Editor’s Note: This "MM" is the 5th email of 2006 in a series that ARM is sending as an encouragement to preachers and Christian workers around the world.  (This was sent for the first time in May of 2002 when our list was much smaller.)  This message could be appropriate as a Memorial Day sermon or devotional.  It is my prayer that this message will encourage you and those you teach.  (For a plain text version rather than rich text, just reply and request.)  Use it as a devotional, edit it, share it, or use components of it! 

Joshua 4:1-7    "REMEMBER WHOSE YOU ARE!"

OPEN: A pious old man who had reached the age of 105 suddenly stopped going to church. Alarmed by the old fellow's absence after so many years of faithful attendance the preacher went to see him. He found him in excellent health, so the he asked, "How come after all these years we don't see you at church anymore?"

The old man looked around and lowered his voice. I'll tell you, preacher," he whispered. "When I got to be 90 I expected God to take me any day. Then I got to be 95, then 100, then 105. So I figured that God is very busy and must've forgotten about me,".. then he came close to the preacher and looked all directions before whispering.... "and I don't want to remind Him that I’m still down here!"

But it isn’t God who has the memory problem... IT IS US! I READ A BOOK TO IMPROVE MY MEMORY RECENTLY…but I’ve forgotten what the name of it! Truthfully, we need memory joggers.

In fact, forgetfulness is a common spiritual problem. This can really be disastrous to your faith, therefore God has graciously given us memorials, memory joggers.

IE Sabbath, Circumcision, Passover, and the most important: COMMUNION

Josh 4:1-9  

Without memorials, we tend to forget very quickly. WE NEED MEMORIALS TO REMIND US. The Lord’s Supper: "This is my body, my blood, remember Me!"  Acts 20:7 First day of week for breaking of bread. God doesn’t want us to ever forget what He has done for us and in us.

BOULDERS REMIND US OF THE STORIES THAT TELL US whose WE ARE. Joshua 4:5b …Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, 6 to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, 'What do these stones mean?' 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."

As they went in to take possession of the land, these boulders would be a reminder of whose they really were. NOT EX-SLAVES OF EGYPT, GOD’S PEOPLE! Lots of people try to tell us who we are: Hollywood says you are primarily a sexual being. Madison Avenue says you are a consumer. Humanism says you are an accidental freak of nature. GOD’S WORD SAYS SOMETHING TOTALLY DIFFERENT!

1 Cor 6:19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;

1 Cor 3:17 If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple. (NIV)

1 Cor 12:27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. (NIV)

2 Cor 3:3 You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. (NIV)

Gal 3:26 You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, (NIV)

Gal 4:7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir. (NIV)

Eph 2:19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, (NIV)

1Thes 5:5 You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. (NIV)

1 Pet 2:9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

AND EVERY TIME WE MEET AROUND HIS TABLE, WE ARE REMINDED OF THESE IMPORTANT FACTS THAT DEFINE OUR IDENTITY....

These stones would remind them that they were God’s people, whom he had led across on dry land when the Jordan was flooded.

We all need a Gilgal go back to when our faith wanes and times get hard. We need a place where we can go back and say, "This is whose I am and this is why I’m here." The New Testament epistles were written to believers, but they frequently call people to remember their baptisms. Go back and visit that experience.

John Wooden of UCLA fame carried a wooden cross in his pocket as a constant reminder of whose he was. I carry a nail in my pocket, a reminder of the crucifixion. Is it a gimmick? Maybe. WE ALL need some personal reminders of the times when God specifically moved in your life. These reminders of our relationship with God confirm whose WE ARE!

I heard a story about a man who carries around in his pocket a gold plated safety pin. It is a great conversation piece. Anytime he pulls it out to get some change people ask, "Why do you have a gold safety pin?" He then has the opportunity to tell them that he used to be an alcoholic and drug addict living on the street. He had an old overcoat with no buttons on it. He found a safety pin and used it to keep his coat fastened as he slept. When someone introduced him to Christ, he started making the kind of decisions that Jesus helped him make and put his life back together. He didn’t ever want to forget, so he took the safety pin, and had it gold plated as a constant reminder.

Don’t allow yourself to forget what God has done in your life and whose you are therefore. IF YOU’LL COME AROUND THIS TABLE EVERY WEEK, WITH AN OPEN HEART AND AN OPEN MIND, YOU’LL REMEMBER WHOSE YOU ARE AND THE YOU’LL BE STRONGER, MORE JOYFUL, AND BETTER FOR IT!