Joshua 4

yep Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy Joshua we're at Joshua chapter 4 and in chapter three uh the priest's toes dipped into the water and the water of the Jordan River ceased heaped up like a wall so today we're going to talk about how they remember that amazing miracle that the Lord did so good morning good morning welcome to coffee and devotions let's have some coffee we'll pray and we'll get into God's word Lord we thank you so much for this day and we thank you for your word father we pray that as we read your word your Holy Spirit would be working in our hearts we pray that we would learn and we would grow in our faith Lord help us to remember the amazing things that you've done for us in Jesus's name amen right you might want to grab your microphone so we at Joshua chapter 4 um why don't we do this I'll let you read verses 1 through n and I'll read 10 through the bottom okay and it came to pass when all the people had completed cross completely crossed to the Jord that the Lord spoke to Joshua saying take your 12 son take thank you for yourselves 12 men from the people one man from every tribe and command them saying take for yourselves 12 Stones from here out of the midst of the Jordan from the place where the priest's feet stood firm you shall shall carry them over with you and leave them in the lodging place where you lodge tonight then Joshua I'm waiting for you to pick all the 12 men whom he had appointed from the children of Israel one man from every tribe and Joshua said to them cross over before the Ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan and each and each one of you take up a stone on his shoulder according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel that this may be a sign among you when your children ask in the time to come saying what do these stone mean what do these Stones mean to you then you shall answer them that the Waters of the Jordan will cut off before the Ark of of the Covenant of the Lord when it C when it crossed over the Jordan the Waters of the Jordan were cut off and these Stones shall be for a memorial to the children of Israel forever and the children of Israel did so just as Joshua commanded and took up 12 storms from the midst of the Jordan as the Lord had spoken to Joshua according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel and carried them over with them to the place where they loded and laid them down there then Joshua set up 12 Stones in the midst of the Jordan in the place where the feet of the priests who B the Ark of the coven stood and they are there to this day need those back so the priests Who Bore the ark stood in the midst of the Jordan until everything was finished that the Lord had commanded Joshua to speak to the people according to all that Moses had commanded Joshua and the people hurried and crossed over then it came to pass when all the people had completely crossed over that the Ark of the Lord and the priest covered over in the presence of the people sorry crossed over in the presence of the people and the men of reubin the men of GAD the Hal tribe of Manasseh crossed over armed before the children of Israel and mo as Moses had spoken to them about 40,000 prepared for war crossed over before the Lord for battle to The Plains of Jericho on that day the Lord exalted J josua in the sight of all Israel and they feared him as they had feared Moses all the days of his life then the Lord spoke to Joshua saying command the priests who bear the Ark of the testimony to come up from the Jordan Joshua therefore commanded the priests saying come up from the Jordan and it came to pass when the priests Who Bore the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord had come from the midst of the Jordan and The Souls of the priest's feet touched the dry land that the Waters of the Jordan returned to their place and overflowed all its banks as before now the people came up from the Jordan on the 10th day of the first month and they campt in gilgal on the east border of Jericho and those 12 Stones which they took out of the Jordan Joshua set up in gilgal then he spoke to the children of Israel saying when your children ask their fathers in time to come saying what are these Stones then you shall let your children know saying Israel crossed over this this Jordan on dry land for yehovah your God dried up the Waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over as Jehovah your god did to the Red Sea which she dried up before us until we had crossed over that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the Lord that it is mighty that you may fear Jehovah your God forever well we have to ask ourselves a what is this about B what's the best for to Su and C what are we called to do all right so what is this about I'm going to let you know a little secret here ready I was raised in a pretty Christian home for most of my childhood even though I wasn't a Christian and you want to know the interesting thing what I didn't know about this story until I was 22 years old when I read the Bible for myself the first time I never heard a Bible story I never read it in the Bible and I was amazed that there was a second time that God just like the Red Sea had stopped the waters so the people of Israel could walk through so what is this about that what's that um like the second crossing crossing Red Sea you get a little frog in your throat there yeah I have frog in my throat yeah right so they they so they so they're crossing the Red Sea a second time but no the Jordan yeah they're crossing over the Jordan River from the East they traveling west they're going to go to Jericho right and so they they God has stopped the river but as they go is the river running yeah the river is Flowing so they do a walk through the river what happens they have to that's Joshua well Joshua wasn't there for that part okay so Joshua commands them right so they've got the the priests have done what God told them right they've got the ark on their shoulders the Ark of the Covenant and as soon as the priest this is chapter three stuff as soon as the priests put their toes in the water their feet in the water or the banks of the Water Way Upstream the water stops heaps up like a wall and what the passage here tells us is as they're going through right the ark stays in the middle everyone goes across and then what does the Lord tell Joshua once everyone's across now the priest all right now the priests come out now the ark