Memorial Stones: The Places You've Been And The Places You'll Go!

Cornerstone Church June 11 / 12, 2011

“Memorial Stones: The Places You’ve Been

and the Places You’ll Go!”

Joshua 3 & 4

INTRODUCTION:

Congratulations – Graduates! Well Done!

Oh, the Places You'll Go!

Congratulations!

Today is your day.

You're off to Great Places!

You're off and away!

You have brains in your head.

You have feet in your shoes

You can steer yourself

any direction you choose.

You're on your own. And you know what you know.

And YOU are the guy who'll decide where to go.

You'll look up and down streets. Look 'em over with care.

About some you will say, "I don't choose to go there."

With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet,

you're too smart to go down any not-so-good street.

Oh, the Places You’ll Go by Dr. Seuss

We are going to talk about transitions (not my eyeglasses)!

Crossover is the name of our Youth Group

Crossing over = become a follower of Christ

Crossing over new chapters / ventures

AS YOU CROSSOVER:

* Take the lessons your parents taught you from God’s Word with you.

* Take the truths you learned at Cornerstone from God’s Word with you!

* Take Jesus with you!

There is no greater or better advice I can give you!

Wherever you go and whatever you do if you know the LORD Jesus Christ as your Savior you are a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven first and foremost!

Our source of wisdom is the Word of God!

Our location is the Book of Joshua 3 & 4 (Personal Bible – pages 150-151)

It is a Lesson is for our Graduates

It is also a Lesson for us all

Today is all we have

Yesterday and the mistakes or failures we may have experienced do not define our future. They are in the past.

It isn’t how we start the race that’s important.

It’s how you finish!

Future – God’s mercies are new every morning

THE PLACES YOU’VE BEEN

Joshua 3:1-4 NIV

Early in the morning Joshua and all the Israelites set out from Shittim and went to the Jordan, where they camped before crossing over. After three days the officers went throughout the camp, giving orders to the people: “When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the priests, who are Levites, carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it. Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before. But keep a distance of about a thousand yards between you and the ark; do not go near it.”

CONTEXT:

Children of Israel are getting ready to Cross the Jordan River into the Promised Land

Joshua following God’s will and guidance is preparing the people to crossover!

GREAT ANTICIPATION

Some days you have to wait a long, long time for something anticipated to arrive:

* Birth of Child / Grandchild

* Graduation

* Return of a spouse from Deployment

* Important Anniversary Trip

* Retirement

* Entering the Promised Land

Then, BAM, the long awaited day arrives!

40 years of wandering in the Wilderness

Nearly 500 Years have passed since God’s Promise to Abraham (Genesis 15:18-21)

This is the Manna Generation!

The generation that was sustained totally by God in the Wilderness for 40 years!

Their parents and grandparents died in the wilderness because of:

* Unbelief (lack of faith)

* Sin (grumbling against God)

God delivered them and brought them out of Egypt.

The people, however, feared going forth with God’s help to rid the Promised Land of the people living there and failed to move forward to take the Promised Land.

Joshua and Caleb trusted God to help them conquer the land

People Grumbled

Num. 14:2-4 NIV All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, “If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this desert! Why is the LORD bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?” And they said to each other, “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”

So God led them into the wilderness to wander for 40 years.

Last week Janet and were driving home from our Nephew’s Wedding via I-70

We spent one day in Death Valley!

* That was enough for me (it was only 48 – 88 degrees)!

* Imagine forty years!

I imagine by this time the Children of Israel were becoming set in their ways. They would praise the LORD, move from place to place, gather and eat Manna, and start the week all over again.

GOD’S AMAZING GRACE TO HIS PEOPLE (time to enter the land)