2019-11-24 Joshua 4
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jash 4:
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.”
jsh 4:
14 On that day the Lord exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel, and they revered him throughout his life, as they had revered Moses.
15 The Lord told Joshua,
16 “Command the priests who carry the ark of the testimony to come up from the Jordan.”
17 So Joshua commanded the priests, “Come up from the Jordan.”
18 When the priests carrying the ark of the Lord’s covenant came up from the middle of the Jordan, and their feet stepped out on solid ground, the water of the Jordan resumed its course, flowing over all the banks as before.
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.”
I. The wondrous work of God does not belong to any one generation.
I. The wondrous work of God does not belong to any one generation.
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,
14 On that day the Lord exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel, and they revered him throughout his life, as they had revered Moses.
jsh 4:14
A. Every generation idealizes and idolizes their place before God.
A. Every generation idealizes and idolizes their place before God.
14 On that day the Lord exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel, and they revered him throughout his life, as they had revered Moses.
Illus: God was working early in Joshua’s ministry to show that it was not moses that was Israel’s hope, but it was God who was Israel’s hope.
There is a temptation to idealize the time of our faith more than worship the God of our faith.
We look back and say, if only God would move today like he did when I was a kid.
We do the same with music. As we go through life, there are songs that connect emotionally with us during seasons where God is close. We freeze that moment and say, that because that song ministered to us then, it is more Godly than any written since.
There are churches who feel walking into a time warp because they have bought the false idea that the culture of the hey day of the church was more holy than the next.
If the hand of God has ceased to move since the days you look back at, you might be worshiping the days and not God.
If you cannot or refuse to worship to any type of music other than your preferred style, you are worshiping the song and not God.
Follow me, we must choose to not idealize the past and worship it. Instead we choose to worship God.
This doesn’t doesn’t mean that we forget the past, we honor it celebrating God’s great work in the past, while worshiping our God who works today.
It’s like the old hymn, “Oh God our help in ages past, our hope for years to come.”
3 As I urged you when I went to Macedonia, remain in Ephesus so that you may instruct certain people not to teach false doctrine
4 or to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies. These promote empty speculations rather than God’s plan, which operates by faith.
5 Now the goal of our instruction is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith.
3 I thank God, whom I serve with a clear conscience as my ancestors did, when I constantly remember you in my prayers night and day.
4 Remembering your tears, I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy.
5 I recall your sincere faith that first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and now, I am convinced, is in you also.
1 Timothy 1:
B. No matter the generation, God continues to work.
B. No matter the generation, God continues to work.
14 On that day the Lord exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel, and they revered him throughout his life, as they had revered Moses.
Illus: Imagine with me if I lived every day in the past.
Waking up in the morning I tell my wife, Honey, you sure used to be beautiful.
Waking my kids up: a few years ago, I loved you so much.
I talk with folks at the church: this used to be such a caring church.
I go to eat: the food and service here was excellent a while back.
What does this say about me. I’m living through a rear view mirror, not realizing the good I have now.
This is often how we treat God, looking at him through the rear view mirror.
God has not disappeared, nor is he somehow less powerful or influential.
Our God seeks to work through His church today.
Don’t miss the God of Generations, who does not tire nor fade, because your eyes are on the rear view mirror.
3 The Lord is great and is highly praised; his greatness is unsearchable.
4 One generation will declare your works to the next and will proclaim your mighty acts.
5 I will speak of your splendor and glorious majesty and your wondrous works.
6 They will proclaim the power of your awe-inspiring acts, and I will declare your greatness.
7 They will give a testimony of your great goodness and will joyfully sing of your righteousness.
II. Does the legacy of faith end with you?
II. Does the legacy of faith end with you?
17 So Joshua commanded the priests, “Come up from the Jordan.”
18 When the priests carrying the ark of the Lord’s covenant came up from the middle of the Jordan, and their feet stepped out on solid ground, the water of the Jordan resumed its course, flowing over all the banks as before.
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.
jsh 4:17-
A. You have a responsibility to pass down your faith.
A. You have a responsibility to pass down your faith.
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.
jsh 4:21-23
Illus: God has given the people of God the responsability to pass on the legacy of our faith.
The church should be a place where seniors invest into the middle aged, the middle aged invest into the young, and the all invest into students and kids.
We have a faith which has been preserved from one generation to the next.
One of the trends that has happened the last couple of generations is that we have begun to believe that kids are not capable of understanding the things of faith.
We look and say, worship and preaching is over their heads, so we remove kids from our worship and send them to do age appropriate arts, crafts, and kid sanitized Bible stories.
We no longer have the ability to “In the future, when your children ask their fathers, ‘What is the meaning of these stones?”
BTW, we shouldn't be surprised when kids don’t want to come to big church, when we’ve told them from the youngest ages, that big church isn’t for them.
Your kids learn as much from your example as they do from what you teach them.
If church is a priority in your life, your kids watch your faith, watch you actively listen and apply the weekly teaching of the word of God, they will then ask you, “What’s the meaning of these stones?”
Kid’s learn far more by watching you in worship than they do separated from you at church.
Dt 6:5-
5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
6 These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart.
7 Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
8 Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be a symbol on your forehead.
9 Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your city gates.
B. We look backward at God’s work so that we can look forward to his work.
B. We look backward at God’s work so that we can look forward to his work.
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.
Illus: I want to be clear, God does not want us to forget the past.
God wants his church to be multi generational. He wants the church to have every generation present.
We need the wisdom of where we have come from, with the heart to reach generations that have yet to be born.
We need to go back to the stones to say, look at what God did among us… with the promise that he will do it again.
I don’t believe that a church is healthy unless it has members from every generation.
That means we need senior adults in our pews, and we need kids engaging in the sermon in our pews.
Follow me… Our church should not build around the style of the seniors, and it should not build around the style of young adults. Churches defined by style are not defined by God.
Our church should be built around the glory of God, His worship, the gospel, and the unchanging word of God.
1 My people, hear my instruction; listen to the words from my mouth.
2 I will declare wise sayings; I will speak mysteries from the past—
3 things we have heard and known and that our fathers have passed down to us.
4 We will not hide them from their children, but will tell a future generation the praiseworthy acts of the Lord, his might, and the wondrous works he has performed.
5 He established a testimony in Jacob and set up a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children
6 so that a future generation— children yet to be born—might know. They were to rise and tell their children
7 so that they might put their confidence in God and not forget God’s works, but keep his commands.
III. Missional living starts in your family, and reaches the ends of the earth.
III. Missional living starts in your family, and reaches the ends of the earth.
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.”
A. Every person has a mission field. Don’t squander yours.
A. Every person has a mission field. Don’t squander yours.
Illus: When we talk about missions we often think of people going to the ends of the globe.
But missions might be helping your grand kids know of the God who transformed you.
It might be taking the step to actively help them learn to do big church with you.
It might be befriending a widow to both learn and invest in their lives.
God is calling you to those that are closest to you.
14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed. You know those who taught you,
15 and you know that from infancy you have known the sacred Scriptures, which are able to give you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
2 tim 3:
