Memorials to God's Faithfulness - Joshua 4

If I to ask you, what iconic landmarks or monuments come to your mind when you think about our city? There are several that we'd probably get. You think about the fountains on the plaza, you think about the Western Auto sign we think about the new ones, like the Ferris Wheel, right inside the highway.. We think about the shuttlecocks on the lawn of the art museum. We think of all these iconic landmarks, probably one of the top ones that you would think of would be Liberty Memorial, This is one of the most iconic landmarks or monuments, or memorials in our city. When you think of Kansas City, this is one thing you've probably driven by. If you've lived in this city long at all, you've driven by this hundreds of times, perhaps thousands of times, maybe you've visited it many times. It comes to your mind immediately as a famous memorial of our city. In 1919, just immediately after the end of World War I, a group was formed called the Liberty Memorial Association with the goal of establishing the official National Memorial for World War War I, right here in Kansas City And in 1919, in just 10 days, the Liberty Memorial Association raised $2.5 million. Now, that sounds like a lot of money. It was back then, even today, but today, that's the equivalent of $40 million. In less than two weeks, our city came together, thousands of people from wealthy business owners all the way down to school children, pulled their resources together to build a memorial to World War I right here in our city. In 1921, 100,000 people gathered for the dedication of the site, and it was there, right on the lawn, there, outside of Union Station, where the dedication was held. The only time in history, when all five commanders of the Allied powers gathered in one place at one time. I think that's a very significant bit of trivia about our city. They selected local Kansas City veterans of World War I to present the flags to these commanders. One of those young men who presented a flag on that day was a man named Harry S. Truman on that occasion. And then, in 1926 President Calvin Coolidge spoke to a crowd of 150,000 people at the dedication of the Liberty Memorial, the largest crowd up till that point, the largest crowd that a U. US. President spoke to in person in our history. It's been eclipsed by then, but really significant moment 100 years ago when this monument was built and dead dedicated, and has graced our skyline for all of our lives, we've driven by it. And many of you have memories of the Liberty Memorial. You've had something that's happened in your life there. I was just the last couple of weeks when the prom pictures were showing up in Facebook. It's a popular place to go to for prom pictures. My daughter had her prom pictures taken there. Anybody's prom pictures of your kids' prom pictures of Liberty Memorial? There you go. All right. It's become a famous place, a gathered place in our city. And while it was originally built to commemorate our victory in World War I, it's also been a place where we've celebrated many other victories in our city, like this one, 2015, when thousands of people gathered on the lawn of Liberty Memorial to celebrate the Royals World Series victory. It became a memorial, a monument where maybe you remember being in that crowd. Was anybody in that crowd that day? I was on the parade route, but I didn't make it into that mob, but I remember thinking, looking at that picture, thinking, one day, that picture will be red and not blue, and three more times we've had the opportunity to celebrate victory at the Liberty Memorial. And I did get into that crowd that day. I was when they put the big picture up and I see it, I want to know I was in that crowd. In fact, I remember right where I was standing, because I wanted one day to be able to zoom in and show my granddaughter. That's where we stood on the day that God gave us victory. No, not, no. On the day we finally won a Super Bowl for the first time in my lifetime. Hopefully, there'll be many more, but who knows? There may not be many more. I wanted to be there with my granddaughter, I wanted to one day look at that picture and say, we were there. When you drive by there, that memorial you remember things. You remember the chiefs parades, the Royals Parades, your prom pictures, what it was meant to be a memorial of the lives that were lost in service to our country. My great grandfather fought in World War I. I think of him when I drive that memorial. It's a memorial that causes us to remember, today we're going to visit a memorial in the city of Gilgal, a memorial built 3,500 years ago, to celebrate a victory God had given the Israelite people. And it wasn't just a memorial to be constructed so that they would remember that victory that God gave them. It was to serve as a reminder to future generations of what God did on that day. So be a memorial that whenever you passed by it, you would see that memorial, and you would remember what God did, and you could tell your children about what God did on on that day. We've just crossed the Jordan River in our journey through the book of Joshua. Years or hundreds of years earlier, God had made a covenant that he would create a great nation out of a man named A Abram, Abraham, that he would give them a promised land, and through. he led the people out of slavery, captivity to Egypt, to the edge of the land, the spies went into the land, they came back with a bad report, the people rebelled and because the people rebelled and did not trust God to cross into the land, they would spend