A Memorial At The Jordan

Joshua 4 begins after God brought Israel across Jordan on dry ground. Before the people moved deeper into Canaan, the Lord told Joshua to send twelve men back into the riverbed to carry out twelve stones. Pastor Ortiz explained that these stones were not meant to trap Israel in nostalgia. They were a memorial, a visible reminder that God had opened a way where His people could not have opened one for themselves.

God stopped the water so His people would remember Him. The miracle at Jordan was not as large as the Red Sea, but it was still a miracle. The size of the water was not the point. The size of the decision was the point. Israel had to get behind their own will, step past their own desires, and follow God first. God gave them stones from the middle of the river so they would remember not only the blessing, but the God who held back the water while they walked through it.

Remember The God Who Opened The Way

The stones came from the difficult path, not from the convenient shore. Pastor Ortiz pointed out that God did not tell Israel to gather easy stones lying near Jordan. The memorial came from the place where the priests had stood and where the people had to trust God. That detail matters because God often asks His people to remember the moments that required faith, not merely the moments that were comfortable.

Pastor Ortiz applied that truth to Victory Baptist Church's final service on the Mission Boulevard property. The church did not come there by its own power, strength, numbers, money, or planning. God providentially opened the way. When members pass that property in the future, they should not say, "Those were the good old years," as if God's work is finished. They should say, "That is where God brought us closer to Him." The building is not God, but it can become a stone of remembrance for the works of God.

Remembering God's works turns memory into worship. Pastor Ortiz connected the message to Psalm 77:11 and Psalm 111:4, which speak of remembering the Lord's works and wonders. He recalled people who preached their first messages there, families restored there, Christians called to serve there, and believers helped there. Those memories are not meant to glorify a place. They are meant to stir gratitude for the God who worked in that place.

Worship That Becomes Evidence

Your worship is someone else's evidence. In Joshua 4:6-7, the stones were placed so that when children later asked, "What mean ye by these stones?" their fathers could answer by telling them what the Lord had done at Jordan. Pastor Ortiz said that the way believers remember, worship, and speak of God's works becomes evidence for others. A Christian's life can either draw people only to himself, or it can point them toward the Lord who has done many marvelous works.

That emphasis moved the sermon from personal memory to generational responsibility. Pastor Ortiz said he does not want Victory Baptist Church merely to be a place where current members met with God. He wants it to be a place where their children found God, where future generations can grow up hearing what the Lord did, where baptisms, salvation testimonies, and seasons of growth become stories that lead others to worship. The stones were for the fathers, but they were also for the children who would ask about them later.

We do not worship for ourselves only. Pastor Ortiz urged the church to think beyond the present moment. If God one day gives the church a place of its own, the congregation should be able to tell the next generation, "God met us at this church. God met us at this park. God met us at this hall." Remembering rightly gives future believers a testimony to stand on. It teaches them that God has been faithful before, so they can trust Him again.

A Rest Stop, Not A Retirement Home

Remembrance is a rest stop, not a retirement home. Joshua 4:10 and 4:19 show that the priests stood in Jordan until everything God commanded was finished, then Israel moved forward to Gilgal. The stones remained as a memorial, but Israel did not stay at the memorial. Pastor Ortiz warned that too many people set up camp at the last miracle and refuse to move on to the next step of obedience.

Remembering Brown Temple, Roberts Avenue, outdoor services, and past seasons can strengthen faith, but those memories are not the destination. They remind God's people to keep pressing forward. Pastor Ortiz connected this to Philippians 3, where Paul speaks of reaching forth to what is before and pressing toward the mark. A past miracle should not make believers passive. It should give them courage to follow God into future miracles.

God's past provision should move us forward. The stones at Gilgal showed where God had worked, but Canaan still lay ahead. In the same way, the Mission Boulevard property was a chapter, not the whole story. Pastor Ortiz encouraged the church to thank God for what He had done there while refusing to let gratitude become resistance to God's next assignment.

Leave Egypt Before Entering Canaan

We cannot carry Egypt into Canaan. Pastor Ortiz moved into Joshua 5, where the Lord rolled away the reproach of Egypt after Israel crossed Jordan. Canaan pictured the promise and full surrender to God's will. The sermon stressed that a person cannot find God's will while still holding on to the world. A believer cannot choose God and self at the same time. Joshua would later say, "Choose you this day whom ye will serve," and Pastor Ortiz pressed that same choice on the church.

He warned that if God is for His people, no enemy can ultimately stand against them, but if His people are not with God, everything works against them. The transition to a new facility had been marked by God's goodness, not because the church was special, but because God is good. The danger would be trying to bring old sins, old attitudes, and old priorities into a new season.

New beginnings require cutting off the old life. Circumcision in Joshua 5 was a sign that Israel was not bringing Egypt into Canaan. Pastor Ortiz applied that directly: hard hearts, worldly habits, wrong financial priorities, sour attitudes, sinful entertainment, laziness, and bad influences needed to be buried before the church walked into its next chapter. Wanting a new beginning is not the same as receiving one. A true new beginning comes when God is allowed to cut away what belongs to the old life.

No Turning Back

The message closed with a call to surrender. Pastor Ortiz wanted the church to enter the new facility stirred toward revival, with men, women, and young people deciding to serve God rather than continue as they were. He returned to the image of stones of remembrance and urged the church to mark this final service as a place of faith, not as a place of turning back.

The world behind me, the cross before me. The invitation centered on that resolve. Some needed to bury sin, some needed to surrender to service, and all needed to remember what God had done without retreating from what God was calling them to do next. The sermon treated the final night on the property as both a memorial and a challenge: thank God for the stones, leave Egypt behind, and follow Him forward with no turning back.