What Does Memorial Mean?

Our associate pastor, Brother Ryan Crawford, brought our Sunday morning message: “What Mean These Stones?”

We stood for opening prayer and the reading of God’s word.

Sunday was part of the Memorial Weekend. Thank you to all of the soldiers that have given their lives for our freedom. What does Memorial mean? It is defined as “remembering or in remembrance of something.” In the Bible, there were several times that God made a point of setting up a memorial for His people. Sunday, we looked at a particular time when He had his people set up a place to remind them of what He had done or to reveal His presence to them.

The scripture reading was taken from Joshua 4:1-24.

Let’s begin with a backstory leading up to these verses. Who was Joshua? Joshua was one of two men that did not fear to trust in God when He revealed the Promised Land to the Israelites. Joshua and Caleb were the only two men out of twelve that were confident of being able to claim the Promised Land that God had given them. They knew that if God was with them that they had nothing that would get in their way in claiming that Land because God was with them and would give it to them. Due to their trust and faith in God, they were the only two men from that time period to cross over into the Promised Land.

Now we are moving forward to the next generation to have not seen God reveal Himself in His power the way He had for the previous generation. Moses has passed away as well as all others, except for Caleb and Joshua. Joshua was the new leader for the Israelite people. Joshua 3:7 says, “And the Lord said unto Joshua, This day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee.” He was chosen because he continually showed a desire to know God the way his mentor Moses had known God. Now God would demonstrate His power to this generation with a miracle like the one the previous generation had experienced while crossing the Red Sea.

God is establishing His providence by placing Joshua as His chosen leader. God instructs Joshua to have the priests carry the Ark (which was filled with His Presence) to lead His people across the Jordan River. The Jordan is a deep, wide river. There are, at this time, several thousands of God’s people prepared to cross this river. While carrying the Ark of the Covenant, the priests’ feet touched the water of the Jordan River, and the waters separated so that they settled on dry ground. This was to emphasize God’s providence of the people, having them look at Him, not Joshua. It was a reminder that God never fails. He will keep His promises. It was also to demonstrate His protection of His people. The Ark, carrying His presence with them, stood between His people and the walls of water, holding them back. That was a foreshadowing of Jesus on the cross. This is the same way that Christ stands between sins and us. He goes before us and says, “I’ve got this.”

God then instructed Joshua to have a leader from each of the twelve tribes take up a large stone each from the middle of the river and take it to their campsite to construct a memorial. Joshua also set up another pile of stones in the middle of the river where the priests stood. To this day, those rocks still remain at Gilgal. He wanted these memorials of stones to remain as a reminder of what had been done for the Israelites. When future generations would look upon those stones, they would ask “What mean these stones?” and they would be told by their elders what God had done for them.

These were both the works of God. Go after God’s power and presence. Leave your comfortable complacency. Then remember what all God has done for you. Trust in God. He knows the terrain; He formed it. God says, “Follow Me.” God also commands us to remember what He has done for us. Then you know to rely on Him in the future. God is omnipresent, which means that He was there in our past, He is here with us now, and He will always be here with us in times to come.

What are your stones of Remembrance?

Please come join us for church. We have two services. Our first service, the Early Morning Service, is at 8:30 a.m. with Sunday School immediately afterwards. After Sunday School, the second morning worship service, the Mid-morning Service, will start at 11 a.m.

Every other Saturday afternoon, the nursing home ministry at Golden Living Center in Anderson from 3:30 to 4 p.m.

Our Men’s Prayer Breakfast will be next Saturday at 8 a.m. Brother Harold Anders will be cooking up some tasty breakfast.

Friday night Bible Study will start at 6:30 p.m.

KFC (Kids for Christ) is now going on during Wednesday night service. We are studying the Armour of God.

The Church-wide Picnic is June 11. Sign-up sheets for what you would like to bring are in the foyer.

Our Baby Dedication is set for June 12.

Please remember you can hear a rebroadcast of one of our pastors’ services on KURM radio, 100.3 on the FM dial, at 8:30 a.m. Sunday mornings. Or listen to our pastors’ services on our website, http://www.firstbaptistchurchpineville.com/ Sermons.html.

If you have no church home of your own, we would love for you to join us (off the northeast corner of Pineville square, just behind U.S. Bank) in ours. No friendlier, downhome church, can be found anywhere in the four-state area.