Spiritual Markers

Today, we are having our annual special service recognizing our students who are graduating from high school. If you’re a guest today, things are going to be a bit different from normal, just to give you a heads up.

This afternoon from 3-5, there will be a come-and-go reception in Miller Hall for 7 of our graduates hosted by their parents. Directions to Miller Hall.

Next Sunday is Mother’s Day, and on Mother’s Day every year, we take up a special one-day offering in support of the New Mexico Baptist Children’s Home in Portales, NM. This is a great ministry that has a positive impact for Christ in the lives of so many children. Our goal for this one-day offering is $3,600. Pray and be prepared to give what God would lead you to give next Sunday morning.

Beginning

And now, I present to you the Eastern Hills Baptist Church Student Ministry Graduates for 2019.

VIDEO

Grad Recognition

Have them stand, present with gifts, short conversation with them, Trevor will pray over them.

Have them be seated.

Opening:

We are

passage?

Joshua 4:1–7 CSB

1 After the entire nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the Lord spoke to Joshua: 2 “Choose twelve men from the people, one man for each tribe, 3 and command them: Take twelve stones from this place in the middle of the Jordan where the priests are standing, carry them with you, and set them down at the place where you spend the night.” 4 So Joshua summoned the twelve men he had selected from the Israelites, one man for each tribe, 5 and said to them, “Go across to the ark of the Lord your God in the middle of the Jordan. Each of you lift a stone onto his shoulder, one for each of the Israelite tribes, 6 so that this will be a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ 7 you should tell them, ‘The water of the Jordan was cut off in front of the ark of the Lord’s covenant. When it crossed the Jordan, the Jordan’s water was cut off.’ Therefore these stones will always be a memorial for the Israelites.”

Pray

Opening

You have different language markers in your life. I still use words like “sick” and “groovy.” To me “chill” always means calm or relaxed. To you, it means more cool or fun. I admit it: I’m out of touch.

Because of that, you might be tempted to not listen to me today. You may be tempted to tune me out, because I have nothing useful to bring. But just because some of our markers are different doesn’t mean that they all are. Sure, we have different life experiences, but that doesn’t mean that mine are of no value to you.

This is because we all share a common journey called life. While our pathways and our viewpoints might wildly differ from each other, there’s a similarity in the process of doing life. I’ve been (sort of, at least) where you are: looking out at the ocean of your future, wondering what’s out there beyond the horizon. What may surprise you is that I still find myself in that place often.

Illustration

As you look back on the path of your life, there are going to be some places or times that were critical: that something powerful happened, or you had to make a decision, or there was a big change because of something. These things are markers: life markers, if you will. Signposts that you can reflect on and see “this is why my life looks like this.”

Today might be one of those markers. You’re being recognized by your church family for your accomplishments in reaching the cusp of “adulthood.” When I look back on my own life, graduation was one of those markers for me as well. Some other markers you might have could be when you started high school, made a team of some sort, got your driver’s license, or got your first car.

But what about your spiritual life? Can you look back at your life and see places where there was a big change in your walk with God? Some of them probably even coincide with some of the other markers that we’ve just mentioned.

Give them each a stone

I want to give you each a stone this morning, because in each of the passages we’re going to look at today, a stone was of great prominence: they were set up as markers. They were markers that represented both a big moment in someone’s life direction, and also a big moment in someone’s spiritual direction.

And when these people set these stones up as markers, they put them up so that they would remember. So they would remember what God had said to them. So they could remember how God had revealed Himself to them. So they could remember how God had restored them when they had fallen.

As you go from here, I want you to remember some of these same things:

Remember when God spoke

The place we’re going to begin is with a man named Jacob. You probably know who he is. But in case you don’t… Jacob was the grandson of Abraham. He was a twin, but the younger of the two. He was a bit of a shyster... he had no problem lying to get what he wanted, he wasn’t above manipulating someone in order to win a prize.

