“The 12 Memorial Stones from the Jordan”

We are in our second series out of four in the book of Joshua.

This week we will be looking at Joshua 4:1-7…

But before we do it is important that you know that we always try to answer two questions when diving into scripture…

1.) What is God teaching us through this text?

2.) How does God’s teaching apply to our lives today?

I hope you brought your Bible with you because we use our Bible here…

2 Timothy 3:16-17 (ESV) says,

“16) All scripture is breathed out by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17) that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work”…

EQUIPPED is a verb an action = “to be or become furnished or equipped with every necessary component for a task”

In other words, God’s Word his Bible has everything you need in order to live out a life that is dedicated to Jesus. God is saying my Word is enough for you to know my Son Jesus, to change to become more like my Son Jesus, to tell others about Jesus, and to hold on to Jesus when you are tempted, when life is hard, when you need wisdom, when you need strength, when you need comfort , or anything else… God is saying my words are enough…

And this is why I ask you guys to bring your Bible every week… a physical copy of it… because without it you will have nothing… but with it you will having everything …

With that being said, please follow along with me as I read Joshua 4:1-7 (ESV), it says,

“1) When all the nation had finished passing over the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, 2) “Take twelve men from the people, from each tribe a man,

3) and command them, saying, ‘Take twelve stones from here out of the midst of the Jordan, from the very place where the priests' feet stood firmly, and bring them over with you and lay them down in the place where you lodge tonight.’”

4) Then Joshua called the twelve men from the people of Israel, whom he had appointed, a man from each tribe.

5) And Joshua said to them, “Pass on before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan, and take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel,

6) that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’

7) then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever.”

For those of you who do not know… Joshua was with Moses when Moses went up to Mount Sinai and received the Ten Commandments form God… Joshua was also one of the twelve spies sent into Canaan…

Joshua was the successor of Moses, meaning that when Moses died - Joshua assumed command & leadership of the Israelite people…

And so far Joshua Chapter 4:1-7 we have seen three things take place:

1.) The LORD Commands Joshua to select 12 men… 1 from each tribe of Israel…

2.) Each man selected would take 1 stone each from the Jordan = 12 Stones Total

3.) Lay the stones down in the place that the Israelites were going to lodge/stay that night

The first thing that God is trying to teach us or tell us in this particular passage is:

POINT #1: GOD wants you to REMEMBER all that he has DONE for you

EXAMPLE #1 - MOM & DAD

When I was growing up I as I kid and even throughout high school I knew that my parents were not going to pay for my college. College is expense and I have two other siblings. My parents were fair and wanted to keep things as even as possible. But growing up and getting closer to graduate from high school I knew of people who’s parents were paying for their college tuition… and like all of it…They had the freedom, access, and ability to go to the school they wanted, study the degree they desired, and walk out with a degree with no debt… And for a short while, naturally I would begin to think to myself… wow, would be nice my parents could do that… Wish my parents would dig in and step up and pay for my school…

You see… I started to look at one situation in my life… going to college… and started to evaluate whether or not my parents were “good” or not based upon if they payed for my college… In the moment, I had forgotten all that they had done for me up until that point… my 18 year old self had forgotten the fact that:

My parents took care of me

provided me with a place to live

loved me unconditionally

raised me in a way that honored the Lord

put clothes on back

provided me with an education

showed me grace

showed me forgiveness

provided me with wisdom

molded for me what a Christian home looked like

Gave me a room

Made sure I never went without a meal

supported my soccer dreams

helped me purchase my first two cars

would constantly give me gas money

comforted me when I was sad or upset

Never missed one of my birthdays

Always made sure I had a gift for Christmas

Literally built a soccer goal in my backyard for me

And loved me at my worst when I had lied to them or broke their rules - they loved me and displayed for me the love of Jesus

Oh how easily I had forgotten the 1,000 things they had already done for me…

And friends… These stones from the Jordan were to help the Israelite to never forget what God had done for them… The twelve stones … were to serve as a reminder of how God had delivered them and allowed them to Cross the Jordan on dry ground…

So if you are asking yourself, how do these 12 stones in the book of Joshua apply to me… here is your answer… You often if not daily forget about all that God has done for you in your own life… You live each day for you… if it is not going well or the way you designed it… you think to yourself where is God? How has God helped me? How has God shown up for me? Does he not see me? Does he not know what I am going through? You see you and I are just like the Israelites in Joshua Chapter 4:1-7… we are easily forget all that God has done for us…

If you do not believe me, here are some things that God may have blessed you with:

A Mom

A Dad

A brother or sister

family

food

clothing

shelter

education

friends

A hobby that you enjoy

The ability to see

The ability to walk

The ability to talk

The ability to taste and smell

To see God’s creation

Travel or go on vacation

A Bible

A Church Family

Most importantly - Jesus Christ

If there is one thing that I want you to remember from today is that you have been pleased beyond measure because God has given you his Son Jesus Christ - and no matter what else happens to you in this life you are blessed because of Christ and Jesus is worthy of your remembrance

POINT#1 was: GOD wants you to REMEMBER all that He has DONE for you…

POINT #2: You will have to REMEMBER what God has done for you for a LIFETIME…

You see you and I have a choice to make every single day… We can choose between two options:

1.) Remember what God has done for us through Jesus Christ...

