“Sweet Memories”
Joshua 4:1-7
Today, as many of us know, is our last Sunday in this building and this morning we’re going to take some time to remember what God has done in the life of Crossroads Baptist Church in the last 6 ½ years. There are a lot of sweet memories for me in this building and I thank God that He allowed me the privilege to be a witness to all those memories. I can honestly say that in my 14 years of ministry the last 6 years here at Crossroads have been some of the best. I have grown more as a Christian and as a Minister here than any other place that I have ever served and for that I say Thank You God! There is a part of that is sad as this leg of our journey comes to an end because God has done some great things here. However, the other side of me is pumped and excited about the next leg of our journey because I know that God is not done with us yet! As we will talk about next week, this is just the beginning; greater things are yet to come.
This morning we are going to be reading from Joshua 4:1-7. But before we read and start I just want to say that next Sunday is so much more than just moving into a new worship center, we need to see it as a time when we are taking a new attitude into a new opportunity. You see I believe that we as a church are on the right path and as we continue to make our way down that path we as a church will continue to be faced with new opportunities, new challenges and bigger decisions. So where do we go to get directions to face those opportunities, challenges, and decisions? The Word of God and as long as we listen and obey the Word of God we will never go wrong. Now if you’ve ever read the book of Joshua then you know that the theme verse is Joshua 3:5. Joshua told the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you.” As we begin the next leg of our journey next week, we must prepare ourselves spiritually for what God is fixing to do in the life of Crossroads Baptist Church.
Let me set the stage. 3,400 years ago, Joshua led the children of Israel across the Jordan River into the Promise Land of Canaan. The Hebrew congregation stood on the eastern side of the Jordan River. The river represented both the border to blessing and a barrier to blessing. It was only when the priests stepped into the raging water that it stopped flowing, which is a reminder that we have to trust God first and then He releases His power. The reason many people live on the wrong side of the river is they are waiting for God to stop the water before they step in and God is waiting for them to step right into the water before He stops the water.
When they stepped into the water, the river stopped flowing—a miracle! Now how did God do that? It doesn’t matter how God did it—what matters is His timing is always perfect! Now they are on the other side of the River of Impossibility, so let’s pick up this exciting story in Joshua 4:1-7/ 18-24: Now skip down to verse 18 to see what happened. There is a lot we can learn from this pile of stones at Gilgal. In fact, I want us to think about three ways these stones speak to us today. Let’s answer the question, “What do these stones mean?” First, they are:
I. STONES OF REMEMBRANCE
If you take the time to read Joshua 4, you’ll discover there were actually two piles of stones. First, Joshua made a pile of twelve large stones in the middle of the riverbed—while it was still dry. After the flow of the river returned, the rock pile could be seen protruding from the surface of the water. In generations to come, people could see the pile of stones rising from the middle of the river and would know someone had to have stacked them up when the river was dry. It would help them remember God stopped the flow of the mighty Jordan.
Then they took another twelve stones, one for each family-tribe, and carried them to their camp at Gilgal. They stacked them up in a way to make the site one people could return to and recognize. When the children of future generations asked the question, “What do these stones mean?” The parents and grandparents could use both rock piles as a teaching tool to help the children remember God had shown His mighty power on their behalf.
Today, we as a church as well as each of us here have stones of remembrance we need to stack up. When significant things happen in our lives, we often call them milestones. For those of you who have taken Experiencing God, Henry Blackaby calls them “spiritual markers.” A spiritual marker is a time in your life when you know God has revealed His presence and power in your life. It’s helpful to keep a record of them, because by remembering them, you can understand how God is working in the present.
The reason we need these reminders is that we all have a tendency to forget God’s faithfulness. We all suffer from various levels of spiritual amnesia. Maybe you heard about a guy named John who had a really horrible memory. One day John ran into a friend whom he had not seen in a long time. He greeted him and said, “Bill, do you remember what a bad memory I had? Well, it’s not bad any more. I went to a seminar that taught us how to remember things. It was a great seminar, and now I have a wonderful memory.” Bill answered, “What was the name of the seminar?” John said, “Wait a minute, my wife went with me. I’ll ask her.” He turned and saw his wife nearby. Then he turned back to Bill and said, “What’s the name of that flower with a long stem and thorns?” “Do you mean a rose?”“ Bill answered, “Yeah, thanks,” John said, “Hey, Rose, what’s the name of that seminar we attended?” All of us sometimes forget; that’s why we have calendars, handheld organizers, or tie strings around our fingers.
