Monday, 25 May 2009
Memorial Day Prayer Breakfast
Soldiers’ Hall Dining Facility
U.S. Army Chaplain (MAJ) Ken Harris
Fortress Chapel
Contingency Operation Site (C.O.S.) Sykes
Tall-afar, Iraq
BIG IDEA: Joshua erecting the pile of Memorial Stones (Ebenezer – stone of help) serves as a visual reminder of how God helped HIS people CROSS THE JORDAN RIVER.
REFERENCES: Proverbs 22:6 (ESV) Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it; Joshua 4:1-24 ESV – The Memorials of the Crossing; Joshua 4:4-12 (ESV); John 10:27 (KJV) My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; Romans 11:29 (KJV) For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. Genesis 27-28 (The Story of Jacob and Esau); Psalms 118:22 (ESV) The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; Eben-ezer, the stone of help. Isaiah 65:24 ESV (Before they call I will answer, while they are yet speaking I will hear); 1 Samuel 6 ESV – (The Philistines decided to return the Ark of The Covenant to Israel); 1 Samuel 7 ESV – The Ark was not returned to Shiloh; It remained at Abinadab’s home for twenty years; 1 Samuel 7:6-13 ESV - The Hebrew Word – Zikkaron is translated “memorial” or “remembrance”; it’s a witness or a visible symbol. For instance a “a commemorative feast”; Genesis 28:10-22 ESV (Jacob’s Vision of the ladder, The Voice, and the Vow); Exodus 12:24-27 ESV – A Memorial of Redemption (The Jews have a religious and a civil calendar, and Passover marks the beginning of their religious year. The death of the lamb makes a new beginning, just as the death of Christ makes a new beginning for the believing sinner); 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 ( The Institution of The Lord’s Supper); Luke 22:14-23 (ESV) – The Institution of The Lord’s Supper; Ecclesiastes 3:1-9 ESV (A Time for Everything); Psalms 24 (The Chief Shepherd Coming for His Sheep) - Jewish tradition says that this psalm was written to commemorate David’s returning the ark to Jerusalem;
I. ANNOUNCE THE PERICOPE: Joshua 4:4-12 (ESV)
II. READ THE PERICOPE: Joshua 4:4-12 (ESV)
III. READ THE TEXT: Joshua 4:6-7 (ESV) that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, What do those stones mean to you? Then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever.”
IV. PURPOSE: To motivate the hearers to affirm to others that Joshua’s erecting the pile of Memorial Stones (Ebenezer – stone of help) serves as a visual reminder of how God helped HIS people CROSS THE JORDAN RIVER.
V. SERMONIC THEME: “Memorials of God’s Help”
VI. INTRODUCTION: According to Harper’s Bible Dictionary, “Stone” is any large variety of hardened natural inorganic, often mineral, substances. In Biblical time it was found in Palestine largely as limestone mixed with some chert or sandstone …and it provided amply for everyday construction needs.
The Good Book provides references of the Word STONE from a wide spectrum. For instance, a stone could serve as a Memorial, Shrine, or Pledge. A “stone” could cover wells and doorways to tombs. It could serve as a weapon, whether thrown by hand or used as a catapult or sling as David did in his defeat of Israel’s Giant - trial and enemy - Goliath.
There were in biblical times many usage for “Stone”. Use of stone for tools like axes, knives, scrapers, hammers, and grinders, which began in prehistoric times, has continued in some respects to the present day, here, in Iraq. For it has been said “when boys get into a fight, the first weapon likely is a quickly grabbed rock.
Just as the WORD “stone” was used naturally in biblical times; it was also used figuratively or metaphorically. For who can ever forget what the Psalmist said in Psalms 118:22-24 (ESV) as he attempted to describe “HOW” God’s Steadfast Love Endures Forever – when he said:
“The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day that the Lord has made; let us … rejoice …and be glad in it.”
******* TAKE 5 BEATS *******
MOVE 1: Now, my brothers and sisters, it’s such a tremendous honor to have all of you in attendance to break bread together while we simultaneously commemorate OUR FALLEN COMRADES …
a. And right when you think things couldn’t get any better – we’re bless to have our leaders also in attendance. Please join me in giving our leaders a round of applause!
b. Leaders are important. The Good Book urges us to pray for them that have the “Rule over us”
c. God place leaders in our lives for a reason. For you don’t remember Moses? The Good Book says he was Joshua’s Leader. In fact, the Scriptures say that Joshua was Moses’ minister!
d. As a result, Joshua learned a lot from following Moses.
e. Moses was a great leader who model what he taught. He lead the people of God across the Red Sea which swallowed-up their enemy.
