Remember When…? (Jared Burrows) October 31, 2021

• We as humans have a natural tendency to forget, but God calls us to remember what He has done for us.

• When God miraculously dried up the Jordan River during its flood season so that the Israelites could cross over into the promised land, He instructed Joshua to have one man from each of the twelve tribes of Israel carry a stone from the middle of the riverbed and to set up the twelve stones as a memorial in the land.

  • Joshua explained to the people: “In the future when your descendants ask their parents, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them, ‘Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’ For the Lord your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over. … He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the LORD is powerful and so that you might always fear the LORD your God” (Josh 4:21-24, NIV).

• As a society, we have lost our way by forgetting what God has done. We stopped talking about Him in our homes, teaching about Him in our schools, thanking Him for every good thing, and walking with Him wholeheartedly.

  • Our nation has even removed Christian monuments, such as the prayer banner at Cranston High School West which the US District Court ruled must be taken down.

• How to get back on track when you have lost your way:

  1) Acknowledge that God has not been first in your life.

  2) Invite Him back into His rightful place by making Jesus the Lord of your life again.

  3) Turn away (repent) from any and everything that displeases Him.

  4) Use your testimony.

  • Proclaiming your testimony defeats the enemy (Rev 12:11).

  • Set up monuments that commemorate your testimony: write down what God has done in your life in a journal, post pictures or documents of it on your fridge or on social media, tell people about your breakthroughs (they need to hear it), publicly demonstrate your changed life (including by inviting people to church), and show proof of God’s miracles to the world (you yourself are walking proof). All of these things train us to have a heart of gratitude and thanksgiving.

• When you are facing a challenge, do not focus on what God has not done yet, but remind yourself of what He has already done (just as David did before he fought Goliath; see 1 Sam 17:36-37). Go back to the monuments of your testimony and declare, “Lord, you have done it before, and I know you will do it again.”

• Teach your children that God is not just the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but of you and them as well.

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