Mere Stones/Reminders-10 Series

MERE STONES/Reminders-X—Joshua 4:1-24(:15-24)

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

Attention:

‘The Revelation Song’—

Anytime I hear it, I am immediately transported back to a time in our lives when we were between churches. We were attending Hickory Grove North Campus near Concord Mills Mall, Charlotte, NC.

In that moment, I felt as if I was I was in heaven itself when we were singing, “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty...” with 500 +/- other believers! Something I will never get over!

Seemingly insignificant reminders can make all the difference in a Christian‘s life!

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 significance can spiritual reminders offer?

Achievements of spiritual reminders.

Previously we have found that...

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

1. UNIQUE ACCOMPLISHMENT(:3, 5)

2. BLESSING(:3)

3. IMMINENT DANGER(:5)

4. RESPONSIBILITY(:5)

5. INFLUENCE(:6)Envision

6. REFLECTION(:7-9)

7. COMPLETION/End(:10-11)

8. OPPORTUNITY(:10b)

9. COMMITMENT(:12-13)

10. PROMINENCE(:14)

11. NORMALCY/The Mundane(:15-18)

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

CONFIDENCE(:19-20)

Explanation:(:19-20)Assurance

:19—“Now the people came up from the Jordan on the tenth of the first month & camped at Gilgal on the eastern edge of Jericho.”

“Now the people came up from the Jordan on the tenth of the first month...”

This miraculous event of Israel’s crossing the Jordan River occurred during the 1st lunar month(Abib/Nisan=March-April) & on the 10th day of that month.

The tenth day of that month was the very day that forty years ago Israel was instructed to take the soon-to-be Passover lamb into their homes. They did this in preparation for leaving Egypt.

No doubt this timing reminded them of God’s continuing commitment to Israel, & so would have sparked their commitment to YaHWeH on the part of the Israelites.

cf.—Ex. 12:1-13, 43-51. It marked the beginning of their deliverance from Egypt to what would be the land of Israel.

Ex. 12:1-13—“Now the LORD spoke to Moses & Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, “This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: ‘On the tenth day of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household. And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him & his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of the persons; according to each man’s need you shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. And they shall take some of the blood & put it on the two doorposts & on the lintel of the houses where they eat it. Then they shall eat the flesh on that night; roasted in fire, with unleavened bread & with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Do not eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted in fire--its head with its legs & its entrails. You shall let none of it remain until morning, & what remains of it until morning you shall burn with fire. And thus you shall eat it: with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, & your staff in your hand. So you shall eat it in haste. It is the LORD’S Passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, & will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man & beast; & against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; & the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.”.....“And the LORD said to Moses & Aaron, “This is the ordinance of the Passover: No foreigner shall eat it. But every man’s servant who is bought for money, when you have circumcised him, then he may eat it. A sojourner & a hired servant shall not eat it. In one house it shall be eaten; you shall not carry any of the flesh outside the house, nor shall you break one of its bones. All the congregation of Israel shall keep it. And when a stranger dwells with you & wants to keep the Passover to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised, & then let him come near & keep it; & he shall be as a native of the land. For no uncircumcised person shall eat it. One law shall be for the native-born & for the stranger who dwells among you.” Thus all the children of Israel did; as the LORD commanded Moses & Aaron, so they did. And it came to pass, on that very same day, that the LORD brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt according to their armies.”