Mere Stones/Reminders-3 Series

MERE STONES/Reminders-III—Joshua 4:1-24(:5-9)

Reminder/Recall/Memorial/Symbol/Post-it notes/String on finger

Attention:

No Opener Used 10/30/2016pm

New Corvette(650 hp) & moped(3 hp) side-by-side at light.

Corvette takes off & owner smug about how he left moped in the dust

Moped zooms past the corvette to the next light.

Corvette owner miffed & guns it at the light leaving the moped behind again.

The Moped zooms past the corvette to the next light. Corvette owner rolls down window & asks moped(who is out of breath), ‘How do you get such speed out of that thing?’

‘I don’t know sir but if you’ll let me unhook my suspenders from your mirror I’ll eliminate one possibility!’

Little Things can make all the difference in a person’s life

Need:

Joshua had twelve stones removed from the Jordan River as a memorial to the crossing.

Memorials or Spiritual Reminders hold a great deal of significance to God’s people.

What is significant about spiritual reminders?

The potential of spiritual reminders.

Mere Stones/Reminders can transport us to a Position of...

1. UNIQUE ACCOMPLISHMENT(:3, 5)

2. BLESSING(:3)

3—Mere Stones/Reminders can transport us To a Position of...

IMMINENT DANGER(:4-5a)

Explanation:(:5a)

:4—“Then Joshua called the twelve men whom he had appointed from the children of Israel, one man from every tribe;”

cf.—3:12 & 4:2.

:5—“& Joshua said to them, "Cross again to the ark of the LORD your God into the middle of the Jordan, & each of you take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Israel.”

“...Cross again to the ark of the LORD your God”

!Imagine the priests present in the stream bed after the last person had left the flood zone, leaving them alone with the ark!

Imagine what it must have been like to return from the side of safety(west) to the leading edge of the heaped-up water? The waters were looming over them. The vast majority of them had no experience with such workings of God!

Only the tribal representatives & the priests were present in a dry riverbed with a wall of floodwaters north & a dry riverbed south. The water held potential to begin flowing south upon them at any moment...At God’s bidding.

In contrast & ironically, we are always in a place of IMMINENT DANGER when we leave the command of the Lord our God.

The world system & self-preservation tell you it’s stupid or senseless to heed(do) the Lord’s command. How ludicrous it is seeing that God is the very One to create both the world & you!

When a Christian is in imminent danger he/she is in reality, NOT in imminent danger at all!

Argumentation:

**Mat. 16:25—“For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”

**Jn 12:25—“He who loves his life will lose it, & he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”

**Jn. 16:1-3—“These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble. “They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me.”

**Mat. 24:9—“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation & kill you, & you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake.”

**Mat. 10:34—“Do not think that I[Jesus] came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword.”

**Lk. 6:22—Blessed are you when men hate you, And when they exclude you, And revile you, & cast out your name as evil, For the Son of Man’s sake.”

**Acts 8:1—“Now Saul was consenting to his[Steven’s] death. At that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem; & they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea & Samaria, except the apostles.”

Jer. 1:17-19—“Therefore prepare yourself & arise, And speak to them all that I command you. Do not be dismayed before their faces, Lest I dismay you before them. For behold, I have made you this day A fortified city & an iron pillar, And bronze walls against the whole land-- Against the kings of Judah, Against its princes, Against its priests, And against the people of the land. They will fight against you, But they shall not prevail against you. For I am with you,” says the LORD, “to deliver you.””

Ezek. 2:4-7—“For they are impudent & stubborn children. I am sending you to them, & you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD.’ “As for them, whether they hear or whether they refuse--for they are a rebellious house--yet they will know that a prophet has been among them. And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them nor be afraid of their words, though briers & thorns are with you & you dwell among scorpions; do not be afraid of their words or dismayed by their looks, though they are a rebellious house. You shall speak My words to them, whether they hear or whether they refuse, for they are rebellious.”