2.) Live each day as if God has not done enough and owes you something…

If we fail to remember that God has blessed us beyond our wildest dreams through Jesus Christ then we will be left with the mentality that God owes us something or has not done enough for us and he will never meet our expectations...

Allow me to provide you with an example:

In the early stages of my Dad finding out that he has cancer… I can recall how scary the unknown was…

When you find out that someone you love dearly has a life threatening illness like cancer… you begin to ask yourself …

What kind of cancer?

Will be be able to heal from this?

How much time does he have?

What does the treatment look like?

Is it expensive and can my family afford it?

What will life look life for my mom? for my younger sister?

and so on and so on...

I can choose to think… if God really loved me then he would not allow this to happen to me or my family…

I could choose to think… if God really cared about me he would just heal my father from this illness…

Or I could choose to STOP… and remember all that God has already done for me in my life… and the greatest thing that God has ever done for me is not the blessing of a family, a wife, a son, a home, a car, clothes, food, or water, or a fantastic early father, rather the greatest thing that God has done for me that is worthy of my remembrance is that fact that God has given me his one and only Son Jesus Christ as my personal savior…

Question: when difficult times arise in your life… do you choose to remember what God has already done for you? Or you does God have to keep on doing things for you to prove that he is truly good? Was God sending his son to die for you not enough?

Deuteronomy 6:12 says, “Then take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.”

Psalm 77:11 says, “I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your wonders of old.”

Psalm 143:5 says, I remember the days of old; I meditate on all that you have done; I ponder the work of your hands.”

My point is this… If you do not remember it… then you do not rely upon it…

In other words, if you do not remember that God has done great things for you - most importantly that he sent his Son Jesus Christ to die for you… then you will not rely upon him… If you do not rely upon him… then you do not know him as Savior…

We remember things that impact us… that change us… this is why I choose to remember what Jesus Christ has done for me… and it does not get old…

Question: Do you remember all that God has done for? Do you think about all the things that God has already blessed with you? Have you recognized that you have everything you need in Christ Jesus? Or do you fail to remember what God has done for you…leaving you to rely on someone or something else other than Jesus Christ? …

POINT #3: We may not have STONES but we have SCRIPTURE

Joshua 4:7 says, 6 that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’ 7 then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever.”

We can clearly see that the stones were meant to serve as as sign to remember what God has done for them… We do not have or see these stones every day… but we have something of far more value than just 12 stones… we have God’s active and living Word - your Bible…

Some of us do not remember all that God has done for us because we do not value or treasure his Word in our lives… You will never know God or remember what he has done for you until listen to what he has to say…

I listen and obey the one that I love… that is why I read my Bible… I love the Lord because I know he has given everything to me through his Son Jesus… therefore I listen to what he has to say by reading his Bible (all of it) and I obey his words for they are precious to me…

Question: Do you listen and obey the Word of God? Are you someone who remembers all that God has done?

Questions:

The word “Equipped” in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 means = “to be or become furnished or equipped with every necessary component for a task”. Do you truly believe the Bible is enough for every task? Do you live that way?

2. The Stones that the Israelites pulled out of the Jordan were meant to remind them of all that God had done for them. What practices have you put in place to remember what God has done in your own life?

3. We learned that to continually remember what God has done will lead to us relying upon God. How often do you reflect on what God had done for you?

4. Are you someone who is content with all that God has done (especially through Christ Jesus)? or are you someone who is always looking for God to do something else to prove himself?

5. Why do you think we often and easily forget all that God has done for us?

6. We learned that the Bible and Word of God is our tool to remember all that God has done for us. Do you view the Bible as a proven track record of God’s faithfulness and something worthy of your mental capacity/memory?

Handouts:5

Joshua 4:1-7 (ESV), it says,

“1) When all the nation had finished passing over the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, 2) “Take twelve men from the people, from each tribe a man, 3) and command them, saying, ‘Take twelve stones from here out of the midst of the Jordan, from the very place where the priests' feet stood firmly, and bring them over with you and lay them down in the place where you lodge tonight.’” 4) Then Joshua called the twelve men from the people of Israel, whom he had appointed, a man from each tribe. 5) And Joshua said to them, “Pass on before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan, and take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel, 6) that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’ 7) then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever.”

FILL-INS

1. _______________ wants you _______________ all that he has _______________ for you

2. You will have to _______________ what God has done for you for a _______________

3.We may not have _______________ but we have _______________