Rock-Solid Reminders [Part 1]

Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Allen Wright. When you're in the midst of a moment and you recognize surely God is in this place, like what Jacob said after he saw the vision of the ladder, surely God's in this place. What I want to encourage you to do today is develop some practices wherein you mark that moment. You might call it making God momentos.

What I would call them, rock solid reminders that God was in this place in your life. That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt, excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series, God Moments, as presented at Reynolda Church in North Carolina.

If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program, I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. It's Pastor Alan's book by the same title, God Moments, and it can be yours for your donation this month to Allen Wright Ministries. As you listen to today's message, go deeper as we send you a copy of Pastor Alan's book, God Moments, our special offer today. Contact us at pastorallen.org. That's pastorallen.org or call 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. More on this later in the program, but right now, let's get started with today's teaching on God Moments. Here is Allen Wright. Are you ready for some good news? God not only has given us a capacity to remember our God moments so that we can in our mind's eye recollect with great bliss all that God has done for us, but He has also given us commands and opportunities to make some rock-solid reminders of what He's done.

So we can build our lives around some very tangible reminders of the grace of God in our lives. I want to talk to you today about these rock-solid reminders. Imagine it. Fire, fire, your house is on fire. Quick, get out.

Time's short. You can only get one or two items. What are you going to grab? Over the years, the answer has always been something among most people like some precious photographs or a scrapbook or a journal or something that is a hand-me-down from a family member. Even in today's world of smart phones and cloud backup and Facebook postings, most people still say they've grabbed some old photos or videos or the old hunting knife that grandpa had handed down or great-grandmother's Bible, things like that.

What are we grabbing when you really boil it down to if there's some stuff that you really want to hold on to, what is it that we're grabbing? You're grabbing hold of those things that remind you that you're blessed, the mementos that remind you that you're loved. It's the same principle that if you took a trip to the Grand Canyon and you're so overawed that you took 212 photographs of the Grand Canyon, especially now when we just have our phones and unlimited backup and all this, we just take so many pictures. But back in the day when you only had film cameras, you'd still go, even though it would cost money to get it developed, and you'd come back and you'd have 212 photos of the Grand Canyon that all look almost the same. You couldn't capture the actual splendor of it, but you just so wanted to, and you wonder, why did I get these?

I could have just bought a postcard. It'd be a better photo than this, but what are the ones that you cherish? The ones that you cherish have people in them. I remember when Bennett was little, and we got to go snorkeling in some beautiful water, clear water in the Bahamas. We had gotten some of those cameras that are disposable underwater cameras with real film in them. We got under the water, and I was snorkeling with this little boy. It was exciting. We saw all these beautiful fish, and so we quickly took all our pictures of these different fish.

We got back home, and we got the film developed. About the third picture of a fish was so boring. We were like, oh look, another fish. Look, a fish. You just can't take the picture nearly as beautiful as what it seemed like under there. I found myself not caring at all about those, except there was about two pictures where I'd accidentally taken a picture of my little boy in his snorkel gear while he was taking a picture of a fish. Now that is a treasure.

My wife, she is one of these people. She loves mementos. I remember when we first got married, I just couldn't stand it because I was always so cheap.

I was just trained up. The last thing you ever want to do is buy something in a gift shop at a tourist attraction because it's going to cost twice as much that you could get it at Walmart. So much better. Don't buy a stuffed animal from the gift shop at the Yosemite gift shop or whatever. Get you a little stuffed bear somewhere else.

My wife, she always loved to get some kind of memento wherever we traveled. In fact, she just liked to get a shirt or get a nice hat or some gloves or something, even if it cost more money than it did to go to a department store back home. I said, finally, honey, I said, why do we have to do that?

Why? She said, because every time that I'll put these gloves on or every time I'll wear this shirt or whatever it might be, she says, I just think of what a wonderful time we had here. So what is she saying?

She's kind of rubbed off on me over the years. I've got them a little less cheap, but what she's saying is that I want those moments in my life where I am happiest and aware of how blessed I am. I want the other moments of my life that might seem much more ordinary to have this injection, this physical, tangible reminder of those happy times. That's what a memento does for you.

Think about this. You have had so many God moments in your life and we've been on a spiritual treasure hunt looking for those God moments. I'm just encouraging you to build your life and your faith on the ongoing reflection and recollection of the presence of God in your life. Today what I want to highlight for you is that as you are going on this spiritual treasure hunt and you're discovering God moments, there is a principle alongside of this that will do you much good in your spiritual journey if you'll practice it. And that is that when you're in the midst of a moment and you recognize surely God is in this place, like what Jacob said after he saw the vision of the ladder, surely God's in this place.

What I want to encourage you to do today is develop some practices wherein you mark that moment. You might call it making God mementos. What I would call them rock solid reminders that God was in this place in your life.