the next 40 years wandering outside of the boundaries of of that land, waiting for that generation to die off, so a new generation could cross over into the land. Moses has died Leadership has now transferred to Joshua and Joshu Joshua is now leading this new generation into the promised land that God had promised to them hundreds of years earlier. We saw the story last week. Rustin took us through. Joshuahua chapter 3, we saw the miraculous stopping of the water so that they might cross over on dry land. We saw how the priests went ahead of the people, carrying the Ark of the covenant. The Ark of the Covenant was a portable rectangular box that represented for the people the presence of God. And they followed that ark, followed that representation of the presence of God across that river within the priests got to the edge of that water, and their feet hit the water, they stood to that water, God stopped the flow miles upstream, the water passed by, and the entire nation of Israel crossed over across the that dried river bed. Now, in the middle of all of that story there was one reference that that Joshua doesn't say much about. Ruston just alluded to it's a bit of foreshadowing to where we're going to go this week. In chapter 3, verse 12, in the middle of all of this happening, Joshua is told to select 12 people for some particular task. We're not told what it's going to be yet, we're going to discover it today. Pick one man from each of the 12 tribes of Israel. There's going to be something special they're going to do in the middle of the crossing of this river. So we're gonna do today, werere going to work our way down this passage, chapter 4, through the entire chapter, Joshua chapter 4. You're going to find it to be very repetitive. It's really interesting. You're going to see what the structure is going to be. God's going to tell Jesus Joshua what to do. Joshua's going to go tell the 12 men what to do, and then the 12 men are going to do what Joshua told them to do that God told Joshua to tell them to do. That's the structure of chapter 4. And then we're going to ask the question, what was the reason? What was the point of this memorial for them? And then we want to close by asking the question, what do we do with this? I think there's a call on our lives from Joshua chapter 4 to set up spiritual memorials in our life, memorials that point our generation to the faithfulness of God. I want to give you some practical ways that we might do that in our lives today. Let's jump in in. Joshua chapter 4, verse 1. Whenhen all the nation had finished passing over the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, "Take 12 men from the people from each tribe a man and command them saying Take 12 stones from from here, out of the midst of the Jordan, from every place where the priest foot stood from the very place, where the pri feet stood firmly, and bring them over with you and lay them down in the place where you lodge tonight. So we left off, the end of chapter 3, the priest standing in the Jordan, the nation crossing over on dry ground. And now we're told the purpose of these men that were selected all the way back in chapter 3, verse 12. These men were to pick up from the middle of that dried river a stone, one stone per man, carry them over and put put them down at the place where you're going to lodge tonight. So Joshua chapter 4 goes to tell the men the instruction that God had just given him. Joshua called the 12 men from the people of Israel, whom he had appointed, a man from each tribe.And Joshua said to them, "Pass on before the ark of the Lord of your God in the midst of the Jordan, and take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder. According to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel, that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, what do these stones mean? 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. So now the instructions are, you're going to grab these stones out of the river, we're going to take them over to where we're going to lodge, and we're going to set up a memorial. And the reason we're going to set this memorial is it's going to be a conversation starter in the future for you to tell your kids what God did on this day. Have you ever gone for a walk with little kids? They're oftentimes very inquisitive. They'll ask, what is that? What's this do? Who's that guy? What's this place? They'll ask a ton of questions. You're walking through the neighborhood or through the park or wherever you're going for a walk. Same thing was true in that day. He says, " there'd be a day when you're gonna be a walk with your kids, and you're going to pass by this memorial, and your kid is going to say, "Hey, Dad, why are those stones stacked up like that?" And when your kid asks you that question, it's going to be an opportunity for you to tell the story of what God did on that day. We see many times in scripture, God loves to give us memorials give us things to remember what he did. We're going to see more just in the book of Joshua when the come coming weeks, the summers we passed through it, they're going to be more stones stacked up. Now, some of them are going to most of the time, it's going to be a little bit more gruesome than this one. It's going to be stones piled up over dead bodies when God does something. You're going to notice of that but they're going to be, "What's that pile of stones for?" And you're going to be able to tell them about the thing that happened on that day, why those stones got piled up. On this day, the story's going to be, "God