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Kalamazoo SDA Church

Jermaine Gayle

These Stones

And no, we're not talking about gallstones this morning.

We're talking about the stones that we identify in Scripture, the book of Joshua.

Father in heaven, we want to ask in a very special way for your presence to be here with us.

Be with those who had a rough week this week especially.

We pray dear Lord that you may lift them up, encourage them, and that whatever the situation is that you may work it out according to your perfect will.

You know, growing up, my brother and I, we had a tendency of getting in trouble together.

And we often had a plan on how to deal with the confrontation with our dad.

We would meet ahead of time and we would say, you run this time and I'll stay to keep him occupied.

And there are some days where I would run, I would take off and My dad would discipline my brother and other times my brother would take off and my dad would discipline me and that was our secret over the years.

But he often wondered, why is 1 always running?

But not us, 2 boys different from us, a story about them.

They often got in trouble, like we used to get in trouble as kids.

And the parents didn't really know what to do with the kids and they came up with a plan.

The plan was to have a visit from the pastor.

The boys would go visit with the pastor 1 at a time.

And the first boy went, went into the pastor's office.

And you know, sometimes when you go into the pastor's office, the world is ending, apparently.

Came into the office, he sat down, the pastor was having a conversation with him, and the pastor just broke out in the conversation immediately with this very serious tone, and the question was designed to challenge the young man.

The boy couldn't figure out what the pastor was doing.

He didn't know where God was, and so he didn't respond.

The pastor repeated himself, where is God, with a bit of a more sterner tone.

The boy didn't know what was going on, so the pastor repeated again, where is God?

And the boy got shocked, his face was, he was shell shocked, he was trying to figure out what is this conversation about, just a kid.

And the pastor asked 1 more time, where is God?

And he bolted out of the office, ran home, ran into his closet, closed the door, and there he was crying.

His brother saw him run through the house and he was wondering what is this about?

So he went upstairs, opened the closet door, found his brother there, crouched down on the ground, crying, trying to figure out where God went.

And he came into the closet and said, what happened?

His brother looked at him and said, God is missing and pastor thinks we did it.

Has that question ever crossed your mind?

It could be maybe an internal situation in the home that you're trying to resolve, trying to figure out, and you wonder, where is God?

The marriage might be hitting the rocks and you're trying to figure out, well, where is God here?

Issues at the work, workplace, where you are, where is God?

And you wonder, is God going to show up at some point and show out and solve this thing so that I can get back to praising his name?

Sometimes we park ourselves on Prayer Avenue and we never seem to move onto Praise Boulevard.

We get stuck and we ask, yes, where is God?

And we feel like maybe, and sometimes we internalize that question, we think, well, I'm in trouble, therefore God is missing from my life.

Anybody ever bear that guilt, you don't have to raise your hand?

Feel like I did something to push him away and therefore he's no longer involved in my life.

Perhaps the Israelites might have felt this way and they might have had this question on their minds.

We are in big trouble because God seems to be missing.

You see, the book of Joshua begins with a bit of a tragedy, you see, because the book of Joshua begins right as the book of Deuteronomy ends.

And you might remember that Moses climbed Mount Nebo in the book of Deuteronomy and there he dies and he did not get to enter the Promised Land and that's because Moses was angry with the children of Israel.

Stephen calls it the church in the wilderness.

Moses the pastor got upset with the church folks, Lord have mercy, struck the rock twice and as a result he was forbidden from entering the very promised land he had made it his life's aim to go into as he was leading the children of Israel.

Moses died on Mount Nebo and the children of Israel were not even able to attend his funeral.

And they mourned, the Bible says, for 40 days.

They had a lot to figure out and Joshua was now the man that God would call to lead a new generation.

You see they not only mourned the death of Moses but an entire generation had died in the wilderness and there was a new generation on the scene.

You might remember that the 12 spies that went to spy at the land and 10 brought back a bad report and 2 had a good report and as a result they wandered in the wilderness for another 40 years and many died in the wilderness and this new generation was now about to enter the promised land and the question could have been asked at that time we are in big trouble now where is God where is the God of Moses because we had seen him work as he parted the Red Sea and we're able to cross over on dry ground and now they stand on the banks of the River Jordan another big body of water they're trying to figure out how we going to get across is God with us yes or no turn me in your Bibles to the book of Deuteronomy chapter 4, verse 20 through 24.

Moses gives the children of Israel an admonition.

He begins to recount the experience that he had, his own story, and he begins to remind them, well, look, it is because of this why I can't go over with you, and during this period of transition, you have to understand, friends, that all this happened because.

And Moses was careful, but some of us would have said, it's all because of you.

Moses, in Deuteronomy chapter 4 and verse 20, the Bible tells us there, Deuteronomy chapter 4 verse 20, but the Lord has taken you and brought you out from the what everybody iron furnace if you ever wondered what Egypt was like Egypt was like an iron furnace that was the experience it was so difficult so challenging it they just they were in a furnace burning up it seems to be his people that's why God took you out of Egypt to be his people and inheritance as you are this day verse 21 Moses begins furthermore the Lord was angry with me for your sakes, and swore that I would not cross over the Jordan, and that I would not enter the good land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

Can you imagine that conversation between Moses and the children of Israel as he begins to announce to them look guys, I can't make it with you into the promised land because the Lord was upset at me because of you.

I would imagine it might have been a solemn moment as they realized the gravity of the situation.

Moses, who had spent 80 years of his life with these people, He died at the age of 120.

Imagine being in a church district for 80 years.

God would eventually choose another leader.

Now turn with me in your Bible to the book of Joshua.

The Bible tells us there in the book of Joshua the circumstances under which Joshua was called to be a leader the Bible tells us in fact God begins to converse with Joshua and the first words out of God's mouth the Bible tells us verse 1 of Joshua chapter 1 after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord it came to pass that the Lord spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' assistant, saying, Moses, my servant, is dead.

Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all these people to the land which I am giving to them, the children of Israel.

God begins Joshua's mission by reminding him that Moses died.

And you can know by this verse the relationship that Joshua had with Moses.

In other words, they were really close friends Because they worked so long together.

He was mentored by this stalwart of a leader.

Lead the children of Israel over the Jordan River.

And yes, the question could have been asked, well, where is God?

Where is God as we go through this period of transition?

Where is God as we go through this moment of tragedy?

Where is God as we go through this period where we have a very difficult day ahead of us?

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These Stones

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