Do You Remember

Do you Remember?

By

Bishop M.L. Maughmer, Jr.

Scriptures Joshua 4

Focus Scripture Joshua 4:6 & 7 “That this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean ye by these stones? Then ye shall answer them, That the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD; when it passed over Jordan, the waters of Jordan were cut off: and these stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel for ever”.

OPENING:- My wife has a great ability to remember, sometimes it is too good because she remembers everything and I find myself in trouble because I don’t remember something and she does. She often says “remember you said you would take me shopping or you remember you promised to play me a game of scrabble this weekend”.

Just this week she didn’t have to be to work one day until 9:00, so instead of waking her up at 6:20 I was to call her at 7:30 to make sure she was up. Well at 7:45 I get a text from her that says “I’m awake and thanks for the call love you ” I had forgotten to call her to make sure she was up.

Sometimes I forget things. I will forget someone’s name. I will forget to do something I was supposed to do. I may forget certain dates. I may forget an appointment or a bill, but ONE thing I can never forget is Jesus and what He has done for me. That’s why the song said “Jesus I’ll never forget what you done for me…”

Let me say you may forget a lot of things, but never forget what Jesus has done for you.

Today we will be partaking in the Lord’s Supper (Communion). Communion is done in remembrance of Jesus Christ and what He has done for us. We remember His life, His Sacrifice, His Death, His Resurrection, His Promises, and we worship Him in Communion. Communion is one of two ordinances that Christ has given to the church to do – Baptism is the other. Communion is 2 dimensional or 2 directional in that it is vertical – communion with God and horizontal communion with mankind (our fellow church members). Communion must be understood as a gift from God, as a fruit of God's initiative carried out in our worship service.

Communion expresses the new regenerated relationship between man and God that has been established in Christ by way of the Cross and is communicated through the Lord’s Supper.

Communion is a valuable part of the corporate worship expression. Sure, you can do it alone, but so much is missed out on when it’s not done as a corporate body of believers.

Unfortunately, in many cases communion has become a tired and predictable ritual instead of a vibrant expression of life in Christ. Whether this is because a heart isn’t prepared, we have forgotten what it represents, or the person leading has lost their own wonder at the mystery of Christ’s act on our behalf, it is a sad situation.

When communion becomes a ritual without meaning, we miss out on the opportunity to celebrate together the amazing expression of God’s love for us.

We miss remembering that Christ died in our place for our sin.

We forget about the foreshadowing of the great feast that is to come for all who have trusted in Christ’s sufficiency.

TEXT:- Joshua 4:- versus 1-3 - Men commanded to get stones from the river verses 4-7 - Purpose of the stones explained verses 8,9 - Two memorials of stone verses 10,11 - The crossing completed verses 12-14 - The men of the 2½ tribes lead the people into the land verses 15-18 - The priests leave the river verses 19-24 - The memorial stones set up in Gilgal.

BACKGROUND:- When all the people had crossed the Jordan safely God spoke to Joshua with instructions about the memorials they were to make. Joshua then told each of the twelve men to carry his stone on his shoulder and cross to the west side of the river ahead of the priests with the ark. The water remained held back so long as the priests and the ark stayed in the river, so the men had to get the stones and carry them to land before the priests left the river. The stones would be a memorial sign to future generations to remember the crossing of the river. When future generations asked about the stones, the people would explain how the waters of the river were cut off so the ark (and the people) were enabled to cross over on dry ground. The stones would be a memorial to the people forever that God had held back the river. How could one make a pile of stones in the middle of a river? It would again normally be difficult or impossible in that day. But it was easy while the river was dried up.