comes out God has protected them through the waters and what happens it comes back the water comes back and what's their response to this what do they do they set up SNS they set up St so they put up an idol no no it's more like a like we don't Worship the Lord supper just a reminder okay it's a reminder right yeah so so they set up this this heap of stones how many Stones did they put up 12 where did the stones come from oh where did the stones come from um Jord yeah from the midst of the Jordan right so they bring up these 12 smooth stones and they put it on the land as a room of a reminder cuz now be like wow like 12 St that's easy to get why would there be 12 Stones because there 12 tribes you'd have to think how hard you normally have to oh water rushing it's not easy to go into water pick up a giant Stone and bring it out yeah right so these are smooth stones that have been washed over by the water we've done this at Creeks before right where we've gone to and gotten all the smooth rocks out and built up a dam and stuff right but the point is right this is a specific whoa hold on why are these where are the these 12 rocks there right and this is what I have double underlined is the best verse to summarize this well it's more than one verse I have verse 22 23 3 and 24 underlined Israel crossed over this Jordan on dry land for the Lord your God has dried up the Waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea which he dried up before us until we had crossed over and then I have double underlined verse 24 that all the people of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord that it is mighty that you may fear the lord God forever right is it good enough just for that generation to cross that cross the Jordan River to know these things no no it needed to be passed down to their children and the children's children and there's children's children's children right so however long that's those rocks were there are Stone STS there today no no it's it's been a long time since that's what I thought but it said um is Joshua writing this after this happened yeah okay that I was like why does it mean like to this day because I would have this feeling is there there's a bunch of random Rock piles oh yeah but this is right this is to this day as as long as Joshua is writing this right the day that he wrote it the rock pile was still there but the rock pile is not there anymore right point being though right but um what's so give me a summary what's this about God's faithful faithful again all right yeah God is faithful to them again and they need to remember God's faithfulness there's also a subplot something else going on here too to right is uh Joshua right did you notice what God did to the people with Joshua they looked up to him like Moses yeah they looked up to him like Moses right this is once again Joshua being established as this ruler in in a leader of Israel who so is Joshua the king no no who's the king God God's the king that's right good all right so uh I've already done a what's this about B best verse you tell me what's this called you to do then how does this show you Jesus Christ what about the the the Covenant of Grace or the New Covenant what what this is this just great history does it die on a page no no it means we should go to the creek and just tell the waters to stop just oh oh so we should take a family trip a half mile down the road or a quarter mile down the road and go to Honey Creek and and as soon as we step our feet if we have enough faith we can step our feet in the creek and it will dry up y That's not what this means that's not our calling so what are you called to do trust in God can you imagine what was gone through the people's head like before this mhm it's like H there's A's a river here yeah like we would be like oh wow they they must have believed right like cuz got if it was me I'd be like got it once but but maybe maybe not like maybe not this time maybe we have to walk the long way around yeah right so but no no it's every you're right every step that they took was a step of Faith through that River wasn't it yeah who who kept the water from rushing back good yeah right they had to have faith in the Lord that they were going to do this crazy thing take a step into the the river and God was actually going to be faithful I think every generation has to make that determination for themselves I can raise you in a household of faith but can I make you a Christian yeah can I make any of my children into believer into Believers can I give you a new heart yeah no I can't do any of that right I can put the Bible in your hands but who's it up to to believe me each generation right my parents tried to put the Bible on my hands and I didn't believe until the Holy Spirit changed my heart and I did each each generation has to make that choice for themselves but from generation to generation we leave the memorial stones and we say hold on he's still the same God you can believe it or not that's your that's your obligation that's that's between you and God but I want you to know that this is what the Lord is like he can dry up the Red Sea he can dry up the Jordan River he's coming the Flesh and as you point out with the Lord's Supper it's not idolatry it's remember the Lord protects us the Lord is mighty and he cares for us so let's pray God we do thank you so much that you have given us those who have walked in the faith before us and have passed down the truth of your Revelation and the work that you have done to redeem us Lord we pray that we would be faithful in both believing and in passing down lord we can't give faith but we can leave a legacy of a testimony to who you are our Great and Mighty God so father we thank you for who you are we pray that you would please help us to believe and that the Next Generation might rise up and they might believe too Lord we pray that they would be even better Generations Lord I pray for Nathan I pray for the children who may watch this and I pray for the children in the church and those who have yet to be saved Lord I pray that they might exceed their mothers and their fathers in godliness in every way that they might become greater and we might be less Lord please build your kingdom Generation by generation thank you for your faithfulness in Jesus's name amen may God bless you may you walk in the joy and peace that comes from knowing that your Mighty God is able to save I'll see you next time bye this is a St microphone it is