, remembering God's faithfulness, and let's encourage one another to do the same because the God who stopped the waters hasn't changed. He's still the same God. All of the songs that we sang this morning, you may have noticed, were all about God. being the same yesterday, today, and forever. Joshua 4:24 said, "So that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, and that you may fear the Lord your God forever." Amen? That's our closing scripture for 2025. God bless you this morning. Thank you for coming. Thank you for being a part of our church family. Thank you for being a part of what God did in 2025. God is going to do in 2026. Please take the time to share your testimony. Share it with us if you want. You don't have to, but share it with somebody who needs to hear it. And let's lead with kindness and blessing as we prepare for a new year. Amen. God bless you. Thank you for coming this morning.