Well, after he successfully received a blessing from his father Isaac that his brother Esau felt that he deserved, Jacob ran away. He fled, at his mother’s instruction, to visit some relatives until his brother calmed down.

As he ran away, he had an encounter with God:

Genesis 28:10–22 CSB

10 Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran. 11 He reached a certain place and spent the night there because the sun had set. He took one of the stones from the place, put it there at his head, and lay down in that place. 12 And he dreamed: A stairway was set on the ground with its top reaching the sky, and God’s angels were going up and down on it. 13 The Lord was standing there beside him, saying, “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your offspring the land on which you are lying. 14 Your offspring will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out toward the west, the east, the north, and the south. All the peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. 15 Look, I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go. I will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” 16 When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” 17 He was afraid and said, “What an awesome place this is! This is none other than the house of God. This is the gate of heaven.” 18 Early in the morning Jacob took the stone that was near his head and set it up as a marker. He poured oil on top of it 19 and named the place Bethel, though previously the city was named Luz. 20 Then Jacob made a vow: “If God will be with me and watch over me during this journey I’m making, if he provides me with food to eat and clothing to wear, 21 and if I return safely to my father’s family, then the Lord will be my God. 22 This stone that I have set up as a marker will be God’s house, and I will give to you a tenth of all that you give me.”

So the Lord comes to Jacob in a dream and tells him that He will bless Jacob, and that Jacob would receive the land that he was lying on, which God had promised to Abraham and his descendants. This stone ends up getting a name: Bethel, which means “house of God.”

And later on, this exact thing happened. In , we see the rest of the story. Jacob returns to Canaan, to Bethel, and is there reminded of all that God had done for him along the path of life’s journey.

You see, the stone that Jacob set up was something to remind him of what God had said. And when he saw the fulfillment of the promise of God, it led him to worship the Lord.

For me, a major spiritual marker in my own life took place right out there in the prayer room. That’s where I realized that I needed Jesus, and I surrendered my life, repented of my sins, and placed my trust in Him for my salvation, believing that He died in my place, rose from the dead, and was going to come again.

It’s a marker that I go back to over and over and over. Why? Because my life’s trajectory changed that day, and since then, the course of my life is completely different than anything I thought it would be… that’s a good thing.

So when was a time that the Lord spoke to you? Not necessarily audibly, but on the inside. Maybe it was when you realized that you needed a Savior. Maybe it was a time that you had your mind completely blown away by something you read in the Scriptures. Maybe it was a sermon or a lesson in Bible study or a teaching at camp where you knew exactly what God was saying to you and how you needed to respond.

And then you did respond, and you can look back at that time as a marker: a reminder of what God said and what it meant, and how the course of your life changed after that.

Psalm 143:5 CSB

5 I remember the days of old; I meditate on all you have done; I reflect on the work of your hands.

It’s in remembering what God has said to us that we will be better equipped to recognize the voice and leadership of God in the future. So we need to remember those spiritual markers of when we heard God speak.

Jacob set up a stone as a marker and an altar, dedicating himself to God.

Give this some thought: what is a spiritual marker in

Remember when God worked

Not only do we need to remember when we heard God speak, but we need to remember to set up markers so that we can remember when we saw God work. For this marker, we’re going to jump over to the book of Joshua, chapter 4, which was where our opening Scripture reading came from.

Joshua and the Israelites had just finished their wanderings in the desert. Moses has died, and they are about to come into the Promised Land to begin their conquest of it. Joshua ran into a little problem: the Jordan river stood between them and Jericho. And it was flooded over its normal banks.

How are they going to cross it?

So the Lord stopped the Jordan river, piling up the water as the Israelites crossed over the Jordan. And what we saw in our opening reading was the Lord’s instruction for the Israelites to bring 12 stones up out of the bottom of the Jordan river, and to set them up as a reminder.

