PICK
UP YOUR ROCKS
Restoration
Fellowship
Sunday morning,
November 12, 2017
CONNECT There is an
expression I’m sure most of you have heard, “Dumb as a rock”. But one rock has
proven to be anything but dumb!
How
many of you remember a huge sensation years ago called “The Pet Rock”? Anybody have one?
According
to Wikipedia: Pet Rock is a collectible conceived in
1975 by advertising executive Gary Dahl.
In April 1975, he sat in a bar listening to his friends complain about
their pets; this gave him
the idea for the perfect "pet": a rock. A rock
would not need to be fed, walked, bathed, or groomed, and it would not die,
become sick, or be disobedient. Dahl said that they were to be the perfect pets
and joked about it with his friends. He took his idea seriously, however, and
drafted an "instruction manual" for a pet rock.
Care and Training
of Your Pet Rock had
instructions on how to properly raise and care for one's new Pet Rock (notably
lacking instructions for feeding, bathing, and so on). The instruction manual
was the real product, full of gags, puns and jokes, and contained several
commands that could be taught to the new pet. While "sit" and
"stay" were effortless to accomplish, "roll over" usually
required a little extra help from the trainer. "Come," "stand"
and "shake hands" were found to be near-impossible to teach; however,
"attack" was fairly simple (also with some additional help from the
owner). The owners also found that potty-training their pet rocks was fairly
simple, given that they were, in fact, rocks.
Pet
Rocks are really smooth stones from Mexico's Rosarito Beach. They were
marketed like live pets, in custom
cardboard boxes, complete with straw and breathing holes. The fad lasted about
six months, ending after a short increase in sales during the Christmas season
of December 1975. Although by February 1976 they were discounted due to lower
sales, Dahl sold 1.5 million Pet Rocks for $4 each, and became a millionaire.
Pet
Rocks are still available for around $13 at Amazon!
TENSION Rocks in the
Scripture have a special place of honor. Listen to what Jesus said…
Luke
3:8 (NKJV) Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not
begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to
Abraham from these rocks.”
Luke
19:40
(NKJV)
But He answered and said to them, “I tell you that if these should keep silent, the rocks would
immediately cry out.”
Mark
Hayes wrote a beautiful hymn years ago and published it in a wonderful worship
musical called Jubilate. The chorus went like this…
If we keep our
voices silent
All creation will
rise and shout
If we fail to
praise You, Father
Then will the very
rocks cry out
An
old Gospel song says, Ain’t gonna be no
rocks crying out in my place!
Bethel
worship, I won't le the rocks cry out!
Israel
had quite a relationship with rocks. They called them altars, or memorials. They were usually nothing more than a stack of
rocks or stones, but they had a significance to them. They were markers of
God’s intervention in their lives.
All
of us have had a rocky road to walk or a rocky wall to climb at one time or
another.
SOLUTION I want us to see
today how we can take the rocks that the enemy throws our way and turn them
into a memorial to God’s grace and power.
TEXT Joshua 4:1-24 (NKJV)
INSTRUCTION
Joshua
actually set up two altars…
Joshua
4:9 (NKJV) Then Joshua set up twelve
stones in the midst of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the
priests who bore the ark of the covenant stood; and they are there to this day.
This
altar could only be built if the river was not running! This was an undeniable testament to what had
happened.
Joshua
4:20
(NKJV)
And those
twelve stones which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up in Gilgal.
This
altar was the first action Israel performed in the promised land. When God brings us into a new place, we
should always remember to honor Him first!
What was the
purpose of the altar, the memorial?
1.
A testimony to the
children.
The greatest
legacy you can leave to your kids is stories about God’s work in your life!
Joshua
4:21-23
(NKJV)
Then he spoke to the children of
Israel, saying: “When your children ask their fathers
in time to come, saying, ‘What are these stones?’ then you shall let your
children know, saying, ‘Israel crossed over this Jordan on dry land’;
for the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you
had crossed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red Sea, which He dried up
before us until we had crossed over,”
2.
A testimony to the
world.
Joshua
4:24
(NKJV)
that all the peoples of
the earth may know the hand of the LORD, that it is mighty, that you may fear the LORD your God forever.”
The greatest tool
of ministry to the world is your testimony!
What’s your story?
APPLICATION
How do we build
altars today?
Mark
14:9
(NKJV)
“Assuredly, I say to you, wherever
this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this
woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.”
1. We build altars through praise and worship.
Acts
10:4
(NKJV)
And when he observed him, he was
afraid, and said, “What is it, lord?” So, he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before
God.”
2. We built altars though prayer and giving.
INSPIRATION Don't
let the rocks cry out!
As
we approach Thanksgiving, take time to build a memorial of what God has done in
your life and family.
1.
Talk with your family about what God has
done.
2.
Record a video, write a journal, put a
photo collection together...
3.
Share it!
HASHTAG #rockscryout