The meaning of these stones of remembrance is simple: GOD IS ABLE ________! You can fill in your own end to that statement. For the Hebrews at Gilgal, it was God is able to get us across a river of impossibility. For Abraham it was God is able to give us a child when we are long past childbearing age. For Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego it was God is able to deliver us the fiery furnace. For Daniel it was God is able to shut the mouths of hungry lions. For some of you it is God is able to raise me from a bed of sickness; or God is able to heal our marriage; or God is able to take care of us financially. We must not forget the blessings of the past, because they serve as powerful reminders that whatever we face now or in the future as an individual or a church: GOD IS ABLE!
As a church I believe we stand on the threshold of a new chapter of ministry and opportunity in the life of Crossroads Baptist Church. On March 16, 2003 35 or so brave people started Crossroads Baptist Church and they held their first service in the “The Hut.” This group then moved up to the old elementary school cafeteria. While there they bought 20 acres of land and began to build this building we are in now. Finally on February 8, 2004 we moved into this building and started sharing the love of Jesus with this community. Since then the church has continued to thrive, grow and minister. The cost to build this building if I remember correctly was $250,000 and the 20 acres was around $60,000. Church, that is amazing to think that these people had faith in God to know that God would provide and because of their faith God did provide. Because of their faith, we can sit here as a church and rejoice in the fact that this building and the 20 acres of land that it sits on has been paid off. That can only be explained by one word: GOD!!!
What’s my point? My point is that because those handful of people had faith and were obedient to God and had a vision for this Church, many people have come to know Christ as their Lord and Savior in this very building. Many people have been baptized in this building. Babies have been dedicated to the Lord in this building. People have surrendered to the ministry in this building. Deacons and Ministers have been ordained in this building. These people are the Stones of Remembrance here at Crossroads. These people are a reminder to us all that because we were obedient and faithful God was able to change lives and He is going to continue, over in the new sanctuary, to be able to change lives here at Crossroads.
Now maybe you didn’t fall into one of the categories that I spoke of, but the reality is that if you have been touched by God you have spiritual memories of your own and those are the memories that become your stones of remembrance of what God has done for you.
For the Joshua generation, and for us, these stones are also
II. STONES OF RENEWAL
When Joshua set up the stones they weren’t finished with His plan, they were only getting started. They still faced the daunting challenge of attacking Jericho, the most heavily fortified city of the ancient world. There were seven kingdoms occupying Canaan that would have to be conquered before the land would be theirs. The pile of stones at Gilgal served to demonstrate that Joshua and the people of God were willing to follow God’s plan. Because they recognized God had been faithful to them in the past, they were willing to set up these stones as a way of saying, “God, we trust you with our future.”
They were renewing their commitment to God. So there is another meaning I see in this rock pile. It is that We must trust and obey Him! There was a hymn that we sang this morning that is entitled: ”Trust and Obey” “When we walk with the Lord . . . in the Light of His Word . . . what a glory He sheds on our way . . . while we do His good Will, He abides with us still . . . and with all who will trust and obey. Trust and obey–for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.” (Words by John H. Sammis)
Those are really great words! Think about it–an excellent summary of the Christian Life is found in that chorus: Trust and obey for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey. Are you willing to renew our commitment to Trust God and to Obey Him? Notice: Good memories of God’s goodness motivate us to be more faithful.
