What Do These Stones Mean?

WHAT DO THESE STONES MEAN?

JOSHUA 4:4-7

INTRODUCTION

A. HUMOR

1. WEIGHT-LOSS TIP. An elderly woman was the winner of her weight-loss club for losing the most weight in the six weeks. All the rest of the weight-watchers gathered around her to ask how she had done it. “Simple!” she said, “I just pull out my teeth at six o’clock every night!”

2. THE GOOD NEWS. Dr. Smith asks his patient, "Which do you want first, the good news or the bad news?" The patient replies, "Give me the good news." Dr. Smith says, "You're about to have a disease named after you."

B. CELEBRATION OF MEMORIAL DAY

1. In April 1863, in Columbus, Mississippi after decorating graves of her two sons who served during the Civil War as Confederate soldiers, an elderly woman also decorated two mounds at the corner of the cemetery. An observer asked, "What are you doing? Those are the graves of two Union soldiers." The reply, "I know. I also know that somewhere in the North, a mother or a young wife mourns for them as we do for ours."

2. That incident set in motion what became Memorial Day, when we remember those who gave their lives in the military. Many men & women died on far-away battle fields to keep America safe and to bring freedom and democracy to oppressed peoples. We honor them by remembering their sacrifice.

3. Thomas Paine, said about freedom, “What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly.” Freedom isn’t cheap; it's been bought with the blood of about 1.5 million soldiers. May God bless them, their families, and may God bless America!

TEXT

4 Then Joshua called the twelve men...one man from every tribe; 5 and Joshua said to them...“Each one of you take up a stone on his shoulder... 6 that this may be a sign among you when your children ask in time to come, saying, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ 7 Then you shall answer them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off [backed up] before the ark of the covenant of the LORD, when it crossed over the Jordan.... And these stones shall be for a memorial to the children of Israel forever.” Josh. 4:4-7

I. THE NEED FOR MEMORIALS

When Israel crossed the Jordan River to enter the Promised Land for the first time, God commanded Joshua to pile up a mound of stones at the place. These stones came from the river bottom (which was dry because God made the river back up) declaring the miraculous deliverance and power of God.

A. FOR US: Deut. 6:12 “beware, LEST YOU FORGET the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.” WHY WOULD GOD SAY THIS?

1. We have SHORT MEMORIES. I usually have to write down everything that I want to remember. That way, instead of spending a lot of time trying to remember what I wrote down, I spend the time trying to remember where I put the paper I wrote it down on.

2. When the DANGER IS PASSED, we forget the God who helped us.

3. As a REFERENCE POINT. In Christ, we can move out of our past into a meaningful present and a breathtaking future. But we should never forget what we were and where we were headed before Christ redeemed us

B. FOR OUR CHILDREN

1. The whole purpose of the Memorial Stones was to give them a basis of sharing their faith with their children! Will this Gospel be transmitted to the next generation? Only if we exercise vision, and establish memorials in the hearts of our children!

2. Our country’s founders put their faith on our money, on school walls, in courtrooms, in national anthems and mottos, & monuments. Shall we do less? Shouldn’t we make it difficult for our children to forget God?

3. We’re always only ONE GENERATION FROM EXTINCTION! “Oh Pastor, that can’t happen here!” “Yes it can.” Europe used to be the stronghold of Christianity for thousands of years. It is no more!

II. SEVEN MEMORIAL STONES TO REMEMBER

The word “remember” (and its forms) is used 267 times in the KJV (and that’s not counting the places we’re told not to forget). There are no doubt far more than twelve things we’re told to remember, but narrowing them down to areas of our spiritual walk, I would like to recognize seven stones that each of us Christians should go to great lengths to help our kids remember.

A. 1st STONE: ALL THE COMMANDS OF THE LORD

1. SCRIPTURES: “…so you will REMEMBER all the commands of the LORD, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by going after the lusts of your own hearts and eyes” Num. 15:39.