We’re going to look at the end of chapter 4 here:

Joshua 4:19-

Joshua 4:19–24 CSB

19 The people came up from the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and camped at Gilgal on the eastern limits of Jericho. 20 Then Joshua set up in Gilgal the twelve stones they had taken from the Jordan, 21 and he said to the Israelites, “In the future, when your children ask their fathers, ‘What is the meaning of these stones?’ 22 you should tell your children, ‘Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’ 23 For the Lord your God dried up the water of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over, just as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up before us until we had crossed over. 24 This is so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord’s hand is mighty, and so that you may always fear the Lord your God.”

Joshua passage

This was a work that only God could have done. And the Israelites were to take these stones up out of the Jordan riverbed, stones that they never would have been able to get apart from God’s mighty work, and to set up stones so that when they came back by this spot, they would remember what God had done.

And then they would tell their children, and they would be encouraged by the testimony about how God had worked in the lives of the Israelites, and as a result, they would always fear the Lord. And then they would tell other people about how God had worked among them, “so that all the peoples of the earth my know that the Lord’s hand is mighty.”

Some time that God did a work only He could have done.

The stones were a marker of God’s amazing work.

One moment that is a marker of God’s work for me in my own journey comes from a week at camp. Back in 2002, we were at Centrifuge at Inlow, and we had a rough week: unfamiliar location, drama, heat, poor choices, more drama.

The Israelites set up the mound of stones so that when they came back by this spot, they would remember, they would tell their children, they would be encouraged.

But on Thursday night, our last night for church group devotionals, God just showed up. Going in, our attitudes, mine included, were not good. But we praised God anyway, and we got to talking about the week, and we came up with this analogy of a chocolate chip cookie: that each of the parts individually aren’t that great, but when they all come together for the same purpose, something wonderful happens. And so it should be with the body of Christ.

Our hearts were changed toward each other. Our hearts were changed toward the other people at camp that year. We went out excited to tell other people about God would have us to treat one another. I actually stayed behind in the study room that night and wept tears of joy over God’s incredible work, and then got my guitar out and actually wrote a song about it.

When is a time that you can look back on and KNOW that God had done a great work in your midst? Maybe God protected you from what could have been a disastrous choice, and you knew it was God who had done it. Maybe you shared your faith and saw someone else and were there when they surrendered their lives to Jesus. Maybe you saw a complete mess of a situation and stood in awe as God unraveled the tangle and brought beauty from the ashes.

These things should be markers: points that you look back on so you can see and remember the work of God that only He can do. Listen to what the psalmist says:

ps 77:11-14?

Psalm 77:11–14 CSB

11 I will remember the Lord’s works; yes, I will remember your ancient wonders. 12 I will reflect on all you have done and meditate on your actions. 13 God, your way is holy. What god is great like God? 14 You are the God who works wonders; you revealed your strength among the peoples.

Fuge 2002 at Inlow: Worship on Thursday night.

Grads: where has God done a work in you or through you? Set that up as a marker so that you can remember it when times are hard.

Remember when God restored

The final marker we’re going to look at in Scripture is found in 1 Samuel. In chapter 4, the Israelites had engaged the Philistines in battle and had lost. So they decided that the way to win was to go and get the Ark of the Covenant and carry it into battle, using sort of as a totem so that they would be victorious over their enemies. This wasn’t what the Ark was for, and they lost again, and the Ark was taken by the Philistines.

God worked and caused the Philistines to want the Ark to go away from them, so they put it on a cart and sent it back to Israel. Where it came back, it sat for 20 years while Israel was still under the thumb of the Philistines.

Some time when we had fallen away from God by going our own way, and God brought us back to the right course.

Then finally, in , Samuel calls the people of Israel to repent of their sin of idolatry, and they gather to fast and confess, to pray and worship. Then the Philistines heard that Israel had gathered, so they muster the army to go and break up this gathering.

Verse 10 says that “the Lord thundered loudly against the Philistines that day and threw them into such confusion that they were defeated by Israel.” God had restored them to freedom from Philistine oppression, at least for a time.

