Yesterday: Memorials of Gratefulness
Joshua 4
January 5, 2025

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Joshua 4
GET THIS: Our unchanging Savior enters the chaos and impossibility of our moments with unthinkable grace and then He calls us to memorialize these yesterdays so that our hindsight might clarify our foresight.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. —Hebrews 13:8

“a parallel verse could be written about us that says something like, we are not at all the same as we were yesterday, we barely know what’s going on today, and—never mind forever—we don’t even know what tomorrow will bring” —J.B. Van Hoogen


Build Yesterday’s Memorials Today!

Read Joshua 3:14-17; Joshua 4:1-7

How do we handle our yesterdays?

Do we weaponize yesterdays?
Do we rewrite them?
Do we buckle under regret for them?
Or do we remember with thankful hearts?

God tells His people to remember! And to make sure they do–as the priest are still standing in the water–He tells them to build a memorial!


Four Lessons From Yesterday’s Memorials

Read Joshua 4:4-5; Joshua 4:12; Joshua 4:7; Joshua 4:23

#1: The Memorial Testifies to Unity (Joshua 4:4-5 & 1 Peter 2:5)

#2: The Memorial Testifies to Pain (Joshua 4:12 & Numbers 32:6–8 & Romans 5:3–4)

#3: The Memorial Testifies to Power (Joshua 4:7 & Joshua 4:23)

#4: The Memorial Testifies to Legacy (Joshua 4:23b)

Other Scriptures: 1 Peter 2:5; Numbers 32:6-8; Romans 5:3-4; Romans 5:19


Apply This To Your Life

Might we look into our yesterdays and see Jesus! (three calls to action here)

[1] ONE: Intentionality in Memorializing Our Yesterdays:

Taking note of it / marking it somehow / and sharing it with other.

[2] TWO: Thankfulness As We Remember Our Yesterdays:

We grow in thankfulness by memorializing. One of the primary calls of scripture when we consider our yesterdays … Is thankfulness! And not just thankfulness today… But tomorrow as well.

[3] THREE: Might Worship By Catalyzed By Our Memorializing of Yesterday:

Memorials of the healthy kind… will provoke worship!


Take Time To Reflect
(1) Jot down 2-3 times in your past that you most emphatically and clearly saw God at work in your life?
(2) What did you learn about God during those experiences? What did you learn about yourself? How did God change you?
(3) How can you intentionally memorialize these experiences? Who can you share them with this week?


GET THIS: Our unchanging Savior has faithfully entered into the chaos and impossibility of our moments with unthinkable grace and might we grow in our awareness and intentionality to memorialize these yesterdays so that our hindsight might always clarify our foresight.