The Sunday after Christmas is often a quiet moment between celebration and anticipation. In this message from the final Sunday of the year, we pause\u2014not to plan ahead or make resolutions\u2014but to look back with gratitude. Drawing from Joshua 4, we are reminded that none of us arrived at this moment on our own. Through ordinary days, difficult seasons, answered prayers, and quiet growth, God has been faithfully at work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pastor Tommy invites us to remember the \u201cstones\u201d in our own lives\u2014the markers of God\u2019s presence and grace\u2014and to rest in the truth that God has brought us this far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When all the people had crossed the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, \u201cNow choose twelve men, one from each tribe. Tell them, \u2018Take 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.\u2019\u201d So Joshua called together the twelve men he had chosen\u2014one from each of the tribes of Israel. He told them, \u201cGo 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\u2014twelve 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, \u2018What do these stones mean?\u2019 Then you can tell them, \u2018They remind us that the Jordan River stopped flowing when the Ark of the Lord\u2019s Covenant went across.\u2019 These stones will stand as a memorial among the people of Israel forever.\u201d Joshua 4:1-7<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. Philippians 1:6<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Sunday after Christmas is often a quiet moment between celebration and anticipation. In this message from the final Sunday of the year, we pause\u2014not to plan ahead or make resolutions\u2014but to look back with gratitude. Drawing from Joshua 4, we are reminded that none of us arrived at this moment on our own. Through ordinary days, difficult seasons, answered prayers, and quiet growth, God has been faithfully at work. Pastor Tommy invites us to remember the \u201cstones\u201d in our […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12028,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"ctc_sermon_topic":[],"ctc_sermon_book":[],"ctc_sermon_series":[],"ctc_sermon_speaker":[83],"ctc_sermon_tag":[],"class_list":["post-12026","ctc_sermon","type-ctc_sermon","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","ctc_sermon_speaker-tommy-sprinkle","ctfw-has-image"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/loah.org\/marsd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon\/12026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/loah.org\/marsd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/loah.org\/marsd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/ctc_sermon"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loah.org\/marsd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loah.org\/marsd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12026"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/loah.org\/marsd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon\/12026\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12032,"href":"https:\/\/loah.org\/marsd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon\/12026\/revisions\/12032"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loah.org\/marsd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/loah.org\/marsd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"ctc_sermon_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loah.org\/marsd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon_topic?post=12026"},{"taxonomy":"ctc_sermon_book","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loah.org\/marsd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon_book?post=12026"},{"taxonomy":"ctc_sermon_series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loah.org\/marsd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon_series?post=12026"},{"taxonomy":"ctc_sermon_speaker","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loah.org\/marsd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon_speaker?post=12026"},{"taxonomy":"ctc_sermon_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loah.org\/marsd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon_tag?post=12026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}