stop this river, so we could get across it And so they go the rest of the way. Verse 8, the people of Israel did just as Joshua commanded and took up 12 stones out of the midst of the Jordan. According to the number of the tribes of Israel, just as the Lord told Joshua.. And they carried them over with them to the place where they lodged and laid them down there. Again, more repetition. This is kind of a standard feature in Hebrew literature We might find it like repetitiveitive and boring. Like, you're just kind of saying the same thing over and over again. The reason was to show that they followed God's word exactly to the letter. It's to highlight obedience to God. God told Joshua, Joshua told the people, the people did it just like God told Joshua for them to do it. Verse 9 Joshua' set up. Now, catch this. Joshua set up 12 stones in the midst of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priest bearing the ark of the Covenant had stood. And they are there to this day. For the priests bearing the ark stood in the midst of the Jordan until everything was finished that the Lord commanded Joshua to tell the people according to all that Moses commanded Joshua, the people passed over in haste. There's a couple of views on this. Some think that that's one monumentument. There's 12 stones involved here, that Joshua, while the priests are holding the ark, and while the water stops, sets up the monument, and then the men take the monument down and then carry it over to Gil, where they're going to reconstruct it. Others say, and this seems to be the more simple reading of the text here, that there's just two monuments. There's actually 24 stones here. There's 12 stacked up in Gilgal, where you can see it, and there's 12 more buried deep beneath the waters of the Jordan, where you'll never see it, but they knew it was there You could say, "I the middle of that river, if you were to dive down in that river, you'd find none at that river 12 stone stones stacked up, the place where the miracle really happened. But since you can't go back to the middle of the Jordan, where it really happened, we're going to set up another one in Gilgal as a representation of what happened in that exact spot Verse 11, when all the people had finished passing over the ark of the Lord and the priest passed over before the people. The sons of Reen, the sons of God, the tribe of Manas passed over armed before the people of Israel. As Moses had told them, about 40,000 ready for war passed over before the Lord for battle to the plains of Jericho. The people now safely across the riverbed, the stones have been collected, and the priests carrying the ark now would lead the people armed for battle to their first destination in the promised Land. Verse 14th, on that day, the Lord exalted Joshua in the side of all Israel, and they stood in awe of him just as they stood in awe of Moses, all the days of his life. The baton has been passed, the torch has been passed for Moses to Joshua. God does this in part. many reasons he does this this day. One is to elevate Joshua in the eyes of the people as their new leader. Moses led them across the Red Sea. Joshua's now led them across the Jordan River. He's now been put up there with Moses as their new leader through this event. Verse 15, "The Lord said to Joshua command the priests bearing the arch of the testimony to come out of the Jordan. And when the priest the ark of the covenant of the Lord came out from the midst of the Jordan and the of the priest' feet were lifted up on dry ground. The waters of the Jordan returned to their place and overflowed its banks as before. The people came up out of the Jordan on the 10th day of the first month, and they encamped at Gilgal on the east border of Jerichocho. So the priest just as they stepped into the water, the water stopped. As soon as they step out of the riverbed, the water returns. or told in verse 19 that it's the tenth day of the first month. Now, is there a reason for that? I think that could be a significant reference. Why does he tell us the day this happens The other time we see Scripture mentioning the 10th day of the first month, it's mentioned back in Exodus as the day that you select the Passover lamb. So you go back 40 years ago, they're enslaved in Egypt. God rescues the people from slavery through a series of plagues, one being the angel of death, taking the firstborn in all of the land and you would be spared from death through the observing of what's later celebrated through Passover. So it all begins the 10th day of the first month, selecting this lamb, and it ends the first day of the 10th month years later, when they step across their dried riverbed and into the promised land Verse 20. And those 12 stones, which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up at Gilgal. And he said to the people of Israel, when your children ask their fathers in times to come, what do these stones mean? Then you shall let your children know. Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground for the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea when he dried up for us until, which he dried up for us until we passed over, so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, that you may fear the Lord, your God. Stones collected, the memorial is set up, so it would be a reminder not just to the people that day, but to future descendants, and not just future descendants of Israel, but to future descendants of all the nations of what God did on that day. It was a memorial to God's glory, something that would cause the people to remember that God keeps his promises, that he goes before them in victory, a testimony to their children, a testimony to the world, and a source of encouragement that they would so often need in the future. What was the purpose? I'm going to give you, just from these final verses of this chapter, three purposes that the memorial served for them And if God knew they needed a memorial for these three reasons, then certainly, I think, by example, we need the same thing today in our lives. So we're going to see what did the memorial do for the people in that day And if we need that today, how might we set up similar memorials in our lives? Three things that did. Number one, it reminded them of God's faithfulness. It was a reminder of God's faithfulness. verse 2, "When your children ask their fathers in time to come, times to come, what do these stones mean? Then you shall let your children know Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground for the Lord, your God dried up the waters of the Jordan. It's going to be a reminder. What do these stones mean, Dad? Let me tell you, son, it was a day where God showed his faithfulness to us. And we see so often in scripture, reminders of God's faithfulness. In fact, we go back to Exodus 12 the same thing was said about the Passover feast, when God led them out of captivity. Chapter 12, Exodus 12 verse 1, T shall be for you a memorial day. And you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast." And then you jump down in verse 26. When your children say to you, what does this mean? Then you shall say it's a sacrifice of the Lord's Passover, as he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt when he struck the Egyptians, but spared on our houses. we're going to say, they're going to say, why are we eating this feast? Let me tell you the reason why we're eating this feast. Why do they stack up those stones? I want to tell you the reason they stacked up those stones. These are memorials to remind us of God's faithfulness in our life Reminders. My daughter, my granddaughter, Marcy, like any kid, she's three. I don't know if you've ever gone for a walk with a three year old, they like to pick up rocks. I thought I thought it was just the boys when I had sons. I girls like to pick up rocks too. And she's always picked up rocks. and so last summer on vacation, we were at a couple of places on vacation, and I took one of the rocks home with me that she picked up. and I put it in a Ziploc bag and wrote the place on it and threw it in the top of my closet. I just started doing this with her. I have this rock collection. And last week, we were at a restaurant to Cooper's Hawk and with some family that were in town. And we got in with a meal. We're waiting on the check, and she got bored, and I got bored and it's really cool when you can blame the toddler. And I said, "She's bored. Let me get her out of here." And so I took her out, and we went for a walk, and she's picking up rocket. I got a Ziploc bag in my closet with a handful of gravel that " Cooper's Hawk. It's just a rock collection,'cause it was a fun day. And I just wanted to look back on these rocks with her one day and tell her about the days we picked up these rocks to remember the fun that we had. These stones are a reminder of something God did. Just takes us back in time to something he did. And the purpose wasn't just that he could stop the river that day. It was to tell them it was to show them, remind them of what God was capable of doing. God doesn't just provide to provide. He provides to show us he's the great provider. He doesn't just move in power to show one miracle. He moves in power to show what he's capable of. He stopped the water to show what he was capable of. He provides to show what he's capable of. He demonstrates his power to show us that he's powerful. We need reminders in our life of God's past faithfulness to remind us in the future of what God is capable of, which is the second thing, purpose that the memorial served. It was a test testimony to God's power. Not only did it remind us what he did back then, but it reminds us what he can do right now in our lives. He says in verse 24, so that all the people of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty not just that you would know it, Israelites, but that all the peoples of the earth would know that God's hand is mine mighty. It's not just for your sake, it's a testimony to everyone else. I heard a pastor preach on this text one time. and he was the analogy if you've ever gone through cancer treatments or known someone who has. I've seen people post this on Facebook, that a lot of times when people complete their chemotherapy treatment, there's a bell there in the hospital that they'll ring as a reminder that are just as a celebration that they did it. They completed that long journey of treatment. And the pastor was saying that when other people in the place would hear the bell ring, it would be an encouragement to those stuck in the middle of it that someone just crossed over. Someone just got out of that tough journey. So it said, it wasn't just like, God just did this, but it's a bell that rings for all the nations of what the mighty hand of God is capable of doing. Testimony of God's power. And finally, it was a call to obedience, verse 24 so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, that you may fear the Lord, your God forever. So you remember, back on the past, God did this act of faithfulness. Right now, his hand is mighty, and you're going to fear him forever into the future. It calls us and inspires us to