With that said, these stones of remembrance remind us of God’s love for us and this should cause us to want to be more faithful. God has a great task for our church. Each of us must renew our commitment to serve Him. It’s time to stop being a spectator and start being a servant. In the Navy, when the ship’s public address system announced, “All hands on deck.” At that moment, sailors stop whatever they were doing and from the lowest apprentice to the highest admiral, everyone assembles on deck and together, the crew does whatever needs to be done. Folks, that’s what our Commander and Chief Jesus Christ is saying to us today: ALL HANDS ON DECK! We need every one of you to renew your commitment to serve God. We have members that just come on Sunday mornings and that’s it and my words to you is we need you so all hands on deck! There are some people, who attend our church faithfully, but they haven’t joined, we need you–all hands on deck! Some of you used to work in some area of ministry, but you’ve gone into what you think of as “spiritual retirement”–all hands on deck!! These are stones of renewal. There is one other truth symbolized by theses stones. These stones carry a deep spiritual meaning that is true whatever day of the year it is. These are
III. STONES OF RESURRECTION
Notice Joshua set up the twelve stones at a place called Gilgal. The name is significant. Skip over to Joshua 5:9: Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” So the place has been called Gilgal to this day. Gilgal means to “roll away” to “remove the shame.” What shame? Well, for forty years, God’s people wandered in endless circles of spiritual mediocrity and defeat. The wilderness represents a carnal Christian whose sinful, disobedient lifestyle brings shame to the name of Christ. The Jordan represents a death of that lifestyle.
Here’s the third exciting meaning of the stones at Gilgal: God can restore life to dead dreams. Gilgal represented a new start for a new generation. Forty years of spiritual defeat and failure have been rolled away. And the fact they have this camp at Gilgal means they are now ready to follow the Lord wholeheartedly into the land He had given them. The dream that had been dead for forty years was now resurrected. Now before you can have a resurrection, there must be a death. What died for Israel? The idea they could just stay in the desert–that dream had to die so God could give life to a new dream–His plan.
As a church and as individuals, we must first die to our own selfish plans and dreams. Only when we die to those, will we experience a resurrection of hopes and dreams–but this time, it will be God’s plan–not our own. One of the verses that you and I need to quote every day is found in Galatians 2:20–it speaks of death and resurrection. “For I am crucified with Christ (death to my selfish plans), nevertheless I live (resurrection), yet not I but Christ lives in me.” Can you honestly say, like Paul, “I die daily?” Do you die to your own desires for sinful pleasure, for fame and recognition? Do you die to your lust for possessions and position?
These stones are stones of resurrection. They speak of the resurrection life of Jesus available for every one of us. Now I want you to fast-forward from Gilgal 1,400 years into the future–still 2,000 years in our past. There is another stone important to us–and it is clearly a stone of resurrection. Jesus was crucified for our sins. After spending three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, God raised Him from the dead. We read in Mark 16:2-4: Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?” But when they looked up, they saw the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away.”
This is the “Gilgal” of the New Testament, because not only was the shame “rolled away” but also the stone was “rolled away.” All the shame of death and sin was erased because Jesus came forth from the grave like the Son of Righteousness, risen with healing in His wings. The message of that first Easter is the same message today. The women went back with this message: HE IS RISEN! You see the stone was not rolled away for Jesus to walk out–the stone was rolled away so all the world could look in. The cross and empty tomb become our Gilgal. Isaac Watts said it well when he wrote, “At the cross; at the cross where I first saw the light, and the burden of my heart rolled away (Gilgal), it was there by faith I received my sight and now I am happy all the day!” (“At the Cross” by Isaac Watts)
I don’t know everyone here personally, but I do know two things about you: I know what your greatest problem is and I know what your greatest need is. The greatest problem you have is the problem of sin. We all have it. The Bible says, “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) Some folks are better than others, but we all fall short of God’s standard. Your greatest problem is sin.
Your greatest need is forgiveness, because it is the only thing that can address your greatest problem. Today, Jesus offers forgiveness to you as a gift. Forgiveness is available to everyone–but it isn’t automatic. It is a gift you must accept by turning from your sins and turning to God–will you accept God’s offer today? You say, “What’s the price?” It’s free to you because Someone already paid the price for you. Jesus went to the cross and accepted the penalty for your sins–He paid it all so it can be offered free to you. It’s free, but it’s not cheap because it cost Jesus His precious blood. Will you accept God’s forgiveness today?
“Sweet Memories”
Joshua 4:1-7
I. STONES OF _____________.
II. STONES OF ____________.
III. STONES OF ________________.