The Israelites had lost the battle TWICE, had lost the Ark. Then God returned the Ark to them and they confessed their sins and they were restored to right relationship. And then God used them to subdue the Philistines for a time.

Then Samuel set up a marker:

1 Samuel 7:12 CSB

12 Afterward, Samuel took a stone and set it upright between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, explaining, “The Lord has helped us to this point.”

1 Samuel 7:12–13 CSB

12 Afterward, Samuel took a stone and set it upright between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, explaining, “The Lord has helped us to this point.” 13 So the Philistines were subdued and did not invade Israel’s territory again. The Lord’s hand was against the Philistines all of Samuel’s life.

Ebenezer means “stone of help.” We sing about this marker in “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing:” Here I raise my Ebenezer, hither by Thy help I come.

Had a conversation with someone this week who was feeling like they couldn’t make any forward motion. Forward isn’t forward if it’s not the direction you’re supposed to be going. Then it’s just going away, even though you’re moving.

There have been times in my life and ministry where I just felt defeated or apathetic or plain old spiritually exhausted. You may have experienced the same thing. I wanted to share with you a journal entry that I wrote when I was at camp in 2006. I was spent. This was Tuesday morning in my quiet time

Journal Entry and poem from 6/20/06 (maybe just the poem?)

The issue was that I had gone my own way, done my own thing, in my own strength. I was honestly steeped in selfishness and pride, and had been for a while. But that week at camp, as we studied and played and worshiped together, I repented and confessed my sin, and the Lord did a work in my heart.

I went to camp that week exhausted. I went home rejuvenated because God had restored my relationship to Him. That week for me was an Ebenezer. That’s why I saved that journal entry.. so I could be reminded of what God had done in my life in the past, so any struggle in the future would be seen correctly: God is always, always faithful.

psalm

The people of Israel, when they would walk up the steps to the Temple, would sing the Songs of Ascents. is one of those. In it, the people would look back to what God had done in the past in restoring them to a right relationship with Him, and what that meant for any struggle they were in at the time.

Some time when we had fallen away from God by going our own way, and God brought us back to the right course.

Psalm 126:1–3 CSB

1 When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream. 2 Our mouths were filled with laughter then, and our tongues with shouts of joy. Then they said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.” 3 The Lord had done great things for us; we were joyful.

Apathy at camp 2006?

I pray that there are times in your walk where you can look back and see where you were on a path that God didn’t want you on, and He brought correction to your life and restored you. Maybe that was a painful time. But if it put you on the path of following God, it’s a time you should keep in your heart as a marker.

Apathy at camp 2006?

Closing

Each of these markers was put up for a purpose: so that the people involved would remember who God is, what He had done, what He had promised, and so that they and others would know that as well.

Ultimately, what my hope is for you, and for all of us hearing this message, is that we would take some time to look back and meditate on the places where God has spoken to us, where God has revealed Himself to us through His working, and where God has restored us to a right relationship with Him. Write it out. Make a map.

Be reminded of God’s faithfulness in the past, so you can trust His faithfulness in the future. Don’t forget all He’s done for you.

Have the grads come up and make a pile with their rocks.

Tell the congregation that there will be rocks to take as a reminder as they leave today.

Has God spoken to you today, and shown you that you need Him? If so, you can surrender your life to Christ right where you are, giving up your rights to yourself and giving your life to Jesus in faith, believing that He died for your sins and rose again. We would love to celebrate that decision with you today.

If God is working in your life here at Eastern Hills, and He is leading you to become a member of this family, come and share that with us as well.

Or maybe you’re already a believer, but God is calling you back to Himself this morning, revealing to you your sin and showing you your need for repentance and restoration. We would be happy to pray with you about that as well.

Pray, remembering the pile of rocks.

Announce Who’s Your One, and show Johnny Hunt video. We will begin our focus on “Who’s Your One?” on May 19. Be in prayer about who God would have be your “one.” I have my one, and I’m looking for opportunities to share with him, and I’m already praying for him.