Because what you'll really need in the times that are tougher, the times in which your faith feels like it's been stretched thin, is you need every tool possible by which you can be activating your conscious awareness of the fact that God has been there at these pivotal moments in your life. When you have these God mementos and you have tangible reminders that we're going to talk about today, one of the things that happens is that you're just reminding yourself of how much God loves you. I remember when Bennett was just a toddler and this was back before smart phones and all of these things that we had with us that we could record all the time. So I carried a small little recorder that could fit in my pocket and I used it for dictation. I used it to take personal notes like if I just had a thought and I'm afraid I'll never remember it and I would just dictate it in that phone. Well Bennett and I had a little fun thing that we would do like so many parents have done in which I would stretch out my arms and I would say I love you this much and Bennett would take his little toddler arms out and say I love you this much and it was so so cute that one day when he stretched his arms out like that I love you this much and I just caught it on my little recorder. I just never wanted to lose that because I knew how fast the years would go by. But what was interesting about it is that every now and then I just go out and I just play that little spot on the recorder just to hear it and it kind of helped because have you noticed beloved that out in the world they're not necessarily that many people on a given day that are stretching their arms out and saying I love you this much.

They surely don't do it on the highway. They're not necessarily going to do it at your workplace and sometimes you've got to have your own way to remind yourself that you are loved and that's really what we're talking about when we talk about these rock solid reminders. We're talking about marking the fact that God loves you and you can establish these kind of mementos in very tangible ways.

That's Alan Wright and we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series. God's always been there. In every moment you narrowly escaped from danger. In every moment you were surprised by a blessing.

In every moment you just knew the direction to take. God was there. Your life is defined by countless moments of God's grace. Perhaps they've been covered by the sands of time or have just gone unnoticed in the rush of life, but your life is full of God moments. When you make a gift today, we'll send you Pastor Alan's heart-stirring book God Moments that will lead you on a spiritual treasure hunt to uncover your God moments. It's Alan Wright's Timeless book God Moments.

Discover your God moments in the past and be filled with fresh faith today. Now these are the final days this offer is being made available to you this month. Call us at 877-544-4860. That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, PastorAlan.org. Today's teaching now continues.

Here once again is Alan Wright. I want to turn you today to Joshua chapter 3 and 4. Joshua chapter 3 and 4 where I'd like to read some excerpts. There were two bodies of water that the people of God passed through on their way to the Promised Land. The first is the Red Sea. You probably remember the story that God opened up the Red Sea for the people of God to pass through on dry land even as Pharaoh and his army were pursuing them. And then those mighty waters swallowed up Pharaoh and his army. And the people of God were set free and they were empowered to buy this incredible, miraculous God moment.

And they danced and they celebrated. But within about three days, one long weekend when they began to get thirsty, they began to murmur as if they had forgotten the Red Sea. You know when amazing things happen in your life that you know it's God, you say to yourself, I'll never ever forget this. There's no way I'll ever forget this because this is the most incredible thing that's ever happened to me. But it's amazing, isn't it, beloved, how in the searing heat of a wilderness those memories of our God moments can sometimes dim because we are so parched in the wilderness. And this is kind of what happened to the people of God. You just can hardly believe that they could pass through a Red Sea, get on the other side and then face some adversities whether it be feeling that they had no water or they didn't like the manna on the ground or whatever it might be where they actually started thinking about going back to Egypt.

And you can't even believe that someone could forget like that and yet it happens in our lives all the time. But there's a second in the whole narrative of the people of God going into the Promised Land. There's a second body of water that they pass through and that's the Jordan River. And when they pass through the Jordan River under the leadership of Joshua, there's something very, very different that happens and that's what I want to highlight for you today. It's in Joshua chapter 3 and I pick up reading at verse 7, the Lord said to Joshua, today I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel. They may know that as I was with Moses so I will be with you.

And as for you, command the priests who bear the Ark of the Covenant. When you come to the brink of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan. And Joshua said to the people of Israel, come here and listen to the words of the Lord your God. And Joshua said, here is how you shall know that the living God is among you and that He will without fail drive out from before you, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Hivites, the Perizzites, the Girgashites, the Amorites and the Jebusites. Behold the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of all the earth is passing over before you into the Jordan.

Now therefore take 12 men from the tribes of Israel from each tribe of man. And when the souls of the feet of the priests bearing the Ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off from flowing and the waters coming down from above shall stand in one heap. And so this is exactly what came to pass and I pick up reading then at Joshua chapter 4 verse 1. When all the nation had finished passing over the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, take 12 men from the people from each tribe of man and command them saying take 12 stones from here out of the midst of the Jordan from the very place where the priests feet stood firmly and bring them over with you and lay them down in the place where you lodge tonight.

And so that's exactly what Joshua did. And it is said at verse 6 that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, what do those stones mean to you? Then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord. And when it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off.

So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever. So there were two crossings of bodies of water in the Old Testament, the Red Sea and the Jordan River. And what's so fascinating about the story of the people crossing over to the Jordan River are two completely different nuances that actually end up being powerful. The first is that I notice is this, is that the Red Sea, God opened up the Red Sea and made dry ground and then He invited the people to go through. But at the Jordan, no waters parted until the priests stepped into the water. Until they carried the Ark of the Covenant and stepped into the waters, the water was closed. But the presence of God accompanying the people of God was just taking a simple step of faith and obedience to the Word of God and then the words parted. But there's something else different about this story.