******* TAKE 5 BEATS *******
MOVE 2: Moses taught Joshua a thing or two. He taught him how to address the Pharaohs of Life.
a. Moses taught Joshua how to pastor complaining, ungrateful and always whining folk.
b. And, now, Moses was dead.
c. Joshua is the leader of those complaining, ungrateful and always whining folk that are also God’s Chosen People.
******* TAKE 5 BEATS *******
MOVE 3: While in the DFAC this past week, I had a conversation with Sergeant First Class Calzada – our “Nothing Happens, Until Something Moves” subject matter expert (SME).
a. He alluded to the idea of setting-up what he calls “a time-warp”;
b. according to SFC Calzada., a time-warp is something that we (as Soldiers) could write or in script to our Iraqi brothers and sisters in the future.
c. Afterwards, we would place our message in a can - or jar - and then bury it in the ground in hopes of someone digging it up futuristically.
d. As SFC Calzada was sharing his idea, I thought about the manner in which many believers conduct “their New Year Resolutions”.
******* TAKE 5 BEATS *******
MOVE 4: As you may recall, many believers write down their New Year’s Resolution/goals; seal them up in an envelope and placed the envelope in a safe deposit box or some other place of safe-keeping until the following year.
b. At which time, they will open and reflect on how God has changed them, and enable them to reach the goal that at one time seemed unreachable.
c. As a result, the envelope serves as their Memorial and Reminder of God’s Goodness and Mercy during the past year!
******* TAKE 5 BEATS *******
MOVE 5: Likewise, in our text, this morning we find ourselves witnessing the erecting of The MEMORIALS OF GOD’S HELP.
a. For don’t your remember – there were two piles of stones built:
b. One by the twelve chosen men on the bank of the river;
c. And one by Joshua in the midst of the river. They were to be memorials of the crossing, and to convey spiritual truths to the people of Israel and to their children forever.
d. For you see, God wanted them all to know that Just as He had been with Moses; He was also with Joshua.
e. And this event was going to prove that just as you only get ONE MOSES a lifetime; there is also just ONE JOSHUA a lifetime.
******* TAKE 5 BEATS *******
MOVE 6: For the 12 Stones on the bank of the Jordan came out of the midst of the river as evidence that God did part the waters and take His people safely across.
a. The 12 Stones hidden in the midst of the river could be seen only by God, but they too spoke of Israel’s marvelous crossing.
b. For my brothers and sisters … the Jews could not get victory in the Promised Land (of Canaan) and overcome their spiritual foes without first going through the Jordan.
c. In other words, WE MUST GO THROUGH THE JORDAN RIVER OF LIFE, AND LEAVE A MEMORIAL OR AN EBENEZER (a symbol of God’s Help) along the way ..
******* TAKE 5 BEATS *******
MOVE 7: Likewise, Memorial Day, is America’s STONE OF HELP to remind us to share with our children what God has done through the lives of military members in our country.
a. We should allow our children to bear witness of the gravestones at Arlington National Cemetery …
b. … and other military sites so they will REMEMBER the EBENEZERS and THE STONES OF HELP in our lifetime and their lifetime.
c. We must remind our children that they too must go through the Jordan River of Life ….
d. For they can’t go around it – they must go through it; But they should fear, because God will be their helper as He has been ours!
e. Joshua’s erecting of the 12 Stones was a memorial - or testimony - to God’s intervention on behalf of His people and his leader. As a result, the Memorial of the Crossing symbolizes God’s New Covenant grace toward those who trust in him.
******* TAKE 5 BEATS *******
CELEBRATION:
GRACE is God’s unmerited favor … I don’t deserve his Ebenezers …
but he provide them anyway …
God enables us to CROSS THE JORDAN RIVER OF LIVE …
HE DOESN’T SENDS US AROUND THE RIVER …
BUT, HE SENDS US… THROUGH IT …
For sin has no more dominion over us because we saved by faith through grace