obedience The stones will teach future generations to respect, obey, trust the all powerful God, that if God can stop the flow of the river, he is a God worthy of our worship, of our love, our our fear, of our obedience. Memorial would inspire them to stay faithful to God as they move into the future. So what do we do with this? We need memorials in our lives. We don't have a stack of stones in the backyard. Maybe that's something God would lead you to do in some way. But how might we create memorials that point our children to God's faithfulness? That's our main only point of application here, okay? I'm going to give you one point, and then a bunch of ways you can do this. All right? So you might get ready to write these down if you have kids in your life. And I I would submit that probably almost everyone in this room has kids in their life. You have your own children Your greatest responsibility is to point your children to Jesus, to point your kids to God's faithfulness. Many in this room have grandchildren. I want to tell you this I realized this when we had grandchildren. I began to think about my own grandparents. In many ways you as a grandparent will play more significant in the life of your grandfatherkids than even you did in the lives of your own kids. I think if you ask people, who are the most influential people in your life? Many people in this room would name a grandparent. It's quite possible that you will have a greater spiritual impact on your grandchildren than you had on your own children, because there's a thing for children to look to their grandparents, and they remember fondly the impact they had in their life. Maybe you have nieces or nephews, you have children in your life, god daughters or godsons, or maybe you serve in children's ministry, or student ministry at Northland, and you're surrounded by kids. How can we point them to God's faithfulness? How can we set up memorialorial stones for their life? Let me give you 12 ideas, okay? We have 12 stones. I came up with 12 ways, all right, 12 memorial stones that you can stack up for your kids right now. And you may think of others. In fact, it's one of your questions in your life group guide for your group time this week as you're in your groups. It's to maybe brainstorm some others. Here's 12 things you can do. Number one, share your testimony often Share your personal testimony with your kids, with your grandkids, with your nieces and nephews. Often, do they know your story? Would your kids be able to tell me how you became a follower of Jesus Christ? Could your grandkids tell someone the story of how Grandma or Grandpa came to know Christ? I do a lot of funerals. I did three funerals in the last three weeks. and each one, I listened to all of their stories, and I love it when immediately they be began to tell about the spiritual faithfulness, the spiritual commitment, the walk with Jesus, that grandma or Grandpa, had in their life. In fact, that they don't tell the story I don't ask, 'cause I don't know. But you ought to tell your testimony so much that no one would have to wonder or ask about your salvation when they're planning your funeral. Everyone just knows your testimony. Do they know it? Second, let them hear you pray out loud. Are this is really important. I bet most people in this room, maybe ever in this room, you pray for your kids, you pray for your grandkids, you pray for your spouse, but do the children in your life ever hear you doing it? It is a powerful memorial stone placed in their life when your kids hear you pray out loud, Dad. There's a lot of dads here that you pray, but a bit a while since your kids heard you pray over them out loud for them. It's a powerful thing when your kids hear their mom pray out loud for dad. When they hear their dad pray out loud loud for mom. When they hear your prayers, it puts a memorial core memory in their life. Third, read a paper Bible. Now, some of you say, what is a paper Bible? It's like if we print it off the U version app and bound it all together in a book, it would look something like this, okay? And for years, I'll be honest, a mistake I made as a parent in significant season of our life is I began using my Bible app more than a paper Bible And God convicted me of that a while back that I shouldn't have done. H him tell you why you ought to read a paper. I still use the Bible app, by the way, I still do it. But here's why I think it's important, because there were many times when my kids leaving the house to go to school or walking through the living room, saw me reading my Bible on my phone, and they didn't know I was reading the Bible Bible, they thought I was checking Facebook or answering some text messages It's a powerful memory for your children to walk into a room and see you with the Bible open in front of you. Watching Dad read the Bible, seeing Mom read the Bible sets up a memorial stone for them. Let me tell you a second thing it does. It gives you something to pass down to them that you've marked up and written in and highlighted and underlined. Anyone ever grabbed your grandma's Bible and flipped through the pages of Grandma's Bible to see the verses that were meaningful of hers? Isn't that a powerful memorial stone for you? I went out this year, I don't I hope I can keep this commitment. I went out this year and bought a brand new Bible. We're reading the Bible through this year as a church. I've read every chapter of I'll read the Bible through Plan from this same Bible and I've underlined, and I've written notes in the margins, and my hope is through that every