And that is what we read at chapter 4. That Joshua, according to the instruction of the Lord, called these 12 men from the people of Israel and they came and they took a stone out of the midst of the very place that God had done the miracle. They took the stones out as a permanent memorial to the Lord. And it just almost makes you wonder if the people when they had passed through the Red Sea had done something to set up a memorial to some way in which they had said we're going to make sure that no matter what we face that we're never ever going to forget this.

If they had maybe done that, perhaps they would have remembered it. This is something that has a theme sort of to it throughout the Old Testament stories. After Jacob had had his vision of the ladder, the text says he took a stone and poured oil on top of it as a reminder. When God supernaturally fought for the Israelites against the Philistines at Mizpah, the prophet Samuel in 1 Samuel 7-12 took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shin and he named it Ebenezer saying thus far the Lord has helped us because Ebenezer means a stone of help.

In another instance when Moses received God's word for Israel, he got up early in the morning, built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up 12 stone pillars representing the 12 tribes of Israel. In other words, there is something powerful when you in the midst of a God moment let your mind stop not only meditate about what is happening but do something by which you're going to help yourself remember. I think every single one of us can in this world that is so crazy busy can identify with how hard it is to keep up with everything.

It's just harder in today's world. Sometimes people will say to me, I just feel like maybe my memory is not very good anymore. I'm afraid and I'm like no, it's just we can't seem to remember because there's so, so much information being bombarded towards us at any given moment. Between everything that's going on in the newspapers, the internet, all the blogs, all the newscasts, everything on the radio, everything that's on the TV, all of the information that's coming at any given moment towards us with so many emails, with texts, the amount of information that we are trying to process is absolutely overwhelming.

It's really hard because it feels like if you don't try to process it all you're going to miss out on something that is important but there's a limit to what we can process. Part of what I'm trying to say is that part of the power of a spiritual journey and your growth in the Lord depends on the capacity to recognize what God is doing in a moment and say this is worth remembering. This is something that I should absolutely make sure that I don't forget and that's what's pictured in them taking these rocks out of the river. Well, why rocks? Rocks are just plain old stones but they do teach us something essential about the characteristics of what I'd call God mementos. Rocks are simple.

Your God mementos, the things that you do to remember God in your life need not be expensive or fancy or even unique as long as they clearly remind you of that God moment. Second thing is that rocks are immediately accessible. When an Israelite had an encounter with God he didn't have to leave the area to look for a reminder. Anyone who's traveled to the Middle East can tell you there are no shortage of rocks. And a third characteristic is rocks endure.

So when a pillar was erected it would stand there for a long, long time. So when you begin to think about, and I want to talk to you some about practically how it is that you are able to establish connection points for these God moments in your life through these rock solid reminders, just keep that in mind. It can be very simple. It doesn't have to be elaborate.

You want something that's immediately accessible because you have to be able to get a hold of it and something that's going to be able to endure. And I think all of that points us toward some of the kinds of technology that we have today. I'm quite convinced that if they'd had smartphones in their pockets, they'd been taking selfies and God would have probably instructed them, take these photos, post them on your Facebook, make sure that you line up back up in the cloud because you never want to forget what you just saw happen today. Alan Wright, rock solid reminders in the series, God Moments and Alan's back here in a moment with additional insight on this for your life and a final word. Unlock the power of blessing your life. Discover God's grace-filled vision for your life by signing up for Alan Wright's free daily blessing. If you want to fill your heart with grace and encouragement, get Alan Wright's daily blessing.

It's free and just a click away at pastoralan.org. God's always been there. In every moment you narrowly escaped from danger. In every moment you were surprised by a blessing.

In every moment you just knew the direction to take. God was there. Your life is defined by countless moments of God's grace. Perhaps they've been covered by the sands of time or have just gone unnoticed in the rush of life, but your life is full of God moments. When you make a gift today, we'll send you pastor Alan's heart-stirring book, God Moments, that will lead you on a spiritual treasure hunt to uncover your God moments. It's Alan Wright's timeless book, God Moments.

Discover your God moments in the past and be filled with fresh faith today. Now these are the final days this offer is being made available to you this month. Call us at 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, pastoralan.org. Alan, in the previous teaching, we talked about the connection keystone, which is going back and kind of retro, like retroactively connecting the dots. This teaching is talking about in the moment, when you recognize it, learn to recognize it and do something right then so you won't forget it. It helps improve our memory. Well, remember the difference between when they pass through the Red Sea, got on the other side, and after one long weekend, they're already losing their faith, right?

Right, right. As opposed to the Jordan, they pass through the body of water, and this time, what's different? They stop and they take mementos, they take these rocks right out of the Jordan and set them up as a memorial to remember that God did this.

I think that's what we're talking about. That's like a rock solid reminders because you can journal, you can take a picture and it not just be a photo, it can be something that's a God memento. You chronicle your life accordingly, and there are a lot of practical ways we'll be getting into, of ways that you can actually build this into your life. God wants us to commemorate and the God mementos, these rock solid reminders are part of the way that we can do it. Today's good news message is a listener supported production of Allen Wright Ministries.