This I Know Study – Week 6

This I Know – Week 6

I Will Remember (pages 207-243)

Psalm 77:11-12; Deut. 6:10-12; Joshua 3-4; Psalm 78:11-13

Our final week of the study. Lauren claimed this week as soon as she started it because this has been her life passage for so long. This was her pocket sermon passage from her missionary day. There really couldn’t be a better passage to tie into this idea of remembering.

Israelites story: Moses the leader has passed away. They are getting ready to walk into the unknown of the promised land with their new leader Joshua. God is saying its time. Unknown of a new leader and new land.

Before you get to this land you must first cross this water. God gives directions on how they are supposed to cross the water (they’ve done this before). The Israelites didn’t have the Holy Spirit but the presence of the Lord was in the ark of the covenant. In the whole story we see how God’s presence was with the people. The river was at flood waters. It was rushing and going fast. Levites took their most prized possession and told to go in first before God showed up. Sometimes in our unknown God wants us to take a step of faith first and it will seem so scary and big. If God showed up before He asked us to take a step of faith, then we wouldn’t have our faith grow. God said he would stop the water. The Levites take their steps into the water and the water stopped and dried up. The Levites walked to the middle of the river and they stay there while all the Israelites walk by. And then afterwards, he calls them to get the stones to build an Ebeneezer to remember what God did and they were stones that are from where God’s presence was during this miracle. And then the ark was the last to come through – His presences followed them. I told this story because God wants us to remember. To tell God’s story. In the remembering we walk forward in peace. The Israeltes forget all the time and I get so frustrated with them. If you wrote my life down you would remind me of the times God has shown up and the way I forget. We need to remember not just our part but where God’s presence was.

The Joshua 3 story, it stands out that God called them to remember. It needs to become a part of us – a discipline. I truly believe remembering needs to be a habit. One thing I want to do every year is to set time aside and think about the past year and let that be one of the ways I look to the future. What part of the story do you share? Do you tell your failures or about God’s work and His story?

When was a time in your life when you saw the benefit of being in community to help you remember?

Breanne – a person retaining the knowledge and speaking that truth to me. I may have forgotten but then their reminding me of it is so good to reframe my memory.

–Another thing is to hear other people tell their stories. My grandma wrote her story in a book of what God did and its all for his glory. It is such a legacy and testimony to hear a person’s story, every person has an extraordinary story that is being worked out.

–And lastly when you look back on your life, in community other people are speaking into that. A few years ago in bible study I remember Nikki Jones was the one that drew my attention to “all these things” being connected. She saw a theme that I didn’t see.

Julie – Sharing your story and being transparent with people about great and hard things. Knowing that people are praying for you and keeping you accountable, these people in your community will remind you of the truths of who God is and encourage you.

Lisa – I was in a small group and one of the girls hadn’t really read the bible before and one January she said she was going to read it every day. She committed to it and we got weekly updates about her reading and it wasn’t legalistic in order to get a checkmark but about her choosing to pursue Jesus. We got to be a part of her journey. The remembering happened when at the end of the year we could look back and point to how she had changed. She was not the same person who a year before had said so many religious books point to God to now being confident in the gospel and Jesus Christ being God’s son. It was an honor to be part of this journey with her and remember the work God had done.
Specifically with our family, we try to point to God’s work in our family from little crisis to big things. When we went to Jamaica and our kids were with their grandparents and my mom broke her arm and so many women who stepped in to help. We tell this story now of how God showed up through these people.

Lauren – I need to get into the habit of bringing my kids into my life and how powerful it is for my kids to hear about God’s work. Being purposeful about speaking about what we know about God because of our experiences

So What?

On the last day of the study she encourages us to go back and write down what we want to remember from the other sections.

1. Take this challenge a step further. What do you remember and how do you want to live differently? Make your answers super practical.
2. Think about who you need to tell your story to. Ask God what story and who to share it with and follow this call.
3. Are you slowing down? Do you make it a habit to remember? Our ongoing life of busyness can make this hard. Take time to remember.
4. Tell a friend for accountability how you are going to put remembering into your life as a habit or discipline.

And this is what we know….

God knows our unknown, He’s our reminder, God is with us, He’s in the business of redeeming us, He’s faithful, He’s constant, He’s peace. He’s sovereign.

James Announcement: We are going to study the book of James starting the week of March 7. We chose this book because it ties into our theme of Arise. The title is Steadfast which talks about going forward not in chaos but a steady foot and the Lord goes with us. Join us for this 9 week study. And we encourage you to invite a friend to do the study with your group.