year, and one day when I'm gone, my grandkids can have a stack of Bibles they can distribute among themselves, that every one of my grandkids can have a Bible that Pop wrote in during his devotional times with the Lord. It's a memorial stone in their life. Read a paper Bible Related to this, keep up paper prayer journal. Keep a paper prayer journal. I know I'm standing pretty old school here, but we're losing something with apps and digital stuff that we're not getting to pass out. My grandfather fought in World War II. He wrote my grandmother many letters. I have those in my home, hundreds of letters, handwritten letters from my grandfather, from Europe to my grandmother. People don't have that today. They'll never have that collection. You Write things down that can be passed on. Dan Rohb, a member of our church, is a role model for me in doing this. I was talking to him about it this week, as I was preparing me this sermon. I said, "Dan, when did you start keeping a prayer journal?" He said, " 1982." I said, "Do you still have him?" He said, "I have every one of them." I said, "Would you send me a picture?" Later that day, he texted me this picture.This is the shelf in Darren Rohbald's basement. You can count him. There's one on the left for 1982 all the way to 2024 on the right, and 2025, he has with him today in this building And every year, for 40 years, he's kept a paper prayer journal. Is that a memorial or what? That's a memorial that points to God's faithfulness through his prayers. Tell stories of God's faithfulness when you look through photos. Your kids like to look through old photographs. Your grandkids like to flip through pictures on your iPhone. They love to hear you telling the stories behind those old pictures. What are the stories of faithfulness behind those pictures Next time you show them a picture on your phone of something from their childhood, something from your childhood, some special memory together, remind them of how God was faithful in that moment. Now, this next one, I never thought I'd say it a sermon. It's just never in 30 plus years of preaching, I've never used this as a point of application. I'm use it today Tell the stories behind your tattoos. Tell the stories behind your tattoos. Now, don't run out and get tattoos 'c Pastor Matt said so. I'm not saying that. You do what you want to do. But you've got a few tattoos in the second row here. You've probably have tattoos of spiritual significance. God did something in your life and it was a very special thing that he did, and your decision was, I need this thing forever on my body. I'm going to go pay someone to inflict pain on me because I want this forever forever on my arm as a reminder of what God did. That's a memorial stone forever, if it's a memorial stone. And you tell the story. My wife has a little cross on her wrist the other night at dinner, Marcy, our three year old granddaughter, said, "That's a cross, Gigi." And she said, "Yep, it sure is." And then Marissa said, "Hey, Marcy, tell Gigi what the cross means." And she said, "The cross means God love.ves me." Cross means God loves me." And so she's got that reminder. You have some spiritually significant tattoo.T the story. You decided to pay a lot of money and have this forever on you. Let it be a memorialorial stone. When the opportunity comes up, let me tell you why I got this. Let me tell you what God did in my life that I wanted forever memorialized in this way. Next visit places of spiritual significanceificance when you drive through the old neighborhood. All right, anybody ever bore your child with the tour of the old neighborhood, right? I see that hand. You drive through and you say, thisis is where we grew up, this is this is the high school I went to. Any guys want to show your sons, like your glory days. You want to take them to the old gym.B, did you ever do that? Take your sons to the gym back in Bill Stutt's glory days of basketball, and you told them the stories of victories on the basketball court. Take them in those tours to places of spiritual significance. Show them the house where you grew up. show them the football field where you won the big game, show them the school where you went to school. But show them the church where you heard about Jesus. Show them the place where you were baptized. drive them by the place where you were when you gave your life to Jesus. Show them these significant points in your life, in these roadside attraction tours you do of where God moved in your life in a significant way. Number eight, tell them of their spiritual heritage when visiting cemeteries. You go show them where grandma was buried, where great grandpa was buried, played people you knew that they never knew, but maybe those people played us a significant spiritual role in your life. This is the perfect opportunity to use that tombstone as a memorial stone of this is how God used this person God spoke through this person into my life. Maybe there's people still alive. Nine introduce them to people who have played a significant spiritual role in your life. When you crossed paths with someone, a few months ago, I ran into a lady who used to go to our church years ago, she said, "Oh, my goodness, I want my son to meet you. I wonder if he still remembers you." She went and got her son, and she said, don't Do you remember Pastor Matt?" he said, "Yeah, I don't know if he did or not, it's been nice." But she began to tell her son about how God worked in their family during the years they went to this church before they moved away. She took bumping into me in a public place