Build Your Own Memorials by Brother Duke Hansen

         Good morning. If you will, turn to the book of Joshua chapter 3. This scripture should be very familiar to many of you. The background for our scripture selection is this. Moses had passed and Joshua from Nun has taken charge of leading the Israelites into Canaan. They have to cross the Jordan River first. It is commanded of them by Joshua to sanctify themselves before the crossing. We are going to start reading with verse 7.

        7 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.

        8 And thou shalt command the priests that bear the ark of the covenant, saying, When ye are come to the brink of the water of Jordan, ye shall stand still in Jordan.

        9 And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, Come hither, and hear the words of the Lord your God.

       10 And Joshua said, Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Hittites, and the Hivites, and the Perizzites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.

        11 Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth passeth over before you into Jordan.

        12 Now therefore take you twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, out of every tribe a man.

        13 And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be cut off from the waters that come down from above; and they shall stand upon an heap.

        14 And it came to pass, when the people removed from their tents, to pass over Jordan, and the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people:

        15 And as they that bare the ark were come unto Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brim of the water, (for Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest.)

        16 That the waters which came down from above stood and rose up upon an heap very far from the city Adam, that us beside Zaretan: and those that came down toward the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, failed, and were cut off: and the people passed over right against Jericho.

        17 And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed clean over Jordan.

        I want to take a moment and look at Jesus' ministry on earth, and look back at his named disciples in the gospel. When they followed him in the beginning, they had different ideas of who he was. By the time of Jesus' ascension, they saw the truth of who he was. They had a direct line to Jesus with his words, thoughts, actions, healings, and miracles. There was some different thoughts of whom Jesus was among them because man always spins a truth to suit his flesh. It still continued after Jesus returned to heaven because man has a need to interpret mysteries and make commands fuzzy due to his sinful nature. 

        When God instructed Joshua in our scripture reading, it was God speaking directly to Joshua. It wasn't through something Moses wrote down nor from an intermediary. There are those today who have never truly worked on their individual iniquity, who would hold tighter to their own personal image rather than the image of God. Scripture says we are to put aside our old man, but for some of us, we keep the old man on but we quote various scriptures to deceive people. 

        Every man and woman will go through trials. When trials or tests occur, the ministry is always affected first. If you find yourself going through a trial this morning, and you feel the need to complain, give it to God and not other people. Have you considered the length of time it took the Israelites to cross over the Jordan river? 40,000 people crossed the river. The Levite priests holding the ark roughly a half a mile in front of the people per the instructions of God to Joshua. How many hours that was for the crossing to happen.

        This morning is a time for examination. Examine your walk, your relationship with God. Where are you? Are you close to God? Are you further away? If you read on later to chapter 4 of Joshua, you see that twelve men, one from each tribe, took a stone each and set them up in the spot where the Levites stood firm with the ark as a memorial to what had happened. What a profound and significant memorial.

        There are other monuments you can read about in the Bible. In the book of Genesis, Jacob built Bethel after his vision. Samuel had the Ebenezer stone erected after God thwarted the Philistines attack. There is the passover feast, the sabbath day, Feast of Unleavened Bread. All throughout the scripture there are memorials people put up to recognize a point in time where they were.

        You can approach the Bible in different ways. You can see it as a history book, a book of poems, a book of stories people tell each other. You can approach it on a deeper level, where names, countries, events, prophecies are interconnected. If you just slow down to read and think on things revealed in the scripture. If you don't take God's correction and use obedience to fix your daily mindset, you're of no use to God nor his kingdom. The scripture has statements and commandments you should use for reproof and self judgement.

        Either you get to a place of faith or a place where you will just quit. You will get the answers that personally trouble you from a study of this book and not from browsing the internet nor listening to podcasts. Those ways are not towards the truth, but towards a man's interpretation of the truth.

        This morning, think back to your own personal memorials. What do they signify? How they affected you? How they signaled a point in your walk with God or highlighted your own personal story. These memorials aren't merely highlighting all the accomplishments and wins, but sometimes your biggest loss or setbacks. If you come out better from the valley of decision, the failures and hurts you experience in life, that is as equally important for you to show and reflect upon. We have all the tools for spiritual growth and maturity in front of us, be it on your church pew, coffee table, passenger seat to your vehicle. That tool doesn't operate itself. It's powered by the want on your end to do so.

        God does not hold back his word. If you are in a period where your prayers are unanswered, your cries are met with silence, you need to determine what has caused the silence. It could be either you, God, or the devil. You can't react in your flesh when you are in a trial, in a hard spot. Your flesh doesn't need any reason to be mad. You need to build your own memorials. You have to be able to see in those periods of silence where you came from, what you accomplished, what you need to work upon. Memorials help in your spiritual maturity. Your walk isn't hard, but your flesh makes it hard. It's hard to accomplish the basic steps of faith when you're living in iniquity.

        What are the things or moments in your life which got you where you are today? Every decision you make in turn influences every step you make in your walk with God. If you spend more time on past hurts, pains, slights, you will not grow. If make those things your public identity, you will never be free. If you spend more time studying the word, in prayer and interceding for others you will grow. Yes, life is going to bring hardships, strife, anger, bitterness, hurt, and pain. God though is always by your side in this. Your fruits are a better testimony than any word you speak in life.