“Remember God’s grace”
SCRIPTURE
Joshua 4:7. Tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.
OBSERVATION
Summary
Joshua asks each of the 12 tribes to take a stone from the Jordan and carry it on their shoulders.
Who is God
• God wants us to remember what He has done for us.
• God wants us to pass down the grace we have received to the next generation.
APPLICATION
We are surprised while reading the Bible because people forget God’s grace so quickly. God performed such great miracles in Egypt. However, the Israelites promptly complained, were discouraged, and feared, although they experienced the miraculous deliverance from Pharaoh’s oppression and miraculous crossing the Red Sea. Every time we noticed their unbelief, we’re annoyed. But the same is true with us. We also forget what God has done for us so quickly. It must be the weakness of humanity that we all have. Today’s text has a story after a miracle. They just experienced the wondrous miracle that God performed. It is essential to pray for miracles and thus to experience God’s great grace. But after experiencing God’s wonders, it is also important to remember them. Today’s text teaches us to keep memorials is also very important.
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God must have thought it would be very important for Israelites to remember the miracle of crossing the Jordan River forever. In an urgent moment when the water could overflow again, God made each of the twelve tribes pick up a stone for the memorial. The same principle will be applied to communion. Jesus told us to remember His crucifixion as a sacrament. It also shows remembering what Jesus has done for us is very important in our faith life. We forget too quickly. We especially forget the grace. There is a saying that people carve grace in water and resentment in stone. That is the weakness of all human beings that inherited Adam’s sinfulness. But the Christians should be the opposite. One must forgive and forget others’ wrongdoings easily and remember what they did well to us forever. Above all, God’s grace must be remembered forever, which would make our faith stronger.
Joshua also explains that picking up stones teaches the Israeli children the miracle of crossing the Jordan River. Not only do we remember God’s grace, but also the grace must be passed on to our children. What is God’s grace that I must remember today? What is the miraculous performance of God that I forget today? What is God’s grace that I should teach my daughter today?
- Sin to void: Do not forget the grace of God.
- Promise to hold: God does miracles.
- Action to take place: Remember what God has done for me and tell the next generation.
PRAYER
Heavenly Father, forgive me for the vulnerability of forgetting the countless grace you have given me so far. I will never forget how you have been taking care of my daughter and me so faithfully since my husband passed away. I will never forget your grace that how you have blessed our church which began so humbly. I will always be happy, pray, and thank you as I remember all the amazing grace you have bestowed upon me.
Pastor Sharon Lee's QT 