Pentecost 2 (4)

Deuteronomy 11:18–28 (NIV84)

18 Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 19 Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 20 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, 21 so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land that the LORD swore to give your forefathers, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth. 26 See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse— 27 the blessing if you obey the commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you today; 28 the curse if you disobey the commands of the LORD your God and turn from the way that I command you today by following other gods, which you have not known.

A recent commercial by Progressive Insurance exaggerates the need for a small business to use post it notes. There is so much to give your attention to as a small business that the accumulation of post it notes is pictured as a giant created of post it notes walking around and placing post it notes incessantly. It reminds me of a Jim Carrey movie which also had an abundance of post-it notes: Jim Carrey's famous "God movie" is Bruce Almighty (2003). In this comedy, Carrey plays Bruce Nolan, a frustrated TV reporter who complains that God isn't doing his job correctly. God (played by Morgan Freeman) then grants Bruce all of His divine powers for one week to see if he can do a better job. Jim Carey’s character used post-it notes to remind him to answer prayers. His office soon became flooded with them.

You may find it important to use them as well. My computer even has an app that posts electronic post-it notes on the screen.

Post-it Notes were invented in stages at 3M. Dr. Spencer Silver created the unique, repositionable adhesive in 1968, and his colleague Art Fry conceived the idea of putting it on paper as a bookmark in 1974. They officially went on sale nationally on April 6, 1980.

Why use post-it notes? They serve as a reminder of important thoughts or to-do things. For many years I had one on my roll top desk in my office. “Am I making the best use of my time right now?”

Although post-it notes were not available until 1980, people have been tasked with the importance of reminding themselves of important rules, regulations, promises, tasks, etc. It may have been helpful if Adam had put a few post-it notes on the Tree in the Garden of Eden . . . PAUSE.

In our text, Moses emphasizes the need for God’s people to remember and act on “these words of mine”.

By memorizing the commands and promises of God — purpose of memorizing Bible passages. “Lord, I have hidden your word in my heart, so that I might not sin against you.” This was very important when most people were illiterate.

Illustration: There are also other key bits of information we do well to remember.

Which foods are best to eat and those to avoid.

Contact information (which many find they don’t remember phone numbers or passwords because they are populated electronically.

Directions.

Tasks at work.

Appointments

Medications.

Birthdays and anniversaries.

But none so important as God’s word.

Teaching them to their children.

Many people believe the claim that we remember 95% of what we teach others. While this figure comes from a popular visual known as the "Learning Pyramid", memory researchers consider it a myth because exact percentages for retention cannot be scientifically guaranteed. [1, 2, 3, 4]Even though the exact \(95\%\) figure is scientifically unproven, the underlying concept remains true in practice. Active teaching is a powerful learning tool for several reasons: [1, 2]

Preparation and Elaboration: When preparing to teach, you naturally structure, synthesize, and explain complex ideas, which helps lock them into your memory. [1]

The Protégé Effect: Psychological studies have consistently shown that students who expect to teach others learn and retain significantly more information than those who only learn for a test. [1, 2]

Active Retrieval: Explaining a concept out loud forces your brain to actively recall information rather than passively receiving it.

You benefit from teaching. Teaching the Word of God benefits those who hear and believe it.

Literally fixing them on their walls and door posts.

Tefillin (Askhenazic: /ˈtfɪlɨn/; Israeli Hebrew: [tfiˈlin], תפילין) also called phylacteries (/fɪˈlæktəriːz/ from Ancient Greek phylacterion, form of phylássein, φυλάσσειν meaning "to guard, protect") are a set of small black leather boxes containing scrolls of parchment inscribed with verses from the Torah, which are worn by observant Jews during weekday morning prayers. Although "tefillin" is technically the plural form (the singular being "tefillah"), it is loosely used as a singular as well.[1] The hand-tefillin, or shel yad, is placed on the upper arm, and the strap wrapped around the arm, hand and fingers; while the head-tefillin, or shel rosh, is placed above the forehead. The Torah commands that they should be worn to serve as a "sign" and "remembrance" that God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt.

Maybe it wasn’t intended to be taken literally. But we still follow that practice to some degree.

How many of you have bumper stickers on your vehicles?

Plaques (not plagues) on your walls.

Inspirational sayings.

“Witness wear”.

These are ways to remind ourselves of what is important and also to give a message to others.

We may want to be careful of what we have on our T-shirt and where we wear it.

Decades ago we visiting a good friend of mine at his church in Casper, WY and attended the worship service he presided at. In the pew right in front of me was a teen ager wearing a shirt with a message. It was a list of recipes for how to prepare road kill. It is sad that after all these years I remember that message even though I have never made “Snapping turtle soup in the shell.” or Racoon fritters.

In conclusion, why is it important to remember and pass on God’s Word.

Blessings for those who know and believe.

Psalm 1:1–3 (NIV84)

1 Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. 3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.

Curses for the wicked.

Psalm 1:4–6 (NIV84)

4 Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. 5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. 6 For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

We live in an information age. We have access to more knowledge than ever before. Some is very important. Some is nothing more than trivia. I hope we all realize that the message of God’s Word which we have heard, read, believed, and taught to each other is so very important because of the blessings God gives to us through it.