What do good old fashioned New England stone walls have to do
with you? Find out on this week's episode
of Liberty at Home. Hey now, and welcome to our
latest edition of Liberty at Home, a program brought to you
by the Liberty Baptist Church on Washington Street.
I'm your host, Adam Rivero, and I've been the pastor of Liberty
since its inception in 2013. Today, as always, we're
broadcasting from Easton, MA where you may be tempted to chop
down a beautiful spruce tree at Frothingham Park to take home
and decorate for Christmas, But believe me, you don't want to do
that. Today we'll be looking at
several verses in Joshua chapter 4 as we consider the legacy of
our lives. So we'll begin in Joshua chapter
4 verse one, where it says, And it came to pass when all the
people were clean passed over Jordan, that the Lord spake unto
Joshua, saying, Take you 12 men out of the people, out of every
tribe a man. And command ye them saying, take
you hence out the midst of Jordan, out of the place where
the priest feet stood firm 12 Stones, and you shall carry them
over with you, and leave them in the lodging place where you
shall lodge this night. Then Joshua called the 12 men
whom he had prepared of the children of Israel, out of every
tribe a man. And Joshua said unto them,
Passover before the ark of the Lord, your God in the midst of
Jordan, and take ye up, every man of you, a stone upon his
shoulder, according unto the number of tribes of the children
of Israel. That this may be a sign among
you, that when your children ask their fathers in time to come,
saying, What mean ye by these stones?
And he shall answer them, that the waters of Jordan were cut
off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord.
When it passed over Jordan, the waters of Jordan were cut off,
and these stones shall be a memorial unto the children of
Israel forever. When I moved to New England
almost 13 years ago, I quickly learned our area's primary crop,
rocks. They're everywhere.
Every time you dig, your shovel makes a dull clink as it hits
yet another rock. Now our forefathers, in a great
example of Yankee ingenuity, use these rocks to their advantage.
Like in the old country, they stack these rocks into sturdy
stone walls to mark the boundaries of their land.
If you walk around east and long enough, you'll find plenty of
these walls still standing. They stand firm as testimonies
of the perseverance of generations passed on.
Now in Joshua chapter 4, God instructed the Israelites to do
something very similar to the rock stacking of our
forefathers. After 40 years of wandering in
the wilderness, Israel had one final obstacle before entering
the promised land, the mighty Jordan River.
Now God miraculously stop the flow of the swelling river so
all Israel could cross on dry ground before God restored the
flow of water. Joshua commanded that a
representative of each tribe, 12 in all, each take a large stone
from the river and pile them into a makeshift memorial on the
riverbank. For what purpose?
Well, Joshua chapter 4, verses 6 and seven explained it, that
this may be a sign among you that when your children ask
their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean ye by these
stones, then you shall answer them, that the waters of Jordan
were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord.
When it passed over Jordan, the waters of Jordan were cut off.
And these stones shall be a memorial under the children of
Israel forever. You see, the stones were placed
there as a legacy to future generations so that those who
did not see the miracles of God during the wandering years could
hear about them from their parents, who had heard about it
from their parents, and well, so on.
Just like our stone walls, the stone memorial spoke to
generations that followed. Although our walls are a
testimony to those who lived here before us.
The memorial to Jordan River, well, that was a testimony to
the goodness of God. As we consider leaving a legacy
for the generations that follow us, consider this, you can leave
something to your children or grandchildren far more valuable
than a monetary inheritance. Money can be such a fleeting
thing and it doesn't guarantee happiness.
The psalmist tells us the best thing we can pass on when he
says in Psalm chapter 16 verse 6, Yay, I have a goodly
heritage. Instead of working so hard to
leave a legacy of things like money, property, or possessions,
let's take some time to build a foundation that will last.
Let's take our families to God's house.
Let's read the Bible together. Let's pray together.
Let's build a memorial that will stand for generations to come.
Well, thanks for tuning in today's episode of Liberty at
Home. I truly hope you'll visit us
sometime soon at Liberty Baptist Church.
You know what I'm going to say? We meet every Sunday and
Wednesday at 800 Washington St. on Route 138.
You can find us on YouTube, Facebook, your favorite podcast
app, or at my libertybaptist.org.
Well, my time's up. So don't forget where the Spirit
of the Lord is, there is Liberty.
Catch you next week on ECAT for another edition of Liberty at
Home.