A Return to Gilgal

Joshua 4:19-24
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Two Memorials, one in the Jorden River and the other in Gilgal.  They had left Egypt, God parted the Red Sea, they had wandered for 40 years, God had provided Mana.  There was a change in leadership, from Moses to Joshua.  They took the Ark of the Covenant over the Jorden River.  As every task looked impossible, God was

faithful!  As every trail looked impassible, God made followers!  As every trial looked irrational, God made a future!

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A Memorial Inspires the Future, a Monument is Interested in the Past v.21

Today you can go to large churches in Europe- cathedrals!  They stand tall as a reminder of the past.  They are no longer places of worship, but now they are relics of a time that once was.  It’s really very sad.  In many, great preachers once proclaimed God’s Word there.  No longer are they discipling the future for God’s glory.  In fact, if Discipleship and Missions are not in a church’s DNA, it will die.   

-The victories of the past motivate us for the victories to come.

-You cannot drive forward very far looking in the rear view mirror.

  1. Teach the future generations– Deut. 6:7 “You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”
  2. Not teaching the future generations– Judges 2:10 “And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.”
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Celebrate the Faithfulness of God!
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When celebrating the faithfulness of God, one must celebrate the followers of God!  God works through people.

Celebrate the Followers of God!  A memorial is always built in community.

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A Memorial Motivates Missions, a Monument Maintains Mediocrity vv.22-23

  1. 22- a. A Command to tell others – Sound familiar? Matthew 28:18-20
  2. 23- b. Tell them what? That God has made a way to cross! John 3:16, That we are sinful, undeserving people, that God has looked down upon us and has given us mercy and grace through the person of Jesus!  Through the cross we have a way across!  That’s what we tell them.  When we stop telling them, we become a monument and not a memorial. 

Psalm 114:3 “the sea looked and fled; Jordan turned back.”

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A Memorial Celebrates a Mighty Work, a Monument Clings to a Moment in Time v.24

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The memorial in Gilgal pointed toward the land they would inherit.  Bethlehem later comes from this land.  From Bethlehem came Jesus Christ.  Joshua had no idea.  You and I have no idea the wonderful legacy that will come from God’s work here! In fact 6 or 7 centuries would pass before Micah would write that Jesus the redeemer is to come.
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Let’s point people to Jesus!

Celebrate the Future with God
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If Oak Hill Baptist Church was no longer here, would this community miss it?  Are we pointing others to Christ?  Are we doing the work of Christ?  Will we be a memorial or a monument?