as an opportunity to tell her child about what God had done in her life. Number 10, reminisce about God's faithfulness. Reminisce about God's faithfulness. So what I mean, you tell those stories. Your kids are sick of hearing some of them. You tell them so much. Let's get them sick of hearing stories of God's faithfulness when we reminisce. And when they want to hear our stories, how do we weave into those stories elements of God's faithfulness? Maybe your grandson wants to hear about your time in the military. They want to hear the grandpa's old war stories.Grpa, will you tell them about God's faithfulness in that season of your life, how you trusted in God and looked to God and how he helped you. Little granddaughters are going to want to ask Grandpa how she met Grandpa. Where'd you meet him? What was your first date? Tell me this story of how you fell in love with Grandpa. There's a time there to talk about God's faithfulness, how you prayed and you trusted God, and God led you together and how God worked in the course of your marriage, as you reminisce, use your memory, sharing memories as opportunities to be memorial stones Share stories of God's faithfulness when Facebook memories pop up. Don't you love that, just out of nowhere, somethingthing will pop up. You say,Man, I remember that. What's Facebook goes back like, what, 20 years now, doesn't it? I mean, some of these memories are how old, what? 20 21 years of memorial stones that might pop up randomly one day. And you had the chance to say, "Let me show you this post I made 15 years ago, and what God did in my my life, and why I shared that, and how God moved through that. And then, finally, I just this, I lump a whole lot of things under this, but just create traditions that recount God's blessings in your life over the course of the year. Create traditions. Here I asked several people this week if they do things like this. I got a lot of ideas that just kind of fit under this category. Someone told me how at night they'll talk about how God's mercies are new every day, and how did God show you His mercies today? Just a bedtime routine with a little kid of how did you see God work today in your life? Some mentioned a chalkboard or a dry erase prayer wall somewhere in their house, where they're writing down what they're praying for and writing the answers to those prayers. Others mentioned taking time on vacation to celebrate the year and how God moved in their family over the last year. Some others, several have jars somewhere in their house with pieces of paper where they write down things that God are doing. They put them in there. And every year on the new year, some said, one friend said they have a jar on their piano, and Christmas, excuse me, New Year's Eve, their tradition is I pull that out and lay those out on the kitchen table and read, recount the stories of God's faithfulness. Here's just 12 that I came up with, numbers not special, just 12 stones. I thought I'd give you 12 application points. You might think of another dozen, okay? But how are you setting up memorial stones? Be intentional. You have a moment to do something when your kid asks a question, when your grandk asks a question to say, "Let me tell you what God did So you might remind him of his past faithfulness, that you might compel him to their own obedience and commitment to him in the future. This is how he's moved in my life. This is what our God is capable of, what memorial stones will you set up for your family. You may take just one of these today It seemed very simple, it seemed like just kind of an average moment, and your kids, your grandkids may look back and say, when you started doing that, it made a profound impact in my life. You never know how you might change that. God loves to give us memorials.. He's given us two in the New Testament. One is communion, where every month at Northland, when we take communion, we're remembering Jesus died on the cross for us. He shed his blood for us. He wants us to remember that he gave his life for you, so you could be saved. He's given us another, we're going to see in this service, and in the next, baptism is a memorial. God said, do, this, so you can remember what I did. It reminds us of God Jesus' resurrection from the dead, his death on the cross, his resurrection from the dead, so that we could have new life in him. Have you given your life to him? Perhaps today, as you see this baptism in a moment, it will be a reminder to you of what Jesus did on the cross. And heose from the dead so that you could experience his faithfulfulness in your walk with Him. Let's pray together. God, I thank you for your constant faithfulness in our life, and I thank you that you are in God who calls us to remember. We see throughout your scriptures memorials of Passover and celebrations of stones piled up. We see the memorials of communion and baptism in the New Testament. You want to us constantly to be reminded of your faithfulness. Help us to look for ways this week to intentionally remind the children in our life, to point the children in our life to your faithfulness. When we're gone, Lord Atland, long after those who crossed the river died, there was still a pile of stones in Gilgal, and long after we're gone, there'll be memories of memorial stones we set up that will impact generations to come. Thank you for your faithfulness in our day, for the power you demonstrate, and for the opportunity you give us to tell of your mighty deeds for the future generations. Let us be faithful in this. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.